NO REMORSE Review

Jay Reso Vs Edge (* * * 1/4) - Well it seems like Edge is still employed by the IWF after all. The build up to this has been pretty simple; long-term friends they may be, but Reso decided the time was right to tell Edge some home-truths - namely that he's let his career go to waste. Which might be the truth but doesn't really rally you to Edge's side does it? Still this was a good opener as the two displayed the chemistry that has been evident between the two over the years. Whether or not it's enough to bring Edge back into the land of a wrestler with prospects is open to question, but this was a hard-fought bout which was keenly contested. Of course in the end it was Reso who got the pinfall, with the aid of a handful of tights. A good match, but what it will acheive for either man is a question that doesn't appear to have a suitable answer.

CM Punk & Maria Vs Colt Cabana ( * * 1/4) - An intriguing encounter, albeit one that suffered mainly due to the fact that Maria seems to have no aptitude whatsoever for this "wrestling" lark. The heat was impressive though, and Punk and Cabana put in enough effort to cover the weak link. Still the end result showed just who the IWF management see as the weak link from the old Second City Saints; yes, Maria pinned Colt Cabana to finish this one off. It's difficult to see where CC can go from here.

Barabus Lashley & AMW Vs Samoa Joe & MNM ( * * * ) - This was an intriguing six-man match up on paper and it turned out to be quite an intriguing one as well. This was fought super-stiff style (indeed Lashely and the AMW seemed to be fighting fire with fire as far as Samoa Joe was concerned) and the hard-hitting exchanges went over well with the crowd (even if it all did seem to make MNM look a little out of their depth). In the end it was the good guys who prevailed over Team Orton when Samoa Joe pinned Lashley after a positively evil spinebuster-type move. I suppose we'll soon get to see if that will be effective in a one-on-one match against Lashely.

Shelton Benjamin Vs Rhino ( * * * ) - Two guys who really needed a BIG performance here, especially as the whole booking scenario for this match has been built around these two being chokers who can never rise to the occasion. Although this viewer for one can't actually recall a time when Shelton has really been given an occasion to rise to. As it stood this was a decent match, which peaked well towards the end, and even got the crowd involved as well. As well they should given that this was a hot finish, which could have gone either way. In the end it went Rhino's way as he polished off Shelts with the Gore for the 1-2-3.

Eric Young & Bobby Roode Vs Brian Kendrick & Lance Hoyt ( * * * 1/4) - Three of these men weren't a part of the IWF as recently as the beginning of the summer so it was to little suprise that the reaction of the crowd was a little muted. But as per the previous match the action did warm the crowd up as the Cruisers especially took some big bumps. And as it was it was one of those big bumps that won the match as Lance Hoyt hit the Dominator off the top-rope on Young and got the pinfall that won his team the European tag team titles. A great little fast-paced match.

Abyss Vs Xavier (FCA, * * * *) - After seeing a couple of distinct mid-card matches the fans were going wild for these two...and both men delivered. This was a brawling tour de force as they two went all of the arena exchanging brutal and insane moves right into the crowd. But the fun didn't stop there. In fact the only thing that stopped this match getting an even higher rating was the absolutely BARMY finish. They literally put the "anywhere" into Falls Count Anywhere as they ended up outside the arena...and on a Greyhound bus. And as this bus continued on it's merry way (luckily a camera man managed to get on the bus as well) without any police trying to stop the chaos the two battled on. We then "lost transmission" and so went onto the next match....but we'd be back.

Matt Morgan Vs The Bang Gang ( * * 1/2) - Well with Morgan in full blown pyscho mode here, it looked like a pretty even battle. Fought under elimination rules this perhaps lacked a bit of tension in the early going (I mean, come on, did anyone seriously think that Morgan wouldn't eliminate any of them?) but the fans seemed to lap it up. And there did seem to be a genuine wish to see the Bang Gang get creamed. Morgan duly provided that. He wasted, and we do mean wasted, Mantorras Figueiredo, Titi Buengo, Loco Delgado and Flavio Love, before Mario Lama decided he'd had enough and took a countout loss. Of course where all this leaves the Bang Gang is open to question, but it certainly made Morgan look the part.

Throughout that match we'd heard tales of the Xavier/Abyss bus fight but finally we got transmission back as the two were still fighting. Finally Xavier hit a Xav attack (don't ask) on Abyss and got the pinfall, 1-2-3. But then the referee realised that the bus had gone past the Greenboro limits and as such, the pinfall couldn't count and the match was a no-contest. In my 30 years or so of watching wrestling, this may have been the most bizarre match finish yet!

Randy Orton Vs The Big Gee ( * * * ) - Was this the least anticipated ppv main event of the year? Quite possibly. This is not to belittle either man, but there has been precious little build up for this one and Gee is far too early into his new-found facedom to warrant such a high profile title opportunity. Even Riley Mason's promise to strip on Warfare if the Gee won the title seemed a lame attempt to inject some life into proceedings. As it turns out, we won't be seeing Riley's puppies just yet as Orton managed to retain his world title again, but only after the interference of a masked man...a masked man who looked remarkably like Gee's nemesis Triple H, especially when he hit Gee with The Pedigree. Of course we never found how exactly who it was, as the masked man disappeared as quickly as he appeared, but the attack was enough for Orton to hit an R-K-O and take the pinfall victory.

Ok, so it wasn't the most anticipated IWF pay-per-view in history , but it was entertaining enough in execution and had it's moments. Admittedly though, other than the insane ending of the Xavier/Abyss fight this isn't destined to be remembered in the history books.