IWA-MS Prince of the Deathmatches 2015

It is 2015 and I'm in Clarksville, Indiana, for IWA-MS's second POTDM. The first was held five years prior and won by Neil Diamond Cutter. This being a deathmatch-rookie tournament, there's no title to win or defend. Instead, the winner will earn a spot in the next KOTDM and thereby a chance to prove himself among the big shots.

I've always liked this concept; a dedicated tournament for rookies to test the deathmatch-waters. Something like this is really missing in today's wrestling landscape. A proving ground for the next generation where they aren't jobbed out or overshadowed by the usual suspects.

Obviously, it's going to be difficult to put 10 years of hindsight aside for this show, but I'll try to judge everyone as a rookie (at least in regards to deathmatches).

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Non-Tournament Match

ROUND 1

Match 1 - Barbed Wire Madness – JC Rotten vs. Kerry Awful

Match 2 – Human Pin Cushion – Kathy Owens vs. American Viking

Non-Tournament Matches

ROUND 1

Match 3 – Glass – Adam Bueller vs. Dale Patricks

Match 4 – Tables, Ladders & Lighttubes - Nick Doepp vs. Mikey McFinnegan

Corporal Robinson

ROUND 2

FINAL

Final Thoughts

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Non-Tournament Match

The Hooligans vs. The Try Out Show Rejects

Both Hooligans wear black singlets to black shorts and proper footwear. Since it isn't a deathmatch, color isn't a factor in my judgement, so I have no complaints here.

Reed Bentley wears black trunks to a red flannel, Murdoch a black singlet to a blue flannel, both have proper footwear. Again, no complaints. It's close, but I'll go with the Rejects for one fairly minor reason: Their wrestling attire is more visible which makes them more recognizable as wrestlers at first glance.

Normally, I'd skip a non-tournament match. However, as attentive readers certainly noticed, this one involves John Wayne Murdoch, the sole offering of eye candy on this card. Plus, I happen to know the match is quite entertaining and involves at least chairs, so it technically qualifies as hardcore.

Waxahatchie is in Tennessee today, by the way, and everyone except Mason Cutter (5'7) is 5'10 according to Cagematch.

The match starts with Bentley and... I'm sorry. I already struggle not to mix up Joel Bateman and Eric Ryan. There's no way I can tell the Cutters apart. After an early tag, Murdoch gets a first one one count, then tags Bentley back in. This is so orderly. People are actually tagging. I'm not used to that. Quick tags, some early double teaming from the Rejects, then the proper wrestling turns into a brawl. The Hooligans clear the ring, and with a suicide dive, the action moves to the outside.

The chairs come out, to the detriment of the Rejects, who get buried under a pile before a Tumbleweed, the Hooligans' assisted corkscrew senton trademark. The tides turn and one of the Cutters, buried under chairs, gets payback in the form of an assisted senton by Murdoch. He and both Hooligans return to the ring for more double teaming. Then there's an official tag; the Hooligans remain in charge, now with a Sleeperhold on Murdoch.

Another tag, Murdoch now Ricky Mortons while Bentley returns to their corner to wait for the hot tag. Murdoch gets his chance after a dropkick, both tag at the same time, and Bentley is furious. Now the Rejects team up, but soon, Bentley finds himself on the receiving end of a double team combo in the corner. He kicks out of a cover at two, and Murdoch returns to the ring. The advantage is back with the Rejects, although not for long. A double pinfall by both Rejects is broken up by a top rope dropkick, and now the Hooligans have the upper hand over Murdoch, getting a two count while Bentley is down and out. He returns just in time to break up another cover, followed by an assisted top rope Deep South Destroyer that gets Murdoch a three count.

The crowd is right; 'this was awesome'. One hell of an opener, and honestly better than most the tournament matches if my memory serves me right. Bentley gets a mic to praise their opponents. He'll also join Nick Maniwa on commentary for the remainder of the show which is always a bonus.

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ROUND 1

Match 1 - Barbed Wire Madness – JC Rotten vs. Kerry Awful

JC Rotten wears a black singlet to blue jeans shorts, but at least his belt matches his footwear. Not great, but the presence of wrestling attire is enough to beat his opponent. Kerry Awful wears long jeans under yellow kneepads, a light-blue shirt and what looks like street shoes. Except for the light color of the shirt, this is hopeless. He gets a mic and tries to excuse his terrible fashion sense by saying he was called for the show on very short notice, then gets attacked by JC from behind.

The stipulation translates to barbed wire boards and weapons, and the action goes right out of the ring. It is Awful's first ever deathmatch, and he's the first to make use of a barbed wire bat. Back in the ring, JC's valet Sabrina Sixx distracts Awful, and JC attacks with a chair. He's handed the barbed wire bat and uses it to carve Awful's forehead, then walks right into a dick kick.

More carving. A barbed wire table on the outside briefly comes into frame. For now, Awful suplexes Rotten through a barbed wire board in the ring though. A cover only yields a two. Rotten is back in charge and hits a shotgun dropkick against Awful and the barbed wire bat in a corner. The advantage shifts back to Awful while Sabrina Sixx screetches like a banshee on the outside.

Rotten ends up in a crossface of sorts, Awful spits on him to mock Sabrina Sixx. Rotten fights back, possibly to make her stop screaming. Awful gets him on the apron above the barbed wire table which doesn't break after a chokeslam. The table, now folded, gets propped against the ring, and a suplex just barely manages to break it.

Both are down now. Sabrina Sixx chokes Awful, then he and Rotten return to the ring. Awful takes off his shirt and lowers his singlet – too late, and with the long jeans and street shoes, there was no winning anyway.

Another suplex on the barbed wire board follows. Sixx interferes, providing enough distraction to let Rotten get up and DDT Awful onto a chair for a three count.

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Match 2 – Human Pin Cushion – Kathy Owens vs. American Viking

Kathy Owens wears all black; shirt – several layers though - shorts, nylons, proper boots. Terrible colors, fairly decent exposure. The American Viking aka an earlier form of Herzog wears plain black trunks to proper boots. Same color issue, far better exposure.

Why oh why does this have to be the intergender match? Against 6'5 Herzog who neither Kathy Owens nor any other women can possibly lift. Why not give her someone who at least looks somewhat evenly matched? According to commentary, she took somebody else's spot. Ok, if she stepped up, I'll overlook the issue.

Every single person in this image is 5'10.

The stipulation involves two bats, presumably with thumbtacks, a pit of unknown content, and a carpet strip board. Herzog also adds chairs and after early attempts from Owens to elbow strike him (and barely reaching his chin), a slow and one-sided slugfest ensues. Both slap each other with thumbtacks from the pit. It ends with Kathy 'the Butcher' Owens getting a mouthful of thumbtacks and a slam into the pit.

Herzog drags her out of the ring for a knee strike, then finds more carpet strips. Owens disarms him though, hits him over the back, then carves his forehead. Shortly after, Herzog is back in charge and beats Owens down outside the ring with more carpet strips.

Back in the ring, Owens counters a chokebreaker attempt and actually manages to lift Herzog and slam him into the thumbtacks. I take back what I said earlier about lifting him, and change my verdict to 'Amazing Maria could probably vertical suplex him'.

For some reason, Owens doesn't go for a cover. Instead, she leaves the ring and sets up the carpet strip board between chairs. Herzog catches her with two running big boots, then manages to hold onto the ropes when she evades the third, standing on the apron above her contraption. He gives her the world's weakest chokeslam through the board, then gets a three count.

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Non-Tournament Match

Loser leaves Town – Jimmy Jacobs vs. Ace Perry

I'll skip this match because it's neither hardcore/deathmatch nor part of the tournament. Quick fashion verdict: Jimmy Jacobs wears black tights to proper footwear and a black coat, Ace Perry wears black trunks to proper footwear and a blue hoodie. Coat and hoodie come off, nothing wrong with either outfit, but I personally like Perry's better because Jacobs wears a metal choker and a studded belt, and that doesn't look comfortable to me.

For context, this was Jacobs' farewell match before leaving IWA-MS in favor of ROH. It's a really long match, over 20 minutes, and followed by a long promo, so I'm skipping quite a bit of a 3 hours long show here.

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Non-Tournament Match

IWA-MS Heavyweight Title Match – Zodiak vs. Kongo Kong (C)

Another match I'll skip for the same reasons as above. Zodiak wears Kane's discarded mask, red-black singlet, black vest, proper boots, and his manager Jason Saint for some reason wears fake monster teeth.

Dude, what?

Kongo Kong wears dark blue and golden trunks, facepaint, proper boots, and has the more respectably dressed manager in Rodney Rush. Kong has the better, more distinct theme, so he's the winner of this fashion duel.

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ROUND 1 continued

Match 3 – Glass – Adam Bueller vs. Dale Patricks

Bueller wears off-white/tan cargo shorts, a black Batman hoodie, proper footwear. I expect the hoodie to come off, and it will come down to good colors, bad sportswear. Dale Patricks wears a red shirt over a red singlet, proper footwear – white, too, although kickpads typically don't soak well. The exposure on both is decent and about even. I've seen worse from Bueller and better from Patricks, and I'm going with the latter here because the singlet simply makes him look a lot more like a wrestler.

The stipulation, named as blandly as a stipulation could possibly be named, consists of two pits of lighttubes and possibly broken glass, a lighttube contraption, and a chair.

Patricks reinforces his fashion victory by removing the shirt. The singlet is pulled down already, so his exposure is not only far better than Bueller's – by now also hoodie-less – but as good as it can get. Paired with non-black attire, that puts him ahead of Herzog and in the deathmatch fashion pole position.

The match starts with a lock-up. Patricks is the first to make contact with the plunder, going face first into a pit of bottle glass. Then Bueller gets some shards to start carving before setting up the lighttube contraption in a corner.

Markus Crane joins commentary, but is wisely not given a microphone. Meanwhile, Patricks put Bueller through the tubes with a Death Valley Driver and now does some carving, then the action moves to the outside. A chop exchange ensues, then a chair shot from Bueller leaves Patricks floored. More chairs get involved, still outside the ring, when Bueller sets up a pit on them.

After a brief back and forth, Bueller goes for a suplex from the apron, but Patricks fights out of it and instead puts them both into the pit with a Russian Leg Sweep.

Patricks is the first to get up and return to the ring. Bueller follows and floors him with a cutter, then shows a standing moonsault. Kicks and lighttube-shots are next, then Patricks powers up and evades a superkick. He gets a two count after a Blue Thunder Bomb and half-heartedly starts a construction, setting up one chair. Bueller catches him off guard though, and Patricks just barely kicks out at two after a suplex. Bueller just walks around for a bit, then continues the construction with a second chair and lighttubes.

A struggle ends with Patricks down after a DDT, but he gets up in time to interrupt whatever Bueller was planning on the top rope. Patricks throws him down and through the contraption, gets a three count, and advances. Certainly the best of the tournament matches.

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Match 4 – Tables, Ladders & Lighttubes - Nick Doepp vs. Mikey McFinnegan

Doepp wears a black singlet and tights to sneakers, and acts delightfully obnoxious right away. Mikey McFinnegan wears a shirt of unidentifyable color – something between mud and olive – to ratty jeans shorts and proper boots. Difficult. Both are fairly covered up, Doepp is all in black and lacks acceptable footwear, McFinnegan looks like a hobo, but has boots. Both outfits are terrible in their own way, so I'll call it a tie.

The stipulation has barbed wire and lighttube tables on the outside, a ladder, and lighttubes.

McFinnegan immediately attacks and sends Doepp – who loudly complains about not wanting to do this because he's a sports entertainer – out of the ring. McFinnegan smashes a lighttube on his head though, then chases him around the ring for another tube smash. Doepp can wrestle, but he can entertain and be obnoxious as fuck even better, and I expect that to carry this match to a watchable level. Doepp decides to stop groveling and instead attacks with a chair, a running big boot, and finally tries a suicide dive against McFinnegan who gets up and smashes the lighttube bundle on him in mid-flight. When McFinnegan returns to the ring, Doepp is in charge and gets payback by kicking him through the lighttube-board from the apron.

Now warmed up to the idea of weapons, Doepp arms himself with lighttubes and follows McFinnegan out of the ring. After smashing them, he wanders around quite a bit, then decides to set up the barbed wire table in the ring. McFinnegan stumbles around on the outside though and makes no move to go near the table, so Doepp goes back outside for an exchange of punches and a DDT onto a chair. Doepp finally manages to get his opponent back in the ring, and now there's also a ladder in a corner. McFinnegan gains the upper hand and sets up the ladder to climb up. A double stomp puts Doepp through the barbed wire board and yields a three count.

Yeah, my prediction held up. Doepp being a dipshit was the best part of this match.

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INTERMISSION (Corp’s, not mine)

A wild Corporal Robinson appears although he is not on the card. After greeting every single fan in attendance personally, Corp deigns to enter the ring where 4 tube bundles, 1 electrified, are waiting. Corp gets a microphone and starts ranting about 'new guys in the back' and 'not trusting anyone' and 'not giving a fuck'. I don't think he's here to wrestle. Oh wait. Maybe he is. He makes an open challenge to everyone in the back.

The camera zooms to both Rejects, not in the back, while Corp rants about Schwartzy and puts a $1000 bounty on his head. He rants and rambles, Ian Rotten holds back the Rejects. Or maybe he and Bentley hold back Murdoch. Bentley still wears glasses and doesn't look ready to wrestle either.

Pictured: Roughly my level of interest in Corp's rant.

Corp raves about being the one who 'built the thing' and calls out the Rejects. Corp offers $1000 for anyone to come out and fight him, presumably because the Rejects just left. No, he wants Schwartzy again. Not the most decisive one today, are we? Someone does come out, but it's neither one of the Rejects nor Schwartzy. It's a rookie in shorts and street shoes, and Corp suplexes him around, then gets chairs. He continues to beat the kid up and I continue to wonder if this is going somewhere at some point.

Ian Rotten gets the kid out of the ring and – presumably, he has no mic – talks Corp down. At least it looks like he's about to leave now. No, he's still on about wanting to kill Schwartzy. Finally. The extended intermission is over.

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ROUND 2

Match 1 – Electrified Lighttubes – JC Rotten vs. Dale Patricks

No outfit change for Rotten except for some battle damage. Not that it would matter because he's up against frontrunner – by lightyears – Dale Patricks, limping, still in pulled down red singlet and with significantly better battle damage.

Patricks immediately attacks before even entering the ring and is firmly in charge early on. Rotten fights back, smashes a tube on him, then chokes him with a chair and follows up with an unprotected head shot.

For the first time, they enter the ring and it's Patricks' turn to smash tubes now. A superkick floors Rotten, but after an exchange of kicks and punches, he dropkicks a bundle of tubes on Patricks in a corner for a first two count. Patricks gets the same result from a lighttube-enhanced superkick, then sets up a chair, but gets back suplexed onto it. Rotten now goes for the electrified bundle and puts Patricks in it with a Saito Suplex. Patricks kicks out at 2.5, Rotten resorts to carving with broken tubes instead of following up. At some point, he shows a Butterfly Suplex, only to get Blue Thunder Bombed for a one count.

Patricks sets the chair back up and plugs in another bundle of lighttubes. Sabrina Sixx is screeching away at ringside again while the ref aids with the construction. Rotten gets powerbombed through it and Patricks gets a two count. Hulking up, he smashes tubes on himself and Rotten, until Rotten cuts him off with a dick kick. He sticks a tube in Patricks' singlet and kicks it, Patricks does his bare ass spots, even getting superplexed, and actually spends a long time almost naked in all the broken glass.

Just for the record, he's 23. This is perfectly legal despite commentary's claims.

Rotten finally gets another electrified bundle, but ends up getting suplexed into it. Now both are down and the final bundle gets plugged in. Rotten gets a one count after a Rotten Rush onto a lighttube. He tries to suplex Patricks again, but Patricks counters and puts Rotten through the electrified bundle for a three count.

From a wrestling standpoind, Patricks' first match was a bit stronger, this one was better measured by deathmatch standards.

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Match 2 – FBTW – Mikey McFinnegan vs. American Viking

No outfit change for McFinnegan, so I'm confident that Herzog has this in the bag. Yeah, he does, with an outfit that couldn't be any less interesting if it tried. Black trunks, black footwear, great exposure, end of story.

What weapons have the fans brought? I see several baseball bats, one with barbed wire, a crutch or kendo stick, some lighttube-square, various yet to be identified objects.

Herzog is in charge right out of the gate, and McFinnegan goes out of the ring after the first charge. Some bowling pins get used, then a thumbtack paddle-stick thing that commentary can't identify more accurately either. McFinnegan gets the crutch over his back, then Herzog brings the lighttube-square thing out of the ring to attempt a powerbomb, but gets backflipped onto it himself. Now McFinnegan has a can of salt, but fails to open it. He attacks with a saw instead, then pours salt onto Herzog, presumably after the ref opened the can.

The brawl continues on the outside with another bat or stick, then a chair. Herzog sprints all across the venue before hitting McFinnegan with it. Back in the ring, McFinnegan hits a piledriver and gets a two count. He follows up with a splash from the top rope for another two. Herzog fights back with a Jawbreaker, then smashes a VCR or DVD player over McFinnegan's head for a two count of his own. Now he has a billard cue with lighttubes, but Herzog just shakes the attack off and grabs McFinnegan for a Chokebreaker. After stacking a chair on him, Herzog jumps off the rope with another chair, and yet the cover gets only a two again.

Herzog arms himself with a toothpick bat, but McFinnegan evades the attack, sends him out of the ring, and dives onto Herzog with a corkscrew moonsault of sorts. McFinnegan took himself out with that, too, and quickly finishes the match by double stomping Herzog for a three count.

By no means a good or just decent match. It was a lot of brawling and smashing, very light on wrestling, not really bloody, and the finish was sloppy and rushed.

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FINAL

No Ropes Barbed Wire, Lighttubes, Gussets House of Pain

Mikey McFinnegan vs. Dale Patricks

McFinnegan's hair is untied now which changes nothing. If I had a gas station, I still wouldn't hire him. Dale Patricks has put on a black t-shirt to his red singlet, and he limps to the ring with the aid of a barbed wire crutch. The shirt stays on, but that doesn't change the fact that Patricks is the clear winner here.

McFinnegan starts out dominant, beating Patricks down and pushing him into the barbed wire. It continues with kicks and punches and early cover attempts, and throwing Patricks into the lighttube-fenced barbed wire.

Patricks finally fights back by reversing and sending McFinnegan into the barbed wire and tubes, but collapses again, and crawls into more punches. McFinnegan forces him out of the ring. Patricks still offers little resistance, until he manages to a smash a tube on McFinnegan's head. Punches follow; both are down now. McFinnegan gets back to his feet first and smashes a tube, then gets a two count out of a cocky pin.

They wander away from the ring to a distant guardrail in the back of the venue. Patricks hits a Powerbomb, then gets thrown against the wall and McFinnegan is back in charge. He kicks Patricks all across the venue, throws him back and forth over guardrails. At some point, Patricks dives off something and floors McFinnegan along with a bunch of people around him, then it's back to a brawl, although with Patricks doing the punching and moving back toward the ring.

Once there, McFinnegan is in control again. While Patricks sells the hell out of everything on a chair, McFinnegan sets up several long lighttubes between chairs outside the ring. Patricks blocks and reverses a suplex that sends McFinnegan through his contraption. He follows up with a lighttube smash, then some chair shots. While McFinnegan staggers around, Patricks drags the gusset board out of the ring and balances it between chairs. For some reason, he then gets a broken tube to carve McFinnegan's forehead, then gets slammed through the board. There's another, bigger barbed wire board set up nearby, but McFinnegan gets a tube bundle, only to be disarmed and get it smashed over his head.

After a back and forth over the barbed wire board, Patricks hits a piledriver through it and gets a three count.

Other than Patricks showcasing a masterclass in selling, this match was a whole lot of nothing. Lots of random brawling, punching, kicking, and crawling around, not much use of the stipulation since they spent so much time so far from the ring. Patricks certainly earned his victory with his other performances, but to be frank, he also didn't have much competition.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

I still rank the non-deathmatch opener in the top three. That should say all you need to know about the quality of the tournament matches. Other than Patricks, nobody stood out for the right reasons. Nick D(o)epp is a solid wrestler and good entertainer, just not much of a deathmatch guy. McFinnegan was sloppy and other than the odd dive, didn't offer much beyond highly uninspired brawling. Everyone else was mostly just there, except perhaps JC Rotten. That I'd rank him as the second best performer in the tournament reiterates what I said above: Patricks was the only true standout.

MOTN was Dale Patricks vs. JC Rotten in round 2, runners-up the opener Hooligans vs. Rejects and Patricks vs. Bueller in round 1. The MVP was obviously Dale Patricks, runner-up Reed Bentley on commentary. Best Dressed was also Dale Patricks, runner-up Herzog.

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