Wrestle Rant- 10/01/07
Welcome to Wrestle Rant, a semi-weekly (I'm making it semi-weekly cause I'm not sure how often I'll have any news worth reporting) column where I comment and report info on the Indy Wrestling scene. Won't see much on WWE or TNA on this column, instead I put my focus on the various independants, which are FAR more interesting. And yes, wrestling is fake, but ask me how much I care. This week, it's all about IWA: Mid-South.
This weekend was the Annual 2007 Ted Petty Invitational. The 24 Man Single Elimination Tournament is held every year in the memory of Ted Petty, better known as "Flyboy" Rocky Rock of the Infamous tag team Public Enemy. IWA: MS is owned and operated by Ian Rotten, another ECW alum, so the connection is fairly obvious. I wasn't at the show, so alla my information has been culled from wikipedia or from their official site at www.iwamidsouthwrestling.com. Anyway, here's some points of interest.
The show seemed to be somewhat cursed this year, with a number of high profile drop outs. Samoa Joe, Low-Ki, Alex Shelly, and Jimmy Rave dropped out due to TNA commitments, Matt Sydell dropped out due to WWE commitments, and El Generico and B-Boy were out due to injury. Despite this, the field was chock full of great indy talent including: Chris Hero, Chuck Taylor, Jimmy Jacobs, Nigel McGuiness, Claudio Castignoli, Human Tornado, Davey Richards, and Mike Quackenbush to name a few.
The show marked the return of another ECW alumni, 2 Cold Scorpio, to IWA: MS. 2 Cold primarily wrestles in Europe and Japan nowadays, and has made something of a name for himself overseas. 2 Cold is still, in my opinion, a pioneer of high flying wrestling, and was the first wrestler I ever saw execute a 450 Splash. 2 Cold made his way to the Quarterfinals before losing to IWA: MS World Heavyweight Champ Chuck Taylor.
IWA:MS Heavyweight Champ Chuck Taylor was forced to defend his title all weekend in tournament matches. He scored HUGE wins over former IWA:MS Heavyweight Champ/ROH regular Jimmy Jacobs, the aforementioned 2 Cold Scorpio (an ECW, WCW, and WWE alumni no less), and the Human Tornado (who was prominently featured in the short lived Wrestling Society X). Not bad for a kid who used to wrestle in Orchardville, IL in front of a crowd of thirty rednecks (myself included).
Claudio Castignoli continued his tournament hot streak by making his way to the finals. He defeated three of his fellow ROH regulars, Nigel McGuiness, Davey Richards, and Brent Albright (all very high profile competitors in their own right).
The big news of the tourney though was that "Lightning" Mike Quackenbush finally won the TPI. Quack is quickly becoming my favorite wrestler on the Indy scene right now (and since I'm only really watching the Indies, that pretty much makes him my favorite wrestler period). The reigning IWA:MS Light Heavyweight Champ, Quack had to defend the belt all weekend as well, defeating Billy Roc, WSX alumni and former PWG Champ "Magnum" Joey Ryan, and former IWA:MS Light Heavyweight Champ Josh Abercrombie. In the finals he defeated Claudio and Chuck Taylor to not only capture the tourney, but also to win the IWA:MS World Heavyweight Championship. "Lightning" Mike Quackenbush is a long time, well known and well respected veteran of the Independant Wrestling Scene. He's been fairly quiet over the last few years, but in 2007 Quack has been running roughshod over the Indy Scene. In 2007 alone he has now won the Chikara King of the Trios tourney (with Jigsaw and Shane Storm) and the TPI. He is also currently the reigning IWA:MS World Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight Champion, the IWA: Deep South Heavyweight Champ, as well as the reigning NWA World Jr. Heavyweight Champion. The Dude's gonna have a full schedule just defending all his belts.
Anyway, long story short, pretty much gotta pick this one up when it comes out on DVD.
This weekend was the Annual 2007 Ted Petty Invitational. The 24 Man Single Elimination Tournament is held every year in the memory of Ted Petty, better known as "Flyboy" Rocky Rock of the Infamous tag team Public Enemy. IWA: MS is owned and operated by Ian Rotten, another ECW alum, so the connection is fairly obvious. I wasn't at the show, so alla my information has been culled from wikipedia or from their official site at www.iwamidsouthwrestling.com. Anyway, here's some points of interest.
The show seemed to be somewhat cursed this year, with a number of high profile drop outs. Samoa Joe, Low-Ki, Alex Shelly, and Jimmy Rave dropped out due to TNA commitments, Matt Sydell dropped out due to WWE commitments, and El Generico and B-Boy were out due to injury. Despite this, the field was chock full of great indy talent including: Chris Hero, Chuck Taylor, Jimmy Jacobs, Nigel McGuiness, Claudio Castignoli, Human Tornado, Davey Richards, and Mike Quackenbush to name a few.
The show marked the return of another ECW alumni, 2 Cold Scorpio, to IWA: MS. 2 Cold primarily wrestles in Europe and Japan nowadays, and has made something of a name for himself overseas. 2 Cold is still, in my opinion, a pioneer of high flying wrestling, and was the first wrestler I ever saw execute a 450 Splash. 2 Cold made his way to the Quarterfinals before losing to IWA: MS World Heavyweight Champ Chuck Taylor.
IWA:MS Heavyweight Champ Chuck Taylor was forced to defend his title all weekend in tournament matches. He scored HUGE wins over former IWA:MS Heavyweight Champ/ROH regular Jimmy Jacobs, the aforementioned 2 Cold Scorpio (an ECW, WCW, and WWE alumni no less), and the Human Tornado (who was prominently featured in the short lived Wrestling Society X). Not bad for a kid who used to wrestle in Orchardville, IL in front of a crowd of thirty rednecks (myself included).
Claudio Castignoli continued his tournament hot streak by making his way to the finals. He defeated three of his fellow ROH regulars, Nigel McGuiness, Davey Richards, and Brent Albright (all very high profile competitors in their own right).
The big news of the tourney though was that "Lightning" Mike Quackenbush finally won the TPI. Quack is quickly becoming my favorite wrestler on the Indy scene right now (and since I'm only really watching the Indies, that pretty much makes him my favorite wrestler period). The reigning IWA:MS Light Heavyweight Champ, Quack had to defend the belt all weekend as well, defeating Billy Roc, WSX alumni and former PWG Champ "Magnum" Joey Ryan, and former IWA:MS Light Heavyweight Champ Josh Abercrombie. In the finals he defeated Claudio and Chuck Taylor to not only capture the tourney, but also to win the IWA:MS World Heavyweight Championship. "Lightning" Mike Quackenbush is a long time, well known and well respected veteran of the Independant Wrestling Scene. He's been fairly quiet over the last few years, but in 2007 Quack has been running roughshod over the Indy Scene. In 2007 alone he has now won the Chikara King of the Trios tourney (with Jigsaw and Shane Storm) and the TPI. He is also currently the reigning IWA:MS World Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight Champion, the IWA: Deep South Heavyweight Champ, as well as the reigning NWA World Jr. Heavyweight Champion. The Dude's gonna have a full schedule just defending all his belts.
Anyway, long story short, pretty much gotta pick this one up when it comes out on DVD.
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