Death by Midwest: IWA Mid-South King of the Deathmatches 2007 Night Two

IWA Mid-South presents
The King of the Deathmatches 2007 Night Two
June 23rd, 2007
Capitol Sports Center in Plainfield, IN

Before we begin, a reminder to send all e-mail regarding my reviews to [email protected]. I LOVE ALL FEEDBACK. Especially if you know where to locate some early 80s World Class stuff. I’m jonesin’ for it.

#1: LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Brandon Thomaselli © vs. Low-Ki
Brandon beat Abercrombie to end his 15-month reign in May. The title is also called a World Title after being defended in Germany. Low Ki was finally defeated in IWA due to dirty tactics by Chuck Taylor in March. Brandon fakes high fives with a bunch of people. Ben Jordan is here tonight to do ring announcing and commentary. The ref finds brass knuckles on Brandon before the match. Crowd completely behind Ki in this one. Hard kick to the thigh by Ki to start. Brandon tries to avoid Ki’s strikes, and takes him down to the mat. Amateur style and that looks fantastic. Standoff and they get back to their feet. Brandon chops Ki but Ki REALLY chops Brandon. He’s pissed by Brandon’s heelish tactics and lack of respect. Ki knees Brandon in the face and then kicks him hard in the stomach. SPINE KICK gets 2 for Ki. Hard elbow drop gets 2 after that. Brandon puts Ki on the apron but Ki fires back with a kick to the chest. Back inside, Ki unloads a few kicks on Brandon. Brandon begs off from Ki, but suckers him and hits a back suplex. Snap suplex by Brandon gets 2. Cattle Mutiliation applied by Brandon but Ki quickly makes the ropes. He chops Ki but that just angers the crowd and Low Ki. Ki fires back with chops that knock Brandon down. Ki goes for a dropkick and Brandon hangs onto the ropes, so Ki falls right down to the mat. Brandon takes Ki down to the mat to keep him grounded. Brandon calls for the Powerbomb Lungblower but Ki elbows Brandon down and hits a JUMPING DOUBLE STOMP on Brandon’s chest! Chops by Ki and each one knocks Brandon down. In the corner, KOBASHI CHOPS. Forearm by Ki knocks Brandon down again. Flurry of kicks to Brandon’s chest. Ki gets whipped to the ropes but springboards back…TIDAL KRUSH!!! He nailed him in the face on that one. That gets 2. He whips Brandon into the corner and gets a Butterfly Suplex with a bridge…for 2! More kicks and chops. Brandon stops that with a dropkick to the knee and a Golden Gate Swing for 2. Brandon goes for the Powerbomb Lungblower again but Ki elbows out the same way he did before. He kicks Brandon in the chest and Brandon bumps into the ref. Hot shot by Brandon. POWERBOMB LUNGBLOWER by Brandon but the ref is down. He goes to the ref and gets the brass knucks that the ref took earlier. But here comes Ki…JOHN WOO DROPKICK! Ki heads up to the top rope but Brandon knocks the recovering ref into the ropes and Ki falls to the mat. Ki goes for a back suplex but Brandon hits him with the brass knucks and falls on top for the 3 at 17:30. ***1/4. Good match and Brandon looked good in terms of his execution. Character-wise, I’m not so sure. It looked much more like a fluke win, while Chuck Taylor looked strong in his match before resorting to cheating. I’m just in the line of thinking that a heel shouldn’t be cheating all the time to gain a victory.

#2: CIRCLE CITY STREET FIGHT: Southern Rock w/Joey Eastman vs. Naptown Dragons
Southern Rock are Indiana Kidd Jr and Hillbilly Jed. The Dragons are OMG and Scotty Vortekz. Before the match, Eastman gets on the mic. “Camera man……ZOOOOOOM!” He says he’s been hired by Southern Rock to point that their flaws, but now they don’t have any. He says the Naptown Dragons have been a thorn in his side and tonight they’re going down. Scotty drop toeholds Kidd and OMG then headscissors Jed onto his own partner. And Jed’s about 400 pounds, too. Then throw Jed in the corner and hit a Poetry in Motion with double knees. Jed tries to suplex them both but they reverse into a double neckbreaker for 2. Kidd and OMG head to the floor. Jed avoids a whip and throws Scotty to the floor. Kidd hits OMG with some weapons that are gathered around there. Scotty takes a suplex on the floor. Kidd gets a neckbreaker on the floor from OMG. There’s more weapon shots but they seem to be of the more plunder than deathmatch variety. Then Scotty gets a thumbtack bat to the head. Then Eastman hits Scotty with a light tube bundle. OMG is in a Tree of Woe in the corner, Eastman holds light tubes to his chest as Jed splashes him. Scotty brings in a board of plastic forks. OMG might be knocked out. Kidd picks up Scotty…POWERBOMB ON THE FORKS!!!!! Jed is getting his arm taped up as it was cut badly by the light tube splash. Scotty’s back is a mess from those forks. Kidd puts OMG on the top rope and gives him a SUPER BRAINBUSTER. On the outside, Jed splashes Scotty into the apron. Kidd puts OMG over his shoulder and takes him to the top rope…SUPER MICHINOKU DRIVER! Jed’s on the top. Scotty in and he hits a Arachnid Kick on Kidd. He tries to throw Jed off but Jed hits a CODE RED. Or was it a Canadian Destroyer? Well, it was a 400 pounder flipping. Jed is clutching that bleeding arm and it’s soaking through the tape. OMG breaks up a pin. Kidd brings up a light tube John Cena poster. He backdrops OMG into the buckles. Death Valley Driver by Scotty on Kidd as Jed duck tape OMG to the bottom rope but Scotty stops it and they tape Jed to the ropes. They fuck up a Tornado DDT badly and get a 2. What the hell? OMG gets put up by Kidd but Scotty breaks it up…POWERBOMB/BLOCKBUSTER FROM THE TOP on Kidd! They put him on the light tubes…DOUBLE KNEE STOMP ON THE TUBES gets the win at 12:09. ***1/4. Well damn that was fun. Besides that one bad screwup, that was a heated brawl that was less of a bloodbath than deathmatches while being no less violent. Hillbilly Jed particularly impressed me as while he’s a huge, huge fat guy, he still worked well and didn’t go work slow and boring like I expected. Good match.

Onto tournament action!

#3: ELECTRIFED LIGHT TUBES: Madman Pondo vs. Corporal Robinson
The 2003 and 2004 KOTDM winners facing off here. Pondo takes the mic and says a “whore” in the audience left her diaphragm in his backyard. He said he went to pick it up and it was just a kiddie swimming pool. BA-ZING! Girl in the crowd takes it all in stride. Both men avoid the electrified tubes into Pondo gets drop toe holded into it. Someone brought a toy horse with light bulbs all over it. Weird. Stop sign shot by Pondo. He puts Corp in a Tree of Woe and puts a stop sign over his face and just throws a chair at it. Owww. He takes the electrified tubes and rubs it on Corp’s face! He sits Corp in a chair and grabs the Hardcore Horse. He puts in Corp’s lap and then splashes Corp from the top! The bulbs hit Corp’s face! That gets 2. Pondo swings the lit tubes at Corp but Corp ducks and kicks them in Pondo’s face. That gets 2. He digs a broken tube into Pondo’s head. Corp sets up 2 chairs and puts the last set of lit tubes on it and backdrops Pondo on it but it didn’t break the right way. Pondo however is covered as blood and Corp digs a broken tube into his head. And the camera man zooms in. Sick bastards. Corp sets up light tubes over two chairs and gives Pondo a bad rana off the top through the tubes for the win at 8:52. ½*. Sloppy. About 3 or 4 spots got messed up there. Worst match of the tournament so far.

#4: FANS BRING THE WEAPONS: Brain Damage vs. Mickie Knuckles
Mitch Page predicts Mickie’s gonna die. Mickie hits Damage with a DVD player. And then a barbed wire light tube bundle. Then she digs barbed wire into his head. Damage is the corner with light tubes over him as Mickie gives the B-Boy sign….FACELIFT WITH LIGH TUBES! Damage’s entire head is bleeding. Water jug bat to the head. Mickie hits the Shining Kawada Kick but it only gets 2. Damage fights back and nails her with a trashcan. And it’s cheese grater time. Damage rubs a thumbtack roller on her back. Owwww. Mickie gets a broken light tube in her forehead. Then he digs barbed wire into her arm BADLY. Mickie fakes like she’s crying and Damage stops, and Mickie gets a rollup for 2. That pisses off Brain Damage who starts PUNCHING HER IN THE DAMN FACE. OWWWW. Crowd is going nuts. FOREARMS FROM MICKIE! HEADBUTTS!!! “IWA! IWA!”-Plainfield. Mickie hits the Shining Kawada Kick again, but it still gets 2. FOLDOVER POWERBOMB from Brain Damage…for 2. PACKAGE PILEDRIVER……for 2!!!! Crowd is really into this one. PACKAGE PILEDRIVER ON LIGHT TUBES and that gets 3 at 7:12. **3/4. Short but absolutely wild action. This makes me want to see Brain Damage try his hand in non-deathmatch stuff. They hit all their spots in this one and put in some good brawling on top of the weapons stuff.

#5: IWA DEATHMATCH TITLE, BARBED WIRE BOARDS, BATS, AND SHIT THAT STINGS MATCH: Drake Younger © vs. Dysfunction
This is gonna be gruesome. Two good non-deathmatch workers in a deathmatch. Both guys very over here. Big girly pop for Drake. Both guys avoid the boards and start with forearms! Both of these guys were in the 2006 Strong Style tournament so they’re heavy hitters. Drake tears Dys’s shirt open and rubs barbed wire on it, then pours HOT SAUCE in it! You sick puppies. Cheese grater to the forehead of Drake. Drake grabs a light tube but Dys cuts him off. Drake rubs a cheese grater on Dysfunction’s tounge and then POURS SALT ON IT! Oh man. That is nasty. SUPERKICK by Dysfunction. Then he nails him with the barbed wire bat. Dys finds thumbtack sandals and puts them under his boots and double stomps Drake. Owwww. Dysfunction exposes Drake’s back, rubs barbed wire on it, then SQUEEZES A LEMON on the wounds. Then Dys spits lemon juice in Drake’s face. That gets 2 in the ring. Double stomp misses and Drake hits a spinebuster. Lemon juice into the forehead and eyes of Dysfunction. Drake goes for a Razor’s Edge onto a barbed wire bat but Dysfunction avoids it. SIT OUT ROCK BOTTOM by Dysfunction on the bat! Dysfunction exposes Drake’s back again for SPINE KICKS. Then a RUNNING KICK TO THE FACE for 2. Drake reverses course…Falcon Arrow on the barbed wire bat! Drake goes up for a Frog Splash…no water in the pool. Dysfunction goes up with the barbed wire bat….GUILLOTINE LEG DROP WITH THE BARBED WIRE BAT! That gets 2. Drake grabs Dysfunction…Running Powerslam through the Barbed Wire board….for 2! He goes for a Vertebreaker through the other board, but both men reverse each other. Dysfunction knocks Drake to the floor and kicks and chops him. Dysfunction gets posted. Back inside, Drake goes up top and Dysfunction cuts him off, CRADLE DEATH VALLEY DRIVER on the board and Dysfunction wins the match and the title at 10:00 even. ***. Good match with lots of sick stuff. It got way better when they went in the ring and started working with the boards. These guys go all out with their bumps and that makes these matches better to watch.

Dysfunction after the match says it’s his destiny to win the KOTDM. Drake says he’s upset with himself and says it’s his mission to win the Ted Petty Invitational. WHOA! Statement! Another better promo from Drake.

End of disc one. Another second round match, the semis and the finals to go.

#6: FANS BRING THE WEAPONS: Freakshow vs. Necro Butcher
Necro uses “Freebird” for his entrance this time. Necro should really be picked up full time by Ring of Honor. He’d make a great addition there. Necro comes in a house of fire and unloads NECRO PUNCHES on Freakshow around the ring. Necro BITES A LIGHT TUBE. That is insane. He beats on Freakshow with a barbed wire 2×4. Freakshow fires back with punches and headbutts of his own and then a keyboard to the head. They start with various plunder like a rake and a tennis racket. I’m sure Jim Cornette would love this. Freakshow gets a chair thrown at him HARD. Necro gouges at his eyes. Freakshow’s bleeding all over the bleachers. Necro grabs chairs….BAR FIGHT! They trade punches with Necro winning that one. Crowd is completely behind Necro. Necro hits him with some things including the new ring steps. Freakshow gets a Last Call into the ring post! And puts him into a Boston Crab! Bundle of light tubes to the head of Necro. Then Freakshow grinds his head with a motorcycle chain. Then he hits him with a BANK ONE sign. That’s a first. Back in the ring Necro gets another light tube bundle. Necro’s crazy for doing these matches barefoot. 2 count on Necro. Necro tries to slam Freakshow but he falls down for 2. Pane of glass to Necro’s head. Freakshow misses with an elbow drop. NECRO PUNCHES and it’s looks like a chunk of Freakshow’s forehead came off! He slams Freakshow! Not exactly Hogan/Andre, though. Necro comes off the top with a crossbody for 2. Short arm lariat by Freakshow and he sets up a barbed wire board. Chicken wing DDT on the board gets 3 for Freakshow at 13:40.
*. Brutal but Freakshow moved really slow and the last few minutes weren’t very pretty. Plus the finish really came out of nowhere. Freakshow stays in the tournament and the crowd is not happy with the IWA Deep South guy advancing.

And now there’s a non-tournament match!

#7: FANS BRING THE WEAPONS: Insane Lane & Danny Havoc vs. Deranged & Fukimoto vs. Mean & Hard w/Jim Fannin
The team of Mean and Hard reunite! There’s a ton of stuff in the ring, including a gigantic penis. Not a real one. This one will be hard to call. Havoc gets a thumbtack bat from Hard. Page gouges Deranged with bamboo. Hard goes through the barbed wire board. Basically, everyone is beating on each other. Havoc doesn’t have a shirt to get tied up in by Hard, so Hard ties his legs with the gigantic penis. Then he beats him with it. Lane gets a thumbtack bat to the bat from Fukimoto. Insane Lane finds a Richard Nixon mask. Fukimoto MISSILE DROPKICKS light tubes into Havoc. Lane gets a frying pan from Page. Fukimoto gets a figure four on Havoc. Fannin’s running around hitting people with things. Brainbuster by Havoc on Fukimoto. LAST CALL by Deranged on Havoc into the buckles with light tubes! Damn! Danny Havoc is out of his mind. Everyone’s bleeding. Hard hits Havoc in the stomach with an ornament stick. In the ring, Fukimoto sets up Havoc…SHINING WIZARD WITH LIGHT TUBES!!! That was fantastic. Hard breaks up the pin and hits an EMERALD FUSION on Fukimoto for 2. Someone give the ref some gloves. He’s just counting in the air. Havoc gets hiptossed into debris and then a hard chairshot by Deranged. Hard hits Deranged with a watermelon. Then he breaks it over Insane Lane. Page spits pickle juice into Lane’s wounds. Suplex on the floor to Fukimoto by Havoc. Hard and Havoc trade punches. GREEN MIST by Fukimoto on Havoc but Hard gives him a Death Valley Driver. Mean and Hard grab Havoc for a DOUBLE BURNING HAMMER. Uh oh, Hard’s got a lighter and rubbing alcohol…FLAMING CHOP! It misses and Lane hits a Pumphandle Slam for the win at 11:38. **. Messy but so much fun. It makes me wish Havoc and Fukimoto would be wrestling each other. After the match, Ian Rotten comes out and puts over Mitch Page since Ian trained him. This was Mitch’s last weekend in wrestling as he’s decided to retire. Crowd says “Thank you Mitch”. Mitch takes the mic and says he’s retiring for his son. He thanks the fans, his partner Rollin Hard, Ian Rotten, and Jim Fannin. Nice moment.

And now it’s time for the semifinals.

#8: IWA DEATHMATCH TITLE, LONDON BRIDGE DEATH MATCH: Dysfunction (c) vs. Corporal Robinson
This is a new concept. Barbed wire is strung horizontally from the top ropes like a Circus Death Match, and there’s light tubes on top of the wire. Dysfunction crawls into the ring underneath the web. Corp’s forehead is still tore up to hell from the second round match. Dueling chants to start off. They start fighting on the knees under the wire with stiff punches and kicks. Dysfunction starts bleeding from punches. Dys picks Corp up and presses him into the wire above. Both these guys are so scarred they start bleeding as soon as they touched each other. Corp gets a light tube to the head. Dys gets a 2 count on that. Corp picks Dys up into the wire and makes it worse by basically standing. Dys gets a light tube headbutt! Corp tries to get a chair under the ring but Dys cuts off. Corp puts on a figure four on the outside. Dys breaks it up with a light tube shot. Dys hooks on a Texas Cloverleaf for a moment. Dys heads up top but Corp cuts him off and tosses Dysfunction into the barbed wire net!!! Corp hooks on the Cobra Clutch while Dysfunction’s in the wire. His arm goes down three times and Corp moves on at 5:50. 1/4*. It’s been said the semifinals tend to be the worst matches of the KOTDM every year. The match concept doesn’t seem like it worked well in practice. I give a quarter star for the finish, but it was just too short and was really just a few tube shots and the finish. Corp also wins the deathmatch title as he moves to the finals.

#9: PITS OF CHARCOALS AND LIT CIGARETTES: Brain Damage vs. Freakshow-1:10
This is going to be quite painful. Both guys are very scarred and bloody. Damage jumps Freakshow and clubs at him. He knee drops Freakshow’s head on a chair. Freakshow fights back with punches and side slams Damage onto the bleachers. Ouch. Back inside for more clubberin’. Damage gets some light tube shots. Freakshow brings the box of lit cigarettes into the ring. He takes one of them and extinguishes it on Damage’s tongue! Damage fights back by grabbing two and grinding them into Freakshow’s head. Damage throws Freakshow in the corner for a Mafia Kick. Good one, too. A flurry of punches takes Freakshow down and Damages give him an Inverted DDT into the box of cigarettes for 2. It was more like tripping into it but it still hurt. “This is my fucking house!”-Damage. That gets a good reaction. On the outside Damage gets tossed into the charcoals. He gets up but Freakshow throws him again and pins him for the win at 6:55. ¼*. Really slow and short. I give a quarter star for touching that stuff but both bumps were very sloppy.

#10: THE FINALS! IWA DEATHMATCH TITLE, NO ROPE BARBED WIRE 200 LIGHT TUBES: Corporal Robinson © vs. Freakshow-13:10
Both guys are scarred up beyond belief at this point. They looked bad enough after last night, but with this being the 3rd match of tonight, they look like the cast of Band of Brothers. Crowd’s on their feet for this one and solidly behind Corp. They start by trading punches with Corp winning that. Then it’s a light tube duel! They break about 7 each on each other. Freakshow is bleeding terribly from his shoulder. Corp grabs him…BULLDOG INTO LIGHT TUBES! Face first! Then a huge light tube bat shot. Corp sets up more tubes but Freakshow catches him in a Powerbomb on the tubes! Damn. That gets 2. There’s just glass everywhere in the ring. Corp gets a light tube bundle and suplexes Freakshow on it. Then Corp gets a sidewalk slam on another bundle. Corp’s back is a complete mess. Corp shoves Freakshow into a the barbed wire and light tubes and that gets 2. Corp breaks out 10 more light tubes on Freakshow and then digs it into his chest. Samoan Drop by Freakshow into the debris in the ring. They battle it out with punches and both men go down. Freakshow gets Boot Camp through the Log Cabin of light tubes and gets the win at 11:37. **. I’m being generous with all the brutality involved. Crowd loves Corp’s win as he becomes only the 2nd ever 2-time KOTDM winner and prevents the Deep South guys from winning the tournament.

After the match, Insane Lane and Freakshow beat Corp down and are going to drive the spike into his eye like they did with Ian until Ian and Drake run them off. Crowd chants for IWA Mid South and the show comes to a close.

The 411: Not as good in terms of match quality as the first Night One. Lots of shorter matches, and with guys wrestling multiple times, they didn't take as many risks. The two best matches are on the show are the openers with the Ki/Thomaselli match and the Street Fight. Still, a deathmatch show can be entertaining without high match ratings due to the violent spectacle. I enjoyed my first KOTDM review and I'd recommend this year's version to any fan of violence. You can purchase this and other IWA M-S DVDs at smartmarkvideo.com or iwamidsouthwrestling.com

Final Score:  6.0   [ Average ]