Night of the Superstars on November 19th, 2011
Before any of the matches, there is some footage from the autograph signing before the show. There is also footage of the question and answer session featuring Carlito, Chavo Guerrero, Jr., Mick Foley, Gail Kim, and Traci Brooks. Some pretty insightful questions are asked so it might be worth a watch if you’re a fan of any of the previously mentioned wrestlers.
Pre-Show Match: Joe Rosa vs. Bill Collier
Collier connects with a boot and military presses Rosa. He biels Rosa across the ring but misses a corner yakuza kick. Rosa connects with a basement dropkick and starts working over the left leg. Collier fights back with a series of clotheslines and hits a spinebuster. Collier follows with a spear and a sit-out death valley driver for the win at 3:28. Collier could definitely find his place in IWC and I’m hoping that he gets another look in 2012. For a student, Rosa showed potential and this was an effective pre-show match for the time given. *½
Opening Match: Dalton Castle vs. Colt Cabana
Castle sneaks in a cheap shot and retreats to the outside. Cabana dodges a second cheap shot and snaps off an armdrag. He fools Castle on a criss-cross and frustrates him with his antics. Castle uses the referee as a distraction and lands a splash off the middle rope. He takes control until Cabana blocks a dive and lays in a series of strikes. Cabana hits a flying hip attack. He attempts a sunset flip but Castle sits down and covers him while holding the ropes for the victory at 7:52. This was a pretty standard Cabana match but it did it’s job as an opener as the crowd was vocal for his antics. A lot of focus has been put on Castle since his debut and defeating Cabana should help to establish him as a force in IWC. **¼
Match #2: Chest Flexor and John Kermon vs. Mickey and Marshall Gambino
The winners will advance to a four-way scramble match at Winner Takes All in December to crown new IWC Tag Team Champions. Considering that Flexor and Kermon have never teamed before and the Gambinos have held the tag team titles multiple times, take a guess at the result of this match. Mickey snaps off a few armdrags on Kermon and monkey flips him out of the corner. Marshall takes Flexor’s head off with a lariat and hits a big fallaway slam. The Gambinos hit a double team backbreaker and gourdbuster on Flexor. Kermon saves Flexor from corner punches by Mickey and the heels isolate him. He avoids a double clothesline and makes the tag. Marshall hits a backbreaker on Flexor. Kermon crotches Mickey on the top rope and Flexor low blows Marshall behind the referee’s back. Flexor rolls up Marshall for a nearfall. He accidentally knocks Kermon off of the apron. The Gambinos hit the Curse of the Gambinos on Flexor for the win at 7:02. Although the result was never in doubt, this was a fine tag team match to showcase the Gambinos in their return as a tag team. Flexor has proven to be capable in the ring when taken seriously and I almost bought the nearfall after his low blow to Marshall. The Gambinos looked good here and I’m curious to see how they fit into the four-way scramble at the next show. **
Match #3: Gail Kim vs. Traci Brooks
Kim brings her TNA Knockouts Title with her and turns on the crowd before the match. Brooks fakes laying down for Kim and sneaks in a small package for a nearfall. Kim attacks her from behind and connects with a series of kicks. She takes over until Brooks hits a facebuster. Brooks follows with a chinbreaker and connects with double knees. Kim avoids another facebuster and rolls up Brooks while holding the ropes for the victory at 4:34. Apparently, these two were loosely feuding in TNA and I had no idea. They had a match and there’s not much to say about it. Honestly, I think these two were brought in primarily for the autograph session and to add to the superstar vibe of the show. *¼
Match #4: IWC World Heavyweight Title: John McChesney © vs. Carlito
Jimmy Vegas and Super Hentai accompany McChesney to the ring. They are the only members left of the Founding Fathers. McChesney cuts a promo before the match and the crowd absolutely hates him. He locks up with Carlito multiple times and spends some time around ringside stalling. Vegas tries to threaten the referee into thinking that Carlito has been pulling McChesney’s hair. McChesney eventually gets the jump on Carlito and gains the advantage. Carlito surprises him by spitting apple into his face. McChesney retreats to the floor and takes the intentional countout at 6:33. This was simply used to setup the six-man tag team main event for later in the show.
McChesney announces himself as still the IWC World Heavyweight Champion. Mick Foley, the special guest host for the evening, comes out and recognizes that people in western Pennsylvania dislike contouts. He calls out Rocky Reynolds and Aaron Draven and books a six-man tag team match for later in the show. Foley also names himself the guest ringside enforcer.
Match #5: Matt Justice vs. Aiden Veil vs. Logan Shulo vs. Facade
Justice and Shulo exchange armdrags and wrestle to a stalemate. Veil takes everyone over with an armdrag and snaps off a satellite headscissors on Facade. Justice lands a dive to the floor onto Facade. Veil blocks a dive from Shulo with a spin kick. Veil takes out Shulo and Justice with a dive of his own. Facade follows with a 450 onto all three of his opponents. In the ring, Shulo hits a spear on Veil and works him over. Facade tries to intervene with a springboard maneuver but Shulo boots him to the floor. Facade recovers with a double springboard spin kick on Shulo and Justice. He follows with a double springboard moonsault. Veil lays in a few kicks but gets caught by a springboard gamengiri from Facade. Justice goes up top. Shulo leaps to the top rope and hits a superplex. Veil hits a tornado DDT on Facade. Shulo powerbombs Veil into Justice, who is in a tree of woe. Facade plants Shulo with a michinoku driver and applies the Dreadlock. Justice connects with a springboard lariat on Veil for the win at 10:50. All four men looked great in this contest and managed to maintain some flow to the action. Veil, who I’ve been critical of in the past, was able to hang with his three opponents and hopefully he can string together a chain of solid performances. I also loved the finish, with Facade being too preoccupied with Shulo to notice Justice stealing the win. These four successfully made me interested in this show again after an underwhelming first couple of matches. ***¼
Match #6: Bronco McBride and Matt Segaris vs. Tyler Stone and David R. Dimera
Stone and Dimera hit stereo german suplexes and follow with stereo STOs. Stone accidentally takes out Dimera with a plancha. McBride lands a moonsault to the floor onto both of his opponents. In the ring, the Blue Collar Slaughterhouse isolate Dimera until he hits a chinbreaker on Segaris and makes the tag. McBride ducks a short-arm lariat attempt from Stone and knocks him down with a dropkick. Stone catches him with an exploder from the middle rope. Segaris hits a spinebuster on Stone behind the referee’s back. McBride covers Stone for the victory at 8:19. I actually liked their match at the last show better. Dimera looked sluggish and was the cause of a few awkward moments throughout the contest. Still, I’ll repeat my sentiments toward Stone and the Blue Collar Slaughterhouse as I think they’ll only get better with more experience. **
Match #7: Chavo Guerrero, Jr. vs. Shiima Xion
They give each other clean breaks in the corner. Guerrero grabs hold of a side headlock and they trade armdrags. Xion controls on the mat until Guerrero sends him to the floor. Guerrero lays in some strikes and connects with a short-arm lariat in the ring. He hits a slingshot senton and takes over. Xion escapes a headlock by hitting a back suplex. Guerrero drop toe holds him to the canvas and connects with a basement dropkick. They battle on the apron and Guerrero rams Xion’s head into the turnbuckle. Xion springboards into the ring with a tornado DDT. They exchange punches and Xion snaps off a hurricanrana. He connects with a missile dropkick and actually vomits in the ring. Xion finds knees on a springboard moonsault attempt. Guerrero hits rolling suplexes but gets caught by a neckbreaker. He recovers with a gory slam for a nearfall. Guerrero misses a swantan and Xion connects with a superkick for a two count. Guerrero fights off a top rope hurricanrana and lands a frog splash for the win at 17:06. Xion was either sick heading into this match or became sick during it, as he visibly vomited towards the end of the match. However, that didn’t seem to interfere with the flow of the action at all and these two had some nice exchanges once the match picked up. Guerrero was on top of his game and I think he could have some memorable matches throughout the independent scene. This wasn’t a match of the year candidate or anything, but these two delivered in what looked like an interesting pairing on paper. ***¼
Match #8: John McChesney, Jimmy Vegas, and Super Hentai vs. Carlito, Rocky Reynolds, and Aaron Draven
Mick Foley is the special guest ringside enforcer. McChesney asks Foley to make someone clean up Shiima Xion’s vomit and Foley calls for a referee. Foley admits that he’s never witnessed anything like this in his career. Draven snaps off a hurricanrana on Hentai after a fast-paced exchange. Vegas asserts his power advantage against Reynolds, who fights back with a flurry of strikes and a swinging neckbreaker. Reynolds plants Vegas with a bulldog but runs into a samoan drop. McChesney tags into the match but gets caught by a powerslam from Reynolds. Carlito tries to send McChesney face-first into the vomit stain to no avail. Carlito sends him over the top rope and to the floor with a chop. The Founding Fathers take some time to regroup. Reynolds hits a delayed vertical suplex on McChesney and follows with a few double team moves with Draven. McChesney nails Draven with a dropkick and the Founding Fathers isolate him. He connects with a flying double stomp on McChesney and makes the tag. Carlito cleans house and takes down Vegas with an assist from Reynolds. He accidentally throws Hentai into the referee. McChesney hits a TKO on Carlito and Foley steps into the ring to act as the referee. McChesney gets in Foley’s face and falls victim to Mr. Socko. Carlito hits a backcracker on McChesney for the victory at 14:03. Considering that Carlito and Foley were involved, the match pretty much played out as expected. However, everyone worked hard to make the action stand out. Draven was especially impressive and I could definitely see him being brought back based on his excellent debut. It’s a shame that the Founding Fathers lost their momentum due to some unfortunate departures as they really worked well together as a unit. ***
Overall: While Night of the Superstars took awhile to get going, there were a few quality matches in the second half of the show. The Super Indy four-way featured a strong showing from everyone involved, Shiima Xion and Chavo Guerrero had a worthwhile match, and the main event was solid for what it was. With that said, none of the matches blew me away and there’s nothing that I would call “must see” on this show. Additionally, there wasn’t much storyline advancement so you wouldn’t miss much by skipping out on this DVD. Night of the Superstars might be worth picking up if you’re a fan of any of the talents that were brought in, but I can’t give this show a recommendation otherwise.
To read reviews of past IWC shows, check out my blog at iwcwrestling.wordpress.com