| Independent Pro Wrestling Alliance - January 23, 1999 - Woodbridge, VA |
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| Friday, January 22, 1999 | |||
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While the Independent Pro Wrestling Alliance heavyweight champion retained his belt, new IPWA light-heavyweight and tag-team champions were crowned at the IPWA card held at Woodbridge High School in Woodbridge, VA, on January 23, 1999. Attendance (actual count) was 523. Virginia Boxing/Wrestling commissioner in attendance: ED MORAN. Music provided by: PEARLDUCTIONS, INC. Ring announcer: KEVIN CARSON. Timekeeper at the bell: JEFF AMDUR. Ring attendants: members of the Woodbridge HS baseball team. Referees for the evening: JOHN JOLLY, BARRY ROBERTS, and J.P. MORRISON. The Virginia Internet Mutants were out in force: LEE "DARK CHEETAH" MOREY, ROBSTER HOFFMANN, JEREMY BILLONES, and TIM NOEL. Taking pictures at ringside were TIM WALKER, for PWI, and BERNIE DIEHL, for that website of his that hasn't been updated since an August card in New Jersey. Also making the long trek down from Hoboken, NJ, to cover for the Lariat: JESS McGRATH. Ring announcer Kevin Carson opened by announcing that WWF light-heavyweight champion DUANE GILL, who had been originally booked on the card, had been pulled by the WWF in order to be fresh for tomorrow's Royal Rumble. In the opener, "THE GHETTO SUPERSTAR" CHILLY WILLY pinned SHORTY SMALLS in 6:13 after a power slam. When the match ended, IPWA tag champs CHRIS STEPHENSON and BIG SLAM, with their manager VINNIE GAMBINI, stormed the ring and beat up on the combatants. They issued a challenge to hometown heroes CUEBALL CARMICHAEL and JIMMY CICERO for later in the evening. OTTO SCHWANZ (with COUNT GROG) pinned "DANGEROUS" DAN RAGE in 10:20. Otto hit with a back suplex and was able to pin Rage with the help of manager Grog, who held Rage's feet down. Otto was encouraged by the presence of a rather large cheering section wearing shirts emblazoned with "The German Beef, Otto Schwanz". It was later discovered that the fan club had come from Georgetown University, which also happens to be Otto's alma mater (or is it alma mutter?) Another bißchen Deutsch added to the card was in Kevin Carson's German-language ring introduction for Schwanz. MARK "THE SHARK" SHRADER pinned "HANDSOME" FRANK STALETTO in 13:27 after a power bomb off the top rope. The fans were really getting on Staletto's case, with frequent chants of "Ugly! Ugly!". CUEBALL CARMICHAEL & "WISE GUY" JIMMY CICERO won the tag team titles from "THE REAL DEAL" CHRIS STEPHENSON & BIG SLAM (with VINNIE GAMBINI) in 9:56. The end came when the 450-pound plus Slam was thrown out of the ring almost in Kevin Carson's lap at our ringside table. While Slam was fighting a temporarily losing battle against unconsciousness, Cicero caught Stephenson (who was setting Cueball up for a pile driver) with a sunset flip off the top rope, and covered him for the pin. After the match, Stephenson berated Slam for not being there when he was needed. His "you suck!" directed at the big guy was met by Slam's tossing Chris across the ring. Slam then fired Gambini as his manager. THE BRUISER pinned CORPORAL PUNISHMENT (with COUNT GROG) in 15:13. Corporal had announced to the crowd before the match that he especially wanted to beat Bruiser because he understood Bruiser had just moved to Woodbridge. Grog had a special message for the "internet geeks" as he wondered aloud if any of them outside of Dark Cheetah had ever kissed a woman. The end of the match came as Corporal undid his belt to whack Bruiser with it. Bruiser recovered and could easily pull Corporal's fatigue pants down and pin the distraught military guy. In a three-way dance to determine the IPWA light-heavyweight champion, "THE LATIN DRAGON" JULIO SANCHEZ beat CHRISTIAN YORK and former champ JOEY "THE TRUTH" MATTHEWS in 13:37. The match had its share of high spots, including York diving off the ring ropes onto his two opponents, with all three landing in a quickly-evacuated first-row ringside seat. Another neat-looking spot had Julio simultaneously bulldogging both opponents as he leapt off the top turnbuckle. Julio first eliminated York with a rollup and pin at 9:45, and got the pin on York with a complicated maneuver that was described to me by Kevin Carson as a "northern lights suplex Samoan drop". That works for me, at any rate. In the main event, IPWA heavyweight champion TOM BRANDI successfully fought back the challenge of KING KONG BUNDY (with VINNIE GAMBINI) with a pin in 6:40. Referee J.P. MORRISON had been knocked senseless as Gambini clobbered Brandi with the championship belt. The referee came to and counted the fall. As Bundy was about to be announced as the new champion, BIG SLAM hit the ring and told the ref what had happened. The ref ordered me to ring the bell and restart the match. Bundy, arguing with the ref, was then schoolboyed by Brandi for the pin.
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