IWA Mid-South Nominees

Nominate matches below, let us know why you think something is good, lists of matches with no context will be deleted. Links are appreciated

THE LIST



THE NOMINEES

CM Punk vs Colt Cabana vs Chris Hero - Winter Wars 2001 - NO VOTES
Cannon vs Hero, 9/9/05 - NO VOTES
Necro Butcher v. Sami Callihan IWA-MS 10/4/08 - 1 YES, 0 NO
Necro Butcher v. 2 Cold Scorpio IWA-MS 8//17/08 - 1 YES, 0 NO

CM Punk vs Colt Cabana vs Chris Hero - Winter Wars 2001


Been a while since I saw this, but I remember loving it. Starts with a heel Punk saying Fuck You to the fans and "leaving". This leads to Colt and Hero going to the mat with each other and the doing the whole "good clean wrestling match" stuff with both men being respectful. Punk eventually returns when they both seem down, but it backfires and they end up double teaming him. What seems like standard triple threat formula is turned up a notch when steel chairs are introduced and both Hero and Colt ram Punk HEAD FIRST, unprotected, into chairs in the corner. They absolutely beat the fuck out of him before inevitably turning on each other before going into a finishing stretch with alot of close nearfalls and a hell of a finish. I havent seen a hell of a lot of IWA, but this would be my favourite match from what I've seen of them. After the match Punk owns some idiot fan with the infamous "I'm not holding a mic you stupid bitch" line.

I´ve saw this match and it has my vote, awesome and crisp stuff...

NOMINATION

Necro Butcher v. Sami Callihan IWA-MS 10/4/08

In most of your famous Necro matches he is a guy working from below, the crazy lunatic who takes a huge beating but is impossible to kill, and always has a punchers chance. Kind of dirty barefoot hillbilly Arturo Gatti. So it’s a cool reversal to see Necro as the unstoppable force and Callahan in the Necro Butcher role as the crazy brawler coming out like a buzzsaw and taking a huge beating. This is the equivalent of a short toe to toe boxing brawl, as both guys just go at each other with nasty shots, neither taking a backwards step. Callihan also did some cool counter wrestling, as he was working as almost a protégé v. mentor thing, guy who studied the master and knew his every move. Finish was perfect, as Callihan survived a lot, avoided a lot, but fell to the KO punch. Shockingly awesome match, and IWA-MS has delivered some great great stuff this year.

Necro Butcher v. 2 Cold Scorpio IWA-MS 8//17/08

Necro is primarily an ROH guy now, but in ROH he hasn’t really broken out with the really unique matches he does in other promotions, I am not sure why, but nothing he has done in ROH captured my interest the way this match(or the second Low-Ki match, Super Dragon match or the Predator match) did. Scorpio is clearly unfamiliar with Necro, and there is this awesome point right after Necro blasts him with a right hand where you can see him mumble to himself something like “Okay this is the fucking game we are playing.” Scorpio is a guy who tagged with Vader and feuded with Daisuke Ikeda, he can bring the heat, and he sure as shit does here, punching and kicking Necro right in the face. Necro spends a bunch of the match working the kidneys with headbutts and body shots, which is a pretty smart strategy against a well know drug abuser like Scorp. This is more competitive then some of your Necro v. Big Star matches, as Necro gets some really big near falls before getting his face crushed by a Scorpio flipping leg drop. A total blast, I want a rematch, and I need to get my hands on more recent Scorpio.

Necro/2 Cold Scorpio - YES

I hadn't seen anything out of 2 Cold on the indys at all before this, and I must say that Scorpio's change in demeanor after taking that shot from Necro made the match for me.

Necro/Callihan - (a very begrudging) YES

As I've said before, unless Callihan is serving as Necro's punching bag, he's a bum to me.

Nomination:

I Quit - Cannon vs Hero, 9/9/05
-> Fantastic match. To me, Cannon vs Hero was the best feud in IWA-MS (at least of the limited stuff that I've seen), and this is certainly their best outing. Incredibly intense, hate-filled and hard-hitting, also a really great story of Hero completely destroying Cannon's leg in order to get him to quit and showing first glimpses of his later to come heel turn, and Cannon never giving up and showing incredibly heart. Also features one of my favorite spots ever which I'm not gonna spoil right here, has to be seen to fully appreciate it.

In honor of IWA's death, let's get this category rolling again.

I am not nominating yet. But I just wanted to mention that I have just started watching the first IWA DVD I have ever purchased, April Bloodshowers 2004. I am blown away by how well it's filmed -- I mean that it's bright, and the commentary is decent. Compare it to early ROH (even through 2007), which is so dark and muddy.

I have watched the odd match now and then on downloads, and the picture quality for an indy group is something that's always stood out for me.

NOMINATION

Chris Hero v. Michael Todd Stratton 2/8/03

I had seen this match years ago and I remember it fondly, and man does it hold up well. Stratton (aka Todd Morton) is just amazing at drawing heat, this is the day after Hero and Punk went 90+ minutes, so Hero is coming into this with a disadvantage. Lots of cool shit here, this building has a support poll off to the side of the ring and Stratton takes a huge flying bump into that poll, which looked just brutal. Stratton also breaks out a ladder and they do some cool spots with that, including Stratton pinning him in the corner with the ladder and blasting him with a perfect dropkick. Finish looked to be super overbooked, with a ref bump and Bull Pain and Adam Gooch run in, they get cut off by KO and Mark Wolf and Wolf smashes Stratton. That felt like the finish, but instead Stratton kicks out at two, and they do an amazing kneeling punch exchange, leading to Hero sweeping his legs and getting the Hangman's clutch. Awesome, awesome match, really one of my favorite Chris Hero matches ever, and another spectacular Todd Morton performance.