411’s Buy or Sell 02.29.08: Tournament Favorites, Nigel’s Heel Turn, IWA Mid-South on Hiatus, and more!

Posted by Samuel Berman on 02.29.2008

The 411 staff takes a look at the Independent scene, including CHIKARA’s King of Trios weekend and IWA Mid-South’s 500th Show, as Magnus Donaldson battles Samuel Berman!

Welcome everyone to WEEK FORTY-FIVE of BUY or SELL. For those of you who haven't been with us since the beginning, here's the Reader's Digest version of what this column is all about. BUY or SELL is very much like 411's long-running Fact or Fiction column. The main difference is that BUY or SELL focuses on topics like the U.S. Independent scene, Lucha Libre, Japanese Wrestling and pretty much anything else that isn't mainstream wrestling, WWE and or TNA. This allows for these areas to get a bit more press and for you, our loyal readers, to learn even more about the sport of professional wrestling.


Week Forty-Five's Match-Up:
The Magnus Analysis author Magnus Donaldson vs. The Independent Mid-Card's Samuel Berman!

F.I.S.T. of Gran Akuma, Icarus & Chuck Taylor should be considered the odds-on favorite to win CHIKARA's King of Trios Tournament.

Magnus Donaldson : SELL . I do think that there's no doubt that they will be there or thereabouts, but I honestly don't see them winning the entire tournament this year. However, I couldn't really put my finger on a single team that could genuinely go through the entire field and win the tournament, thus showing the strength of this year's field. If I were to put my money on one team, it would be Incoherence and Helios, but even then that would only be a guess and nothing more.

Samuel Berman : BUY . The specific issue I have with Magnus' pseudo-pick of IncoHelios is something Brad Garoon recently pointed out to me; namely that they have a first round bye and it makes little sense to have a face team go over the field by winning one less match than most of the competition. In my mind, that actually serves to make the CHIKARA champions look weaker than if they simply lost a hard-fought match to a good trio of opponents. But back to the issue at hand. Icarus, Akuma and Taylor are three of the most consistent performers in CHIKARA and in the current (seemingly) post-Kings of Wrestling era the company is in, establishing that trio as a force unto itself should be a top priority. Also, if the booking is heading towards a feud between the two charter F.I.S.T. members (which has been more than teased for the past number of months), putting them over in King of Trios only to have Icarus & Taylor turn on Akuma immediately following the finals could be a great way to jumpstart the issue.

0 for 1.

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla made the right decision by putting the PWG World Title on a local performer like Human Tornado rather than a fly-in competitor like Roderick Strong.

Magnus Donaldson : BUY . Human Tornado is pretty much the best local performer PWG could put the belt on. He's getting over as a heel, he's in a hot (if highly controversial) angle with Chris Hero and there are a lot of interesting match possibilities open for him. However, Tornado himself has been getting lots of booking outside of PWG lately, most notably with ROH where he slowly looks to be becoming a full time competitor. This could limit his time in PWG somewhat, so in the long run it may be best to put the belt on another local wrestler, such as Scorpio Sky, Karl Anderson or even TJ Perkins to bring something different to the table.

Samuel Berman : BUY . While I'm not wild about the prospects of Sky, Anderson or Perkins as PWG World Champion (though I am a Perkins mark to be sure), I certainly agree that Tornado was a great choice to win the vacant strap. Though Roderick Strong is an incredibly talented in-ring performer, I have trouble seeing him as the top dog for any promotion (and that takes into account his extended run as FIP World Heavyweight Champion). Especially in a promotion as storyline-driven as PWG, Strong's biggest weakness (his abject inability to cut a good promo) would quickly come to light as a massive hole at the top of the card. By giving Tornado the proverbial ball to run with, PWG has not only highlighted an important local performer, but lessened the risk of their champion being unable to make a booking. Also, adding more fuel to the fire of the Tornado-Hero issue is a great move by PWG, as that storyline will almost certainly be the highlight of 2008 for the company.

1 for 2.

Eddie Kingston will win his first title defense by decisively beating Too Cold Scorpio.

Magnus Donaldson : SELL . Now don't get me wrong here: I do believe that Eddie Kingston will defeat Too Cold Scorpio. However, I do not see him beating Scorpio decisively. Scorpio is an experienced performer, and in my view he will push Kingston hard in this match. There's little doubt that he will likely retain, but I don't see him having the majority of the offense: only a few flurries here and there.

Samuel Berman : BUY . I very much disagree here. Though Scorpio will get plenty of offense in during his bid for the belt, having him put Kingston over cleanly is the smartest possible move for IWA Mid-South as the company looks to get back on solid footing in the new year. In my mind, the only reason to do any sort of questionable finish would be to keep Scorpio strong as a long-term contender to Kingston's crown. In this case, I think Scorpio is merely being used as an established veteran who is being fed to "The King of Diamonds" so he can quickly cement his place at the top of the food chain in IWA.

1 for 3.

SWITCH~!

IWA Mid-South will be back on hiatus by the end of 2008.

Samuel Berman : BUY . I really wish I could sell this, but the betting money has got to be the other way. For the record, I'm taking 'hiatus' to mean that IWA will go two months in a row without running an event. Though the company has put on an unbelievably vast number of shows over the years, it seems likely that financial difficulties and business issues with other companies may keep 2008 from being a successful year for IWA Mid-South. The saddest part of all of this is that there are a number of great wrestlers that work primarily for IWA who will presumably have to find alternate ways to market themselves to a national audience. Here's hoping that guys like Josh Abercrombie, Chuck Taylor, Eddie Kingston and even guys a step below them like Jack Thriller, Devon Moore, and Drake Younger find a home in the event that IWA goes on hiatus that's less temporary than the last one was.

Magnus Donaldson : SELL . Yes the IWA have had financial difficulties in 2007, and there's no doubt that they will almost certainly encounter them again. But I hope that the recent difficulties that the company have had will have taught Ian Rotten a lesson. He will hopefully have learned that running events with loads of fly-in's when the attendance barely breaks over 100 is not going to make money. I also hope he has learned that running opposite that 'other company' is not going to benefit him since they simply have the edge wrestler and fan wise currently. Ian's word about pushing young talent for me shows that he is changing his philosophy about the IWA, and I can see the company going past 2008 so long as he doesn't overdo the fly-in's and events like he has been for the past few years.

1 for 4.

Ring of Honor made the right decision by turning Nigel McGuinness heel at the company's Sixth Anniversary Show.

Samuel Berman : BUY . Anyone who keeps up with my thoughts at The Cool Kids' Table knows that I have been less than supportive of Nigel as ROH World Champion. Though his injuries and the timing of him winning the belt have been major factors in that, perhaps a bigger factor is that I've found Nigel to be pretty bland over the last year or so. A heel turn, and a reportedly effective one at that, is just what the doctor ordered (no pun intended) for Nigel to regain some momentum as the top dog for ROH. I mean if it was up to me, Nigel would lose the belt to the utterly fantastic Kevin Steen when the latter gets his shot at the belt in April, but for now, a heel Nigel will do just fine.

Magnus Donaldson : BUY . I think that this was the best thing ROH could have done with Nigel. Let's face it, he was going stale as a face, the fans were turning on him, both at live events and on the message boards, and he is a brilliant heel as was evident during his pure title run. Many new match opportunities have been opened up now that he has turned, and this can give him a little more momentum as champion in what has been a disappointing reign so far (although not his own fault because he has been injured).

2 for 5.

Shayne Hawke will be a breakout star for CHIKARA in 2008.

Samuel Berman : BUY . I just watched a match from CHIKARA's 2008 preseason show, Two Eyebrows Are Better Than One with Hawke on commentary. In a word: awesome. Hawke is one of the most all-around talented competitors in CHIKARA, and with an ongoing association with heat-magnets like "Simply Marvelous" Mitch Ryder and "Sweet 'n Sour" Larry Sweeney, Hawke stands to do nothing but improve his already good mic work. In terms of his in-ring prowess, Hawke has already impressed both in singles and tag team affairs, and the only real obstacle for him would seem to be his short stature. Fortunately for him, CHIKARA is the sort of promotion where size isn't the defining factor in working one's way up the card. What we saw Lince Dorado do in 2007, plan on seeing Shane Hawke do in 2008.

Magnus Donaldson : SELL . Personally, I'm not quite as high on Hawke as Berman is. I think he is a good heel, and he has a good deal of charisma, but I think he still has a long way to go before he reaches the top of the card in Chikara. Then again, I have not seen much of him as I would have liked to. I do think he will have a good year, but I don't see him being a breakout star YET, at least not to the level of Lince Dorado. I think 2009 will be his year.

2 for 6!


The forty-fifth edition of BUY or SELL finishes at 2 for 6. Stay tuned for next week when two new men will go head to head with a whole new set of topics.