| IWA Mid-South - October 21, 1997 - New Albany, IN - "King of the Death Matches" |
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| Monday, October 20, 1997 | |||
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(Editor's Note: Aside from a basic spell check these results are being provided in their original form. They were saved from the original IWA mailing list.) October 21th, 1997 By: Jim Fannin The show started with Flash Flanigan coming out on crutches with a knee brace on and saying that he was injured but that he would be back. The first match of the evening pitted Cash Flo against Ian Rotten in a thumbtack match with a thumbtack wiffle ball bat in the ring. Ian hit Cash Flo hard right on the head with the bat to start the match and then it was just mayhem. Cash Flo hit Ian over the head with a contraption that someone brought that was 3 long fluorescent light bulbs taped together. They brawled around the building and drilled each other with chair shots. Cash Flo was an absolute bloody mess. Ian hit a piledriver and a legdrop onto the bat which was on Flo's head. Ian then hit a crotch shot with the bat. Ian then picked Cash up for his curtain call brainbuster and followed with a Death Valley Driver for the pin. Ian's knee popped out of place at the end of the match and it looked horrible. Ian refused to be carried to the dressing room and tried to walk on his own. He fell to the floor in front of me and the house doctor had to come over. After hitting the knee a few times, they were able to knock the kneecap back into place and Ian limped to the back. I couldn't believe that Ian was able to finish out the tournament after seeing his knee but somehow he did. The second match had my vote for surprise match of the night. Rollin Hard defeated Bull Pain in a thumbtack and thumbtack wiffle ball bat match. I can't describe and do justice to this match as it was just all out mayhem. They brawled all over the building and used everything they could get their hands on as a weapon. Rollin was bleeding pretty bad and then Bull DDTd him on the floor. Rollin won with a swinging DDT and everyone was just completely shocked that Rollin got the win in this match. The next match was Balls Mahoney vs. War Machine 1 in a barbed wire baseball bat and board match. There was a piece of plywood with barbed wire stapled on it in each corner. This was the match that drew the least response from the crowd. Balls didn't get a very good reaction from the crowd at all and that did surprise me a little. They brawled through the building and used the weapons. Balls won after a Michinouku Driver onto the barbed wire baseball bat. War Machine hurt his neck and he wasn't moving after the match at all. They took him out on a stretcher. I do not have an update as to his condition but I hope that he is alright. The next sequence was a little confusing as it was time for Dougie's Four Corners of Pain match and his music was playing but there was no Dougie. He was in the building because I saw him. They stopped his music and then Axl came out for his match against War Machine 2. This was supposed to be a barbed wire bat and board match but Axl said to keep it a Four Corners of Pain match to the ref. They brawled and brawled some more and used all the weapons. Axl got the win when he set up two chairs and laid one of the barbed wire boards across the seats of the chairs. He powerbombed War Machine through the barbed wire and got the pin. The next four corners of pain match was the Tower of Doom against Mad Man Pondo. Pondo started the match by just killing Tower with his stop sign a few times. He whipped him into the ropes and then drilled him over the head with the stop sign. Tower did a side slam on Pondo into the mouse traps. He then took Pondo over and piledrove him into the shards of glass. They fought their way back to the ring and Tower picked Pondo up into the air with a two hand choke and then dropped it into a tiger bomb. Tower also hit a dropkick from the second rope which is impressive for a 400 pounder. Tower then started to push thumbtacks into Pondo's head. Tower then hit his come off the ropes step onto a chair and come off with a legdrop to Pondo. Pondo was able to recover enough to mount an offensive again with his stop sign. He then came off with a flip legdrop from the second rope onto the stop sign onto of Tower for the pin. The final first round match was Doug Gilbert vs. Ox Harley in a barbed wire board and bat match. This was a good match as Dougie surprised me with his capability to work this style of a match. Ox was beaten to a bloody pulp. Dougie then hit a couple of piledrivers on Ox. Ox found some offense and he set up the chairs and board for an Axl like spot. He climbed the ropes but Dougie recovered and threw him off the top rope through the board and got the pin. The second round opened with Ian vs. Rollin Hard in a spider web glass barbed wire match. This was the bloodiest match I have ever seen. Rollin was a mess and Ian wasn't too far behind him. Ian started the match with wrestling as he did a dropkick to the knee and then went to the leglace and a spinning toe hold. The wrestling didn't last long as they returned to the wild brawl that went throughout the building. They cut each other on the barbed wire in the ring and at the end, Ian brought the spider web glass trap into the ring and Powerbombed Rollin into it and got the pin. After the match, Ian praised Rollin and said that he respected him. Balls Mahoney came out and said that he was not going to wrestle Axl since they are such good friends and that he would forfeit the match to him so we have Ian and Axl in the finals with one match left to go. Dougie defeated Pondo in the last semifinal match which was also the spider web glass trap barbed wire match. Dougie superkicked Pondo into the barbed wire to begin the match. Pondo then snapmared Dougie into the spider web on the floor. Then they started clubbering each other and the stop sign became a weapon. Dougie was in control and he suplexed Pondo into the spider web and then started carving Pondo up with glass from the spider web trap. Dougie hit a piledriver and then a hot shot onto the barbed wire and scored the pin to earn a berth in the finals. The finals was a no rope barbed wire electric bulb match. Light bulbs were dangled from the barbed wire and they were plugged in and turned on. The lights were turned off in the building and the only lights came from the ones on the barbed wire in the ring. Dougie came out and said that he was unable to compete in this match due to injury so it left just Ian vs. Axl for the King of the Death match title. Ian and Axl pulverized each other during this match. They cut each other with glass and barbed wire and would put the light bulbs onto each others head. Ian hit a senton onto one of the barbed wire boards onto Axl. The ref was trying to pry the barbed wire from Axl's chest when Dougie ran out and piledrove Ian. Ian was able to kick out by the time Axl was freed from the board and went for the cover. Axl picked up Ian for a belly to back suplex but Ian's feet clipped the ref and knocked him out. Dougie came out again and put the piledriver on Axl. The ref came too and started his ten count. Ian and Axl were both out struggling to get up. The ref reached nine and Ian rose to his feet but Axl couldn't. Ian is the King of the Death Matches. Dougie and Flash (who wasn't hurt) came out and began to attack Ian with Flash's crutches. Axl lays over Ian to protect him and they start whacking him with the crutches. They leave and Ian and Axl hug in the ring after recovering.
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