IWA-MS review: You Gotta See This

[JoeDirt 0]

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IWA-MS You Gotta See This: May 7, 2004

 

The lineup:

 

1. Trik Davis vs "The Turkish Delight" Murat Bosporous

2. "Spyder" Nate Webb vs Petey Williams

3. Chris Hero vs Eddie Kingston

4. European Rounds System: "Anarchist" Arik Cannon vs Chad Collyer

5. Ian Rotten vs Danny Daniels

6. Ryan Boz vs Eddie Venom

7. Samoa Joe vs Steve Stone

8. Lacey & Rain vs Mickie Knuckles & Daizee Haze

9. The Amazing Red vs Austin Aries

10. Homicide & B-Boy vs Matt Sydal & Delirious

11. BJ Whitmer vs Nigel McGuinness

 

Match one: Trik Davis vs. Murat Bosporous: I skipped this match, but it was only five minutes long anyways, and I doubt I missed THAT much.

 

Match two: Petey Williams vs. "Spyder" Nate Webb:

 

Webb gets a big pop from the small crowd - but that's because he's "Spyder" Nate Webb and everyone loves him. Webb starts out by giving Petey a hug. Awww. They tie up and Petey hugs him back. Prazak mentions Petey wrestling in NWA TNA. Williams rolls through on a second rope sunset flip attempt at 3:30 and tries a Sharpshooter, but Webb blocks it and gets to the ropes. Webb gets stuck in a tree of woe at 4:30 and dropkicked in the chest. Tornado DDT countered to a northern lights by Webb for 2 at 7:00. An Arachnid kick gets 2, as does a floatover suplex. They battle up top and Williams hits a funky neckbreaker and both guys are down at 8:30. Williams gets two more neckbreakers for 2 at 9:15. Good reveresal sequence and Webb hits a German for 2 at 10:45. Williams counters a move and rolls Webb up...into the Sharpshooter...and Webb counters to a figure four! Petey gets the ropes. Good sequence. Tilt-a-whirl into a leg sweep by Petey for 2 at 12:30. Webb misses a moonsault and Petey hits the Canadian Destroyer for the pin at 13:30 to a huge pop. The match was low on psychology, but the crowd got really into it and it was fun. ***

 

 

Match three: Chris Hero vs. Eddie Kingston:

 

Kingston is one half of the heel tag team the Wild Cards. Hero is one of the biggest stars in IWA-MS ever. Guess who wins? Kingston is kinda chunky, so seeing some lucha style stuff to start is kind of funny. Hero goes to the CRAVAT~! Prazak calls Kingston the "King of Donuts" (his nickname is the "King of Diamonds") which is pretty funny. They exchange slaps at 3:45. Kingston hits a Bossman slam-styled backbreaker at 5:30. He works Hero's back over for a while, but Hero fights back with a head dropping suplex and lariat at 9:45. Nice front flip neckbreaker by Hero at 10:45. He hits a double stomp and gets 2. Kingston hits a uranage for 2 at 11:15. Hero comes back with a cool twisting neckbreaker and a senton. Hero hooks the Hangman's Clutch and Kingston taps at 12:45. Chris Hero is one of my favorite wrestlers, but going 13:00 with Eddie Kingston is tough to do. Really slow match, and Kingston has very little offense - he's much better as a tag team wrestler. Hero tried his hardest, though. *1/2

 

 

Match four: "Anarchist" Arik Cannon vs. Chad Collyer - European rules:

 

There are 12 3-minute rounds in this match, and it's two out of three falls. Refs can hand out yellow and red cards for rules violations. Three yellow = a red card, and a red card = DQ. Got it?

 

Round one: They trade mat wrestling and a few submission holds. About what you'd expect.

 

Round two: Cannon works over Collyer with the cravat~! They trade waistlocks. Not much happening.

 

Round three: Faster wrestling now. Collyer comes off the ropes with a funky rollup for the first pin of the match!

 

Round four: Cannon comes out with intensity. Slingshot spinning neckbreaker on Collyer, but he's in the ropes. Good commentary by Chris Hero during the match, by the way. Cannon hits some uppercuts and then hits an Exploder suplex for 2. Cannon shoves the ref and gets a yellow card.

 

Round five: Collyer gets a dropkick and gets a yellow card for some reason that I miss. Cannon hits a cobra clutch leg sweep ("BOOT CAMP, BITCH!") and stretches Collyer, who gets the ropes.

 

Round six: Collyer comes after Cannon, but Cannon sweeps out his legs and pins him using the ropes for leverage to tie it up and one fall apiece.

 

Round seven: Collyer gets a Texas cloverleaf but Cannon gets to the ropes. It sounds like a few fans chant "boring". Cannon kicks Collyer in the nuts and gets DQ-ed.

 

Slow match and a bad finish. Not very good at all. They went about 15:00 or so, but the match never built to anything special and the DQ finish brings it down. *

 

 

Match five: Danny Daniels w/ Jim Fannin vs. Ian Rotten:

 

I really like Daniels as the cocky, cowardly heel. Fannin talks about how if Ian wins, he gets 5 minutes with Fannin. Fannin's a great heel manager. I love Ian Rotten, but his scarred forehead is just nasty. Ian hits a back body drop, jabs, and a headbutt to start. He hits an earclapper and runs his face across the ropes! Old school, baby! Ian bites his ear! Ha! Daniels comes back with a lowish-blow and charges at Ian in the ropes...who applies a variation of the Tarantula...I kid you not! They trade forearms and Ian rakes the eyes...and then rakes the back! Fannin begs for the ref to DQ Rotten. Ian goes to a spinning toe hold at 5:00. Any more old school moves he can bust out? Daniels gets free and puts Ian in a surfboard. They trade pinfalls for 2 counts. Daniels hooks a cool armbar with a bridge at 6:30. Daniels hooks an armbar and Ian does a headstand reversal (kind of) and pins him for 2! Ian picks up Daniels and gets an airplane spin! This shit is awesome! Daniels comes back with a Fujiwara on Ian. Ian gets the ropes, but Fannin chokes him out on the ropes. Daniels stretches him out. Daniels charges Ian, but Ian spears him! He's down, selling the arm - nice. Daniels hits a double arm DDT for 2 at 11:00. Ian hits a piledriver on Daniels (Daniels' finisher) and covers, but Danny gets his foot on the ropes at 2. Ian school boys Daniels for the pin at 12:15, and now gets 5 minutes with Fannin.

 

Eddie Kingston, who is with Nate Webb on commentary, is hilarious. "Jim Fannin either has powder or cocaine - and it's powder!" Fannin powders Ian and beats him down, hooking an armbar, yelling "do you remember when this shoulder was dislocated in that car accident?" Fannin is just an awesome asshole heel manager. Ian comes back and hits a big forearm shot that Fannin sells like death. Fannin begs forgiveness as Ian beats him up and low blows him. Ian DDT's him on a chair as the 5 minutes ends.

 

This was just a really fun match and segment. I don't really know how to rate it because work wise it wasn't a five-star classic by any means, but I enjoyed all of Ian's old school shit and all of the heelishness by Daniels and Fannin. It was entertaining. ***

 

 

Match six: Ryan Boz vs. Eddie Venom:

 

I've never seen Venom before. He's kind of a skinny version of the Wall or Malice. (RIP) Boz looks like Barry Windham. They trade shots and Boz bails. Venom suplexes him and chops him at 2:30. Venom hits a leaping knee to the face but misses a second one and Boz works the knee. Slow match. Boz hooks a stretch muffler on Venom at 5:30 and then hits a shinbreaker. Boz hooks a figure four. Venom reverses it. Back up, and Venom hits a facejam on Boz at 7:00. Venom hits a _HUGE_ boot to the face at 7:45 that gets a small "holy shit" chant. Venom tries something but his leg gives out. Boz hits an emerald fusion piledriver for the pin at 8:30. Bland match, but nothing horrible. *1/2

 

Postmatch, Eddie Kingston is hilarious on commentary, going over the current storylines of the soap opera "Passions".

 

 

Match seven: Samoa Joe vs. "Metalhead" Steve Stone:

 

Joe, of course, is the ROH champion. Joe puts out an open challenge, answered by Stone, who looks kind of like a wannabe biker rock star. Or something like that. They work the match to start. They trade some good solid wrestling for the first few minutes. Stone gets in his shots, but Joe hits his corner uranage to rally. Joe hits two _stiff_ kicks and a knee drop. Chops, a running forearm, and a bulldog for 2 on Stone at 5:00. Backbreaker by Joe, and then he hooks a Boston Crab. They trade some stiff forearms and shots at 7:00. Joe slaps him down and gets a small "IWA!" chant. Joe continues to pummel him, but Stone rallies with a neckbreaker/DDT/whatever and a lariat to the back. Joe hits a sweet sweep kick at 8:30. Joe rolls Stone to the floor and sets up the Olay kick with slaps to the face. He boots him in the face. Ouch. Back in, Stone actually powerslams Joe for 2 at 10:30. Stone lariats him for 2 at 11:00. Stone hits his finisher, the "White Out" (a novacaine/flatliner/downward spiral). Stone goes up and botches a moonsault, and both guys are down. Joe comes back with slaps and a HUGE leaping enzuigiri for 2, but Joe pulls him up and hits kicks and a nasty lariat. Chris Hero comes out and yells "just pin him!" to continue their feud. Joe hits the Island Driver and chokes Stone out for the win at 13:00. This was a stiff beating and a fun match. ***

 

Hero stares down Joe after the match.

 

 

Match eight: Austin Aries vs. Amazing Red:

 

Red comes out to "Informer" by Snow. Ha. This is a first time ever match. Aries shoulder blocks Red and shows a little heelishness. Red grabs a headlock and they start off slow instead of just busting out spots, which is good. They start to speed it up, but Aries goes right back to the headlock. They trade arm drags, and Red hits a nice dropkick. Aries snapmares Red and kicks him in the back, then hits a seated dropkick at 4:15. Red comes back with some STIFF kicks of his own for 2 at 4:45. Flying headscissors and swinging neckbreaker by Red for 2 at 5:15. Aries does his cool slingshot elbow in the corner and then suplexes Red for 2 at 6:30. Austin drops Red and hits a "frog elbow" for 2 for 7:45. Aries powerslams Red for 2 at 8:30. He continues to beat him down with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for 2 and then another cool backbreaker into a submission. Nice knee drop to the back, and then another submission. Aries keeps working the back...and then goes to a chinlock? Hmm. Red hits his fantastic tornado DDT at 10:30 and both guys are down. Red hits a clothesline, a running forearm, and his leaping enzuigiri for 2 at 12:00. Code Red countered to a facebuster by Aries for 2 at 13:00. Red tries the Code Red again, but they botch it. They do it again and this time Red hits it for 2 at 14:00. Aries hits a variation muscle buster for 2. Red hits a lariat and the Red Star Press for 2 at 15:30. Red heads up top but misses an elbow drop. Aries hits a brainbuster for 2 at 16:15. Red crotches Aries up top and hits a superduperplex, but Aries cradles him for the pin at 18:00. Red gets a "Please come back!" chant from the fans. Good match. The lack of psychology or selling by Red was bothersome at times, but it's what you expect from him I suppose. It was still fun. **3/4

 

 

Match nine: Matt Sydal and Delirious vs. B-Boy and Homicide:

 

This is a qualifying match in the tag title tournament and I love all four guys in the match. Delirious chews on the ropes before the match. Great opening sequence by Sydal and Cide. Delirious uses his saliva to reverse a hammerlock by B-Boy. Ha. B-Boy drills Delirious with a forearm at 4:00. Delirious with a rana and a head scissors. Sydal gets a twisting lionsault senton for 2 at 5:00. Sydal hits a leg lariat at 5:30 and tags Delirious back in. B-Boy hits a nice backbreaker and tags in Homicide, who kicks the shit out of Sydal. Sydal ranas Homicide off the top at 7:30. B-Boy and Cide hit a powerbomb onto Cide's knee on Sydal! OUCH! B-Boy hooks a single leg crab at 8:30, but he gets the ropes. Homicide and B-Boy heel it up, faking that they're going to dive to the outside. B-Boy kicks the HELL out of Sydal. Homicide stretches Sydal out like crazy. B-Boy then applies one of the sickest submissions I've seen at 11:00. Sydal comes back with a rana and could tag out, but doesn't, and they play up the inexperience of Sydal and Delirious as a tag team. Homicide hits a butterfly superplex for 2 at 12:30. Bridging t-bone suplex for 2 at 13:00. Sydal comes back with a flying body press for 2 at 14:15. Hot tag to Delirious. Delirious hits a CRAZY tope to the floor on Homicide. OUCH! Homicide beats down Delirious, but Sydal comes over the top with a twisting body press. Sydal tries a dragon rana on B-Boy but they mess it up...though he still rolls him up for 2 at 15:45. Delirious hits a _GREAT_ back splash on B-Boy for 2 at 16:00. B-Boy and Homicide hit a Steiner-like elevated bulldog for 2 at 17:30. Delirious gets the crap beat out of him in the corner, and Homicide gets his running knee to the face and a SICK seated dropkick by B-Boy. Crazy swinging DDT by Sydal for 2. Homicide low blows Sydal and hits the COP KILLA~! DELIRIOUS BREAKS UP THE PINFALL! B-Boy hits the shining wizard on Delirious for the pin at about 18:30. The last few minutes of that match were all kinds of crazy. This was a ton of fun. ****

 

Ian comes out after the match and puts everyone over.

 

 

Match ten: BJ Whitmer vs. Nigel McGuinness (IWA title match):

 

Whitmer is the heel champion, Nigel the babyface challenger. I've never been a big fan of Whitmer, but we'll see how he does here. McGuinness does a headstand spot in the corner at 2:00. He rolls Whitmer up for 2. Nigel does all sorts of funky wrestling, and BJ yells at the ref. Nigel works the arm and posts Whitmer's shoulder. Danny Daniels comes out and helps out Whitmer. Nigel hooks a crossface and rolls through with it to pull Whitmer away from the ropes. Daniels helps Whitmer to the ropes at 6:30. Nigel keeps working the shoulder. Whitmer finally comes back with a reverse neckbreaker and a spinning neckbreaker at 9:30. Whitmer tries a powerbomb, but his shoulder gives out and Nigel rolls him up for 2. Chris Hero, on commentary, points on that Whitmer keeps going for holds that use his bad shoulder, which is stupid. Amen, Chris. Nigel comes back with a chickenwing DDT at 13:00 and then applies another submission, but BJ gets the ropes. Whitmer grabs a chair, but Nigel kicks it into his arm! Nigel drives the chair into Whitmer's shoulder. Nigel hits a single arm/wristlock DDT and then hooks another submission. Whitmer taps, but Daniels distracts the ref and tosses Whitmer a chain. He punches...and Nigel takes him down into a crossface! Whitmer rolls through and punches Nigel with the chain and gets the pinfall at 15:30. This match was almost all Nigel, and since he has a lot of cool offense it was a lot of fun. The work on the shoulder was great, and the story with Whitmer only able to win using the chain seemed to fit. I'm still not a fan of Whitmer, but this match was good because it didn't follow the typical formula and Whitmer sold a lot for Nigel. ***1/4

 

 

Final thoughts: You can't really go wrong with this show. Sure, the European Rounds match was a disappointment, but you have one four-star match and four three star matches, not to mention the good Aries/Red match that was near three-stars as well. Plus, my DVD didn't have the women's tag team match on it for some reason, and I heard that was great. Wonder why it wasn't on here. The show still ran 3 hours and 15 minutes without it, though.

 

Lots of great wrestling here. Very little in terms of brawling and the only weapons used all night were a chair and a chain. So if you're into good solid wrestling, this is a show you might want to check out. The great commentary is an added bonus.

[LucharesuFan619 0]

Excellent review. It's always great to see a small company like IWA-MS getting reviews on the net. This is one of the first tape reviews I've seen of their merchandise, besides those done by TSM and Scott Christ. You should do more of these. What's great is that this is such a recent tape. Even when there are IWA-MS video reviews, so many of them are of old shows. Keep it up. Good stuff.

[Phoenix Fury Legdrop 0]

Personally, having seen the show on both tape and in person, I personally disagree with Aries/Red and Hero/Kingston being rated so low. Aries/Red wasn't that great, but I didn't think it was down as low as you did. Hero/Kingston was absolutely great, in my opinion. Kingston's excellent rudoness, plus his working over Hero's back, Hero's excellent (as usual) selling, and his comeback totally made the match for me. I thought Kingston was just being methodical to keep with the story that he's packing on more pounds than the usual-cardioriffic Hero and therefore would have to keep Chris at his pace rather than pick things up.

 

Oh, and the Davis/Morat match was one of the funnest debuts a guy has had in IWA Mid-South in a long, long time. Only in Indiana can a man named "The Turkish Delight" come in and make a big impact.

[Guest Jay Z. Hollywood]

Well-written review, I enjoyed it.

[JoeDirt 0]

I can see what you're saying, PFL. My problem with Aries/Red was that it had no transitions. It was just move, 2 count, pick him up, do a move, 2 count, pick him up, move, 2 count, etc.

 

Maybe I'll like Kingston/Hero more the second time around. Kingston is chunky and not in great shape, but he plays a GREAT heel, and his commentary was fantastic, especially with Nate Webb.

[King Cucaracha 0]

I can see what you're saying, PFL. My problem with Aries/Red was that it had no transitions. It was just move, 2 count, pick him up, do a move, 2 count, pick him up, move, 2 count, etc.

Sounds like classic Red to me.

[Guest Aecas]

And to me.

 

This was a very well written review. Therefore I demand MORE!

[DCMaximo 0]

Nicely written review, I especially liked the fact that you gave an explanation for your ratings, which is an increasing rarity these days (though not on this site )

[Guest The Last Free Voice]

Nice review. Although I think putting in what time everything happened is a little needless and annoying. Very good besides that.

[Guest Evolution]

If anyone would like to see a review for "A Shot of Southern Comfort" (the IWA tag tournament), I could go ahead and churn something out for that, since I've been wanting to review one of the many tapes I currently have just bought in the past few weeks.

[JoeDirt 0]

I would love to see a review of that show.

 

It's on my short list of numerous IWA-MS shows I'm buying very soon.

[JoeDirt 0]

Just thought I'd bump this.

 

I also wanted to mention that I'm going to be receiving a LOT of indy tapes real soon (saved up money over the summer, lol) and I plan to review them here. I also wouldn't mind getting them posted on a website anywhere. I just want to spread the news about all the great indy stuff going on today. So if anyone runs a site or has any connections, I'd love to have my reviews posted elsewhere.

 

In the coming weeks and months (however long it takes me to get through all this stuff I suppose), I will be reviewing (starting in a week or two):

 

ROH Reborn Stages 1 and 2

ROH Generation Next

ROH World Title Classic

ROH Survival of the Fittest

 

PWG 88 Miles Per Hour

PWG "Kee the Ee..."

PWG The Musical

 

IWA-MS Simply the Best 5

IWA-MS Shot of Southern Comfort

IWA-MS One More Time

IWA-MS Butcher Loose in Highland

IWA-MS KOTDM 2004

 

And when I get more money I'll probably review the newest ROH and IWA-MS shows.