IWA-MS presents Opposite Side Of The Track
Date: 3/1/2018
From: Memphis, IN
Ian Rotten is talking at ringside as the event starts, but MJF comes out and cuts off Rotten. MJF demands a microphone and takes it from Rotten. MJF calls Rotten an idiot and explains a brain disease to Rotten. MJF talks about wrestling Mance Warner tonight, but he has upside unlike everyone. MJF is not going to wrestle in a no disqualification match and suggests Rotten makes the match a regular rules bout. Rotten listens to his wrestlers, and that’s when IWA Heavyweight Champion Mance Warner comes out to join the segment. Rotten listens to his wrestlers unlike DJ Hyde. Warner tells MJF that he booked the match with MJF. Warner notes that everyone hate MJF and he’s going to whoop his ass. MJF thinks Warner knows he’s better than him and that’s why he doesn’t want to wrestle straight up. Rotten decides to switch the match to a regular singles match. MJF and Warner shake hands to end the segment.
MATCH #1: AJ GRAY VS. TREY MIGUEL
FINISH: Miguel countered a Tiger Bomb with a bridging pin for the win.
Bob’s Take: They start off with a slow beginning focusing on countering each other on the mat and there feels like a low energy match, and not because there’s thirty people in the crowd. The action picks up a bit when they ran the ropes and Miguel hit a head scissors. Gray followed up with a hurricanrana and a leg lariat. Miguel kicks Gray a couple of times, but Gray caught Miguel with a back suplex. Miguel battles back with a suicide dive into a bunch of chairs. They trade forearms and kicks causing both men to be down. Miguel delivers a pop up double knee strike. Gray spikes Miguel with a brainbuster and a frog splash for a near fall. Miguel kicks Gray followed by a neckbreaker, but Gray isn’t even staying down for a two count. Gray did one of the ugliest looking crucifix pin attempts I’ve ever seen in my life. The finish was a bit lame, and the match as a whole seemed like it could have been a lot more. Miguel didn’t do much of anything I’d expect him to do with his style. So, this was a letdown of an opener for me.
Match Rating: *1/2
MATCH #2: LAYNIE LUCK VS. AMAZING MARIA
FINISH: Maria wins by submission with a dragon sleeper. After the match, they shake hands, but Luck prevents Maria from leaving a few times before walking off first.
Bob’s Take: This is the first time I’m seeing Maria in anything that doesn’t involve OVW, which is actually just the Wrestlers series on Netflix. Luck delivers a few stiff looking kicks in the early stages of the matches. The pacing of this felt a bit clunky, but the action isn’t bad by any means. Luck seems like a woman who has potential to put together quality outings as she has some good moves she can throw out there including a sunset flip powerbomb into the corner. After looking her up on Cagematch, Laynie has gone on to have a substantial career, which is good to see as it’s clear here she has the potential. Maria gets some good offense with a bulldog and superkick, but couldn’t finish off Laynie. It’s an average match with a dead crowd.
Match Rating: **1/4
MATCH #3: SHAIN BENDER VS. JC ROTTEN — OLD SCHOOL IWA RULES, LOSER MUST WEAR A DRESS
FINISH: Rotten finishes Bender off with a tombstone piledriver onto a chair. As a result, Bender must wear a dress. After the match, Jimmy Angels attack Rotten hitting a piledriver/superkick combo. The locker room empties to make the save.
Bob’s Take: They have a brawling focus on the floor and have the crowd get involved. A barbed wire plastic bat is teased and they use a light tube. There is a focus on hardcore wrestling and the crowd responds to it compared to anything else thus far. Rotten delivered a pedigree onto a stack of chairs. Bender’s gimmick is anti-hardcore. For the most part, this felt like mindless brawling with weapon strikes. There’s not much to this one.
Match Rating: *
MATCH #4: JAKE PARNELL VS. GARY JAY
FINISH: Parnell wins following a top rope double stomp to the back of Jay.
Bob’s Take: These two had a big last man standing match for a different company that apparently went viral due to the ring being torn apart. They do a few dives to the floor with Parnell hitting a somersault dive to the floor as the biggest of the dives. They spend a good chunk of their time brawling on the outside. Parnell gets backdropped onto several chairs and the crowd popped for that spot. There’s a good mix of brawling and compelling action by these two. I’m just realizing ten minutes into this that Parnell is better known as Warhorse. These two have good chemistry and they put on the best match to this point with some great bumps and good overall action.
Match Rating: ***1/2
MATCH #5: HUDSON ENVY VS. ALLIE KAT
FINISH: Envy wins following the Air Raid Crash. After the match, they embrace.
Bob’s Take: Interesting, Kat is able to generate crowd support rather easily. Envy is a solid performer and believable offense which is half the battle. Envy his a nice bridging German suplex at one point. A solid back and forth encounter. Envy has a big match with Su Yung next week, so it was a bit clear who was going to win here.
Match Rating: **1/2
MATCH #6: HYSTERIA (COLE RADRICK & SAGE PHILLIPS) VS. CHASE HOLLIDAY & GYASI VS. JIMMY’S ANGELS (ACE PERRY & DALE PATRICKS)
FINISH: Radrick powerbombs Phillips onto Gyasi to win the match.
Bob’s Take: This is could a mess to follow with how much talent is involved. As expected, all six men get their shine. Patricks hit a reverse brainbuster on Phillips, and that was a good move. There are a bunch of dives to the floor, which are a obligation in these kinds of matches. The action is consistent throughout, but there’s no story to it and there’s mostly just moves for the sake of moves. Regardless, it was an enjoyable bout.
Match Rating: ***
MATCH #7: CALVIN TANKMAN VS. MARKO STUNT
FINISH: Tankman wins the match following the Rikishi Driver.
Bob’s Take: The dynamic here is a bot extreme as Tankman is a huge man and Stunt is significantly smaller. This match wasn’t on the match card, so I was a bit surprised to see this on the show. Tankman’s size is far too much and to be expected. Tankman looked good here.
Match Rating: **1/2
MATCH #8: ACE ROMERO VS. LARRY D — SUDDEN DEATH, TWO COUNT FALL MATCH
NOTE: Yes, the first man to get a two count wins the match.
FINISH: Larry D wins with a crossbody. After the match, Radrick, Phillips and Miguel pull Romero off of an attack.
Bob’s Take: They brawl on the floor for several moments. D hit a nice full nelson slam as it is impressive to execute the move on Romero considering his size. Romero responds with a swinging side slam. These two have to kick out at the count of one. I understand the concept of these two being tough to beat each other, but kicking out at the count of one was a bit odd. Actually, the match is incredibly quick as D won with a simple crossbody. They made it sound like these two would go at it for a substantial amount of time.
Match Rating: *
MATCH #9: SAGE CAINAN VS. MYRON REED — OPPORTUNITY IN A BOX LADDER MATCH
FINISH: Reed is able to retrieve the box to win the match. After the match, Cainan clotheslines Reed proving to be a sore loser. Cainamn knocks out Reed with the box.
Bob’s Take: Within five seconds of the match beginning, the box fell down. The referee had to put the box back above the ring. The start is rather standard with teasing climbing the ladder. Myron takes Cainan out with a dive over the ropes to the floor. They tossed ladders at each other on the floor leading to them brawling for a bit. Reed spears Cainman off the apron to the floor. Cainman hits a crossbody off a wall onto Reed. There are plenty of ladders to use in the match both short and tall. Cainman sent Reed into the ladder with a German suplex and a swanton bomb off the top of a ladder. Reed hits an insane cutter to take Cainman off the ladder, and that led to Reed winning the match. It’s not a bad match, but in the sense of a ladder match it is a forgettable bout.
Match Rating: **1/2
MAIN EVENT: IWA-MS HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION MANCE WARNER VS. MJF
FINISH: MJF tries to use a chair, but referee stops him allowing Warner to deliver a clothesline for the win to retain the title.
Bob’s Take: Watching this in 2026 for this match as the main reason. I like to see how MJF became one of the biggest heels in modern wrestling, and one of the best heel wrestlers to compete. Warner is the ideal babyface for IWA at this point to combat MJF. The start is a bit slower pace since it’s a traditional rules match and not hardcore. MJF focused on working over Warner’s left arm. Warner fights back with a DDT after teasing an eye poke. Warner delivered a chokebreaker and locked in the Crossface, but MJF reached the ropes. MJF fought back with his version of the Heatseeker, but Warner doesn’t stay down. MJF tries to cheat like Eddie Guerrero, but Warner does it too. This match was incredibly dull and would have been far better under IWA rules.
Match Rating: *
Final Thoughts:
A mostly average show with a bummer of a main event between Warner and MJF. I think a major draw would have been seeing MJF compete in an IWA rules match and when they shifted to a traditional match it killed the interest for me. IWA still has worthwhile talent at this point, so it wasn’t too rough to get through.
Thanks for reading.