Deep Impact on December 10th, 2011
Opening Match: Reed Bentley vs. Danny Cannon
Cannon is answering Bentley’s open challenge. Cannon snaps off a few armdrags and Bentley takes some time to regroup. Cannon avoids a knockout kick and connects with a dropkick. He attempts a dive to the floor but Bentley catches him and overhead suplexes him onto the entrance ramp. Cannon gets thrown into the barricade. In the ring, Cannon connects with a double stomp and lays in a few more kicks. Bentley responds with a couple of his own, including a nice gamengiri. He hits a butterfly neckbreaker and takes control until Cannon catches him with a springboard gamengiri. Bentley stops his momentum with a roaring elbow but gets taken down by a springboard dropkick. Cannon goes up top but Bentley crotches him on the top rope. Bentley hits rolling butterfly suplexes. Cannon answers with a spear in the corner and connects with a flying double stomp for the win at 7:43. These two made the most out of their eight minutes and delivered an energetic opener. Cannon appeared to be incredibly comfortable with his high-risk offense as he would leap to the top rope without any hesitation. Bentley also seemed at home with his striking game and his offense didn’t look manufactured or phony. I’ll definitely be watching out for both Cannon and Bentley on upcoming IWAU shows. **¾
Match #2: Scott Parker vs. Shank Barzini
Parker fakes a handshake before the opening bell and low blows Barzini instead. Barzini fights back with a flurry of strikes and snaps off a headscissors. Parker blocks a second headscissors attempt and slams Barzini down to the canvas. He takes over until Barzini finds an opening to connect with a series of clotheslines. Parker gets back body dropped. Barzini becomes preoccupied with a foreign object at ringside. After some struggle, Barzini puts the foreign object around Parker’s head and rolls him up for the victory at 6:57. I liked Parker’s strategy of trying to weather the storm that was Barzini. However, the action never received a chance to pick up down the stretch as the finish came pretty abruptly. Based on the post-match happenings, there appears to be a rematch happening somewhere down the line. *½
Parker attacks Barzini after the match and leaves him laying. The crowd gives Barzini a great ovation when he gets to his feet.
Match #3: Brandon Espinosa vs. Ace Hawkins
These two are regular teammates, but because their opponents didn’t show up, they are now wrestling each other. Hawkins attacks before the opening bell without hesitation. Espinosa monkey flips him and maintains control of a side headlock. Espinosa connects with a dropkick but misses a corner lariat. Hawkins hits a chinbreaker and takes control. Espinosa comes back with a swinging neckbreaker. He goes up top but Hawkins catches him with an enzuigiri. Espinosa blocks a charge and hits another neckbreaker. Both men are down. Espinosa hits a rope-assisted neckbreaker and connects with a corner lariat. Hawkins catches him with a bridging pin and the referee counts to three but both men’s shoulders were on the canvas. The referee rules this match a draw at 6:49. Hawkins and Espinosa surprisingly shake hands after the match. The crowd was unfamiliar with these two and didn’t react to much of the action. I would argue that Espinosa and Hawkins made it harder for them to react due to a confusing face/heel dynamic throughout the contest. While I’m not sure if the double pinfall finish was necessary, the match was fine for what it was and they tried to make the best out of the situation. **
Match #4: Ax Allwardt vs. AT Brooks
The crowd makes fun of Allwardt for a past instance of easting dog food. Brooks out-wrestles Allwardt as the crowd collectively barks at him. They trade control of a wristlock. Brooks applies a headscissors but Allwardt rolls to the ropes to escape the hold. The action goes to the floor where Allwardt connects with a lariat. He hits a spinebuster in the ring and takes over. Brooks avoids a charge and connects with a running knee strike. He follows with a springboard gamengiri and corner punches. Allwardt sneaks in a pin attempt while using the ropes for leverage for the win at 9:34. Allwardt was a great foil for Brooks, as the crowd was constantly on Allwardt’s case and came alive for Brooks’ comeback. Unfortunately, the finish took the wind out of this match’s sails and silenced a crowd that wanted to see Brooks hit more of his offense. Still, they laid the foundation for a good match but the sudden finish didn’t let them build off of it. **
Match #5: Christian Rose vs. Alex Castle
Rose dodges an early lariat attempt and tries a quick rollup to no avail. They shove each other and trade kicks. Castle lays in a superkick along with a corner yakuza kick. Rose stomps him down to the canvas and connects with a flash kick. He teases a tiger feint kick but instead kicks the middle rope into Castle’s throat. Rose connects with another flash kick and maintains control. Castle fights back with a few kicks of his own. Rose slows him down with a spinning backfist but gets caught by an inverted DDT. Rose blocks a kick and applies a boston crab. Castle is able to reach the bottom rope. Rose uses the ropes to dodge an ace crusher. Castle has a hard time getting to his feet and the referee backs Rose away. The referee determines that Castle cannot continue and stops the match at 8:50. These two have great chemistry together as they take different approaches to a kick-based offense. Rose is more calculated with his strikes while Castle is more willing to throw bombs and see what works. They had the crowd invested in the action and produced some quality exchanges. As the finish suggests, this contest was used to further their feud and I’m excited to see what they can put together in the coming months. **½
Rose lays out Castle with a roaring elbow after the match and tries to stomp his head. It takes a referee and a security guard to restrain Rose. He yells “you’re pathetic” at Castle and heads to the back. More staff members come out to check on Castle.
Match #6: Jimmy Jacobs and Zach Gowen vs. Ace Hawkins and Ben Bray
Gowen controls on the mat against Hawkins and tries a few quick pin attempts to no avail. Jacobs clotheslines Bray and connects with corner punches. Gowen hits a slingshot senton on Bray and adds a basement dropkick. A distraction from Bray allows Hawkins to chop block Gowen. The heels isolate him until he fights them off with chops and makes the tag. Jacobs cleans house with a series of clotheslines and hits a bulldog on Hawkins. He springboards off the middle rope and plants Bray with an ace crusher. Gowen follows with a moonsault onto Bray for the victory at 10:07. There was a lot of pandering to the crowd and they pretty much stuck to formula, but this match served its purpose just fine. The crowd had an easy time getting behind Jacobs and Gowen and they disliked Hawkins much more than they did earlier in the show. **½
Match #7: IWAU Heavyweight Title: Matt Cage © vs. Joey O’Riley
They trade control of a wristlock. Neither man budges on a shoulder tackle battle. O’Riley eventually stomps on Cage’s foot and takes him down with a shoulder tackle. O’Riley connects with a slingshot dropkick in the corner and hits a slingshot tornado DDT. Cage dodges a lariat and hits a backcracker. He connects with a leg lariat and takes control. O’Riley lands on his feet after a military press and connects with an enzuigiri. He cartwheels into a blue thunder bomb from Cage. Cage applies an STF but O’Riley is able to get his foot on the bottom rope. The action goes to the floor where Cage drops O’Riley across the apron. Back in, Cage connects with a knockout kick and regains control. O’Riley fights back with a backbreaker-neckbreaker combination. Both men are down. O’Riley lays in a series of kicks and lands a standing moonsault. He lawn darts Cage into the turnbuckles and hits a uranagi. They battle on the apron where O’Riley plants Cage with a stroke. O’Riley rolls back into the ring and lands a twisting plancha to the floor. In the ring, Cage avoids a moonsault and connects with a running knee strike. He locks in a sleeper hold but O’Riley armdrags out of the hold. Cage immediately responds with a superkick but O’Riley kicks out at one! They exchange chops and Cage hits a stunner. He follows with a lariat for a nearfall. Cage sets up a table at ringside. He wastes too much time and O’Riley traps him in a crossface. Cage is able to reach the bottom rope. Cage blocks a corner charge and loosens the top turnbuckle. O’Riley reapplies the crossface. Cage taps out but the referee is too preoccupied with the loosened turnbuckle to notice. Cage hits a bucklebomb along with a tiger driver for a nearfall. He tries to suplex O’Riley through the table to no avail. O’Riley enzuigiris Cage off the apron and he falls through the table. Back in, O’Riley connects with a roaring mafia kick for a nearfall. Cage avoids a second one and O’Riley sends himself onto the apron. O’Riley tries to skin the cat but Cage catches him with a tombstone to retain his title at 23:44. After already watching their two rematches from January, I have to say that these two have amazing chemistry together and it would be hard for them to have a bad match. Cage’s strategy was to wear O’Riley down with submissions and then hope to knock him out with a kick. When O’Riley wouldn’t stay down, Cage resorted to bringing out a table, which backfired in a big way. Finally, Cage was able to use O’Riley’s momentum against him in a really smart finish to retain his title. I thought they did a great job of structuring the match and pacing it in such a way that it kept the crowd’s interest for the entire twenty-four minutes. In fact, I remember saying similar things about their ladder match from All or Nothing. While I don’t think this match saved the show, it was certainly a terrific main event to cap off the show. ***¾
Overall: Deep Impact is a show that I will mostly remember for its main event. Nothing really stood out to me in the undercard except a solid opener between Danny Cannon and Reed Bentley as well as a nicely executed angle between Christian Rose and Alex Castle to further their feud. While Matt Cage and Joey O’Riley gave it their all in the main event, I can’t give this show a recommendation based on the lack of consistency in match quality. However, all of the main programs seem to be headed in a positive direction as IWAU heads into 2012.
For more information on IWA Unlimited, check them out on:
Facebook and Twitter
Smart Mark Video, where you can purchase this show when it’s released
Their official website
Youtube, where you can watch full-length matches