| IWA-MS Ted Petty Invitational 2004; I AM UNSTOPPABLE | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Mar 24 2012, 06:23 PM (1,054 Views) | |
| Big Tuna | Mar 24 2012, 06:23 PM Post #1 |
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The Master and Ruler Of The World
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![]() IWA-MS TED PETTY INVITATIONAL 2004 - NIGHT ONE SEPTEMBER 17TH, 2004 LINCOLN CENTER HIGHLAND, IN 14 MATCH CARD. 5 HOURS. FUCK YOU. BUT FIRST, A 15 MINUTE IAN PROMO ABOUT A POTENTIAL TV DEAL AND THEN A MOMENT OF SILENCE FOR TED PETTY AHAHAHAHAHAHA NOPE. NONE OF THAT HAPPENS. Match #1: Lacey [c] vs. Mercedes Martinez [IWA-MS Women's Championship] Lacey again does her best, and has an opponent who can sort of keep up for once. Lacey is favoring the bad knee and Mercedes worked on that, while Lacey went to the arm first to try and pre-emptively strike and then later on to get Mercedes off of her knee. They have the usual issue where women of this first indie wave have trouble transitioning into a big finishing run to match their male counterparts, but the focus makes it better than usual. Mercedes keeps on a good Indian Deathlock, and Lacey passes out to give Mercedes the title! **1/2 Match #2: Matt Sydal vs. Sal Rinauro [1st Round] This is fine. Sydal deserved a better opponent, as Sal Rinauro is Sal Rinauro. They did some stuff, and Sydal wins with the Cyclorama instead of the SSP for some reason, which only serves to make Sal look great in kayfabe, which is weird and bad. **1/2 Match #3: Hallowicked vs. Nate Webb [1st Round] Could be incredible in a two or three years, or maybe even in 2005 if everything lined up right. Webb isn't exactly a great wrestler though, and Hallowicked is still a rookie, whereas later years and arguably peak Hallowicked likely could have gotten a fun tenish minute sprint out of Webb, which is sort of what they go for here, but don't totally achieve. That being said, this is a lot of fun as is. A few cool ideas, Hallowicked again gets to look great as Quack's prized student. Nate Webb hits Soylent Green II: It's Still People, now properly used as a finisher, for the win. **1/2 Match #4: Chris Sabin vs. Rainman [1st Round] Rainman, the future Korey Chavis, is billed from Dark City. It's some nice continuity. Rainman's 2004 TPI run makes absolutely no sense at all, and is one of those super weird things people joke about now. People joked about it as it happened too, it's very weird, one of those Ian misses like pushing 2003 Danny Daniels real hard. He brings nothing to the table, but goes to the semi-finals over Chris Sabin here and over a lot of better guys who lose in the first round or semi-finals. Sabin has some nice stuff, but this is a showcase for Rainman, and he wins with the Blackout, which is a Cobra Clutch with a body scissors. **1/4 Match #5: CM Punk vs. Austin Aries [1st Round] Tournament finally delivers! They actually fought like six days earlier on an ROH show. Not sure if Ian or Gabe booked it first, but it's kind of Gabe's M.O. to take a match that ruled somewhere else and book it in ROH to leech off of that match's rep (Danielson/Necro, Claudio/Quack, Punk/Cabana). 2004 Aries is again REALLY fucking incredible, and it's almost unfair how he was never able to match this initial run, even when he picked it up again in 2007. His stuff is super inventive at this point, he's insanely crisp and intense with everything, and he still remembers how to sell well here. He's a lot more explosive than Punk, but Punk uses experience to constantly avoid big offense. Punk misses a Shining Wizard against the post and Aries works the knee. This is sort of a prototype for their November 2004 match based around Punk's knee, but it's still a little different and great on its own merit. Punk's knee selling is wonderful, and he wins with the Pepsi Plunge, further hurting his knee. ***1/4 Match #6: Danny Daniels vs. Todd Sexton [1st Round] Huge letdown after the last match. Sexton is pretty bland, if competent enough, so he's a bad match up for Danny, who has those same weaknesses despite looking better lately due to the face turn. Daniels wins with a Rubik's Cube, following Sydal's weird lead on using BIG level finishers to beat opponents everyone knew they'd always beat no matter what. ** Match #7: Jimmy Jacobs vs. Delirious [IWA-MS Light Heavyweight Championship - Ladder Match] Fun match. Mostly a great Jacobs performance, but Delirious is pretty game here as well and is back to working full-ish heel. Lots of nasty stuff using the ladder. The ladder is also quite small and it takes away from how devastating a bump from the ladder can be when it's as tall as the top rope. Jimmy pulls out the spike and tears the mask and Delirious bleeds. They have some neat spots but the ladder breaks when Jimmy tries to jump off of it to Delirious on the floor on a table, and he takes a disgusting spill to the floor. He gets up and does the Back Senton off the top through the table instead, and then gets in and up to get the belt. Sort of a downer ending after 99% of a great match. *** Match #8: Chris Hero vs. Mike Quackenbush [1st Round] Real important match. Hallowicked, Jigsaw, Sweeney, and Team FIST are all ringside to watch their trainers, which is important. Hero's Highland Curse continues here, but it SHOULDN'T, because Quack has the reputation of having a lot of the same problems Hero does, where he's overly showy and not the most aggressive guy, so Hero should be able to leverage his size into something against someone who has all his flaws, but is smaller. This is a really amazing display of matwork from both guys, super showy and fun if you're into that type of thing, like I obviously am. A ton of ridiculously unique holds and counters and stuff, and they do a great job of slowly getting more aggressive and intense. Neither REALLY turns it up, and Hero doesn't press his natural advantage so it comes down to Quackenbush knowing more fancy stuff due to experience, and he traps Hero in a Skayde Special adjacent pin for the win! THE CURSE CONTINUES! *** Chris Hero is VERY mad after the match, but they make up. This will go on to be Hero's kayfabe motivation for the heel turn in CHIKARA in early 2005 that saves that company and also revitalizes Hero as a character, so while it doesn't feel so important, it's more about the echo Match #9: AJ Styles vs. Jimmy Rave [1st Round] This was also fun! It's still babyface Jimmy Rave so this isn't like their stuff the following year, but it's something. Some awesome matwork early on before AJ picked up the pace. This is a slightly different version of their earlier 2004 match where AJ keeps pushing Rave to be more aggressive, and he finally starts snapping and beating on AJ, leading to an awesome fight at the end where AJ ends up smoking him with insane offense. It's longer and doesn't have the knee work of the ROH match on Rave's end, but it's the same general idea. AJ destroys his head and neck and then goes in with a Muta Lock where he constantly yanks on the head and neck back and forth for the win. **3/4 Match #10: Samoa Joe vs. Roderick Strong [1st Round] INCREDIBLE match, as the best wrestler in the world takes a kid with potential but nothing much to his name yet and not only gives him his first great singles match, but he gives him a great singles match that's somehow THIS GREAT. Constant hard strikes, super efficient, and perfect adherence to both the story told and how far a guy like Roddy should reasonably push Joe. Also, this is the birth of the amazing "Freaky Retard Strength" line about Roderick, as CM Punk is on commentary and invents that line, as well as saying Roderick eats 26 meals a day. That's modified into Freaky Roderick Strength later on, or FRS for short, once societal standards change. Classic young gun vs. Ace match, as Strong tries to make his name by punking out Joe and just gets murdered. Some incredible exchanges, Roddy pushes him more and more as it goes on, but he lacks the guns to finish what he's started, and Joe eventually just murders him. Muscle Buster ends another one. ***3/4 Match #11: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Nigel McGuinness [1st Round] Good stuff. Obviously nothing near the level of their future work, but better than a few of the matches in their Pure Title feud. Punk and Prazak kill time by reading the NWA rulebook and apparently kung fu strikes are illegal, calling back to the review-famous Paul Jones promo from 1985 where he shouts "KARATE IS LEGAL" to promote a no disqualification match for Billy Graham. Lots of fancy Britishy counters and what not. Claudio continues to make a great impression with the European Uppercuts. Not a ton of story here, unfortunately, and Nigel wins with the Rings of Saturn in a weird finish. **3/4 Match #12: Bryan Danielson vs. Alex Shelley [1st Round] This is good, obviously. Not as great as their match from ROH a week before, but still great. AJ Styles comes on commentary and says he's used karate strikes in NWA Title matches before, and says these rules are bullshit. They sort of just have a match with a lot of cool stuff, but it's not exactly their best work. Danielson gets a backslide out of the Border City Stretch to win. **3/4 Amazing commentary: AJ: So you can use the flat of your foot OR an instep? Punk: Yes. AJ: What's an instep? Punk: I think that's the boy band AJ: That's N'Sync Punk: Figures YOU'd know that, AJ! AJ: SHIT! Match #13: Super Dragon vs. Arik Cannon [1st Round] Awesome slugfest! By this point, I'm getting fucking upset at matches for even still happening. It's not bad or anything and they have some cool spots, but I just want the show to be over, and this match is suffering as a result. Cannon wins with the Glimmering Warlock. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. **3/4 Match #14: Petey Williams [c] vs. BJ Whitmer [1st Round - IWA-MS Heavyweight Championship] My god, this sucks. Petey is working face and trying to do a great match, but he is one of the worst of all time, and it fails horribly. They do stuff for like 20 minutes and it is remarkably awful. Canadian Destroyer ends it. * Ian comes out to announce the second round matches, since he doesn't believe in a fucking bracket: -AJ Styles vs. Matt Sydal -Arik Cannon vs. Petey Williams -Bryan Danielson vs. CM Punk (leading to Punk on commentary saying "come on, no whammy, no whammy..." then after he hears Danielson, yelling "FUCK, THAT'S A FUCKING WHAMMY!") -Mike Quackenbush vs. Nate Webb -Samoa Joe vs. Nigel McGuinness -Danny Daniels vs. Rainman Edited by Big Tuna, Jun 2 2018, 07:54 PM.
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| Big Tuna | Apr 27 2012, 07:04 PM Post #2 |
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The Master and Ruler Of The World
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![]() IWA-MS Ted Petty Invitational 2004 Night Two September 18th, 2004 Highland, IN Match #1: Billy McNeil vs CJ McManus vs Thunderbolt This is awful. Clearly three guys who paid to get on this show, because they look super super super green. CJ wins. 3/4* Match #2: Jimmy Jacobs [c] vs. Sal Rinauro [IWA-MS Light Heavyweight Championship] Good Jacobs carryjob. Sal brings nothing to this, really, and he works the back. Jimmy sells well and has a fiery comeback. Back Senton ends it. **1/4 Match #3: Ian Rotten vs. Steve Stone w/ Jim Fannin [Falls Count Anywhere] Oh my god, who gives a shit? Not me. Who's watching this match? Not me! Match #4: Danny Daniels vs. Rainman [Quarterfinals] This happens. Completely inexplicable Rainman push continues as he wins with the horrible inside cradle off of taking a Superplex spot. ** Match #5: Samoa Joe vs. Nigel McGuinness [Quarterfinals] This obviously is great. It's their first match together, so it serves as a template for their 2005 series with it based around Nigel's matwork vs. Joe being Joe. Same deal as their first ROH match too, with Nigel not having an answer for Joe's insanely huge offensive arsenal. Their ROH matches were more streamlined and smoother than this, so it's the least of all their matches, but still great. Joe puts on The Choke for the win. *** Match #6: Hallowicked/Jigsaw/Larry Sweeney vs. Team F.I.S.T./Trik Davis This is only 2004, so FIST still kind of blows as babyfaces, and Sweeney is still developing. Trik too. But Hallowicked and Jigsaw rule. They do lucha and it is a thing that happens, sure enough. Hallowicked beats Icarus with a Super Fisherman's Buster. **1/2 Match #7: AJ Styles vs. Matt Sydal [Quarterfinals] This is fucking great, obviously. AJ plays top guy against Sydal's rising star, and he makes him look amazing. Obviously, this is not as outstanding as their 2006 match, but this is also before Sydal had become one of the best in the world in his own right, so this is more credit due to AJ. Sydal does do awesome for himself though, and shows a ton of promise. Now that I think about it, Sydal's one of the only guys in the indies, maybe Aries and Strong are up there too, in the 2000s to have these kind of "insanely talented young guy who just isn't there YET" matches who actually improved after and actually became great. This is most likely because promoters didn't push him to the top before his time/at all, in comparison to Tyler Black and Davey Richards and Kazarian and to a lesser extent, Shane Storm. ANYWAYS, yeah, amazing match. Crazy spots. Big Sydal dive. AJ wins with a Super Styles Clash. ***1/2 Ian Rotten comes out to give a speech. Don't care! Match #8: Lacey vs. Daizee Haze vs. Rain vs. MsChif vs. Mickie Knuckles vs. Mercedes Martinez This was fine enough, I guess. Nothing wrong with it, but not a lot of great stuff going on either. I honestly stopped paying attention after it went on for like 10 minutes. I have no idea who won. **? Match #9: Petey Williams [c] vs. Arik Cannon [Quarterfinals - IWA-MS Heavyweight Championship] So hey yeah, this blew. Petey tries to work a real match again. Cannon tries, but gets dragged down BEFORE WINNING THE BELT AND ELIMINATING PETEY WITH THE GLIMMERING WARLOCK! THANK YOU, ARIK CANNON! ** Match #10: Mike Quackenbush vs. Nate Webb [Quarterfinals] Good stuff. Webb obviously isn't much of a technician or even a good wrestler, so much as an entertaining one, but he is carryable on the mat, and Quack does just that. They then do some spots, before Quack wins with a variation on the Lightning Lock. **3/4 Match #11: CM Punk vs. Bryan Danielson [Quarterfinals] This is only the second time they ever met, and their last match before WWE ran the match into the ground in 2012. It is not as great as their first match, which is probably still their best match together. More of a fun match than a great match. Punk works the neck, but Danielson sort of just ignores it when he comes back. They have a fine finishing run, and AmDrag wins with the Cattle Mutilation. **3/4 Match #12: Brad Bradley/Ryan Boz [c] The Wild Cards vs. Tank/Iceberg [IWA-MS Tag Team Championship] Hey yeah, another match I'm not watching. Match #13: Samoa Joe vs. Rainman [Semi-Finals] AND JOE JUST COMPLETELY KILLS HIM! AMAZING SLAUGHTER! Joe wins with a Lariat in like 90 seconds. *1/2 Match #4: AJ Styles vs. Arik Cannon [Semi-Finals] Fun 7 minutes. Not great, but they didn't have time to be. Which, I mean...fucking, really? This is like a 6 hour show with 17 matches, you couldn't trim like 10 minutes off one of the matches nobody gives a fuck about for the tournament? Awful. AJ wins with the Rolling Lariat. **3/4 AJ thinks he's won the IWA-MS title too, but Cannon takes it and says he didn't put the belt on the line in the tournament like Petey, because he's not stupid. Match #15: Bryan Danielson vs. Mike Quackenbush [Semi-Finals] Really amazing mat based stuff. Usual stuff between them where they have a lot of cool holds and counters, and everything looks really tight and hard fought. Danielson is more aggressive and has more firepower when it comes to throwing down off the mat, which allows him to win. Cattle Mutilation and then the Double Chickenwing Pin does the trick. *** Match #6: Alex Shelley vs. Austin Aries vs. Chris Sabin vs. Jimmy Rave vs. Claudio Castagnoli vs. BJ Whitmer vs. Todd Sexton [Elimination Match] Total clusterfuck. Would have been more productive to keep Sal Rinauro off the card and add in Jacobs to make an 8 man, but whatever. This doesn't get time to really become anything special, since the tag match and women's match each needed 20+ minutes. You know what? Fuck it. You're going on 6 hours now anyways, just go for the all time prize. Who gives a shit? Out of all this talent, they went with a Rave/Whitmer pairing for the finals. That was alright, I guess. Whitmer wins with the Wrist-Clutch Exploder. **1/4 Match #17: Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles vs. Bryan Danielson [2004 TED PETTY INVITATIONAL FINALS] This is under three way dance rules. If anyone who watched indies at this time put together a top 5 list of US guys not signed to WWE, I'm pretty sure these three would wind up on most lists. It's these three in a match for 15+ minutes, so it's obviously pretty great. Lots of hard hitting and what not. Joe eliminates AmDrag first with the Muscle Buster. AJ/Joe finale is AMAZING, but only like 2-3 minutes. AJ hits the Styles Clash for the win. ***1/4 AJ gets the trophy and what not. Time has not been too kind to this tournament. It gets a ton of hype as one of the best tournaments ever, due to a few amazing matches and the number of top names involved, but the shows being like 4 hours minimum really makes it unbearable to watch. This Night Two has taken me about a month to get through. The 2007 and 2008 TPIs might be better than this, and the 2008 BOLA and 2009 King of Trios are certainly better tournaments too. |
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