IWA Deathmatch 97

I'm watching the version with 2005 commentary getting me Dave Prazak and Trik Davis to help me through this show. We get an opening highlight video set to Queen's “The Show Must Go On,” which is a very good song for that kind of video. This ring looks even sketchy then it ends up

Cash Flo vs. Ian Rotten

Rotten has hit Cash with a thumbtack bat to the head and piledrived him on thumbtacks and we're just starting this match. After brawling on the outside Cash turns the tables and hits Rotten with a bunch of lighttubes. The ref isn't wearing globes and gets a thumbtack in the hand while counting a pinfall. Ian hits a bunch of big moves to Cash on the thumbtacks before hitting a DVD and putting him down for the three count.

Pretty much just a squash match from the booker here and Cash really proves how tough he is in his first deathmatch showing I believe. Ian is limping from doing a legdrop onto a thumbtack bat onto Cash's chest.

3/10

Bull Pain vs. Rollin Hard

This one starts with Bull Pain backing Hard into the corner and some punches before dragging his head across the rope, nice that we start with some wrestling before getting right into the big spots. Pain effortlessly throws him over the makeshift rope guardrail and into the chairs. Hard is busted open from anb unprotected chairshot and wisely covers his head the second time. They brawl to the outside, but no camera gets to the action right away. The camera guy gets outside, but its so dark its not much better than not seeing it. After a bunch of brawling on the outside they get in the ring and Hard backdrops Pain onto the tacks. Pain takes Hard to dick kick city and hits him with the thumbtack bat a couple of times. Hard hits the worst fucking tornado DDT I've ever seen onto the tacks for a three count.

This was a fun crowd brawl and a very good change of pace from the previous match. Both men do some decent wrestling and get some color. The finishing move looking terrible kind of hurts the match, but still a fine display.

5/10

War Machine #1 vs. Balls Mahoney

War Machine is the first guy wearing regular wrestling gear so he gets respect for that. Although Balls is also wearing the only gear I've ever seen him in even if it is jean shorts and a shirt. The green sign a fan is holding has been used in all three matches so far. Now Balls is using the rope guardrail to choke Machine, I like the resourcefulness. Back in the ring and Machine takes the barbed wire bat to the forehead of Balls and busts him open. Balls gets Irish whipped into two barbed wire boards. Hero does question if it's the same ring IWA:MS kept using in '05 and allegedly it's not. Machine takes a slow Irish whip into a board and then Balls hits him with an inverted piledriver for three.

This was decent when it was a crowd brawl, but back in the ring the match was very perfunctory and was over pretty quick.

4/10

Axl Rotten vs. War Machine #2

Machine gets tossed out of the ring into a pit of mousetraps. He even gets up with one stuck to his tights. Axl dents a chair over Machine's head then sets up the barbed wire panel over two chairs. Axl hits a powerbomb through the board for three.

This match was also nothing like the first one so a disappointing first round.

2/10

Tower of Doom vs. Mad Man Pondo

Doom wins a test of strength to put Pondo to his knees. Pondo with an uppercut to the dong and then a stop sign to the head. Pondo grabs a testicular claw then shoves him into the pit of thumbtacks and barbed wire. Doom hits a terrible sidewalk slam onto the mousetraps since he didn't want to drop into them as well. Then he hits a piledriver onto some broken glass and Doom is not happy about hitting that move. Pondo then grabs some glass and cuts Doom open. Doom goes up to the second rope and hits a missile dropkick that gets two before Pondo gets a foot on the rope to break it up. Doom grabs a bunch of thumbtacks and individually pushes them into Pondo's head. Doom hits a legdrop off a chair onto Pondo who's on a barbed wire panel. Doom gets laid out on the barbed wire panel and Pondo hits a crooked Harlem Hangover for the three count.

This had some substance to it, but it's also the bad kind of deathmatch where they hit each other for stuff and nobody really sells anything and there's no flow to the match at all. It's just them hitting stuff. I will say that these guys used the weapons a little more fun than the others though.

3/10

Doug Gilbert vs. Ox Harley

Gilbert throws Ox into a barbed wire board then Harley reverses an Irish whip and sends Gilbert into the barbed wire. Ringside Gilbert puts a panel on top of Ox and double stomps it onto him. Bryce is on commentary and makes a joke about quarantining after all the blood in a match and that really hits different now. A bunch of brawling in the ring leads to Gilber hitting a piledriver onto the barbed wire with a lazy kick out then he follows it up with a piledriver that looked super dangerous. Gilbert taunts too much and Ox rakes the forehead of Gilbert with barbed wire. Ox goes up to the second rope, but Gilbert cuts him off and throws him off the top through a barbed wire panel for three.

A little more back and forth and something resembling a real match here, but Gilbert has too much of a need to taunt during the match, but at least it seems more like wrestling.

4/10

Rollin Hard vs. Ian Rotten

Some brawling and barbed wire use has lead to both men being busted open again, granted it's pretty easy since they were both bleeding earlier in the night. The brawl outside and Ian hits him with a bunch of different signs that the fans have at ringside. Ian and some ring crew or fans put in a barbed wire contraption with some glass as well. Ian barely lives Rollin up enough for a powerbomb and basically hits him with a throwing piledriver and we get the first Holy Fuck out of Prazak for the night.

This was some okay brawling and chair shots and Ian nearly killing Rollin Hard so not a lot there, but at least we get an impressive spot at the end. Rollin Hard is a real bloody mess after the match too.

2/10

Balls Mahoney forfeits from the second round because h has an ECW Championship match coming up which is stupid so just have him lose in the first round.

Doug Gilbert vs. Mad Man Pondo

They lockup and Pondo backs Gilbert into the barbed wire, but he no sells and superkicks Pondo into the opposite side ropes barbed wire. The first crazy bump that looks like something that happens now when Gilbert suplexes him off the side of the ring with no ropes into the barbed wire and broken glass. Prazak leveling up from “Hook the leg Man” to yelling “Hook the Leg you Fuck!” when Gilbert does a cocky cover after a piledriver. Gilbert gets a hot shot onto the barbed wire and that gets him the three count.

This match was not good at all, and maybe because I don't get why Doug Gilbert is so cocky all the time it kind of hurts the match, but it's a deathmatch tournament get your shit together.

3/10

Ian Rotten vs. Axl Rotten

The setup of this match is cool as its electrified barbed wire ropes with lighbulbs on the ropes that are providing illumination for the match. Doug Gilbert is a coward and doesn't want to wrestle in the finals so it's just a Rotten match up so that's good. Axl wins a test of strength and delivers some knees to the chest. Some scuffling on the mat leads to the getting close to the edge and Axl rubs the barbed wire on Ian's head. They are using normal lightbulbs on the ring and not light tubes and they are much harder to break so that might be why thigns change in the future. Breaking the light bulbs doesn't seem to work too well, so Ian just grinds the broken remains into Axl's forhead to draw more blood. Uppercut to the dick from Ian and he hits a legitimately good dropkick to Axl that surprised me and Prazak on commentary. Doug Gilbert runs in and hits a piledriver on Ian, but the ref is distracted enough that he can't get the three. Gilbert runs back in and piledrives Axl and the ref starts a count. Ian gets up at ten and falls back down and wins the match.

This was a pretty standard brawl with some cool deathmatch shit hanging around it, but Gilbert not wanting to wrestle then piledriving both guys to lead to a shitty ten count finish for Ian it is so bad.

3/10

This show is so fucking bad. It might have been slightly better at the time, but I doubt it, because I've seen cooler deathmatch stuff from earlier than this as well. Almost none of these were good matches and this is back in the times when most of the deathmatch wrestlers didn't bother to learn how to wrestle a good match. I wasn't expecting much, and this show underdelivered on that. I can't believe the bullshit finish to the tournament.

I wouldn't recommend watching this show, but I'm glad shit like this is saved online anyway. I don't know why, but it's kind of a nice bookmark for how deathmatch wrestling has evolved from where it started at in America. This show really highlights the shitty version of how deathmatch wrestling works and also has so many people dropping out that it proves how tournament booking is tough if you're dumb. IWTV has good stuff even if this show isn't. I'll prove it by writing up a review for a good recent deathmatch show tomorrow.