THE BAR HAS BEEN RAISED
OCTOBER 3rd, 2004
BIG SPRING HIGH SCHOOL – NEWVILLE, PA
Complete results from Joe Dombrowski
- Fabulous John McChesney def. Chris Hamrick
- The Wildcards (Blackjack Marciano & Eddie Kingston) def. The Gambino Brothers Moving Company (Mickey & Marshall Gambino)
- IWC International Champion Soldier def. Jimmy Jacobs
- Sterling James Keenan def. CM Punk
- IWC Heavyweight Champion Shirley Doe def. Eric Xtasy with Mick Foley as the special referee
- Sebastian Dark def. Super Hentai
- IWC Super Indy Champion Chris Sabin def. Alex Shelley
- Al Snow def. Chris Hero
THE SNOWMAN COMETH
IWC’s debut in the Harrisburg area was a tremendous success, as hundreds of vocal fans ventured to Newville to watch IWC raise the bar in its continued expansion throughout the state.
The IWC title was on the line as Shirley Doe made his first title defense against the man he beat for the title, Eric Xtasy. Xtasy had his usual overconfidence back now that none of his associates were barred from the building, and J-Rocc was at his side. However, ring announcer Chuck Roberts had an announcement that changed Xtasy’s demeanor: it had been made official, the sole referee for this contest would be the same man that counted Xtasy’s shoulders down for three the week before, the legendary Mick Foley! Foley, remembering how chaotic their previous match was, wasted no time in stressing he wouldn’t hesitate to become physically involved if need be. Doe started the match in control of things, but before long Eric Xtasy proved that not even Mick Foley can outsmart Xtasy all of the time, as J-Rocc was there to add as many cheapshots as possible whenever Xtasy could divert Foley’s attention. Finally, Foley was able to catch on and eject J-Rocc from the ringside area. However, the damage was done and Doe was in trouble, on the receiving end of two Happy Endings, yet still kicking out of all pin attempts. The punishment continued, but Doe’s perseverance kept him in the fight throughout the entire contest. J-Rocc was able to sneak back out to ringside, but this time Foley wouldn’t be satisfied just throwing him out. Foley reached for Mr. Socko and applied the Mandible Claw. Meanwhile, Doe had fought through the pain and even managed to German suplex Xtasy. Doe & Foley again hit stereo Sillyhead DDTs, only this time not only did Doe pin Xtasy, but Foley pinned J-Rocc as well, as a local radio DJ from Harrisburg’s 105.7 The X received the honor of making the 3 count, making Doe’s first title defense a successful one and hopefully the first of many for a very deserving competitor.
The feature match of the evening saw two of the most technically sound, and unfortunately two of the most underrated, wrestlers around today do battle as former Tough Enough trainer Al Snow took on CHIKARA WrestleFactory trainer Chris Hero. In the early moments of the match it looked like Hero wanted no part of Snow, refusing to take part in a knucklelock several times, leaving an impatient Snow with no one to test strength with but head referee Bruce Gray. Eventually Hero did re-enter the ring and both men started the match exchanging knuckle locks, headlocks and hard-hitting forearms & right hands. Then things started getting even more interesting. Al Snow hit Hero with a Pedigree, but Hero miraculously kicked out. Hero recovered and delivered a thunderous choke slam, however Al Snow kicked out of that. Snow recovered to slam Hero, pull off two imaginary elbowpads, an apparent set-up for The Rock’s trademark “People’s Elbow”. Snow, proving exactly why he doesn’t try this move too often, ran the ropes about 15 times before finally losing his breath and exhaustingly collapsing on top of Hero, but that got two as well. Hero ended up “Hulking Up” and staggering Snow with a big boot and leg drop, but another two count. Al Snow’s Stone Cold Stunner also resulted in a near-fall. A desperate Snow removed his boot, pulled off his sock and attempted a Mandible Claw. Both men struggled over the sock, sending them inadvertently plummeting into Bruce Gray, dazing him for a moment. Snow took the opportunity to turn toward his most trusted companion, advisor, and friend, who was watching from the corner, and hit Hero with it. That’s right, Al Snow gave Chris Hero Head en route to pinning him to win his very first IWC match.
Super Indy champion Chris Sabin continued his streak of being perhaps the fightingest Super Indy champion of all time, defending against yet another world class calibur athlete Alex Shelley. This was perhaps the match that stole the show, two men knowing each other so well, starting in the same area, having their career basically parallel each other, made for a very competitive high-impact match. Near-fall after near-fall made the match unpredictable and exciting. Sabin hit the patented jumping enziguri kick and hit Shelley with the Bum Rush but Shelley was able to kick out, however it was The Cradle Shock that finished Shelley off, just as it has finished off so many others in the past. After what will be remembered as one of the most compelling Super Indy title matches in recent memory, Sabin remains undefeated in IWC.
On the subject of Super Indys, the “Super Indy Killer” Sterling James Keenan continued his mission, the next target being CM Punk in a match where the participants selected the stipulations. Sterling, still out to prove Punk’s recent career choices were a mistake, stated that if Punk lost, Punk would have to become Sterling’s ally & tag team partner once again. However, Punk stated that if he is victorious, Sterling has to shave his head. Punk also mentioned one of the main reasons he left Sterling’s side in the first place: Sterling took too many shortcuts. Punk tried to explain that Sterling was good enough to the poin the didn’t need it, but Sterling just wouldn’t listen. With that in mind, it’s not hard to imagine that it was one of those shortcuts, a low blow in this case, that led to a Sterling James Keenan win, which is telling of two very important things. Firstly, with this recent stretch of wins, Sterling finally may be ready to start another unstoppable uprising, this time more than likely targeting Chris Sabin & the Super Indy title. Secondly, now the Sterling/Punk alliance is back, but with half of the duo as an unwilling participant, will the force be as strong as it was at the beginning of the year?
Another potential show-stealer was the match between “Fabulous” John McChesney and one-half of the Tag Team Champions Southern Comfort, Chris Hamrick. Much like the tag match both men took part in the night of Hamrick’s debut, this match was fast-paced and evenly-matched. The 19 year veteran Hamrick hung with the very young McChesney move for move, just as fast, just as agile. The pace was slowed down when McChesney attempted a sleeper hold but in Hamrick’s attempts to escape the hold, the referee was inadvertently poked in the eye. Picking his chance perfectly, one of the most legendary managers in the history of the business, James E. Cornette, ran down to ringside and struck Hamrick with his trademark tennis raquet. Hamrick was knocked down, McChesney hit a scintillating frog splash to win the match. Jim Cornette raised McChesney’s hand and celebrated with him, as it is clear that Cornette has fired the first shot in the upcoming Southern Comfort vs. Original Midnight Express war set for December 11. It’s more than a battle of great southern-style teams, James E. Cornette has now made it personal.
One of the most surprising situations in recent memory has been Sebastian Dark’s on-going targeting of Super Hentai, not just out to make a name for himself, not just out to climb the IWC ladder, but out to steal Hentai’s identity and damage Hentai’s career beyond repair. Dark did the unthinkable last week when he stole Hentai’s mask, something considered the ultimate disrespect in places like Mexico & Japan, and also to an honorable man like Hentai. Luckily, Hentai owns more than one mask and was able to march into battle and seek revenge on The Son of 1,000 Bastard Copses. The match wasted no time in becoming physical, with Hentai at one point countering a powerbomb attempt off the apron into a hurancanrana to the floor. Unfortunately, it was one too many high risk moves for Hentai. Hentai attemped a superplex, but Sebastian was able to roll through and score a pinfall victory with a handful of tights. And even though he went for it several times in this match, Dark did not get the mask this time, yet with this win he maintains the psychological advantage.
Soldier made his return to the United States for the first time since June to make the first ever United States defense of the IWC International Title, a belt that has quickly gained pretige in Japan thanks to Soldier’s defenses of the belt in the WMF promotion. His opponent was “Barbaric Berzerker” Jimmy Jacobs, who is now the only IWC superstar to have challenged for all three IWC singles titles, a major accomplishment in itself. An even bigger accomplishment is what Soldier managed to do in this match. Not only inflicting a tremendous amount of pain onto Jacobs, including his popular knee strikes into the ringpost with the “One more!” yell, he actually made Jimmy Jacobs submit with a bow-and-arrow variation to retain the title. After the match a confused & angry Jacobs, much like last week, pulled that long steel spike from his boot, a gift given to him in his past by the legenday Kevin Sullivan. Thankfully, IWC promoter Norm Connors was able to rush toward ringside and somehow manage to communicate with Jacobs and convince him to put the spike back and leave peacefully.
A rematch from 2 months ago in Erie, The Wild Cards, Eddie Kingston & Black Jack Marciano, took on Mickey & Marshall, The Gambino Brothers Moving Company. As always, The Wild Cards were the most hated men in the building, making The Gambinos instant favorites. Mickey continued to show his ongoing improvement but hanging with Kingston & Marciano through the early-going but a series of double teams and cutting off the ring put Mickey in a precarious position. Eventually a severly weakened Gambino managed to get to the corner and tag Marshall, but his initial burst of momentum was soon cut off as well. The Wild Cards tried the same trip-up that won them their match in Erie, but thankfully that didn’t work this time. However they had another trick up their sleeve, a handful of tights to be exact, as The Wild Cards steal another tag team win.