The Furious Flashbacks – IWA-MS Ted Petty Invitational 2005 Night Two

The Furious Flashbacks – IWA-MS Ted Petty Invitational 2005

NIGHT TWO.

September 24th 2005. Hosts are Ben Jordan and an assortment of co-hosts.

Trik Davis v Marek Brave

Non-tournament action here with two of the light heavyweights. I fail to see the point of throwing out a relatively pointless #1 contender match when they have a huge tournament on. The card is going to run until 1am anyway; why make the evening longer with a filler match? They kickstart some action on the mat with some decent chaining. They’re not as smooth as they could be but they don’t look bad either with some nice counter wrestling. They quickly up the pace to a near falls and its clear this is going to be one of those matches that moves at “a pace”. Marek does a nice step back to avoid an armdrag. Brandon Thomaselli on commentary who talks about Trik watching a tonne of tapes and getting various influences because of that. While that’s not as obvious as it is with Chris Hero, I can see where he’s coming from. Both guys are doing a decent job and yet there’s a feeling this match means nothing and the crowd is detached because of it. Marek breaks out his Bridging Spear out of nowhere and that gets the pin. Looks better against a smaller competitor. **. Nothing wrong with this but it came off as filler. Both guys put on a decent display and showed a little promise.

Brad Bradley v Kevin Steen

Both guys are thick set. And I don’t mean fat either. Bradley at 6’ 4” is probably the tallest man in the tournament. So he has 6 inches of height and 30lbs of weight on Steen. Bradley tries to dominate out of the gate and impose himself on Steen. Bradley is dominant with strikes and then takes it to the mat with a big takeover. If the WWE book him as some sort of wrestling machine he might even catch a break. He’s currently working there as Ryan Braddock. He has that WWE physique. Steen tries for a shoulderblock takeover. “You are fucking stupid, you know that?” – Bradley channels Steen’s mental acumen. Bradley shoulderblocks him out of the ring. Bradley puts a beating on Steen and bulldogs him for 2. He continues to dominate but Steen comes back with a missile dropkick for 2. Brad starts slapping him around in insulting fashion but Steen fires up and hits the Downward Spiral for 2. Brad has seen enough…NORTHERN LIGHTS BOMB…for 2. Steen comes firing back with a pair of step kicks and the discombobulated Bradley gets crucifixed into a pin. And that’s it! Shock! **1/4. Hard hitting match. I hope Bradley is able to get this character over in the WWE but if Mike Awesome got nowhere I can’t see him doing that well.

Skayde v Mike Quackenbush

Quack will be a better opponent for Skayde because of his own technical excellence and competence in the field of lucha libre. They counter on the mat from one submission hold to another in fluid fashion. Interesting mask v mask points for Skayde; he was the guy who unmasked Super Crazy. He ended up losing his own mask to the almighty Mistico in 2007. They do some unique chaining in this with both guys going for some form of arm work with the other finding counters for it. Lots of armdragging, as you’d expect. DRINK! Skayde falls outside. TOPE!!! That wipes out four rows of chairs. They run a sweet counter through the ropes where Skayde telegraphs a monkey flip out of the ring. Mike is able to land on his feet but turns around into headscissors off the apron. That was a nice sequence because Skayde knew Quack would rather take the move and counter it than avoid it altogether. So he set him up. The ref is counting in Spanish to compensate for Skayde as well, which is a nice touch. Sadly Skayde doesn’t reply with; “I got till cinco, referee!” They fuck up the corkscrew armdrag to the floor thanks to Skayde either not understanding what Mike was going for or him just missing the arm completely. Skayde breaks out his backbreaker into the Stunner, which is a sweet combo but he doesn’t even pin. Skayde grapevines up the legs but Quack rolls out of it. They counter around some more and Skayde goes to the legs again and turns the whole thing over. Quack has to lunge into the ropes to save himself. Roll up gets 2 and one of the fans gets EXTREMELY agitated claiming “IT’S A THREE COUNT” over and over again. Quack counters on the next sequence and gets a whirl into a roll up for the win. **3/4. Finish was a bit flat and the match had plenty of mistakes from the aging luchadore but the countering was fresh and different to the rest of the card so I had a great time watching this. Quack is great at making other people look good too. Here he totally wrestled to Skayde’s strengths to make him look better.

Chris Sabin v Josh Abercrombie

Josh scored the huge upset win over Jamie Noble in the first round, which I didn’t enjoy as a booking decision because it came off as a fluke. It also denies me seeing Noble v Sabin, which would have been ace. This match starts out smooth and fast, which is Sabin in a nutshell. Before getting anywhere they hit up the dives. Top rope seems to be Josh’s favourite domain. Sabin tries to Cradleshock him inside 2 minutes but Josh slips out and dropkicks the knee. The lack of structure really hurts this match and I notice I’ve tuned out when Sabin pulls me back in by dropkicking Josh in the tree of woe. Look at that head rock back! Fuck! Sabin then starts using that impact as a basis for working over the neck. In the process he pops on a jawlock, which is a nice variation on a theme but too easy to get out of. Sabin also hits neckbreakers like they’re going out of fashion. Gotta get them all in during this match! Abercrombie sells the shit out of that neck, which is expected after Sabin specifically working it over for about 8 minutes. Josh escapes Cradleshock AGAIN and counters it into the TALIBAN BACKPACK…FOR 2! That was out of nowhere and it was Sabin’s lack of fatigue that saved him. Sabin still has an almost full tank and comes right back with a BRAINBUSTAAAAAAAAAAAAA for 2. Right on that injured neck too. Josh pulls out another nice counter to escape a running powerbomb and hits a cradle suplex for 2. He’s had to counter big moves just to stay alive here. Sabin is done fucking around though and dumps him on his neck with a backdrop driver. JUMPING PILEDRIVER…FOR 2! FUCK OFF! That was death and he kicked out. Sabin finishes him casually with CRADLESHOCK moments later. **1/2. It was a little too one sided but that did allow them to play on Abercrombie’s underdog status.

Matt Sydal v Tyler Black

Tyler probably has the longest entrance in pro-wrestling, which is saying something considering Sandman and Undertaker’s 3 or 4 minute entrances. The IWA ropes are looking rather loose this evening. Sydal decides to test Black’s abilities on the mat, which should be lacking because of his inexperience. It does rather expose Black’s shortcomings but not in a good way. He can take a flip bump off a Japanese armdrag but he can’t make an elbow to the ribs look good. Tyler takes a seat and gets himself chopped at ringside. Tyler then MOONSAULTS OFF A FAT GUY IN THE FRONT ROW!!! FUCK YEAH! That is an awesome spot. Crowd buzzes off that for a while. Tyler Black is wowing the fans with his use of props. If not a fat guy it’s the ropes. He’s innovative and is way better than he should be at his age. Sydal must feel like he’s being shown up because he starts popping moves off. Including a standing moonsault off Black’s back. Fisherman suplex gets 2. Black hasn’t quite got his timing down yet. He sure can hit his high spots though – STANDING SSP…for 2. PAROXYSM! That gets 2. Sydal goes up top but Tyler brings him down, HARD, with the PELE KICK! Sydal comes right back with the SMALL PACKAGE DRIVER for 2. When that doesn’t get it done he adds in a standing moonsault for the win. **1/4. Tyler’s innovation and moveset made him the surprise star of this one. Sydal looked sedated by comparison. Crowd chants “all the way” at Sydal after the match suggesting they favour him as a potential winner.

Arik Cannon v Delirious

Be interesting to see if Delirious can cover for Cannon’s failings as a wrestler. Delirious goes nuts at the opening bell and trips the ref up. Hahaha. He bails to cut a rambling promo into the ringside camera. “BAHBAHBAHDAHDAHBAHDABAHDAWHERESAWHERESAWHERESA” Cannon picks his nose and wipes it on Delirious…who eats it. And likes it. Delirious tries to make himself “big” by standing on the middle rope. “DABBADABBADABBAHEYEAHAHA”. Cannon does some of his standard half-speed counters. I dread to think how slow he’s going to be when he’s washed up. Cannon tries to give Delirious a dead arm, which is a good tactic when you think about it but it gets him a mouthful of nonsense. Cannon looks confused so Delirious gives him the bogey treatment and then bails to celebrate by USING A WALKER TO GO AROUND THE RING complete with loud commentary on how great it is in gibberish. Delirious then recaps how he wanted to do a move but it was countered and he’s not happy about it. Cannon runs a waistlock that Delirious escapes from and then doesn’t move so Cannon just puts it back on. Haha. Cannon turns it around so Delirious licks his face. Cannon is playing his straight man part in this match to a tee. He’s had enough of the comedy though and shoves Delirious. OOOHHHH!!! NEVERENDING STORY!! That’ll learn ya. Delirious gets a little carried away and hits FIFTY ONE clotheslines in the corner. Cannon counters out and starts with the chopping. SEVENTEEN CHOPS! They bail out and Cannon POWERBOMBS DELIRIOUS INTO THE CHAIRS! Cannon acts like a jerk before doing a REALLY long stalling vertical suplex. At least 30 seconds on that. We’re reminded that Delirious broke his nose yesterday. No wonder he was pissed off. He’s been enjoying himself a lot more this evening. Delirious injures his leg on an Irish whip and Cannon takes advantage with a Texas Cloverleaf but he can’t get the tap. Delirious attempts Shadows Over Hell but can’t get it and Cannon picks him off with the Rolling Germans. Someone attempting a great move they’re not very good at makes me a sad panda. Delirious promptly takes over and does it better. It’s all in the bridge really. This one is aiming for epic as we’re up towards 20 minutes now. Cannon falls out of the ring and Delirious adds in a TOPE! He ends up landing in the same area of chairs he got thrown into earlier. Not his happy place. Delirious is bleeding from the hand, I think. Or it might be his nose. But his hand is covered in blood. Cannon misses the Glimmering Warlock and gets rolled up…for 2. BIZARRO DRIVER…gets 2. 20 minutes gone now. Cannon counters IVF into the Alabamaslam and finishes with the Glimmering Warlock. ***. Good comedy to start with but then they ran out of ideas and the match withered a bit. The finish isn’t really satisfactory to me as they’ve put over the least interesting of the two possible choices. Although Cannon has huge heat with the fans it might just be because he sucks.

POST MATCH Ian Rotten comes out to scoop Delirious’ heat suggesting that TNA should hire Delirious. He replies but I don’t really catch much of it. Delirious is nuts, I love him. He even goes and shoves a fan over after slapping hands with everyone else. He’s mental.

Bryan Danielson v Chris Hero

Naturally this match contains a bunch of great counters. Hero has to use a wider range of his counters to cope with Danielson’s own expertise. As if he’s being pushed more, which I dig. He particularly aims at Dragon’s knee but Danielson wristlocks his way out of trouble. Danielson lets himself get distracted by a pro-Hero crowd, which is strange. It gives Hero an opening. Danielson all over Hero’s face. “I have til five!” He offers a handshake after all the face raking. Then drags Hero’s hand down and stamps on it. HEEEL! Crowd applaud Danielson’s antics. He fakes doing it to the referee too for kicks. Hero does a lovely forward roll to get round Danielson’s defences and picks the leg off again. Danielson isn’t opposed to cheating though and keeps grabbing Hero’s hair. Hero retorts by dragon screwing him off the ropes and slapping on the Figure Four. Danielson sells the hell out of the leg using the ropes to get back up. Hero backs off and gives him space, which is dumb considering how badly Danielson has cheated during the match. He baits Hero in for chops. WOOO! Then he starts throwing knees, which is incredibly stupid for someone so accomplished as a wrestler. After all Hero has worked the hell out of ‘em. Danielson decides taking it to the mat will eliminate his leg issues, which it does but he can’t get around Hero’s size and ability to get the Chickenwing. He feels he needs something to wear Hero down and goes after the Mexican Surfboard. That’s really not good for the injured knee either so he just stomps on the hamstrings instead. Fuck you Chris Hero’s legs! Hero counters back with his slightly stronger legs and gets the TEXAS CLOVERLEAF! He sits down on that like a motherfucker. Danielson desperately drags himself into the ropes and that did feel like a finish. He tries for a version of the figure four and can’t get a tap either. Hero gets pissed off and goes for the AIRPLANE SPIN! DANIELSON NO SELLS IT!!! That makes perfect sense too. Danielson is used to it. Hero goes back to the leg but Danielson uses his free foot to hit the Enzuigiri. Danielson SLAPS THE SHIT out of Hero. ROLLING ELBOW! That gets 2. He tries for Cattle Mutilation but Hero blocks it by holding the leg so Danielson counters into the CROSSFACE CHICKENWING! Danielson’s positioning has left him in a position where it’s tough to get to the ropes because he can’t see them but Hero uses his instinct to get the rope. Danielson allows himself to get distracted again and again goes for the Enzuigiri but Hero sees it coming and counters into a roll up for the minor upset. ***3/4. Great combination of psychology, effort and plain ol’ wrestling. A little more consistency in the selling could have knocked it up a notch.

IWA title – Jimmy Jacobs (c) v Mickie Knuckles

I don’t really buy Mickie as a contender but at least putting her shot on this show doesn’t overshadow the tournament. So it makes sense. Jimmy brings out foreign objects and the ref removes them including Jimmy’s necklace, which he’s been known to use. He blindsides Mickie but she retorts with a massive forearm. The thing about Jacobs is he is really small so he’s a viable target in that respect. The problem is he always oversells. So he’s bouncing around like a pinball and that’s your champ? And he’s wrestling a chick. So he sort of acts like a bully in this one and Mickie plays the match for sympathy, which she can’t really do when she wrestles other girls. Jacobs starts playing it for laughs by lying down and rolling Mickie on top of him so he can do the big kickout. BIG BOOT! JIMMYAMANIA IS RUNNIN’ WILD DUDE! He breaks out the SUPER POSEDOWN action. Bored Jimmy? Jacobs tunes up the band and superkicks Mickie before forcing Mickie to kick out. “What do I need to do to put her away?” Haha. Misogyny is awesome. SPEAR! He calls for the Jackhammer. Haha. STONECOLD STUNNER! BAH GAWD! ONE-TWO-THR…NOOOOO! His simulated blowjob is a new low so Mickie grabs the package. Jimmy with the HIGH-PITCHED SELLING! IRON CLAW…to the nuts. “Bad idea, bitch”. Jimmy wants to trade forearms and Mickie NO SELLS THAT SHIT! ROLLING ELBOW…for 2. Mickie nearly took the belt there. Northern Lights gets 2. The crowd aren’t buying the near falls though, which is a bad sign for Mickie. They don’t believe she can win but they’ll cheer for her because they like her. Jimmy comes back and hits the senton…for 2. And she actually kicks out this time. Jacobs pulls the chair stunt but the ref gets the belt shot by accident. That was a silly spot. Jimmy sees the ref down and belt shots Mickie but there’s no ref. Bryce Remsberg runs down there for the 2 count. If he saw there was no referee shouldn’t he have seen the belt shot too? Jimmy goes for the chair again and Bryce gets bumped. Jimmy goes for the Contra Code but Mickie counters it and dumps him on the buckles. Tiny cut on Jimmy’s forehead from that. They fight over a chain that Jacobs brought in. Mickie wins it and nails Jacobs with it…for 2. The ref being Ian Rotten because there’s no other refs. The Iron saints run in to complain. Tank and Rainman run in to attack them. Overbooked much? The locker room is emptying out. No one is watching the match because of that. Jacobs uses the old handful of powder spot and belt shots Mickie into the CONTRA CODE. Jacobs adds in a senton to make sure and drags the original ref back in. That’s your finish. **. There was some fun comedy where Jacobs made the match into a joke but that’s also the downside. The WWE Attitude finish was OTT.

POST MATCH Ian Rotten gets all pissy with “what a disgrace” Jacobs is as champion. He books him in a match with Colt Cabana with lumberjacks…with straps. So he can’t use all his little gimmicks. Ian turns his attentions to Mickie suggesting it’s time they did some work on putting women’s wrestling back on the map. He then rambles on about how Mickie shouldn’t be sorry. Ian needs to cut less promos. At least Mickie appreciates this one.

Mike Quackenbush v Kevin Steen

Quack sells his arm on the way out here. Steen, being a heel apparently, attacks Quack from behind before we even get started. Obviously Steen goes after that injured wing. Steen being a jerk doesn’t sit well with the fans. And as I type that a small group of them start a “Mister Wrestling” chant. Damn smart fans. The match is the most basic on the show so far, which is weird coming from these guys but its just Quack selling the arm and Steen working it. That’s your whole match. Steen to the apron and Quack lariats his legs and dropkicks him off the apron. Cool! Steen goes up top but Quack kicks him in the head. He can’t follow up because his arm is fucked. He leaves the arm out and Steen jumps on it! Psychology! Steen with a loose looking armlock and Quack gets into the ropes. If it had been a better looking hold that should have been the finish. Quack has to become a defensive wrestler and uses a sleeper to try and wear Steen down but he’s got too much in the tank. Quack uses his legs and double stomps Steen’s kidneys. Steen looks for the Package Piledriver but Quack counters out and they counter some more. Steen nails him in the shoulder and hits the PACKAGE PILEDRIVER for the win. Kind of an upset that Steen goes to the finals but they worked a great story with Quack’s injured shoulder. **1/2.

Matt Sydal v Chris Sabin

Well, this should be one hell of a match for the high spot fans. Danielson joins the commentary to add in his analysis. He gives Sabin edges on power and technical skills but Sydal has some “crazy moves”. He starts picking apart Sydal’s somewhat loose technical skills and enjoys Sabin’s reversals. Sydal flips around him but Sabin just hangs onto the wrist. Sydal goes after the knee and bridges on it. Neat. Danielson expresses his surprise at Sydal’s success on the mat. Sabin kicks him off. Sabin snaps off a beautiful powerslam for 2. It was even better than those Joe powerslams that he does at speed. Sabin with a vertical suplex and he sells the leg by favouring the right one. Cool. Sabin gives Sydal a kicking in the tree of woe. Not as harsh as the one against Abercrombie but tidy nonetheless. Danielson points out the pressure on the ankle in that move. I love his analysis. Sydal goes back to the leg as soon as he can but Sabin is in no mood for that shit. Danielson points out that Sabin doesn’t train his legs because he plays soccer. Sydal comes flying back with a pair of Step Kicks. Sabin does go over though and he flies back at Sydal with a LARIATOOOOOOO! Sydal got folded up with that. Sabin gets a moment to clear his head rather than a pin. Sabin lays in a bunch of forearms but Sydal’s own in return doesn’t look strong enough. Sydal goes up top but Sabin counters into a backbreaker and then suplexes Sydal onto his head for 2. Explosive series from Sabin there. Cradleshock is countered and Sydal gets the Final Cut for 2. He goes for the standing moonsault but Sabin gets knees up. That obviously hurts himself too though. Although they don’t run a double down. Too much stuff to fit in. Super rana from Sydal gets 2. Sabin comes back with strikes and rolls through a release powerbomb into a running powerbomb for 2. That was nifty. Danielson is critical of the pinning combination as Sabin didn’t get his legs over Sydal’s shoulders. They goof the set up and Sydal gets a DDT for 2. Both guys are tired. Remember it’s their second match tonight for both guys. Sabin SHOULD have more in the tank because his match was easier. He blocks a super rana into the Cradleshock but Sydal counters on the way down into the roll up for the shock win! ***1/4. They probably did too much and didn’t sell enough. And yet they didn’t have any big spots to really blow the crowd away and take it to the next level. Finish was very tidy though and Sabin gets to look good by losing.

IWA tag titles – Iron Saints (c) v Tank/Rainman

The Saints don’t mess around and take out Tank’s knees on the floor before they’re even introduced. They then double team Rainman into the ground. They have some interesting double teams but a lot of tag team double teaming these days looks very pre-planned and overly elaborate. Although it’s nice they’ve worked on so much stuff. Double urinage’s and so on. But because they’re heels they work in the traditional heel teaming like the ‘no tag’ tag. Rainman comes firing back like nothing happened and hits the Spinesplitter for what would be the finish if Sal didn’t save his brother Vito. Why not tag out jackass? “Because a black man who rather look good and lose than look bad and win”. Thank you, Billy Hoyle. Hot tag to Tank who wobbles into the ring. Double press on Vito into a DOUBLE DVD! FUCK! Release on that too. Vito get himself YAKUZA KICKED out of the ring. Sal gets seated at ringside and Tank CANNONBALLS HIM!!!! HOLY SHIT! He’s squashed him like a bug! Rainman stacks the Iron saints on top of Tank for a DOUBLE SAMOAN DROP. Coolness. Tank spends too long celebrating, which allows the Iron Saints to clip both knees and give the ol’ dropkick sammich. Iron Saints pull out a combo crossbody/blockbuster spot. That seemed more natural. I like. Tank then catches both guys on dives and just hurls them into the chairs. He’s having a blast here because both Thomaselli’s are selling like crazy for him and he’s just throwing them around. Tank then SUPLEXES both guys at the same time. Tank’s power is impressive but he’s so slow at everything else. I guess it’s the bulk. Vito assists Sal with a senton onto the fallen Tank. Iron Saints want the double stomp pendulum but can’t get it and Vito opts for rolling up Rainman instead to retain. That finish was out of left field. **1/2. Match had a tonne of cool stuff in it for a thrown together tag match. The lack of finish and inconsistency of rule enforcement hurt the rest of it.

Arik Cannon v Chris Hero

Hero shows his seriousness by hitting the ring only a few seconds after his music starts. He’s all bidniz. Cannon still looks a little slow here and because Hero is SO good at his chaining it shows up more. The back and forth chaining is still really solid and it’s the best Cannon has looked all weekend. Especially when they trade up to striking where there are no speed issues and they’re just hitting each other. They start to copy Kobashi with the neck chopping and they’re stiffing the shit out of each other here. Eventually Hero elbows him out of the ring. Cannon’s only solution to getting his ass kicked is to rake the eyes and hope for the best. Back inside Cannon’s timing issues return as he makes Hero look stupid for running into a backdrop. Cannon ties Hero up on the mat but Hero blocks the additional cravat, which is more an insult than painful. Cannon’s “biting” is a bizarre cover for them talking. Normally when I bite things I don’t chew too. They start stiffing each other with strikes on the mat. Cannon hits the first big move of the match by German suplexing Hero on his neck but he ALL JAPAN SELLS IT by popping back up and nailing Cannon with a rolling elbow before collapsing. Awesome. The striking gets really weak as they start selling fatigue. Hero eventually gets the better of that but he’s bleeding, which is bound to be hardway courtesy of all these strikes. SAITO! NO SOLD! SAITO! NO SOLD! CRAVATPLEX! NO SOLD! SAITO! NO SOLD! CRAVATPLEX! NO SOLD! GAMENGIRI! NO SOLD! LARIATOOOOOOOOOOO! Double down! Ok, where did THAT come from? Cannon gets laid out on the floor. Hero is planning something nuts. TOPE CON CITO!!!!!!!! ARE YOU INSANE??? Hero, you are fucking NUTS dude. Cannon annoys me by not selling it. He comes back with a brainbuster and further disrespects the move by not pinning. Hero tries to no sell so Cannon dropkicks his knees away. GLIMM…NO, HERO’S WELC…NO, backslide and Cannon gets the pin. ***1/2. With a better wrestler that awesome match would have been off the charts. Unfortunately its Cannon so it’s somewhat wasted. Some great ideas at play here, mainly because the did the AJPW style from the 90’s that I loved so much. I’ll give it an extra 1/4 * for the post match though.

POST MATCH Cannon offers a handshake and Hero hugs him to finish their lengthy feud. Then LARIATS THE FUCK OUT OF HIM! Hero gives Cannon a BEATING. ***3/4. I liked the closure. I like the beating more. Trik Davis and Mickie Knuckles come out to talk sense into Hero because he LOST it. Hero goes back to apologise AND TURNS HEEL ON EVERYONE!!! YUS!!! Awesome. His forearms for Trik and Mickie are brilliant. Then he aims to ends Cannon’s night/career by destroying his shoulder. Ok, **** for the whole thing, which ran to over 30 minutes.

8 Man Elimination – Nate Webb/El Generico/Puma/Brandon Thomaselli v Super Dragon/Super Dragon/Super Dragon/Super Dragon

Team Webb are all masked and called the Ultra Generic Puma Spiders. Either Super Dragon has cloned himself or he’s got a couple of other guys to help him. Crowd helpfully chant “Super Dragon”. The first one unmasks as Joey Ryan, the tall one unmasks as Claudio Castagnoli and the last one is Alex Shelley. Dragon starts fucking with the other team by demanding Puma tags in then slapping Webb in the face. Dragon does some nice matwork, which is applauded by Coach Claudio on the apron. He’s owning this match by gesturing as to what kind of wrestling hold whoever is in should be doing. Shelley goes after the mask of Puma and that upsets Generico. So Shelley tries to remove his head instead. Claudio’s wrestling is way too much for Webb who looks confused at the prospect of competing on an even kiel. Webb has to resort to flipping around and Claudio is game to take a few armdrags. Thomaselli takes over on Ryan and shows some excellent mat skills. He wrestles like a shooter. Shelley grapevines a leg on Webb and everyone starts coming in to extend it. Not happy with four guys in leglocks the others come in and kick them all in the back to break it up. Shelley is running a Muta tribute this evening. Puma is the star of the early going though showing his speed to be superior to everyone else in the match. Especially when he outdoes Claudio by whirling him and popping off armdrags. Super Dragon continues to act like a jerk but he doesn’t need to control the pace for his team because he has so much quality around him. Joey Ryan is the weak link on his side as demonstrated by an incredibly loose chinlock on Puma. Shelley baits the other team in and they set Puma up for a QUADRUPLE TEAM CURB STOMP!!!!! Super Dragon came off the top while everyone else held him there. Shelley adds in the Border City Stretch for Team Jerk and Puma is unconscious so he’s eliminated.

Now the Dragon team has a numbers advantage and picks off Generico. Claudio holds him up there for a LONG delayed suplex. I think Generico’s legs are going to sleep up there. Dragon comes in to slap him around and elbow him in the face. Man, Dragon is just the biggest jerk in the world. I love him. He starts chopping Generico IN THE FACE! Reverse suplex into the DRAGON CLUTCH! Thomaselli makes the save. Full Nelson Mandela and Dragon adds in kicks to the back of the head. Hehe, jerk. Shelley tries to out-do that jerkiness by mocking then spitting at Thomaselli. Shelley pops off a Muta-esque back suplex. Dragon casually kicks Generico in the head. He then throws Generico into the chairs for a VIOLENCE PARTY. He then takes a seat to kick Generico in the face. Generico fires himself up and goes for some lucha-libre but Claudio blocks a tornado DDT, throws Generico into the air and NAILS HIM with the forearm uppercut on the way down. I LOVE that move. They strike Generico to allow Dragon to double stomp him. RICOLA…NO, REVERSED INTO A RANA! Generico gets the upset pin while everyone on Team Dragon was stopping the others making the save.

Generico gets the tornado DDT on Ryan because he’s not as strong or technically gifted as Claudio. Hot tag to Thomaselli, who everyone hates, so there’s no heat. He pops off a nice standing moonsault on Shelley though. Then a standing SSP for 2. Too many people are doing those standing flips now. Not one pop for Thomaselli. Team Webb all hit planchas at the same time from different directions to the same place, which creates a pile-up and an awesome visual. Thomaselli hits the SHADOWS OVER HELL on Shelley. “Eff off Delirious”. Haha. Joey Ryan has brass knuckles! Thomaselli eats knuckle and gets pinned.

Webb starts throwing everything in there he can in an attempt to try and even it up but Shelley clocks him with a dragon screw, and he takes it in turns with Ryan to kick him in the head. Somehow Webb survives a pin. Webb comes back, out of nowhere, with SOYLENT GREEN II: ITS STILL PEOPLE to eliminate Shelley. I don’t like that. Just seemed totally out of left field and against the flow of the match.

Ryan holds Webb in place and Dragon kills him with a double stomp to send Webb packing. 2 on 1 then.

Dragon/Ryan v El Generico. Generico took a pasting earlier in this bout too. The PWG guys collide when Dragon goes up top and Generico catches Dragon with the BRAINBUSTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! If you’ve never seen that move…it’s the greatest thing ever. A brainbuster from the top rope ONTO the top turnbuckle. Ryan runs in but gets caught with the Yakuza Kick. KOBASHIPLEX!!! Ryan is dumped on his head and pinned!

Dragon v Generico! Dragon meanwhile is out of it and lying on the floor. Generico throws him back in and Dragon is extremely groggy. YAKUZA KICK! KOBASHIPLEX! NO SOLD! LARIATOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! GENERICO IS PINNED…FOR 2! KAWADA KICKS! LARIATOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PSYCHO DRIVAAAAAAAHHH! You know that’s the pin and Super Dragon is the sole survivor. ****. I loved the shit out of that match. The ridiculous high spots down the stretch especially.

POST MATCH Super Dragon flips the crowd off, steps on Generico’s neck, OWNS some guy in the front row by faking a punch at him and steals a tape from the merch table. I love this guy.

TPI Finals – Matt Sydal v Kevin Steen

Ian thanks everyone and says that Arik Cannon’s shoulder is fucked so he’s not able to compete. Maybe they didn’t want to detract from these two guys. But there’s a feeling these are not main event calibre wrestlers. They both have tonnes of promise but the crowd isn’t quite as jazzed as they have been in the past. I’m wondering whether the booking is due to Ian wanting guys in the final who he can afford to bring back frequently. The crowd try and make the best of it by getting a duelling chant going while the wrestlers go for duelling chops. Steen wins. “Canadia wins”. Steen seems a little too green to be here. I don’t like anyone main eventing who’s that obvious with their talking. Either plan the whole thing out like DDP or be good enough to do it on the fly like Bret Hart.

So Arik Cannon comes out here to make it a three-way but Steen attacks the shoulder and hits the package piledriver to boot him in short order. Hero did the real damage.

Sydal tries to use his quickness to his advantage. Probably forgetting the leg injury he was selling on the way out here. Steen NAILS him with a stiff short lariat. Sydal has a nasty, but entertaining, habit of bumping on his neck. Steen fucks up a couple of times, perhaps feeling the pressure, by not connecting cleanly with moves. So it looks like he’s not doing anything at all. Like a jump off the apron where he just lands by Sydal and kicks a chair away in frustration. Its like he knew he’d made a mistake. Steen has a handle on his heeldom though, even if he’s not quite vicious enough about it, and chokes Sydal with one of his t-shirts. Sydal gets opened up but it’s not a big cut. Sydal has a degree of explosiveness that entertains the crowd though. He hits an Enzuigiri at speed and then hits a corkscrew moonsault to the floor, which barely even connects but shows his determination to come out tops. Sydal comes off the top again but Steen counters into the AIR RAID CRASH…for 2. Sydal attempts a rana but Steen counters it into the SIT OUT POWERBOMB…for 2. Steen seems by far the superior wrestler but in fact he gets countered as he goes for the piledriver he’s countered into a rana into a pin for 2. Steen goes up top and PULLS OUT A 450 SPLASH!!!! That only gets 2 but it could easily have been a finish because of Steen’s big size advantage. Crowd would have bought that as a finish. He goes for the murderous piledriver off the top, which wins against anyone. Steen gets knocked off though and Sydal quickly adds in the SHOOTING STAR PRESS to win the TPI. ***. They did a good job and really turned the heat up on the finish but there was a feeling this was very underwhelming compared to last years final.

POST MATCH Arik Cannon and Delirious come out to celebrate the victory. Ian asks for Daisee Haze to join them as she’s the third of that little gang of wrestlers (Sydal, Delirious & Haze). Ian talks about Madman Pondo recommending Sydal a few years back. Ian continues to put over Sydal and the others that stand with him calling them the “future of the wrestling business”. Amongst all the thank-you’s Delirious still manages to steal the spotlight. He licks Ian’s face leading to Ian backing him into the corner. “HEPULLINDAHAIRHEPULLINDAHAIR”. By way of apology to Cannon for Hero’s actions Ian books Hero in a match with Samoa Joe. Cannon reminds Ian that he never lost the title so he wants a title shot he never got. Ian tells him to get healthy and when he’s healthy he gets the shot.

The 411: They had some issues because of losing AJ Styles and others pre-tournament but the booking still became somewhat suspect. The pushing of unknown quantities into the final was to generate a ‘fresh blood’ vibe and if you wanted to push either Sydal or Steen then you can put them in a final match with two other name guys and put them over that way. Winning the TPI by beating another guy who’s not really a main event calibre guy isn’t really going to put the guy over and it’s more likely to hurt the tournament. I personally would have gone with Quack v Hero v Danielson as a final. I don’t see why Hero had to beat Danielson as they knew he was turning against Cannon. Put Cannon in Hero’s spot and his injury gives us Quack v Danielson, which I think the crowd would have very much enjoyed. Or even throw Delirious in there or Sabin. But most of the tournament is good fun and the Hero-Cannon angle was brilliant. The additional Super Dragon stuff on night two was tremendous and very little about the show sucks. The only thing running against the 2005 TPI is the on the fly booking that occurred after all the withdrawals (well, AJ Styles & Homicide) resulting in somewhat below par main event matches. But below par compared to the amazing 2004 show, which is the best show IWA has ever done.

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]