5 Minutes with Chris Hamrick

Chris Hamrick vs. Dr. Feelgood MCW 8/5/98

ER: This was so cool, and reminded me a lot of the Vic Grimes/Erin O'Grady WWF tryout match. Now, that match happened at a sold out Raw taping and this match happened in a small building in lovely Smyrna, TN, but the vibe of putting all of your coolest moments into a tight 5 gave it that spiritual tryout match feel. Hamrick's pants were resplendently tasseled, the best kind of gear for a dynamic bumper like he and I liked Dr. Feelgood's terrible gear too. I'm not sure how many official years of medical school or training that Dr. Feelgood went through, but he's got the Caduceus on his tights and the smock shirt of perhaps a phlebotomist-at-most or RN-at-likeliest, and he would have stood out as more of a bumper himself if he weren't opposite one of the all time greats. 

These two packed so much lunacy into this. Hamrick pulled out a springboard plancha and this awesome springboard stomp, hanging Feelgood over the middle rope and springboarding into that stomp, boot smacking him precisely across the face as Hamrick landed in a knee slide like he was doing a Chuck Berry guitar solo. This felt like a dance they had both perfected, and the only one who wasn't clued in on what they were doing was the cameraman. I would have been furious at this guy if I was Hamrick, as the camera kept zooming in on Hamrick and mostly missing all of his craziest moments. The camera pulls in too close on the plancha, misses half of the classic horizontal Fuerza bump to the floor, and then completely misses the somersault bump off the apron to the floor. We catch the aftermath and Hamrick holding his back, but this is an unforgivable cameraman sin. The reality is that Chris Hamrick had such unseen and unexpected bumping and offense that camera people hadn't yet caught up to what he was doing. Dr. Feelgood had some big stuff of his own, like a fucking top rope powerbomb (!), a really cool pop-up atomic drop, a doctor bomb, and a nice tilt a whirl backbreaker. Somehow the blond bombshell powerbomb is not the actual finish, but it comes back for the finish when Feelgood goes for another and Hamrick leaps off the top rope to snare him with a super rana. The leaps of faith that Chris Hamrick takes are almost unparalleled. He had such excellent form on his big moves; a man who knew how to fall in ways that nobody else could. 

Read more!

RIP Bobby Eaton Pt. 3

Bobby Eaton/Tony Halme vs. The Hellraisers (Road Warrior Hawk/Kensuke Sasaki) NJPW 6/14/93

ER: Bobby Eaton only had 30 matches in Japan, and this might be the only one we have, maybe the only document of how Japanese crowds reacted to this god. And what an all time great Odd Couple the Eaton/Halme team was! They teamed together every night of Eaton's first tour of Japan, going 12-2 as a team before getting this title match (beating everyone other than Chono/Muto). Were these two hanging out for those two weeks? Eaton teaches Halme a couple things in the ring, Halme shows him his favorite weirdo Japan spots from his 2+ years there, it's something I would certainly watch. They're a weird team, but I love the team dynamic of a skilled smooth technician and a big lummox. Halme really did come off super lummox-y here, like he was on downers or something. He was a little sluggish and kind of wandered around more than I'm used to in matches that aren't from 80s World Class. His timing seems off throughout, but Eaton is so good at covering for him and making it almost seem like part of the act, that it turns into a real charming Bobby performance. 

Eaton/Hawk had a great thread throughout, with Hawk working a more Memphis puncher style with him rather than a Road Warrior style. They have a few punch outs that are really great, Hawk clearly having some kind of bet with Eaton over who could throw a better worked right hand. I don't know the last time I saw Hawk throw right hands this often during a match, usually throwing more chops and shoulderblocks and not having stand and trade exchanges. Eaton bumped big but wasn't necessarily working this as the small man who takes all the bumps. He was working as Hawk and Sasaki's size equal, using those hooking punches as the ultimate equalizer. Match starts with a bang and a big Sasaki high rotation powerslam on Halme, and while the Eaton/Hawk stuff was my favorite (I mean sure Hawk no sells Eaton's piledriver but we also get Hawk's great fistdrop so), but Eaton/Sasaki is a fun pairing I'd never seen. Eaton takes a high backdrop bump but convincingly holds off Sasaki, throwing incredible headlock punches, putting him down with a perfect swinging neckbreaker and then drops the Alabama Jam. 

Eaton was also busy the entire match wrangling Halme, but it really gave a cool insight into his ring general capabilities. The fans really wanted to see the Hawk/Halme showdown and they were LOUD with "HALME" chants before they locked up. But there was a awkward spot where Hawk went to Irish whip Halme but Halme held on too long and just kind of got tossed sideways into the ropes, and it gets awkward getting him back to his feet in a way that isn't just "stand up and repeat this spot". Eaton recognizes it instantly and comes charging in to get in a punch out with Hawk, allowing Halme to reposition. Halme, while he was much more sluggish than I've seen him and did hardly any offense, did at least lean into big clotheslines. Eaton took some big damage down the stretch, including Hawk rocket launching him into a Sasaki powerslam AND taking the Doomsday Device, and I really hope someday I get to see another match with this weird team. 

PAS: This was a bunch of fun, I loved how Halme can just go to the body and cut off everything, but this was an Eaton master class. He felt like he was conducting the whole match, getting everyone in position and taking these huge in ring bumps to tie it together: backdrops, eating press slams, and getting doomsday deviced. He made the Hellraisers look incredible which also made Halme look great when he went toe to toe with them. That is one of the great things about Eaton, he was going to make everyone in the match go up a level when he was in there. I would also love to see more Eaton and Halme, man they would have been a fun WCW team. 

Bobby Eaton vs. Jerry Lawler Power Pro Wrestling 2/17/01

ER: The two greatest punchers in history throw down, and the punches are as great as expected. I don't think Lawler/Eaton were ever in the same place once Eaton left Memphis in the early 80s, and I love the selling point of an 18 year old grudge exploding in 3 minutes of violence. The punches in the first 10 seconds alone make this match must see, and it's more evidence that Lawler arguably sells punches even better than he delivers punches. Seeing him get rocked in the corner by Eaton right hands is seeing two legends with 100% trust. Lawler knew right where those hands were going to be when he bounced around in the corner, and Eaton knew exactly where to deliver them. The fight to the floor and Lawler blocks a post shot (I love when Lawler blocks a post shot with his hands as he always makes it look like his stiff arm straining to not go into that post) and Eaton takes the shot instead. Eaton even takes a biel on the concrete floor! 

Brian Christopher on commentary talks about Lawler being a slow starter, but not long after Lawler hits a mule kick and then the strap comes down. Lawler uses his punches to build to two Stunners, a Lawler spot I usually hate, but here I like it and it's because Bobby Eaton is really great at selling a Stunner. Brandon Baxter starts interfering, which leads to Stacy Carter crotching him on the top rope, which brings out Victoria (totally forgot Victoria was built like Leyla Hirsch in 2001), which brings out Bill Dundee. Dundee looks like The Gorch here, all that was missing was a pipe or a chain, and they set up a Dundee/Lawler/Kat vs. Eaton/Baxter/Victoria match that I can't find any record of ever happening. This was a criminally short match, the only match Eaton actually had in Power Pro, but every single interaction between he and Lawler was EXACTLY what you want. 

Bobby Eaton/Dennis Condrey vs. Southern Comfort (Tracy Smothers/Chris Hamrick) IWC 12/11/04

ER: Dennis Condrey comes out of a 15 year retirement to work some MX tags, and THAT is the kind of indy dream match that excites me. This was only the second of his comeback matches, and Condrey looks pretty good for a guy in his early 50s who hadn't wrestled since his late 30s. I also like dream matches that pair legends with veterans, not young guys. Smothers and Hamrick were already old guys on the super indy scene at this point, and I like that team against a couple old legends. The match is great, with a lot of really snug matwork that built to a hot tide turn when Chris Hamrick started his bullshit. Hamrick worked the mat well with both, doing hard wristlock takeovers and building to some cool stuff around a side headlock and a neat Condrey half Indian deathlock. There's a couple nice old Midnights double teams, the nicest a Condrey drop toehold into an Eaton jumping elbowdrop.

But match gets up-fucking-turned when Hamrick goes for a Johnny B. Badd style jumping moonsault and completely wipes out on the ropes, hanging himself disgustingly by his knee. Now, if you know Chris Hamrick - and if you know Chris Hamrick you love Chris Hamrick - your yellow lights are flashing. Hamrick is the master at taking calculated body destroying bumps-as-strategy. Hamrick intentionally blows out his knee doing a complicated rope bump and it's allllll part of the plan. It's a spot he has variations on and it's my favorite kind of southern wrestling theater. Smothers runs to Hamrick's aid, the crowd leaps to their feet thinking something went wrong, Smothers waves in people from the back, and it all takes so long that IWC opted to do a time lapse. There are four people helping untangle Hamrick's leg from the ropes while keeping him steady and not injuring him further.....and of course Hamrick then lands a superkick right under Beautiful Bobby's chin. Hamrick's face as he shrugs to the fans and to the men helping him is just part of what makes Hamrick the best at that kind of bullshit. 

Smothers goofs off a ton on offense with his karate chops and silly dancing, all while dishing out stomps to Eaton's ribs. Things swing back for the Midnights when Hamrick does another of his insane bumps, flying feet first to the concrete floor after Eaton undraped himself from the middle rope. I love how indies never expected Hamrick's biggest bumps so they always came off as shocking, closer to the reactions of Bigelow going through a ring than any modern WWE stunt fall. Condrey gets the hot tag and throws a couple nice stiff arm southpaw lariats, Eaton hits a hard lariat to send Hamrick over the top to the floor, and the flapjack gives us old man indy champions, one of the purest experiences in indy wrestling. 

Read more!

New Footage Friday: If Anyone Says Tracy Sucks Everybody is Going to Die

Tracy Smothers/Tommy Rich/Dougie Gilbert vs. Sabu/Ricky Morton/Bobby Blaze CAPW 2/11/01

MD: The first thing Smothers does in this match is berate the crowd on the mic. The second thing he does is stomp and try to get a clap going. It's beautiful stuff. This was really good stuff, actually. Blaze worked a lot of it for his side, both in the shine and as face-in-peril and he looked more than solid. Smothers did most of the heavy lifting for the heel side, stooging all over the place during the shine, including some good comedy bits and a really believable pissy fit dive set up for Sabu. The heels did what they were supposed to, cutting off the ring well. The comeback was basically all Sabu vs Smothers and they did some inventive things with a chair that seemed perfectly natural. I would have liked to see a bit more Rich and Morton but this was pretty much rose to the level of the talent and the time.

PAS: This a match with five all time greats, and we get a match built mainly around a tubby Bobby Blaze, not how I would have laid it out. We do get great moments from everyone else though, Tracy was heatseeking even while teaming with all time heatseekers like Rich and Dougie, I also loved getting to see Sabu as a hot tag which is a role he is great at, but not something he does a ton. Getting a hot tag and flinging chairs at heads is a great way to play that role. I could have used more Morton, Rich and Dougie, but that is pretty much always true. 

ER: We hate Bobby Blaze now? I don't think I could describe this match as "worked around Bobby Blaze" as it felt more like "Bobby Blaze was involved more than necessary because Ricky Morton, Doug Gilbert, and Tommy Rich looked like they didn't want to get involved in any way whatsoever". So we did get a lot of Bobby Blaze and 2001 Blaze doesn't look as good as 1998 Blaze, but I get actual laughter and enjoyment out of seeing he and Smothers work a juniors strike exchange like they were doing a weird southern old guy version of Liger/Kanemoto, ending with a Blaze rolling kappo kick. Smothers does maybe my absolute favorite bit of his, which is when he tries to start a clapping chant for himself and his clapping slows down as he realizes people aren't going along with it. Really this is the perfect kind of match to uncover and memorialize Smothers, because this match felt entirely focused on Smothers to me. He takes on Blaze and gets the match to the point where his boys are working him over, he sets up the brawl to the floor that leads to a huge Sabu dive into everyone, and then he's the one in there for the finishing stretch as Sabu runs wild. This felt like a match that Smothers was controlling front to back, and doing fun Tracy stuff all throughout. He busted me up throwing total doofus karate chops at Sabu in the corner, does little dances after getting reactions, and does all his wild eyed bumbling as hot tag Sabu is running wild on everyone, finishing with a nice triple jump moonsault. 

Tracy Smothers/Chris Hamrick vs. Eddie Kingston/Blackjack Marciano IWC 7/17/04 - GREAT

MD: Wildly different performance from the others we're watching this week. Here, Smothers plays it almost completely straight, easy and fun at times, but mostly reserved, doing what works in his role and letting Hamrick bring more flash, yes, but also letting Kingston really have all the rope he needs to get himself over. He gives him room to jaw and stooge and argue with the crowd, just giving him an effective, solid, credible straight man to help establish himself against. Kingston takes it for all its worth, constantly entertaining and fully committed to who he is, even if all of the physical smoothness wasn't fully there yet. This probably had a bit too much goofing and needed a bit more time with the heels on top but everyone had a good time with it and even in a loss, I think the heels looked better coming out of it than they came in.

PAS: It is fun to watch Tracy work straight man. He is usually such a force of personality, here he hangs back and lets Kingston take the lead. Lots of fun heel shtick from Eddie, trying to change a Go, Tracy, Go chant to a No, Tracy, No chant, flexing his flabby arm, and covering his ears. Hamrick doesn't take either of his two craziest bumps, but does hit the turnbuckle really hard with his crotch, and hits a cool springboard moonsault to the floor. We get a hot tag where Smothers breaks out his Tennessee Tae Kwon Do to take down both Wild Cards. I agree it could have used a little more straight wrestling, but it was enjoyable stuff for sure. 

ER: This was mostly an awesome Hamrick/Kingston showcase, and I am totally fine with that. Hamrick looked really vicious here (he and Kingston have a punch exchange on the floor that I wish I could have been sitting front row for) and I loved Hamrick showing off all the super athletic things he could do while Kingston showed off all the great ways he had of entertaining a crowd. I loved King getting boring chants and then just hitting a bodyslam on Tracy and a "Who's boring now!?" knowing that any other move would have gotten a bigger reaction. Hamrick had a really impressive split legged moonsault to the floor (making sure to shift his body right before landing so he landed sideways into both Wild Cards and not plow through a few fans). Hamrick is arguably the best non-Chris Hero thigh slap wrestler of our day, someone that doesn't abuse it and knows when to use it, and has the kind of perfect timing that really adds to a superkick or him kicking Marciano in the chops from the apron. There were things I didn't like: Hamrick's Indian deathlock/standing dragon sleeper took way too long to be interesting, and I wish there was a longer heat segment from the Wild Cards (I thought what we got was really good, and didn't mind so much great Hamrick action, but it would have made the match structurally more sound), but you can't much cooler with Hamrick's bananas finisher. Marciano flips into a sliced bread and Hamrick just drops him with an over shoulder seated piledriver, just a nasty explanation point to end a man. 

Tracy Smothers vs. New Jack Money Mark Productions 5/7/16

MD: When consuming a match like this you almost have to unlearn everything you've been conditioned to think about pro wrestling and look at what's before you instead of some generic star rating rubric. Smothers here (as an effective and engaging character, not as the actual person) reminded me of George C Scott in the Film Flam Man or the King and Duke from Huck Finn. Old southern confidence man, trying (and failing) to get the fans to believe in something that simply wasn't real. I've seen plenty of heels appeal to the crowd on a pull of the hair or tights that didn't happened, but it was more elemental here, weightier somehow. He started the match by conning New Jack into wrestling instead of brawling, and they wrestled like two broken down guys, maestros moving at one-sixth the proper speed. Because both of them were attuned on the same level, the go behinds and late match whips somehow managed to feel like two old wrestlers barely able to move but still operating under the norms and rules of pro-wrestling physics. None of it looked nice, but it all felt somehow valid within the broader reality they exist in. It's to Smothers credit that despite being such a legend and a character, someone everyone in that crowd knew like family, he was still able to get them so thoroughly behind New Jack.

PAS: It is pretty strange to see New Jack of all people, work a no bumps match. This reminded me a bit of 2000s Jimmy Valiant matches, where you have two pros who know all the tricks but are really fragile. New Jack retired in 2013, and while he has wrestled a handful of times since, his body is clearly broken. Tracy is a guy who is  great at coasting on shtick, although a bad house mic and questionable HH recording means we can't hear a lot of the mic work. Charming to watch, although the actual stuff in the match is pretty bad. 

Read more!

SEGUNDA CAIDA DECLARES IWA MID-SOUTH!! A Shot of Southern Comfort 5/29/04, Part 1

ER: IWA Mid-South is probably my favorite indy ever, and I have spindles filled with dvds of it. It seems crazy to not occasionally indulge in this product, which once ran so improbably frequently that there are tons of gaps in my viewing. Let's watch some of the best of the carniest. AND, I think - as always - the best way to watch, is by closing my eyes and pulling a dvd randomly out of the stack. That brings us to this show, which had some deliciously classic early-mid 2000s indy bloat: 13 matches over the course of the night, utilizing  32 DIFFERENT WRESTLERS!! 32!!! WWE barely uses more than 32 guys during the Royal Rumble PPV, but here's IWA bringing 32 different guys to some random Saturday night card in a smallish Indiana town. It's the best.

1. Danny Daniels vs. Eddie Edwards

ER: Oh jeez, Edwards has giant silver pants and his hair done in short braids, looking like the worst ever version of Roger from Sister, Sister. Go home, Eddie. But really this wasn't a bad opener. It was kept to 5 minutes and Edwards wasn't having 2.9 kickout wars at this point in his career. He hit a nice spinkick and took a nasty cross arm German suplex, Daniels stuck him with a nice piledriver that did not get kicked out of, surprising me. We did get a standing elbow exchange, how far we've come in 13 years.

2. Rain vs. Sumie Sakai

ER: This built to a pretty nice finish. Rain wasn't really that good here, but Sakai was a pro and kept the floor somewhat higher than it would have been. Rain was really poor at obviously getting into position for the next move, really making everything looked rehearsed, running into position early and just standing there motionless waiting to be attacked. Sakai takes a big sprawling bump through all the chairs, packs a huge wallop with two missile dropkicks, drops Rain with a nice hotshot,  hits one of those fast low-arcing moonsaults, throws fast suplexes, all nice stuff. It's awesome that she's still working the states.

3. Southern Comfort (Chris Hamrick/Tracy Smothers) vs. The Wild Cards (Eddie Kingston/Jack Marciano)

ER: Kingston and Marciano look like they're in a weird religious cult, their heads are shaved bald and they're wearing matching big baggy white pants, white boots and white sleeveless shirts. They look like the Yonkers chapter of the Guilty Remnant. The match was a pretty quick sprint, just 7 minutes, and really a showcase for Southern Comfort. Kingston wasn't really an established guy and was really young at this point,  and Marciano never really got established before getting retired. So we get a showcase for SC's offense, and that's a fun thing. Smothers is a great bully, and he breaks out all his leaping kicks, big chops and overhand rights, gets fired up and does a couple spears, makes great faces when Kingston spits in his face, stuff you'd expect from Smothers. Hamrick is a huge favorite of mine, I love his style, love his dangerous bumps and offense, love that he looks like the most violent Johnny Winter ever. Hamrick gets crazy height on offense and on bumps. At one point he does a missile dropkick that seems like he dropped in from the ceiling, and the end of the match is him hitting a Carolina jam onto Marciano...OFF of Kingston's shoulders (who was seated on the top rope). It was a gorgeous legdrop, dropping insanely in from 10 feet. In between all that he hits a couple big kicks, and takes a flying bump through the ropes to the floor FAR more dangerously/painfully than most people would have taken it. I would have liked current Kingston in there against 2004 Southern Comfort, but this was fun.

4. Nigel McGuiness/Chad Collyer vs. The Second City Saints (CM Punk/Colt Cabana)

ER: A good enough match, though nothing much of note happened. We get a lot of comedy matwork from Nigel and Colt, but it's not bad. I am not completely stone, so I can laugh at Colt rolling through back and forth to try to shake a wristlock. Nigel's Johnny Saint spots come off pretty clunky, but the stuff with them working a wristlock was engaging. Collyer had some fun stuff, had a nice combo with a knee drop followed by a quick elbow drop followed by a quick somersault senton. Late in the match he hits a cool dragon screw on Cabana. Best part of the match was Nigel rushing across the ring and just leveling Punk with an elbow to break up interference, and Punk went flying through the ropes to the floor (taking an even better floor bump than Hamrick the match before!). Punk whiffs on a shining wizard to end the match.

5. Havana Pitbulls (TJ Perkins/Ricky Reyes) vs. Brad Bradley/Ryan Boz

ER: This was pretty easily the best match of the card so far, to my surprise. Both Pitbulls looked good here, especially TJ (and has anyone dropped their 2017 stock more than Perkins? Still, 2004 Perkins is a welcome Rocky Romero replacement). I really liked the Boz/Perkins segments as Boz was kind of blocking Perkins' mat stuff which made all of it look more painful. Perkins grabbed him in a cravate and tried a snapmare, but Boz went straight down on his face. Perkins kept it locked on, eventually got the snapmare, all of it looked nasty. I also thought Perkins was throwing nice strikes against Bradley, but soon we move into Boz and Bradley cutting off the ring to work over TJ. It's all really satisfying, Boz comes off as a god sleaze and Bradley was kind of a green lummox at this point, a good combo. Reyes gets a quick pin as TJ planchas to the floor, and this certainly exceeded any expectations.

6. M-Dogg 20/Josh Prohibition vs. Homicide/B-Boy

ER: Hey, this was mostly really good, because Homicide and B-Boy were really great in 2004. And most of the match is an awesome mugging of M-Dogg who played an admirable FIP. We start with some flash from Prohibition and M-Dogg, including a pretty crazy springboard somersault senton from 20 that he almost lawndarts himself on (yet the late rotation seemed planned). The spot portion was fine but once we settled into the FIP portion it got real good. Homicide and B-Boy were lean and mean in 2004, no signs of those bellies that would pop up later, and they laced into 20. At one point the two of them were taking turns just running and striking him, Homicide would run in with an elbow, get out of the way, B-Boy would run in with a knee, get out of the way, Homicide runs in with a yakuza kick, etc. He gets facewashed, he gets beaten down, it's awesome. When Prohibition tags in we get a crazy train crash run with everyone hitting increasingly bigger spots (the move escalation was handled really nicely). We also learn that Prohibition was flat out terrible at getting into position for moves. He would stand there swaying and jerking around like Johnny Cage waiting to get his spine ripped out by Sub-Zero. He would rush into place early...and then stand there and sway while waiting for the move. We get a couple nasty headdrops at the very end, finishing on Prohibition getting planted vertically with the Cop Killa. Absolutely gross landing. I think he got legit knocked out, as even B-Boy was in the ring checking on him after, and his selling was...well, it was too good to be actual selling by Josh Prohibition. Homicide briefly checks on him, laughs and says "You're fine" and makes gang signs to the back.

7. Alex Shelley vs. Roderick Strong vs. Austin Aries vs. Petey Williams vs. Delirious vs. Nate Webb vs. Jimmy Jacobs

ER: This is an elimination match, and if you look at that list of 7 names and picked the guy you would want to see least...you know that was the guy who advanced the whole way through. Yep, we get alllll of the Petey Williams and he clearly looked like the worst guy in the match. I had completely blocked out just how much IWA Mid-South used Petey Williams in 2004, and how strongly pushed he was. It's like they used him before he was in TNA, so once he was on TNA they just pushed him as the top guy in the company. It looks completely absurd now, even moreso than it probably looked then. Because it sure doesn't look great now. And the thing is, everybody else in this match looked decent-to-great, with Petey looking outright bad. So let's not even waste time on Petey's stomach kicks that don't even attempt to look like a man kicking a stomach, or him needing to be lifted up two different times by the guy who was supposed to be taking a move from him, or his really bad athletic bumping that just makes it look like bumps don't hurt at all. No, no need to waste time on THAT. Let's focus on the good, because there was plenty of good here, namely Roderick Strong. This was a big time spotfest that Petey Williams occasionally slowed down, but there was way too much good for him to ruin all of it. Delirious takes the nastiest facebuster ever to get eliminated, we get a wild divetrain that peaks with Strong press slamming Jacobs from the ring and throwing him into everybody like Bigelow throwing Spike. Strong looks is all babyface and babyfat, but he's the most vicious guy in the match and looks great. Jacobs was super tiny and wasn't quite the crazy brawler he'd become, still doing some of the Brody shtick, and doing more indy goofus "I DDT this guy while bulldogging that guy!" stuff. But he bumps big and leans into stuff, and we all know how good he got not long after this. Aries flew into everything and came across like a big deal, and goth goofball Nate Webb works like Aerostar, if Aerostar had just taken a couple of mystery pills he found in his old vinyl pants. That's a good thing. This whole thing was mostly fun, would have made a great 6 way.


8. Petey Williams vs. BJ Whitmer


ER: There must be someone special out there, lookin' out for me. The winner of that 7 way got an immediate title shot against BJ Whitmer, and my dvd stuttered and labored and sputtered and skipped and sadly, right before Petey won the prior match, it just couldn't take any more, and jumped back to the menu screen. I tried - actually tried! - to get back to where I left off, but the dvd wouldn't even make it past the intros to the 7 way. It just wouldn't let me. I actually went back to see a Petey Williams match, and my dvd was all "Look man, just gimme your keys, alright? Look, I know, you're fine, just gimme your keys. Buddy, I know. No, I know. *wrests keys away, dvd forcibly rejects itself* I was going to watch Petey Williams win the IWA Mid-South Heavyweight title, but fate intervened. A regret understood by no one.

Read more!