IWA-MS: The Ted Petty Invitational 2007
9/28/07 and 9/29/07
Midlothian, IL
IWA-MS is a very good company. You can read more about them here. They were going to go out of business, but received a new lease on life, though it is far from a guarantee. I’m posting this to bring awareness to the company, particularly their absolutely great Ted Petty Invitational 2007. Along with this they have a buy 2 get 1 free DVD sale for the rest of the year. Please, support them by picking this show or another up and help a great wrestling company survive. This is being posted first on Pulse Wrestling like always, but so long as I’m given credit, feel free to post this anywhere and everywhere to help support IWA’s survival. Head over to www.smartmarkvideo.com and place your orders.
An introduction to the TPI from John Kirschner:
The Ted Petty Invitational is an annual tournament ran by Ian Rotten’s IWA-MS consisting of 24 of independent wrestling’s finest wrestlers. The tournament is now a memorial show for wrestling legend and a close friend of Ian’s, Rocco Rock (Ted Petty). Presenting us the best in the wrestling industry, the different styles of wrestling represent what Ted Petty stood for. Ted Petty was an all around wrestler and could do much of any style, from strong style to high flying. The tournament narrows down from 24 wrestlers to 3, with a Triple Threat Elimination Finals. It is a privilege to partake in this tournament as this is believed to always be one of the best wrestling shows of the year. Quack is da man.
Enough with the intro, let’s review some matches!
The IWA-MS Ted Petty Invitational 2007
Everyone’s in the ring for a photo. After they leave Jimmy Jacobs attacks BJ Whitmer. Jacobs and Chuck Taylor beat on Whitmer, and then Jacobs tries a Contra Code on Chuck, his first round opponent, who turns it into an Omega Driver. Jacobs says Chuck is a bad version of 1995 him.
Round 1 Match 1: Riccochet vs. Josh Abercrombie
They do some lucha mat wrestling and Riccochet is better. Abercrombie works in counters, focusing on the head and neck. Riccochet uses speed to try and come back, but a Taliban back cracker and hammerlock camel clutch finish for Abercrombie.
Josh Abercrombie defeats Riccochet (Submission, Hammerlock-Camel Clutch, ** ¾)
This told a good, fast paced little story. Riccochet looked great, but Abercrombie was able to counter often. Speed vs. Counter wrestling with headwork. A bit more selling of the head and neck by Riccochet and we really would have been onto something.Round 1 Match 2: CJ Otis w/ Joey Eastman vs. Joker
Eastman says it’s his last IWA-MS show. Head drops and high spots for no reason at all. Last Ride by Joker and its over.
Joker defeats CJ Otis (Pin, Last Ride, * ½)
Wow, whatever. Moves, no flow, or selling, bad fighting spirit. This is all that’s bad about indy wrestling. Joker wins.Round 1 Match 3: Eddie Kingston vs. The Human Tornado
Chris Hero is on commentary and he runs down Kingston.
Kingston’s game plan as described by the announcers is ground Tornado and hit him in the face. Tornado dances and pimp slaps Kingston, then uses his speed to take it to King. Kingston takes a breather, gets back in and stiffs the crap out of Tornado. Speed vs. Striking is the order of the day, as Tornado gets hope spots off Kingston’s being distracted by Hero. Dat N**** Dead gets three for Tornado.
Human Tornado defeats Eddie Kingston (Pin, DND, *** ¼)
I’m officially a Kingston mark. Good story, great brutality, and the personality made the crowd care. Tornado sold his beating like a champ.Hero gets the mic and runs down Kingston. Kingston demands a match with Hero Night 2 after Too Cold Scorpio beats Hero.
Round 1 Match 4: BJ Whitmer vs. Davey Richards
Davey is in face mode here and the crowd is very behind him. Davey uses speed and striking to counter BJ’s power and experience. Davey bumps and sells like crazy for BJ’s power offense. That’s good since he’ll clearly be the one that has to sell in this match. BJ works the back. A suplex spot spills both men to the floor hard. Back in they do a stalemate in striking, but Davey shows himself superior and takes control with his speed and striking, hurting BJ bad and quickly. Basement dropkick by Whitmer shows his experience edge and a brainbuster slows Davey down further. A frog splash gets two. BJ takes Davey up, but eats a sunset flip bomb and a big kick later, BJ still gets out. Davey shows inexperience called out the DR Driver. A corner powerbomb, big kick and folding powerbomb get two on Davey that should have finished. Davey goes with a high impact combination and the key lock finishes.
Davey Richards defeats BJ Whitmer (Submission, Key lock, *** ¼)
Better than expected. Davey really looked good here, outmatching Whitmer. A clean kickout of the filthy combination by Whitmer brings this down and, really, they could both stand to sell more by the end of the match.Round 1 Match 5: Devin Moore vs. Dysfunction
Devin Moore uses speed and Dysfunction focuses on countering the high risk moves where possible. This is very spotty, but Moore reminds me of a less crisp Matt Sydal and sells the back well. He has potential. A shooting star press finishes for Moore.
Devin Moore defeats Dysfunction (Pin, Shooting Star Press, **)
Jason Dukes demands to be in TPI and says he beat Billy Kidman last week. Dukes demands a bye into round two. Ian Rotten demand he leaves and security escorts him out.
Round 1 Match 6: Billy Roc vs. Mike Quackenbush
Quack is putting up his NWA World Lightweight Title in this match. They do mat wrestling early and surprisingly, Roc is able to keep up with Quackenbush. Quack then speeds it up with lucha and Roc has no answer. That’s the benefit of being the master of so many styles. Quack’s submissions, now a change of pace, confound Roc. Quack is liberally mixing styles, using striking as well to beat on Roc while dominating the match. Beautifully, everything Quack does works the back. The remainder of Roc’s offense is based around quick pins, mostly failing. Quack locks in the Lightning Lock, a modified Gory Special, and gets the win.
Mike Quackenbush defeats Billy Roc (Submission, Lightning Lock, ** ½)
Quack domination.Round 1 Match 7: Brent Albright vs. Tank
Tank jumps Albright early, but all that does is fire up Brent. They brawl and Albright uses speed and they battle, with the speed sometimes working and sometimes screwing over Albright. Tank capitalizes on a mistake to work the head and neck. Cross-armbreaker out of nowhere gets the win for Albright.
Alrbight defeats Tank (Submission, Cross-armbreaker, **)
Short, but exciting and meaningful.Round 1 Match 8: Brandon Thomaselli vs. Joey Ryan
They get the crowd to clap for each. They do a lot of back and forth wrestling early. Thomasseli works on the mat. Ryan eventually makes a lukewarm babyface comeback. His moves look very, very weak, even a spear to the floor. More back and forth and Thomasseli gets control with some nice impact moves, but a superkick out of nowhere knocks Thomaselli out.
Ryan defeats Thomaselli (Pin, Superkick, **)
Reasonably inoffensive, but Ryan’s offense was weak, and the ending was out of nowhere with only a backdrop driver really setting it up.Round 1 Match 9: Drake Younger vs. Nate Webb
Webb uses speed, as Younger tries to wrestle him in a standard manner. This pisses Younger off and they engage in a slugfest. Younger won that and then controls with a variety of maneuvers, from a powerslam to a second rope moonsault. Webb uses his speed to stay in the game. Nate takes a crotch shot, but doesn’t sell, going right back to speed and taking a powerbomb for it. Weak. They battle back and forth, with Webb’s speed allowing him counters, but Younger’s power allowing him to occasionally catch Webb for big moves. Nate uses his speed to hit a top rope, half-nelson face plant and get the win.
Nate Webb defeats Drake Younger (Pin, Super half-nelson face plant, ** ½)
Perfectly acceptable power vs. speed stuff, but some weak selling and nothing out of the ordinary.Round 1 Match 10: Nigel McGuinness vs. Claudio Castagnoli
They begin with the World of Sport (British) style. Both guys won a big tournament this year- the Race to the Top in ROH for Claudio and Nigel with the King of Europe Cup. These two do a lot of good stuff on the mat, establishing they’re evenly matched. Nigel has had enough so goes with strikes. Claudio shows that he’s no slouch in striking either and they begin striking each other with a ton of stiff European uppercuts. And then some more which Nigel finally ends with a lariat.
Nigel takes control and soon looks for the Tower of London. It’s too soon and Claudio hits a flying European uppercut. Claudio manages the giant swing, but goes up top. He’s dizzy and now Nigel is able to counter to hit the Tower of London. Nigel pummels Claudio with strikes.
Nigel goes for another lariat, but this time it’s telegraphed and Claudio counters with a springing European uppercut. He’s quick to press his advantage with the Alpamare Waterslide. Both men are up and attempt to counter each other. Nigel goes for the Jawbreaker Lariat after a scissors kick, but is caught in a Riccola Bomb counter and loses.
Claudio Castagnoli defeats Nigel McGuinness (Pin, Riccola Bomb, *** ¾)
These two were entirely evenly matched, each with many counters to pretty much everything the other did. Nigel established a slight strike advantage, but Claudio had a big speed advantage. That allowed him to wear down Nigel slightly more and, with good scouting, get the big counter to finish. Claudio is said to be the best springboard for little guys, but he’s recently proven to be absolutely great at using his speed against larger opponents as well. For 11 minutes, this was great.Round 1 Match 11: Chris Hero vs. 2 Cold Scorpio
Fun Fact from Quack: Scorpio invented the 450. Hero begins immediately by trying to show up Scorpio, and since Scorpio’s a legend, I’m now entirely sure he will get his revenge and win. They wrestle back and forth and fight over a cravate, Scorpio showing he won’t be shown up by the upstart. Hero just manages to escape and then continually showboats. Scorpio, naturally, has a big speed advantage and is even a showman to match Hero, though his flying moves come with the added advantage of actually hurting the opponent.
Hero bails and as Scorpio chases him back in, Hero gets the advantage and showboats like mad. That gets him a superkick for his trouble. Scorpio rides and works over Hero on the mat, trying to wear down the well conditioned athlete. Hero is pounded until he rolls out to the apron, but even there takes a leg drop by Scorpio.
Scorpio takes knees on a standing moonsault and Hero has control. He tries to take the wind out of Scorpio. Once Hero has Scorpio worn down, he begins to strike Scorpio, going for the win and tries to put Scorpio to sleep, with him unable to get wind and being worn down from strikes.
Scorpio isn’t as worn down as Hero believes and is able to use his speed for the advantage, but a flipping leg drop and other big, impact moves cannot finish Hero. Hero takes back control with a huge boot to the face of Scorpio. Hero’s strikes lead to a release vertical suplex. Hero has finally stopped underestimating Scorpio, but the time limit is nearly up.
A cravate neckbreaker gets Hero really close to victory, but Scorpio is still alive. He chops Scorpio to wake him up, but it does too much. Scorpio is back with a 450 and Hero is done.
Scorpio defeats Hero (Pin, 450, *** ½)
Chris Hero spent far too long showboating and playing games, so that when he decided to wear down Scorpio, there wasn’t time to do that effectively. Then Hero aimed to knock Scorpio out, but again the change in strategy came too late. Scorpio, is a legend and simply too effective to be able to change what you’re doing so often and beat him. Scorpio’s skill and how well rounded he is managed to force Hero to change what he was doing, but a better original plan would have served Hero well here.Kingston attacks Hero post match. Ian Rotten makes a Kingston vs. Hero Last Man Standing match for the next night.
Round 1 Match 12: IWA-MS Title Match: Chuck Taylor © vs. Jimmy Jacobs
Jacobs attacks Taylor pre-bell. Jacobs mixes speed and brawling to take out Taylor, but Taylor fares surprisingly well at this, but can’t win at it. With Jacobs, though, survival is impressive enough. Jacobs speared Taylor as he was hanging off a basketball hoop.
Jacobs gets Taylor back in the ring and Jacobs works Taylor over, wearing him down. This is a long beatdown, but good selling by Chuck is keeping it alive. The Contra Code is countered as Jacobs is dumped to the floor and Taylor nails a tope con hilo to the floor. He stops to sell his beating, then goes to work over Jacobs, running on pure mean. Taylor now beats on and wears down Jacobs. Jacobs selling now keeps this alive.
A missed moonsault allows Jacobs back in the match, and the two worn down competitors trade trademark maneuvers, Taylor with Soul Food and Jacobs with a killer spear. Jacobs tries a tope to the floor, but eats the guard rail. Jacobs speed can’t match Taylor’s, while Taylor has no prayer brawling with Jacobs. Taylor waits for the count out, while Jacobs waits and bleeds.
Jacobs makes it back in, far the worse for wear and a jackknife roll after a powerbomb gets two for Taylor, who then continues the onslaught. Jacobs recovers just long enough to go for Contra Code, but counters the reversal into a small package for a near fall. Taylor is right back in control, angry again and works on Jimmy’s formerly badly injured knee. He takes off the knee brace of Jacobs and its figure four time.
Jacobs fights back desperately and counters a top rope move with a top rope senton. Both men are up at the same time and Taylor attacks Jacobs knee again. Jacobs again fights Taylor off the top and hits a back senton. Jacobs aims for a Contra Code, but it’s blocked. Jacobs falls, due to his hurt knee. Taylor with a low blow and Omega Driver for the fnish.
Chuck Taylor defeats Jimmy Jacobs (Pin, Omega Driver, **** ¼)
What a match. Jacobs brawling was better than Taylor’s speed, but both the missed tope and the hurt knee changed everything for Jacobs as he became just another underdog trying to unseat the champ. Of course, wounded, he was no match for Taylor who dismantled him.Thus ends Night 1 of the 2007 TPI. It’s a great show, one of the best non-ROH indy shows I’ve picked up and strongly recommended, especially because there’s a whole second show also. The last three matches are all very good to great, particularly Jimmy Jacobs best non-gimmick match for the IWA-MS title against Chuck Taylor. This serves as a particularly good primer for the big faces around the indies not in ROH from the aforementioned Taylor to Eddie Kingston, who both impressed, to Joey Ryan, who certainly did not. On to Night 2.
Ted Petty Invitational 2007 Night 2
Round 2 Match 1: Devin Moore vs. Josh Abercrombie
Moore uses some flying and speed based striking while Abercrombie focuses on counters and counterwrestling. Taliban backpack lungblower by Abercrombie gets two, but the hammerlock camel clutch gets the submission.
Josh Abercrombie defeats Devin Moore (Submission, hammerlock camel clutch, **)
It was fast and spotty, but had it’s little story to tell, which it did reasonably well. Abercrombie still fails to impress me. His moves are nice, but his matches never seem to reach above solid.Round 2 Match 2: Brent Albright vs. Joker
Albright refuses a handshake early. Albright works the arm immediately, so Joker speeds things up so as not to allow Albright to hurt the arm, and takes Albright out with speed, then again offers his hand and is again refused. Joker continues to show his mat wrestling chops. Joker can outdo Brent on the mat and with speed, surprisingly.
Joker again offers the hand and gets a urinage-plex for his trouble. Albright gets control and begins with suplexes and fishhooks Joker. Albright dominates for awhile, but Joker manages a sick suplex and then an exploder as Albright attempts to throw him to the ropes.
Joker goes to work using speed to set up his strikes, but runs into an overhead belly-to-belly. Albright takes Joker up top, but Joker pushes him to the floor. Joker gets back in and tries a cross armbreaker, but Albright fights out into the crowbar, which Joker rolls through and they fight between their arm holds. Albright manages a Dragon sulplex then a half-nelson suplex and gets the three.
Brent Albright defeats Joker (Pin, Half Nelson Suplex, *** ½)
That was very good. Joker came off looking like a million bucks for being able to hang with Albright, but eventually the big man’s power was too much and he was able to crush Joker. It might have been different if Albright didn’t get his opening off the handshake, but once he did, it was not wasted.Round 2 Match 3: The Human Tornado vs. Nate Webb
Dance off starts, but Webb refuses. That breaks into a hockey fight by Tornado who controls with a pounce and tope con hilo to the fourth row. Nate finally gets angry and takes over with back work. Nate takes his time with a superkick and Tornado capitalizes with his speed and, for some reason, locks in a sharpshooter.
Webb turns that into a figure four. They brawl out and both men are down. As they rise, an arachnid kick by Webb nearly knocks out Tornado. Webb goes up, but Tornado meets him up top. Both fall off the top in an ugly botch. Tornado hits a DND (Dat N**** Dead) for the win.
Tornado defeats Nate Webb (Pin, DND, * ½)
Wow, that wasn’t good. Moves for no reason, botches, and a teased dance off. Next.Post match dance off and they end up dancing together. Tornado leaves, then Webb calls him back to shake his hand.
Round 2 Match 4: Joey Ryan vs. Mike Quackensbush
It’s the PWG main man vs. Chikara’s owner and trainer. Quack is clearly the fan favorite here. Quack outwrestles Ryan to start. Then he shows he’s faster than Ryan too. Hero on commentary knows the escapes for holds Ryan doesn’t. Quack goes for a tope, but his feet hit the rope and he lands head first. Quack is down on the floor.
Ryan takes advantage and dominates Quack, particularly working over the head. Quack manages to stay alive a bit with speed, but it seems futile. Quack manages a palm strike to catch Ryan up top and a superplex has both men down. Quack with a burst of energy manages an inverted brainbuster but can’t get three.
Quack takes awhile getting to his feet and Ryan manages a tiger suplex and superkick, but only for two. Quack with a rolling arm and leg ankle lock, but Ryan reaches the ropes. Even half knocked out Quack’s a superior wrestler. Ryan goes up again and gets hit with a palm strike. A super hurricanrana and a senton only get two. Ryan appears to be lucky Quack smashed his face or he’d be done. Ryan is left with no resort but to cheat, but the ref sees his feet on the ropes. Quack gets up and locks in the lightning lock beta for the tap out victory.
Quackenbush defeats Joey Ryan (Submission, lightning lock beta, ** ½)
Ryan did all he could to capitalize on the botch, but he was just totally outclassed by Quackenbush who looked like a million bucks here.Round 2 Match 5: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Davey Richards
They go mat early and Davey strikes, but Claudio strikes much harder and sends Davey to the floor. Davey works Claudio’s ankle. Whenever Davey strikes, however, Claudio has him at a disadvantage. They do some sloppy lucha stuff and Davey finally manages to strike out of that. Davey being able to strike takes his focus off the mat and then Claudio can control at that.
Davey picks up the speed to control, finding no victory in combining mat with striking, he uses speed to set up his striking and isn’t much more successful, as Claudio counters a handspring elbow with a European uppercut. Speed has been most successful for Davey, so he continues with that, but only hits at about a 50% rate even with that. The shooting star hits knees and more hit and miss. Claudio finally has enough with a release German, running European and the Ricolla Bomb.
Claudio defeats Davey Richards (Pin, Ricolla Bomb, ** ¾)
Good, solid wrestling, with Davey finding no way to really control Claudio, who just out waited Davey’s speed for enough big counters to win.IWA-MS Title Match: 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Chuck Taylor ©
Chuck uses his athleticism to stay a step ahead of Scorpio early. Scorpio offers a hand, which Taylor takes before screaming “I don’t like him!â€Â
Scorpio then shows his mat skill and that he can stay a step ahead of Taylor. Scorpio takes control, but Taylor again shows his brains, ducking a dive. Taylor takes control with a mix of speed and heelishness. Taylor doesn’t have that big of a speed advantage, however, so he gets hit with a moonsault crossbody from the top. A regular moonsault, however, hits knees, so Taylor is in control again and hits Soul Food.
The pattern continues, as both men can counter each other’s speed, but since Scorpio relies more on that, he’s more vulnerable, and Taylor is often happy to just pound away. An Omega Driver by Taylor when Scorpio is caught up top going for the 450 is enough for the win.
Taylor defeats Scorpio (Pin, Omega Driver, ***)
Nothing special, but good face vs. heel and use of speed and brawling make this a fairly good match. Big win over a big name for Taylor.Ian Rotten announces that Quackenbush cannot continue due to breaking his face on the floor during that earlier dive.
Semifinals Match 1: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brent Albright
They do a lot of mat wrestling. Albright is more dangerous down there, having a finisher, but Claudio is quicker and slightly more effective. Albright shows his strength, though, with a headlock that Claudio just cannot seem to escape for a long time.
Claudio finally escapes with a giant swing, but is too worn down to effectively protect his advantage. They fight over finishers, but neither man is worn down enough. Claudio is hit with an exploder. They slug it out, but CC escapes a crowbar out of a strike. Albright is dominating and catches Claudio with a crowbar from the top rope. Claudio escapes and a cross arm breaker forces a rope break.
Claudio with a hurt arm uses the scissors kick, but eats a half-nelson suplex anyway but Claudio kicks out! Albright angry, misses a charge, and Claudio hits the Ricolla Bomb for three.
Claudio Castagnoli defeats Brent Albright (Pin, Ricolla Bomb, *** ¼)
That was good, but Claudio either needed more hope spots, or to just lose that match.Semifinals Match 2: IWA-MS Title Match: Chuck Taylor © vs. The Human Tornado
Chuck Taylor and Tornado are a bit silly to start. Taylor heels it up, doing the old stand-by, stalling. They have an exchange, Tornado, shows him up Taylor stalls. Tornado gets overconfident this way and goes up, but it’s too soon and he gets crotched, giving Taylor control. Taylor does a hilarious version of the People’s Elbow.
Tornado uses his speed to stay in the match and his high impact offense is impressive, but Taylor consistently manages to catch him. Tornado strings together a series of moves and suddenly Taylor is on the defensive. Tornado gets caught up top and tries a sunset bomb, but misses and ends up crotching Taylor. Taylor flips out of a super DND, but is hit with a bitchslap and a regular DND. He’s too close to the ropes and gets his foot on it. Taylor, a smart heel, hold onto the ropes for dear life. Finisher reversals and he manages the Omega Driver for the win.
Chuck Taylor defeats Human Tornado (Pin, Omega Driver, *** ½)
Taylor made Tornado look like a million bucks in defeat. He won because he was lucky and took shortcuts, just like a good heel should, while Tornado generated sympathy and made flashy comebacks, the final of which nearly got him the win, but Taylor was just too slippery.Josh Abercrombie comes out to accept his bye, but Quack won’t take a loss and comes out to compete. The crowd freaks out.
Semifinals Match 3: Mike Quackenbush vs. Josh Abercrombie
They begin with mat wrestling. Abercrombie is able to control on the mat, somewhat surprising, but given Quack’s injury, less so. Abercrombie gets bored of the mat work and goes to work on Quack’s injured head. Poor Quack is screwed.
Quack finally gets a comeback and dumps Abercrombie, then follows with a tope to the floor, the same move that hurt him earlier. Quack is in and in control! The BTS gets two. Quack refuses to stay down no matter what Abercrombie throws at him, including his finishing combination from the last two matches, eventually getting the submission win with the inverted lightning lock.
Mike Quackenbush defeats Josh Abercrombie (Submission, Inverted Lightning Lock, ***)
Great underdog match.Last Man Standing Match: Eddie Kingston vs. Chris Hero
Unsurprisingly, a stiff brawl through a crowd starts the match. Kingston takes a beating and invites more as Hero hits him, but Hero simply heavily sells Kingston’s strikes. Nice way to establish King as the bad ass. Neither man is shy of using weapons here, with Kingston suplexing Hero on a table and Hero throwing a guard rail at Kingston.
Once they finally get in the ring, Hero goes to town with stiff strikes, mostly big kicks, but when that won’t keep Kingston down, Hero throws a chair from the crowd and hits Kingston in the head. That angers Kingston and as Hero gets in with more chairs, Kingston begins attacking. Hero won’t let go of the chair and manages to use it to regain advantage, stomping it on his face and going to town with his weapon. Hero goes with a vicious chair assisted Boston Crab and tortures Kingston. Kingston works in hope spots, but the offense is all Hero. Every impact move in Hero’s arsenal is on display, but Kingston will not stay down.
When that won’t work, Hero stomps on Kingston’s hand some, so when Kingston tries to strike, he screams out in pain. One of King’s main moves is a backfist and he’s a brawler, so King is in a ton of trouble. King does his best to suck it up, grimacing at his possibly broken hand at every moment, but Yakuza kicks and exploders serve him well as he takes it to Hero. The hurt hand seems to have impressed upon Kingston just how close he was to losing. They begin striking each other, both men worse for wear and then headbutting eachother.
They’re both so visibly hurt, they start hitting trademark maneuvers on eachother, but neither man’s fighting spirit will let them stay down. A dragon suplex and filthy lariat on Hero end that but Hero manages to get up at 9. Hero counters long enough to get a chair and since he couldn’t simply beat Hero with his hands, he goes to town with the chairs. With Kingston’s head in the chair, Hero hits a second rope cravate-iclasm. If you can’t beat him, kill him, I suppose. Kingston somehow gets up, but Hero has a guardrail and crushes Kingston in the corner with it as Kingston spits defiantly. He gets the guardrail booted in his face for his defiance and Hero hits a top rope double stomp onto the guardrail, which rested on Kingston.
Hero is apparently pure evil and tries to powerbomb Kingston into the guardrail set up in the corner. Kingston manages the desperation backfist and a backdrop driver. He follows that up with another, then a final one on the guardrail. Hero is dead. 10 count and Eddie Kingston wins.
Eddie Kingston defeats Chris Hero (10 Count, Backdrop Driver on the guardrail, **** ¼)
That was brutal and some more selling of the hand by Kingston from being an all time classic. If King had held off using his hand until the final desperation backfist, it would have meant more, but with the amount of raw emotion and hatred here, that’s faint criticism of an excellent match. Eddie sold great for the most part, taking particular pains to make his own offense take a lot out of him. This is sheer brutality.IWA-MS Tag Team Title Match: The Iron Saints © vs. Nigel McGuinness and BJ Whitmer
Nigel wrestles with the Thomasseli’s on the mat for a bit before tagging in BJ Whitmer. BJ uses strikes, which works out okay, until he is out-speeded and quickly tags Nigel back in. Nigel takes a sucker punch from Sal and is worked over shortly before wrestling his way out of it. The sucker punch annoyed him and he responds with a killer lariat before tagging BJ. Sal takes a work over. Interestingly, both Whitmer and Nigel work over different body parts to show they aren’t on the same page. The workover goes on and on.
An eventual hot tag doesn’t work so well, as the other Thomasseli just ends up worked over by Nigel who’s been dominant all match. This devolves into a melee, but Whitmer accidentally boots Nigel in the face. Whitmer picks a fight with Nigel who lariats his head off. Albright runs out and attacks Nigel.
The tag title match goes to a No Contest (**)
Domination by Nigel and Whitmer until a weak finish. That was strange.The Thomasseli’s chase off Albright and the Saints challenge Albright and Whitmer.
Ted Petty Invitational Finals: IWA-MS Title, IWA-MS Light Heavyweight Title: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Mike Quackenbush © vs. Chuck Taylor ©
Quack has the lightweight belt and Taylor has the heavyweight belt. Claudio and Quack have a longstanding competitive rivalry, dominated by Claudio. Taylor is trying to continue his record setting title run by owning this tournament.
Taylor stands back early while Quack and Claudio wrestle. When Chuck gets involved, he’s outwrestled and runs. This leads to some three way action until Claudio is dropped to the floor and Quack outwrestles Taylor who, again, retreats. Taylor gets in with Claudio and is dumped out.
Quack and Claudio, left alone, do their usual stuff, but Taylor, the opportunist, dropkicks Quack and hits a tope on Claudio. Quack goes from the top to the floor with a corkscrew press on both his opponents. Taylor is still an opportunist, though and works Quack as he tries to get back in the ring. Taylor focuses on the head since Quack is concussed.
Taylor makes a mistake and takes Quack up top and is tossed down for his trouble. Claudio drops Quack to the floor, however, which is a blessing in disguise after the punishment Quack suffered in this tournament.
CC takes it to Taylor and they end up battling back and forth until Quack returns and beats down both men impressively. Taylor bails out and Quack desperately tries to put Claudio away. The Dragon-rana is turned into a Riccola bomb, but Quack manages to kick out somehow. Quack still won’t stay down and a Quackendriver 2 allows him to get the pin on Claudio. Quackenbush finally got the pin on Claudio! I cannot believe that wasn’t in a Chikara ring.
We’re down to Taylor and Quackenbush, as Taylor quickly presses an advantage on Quack from behind. Taylor again makes the mistake of going up top and misses a moonsault. Quack takes back control. They hit each other with big moves and Quack somehow kicks out of the Omega Driver! Taylor is so shocked that he gives Quack time to recover. Taylor goes for the super Omega Driver, but Quack escapes with a Lyger Bomb and locks in the Chikara Special. Chuck taps! New Champion and TPI Winner!
Mike Quackenbush defeats Claudio Castagnoli and Chuck Taylor to win the IWA-MS Title and the TPI (****)
A bit over the top in making Quack a superhero, but really, he deserves it and the match is really good besides.Post match Ian puts over Quackenbush as a major class act. Quack says how important 2007 is to him, with him finally going to Japan, getting married, winning the NWA lightweight title, the King of Trios being a huge success and winning TPI.
Come and get it. The best indy wrestling sampler around is must buy.
