It’s that time of the year again, where the IWF fans are “put in charge” of the matchmaking. Ok, so it’s hardly carte blanche, but we like the idea and once again the IWF put up an intriguing set of things for us to vote on. So let’s get cracking…
Tag Team Title Match ( * * * ¼ )
The results to decide which set of tag belts were on the line were as follows;
World Tag Team Titles – 66.4 %
European Tag Team Titles – 33.6 %
Obviously the desire from the fans was to see Brian Kendrick & Lance Hoyt lift the World titles, rather than see Phil Jackson and Paul Wardle complete a clean sweep of things. Of course if one thinks about it did rather telegraph the outcome of this match as whilst you may have thought the World Champions had a chance of doubling up, you never really thought that the European champions had any chance of doing the same. Still this was a very enjoyable match which was perfect as an opening encounter. The fans were really into it and all four men responded with good performances.
And the rating of this match would probably have been a smidgen higher if it wasn’t for the misfortune that befell “The Graduate” Phil Jackson as we were about to go into the home straight. It’s unclear as to how it actually happened but as Jackson went to hit Kendrick with a boot, his planted foot gave way and, as we would learn later on, Jackson tore his quadriceps muscle and went down in a heap. He valiantly tried to carry on, but the guys went straight to the finish and Wardle pinned Kendrick to retain the titles for his team.
A good opener, which ended up badly for Jackson. It looks like he’ll be out for a minimum of six months which is a terrible blow as he was in the midst of one of his biggest pushes. It remains to be seen what will happen to the World Tag Belts in the meantime, but it’s clear that the new commissioner will have a busy first day in office.
Debut Attraction Match; ( * ¾ )
The results to decide Mohammed Fakjir’s debut opponent were as follows;
Dave Proud – 48.4 %
John Cena – 46.5 %
Paul London – 5.1 %
This time last year it was Barabus Lashley who got the special feature debut treatment; this year it was Mohammed Fakjir. What we can safely is that if Lashley’s twelve months are anything to go by, Fakjir will certainly get the chance to shine. Which is more than he really got here. Dave Proud won the vote and much like he did for Umaga at Shoot Out, he put Fakjir over here clean and took a bit of a bruising in the process (including taking some monster blows from Fakjir’s “bodyguard” Justice Porter.
Fakjir won with the “Playa Power” (a reverse STO) for a relatively easy and satisfactory night’s work. It’s difficult to tell what the future holds for Fakjir, but the crowd were into him and it goes to show just what actually building a wrestler’s debut can do.
Gold Rush Ladder Match ( * * * * )
The results of the voting for the 6th and final person in the match were as follows;
Shelton Benjamin – 32.5 %
Barabus Lashley – 26.85 %
Chris Harris – 18.25 %
Umaga – 15.5 %
Joey Mercury – 6.9%
This was one of the most intriguing aspects of the night, not so much for the fans getting to choose the 6th man, but more because of the unique stipulation attached to the bout. A six man ladder match is innovative enough, but instead of a title hanging above the ring, instead there was a “title opportunity”. In plain English, a contract enabling the winner of the match to have a World title shot of his choosing any time within the next 12 months. None of the six men in question (or even the five plus five) have ever been long-term title contenders (although Punk and Rhino have had title matches) which made the whole thing even more intriguing. This wasn’t the “big” names fighting over another chance at the top, this was the “young lions” chasing their big opportunity.
To the surprise of some, Shelton Benjamin won the fans vote for the final spot, not that he seemed particularly inclined to thank the crowd, and the six men made their way to the ring with what seemed like a mixture of fear and an adrenaline rush. Then when the bell rang they unleashed all they had with a fury.
Highlights included an absolutely insane Rhino “Gore” from the top-rope on CM Punk as he dangled from the rope holding the Gold Rush briefcase, Shelton Benjamin leaping off a ladder set up in the ring, onto Abyss who was on a table at ringside and Samoa Joe and Edge sending each other flying as both climbed ladders in an attempt to grab the contract.
In the end however it was CM Punk who managed to climb the ladder and grab onto the Gold Rush Briefcase, much to the delight of the sold-out crowd. Punk now has a guaranteed title shot of his choosing, to be taken at any time within the next 12 months. The world is indeed his oyster; and this was a fantastic spot-fest to boot.
Grudge Match ( * * * )
The results to choose the stipulation of the Annalise Anderson/Alexis Laree match were as follows;
Hair Vs Hair – 83.7 %
Bra & Panties Match – 9.15 %
Lumberjill Match – 7.15 %
The women had little chance of following the Gold Rush match, but thankfully the choice of stipulation, Hair Vs Hair, meant that the fans were into this one as well. And after a hard-fought back and forth match the IWF proved that when the said that one of these women would be shaved bald if this stipulation was picked. Alexis Laree got the win following the Laree-D-T (top-rope tornado DDT) and then the fun really began.
From out of nowhere some old familiar music blared out and the IWF fans were treated to an appearance by Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake! Yes, Ed Leslie himself. They wheeled a barber’s chair to ringside and proceeded to shave poor Annalise Anderson bald. Every last bit of her flowing locks was trimmed off, much to the delight of the sell-out crowd. Anderson was beside herself, Laree was ecstatic.
A good match, with the ending everyone wanted to see. Sometimes you don’t need any more than that.
Captains Match ( * * )
The results to pick the “captains” of the Bang Gang and Hart Foundation 2.0 for their one-on-one match were as follows;
BANG GANG
Mario Lama – 30.4 %
Flavio Love – 28.45 %
Loco Delgado – 24.1 %
Titi Buengo – 9.55 %
Mantorras Figueirdo – 7.5 %
HART FOUNDATION
Harry Smith – 26.4 %
Teddy Hart – 25.1 %
Nattie Neidhart – 20.7 %
Jack Evans – 14.1 %
TJ Wilson – 13.7 %
So in the fans infinite wisdom it came down to Mario Lama Vs Harry Smith. Lama was probably chosen by the fans because he’s a right big beast of a bastard (or maybe some fans were kidding around and wanted to choose the least proficient member of the Bang Gang); Smith probably got the nod because being the son of former World Champion Davey Boy Smith is a little more historic than being the nephew of Bret Hart or the daughter of Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart. (And what was up with the 20% of you who voted for Nattie, you cruel bastards).
Anyway the match itself was perfectly respectable although you knew about four weeks ago that it would be overbooked to the extent that the eight people who didn’t get the votes would all end up involved anyway. And so it turned out; the Bang Gang ran in first , the Hart Foundation evened up the odds and in amongst the melee Harry finished off Mario with his dad’s old favourite the running powerslam for a hugely popular victory.
It wasn’t brilliant, but it was a good start for the Hart Foundation. Even with the news that Mantorras Figueirdo suffered a lateral left meniscus tear in his knee, which will keep him out for up to three months, shouldn’t spoil the fact that the Bang Gang / Hart Foundation rivalry has only just begun. Of course the initial burst of family connection aided pops can’t carry them for ever, but they’ll surely get the chance to show what the can really do in the weeks and months to come.
Pick A Partner ( * * * ¾ )
The results to find Xavier’s tag team partner for the evening were as follows;
Chris Benoit – 71.35 %
Kane – 18.95 %
Rob Van Dam – 9.7 %
One of the more outright voting victories of the night (is it any wonder mind you given the fact Kane seems on his last legs and RVD hasn’t done a thing of note in months) as the fans voted for Chris Benoit, knowing full well that this was the best route to getting a great match. And that we got as well, despite Xavier still suffering from the effects of his arm injury, although pre-match he stated that the physiotherapy of Trish Stratus had almost certainly “saved his wrestling career.”
Burke & Jericho make quite the double act but it also has to be said that Benoit & Xavier made a strong team as well, meshing well and seemingly having a whale of a time. This was, in many respects, a good “old-school” tag match with a back and forth opening session turning into the heel team cutting Benoit off from his partner and going to work. Of course, the talent in the ring being what it was we also got some very hot sequences as well.
The end portion of the match may well have been the best of the entire card. Xavier got the hot-tag and proceeded to clean house, but it wasn’t to be. Jericho smacked Xavier into the path of Burke who hit him with the Elijah Express for the 1-2-3, and his second pinfall victory over Xavier in two attempts.
After the match Xavier was gingerly holding his arm as his buddy Benoit tended to him. Burke & Jericho meanwhile just celebrated and celebrated. A significant win for Burke in a very good match indeed.
Tag Team Tornado Match ( * * ¾ )
The results to pick the tag team encounter were as follows;
Triple H & Randy Orton Vs Jay Reso & The Big Gee – 41.05 %
Triple H & Jay Reso Vs Randy Orton & The Big Gee – 30.15 %
Randy Orton & Jay Reso Vs The Big Gee & Triple H – 28.8 %
This was the match on the card that most had that “thrown together to give some names something to do” feel about it. The fact that this was the closest overall vote of the night is nothing to do with great choices, more to do with the fact that none of the three choices really stood out.
It was a decent match, nothing more and the only really significant point of note to come out of it was the amount of damage apparently done to The Big Gee. To finish the match he took a Triple H pedigree and a Randy Orton RKO – which saw Orton get the pinfall – and then his partner for the evening Jay Reso was so incensed at what he saw as Gee’s pitiful performance that he hit Gee with an Unprettier after the decision. So Gee was stretchered out, and packed off to hospital, seemingly knocked out cold.
Pretty much a card-filler all the way, although I suppose it will be interesting to see where the Gee storyline goes now.
New IWF Commissioner
The results to choose the new IWF commissioner were as follows;
Dean Roberts – 50.9 %
Paul Heyman – 32.6 %
Wellington Wilkins Jnr. – 6.9 %
Shane Douglas – 5.4 %
PJW – 4.2 %
It was only ever a two-horse race (although we’d have liked to see IWF “legend” Wellington Wilkins Jnr. get the job ourselves) and it came as little surprise to see that Dean Roberts took the vote. The live crowd seemed to approve as Dean celebrated and Paul Heyman looked particularly cheesed off that he hadn’t won. They made a point as well of stating that as of 9am on Monday morning, Dean would officially be sworn in as IWF commissioner, a fact which would become pretty important once the main event reached it’s conclusion…
Unified World Title; ( * * * ¼ )
The results to pick the stipulation for Matt Morgan Vs Finlay were as follows;
First Blood Match – 52.3 %
Falls Count Anywhere Match – 36.9 %
Submission Match – 10.8 %
So it was the First Blood stipulation, a choice that pleased Finlay no end (“I was going to make him bleed anyway, so this just makes it easier”). The two, quite simply, waged a war on each other. This certainly wasn’t Toots Mondt territory. With the First Blood rules encompassing a no countout and no disqualifications rule book the two went at it with a fury, exchanging punches, kicks and foreign objects shots with gay abandon. Which was understandable really given that you had to make your opponent bleed to win the match.
The ending came in as a controversial one; referee Mickie Henson was smashed by a chair shot from Morgan (that was meant for Finlay) when the Irish Bastard pulled him in the way. This didn’t stop Morgan however as he unleashed a positively evil series of chair shots at Finlay’s head causing him to bleed. With the referee out though, there was no way to declare the winner. As Morgan tried to wake up the referee, Finlay’s little friend Hornswoggle came from out of the ring and distracted Morgan, allowing Finlay to smack the world champion with the Shillelagh repeatedly, opening up a great big gash on Morgan’s head. Finlay was then handed a towel by Hornswoggle and he wiped the blood off his face as best as he could. The referee stirred, saw a virtually clean Finaly and a bloodied and battered Morgan and signalled for the bell to ring. The decision? We had a NEW world champion in Finlay. Morgan was livid when he realised what was happening, but his protestations were for naught as Finlay was given the belt. The show ended with Finlay holding the title belt up, celebrating, as the commentators wondered what new IWF commissioner Dean Roberts was going to make of all this!
Whilst not an across the board knock-out this was a very enjoyable IWF pay-per-view which never sunk to terrible depths. Throw in a couple of outstanding matches (Gold Rush, Pick A Partner), some shocking results (did anyone see Finlay coming out of SSS as the new Champion?) and the every entertaning interactive basis of the show and you end up with an action packed show which should have been enjoyable to all those watching.
