IWTV Worth Watching: Tank! Drew Dillinger! Lincoln Moseley! Brad Cash!

Drew Dillinger vs. Lincoln Moseley IWA-MS 1/4/20

ER: This was raw around the edges and could have used a little editing, but I liked a lot of their ideas and I liked the raw but effective execution. Things especially caught my eye when Moseley started working over Dillinger's leg with real mean stomps to the ball of the ankle and the inner meat of the thigh and knee. Dillinger sold it effectively and was good about making callbacks to his knee, stumbling in a realistic way once and spotted multiple times rubbing some goodwill back into it. Moseley's legwork was mean enough and Dillinger's selling committed enough that I got into the story, and I loved the progression of Dillinger getting so pissed having his leg worked over, that at first opportunity he starts grinding Moseley's knee into the mat. I got a lot of satisfaction seeing Dillinger drop elbows onto Moseley's leg, then work a cool Indian deathlock cravate, and it all builds to Dillinger powering up to hit a great fat guy dropkick. I didn't love all of the strike exchanges, but a lot of the strikes in this were inventive and hit hard (I especially dug Dillinger's back elbows), and I liked the direction they took most of this.


Tank vs. Brad Cash Pro Wrestling Georgia 2/1/20

ER: This was the finals of a small scale Georgia death match tournament, and as a self-described "half in the bag" Jeff G. Bailey says "These carpet strips have tons of little nails sticking out of them, so you're gonna have a good time". This was my favorite of all the death matches on the show, as it had built in wear and tear (both guys had already worked twice that night) and had far and away the most actual striking of all the matches. I like death matches that are based around the striking rather than the weapons, with strikes used to soften up guys to make them susceptible to the weapons. And this was filled with big chops, headbutts, and shots to the dome from both. The carpet strips come into play in fun ways, like Tank getting the front of his body pressed into them or Tank grabbing one to jam into Cash's head, pressing in with his thumbs. Tank cannonballs Cash through a board left there from a prior match, and hits a running crossbody to a seated Cash, completely crushing the chair Cash was seated in. Tank mentions in his post-match promo how he's already Terry Funk'd his retirement, and now he hopes Cash's fiancé isn't mad at him for messing up Cash's face two weeks before his wedding. Brad Cash worked a death match tournament two weeks before his wedding day. You can't end a wrestling show with a more amusing note than that.