Mountain State Madness on July 14th, 2011
Opening Match: Logan Shulo vs. Mike Sydal
Sydal connects with a few basement dropkicks and tries a crucifix to no avail. He snaps off a headscissors and lands a plancha to the floor. Back in, Shulo elevates him into a press slam and takes control. Sydal falls victim to an electric chair slam and a german suplex. He comes back with a headscissors and hits a tornado DDT. Sydal follows with a hurricanrana and an enzuigiri. Shulo answers with a running stomp. Sydal counters a powerbomb into a sunset flip for the win at 7:06. Shulo proved to be a good base for Sydal’s flashy offense and this ended up being a solid opener. I would really like to see Shulo utilized more in IWC, as he has improved tenfold in the past year. **½
Chest Flexor makes his way to the ring. He is the Director of Wrestling Operations for tonight’s show since Sterling James Keenan and Bubba the Bulldog aren’t present. He brings a ridiculous valet and John McChesney with him. Flexor appoints himself as the special guest referee for McChesney’s match against Val Venis tonight. McChesney promises victory later on and Val Venis himself interrupts. They banter back and forth while a police officer in the background takes a video on his phone. Incredible. Venis makes it clear that he wants the IWC World Heavyweight Title.
Match #2: Bronco McBride and Matt Segaris vs. Bobby Beverly and Nicki Valentino
The Blue Collar Slaughter connect with stereo elbow drops on Valentino. Beverly trips McBride from ringside and the One Nighters isolate him. He dodges a few clotheslines and makes the tag. Segaris hits a nice spinebuster on Valentino. Beverly connects with an enzuigiri on McBride. The One Nighters hit a missile dropkick-flatliner combination on Segaris. McBride takes advantage of some miscommunication and Segaris hits a sit-out powerbomb on Valentino for the victory at 6:16. For their first ever professional wrestling match, the Blue Collar Slaughter looked decent in the ring and I’d be curious to see how they fare in a longer match. At only six minutes, this contest never received a chance to find its rhythm. **
Match #3: Dalton Castle vs. Tyler Stone
Castle tries to match power with Stone early on. Stone armdrags him to the floor but gets tripped up on the apron. Castle misses a chop and connects with the ringpost. Stone responds with a few chops of his own. In the ring, Castle takes over until Stone dodges a slingshot vader bomb. Castle connects with a series of strikes and hits a modified alabama slam for the win at 6:59. Castle looked impressive in his IWC debut and won in a pretty decisive manner. Hopefully that leads to a few more return appearances for him. Stone is slowly but surely improving and was able to hang with Castle throughout the entirety of the match. **¼
Match #4: Dennis Gregory, Jimmy Vegas, and Super Hentai vs. Necro Butcher, Marshall Gambino, and Justin Idol
This was supposed to be a handicapped match but Chuck Roberts added Necro to even the odds. Idol and Hentai have a fast-paced exchange. Idol connects with a dropkick and Marshall adds a sit-out spinebuster. Necro outsmarts Vegas to win a shoulder block battle. Gregory catches Idol with a double axe handle and the Founding Fathers isolate him. Idol comes off the top with a senton on Hentai and makes the tag. Necro cleans house and uses Marshall as a battering ram. Idol misses a swantan and Gregory low blows him. Gregory accidentally superkicks Vegas and Necro throws a chair at his face. Marshall lands a top rope splash onto Gregory for the victory at 11:05. Everyone played their role well and this was a nice win for Marshall and Idol as they gained some revenge on the Founding Fathers. I liked how the Founding Fathers tried to take advantage of Marshall’s recent concussion early on and Necro fit into the match nicely, even without weapons or much brawling. The focus now turns to Caged Fury with the IWC/Founding Fathers feud, but this was a worthwhile tag team match to showcase the hostility between both sides. ***
Match #5: Veda Scott vs. Sera Feeny
Scott snaps off a few armdrags and connects with a dropkick. She hits a bulldog and applies a muta lock. Feeny rolls to the bottom rope and hits a spinebuster. She maintains the advantage until Scott fights back with a swinging neckbreaker. Scott blocks a charge and hits a tornado DDT. Scott transitions into a guillotine choke for the win at 5:04. This was just a quick match to bring the crowd back from intermission. While both women displayed some impressive moves, there was simply nothing holding this match together. *½
Match #6: Jason Gory and Michael Facade vs. JT Lamotta and Andy Dalton
Lamotta and Dalton attack before the opening bell. Facade matrixes to avoid a clothesline and catches Dalton with a spin kick. He runs up the ropes and snaps off an armdrag. Facade connects with a springboard double stomp on Dalton and Gory adds a springboard crossbody. Lamotta powers Facade to the outside and drops him across the apron. Dalton plants Facade with a rope-assisted DDT and Lamotta follows with a slingshot senton. They isolate him until he connects with a springboard enzuigiri on Dalton and makes the tag. Gory lands a springboard crossbody onto Dalton and hits a chinbreaker. Lamotta and Dalton retreat to the floor where Facade clotheslines them over the guardrail. Gory lands a dive off the top rope and into the crowd. Both teams battle to the back of the building where Facade lands a moonsault off an elevated platform. Back in the ring, Gory missile dropkicks Dalton, causing him to DDT his own partner. Lamotta hits a gutbuster on Gory and Dalton comes off the middle rope with a senton. Facade walks the ropes and connects with a flying double stomp on Dalton. Flippin’ Ain’t Easy land stereo moonsaults onto Lamotta. Flippin’ Ain’t Easy follow with stereo enzuigiris on Dalton and land the Buddy Moonsault for the victory at 12:36. While Lamotta and Dalton aided in the success of this match, Flippin’ Ain’t Easy stole the spotlight with fluid tandem offense. Their dives into the crowd were incredible and they managed to keep the action exciting down the stretch. I’m looking forward to see what they can do in War Games next month. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this match having never seen Lamotta or Dalton before, but both teams worked hard to deliver a very good contest. ***¼
Match #7: IWC World Heavyweight Title: John McChesney © vs. Val Venis
Chest Flexor is the special guest referee. McChesney is not in a hurry to get the action started. After some shenanigans with Flexor, Chuck Roberts gets firemen to eject him from the building. Venis connects with a series of punches and hits a suplex. He follows with a backbreaker and starts working over the back. McChesney avoids a back body drop and hits a DDT. He adds a neckbreaker and takes control. Venis comes back with a spinebuster and almost finds success with a small package. Flexor sneaks back to ringside and gives McChesney brass knuckles. Venis dodges a punch and hits a half nelson slam. He goes up top for the Money Shot. However, the referee sees McChesney knocked down with brass knuckles beside him and disqualifies Venis at 13:17. While they had to use quite a few bells and whistles to fill thirteen minutes, Venis wrestled a smart match and made sure to keep his offense focused. I don’t think anyone bought a title change here, so I don’t mind the finish too much, especially because this match wasn’t put in the main event slot. **
Venis lays out Flexor with a half nelson slam after the match and lands the Money Shot. Staff eventually carries Flexor out of the building once again.
Match #8: Shiima Xion vs. Rhett Titus
Xion is in his hometown of Newell, West Virginia. Titus grabs hold of a side headlock but gets taken down by an armdrag. He recovers with a nice dropkick. Xion connects with a flurry of strikes and a dropkick of his own. Titus answers with a baseball slide and lands a dive to the floor. He takes control until Xion comes back with a neckbreaker. Xion snaps off a hurricanrana and lands an asai moonsault to the outside. They brawl into the crowd. Xion swings off a basketball hoop and snaps off a hurricanrana onto the floor. Back in the ring, Xion connects with a missile dropkick but finds knees on a springboard moonsault attempt. Titus hits the Muff Driver and applies a full nelson stretch. Xion uses his leverage to reverse the hold into a rollup for a nearfall. Xion hits two DDTs and lands a springboard moonsault for a two count. Titus runs up the ropes and hits a facebuster. Both men are down. Super Hentai runs to ringside. Xion takes him out with a baseball slide and lands a 450 splash onto Titus for the win at 17:16. After a somewhat slow start, these two settled into a groove and put together a great main event. The hometown crowd was solidly behind Xion and he received a chance to showcase all of his offense throughout this seventeen-minute match. There were also some believable nearfalls down the stretch and the subtle Hentai interference actually made me believe that Xion could lose in his hometown. I can confidently call this the match of the night and it definitely ended the show on a high note. ***½
Overall: I didn’t have super high expectations for Mountain State Madness, but it ended up being an enjoyable show with quality matches throughout the card. There are two worthwhile tag team matches in the undercard as the Founding Fathers’ issue in IWC was continued with a quality six-man tag team match and Flippin’ Ain’t Easy stole the show with their performance against Lamotta and Dalton. Shiima Xion returned to his hometown in the main event and had a very good outing with Rhett Titus. My only problem with the show was that it didn’t have many storyline implications and some undercard matches just felt meaningless (except Dalton Castle’s impressive debut). While I wouldn’t call this an easy recommendation, if you’ve been enjoying IWC as of late, I would consider checking out this show.
To read reviews of past IWC shows, check out my blog at iwcwrestling.wordpress.com