May 13th, 2017
Opening Match: IWC Women’s Title: Britt Baker © vs. Chelsea Green
I have not watched Baker wrestle since late 2016 and I must say that she has greatly improved in a short amount of time. She truly seems to be carrying the division as champion because the crowd easily gets behind her and she has a new intensity about her in the ring. Green looked impressive here as well and they told an engaging story of Green’s overwhelming cockiness eventually leading to her downfall. This ended up being a solid showcase for the IWC women’s division and having Baker open the show was the right idea given how much the crowd loves her. Baker retained her title in 11:20 with a crossface. ***
Match #2: Bulk Nasty (w/ Benjamin C. Steele) vs. Daniel Hooven
Hooven was a ringside photographer until a random lottery earlier this year forced him to team with John McChesney to challenge the Fraternity for their tag team titles. Since then, he has picked a fight with Bulk Nasty. This match was far more fun than it had any right to be. Hooven found ways to compensate for his immense size disadvantage but you got the sense that Nasty’s power game was going to be too much to overcome. Nasty became too content with throwing Hooven around the ring and got unintentionally counted out. As far as harmless undercard matches are concerned, this was perfectly fine. Hooven won in 5:27 via countout. *½
Match #3: IWC Tag Team Titles: The Fraternity (Channing Decker and Trent Gibson) © vs. The Carnies (Kerry Awful and Nick Iggy)
The personality clash between these two teams led to most of the entertainment in this match. I don’t think the crowd quite knew how to react to the Carnies at first, but they seemed to warm up to them as the action progressed. I’m generally a fan of the Carnies after their appearances in NOVA Pro and I’d love to see them back in IWC. I’m confident that these two teams would deliver a stronger rematch if given the chance because they would be in front of a crowd already familiar with the Carnies from the opening bell. As it stands, this was a decent title defense and a solid introduction to the Carnies. The Fraternity retained their titles in 9:05 with the Keg Stand. **¾
Shane InYaFace comes out for his match against Jack Pollock. Justin Plummer informs us that Pollock is not in the building. The referee counts out Pollock, giving InYaFace the win. InYaFace is not pleased.
Match #4: IWC Super Indy Title: 2/3 Falls: John McChesney © (w/ Britt Baker) vs. Chris LeRusso (w/ Benjamin C. Steele)
Two out of three falls matches can be difficult to pull off because the timing of the falls matters so much. Here, I thought they rushed the first fall. LeRusso struck first at the five-minute mark, pinning McChesney with a frog splash. LeRusso defeating McChesney cleanly in five minutes is confusing and certainly wouldn’t happen outside the 2/3 falls context. Fortunately, when McChesney won the second fall at the ten-minute mark with a superkick, the match felt more complete. The second fall felt earned, especially after some nice brawling into the crowd.
They leveraged their solid chemistry with each other during the third fall and ended things on a high note. The actual finishing sequence, with a referee bump and interference, wasn’t ideal but IWC has its reasons for wanting the title back on LeRusso heading into Super Indy next month. Still, they wrestled a fairly smart and enjoyable match that made reasonable use of its stipulation. LeRusso became the NEW Super Indy Champion at 14:49 with a rollup. ***
After the match, LeRusso attacked McChesney and Baker with chair shots. The lights went out and Adam Cole returned to IWC to make the save. Cole announced that he is the final entrant in the Super Indy tournament.
Match #5: Team Storm (Jaxon Argos and RC Dupree) vs. The Mega Plowers (Jock Samson and Magnum CK)
The idea here was that Team Storm was on strike tonight, which explains why Jack Pollock no-showed his match against Shane InYaFace earlier. They are upset that Andrew Place received an IWC World Heavyweight Title shot rather than Pollock. The Mega Plowers refused to let Argos and Dupree leave ringside, however, so we had a match. This was just okay. Samson and Magnum played to the crowd a lot and everyone had fun booing Team Storm. I don’t think everything translated incredibly well on DVD. I do like that IWC is showcasing tag team wrestling outside of the Fraternity’s defenses. The Mega Plowers won in 6:40 when Samson rolled up Argos. *½
Match #6: Gory vs. Sless Taylor
As you would expect, this was a very clean, fast-paced Super Indy showcase match. Gory wanted to show why he should have been included in the tournament this year and Taylor was looking to earn an IWC roster spot, so the story played out from there. This match wasn’t structured to steal the show or anything, but Gory could deliver these showcase matches in his sleep at this point. Gory won in 7:11 with the QAS. **½
Match #7: Jami Jameson (w/ Marshall Gambino) vs. Santana Diamonds
I believe that both of these talents were recently trained at IWC’s wrestling school. As you would expect with two newer wrestlers, there were some rough spots here, but Jameson in particular showed promise with some visually impressive offense. This contest was fairly harmless given its placement on the card and six-minute duration. Jameson won in 6:08 with a knee strike. *
Match #8: IWC World Heavyweight Title: Wardlow © (w/ Justin LaBar) vs. Andrew Palace
This was a great main event for a variety of reasons. A thread running through this show was Team Storm’s unwillingness to wrestle because they resented Palace for receiving this title shot. Then, before this match, Team Storm attacked Palace during his entrance and beat him down with multiple chair shots. Against everyone’s advice, Palace demanded to wrestle. They told a familiar story of Palace fighting from behind against a dominant champion. Even though the story may be familiar, the key was HOW they told the story. Despite coming up short, Palace came away looking extremely resilient without the stench of being Superman. Many times, a promotion will position its top babyface to be Superman. Palace’s effort here was not unrealistic nor forced. He was resilient without being Superman and that’s a very good space to be in.
Most importantly, I enjoy when main events reward long term viewers. Between Team Storm’s involvement, Wardlow’s cockiness almost costing him the match, and Jimmy Vegas’ return to end the show, there were a lot of moving parts for someone who has been keeping up with the promotion this year. Wardlow’s title reign has really delivered thus far. Wardlow retained his title in 10:06 with the Wardlow Driver. ***½
-Show Grade: B-
–You Need to See:
–You’d Enjoy Watching: Wardlow/Palace, McChesney/LeRusso, Baker/Green
–You Should Avoid: