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Post by justin181174 on Jun 6, 2010 9:16:39 GMT -5
Congrats to JC Bailey on winning the 2010 KOTDM! he had a tough road as he defeated Ian, Nick Gage, Balls Mahoney and Devon Moore in route to being the champ!
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Post by iketurner on Jun 6, 2010 12:46:43 GMT -5
Thats been a long time coming for JC. I felt as if he should have won the tournament a while ago. Hes one of, if not the best, hardcore worker there is out there.
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Post by cavedweller73 on Jun 6, 2010 16:55:28 GMT -5
The last two nights have been pretty crazy, that's for sure! I will post a full review/report of the show once I get some rest. I was literally up for 24 hours yesterday (mostly because I'm too cheap to get a hotel room for a second night...I never thought about the fact that Night 2 probably wouldn't get over until 1A.M., which it did!). Anyway, it was a fun tournament. It wasn't the best deathmatch tournament ever, but still a lot of fun. It was one of those shows that I doubt will be as exciting to watch on DVD as it was in person...but again, I had fun, with the exception of that dump of a building have no air conditioning....and it was HOT in there!!! There was a LOT of interesting things that happened. Probably the biggest thing is that Ian Rotten got hurt REALLY bad in the last spot of his match with J.C. J.C. did a double stomp onto him from on top of a ladder and Ian screamed, "I THINK I BROKE MY STERNUM!!!" Necro ended up calling 911 and Ian spent the night at the hospital. Last night, Ian was there, but before the show, it was announced that he had cracked his sternum and broke a rib. So the word going around was that he probably will be done with active wrestling.
But, on the good side of things, Jimmy Jacobs made a surprise appearance on Friday and had a surprisingly GREAT non-tournament match. Then, Tyler Black was in the house on Sat and also had a great non-tournament match. There were several newer names at the show that I had never seen live who I REALLY would like to see again (listen up, MECW!!) and some of the older guys (namely Bull Pain and Balls Mahoney) really stepped up and put on better performances then I expected! Also, Chuey Martinez worked the shows WITH A BROKEN LEG!!!! And still worked two pretty darn good matches! There were a few really good matches and few really bad ones, but overall, it was a fun two nights.
I'll write a lot more once I get some rest and eventually, I'll post some pics too.
P.S. I almost forgot that on Fri. night, I quite literally got showered in Necro Butcher's blood! That's what happens when you're in the wrong place at the wrong time at a deathmatch tournament, I guess! Haha!!
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Post by iketurner on Jun 6, 2010 21:56:02 GMT -5
Hey Dweller, how is that Gresham kid?? Ive heard nothing but good things. Is he IWA's next big discovery?? Crazy about Ian. I heard they announced TPI is gonna be at Walter Peyton's bar and grill too. Sounded like a fun IWA oldschool show.
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Post by cavedweller73 on Jun 7, 2010 9:30:39 GMT -5
Gresham is f*cking AWESOME!!! That's who I was talking about when I mentioned about newer names that I'd like to see more of. I had seen a couple of his matches on DVD before this weekend and was impressed, but seeing him live blew me away! He's really small. He kind of looks like an even smaller version of Sabian (from CZW) and also kind of reminds me of Jay Lethal in his pre-TNA days. He can do some amazing high-flying moves and his matches at the show were incredibly stiff and brutal. And even beyond all of that, he seems like a really cool guy who's extremely dedicated to the business. He should have a bright future and he's who I was talking about when I mentioned about newer guys that I'd like to see more of. I'm going to post over on the MECW board that they need to book him ASAP.
As for TPI, they announced that it's going to happen on the third weekend in Sept. but they didn't announce where. I overheard scar (the big, tall guy who sells stuff and sets up stuff) tell someone that it's going to be in the Chicago-area, but they weren't sure exactly where yet. Ian gave Gresham the first invite for the tournament after his match with Tyler Black on Sat.
Ok, after ten hours of sleep, I feel a lot better and will now post some thoughts on the show.
I got the Bellevue Plaza on Friday night and the place was a dump! It looks as though at one time (I'm guessing at least the 1930's or '40's) the place was a some sort of a small school. It was in a way out suburbs of Peoria, IL. I knew I was at the right place though because I saw Devon Moore talking to some people and Balls Mahoney was gently walking around barefoot on the rocks in the parking lot ("HE'S HARDCORE!!!" Haha!). I overheard some people saying it was going to be nasty in there because there was no A.C. in the building....they were right! I went in the place and to get to the gym, you had to walk down a flight of stairs. Everyone lined up in that hallway (which smelled about ten times worse then the ECW Arena!). Once they opened the doors and I went in, it wasn't any better in the main gym. The crowd was pretty small, especially for a KOTDM.
The show started about 30 minutes late. Ian came out and announced that Masada wasn't there because of some sort of travel issues. He said that the other Hooligan was going to take Masada's place against Devon Moore in the first round. He also said that Chuey Martinez was at the show but had a broken leg, but was still going to work the show as planned. Ian also said he had some surprises lined up and that the first one was going to happen right now, which led to the first non-tournament match.
Drake Younger vs. Johnathan Gresham vs. Jimmy Jacobs
This match was suppose to be a tables match with Drake vs Sabu, but it was announced a few weeks ago that Sabu wasn't going to be there so Drake was going to take on Gresham. Drake has slimmed down a bit and is looking great! When Jacob's music started playing and he popped out from behind the curtain, the place went crazy! While I enjoy a good Jimmy Jacobs match, the last few times I've seen him in person, he didn't put on a good match at all. However, this was NOT one of those matches. The match was non-stop action. Drake and Jacobs teamed up on Gresham, but he held his own very well. The ending was a bit of a surprise as Gresham pinned Drake. Drake looked really pissed off about it too, to the point of almost looking like a heel. Ian came out and really put Gresham over and then did a little spot with Jacobs and a cell phone, saying that Tyler Black was on the other end and that he was coming on Sat. and that him and Gresham would have another match. All three guys worked really hard and put on a great match!
Next they brought out all of the participants in the tournament. A few interesting notes were that Rodney Rush came out with Nick Gage. I'm not sure why (except for the fact that they both work for CZW) but I always wondered why Rush was never used in IWA. Also, Necro Butcher is bald again and "Mean" Mitch Page had this weird looking, braided, yellow and orange hair thing going on. Everyone posed for pictures and it was on to the first match of the tournament.
Devon Moore vs. Mason Cutter
Thumbtack boxing gloves and kickpads on a pole match
There wasn't really much of note in this match. The most interesting thing about it was that Drew Taylor was the ref. He mostly works IWA:EC shows and other shows in West Virginia and Ohio. Anyway, Devon got the win.
Bull Pain vs. Kyle Threat
Homerun derby match
For those that might not know, Threat is the now mask-less xOMGx. Considering the fact that I knew Threat was booked to work IPW on Sat and the fact that most of Bull Pain's matches are squashes, I expected Threat to have his butt handed to him on a silver platter. While Threat did take a hell of a beating, the match was far from being a squash and Bull actually sold quite a bit of Threat's offense. In the end, Bull got the win. Ian then came out and put Threat over for being a Iraq War vet and then said that he is moving away, but that if he was ever back in the area, he was welcome to work IWA shows.
Simon Sezz vs. "Mean" Mitch Page
Homewrecker deathmatch
Basically, this was a fans bring the weapons match, but all the weapons where household kinds of things, such as VCRs, fans, shudders and two TVs. I know that Simon Sezz has history here in Evansville, but that was long before I started going to indy shows, so I had never seen him before. The guy's kind of nuts actually. He took a hell of a beating and was bleeding really hard. The match went back and forth but ended with Page putting one of the TVs onto Simon and then slashing him from the second rope for the win.
Balls Mahoney vs. Micheal Faith
Fans bring the weapons match
Faith was replacing Junior Garza who didn't make it to the show and this was his first ever death match. He looked almost exactly like Rosey from WWE. He was a really big guy. I didn't expect much from this match, but both guys worked really well and the match was really brutal. There were lighttubes, cheesegraters and these big metal signs (that popped REALLY loud when they were used (I told the guy next to me, "Pondo's going to be pissed about THAT!")). They brawled up onto the bleachers and Balls even put Faith into a figure-four leglock on the floor below the bleachers. In the end, Balls slammed Faith into a board that had plastic forks holding up lighttubes and got the win. Faith was extremely impressive and we were all chanting "PLEASE COME BACK!!!" to him. It was a surprisingly great match!
Next, Ian got on the mic and said he had a surprise for us that no one would expect and then went onto cut a promo about how family members don't always see eye to eye, but over time, things can change. He then brought out American Kickboxer!!! Kickboxer looked to be in pretty bad shape. He could hardly walk and when he started talking, he was stuttering. He said that his speech was messed up because a few months ago, he started having seizures from all the concussions he's had over the years. He then talked about never giving up on dreams and said that he was planning a cross-country bike trip, but needed money to do it. Then him, Drake and Kyle Threat passed around hats for donations.
After that, they took an intermission. I bought a DVD from Jimmy Jacobs and had him sign it. He's a really nice guy! Drake was also out selling a brand new DVD that had just came out that day. I bought it and had him sign it too. Drake's a super-cool guy, but he was pretty trashed at that point! Ha ha!!
Devin Cutter vs. Neil Diamond Cutter
Four corners of pain
Neil is really the break-out star of the death match world right now. The guy can take massive beatings and is really fearless. This match was very brutal and stiff. They brawled up on the bleachers and Devin was going to give Neil a power bomb off the bleachers onto a log cabin of light tubes but Neil reversed it and turned it into a 'Rana. The match went back to the ring and Neil got the pin.
Chuey Martinez vs. WHACKS
Light tube match
Chuey hobbled out on a cane and I wondered what he'd actually be able to do, but him and WHACKS really tore it up. WHACKS is always insane. That guy has got to be the most fearless death match wrestler there is. They both worked hard and obviously there wasn't any big, high-flying spots because of Chuey's leg, but the match was still brutal. WHACKS ended up getting the win and we all gave Chuey a lot of respect for putting himself through that in very obvious pain!
Nick Gage (w/ Rodney Rush) vs. Necro Butcher
Barroom brawl/ Taipei deathmatch
They had a table set up on one side of the ring with beer bottles on it and there sheets of plastic (like they use at hockey games) in each corner. I kind of wondered if those things would even break...and they didn't! Right off the bat, Necro was bleeding VERY badly. Gage was punching him in the head right in front of me and Necro was whipping his head back, selling the punches. Next thing I knew, I felt liquid hitting me. I looked down and had spots of blood all over my hands, arms and legs. The guy next to me got a little of it, but I got the worst of it. They brawled all over the place and used everything they could. Rush got involved quite a bit too. They tried really hard to break the panes of plastic glass, but those things wouldn't break for anything. Both guys were bleeding buckets. Gage ended up setting one of them onto two chairs and dropping Necro off the second rope onto one of them. It didn't break, but he still got the pin on him.
I then went to the bathroom to wash off the blood. WHACKS was in there, cleaning out his cuts and humming to himself....what an odd guy! Ha ha!!! I came out and literally ran into Luke Hadley. I said, "I was just washing blood off myself." He said, "Did you run into someone or something?" I said, "No, Necro was selling punches and showered me." He laughed and said, "Yeah, Necro's nasty like that!"
Ian Rotten vs. J.C. Bailey
No rope barbwire and lighttubes match
During the match, they used just about every old-school IWA deathmatch things as you can imagine...including staple guns, flaming lighttubes and a flaming bat. As I said before, the end came with J.C. doing a double-stomp onto a log cabin of lighttubes that was on Ian's chest and got the pin. After the match, The Hooligans ran in and beat both of them down. Ian wasn't moving though so I knew he must have been hurt pretty bad. Everyone was checking on him and that when he screamed that he thought he had broken his sternum. Necro called 911 and that's how the show ended.
The next day, I drove all over Peoria (which is a really pretty city actually) and then that night, went back for more carnage. I got there really early and saw most of the guys show up, including Tyler Black. The show started late again and first thing they did was announce how badly Ian had been hurt, but he was still at the show and everything was going to happen as planned with the show starting off with some non-tournament matches.
Marcus Crane vs. Simon Sezz
Marcus is a new guy that I've seen some on DVD. Early in the match, Simon's cuts got reopened and he was bleeding pretty bad. Crane ended up getting the win. There wasn't much of note in the match, but Crane looked good and was impressive.
Tyler Black vs. Johnathon Gresham
GREAT match!!! The action was non-stop and went back and forth. Gresham did and awesome dive through the ropes onto Black on the outside and both guys chopped each other's nipples off! Black looked to have hurt his knee some during the match. In the end, Black got the win, but Gresham really pushed him to the limit. Ian came out afterwards and put both guys WAY over, just as he should have! He then invited Gresham to be a part of the TPI. I have to give MAJOR kudos to Black for working so hard in front of so few people. That's almost something you wouldn't expect from someone who's the ROH champion!
Neil Diamond Cutter vs. WHACKS
Log cabin lighttubes match
I knew this would be a hell of a match since both of these guys are totally fearless. They KILLED each other too! At one point, WHACKS suplexed Neil off the ring apron onto a log cabin on the floor. They ended up on the bleachers and WHACKS stacked a log cabin on top of another one. They got up on the bleachers and WHACKS tried a back suplex but Neil reversed it and landed on top of WHACKS and got the pin. Both guys were bleeding buckets! One of the best matches of the tournament, BY FAR!!!
Nick Gage vs. J.C. Bailey
Barbwire strap match
Talk about old school deathmatch wrestling. This match was right out of 2003! Ha ha!!! No Rodney Rush this time. Gage didn't want to put on the strap, but finally did after beating J.C. down. Both guys got really cut up on the barbwire. Finally they pulled the strap off and just went at it, old school deathmatch style. They brawled out on the floor and lighttubes were used. Gage was bleeding hard! J.C. got the win after he did a 'rana to Gage through lighttubes that were set up between two chairs. Gage was his usual, insane, pissed off self after the match!
Bull Pain vs. Balls Mahoney
Bat vs. Chair match
I didn't know what to expect from this one, but I gotta tell you, both of them worked their butts off in this match! They brawled all over the place and hit each other with anything they could get their hands on! There was a bat wrapped in barbwire and one with thumbtacks on it. Bull Pain was bleeding harder than I've ever seen him bleed before! It was insane! In the end, Balls ended up getting the win and they showed each other respect. I honestly wasn't expecting much from this match, but it was really good. Of course, it was slow, but it was also extremely brutal.
"Mean" Mitch Page vs. Devon Moore
Fans bring the weapons
This match was very, very slow and there was almost nothing at all of interest that happened. The crowd was totally dead too. It got to the point where basically, someone would hit someone else with something and then walk all the way around the ring to get another weapon. It was literally that boring. the thing that sicks the most is that if he really wants to, Moore can put on a great match, but in his first two matches of this tournament, he just didn't. Moore ended up getting the win.
Next was an intermission before the next round.
Devon Moore vs. Neil Diamond Cutter
Barbwire dog collar match
FINALLY Devon got an opponent he could work well with...and he finally did too! The match was brutal and even though the barbwire kept getting tangled up, the match was pretty much non-stop. During the match, Matt Cage ran in and hit Cutter. Devon then got the win. After the match, Ian was putting over Neil when Cage attacked him again. Devon came back out and chased him through the front door.
J.C. Bailey vs. Balls Mahoney
Texas Death lightube match
There was a lighttube star wrapped in barbwire taped to one of the corners and lighttubes spread around the ring. Balls worked really hard and took quite a few lighttube shots, which surprised me since he's known for not being so willing to do many lighttubes. J.C. won by doing a double stomp onto lighttubes that Balls had on his chest. After the match, much respect for everyone was given to each wrestler by each other and the fans!
Necro Butcher, Micheal Faith and Chuey Martinez vs. The Hooligans and Matt Cage
This was a non-tournament match and chairs were brought into the ring. Cage came out and started yelling about how he wasn't doing hardcore and to get the chairs out of the ring. This turned the match into an almost Memphis-style comedy match with the fans getting on Cage's case and all that. When they finally did get into the ring, the match was really brutal. The two most impressive things about it were Chuey taking a hell of a beating on his broken leg and Micheal F'IN' Faith!!!!! Good God, Faith was AWESOME in this match! At one point, The Hooligans were double-teaming him and whipped him into the ropes, he clotheslined both of them, but added a flip to the clothesline! The guy is legit over 350 POUNDS!!! Later in the match, he climbed to the top rope and did a MISSILE DROPKICK!!!!!!!!!!!!! This guy is f*cking AMAZING!!!!! In the end, The Dixieland Destroyer did a run in and the Hooligans and Cage got the win. After the match, Ian put over Chuey for working with a broken leg and then REALLY put over Faith for being such an amazing talent that no one's ever even heard of before. We gave him a HUGE "PLEASE COME BACK!!!!!" chant! The match started off so silly, but ended up being one of the best non-tournament matches I've ever seen at a deathmatch tournament! Great, great match!!!!
J.C. Bailey vs. Devon Moore
No rope barbwire, electrified lightbulbs, lighttube contraptions....anything we have left match
Both guys came out and worked about as hard as I've ever seen either of them work. This match made up for the lame first two round matches Moore had! At one point, Moore whipped J.C. into the side of the ring where the electrified lightbulbs were and he tripped into the wire and got stuck REALLY bad! That was a nasty spot! Later, J.C. got thrown through a table-like thing that had lighttubes on it, which was also very sick! In the end, J.C. hit Moore with a Michinoku Driver and got the pin and is the 2010 King of the Death Matches. After the match, Ian did a huge promo and put J.C. over, big time.
Overall, the show was good. Like I said, not the best deathmatch tournament ever, but not the worst either. I learned about four young guys that I hope to see a LOT more of in the coming months and years, Gresham, Faith, Neil Diamond Cutter and Marcus Crane. After the show, I got back into the car and drove 5 hours back to Evansville. Next for me is the MECW show on Friday and then it's off to Delaware for Tournament of Death on June 26th.
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Post by iketurner on Jun 7, 2010 22:24:50 GMT -5
Man that really sucks to hear that about AKB. He was always one of my fav's to ever grace the ring in CCW and was a true independent legend. He trained some of the best young stars out there too. I booked him on our show we ran in FT Branch back in 03 and he was a super nice guy and an ultimate pro! My heart and prayers go out to him!
Thanks for the feedback on the young IWA talent dweller. Ive never seen a lot of the guys they use now. Its crazy how close I used to follow that company and now i dunno half their roster. Neil Cutter is a name i hear a lot. I figured if Ian was putting his name on it, it had to be good. There was a time, IMO, when IWA MS was putting on the best shows anywhere. How is dixieland distroyer?? I know he works Ian a lot but he doesnt really look like he fits the mold of a good worker. Ive always wondered about him.
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Post by cavedweller73 on Jun 8, 2010 11:41:30 GMT -5
Though that was before my time of going to indy shows, I have seen a lot of AKB's matches on DVD and I know about all the great talent that's in the business now because of him. So yeah, it was pretty sad to see him such bad shape. But, he's not giving up living, that's for sure. I think that was the message he was trying to get out the most by the speech that he gave on Friday. By the way too, after him, Drake and Kyle passed around those hats, they were full of money....including some that I added!
It's not that easy to follow the talent that Ian uses because IWA:MS shows are so scattered around these days, it seems. A lot of the younger guys he uses are very talented, but they don't get a lot of exposure outside of IWA:MS. Gresham just worked the last CZW show in Philly, but I haven't heard any real reports on how well it went. Most of the guys like The Hooligans, Neil Cutter and Matt Cage pretty much only work in the northwest Illinois/St. Louis area. I believe they might have popped up at an IPW show in Indy too, but I'm not sure. I first saw all of those guys last year at a show in Salem, IL. The Hooligans are a fairly decent brawler kind of tag team, sort of in the vain of The Bad Breed or The Dudleys. Neil Cutter is their "little brother" who they always beat the crap out of. It's kind of like how Bubba and Devon Dudley used to always beat up Spike Dudley in the old ECW days. Matt Cage is a decent worker, but his biggest talent is that he makes a good heel and works the crowd up pretty well. I don't know too much about The Dixieland Destroyer. Basically, he's a big, fat hillbilly looking guy who wears a mask with Confederate flag on it. When he did that run-in during the six man match on Sat., he just hit Chuey (I think it was Chuey anyway) with a chair and ran off. I've seen some of his matches on DVD and he is kind of like Hillbilly Jed, but just not nearly as agile. I think that for some reason, Ian was really trying to put him over and make him a star, but from what I've seen of him, he's not much to write home about.
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