Match Review: Ian Rotten vs. Tank

[Phoenix Fury Legdrop 0]

So, I recently acquired the Wildside/IWA Challenge tape via the fine IWA merchandise table at the most recent Highland show, but have really been unable to watch it until now. So, I popped it in the other night and started watching it a bit, looking forward to, at least to me as a mark for both companies, a really cool concept show. I watched through the first five matches or so, and outside of Nigel McGuinness vs. Todd Sexton, which was a really fun mat-based match that's another reason to get the tape, nothing was that special (or in the case of Seth DeLay/Jimmy Jacobs, completely and totally disappointing). Then, the sixth match in the series came on: Ian Rotten vs. Tank.

 

Ian vs. Tank was admittedly one of the first matches that popped into my head when I first heard about Ian wanting to work with Wildside via the 2003 TPI Q&A (with Sal Rinauro/Nate Webb still being the one dream match yet unfulfilled). I was a bit disappointed when I heard that it wasn't happening on this show, but Ian/Danielson and Corp./Tank (two other bizarro dream matches of mine) would more than make up for it. So, when I read that they replaced those two with this match, I was psyched to see the match. The match lived up to the very high expectations I had for it.

 

For anyone who's followed Tank's career, the biggest comparision you could probably draw to him would be as a Deep South alternate universe Ian Rotten, as they're both guys who look like they'd be great brawlers (and are), but they start busting out all of this great matwork and it kind of freaks you out as a viewer the first few times, until you realize that this isn't just a novelty: they can actually go on the mat and not have it be just some random attachment before they go back to the brawling. Plus, they both hit very, very, very hard.

 

From the opening bell, you can immediately tell that this is going to be quite the struggle between two men who, outside of Tank being a much larger man than Ian, are quite equal to one another. They immediately go down to the mat, as both guys go back-and-forth in terms of trying to get on a hold on the mat, but the other man being able to slide or power their way out of it before reversing into another hold. Ian noticeably goes after the head and neck, looking to wear down the much larger Tank so that he can gas him out before any momentum can be had. Just like with either man's character or appearance, there's absolutely nothing fancy about the matwork here: it's straight-forward and to the point. It does get a little rough-looking at times, but would it honestly look realistic if someone as huge as Tank or with as many injuries as Ian's suffered over the years moved around the mat like they were Nigel McGuinness or Bryan Danielson?

 

The struggle on the mat goes on for about five-six minutes before Ian brings the chain struggle to their feet, realizing that he can't just ground Tank and gas him out like he thought he could. But, Tank shows off that he can still put something together on his feet, using a reversal to go into a reverse hammerlock/Dragon sleeper combination hold. Ian escapes, but you can see frustration building on his face. He comes off of the ropes and attempts to send Tank down with a shouldertackle...but as evident by how gigantic Tank is, that didn't work. Ian goes down to the mat himself, and is now pissed to the point where he goes to the floor and invites Tank to throw down with him.

 

Tank and Ian then throw down with some pretty good brawling, where Ian seems to be dominating at first with his infamous stiff forearms to the face, the third of which takes Tank off-guard and knocks him down on the concrete floor. But, Tank comes to and fights back enough that he's able to score a snapmare on the floor into a series of Goddamn Unnecessary Kicks (tm Mitch Ryder) to the spine.

 

The fight spills back into the ring, as Tank's proven that he's got Ian matched at every bizarre quirk that Ian can usually get past tough opponents with. Ian's not completely out, as he's obviously been through way worse than some dragon kicks to the spine, so he's able to out-think Tank and bring him down with a drop toe hold. Ian tries going to a katahajime. But, Tank's obviously a big tape watcher of IWA, as anyone who's watched enough of Ian's past mat-based matches knows that he's great at being able to effectively use that choke, even gaining victory over Tarek The Great with it in the past. Using his obvious size and power, Tank's able to turn Ian over onto his stomach and even apply a grounded cravate to escape while Ian's shoulders are pinned to the mat. Ian gets a shoulder up at two, but gets a page out of his own playbook thrown at him with some headbutts. The headbutts end up busting Ian open, in which he notices after he takes advantage of a huge mistake of Tank's. Tank let go of the cravate hold and ran the ropes, looking for some sort of splash. But, he made a huge mistake taking advantage of speed that just isn't there, as Ian's able to get the boot up and kick Tank in the gut to give himself some rest time.

 

But, Ian makes a big mistake himself right after, as he starts throwing his signature headbutts at Tank's huge chrome dome. He ends up knocking himself loopy since not only does Tank seem to have a huge, hard head, but he's headbutting him right on the point of his forehead where he's busted open, opening it up even more and letting more blood escape from his head. Tank's affected by the headbutts enough that both guys come to their feet at the same time and start throwing hard strikes at each other, a trademark of both guys. Right about here is where Tank notices the cut, as he seems to aim his forearm shivers right at Ian's busted-open forehead. Neither man goes down, so Ian actually gets to use a rare advantage he has over Tank, that being his speed, to come off of the ropes and knock one out of the parks with a huge lariat that sends Tank down.

 

Tank ends up being able to take advantage quickly of the same mistake Ian made before, as, thinking on his feet with his brain quickly losing oxygen, he goes back to the headbutts that he could have been thinking would send Tank down since they usually work on everyone else. But, he again falls prey to the fact that he's hurting himself more than Tank by crashing his skull into another person's skull, and knocks himself loopy yet again.

 

Tank and Ian come up to their feet, and Ian's quick to get Tank back down with a HARD knife-edge chop (which Tank does a brilliant selling job for, patting his Pantera shirt back and forth like he was trying to put a fire out on his chest). Ian jumps on Tank's back as he's trying to get back up and goes for the katahajime again. But, Tank again knows that being locked in that hold by Ian Rotten is imminate doom, so he locks himself in place and makes sure that Ian isn't able to turn him over, again relying on his one obvious difference from Ian (the size difference).

 

Tank reverses that with an STF, clinching it in like he thinks it's the kill. But, Ian's wrestled enough guys who use that hold regularly to know to get out as soon as possible, which he does. Around this point is when Ian finally is able to send Tank down with a very effective headbutt to the face, as he's worked over Tank's head enough for it to be effective without knocking himself out with it. Ian then makes an uncharacteristic change of strategy, going for a short armscissors. He applies it to the point where Tank can't find a way out. So, out of desperation, Tank goes back to his undisciplined brawling roots and bites into Ian's shin until the pain becomes unbearable and Ian has to let go.

 

At this point, Tank sees that Ian's completely open and decides to go in on that cut again with several punches to it. But, Ian comes up from under, first by winning a palm thrust/slap fight while on his knees, then delivering a stiff series of E. Honda strikes which, much like his Facelift is a tribute to B-Boy, is obviously a tribute to Samoa Joe. By this point, the strikes have finally really gotten to Tank, as he's still fighting but is worn down heavily and can't seem to think straight, as is illustrated by him getting out of a series of strikes in the corner by giving Ian an STJoe, but being unable to do anything afterwards to take advantage. Ian's even able to get ahold of Tank before Tank's out of his daze, applying a neck crank variation while getting revenge for the bite earlier by knawing on Tank's ear.

 

Here comes the finish, a very smart one in my opinion. Ian forces Tank into the corner in which they had just worked out of with some strikes, then goes across to the other side, obviously setting up for a charging move. When he runs across the ring, he heavily shows that he has really bad knees, which could tip the "not-all-there" Tank off, as he's able to take advantage at the lack of speed behind the charge and move, causing Ian to go knee-first into the middle-turnbuckle. Ian goes down holding his knee as Tank immediately hooks the leg and turns Ian over. He then goes down and hooks in an STF, which takes advantage of both Ian's knee and applies more pressure to Ian's head and cut, which obviously is losing more blood since Tank's cutting off any other exit vein for it by hooking the neck. Ian has no choice but to tap out, tying everything together and ending a tremendous bout.

 

Looking at all of the stuff that I've just written, I think I could have possibly gone too anal retentive on this bout. But, there is THIS MUCH depth to this match, something that a first-time viewer of either man could possibly expect. That is one thing that I love about Ian Rotten matches: they may not look the prettiest, but if you pay attention, you'll get a very good story told with a usually-satisfying finish.

 

Another thing that I love about Ian Rotten's wrestling that was heavily illustrated here is that he seems to be able to take advantage of some of his physical faults and use them as strong points in the story of the match. For instance, everyone knows that, just by looking at Ian, you can see that he has enough scar tissue on his forehead to be able to open a cut just by being outside with it bare on a windy day. Ian uses that to be able to tell a story about how Tank's opened him up and ends up leaving one of his strongest weapons, the headbutt, somewhat ineffective in comparison to his usual headbutts while wearing him out gradually just from the blood loss. Plus, Ian obviously has bad knees from all of his years of wrestling, and uses that to his advantage by illustrating it a bit with a long running charge that shows that they don't exactly work right, which makes the fact that one big blow to his knee was enough to take it out of commission long enough to make it accessible for the finish.

 

Another part of this that I liked is how Tank was immediately established as an equal, and not just some cheap impostor from Wildside. He passed Ian's "test", so to speak, by being able to hang with him on the mat and even slightly outwrestling him at points. But, neither man really had a clear-cut advantage until Tank found that one weakness on Ian, that being the cut, and used it to go after instead of trying to find a difference, outside of his size, which only worked for him in small doses, from Ian.

 

In the end, it's not exactly this amazingly visceral piece of modern art that everyone's going to be amazed by and praise as if it's the second coming. What it happens to be is an incredibly smart, hard-hitting, realistic wrestling match that I happened to enjoy for the fact that, while there was obviously a lot of thought put into this match, they didn't put too much in and it still looked gritty and realistic. Very, Very High Recommendation To Go Out Of Your Way To See.

 

I'm going to go and watch the eight-man tag team main event from this show (Tank, Sal Rinauro, Todd Sexton, and Shaun Tempers vs. Ian Rotten, Nate Webb, Nigel McGuinness, and Jimmy Jacobs) later tonight. If it's really good, chances are I'll come back sometime soon with something to pimp that match

 

Yeah.

[JoeDirt 0]

Great review, Tom. I'm glad to see a match like this reviewed, which you wouldn't usually see. When you see Ian and Tank work, you have to realize that it's not going to be quick matwork you might see in a match with Alex Shelley or Nigel McGuinness. It's going to be slow, no doubt about it, but it'll be smart and hard hitting. I liked Ian's match with Ray Gordy, and his match with Arik Cannon recently was a lot like that too. Tank has really shown in a short time in IWA that he is tough as hell (some really bloody matches in the KOTDM tournament), and can really go with somebody who can work the match. Cool stuff.

 

Can't wait to hear what you think of the big main event.

[Guest DeathBecomesYou]

Sounds like it was a great match, I always enjoy watching Ian act the bully to the smaller/younger guys, it'll be an interesting change to see him as the one getting bullied around. I've only seen one Tank match previously, that being the Wildcards vs B & B vs Tank/Iceberg match from TPI 2004 (which was pretty good), what would you recommend as some of Tank's better work from Wildside?

[Phoenix Fury Legdrop 0]

There's not a shitload of GREAT stuff to choose from Wildside, as he really seems to get misused a lot there in terms of not being able to show off any in-ring skill.

 

There's a great eight-man tag from Wildside TV in March 2002 with him, Scottie Wrenn, David Young, and Dustin Timberlake (Lazz's alter-ego) against Jason Cross, Adam Jacobs, Rick Michaels, and Bart Sawyer.

 

His match against Iceberg from Hardcore Hell 2002 is the first really good match I ever saw either guy have (that and Mondo/Messiah from EPIC are my two favorite deathmatches from that year).

 

The first time he really got to show off wrestling skill down there was a TV match against Adam Jacobs from the spring of 2002.

 

The entire Holy Wars cage gauntlet that he was in at Freedom Fight 2002 was excellent.

 

From then on...I'd check any card where he's booked against recognizable names who you know are good (Lost Boys, Rainman, etc.), as usually him against any good worker seems to be pretty good. However, Bill loves booking him against shitty guys, so keep away from him against guys who you don't know of.

[Guest DeathBecomesYou]

Much appreciated. I'm still only recently getting in to Wildside and for the most part, it's the juniors that interest me the most.

[Cuban Linx 0]

I was really looking forward to Ian/Danielson but from the sounds of it Ian/Tank looks to be a pretty good substitute, i was still up in the air on getting the show but from the sounds of things i'll likely end up getting it sooner or later. Sucks that DeLay/Jacobs was disappointing, since on paper that should really have been a great match and was probably the match i was most looking forward to out of the Wildside/IWA show.