IWC’s Double-Shot Weekend Marred By a Screw Job Months in the Making

Saturday, February 26 in Uniontown, Pa and Sunday afternoon February 27 in McKeesport, Pa officially kicked off the IWC 2005 calendar year with the amazing athleticism and unbelievable action that is a staple of every IWC live event. However, overshadowing some of the most exciting competitive bouts in recent memory was a display so disgusting it caused the entire locker room to band together in a very rare showing of unity.

This weekend belonged to “The Bastard Son of 1,000 Corpses” Sebastian Dark. Heading into Uniontown, Dark was confident he would be able to continue his very impressive winning ways against Shirley Doe, and be able to win the IWC Heavyweight Title in this streetfight. Dark tried to bait Doe in to a straight-up wrestling match, which saw everything from both men chain wrestling, to even a Doe huracanrana, however before long action spilled to the outside as garbage cans and chairs came into play in a brawl that reached every corner of the building. Action re-entered the ring with several chairs in hand, but despite everything he dished out Doe refused to die and was able to come back and retain the championship using the Sillyhead 33. Unfortunately, this would be far from the last we would hear of Dark this weekend.

The next night in McKeesport it appeared like Dark would be done for the night quite early. Moments after his match with Dean Radford degenerated into an uncontrollable brawl that was ruled a double-disqualification, Dark stormed the ring to complain about the decision, when he was interrupted by promoter Norm Connors. Connors went on a passionate diatribe blaming Dark for cutting Super Hentai’s career short, and warned Dark that when it comes to being screwed, nobody in the area is better at returning the favor than Norm Connors, and as a result of what Dark did to Hentai, that’s exactly what was going to happen. So as not to ruin Hentai’s night, Dark was physically dragged out of the building by security and wrestlers.

When the moment came for Hentai’s ceremony it was one of the most emotional situations ever in IWC. Promoter Norm Connors spoke from the heart about Hentai and his career and what he has meant to all of us. Several members of the IWC locker room, all of which were positively influenced by Hentai, put aside professional animosity to pay their respects as well. IWC Champion Shirley Doe, Hentai’s greatest rival who later grew into one of his closest friends, spoke from the heart as well, and eventually the superstars made their way to the back to give the spotlight to Hentai.

As an apparently choked-up Hentai addressed the crowd, Dark re-entered the building, now clad in a suit and holding a briefcase. Dark taunted and berated Hentai for being “a quitter” and returned Hentai’s mask in a sarcastic going-away gesture. As Dark continued to run his mouth, Hentai pulled out a bottle eerily reminiscent of the bottle of alcohol Dark used to partially blind Hentai last fall. As Dark turned back toward Hentai, Hentai flung the liquid into Dark’s eyes, causing him to go down in great pain.

As Connors rushed into the ring, putting past personal animosity in order to make sure another serious injury didn’t take place, Connors realized something just wasn’t right. The liquid covering Dark’s eyes and face wasn’t rubbing alcohol…it was just water. As Connors turned to Hentai, Hentai blinded Connors by throwing powder in his eyes, as Dark popped up to help Hentai double-team their employer. Hentai grabbed the microphone and told Connors that this time is was Norm that ended up getting screwed. Hentai & Dark embraced and celebrated as the entire locker room began to empty into the ring, running Dark & Hentai clear out of the building.

At this point things were at their ugliest. Super Hentai, arguably the most respected man in IWC had just betrayed the entire locker room with this ruse that has apparently been months in the making. As Connors was seeking medical treatment, tempers understandably flared up much more than they should’ve and as a result of the volatile moods of everyone, the situation almost became even more out of control, but thankfully cooler heads prevailed and Connors was transported to a local hospital where, at the time of this writing, was believed to have had 3 or more broken ribs.

IWCWrestling.com hopes to have more on this situation in the coming days and weeks, with hopefully an update on Norm Connors’ condition as well as perhaps a further explanation to why Super Hentai, IWC’s most respected hero, would align himself with the least popular man in the locker room, Sebastian Dark.

Despite that situation, as always IWC presented the best professional wrestling in the area, and one of the weekend’s best matches included two men who still have the respect of the locker room, IWC Champion Shirley Doe defending his title against “The Original Wild-Eyed Southern Boy” Tracy Smothers. Doe again showed his progression as a well-rounded champion by hanging with the 21 year veteran on the mat. Smothers, in turn, proved he can still get hardcore a full 7 years after his reign as one-half of the ECW World Tag Team Champions, brawling with Doe all over the building. As action returned to the ring, several members of the locker room came to ringside as a testament to how highly so many people view both of these competitors. Much like the previous night, a pile of chairs ended up in the ring, and much like the previous night, Doe used them to his advantage. After a series of breath-taking near-falls that left the future of the IWC Title very much in doubt, Doe hit Sillyhead 2 on the chairs to score the victory. After the match, both men showed respect for each other, but Smothers took a cheap shot at Doe and made it clear he wanted a rematch down the road. He'll get it at IWC's next event, Night of Legends 2!

This weekend also featured the return of Japanese sensation and reigning IWC International Champion Solider who had his toughest test to date as he met “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels for the very first time. Daniels had a set strategy going into the match, and that was to take apart the left knee of Soldier and attempt to get a submission victory. However, one thing Daniels couldn’t have expected was an appearance by “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles at ringside to give moral support to Soldier. The appearance of Styles, on top of Daniels excessive show-boating may have been his greatest enemy, as those distractions may very well have cost Daniels the International Championship. As Daniels has weakened Soldier to the point where it looked like a submission would be eminent, the 20 minutes time limit to the match expired as the match was officially declared a draw. Styles and Daniels stared each other down center ring, but Daniels left before any physical contact was made.

Later that night it was AJ Styles who had title aspirations, as he tried to dethrone Sterling James Keenan to become the only 3-time IWC Super Indy Champion in history. However, Sterling James Keenan’s win-streaks have become infamous and when he’s on a tear he’s almost unstoppable. However as AJ Styles looked like he was going to get the job done, and capture the title again, referee Steven Colter was inadvertently knocked down as Styles attempted to put Sterling away. However, Daniels, who was lurking in the shadows, saw his opening and intervened, offering Sterling some illegal leverage which, with the help of the ropes, was enough to hold Styles down for a tainted victory. As Sterling & Daniels celebrated AJ’s defeat together, Styles issued a challenge to Daniels right then and there, however security intervened before things got too out of hand. This all set up their 2004 Match of the Year rematch the next day in McKeesport.

There was no feeling out process this time around as both men started the match with a slugfest and wasted no time breaking out high-risk aerial attacks. The rivalry between Styles and Daniels had shifted from being about competition and respect to bitter feelings about who really is better than who. The high-risk offense is eventually what led to the end of the match, as The Fallen Angel went for the B.M.E (Best Moonsault Ever), Styles was able to move out of the way, hit the Styles Clash, and score the pinfall thus making AJ’s record 2-0 against Christopher Daniels in IWC.

After narrowly escaping AJ Styles, Sterling James Keenan had something to prove when he walked into McKeesport for his second title defense, this time against European sensation Claudio Castagnoli. Castagnoli took it to Sterling with several hard chops and European-style uppercuts, and the big man even took to the air for a breathtaking tope con hilo, however Sterling did a tremendous job of grounding the big man, focusing on it for almost the entire match. After surviving Claudio’s trademark swinging neck breaker, Sterling was able to slap on the stretch muffler submission hold, and transition that into a very deeply applied half boston crab. After several moments of intense agony, Claudio came to the realization he just had nowhere to go to escape the hold and was forced to tap out, making him another notch on the belt of the “Super Indy Killer”.

The former Super Indy champion Chris Sabin was back in action in Uniontown, taking on his frequent rival “Fabulous” John McChesney which as a result of how competitive their prior matches have been, was made 2/3 Falls. Nothing more really needs to be said, both men tore the house down delivering another one of their classic encounters. The lasting image will be that of Chris Sabin winning with a devastating Cradle Shock off of the second rope, but the major headliner here is the fact that the first fall was indeed won by McChesney making him the very FIRST man to pin Chris Sabin in Sabin’s 15 month IWC career, and the first time McChesney has pinned Sabin anywhere after nearly 2 years of trying. It’s a testament to how much McChesney has improved over the months and years, and although he didn’t win the final decision, overcoming that hump has to give him a definite boost as he sets his sights back on the Super Indy Title.

On the subject of Super Indy, preparations are already underway for Super Indy 4 to be held Saturday night, April 30 in Monroeville, PA. Already signed to the 8 man tournament: the ever-dangerous Low Ki, “The Notorious 187” Homicide, and the master of the “Canadian Destroyer” Petey Williams. This weekend saw 4 qualifying matches to determine who would earn a spot in the tournament that could make or break your career in just one night.

“The New Face” Jason Gory faced his biggest test to date in the form of 260 lb. former IWC Champion Dean Radford. Radford was able to go back to the offense that propelled him to the main event in the first place: total overpowering domination of smaller opponents. However, the thing Gory possesses that many of Radford’s past victims have lacked is that unbelievable quickness and undeniable heart that kept Gory in the match the entire time, surprising Radford several times after finally being able to adjust his style to a larger opposition. One such instance saw Gory take advantage of a Radford mistiming to hit that rapid-fire sunset flip, the QAS, followed by a breathtaking 450 splash to score the biggest win of his career and qualifty for Super Indy 4.

Wrestling’s first male Filipino supermodel Shiima Xion, with his advisor “The Prophet of Profit” Chris Maverick, took on the debuting “Textbook” Tyson Dux, yet another prodigy of Scott D’Amore’s training school. Dux has been seen several times on WWE programming in the past and is perhaps best remembered for his very unusual dance moves, which have made him a favorite to many. Much like his heated rival Jason Gory did earlier, Xion was able to score the biggest win of his career here, after the reversal of an attempted Dux small package. As always, Maverick interjected himself into the proceedings on more than one occasion but what matters now is Shiima Xion is the first male Filipino supermodel to qualify for Super Indy 4.

“Wonderman” Glenn Spectre’s qualifying match came against someone who he actually held tag team gold with many months ago, “M-Dogg 20” Matt Cross. Spectre hasn’t had his eye on Cross however, as in recent matches during guest commentary he’s expressed interest in Shiima Xion…a lot of interest. Spectre seems to be looking forward to potentially meeting Xion in Super Indy 4, which served as more motivation in this match. As a result of their prior association, Spectre was able to have Cross well-scouted, countering just about every M-Dogg high risk attempt by burying the knees into the abdomen, and eventually Spectre scored the victory to qualify for his second straight Super Indy tournament, but could Spectre be distracted by his newfound infatuation with Shiima Xion?

The man who many claim to be the uncrowned Super Indy Champion “Fabulous” John McChesney participated in the final Super Indy 4 qualifier against former tag champion Josh Prohibition. Fresh off his impressive match with Sabin, McChesney was still on a roll but was quickly dropped by signature Prohibition offense. An attempt at Josh’s Drunken Driver was countered into McChesney’s Cliffhanger DDT for the win, giving McChesney another chance to compete for that Super Indy Championship but the road for all of these men only gets harder from here.

Shiima Xion opened up our McKeesport event attempting to deliver his acceptance speech for winning “IWC Newcomer of the Year” for 2004, yet was interrupted by the man who was TIED with him in that voting, “The New Face” Jason Gory. Chaos ensued and the locker room emptied, as the referee made the contest and impromptu 8 man tag pitting Xion, Maverick, “Balls Hot” Troy Lords and “The Big Daddy of Destruction” J-Rocc against Jason Gory as well as Mickey & Marshall Gambino as well as their cousin Jimmy DeMarco. Action was uncontrollable from the start as an 8 man brawl erupted all over the building, followed by a series of high-risk dives on the arena floor. All 8 men proved once again why the future of IWC is shining brighter than ever before. A miscommunication between teammates caused Xion to hit “From Lust To Dust” on his own partner, Lords, however the team was saved by “Mastermind” Jake Garrett who had his own agenda. Still feeling slighted over not being added back to the main IWC roster yet, Garrett targeted IWC’s newest addition to that roster, Jimmy Demarco. Garrett clobbered Demarco with a police baton, afterwards the pinfall was academic. After the match, Jason Gory, still looking for revenge on Xion, chased him to the back.

The other shocker of the weekend came in the form of the return of Bubba the Bulldog. With a trophy in hand, Bubba proclaimed himself the best wrestler to ever come out of Pittsburgh and challenged ANYONE to a match to prove him wrong. The announcement of the opponent was just as shocking, as ring announcer and color commentator Kingdom James brought himself out of retirement to accept the challenge. Bludgeoning Bubba with a series of hard shots that busted Bubba’s head open, Kingdom James was well in control of the match, until he took a risk, attempting his top-rope 1812 legdrop. Bubba moved out of the way, and was able to score a tainted win with a roll-up using the ropes for leverage.