BG Says Special Edition: IWA Mid-South and The Ted Petty Invitational Tournament

IWA fans know the story, but for the rest of you here’s the tale behind this tournament. During most of its history IWA Mid-South had been known as a company of death matches thanks to the exploits of owner and operator Ian Rotten. However, in the company were a group of young, “scientific” wrestlers who really didn’t participate in those kinds of bouts. Names you’d recognize like Ace Steel, Colt Cabana, CM Punk and Chris Hero were putting on matches that IWA could brag about. To capitalize on their talent the Sweet Science Sixteen tournament was created in 2000. It set out prove that IWA could be more than a garbage company through two nights of “scientific” wrestling.

The inaugural tournament saw the aforementioned wrestlers as well as other familiar names BJ Whitmer and Sharkboy competed amongst a field of sixteen (hence the title of the tournament) wrestlers to see who was the sweetest, so to speak. In actuality the term sweet science is more commonly used for boxing, so why Rotten would want to straight lift it for his tournament is something of a mystery to me. At any rate Chris Hero defeated Cabana, Steel, the American Kickboxer and Harry Palmer to win the first tournament. The next year IWA did it again, and this time around Ace Steel won by beating the Suicide Kid, Danny Dominion, Adam Pearce and Nova (now Simon Dean).

Then things changed. In 2002 shortly before the Sweet Science Sixteen was to be held Ted Petty of the tag team Public Enemy passed away. As a close buddy of Petty, Ian changed the name of the tournament to the Ted Petty Invitation to honor his fallen friend. Without the restrictive title the tournament would be expanded from a traditional 16-man affair to a 24-wrestler, triple bracketed tournament. This of course lead to triple threat matches in the main event every year.

With this year’s tournament having just ended and Mike Quackenbush coming out on top and winning the IWA Mid-South Championship in the process, I thought I’d go back and take a look at what passed winners of the Ted Petty Invitational had to go through to win the renowned tournament. First up is the 2002 edition. This first go around was the last stand for the 16-man structure. The independent scene had been blown wide open with an influx of incredibly talented wrestlers, which actually changed the tournament. Rather than showcase what IWA could do with their homegrown talent, Rotten brought in the most talented independent wrestlers from across the country to compete. IWA Mid-South champion CM-Punk had defeated M-Dogg 20, Christopher Daniels, and Chris Hero to get to the finals. BJ Whitmer got passed Matt Murphy, Ace Steel and Colt Cabana to make it to the end. CM Punk would rush the ring and declare that his belt was on the line in the match, as he so often did as a confident, cocky champion.

CM Punk VS. BJ Whitmer [IWA Mid-South Championship Match/Ted Petty Invitational Finals – Ted Petty Invitational 2002, Night 2]
Punk hits Whitmer with a suicide dive on his way to the ring. The action goes back inside where Punk hits a dropkick off the top and declares the belt is on the line. Whitmer hits a neckbreaker on the belt and they trade kicks to the back. Punk hits a vertical suplex and a knee to the gut. He hits a side Russian legsweep for 2. Whitmer hits a bodyslam and an elbowdrop for 2. He puts on a chinlock but Punk escapes with a chinbreaker. Punk washes Whitmer’s face and hits a powerslam for 2. He hits a back suplex for 2. He puts on a chinlock but Whitmer escapes and hits an elbowdrop for 2. Whitmer pulls Punk out of the corner with a powerbomb for 2. A cut from earlier in the night opens up on Punk’s forehead but Punk hits a chinbreaker anyway. He hits a crossbody for 2. Whitmer hits a lariat for 2. He hits a bodyslam and climbs the ropes. He hits a diving headbutt for 2. I wonder why he dropped that from his repertoire. He hits a German suplex and sets him in the Tree of Woe before hitting a dropkick for 2. He puts on a chinlock but Punk fights out and hits an overhead suplex. He goes for the Crooked Moonsault but Whitmer gets his knees up for 2. Whitmer hits crossface forearms for 2. Punk hits a hurricanrana and a big splash off the top for 2. Whitmer hits the wrist-clutch exploder for 2. Punk dropkicks the knee but Whitmer blocks the Shining Wizard. Punk puts on a cloverleaf but Whitmer gets to the ropes. Punk hits a head-and-arm suplex for 2. He hits the Shining Wizard for 2. Whitmer hits a brainbuster for 2. He hits a pair of German suplexes and a forearm to the back of the head before hitting a dragon suplex for 2. He sets Punk up top but Punk comes back with the Pepsi Plunge. It only gets 2 and Whitmer recovers entirely too fast. Punk climbs the ropes but Whitmer crotches him and hits a super brainbuster to win the title and the tournament at 17:28. This wasn’t the Punk and Whitmer you see on TV and in ROH today. Punk was still trying all kinds of things he wasn’t good at (Shining Wizard, top rope moves) and Whitmer’s style was very different than the one appropriate to him that he has since honed. That being said the match was good for these guys at their skill level at the time, but they’d have tighter matches against each other in the future.
Rating: ***¼

In 2003 IWA Mid-South changed the Ted Petty Invitational from a two-bracket tournament to a three-bracket tournament permanently. The finals would be a three way dance, meaning elimination rules. The company had picked up a considerable amount of steam for a few reasons. High profile independent company ROH began using IWA regulars like Punk, Whitmer, Steel and Cabana extensively and weren’t shy about telling fans the history between these wrestlers in companies like IWA Mid-South. Likewise some IWA wrestlers started to be seen on television in TNA. The final factor was the buzz spread by a 93 minute match between Hero and CM Punk that occurred at When Hero Met Punk. All these things brought a lot of attention to IWA, who put on their biggest tournament ever as a result. The finals saw wXw champion Chris Hero, (who had beaten Arik Cannon, Sonjay Dutt and B-Boy) take on Alex Shelley (who had beaten Chris Sabin, Jonny Storm and Ian Rotten) and champion Danny Daniels (who had defeated Ken Anderson, Jimmy Rave & AJ Styles) in the finals. Before the match Hero puts his belt on the line on the condition that Daniels to the same. Daniels agreed and so the match became the highest stakes Ted Petty finals yet.

Chris Hero VS. Danny Daniels VS. Alex Shelley [IWA Mid-South Championship & wXw World Heavyweight Championship Match/Ted Petty Invitational Finals – Ted Petty Invitational 2003, Night 2]
All three men trade holds to start, usually with one man being held in two holds at once. Daniels puts Hero down with a forearm to the back and then chops Shelley to the mat. Shelley sets Hero and Daniels in the corner and washes both of their faces at the same time, getting 2 on Hero. He hits Hero with a legdrop on the apron. Hero slingshots Daniels into the ring from the apron and hits a European uppercut for 2. He puts Daniels in the cravat but Shelley knocks Hero away with a dropkick and pins Daniels for 2. Daniels hits a short-arm clothesline on Shelley and dropkicks Hero to the floor. He tosses Shelley to the floor and dives out onto both men with a somersault off the top. Back in the ring He hits a vertical suplex but Shelley comes back with a fisherman neckbreaker for 2. Shelley crotches Hero on the top rope and goes for a superplex but Daniels pulls him down with a legsweep off the second rope. Hero comes off the top with a dropkick to both opponents. It gets 2 on Daniels. He hits a bodyslam on Shelley and the Hero Sandwich on Daniels while dropping a leg on Shelley for 2. Daniels blocks a blind charge and hits a swinging reverse DDT on Hero for 2. He hits a fisherman buster on Shelley for 2. Hero hits the Hero’s Welcome on Daniels and then hits the Hero’s Welcome Kings of Wrestling Edition with Shelley for 2. Shelley hits a dropkick and an enziguiri on Hero. He hits another enziguiri on Hero while spinning into a swinging DDT on Daniels for 2. He hits a bodyslam on Daniels but misses a corkscrew body press. Shelley and Hero hit a spike tombstone piledriver on Daniels for 2. Hero forces Shelley to put a deathlock on Daniels and then puts Shelley in a cravat. Shelley hits a cravat cutter on Hero and everyone is down. Hero hits a big boot on Shelley but Daniels catches him with a piledriver. Hero hits the Regalplex on Daniels. He puts on the Hangman’s Clutch but Daniels gets to the ropes. Hero hits the Alabamaslam and two consecutive Hero’s Welcomes. Shelley runs in and hits Hero with the Hero’s Welcome and the Shellshock to eliminate Hero and win the wXw belt at 16:17.

He pins Daniels for 2. Daniels counters the Shellshock to a head-and-arm suplex for 2. He hits a tombstone piledriver for 2. Shelley puts on the Border City Stretch but Daniels gets to the ropes. Daniels hits the Rubix Cube driver for 2. Shelley comes back with a brainbuster and the Border City Stretch but Daniels goes to the eyes to escape. Shelley counters the tombstone to the Shellshock for 2. A brawl breaks out between BJ Whitmer, Becky Bayless and Jimmy Jacobs at ringside, causing Shelley to get crotched on the top rope. Daniels takes advantage and hits a jumping piledriver and Tiger Driver ’98 to win the wXw title and the tournament at 22:23. I give them credit for not relying on the “one man resting while the other two fight” crutch, even if they couldn’t make the three-man portion that interesting. The bit that saw Hero helping Shelley because of his hatred for Daniels added some nice depth to the match. The one-on-one portion of the match was nice and dramatic but the goofy finish tarnished it some. It’s the finals of the biggest tournament of the year so let it have a clean finish. After the match former winner Whitmer congratulates his friend Daniels on his tainted win. Alas, evil Daniels doesn’t get away with everything, seeing as Hero agreed to put the belt on the line but Shelley never did after winning it in the middle of the match and thus Shelley is still the wXw champ. Jacobs tries to console Shelley for the loss, but Shelley clocks him with the title belt for costing him the match.
Rating: ***½

While Danny Daniels defended his title throughout the 2003 tournament, in 2004 champion Petey Williams did not do the same thing. He defended his belt against BJ Whitmer in the opening round, but then lost his title to Arik Cannon in the second round. Cannon, being a despicable human at this point in his career, did not defend the belt in his semi-final match against AJ Styles and thus did not lose the title when Styles advanced to the finals. That made this the first Ted Petty Invitational to have no title defended in the finals. This year the tournament was infused with the top independent names in the United States. The finals saw the top three draws in the tournament (which the exception of possibly CM Punk) fighting for the honor of winning the tournament. AJ Styles (who had beaten Jimmy Rave, Matt Sydal and Cannon) took on Samoa Joe (who had defeated Roderick Strong, Nigel McGuinness & Rainman) and Bryan Danielson (who got passed Alex Shelley, Punk and Mike Quackenbush) in the finals. The entire tournament was filled with gems in all different styles, including a great strong style match between Joe and Strong, a high-flying match between Styles and Sydal and a technical outing between Danielson and Quackenbush. The finals would prove to be the delicious icing on an impossible to forget cake.

Samoa Joe VS. AJ Styles VS. American Dragon [Ted Petty Invitational Finals – Ted Petty Invitational 2004, Night 2]
Everyone goes for roll ups to start. Danielson tries to choke Joe but Styles breaks it up with a forearm. Danielson gets the choke in on Joe so Styles puts a choke on Danielson. Joe slips around and puts a half crab on Styles until Danielson nails him with a dropkick. Danielson dumps Styles to the floor but misses a dive. Joe hits a suicide dive on Danielson and Styles hits a topé on both of them. Joe hits the Olé Kick on Styles but gets forearmed down by Danielson. Danielson sits Joe in a chair and knocks him out of it with a dropkick. Styles puts Danielson in a chair and knocks him out of it with a flying forearm. Back in the ring Styles gets 2. Danielson goes for a monkey flip on Styles but Styles turns it into a hurricanrana on Joe. He hits a German suplex on Danielson for 2. Joe hits a leg lariat and the STO on Styles, forcing Styles to hit an inverted DDT on Danielson at the same time. It gets 2 for Joe. He dumps Styles to the floor and kicks Danielson around. Danielson hits a dragon screw and slams Joe’s knee to the mat. He puts on a deathlock only to be dropkicked down by Styles. That of course puts a lot of pressure on Joe’s leg. Danielson hits a northern lights suplex for 2 while keeping the hold on Joe. He rolls Joe over for 2. Joe hits an enziguiri on Danielson and Styles adds a discus lariat to the mix. Joe hits the STJoe on Styles and calls for the Muscle Buster. He goes for it off the second rope but Danielson breaks it up. He crotches Styles on the top rope and hits Joe with a superplex. He hits a dragon suplex on Styles for 2. He puts on the Cow Killer but Styles powers out and hits the Pelé Kick. Joe puts the choke on Danielson and he taps out at 10:42. Styles tries to put Joe down with strikes and eventually does it with a running forearm. Joe comes back with forearms and easily puts Styles down for 2. Styles hits a leaping forearm but Joe comes back with Honda slaps. Styles puts Joe down with an enziguiri but collapses himself. Styles climbs the ropes but Joe crotches him and goes for the Muscle Buster. Styles blocks that and counters an enziguiri to a Styles Clash attempt but he just doesn’t have the energy to get Joe up. He goes for it again from a standing position but Joe blocks and hits the enziguiri. Joe goes for the second rope Muscle Buster but Styles drags him down only to again fail at hitting the Styles Clash. Three times turns out to be the charm and Styles hits it from the standing position at 14:33. The commentators really hammered home how difficult a night all three men had leading up to the finals, which explains the short match time. The match itself fit a lot of action into a small package. The final exchange between Joe and Styles was fantastic, with both men so desperate to hit their finisher and put the night to rest until one of them finally came up on the winning end. The triple threat bits and pieces with Danielson were also fun, even though everyone breaking up everyone’s submissions didn’t quite make sense. Still, best finals so far.
Rating: ****

In 2005 IWA champion Jimmy Jacobs wasn’t involved in the tournament. Rather he defended the belt in non-tournament matches both nights against Colt Cabana and Mickie Knuckles. It was unbelievably stupid. That made this the first year that a title didn’t factor into the tournament in any way. Kevin Steen (who beat Nate Webb, Brad Bradley and Mike Quackenbush) took on Matt Sydal (who beat El Generico, Tyler Black and Chris Sabin) and a tardy Arik Cannon (who squeaked passed Joey Ryan, Delirious and Chris Hero) in the finals.

Kevin Steen VS. Arik Cannon VS. Matt Sydal [Ted Petty Invitational Finals – Ted Petty Invitational 2005, Night 2]
The match starts out between Steen and Sydal only as Cannon was injured by Hero after losing to him in the semi-finals. Steen and Sydal lock up and fight in the corner to start. Steen hits a cheap shot so Sydal comes back with armdrags and a dropkick. Steen falls to the floor so Sydal follows him out and trades chops with him. The Canadian chops beat the American chops, as they too often do. Steen has a T-shirt on, being a fatty and all, which makes the exchange unfair in my opinion. Back in the ring Sheen hits a forearm for 2. He hits a vertical suplex and a somersault legdrop for 2. Sydal blocks a blind charge and hits a huge swinging DDT for 2. Steen comes back with a double stomp as Arik Cannon comes out to the ring with his arm in a sling. Cannon uses his good arm to chop Steen. Steen goes right after the arm and hits him with the package piledriver to eliminate him at 6:31. Well, at least they got him in there. Sydal catches Steen with a roll up for 2. He gets a sunset flip for 2. Steen hits a big clothesline and a swinging back suplex for 2. Sydal misses an enziguiri and crotches himself on the top rope. Steen knocks him to the floor before following him out and beating him in the crowd. He rams Sydal into the post. He grabs a Matt Sydal shirt off of the merchandise table and chokes Sydal with it. Back in the ring he hits a kneedrop for 2. He puts on a chinlock but Sydal fights out and hits a series of clotheslines. They have little effect so he hits an enziguiri sending Steen to the floor. Sydal follows him out with a twisting moonsault off the top. Back in the ring Steen catches Sydal coming off the top with the Air Raid Crash for 2. He counters a hurricanrana to a sit-out powerbomb for 2. Sydal counters the package piledriver to a hurricanrana for 2. He hits a leg lariat and climbs the ropes but Steen brings him down with a gutbuster. Steen climbs the ropes and hits a 450 splash for 2. He goes for a package piledriver off the second rope but Sydal fights him off and hits a shooting star press for the win at 16:29. This was more focused than past TPI finals, with Steen being the disrespectful but powerful newcomer, overwhelming everyone in his path until Sydal fought from behind and used his quickness to defeat him. The shooting star press really didn’t seem like it’d be enough to put down Steen, so the finish made him look a little weak in the end after being strong throughout the tournament. I guess all that fat slowed him down at the end. Steen was more hype than substance at this point in his career so the match wasn’t going to be a classic, but they put together a very good match through sheer force of will power. It wasn’t as good as the year before but it would be unfair to ask it to be.
Rating: ***¾

The 2006 tournament was notable for a huge influx of West Coast PWG wrestlers, CHIKARA wrestlers, as well as the return of the evil Jimmy Jacobs. Jacobs had a strained relationship with IWA after he threw the title belt in the trash at a rival AAW show. He did this because of problems with pay and cancelled shows making it hard for him to pay his rent. Night two of the tournament saw a title change as Chuck Taylor defeated Toby Klein to win the belt in a non-tournament match. As such the title was again never a factor in the tournament. While the tournament was made up largely of PWG and CHIKARA regulars, the only person on the CHIKARA roster to make it to the finals was IWA regular Arik Cannon. Cannon (who beat B-Boy, Hallowicked and Claudio Castagnoli and became the first wrestler to ever make it to the finals two years in a row) met Roderick Strong (who beat Brandon Thomaselli, Delirious and Chris Hero) and Low Ki (who beat Gran Akuma, Davey Richards and El Generico) in the finals.

Roderick Strong VS. Arik Cannon VS. Low-Ki [Ted Petty Invitational Finals – Ted Petty Invitational 2006, Night 2]
Ki strikes Cannon in the corner to start. Cannon tries to return fire and gets knocked around. Strong attacks Ki from behind and they trade strikes. Strong bodyslams Ki for 1. He puts Ki in a front facelock so Cannon does the same to him. Ki slips away from Strong and kicks Cannon in the head. Strong hits Ki with a backbreaker for 1. Strong and Cannon hit a double back elbow on Ki for 2. Cannon hits a back elbow on Strong and a snap suplex on Ki for 1. Strong hits a leg lariat on Cannon and shoves him to the floor. Ki hits the Koppo Kick on Strong but Cannon catches him in a butterfly lock. He switches to a hammerlock and holds on through a big boot from Strong. Strong eventually knocks Cannon away and gets 2 on Ki. He works over Cannon’s neck and hits a backbreaker on Ki. Ki kicks Strong down and Cannon puts him in a seated abdominal stretch. Ki breaks that up with a kick. He hits a back elbow for 2. Cannon puts Ki in a cross armbreaker but he gets to the ropes. Strong and Ki go kick for chop until Cannon comes in and breaks that up. He pokes Strong’s eyes and dropkicks his knee. Strong pulls Cannon to the floor and boots him into the crowd. Ki comes down and everyone chops everyone around. Back in the ring Strong hits Ki with a back suplex for 2. Cannon and Strong hit a double backdrop for 2. Cannon puts a leglock on Ki but Strong breaks that up with a chop to Cannon’s back. Why? Strong chops Cannon across the face so Cannon slugs him down. Cannon pokes Ki’s eyes for 2. He puts on a surfboard stretch allowing Strong to chop Ki’s chest. Strong hits a gutwrench suplex on Ki for 2. He puts on a modified abdominal stretch, which allows Cannon to put him in the head scissors. Strong and Cannon stretch Ki around the post. Strong rolls Cannon up for 2. Ki hits the Tidal Wave on Cannon and then levels him with a forearm. He hits the Koppo Kick on Strong and climbs the ropes. Strong cuts him off and goes for a superplex. Cannon stops that and hits a German superplex on Strong and tosses Ki to the mat. Cannon hits a second rope forearm on Strong and Ki goes for the Ki Krusher. Strong dodges it and hits Ki with a backbreaker in a magnificent sequence. Cannon hits a hanging neckbreaker on Strong for 2 when he grabs the bottom rope. He misses the Glimmering Warlock and Strong hits the Sick Kick. He puts on the Stronghold but Ki breaks it up with a dropkick. Again I ask why? Ki rolls Cannon up for 2. Ki unloads with strikes on Cannon but Cannon comes back with a side suplex. Strong gets up first and pins both opponents for 2. Strong hangs Cannon across the middle rope and Ki hits him with a double stomp off the top for 2. Ki and Strong trade strikes in an exchange that Ki wins to eliminate Strong at 27:36. Strong seemed to be legitimately knocked out as the referee was hesitant to count him down.

Ki sets Cannon up top but Cannon shoves him down. He hits Ki with a hanging Pedigree but can’t capitalized because his leg is injured. He hits a brainbuster for 2. Ki hits another Koppo Kick but Cannon comes back with the Glimmering Warlock for 2. He sets Ki up top and goes for a super brainbuster but Ki counters to a guillotine choke. The referee makes him break it so he knocks Cannon down and hits the phoenix splash for 2. He quickly puts on the Dragon Clutch and Cannon passes out at 34:09. The crowd was dead before events leading to Strong’s elimination, which lead to a lot of dead spots in the first half of the match. The story of the match was that Ki was heavily favored so Strong and Cannon focused on beating on him. The only problem was that Strong didn’t use his exciting offense in doing so and Cannon doesn’t really have exciting offense. Ki, the most explosive wrestler of the three wasn’t able to get any offense in for the majority of the first part of the match. Once things heated up between Strong and Ki the match never slowed down, but that was less than 1/3 of a match that went over thirty minutes. This was definitely the most epic of the Ted Petty finals to date, but not the classic I’ve heard it described as.
Rating: ****

The 411:  Ian Rotten has shown that his "book the matches that I want to see" mentality pays off at least one weekend a year. Whether the finals are above average as was the case in 2002 and 2003, or outstanding as was the case in 2004 and 2006, tournament lovers can't go wrong. The finals aren't all-time classics, but they are the culmination of what are usually phenomenal tournaments. I haven't seen this year's show yet but I hope Rotten booked shorter matches in this year's night two tournament matches so that Taylor, Claudio and Quackenbush had a lot of gas to burn. At any rate, if you're a fan of IWA-MS or a tournament fan at all these are just about the safest bet you can find. You can pick every edition of the Ted Petty Invitational up at Smart Mark Video.

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]