RIP Mitch Ryder

PAS: I used to buy XCW-Midwest DVDs from Mitch Ryder in the early days of Segunda Caida. We reviewed a ton of them and it sort of established SC as the kind of place that would review a dozen XCW-Midwest shows. Ryder was a breath of fresh air in the "do a bunch of stuff" era of indy wrestling and was always good for some bumping, bleeding, and brawling.


Mitch Ryder/Todd Morton/Tarek the Great/Bull Pain vs. Ian Rotten/Mark Wolf/Tracy Smothers/Sabu IWA-MS 10/20/01

PAS: Overbooked as it gets, but totally awesome. We probably didn't need a surprise partner (although Sabu is always great in that role), a Tarek the Great face turn AND a Tracy Smothers heel turn all in one match. The Tarek turn added nothing to the match and could have been scrapped. Still everything else was great, Pain cracking Ian in the jaw with a baseball bat, Todd Morton doing two crazy cage dives (including walking the side of the cage), Sabu taking a bump off the side of the cage to the floor, and tons of blood. Ryder was mostly on the outside of the cage running interference, throwing Wolf into chairs, brawling wildly with Smothers, punching Ian in his bloody head. Finish was some classic IWA White WorldStarism. Tracy puts on the ref shirt to count Bull down, only to jump Ian, then the Bad Motherfuckers beat Ian down while the fans throw things. Corporal Robinson tries to make the save by walking the rafters to the top of the cage, Ian's wife Patti tries to hit Tracy with a stick. Total Fentanyl clinic riot which is one of the best things about IWA.

JR: When I was in college I had to take an acting class as a general requirement. I was not a strong actor but I remember I did one scene with a partner and our thought process was “if we just cause chaos the entire time, it will cover up our distinct lack of talent”. It worked well enough.

I thought about that while watching this. As a wrestling writer, I’m someone who is constantly trying to identify narrative. I legitimately can’t do that here. There is a story and it’s established well, but I think to mention it or try and define it would in some ways take away from the sheer spectacle that unfolds. Every single person in this is insane. Sabu shows up early and spends almost all of his time bumping from the cage to the floor. Tarek turns face, the sniveling henchman finally growing a spine and standing up to the abusive Bull Pain and paying the price. Pain holds court, despicable and massive from the first moment, at once the center of everything and completely separate from it all.

Almost everyone is wonderful here. Smothers gets to work his greatest hits throughout, working as a fiery babyface and then turning mid match and working as a heat magnet for the rest, trying to start a riot every step of the way. Every single person takes a bump that they absolutely regretted moments after it happened. Todd Morton did two cage dives!

Of course, we watched this in tribute to Mitch Ryder. I wouldn’t exactly call this a showcase for Ryder, but his makes the most of his moments. In some ways, it’s a good microcosm of his career as a whole: while others will certainly have more words devoted to them, more camera time thrust upon them, in the moments that Ryder was the focal point, he stood out. The door of the cage was slammed on his back and he stooged and pranced like Rick Rude after an atomic drop. In the chaos on the outside, he flung himself around. Chairs and tables and fans scattered around him. He talked trash into the camera, filling the frame with his insane, sweaty face. In short, he was a wrestler. He did everything he was supposed to do and he did it well.

ER: When somebody seeks out an "IWA Mid-South" match, this is the kind of match they have in mind. This was undistilled IWA, the kind of grimy bloody violence you want to see, and the kind of match that's impossible to pick a favorite performance. Mitch Ryder's team come out to Eruption like they are zit faced teenagers, and jump Ian's team the second they come out from the back. And from there we got a perfectly messy terror of stiff punches, crazy bumps, and high emotion. Todd Morton was a real loon, doing TWO cage dives, and it's actually amazing how quickly and easily the shortest guy in the match can scramble up to the top of a cage. Morton hits a pinpoint accurate elbowdrop off the rafters ABOVE the cage, and later hits a frog splash on Ian off the top of the cage while fully protecting Ian. Sabu runs into the chaos and every time he pops into frame he is taking a way too dangerous bump, like falling out the cage door onto his head or getting kicked off nearly the top of the cage all the way to the floor. Tracy Smothers was a big Tasmanian Devil, and two different times I had to check and make sure the tape wasn't on 2x speed. tracy was throwing impossible to block punches, the kind of punches that look much more like the punches someone would throw in a parking lot fight. He was beating people around ringside, throwing Ryder meanly into a table and big cooler, and on his way out he clearly hit a fan. Ian bled about 5 seconds into this and didn't stop, then took constant offense from 4-5 guys for the duration of the match. Ryder was the real heel personality throughout this, taking stooging bumps, yelling at the camera, getting tossed into the crowd, running interference to kick guys off the cage as they were trying to get in, orchestrating Ian getting his arm slammed in the door, and that's all important. He wasn't doing the flashy stuff in the match, but he was constantly the guy doing the important stuff to bridge the violence, to kill time with charisma until a big spot from Morton or Sabu. Glue guys are underrated and important parts of big bloody cage matches, and they don't come more underrated than Ryder.


Mitch Ryder vs. Ian Rotten IWA-MS 11/22/01

PAS: This was an old fashioned walking tall babyface match with Ian putting up half of IWA-MS against Mitch Ryder's hair. It was a fans lumberjack match and Ian is seconded by Sherri Martel. Ian Bill Watts himself all over Ryder who bumps and bleeds the way you need to in this match. Ian adds disgusting headbutts to the big punches you would normally see in this type of match, and both guys get soaked by the end. Ryder is great at finding little moments to take over control while mostly giving the fans what they want to see by bumping around. The finish felt kind of blown by the ref, which is my only beef. Finish has the BMFs and CM Punk stop the haircutting, beat up Sherri and shave Ian's head. Keeping this feud going, I am not sure about bailing on stips like this, but the BMF's are always great to watch beat people down.

JR: So the stipulation here is that if Ian loses, Ryder gets 50% of IWA-MS. Does that mean they would then book by a two person committee? I’m really interested in how this would’ve worked.

Am I alone in thinking there is something about Mitch Ryder’s face, especially when it is masked by blood, that is similar in some way to James Van Der Beek? I’m not saying Ryder looks like him per say, I’m just saying that a drunken Ryder probably at one point claimed he looked like him. Anyway, it adds to the whole effect of scumbag heartbreaker.

This match is ludicrous. Ian selects fans to be the lumberjacks, four of whom were obviously pre selected and one was a spur of the moment call because Fanin and Prazak thought it would be funny and yelled loud enough for Ian to hear them. They essentially serve no purpose after some initial lip service that Ryder is trying desperately to escape. In some ways, the early portion of this is similar to what Phil and I wrote about with Methlab BattlArts, but with Ian cast in the role of conquering babyface. Ryder is good at helping Ian project that same sense of foreboding and dread, as though a match with Rotten is always moments away from slipping completely out of control.

Ryder does well enough while on top. A match can go far on simple things when the participants know how to work the margins. Ian is great at bleeding. That may sound silly but it always looks both grotesque and sympathetic. Ryder understands where he needs to be at all times, working the cut, using the sleeper enough times where a finish would be credible but the predictable escape is warranted. While the finish here is obviously a mistake, the work before is hearty enough to still be enjoyable.

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XCW Midwest Legends of the Garden Night 2 3/4/09

XCW MIDWEST ON SEGUNDA CAIDA

Buddy Landell v. Crippler Jeff Daniels

TKG: Budro comes out looking as big as AWA era Adonis. He doesn’t bump like AWA era Adonis. He comes out in a v cut sweatshirt no knee pads and no hair dye. Daniels beats on him for a bit, Budro intercepts the brass knucks thrown in by Daniels valet and knocks Daniels out.

PAS: I have seen no kneepads Buddy Landell not take any bumps in matches that entertain me, this wasn't one of them. I think he really needs to work heel to pull that off, a face who exerts no effort just feels like a ripoff. Daniels initial rush of Budro looked good, but we are only talking a 90 second match

Tracy Smothers v Mitch Ryder (Taped Fist Match)

TKG: On night one, Smothers beat Ryder by using the wrist tape so we have the rematch as tape fist match. Fun booking. Both guys really lay it into each other and have a nasty ringside brawl. Lots of both guys trying to post the other guy only to end up posting themselves. Just a string of postings one after the other: Smothers torches his shoulder into post trying to lariat Ryder, Ryder blasts his own fist into post missing Tracy with a punch, etc. Really rewarding streetfight.

PAS: This is probably best Tracy match I have seen in years, there is some early Tracy shtick, but for the most of the match they are just laying into each other. Tracy's taped backfist is nasty looking, and I loved Ryder's Lawler style fired up punch combos. After the nastiest of postings Ryder gets busted open and really bleeds a ton which isn't very common in XCW so it felt special.

Bill Dundee v. Todd Morton

TKG: This just puts a big smile on my face and I “OOH!!” along with both guys stuff. No real toe to toe sections. You get the sense that that will come later in the series. Instead you have face moving forward heel moving back. Though a neat variation on that as you get sense that Morton wants to be on offense. Lots of really fun goofy Dundee outwitting Morton and cutting him off before Morton can get any kind of momentum. Morton is great at selling the burn from not being able to get his stuff off. Morton eventually of course does find a way to cheat to offense and has a nasty little run. I demand the rematch.

PAS: Watch all of the Memphis TV for the 80's Memphis set, Bill Dundee really came off like the king of the studio match. He was really great at work a simple entertaining match full of awesome shtick. Here he controls Morton early using all kinds of nifty little tricks, popping him in the knee on the break, holding the rope for him only to bang it into his nuts, just a ton of clever horseshit which Morton sold like a champ. When Morton finally gets the advantage his offensive run looked awesome. Totally fun studio match which would make you buy a ticket to see the Mid-South Coliseum rematch.

Shawn Cook/Cody Hawk v. Rock and Roll Express v. Tommy Rich/Doug Gilbert

TKG: So I go into this dissapointed that it isn't a straight Rich/Gilbert v RnR match. I am really digging the booking of the show where the XCW regulars go over the veterans on all of the night two matches. and you couldn't really do that without the XCW regular team. Still I don't like three way dances. Plus it's the three way tag dance where you can tag in anyone. So on paper lots of reasons to think this won't work. But they absolutely make this work. This isn’t TNA so instead of embracing the foolishness, they do lots of spots mocking the inherent stupidity of the three way structure. At some point or other each team gets one section where they are forced to work against their own partner. Each team works a comedy spot around it…Plus you get the Rock n Rolls cooperating to attack guys on apron, veteran heel team slightly not trusting each other, and the young heel team full on willing to battle against themselves. Partner forced to work against his own partner in multiperson tag is one of the goofier things in wrestling today and I really enjoyed it here as these guys really knew how to play up the spots goofiness. Ricky Morton and Doug Gilbert work a bunch of sections with each other and both look really solid. Gibson does a rolling across ring tag (rolling tag to other team on opposite side of ring) which is a really visually neat spot. For the most part though Robert Gibson and Tommy Rich are placed in role of powerhouses (the Neidharts of their teams) which isn’t really a role I associate with either guy.

PAS: Man did Dougie Gilbert look great in this match, nasty looking offense, great shitck, solid bumping. Really looked like a guy they should have brung in as a regular guy. Gilbert v. Flash and Gilbert v. Ryder would have been great. Cook and Hawk are a really solid tag team and the held down the athletic part of the match really well. Robert Gibson had a shirt on, and kind of wrestled like a guy in a shirt (although the somersault tag was great), but Ricky continues to defy father time, as he still seems to have an impressive amount of his athleticism.

Flash Flanagan v. Bull Pain

TKG: Bull Pain comes in with a limp form yesterdays beatdown and Flannigan does some heel mic work about how they should cancel the match. And then it's on. Powerhouse babyface with bad wheel is something we've all seen before. Still Bull is really great at being both a monster and vulnerable at same time. He isn't a guy who switches back and forth "Now I'm a monster" and " Now I'm vulnerable" but instead gets them both accross at same time. They do this spot midway in the match where Flannigan repeatedly distracts ref so that he can hit Bull with cruitch. Flannigan tosses his belt and ref is distracted by going to retrieve and remove, Flannigan tosses chair in ring, etc. Efectively gets over the idea of using an outside weapoin being something that needs to be hidden from ref without any real tough guy ref talking down a wrestler spots. Finish to this is a little disappointing especially since I've liked their finishes against each other before. I mean I'm not a guy who needs a long finish train but I kind of wanted one more kick out or something.

PAS: Man is Bull Pain an impressive baby face worker. For a role that he has hardly worked in his career, he is just tremendous as a tough guy gutting through an injury. Flanagan is nasty in this taking him apart, and his bumping was great, he eats a suplex and a DDT on the floor and make both look brutal. I liked the finish more then Tom did, Bull's frog splash was great looking and after his spectacular sell of the knee, it came off totally reckless, in a way that should have cost him the match. Morton running in with the baseball bat did seem a little unnecessary, but it felt like it ended about when it should have. Really good match between a pair of really good wrestlers.

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XCW Midwest Legends of the Garden 3/2/10

XCW MIDWEST ON SEGUNDA CAIDA

Knuckles and Knives v. Ted Trailer McNaler/Ricky Morton

TKG: Knucles and Knives come out in late 90s pop punk gear with white belts and black vests and guitars (with guitar straps with names on it). Trailer McNailer brings out Ricky Morton as his surprise partner. I didn’t have anything positive to say about Knuckles and Knives when I last saw them, but enjoyed Punch’s shtick (and he takes a crazy bombs away knee bump to nothing for a match this short) and Switchblade didn’t look as loose as I remembered him being. Morton looked pretty fast working opening section and hot tag. This was a lot of fun but too short to say much about.

PAS: I thought Morton looked like he was in good shape, and his execution looked good. This is a Ricky Morton tag match you wanted it to stretch out a bit, enjoy the journey. It doesn’t work nearly as well when it is cut short like this.

Real Deal Derrick Neal v. Simon Sezz

TKG: Last time we saw Derrick Neal work he was working undercard babyface. He works heel here and makes some really amusing pouting heel faces. Closer to Orndorf level pouting than Tatum pouting. He has some nice looking punches and this was fine outside of him having a bunch of really distractingly bad missed clotheslines for a guy who is using the missed clothesline a lot. I mean it wasn’t like he had just one way to throw a clothesline way over opponents head. He had a variety of ways to throw his arm out and make you go “Was that supposed to be a clothesline?”.

PAS: Yeah one of his missed clotheslines looked less like a clothesline and more like he tried to throw a fastball. Simon Sezz is pretty good at working generic babyface, although we saw less of his 2002 indy highflying and innovative offense then we normally do. I enjoyed Neal loading a boot for a basement dropkick which is an amusing 2010 variation of a old school spot.

Todd Morton v. Road Dogg

PAS: I was pretty excited about this match on paper. I have enjoyed some indy Road Dogg, and Todd Morton is pretty infallible. And for the three minutes we got it was pretty good. Still Road Dogg’s mike work was longer then the match

TKG: Yeah this was super short. Road Dog gets in his signature stuff and Bull Pain walks out to distract Morton for the rollup. This is the first XCW show where the sound is really clear on the DVD’s so we can make out all the mic work. But I’d rather see longer matches.

Dangerous Dougie Gilbert v Headliner Chris Michaels

TKG: This was being run face v face and both guys looked really good while it lasted and this really felt like it was building to go longer (with the announcer counting down time) then Michaels gets an out of nowhere pin.

PAS: Yeah this was also too short. Dougie looked really comfortable in there, and is a guy I would like to see them use more of. Still the finish of this really came out of left field. It felt less like a complete short match, then a long match which ended abruptly.

JD Maverick v Mitch Ryder

TKG: I have really disliked Maverick in the past. Last couple times I saw him I remember him working a real indy Shawn Michaels guy who did lots of elaborate self controlled bumps and flopping when he wasn’t being touched and then had really loose offense. He looked really good here. Mitch Ryder throws a series of nasty punches on Maverick in the corner where Maverick sells them standing and Maverick drops a knee really hard on Ryder and Maverick throws a bunch of mean looking strikes. Super fun fight in and out of ring which ends with Maverick slipping in to escape a ten count. Really satisfying finish that Mitch Ryder uses to set up a lumberjack match.

PAS: Yeah I thought Maverick looked really good here too. Maverick was simultaneously landing nasty punches and kicks and pulling off pussy heel. Ryder is one of the best in the world as these kind of around the arena brawls, and Maverick was right there with them.

Simon Dean v. Bull Pain

TKG: Wow Simon Dean has gotten fat. I mean he looks less like a personal trainer and more like a fat guy in sweats. And he works this entire match like he was a fat Jim Cornette. Chickenshit guy running and hiding from face, eating abuse, begging off and then getting a bunch of cheap shots in. He does one neckbreaker. Not a Novaesque pumphandle inverted neckbreaker. Just a neckbreaker. And this is the most I’ve enjoyed Nova ever. Bull Pain is a guy who is great at beating up a fat Andy Kauffman. The post match booking is reall fun and got me excited to see the follow up.

PAS: I am in shock at how much I enjoyed Simon Dean here. His pre match mike work was great, threatening to win a kids replica belt. Deciding that he wouldn’t have a title match because there was no ref, then punching the ref. He was also shockingly fun as Andy Kaufman, running, crying and cheap shotting. The whole match seemed to be setting up one thing and I liked how they did something else. A lot of time wrestling swerves sacrifice common sense for surprise, we were all expecting Chris Michaels to turn, but when Bull Pain turned instead it made sense. Plus I am amped to see Pain and Morton back together

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XCW Midwest Payback Time 10/17/09

Todd Morton v. The Real Deal Derrick Neal

TKG: It’s Todd Morton working a pretty straight opener . No heat garnering horseshit. I assume Derrick Neal is a trainee or something as this was laid out really well but Neal’s execution felt really rookie level.

PAS: Todd Morton is a tremendous wrestler, but we only got to see flashes of this here. I loved the spot where he backed Neal into the corner and mule kicked him low, and the payback spot out of the knuckle lock and bridge was cool too. Still Neal didn’t contribute much and we only got a page or two of the Morton playbook

New Age Assassin v. Platinum Chris Phoenix

PAS: Platinum Chris Phoenix (which is a god awful name) is a really thick guy who kind of looks and wrestles like an indy Brock Lesner. Assassin does a nice job bumping around for all of Phoenixes shoulder blocks and bodyslams, and sneaks in shots here and there. Phoenix was clearly pretty early in his training, but he hit a nasty finishing supelex and was an impressive specimen for indy wrestling. I think he would be pretty good as a Mitch Ryder tag partner to work the apron and come into hit big spots on the heels.

TKG: Yeah I dug this. New Age Assassin flies around for Chris Phoenix and then does the SNME face chases heel around ring till face is ambushed coming into ring. I really dug all of New Age Assassin’s cheap shot into offense moves as he never did anything that was unbelievable given the size difference, but when he was in control you totally bought him in control

Simon Sezz v. Jason Bradley

TKG: Last two matches had kind of bulky oiled up babyfaces. This one had Simon Sezz. And we are in workrate T-shirted indy wrestling territory here.I’ve really been digging Simon Sezz of late as he is a guy who works real 2002 Alex Shelley offense but works it into this really old school face/heel context without it coming off as either masturbatory moves or ironic winking. I’ve never seen Jason Bradley but he was fun as heavyset T-shirted heel vs skinny T shirted face, doing amusing stooge bumps and cutting Sezz off with big throws.

PAS: I am not sure whether Simon Sezz would stand out in Evolve, but having one guy do Evolvish offense in a fed like this kind of works. He really knows how to put 2000 ends offense in context. His fancy shit looks less Chris Sabin and more Skip Young.

Bull Pain v. Flash Flanagan

TKG: So I’ve really been enjoying title match Flash Flannigan as a guy who always has neat finishes done well. Here unfortunately the finish felt abrupt and semi blown. Everything up to the finish was amazing. Bull Pain is just a wrecking machine, and Flash is a guy who comes off tough for taking Pain’s stuff and waiting for his spots to crotch Pain against the ring post. I’ve seen lots of distract a ref spots and there is just something natural about Flash’s distract a ref spots where it feels less formula and more like the way you actually distract a cashier in a store before robbing them.

PAS: Bull Pain is one of the more believably violent guys in all of wrestling. I have seen a lot of great looking headbutts in my day, but Pain aims his forehead right at Flash’s temple and just looks debilitating. Flash fires back just as rough, and he is truly one of the best wrestlers I have ever seen at timing his comebacks, there is an awesome moment where he catches Pain with a DDT right as he is entering the ring and it is just perfectly done. It is too bad the finish was so awkward, because this was pretty close to a tremendous match

Mitch Ryder v. Chris Michaels

PAS: This was that tremendous match though. This was a feud ending falls count anywhere match, and was one of the times where XCW-Midwest reached the big time Memphis main event heights that they aim for. They start with a pretty great arena tour with both guys exchanging big shots and they climb up and down the bleachers. This is a fed full of guys with great looking right hands, but Michaels was winning the contests with some corkers. It slows down some in the middle with both guys bleeding and selling fatigue, and then they build again to a big time finish run with a bunch of spots around a steel chair. They weren’t using the chair innovatively, it was just an exclamation point to all of their shots. XCW is a fed with some questionable finishes to big matches, this finish felt like the ending of both a match and a feud. Great shit, and exactly why I watch this fed.

TKG: Yeah this was the match. This was a pretty fun card top to bottom. And this match on the top is not just the reason why you watch this fed, but pretty much the reason why you watch wrestling. They just go at it all over the arena with Ryder attacking Chris to start and then the bleacher tour with constant teases of big falls. The look on Ryder’s face when he realizes he has drawn first blood, looking at the blood on his hands and realizing where it came from, is great. The crowd is totally behind Ryder and you feel yourself chanting “Go Mitch Go” too. All of the nearfalls are really dramatic, with nothing feeling thrown away.

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XCW Midwest 2nd Anniversary Show 6/9/09

Big Texan Marc Houston v. 2 Tuff Tony

PAS: Marc Houston is a big young guy who works sort of a Stan Hansen gimmick. He isn’t Hansen, but he is pretty good with really nice clubbing forearms and power moves. Tony has been pretty hit or miss in XCW, and he was pretty hit or miss in this match as some of his stuff looked great, but some was really off. His flipping leg drop is still spectacular though.

TKG: I’ve seen Houston once before and have thus far dug what I’ve seen, His strikes look good, he has a real nice powerslam and spinebuster, and he eats stuff really well. This was an odd match in that Houston really dominated with Tony working almost charismatic Dusty calling on crowd support to fight from below.

Bull Pain v. Vito Andretti

PAS: This is set up by Bull Pain coming out on his birthday to challenge Todd Morton to a chain match, Morton then says he has to beat Vito Andretti before he gets his match. It is fine way to build a match, but it just makes me pissed off that I am not watching Bull Pain v. Todd Morton in a chain match. This was a pretty spectacular one man show, as Bull beats on Andretti with some super nasty offense, and then takes a couple of spectacular bumps, and then brutalizes him some more. Man is Bull Pain a superstar.

TKG: I think Andretti maybe a Thatcher guy but yeah this was really a one-man show. Andretti mostly is guy moving backward here constantly retreating. And you don’t blame him. Everything Pain does here looks incredible. His big bumps really are huge bumps. Pain has some amazingly nasty looking offense where you go “Holy Shit” for an amazing looking vertical suplex.

Todd Morton v Bill Dundee

TKG: I’ve seen these guys match up a bunch of times over the last year and its always a blast. Dundee tosses a chain back and forth with the audience and nails Morton in the liver with a chain shot. Morton sells getting punched in the liver with a chain like a guy who was punched in the liver with a chain. And that’s the thing, where it’s not just that both of these guys have great looking punches, and amusing ways to set up those punches. But also both of these guys are really great at selling stuff, Bill Dundee is in his late sixties and doesn’t bump as much as he once did, but he can still sell really well. And instead of adjusting to this by flopping even more, Morton sells standing. The toe to toe stuff almost comes across tougher as both sell struggling to stand instead of flying down for every punch.

PAS: Morton is a tremendous athletic bumper, but I really dug the choice he made in this match. Both guys are just cracking each other with shots and each guy is awesome at looking like they got their bell rung. Going through the Memphis set, Dundee's versatility was really at the forefront. He obviously had a huge arsenal of shitck and spots that he could run through, I loved the audience catch spot when he did it vs. the Assassin in 1982 and it was pretty sweet to see him break it out in 2009. I thought the ending did a nice job setting up the Bull Pain v. Morton chain match, but I would have liked to see this feud get a final chapter. This is an anniversery show so you expect to see some closure, but instead it felt like a Clash of Champions or a RAW setting up a PPV.

Mitch Ryder v. Chris Michaels

TKG: This starts witth a really great arena tour brawl with guys getting knocked down all over the place. For a guy who was supposedly going to retire this year due to back problems, Chris Michaels takes some insane bumps on his back. Mitch Ryder looked super sharp here as well.

PAS: This was pretty great, Chris Micheals is pretty nuts as he was the biggest bumper on the whole show, with that apparently bad back. This may have been the best I have seen Ryder's punches look as he was laying in some sweet combos. There were points of this match that looked like the end of Memphis TX death match. Ryder is really great at the all around the arena brawl too, all the slams into the doors and tables were pretty safe, but looked super nasty. Just a fun match, although this feels like a feud with legs, and they seemed to move on too quickly to other things.

Bull Pain/Jake Crist v. Sexy Shawn Cook/Cody Hawk

TKG: This is a fans get to be lumberjacks with straps match which is always an insane stipulation. I think the fans won the honor through a raffle which is helping to pay for a sick child's medical expenses. It's hard to follow mic work on hand helds. Crist's brother can't mae it so we get Bull Pain as last minute surprise partner. Cook and Hawk are really growing on me and are really great here at constantly teasing that they are going to fall out of ring. Crist as FIP does a couple of spots built around avoiding going to ground which kind of makes no sense..they eventually do the super amusing heels throw Christ to the floor only to be upset when the fan lumberjacks gently pick him back up and rol him back into ring. And really this match is made by the sheer enthusiasm and mugging of the fan lumberjacks. I am voting skinny bearded XCW fan lumberjack as my 2009 WON best non-wrestler performer. I can't think of a better second in wrestling. They actually book a heels win a fan lumberjack with straps match and the finish is just incredibly nasty and clever.

PAS: Man it still amazes me how great Bull Pain is as a charismatic babyface, here is a guy who was a terrifying heel for decades, and he turns face and he is Stone Cold Steve Austin. This was a really great match Jake Crist isn't much, but he is a perfectly fine guy getting doubled teamed by Cook and Hawk, they worked the lumberjack strap tease great and the finish was nasty. I want to second the love for the skinny fan lumberjack, he is the world best methed out Jackie Fargo.

Jamie Dundee v. Flash Flanagan

TKG: This is a fun little match that positions Flanagan as the bruiser vs. JC Ice’s quickness. Flanagan is having a pretty great run with the title. Schneider has complained about the problem with closure and finishes in XCW feuds. The thing with Flanagan is that his matches always finish in really cool ways. Not necessarily new innovative finishes. But he executes BS Mid Atlantic heel steals win finishes better than anyone else. And it’s not just the execution but also the set up. There are times where you watch a Tully match and the roll up with the tights feels like something tacked on in the end. With Flanagan the finish never feels tacked on and is always set up well. His set up and execution on these classic finishes makes them come off really fresh.

PAS: JC Ice was also really great in this match. He does a tremendous job turning his heel shtick into face shtick. His fake karate works was always such a douchebag move, I loved seeing it firing up a crowd. I did feel like this was a match missing a middle. They had excellent opening horseshit, and a cool finish, I would have liked to see more middle stuff to really make this a stand out match.

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XCW Midwest -Christmas Carnage 12/12/09

Tommy “T-Dog” Foreman v. Simon Sezz

TKG: This is really fun. I haven’t seen Simon Sezz work face in ages, but “T Dog” Foreman is kind of amusing heel. He’s pudgy white guy working light heavy boxer; comes to the ring wearing gloves and a boxing ring robe. Both guys have some nice execution and Sezz is surprisingly chipper as fired up babyface.

PAS: Foreman was wearing the exact same boxing trunks and boots that I wore when I boxed. For a guy working a 2003 Phil Schneider gimmick he took more bumps then I would have.

Kris “Sky” Walker v New Age Assassin

TKG: Over the years I have seen lots and lots of guys working indy Assassin gimmicks. It’s a role normally given to greenish young guys or older veterans whose faces are too grizzled to buy as credible without a mask. Normally you can easily tell, “that guy is green” or that “guy is really knowledgeable but can’t bump well anymore”. This was a match built around New Age Assassin working over Walker’s arm. And there was lots of neat arm work in it. At the end I really couldn’t tell if New Age Assassin is a young guy with a real huge upside, or an Crippler Jeff Daniels having an underwhelming outing.

PAS: One of the reasons I have been enjoying reviewing IWRG so much lately is that basic undercard lucha libre is a style that is can be fun no matter the talent level of the guys in it. Undercard XCW is worked for the most part in this basic Southern wrestling style which also can be enjoyable with pretty much anyone competent. I didn’t get a real sense of either guy as a wrestler, but I didn’t need to, to enjoy it.

Knuckles and Knives v. Black Diamonds

PAS: This match was also worked very much formula, all four of these guys looked bad, and when your face team was trying to run complicated sequences, the match kind of stunk. However when it broke down to the heels working over the faces it was kind of OK, when you got the hot tag it fell apart again, but still formula is something that can be done.

TKG: I don’t think the formula was able to save this. Dez Coletrain has some really big ups on his offense and did a fine job as FIP, but the execution of everything else was bad and the heels really couldn’t pull off the finish.

2 Tuff Tony v. J.D. Maverick

PAS: Maverick is a guy working a Shawn Michaels gimmick, both in look and wrestling style. He does this elaborate bumping style which is more about him then about a contest between wrestlers. It isn’t a style I particularly care for, although it works better as a pussy heel then as a babyface. Tony is a guy who has been up and down in his 2009 XCW run, he looked good here, hitting his fat guy highflying well and hitting hard (although he does almost Hayabusa himself on a quebrada). Ending was a little flat, but otherwise a fine match.

TKG: Tony has a fine guy eating stuff trying to get audience to start hand clap section here. And his stuff looked rough enough to deserve pinball bumping. For some reason they tried to do a Jerry Lynn two count roll up section which was both looked really shitty and awkward (with both guys blowing roll ups ) and was totally out of place within the context of the rest of the match. They follow up the roll ups with Too Tough Tony chopping Maverick. Those chops felt like a receipt for proposing the Malenko-Guerero section.

Mitch Ryder v. Todd Morton

PAS: This was a No DQ, Falls count anywhere match which was set up earlier in the show by Morton beating up Gerald Lowe who is the guy who runs the rec center. Their earlier 2009 match had lots of spectacular stalling and stooging by Morton. Here this was a No DQ match so it is a brawl from the bell. The first five minutes of this are as good as any wrestling I have seen this year, just Morton delivering a asskicking with Ryder having some really great babyface comebacks. Then it all goes to hell, we get a ref bump (in a no DQ match mind you) and Gerald Lowe comes in from the back and we get a big horseshit Gerald Lowecentric finish. It was like having a delicious gourmet meal that gives you diarrhea shits.

TKG: I ran a rec center for several years. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to see me as face second in main events. I could see people cheering to see me v Abby. Phil mentions how amazing Morton was in the early parts of this, but Ryder also just was awesome eating punches and splaying this way and that. Morton unleashes some nasty kicks to the Ryder's spine. Ryder tries to will himself up with the help of the crowd and Morton dances along to the crowd clapping while the announcer calls down time (five minutes), and you almost think “these guys are going to beat each other for an hour”. But in the end we don’t even get more than 8 minutes.

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XCW Midwest -November Pain 11/21/09

Mobile Homers v. Knuckles and Knives

PAS: This started as a singles match between Rudy Switchblade and Ted “The Trailer” McNailer and turns into an impromptu tag match which is an XCW booking staple. Match varied from good to bad, these guys are both OVW tag teams and parts of the match felt polished like you would expect a touring match to be, other parts felt way too sloppy for guys who train together. Ted McNailer felt like the keeper in the group as he was really fast in his offense, and stuff landed well.

TKG: I don’t know if the singles into tag is a XCW staple or just a Mobile Homers staple. The quick taggin face part felt really polished. The member of Knucles and Knives who wasn’t Rudy Switchblade seemed like he was a guy who always knew how to be in the right place and work the crowd . I also liked his run in and beat down on Mcnailer.

New Age Assassin v. “Black Diamond’ Kliff Hanger

TKG: I don’t think New Age Assassin is the same New Age Assassin we’ve seen on earlier XCW and XCW ground Xero shows ,nor do I think he is New Age Assassin Tim Renesto. He was kind of stocky and awkward. Kliff Hanger and the Assassin start this match with lots of amusing horseshit. I think they may have overdone the horseshit to the point that it became dull. The point of a cliffhanger is you don’t give away all your stuff at once, you save some of that so you have something new next time. Hanger goes up well for back bodydrops and has some nice jabs but there was a lot of the post comedy stuff which looked ugly.

PAS: For the first part of the match this was a perfectly fine King Cobra v. Dirty Rhodes comedy undercard match. They switched into their “wrestling” section, and it felt unnecessary. I think that is a big problem with current indy wrestling, guys feel like if they have stuff to do, they need to do it in every match.

Todd Morton v. Mitch Ryder

PAS: These guys had one of my favorite matches of 2008, and they bring it back in 2009 and have another super match. Morton spends the first part of the match with some world class stooging, watching Morton avoid locking up is like watching Miles Davis play the trumpet. With all the Memphis wrestling I have watched over the last couple of years, I didn’t think there was new shtick I haven’t seen, but Morton is doing some revolutionary shit. When Ryder finally catches him and unloads with his great looking punch combos it is truly satisfying. Morton transitions into asskicker, and he unloads with super nasty punches and mafia kicks, with Ryder coming right back at him. The finish was fine, with Ryder rolling up Morton after he is distracted by Gerald Lowe. Still epic finishes are what XCW is often missing, it is like watching 1980’s All Japan, matches are great, but then you get the double count out. There are plenty of great finishes in Memphis they could borrow, but they seem to only use the cheap ones.

TKG: You get the sense that Morton has an endless number of lazzi at his disposal, and almost get the impression that he never uses the same one twice. His dodge and move and bullshit at the beginning of this match didn’t feel like time killer so much as stuff that actually built up anticipation. The punch exchanges on the floor right in front of little kids were awesome: “here’s some fucking close up magic, Ricky Jay”” and it’s neat watching them move from the platform to the close up and back. Finish wasn’t epic but it was satisfying.

Flash Flanagan v 2 Tuff Tony

TKG: Too Tough Tony is in as I think a replacement for Bull Pain. There is some odd pacing to this match. Too Tough Tony is a guy who normally works a match built around walking and hitting, while Flash is a guy who does quicker exchanges. And at times it feels like the two guys are having timing issues and at other times the difference in timing feels like a cool feature. Flash starts going all out and Too Tough looks somewhat awkward as guy working at the initial pace. Flash then begins a long run after a leg take down of Tony into turnbuckle. Tony doesn’t do much from below as Flash is constantly moving. The end with the two guys going for moves off the ropes where Flash moves quickly to avoid Tony, while Tony moves more last minute I thought was real neat. And I kind of liked Tony’s soccer bicycle kick which felt plodding guy hitting hard out of nowhere (as well as move that slowed Flash down to Tony’s pace). There were other moments where it just felt awkward.

PAS: I didn’t like this as much as Tom, Flanagan has had a great run in 2009, and this was the least of it. It not only felt like the timing was off on the match, but also their spacing seemed weird, multiple times they felt like they were too close to each other to pull off the moves they were trying. Flanagan had some moments, but this wasn’t any good.

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XCW Midwest 5/5/09

Rob Fury v. Chris Michaels

TKG: I don’t know who Rob Fury is, but I think there is a guy wrestling as “Rob Fury” in every state in the country. Really had he feel of a guy who would be wrestling in ECWA tagged with Inferno Kid. He has good height on his dropkick and is able to do energetic foot stomping to get crowd behind him. But this is the kind of really impressive heel performance where you leave with no impression of the face at all.

PAS: Fury has short hair and blue trunks and really looks like a random John Paul tag partner in late 80’s Memphis. Michaels ruled in this taking a bunch of really great signature bumps, including a backflip over the top and the Waltman corner bump. Finishing super kick was awesome looking too. Fun but ultimately forgettable match.

Sexy Sean Casey v. Mitch Ryder

TKG: Sean Casey is a really generic heel in the same way that Fury was a really generic babyface. They may both be trainees. I don’t know if Ryder was working as guy working opponent below him (in wrestling hierarchy) or if that’s just what it feels like when you match up a good babyface v. generic heel. This felt like inverted version of the heel underestimates opponent type match.

PAS: I have no idea why you bring in Sexy Sean Casey when your show is being semi mained by Sexy Shawn Cook. They either have to feud, or Casey has to change his gimmick. This seemed to set up a Ryder v Michaels match, and in that sense the matches did their job. You watch Ryder work a generic heel and Michaels work a generic face, and you really want to see them against each other

Bull Pain v. Lash Gibson/Convict

TKG: I can’t make out any of the mic work which is a pain considering this is a fed filled with guys who are good on the mic. The impression I get is that Todd Morton is claiming injury so Bull Pain gets these two guys instead. Lash Gibson is a XCW trainee who I’ve seen twice before and liked. This whole show may be XCW regulars v trainees. I need to start watching the all trainee shows. I expected this to be a total disgusting ass beating. Instead it was Bull Pain beating on the trainees, followed by moments of Bull Pain being distracted by Morton or Flash Flannigan and the trainees getting in little bits of stuff. This disappointed as you kind of want it to be either more competitive or more non-competitive. This was in some in-between place and just there.

PAS: I was expecting this to be a brutal Bull Pain beating and there were moments of that, but I wanted more moments.

Shawn Cook/Cody Hawk v Irish Airborne

TKG: This went really long, maybe too long. First ten minutes of this were flashy face stuff and heel stooging, followed by Shawn Cook pulling down the top rope while one of Irish Airborne was running the ropes leading to a big bump and a FIP section. I liked the first FIP section, and then second member of Irish Airborne tagged in and got his stuff stopped for second FIP section. Heels are really good at stopping the faces from getting stuff in and have lots of nasty ways to knock a guy in his head, but second Irish Airborne guy was sloppier as FIP then first one, They go for a really cool variation of the standard Fantastics lose a match finish (Rogers has opponent in roll up and gets hit with clothesline/DDT etc). Here instead Shawn Cook goes for the clothesline only to have it ducked and fly out the ring. A couple neat spots and variations on a basic formula, neat things that I hadn’t seen before…but this got lost a couple times in it’s length.

PAS: I liked some of the flashy Irish Airborne stuff, the springboard headlock takeover was cool and I liked some of the Cook and Hawk stooging, the face catapulting the heels head into his partners nuts. However it didn’t feel like either guy had enough cool stuff for the length of the match. This was a 20+ minute match that would have been a really great 14 minute match.

L.T. Falk v. Flash Flanagan

PAS: This is a whole show kind of based around higher ranked guys wrestling lower ranked guys and this was the best of those matches. Falk is the son of Cowboy Tony Faulk and is better then anyone in Legacy. This had Flanagan rip apart Faulks leg with some really nastily applied basic offense, and Falk firing back with nice enthusiastic babyface offense. I especially liked his punch, chop combo. Falk did a bunch of really cool sells of the leg, including flipping out of a headlock and his leg collapsing under him. Pretty much a touring Ric Flair match done really well, which is always cool to see in the 21st century.

TKG: Yah a lot of this show felt like an 80s WWF Superstars episode. I got the sense that I would enjoy the battle of the underdogs between all the trainees but here for the most part I didn’t by the underdogs as being competitive. Here this really did feel like underdog hugely stepping up and you bought his enthusiasm at having this opportunity. He wasn’t going to let it go to waste. Flannigan’s leg work all looked really good and was paced well. Flannigan’s had a pretty nice year in the ring and always manages to have neat original finishes to his matches.

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XCW Midwest 8/4/09

2 Tough Tony v. Marc Houston

TKG: This is the best Two Tuff Tony has looked in XCW. Last time these two matched up Two Tuff worked like a Dustyish babyface. Here he works more like a highflying face, getting leg worked over and struggling to knock down the brawler by catching him with highspots. Houston is really good at working powerhouse stopping a highflyers comebacks. I especially liked the section where Tony was selling the leg during an Irish whip attempt which Houston reversed into a leg sweep.

PAS: This has some highs and some lows, Tony has been inconsistent in XCW but he was at his best here, he hits two big highspots, his flipping lariat and a quebrada and has impressively fast rotation on both. They also do a great out of the ring brawl with Tony holding Houston so he can be chopped by the fans, there was one old dude in the crowd who might have been a pompadoured Ron Garvin because he chopped the fuck out of Houston. Houston is a guy who I think is going to be really good, but is probably a year away. He had some great individual moves including a beautiful powerslam, and a rake to the back of Tony’s bald head. However there was a couple of moments where he looked out of place or awkward including seemingly having no idea how to eat Tony’s finisher. Still pretty good match for a rookie and I am looking forward to watching him progress.

Manbeast v. Cody Hawk

PAS: Manbeast is one half of the Mobile Homers and Hawk is one half of the XCW tag champs, so this is setting up a future tag match I assume. Hawk is a guy with a ton of amusing horseshit to fill a match, but I got no sense of Manbeast at all, he took one nice bump, but he was mostly just a guy standing around while Hawk stooged.

TKG: Hawk has added a more douchey mime spots, mimeing taking guns out and spinning them, mimeing looking for opponents head after a lariat etc. He also had an absolutely nasty double knee to opponents face and a reverse calf branding. When Manbeast did get his end run of offense it wasn’t something you wanted to see.

Revolver v. Sexy Shawn Cook

TKG: This was super short and mostly Shawn Cook flying around eating stuff. Cook is good at eating stuff and Revolver looks to be the Mobile Homer with the better execution, as he has a nice punch, a pretty dropkick and a fine suplex.

PAS: Manbeast was better as a second then in the ring, but this was basically just setting up the tag

Mobile Homers v. Cody Hawk/Sexy Shawn Cook

TKG: In theory you want your better face wrestler to work face in peril and have your lesser guy working as hot tag. But Manbeast is a guy who can eat stuff while Revolver has nice offense. Using Manbeast as hot tag just messed this up. I did like all the leg work on Revolver and Manbeast did have amusing overacting begging to get into ring. But yeah…

PAS: I think I liked this more then Tom, Hawk and Cook are good enough at heel shtick that they can work an entertaining match with pretty much any face tag team. Still after the long Irish Airborne series and now this series I really want to see the level they could get against a really good pair of faces. PG-13 v. Hawk and Cook could be awesome.

Chris Michaels v. Mitch Ryder

PAS: Ryder is having a hell of year. This is another in the line of great 2009 Mitch Ryder brawls. Both guys really had a toe to toe fight, not a lot of fancy moves, but great looking punches and kicks. Michaels is a guy who was supposed to have retired because of a bad back, but he was flying around the ring here. The mikework was hard to hear, but it appeared they had a really hot angle with Morton, Cook, Hawk and Michaels beating Ryder while the screamed and intimidated his mother and son. Very cool shit and got me excited to see Ryder get his revenge.

TKG: Yeah there were points where I thought the stressof promoting was going to prematurely age Ryder. But he looked especially sharp and youthful here. His opening floor brawling really made this feel like a fight. Ryder controlled a lot of this match and for a guy who has been working second from the top type feuds this year looked like a guy you want to see in title contention.

Wolfie D v. Chase Stevens

TKG: Wolfie D looks to be off the roids since TNA, while Stevens looks even more gassed up XCW keeps on brining in Chase Stevens and Andy Douglas to work singles matches and watching this made me really want to see PG-13 v Naturals or Stevens/Cassidey O Reilly. Stevens works heel here and does lots of jawing with the crowd and stalling to begin…backing Wolfie D into corner punching him and then running out of ring. Wolfie D takes pretty big bumps and the payoffs for all the stalling are really rewarding.

PAS: This match goes maybe 10 minutes before anything really happens, however I would rather watch someone stall well then watch people do stuff poorly. Wolfie just flies out of the ring with his bumps, and the crowd was pretty hot by the end mainly because Stevens enraged the crowd.

Bull Pain v. Todd Morton

TKG: This was awesome. This was a chain match worked dog collar style (instead of touching corner they are guys just tied together by chain). The two just beat on each other with Morton unable to escape. The two brawl in the ring and then go to the floor where Morton takes a huge bump where he gets thrown into a garage door. They brawl on the floor till Morton ties Pain to the post and beats on him. Morton takes a huge piledriver on top of the chain and then the booking comes in.

PAS: This was the culmination of this feud and was the closet we have gotten to a match that lived up to the potential of the match up. The brawling in the crowd was pretty amazing, Morton was taking some nutty bumps, including flying into the garage door. Bull Pain threw on of the nastiest snap suplexes I have ever seen right on the floor. Morton has done a lot of really great stooging matches this year, but he is deadly serious and violent here. The match was a finish away from being a real match of the year candidate. . It is a booking problem I have noticed before in XCW. Sometimes they seem so intent on setting up the next show, that the matches on the current show seem to be backdrops. They have been running the Pain v. Morton feud off and on for almost a year, but we got no closure to it, they just moved right into the next feud. I don’t see any reason why this couldn’t have had another 10 minutes and a finish and then run the angle. Still well worth watching and a hell of a match.

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XCW Midwest Legends of the Garden Night 1 3/3/09

TKG: Pre-show Bill Dundee comes out to do some mic work only to be interrupted by Todd Morton, Shawn Cook and Cody Hawke. Todd Morton demands respect and Dundee reaches out to turn Morton's backward hat frontward. Dundee goes to walk away and is jumped from behind. Bull Pain comes out for the save. I'm going to start turning guys hats around when collar popped backward capped idiots buck at me at in bars. Unfortunately I like to drink alone and don't expect anyone to come in for the save.

PAS: I really don't get why you would run in to save a guy who cuckolded you, but I am glad that Bull and Bill have put their differences behind them.

Robbie Ellis v. Crippler Jeff Daniels

TKG: Ellis at this point looks like a less athletic Danny Kaye. I'm not sure why Ellis is a legend of the Garden, but I'll go with it. They work a roughneck brawler v highflyer with Ellis as your 64 year old highflyer, Ellis is pretty fun working a bunch of old guy highflying including an insane second rope to the floor plancha and a really nice headscissor take over. Jeff Daniels has a bunch of nasty ways to hit an old man and is damn good at selling in a way to make the highflying credible.

PAS: For worker in his mid 60's Ellis isn't as effortless as Dundee or Saint but he hits his stuff really well. Daniels was really great at credibly being thrown around by a really old guy, which isn't easy to do. Great looking elbow drop which looked rude on your Grandpa. There was one blown backdrop which looked like Daniels was going to die, but otherwise a really fun opener.

Tracy Smothers v. Mitch Ryder

TKG: This is a family show and Smothers is a professional, instead of giving the crowd the finger he keeps on giving them the pinkee. He wields his pinkee with such conviction that it actually comes off really crass. They start with a bunch of Tracy stalls and working of the ref before unleashing the bombs in the corner. Tracy chokes Ryder with wrist tape behind the refs backagain and again and eventually pegs Ryder with the roll of tape.

PAS: When Tracy Smothers does his stalling and heel stuff in other feds it comes off as more crowd pleasing ironic heel. Here it does what it is designed to do, piss off the crowd and get them more behind the babyface. I really liked how Smothers used the tape to set up the next nights taped fist match. The booking of the whole show was like a Clash of Champions to set up the next nights Great American Bash, and they did an awesome job of making me want to buy the Bash.

Bull Pain v. Todd Morton

TKG: So I really enjoyed this matchup on the Rollin Hard tribute show but that was a match for Roland, his family and friends and about Roland's kids. This was just these two going at it. Bull Pain is a guy whose offense looks devastating and Todd Morton is a guy who will eat stuff spectacularly well. But in the midst of the Bull Pain run of offense, Todd Morton is able to pull off a nasty chop block. And DAMN can Todd Morton take apart a guy's leg. They do the spot where Pain's leg is draped over the bottom rope and Todd Morton jumps on it, and I've never seen that spot look as nasty. Todd Morton just wrecks havoc on Pain's leg while Pain does real bad ass job of selling being on one wheel. Pain struggles on the floor to get a chair to protect himself and no one wields a chair like Bull Pain. You knew there would be outside interference, but this was Finlay/Booker/Benoit TV title more "outside distraction" setting up finish than actual "interference". I want to see these two guys wrestle an endless series.

PAS: This was tremendous, Morton is as good at working a leg as anyone you have ever seen, and I am pretty amazed at how good Bull Pain is as a sympathetic babyface. Morton is really great here pulling off the switch from stooge to killer which is the true measure of a great heel, it was something Arn Anderson was masterful at and Morton is as good. As good as this match was though, it still felt like a backdrop setting up Morton v. Dundee. This was the right match to work for that role, but I still need to see these two in a main event match where they can really deliver a Match of the Year. It seems like the XCW booking is building towards it, and I am confident if it happens it will be epic.

Sexy Shawn Cook/Cody Hawk v. Irish Airborne

TKG: I haven't liked the Airborne much in the past but they were fine here. There earl tandem-ish face quick tag stuff worked in the context of guys doing quick tags. This was also helped by Cook and Hawke being guys who do a real nice job with the buffoonish eating of the quick tag stuff. The quick tag face section was longer than it tends to be these days. I don't get the sense that the darker haired guy is that good at working face in peril. But it was a well set up FIP section with big bump and big floor move and the darker hair Airborne guy does a great job of selling a sleeper like a guy about to legit pass out. The lighter haired Airborne isn't very good as a hot tag guy. But these two are guys who normally are really problematic as they tend to try to work scramble tag BS when its out of place. They for the most part avoided giving in to their scramble tag tendencies. The were perfectly fine and I dug this matchup. This was a good show top to bottom. Post match Cook and Hawk attack with Morton and Gibson coming out for the save.

PAS: I didn't go into this w high expectations, but ended up really enjoying it. Irish Airborne had previously struck me as guys from the Fantastics/SAT's school of babyface tag wrestling where the focus would be on the fancy moves and double teams they could pull off. I always preferred the Rock and Roll Express style, where the focus is on fighting back against the heels taking a beating and showing heart. In this match they worked more R+R's then Fantastics and it was by far the most I have enjoyed them (although this match did have the same face rolls up the heel, second heel superkicks the face finish of ever Fantastics match of the 1980s). Cook and Hawk are a solid heel team, the kind of guys who could have made a nice living in the 1980's running through this match against local pretty boys from coast to coast. The quality of this kind of match depends on the blowjob team and Airborne were more Mason Dixon Connection then New Fabs, but that is still plenty good enough for me.

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XCW Midwest Rollin Hard Memorial Show 2/3/09

Suicide Kid v. Drake Younger v. American Kickboxer

PAS: Fine little five minute three way, a couple of awkward spots, but Kid and Kickboxer looked pretty good for a pair of guys who don’t really wrestle regularly. Kickboxer had an especially pretty flipping asai.

TKG: About two years ago Suicide Kid was doing commentary for a couple IWA-MS matches and mentioned that he was thinking about a come back no longer as Suicide Kid but now as a more seasoned Suicide Man. He comes out to a big pop and has nice baby charisma but he is no longer a baby, he is a man and eats the pin from the new generation in Drake Younger.

J Boy Allister Fear, Guido Andretti v Ian Rotten, Chris Champion, Mickie Knuckles

TKG: About a year ago Chris Champion had a stroke. Chris Champion is currently working some sort of almost AAA style middle aged Marilyn Manson gimmick. He comes out wearing white face paint and a fascist military uniform with an iron cross insignia, waving the old Wildside Skull and Crossbones flag while carrying a Misfits lunchbox. Inside the Misfits lunchbox are chemicals which he mixes up to blow fireballs. Before Champion had his stroke the joke I used to tell was that for a drugged up tatted charismatic guy with martial arts offense and goth gimmick, Vampiro was a poor man’s Chris Champion. Post stroke for a charismatic tatted up ex druggie with martial arts offense and a AAA type gimmick Chris Champion essentially is Vampiro. This was a fun lil match. I haven’t seen Fear in ages, Ardetti is a XCW regular and I’ve never seen J Boy before but he really did the bulk of stuff for his team. Post match Ian with heartfelt speech about Roland.

PAS: This was a showcase for the faces, and they all looked great. Ian has an awesome Buddy Landell elbow drop here, and Mickie throws some nasty headbutts. I enjoyed all of the heels bumping and talking shit. Ian is really great at emotional speechmaking.

Sexy Shawn Cook v “Mean” Mitch Page

TKG: Mean Mitch Page is a guy who I think is retired but doesn’t look the least bit rusty in the last two matches I’ve seen with him (Mean and Hard v Vulgar Display of Power and this one). His stuff looks really great and he eats Cook’s stuff really well with his legs going al wobbly in neat ways. Mitch Ryder should try to get him out of retirement and run Mitch Page v Freezer Thompson series. Page/Thompson v Hawk/Cook would also rule. Page and a young babyface partner. I want Mean Mitch Page as a regular.

PAS: This was pretty short but Page did look good. His strengths are clearly the kind of brawls which you wouldn’t do on a tribute show. I was pleasantly surprised how good he was in this kind of undercard face v. heel match.

Mitch Ryder v Tracy Smothers

PAS: This is a show with no great match, but where everything was totally satisfying. Tracey Smothers does his classic shtick, and does it well. Ryder looks good, has the crowd behind him and works well around Tracey being Tracey. I imagine they have a great match in them, this wasn’t it but it was a blast

TKG: Smothers comes out and announces that he loves Roland but hates these fans and we’re off. Smothers with a bunch of nasty combinations in the corner and a match that just puts a smile on your face.

Flash Flanagan v. Chris Michaels

PAS: This was for the title and was worked like a title match. Both guys have been in very good matches on previous XCW shows, but always as the solid hand against a guy with some flash. This was technically good, but a little dry. Flanagan really looked facially like Curt Henning which isn't something I noticed before. Good match with a fun finish, but not a top ten XCW match

TKG: Flanagan eats everything in this really really well. This starts really great and is a fine showcase match. The superplex into roll up finish was executed better than usual.

Bull Pain v. Todd Morton

PAS: These are my two favorite guys in this promotion, and two of the best wrestlers in the world. I imagine that this feud will produce one of my top matches of 2009, and I am going to want to see them all. This wasn't that kind of match, but man was it a total blast. Morton comes out with Sexy Shawn Cook so Bull calls to the back and brings out Little Roland and Crackbaby to even the score. Whole match was Morton and Cook with really nasty cheap shots leading to a Crackbaby low blow and a little Roland shot with the Kill Whitey sign for the pin. Really great moment and so much more heartfelt and classy then your WWE tribute show shtick.

TKG: This was being reffed by Mitch Page with Roland’s kids as Bull’s seconds, and so I was expecting more fun than “classics”. Still the wrestling was really good with lots of neat uses for Brother Pain. Bull is shockingly effective face. But this was a match about the kids. That’s what the whole show was about. On some level I’m used to wrestling memorial/tribute shows as being classless and really exploitative. This show wasn’t that. It really felt like a bunch of guys getting together to entertain two kids whose dad had just passed. Those kids coming out for the main event to take out Todd Morton was really sweet. There was something ridiculously gentle and sweet about the whole show.

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Phil's Ongoing 2008 MOTY List

1. Blue Panther v. Villano V CMLL 9/19
2. Yuki Ishikawa + Alexander Otsuka + Munenori Sawa v Daisuke Ikeda + Katsumi Usuda + Super Tiger II BattlArts 7/26
3. Mitch Ryder v. Todd Morton XCW-Midwest 11/4
4. Jimmy Jacobs v. B.J. Whitmer IWA-MS 3/1
5. Floyd Mayweather v. Big Show WWE 3/30
6. Mike Quakenbush v. Johnny Saint WXW 3/8
7. Teddy Hart v. Eddie Kingston v. Homicide JAPW 1/19
8. Yuki Ishikawa v. Carl Greco BattlArts 6/1
9. Necro Butcher v. Sami Callihan IWA-MS 10/4
10. Rey Cometa/Pegasso/Freelance vs Los Oficiales IWRG 10/17
11. Bull Pain/Todd Morton v. Jerry Lawler/Chris Michaels XCW-Midwest 8/9
12. Mystico De La Juarez/Silver King/Rubi Gardenia v. Cassandro/Magno/El Hijo Del Santo Lucha Libre London 12/9
13. Necro Butcher v. Predator IGF 6/23
14. Necro Butcher v. 2 Cold Scorpio IWA-MS 8//17
15. Low-Ki v. Chris Hero PWG 11/2
16. Blue Panther v. Atlantis CMLL 7/11
17. Blue Panther v. Villano V CMLL 9/29
18. Meiko Satomura v. Aja Kong SENDAI 10/26
19. Yuki Ishikawa v. Alexander Otsuka RJPW 6/18
20. Mitsuhara Misawa v. Takeshi Morishima NOAH 3/2
21. Bryan Danielson v. Nigel McGuiness ROH 2/23
22. Erick Stevens v. Roderick Strong FIP 2/8
23. Trik Davis v. Sami Callihan IWA-MS 8/17
24. Hayato Jr. Fujita v. Yoshitune MPRO 12/12
25. Evan Bourne v. Chavo Guererro WWE 10/14



Previously on the List

Nigel McGuiness v. Austin Aries ROH 3/28
Shawn Michaels v. Ric Flair WWE 3/30
Finlay v. JBL WWE 3/30
El Valiente + El Hijo Del Fantasma + La Mascara v. La Sombra + Volador Jr. + Sagrado CMLL 4/30
Finlay v. Chuck Palumbo WWE 5/20
Blue Panther v. Averno CMLL 11/4

3. Mitch Ryder v. Todd Morton XCW-Midwest 11/4

This was the main event of the first night of the XCW Best of the Midwest tourney with the winner facing Jerry Lawler. In honor of the King, Morton and Ryder do a hell of a job approximating a classic Mid-South Coliseum main event. Ryder is hugely over in New Albany and does a fine job as a poor man’s Lawler, taking a big beating and firing back with some awesomely timed comebacks. Morton is in the Bill Dundee role, and is Dundee level awesome. Super bumping (Morton may take the greatest clothesline bump in wrestling history), great looking cheating, and vicious looking offense. Morton doesn’t do a lot of fancy things, but everything he does is executed perfectly. I loved how Morton kept cutting off all of Ryder’s comebacks, Mitch would get rolling and Todd would sneak in a quick jab or a thumb to the eye, so when Ryder finally gets on a roll the crowd is losing it. You also have Bull Pain on the outside showing the thousand different ways he has to hit someone with a bat. This was CWA wrestling done by two guys raised on the style and it delivered everything you would want. This would finish top 20 on my Memphis ballot if it happened in 1983 and I am so glad that this kind of match is still happening.

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XCW Midwest Legends of the Garden 3/4/08

ER: EricR
PAS: Phil Schneider

ER:Phil was in town visiting his parents, and we were able to get together to watch some wrestling. Phil recently sent "good faith" money to a wrestler, which is as bold a move as I've ever heard. However, Mitch Ryder turned out to be a good egg and sent him some XCW-Midwest shows, currently one of the most consistently entertaining indies around. This was a Legends of the Louisville Garden reunion-style card.

PAS: Eric is always a good dude to watch wrestling with, and his way out of his league girlfriend always brings tasty home made bread. Still shocked that my money wasn’t just stolen, and I am so amped that I can follow XCW-Midwest regularly, cause damn are they awesome.

Bunkhouse Buck vs. Cowboy Budd Ellis

ER: First off, Buck looked EXACTLY as you remember him from a WCW Saturday Night episode from 10 years ago. Cowboy Budd Ellis had more baby oil on his body than anybody I've ever seen working a Cowboy gimmick. Not sure if they meant the graphic to read "Midnight Cowboy" Budd Ellis, but it should have. The match itself was fun, with Buck looking really great. Ellis tried for awhile to do some legwork, which basically looked like Budd cuddling Buck's leg. Buck's offense was really great, with a fist drop from a kneeling position and some nasty stomps to the face. Cowboy takes some rad untrained Vince McMahon-esque bumps, not quite mastering the flat back bump but instead approximating a "base of spine bump". His over the top bumps to the floor are truly a marvel. Inexplicably, Budd goes over here.

PAS: Those over the top bumps were really something, the best bumps are often referred to as “reckless.” Ellis’s bumps were the most cautious I have ever seen, he bumped to the floor like he was navigating his way down a steep hill. I am not sure why Buck was working as Bunkhouse Buck on a Legends of the Garden show, clearly Jimmy Golden was the Garden Legend. Bill Dundee wasn’t working as Sir William. Buck did look really great though, it is really bizarre how little he has aged, he is 58 years old and has been wrestling since the 60’s, but easily could show up on TV today working as Bunkhouse Buck and no one would bat an eye.

2 Tuff Tony vs. Andy Douglas

ER: Not sure what association they have with the Garden, but....this match wasn't very good. Andy Douglas was quite content to do minutes of arm work on the arm that Tony had no interest in using anyway, so Tony did some OK punches with his normal arm and this went like 10 minutes. Ending was actually quite spectacular, with Tony hitting a painfully accurate somersault guillotine legdrop off the top rope.....but then Douglas no sells and they go right into a botched powder to the eyes finish.

PAS: I am not sure why XCW only books one Natural at a time, and always as singles wrestlers, it just doesn’t seem like a good use of what they can deliver. This was pretty disappointing, I like both guys a bunch, but they never got it together here. There are ways to use both guys well, Naturals v. Eaton/Smothers, or Morton/Pain would be great, as would Tony as a tag partner for a face Bull Pain, but random throwaway undercard singles was sort of useless.

Bobby Eaton & Tracy Smothers vs. Ricky Morton & LT Falk

ER: This was really really good. Morton has gotten extremely nutty in his old age. He hit a great hurracanrana here and a punch of great punches and was just flying around the ring. Smothers really put on a show with awesome stooging, some great slip on a banana peel bumps, and cool matwork. Eaton threw some not-shockingly great punches. His shots to the body were especially awesome. Really laying in some great combos. Falk was a nice surprise, too. He really was the perfect spunky babyface to play off Smothers/Eaton.

PAS: I remember Eaton looking pretty done in 2005. During your nostalgia MX reunion tour he would look like the least guy in every match. Well something changed as he looked like Bobby Eaton here, wasn’t a huge bump freak, but all of his small stuff looked great. Morton is as ageless as Buck, Smothers was a blast too, I loved the baseball slide through the corner to break the ten count, great stoogey spot. LT Falk is apparently the son of Tony Falk which is one of the more awesome conceptual second generation guys. I would love to see JC Ice as Orton mike worker of a Legacy stable of J.T. Falk, Dylan Eaton and “3G” Eric Wayne.

Doug Gilbert vs. Mitch Ryder

ER: I actually don't remember much about this. Dougie riled up the crowd beforehand and Ryder is always good on the stick. Both had a perfectly fine match....but I remember little...

PAS: Mike work was the best part of this, Dougie was very chinklocky

Todd Morton, Bull Pain, & Chris Michaels vs. Bill Dundee & PG-13

ER: This match was pretty great and held up even better upon rewatch. Morton is one of the best workers in the world. He gets amazing height on dropkicks and backdrops, throws incredible punches, plays to the crowd in a great subtle way, works great from the apron, eats hot tag offense great....basically does everything great. Bull Pain is one of the most physically intimidating dudes in wrestling, and Michaels has become quite the high quality worker since his WWE developmental days. This was the best Jaime Dundee has looked (wrestling-wise) in the last few years, Wolfie D looked about as good as you would expect the best guy in TNA 6 years ago to look, and Bill is not quite as good as Lawler in XCW, but good nonetheless. Morton needs to be signed by NJPW, thrown under a mask, and then they can watch him revitalize juniors wrestling, and wrestling in general.

PAS: Yeah this was a load of fun. There is this great spot where Jamie Dundee taunts Bull Pain into an arm wrestling contest with Bill, and of course when Bill drops down, Superstar kicks him, while Jamie looks on with pride . It was a really heartwarming moment, Tomk started singing Cats in the Cradle. I completely second everything Eric had to say about Todd Morton, he really is incredible, he takes maybe the best spinning clothesline bump I have ever seen. Even with Morton’s awesomeness, this was the Jamie Dundee show, taunting, shticking, bumping, he really came off like a total superstar, this the best non Springer performance by Jamie in years.

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