Heat Wave Report

Saints & Haas Vs MNM & Benjamin ( * * * )
The show kicked off with this high-impact six man tag team encounter with all six men looking to impress in front of what was likely to be one of the biggest audiences of the year. Particularily impressive was Shelton Benjamin, who really did seem to be trying to steal the show. He was matched all the way by UK Champion CM Punk though, who, despite his partner Colt Cabana's fears, nailed his colours firmly to the Second City Saints mast and "wrestled for the team". In fact, he won his team the match by pinning Shelton following the Pepsi Plunge. A warmly recieved opener.

Rick Shaw Vs Eric Young ( * * * 1/4 )
Canadian Eric Young has been on a bit of a roll since arriving in the IWF and this was his biggest match yet, his first chance to taste IWF gold. Shaw was confident as he made his way to the ring and started off like the proverbial house on fire, sending Shaw spinning out of the ring, but Young is nothing if not resiliant and he used his ring-smarts to take control of the battle. The two started off trading blows on the ground and slowly turned up the temperature with some suicidal stunts. Shaw looked to have it in the bag when he hit the Shaw Thing but much to the champ's surprise, Young kicked out. Amazed, Shaw went for it again, but Young blocked it, hit back with his Young Blood Neckbreaker and got the pinfall victory that earned him the IWF World Cruiserweight Title.

Chris Benoit & Samoa Joe Vs William Regal & Finlay ( * * * 1/4)
What can you say about this one other than the fact it was stiff shoot-style action all the way from start to finish. All four men were whacking each other without a second thought and all four men surely came away from the match feeling the pain. Regal and Finlay were quite the team, using their years of friendship to work well as a team. They did their best to avoid Samaoa and cornered Benoit and really dished out some punishment to the Canadian Crippler but they couldn't keep him from tagging in Joe forever and when Joe did get involved in the match he was in the mood to kick some ass. There were some brutal suplexes and submission holds on display and in the end, despite some nefarious work from Regal and Finlay, Joe was able to finish Regal off with the Samoan Stretch. The fans gave the wrestlers a warm round of applause at the finish.

Randy Orton Vs Jay Reso ( * * * )
On in the middle of the card, but not without reason for once. The crowd were well up for this one. Reso may not have the top-line experience, but he's certainly caught fire. Orton's title win at MuscleMania was a surprise, but he has shown that he is more than capable of excelling as a heel champion. Orton was accompanied by his new sidekick Barabus Lashley (and what a sculptured monster he is) and with the odds stacked against Reso, the fans were firmly behind his quest to take the title. The two had some strong back and forth exchanges in the early going before some sneaky interference by Lashley got Orton on top. However Barabus stuck his nose in once too often for the referee and the ref sent Lashley back to the locker rooms. Reso took the opportunity to get back into the swing of things, but a ref bump meant there was no-one there to make the count when Reso made the cover after an Unprettier. Lashley took this as his cue to make his way back to the arena and a two-on-one onslaught ensued. However help was at hand as America's Most Wanted made their way to the ring and Orton & Lashley slipped out of the ring. Things were looking good for Reso, but as Reso thanked AMW, they hit him with the Death Sentance as Orton looked on laughing. Orton then woke the referee up, hit Reso with the RKO and got the pinfall victory to retain his title. Orton celebrated with Lashley and AMW as he walked off backstage.

Kurt Angle & Chris Kanyon Vs Triple H & Matt Morgan ( * * 3/4 )
On a night of good to great matches, this was perhaps the one disappointment of the night. It wasn't a bad match, but with four former world champions in there, and a great build up it was a shame that this one fell a bit flat. Still there were some killer sequences, not least Kurt Angle's triple suplexes on both opponents but in the end there wasn't quite the fire that you would have expected. In the final reckoning Chris Kanyon pinned Triple H after the Kanyon Kutter (and boy, isn't HHH losing a few high profile matches these days) and the champions retained.

Shawn Michaels Vs Peter Turner ( * * * )
If it was a shock that Peter Turner returned to the IWF, it's even more of a shock that he's returned under such positice circumstances as far as his profile is concerned. Turner has never been at any stage of his IWF career a genuine headliner, but somebody somewhere obviously thinks that this is a role he can carry out in 2006. As you might expect, the onus fell on Michaels to carry the match but to be fair to Turner he looked decent and carried himself well. He also carved out some heel heat for himself, thankfully not of the "get lost" kind that he has been known to attract in the past. And indeed, at the conclusion of the match he was drowned in a sea of boo's as he actually pinned Shawn following the "Page-Turner". Will wonders never cease?

Dean Roberts Vs Matthew Mercy (Loser Retires, * * * * * )
And so, with all due respect, it was time for the match that 32,500 people had packed the JJB for. The atmosphere was white hot and the shrewd move to have this match in Wigan proved immense. Dean was the crowd favourite, but Mercy had his small, but vocal, pockets of the crowd on his side and it made for a superb atmosphere; one which was, dare we say it, even more spine-tingling than at MuscleMania in Birmingham all those years ago. The build up to the show had been great, and the IWF had injected a real momentous feel about the match during the show with clips of both men arriving at the arena, both men warming up and both gave thrilling pre-match interviews which really set the gravitas of the match at a supremely high level. Indeed, as the two men walked out you really did get the sense that this was indeed the last night of one of their careers.
Mercy was his cocky self in the early going and fell victim to a few early blows by Dean, taking his time at ringside to compose himself. From thereon in though, the action was non-stop. Indeed for almost 40 minutes, these two went at it no holds barred . No gimmicks, no run-ins and no ref-bumps. But whilst that may sound terribly old-fashioned, don't be fooled. These two put a modern slant on things and the psychology of the match was perhaps the best we've ever seen on these shores. Every move meant something, every comeback told a story...you may think we go overboard from time to time, but believe us when we say this was classic.
Mercy thought he'd won it after the Mercy-Bomb but Dean kicked out. Dean hit back with the Scholarship, but Mercy kicked out of that. Dean even hit Mercy with his top-rope Scholarship but the fans couldn't believe it when Mercy kicked out of that!
When Dean kicked out of a second Mercy-Bomb it didn't seem that either of them would be able to win it, but a third Mercy-Bomb finally finished Dean off, much to the shock of the JJB crowd. Mercy celebrated over the prone Dean and left the stadium to a cacophony of boo's. Slowly Dean Roberts got to his feet in the ring and as he stood up the entire stadium of fans got to their feet and gave him a standing ovation. The show faded to black as booming chants of "Deano" rang out through the JJB stadium.

Wow, what a show. The under-card was entertaining stuff, but this card will go down in the annals of history for it's superb main event. We're used to Dean and Mercy delivering when the pressure is on and the two delivered what may have been their best ever match, and what definately was their last ever match against each other. The two showed why they have been perhaps the two most iconic IWF figures in it's near 11 year history and they proved it for one final time. Quite simply, that was one of the best matches you'll EVER see and was a fitting way to say goodbye to Dean Roberts.