Found Footage Friday: IWA MID-SOUTH IN THE YEAR 2000~!

IWA Mid-South A King Is Crowned 7/15/00 

Jayden Draigo vs. BJ Whitmer

MD: Draigo was billed from being from the Michaels academy (and I think he actually was but that would have been a great heel indy gimmick back in 2000). Whitmer is Whitmer, and was billed as being trained by Thatcher. He had pleather pants. Draigo was all but falling out of his. And this was a pretty ok opening match for this sort of thing honestly. Technical to start. Whitmer got the advantage. Draigo took over by kicking the rope after he ran around the ring and got chanted at and chased. A lot of his offense was approprtiate to his size and he didn't overreach. They didn't let a Whitmer hope spot (German out of the corner, bridging) sink in enough, but the comeback was just blocked punches and firing up. Whitmer missed a top rope splash and Draigo got him with the Superkick (see, it would have worked if it didn't piss off actual people in the industry) for maybe the surprising win. 

ER: Draigo is from the Shawn Michaels Wrestling Academy. A girl in the crowd tells him He Sucks Shawn Michaels dick and that He Goes to Shawn Michaels Dick Sucking Academy. By the midway point of the match she convinces the entire crowd that he definitely learned to suck dick at Shawn Michaels' Academy. She knew she was right and convinced an entire small town. BJ Whitmer had okay punches when he had sideburns. Nice backbreaker too, fast snap suplex, and I liked his big missed diving headbutt. 

Nathan Future vs. Prophet Daniel Quinn

MD: We've moved on to the cargo pants portion of the show. This was kind of effective for what they were trying to do and I'm not sure I've ever exactly seen this done like this? Future came out first and Quinn just rushed in out of nowhere and hit a spin wheel kick and kept on him like it was a sprint. He hit a dive, then triple suplexes (last one a Fisherman) and went up top. Harry Palmer, who would have a 2/3 falls match later in the night ran out to get the match thrown out. He powerbombed Quinn and they looked a bit too hard for a chair, finding one and shattering the arm with it before people came out to run them off. It theoretically got some more heat on Palmer for later in the show while having Quinn look like a worldbeater in the span of a minute or so.  

ER: Daniel Quinn looks like a malnourished kid in Gummo with knee pads too big for his 135 pound frame and has clearly watched a lot of Benoit footage. I'd say half a dozen people on this card want to be Benoit and that is the most 2000 thing about indy wrestling (outside of the entrance music). Quinn looked straight out the Yard and that's how these openers should be, and I was genuinely impressed by the local following he had attained. People were really getting behind him like a small regional babyface despite (because?) being a teenager who came straight from school and wore someone else's kneepads. Future took a nice bumped getting shoved into the ringpost and Harry Palmer came off very unlikeable in his interference. 

IWA-MS Light Heavyweight Title: The Suicide Kid (c) vs. Paul E. Smooth w/ Dave Prazak 

MD: Smooth and Prazak did some pre-match talking. Smooth was doing the timely Britney's boyfriend gimmick with a bathrobe and her on his shirt. It's not as fun as the contemporaneous Aron Stevens gimmick in New England where he'd come out with a stand up of Britney, but it drew the sort of chants they were looking for. Kid slapped hands on the way in, big smile on his face, and he was over.

I would have really enjoyed this in 2000 but I was 15 years younger. Kid was confident in what he was doing, had a pretty measured way of doing things. They wore their influences on their sleeves (like a Stan Lane Crane Kick shove over). Smooth got an early advantage but Kid came back with the back handspring elbow. He controlled (with the triple suplexes, last one a fisherman's so no agenting here of course!) until Prazak got involved. Smooth controlled for a bit. Kid came back with so, so many moves, some ridiculous, some sublime (someone should steal his bit where he runs at a seated opponent in the corner, presses off with his feet on their chest and hits a headbutt to the groin). Prazak got involved again as some other guys ran out, Kid finally got him but got killed by the interference and lost the belt (Smooth made sure to lay his head on the groin for the pin for maximum homophobic 2000 heat). Anyway, Kid was very good at what he did even if what he did only made sense in a specific time and place.

ER: This ruled. Smooth talks about Britney Spears' titties and says someone here has an even better pair, calling out some poor kid who was nowhere near the fattest kid there but had no doubt called him a Hard F a couple dozen times. Smooth says he doesn't suck dick but would suck on that kid's big titties because this was 2000 Indiana and there are entire other worlds out there north of Kentucky. Suicide Kid comes out to Bawitaba which brings us to the edge of midwest indy nirvana after already hearing Closer and Dragula. When we inevitably get Last Resort we will have reached nirvana. 

Richard X and Hy-Zaya w/ Uncle Honkey vs. Kid Trailer Park and Colt Cabana

MD: What to say about this one. Well, hopefully Eric is in with me on this because he can write about Uncle Honkey better than I can. There was probably money in that gimmick in some place at some time even if it wasn't necessarily this place and time. I'll leave it at that. There were a lot of big ideas on offense, especially from Hy-Zaya and Richard X. I wouldn't say a single one of them hit clean but that was a quarter of the charm.

The flip side of that was that Colt looked great. Just poised and professional in contrast. He was obviously watching a bunch of tape and did a number of things but they were just a little more grounded than everyone else and even the chain wrestling looked very good. He looked like a real ringer in the midst of all of this, even if he lost it due to Honkey distracting the ref and interference dragging him down. 

Adam Gooch vs. American Kickboxer

MD: Hey, it's DVDVR favorite American Kickboxer. This had a fun little quirk where Hy-Zaya and Richard ran out after the first or second exchange, only to get run off. Then they came back when both guys were in bad shape and took out Kickboxer while Gooch was on the outside. That led Gooch to winning. Post match they made up only for Uncle Honkey to smash Kickboxer for a stretcher job. All of this set up future shows. 

The match itself was best when they were doing the stand up striking and Kickboxer was driving things. Gooch had some perfectly fine offense of the time but it felt novel and different and stood out on the card when they were throwing shots and they did a decent enough job at it. It was the same with some of the wrestling and precision stuff Colt had been doing, just in how it stood out. At one point Kickboxer did a flippy groin kick in the corner that didn't fit the match and wasn't really sold well but it was over. They did a good job clapping the crowd up and keeping them engaged too. I did think the heels running back out a second time was a clever bit, done once at least. 

Best 2-Out-Of-3 Falls: Harry Palmer w/ Nathan Future vs. Cash Flo

MD: I got a kick out of this. Cash Flo is on Tulsa King now. Good for him. This was pretty minimalist, not necessarily in what they did but in how much they did and while I have no idea why it had to be 2/3 falls, as the first two were short and the last one ended in bullshit before long, it was still fun. Palmer stalled to start, and then stalled some more, and then got beat on and ran off, so this was all working for me. He came back with sunflower seeds or something and did a bit of spitting them into Flo's face, incensing him and leading to him getting caught and hit with a blockbuster. That was the first fall.

Flo came right back and brought a couple of chairs in. Palmer ambushed him and took over and set them up and I swear he was going to do a standing 'rana onto them which is such a ridiculous notion, but obviously Flo power bombed him onto the chairs. That was the second fall. Then the third fall had the ref knocked out and Palmer use a weapon and really there's been a lot of BS in this show but it's a sign of the times. Anyway Quinn from earlier in the night ran out (at least I think it was him) and they presumably they set up a tag for the future or something. 

IWA-MS Heavyweight Title: Fans Bring The Weapons Death Match: Rollin' Hard (c) vs. Corporal Robinson 

MD: The biggest takeaway I had from this was how organic and alive it felt just because it was unpredictable. Some of that was how both wrestlers weren't supposed to wrestle each other but other people but it worked out this way, but it's mostly the gimmick. You can't prepare for whatever people in the crowd bring so you have to think on the fly and it's incredibly refreshing in a world of carefully planned spots. 

 

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R.I.P. IWA-MS, 2/8/03

PAS: To memorialize IWA-MS, a promotion which has provided entertaining shows for over a decade, we are going to review some random shows over the next couple of weeks, after which I imagine the promotion will be back in business.

Shark Boy v. Vortex

PAS: Vortex was accompanied by American Kickboxer who trained him. This match was mostly built around an apparent Shark Boy v. the ref feud, and ended with a restart fast count bullshit finish. Vortex had some impressive athletic spots for an unathletic looking dude, but definitely looked a little rookieish in his other stuff. It was good to see the crazy old dude smoking a pipe though.

ER: Vortex had some pretty OK looking stuff here, and I was fully expecting sub pretty OK. Good to see American Kickboxer coming out and talking shit while wearing a full-on all over print button up Gundam shirt. If you can still sound credible starting shit while supporting Mobile Suit Gundam then more power to you. And that old man's pipe was full on Hans Landa size, just puffing away in the front row.

In between matches saw Todd Morton work the STICK and it was great. He cut a genuinely threatening promo, really intense and hate-filled. What doesn't this guy do? Dave Prazak tries his best to make lame jokes over it man I hate that guy.

Mark Wolf v. KO

PAS: KO was a legit Scottish Games competitor who was green as grass but probably a better athlete then pretty much anyone who ever worked IWA-MS. There were moments where both guys seemed to be visible calling spots. KO looked good on offense, and not so good on defense, dropping early on a bulldog ect. Wolf was solid too, although he kind of had one good looking move, one weak looking move.

ER: I liked KO here, and Phil is overstating how bad the bulldog looked. Most people wouldn't have even noticed it. Plus, I hate when it looks like dudes leap into a perfectly positioned front flop. This dude made the bulldog look REAL, but stumbling and falling way more painfully than if he had taken the bulldog as planned. If you're gonna stumble during a spot, might as well do it when you're supposed to land on your face anyway. Wolf was wearing some classicly torn Balls Mahoney shorts. I can just picture these guys sitting at home, carefully tearing their pants JUST so, just so they'll be PERFECT when they throw shitty forearms to some guy's chest.

Adam Gooch v. Drake Younger

PAS: This was pretty great, Adam Gooch was totally awesome in 2003, great height on his bumps, great looking execution on his moves and a legit sleazeball heat machine. He had this great run for a couple of years and then totally disappeared. He was accompanied by Michael Todd Stratton (AKA Todd Morton), and he is always awesome to watch, even when he is the apron. This was Younger's IWA debut and he looked pretty good, a bunch of energy and some cool spots. It got a little two county for my taste at the finish, but this was blast.

ER: Man, I forgot how great Gooch was earlier this decade. Pre-match heat garnering with Stratton was awesome. They turned an old bit into a forgotten classic, something that easily could've been botched in most others' hands. Fan gives Gooch a wifebeater as a gift, wifebeater says "Gooch is da MAN!" on the front, Stratton urges him to put it on and then poses Gooch to all sides of the crowd, which naturally reveals the back of it says "Who takes it in the ASS!" and Stratton does the slow reveal then reacts in all sorts of awesome "Boss Hogg getting worked by the Dukes" mannerisms. Stratton was the ultimate second in this match.

Steve Stone/Ballz v. Devon Fury/Cornbread

PAS: This was a Pro-Am match, the concept being that a professional was teaming with an amateur. I assume what that means on an IWA show, is that the pros were working for free and the amateurs were paying to work the show. Cornbread was the better of the two backyarders, as Ballz was there mostly there so the announcers can make dozens of puns. Still I never thought I would appreciate the polish and professionalism of Devon Fury.

ER: You can also tell the pros are the ones with new jean shorts and a non-faded black t-shirt. Steve Stone had some good offense including a real nice kneedrop and some good spunk on the ring apron. Cornbread was a pretty enjoyable backyarder, but I'm kind of a chubby chaser as far as wrestling is concerned. If a fat guy does a nice leg drop I'll think he's the best guy in the match. Ballz is my new least favorite wrestler, as Fannin/Prazak with their fucking awful "balls" puns were just constant. Not a one of them funny. Fury slammed balls! Fury punches balls! Fuck you guys.

Danny Daniels v. Spider Nate Webb

PAS: Daniels is a guy I have never particularly cared for, I love Nate Webb but wasn't expecting much. I was plesantly surprised at the beginning of this match as they had some really nice sequences, including Webb climbing Daniels body while in a knucklelock and ripping off a sweet rana. Match fell apart though about six minutes in and never really recovered. Nice moonsault by Nate though.

ER: Nate Webb's pedo-stache always looked so funny with the rest of his vinyl/mesh Hot Topic look. Really came off as a guy who had a friend that worked there and would regularly steal stock, so Nate just gets a bunch of free clothes. There is always a bunch of cool stuff in Webb matches, and Daniels really SUWA's the aforementioned hurracanrana. But that really was the highlight of the first 10+ minute match of the night, and it came in the first minute.

Ian Rotten v. Brad Bradley

PAS: Man was this great. Classic Ian Meth Cook Battlarts. Bradley is a big dude who got a WWE deal at one point. Apparently he was coming off of a MAW victory over Ian, so Ian was coming at him hard. Bradley wasn't really firing back hard enough for this kind of match, although Ian did a great job selling the shots. Ian just goes after Bradley's leg, slapping on some nasty looking leg locks, and even pounding at his thigh with punches. Finish was great with a bloody Ian grabbing a steel chair and decimating his leg with chair shots and then putting on an STF for a submission.

ER: I was a big supporter of Brad Bradley/Ryan Braddock in WWE. I really loved all 9 total minutes he got on Smackdown. Loved the Festus match, loved the tag he had opposite Festus, thought he had good heavyweight offense and a nice dropkick. Anything he had in 2008, he did not have here. Steen-esque bod and a bland face/haircut, this was the Ian show. Ian sells a stomp to the face better than anybody. Bradley was throwing some really wimpy stomps to the face and Ian really made it look like his skull was getting caved in. Those chair shots to the leg were so damn nasty.

Shaq Daddy v. Rollin Hard

PAS: This is another Pro-Am match, with Rollin Hard in the traditional Ian roll of guy potatoing a backyarder. No John Calvin with a kendo stick here, and Rollin actually sells for this guy a bit which kind of kills the gimmick. Shaq Daddy seemed kind of over with the crowd and this feels like the kind of thing that can't be understood out of context.

ER: Shaq Daddy didn't just seem kind of over, he was practically the most over guy on the whole show. Maybe he was a popular local tattoo artist? I have no explanation for this match. It gets like 11 minutes, Shaq gets a lot of bad looking offense, Rollin' really doesn't actually stiff him at all, puts him over afterwards like they had just gone through an epic war, crowd goes apeshit. I have no fucking clue what happened. Rollin' took a real nice spill through some chairs at ringside, but....I just guess you had to be there?

Bull Pain v. Corporal Robinson

PAS: Pain comes out with Mickie Knuckles as his valet, which is an angle that I didn't remember happening. This started out a little underwhelming, but man did it kick in gear. Both these guys really convey "tough guy" well and there were large parts of this that felt like the two craziest guys in a small town clearing out a bar. At one point Bull does a frog splash off the bleachers to the floor, which is a totally insane spot for a veteran to do, I could see Nate Webb or Vortex doing it, but Bull Pain worked in the AWA for fuck sake.

ER: Mickie rocking the little black dress and stylish bob! Cut to 6 years later and she has tangly long hair and a scarred up forehead. Bull is one of the most intimidating guys in wrestling, and Cpl. can do a real nice brawl. Their brawl through the crowd was a lot more impressive than most. Really had a cool fight atmosphere. Bull's bat shots are so awesome. They always look so nasty. They should've used him as an advisor to Ox Baker on "Escape from New York".

Chris Hero v. Michael Todd Stratton

PAS: I had seen this match years ago and I remember it fondly, and man does it hold up well. Stratton (aka Todd Morton) is just amazing at drawing heat, this is the day after Hero and Punk went 90+ minutes, so Hero is coming into this with a disadvantage. Lots of cool shit here, this building has a support poll off to the side of the ring and Stratton takes a huge flying bump into that poll, which looked just brutal. Stratton also breaks out a ladder and they do some cool spots with that, including Stratton pinning him in the corner with the ladder and blasting him with a perfect dropkick. Finish looked to be super overbooked, with a ref bump and Bull Pain and Adam Gooch run in, they get cut off by KO and Mark Wolf and Wolf smashes Stratton. That felt like the finish, but instead Stratton kicks out at two, and they do an amazing kneeling punch exchange, leading to Hero sweeping his legs and getting the Hangman's clutch. Awesome, awesome match, really one of my favorite Chris Hero matches ever, and another spectacular Todd Morton performance.

ER: I am usually not a huge fan of 30 minute matches, as more often than not it seems like the guys could've accomplished just as much in 16-18. But this 30 minutes flies right on by. Everything here was great. Phil mentioned all the cool spots. Hero dropkicking Morton off the apron into the support pole was a real rewind moment. Hero started the match out with real bad punches, but by the time they got to the kneeling exchange he was finally opening up and belting Morton. Of course Morton's punches started great and by the time the exchange rolled around they were just perfect. The size difference was really noticeable here, too, as Morton is a short guy, but they worked the match really believably around that, as even a big guy can get hit in the face. This whole show was a really great showcase for Todd Morton. This would be a real good place to start if you've been wanting to get into him.

Say, we should do some sort of Complete & Accurate Todd Morton list after the Fujiwara one...

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