Match Review: Team IWA vs. Team Wildside

[Phoenix Fury Legdrop 0]

First off, in the anal retentive moment of the review, when you watch, notice Nigel McGuinness during the IWA team's entrance. All the other guys are joking around with each other (and in Nate & Jacobs' case, slam-dancing to Marilyn Manson on the floor), but Nigel, while not acting all cock-like, doesn't really spend a lot of time socializing with his teammates. This'll all make sense come the end of the match.

 

The match opened with about fifteen minutes of both teams feeling each other out a bit, though not necessarily in that slow-paced, methodical way for you dislikers of that style. You could tell both teams were searching for the weak link on the other side to keep in the ring and keep in-peril. There's a hilarious part at the beginning where Ian's in with Sal and does a BUTT bump to get out of a waistlock. Ian puts Sal in the same move and Sal tries to escape, but he's obviously got a much smaller bottom than Ian, so it doesn't work. Sal then complains about it, saying his ass is a lot cuter with Ian's, and wouldn't wrestle until everyone on his team and referee Tommy Thompson agreed with him. They establish from the beginning that Todd Sexton's trouble for anyone on the IWA team but Nigel, as whenever Todd would get tagged in, Nigel would be tagged in right after and out-wrestle Sexton like in their singles match earlier in the night. Both teams go through each other's smaller combatants (Wildside's Rinauro, IWA's Jacobs & Webb), as well as IWA going after Shaun Tempers, the rookie ofthe Wildside crew, to search for someone to hold in the ring and work over.

 

Right before going into phase two of the match, there's a really funny interaction between Sal Rinauro and Nate Webb where Nate takes advantage of Sal being held in a hold when he gets tagged in...by hugging Sal, who immediately freaks out at the thought of hugging another man. They run the ropes a bit, and Nate reverses a hiptoss...by hugging Sal again. Sal then flips out in a homophobic rage and tags out.

 

The second part of the match is a very basic face-in-peril struggle, as the Wildside crew is the first to execute the traditional American tag strategy of getting one man in the ring and working him over, as they trap Jimmy Jacobs in the ring (who had some really funny exchanges with Tank throughout the match). The entire team follow Sal's lead by working over his back, which was worked over by Delirious during their TPI Night One ladder match, and was continued to be worked over by Rinauro himself at Night Two of the TPI. Plus, Shaun Tempers almost scored the upset of the night by working over JC Bailey's back during their bout, so the backwork more than served a purpose. The Wildside crew even went all out with the stereotypical Southern-style heel spots (rope pulling, eye gouging, assisting partners in submission holds illegally) to establish that IWA's good and Wildside, at least for that night, was a bit evil (or at least desperate to get the win.) In this case, it made a lot of sense for Team Wildside to be able to pull it together and become the first team to be able to use the traditional face-in-peril attack, as all four guys on the team have either been Wildside tag champions (Tank and Sexton) or are well-known in Wildside circles for being tag wrestlers (Tempers in Pomp & Circumstance, Rinauro in G-Rated and Three Guys That Totally Rule).

 

Jacobs ends up slipping away from Team Wildside since he's a wirey young fellow, and after a slightly calmer-than-usual hot tag spot, Team IWA's able to exact a little bit of revenge on Wildside by trapping their smallest guy, Rinauro, in their corner and work over his back a bit. But, it's not to last as Nate Webb makes a slight slip-up and ends up falling pawn to Team Wildside, as they trap him in their corner and worked him over with a series of second-rope Veg-O-Matics, ending with Tank crashing down on Nate from the second rope and nearly snapping him in half. I believe they ended up working over Nate's back too, but I'm probably mistaken since it was 3 AM and I'm just a worthless teenager (tm the Spidertwist boards).

 

At the forty-one minute mark, with just four minutes left in the time limit, shit really starts to break down, when Nate Webb gets the hot tag to Ian and Tank gets tagged in, as, kind of like in baseball, you got the heavy hitters batting clean-up. They go at it in the center of the ring, as craziness ensues with the other six (and Ace Rockwell, acting as heel second for the Wildside team) start brawling all throughout the building, pairing off and covering ground in just about every inch of the Armory. Tank and Ian head outside and continue what they started in their match, only it's more back and forth (notice that Ian doesn't throw a single headbutt during the entire exchange with Tank, learning from his mistake from their singles match). At one point, Jimmy Jacobs gets Sexton in a Figure-Four Leglock right by Jim Fannin at the commentary table, as the other guys are still brawling uncontrollably throughout the building. The two legal men, Tank and Ian, get back into the ring before the twenty-count expires, as does Nigel McGuinness, armed with a chain. He teases hitting Tank with it, even going as far as avoiding Ian with it at all costs when Ian gets thrown into Nigel. But, at the last second, Nigel cements his heel turn by hitting Ian in the back of the head with the chain and knocking him out cold. Tank comes off of the ropes and hits a big splash, taking advantage of Nigel's dastardly deed while getting an unclean win for Team Wildside.

 

After the match, Ian dazily cuts a promo where he rips on Nigel for being a butthole and turning on IWA (something even Fannin, the top heel manager in the company and Ian's worst nemesis, was vocally upset about on commentary). Ian then turns his attention to Tank, who he says he respects for being a big guy who can brawl and wrestle, but says he's very disappointed that he had to stoop to cheating in order to win the series, which Ian kind of buries by saying the obvious: neither side had their best guys in tow. Ian then challenges Tank to a second IWA/Wildside Challenge, saying it won't be on a Thursday and that he'll get the seven very best IWA guys, and told Tank to get the seven very best Wildside guys, and that he "definately won't win". The night ends with Ian letting out some frustration by hitting Tommy Thompson over the head with a chair for being kind of incompetent throughout the night.

 

As good of a match as this was, I loved the ending more than anything else. Why? I'm a fan of old-school IWA at heart, and it was quite the old school IWA ending to a show: great, long multi-man match ends with some great brawling throughout the building, with all twenty-something people there hot as hell for all the action, big angle in the ring, Ian lays down the challenges for next week, and we got something to look forward to for next time. Hell, the entire show was totally old-school IWA without the gallons of blood or murder. I have to say, as awesome as IWA's been this year in terms of great wrestling, old-school IWA's something that's been missing, and I was damn glad to see it back in full-force, at least for one night.

 

I think that about does it. I don't really have a huge wrap-up for this, other than that Nigel/Sexton, Tank/Ian, and the eight-man make the tape worth your $15. If you're a fan of the core IWA roster or a Wildside mark, chances are you'll pick it up and enjoy it if you got the money to go to www.smartmarkvideo.com and buy it. If you're one of those who just caught on to IWA when Ian started bringing in the Samoa Joe's and the Bryan Danielson's of the world and don't really feel comfortable jumping head-first into some older IWA, the tape's kind of like the shallow end of the pool: the same feel as an older IWA show, but with some newer, more recognizable talent for the newer IWA fans. Again, a recommendation from me (and I'm sure some other people'll back me up once they get their copies ::coughMcGoverncough:.

[Guest DeathBecomesYou]

Sounds like a really good show, suprising since there wasn't much in the way of "name" talent, good to see some of the lesser used guys from both feds get a chance to show their skills.

 

There's a hilarious part at the beginning where Ian's in with Sal and does a BUTT bump to get out of a waistlock. Ian puts Sal in the same move and Sal tries to escape, but he's obviously got a much smaller bottom than Ian, so it doesn't work. Sal then complains about it, saying his ass is a lot cuter with Ian's, and wouldn't wrestle until everyone on his team and referee Tommy Thompson agreed with him.

 

Further proof that Sal = greatness, if I ever see a Sal vs Cabana or Sal vs Beef match, I don't think it'd ever be topped.

[JoeDirt 0]

Good review. I've been interested to see this show, now I just might pick it up. Too bad a lot of the singles matches weren't anything special, though. But I really like the concept of this show and I think they should do it a few times a year.