Review: IWA-MS Stylin' in the Summertime

[JoeDirt 0]

The show starts with Ian Rotten running down the lineup and promoting the TPI and the 8th anniversary show. Ian has really good repore with his crowds, its hard not to like him.

 

MATCH ONE: Jimmy Jacobs vs. Mark Wolf vs. "Spyder" Nate Webb:

 

Jacobs gets rid of his "HUSS" gimmick for this match and comes out in pajamas with a boombox, doing a "Say Anything" gimmick. Webb comes out with the usual best entrance in indy wrestling. This is a #1 contender's match for the light heavyweight title, which begs the question of, "Why the hell is Mark Wolf in the match, then?" We get a couple of triple lockups to start, not much happening. CM Punk on commentary, calls Jimmy Jacobs "homosexual". Prazak complains, so Punk says "hey, some of my best friends are gay!" Wolf chops the HELL out of Jacobs in the corner. Webb chops Wolf, and Jacobs chops Wolf. Jacobs tries a double noggin knocker but it doesn't work and he gets drilled. Wolf hits a big running knee lift on Webb, and he and Jacobs apply a Boston Crab/Camel Clutch combo. Jacobs then hits a seated dropkick! Jacobs gets a jawbreaker and a funky rollup for 2 on Webb. Wolf gets a corner avalanche on Jacobs. Double dropkick on the bigger Wolf by the smaller guys. Webb gets clotheslined outside. Wolf follows, and Jacobs hits a NICE dive off the top rope and to the floor. Wolf gets up and hits a double clothesline off the apron to Webb and Jacobs, who are seated in a ringside chair. Back inside, and Wolf gets a slingshot front suplex on Jacobs for 2. Webb gets caught in a tree of woe and Jacobs dropkicks him in the face. Jacobs lifts Wolf to the top rope, but Wolf blocks a rana and hits an inverted atomic drop off the top, right into a German suplex by Webb. Wolf and Webb knock each other down, and everyone's out. Webb hits his cool half nelson twisting facebuster thing on Jacobs, but Wolf puts the Carolina Cloverleaf on Webb. Jacobs breaks it up. Wolf hits an inverted DDT on Webb and Jacobs hits the Contra Code on Wolf (landing on Webb as he hits it) for the three count at about 8:00. This is about what you'd expect from a match like this: VERY little wrestling at all, but some nice spots designed to get the crowd into the match and the show. **1/4

 

Heel manager Jim Fannin comes out and talks about how he's the reason IWA-MS is still in business today. Punk on commentary says "yeah, because you've had so many five star matches, you stupid fuck." Trik Davis confronts Fannin, and Fannin's new client Steve Stone runs out to start a match

 

MATCH TWO: Steve Stone w/ Jim Fannin vs. Trik Davis:

 

Short match as Stone beats up Davis and refuses to pin him. Stone gets DQ-ed in a few minutes. Ian Rotten comes out and a BIG brawl starts between Rotten and Stone. The whole lockeroom has to separate them. Funny part as Ian is right by Prazak and Punk on commentary and looks at Punk, saying "You're the only guy who's a bigger dick than Steve Stone." Punk shrugs and says "yeah, he's got nothing on me." Anyways, Rotten challenges Stone to a match on 8/21 and Stone accepts. This match was just a setup for the Rotten/Stone angle, no real match.

 

MATCH THREE: MsChif vs. Tracy Brooks vs. Mickie Knuckles vs. Daizee Haze:

 

This is a real good women's match as they get about 9-10 minutes to show what they can do. Hot series of finishing moves at the end, and Brooks pins Haze with a cannonball off the top. Brooks is probably the worst worker in the match, as Mickie looked really good here, dishing out REALLY stiff shots, and Daizee and MsChif looked good as well. I like the women's division IWA-MS has put together. **1/2

 

 

MATCH FOUR: Delirious vs. AJ Styles (IWA-MS Light Heavyweight title):

 

Styles hits a BIG dropkick to start, and he beats on Delirious until the champ bails to the floor. Fannin, on commentary, says it's stupid of Ian Rotten to give Styles a title shot when he might only show up once every three months or so. They lock up in the ring and Styles gets the best of things. Styles gets a waistlock and Delirious does his "lick by hand and slip free" thing, but Styles goes right back to the advantage. Delirious trips up Styles and takes him down. Styles sweep kicks Delirious and takes him right back to the mat. Styles gets a wristlock and kicks Delirious, who responds with a big forearm. This looks like it pisses off AJ, who takes Delirious to the corner and pounds the hell out of him. Big backbreaker by Styles, and then a knee drop. He kicks Delirious around and covers him for 2. Hanging vertical suplex by Styles for 2. Delirious dropkicks Styles to the floor and goes for a rana off the apron, but Styles tosses Delirious back inside. Delirious chokes Styles out on the ropes and then kicks him in the back. Delirious hooks a funky submission, but Styles counters to a Styles Clash attempt, but Delirious kicks him in the head to block. Delirious hits a sitdown spinebuster and then hooks some submission on Styles, flipping the bird to the crowd as he does. He pulls a strap off his mask and chokes Styles out with it. Styles comes back with a swinging ribbreaker move. Back up, they trade shots, and Styles hits a sick back drop suplex for 2. Moonsault into a DDT for Styles for 2. Delirious takes out Styles' knee and hits a running knee in the corner for 2. Styles gorilla presses Delirious and tosses him into the ringpost! Nice! Back in, and Delirous hits the Shadows Over Hell on Styles (who doesn't take the move quite right) for 2! We get a ref bump. Styles tries the Styles Clash, but KID KASH runs out to low blow him, and Deliirious gets the pin at about 15:00. This was a solid match, but didn't have the emotion or storytelling to take it to the next level. **3/4

 

 

MATCH FIVE: Brad Bradley and Ryan Boz © vs. Nigel McGuinness and Chad Collyer (IWA-MS tag team titles):

 

The tag team champs STILL don't have any tag belts to wear, which really sucks. Collyer and Bradley start off and wrestle until Bradley knocks Collyer down with a running shoulder block. Boz gets in but Nigel and Collyer double team him. Collyer and Boz go at it and Collyer fires up with lots of chops. Boz bails and Bradley gets in and beats up Collyer before hitting a great overhead suplex. Boz then dives through the ropes onto Collyer and Nigel! BIG MAN FLYING! Nigel then grabs Boz and tosses him about four rows deep into a bunch of chairs. An angry Fannin on commentary: "I'll be damned if I have to get out of my chair and move!" Bradley and Boz work over Collyer with the usual big man offense until he gets a GREAT DDT on Bradley and makes the hot tag. Lots of European uppercuts from Nigel to B&B. Hammerlock DDT on Bradley for 2. Nigel suplexes Bradley and Collyer tags in and tries for the Cloverleaf and gets it! Boz kicks Collyer in the head to break it. Collyer takes Boz down and hooks the Cloverleaf on him, too! Bradley recovers and boots Collyer in the head. Nigel gets in but Bradley lariats him for the pinfall. Didn't get the exact time in that match, but I think it was around 10-11 minutes. Pretty average stuff. Nigel didn't look very good here, and this really isn't his type of match. Okay match, but not great. They DID bring some intensity, though, which is good. **1/4

 

 

MATCH SIX: CM Punk vs. Matt Sydal:

 

They do some respect-type stuff early, with Punk actually shaking Sydal's hand after a nice exchange. I thought you were a major asshole, Punker! Sydal works a headlock on Punk with a goofy grin on his face. They tie up again and Sydal slaps on a submission so Punk gets the ropes. Punk goes to a surfboard on Sydal, who powers out and flips him to the mat. Nice springboard leg lariat by Sydal gets 2. They blow a tough spot but quickly recover and Punk hooks a Gory Special on Sydal. Sydal kicks free and arm drags Punk down but Punk comes back with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Punk continues to work over the back of Sydal. Bootscrapes by Punk but he misses the running dropkick and sails through the ropes to the floor. Sydal hits a baseball slide kick and then a HUGE moonsault off the top rope and to the floor, taking out a row of chairs in the process. Back in, and now Punk works Sydal's knee, yelling "tap out you little fucker!" Finally some emotion from Punk in this match! Punk tries a figure four, but Sydal rolls him up for 2, and then gets a sunset flip for 2. Punk chop blocks him to take him right back down. Punk works him over some more and then lariats Sydal in the corner, as Punk works the crowd, getting them to boo him. Sydal comes back with an awesome springboard double stomp, and does a nice sell job of the knee. They trade chops and Punk kicks the knee, but Sydal hits a dropkick and both men are down, Sydal still selling the knee. Sydal says "I gotta go up" and heads to the top rope. Punk crotches him but Sydal ends up getting a victory roll for 2. Sydal hits his reverse DDT thingy for 2. Sydal heads back up top but Punk crotches him again and superplexes him for 2. Sydal ends up getting his dragonrana thing that always looks botched for 2. I don't like that move in this match, it just seems unecessary and unrealistic. Punk ends up catching Sydal with a shining wizard and hooks a single leg crab for the submission at about 20:00. This was pretty much textbook wrestling here. The babyface got some early offense, but got hurt on a big dive. Punk worked over his knee, and it led to him winning, but not before plenty of hope spots from the babyface. Besides the fact that I didn't like the dragonrana in this match, this was a solid twenty minutes of wrestling. ***1/2

 

Kid Kash comes out and runs down IWA-MS. Danny Daniels comes out and challenges him. Kash says he wants a REAL challenge, which brings out Sabu in a surprise appearance, and leads to...

 

 

MATCH SEVEN: Kid Kash vs. Danny Daniels vs. Sabu:

 

Kash and Daniels team up on Sabu to start. Kash then turns on Daniels and they trade shots. Triple lockup, and Kash works the leg of Sabu while Daniels works Kash's neck. Daniels kind of blows a spot with Sabu, and Sabu kind of yells at him for it. Prazak mentions Teddy Hart "doing backflips for no fucking reason and getting fired for it" while Jim Fannin says "what the HELL are you talking about?" All three men end up on the floor. Daniels takes out Kash and Sabu with a dive off the top rope. Sabu hits a triple jump moonsault to the floor onto his opponents. Prazak keeps ripping on H2Wrestling, saying "This just in...Mr. X revealed as PJ Friedman!" Fannin: "What the HELL are you talking about, Dave?" Fannin then talks about how he doesn't know what NWA TNA is. Sabu hits Daniels off the apron with a chair but then misses a springboard move towards Kash, and Kash DDT's him for 2. This match is just REALLY sloppy. Kash and Daniels fight it out as the crowd reacts to Sabu in the crowd. Prazak says "Sabu getting into it with some fans on the floor" as I guess Sabu shoved ChicagoWrestling guy Todd Gerth while on the floor. Sabu does a springboard leg drop to Kash and Daniels on a table that looks like it hurt his ass more than anything, as the table doesn't even break. Daniels hits his swinging gutbuster thing on Kash for 2. This match looks SO thrown together, as it has no flow and looks like they're making it up as they go. Sabu gets hooked in a double submission, but Daniels puts a submission on Kash, too. Kash hits a facebuster on Daniels, but Sabu and Kash trade chair throws and the match gets even weirder as there seems to be NO communication between wrestlers. Sabu does a springboard dive and Kash tries to shove him off the ropes but Sabu just says fuck it and does the dive anyways onto Daniels. Fannin goes off on Kid Kash, calling him a "no talent piece of shit" as this match gets even weirder. Kash tries a bulldog on Daniels but does it wrong and kicks Sabu in the nuts as he does. Sabu hooks the camel clutch on Daniels while Kash hooks a chinlock on Sabu. German suplex by Daniels on Sabu. Kash hits the Moneymaker on Daniels and has to wait to cover because Sabu is supposed to break it up but isn't in position. Wow. Finally AJ Styles runs out to end our misery and Sabu hits a weak springboard moonsault on Daniels for the pin at about 14:00. This match was one giant disaster as there was clearly no communication between wrestlers and VERY few good spots. Just one big giant mess. DUD

 

 

MATCH EIGHT: "Anarchist" Arik Cannon vs. "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson:

 

"Fuck him up Dragon, fuck him up!" chant to start, and Cannon stalls and yells at the crowd. I like Cannon as a heel. They tie up to start and Dragon twists and stretches Cannon in various ways like you might imagine. Cool submissions by Dragon before they trade some quick mat stuff before facing off. The fans clap, getting into the match, and Cannon yells at them. They tie up again and Dragon psyches Cannon out when he's in the ropes, patting him on the chest. Fannin says he should have punched him in the mouth. They tie up again and trade some great mat stuff, with Dragon looking really good as always. Danielson is just a ton of fun to watch. Cannon gets more and more frustrated as they tie up again. He backs Dragon to the ropes and then slaps him in the face. Big Euro uppercut by Dragon, who trash talks Cannon. Cannon chops Dragon, who is all "what, like that hurt, bitch?" Dragon uppercuts him again. Cannon fakes a chop and pokes Dragon in the eyes to a pop from the fans, and then takes Dragon to the mat with his first advantage of the match. It doesn't last long, as Dragon takes him out with a shoulderblock and then a knee drop for 2. Dragon slaps Cannon around a bit and the fans love it. Dragon with a great high dropkick for 2. Dragon goes to work on the left arm of Cannon while twisting and pulling on his wrist. Ouch! Dragon with some more awesome arm work on Cannon. Dragon hits three sick uppercuts on Cannon, but Cannon fires back with a big forearm shot that almost knocks Dragon out. Cannon goes to work on the neck of Dragon, and then hits an STO for 2. Rolling neck snap and then a leglock/cravat by Cannon, but Dragon fights his way out of it, just forearming the hell out of Cannon. Cannon continues to work the neck, though, with some cool submissions. We're about 15 minutes in and it's been almost ALL matwork and wrestling so far, and I LOVE it. Cannon hooks a stump puller-type move, but Dragon gets up and hits an enzuigiri to break. Dragon with uppercuts and chops. Dragon hooks an awesome inverted surfboard into a dragon sleeper submission that the crowd loves. Cannon is just bent BACKWARDS. Cannon tries a sunset flip, but Dragon just sits on him, Rikishi style. Dragon goes to an airplane spin before hitting a rolling fireman's carry slam and then a DIZZY TOP ROPE HEADBUTT~! He covers for 2. Cannon rallies with an exploder for 2. Dragon rallies with an AWESOME flying forearm from the second rope for 2. Dragon puts Cannon up top and superduperplexes (both men on the top rope) him for 2! Cannon blocks the Cattle Mutilation (Fannin: "He mutilates cattle?") and hits a swinging neckbreaker and then his swinging neckbreaker on the ropes move for 2. Dragon comes back with a HUGE roaring elbow on Cannon and then hooks the Cattle Mutilation! Cannon repositions himself, though, and gets the ropes, and they talk about how Dragon's neck wasn't good enough to hold the bridge there. Dragon hits another charging forearm, but he misses a move and Cannon hits the GLIMMERING WARLOCK~! Cover gets 2. Cannon hits ANOTHER Glimmering Warlock for 3 at about 24:00.

 

I LOVED this match. The first time I watched it I thought it was "pretty good" and gave it ***1/4-***1/2, but after watching it again it was BETTER than that. The work was hard hitting, realistic, and told a story. The psychology was solid, and there weren't any restholds or lulls in the action. Just a TERRIFIC wrestling match. ****

 

Dragon gets a "please come back!" and "thank you!" chant from the fans. Ian Rotten comes out and puts him over, and Dragon says he'll be back next month at 8/21 to face anyone Ian wants. The fans chant "HERO! HERO! HERO!" and Ian books the match!

 

 

MATCH NINE: Petey Williams © vs. Alex Shelley (2/3 falls for IWA-MS title):

 

Fall one: They trade plenty of holds on the mat to start. Shelley is really good at this. The crowd seems a little burnt out after the last match. Shelley rips at Williams' fingers and twists him around, but Williams counters and puts him in a leg lock. They trade various matholds with Shelley focused on the shoulder of Williams. Shelley hits some rolling suplexes and hooks the Border City Stretch for the tapout to go up 1-0. The announcers talk about how he had to tap out quickly to save himself for later.

 

Fall two: Shelley continues to focus on the arm as the second fall starts, and adds a kick to the back for good measure. He goes to a crucifix armbar type of move and then hits an arm wringer into an arm breaker. Shelley hits a great dropkick to the shoulder of Williams. He takes Williams to the floor and posts his arm. Punk says that Petey is screwed and might as well go home. Shelley continues to work the arm with all sorts of stuff. Williams comes back and hooks the sharpshooter and Shelley taps. That fall really came out of nowhere.

 

Final fall: Shelley continues to dominate and work the arm. He locks in a REALLY painful looking armbar but Petey gets the ropes. Petey tries to fight back but Shelley hits a single arm DDT and then applies a bridging armbar. There should really be more urgency from Prazak and Punk here as the title IS on the line, even if we all know who's going to win the match. Petey hooks a sleeper but Shelley quickly gets a chinbreaker to counter. Shelley hits a hammerlock Northern lights suplex! Nice. Shelley continues to work the arm. Williams finally comes back with some neckbreakers and a Russian leg sweep for 2. Shelley comes back with a double stomp off the top onto Williams' shoulder for 2. Petey tries the Canadian Destroyer twice, but Shelley blocks and hits the Shellshock for 2, right into the Border City Stretch, but Petey counters to a rollup for three at about 18:00. This was a really technically sound match, but Petey got almost NO offense in the entire match, and it was just Shelley working the arm. Technically sound, but not exciting as it could have been. **3/4

 

 

MATCH TEN: Madman Pondo vs. "Mr. Insanity" Toby Klein (Barbed wire tables match):

 

This match is what you'd expect. They brawl around rather slowly and bloody each other with the barbed wire. The first table bump is Klein diving to the outside and putting Pondo through a table. Nice spot. Pondo comes back and DDT's Klein off the top rope and through another table in a really nice bump. The final spot has Klein hitting a DVD on Pondo through the table for the pinfall at about 10:00 or so. The table bumps were nice...the rest of the match was not. It was a slow, plodding, uneventful and unemotional brawl. I really wish they played up the fact that at KOTDM Klein stapled flash paper to Pondo's face and LIT IT ON FIRE, but that fact seems to be lost here. Anyways, I'll be REALLY generous for the nice bumps and give it **.

 

After the match they set up a rematch at the 8/21 show where 16 fans will get to be lumberjacks and whip the guys with straps when they come to the floor.

 

Final thoughts: Another great show from IWA-MS. If you're a fan of Dragon or Cannon, you NEED to see their match here. Anyone who likes good, solid, realistic wrestling will love that match. Punk/Sydal is a really solid, textbook, by-the-books match, and AJ vs. Delirious is pretty solid, too. The women's match is good, as is the 2/3 falls match, and the Ian/Stone brawl is good, too.

[Guest Real F'n Show]

I'm loving your reviews man, keep it up.

[Guest Iron Nick]

Great review for what seemed like a pretty good show.

[JoeDirt 0]

Thanks, I'll try to keep the reviews coming!

[JoeDirt 0]

Since I'm a whore, I guess I'll bump my review.