The Furious Flashbacks – IWA-MS Ted Petty Invitational 2002

The Furious Flashbacks – IWA-MS Ted Petty Invitational 2002

In honour of the fallen Ted Petty the IWA change the name of their yearly scientific tournament. What follows is 9 hours of wrestling featuring Mr Kennedy, Daniels v AJ, M-Dogg 20 blowing spots like it’s going out of fashion, Necro Butcher vomiting in a trashcan, two hardcore matches and a 16 man tournament featuring 4 IWA-MS title defences

When Ted “Rocco Rock” Petty died in September 2002 Ian Rotten decided to re-name his annual Sweet Science tournament to honour his fallen friend. 2002 was also a big year for Indy wrestling. The fans were crying out for an alternative to the dominant WWE and several Indies had sprung up in order to fill the void. In particular TNA and ROH. Ring of Honor in particular had strived to bring back a strong in-ring product. They made a reputation based on quality wrestling. Realising this was an inevitable way forward Rotten’s selections for his 2002 TPI tournament reflected that. The inclusion of Christopher Daniels v AJ Styles in the first round in particular. The rest of the line up is very strong featuring CM Punk, Chris Hero, Super Dragon, Nick Mondo, Colt Cabana and the man who would become Mr Kennedy. To name but a few.

November 1st 2002. We’re in Clarksville, Indiana. Hosts are Dave Prazak & Ian Rotten.

Initial thoughts are that once again the crowd turn out is really disappointing. Even if it is only the first night. Ian Rotten comes out for a promo and tells us there are no ‘no shows’. All 16 wrestlers are here. AJ Styles is making his Mid South debut. CM Punk will be defending the title in the first round of the tournament. Rotten also bigs up the debut of Jimmy Rave. Ace Steel is back after a 4 month absence to defend his title. Ian looks ill. In other good news the hardcore match features Necro Butcher…in a drunken deathmatch. The concept behind this match being that they do 3 shots before the match and then stop every 2 minutes to do another shot. Ian talks about changing the Sweet Science to Ted Petty Invitational and puts over Petty as one of the greatest wrestlers he’d ever seen. Ian continues to ramble on and once again they should edit this off. Do we really need him plugging the prize draw on the DVD? Just cut it off. No wonder this show is over five DVD’s. He actually talks for 2 ½ minutes after saying he’s finished as well.

Colt Cabana v Ken Anderson

Ken Anderson is now better known as Mr Kennedy in the WWE. Colt should be in the WWE soon-ish as well. The ring is a fucking mess. Colt gets the mic so he can swear a great deal. He’s heel this evening. He claims half the locker room don’t deserve to even be here. Colt is also hailing from “straight outta Compton” this evening. Angry comedy heel Cabana is a bizarre performer. They trade slaps before starting out with a WWE-style opening. They trade on armdrags and the pace quickens into an Anderson roll up for 2. Colt with a flying headscissors and you can tell both guys are a little green on striking. Ken does an awesome flip over the top to dodge Colt and the crowd are eating this shit up. They dodge around some more and Ken lands a second time lucky Enzuigiri for 2. That was quite nice. He should still do that. Ken continues the airborne offence with a spinning heel kick for 2. That was a bit sloppy. Ken takes a page from HBK’s playbook with the repeated mounted corner punches before Colt punts him in the nut sack. Colt’s punches look horrible. I’m glad he fixed that. Ken’s punches suffer from the foot stomping disease popular in the 80’s. Ken goes for a Boston crab but gets caught in a cravat from the bottom. They work in some bizarre buttock slapping during a BORE-HUG. That’s just uncalled for. Colt fakes a dive and tells everyone to “fuck off”. Ken dumps him on the apron and hits a pescado showing his babyface alignment. Ken’s really letting it hang out here. It’s an indication of what ‘main event’ Mr Kennedy would be like. Colt catches him in a Downward Spiral although Ken looks like he didn’t want to take it and flip bumps it. Colt goes up top for the MEROSAULT but that misses. Ken with the Samoan Roller and he goes up top. KENTON BOMB…gets knees. Ouch! Colt uses the ropes for a near fall. They counter around standing until the COLT 45 finishes. Nice pinfall as well with Colt making sure he swept the legs away from the ropes. **3/4. Strong opener and interesting to see Indy Mr Kennedy. Although here he was MISTAAAAAAAHHHH JOBBAAAAAAAHHH.

Nick Mondo v Nate Webb

Webb joins the colour commentary “hope to have a great match tonight Dave Prazak” before realising he’s supposed to be in the ring. “Welcome back” chant for Mondo. Mondo takes it to the mat and starts to show his skills in tying up an opponent. He’s generally better known for hardcore wrestling but that doesn’t mean he can’t go. Webb takes over and works a surfboard with Mondo face down on the mat. They kind of ruin all that early good work where Mondo runs into two sloppy armdrags. Webb dances into a legdrop to make amends. Webb with a sloppy Tumbleweed. When people talk about guys that “don’t look like wrestlers” Webb is one of those. But for me his personality makes up for that somewhat. Mondo busts out a kick combo, which is very tasty. Mondo starts rolling with German suplexes before releasing and dumping Webb on his neck. Mondo starts flipping around so Webb bails and Mondo hits a suicide dive. Webb hurts himself on the landing. Head meets concrete. Guess which wins? Webb comes back with a knee strike into a TKO for 2. Mondo comes back with the superb super spinning heel kick for 2. More kick combos and Webb looks out of his depth here. Mondo with a double stomp off the top…for 2. Webb should be staying down for that IMO. Mondo goes up top but Webb blocks him with a wheelbarrow bomb. Webb sets up the tree of woe for the moonsault Van Terminator but Mondo moves. Mondo busts out the Assault Driver for the pin. **1/4. Lots of effort and spots but that was messy at times. The psychology made sense however because Webb took an awful lot of consecutive head shots.

Super Dragon v Ace Steel

Ace has turned face somewhere in the last year. Dragon is behaving himself for a change and he applauds Steel when he enters the ring. Steel is cut compared to last year. He’s really worked on that physique. He throws Dragon around a great deal during the opening shine as well. They do some nice stuff on the mat but nothing complex. Steel really up’s the speed and shows just how good he was back in 2002. He was ahead of a lot of guys on the curve. His speed and wrestling skill is very impressive. He makes Super Dragon look very sluggish and highly ordinary. Another fine example of this being a really loose headscissors from Dragon and Steel easily escapes and hooks a side headlock. Dragon tries to work from on top in the guard but Ace just wails away at him from on the bottom. Really, Dragon looks like he can’t get going. Perhaps it’s a travel issue as he’d not travelled much up to this point. Dragon gets sent outside via a rope crotching and Ace hits a tope at high speed wiping out the front three rows. Steel has the feeling of a star in his approach. Although he is easily frustrated when he can’t get a pin. Dragon goes low, perhaps on purpose, and then takes over. Dragon finally gets some stink into his striking only for Ace to start clotheslining him at will. Dragon ducks into a great roll up cross armbreaker. It would finish if Ace wasn’t so well conditioned and able to counter back. Dragon now has his bullseye and goes to work on the arm. Again, this isn’t the same aggression I’m used to seeing from Super Dragon. His flying looks pretty weak and his ground work lacks enthusiasm. I’m thinking he’s carrying an injury, which would account for the lacklustre performance. But his suplexes seem fine and his bridgework is strong. Ace ends up finishing with a messy Gorybomb. *3/4. I like both competitors but this wasn’t a good match. The arm work will hopefully lead somewhere as the tournament progresses.

POST MATCH Ace Steel calls out the now retired Suicide Kid. He’s been out with a separated shoulder since last year’s tournament. Kid comes out and we get a hug. But that’s it and the moment seems strange.

Matt Murphy v BJ Whitmer

Murphy is trained by Harley Race and was supposed to be his big star trainee and the star of WLW. He was forced into retirement thanks to a car crash about a month after this. Murphy asks that the fans “refrain from smoking” while he’s out here. BJ actually looks like modern BJ after two years of him trying to find a look. He still has a goofy bandana but aside from that. Murphy has a smooth armdrag and happily demonstrates it. Whitmer offers a clean break and Murphy does too. “Honor among thieves” according to Fannen. To the mat and they run some nice counters down there. Headlock to hammerlock is always an easy one to get right but they nailed it. Arm ringer with armdrag where it doesn’t break the ringer is another nice spot. BJ pulls the hair. “Did you pull his hair?” – ref. “Yeah” – Whitmer. HAHAHA. Murphy decides to break out the chopping and WOW. Enormous chop. BJ sells it by falling clean out of the ring. Murphy is pretty old school. He pokes the eyes and tries for a piledriver but gets backdropped out. Most of his shtick is timeless. I imagine he’d have gone far in wrestling had he improved his upper body toning. They do some nice headlock countering where BJ hooks one up and Matt counters around the ring but can’t get out of the hold. They trade on eye rakes, which is funny because after a while they can’t see each other. Murphy knees Whitmer right in the head and more knees follow. The commentators stop off to call Rob Feinstein a motherfucker. It’s not the mother he’s interested in. Murphy continues his old school antics before we get a trade off with forearms. Murphy claims a knee injury in the International. The fans help him to stand up to prevent a count out, which is a nice unintentional spot. Back inside Murphy reveals the fake with a roll up. BJ is NOT impressed so Murphy slaps him and goes for an armbar. They run some nice stuff on the mat again before going back to the strikes standing. They block each other before BJ sweeps the leg and applies a choke. Murphy slugs his way out. Murphy gets caught swinging and the WRIST CLUTCH EXPLOIDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA gets 2. Murphy is dead though so BJ hauls him back – WRIST CLUTCH EXPLOIDAAAAAAAAAAA. That, you’d better believe, finishes. ***1/4. I could have lived without the kickout from the first Exploder and perhaps the fake injury but otherwise that was butter.

Jimmy Rave v Tarek the Great

Tarek has wisely shaped his skullet into a pony tail. Straight to the mat and Rave is the kind of guy who can let Tarek play to his strengths, which is mat chaining. Rave breaks out a hammerlock armdrag, which is an interesting way to take someone down because it goes right into a pin. Rave mainly works at the arm and tries for that cross armbreaker. Rave seems like he has a speed and technical advantage over the more experienced Tarek. Rave busts out the whirl into the Crossface, which gets some love from the crowd. Tarek can’t get out of it but eventually backs up into the ropes. Rave tries for another flashy move with a rana but Tarek catches him into a powerbomb and continues into a Pendulum of Pain. Springboard legdrop from Tarek. I’m not a big fan of Tarek as a flier. He’s much better as a technician. Rave keeps going back to the arm, which is a smart game plan. He gets the cross armbreaker again and Tarek is pretty much finished but Rave breaks the hold. Why would you do that? They counter standing and Rave pulls out an inverted DDT for 2. Rave seems to be getting the better of the standing counters and the better of the matwork too and he’s weakened the arm. Tarek comes back with kicks because that’s all he’s got that’s effective and Rave isn’t expecting it and gets caught a lot. Of course Jimmy has a size advantage so he can overpower and does so with a powerslam. They trade on strikes and Rave is playing into Tarek’s game because his strikes suck. He realises this and throws the ref in the way of a spin kick. Tarek hits a brainbuster but the ref is down. I hate ref bumps. Tarek uses a Michinoku Driver where Rave lands on the very top of his neck. Still no referee. Tarek decides to use a top rope move to finish this for good. He wants the Tarekbuster. That’s a Musclebuster, basically. MUSCLEBUSTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH. Ref is STILL down. So basically Tarek has won this three times now. Danny Daniels runs in and SPIRALBOMBS Tarek. New ref comes out and Rave throws an arm over for the pin. **1/2. Great match, fucking horrible booking. Rave looks superior throughout and yet needs a ref bump and another guy to beat an aging midcard guy who he was easily outwrestling.

POST MATCH Tarek gets a chair shot and he’s bleeding. Daniels whines about not being in the tournament thus guaranteeing himself a spot in next year’s show. He wants Tarek in a match tomorrow night.

PROMO TIME – Rain. She’s now in TNA as Peyton Banks. She says this tournament is bullshit. She wants a women’s tournament. She figures she’d win, which brings out Lacey who most people know from ROH. She figures she’d win this non-existent tournament. That leads to a catfight. BJ Whitmer strolls out here to tell them to shut the fuck up. He says there are three places a woman belongs; the kitchen, face down/ass up and on your knees. He basically offers to advance their careers in exchange for oral, which is met with a pair of low blows. Not sure I’d treat one of my male stars in such a fashion. Hailey Hatred comes out to make her debut with an assortment of brainbusters and powerbombs. Fannen books a 3-way dance between the ladies tomorrow.

Matt Stryker v Chris Hero

Matt is the HWA/ROH one as opposed to the North-East Indy guy who joined the WWE. Dave Prazak is managing Matt so Colt Cabana takes over on PBP immediately mentioning the power of the unibrow. Hero is back babyface. He’s the biggest man in this tournament and a previous winner in 2000. These guys are also sound on the mat and that leads to some nice countering. They run some interesting stuff like dodging armdrags and then dodging follow up elbow drops. Lots of armdrags both ways follow. This has been the most technically sound of the first round matches I believe. Hero tries to clean break but Matt slaps him across the chops. He draws Hero out for a chase and then lays the boots in. Matt starts getting a bit sloppy and Hero lands on him in the corner. “First blown spot of the tournament” – Ian Rotten. Yeah, thanks for that Ian. Just don’t let him commentate. He lays into Feinstein again. Colt refuses to take shots at him (bookings yanno). Hero takes over on the arm with a flipover Stunner on it. Prazak interjects tripping Hero up and Matt takes over on the knee looking to set up the Strykerlock. Hero chops him in the back. I love that song. Hero does a good job of selling the knee while striking with the other. He misses with the bad one, which was dumb anyway, and Matt takes his knee out. Matt is totally focused on that knee making himself look like even more of a professional than Jimmy Rave earlier. Hero’s knee gives out on an Irish whip. You get the feeling it’s now just a matter of time before that knee fails him. There’s a feeling even if Hero wins here he now has no hope of winning the tournament carrying that bad knee. Matt continues his systematic approach. There are some who find this technical approach slow and difficult to watch but I like me some technical mat wars. Matt kicks the knee out to show that he’s a real jerk as well as a technician. ANKLELOCK is on. Hero counters out. He needed to. That was curtains. He just grabs Matt for a CRAVATPLEX…for 2. Matt kicks him in the knee and ANKLELOCK is on again but Hero kicks him off. Hero pulls out a surprise roll up and gets the pinfall dead on the announcement for the 15 minute mark. ***1/2. Very sound technical match and it establishes a story for Hero for the rest of the night.

POST MATCH Matt clips the knee again and hits a DVD. Hero may not have lost but his tournament is effectively over.

AJ Styles v Christopher Daniels

This is happening 3 years before TNA really picked up on what a great match this was. Outside of the ring these guys are really close and it shows in their chemistry. The Indies have been showcasing their feud for a long time. Even by 2002 they had history. Daniels won’t budge on a shoulderblock early so AJ boots him in the thigh then knocks him over. They continue to counter standing and avoid some clotheslines and legsweeps. Crowd immediately pops for the Indy Standoff although they’ve done far better since this. More polish as it were. But they’re still miles above everything on this show for chemistry. They go to the mat and start countering down there. Ian starts REALLY getting on my nerves by laying into Smarks after his “botched spot” comment earlier. AJ & Daniels start inventing new armdrags before colliding on a crossbody and the fans are really digging this right away. Daniels flips over in the corner and dropkicks AJ on the way down. AJ backrolls over the top but Daniels then backdrops him WITH STINK. Ian compares it to the Benoit-Sabu one. Daniels pulls out the Downward Spiral into the Octopus and the crowd pop that. That’s the thing with Daniels. He has so much stuff that looks BIG that he pops the crowd all the time. AJ tries to springboard but Daniels jumps on the ropes with him and Russian legsweeps him off. Neato! AJ bails so Daniels hits the Arabian press to the floor, which draws not only a pop but the “Holy shit” chant. Crowd is LOVING this match. Daniels with a HIIIIIGH crossbody for 2. AJ retorts with his suplex into a neckbreaker. AJ kicks at Daniels’ legs and pulls out the nip up rana for 2. Daniels is still alive so AJ kicks him in the head twice for 2. No messing around there. Dropsault! AJ is showing off now as he tended to in 2002. It was before he really rounded out his game. AJ with a Mutalock and he turns that over to kill that neck. Daniels gets touch close and counters around AJ’s position into the STO. That was neat because AJ never really saw it coming. It kept the realism going. That’s the quickest 10 minutes in wrestling by the way. They run some ducking counters that I’m less fond off but AJ finishes it quickly with a superkick for 2. Daniels bails and AJ dives out clipping the rope and nearly killing himself in the process. Daniels sees it coming though and covers for it so well it doesn’t even look bad. AJ calls for the Styles Clash and the fans don’t recognise it till he tries to hook the arms with his feet. He can’t get it so he opts for the sit out powerbomb instead. Nifty. AJ with a textbook brainbuster. AJ goes to the well again with another rana but Daniels blocks into his own powerbomb. These guys already have their familiarity selling down. Shame the fans don’t know either guy that well or it’d go over as well as the other shit they’re doing. Daniels heads up for the BEST…MOONSAULT…EVER…for 2. AJ lands that quebrada into an inverted DDT but that’s countered into the Last Rites but AJ counters back into the inverted DDT for 2. Nice! AJ with his over the shoulder DDT for 2. Kickouts are getting desperate. Daniels had his foot on the ropes btw. Ref missed it so Daniels decided to kick out as to not fuck with the booking. Daniels counters again and the Blue Thunder connects. Double down. Daniels with the STEP KICK. AJ is unconscious but standing…ANGELS WINGS…FOR 2! Crowd LOVES this match. They counter around some more standing and AJ goes to his series planting Daniels on his face and the crowd think it’s a botch because it’s such a sick bump. But they’re still in this. AJ wants the Styles Clash but Daniels blocks it again and they counter back over and he goes for it again but Daniels gets out with an ANKLELOCK! AJ sunset flips and they roll with a few cradles. This is so cool. AJ tries to counter one too many times though and counters himself RIGHT INTO THE LAST RITES! FUCK YEAH! You know it’s over. Crowd goes NUTS. Loudest reaction I’ve ever heard in the IWA. ****1/4. That’s only that low because they’ve had better and more fluid matches since but it was still brilliant with awesome innovation and countering. Literally this blew everything else on the show away.

POST MATCH AJ shows respect with a handshake and a hug. Ian Rotten goes off to scoop the heat, as per usual, to tell them how they’re fucking awesome.

IWA title – CM Punk (c) v M-Dogg 20

I’ll be referring to M-Dogg as Matt Cross during this because both of those names are a damn sight easier to type. Cross looks cut here. Way more so than Punk. They knucklelock from the off with Punk getting marginally the better of it. Everyone keeps landing on their feet so we’re tying. They run some armdrags and blocks. I think it’s clear they’re aiming to steal the show after that great match prior to this. Cross starts throwing chops and Punk has to start blocking them because they’re hard. Cross nearly fucks up the tilt-a-whirl but eventually manages to get Punk over and out of the ring. They start running into trouble and Cross has a bad habit of stopping if something goes slightly wrong. Just keep moving dude. Any time you just plain stop you make it look fake and in particular you tend to make your opponent look dumb. It doesn’t help that Punk had sloppy matches back in 2002. For some reason he thought he could do 619’s and shit like that. So he does it and it looks stupid. Cross can hit high spots like the springboard rana. They make a hash of a full nelson into an armdrag. This looks worse following the last match, which was so much better. If this had opened the show it might have stood a chance. Cross nearly fucks up heading up onto Punk’s shoulders. That looked really awkward. Cross follows up with a really sloppy tornado DDT. Ace Steel has been on commentary instead of Dave Prazak for a few matches and he’s doing a good job of covering for what a fucking butt ugly match this is. They go outside and Cross tries to use the pole to swing around but he ends up falling over some chairs and into Punk. The aim of outdoing the guys in the last match is long gone. Cross still breaks out the sickness with a corkscrew plancha. They head back inside and Punk counters the second attempt at a tornado DDT. Punk follows up with an ugly Shining Wizard for 2. Why did he persist with that move for so long? I don’t think he ever made it look good. Punk is better when he sticks at what he’s best at. Namely here a suplex with a floatover, which looks nice albeit not Barry Windham great but solid. Cross does some flipping for no reason so Punk just backbreakers him. I like that. Flipping needs to have a purpose. Cross demonstrates this with a multiple time rotating whirl headscissors. Both guys bail and then come back in with DOUBLE SPRINGBOARD LARIATS! I like that idea. Worked for me. They both had the same idea. Punk tries for a reverse rana off the top and that’s blown HORRIBLY. Both guys manage to land on their heads and Cross bumped it after Punk had already fallen off. Then Cross spends forever setting up an Osaka Street Cutter. The impact is fine but the setup looked fake, which pretty much sums him up as a wrestler. They do something else that vaguely resembles the Shellshock finisher of Alex Shelley. Only fucked up. Cross misses with a Shooting Star Press and Punk decides to take it to the finish. They blow that BADLY the first time with both guys falling off as Punk tries to set for the Plunge. Cross starts off in the wrong place for it the second time and they blow it again. Punk gets pissed off with it and decides to get the crowd back with some chops before he sets it up again and THEY BLOW IT AGAIN! They finally get up there and Cross can’t even bump the fucking thing right. You’d think he’d at least do that after failing to get up there the first three times. *1/4. Some fine yet ambitious ideas. Really, really terrible execution. Punk looks pissed off post match as he knows he’s had a terrible match and he’s the veteran so it’s technically his fault.

Drunken Deathmatch – Corporal Robinson v Necro Butcher

We have a bottle of Cuervo out here in order to attain drunkenness. Just the one? Nate Webb is out here as Necro’s beer boy. Necro shows off the Cuervo in order that the viewing audience can see the bottle hasn’t been tampered with. Nate has limes. This was a “fans bring the weapons match” but many of them have none so Necro gets considerate to pass around light tubes to everyone. “Light tube ma’am? Sir? Light tube sir?” Necro owns hardcore. Necro falls up the steps because he’s been drinking beer already. Nate suggests elbow dropping the steps. I can see I’m going to enjoy this one. They offer a shot to the fans and Necro ID’s the fan. And then can’t figure out if his date of birth makes him old enough. HAHAHA. Shot of tequila for the fan! That’s interactive. It’s like people getting to touch a barbwire bat. Nate takes a shot and shouts “fuck the lime” before chucking it into the crowd. Robinson entertains himself by calling the fans gay. “That guys had so much cock in Milwaukee he had to move to Kentucky because everyone knew he was a fag up there”. Robinson struggles with his opening 3 shots. Nate meanwhile is swigging from bottle nonchalantly. And we have the opening bell! That took about 15 minutes. One of the fans doing his best Vince McMahon impression makes me chuckle. “He’s gonna, he’s gonna PUUUUKKKKEEE”. I love that shit. They bail for some light tubes and Necro is even less in shape here than he is now. He takes light tubes across the back and chest WITHOUT THE SHIRT. Awww, fuck that man. That looked painful. We’re already drenched in blood inside of 2 minutes and out comes the Cuervo. Robinson starts really selling the booze. Necro meanwhile is selling the LIGHT TUBE IN THE FACE. He has hair full of broken glass. That can’t be safe. Necro has a gusher across his forehead now. Is Robinson working the nipples? YOU SICK FUCK! With broken glass I might add. Another 2 minutes is up so we get the booze out. Robinson has taken to drinking Mountain Dew to get rid of the tequila taste. Necro wants a BAR FIGHT. He sits right in front of Robinson and they start punching each other. “I’m right here you silly son of a bitch”. Necro is working somewhat stiff. He calls for a BEER TIME OUT. HAHAHA. Robinson gets opened up hardway from those punches but we have to stop for some more shots. This thing is going to go all fucking night. Robinson orders everyone to stand still. Robinson nearly falls over some chairs so Necro pushes him over them. Robinson retorts with a low blow. “Goddamnit” – Necro. Necro brings the funny by blaming a fan for his drunkenness before falling over another fan. It’s like one of my nights out! Another booze break kicks in. “Is it intermission?” – Robinson. Necro still seems in good spirits. Probably because he’s drunk. Necro starts headbutting Robinson, which he thinks is funny. Once again because he’s drunk and it’s like one of my nights out. Robinson has trouble getting over the middle rope into the ring. He uses a lime on Necro’s face. Ouch. Nate is back in the ring with more shots. “LIME GIRL”. Necro once again asks how many shots this is. Robinson is shaky. Oh come on! 8 shots in 20 minutes? I used to do 8 shots in 20 seconds when I was hardcore drinker. Robinson falls over because he’s so drunk and Necro pins him. Awww. I like he keeps hooking the leg for ages after the pin too. I can’t rate that but I thought it was fun. Just too fucking long.

POST MATCH Necro keeps on drinking until he pukes. It’s not a party until someone pukes! It is now a party. To finish on a comedy note we get a picture of the Cheers cast with Necro’s face super-imposed over Ted Danson’s.

November 2nd 2002. Night two! Still in Indiana. Hosts are Dave Prazak & Ian Rotten.

Here’s the bracket for round two. You’ll notice immediately it’s a lot stronger than the past two years.

Colt Cabana v Nick Mondo
BJ Whitmer v Ace Steel
Chris Hero v Jimmy Rave
Christopher Daniels v CM Punk

Colt Cabana v Nick Mondo

Cabana runs down Mondo by saying he has no place in a scientific tournament because he’s the “King of the Backyard Fucks”. Colt roars at Mondo who retorts by calling him “Goldberg”. Colt generally overpowers and uses the ropes to show his ring smart he is. Mondo keeps doing drop downs when Colt is set for him to leapfrog. Colt wins a test of strength. “AAAAAAAARGH, I OWN YOU” – Cabana. Mondo connects with a sloppy Hurricane kick. The problem with heel Colt is he spends so long jawing with the crowd that time gets wasted. Ah well, easy night for Nick Mondo. He literally could go out there and do nothing and the match would still get over. They both work in arm spots with Colt starting it and Mondo countering. Mondo uses the rules, or lack thereof, of IWA-MS to his advantage by tying Cabana’s arm up in the ropes then abusing it. Colt retorts by dumping Mondo arm first on the ropes. The problem with working body parts in the Indies is no fucker will sell it. Well, not guys that like their highspots. Guys like Hero, sure, which is why his angle works better than anyone else working body parts. Colt lays in some weak chops. Mondo retorts with his own weak chops so Colt slaps him in the Shades of Wilbur Snyder. Again there’s an issue because Colt can’t seem to stay focused on one body part. That kinda makes the whole match a series of rest holds rather than something to do with psychology. Mondo won’t sell anything anyway as demonstrated by him popping right back up and hitting a slingshot senton to the floor. Literally zero selling of the ribs from the stretch. Colt goes after the leg because that’s new. Mondo kicks him off with the Enzuigiri. Mondo hits his double stomp off the top but if Webb kicked out than Colt will too. They go up top and Colt hits a backbreaker off the top for 2. Not sure that even has anymore impact than usual. Especially as Colt was worried about his knee and moved it before the impact. Mondo escapes the Colt 45 once but not the second time. At least the impact on both those big moves was the same area. **1/2. More selling from Mondo would have been nice. Prazak lies about Colt working the same body part all match. Short term memory failure!

BJ Whitmer v Ace Steel

These guys don’t like each other anyway so we start with a brawl on the floor. Ace looks way more intense so wins on the floor until BJ ducks and Steel chops the ring post. Ah, that old chestnut. That’s another spot that gets used a lot but never goes anywhere. Ace is immediately using that hand just moments later. BJ tries for a spinning heel kick but Ace just puts his arms in the way to block and hits a neckbreaker over the knee. Steel seems to have that little more intensity, which is surprising after already winning this thing last year. You’d think he’d maybe have less desire having already triumphed once. Ace is being a strongstyle jerk here, which makes him a winner in my book. He just pounds BJ into submission, not literally, with a series of kicks and knees to the head. One of BJ’s major issues is he does AJPW selling without the body to back it up. He does that again here just popping up after all that abuse and hitting a release German suplex. For me you need a body that looks like it’s capable of absorbing abuse in order to absorb abuse. And even then if your opponent targets your head then no selling is pretty much not an option. They continue to beat each other up, which is tremendous fun to watch. They trade on submission attempts and I think I prefer Whitmer’s camel clutch over Ace’s standing Octopus. If only Ace was a little more thoughtful in his selection of moveset he could go far. Still. This is fucking 6 years ago and Ace still hasn’t really done anything with that given talent whereas Punk who was behind him at this point is running around the WWE like a superstar. Ace does a great counter here sneaking out of the camel clutch and sneaking his way into a Tiger Driver and you know I love that move. Ace wants the Gorybuster but BJ counters out into a brainbuster for 2. BJ goes up top and hangs his head low so Ace can dropkick him to the head. That was nice and helpful of him wasn’t it? Ace wants a superplex but BJ won’t let him so they trade with forearms up top. BJ wins but Ace pops back up and hits a running forearm. NICE! Ace with a superplex and this has started getting clinical but BJ counters the cradle for the pin! ***1/4. Neat finish on a solid strongstyle match.

Jimmy Rave v Chris Hero

Hero is the story here as he’s struggling with a bad knee after his match with Matt Stryker. He’s not rocking the full on sell coming up, ala Jeff Hardy, and further disappoints me by slingshotting into the ring. See, wrestling is all about telling stories and when you’re in the middle of telling a story it’d be good if you remembered your continuity. Prazak retroactively thinks that Jimmy Rave should have lost to Tarek because Tarek “took it to him”. Erm, no. Rave absolutely schooled him and then they ran some bullshit finish. Don’t tell me its raining while you’re pissing down my back. You can’t retcon something that’s on the same DVD release. Not even the WWE goes that far. These guys start with some nice mat wrestling but ultimately I can’t help but think Rave should be working the knee. He tries to get the leg but it’s just so he can segue up to the arm via chaining, which again doesn’t focus on the injury, which hasn’t been brought up by anyone. He could barely walk out of here last night! Now he’s hitting missile dropkicks and nipping up. Honestly this whole match is just frustrating. Rave hits a pescado to showboat a bit. Hero misses a moonsault by MILES. Rave was underneath him as Hero was stood on the buckles. No one moonsaults blind like that. Either Rave moved too early or Hero shouldn’t have done the move. They trade with strikes and Rave gets killed doing it because he’s too small but then gets an armdrag and he’s looking for that cross armbreaker again. Fuck this match. I thought they’d done a great job on Hero-Stryker as well to set up the tournament and Jimmy Rave is clueless. The arm work doesn’t even look good and certainly isn’t convincing with Hero outweighing Rave by some distance. Rave with a superkick and he goes after the cross armbreaker again. Hero gets out by rolling with his weight but Rave counters into the Fujiwara armbar. Hero gets the ropes this time. Rave tries to land some combos but Hero counters into a release German suplex. Rave goes back to the arm. Looks like this match is going to have to stand alone as they’ve ignored the previous night, something I used to hate about the body part working on Smackdown. They used to pull the same shit. Continuity folks. Hero with the Cravatplex but Rave goes right back to the armbreaker. Rave gets the whirl into the Crossface and it’s on the bad arm. It wouldn’t have been unreasonable to expect a tap out there. Hero slaps some life back into his arm and hooks the Hangmans Clutch for the tap out. ***. This worked fine as a stand alone match. I’m just ticked we didn’t get any continuity with last night. Rave showed focus, albeit on the wrong body part, and Hero was willing to sell it. But now Hero is selling the arm like he was selling the leg last night. Does that mean he’ll be fine again later?

Christopher Daniels v CM Punk

Punk decides to grow a set and the TITLE IS ON THE LINE. This would become a running theme.

IWA title – CM Punk (c) v Christopher Daniels

Punk sets the mood and makes this a friendly opening with a handshake. Daniels starts out by controlling the pace. He doesn’t really want something at the same speed as his match with AJ so he kicks off with a headlock. Punk counters onto the arm and we have some very solid chaining. Daniels comes back with another headlock and we have ourselves a very simple storyline! Punk counters out to a hammerlock and I find myself mentally applauding the basic storytelling of this match. Back to the headlock and Punk counters out onto the arm again. Daniels with a drop toehold into a headlock and Punk counters out to the hammerlock. This would be wrestling in its most simplistic and yet beautiful form. Daniels counters out back into the headlock and he used a slightly different version there to keep Punk on his toes. Punk headscissors out to get into the an arm ringer. Daniels uses the ropes to flip back over and then takes back over with the headlock. 5 minutes gone of literally one hold from each guy and the counters between them. Beautiful. Obviously they decided on that as the mark for speeding up as Punk flips off the top and Daniels moves before dropping the leg. Daniels with a back suplex and all those headlocks are paying off because Punk is discombobulated. But because Punk worked the arm a lot he uses that as an out. HAMMERLOCK SLAM! A HIT, A PALPABLE HIT! Punk leaves his head out there working the arm though and Daniels gets in a quick headscissors but Punk yanks on the arm to stop it. Now they’re using all their basic offence to block more complex offence. Punk takes the arm for the TOP ROPE WALK OF DOOM! Into a legdrop across the arm. Crowd loves that. I’m pretty fond of it. Daniels comes back with a jawbreaker and this is a really smart match. I’m enjoying it. Daniels is selling the arm BIG TIME as well. He hurts himself badly hitting a shoulderblock with the wrong arm so its weaker than usual and Punk is able to get up first and dropkick the injury. They counter some more and Punk hits a lariat for 2. Punk is critical of the referee’s cadence on that count. And he’s right. He was doing the 1-2-pause-3 count that Earl Hebner does. Daniels is hurting bad but he has enough in the locker for an Enzuigiri, which knocks Punk cold because he has that head injury. Daniels is still selling the arm on everything by holding it against his body. Top stuff. So much so he uses BOTH arms on an Irish whip as to not further damage it. Daniels catches Punk with the Iconoclasm for 2. Punk punches the arm to block further abuse but then runs into the STO, which Daniels can hit with one arm. BEST…MOONSAULT…EVER, which requires no arm strength, gets 2. But his injured arm makes the Angels Wings counterable and Punk reverses out and hits the Shining Wizardoooo for 2. The selling and psychology here is mint. Punk knees the shoulder and hits a HAMMERLOCK SUPLEX for 2. Man, that was tasty. Daniels blocks the Welcome to Chicago into a near falls sequence and Punk boosts Daniels up easy with the bridge. Daniels gets out into a crucifix for 2 and they keep countering into more near falls. They must be so tired. Punk gets the CHICKENWING and he Daniels taps out because he can’t make the rope. WOW, that was fucking awesome. ****. Wonderful psychology and selling. I think that shows how bad M-Dogg 20 is. Or perhaps just how great Chris Daniels is. He starred in both rounds so far. That finish was perfect too.

POST MATCH Ian Rotten asks Daniels to come back real soon. Daniels gets the mic to say he only goes to federations that have hardcore fans so he’ll be back. Daniels tells Punk he was the better man and asks for a shot at the title down the line. The fans and Punk agree so I guess there’s a re-match somewhere. I’d love to see it if they work on the psychology like they did here. Great stuff.

Danny Daniels v Tarek the Great

This was set up on night one. Tarek charges in like a madman but Daniels is already in the ring so he has the high ground and gets the early advantage. Tarek’s half paced Rey Mysterio tributes are a little tiresome. I’d rather watch him kick people, which he does shortly afterwards making everything alright again. Daniels bails and Tarek hits a weak tope. In Japan they’d be laughing. Tarek does some slow motion countering, which Daniels counters into a wheelbarrow suplex. The hold I always thought was called an Ocean Cyclone. Tarek’s ridiculous Ric Flair tribute selling kicks in. Save your screaming for actual nasty looking moves rather than basic suplexes, please. Daniels works the back over. They counter a bit and Tarek specifically aims at the neck including hitting a weak looking neckbreaker off the ropes. Tarek with a split legged moonsault for 2. That totally worked. Daniels comes back with a wind up backbreaker for 2. Thus continuing his work on the back. Daniels goes up top thus setting himself up perfectly for the Musclebuster. Tarek can’t get it though and has to counter into the Michinoku Driver. Daniels gets his foot on the rope to survive that nasty looking head drop. Tarek goes up top with a chair but Daniels dropkicks it into his face. I like that spot. They’re screaming at each other here. Without looking it sounds like some sort of gay porn. Daniels gets a super fisherman buster. For 2. I’ve always thought that sort of kick out was a tad excessive. Daniels comes off the top but Tarek grabs that chair from before and slides it into Daniels’ face on the way down for the pin. **. It was ok but Tarek’s offence is remarkably inconsistent. Half the time it’s fine and half the time it looks like shit. Like he never quite figured out what worked for him. The chair finish turned nasty for Tarek as the chair was driven into his own head. “He might need stitches” I overhear. Ouch. He’s already in a pool of his own blood and it’s gushing out of the side of his head. Tarek shouts at the people who come to help him. “I want to walk the fuck out of here”. Ah, macho bullshit. Excellent.

Matt Stryker v Super Dragon v AJ Styles v M-Dogg 20

Ah, the old “losers” match. Stryker has Dave Prazak as a manager. They should just leave him on commentary. They split up with Dragon & Cross staying in the ring. Cross hits the massive whirl headscissors this evening. Hard to follow both sets of fighting. AJ & Stryker is pretty tidy on the mat but then equally tasty in punching. Cross comes in and AJ has to carry him around and generally show him how to stay inside his abilities. AJ happily smacks him with a spin kick and makes it look nicely smooth. AJ gets a blind tag with Cross working Stryker and they do a flip up powerbomb spot but Cross turns it into a rana and the crowd goes wild. Dragon comes in and KILLS AJ’s bad knee like a motherfucker. Ok, there’s the Super Dragon who was missing last night. He turns that into a dragon sleeper with stepover toehold. Dragon is relentless and won’t break that. Stryker tags himself in to work that knee over. Ref misses AJ on the ropes again so he has to kick out. The officials in this company vary dramatically in terms of quality. Cross comes in and manages to blow an elbow drop to the knee on AJ. AJ goes nuts on him for fucking up, as he tends to, and Dragon gets a tag. Meanwhile the crowd rags on Matt Stryker for his lack of definition between eyebrows. FEAR THE BROW! Dragon pulls out a Figure Four but AJ turns it over and then blocks the dragon whip. BUT not for long! Dragon finally gets it and that’s the second time he’s killed that knee. He goes for another but AJ clocks him with an enzuigiri. Cross comes back in with no warning and blows a standing moonsault. He then hits a cartwheel over the top into a rana on Dragon on the floor. Which Dragon has to catch and then throw himself into. Over reaching there young sir. Again. AJ & Stryker do some nice stuff until Dragon jumps back in there and lariats AJ to stop the Styles Clash. Cross dives back in but Dragon catches him with a capture double underhook brainbuster for 2. Stryker saves. He has his own brainbuster for 2. Cross with a tornado DDT. Guys start popping spots off. Cross tries for a super rana but Dragon gets in the way so he gets laid out. That was kind of a fuck up. AJ blocks another super rana into a SUPER STYLES CLASH ONTO DRAGON! Hoooo! **1/2. Fun 4-way spotfest. Not good wrestling by any stretch of the imagination but some fun little spots. M-Dogg needs to learn to reign himself in a little. Especially when he’s hanging with 3 really talented guys like this.

Semi-finals of the TPI 2002 as follows…

Colt Cabana v BJ Whitmer
CM Punk v Chris Hero

Colt Cabana v BJ Whitmer

Ian Rotten relays a story about how BJ was wrestling in IWA while he was a referee in HWA. He’s hardened himself by working in Japan as well. BJ hooks a hammerlock and Colt can’t wrestle out of it, which is weird considering how many reversals and holds he knows now. They’ve obviously been taking notes on Punk-Daniels because they work facelock/hammerlock a lot in the early going. They both go for a sucker punch at the same time, which is the joy of having two heels. They end up slapping each other instead. They work in the dancing spot, which is typical Cabana but more suited to his comedy babyface persona. They work in one of the worst ref bumps I’ve ever seen and it’s for no reason whatsoever. Colt breaks out some serious armdrags. DEEEEP armdrag the second one. They start trading on chops before BJ wins out with a whirl backbreaker. There’s a good thing about this match. Even though it’s really quite bland at least the wrestling is good. Which is a step up from the usual scrubs. Ace Steel mentions the Irish Whip and says he doesn’t know why it’s so named. Ah, I do. The Irish Whip that we know nowadays isn’t the same as the version that bore the original name Irish Whip. The original Irish Whip was the finishing hold of Irish wrestling star Daniel “Danno” O’Mahoney. It was more like a judo throw. But the name itself stuck to the modern hold where it started by the grabbing of an arm. “Whipper” Billy Watson used a modified version and the move has infiltrated wrestling since then. Over time the move has changed and the original somewhat lost. To the degree where Danno’s name is close to being lost to the history books and not even wrestlers know the origin of the hold. Sad times. These guys are still wrestling though so let’s turn our attention back to them as they run a fine mid air collision. Those don’t always look convincing but POW. Ace points out what a long show this is. Yeah, and we’re not even close to the end. Not every match needs 15 minutes folks. Colt tries hard for the Colt 45 but can’t get it and busts out the DOCTORBOMB instead for 2. That should be Colt’s WWE finish. He goes up for a moonsault but hits BJ’s knees. BJ wants the Exploder but can’t get it. He grabs the wrist…WRIST CLUTCH EXPLOIDAAAAAAA for 2. Colt’s big back allows him to kick out. A smaller man would have been ended there. COLT 45! That was very sudden. BJ gets a shoulder up. No real explanation as to why that is. BJ looks fucked. BJ pulls a dragon suplex out for the pin and for some reason Colt doesn’t just put his feet on the ropes, which were within reach, and BJ gets the duke. **3/4. If anything they gave this too much time. They struggled to tell a story with the time provided and came in with not much in terms of game plan.

Chris Hero v CM Punk

This is a long-term feud and following on from the 55 minute TLC match and 2/3 falls match. I’m really glad Punk changed his entrance music. The screaming introduction doesn’t suit him at all. Punk grabs the mic to say he has déjà vu and once again puts the title on the line. This means more because the feud has lasted a year and these guys have competed here for 2 years and been in every Sweet Science tournament. Meanwhile Punk putting the strap on the line in every round would birth a yearly tradition thus making the TPI mean that much more.

IWA title – CM Punk (c) v Chris Hero

Hero knows Punk isn’t fully recovered from his fractured skull and lamps him around the face to open this. They shake hands and Punk cheap shots Hero as a receipt but that leads into a striking war that Hero wins. They both go for dropkicks at the same time to show how evenly matched they are. They have word from the back and BJ Whitmer was injured from a head drop earlier putting the finals in doubt. Hero gets a cravat and they counter around with cravats and snapmares from one guy to the other. CRAVAT PSYCHOLOGY! Punk cartwheels around Hero’s monkey flip and there’s more recognition psychology. Punk looks tired though as he had a tough match with Chris Daniels earlier. Punk gets a bodyscissors but Hero forces the knees apart to prevent the pressure. Punk goes in with the arms as well but Hero chops his back to expose the neck then slaps on a cravat. Man, that’s good stuff. Ian Rotten returns to the commentary position to confirm that BJ Whitmer will be continuing tonight but he has a concussion. That’s really not wise. Punk & Hero switch this over into a headstand and slap each other in the face until it collapses. Punk goes for another handshake but Hero is somewhat distrustful after earlier. He goes for it anyway because he’s an idiot and Punk kicks him in the guts. Hero gets backed up and Punk wails away in the corner so they can talk. Punk breaks out the Blockbuster, the move he broke his skull doing at the Jersey J Cup, and he immediately sells the head like a champ. Meanwhile Hero has sold neither the leg nor the arm nor has Punk gone after either one, which leaves a sour taste in the mouth when you consider Punk is using the same head injury as part of his psychology for the entire night. Hero works in some headbutts seeing that head as an opening. CRAVATPLEX! Hero sells the arm when he can’t get a decent cover but Punk clearly doesn’t notice because he ignores the arm. Punk goes for the neck instead and goes for the Shining Wizard but Hero blocks it. They start trading headbutts, which isn’t smart on Punk’s part with his cracked head. Hero gets opened up during those. Punk hits a Russian legsweep with a nice floatover for 2. His floatovers are quite nice but he doesn’t use them on a regular basis. Hero is still focusing on the head with kicks and a basement dropkick. Punk is also bleeding presumably from the headbutts but that one would definitely be a bladejob. Punk does his Jackie Chan corner flip but Hero is ready for it and dumps him face first on the buckles. Hero goes for the HANGMAN’S CLUTCH. Punk struggles in the hold but you know he won’t quit. Not with his title on the line. Punk is bleeding a real gusher here. The old crimson mask. Punk with a diving rana and a split legged moonsault for 2. Punk’s flying has never been pretty but at least its better now than it was 2 years ago. WELCOME TO CHICAGO, MOTHERFUCKER! Hero looked awkward taking it. SHINING WIZARDOOOOO gets 2. Punk chops Hero so hard he ends up falling over himself. Both guys look really tired. Punk with the face wash. We’re 20 minutes in. Hero breaks out the Artful Dodger. Has he been watching old Johnny Saint tapes? Punk blocks the roll up by taking the injured arm though. AHHHH! Hero rolls out of it and they both look tired. Hero busts out the Tiger Suplex but Hero can’t cover because he hurt his own arm doing the move. Hero tries for a lariat but Punk blocks it into the CROSSFACE CHICKENWING! Hero taps out because his arm is already fucked and Punk retains and makes the finals. ***1/4. Not their best work but some nice familiarity selling.

3-way Womens match – Hailey Hatred v Rain v Lacey

Special referee is Joel Gertner. He’s real thin. “Well, well, well”. “The vernacular spectacular”. “The sexual intellectual”. Hailey nearly falls off the apron coming out here making herself look like a mug. Rain has a comedy gimmick of collecting dollar bills from the fans then stuffing them in her bra. The fans are particularly jerky by holding them up in the air so she can’t reach. Joel “frisks” Hailey. Or possibly feel her up. Lacey is the only babyface. The feeble girls attack Hailey to prevent the kind of beating they took last night. This really isn’t the best of wrestling. Rain takes a particularly awful looking Japanese armdrag. We get a 3-way chopping spot and hey, Lacey can chop! The others can’t. They run a triple bulldog spot, which is about as good as you would expect. Crowd chant “she’s a crack whore”. I think that’s aimed at Rain who’s rather skinny. She retorts by ripping Joel’s trousers off. Of all the people in the ring I didn’t want to see stripped…We get a sunset flip/German suplex spot that works quite well. It all still looks fake but they’ve at least worked in some interesting spots for the crowd to pop. Joel shoves Hailey because she stomps Lacey when she’s in the ropes. Crowd thinks she’s a man. With enormous tits? She gets crotched up top setting up a superplex/powerbomb spot. Well they’re sure using the 3-way dance playbook huh? Rain is pretty good looking but she’s a horrible wrestler. They do a terrible roll up spot that goes badly wrong. Gertner sportingly counts along. Rain blows a scoop slam. A scoop slam? Please. She pins using the ropes to eliminate Lacey. That was horrid.

Hailey jumps Rain and hits a fisherman buster. No pin. Whirl backbreaker gets 2. Rain can’t kick out right either. Hailey has had enough of Joel’s slow counting. You get the feeling there’s probably a finish in there. Hailey hits a nice Northern Lights for 2. Rain comes back with a tornado DDT for 2. Rain with a sloppy headscissors. Hailey with another fisherman buster for the pin. Probably shouldn’t have used it earlier. 1/4*. Bad.

Josh Prohibition v Ian Rotten

Is there really any need for this match? The crowd has a love of Ian that I don’t pretend to understand. Although Ian’s chaining in the opening minute is the best I’ve ever seen him do. Albeit the same bit of chaining that Hulk Hogan has down pat so anytime someone says Hogan can’t wrestle he does that. They work the mat a bit and Prohibition isn’t very strong so struggles with the countering, kayfabe, and Ian gets the better of it. Whatever happened to Josh? He was one of those up and comers that never seemed to make it anywhere. His somewhat loose chain wrestling might be a clue to that. Ian starts working the arm a bit. I get the feeling from this match that Ian wanted to prove he could work a technical style on a big technical show like this. He’s not as bad as you might think at mat wrestling but because it’s so rare that he does it there’s a lack of polish. Ian can’t go 100% pure though and uses headbutts and fish hooking. Ian’s Mutalock doesn’t have much in the way of bridge either. Josh counters into an Ace Crusher for 2. Josh heads up top but Ian moves out of the way of it and hits the double hook DDT for the win. *1/2. The mat wrestling was passable, which is a complement for Ian Rotten, and the match didn’t suck as a result. It wasn’t good either but it wasn’t bad.

POST MATCH Ian doesn’t miss an opportunity for another long-winded promo about how hard everyone works on these shows. As if this show isn’t long enough! I honestly find Ian’s heartfelt promos to be very repetitive. Fair play to him for believing in his wrestlers and in wrestling but I don’t necessarily want to hear about it every time I watch an IWA-MS tape. Especially with him cutting one at the start of night one as well. I know every wrestling promoter is a tireless self-publicist but I don’t care to listen to them either and more often than not its people I like more than Ian Rotten. As if that’s not enough he comes out AGAIN to put over the Ted Petty tournament along with Ace Steel. Here’s how you reduce the run time of an IWA show by 30 minutes; clip all Ian’s promos! Ace gets the trophy to present to the winner and walks out the door with it. Hahaha. He returns moments later. It’s now called the Vic Capri Trophy after the former IWA wrestler who was forced into retirement.

Incidentally it’s now well after midnight and we still have 2 matches to go. Punk is caked in dried blood.

TPI finals – CM Punk v BJ Whitmer

Punk catches BJ cold with a tope. Both guys have suffered knocks to the head this evening already. Punk connects with a springboard missile dropkick while the introductions are being made. Because Punk jumped ahead of the bell we don’t know if this match is for the title so Punk grabs the title and shouts “this belt is on the line”. BJ doesn’t take too kindly to that and hits a swinging neckbreaker on the belt. Crowd is very pro-Punk despite Whitmer’s efforts today. Both guys are already bushed so Whitmer goes to a chinlock pretty quickly. This is likely to suffer due to the abuse both these guys have suffered over the course of the evening. Punk fucks up the face wash and just flat out kicks Whitmer in the side of the face. I really hope that concussion is a work! Punk with a snap powerslam for 2. That’s the first near fall. BJ Whitmer had so much promise back in 2002. What happened there? He never quite stepped up to the highest level. He was in NOAH at the time and looked great. Punk is bleeding again. Whitmer hauls him up for a sit out powerbomb. Punk barely makes it over on the Jackie Chan corner flip before bouncing back up there with high crossbody for 2. Whitmer pops back up and kills Punk on the spot with a hard clothesline. “A fuck off lariat” – Ace Steel. BJ breaks out the swandive headbutt but that also hurts his own head. His selling isn’t really that great on it though. He does the Rob Van Dam “aw, my injured body part” for a few seconds then just carries on as normal. BJ counters Punk as they get back up and hits less than perfect German suplex. They’re struggling out there. Either its fatigue selling the entire tournament, which I doubt but that would be awesome, or they’re really tired and are making mistakes. Punk makes a mess of the split legged moonsault but BJ gets his knees up anyway. Punk really did have issues with doing stuff he wasn’t very good at and it took him a long while to figure that out. Punk looks a little confused in between spots and hits a Superfly Splash for 2. Again, another top rope move that doesn’t look good but he went for it anyway. BJ breaks out the EXPLOIDAAAAAAAA for 2. That was out of the blue. Punk dropkicks the knee but BJ blocks the Shining Wizard. They do some sloppy countering on the mat and Punk hooks a Texas Cloverleaf. BJ gets the ropes. That had tension. HEAD & ARM HEADDROP SUPLEX…for 2. One of Taz’s many patented suplexes. You don’t see it often because it’s a head drop. And BJ has a concussion. Shining Wizard gets 2. Oh come on now! The sheer number of head shots should now be enough for BJ to just take the count. He instead comes right back and hits a brainbuster for 2. No transition into that. That might be one of BJ’s major issues over the years is that his transitions were lacking. He goes for some rolling suplexes but Whitmer is way loose on those. He’s not loose on a fucking stiff as fuck rolling forearm to the back of the head though. SHIT ME. Now he suplexes Punk and the sonofabitch kicks out! They battle around up top and the PEPSI PLUNGE…gets 2. You’ve got to be kidding me now. Punk goes up top and gets crotched. BJ warms Punk up with some forearms. They wobble up there a little bit and BJ wins out with a BRAINBUSTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH off the top! And that friends is that. BJ gets the pin for the TPI AND the IWA-MS title. ***. The finishers were overkill because they were both fucked walking into the match. That said this was a really hard hitting match and a great effort after a night of hard work from both guys.

POST MATCH celebrations occur. Then out comes Ian Rotten to cut another promo putting over everyone. We bring out everyone in the tournament to celebrate what a great tournament it was. Punk cuts a tearful promo about coming back from a broken skull and that’s a great promo. Everyone poses around the trophy in a nice visual.

Hardcore Gauntlet match

We open with thumbtacks all over the ring and mousetraps? Prazak & Gertner on commentary. Rollin’ Hard, complete with enormous, and I mean enormous, fake afro, is out first. He has his own sign with “Kill Whitey” on it. His opponent is Necro Butcher. Necro brings the comedy with a banana skin, which Hard slips on, and back bumps into the tacks. Necro bleeds off something. #3 is 2 Tuff Tony. He can wrestle a bit but he doesn’t. Not here. Out into the crowd where Necro takes over by throwing chairs at everyone. That gets MESSY in a hurry. The others gang up on Necro. #4 is Nate Webb. He comes out to the A-Team theme music. If it was messy before he got out here it gets worse after he’s here with all 4 guys just brawling around. Tony slams Webb on a chair but its on thumbtacks. Which would have been more painful? Tony ANTIQUES the ref! Why would you bring flour out here? “Randemonium” shouts Gertner. #5 is Corporal Robinson. Necro grabs him and Webb throws a chair at him. Webb hits a TKO but does so in the tacks and thusly injures himself. Necro decides he hates Webb for making him drink all that tequila last night and hip tosses him into the ring steps. #6 is Bull Pain. That’s everyone in this match. He has a baseball bat and does the HHH sledgehammer shots with it, which looks stupid. But then he is stupid. “Fuck you fuck all you assholes” – Pain shows his extended vernacular. Bull Pain always looks like he’s been out all night partying in an S&M club. Tony, nutjob that he is, hits a corkscrew plancha. “Fuck you” – Pain. Yeah, he’s a regular mastermind. Webb goes up for a Phoenix Splash to the floor. We’re over FIVE HOURS into tonight’s show. Tony breaks out a few light tubes. Necro goes up top for a drunken dive. Necro chucks a box of tools at Robinson. The “Kill Whitey” sign hits Pain in the head. Nice of him to write it on a metal sign. Necro and Webb work a sloppy neckbreaker spot on the floor. You could see neither guy wanted to get hurt there. Tony sentons onto Pain as he’s set up on the ropes and Pain headspikes it. Webb puts ELECTRIC LIGHTS on Necro’s back then sentons onto it. HOLY SHIT! That’s not good. Hard accidentally slams the ref. Necro’s back is a mess. Webb goes for the moonsault across the ring. Pain looks to ruin it so Necro DDT’s him. CHAIRSAULT ACROSS THE RING! He lands on Pain but also connects with the kick on Robinson who was in the tree of woe. That was a neat spot. Webb goes up with a chair looking for another sick spot but Tony German superplexes him off the top. Hard with a DVD on Necro. Although there was a set up chair right next to them that he could have used for total murder. Why on Earth did someone bring flour into this match? Now everyone is covered in it. Two guys back suplex Necro onto that set up chair. That was a much uglier spot than the one that would have been with the DVD. About 30 minutes of garbage here and it’s well past 1am. Bull Pain gets the win with a frogsplash on Necro sandwiched between two chairs. Robinson uses the bat to stop the others from breaking the fall. ¾*. There was effort in there but it was a sloppy mess. I guess I give props to Nate Webb for taking some silly bumps and making the match more interesting.

POST MATCH Bull Pain really acts like a total bastard by attacking the fans, the referee and the other wrestlers until Ian Rotten comes out with a chair to scare him off. Bull attacks anyway leading to a horrible, horrible brawl. Ian books himself & Necro v Bull & Robinson for the next show. He talks for another 5 minutes or so thus making the main event grind past the 40 minute mark.

The 411: Good show albeit ridiculously long. Why, oh why, can’t IWA just fucking edit these things? The woman’s match was terrible and had no place on a DVD release. Ian Rotten’s match was solely so he could demonstrate his wrestling ability and insert himself into the TPI another year. But at the time it looks superfluous. The Daniels-Tarek stuff was unnecessary. When you’ve got a big tournament weekend you need to have minimal extra stuff or you’ll run way over. This weekend’s worth of shows runs over 9 hours. NINE HOURS. That said there are a few great matches on here. Mostly featuring Chris Daniels who was on inspired form. His match with AJ is the usual clinical stuff while the one with Punk is a psychology fans dream. I’ll give this show the thumbs up. Although if I were watching as a fan and not a reviewer I’d have skipped over the matches I mentioned above and maybe a few others too.

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]