Match review: Jimmy Jacobs vs. Brandon Thomaselli

[JoeDirt 0]

Match review: Jimmy Jacobs vs. Brandon Thomaselli (IWA-MS 12/18/04)

 

This is from the "Rumble in Rensselaer" card. For your story, Thomaselli is the hot young newcomer in IWA-MS, and has been in several big matches since arriving in October. Jacobs is the frustrated IWA veteran, who just lost his light heavyweight title to Delirious in a contraversial decision, and has been getting more and more frustrated over the past few months. Jacobs beat Thomaselli in a competitive 25 minute match back in November, and this is a 2/3 falls rematch:

 

First fall:

 

Jimmy goofs around to start, putting on a girl's sweatshirt/jacket at ringside and locking up with it on. He then wears a guy's sweatshirt and continues goofing around. They then lock up and Thomaselli controls for a bit before Jacobs goes after the arm and then into a wristlock. Thomaselli does a great backflip into a reversal. Jacobs gets the ropes. Another lockup sequence, and Thomaselli works over Jacobs on the mat and then hits a beautiful bridging suplex for 2, with Jacobs countering out of it into a pin for a 2 count. Jacobs takes Brandon back down and continues going after the arm, and shows some frustration with a palm strike to the head. Thomaselli gets out of it and pins Jacobs for 2 and then into a chinlock. Jacobs continues to get more frustrated. They do a sloppy sequence in the ropes where Jacobs flips Thomaselli to the floor and then fakes a dive. Back in, and they shake hands and Jacobs fakes out going for a cheap shot, and Thomaselli does an "I saw that" kind of joking around motion. They lock up again. Jimmy grabs the leg and Thomaselli does another great counter out of it but Jimmy goes to a headlock and Thomaselli counters out of that into a suplex/pinning combination for 2 and then another one for 2, getting out of the headlock. More applause from the fans as Jimmy gets more frustrated. Jacobs bails to the floor and just stands there as if he's contemplating something. He gets back in and they lock up again. They have a hard break and then do it again. Jacobs REALLY takes Thomaselli down hard this time and hits more palm strikes to the head. Brandon is close to the ropes, but instead of taking the break he proves he can outwrestle Jacobs and takes him to the mat for a pin for 2, and Jacobs bails, getting more and more pissed off. Back in, at 12:00, Jacobs gets a waistlock and then goes for the Contra Code but Thomaselli counters to the Air Raid Crash which Jacobs counters to a sunset flip for 2, which Thomaselli counters to a pin for 2. Back up, and now Jacobs is pissed, and they talk trash. Jacobs pushes Thomaselli and asks him if he thinks he's a big shot. He tells Brandon he isn't shit and slaps him, and now they trade chops and punches and forearms. Thomaselli splashes Jacobs in the corner. They fight over a suplex and Jacobs swings it into a hard neckbreaker. Back up, and Jacobs hits a REALLY HARD chop, talks more trash, and then hits headbutts before dumping Brandon with a suplex. The fans still cheer Jacobs, even when he's turning heel before their eyes. More trash talk, and a forearm to the back and then a second big suplex puts Thomaselli down. More trash talk from Jacobs. Jacobs looks to Ian Rotten on commentary and asks "is this your boy?" He pins Brandon for 2. Jacobs takes a break to tell the fans that he's been in the company way longer than Thomaselli and that he deserves respect. Thomaselli fights back with chops but Jimmy rakes Brandon's eyes. "This is my spot!" Jacobs says as he blasts Thomaselli with forearms. Thomaselli fights back with more chops but then gets caught with a HUGE boot to the face by Jacobs in the corner for a 2 count. That almost got a "holy fuuuuuuuck" from Prazak. Jacobs pulls him to the middle and hooks an Indian deathlock into a chinlock but Thomaselli won't tap. Jimmy goes for his Tomikaze type move, but Thomaselli counters into a pinning combination for the first fall at 18:00!

 

Second fall:

 

And now Jacobs is REALLY pissed. He chops away at Thomaselli. They trade shots. Inverted STO by Jacobs into a camel clutch. He blasts Thomaselli with HARD crossface shots. He then goes from the camel clutch to a quick pin for 2. Jacobs still can't put Thomaselli down for a fall. Jacobs tosses Thomaselli to the floor and hits a tope on him. He then hopes Thomaselli will get counted out, but Thomaselli gets back in at nineteen. That's a great touch right there. Jacobs is pissed. More shots to the face. Vertical suplex for 2. Senton across the chest for 2. Jacobs pins him repeatedly, but Thomaselli always kicks out. He goes to a surfboard and just slams Thomaselli's face into the mat, almost like Super Dragon's curb stomp. More repeated pinfall attempts, but Thomaselli counters one to a two count of his own. They trade shots, hard forearms. Thomaselli hits a handspring leg lariat and both guys are down. Thomaselli hits a reverse suplex type thing for 2, and Jacobs then rolls him up for 2 right out of that. Still 1-0 Thomaselli. He goes for the Air Raid Crash (Kryptonite Krunch) and Jacobs rolls him up again for 2. They fight up top and Thomaselli hits a superplex, but Jacobs leans back and pins him...for 2! Jacobs sets up for a top rope Tomikaze, but Thomaselli blocks. He misses a 450 and gets caught by a Jacobs lariat. Jacobs hits a SICK SICK SENTON BOMB off the top with all his weight going into Thomaselli's chest for only 2! Jacobs now realizes he has to go to the contra code, and he goes for it, but Brandon counters into a tombstone which Jacobs counters into a piledriver attempt which Thomaselli counters to an Air Raid Crash which Jacobs counters to a pinfall for 2 which Thomaselli counters to a pinfall for 2. Jacobs goes to the apron and Thomaselli scoops him up and hits the Air Raid Crash for the second straight pinfall at 28:15! Thomaselli wins it in two falls!

 

Post match:

 

Jacobs goes to shake Brandon's hand and then slaps him in the face and tells him to stay "down there, in YOUR spot." Jacobs goes off on Ian Rotten, about how he shows favoritism to this new kid, and how Jacobs got screwed out of the light heavyweight title. Jacobs goes total heel, telling the fans and Ian to get a life. Ian tells him he respect Jimmy, but Jimmy can't forget where he came from. Ian books him in a rematch with Thomaselli at the next Rensellaer show where the loser must say "I respect you" to the other guy.

 

This match was storytelling in wrestling at its finest, with the bitter Jacobs finally snapping after months of buildup. It shows the difference between having a random match between two guys and having a match with a story to tell, and how much difference that makes when you have the latter. Great work by both guys here, a great near-30 minute match, a great story told, and a great set up for the next show. The announcing by Dave Prazak and Ian Rotten was also good, as we got to hear Ian surprised as he watched the match unfold at how frustrated Jimmy was getting. Great storytelling. One of the best IWA-MS matches in 2004, in my opinion, (and they've had a lot of good ones) because of the storytelling and the great, realistic work by both Jimmy and Brandon.

 

The 12/18 show as a whole is a lot of fun, and I suggest everyone should check it out at www.smartmarkvideo.com because there isn't one bad match on the entire tape, there's some good matches, some funny stuff with Alex Shelley, Ian, and Petey Williams, and a cage match main event. Good stuff from IWA. I just hope people get the tape to find out for themselves, as Ian can't afford to book guys like Styles, Joe, Danielson, etc that often anymore.

 

Thoughts, comments, opinions are welcome. Thanks for reading.

[Guest DeathBecomesYou]

That's a great review, i've got this show on order from Smart Mark, so hopefully it's all good. Just one question though, I know Sal and Vito have also wrestled for IWA MS as of late, are all three Thomaselli's together as a team or is Brandon seperate from Sal and Vito?

[JoeDirt 0]

I'm not positive, since I haven't seen any of the shows with Sal and Vito on them yet, but I THINK they're separate, but I could be wrong...anyone want to help me out here?

[Cuban Linx 0]

Nice review, i've been looking forward to this and the other Jacobs/Thomaselli matches so it's good to hear it's as good as i expected, i should be getting this show and the others in the next couple of weeks.

 

IWA has always been good at making stars out of lesser known guys, Punk/Cabana/Hero, Whitmer too i guess in 2000 & 2001, Nate Webb in '02, Danny Daniels/Shelley/Jacobs & probably McGuinness in '03, Sydal/Delirious/Cannon in late '03/'04 all come to mind over the last few years, and they look to be doing a great job again with Brandon, especially important since without the big name indy guys theyll have to rely on their own guys to carry the shows.