NEW YORK CITY INVASION REVIEW

                As the show came to the arena, with the requisite fireworks and the white hot NYC crowd, and once the commentary team of George Minister and Mike Sanders had made their introductions, and confirmed the news that had leaked out earlier in the day that the IWF had struck a deal with the owners of the PWF to purchase the “intellectual rights” of that promotion (which basically means the name, video rights and the likes and also means that at this stage none of the PWF talent), the camera’s took us to the “Hooters In Manhattan” branch of the famous eatery, located on 211 West 56th Street for all those with an interest in this kind of thing, where a special NYC Invasion party was going on, hosted by none other than the IWF’s very own Big Gee!  Gee told the masses that it was a genuine thrill to be here, but that had more to do with the delightful waitresses rather than the stinking and dirty New Yorkers (who had all won tickets for the party in a local IWF radio competition).  Gee said he was looking forward to seeing Matthew Mercy get his ass kicked in the up-coming match, a sentiment that the fans in attendance certainly didn’t agree with.  Gee was flanked by two large chested waitresses throughout this segment and he was loving it. 
1) Matthew Mercy Vs Xavier ( * * * * ¼ )
                The crowd were stoked for this opener, which may have been the biggest name opener in IWF pay-per-view history!  The fans in Madison Square Gardens were going crazy throughout this bout, and for good reason…it was a cracker!
                Mercy started off like the proverbial house on fire, using his high impact and powerful moves to full effect and it wasn’t too long before Xavi took the opportunity to slide out of the ring and take a breather. 
                Xav slowly made his way back in, but was again subjected to a barrage of attack by Mercy.  However, in the midst of all the melee, the referee Nick Patrick took a bump and all hell broke loose.  To get back into things, Xav enlisted the help of a Steel Chair and he smashed Mercy out of the ring.  The two continued to brawl at ringside, and were soon going all over MSG, as Patrick continued to snooze in the ring. 
                The two brawled into the crowd, through the arena walkway’s and back into the restricted areas backstage.  From there, the two slowly made their way back towards the ring, and just as they were coming down the rampway, the referee awoke and started a 10 count, oblivious to the fact that he’d missed around 7 minutes of the action!
                When the two finally got back into the ring, they switched into “proper” wrestling mode, and this was a great David Vs Goliath style section.  Try as he might, Xavier couldn’t outmuscle Mercy, but he used his superior speed to keep out of harm’s way as best as he could.  However, it couldn’t last forever, and Mercy caught him with a positively brutal big boot, which seemingly nearly decapitated Xavier.
                Moving in for the kill, Mercy picked his opponent up, hit him with the Mercy-Bomb and got that all important pinfall victory.  This was high octane stuff all the way and was riotously entertaining.  Thumbs up for both men.
                It was back to Hooters now and Gee was calling Mercy lucky for his win, as well as tossing in some other choice insults in there as well.  As we got back to MSG we saw that Matthew Mercy had been watching this diatribe on a screen backstage, and he was far from pleased. 
2) Four Way Match For Women’s Title ( * * ¾ )
                So onto the Women’s title match, and you had to feel sorry for the girls having to follow such a stonking opener as the previous match.  Still, even if the crowd wasn’t as vocal as they were for the opener, the action within the match was more than respectable and was actually put together quite well. 
                The main story here was the subtly escalating heat between Lisa Marie Veron and Annalise Roberts, who, lest we should forget hey George?, are the girlfriend of Matthew Mercy and wife of Dean Roberts respectively. 
                The opening segment was a testament to great booking as Veron & Annalise were kept away from each other, only teasing a battle.  However, things soon came to a head when, almost simultaneously, Veron tossed Taylor Matheny over the top rope and Annalise sent Trish sprawling to the arena floor.  The excitement as the women turned to face each other and realised that they were finally about to get a chance to go one-on-one was irresistible.
                The two started by trading some pretty standard punches and the like, but slowly the brutality was notched up, until the other two women finally returned to the ring and attempted to lay a beating on  the two. 
                The four women all brawled with each other, which was fairly humdrum, until the big finishing sequence kicked in.  Lisa Marie tossed Trish out of the ring and the two had a battle outside, whilst in the ring Taylor and Annalise battled.  Annalise smashed Taylor with a stiff kick to the head, and then hit her finishing move, the AA.  However before she could get the pinfall, Veron sneaked up behind her, tossed her brutally out of the way, and hooked the leg of Taylor to get the three count and her title retaining victory. 
                As Lisa Marie celebrated, Annalise looked on, with an expression that told the world that their particular battle was far from over.  A decent little match, which, in terms of heightening the anticipation for the inevitable Lisa Marie/Annalise match, did what it set out to do. 
3) Acid Vs AJ Styles ( * * * ¾ )
                This match all came about as a result of Zoltar and his merry men kidnapping poor Trent Acid at the Robo Rumble in January.  Of course when AJ went to the aid of his best buddy he found out that Acid had been brainwashed and fully indoctrinated into Zoltar’s strange ways.
                As one would expect, Acid was accompanied to the ring by Zoltar himself, and two of Zoltar’s henchmen, Mathuras and Yzeabek.  The odds looked bad to AJ, but help was at hand; our intrepid Commissioners Dash Riprock and Steve Corino came out onto the rampway with a ton of security men and ordered Zoltar’s crew from ringside.  Reluctantly, they complied with the request, leaving just Acid and Styles to go right at it. 
                If this was seen by both men as their big night to make serious impressions on the IWF fans as worthy singles stars, then both can be said to have achieved just that.  This was breath-taking stuff at times, and perhaps the only criticism that one could throw at this particular encounter was that there were perhaps a few too many big moves tossed into proceedings. 
                There were too many big moves to note in this review, but some of the highlight’s were Styles’ suicidal top-rope moonsault onto Acid, who just happened to be on the arena floor!!! and Acid’s top-rope missile dropkick onto AJ. 
                In the end, Acid won when he blocked the Styles Clash and turned it into a tombstone jumping piledriver, for the 1-2-3.  After the decision, Zoltar, Mathuras and Yzeabek made their way back out and laid a 4-on-1 attack on the defeated Styles, but Styles was saved by those Positive Role Models.  As the heels dispersed, Riprock and Corino helped up Styles, who got a standing ovation for his bravery.  A fantastic encounter, which should do a lot of good for both men. 
                After this match we were again transported to Hooters, where the Gee was seemingly getting more and more drunk and he was getting rather fruity with some of the waitresses.  He tossed more derogatory comments at Matthew Mercy, but that turned out to be an unwise move, as we heard a whole load of commotion off camera and then saw the sight of Matthew Mercy himself in the restaurant.  The look on Gee’s face as he slowly realised that Mercy was behind him was priceless and then Mercy absolutely battered Gee all around the restaurant.  He hit him with chairs, tables, pictures off the wall and even patron’s food and drink!!!  To see Gee covered in bits of burgers and stuff was hilarious.  After Mercy had finished kicking the crap out of Gee he stood on a table, ordered a pitcher of beer and then downed the whole lot, much to the delight of everyone in the restaurant.  A waitress came across and asked him if he wanted any more beer, to which he replied, “I always want more” before leading the busty girl off in search of another pint!  As daft as it sounds, this was a very entertaining segment indeed. 
4) Matt Hardy & Jay Reso Vs DDP & The Graduate ( * * * )
                The tag team title match was up next, and whilst it was far from the greatest bout ever from the point of view of the in-ring action, there is no doubting that this was a hugely entertaining slice of wrestling, and the crowd lapped up nearly every second of it.     This was a real throwback to the “good old days” as Hardy & Reso did an almighty number on Jackson and metaphorically cut the ring in half to stop any chance of him making the tag to the on-looking Dallas Page. 
                The X-Rated boys used every nefarious tactic in the book to maintain their advantage, with double teaming galore, all the while winding up Page and winding up the sell out MSG crowd too. 
                Finally Jackson managed to make some headway as he shocked Hardy with a DDT.  The battle was on to see who could make the tag first, and although it was Hardy who reached Reso first, Jackson was not that far behind tagging DDP and Page hit the ring with a fury, cleaning the clocks of both of the champions. 
                DDP hit Hardy with The Page Turner, but the referee didn’t make the count on the subsequent pinfall as Hardy was not the legal man.  Tossing Matt aside, DDP turned his attentions to Reso and pummelled him.  He then signalled and set up the Diamond Drop on Reso, but Matt Hardy came back into the ring and clipped Page’s knee. Reso then made the cover, as Hardy held DDP’s leg down at ringside (and out of view of the referee too) for the champs to get the pinfall and retain their belts.  A very entertaining match indeed. 
                After this match, and after the ubiquitous MuscleMania XIII promo, it was time for Chris Jericho and his highlight reel.  As Jericho made his way to the ring he was mercilessly booed by the New York crowd.  He took the microphone and told the world that he was so excited that his guest tonight had agreed to appear on the first ever PPV version of the Highlight Reel, and then he introduced Dean Roberts, who got a spine-tingling reception from the fans. 
                After the applause had died down, Jericho started off the interview with some extremely complimentary comments, calling Dean one of the greatest wrestlers to have ever stepped into an IWF ring.  He said that Dean truly was the Icon of Professional Wrestling and that he was a true legend.  Dean seemed touched by the compliments and when Jericho offered to shake his hand, Dean had no hesitation in accepting the offer and the two shook hands to a wild reaction from the fans.
                But, and didn’t there just have to be a but, Jericho had more to say.  He told Dean that whilst all that may be true in the past sense, it certainly wasn’t true now.  He told Dean that he WAS one of the best, and he was a legend of the past, but now, in 2004, his standing in the game was shot.  He said that Dean was yesterday’s news and that no-one cared about the sad old loser anymore.  
                Dean, for his part, was just an interested onlooker at this point, wondering just what else Jericho was going to come out with.  In fact, next us was a Jericho video package of the Dean, showing all the Dean’s losses to Jericho in glorious Technicolor, culminating in Jericho’s Triple Crown victory at Xtreme Overload 2003.  Jericho said that he had completely destroyed Dean that night, so much so that Dean hadn’t returned to the IWF for six months, and then only for one night.  Jericho said that Dean should do the whole world a favour and pack it in completely. 
                It was now that Jericho finally allowed time for Dean to speak.  Dean said that Jericho’s points had all been interesting, and that it was true that Jericho had done a number on him in his last match.  He also congratulated Y2J on having the balls to say this to his face, unlike all the others in the back who thought the same thing but wouldn’t challenge him with their words.  He said that the last nine months had been a thought provoking time and that he had wondered if his career was over.  Still, he had begun to realise that there was some unfinished business to attend to.  He’d been watching Jericho shoot his mouth off about ending the Dean’s career, and being the better man, and he’d been pretty convincing.  He’d thought about it and he was man enough to admit that maybe Jericho was right; maybe Dean was past it.  But there was one little nagging doubt in the back of his mind, one train of thought that told him that he wasn’t finished.  Even though his wife Annalise had tried to make him realise that by getting back in the ring he could be risking his whole quality of life, he wanted to reach down that one more time to prove that it had been all worth it. 
                He said that he didn’t want his career to end like it did at Xtreme Overload, battered and bruised and helpless and even if it turned out that he only had one match left in him, he had to do it one last time. 
                Jericho interrupted him and said that he was feeling very emotional and that he was almost on the verge of tears, such had been the feeling in that.  But he said in the end, it was all bulls**t.  It was Dean’s ego that was telling to come back, Dean’s ego that was convincing his mind to try things his body could no longer accomplish.  Jericho said that if Dean really wanted to make his return, he had an idea…he could get in the ring with the Highlight of The Night and get his ass kicked once again.  Dean thought this over and said he wasn’t ready tonight, and with a smile on his face said it would probably take him about six weeks to be ready.  It slowly dawned on Jericho, and the crowd, that Dean was referring to MuscleMania XIII and then Jericho smirked, saying that it would be a pleasure to, once again, finish Dean’s career on the biggest stage of them all; and this time, he would do the job properly.  The two then shook hands, very cagily, and then walked off almost simultaneously, not wanting to turn their back on the other for fear of a sneak attack.  This may not have been the grand-stand return for the Dean some may have expected, but this was an outstanding segment which sets up a massive and intriguing match for the upcoming MuscleMania XIII event. 
5) Team Kanyon Vs Team Angle ( * * * * ½ )
                And so it was time for the main event, and what a buzz of excitement was going around the arena as, first, Team Angle made their way out (individually), followed by the individuals of Team Kanyon.  Of course the biggest reaction was for Chris Kanyon…it felt as if the roof was about to blow off when he came out. 
                Matt Morgan was chosen to start the match for his team and the members of Kanyon’s team all seemed a little reluctant to kick off the proceedings against this behemoth.  Eventually, Eddy Guerrero took up the mantle, but he soon wished he hadn’t as he got absolutely smashed by a barrage of big punches and kicks.  Simon Starshot made the tag in and put up a little bit more of a fight, but he soon quickly got kicked to the kerb too.  It took the introduction of Shawn Michaels into the proceedings to get his team an advantage, and he sent Morgan reeling with a well timed combination of punches and a perfectly struck dropkick. 
                From here the action was swift and fast paced as both teams exchanged quick tags, which kept things fresh and meant that all 10 men were looking to make a good impression when they came in.  There were particularly exciting altercations between Michaels and his former student Brian Kendrick, Sean O’Haire and his perennial rival Randy Orton, and between Kurt Angle and Eddy Guerrero.  Noticeable however was that Angle was trying to desperately avoid Chris Kanyon, but when Kanyon took a bit of beating from The Blueprint, Angle was quick to tag in whilst Kanyon was down and he continued to lay the boots into his MuscleMania opponent.  The crowd really got into this segment, and they were willing Kanyon to either get his own attack in on Angle, or for him to tag someone in to do it for him.  Eventually Kanyon managed to stun Angle with a neck-breaker and then he made the hot tag to Shawn Michaels who started to clean house.
                Unfortunately in the ensuing melee the referee took a hit and was sent sprawling and all hell broke loose.  There were hot moves galore as all ten men fought and brawled both in the ring and at ringside.  There was literally too much action to follow at this point, but highlights included Simon Starshot’s thrilling plancha dive onto Kendrick at ringside, Morgan power-bombing Eddy Guerrero through the German Announcer’s ringside table, and Kanyon hitting the Kanyon Cutter on Rhino at ringside.  Eventually the referee awoke and he called for backup from the other officials to sort out the melee  that had kicked off.  As this all went on at ringside, Chris Kanyon and Kurt Angle ended up as the sole wrestlers in the ring and they had a crisp exchange of moves, which culminated in Kanyon hitting Angle with the Kanyon Cutter.  However the referee was still at ringside trying to sort out the other eight wrestlers, and so there was no-one to count the pinfall.  At this point Kanyon got up but he hadn’t noticed that Matt Morgan had nipped into the ring, with a Steel Chair, and he got clonked good and proper right in the face, knocking him out cold.  Morgan then rolled Angle onto Kanyon, went outside and got the referee’s attention, who slipped back into the ring and slapped the mat three times and Team Angle had sneaked a victory.  Angle and his cronies hopped off backstage celebrating, as Team Kanyon tended to the battered and bruised Kanyon, and Eddy Guerrero for that matter who was still suffering from that ringside Powerbomb, and as the show went off the air, Kanyon was finally coming around, and he couldn’t believe what had happened to him. 
 
Sceptics wondered what the IWF could do with a five match show, but this provided the definitive answer…give us a damn fine wrestling show!!!  Three of the matches were superb, and the other two title matches gave us plenty of excitement too.  Styles and Acid made the most of their opportunity to shine, Mercy & Xavier put on a mini-classic which wowed the crowd right from the start and despite the eclectic mix of styles on display in the 10 man main event, all the superstars concerned pulled together and ended this great show on a high note.  Throw in the fun with the Gee, and a gripping Highlight Reel with Dean Roberts and all in all you’re left with a cracking show, both as a path on the way to MuscleMania XIII and in it’s own right.  Great stuff indeed.