IWA Mid-South Top 18 Matches, #17: JC Bailey v. Mad Man Pondo 2/23/03

17. JC Bailey v. Mad Man Pondo 2/23/03




PAS: This wasn't even a match really. It was the first ever US circus death match which was a scaffold and a ring wrapped in barbed wire to simulate a circus net. They basically take three bumps, Pondo gets thrown off the first rung, and Bailey dives on him, then they get cut out. Then Pondo Russian leg sweeps them both into the net, and they get cut out. Finally they both climb to the top of the scaffold and Pondo suplexes them both into the net. A three bumps are crazy, but there was no real attempt to build any kind of match around the bumps. It was a total exhibition, memorable but not good. I can see why they put it on their list, but it wouldn't go anywhere near mine.

ER: This plays more like something that would make an ugly music video on Ridiculousness or something. Phil's right, it's three bumps. Three fucking INSANE spots, but for the most part Bailey and Pondo don't even pretend they're fighting each other in between spots. They fake it for a little bit, there's a collar & elbow tie up, sometimes they punch each other a bit. For the most part they willingly climb and then kind of do trust falls into the wire. Then they get painfully pulled out of the wire, and then willingly climb up on different sides of the scaffold before jumping off again. You know there's nothing worth talking about between the 3 spots when there's a fairly spirited debate among the announce crew regarding the durability of the scaffolding. "I mean, this is a legitimate 18' high structure." "It seems rickety." "Well it does, but what do you expect? Without it being fastened to the ceiling we're talking about four poles going 18' up." The three spots were insane and dumb and not at all pro wrestling, but the lay around time does actually add to the match as it really does soak in how the awful part isn't going into the wire, but getting pulled out of it. If they had just maintained some semblance of hating each other in between, during, and after the spots it could have been lunatic brilliance. But each of the three spots felt more like a Thelma & Louise "Let's do this!" moment.