4/5 IWA Mid-South Wrestling: Mance Warner vs. Sugar Dunkerton, Tankman vs. Kongo vs. Larry D, Lord Crewe vs. Rotten, Nicole vs. Jackson

IWA Mid South Ragin (Not in the Cajun)
April 5th 2018 IWA Arena Memphis Trading Post
Aired on Powerbomb.tv
Report by Jose Marrero (@jmarrrumbling)

Full disclosure before I go into this review. I haven’t watched an IWA Mid South show in years. However with sites like FITE TV, Honor Club, WWE Network, and WWN Live getting a lot of publicity this weekend with their offerings I thought it only fair that I go out of my way to watch Powerbomb.tv’s first of 2 offerings for the weekend with IWA Mid South’s Ragin (Not in the Cajun) show. While it’s the second show I’ve watched thus far this weekend (first being GCW’s Matt Riddles Bloodsport also reviewed on this website) I will say it is kind of nice to see a Indy show where I won’t see the same participants 6 times over the course of the weekend.

(1) JUSTIN D’AIR vs.DARIUS LOCKHART

Show immediately opens with this as the commentators inform the audience some changes were made to the card without exactly telling the audience what those changes were. Justin D’air comes out with a jacket with more lights on it than anything Chris Jericho ever wire and light up beads on his trunks as he did his best Naomi impersonation. I really want to talk good about this match as the commentators didn’t despite both men working hard. Commentators seemed more fixated with D’air’s shoes changing color and waving as they saw themselves on camera. At one point it was mentioned how Lockhart was scheduled to take on a different opponent so at least they mentioned the change. D’air is pretty athletic but still pretty raw but has potential to be more.

WINNER: Darius Lockhart after D’air missed his 450 splash finish Lockhart took and caught D’air with a slam right on his head. Decent opener.

(2) LORD CREWE vs. JC ROTTEN

We are informed how CREWE just had a stint in the New Japan Los Angeles Dojo and Rotten is a Prince of the Death Match finalist and nephew of IWA MS Owner Ian Rotten. JC Rotten doesn’t exactly look like a wrestler as much as a dad shopping at walmart and well isn’t much of one either. However Crewe tried to pull a match out of the owners nephew. I will say this much Rotten takes a beating well and is over with this crowd. Whenever he was on offense though I just wasn’t feeling it as his ring work was sloppy.

WINNER: Who else? JC Rotten with a tombstone pile driver that made me fear for Lord Crewe’s well being and would’ve been banned if it was done in New Orleans via the athletic commission there as Rotten was definitely not proficient in its use.

(3) RONI NICOLE vs. FAYE JACKSON

Faye Jackson may be familiar to ROH fans as she has competed in ROH and Nicole is a veteran of several Joshi promotions and with this being Jacksons IWA Mid South debut I was really looking forward to this match. These 2 are some of the bigger women out there on the Indy scene and as one would expect both have ample sized derrières and that factored into the early goings on of the match as Jackson likes to use hers as a weapon and for comedy. It went to the outside with a hellacious looking spear from Jackson to Nicole that led to both women doing…fireball shots. Yes, that’s right at this point in the natch they decided they would rather be drunk than wrestle. Thankfully that didn’t last long as they both resumed the action all over the ring leading them to come back in and Faye Jackson to attempt the worlds biggest sunset flip which was countered for a near fall. After a chop battle music began to play and led to a dance break as both women began twerking. Eventually they went back to wrestling each other and Nicole hit a Vader bomb on Jackson, who no sold it and went up top and hit a cross body for a near fall. More violence would ensue as these women threw themselves all over each other.

WINNER: Roni Nicole via Vader Bomb to remain undefeated in IWA Mid South. This was a fun match and Jackson left to chants of “please come back” from the crowd.

(4) HYSTERIA (Shane Phillips & Cole Radrick) vs. THE DIRTY (Brandon Edwards & Austin Manix)

Match started hot and fast as Hysteria toped the Dirty before they could get in the ring. They ran wild for a bit with some tandem offense until Austin Manix would cut them both off. The members of the Dirty got some heat on Phillips for a bit as the commentators would go onto tell us how this is only their third match as a team and just looking at these two I hope its not their last. I like their look, they work together well, this team has potential. Eventually Phillips would get in Radrick for the hot tag who would run wild for a bit leading to the eventual spot where everyone comes in the ring exchanging moves and near falls.

WINNER: Hysteria via the Tsunami bomb. I put over The Dirty a lot in this match but Hysteria isn’t a bad little tag team either. However the wrong team one as The Dirty definitely has more of an upside.

Next up was intermission but not before Ian Rotten came out to promote the next powerbomb.tv show on April 22nd which will feature Shane Strickland on the show, and Manny Fernandez competing for the IWA Mid South championship. Yes 63 year old Manny Fernandez is still doing his thing in 2018 and he will be main eventing the next IWA Mid South show.

(5) ELLIOT PAUL vs. PAT MONIX

These 2 were former IWA Mid South Tag Team Champions who had a bitter parting. As the saying goes “good friends make better enemies” and these guys didn’t waste a moment to go at each other. This was just a brawl as these men hammered each other all over the building, which is just the way a grudge match should be. Way too often I see matches with guys who are supposed to hate each other but wind up just exchanging flashy moves. The psychology of this match was perfect and it was the best match of the show to this point.

WINNER: Elliot Paul with a foreign object shot and this feud will continue.

DALE PATRICKS vs. GARY JAY
These two worked really hard but the match didn’t get going till later. It took some work but they got the crowd into it and eventually started exchanging near falls but still it just went too long for me.

WINNER: Gary Jay with a pop up knee strike

(6) CALVIN TANKMAN vs. KONGO KONG vs. LARRY D

This was just a nonstop mean guy brawl as these big guys just battered each other throughout the building. Considering all these men top 300lbs and most of their offense isn’t much beyond forearms this went way longer than I felt it needed to.

WINNER: Calvin Tankman over Larry D. Afterwards Tankman cut a promo about not getting title shots, which led Ian Rotten to come out and say how Tankman gets no title shots because he wrestles matches with rules and challenged him to wrestle JC Rotten next week in a thumbtack match. This led to another intermission.

(7) IWA MID SOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH (CHAMPION) MANCE WARNER vs. SUGAR DUNKERTON

I’m not going to lie I laughed when I heard Dunkerton say into the camera how he would rather be here than in New Orleans. It’s the same kind of laughing I reserve for some of the fans who will say “fuck Wrestlemania” during events when Wrestlemania is the reason they are in town for the weekend. All in all this match was pretty good. Both had their moments but the story of the match was that no matter how much Dunkerton tried he just couldn’t procure the 3 count. In the end it was just a war of attrition as the two traded all sorts of moves until Warner got the win.

WINNER: MANCE WARNER with a anti climatic clothesline after the two were trading strikes for the pin. The post match saw both men get up and slap each other and then shake hands in a show of respect. So Warner retains and goes onto face Manny Fernandez in his next defense. Mance cut a promo and put over his t shirt on pro wrestling tees and got the fans to say “We are IWA” to close out the show.

All in all this wasn’t a bad show and the stream held up well and Powerbomb.TV is offering free trials all the time. So get one and check it out.