All Time MOTY List Head to Head 2007: Rotten vs. Dukes VS. Hero vs. Kingston

Ian Rotten vs. Jason Dukes IWA-MS 10/13/07

PAS: Incredible stuff, the kind of violent unprofessional brawl that Ian Rotten does so well. Ian isn't afraid to both deliver and receive a nasty beating, and Dukes comes forward and meets Ian's aggression with some of his own. We get two crazy bumps by Dukes: a missed tope which landed him into a bunch of chairs, and a crazy Psicosis corner shoulder bump. Ian lands some sick forearms to the jaw, and killer looking jabs, everything he did looked like it hurt so bad. I love some unprofessional crowbarring and Ian always delivers, and Dukes hit back with appropriate force. There was a killer moment where Duke pulls off Ian's boot and does some Eddie Marlin boot punching and some sick looking knee drops right on Ian's exposed ankle, just gross. Finish kind of sucks as we have a ref bump, and a Joey Ryan and Karl Anderson run in. Still, this was super high level violence. IWA-MS ran so much, it is clearly a real vein of untapped gems.

ER: Dukes comes out to Handel's Hallelujah Chorus looking like an Ian Rotten who hasn't yet experienced horrific body scarring, and before Dukes can make it into the ring Ian jumps him, future meets past. Ian has his whole head wrapped in a bandage, busted open on a show earlier in the day, and the announcers do a great job pointing out that Ian has been bleeding for basically 6 hours. Dukes opens up that cut immediately, Ian's face eventually dripping with a deep crimson mask, thick blood rivulets streaking down his neck. Ian swells up Dukes' face with the hardest punches and meanest jabs, taunting Dukes to throw harder by no selling punches directly to the jaw. Dukes is really great at spilling through chairs and grabbing onto fans while staggering through he crowd (made up nearly entirely of clones of the same man). Dukes' two big bumps were placed really well in the match: the first time he even steps foot in the ring he goes for a dive and Ian just slowly walks out of the way, crashing Dukes disgustingly shoulder first into the floor and a chair; later he flies (other) shoulder first into the ringpost on his way to another ugly trip to the floor. It's smart to give Ian a couple of good rally/recovery moments in front of his crowd, bleeding everywhere while going back in hungry after his injured prey. The leg work from both looked really ugly, like they both wanted to do permanent damage, both guys stomping and dropping knees on ankles and the inside of knees, and I'm always going to be into an 80s style brawl with a loose boot. We don't get loose boot spots anymore (which might be for the best as nobody wants to see Gargano emoting while untying laces) but these moments looked like something you'd see in a smoky arena 25 years prior. The run in finish was at least quick and paid off immediately, but it's still not the way you want something this bloody and raw to end.

Chris Hero vs. Eddie Kingston Review


Verdict:

PAS: Really close, and I think a better finish might have pushed it over the top, but we got the finish we got, so I am going with Kingston vs. Hero.

ER: This was a real classic grimy brawl that had been entirely off my radar until the last week. The big tope bump from Dukes may have been a higher peak than Hero/Kingston, but Hero/Kingston came in with a higher floor and felt like even more of a complete brawl. That's why it's the champ. But Ian/Dukes is a real hidden gorefest, more violent than most death matches while not being a death match.