IWA Mid-South Interlude: Dirty and Dangerous vs. BAM BAM and The Beast

Dirty Dutch Mantell/Dangerous Doug Gilbert vs. Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy/Dan "The Beast" Severn (2/21/98)

PAS: What a bonkers line up. You have to love that this thing existed and shows up in a Youtube feed. This is the main event of the second Eddie Gilbert memorial and is the kind of sleazy brawl that IWA-MS perfected. Everything is a little ragged and off. Kenny Bolin comes in and eats two Severn suplexes for some reason, Buddy Landell is wandering around, Terry and Dutch brawl into the parking lot, Dougie appears to throw a fireball at a fan, Gordy has a weird looking barbed wire biceps tattoo. It's all just random awesome shit. Gordy and Severn would have made a great Miracle Violence 2000 in an alternate universe. Tons of fun, I love the shooting gallery Memphis period of IWA-MS way more then the rock house ROH period.

ER: Sheesh thanks for the Christmas gift I never knew I wanted, IWA. I'd never heard of this match before it popped up (Phil also noticed the Eddie Gilbert memorial show the year before had a 20 minute Tommy Gilbert/Dory Funk Jr. match, and I need to see a 20 minute late 90s Tommy Gilbert match). And this match is a hoot. Under 10 minutes, but chock full of asskicking and strange moments. Say what you will about brain damaged Terry Gordy but he certainly had zero problems shoot punching Dougie in the face several times. Sure, Gordy looks kinda spacey and lost when locking on a half crab, but he also lobs his knuckles at Dougie's nose about 20 times so who cares? Doug gets wickedly busted open, and it's clearly from Gordy and not a blade as it doesn't look like a cut, it looks like a mug shot after a bar fight. Doug knows how to dress for a brawl (and in fairness, it's probably the same way he dresses when he goes to HomeTown Buffet with his family) and gets dark blood all over his white shirt. Gordy also laces into Dutch early on, with both guys slamming into doors and brawling outside. Kenny Bolin gets suplexed by Severn, which is just so stupid and crazy. It would be like seeing some random dad at Costco getting suplexed by an Olympian. Dougie gets some nasty payback chairshots, Dutch whips Severn with his bullwhip, the head security guard looks like Travis Tritt's shitbag brother, Doug takes a hard double lariat from Bammer and the Beast, and yeah now I will always wonder who the hell took that fireball from Doug. It had to have been a person known to the crowd, as the guy was wearing a terrible early 90s satin-y vest and slacks, attempting to look somewhat professional compared to the crowd of Starter jackets and Louisville thrift store polos. What the hell, this fucking match!