Mountain State Madness 5 on August 25th, 2013
Opening Match: Aiden Veil vs. Alvin Alvarez
Alvarez asserts his power advantage early on. Veil snaps off a few armdrags and connects with a dropkick. Alvarez attempts to walk away, which completely ruins his tough guy image. Jordan Lennox makes sure he reenters the ring. Veil lands a standing moonsault. Alvarez sneaks in a thumb to the eye behind the referee’s back. He takes control until Veil narrowly avoids a middle-rope splash. Veil connects with an enzuigiri but gets shut down on a corner charge. Alvarez attempts a delayed vertical suplex but Veil counters into a small package for the win at 6:01. Alvarez was solid in his debut and although this opener was short, Veil came out of it looking resourceful for defeating his much larger opponent. **
Match #2: HD Cannon and Sam Cassidy vs. Dennis Gregory and Justin Idol
Gregory comes out with a sun umbrella, which is awesome on many levels. Before the match, Justin Idol is introduced as the new member of the Founding Fathers. Cannon and Cassidy are Idol’s students, so this should be interesting. Gregory hits a fisherman buster on Cassidy but runs into a back elbow. Gregory recovers with a back suplex. Idol blind tags into the match and attacks Cassidy, his student, from behind. The Founding Fathers hit a double team neckbreaker on Cassidy, which almost ends badly for him. Cassidy comes off the middle rope with an uppercut on Idol and makes the tag. Cannon hits a spinebuster on Gregory. He adds a russian leg sweep. Cassidy misses a top-rope splash. Gregory superkicks Cannon and Idol rolls him up while holding his tights for the victory at 6:13. This match was more about Idol’s attitude change from last night. Though there was some miscommunication at times and the action was pretty one-sided, Idol having to cheat to defeat his student was well-executed. *½
Justin LaBar comes out for an edition of his interview segment. He makes fun of the crowd and introduces RJ City. City sings his way to the ring once again and calls out Zema Ion. It’s worth noting that this show is being held in Ion’s hometown. Chuck Roberts interrupts and introduces the man in charge tonight – Zema Ion. Ion comes out and informs City that he’ll be wrestling Shane Strickland today, leading to…
Match #3: RJ City vs. Shane Strickland
They begin with some chain wrestling and find themselves at a stalemate. Strickland connects with a dropkick and lands a springboard crossbody. City drapes him across the top rope and takes over. Strickland reverses a neckbreaker into a backslide but immediately falls victim to another neckbreaker. City gets too cocky, giving Strickland an opening to attack. City recovers with a neckbreaker in the ropes and tells the referee to start counting. Strickland reenters the ring with an enzuigiri and both men are down. He bicycle kicks City in the back of the head and hits an implant DDT for a nearfall. City blocks a charge and starts singing on the middle rope. Strickland hurricanranas him to the canvas but misses a flying double stomp. Justin LaBar throws water into Strickland’s face. City locks in a sleeper hold for the win at 9:01. City continues to be very entertaining and Strickland continues to put in solid performances without picking up any wins. Still, the build to an eventual City/Ion match has been strong and hopefully that contest can be City’s breakout in the promotion. **½
Match #4: Anthony Nese vs. Logan Shulo
Shulo hangs onto a wristlock until Nese backs him into the corner. Shulo dodges a charge and immediately reapplies the wristlock. Nese retreats to the floor. Shulo gives chase and slams Nese’s wrist against the apron. Nese traps him in the ring skirt and connects with a baseball slide. He rams Shulo into the apron and takes control in the ring. Nese blocks a sunset flip and connects with a kick to the head. He misses a lionsault and Shulo connects with a series of strikes. Shulo hits a back suplex and a senton. The action goes to the floor where Nese lays in a superkick. He lands a frog splash in the ring for a two count. One minute remains in the ten-minute time limit (all undercard matches on this show have ten-minute time limits). They exchange strikes and Shulo has the last word with a huge lariat. Both men are down as the time limit runs out. The match is ruled a draw at 10:00. I thought that we were going to get five more minutes for sure. The only thing stopping this match from being great was the time limit. Shulo has proven himself as one of the most consistent performers on the roster and we all knew he had great chemistry with Nese after their Super Indy Title match at Payback in January of this year. Although they failed to top their previous encounter, they were well on their way to doing so. It’s nice to see Nese in IWC even after losing the Super Indy Title. ***
Match #5: IWC Super Indy Title: Facade © vs. Andrew Palace
This match has an extended twenty-minute time limit. Palace attacks from behind with a series of forearms. Facade responds with multiple kicks. He snaps off a satellite headscissors. Brian McDowell gets involved at ringside, allowing Palace to take control. Facade blocks a top-rope maneuver with a dropkick and both men are down. Facade hits an atomic drop and connects with a spin kick. He follows with the Arashikage Driver for a nearfall. A distraction by Corey Futuristic allows Palace to hit a german suplex. Facade knocks him off the apron with a gamengiri. Palace runs away from a dive and the action goes into the crowd. They brawl towards a moving truck. Facade climbs to the top of the truck and lands a dive onto the STDs. Back in the ring, Facade walks the ropes but Ashton Amherst appears on the apron. Palace misses a chair shot and Facade kicks the chair into his face to retain his title at 8:57. I was looking forward to Palace being put in a position to have a solid match, but this was more about furthering the issue between Facade and Amherst. Ultimately, Palace looked stupid for losing despite four men interfering on his behalf. Also, I would’ve appreciated this match lasting over ten minutes given the extended time limit as it would’ve helped this contest stand out from the rest of the card thus far. **¼
Match #6: Corey Futuristic vs. Harley T. Morris
Morris hits a spear and reigns down punches. He connects with a back elbow and a dropkick. Chest Flexor interferes from ringside, allowing Futuristic to take out Morris with a dive. Futuristic takes over until Morris kind of dodges a flying double stomp. Morris connects with corner punches and hits a powerslam. He almost hits a fisherman neckbreaker for a two count. Flexor gets involved again but pays for it. Morris rolls up Futuristic out of nowhere for the victory in his debut at 5:57. ½*
Match #7: Bobby Fish vs. Ray Rowe
This is a rematch from last night, where Fish was able to pick up the win. Fish gets into an argument with a kid in the front row and yells at him for not having a job. This is tremendous. Fish then complains about Rowe being out of his weight class. He starts to pepper Rowe with kicks, going after the left knee. Fish hits a slingshot senton and a dragon screw leg whip. Rowe battles back with a lariat and hits an exploder. Fish escapes Death Rowe and applies a half crab. Rowe is able to reach the bottom rope. Fish connects with a knockout kick for a nearfall. A second Death Rowe attempt is countered into a rollup for a two count. Rowe is able to recover and finally hit Death Rowe for the win at 7:42. This was half as long as their match last night, which is a shame because they were well on their way to having another great outing against each other. The story of their matches thus far has been Fish doing his best to avoid Death Rowe. When Rowe was finally able to hit the move, it put Fish away. I appreciated how they made that move mean something and I would definitely welcome a rubber match as they are 1-1 in an IWC ring. **¾
After the match, John McChesney scolds Fish for losing. They get into their first documented argument in IWC and Fish angrily walks away. McChesney looks crushed in the ring.
Match #8: Sassy Stephie vs. Nevaeh
Stephie snaps off a japanese armdrag. Nevaeh blocks a kick and connects with a back elbow. She takes control until Stephie blocks a charge and hits an atomic drop. Stephie lands a flying crossbody. Nevaeh sneaks in a rollup while putting her feet on the ropes for the victory at 5:39. Every time that IWC is in Clearfield or Newell there’s always an inconsequential women’s match. There’s not an awful lot to say here. *
Match #9: John McChesney, Jimmy Nutts, and Joseph Brooks vs. Dalton Castle, Colin Delaney, and Keith Haught
Haught makes Nutts start dancing instead of engaging in a test of strength. Haught isn’t exactly portraying someone who’s upset that he just lost the tag team titles. Castle drags Brooks into the ring and crotches him on the top rope. Castle follows with a spinning slam. Delaney suplexes McChesney and drops a knee. McChesney sends Delaney into the middle turnbuckle and Team Big League isolates him. He blocks a top-rope dive from McChesney and makes the tag. Haught connects with a knockout kick on Nutts and hits a uranagi on Brooks. Delaney hits a fireman’s carry slam on Nutts. McChesney slams Castle but gets rocked by a few punches. Castle hits a stunner on McChesney for the win at 10:59. Team Big League screwed Castle out of the world title last night and cheated to steal the tag team titles away from Delaney and Haught. Still, you would have no idea that there was an issue between these two teams from watching this match. The finish involved Castle and McChesney mocking famous WWE superstars’ offense. I’m sure the crowd enjoyed this match and that’s fine, but there was minimal follow-up to last night’s main event, a match billed as one of the most important contests in IWC history. **¼
Match #10: Cage Match: Marshall Gambino and Brian McDowell vs. Bronco McBride and Matt Segaris
Everyone starts brawling at the opening bell. Marshall and McDowell miss charges and collide with the cage walls. The Blue Collar Slaughterhouse throw them into the cage walls some more. Chest Flexor tries to climb into the cage but that doesn’t work out. However, he provides a distraction long enough for Marshall and McDowell to take over. The BCS come back with a DDT on Marshall. Segaris back drops McDowell into the cage wall. Marshall hits a spinning uranagi on Segaris. McBride connects with a missile dropkick on Marshall and all four men are down. McDowell climbs through the door, leaving his partner in the ring. The BCS hit a superplex on Marshall. Flexor enters the cage but gets military pressed into the cage wall. The BCS hit an implant DDT on Marshall for a nearfall. The BCS follow with a doomsday device for another two count. McBride hits a top-rope leg drop on Marshall for the victory at 12:13. This blowoff didn’t light the world on fire and the trend continued of short matches, but they did a lot of things right. McDowell leaving Marshall to fend for himself made sense, as Flexor’s group does not owe anything to Marshall. Additionally, I liked that it took so much offense to finally put away Marshall, as he has been one of the most prominent figures in IWC’s tag team division over the years. At the end of the day, this was a decently fitting blowoff that should send the crowd home happy. **¾
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