Death by Midwest: IWA Mid South We’re No Joke

IWA Mid-South presents We’re No Joke
April 1, 2006
Don Preston Rec Center (aka The Midlo-Dome) in Midlothian, IL

Last year, IWA aimed to take advantage of Wrestlemania weekend in Chicago. On a Saturday afternoon, they put on a show in the Midlo-Dome before ROH’s Better Than Our Best show. Midlothian is about 10 minutes from Chicago Ridge so this attracted many fans that had never seen an IWA show. The result: a massive crowd for this show, highlighted by my choice for 2006’s Match of the Year.

IWA CHAMPIONS ROLL CALL
-IWA World Heavyweight Champion: Arik Cannon (2nd reign-defeated Jimmy Jacobs on 1/21/06 in Midlothian, IL)
-IWA Mid-South Light Heavyweight Champion: Josh Abercrombie (2nd reign-defeated Tyler Black on 1/21/06 in Midlothian, IL)
-IWA Mid-South Tag Team Champions-Ian Rotten and Madman Pondo (1st reign-defeated The Iron Saints on 3/18/06 in Midlothian, IL)
-IWA Mid-South Women’s Champion-Mickie Knuckles (2nd reign-defeated Hailey Hatred on 2/8/06 in Charleston, WV)

Last Time in IWA: The week before in Streamwood, IL, IWA presented “Hurt”. Necro Butcher defeated Roderick Strong, and Low-Ki beat Tyler Black. Necro and Low-Ki had a confrontation leading to their match today. Pondo and Rotten fought to a double DQ with Team Underground, sowing the seeds for their feud.

#1: TEAM UNDERGROUND vs. DERANGED/BRAIN DAMAGE
Before you ask, Deranged is not the same guy from Special K. This one is a big guy. Team Underground is Eric Priest and Chandler McClure. This place is packed, by the way. Deranged and Priest start the match. Deranged is yelling and trying to intimidate Priest, to little avail. Priest tries to tackle him down, but can’t, so he hits a perfect looking dropkick instead. Brain Damage in and gets double-teamed by Team Underground. McClure gets a knee to the back and a stiff punch from Damage. STIFF forearm by Deranged followed by a butterfly suplex for 2. He sets up McClure in the corner and hits a big running knee strike. Bad looking Last Call follows. Deranged had terrible ring position and almost threw McClure into the buckles. They double team and hit kicks to his chest and back simultaneously. Damage in and gets DROPPED with a German Suplex. McClure tags in Priest after hitting a phantom enziguri. More on that in my post match thoughts. Priest LEVELS both guys, including a really stiff kick to Damage. I have a feeling the deathmatch guys were working Chandler a tad too stiff and this is a receipt. Pumphandle slam by Deranged on Priest but he misses a second rope moonsault. Damage in and Team Underground go for their spike piledriver finish, but the timing is off and Damage just gets a piledriver for 3 at 5:14. *. Deranged and Brain Damage really brought the match down. They messed it up with stuff like that phantom enziguri, which Damage was in the wrong position for but still sold it. Priest is a veteran, so he can lead them and gloss over their sloppiness. McClure isn’t as experienced, so in turn he looks bad in there. Some IWA deathmatch guys can do a straight up match, like Toby Klein or Corp, but these two can’t. Team Underground is a great team when they aren’t in there with guys like this. They’d be a perfect fit for ROH, and Priest has a good look for the WWE.

#2: Elimination Tag Match for IWA Mid South and NWA Midwest Women’s Titles: MICKIE KNUCKLES © and MsCHIF vs. DAIZEE HAZE © and VANESSA KRAVEN
These titles were once unified, but were separated in June of 2005. Now they’ll be reunified. This is elimination rules, so if you and your partner survive, you’ll face off against each other. Kraven is a big, big woman from the Canadian indies. In a funny moment pre-match, ref PJ Drummond gets roundly booed and Joey Eastman gives him a hug. Haze and Mickie start off. Haze kicks Mickie low so Mickie forearms her in the face. Nice stuff. MsChif goes in to take Haze out but Kraven gets tagged in. MsChif grabs an OCTUPUS STRETCH when Kraven tries a tilt-a-whirl but gets sidewalk slammed out of it for 2. Elbow drop gets 2 for Kraven. Jim Fannin and Ben Jordan on commentary and doing an awesome job. Haze back in and works over on MsChif. Rolling cutter by MsChif and both women are down. They get back up and Mickie gets a tag. Swinging sidewalk slam by Mickie followed by a standing moonsault by MsChif for 2. Haze hits a German Suplex and both her and MsChif get counted for 3 at 4:35. Now it’s just Kraven vs. Mickie. They face off and trade stiff forearms. They go down to their knees and Mickie hits a STIFFFFFFFF Headbutt. You can hear just a big thump and the crowd goes nuts. Kraven then chops Mickie. They knock each other down with forearms. Mickie takes Kraven to the ropes and MsChif, who is still outside, gives Kraven the GREEN MIST. Mickie sets up Kraven….SHINING KAWADA KICK and that gets 3 at 7:03. **1/4. Good stuff for the time given. That headbutt was just vicious. Mickie is now the Unified Women’s Champion once again. And I really want to see Kraven vs. Mickie now. Kraven gets a “Please Come Back” chant.

#3: 9-WAY TLC MATCH FOR IWA WORLD TITLE SHOT
Here are the rules: Two men start, another man enters every minute. You can’t go for the contract until all 9 men are in. Eliminations can come by pin, submission, or being put through a table. Tag partners Tyler Black and Marek Brave start the match. They trade reversals to start off. Trik Davis in as #3. Black and Brave team up on him. Trik hits a Double Missile Dropkick and then a dive to the floor. Billy Roc in at #4 and he hits a Plancha on the three guys. Trik throws in two chairs to the ring. Dave Crist of Irish Airborne in at #5. Trik gets set upside down with a head between two chairs and Billy Roc and Marek Brave DROPKICK THE CHAIRS INTO HIS HEAD!!! “Holy shit!”-Midlo. That was very dangerous. Triple Jump Moonsault by Dave Crist on Billy Roc. #6 is Chuck Taylor. Tyler hits a Sidewalk Slam ON THE CHAIR to Dave Crist. Owww. Big step up enziguri by Billy Roc on Chuck. #7 is Jake Crist of Irish Airborne. They double team on Chuck Taylor with awesomeness. Lots of action going on everywhere. #8 is Ricochet and things are gonna get crazy. Tyler Black eliminates Billy Roc with a Fisherman’s Buster at 8:33. #9 is Darin Corbin. He comes to the ring and everyone else stops fighting. Corbin is the only true heel in this match. He dances in the ring as the rest of the wrestlers circle around him. They wait until he takes off his LCD belt and then attack him to a huge pop. Now the ladder can come into play. Dave Crist tries using the ladder on a slant on the outside, propped against the apron but Marek Brave crossbodys him INTO THE LADDER. That was cool and very hard to describe. In the ring, Chuck Taylor gets backdropped into the ladder. Dave Crist hits a moonsault off the ladder still in the corner! He goes for another but Tyler Black stops him, but then Jake Crist grabs both guys….TOWER OF DOOM POWERBOMB!!!! Everyone on the floor now…TOPE by Jake Crist! TOPE CON HILO by Dave Crist! SPRINGBOARD PLANCHA by Chuck Taylor! Ricochet sets up the ladder and heads up as all 7 other guys are on the floor. Ricochet heads to the top of the ladder. Crowd chants “Please don’t die!”. DOUBLE FUCKING MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR OFF THE LADDER!!!!!! HOLY SHIT!!!!! CROWD GOES NUTS! “IWA! IWA!”-Midlothian crowd. Corbin and Trik in the ring. Trik gets on Corbin’s shoulders and reaches for the contract but Tyler Black stops him with a SPRINGBOARD DOOMSDAY DEVICE! Chuck Taylor is on the table on the outside and Marek goes to the top rope. He slips off twice which was a really bad omen for one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen. Marek goes for a SSP but lands ON THE TURNBUCKLE! He just flipped straight up and came back down on his stomach. He falls through the table and is eliminated at 16:38. The look on everyone’s face after that is of very big concern, Tyler Black especially. Irish Airborne hit the DOUBLE STOMP and DVD COMBO on Ricochet followed by a DOUBLE STOMP OFF THE TOP by Trik Davis to eliminate Ricochet from the match. Then the brothers start fighting…VAN DAMINATOR by Jake Crist on Dave. Running knee strike by Corbin eliminates Chuck Taylor. Tyler Black MURDERS Corbin with a chairshot. Black puts the ladder on top of Corbin…SENTON ON THE LADDER! Owwwww. The Crist brothers still going at it. Tyler goes for the contract but Jake stops him….BACK SUPLEX OFF THE LADDER! Dave sets up a table on the floor. Trik hits a SUPER RANA on Dave onto Jake who is on the table but the table doesn’t break! Tyler puts both brothers on the table…FROG SPLASH THROUGH THE TABLE and Irish Airborne are eliminated. That leaves Trik Davis, Darin Corbin, and Tyler Black. Trik avoids a Fisherman’s Buster from Tyler and heads to the second rope….SPRINGBOARD REVERSE RANA by Trik! Corbin and Trik fight on the ladder until Trik headbutts Corbin off. Trik has it won until Chris Hero comes and takes out Trik Davis. Hero has HUGE, HUGE HEAT. Corbin takes advantage and wins the match at 22:50. ***3/4. Oh dear god that was insane. A few screwups, but with 9 guys there’s going to be. But too many holy shit moments to take away from it, much like the first Scramble Cage in ROH. Marek Brave ended up being alright, by the way. The ending makes perfect sense since Trik and Hero have a long standing feud.

Post match: Hero says Corbin wouldn’t have won without his help. Corbin shoves Hero down and says “I don’t need your help.” Corbin answers back at Hero: “ Unlike you did at TPI, I’m going to beat Arik Cannon.” Corbin is a Cannon trainee and Hero hates Arik Cannon. They did a double turn at the 2005 TPI. Nice post match angle there. Lots of replays from the match follow.

Next up, Eddie Kingston storms out. He was attacked by his friends the Iron Saints last month in Midlothian after he threw in the towel in their No Rope Barbed Wire Match with Pondo and Rotten. Now he wants revenge. All 3 Saints triple team him until LARRY F’N SWEENEY comes out to a big reaction. It’s weird to see Sweeney as a babyface, but he and Kingston trained together, so it makes sense. He gets beaten down, too until SPIKE DUDLEY COMES OUT FROM THE BACK and takes out all 3 brothers with a chair. Sweeney proposes a 6 man tag match. Spike gets on the mic and says “I have one thing to say!” “What’s that, you don’t have a job?”-Vito. BURN! “I got fired by people who don’t know the first thing about wrestling.”-Spike. That gets a big pop.

#4: BRANDON, SAL, and VITO THOMASELLI vs. EDDIE KINGSTON, LARRY SWEENEY, and SPIKE DUDLEY
Sweeney and Vito start off. Sweeney gets the edge and Vito tags out to Sal. Sweeney tags in Kingston and this crowd is hot. They start slapping each other and Kingston then chops the crap out of him. They tripleteam him in the corner. Sal and Brandon pull him to the outside and nail his knee on a chair. Crowd taunts Sal with the “Sal loves the cock” chant. Kingston can’t stand on that knee. Spike jumps in and attacks Sal. Spike takes him down with a clothesline. Spike goes off with a “Fuck ROH” chant, which gets no response. This crowd is full of ROH fans. Some fans respond well since some of the ROH fans were being total assholes that day. But this isn’t the time for me to rant. ACID DROP on Sal! Vito pulls him out of the ring and nails Spike with a chair. Kingston is still very injured. Spike is now busted open. Brandon in now and the heels are taking advantage and isolating Spike Dudley. Vito uses a pair of brass knucks on Spike. Spike is bleeding a LOT. Sal uses them as well. Spike looks rusty here, so its probably better that he’s getting his ass kicked. Bulldog followed by a high knee followed by a Running Shooting Star by the Thomasellis. Sal uses the brass knucks again on Spike as the ref gets distracted. Spike fights him off and pushes Sal off…DOUBLE STOMP OFF THE TOP by Spike! I did not expect that. Sweeney gets the HOT TAG and is a house of fire. Kingston finally gets up and gets the tag from Sweeney. He can barely stand, however. Big Uranagi Suplex by Kingston on Sal. He hits a belly-to-belly on Vito and then smacks Sal around. Sal fights back but gets nailed with a lariat from Kingston. He goes for something but Vito clips the knee. Spike back in and he goes for the Acid Drop on Sal but Sal avoids it and passes Spike to Brandon….POWERBOMB LUNGBLOWER! That gets 3 at 13:22. ***. Hot tag match. This show has a lot of variety, and this was a straight heels vs. faces 6-man that told a good story. Spike Dudley was obviously rusty and act a little weird, but he did a fine job of taking the beating like he always is. I don’t know if Kingston was legit injured, since in those cases they usually don’t go after the injury, but in any case they worked it in the match nicely.

#5: IWA Mid South Light Heavyweight Title Match: JOSH ABERCROMBIE © vs. RUCKUS
Ruckus is much trimmer than he used to be. He hasn’t been in IWA for a few years. Abercrombie is one of IWA’s biggest stars right now. All thanks to the power….of the STACHE! They trade reversals and Josh gets in Ruckus’s face and rubs his stache. Ruckus flips backwards and catches Josh with a headscissors takeover. Ruckus likes to do lots of flippy stuff, and I like variety so I’m all for it. Ruckus goes for a plancha to the outside but Josh just moves out of the way. They go to the merch area and Josh gets sent into the wall. Ruckus does some gymnastics into a moonsault on the floor. Nice stuff. By the way, if you wonder why Fannin and Jordan stop calling the action out on the floor, it’s because they have no monitors and can’t see over the huge crowd. Back in the ring, Ruckus shoots Josh into the ropes, rolls to the other side and hits a Japanese armdrag into an elbow drop for 2. He goes up top….MOONSAULT LEG DROP! But only for 2. Josh blocks a Tornado DDT and does a slingshot double stomp to the back followed by an Arabian Press to the back for 2. That’s wearing him down for the Taliban Backpack. Reverse Overdrive by Josh gets 2. Camel Clutch applied after that. Cameraman….ZOOOOM! Ruckus comes back a handspring corkscrew kick. I guess that’s what you call it. He follows with a handspring back elbow then a scissors kick for 2. Josh ducks a forearm into a Head Drop Sidewalk Slam for 2! He ties Ruckus in a submission in the ropes while doing the mustache taunt. Then he dropkicks Ruckus in the back through the ropes. He covers Ruckus for a 2 count. Ruckus gets Josh in a Gory Special then FLIPS BACK INTO A FLATLINER! That was really cool. Ruckus rolls Josh into a small package, then back the other way into a Fisherman’s Buster! That gets 2. Standing corkscrew press gets 2 after that. Ruckus is really impressing the crowd here. They mess a spot up a little but recover into a victory roll. I think Josh was supposed to hit the Backpack but Ruckus flipped out too close to the corner. They try it again…TALIBAN BACKPACK! Josh goes up top and hits a messy Phoenix Splash for 3 at 11:54. ***. It was going good until the finish got messed up. I reckon the messed up Splash wouldn’t have happened if the lead up hasn’t gotten messed up beforehand. Still a good match. Ruckus is exciting to watch because his offense, while very flippy, is just plain fun. He gets a “Please come back” chant from the crowd.

#6: KEVIN STEEN vs. IAN ROTTEN
Steen was the runner-up in the 2005 TPI. He cuts a promo before the match comparing his upcoming match with Ian to Shawn Michaels vs. Vince McMahon, which would take place the next night. Funny moment when a woman shouts at him and Steen shushes her and says “Women should not be allowed to speak.” That gets a very big pop. He says Ian could be on the cover of Muscle & Fitness next month. Now that’d be funny. He goes the HBK pose as Ian’s music starts. Ian responds to Kevin saying he’s dreaming if he thinks he is Shawn Michaels. Ian says he isn’t Vince McMahon because he isn’t a billionaire but he is better looking than Vince. “If you choose to be Shawn in this match, that’s fine, I always wanted to beat him up, too.”-Ian. Awesome!

They knock each other down with a shoulderblock. They go to the mat. Ian palm strikes Steen in the face. Ian gets a spinning toe hold but gets kicked off. Ian’s still recovering from being knocked silly 2 weeks earlier when he won the tag titles with Pondo. Ian does a nice reversal out of an arm wringer. I hope the ROHbots think of that next time they want to e-mail me saying Ian can’t wrestle. Steen tells Ian to strut like Vince, but Ian struts like Flair instead. They trade chops until Ian hits a STIFF Mule Kick. Ian keeps rocking him with strikes. Steen hits a dropkick and sends Ian to the floor and hits a plancha. Ian’s arm gets sent into the post. Ian winds up with a headbutt but hits the post again. To my ultimate amusement, the crowd chants “You screwed Bret” at Steen. “He deserved it!”-Steen. And he’s Canadian, too. Steen chokes Ian on the ropes. Ian fights back with forearms and a double knee lift. Ian takes a page out of B-Boy’s book with a corner dropkick! Stiff one, too. Armdrag by Steen and an armbar on the injured arm. Front flip leg drop by Steen gets 2. Flying forearm by Steen….and he KIPS UP! Hehe, comedy. Steen goes up top and hits the Flying Elbow. He tunes up for the Sweet Chin Music. Ian blocks but Steen goes for the Small Package Driver. That gets blocked as well. Steen acts like he’s gonna do grab a Sharpshooter but decides against it. SUPERKICK by Steen. But it only gets 2 as Ian gets his foot on the rope. Steen goes up top for a Swanton, but he gets nothing but knees. Ian rolls the stunned Steen up for the win at 11:57. **1/2. Fun match but nothing too thrilling. Ian was obviously taking it easy after his head injury from a few weeks before. Therefore they went the comedy route.

After the match, Team Underground chases Ian out of the ring. Priest challenges Ian to a singles match at the next show. He promises to show Priest what it’s like to be in the King of the Deathmatches. Ref PJ Drummond is arguing with Team Underground and they attack him. SPIKE PILEDRIVER! And that time, they hit it.

And now onto Disc Two!

#7: DELIRIOUS vs. EL GENERICO
This should be wacky. Delirious is an IWA homegrown, and a 2 time former Light Heavyweight Champion. El Generico is a Canadian indy guy, and he really rules. Delirious goes crazy at the bell and Generico runs out of the ring. He goes on a gibberish tirade and Generico looks confused and scared. Apparently they speak the same language. All this time, and Delirious is just speaking Spanish. The crowd does the “Wrestling! YAY!” thing and Delirious starts a “Wrestling” chant. El Generico responds with a “Lucha Libre” chant. Awesome. Delirious hits a shoulderblock and yells at Generico, even as Generico has already gotten up. Delirious grabs a headlock on the mat but Generico escapes and Delirious acts like he still has it on. I love this guy. More comedy stuff follows. They trade quick armdrags. They do a spot where Delirious calls out the spot in “gibberish” and Delirious tricks Generico and gives him a dropkick. That was absolutely hilarious. It gets a standing ovation from the crowd. Generico goes under the ring and tries to surprise Delirious but gets rammed into the post. He gives him a stiff chop and they’re back in the ring. Back Suplex gets 2 on Generico. Leg lariat from Generico gets 2. He follows up with a Tilt-a-Whirl Backbreaker. Delirious dropkicks him into the corner…PANIC ATTACK by Delirious! More chops. Delirious hits two leaping clotheslines. Delirious gets sent to the floor. Somersault Plancha by Generico! High cross body off the top in the ring gets 2 for Generico. BLUE THUNDER by Generico…for 2. Delirious comes back with a Cobra Clutch backbreaker…for 2. He heads up top, but Generico goes for the Top Rope Brainbuster. Delirious knocks him back down…SHADOWS OVER HELL! Only gets 2. Generico fights back up. MAFIA KICK by Generico. HALF NELSON SUPLEX follows. But that only gets 2 as Delirious gets the ropes. Delirious blocks Generico’s attack…BIZZARO DRIVER! That gets 3 at 15:49. ***1/2. Good match with good wrestling and awesome comedy. Though I’m sad I didn’t get to see Generico’s awesome finisher.

#8: TANK vs. TOBY KLEIN
Tank is a former NWA Wildside guy and is HUGE. At least 400 pounds. Tank was in the King of the Deathmatches, the TPI, and the Strong Style Tournament in 2005. Toby Klein won the 2005 King of the Death. They do some really good mat wrestling to start off. Tank knocks Klein out of the ring with a forearm. They go with STIFF, STIFF, STIFF headbutts on the outside. And I mean, owwwww. Klein gets busted open hardway from them. Tank chops him in the back and hits a series of stiff headbutts to the head. Back in the ring, a stiff forearm gets 2 for Tank. Klein gets put in the Tree of Woe and Tank dropkicks his face. Nice. Klein retaliates with some slaps but Tank buries him with a STIFF forearm. They go to a fist fight on the outside until Tank headbutts the crap out of him. Tank brings a chair in. Klein dives onto Tank. Back in the ring, Klein hits a HARD chairshot on Tank. Klein sets Tank up and hits a VAN TERMINATOR!! And Klein is not a small guy at all. Plus he NAILED that. Tank is busted open now but he still kicks out. Klein tries to hit a DVD but just Samoan Drops Tank. He heads up top and hits a Twisting Frogsplash for 3 at 9:03. **3/4. Pretty good stuff and lots of stiffness. I thought the finish looked weak after the Van Terminator. These guys are both good workers outside of deathmatches. Klein was working on his aerial offense, which led to his title reign a few months later.

#9: LOW KI vs. NECRO BUTCHER
And this is what the people came to see. Low-Ki attacks Necro from the back door and they begin fighting as a downpour of yellow and black streamers cover the ring. Awesome visual. Right away they are chopping the crap out of each other and the crowd is all on their feet. They head to the outside right away and Low Ki BOOTS NECRO IN THE FACE. They are not wasting any time. Necro fires back with a stiff punch. All these shots are STIFF AS HELL. And in the most vicious way you can imagine. CAPO KICK by Low-Ki followed by a big dropkick to the seated Necro. Low-Ki gets sent in the chairs. The crowd is loving all of this. A stiff headbutt staggers Low Ki. They head back onto the apron where Low Ki blocks an attempt to suplex him to the outside. Low-Ki hits a running dropkick that knocks Necro to the floor. More chops. Low Ki kicks Necro in the face some more. They head back in for good now. SPINE KICKS by Low Ki followed by stiff chest kicks. Necro punches Low Ki in the face. There wasn’t a damn thing fake about that one. Low Ki knocks him down again with some kicks. More chops from both guys. Ki hits some knees to the midsection of Necro. KAWADA KICKS and then Ki PUNTS HIM IN THE FACE. Low-Ki grabs a table. That’s interesting. He sets up the table in the corner. Necro avoids it and gets a big boot to Ki. Low Ki fights out a powerbomb….JUMPING DOUBLE STOMP! Owwww. Ki goes for the Tidal Krush but Necro PUNCHES HIM ON THE WAY DOWN. RIGHT IN FACE. These guys are nuts for doing this. Crowd is on their feet again. More stiff punches send Low Ki outside. “Now you’re mine.”-Necro. He throws a chair at Low Ki a few times, followed by the Chair Bodyslam! They head back inside where Necro gets a 2 count. Necro goes for the Tiger Bomb but Low Ki blocks it. He gets some stiff forearms instead. Sidewalk slam gets 2 for Necro. Necro tries for a move with the table but Ki fights out into the DRAGON CLUTCH but Necro gets to the ropes. Necro is hunched over the second rope, and Low Ki heads up top….DOUBLE STOMP!!!! OWWWWWWW. He kicks out at 2. Necro gets up and fights off Ki. He gains the advantage…TIGER BOMB by Necro…for 2! Lots of snap on that move. Necro tries to hit a Super Tiger Bomb through the table, but Ki hits some Kobashi-style neck chops and hangs him in the Tree of Woe over the table….SUSPENDED DOUBLE STOMP THROUGH THE TABLE!!!!!! OH THAT WAS SICK! THAT WAS ABSOLUTELY SICK! “Holy shit!”-IWA crowd. NECRO KICKS OUT! NECRO KICKS OUT!!! THE CROWD GOES ABSOLUTELY NUTS! Ki rolls him over…DRAGON CLUTCH! Necro struggles all over the ring but Ki sits back on it and Necro is declared out by the ref at 21:27. ****3/4. That was insane. The combination of the absolutely brutal stiffness and the crowd atmosphere make this match essential viewing. I’ve never seen a brawl be this good before. NEVER. These guys just put on my match of the year for 2006…ANYWHERE. I deduct a quarter star only because I don’t hand out the full monty often, but this came so, so close. Crowd applauds both men after the match and demands a rematch.

#10: CHRIS HERO vs. MILANO COLLECTION AT
This is the main event. A good number of people left to make the pre-show for ROH. Fools! Milano comes out with his crazy invisible dog gimmick. How does that thing work anyway? “Fuck you Hero!”-Midlothian. They start off with some standing reversals and switches. Hero goes for a full nelson in the corner but the ref breaks it off. Milano grabs a side headlock and shimmies his way out and showboats to the crowd. Milano repays him with another side headlock. Quick rollup by Milano gets 2. Milano tries to quicken the pace but Hero slows him back down on the mat. Hero goes for a dropdown but Milano hooks on an STF. Hero quickly gets out. A few armdrags from Milano quicken the pace again. Milano ties Hero up in the bottom rope and DROPKICKS him. Nice. Hero gets Milano to chase him and knocks him to the floor. Milano moves so Hero just flips himself over the top rope. He right away crumbles to the floor and says his knee is injured. Bryce waves Milano away from Hero. Hero crawls back into the ring and the crowd is hushed silent right now. Hero tells Milano that he can’t go on. Some staff members come down to check on Hero. Bryce, a security guard, and Milano help Hero to his feet until Hero SHOVES OFF the other two and gives Milano a BACKDROP DRIVER! Oh dammit, even I bought that one! Hero gloats as he stomps away at Milano. They trade chops until Hero goes to the eyes. Cannonball senton by Hero gets 2.

Milano gets dumped to the floor. They brawl for a minute until Hero tries to suplex Milano into the ring. Milano cuts him off and gives him a BRUTAL kick to the chest and then hotshots him HARD on the second rope. Milano gets a running start….RUNNING DROPKICK FROM THE FLOOR TO THE APRON. DAMN. Crowd loves that and gives him a standing ovation. Milano goes up top but Hero catches him with a dropkick. Rolling senton from Hero gets 2. Hero punches and chokes away at Milano. STIFF headbutts follow. Hero punches Milano in the stomach as he outsmarted Milano again. Over the shoulder gutbuster gets 2 for Hero. Hero chops away at Milano but Milano gets fired up. Hero goes for a Mafia Kick but Milano MATRIXES to avoid it….Stop! ENZIGURI! Crowd loves that. Flurry of chops from Milano. Jumping clothesline from Milano…HUGE SENTON follows! Cross body off the top…for 2! Hero hits a jumping swinging neckbreaker….for 2. These guys just keep inventing moves. Hero tries to do the Matrix but Milano kicks out the leg and hooks on a submission. Hero makes the ropes. Hero goes for a Death Valley Driver but the ref gets hit accidentally. Good and believable ref bump there….Triangle Choke applied on Hero and he gives but Bryce is down. Low blow by Hero. That gets 2 for Hero. Superkick by Milano! Twisting Lionsault by Milano….for 2! AT LOCK applied! Crowd chants for the tapout. Hero gets out but gets met with a STIFF lariat from Milano but he stays up. MAFIA KICK by Hero but Milano stays up! POWERBOMB by Hero into a Boston Crab with the knee in the back. Milano taps to that at 24:03. ****. Damn good match. Lots of submission based wrestling and innovative offense from both guys. Milano kept getting fooled by Hero and his heel tactics gave him the opening to win the match. I hadn’t seen Milano before this but DAMN, this guy is good.

The 411: Awesome show from IWA and one of their best from 2006. This is really the perfect introduction to those unfamiliar with the company. Low Ki vs. Necro is a must see for anyone. In addition, lots of variety with a wild TLC match, a nice technical main event between Hero and Milano Collection, and a superb match with Delirious and Generico. In addition, the crowd was very receptive and the wrestlers stepped up their game in response. Big thumbs up to this. You can purchase this and all IWA Mid South DVDS at www.smartmarkvideo.com and www.iwamidsouthwrestling.com

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]