On the way to IWA Mid South, Keith Lipinski and I drove out to O'Hare airport to pick up two friends who had flown in to see WWE's Hall of Fame ceremony and WrestleMania 22. When they heard about Low Ki vs. Necro Butcher at IWA, they wanted to fit that into their weekend as well. We rolled up to Midlothian around 2PM and this was in the middle of the suburbs. Keith parked the car in front of some guy's house and the guy was standing on his front yard almost in disbelief of all the cars arriving in the neighborhood that day. This guy was straight out of Cletus the Slack Jawed Yokel from the Simpsons. After finding out we were in for a rasslin' show he asked us where we were from. Keith's from Chicago, I was from New Hampshire, and our friend Kevin flew in from San Francisco. In a line I will never forget until the day I die, this guy asked us if our friend John came all the way from Japan. Well, I guess Johnny has to be Asian since he does, after all, have black hair. We didn't break it to the guy that John was from Philadelphia and instead let think this was the wrestling summit of the century.
We got to the door and decided to buy fourth row seats, since there was a price break at every row and it didn't look there was any difference between second row and fourth. The girl selling tickets (who I believe was Ian Rotten's wife, Patti) told us that "These tickets entitle you to that seat, if someone is sitting in it, kick them out. Thankfully there was no one sitting in our seats. One thing blew my mind though. Each seat had a little post-it note on it with the seats number. Trust me when I tell you this was certainly the BIGGEST INNOVATION in indy wrestling history since the invention of the gimmick table. I can not tell you how many shows I have been too where the seating is a clusterf—k, including every single ROH show. With one simple - and cheap - idea, IWA Mid South has found a solution to indy wrestling's most annoying problem.
Attendance was at 400, and from all the people I know that come to IWA Mid South regularly, this was the largest crowd any of them have ever seen. It helps that there was a loaded Ring of Honor show (here's the review of that) just 15 miles away later that night. The show also started on time, which is another extremely rare occurrence on an indy show.
1) Team Underground (Eric Priest & Chandler McClure) beat Deranged & Brain Damage in 5:12. Eric Priest looks like a jacked up Wentworth Miller, the star of Prison Break. Priest was also the unnamed jobber who lost to Chris Masters on Monday Night Raw. I've included a picture of him taking the MASTERLOCK! Priest's partner McClure looks like Napoleon Dynamite. Deranged is most certainly not the same guy who was in ROH's Special K group. This Deranged is a bald headed, six foot tall, 300 pound Big Van Vader type of guy. Brain Damage is a heavily tattooed guy, with a decent build, who looked like he came from a punk band. Both came to the ring with Punisher-like skull t-shirts and military style gas masks. This was actually a very cool look for Brain Damage.
Deranged and Priest started off the match with a test of strength of sorts by doing shoulder tackles to each other. Neither man budged. For an indy wrestler, it's hard to describe how good of shape Priest is in. McClure was tagged in to be on the receiving end of a Samoan drop followed by stiff.kicks from Deranged and Brain Damage to his chest and back. Brain Damage, who would yell during this match like he was - in fact - brain damaged, tried a second rope fat-sault, for a near fall. Somehow McClure was able to German suplex Brain Damage and make the hot tag to Priest, who went hoss. Finish came when Priest set up Brain Damage for a spiked piledriver, but McClure came off the top rope late and the move looked real bad. McClure was immediately upset when he landed after the spot. Priest then pinned Brain Damage. Fun match until the finish.
2) Mickie Knuckles & MsChif beat Daizee Haze & Vanessa Kraven in 6:55 to win a tag team elimination women's match that unified the IWA-MS Women's title and the NWA-Midwest Women's title. MsChif (Get it? Mischief. Don't worry, it gets less funny every single time you hear it) has a great Kane-like psychotic gimmick, completely with insane primal screams. Mickie Knuckles is like the Mick Foley of women's wrestlers, just a lot shorter. Vanessa Kraven was approximately sixteen feet tall, Giant Gonzalez size compared to the other women. Daizee Haze of course is one of wrestling's most beautiful women. During Haze's ring entrance, which is some sort of song putting over the whacky weed, our friend John yelled out "4:20!" which got a huge pop from Daizee. This girl certainly knows how to puff, puff, pass.
Solid women's match that I greatly enjoyed. In fact, combined with the two SHIMMER matches I saw at ROH over the weekend, this has been the greatest week of women's wrestling I have seen in my life. I'm glad that a lot of these girls are finally getting a chance to shine rather than being put in a position to be simply eye candy and have horrible matches. Match began after Haze hit Knuckles with a low blow. MsChif and Daizee Haze were
simultaneously eliminated at 4:38 into the match when both women's shoulders were down during a German-suplex into a bridge from MsChif. Micke and Kraven then went on to have a brutal fight that included stiff forearms, headbutts, and a CHOP BATTLE while they were on their knees. It was wild! Kraven ended up getting knocked into the ropes and MsChif (who hung around ringside) pulled a page out of Great Muta's playbook and spit GREEN MIST~! into Kraven's face. A blinded Kraven stumbled back into a SHINING WIZARD by Mickie and got pinned. Fun match, although weird to have a "unification" since there was only one belt brought to the ring anyway. There was a kid in front of us who was wearing/holding three belts of his own, Ian should have borrowed one of those.
3) Darrin Corbin won a 9 Man TLC Title Shot Gauntlet Match Darrin Corbin in 22:45. Here's the rules. An envelope with a contract to fight IWA MS champion Arik Cannon was hanging above the ring. A man would come down every minute and could be eliminated by pinfall, submission, or going through a table. No one could attempt to get the contract until the last man was entered into the match.
Marek Brave and Tyler Black were the first two men in the ring. Apparently they work together as a tag team called, get this, The Black and the Brave. Dear lord. Trik Davis came down at number three. I've seen Trik a couple of times, including the awesome Totally Tool Wrestling show. Trik's a small guy, with a bad haircut, but he can bring it when it comes to spectacular moves. Trik ran into the ring attacking both men, but was soon taken down himself and double teamed. Number four man was Billy Rocc, a smallish wrestler who wore yellow trunks. Number five was Dave Crist, one of the Irish Airborne that has been on several Ring of Honor shows. These entrances were much faster than one minute apart. I think the shortest was around 30 seconds. In an AWESOME spot, Trik Davis was held upside down so that his head was in between two chairs and Crist and Marek then dropkicked the chairs! OUCH. Chuck Taylor came down as number six and looked like a tall Paul London. Taylor was not as talented as London though. The other member of the Irish Airborne, Jake Crist, came down as number seven.
Ricochet was number eight. Jack Evans' himself puts over Ricochet as a guy to look out for in the future. Ricochet is black, small, but has some great cruiserweight moves. Tyler Black pinned Rocc for the first elimination. Darrin Corbin came down as the final entrance and he was absolutely awesome. He's like "Rudy" in that he's "five foot nothing, a hundred and nothing," but acts as if he's King shit. Seriously, Corbin's a smaller, pale, red haired kid wearing a belt that has one of those tickers on it that displays an LCD message. Fantastic gimmick. While Corbin was dancing in the ring, the entire group surrounded him and started a beatdown. Action then went to a fast and furious level. After a bunch of dives to the floor, Ricochet climbed a ladder in the ring and did a double moonsault to the floor. Amazing and the crowd cued up a "HOLY S**T!" chant. Marek put some guy on a table on the floor and went up to the top rope to do a shooting star press. The crowd couldn't wait to see this move. Marek then did one of the biggest blown spots in the history of wrestling as he ended up landing in between the turnbuckle and the ring post on those metal cables. This looked like it HURT LIKE HELL. I think Marek ended up falling down and crashing through the table himself, causing an elimination. Marek ending up selling the move on the floor for the rest of the match. Possibly out of embarrassment, but it was great to see someone sell something for so long.
Dave Crist pinned Ricochet followed by Corbin pinning Chuck Taylor. The Irish Airborne began battling with each other before Jake Crist was able to suplex Tyler Black off the ladder. With Jake Crist on a table outside the ring, Trik Davis hit Dave Crist with a hurricanrana from the top rope onto the table. Unfortunately, the table didn't break. With the Crists still on the table, Tyler Black came off the top rope with a frog splash, breaking the table and eliminating the Irish Airborne. Trik Davis then pinned Tyler Black after a reverse hurricanrana. Davis and Corbin battled on the ladder, with Davis finally getting the advantage and knocking Corbin off. Out of nowhere came CHRIS HERO! Hero hit Davis with an electric chair. This allowed Corbin to walk up the ladder and grab the contract as the crowd went nuts.
***After the match, Hero shot a promo on Corbin saying that Corbin owed him one. "I don't need your help!" was Corbin's response after pushing Chris Hero back Corbin then shot a serious promo saying that on 4/22 he was going to do what Chris Hero couldn't at the Ted Petty Invitational, beat Arik Cannon. Very good angle.
***Eddie Kingston came to the ring, looking like a fat Homicide (and I like Kingston, but let's be honest,) and challenged the Thomaselli's to a match. Apparently at the last show they put Kingston through a table. Vito, Sal, and Brandon Thomaselli hit the ring and put the boots to Kingston. Out came Sweet and Sour Larry Sweeny for the save. The Thomaselli's once again won the numbers game, but out from the crowd came SPIKE DUDLEY, hitting the Thomasellis with some of the weakest chairshots he has ever delivered. Trust me, we know bad chairshots as we've seen plenty of Lance Storm and Hulk Hogan matches.
Spike shot a promo before the match that called the WWE a bunch of morons and yelled "F--- Vince McMahon!" The Thomasellis ragged on Spike for being fired from WWE and Spike said that no one should feel sorry for him as he was fired by a company that doesn't know the first thing about wrestling.
4) The Thomasellis (Vito & Sal & Brandon) beat Spike Dudley & Eddie Kingston & Larry Sweeney in 13:20. Eddie Kingston got dumped to the floor early in the match and was injured. I'm not sure what happened and no one I talked to at the show knew either. The Thomasellis stalled in the ring for a bit until a heavily limping Kingston finally got back to his corner. Spike Dudley bit Sal Thomaselli to a big pop before trying to start an inexplicable chant of "F--- ROH!" Shockingly, this did not catch on. Spike was then worked over by the Thomasellis and was bleeding extensively after being worked over by some brass knuckles. Brandon hit a sharp looking standing shooting star press for a two count. After Spike tossed Sal Thomaselli off the top rope, Spike came down with a nice double stomp. Kingston finally got tagged in, well past the ten minute mark, and was given a chop block by Vito. FOUL~! Finish came when Spike climbed the ropes to hit his Dudley Dog/Acid drop on Sal, but Brandon caught Spike mid-air and hit Spike Dudley with a neat looking powerbomb into a lungblower for the win. That was cool
Another sweet match. I asked Keith, "Are all IWA Mid South shows this good?"
"No," was his simple reply.
5) Josh Abercrombie beat Ruckus in 11:50. Ruckus is a small, 50 Cent-like thug wrestler with a lot of talent. Abercrombie hilariously came
out to New Kids On the Block's "(You've Got) The Right Stuff" while doing a whacky dance and playing with his moustache. Keith was completely obsessed with Abercrombie's 'stache for the rest of the weekend. In fact, if you took my fascination with Eric Priest and Keith's obsession for Abercrombie's facial hair you could probably film Brokeback Mountain 2. Ruckus hit a sweet looking hurricanrana, but found no one home on a follow up dive to the floor. Outside the ring the two men went back and forth until Ruckus hit a nice double cartwheel press to a big pop. Remember that kid in front of us who was wearing/holding three belts? Well, after one impressive move by Ruckus the kid said, "Represent dawg!" and "That's how we do it in the hood." I need to find out which 'hood has drive bys with people wearing wrestling belts.
Back inside the ring Ruckus hit a moosault legdrop for a two count, but Abercrombie came back with an Arabian press for a two count of his own. Ambercrombie pulled out a twisting neckbreaker followed by a camel clutch. Josh is old school, just like the Iron Sheik. Ruckus hit an awesome looking flatliner at about the ten minute mark that was brutal to watch. Abercrombie hit a lungblower off the second rope followed by a Phoenix splash for the win. Ruckus got a big "please come back" chant from the fans. I was impressed as well.
6) Ian Rotten beat Kevin Steen in 11:58. Steen shot a good promo before the match saying this was IWA Mid South's version of Shawn Michaels versus Vince McMahon, since Rotten is IWA MS' promoter. To stop the crowd's jeering, Steen did the loud "Cough, cough" bit that Bryan Danielson used to great effect on ROH's Saturday night show as well. Steen dedicated the match to HBK. Steen also told a fan, who was apparently the world's largest Chris Hero fan, that "Women should not be heard." OWNED! In the most surreal scene of the weekend the entire crowd got on their feet for Ian Rotten's entrance. Just crazy. I've seen Ian before on DVD (most recently the super cool Meet the Rottens set) but he got a superstar's reception here. Ian came out with his IWA Mid South tag belt and in a great bit, Steen actually asked the kid in front of us to borrow one of his three replica belts. The kid actually had the old Shawn Micahel's white Intercontinental belt. At first the kid resisted, but finally gave the belt
up to Steen. The kid then spent the next minute a nervous wreck waiting for his belt back. Crowd chanted "Ian's gonna kill you" at Steen.
While Steen was working over Rotten's leg, Ian actually did a head stand and kicked Steen in the gut. I never would have expected that one. Steen asked Ian to do the Vince McMahon "walk" but Rotten did the Fargo strut in the ring. Steen hit a Ian with a dropkick to the back which sent Rotten flying to the outside of the ring. Steen followed up with a plancha to the floor and the two men battled outside. After a flying clothesline by Rotten, both men were down until Steen pulled an HBK-like kip up. Crowd popped for that. Steen hit the picture perfect flying elbow and signaled for Sweet Chin Music. Ian blocked the kick, gave Steen a mule kick and a vicious headbutt. Crowd chanted "You screwed Bret!" at Steen when Steen teased a sharpshooter. Steen went for a swanton bomb, but Rotten put his knees up and quickly rolled up Steen for the win. Another fun one.
***After the match Eric Priest and Chandler McClure hit the ring to chase off Ian. Priest was hot about something Rotten had done on an earlier show. Rotten shot a promo saying maybe he was like Vince McMahon since Priest was obviously on the gas. OH~! Priest challenged Rotten to a one-on-one match on 4/22. Priest and McClure then hit the referee with their spiked piledriver and this time it looked great.
7) Delirious beat El Generico in 15:55. This match was all sorts of fun. Both buys are great gimmicks and the language difference
between Generico's espanol and Delirious' jibberish was awesome. Delirious had a great spot early as he was on the mat applying a headlock to Generico and continued to apply more pressure, even after Generico slipped out of the move! Later Generico applied a headlock, but after he let go Delirious sold as if he was still in it. Hilarious stuff. Another great spot came when Generico was laying on the mat, and Delirous called out spots to Generico and referee Bryce Runsburg. Delirious wouldn’t jump over Geneico until Bruce physcially held Generico down. Back and forth stuff the ended when Delirious hit the Bizarro Driver for the win.
8) "Mr. Insanity" Toby Klein beat Tank in 9:59. These guys were having some sort of NOAH-like stiff wrestling match as both were big, tough dudes. Klein is a death match wrestler while Tank is built like, well, a tank. Forearms followed by a HEADBUTT BATTLE outside the ring in which you could actually hear their heads collide. Yikes. Tank tied Klein up into the Tree of Woe before kneeing Klien's head and finishing up with a dropkick. Not as beautiful as a Paul London dropkick, but impressive given Tank's size. Klein made a comeback by slapping at Tank's stomach and continued slapping all the way up Tank's body until he was slapping the taste out of Tank's mouth. Nice spot. Klein later did a Van Terminator on Tank in the corner. Big "HOLY S**T" chant for that. Tank kicked out at two. WTF? Klein finally got the win after a cool looking top rope frogsplash.
9) Low Ki beat Necro Butcher at 22:06. This is the match where, if you haven't decided already, should make you want to get this DVD as soon as it is released. The most intense match of the entire weekend. The fans were pumped for this match and we were shocked to see Low Ki come out of the crowd to
attack Necro from behind. The ring was then filled with a sea of Yellow and Black streamers. A fantastic visual. The story of the match was the smaller Ki constantly working over Necro and using Butcher as a huge punching and kicking bag. Necro laid in with some hard hitting chops early followed by chops from Ki. Low Ki then went nuts with a series of kicks and punches that had the crowd going bananas. The match went to the floor and Ki hit a cartwheel kick followed by a dropkick.
Back in the ring, Ki ripped off Necro's shirt to lay in some more chops. Brutal stuff. This was followed by some stiff Kawada kicks to Necro's face. Later Ki went for a springboard move and Necro just punched Ki dead. Wow. Ki applied the Dragon sleeper, but Necro made the ropes to break up the hold. Ki then went to the top rope and hit a Ghetto Stomp as Necro was still lying in the middle rope. Awesome and it was amplified as Ki would SCREAM like Tajiri before hitting big moves. Necro made a come back by hitting some of the hardest punches and kicks you will ever see. Necro then attempted to powerbomb Ki, only to have Ki roll through and hit a double knee to Necro's chest. With a table in the ring, Necro put Ki on the top rope and set up a Tiger Driver. Ki fought out of this, and pushed Necro back so that Necro's head was on the table but his legs were wrapped around the ring post. Ki then did a Ghetto Stomp to Necro's face, breaking the table!! Cue another "HOLY S**T" chant. Necro kicked out at two! Ki then applied the Dragon clutch and Necro tapped out. F---ing awesome on every level imagineable.
***Ian Rotten shot a promo thanking everyone in the crowd for coming and encouraged them to get friends interested in indy wrestling.
10) Chris Hero defeated Milano Collection AT in 23:55. Crowd loudly chanted "F—you Hero!" before the match. Hero was definitely the most hated wrestler this weekend outside of John Cena. Milano came to the ring with his great invisible dog gimmick. Everyone sold the gimmick, the referee, ring announcer Joey Eastman, the ringside fans, and even the person who took the dog for Milano. Hero quickly pulled Milano's hair and applied a full nelson. At about the seven minute mark, Hero dived the floor, landed on his feet, and claimed he was injured his knee. Hero had doctors check on him and when Milano was about to be declared a winner Hero revealed the injury to be a fake and blasted Milano from behind. The two had a CHOP BATTLE before taking the action outside the ring. One great spot had Milano running on the outside of the ring apron to deliver a dropkick to the Hero on the floor.
The action was fast and crisp between the two guys. I was "meh" on Milano until this match, but he really moved up my depth chart with his performance. I should also point out that Hero had awesome ring attire with Tajiri-like vinyl pants and a black top that looked sharp. I can not BELIEVE he had this ring gear while wrestling in ROH and at PWElite's Breaking Ground show wearing the full body red outfit that makes him look horrible. HORRIBLE. This look at IWA Mid South completed the Chris Hero package. This guy has every tool. Promos. In ring working ability. A good look. The ability to generate true heat. God bless Chris Hero. (But, for the love of the country, state and my own mental well being, please remove the red and green outfits from your wardrobe)
Milano hit a series of stiff chops on Hero followed by a flying clothesline, a senton, and a crossbody block for a two count. Hero came back with a neat spinning neckbreaker for a two count of his own. Hero put Milano up for an airplane spin, but Milano’s legs nailed the referee, and the ref was out. Milano applied his leg submission around Hero's head, and Hero tapped! No ref. Hero hit a low blow to get out of the hold. Milano came back and nailed a superkick and a corkscrew springboard moonsault! WHHHOOOOOOOOO! Hero made a final flury with a Mafia Kick, a standing powerbomb, and then applying a Boston Crab that forced Milano to tap out.
Overall Thoughts: Wow, what a show! Almost four hours of one good match after another, with Low Ki/Necro being worth the price of admission alone. Not a single no show, another indy first! There wasn't a dog match on this show, despite the fact that I hadn't seen at least half the roster before the event. The 1-2 punch of the double main events left me leaving Midlothian on a high note. There was something for everyone. Fast paced cruiserweight like spot fests, a great women's match, hard hitting stiff-as-hell battles and off the charts atmosphere for the last two matches. To quote the most popular chant at the show, "Wrestling!....Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!"
Huge thanks to Keith Lipinski for his help with this review and I can't forget the GORGEOUS Glinda P for letting us use her fantastic pictures. Check out more of Gilda's IWA shots by clicking here or head on over to UnrestrictedPhoto.com to see other feds she has taken action shots for.
And if IWA Mid South DVDs interest you, check out these hot shows:
Ted Petty Invitational 2005 - Chris Hero delivers his long awaited heel turn in one of wrestling's greatest moments.
No Blood, No Guts, No Glory 2005 - CM Punk vs. Delirious go an hour. WAR GAMES~! Add in a good CM Punk retrospective and you know you want to see this!
Something to Prove - Samoa Joe takes on Necro Butcher at the ECW Arena. 'Nuff said.
2004 Revolution Strong Style Tournament - CM Punk, Ace Steel, Danny Daniels & Matt Sydal vs Chris Candido, Claudio Castagnoli, Nigel McGuinness & Steve Stone, Plus a tournament featuring Samoa Joe and Super Dragon. Hell yeah!
Ted Petty Invitational 2004 - Final match? American Dragon vs. Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles. If you aren't down with that, why the f--- are you reading my reviews?
Satisfy all your IWA Mid South needs at www.SmartMarkVideo.com
Derek Burgan has been writing for the Wrestling Observer/Figure 4 Weekly~! family since October, 2005. If you have any questions, corrections, feedback, comments and ideas, he can be reached at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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