Friday Night Fights on September 27th, 2013
Opening Match: IWC Tag Team Titles: Jimmy Nutts and Joseph Brooks © vs. Colin Delaney and Keith Haught
Brooks begins the match for his team but quickly tags out. Delaney snaps off a few armdrags on Nutts and connects with a dropkick. He comes off the top rope with a double axe handle on Brooks. Delaney follows with a flying double stomp to Brooks’ arm. Nutts distracts Delaney long enough for Brooks to attack from behind and the champions isolate him. Delaney catches Nutts with a kick to the head and makes the tag. Haught trips running into the ring but recovers with a series of charges. Delaney hits a tornado DDT on Brooks while Haught connects with a knockout kick on Nutts for a nearfall. Brooks hits a nice neckbreaker on Haught. Delaney cuts him off mid-dive with a shoulder tackle. Delaney connects with a flying double stomp on Nutts and Haught adds a german suplex for a nearfall. Brooks hits Delaney with his confetti gun. Nutts connects with a roaring elbow to Delaney and Nutts adds a diving headbutt. Nutts and Brooks retain their titles at 12:38. Though I thought the three-way at Caged Fury was a mess, this match was much more focused and enjoyable. Both teams worked well together, Team Big League was able to showcase some new tandem offense, and Delaney was flying around the ring like a madman. Haught still has some work to do, but this functioned well as an opener. **¾
Justin LaBar is introduced for his Chairshot Reality segment, but Justin Plummer comes out instead. Plummer claims that his friends at airport security stopped LaBar from being at the show tonight. Seems plausible. Plummer walks around ringside and films fans giving their thoughts on LaBar. Joe Dombrowski on commentary: “I hope he’s Touting.” Chuck Roberts interrupts and congratulates Plummer on stopping LaBar from being at the show. Roberts also announces that Egotistico Fantastico will be returning to IWC to challenge for the Super Indy Title that he never lost. Zema Ion is introduced as Plummer’s guest. Ion says that he came to the building to wrestle. Chest Flexor appears and gives Ion an opponent…
Match #2: Zema Ion vs. Brian McDowell
McDowell attacks before the opening bell. Ion snaps off a hurricanrana and a couple of armdrags. McDowell crotches him on the top rope and clotheslines him to the floor. Back in, Ion dodges a lariat and connects with a dropkick. McDowell blocks a baseball slide and wheelbarrow slams Ion into the guardrail. McDowell takes control until Ion comes back with a flying crossbody. Ion hits an atomic drop and a neckbreaker. McDowell blocks a springboard moonsault with knees and hits a full nelson bomb for a nearfall. Ion avoids a flying elbow drop and sends McDowell into all four top turnbuckles. He follows with a tornado DDT. Ion just wrenches back on McDowell’s arm for the win at 9:24. This was McDowell’s best performance in IWC thus far. Ion certainly respected the fact that he was at a size disadvantage and McDowell went from a lackey in Flexor’s group to a legitimate threat over the course of ten minutes. The finish was also incredibly well done, with Ion resorting to barbaric tactics to defeat McDowell while sending a message to RJ City. ***
Match #3: HD Cannon vs. Remy Lavey
Lavey finds an opening to attack the left leg. He really starts going to work on the body part, slamming it into the apron. Lavey applies a half crab but Cannon is able to reach the bottom rope. Cannon fights back with a spinebuster and a hangman’s suplex. He hits another suplex and a fisherman suplex for a nearfall. Cannon finishes with a death valley driver variant for the victory at 5:12. Lavey did a fine job of attacking the leg, but Cannon did not look good in the ring. I think a series of matches against Idol would be the best thing for Cannon at this point and that seems to be where they’re headed. *½
Match #4: Unsanctioned: Facade vs. Ashton Amherst
Amherst loses an exchange on the mat and regroups on the floor. How can there be a countout in an unsanctioned match? Facade hip tosses Amherst and applies a headlock. Amherst retreats to the floor once again. He steals the microphone and accuses Facade of pulling his hair multiple times. Amherst then says he’s bleeding from the palm of his hand and needs a doctor. Chuck Roberts reminds him that this is an unsanctioned match and there are no doctors. Okay, that was a nice touch. In the ring, Facade connects with a spin kick. Amherst blocks a dive with a back elbow and takes control. Facade matrixes to avoid a clothesline and connects with another spin kick. He lands a dive to the outside from the top rope. Back in, Facade hits a springboard bulldog but accidentally takes out the referee as well. Facade hits Amherst with a chair multiple times. Amherst drop toe holds Facade into the chair for a nearfall. Facade walks the ropes to connect with a dropkick but Amherst pulls the referee into the line of fire. Facade catches Amherst with a spin kick and synchs in the Dreadlock but there’s no referee. Ashton hits the Ashton Experience onto a chair for the win at 16:25. The two things working against this match were unclear rules and a lack of hatred. I expected a brawl from the opening bell with various weapons being used throughout. Instead, they started with a feeling-out process and a lot of stalling. It was also unclear what constituted a disqualification, as the referee saw them use weapons yet was threatening to countout Amherst. They most likely have a better match in them but at least Amherst came out of this one looking strong. **½
Match #5: Dennis Gregory vs. Sam Cassidy
This match starts when Gregory attacks Cassidy during an interview segment. Gregory hits a suplex and applies a camel clutch. Cassidy attempts a series of quick rollups to no avail. Gregory makes Cassidy chase him around ringside and lures him into a boot. Gregory takes control until Cassidy comes back with a flatliner. Gregory counters a cloverleaf attempt with a rollup for the victory at 5:43. Gregory never took Cassidy seriously here, although Gregory having to resort to rollups did give Cassidy some legitimacy. It seems like the direction they’re headed is for Justin Idol’s students to rise up against the Founding Fathers, so hopefully this angle ends up being productive for some of the new talent. *¾
Match #6: Aiden Veil, Jordan Lennox, Bronco McBride, and Mike Rayne vs. Marshall Gambino, Chest Flexor, Andrew Palace, and Corey Futuristic
The STDs attack before the opening bell. That doesn’t go well and everyone gangs up on Marshall. Veil lands a standing moonsault onto Palace. Lennox connects with an enzuigiri on Futuristic and McBride adds an elbow drop from the middle rope. Rayne hits a senton on Gambino. Veil gets into an altercation with Marshall’s female business associate and eats a spinebuster for his troubles. Veil is isolated until he takes out Palace with a facebuster and makes the tag. Lennox comes into the ring with a house of fire but Marshall quickly slows him down. Rayne lands a flying crossbody onto Marshall. Palace plants Rayne with a DDT. Futuristic hits a backcracker on McBride. Veil hits a rolling neckbreaker on Futuristic. Flexor is the man left standing. He tries to dive but gets tangled in the ropes. Palace tries to dive as well but gets too preoccupied with his goggles. Marshall has seen enough and starts using Futuristic as a human dart. The STDs leave Marshall by himself and head to the back. WAR flapjack Marshall. The STDs try to come back but Rayne dives onto them. WAR land a splash-leg drop combination on Marshall for the win at 12:26. This was an incredibly fun eight-man tag team match that didn’t try to reinvent the wheel and played to the strengths of all involved. The story of Marshall gradually getting tired of the STDs’ antics was entertaining and the faces all received a chance to standout. WAR are well-positioned for a tag team title match after their performance here. **¾
Match #7: IWC World Heavyweight Title: John McChesney © vs. Logan Shulo
Norm Connors has banned Team Big League from ringside. Shulo wins a few opening exchanges and McChesney retreats to the floor. Back in, Shulo hangs onto a side headlock. McChesney blocks a charge but misses a springboard maneuver. Shulo goes back to the side headlock and the crowd starts booing. McChesney back suplexes out of a side headlock. Shulo misses a corner yakuza kick and McChesney dropkicks his left leg. The champion takes over until Shulo fights back with a series of strikes. McChesney avoids a senton and connects with a flying double stomp out of the corner. They trade finisher attempts and McChesney hits a TKO for a nearfall. Shulo blocks a superkick and connects with a knee strike. McChesney escapes a rollup and synchs in a sharpshooter. Shulo is able to reach the bottom rope. He recovers with a huge lariat. Joseph Brooks runs to ringside. Shulo lays out McChesney with another lariat. Chuck Roberts brings out security to escort Brooks from the building. Shulo hits the Halo Bomb on McChesney. Shane Taylor makes his IWC return to pull the referee from the ring. He plasters Shulo with a lariat and hugs McChesney. The match is ruled a no contest at around 16:00. Taylor splashes Shulo. Staff members and fellow wrestlers rush the ring to check on Shulo. Another unclean finish in an IWC World Heavyweight Title match is certainly frustrating, but Taylor’s return felt like a big deal and McChesney showed a new side of himself by actually taking the fight to Shulo at multiple points throughout the contest. Additionally, unlike at Caged Fury, we weren’t promised some epic showdown and although there are a couple of important questions lingering regarding the main event scene in IWC, I’m content to just enjoy this match for what it was. ***
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