On Brand Segunda Caida: Iceberg in TNA! One Man Gang vs. a Sluff!

One Man Gang vs. Avalanche White MECW 1999

ER: Avalanche White, boy what a sight. Bryan Turner has been uploading a ton of southern indy gold from the lost era between VHS and DVD, and this one jumped out at me for a couple reasons. First, One Man Gang was still awesome in 1999. It's weird to think that by the time he was done with WWF, done with his WCW comeback, done with his 98/99 ECW stints, that Gang wasn't even 40 years old. Somehow, the One Man Gang was barely 40 when he worked the WWF Gimmick Battle Royal. As seen in several ECW fancams, One Man Gang could still GO in 1999 (seek out the Sabu and RVD matches, they're out there somewhere). So, knowing 1999 Gang could still go, AND seeing him against some guy named Avalanche White, my mind was made up. One Man Gang against a man large enough to go by Avalanche!? Well, it turns out that this avalanche was more of a guy with an early 90s WWF dumpy jobber physique, and the only avalanche was him hitting the mat whenever Gang beat him down. I am almost surely never going to see Avalanche White again, and that is because One Man Gang packed him up and shipped him out. This was entirely Gang, nothing but stiff clubbing arms, clotheslines, a pair of great elbowdrops, and a nice legdrop that saw Gang hold onto the top rope and not let go until the leg was dropped. Avalanche got choked a ton over the rope and absorbed several kinds of elbow strikes, and wouldn't you know, Gang added insult to injury by flattening Avalanche with an Avalanche. RIP Avalanche White, buried in an avalanche of white. Who has the 1999 Carlos Colon/One Man Gang match? 

Iceberg vs. David Young TNA Xplosion 1/15/03

ER: You could give TNA some credit for putting guys like Iceberg on regional TV, but you should criticize TNA for only using guys like Tank and Iceberg a couple of times when they should have been featuring guys like that. Pro wrestling fell out of love with big fat guys like Iceberg by the late 90s, and we've all been worse for it since. The Atkins diet was all the rage and suddenly a great big fat guy and cool wrestler like Iceberg has no guaranteed employment. Young and Iceberg had plenty of matches in Wildside and the greater Cornelia area, and they fit a lot into the TV time here. Young hit a big Asai moonsault into the entrance but then got flattened into the apron by an Iceberg avalanche. From there we get to see the kind of thing Iceberg can do. He might slow down the longer a match goes, but he lands heavy and takes offense well. He throws Young around with a belly to belly and a delayed flapjack slam, drops right onto him with a side slam, and then hits his awesome running splash. I love a big fat guy splash, but Iceberg has an especially good one. He runs from the corner and dives low like he's the fattest dude to ever do a Pete Rose impression. He uses a real similar motion when he uses his spear, and lo, he also has a great spear. He takes a couple of big bumps: getting his corner punches reversed into a kickass sitout powerbomb, and then running into a spinebuster on the floor. A guy Young's size hitting a spinebuster on a guy Iceberg's size doesn't really work, but I'm real happy we got to see someone even try to bust up a quarter ton man's spine.