The Magnus Analysis – IWA-MS Ted Petty Invitational Tournament 2004 Night 2

This is the second night of the TPI of which I reviewed for another site back in 2005. A re-watch is going to let me see if I still rate this as highly as I did in the past.

Match 1
Non-Tournament- CJ McManus vs Thunderbolt vs Billy McNeil
Utterly pointless and boring filler that had no place being on this card. The only one of the three who was anywhere near decent was CJ McManus, and that’s only because he had a little personality. Don’t take too much time over this one. Thunderbolt (essentially a generic WWE style big man) hat a Powerbomb on McNeil, then McManus came off the top rope with a Frog Splash on Thunderbolt and pinned McNeil for the win- DUD

Thunderbolt attacks McManus after the match with a Double Arm DDT. Nobody cares.

Match 2
Non-Tournament, Light Heavyweight Title Match- Jimmy Jacobs © vs Sal Rinauro
Jimmy automatically gave this match points by selling his injury from last night, and Sal adds even more by actually working over it during the match. Overlooking the good psychology, I liked this match and both men were good in this one. Jacobs won this with two consecutive Back Senton’s off the top rope- **3/4

Match 3
Non-Tournament- Ian Rotten vs Steve Stone
While it lasted, this was a decent enough brawl, nothing much to it but still nothing horrible. However, it was essentially here to re-introduce Chris Candido (RIP) back into the IWA. Ian pretty much dominated until Chris runs in and attacks Ian, joining up with the Fannin Family, and they attacked Ian as the match was thrown out- **

The Fannin Family continue to work over Ian Rotten’s injured shoulder before Iceberg runs out for the save (why, he’s not part of this feud).

Then the Fannin Family (who must have ran pretty quickly to the back) cut a backstage promo, saying that this is only the beginning of Ian Rotten’s suffering.

This is followed by a quick shot of Ian Rotten having his shoulder popped back into place.

Match 4
Rainman vs Danny Daniels
Four matches in and we finally have our first tournament match. Solid enough match here, nothing special though, but at least the crowd actually had a little more belief in Rainman now than they had in the previous night’s action. Barring a botched Second Rope Hurracarana from Daniels pretty much everything else was well executed, and the match was fairly entertaining. Rainman scored another upset with a pinning combination that got him three- **1/2

Match 5
Samoa Joe vs Nigel McGuinness
The first really strong match of the night, and I believe this was the first time these two had wrestled (they would wrestle many more times, especially in ROH, before we get to today). And I highly enjoyed this one, these two work very well together and this provides a base for the matches they were to have in the future. Although I highly enjoyed this match when I first saw it, compared with future Joe/McGuinness encounters it isn’t quite at the top level of say their FYF match for example. But still it’s a strong bout and worth watching. Joe wins this one with the Choke that gets the submission- ***1/2

Match 6
Non-Tournament- Larry Sweeney, Hallowicked and Jigsaw vs Gran Akuma, Icarus and Trik Davis
A quick thought: if this match were to happen today with rudos and technicos taken into account it would likely be Larry Sweeney, Gran Akuma and Icarus vs Jigsaw, Hallowicked and Trik Davis. Anyway, setting that aside, this was a decent little match, fun but not quite on the level I’d expect from these six (although this isn’t Chikara so I’d expect better in a more intimate environment). I’ll be lenient though since they were still inexperienced at this time, a year or so off of the point where the five Chikara students were real aces like they are today and Trik Davis was a little more sharp. But the wrestling was good and there’s some well executed high spots in here as well. Hallowicked won this for his team with his Top Rope Fisherman’s Buster- **3/4

Match 7
Matt Sydal vs AJ Styles
My favourite match in the four times I’ve seen them wrestle (three times in IWA, once in ROH), and a damn fine match, possibly the showstealer. A lot like their two matches before this one, this was a test of Sydal, to see if he was capable of hanging with one of the indy scene’s best, and he did just that. While Styles dominated a good bulk of the match, Sydal had some impressive moves, and pulled off a devastating Hurracarana that looked like it killed AJ and still only got two. Styles however eventually put Sydal away to advance with a Top Rope Styles Clash- ****

Ian Rotten shills us the Eight Anniversary Show next by announcing that his partner on that show would be ‘The American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes. I’ve seen that match and while it wasn’t all that good wrestling wise it’s always nice to see Dusty occasionally for nostalgia purposes. Pick that event up at smartmarkvideo.com

Match 8
Non-Tournament- Ms Chif vs Rain vs Lacey vs Daizee Haze vs Mickie Knuckles vs Mercedes Martinez
As I said in my previous review, I’m not a huge fan of women’s wrestling, so it was hard for me to get into this match. I will say that I found this match a bit better than the previous night’s match. Eliminations were as follows-
Mercedes Martinez eliminated Rain with a Top Rope Fishermans Buster
Mercedes Martinez eliminated Mickie Knuckles with a Backdrop Driver
Lacey eliminated Daizee Haze with the Implant DDT
Mercedes Martinez eliminated Lacey with a German Suplex with a Bridge
Ms Chif eliminated Mercedes Martinez with the Gates of Hell- **

Match 9
IWA Title Match- Arik Cannon vs Petey Williams
I rated this match quite highly the first time I reviewed it, but it doesn’t hold up to that rating today. The match is fairly decent for the most part, a good technical wrestling display, but it’s the final few minutes that really make the match. It’s see’s a very smart piece of thinking by Petey as he fakes a knee injury, letting the ref count him out as Cannon is oblivious to it all. Petey then sneak in while the ref still counts and goes for the Canadian Destroyer, but Cannon counters it to the Glimmering Warlock for the three count- ***1/2 (maybe slightly overrating this one, but I love that ending)

Match 10
‘Lightning’ Mike Quackenbush vs ‘Spyder’ Nate Webb
A nice, fun little match here, nothing hugely special but still enjoyable and entertaining with lots of crisp high flying moves and technical exchanges. While there was a bit of a different in class between the two, and the match wasn’t all that long, it went a bit of the way to showing that Nate Webb can hang with top indy stars like Mike Quackenbush. Quack worked the leg of Webb most of the match and would get the submission at the end of it with the Lightning Lock- ***

Match 11
‘American Dragon’ Bryan Danielson vs CM Punk
Great, great match between two of the best. I would put the match between Punk and Aries from the previous night higher, as well as their ROH match, than this but this was still excellent and the best match of the night up to this point. A mat wrestling clinic, with fine technical wrestling, counters and submissions, as well as reversals to both men’s big finishing moves. I do think it was kind of a shame that Punk did not go through in his final TPI appearance since he deserved to win this tournament at least once before he went to WWE, but I guess you can’t avoid these things. But Dragon went through which I’m still pleased with, getting Punk to tap to the Cattle Mutilation after a Dragon Suplex- ****

Match 12
Non-Tournament, Tag Team Title Match- Brad Bradley and Ryan Boz vs Tank and Iceberg vs The Wildcards (Eddie Kingston and Black Jack Marciano)
Better than I was expecting, this turned into a solid big man match with some comedy in here as well, and turned out to be a nice change of pace. The comedy was mainly from the Wildcards, who tried to play head games with their opponents only to get things wrong time and time again and get destroyed. Near the end Brad Bradley got powder in the eyes and hat a Lariat on his own partner, getting Tank a near fall. Shortly after, Kingston somehow hat a Superbomb on Tank, and then the Wildcards finished the match with the Russian Roulette Drive By. New champs- **3/4

Match 13
Rainman vs Samoa Joe
A squash, and Rainman really deserved more than this. It pretty much kills the point of Rainman getting through to this point in the first place: did they just do this so Joe could squash him. I understand that Rainman went for the kill quick to try and put Joe down, but having Joe just hit him with a Lariat for the pinfall in less than a minute was just disrespectful to Rainman- DUD

Match 14
‘The Phenomenal’ AJ Styles vs ‘The Anarchist’ Arik Cannon
Good, although a little too short, and I do love how they found a way to keep the belt on Cannon but set up Styles for a rematch with the belt on the line in the future (that never happened in the end though due to Cannon breaking his collar bone against Austin Aries). Cannon was dominant early on with his usual offense, then AJ fought back with his usual offense. Cannon went for the Glimmering Warlock, but missed and AJ then won it with the Discus Lariat- ***

Arik Cannon gets on the microphone and tells us that AJ Styles isn’t the new champion because the title was not on the line. Ian Rotten then comes out and says Cannon will defend against AJ at the 8th Anniversary Show or he will be fired.

Match 15
‘American Dragon’ Bryan Danielson vs ‘Lightning’ Mike Quackenbush
Two of my favourites, and they delivered with an extremely fun and highly enjoyable technical wrestling masterpiece. Not a single dull moment in this, with great and entertaining matwork, counters and chain wrestling that few can do better. Re-watching this just psych’s me up even more for their ROH match when it comes out on DVD, as these two can deliver in the ring together. Dragon would eventually put Quack out of the tournament when he locked in the Cattle Mutilation and turned it into a pinning combination for the three count (the same way he beat Alex Shelley)- ****

Match 16
7 Way Elimination Match- Austin Aries vs Alex Shelley vs ‘Double C’ Claudio Castagnoli vs Jimmy Rave vs BJ Whitmer vs Todd Sexton vs Chris Sabin
Quite decent, although generally this one felt a little rushed and there were some badly botched spots (Claudio messed up a Recola Bomb extremely badly). It also suffered from the formula of having a load of wrestlers eliminated quickly. But still there was a lot to like with some fun, spotty action in this one. Eliminations were as follows-
Chris Sabin pinned Todd Sexton with a Vertabreaker
Austin Aries eliminated Chris Sabin with the 450 Splash
Alex Shelley pinned Austin Aries with an Inside Cradle
Claudio Castagnoli make Alex Shelley tap to Swiss Sleeper Holding.
BJ Whitmer pinned Claudio Castagnoli with the Shining Wizard
BJ Whitmer pinned Jimmy Rave with the Wrist Clutch Exploder- ***

Match 17
TPI Finals- Samoa Joe vs ‘American Dragon’ Bryan Danielson vs ‘The Phenomenal’ AJ Styles
An excellent main event worthy of being the final and a great end to a strong double shot tournament. Far too many good moments to list here, and I won’t spoil it for you, but the match is of the highest quality and as good as any of the three ways in TNA involving Joe and AJ. Bryan Danielson would be eliminated first, with him getting choked out by Joe. As Joe and AJ had some fantastic exchanges, AJ would eventually come out on top, struggling to hit the Styles Clash due to Joe’s weight twice, before doing it the third time to get the three count- ****1/2

All the TPI competitors come out to congratulate AJ on his win

Before AJ can leave, Petey Williams shocks us all by turning on him, hitting AJ with the Canadian Destroyer. The fans boo and this sets up a match between the two down the line (although that match never happened and the only real revenge AJ got was in a four way which also featured Chris Sabin and Christopher Daniels).

Ian Rotten then finishes things off by congratulating AJ on his win and telling him that he has a great future in the business.

The 411: Yet another night of extremely high quality in-ring action, but if I had to choose between the previous night and this show, I would take Night 1 as this show has some problems. Some matches were too short, there was some pointless filler, and Rainman's squashing in the semi final's was stupid. But besides that this is an excellent wrestling event that no fanshould be without.
Final Score:  9.0   [  Amazing ]