IWA Mid-South 6/19/04: A Butcher Loose in Highland

[JoeDirt 0]

Saturday, June 19th, NWA Midwest & IWA-MS present "A Butcher Loose In Highland" at the Lincoln Center (2450 Lincoln Street) in Highland, IN. Bell time is 7:30pm. Tickets are $20, $15, and just $10 general admission, and will be available at the door. Advance ringside seats are also currently available at the Lincoln Center box office.

 

***Non-Sanctioned Match/Anything Goes***

[2003 KOTDM] MAD MAN PONDO vs. ABDULLAH THE BUTCHER

 

***IWA World Heavyweight Title Match***

[Champion] PETEY WILLIAMS vs. "The Next" ALEX SHELLEY

 

***IWA Light Heavyweight Title Match***

[Champion] MATT SYDAL vs. "Barbaric Berzerker" JIMMY JACOBS

 

***IWA World Tag Team Title Match***

[Champions] BRAD BRADLEY & RYAN BOZ vs. DANNY DANIELS & BJ WHITMER

 

"Spyder" NATE WEBB vs. Big Japan's RYUJI ITO

 

TRIK DAVIS vs. CASH FLO

 

Plus MsCHIF will get a Women's Title shot in Highland against the winner of LACEY vs. DAIZEE HAZE (to take place this Friday in Lafayette). Also, matches featuring CHRIS HERO, "The Future" CHRIS SABIN, "Anarchist" ARIK CANNON, DELIRIOUS, and more of your IWA favorites!

 

Then, the very next weekend, Friday & Saturday, June 25th & 26th, is "King of the Death Matches 2004" at the Community Center Gym (235 Hoosier Avenue) in Oolitic, IN. Tickets are currently available at all upcoming events, and will be available at the door on the night of each show.

 

Just added for KOTDM Night One, in non-tournament action, former IWA World Heavyweight Champion CM PUNK will take on NWA Wildside star RAY GORDY, making his IWA debut.

[JustJoe2k5 0]

Don't know why they want to bring in Abdullah the Butcher, but Mad Man Pondo's deathmatches are always good. Alex Shelley vs. Petey Williams should be really goodn and I wouldn't be surprised to see Alex Shelley walk out with the heavyweight title. Jimmy Jacobs vs. Matt Sydal and the tag team title match should also be good. Hopefully, they'll book Chris Hero vs. Chris Sabin since I've wanted to see it for a long time.

[Phoenix Fury Legdrop 0]

Let's see...

 

Pondo/Abby should be bloody, and that's just about it.

 

Shelley/Petey should be absolutely f'n amazing. It's a fresh match to most, though they trained together at Scott D'Amore's school in Canada, and both are really great workers.

 

Sydal/Jacobs should be good. I think they're might be a bit of a clash since they're both perennial faces, but Sydal's getting to be good enough to make up for that.

 

B'n'B/Whitmer and Daniels might be a bit weird, but I think Danny and BJ can pull off the one-night face turn.

 

I'm wondering what Nate Webb and Ito will pull out, and hoping that Ito's one of the DM guys that can also wrestle.

 

Trik's gonna get MURDERED. That is all.

 

MsChif/Lacey should be good, since MsChif isn't afraid to bring all sorts of awesomeness when she wrestles and Lacey's upped her already-decent game. I hope MsChif wins the belt and makes more frequent trips to IWA.

 

As for the left-over guys...I hope Hero vs. Darkness Hero or Hero/Delirious happens again, since those are two really great pairings, judging by their previous work together. I'm sort of emotionless either way about who Sabin should work.

[Guest j.o.b. squad]

i will probably not pick up this tape. pondo is one of my least favorit dm'ers and abby schould of retired a long time ago

 

the title match schould be very good

 

the jr title match schould be decent but jimmy needs to drop the huss gimmick and start doing real promos

 

how iwa has managed their tag titles. has been a real disapointment imo. they go from a one night sothern comfort title reign to b&b faceing either a complete comedy jobber tag team or a makeshift team. when are b&b going to feud with a real team.

[Youth N Asia 0]

Looks like me and Slingshot Suplex are road tripping to the show. Looks like a good card overall.

 

And I know Abby isn't "good"...but I've always wanted to see him live.

[PsychoDriver 0]

Geeze how many awesome shows does IWA:MS do in a month? Freaking hard to keep up with it all.

[JoeDirt 0]

Ace Steel, Austin Aries, and the Wildcards have been added to this show. Doesn't look as good as the last show, but could really be a great sleeper show, IMO. Hopefully with the remaining guys we see some great matches.

[Guest 5.0Fanatic]

Does IWA usually pick up the pace for the summer? They've had some loaded cards all of the sudden.....

[Youth N Asia 0]

Just hope it won't be one of their infamous shows that run till early in the morning

[Phoenix Fury Legdrop 0]

I doubt it. It'll prolly run until about midnight. The tag tournament only ran until 11:50, and look how loaded that show was.

[Guest Evolution]

Not quite sure how we manage to do this, but the fed that I work for as a show on the same day as this one, AGAIN.

 

Ugh.

[Guest Deviant]

Depending on what all of those great guys with no matches are doing, there's a solid chance of me buying this one.

[JoeDirt 0]

Sydal vs. Jacobs had to be cancelled due to Sydal's wrist injury. Too bad...but I'm sure the rest of the matches will make it a great show. Can't wait to see what guys like Jacobs, Hero, Sabin, and Cannon are doing on this show.

[JoeDirt 0]

Delirious vs. Sabin vs. Jacobs in an elimination match has been added to the card.

[Youth N Asia 0]

Can't say who...but Steel is having a mystery opponent. I told someone I would keep quiet.

[Phoenix Fury Legdrop 0]

I'm crossing my fingers for a hopeful battle of NOAH partners between Ace and the debuting Doug Williams, but eh, it's only a dream...

 

Sabin/Delirious/Jacobs...well, I don't like three-ways, and I dislike Sabin's in-ring work. I'm hoping that Delirious and Jacobs keep it interesting.

[Mystery Eskimo 0]

Doug in IWA? Is that confirmed? I'd be all over that tape.

[Phoenix Fury Legdrop 0]

I was just speculating, since YNA said his opponent isn't one of the announced guys on the card and Ian and Hero have both said that they want Doug Williams in IWA.

[Mystery Eskimo 0]

Ah, well I'll keep an eye on that. Williams vs. Hero would be pretty great.

[JoeDirt 0]

I'm interested to see what Hero and Cannon do. I'm assuming that if they were just going to wrestle each other they'd announce it ahead of time. Should be another great show from IWA-MS.

[JoeDirt 0]

From the IWA-MS boards:

 

1-The Wilcards beat the All-Stars(?) not 100% on the name. Wilcards got decent heat from the crowd.

 

Arik Cannon challenged Chris Hero to a match. Hero came out & suplexed Cannon to set up the match for later.

2-Trik Davis defeated Cash Flo by DQ when Cash Flo kept lifting Trik's shoulders off the mat & refusing to pin him. Trik took a LOT of hard chops & a nasty crotch first spot into the ringpost on the outside.

 

3- Ace Steel over Jimmy Jacobs in a solid match.

 

4- Lacey retains the woman's title over MsChif in what I thought was a good match. Lacey got in most of the offense on this one, which I found kind of surprising.

 

5- Abby & Pondo went to a no contest when they kept beating up the refs. Abby walked around with a fork for 10 minutes, Pondo bled like crazy. Same old, same old. Some people seemed to like it one idiot even chanted MOTY. I'm not kidding. It's official that chant no longer means anything, not that it ever did to begin with. I guess people just like to chant.

 

Intermission to clean up all the blood.

 

6- Ito defeated Webb in a match where Ito's Big Japan death match title was on the line. Nothing special here but I believe internet wrestling celebrity/critic Todd Gerth was called out before the match by Webb. Webb said he knows Todd doesn't like him but a lot of other people do, then he had Todd come to the ring for a hug. It was sweet & almost brought a tear to my eye. Funniest thing was some dorky teenager thought Nate was talking to him & he went to the ring to get a hug, Nate being a nice guy gave him one. There was a terrible spot at the end with Nate that I don't feel like getting into, maybe someone else will post about it. It was awful.

 

7- Arik Cannon over Chris Hero in a really good match some people were on Hero & tried to get a "Let's Go Hero Let's Go Cannon" thing going like Hero & Joe last month but it just wasn't the same. Some people just like to chant against Hero no matter who he's wrestling. This match was very good & worth checking out.

 

8- Delirious over Sabin in a pretty good match.

 

More intermission

 

It is announced that at the next Highland show on July 31, AJ Styles will be there & so will CM Punk.

 

9- Boz & Bradley retained against Daniels & Whitmer after Fannin tried to throw Daniels a chain but Boz ended up catching it & decking Daniels for the win. Daniels wanted a rematch for the next show without Fannin. Daniels may be turning babyface as he was pretty over here.

 

10- Williams reatins his IWA title over Alex Shelley w/Zack Gowen. Zack is a pretty good heel butI think this match suffered because of all of his interference. Match was OK

 

All in all a pretty good show.

[JoeDirt 0]

From ChicagoWrestling.com:

 

The Wild Cards beat the All-Stars.

 

Arik Cannon came out and talked about Chris Hero crying too much after he loses a match. Hero came out and attacked him, and Cannon challenged Hero for later in night.

 

Cash Flo was DQ¹d, giving Trik Davis a victory.

 

Ace Steel beat Jimmy Jacobs with the Ace Crusher.

 

Women's champion Lacey beat MsChif.

 

Mad Man Pondo and Abdullah went to a no-contest.

 

Ryuji Ito beat "Spyder" Nate Webb after a frog splash on a chair through a table.

 

Arik Cannon beat Chris Hero with a roll-up; this was the best match of the night.

 

Delirious beat Chris Sabin, another great match.

 

Tag champions Ryan Boz and Brad Bradley beat Danny Daniels and BJ Whitmer, when Fannin went to throw a chain to Daniels, but Boz caught it and used it.

 

IWA champion Petey Williams beat Alex Shelley with sharpshooter.

[Guest Evolution]

Holy shit, the All-Stars? Have they ever been on IWA before?

 

If it's the right All-Stars, it's the tag team of Bryce Benjamin and Chandler McClure; the former plays a male cheerleader, and the latter plays a football referee, complete with flag to throw for "roughing".

 

Good gimmick, and they're pretty good wrestlers, too.

[Slingshot Suplex 0]

Hero vs Cannon was really good. The "Let's Go, ...." chants and counterchants are starting to sound really forced now, at least to me.

 

Abby vs Pondo. This is my first time seeing Abdullah live and up close and they had a hellaciously ,fun brawl.I'm not generally a hardcore fan but I really enjoyed that.

 

Delirious vs Sabin was really good as well.

 

The rest was good to decent.

 

Though putting the Big Japan Deathmatch title match and then being nothing but a basic hardcore bout AND trying to follow the craziness that was Pondo and Abby was kinda silly. Webb vs Ito came off a kinda dull in comparison.

 

And MsChif not winning the women's title was not good. But I like Lacey so I'll tolerate it

[Phoenix Fury Legdrop 0]

Totally out of order, and just typing what comes to me...

 

Hero/Cannon was my MOTN. I think it's a tie between this match and the Euro Rounds match for the best Hero/Cannon match. I really enjoyed Hero's armwork in this match way more in comparision to the Punk match, and Cannon broke out some wacky-as-hell (and cool) cravate variation submissions as well. The "Let's Go..." chants did seem kind of forced after a while.

 

On the opposite, I thought Abby/Pondo was horrible. I didn't expect anything, and I got about as much as I expected; just a bunch of walking around and stabbing each other with sharp stuff.

 

I thought Webb/Ito was really fun for a weapons-style brawl. Nate's entrance this time included him coming out with a camera and filming everyone in the building, including gimmick table citizens Madman Pondo and MsChif. Nate looked sharper here than he has in forever, which I think might have been motivated by the fact that the show was being taped for Japanese television or release or something.

 

I wish the Wildcards had better opponents. Chandler McClure wasn't too bad, but that "Male Cheerleader" dude kept botching stuff up until an admittedly cool powerslam/reverse DDT variation thingy double-team move. Plus, I would rather not see a skinny dude in small tights grinding around and such. At least McClure didn't bring his damn whistle he kept blowing at We Are Family. If they dropped the stupid gimmicks, I might be more willing to like the All-Stars. The Wildcards, on the other hand, ruled as always with their rudo antics, which now include Eddie Kingston doing ring announcing. The one thing that does suck is that the Wildcards are so awesome and funny with their heel stuff that not that many people are willing to boo them, which makes it less fun, imo.

 

My theory with MsChif, after seeing her Gateway stuff, is that she's good against women, but it's almost like she gels a lot better with guys (not being carried by guys, but just works better with them). I'm kind of saddened to see them turn MsChif completely face, but not surprised since she's probably the most over woman, with the exception of maybe Mickie Knuckles from time to time, in IWA Mid-South.

 

Chris Sabin looked sharper in his match with Delirious than I've seen him look in a long while. To me, it seemed like a high-impact fest, but everything got hit crisply and there was some amazing moves being nailed dead-on (like Sabin's slam into a powerbomb).

 

Flo/Trik was murder, as expected. They started out working the story that Trik would do anything and everything to avoid the chops that killed him last time, but Flo just started butchering him after a while. The spot where Cash tossed Trik from electric chair position crotch-first into the ringpost was ungodly sick. The DQ finish was kind of weird, because Cash just got DQ'd for refusing to pin Trik.

 

I actually really enjoyed the Tag Title match, after not expecting it to be too great going in due to all four guys being heels and the fact that BJ Whitmer is a robot. Daniels worked as a tweener pointing towards his obviously eventual face turn, and was the guy-in-peril here. At one point in the match, there's an especially sick forearm sequence between Bradley and Whitmer.

 

Ace/Jacobs was good, but I've seen better Ace Steel matches. I think it's the combination of the Berserker gimmick getting really tired and the fact that Alex Shelley's continual improvement that makes Jimmy Jacobs more unlikeable to me as the weeks go on. He still bumps like a demon, but he's too consumed in the gimmick, in my opinion.

 

The main event was disappointing, as I expected Petey/Shelley to be MOTN. It was good, but way too much Zach Gowan bs interference and stalling by Shelley for my liking. They did a tremendous job with Shelley doing everything possible to get away from the Sharpshooter and the Canadian Destroyer. I just hope for a rematch without Zach Gowan, canes, and Shelley leaving the ring every thirty seconds for stalling.

 

Overall, there's been better Highland shows, but IWA Highland shows are still better than a lot of stuff that everyone else puts out.

[JoeDirt 0]

Weird they decided to go with Jacobs vs. Steel instead of Jacobs vs. Delirious vs. Sabin. Guess they didn't have anyone to face Steel.

[Phoenix Fury Legdrop 0]

I don't want to go into details because of how much stuff they want getting out, but I heard Ace's original mystery opponent no-showed.

[Youth N Asia 0]

The Wild Cards beat the All-Stars

-Solid opener. Wild Cards seemed to be trying a tad too hard to be bad guys. But some nice double team moves by both teams.

 

Cash Flo was DQ¹d, giving Trik Davis a victory.

-Solid enough, dunno about the finish though. Trik's chest was in shreads by the end of the match. Sick chops.

 

Ace Steel beat Jimmy Jacobs with the Ace Crusher.

-Jimmy's gimmick is alright, but I don't get how over he is because of it. Good match, although less than I expected.

 

Women's champion Lacey beat MsChif.

-I doubt that MsChif was "turned" face...I think the people just love her. Very good match. Chif is the shit, she was also very nice after the show.

 

Mad Man Pondo and Abdullah went to a no-contest.

-About what I expected out of the two. Sick sick sick brawl. Blood everywhere. Funny how they tarped the ringside area, they were there so little time. Although a finish would have been nice...it was just punches and scisor shots really. I wanted to see the Abby elbow.

 

Ryuji Ito beat "Spyder" Nate Webb after a frog splash on a chair through a table.

-Now I don't know all about the deathmatch title...but what the hell was that? I don't even care for hardcore...but there was zero hardcore. There was one nunchuck choking spot and a table spot near the end...but that was it. Good match, but not what they said it would be. Pondo dancing on the table to "teenage dirtbag" durring Nate's entrence was the best part of it all.

 

Arik Cannon beat Chris Hero with a roll-up; this was the best match of the night.

-I don't know about best match of the night. I thought it dragged for a while. Although the finish was great and well executed. I don't know if they knew who was face and heel though.

 

Delirious beat Chris Sabin, another great match.

-Personally I thought this was MOTN. Crowd loved it, both guys were on, and a really good and suprising finish with D winning.

 

Tag champions Ryan Boz and Brad Bradley beat Danny Daniels and BJ Whitmer, when Fannin went to throw a chain to Daniels, but Boz caught it and used it.

-meh...the crowd was burnt out by this time. Good match though. Daniels was over as a face. But the chain spot at the end was awful. Don't do that unless you can even make it look like a close throw.

 

-Although I was sitting behind this weird little guy who kept calling Daniels "dickhead" the entire match. No less than 20 times.

 

IWA champion Petey Williams beat Alex Shelley with sharpshooter.

-ok match, the crowd was mostly dead by this time I think. 4 1/2 hours is too long for a regular wrestling show. Gowen sucks as a heel, and just didn't need to be a part of the match. Way too much stalling.

 

Anyway, very good show. MsChif was very cool after the show, as was Delerious and Pondo. Gowen seemed like an asshole. And one mean little kid called him a one-legged beeyouch and hopped around on one leg after the show. But once the show's over it doesn't kill you to be nice to people...so I don't weep.

[Youth N Asia 0]

And another thing...this whole thing with timing your entrence music with coming out the doors is getting a little much...when you're spot to come out isn't till a minute into the song it's time for a new tune.

[Slingshot Suplex 0]

5- Abby & Pondo went to a no contest when they kept beating up the refs. Abby walked around with a fork for 10 minutes, Pondo bled like crazy. Same old, same old. Some people seemed to like it one idiot even chanted MOTY. I'm not kidding. It's official that chant no longer means anything, not that it ever did to begin with. I guess people just like to chant.

Why is the guy an idiot for thinking Abby vs Pondo was MOTY? Granted,it probably wasn't ,but for a blood mark, why not? I completely enjoyed it as a fan. Delirious vs Sabin and Hero vs Cannon were the two best matches to me but I thought it was easily the 3rd most entertaining match.

 

I don't get the love for Ito vs Webb in general. It certainly wasn't "deathmatch" style..it was barely hardcore. And being for the Big Japan Deathmatch title, it could have strayed something past scientific.

 

And I don't get the Jimmy Jacobs love at all. Entertaining gimmick....no big deal in the ring to me at all.