A New Era on February 22nd, 2014
Dalton Castle, the new IWC World Heavyweight Champion, comes out to start the show. IWC is entering a “new era” tonight with Castle representing the promotion as champion. Castle says that he doesn’t care who he faces tonight because he’s never giving up his title. Corey Futuristic interrupts and says that he already won the battle royal in the future and he wants his title shot now. He slaps Castle but falls victim to a huge spinning side slam. Castle stands tall as we transition into the battle royal…
Opening Match: Battle Royal
The winner will earn a shot at the IWC World Heavyweight Title in tonight’s main event. Notable entrants include Colin Delaney, Gregory Iron, Ethan Page, Jimmy Nutts, Facade, John McChesney, Luke Gallows, and RJ City. Actually, City opts out of the match since he only wrestles once per show. Facade chases him to the back. Futuristic is quickly eliminated after being taken out by Castle. Jimmy Vegas turns on Justin Idol and eliminates him. John McChesney and Joseph Brooks focus on double-teaming Jimmy Nutts. Facade dodges elimination on a few occasions because he’s a ninja. Asylum racks up the eliminations as Vegas tries to match him in that department. Vegas fallaway slams Facade over the top rope and to the floor. McChesney accidentally missile dropkicks Brooks and Nutts eliminates McChesney. Gallows eliminates Asylum and Vegas at the same time. Nutts eliminates Brooks and stares down Gallows. They are the final two participants. The crowd goes crazy for Nutts but he eats a right hand. Nutts avoids a charge and connects with a lariat from the middle rope. McChesney returns to the ring and distracts Nutts. Gallows eliminates Nutts and earns a title shot at 7:34. Justin LaBar comes out after the match and congratulates Gallows. They have formed an alliance. McChesney and Brooks attack Nutts in the ring until Al Snow makes the save. A tag team match is booked for later tonight. This was harmless as far as battle royals are concerned. Some storylines were touched upon and Gallows received a chance to look strong before his title match.
Match #2: Andrew Palace vs. Gregory Iron
Palace makes fun of Iron’s cerebral palsy before the match. That feels fresh and unique in 2014. Iron connects with a series of clotheslines and sends Palace to the floor. Iron follows out with a dive and lays in a few chops around ringside. Palace rams him into the ringpost and takes control in the ring. Iron looks to make a comeback but Palace cuts him off with an implant DDT. Palace grabs the microphone and starts talking about Super Indy, which he qualified for at the last show. Iron sneaks in a rollup for the win at 5:36. Palace letting his victory against Matt Striker inflate his ego is interesting, but I was hoping for a longer match between these two. I hope Iron establishes himself in IWC if for no other reason than it would allow everyone to move past his handicap and talk about how skilled he is in the ring. **
Match #3: Justin Idol vs. Colin Delaney
It doesn’t take long for the match to turn into a brawl. They exchange chops and punches. Idol tries to tag in Dennis Gregory but that plan fails. Delaney connects with a leg lariat and goes up top. Idol drags him to the canvas and takes over. Delaney avoids a top-rope splash and connects with a corner dropkick. Idol responds with a basement ace crusher but runs into Sweet Revenge. Both men try desperation rollups to no avail. Idol transitions into a tiger driver for a nearfall. Delaney comes off the middle rope with a stunner. Idol connects with a roaring elbow to the back of the head. Delaney answers with a roaring elbow of his own and lands a dive to the floor. In the ring, Idol connects with a knee to the head for the victory at 10:20. Two underrated wrestlers were given ten minutes and unsurprisingly had a very solid exhibition. I also liked that Idol was able to win with minimal interference from Gregory. I hope to see more extended singles matches from both men throughout 2014. ***
Match #4: Asylum vs. Blake Morris
Morris is making his debut and it turns out that he’s pretty full of himself. Asylum takes him over with a hip toss and hits a suplex. Morris gains control after using his wrist tape to choke Asylum. He hits a russian leg sweep. Asylum fights back with a corner charge and a side slam. Morris creates some space with an enzuigiri but quickly falls victim to a backbreaker. Asylum hits a gutwrench powerbomb for the win at 4:53. Asylum is extremely impressive and the crowd has taken to him quite well. Though this was essentially a squash match, it certainly made me excited for Asylum’s eventual outings against better competition. *½
Match #5: Al Snow and Jimmy Nutts vs. John McChesney and Joseph Brooks
Team Big League attack before the opening bell. McChesney connects with a dropkick on Nutts and hits a northern lights suplex. Nutts is isolated until he hits a back suplex on Brooks, avoids a flying elbow drop from McChesney, and makes the tag. Snow hits a powerslam on Brooks followed by the Snowplow for a nearfall. He connects with a double clothesline and hits McChesney with Head behind the referee’s back. Nutts accidentally takes out the referee with a flying crossbody. Rex Lawless returns to IWC and hits Nutts with a full nelson slam. Brooks covers Nutts for the victory at 11:11. The first eight minutes of this match consisted of Team Big League beating down Nutts without much focus. The whole match was building to Snow tagging into the match but once that happened, the payoff wasn’t worthwhile as the finish happened shortly afterwards. Lawless returning is fine in a storyline sense but this contest didn’t have the energy that I thought it would. **
Match #6: Ethan Page vs. Jay Flash
Page is making his debut and I’m really looking forward to see what he can do in IWC. He asserts his power advantage early on. Flash attempts a hip toss to no avail and falls victim to a spinning gourdbuster. Page connects with a bicycle kick and hits a leg drop. Flash avoids a charge and hits a tornado DDT. He connects with a springboard double stomp. Page retreats to the floor and hits a back suplex onto the apron. In the ring, Page hits a slingshot ace crusher along with the Spinning Dwayne for the win at 6:17. Once again, I understand the need to make Page look strong, but this show needed a more competitive contest and it’s a shame these two didn’t receive more time. As seen by his post-match promo, Page will almost certainly be a main attraction in IWC this year and I wouldn’t think twice about him winning Super Indy. **¼
Match #7: Chest Flexor and Brian McDowell vs. Remy Lavey and Sam Cassidy
Cassidy connects with an uppercut on Flexor followed by a double axe handle. The Knight Riders hit an atomic drop-lariat combination on Flexor. McDowell tags in and catches Lavey with a lariat. He follows with a backbreaker and Lavey is worked over. Lavey connects with an enzuigiri on McDowell and makes the tag. Cassidy lands a top-rope splash onto Flexor and hits a spinebuster on McDowell. Flexor low blows Cassidy as McDowell hits a full nelson bomb on Lavey. McDowell tries to suplex Cassidy to the floor but he gets caught on the top rope. Flexor grabs the ring bell and rings it for some reason. Lavey hits a chinbreaker on McDowell. The STDs pretend to walk to the back. Flexor appears behind Cassidy and hits an abdominal stretch driver for the victory at 9:34. That was a disaster. Cassidy looks capable but Lavey seemed lost on multiple occasions. Flexor and McDowell were always a fine comedy act, but if their reign is going to consist of matches like this, I am not excited for their reign and it will hurt the tag team titles. Chuck Roberts comes out after the match and books a rematch with the titles on the line for the next show. Joy. ½*
Match #8: IWC Super Indy Title: RJ City © vs. Facade
City uses the All That theme song for his entrance, instantly making him my favorite person on this show thus far. They begin with some chain wrestling and Facade sneaks in a close rollup. Facade connects with a springboard basement dropkick. City avoids a Dreadlock attempt and retreats to the apron. Facade shoulder blocks him to the floor but City blocks a dive. The champion hits a neckbreaker and takes control. He puts on Facade’s ring vest at one point and hits a fireman’s carry neckbreaker. Facade comes back with a springboard enzuigiri and a spin kick. City interrupts another springboard attempt and sends Facade to the floor. City teases a dive but of course doesn’t follow through with it. Facade lands a springboard plancha to the floor Back in, Facade walks the ropes and connects with a dropkick. He applies the Dreadlock but a video appears on the screen of Tony Nese calling out Facade. They will have a match at the next show. City sneaks in a quick rollup to retain his title at 11:37. City cannot buy a clean win but at least it makes sense in the context of him wanting to ruin what the Super Indy division was built upon. They were having a decent back and forth match until the convoluted finish. I’m all for suspending my disbelief, but I have a hard time believing City or Nese would have the authority to play a video and control the lighting mid-match. Unsurprisingly, City’s character stood out the most, but the action was better than expected as well. **¾
Match #9: IWC World Heavyweight Title: Dalton Castle © vs. Luke Gallows
Castle is able to connect with some punches but to little effect. Gallows overpowers him with a shoulder tackle. Castle connects with a dropkick but Justin LaBar grabs his feet. The distraction allows Gallows to lay in a knockout kick and take over. Castle attempts to fight back but Gallows always slows him down with right hands. Castle creates an opening with a headscissors on the floor. Back in, Castle connects with a hesitation dropkick and hits a bulldog. Gallows accidentally hits his valet. This allows Castle to hit a dead-lift german suplex to retain his title at 9:04. For the third match in a row, a distraction leads to the finish. I feel like a broken record, but this match could have used a little more time and a better finish. Gallows presented a unique challenge to Castle and they could have told a great story addressing how Castle was going to handle his much larger opponent. Castle looks strong coming out of the match, but this show needed a stellar main event. **½
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