Based almost purely on the recommendation of those who attended the show and the chance to meet some of the people who worked for Inter Species Wrestling at Wrestlecon, I decided to make my very first purchase of one of their shows. Given AR Fox is one of the hottest wrestlers on the scene, my choice was made all the easier. This company feels like Mike Quackenbush went on a cocaine binge with this promotion being the result. There are some of the wacky characters which make ISW feel like some bizarro Chikara. There is of course some very good wrestling, but most importantly, it’s about pushing boundaries for Inter Species Wrestling.
This is not a promotion for everyone, be it the weak of heart or easily offended. I don’t say this to be a pretentious wanna be intellectual, but I firmly believe that in addition to wanting to entertain wrestling fans, they want to push acceptable limits. How many other companies would have a transsexual be felt up in the ring by a wrestler. Starting this review off with Gladd Badd versus Giant Tiger seems appropriate since these are two of ISW’s hallmark characters. Tiger doesn’t necessarily realize that one of the “women” Badd has brought for his little buddy the Craigslist Homo, isn’t a woman. To quote Austin Powers, “She’s a man, man.” This is a match which contained some very homosexual centric offense, almost the equivalent to when Dasher Hatfield uses baseball related moved. Is it necessarily bad that ISW chooses to use one trope over another? Depends on your taste. All I kept wondering was whether Giant Tiger was supposed to be as bad as he came across in this match. It’s one thing to have two wrestlers roll around in the 69 position. It’s another for them to turn in a good in ring performance, which I’m not sure they did. There was cat fight in the ring between someone I believe to be an actual woman and the one who obviously was not. Craiglist Homo, an obvious guy male character, became involved and made the whole thing sillier.
Similarly, Addy Starr and Frankie Arion had a match which went about six minutes. They hit each other quite hard and seemed to be about to hit something special when Arion took a count-out victory on purpose. The referee was very aggressive in not letting Starr go out of the ring, something neither he nor any of the other referees would do with any other competitor. Instead of a really good championship match on a show which could have used it, this match again became about boundaries and what could be acceptable in a wrestling ring. Arion retained his title despite losing the match but was willing to offer Starr a rematch. In a really uncomfortable segment, he made Starr take her top off and get on her knees before calling her out a whore and walking out. Arion is clearly the heel. Starr is clearly the face. ISW wasn’t endorsing Arion’s behavior as a heel, but they still emphasized the angle over the match.
Angles over wrestling isn’t inherently bad if you’re into what’s going on. As a first time viewer of the product, I did have a hard time keeping up with everything going. The commentators were of no use in this area as they made jokes and swore a lot more than they actually explained what was going on in relation to everything going on in the ring. For me, I prefer wrestling with storylines that keep me engaged. ISW seems to have that in reverse with wacky characters taking preacdence over the in ring product. Perhaps the live experience and being amongst a crowd of people invested in what they’re seeing happy, but a lot of this did not come across the DVD and for me as a first time viewer.
What did come across for me was AR Fox wrestling Kitsune. I’ve never seen Kitsune before, but he came across like one of the best wrestlers in the world after this match. I can honestly say this is a dark horse MOTYC and a pure joy to watch. The crowd was very much into things, nice to see since they were also into all of the gaga aspects of the show. Fox and Kitsune innovated and turned in spectacular performances. We saw Fox perform a sliced bread to the floor Kitsune hit a leaping press slam which looked spectacular. Fox might be the bigger star, but it was a smart move putting over their guy. This DVD may be worth it just for this match alone.
Another match I enjoyed, although not nearly as much, featured Jaka against Chris Dickinson. Dickinson is a guy I know many are shocked isn’t a bigger star on the indies, but that could change this year if he keeps turning in performances like this. Jaka might be closely associated with the Wrestling is universe, but he’s also capabale of turning in great performances and being a solid addition to any midcard. These two beat the holy hell out of each other, mostly for the people who’s table they nearly destroyed part way into the match. I know nothing of what happened, but for a character like Jaka who isn’t supposed to speak to actually break character is a big deal. Obviously, ISW didn’t want these people identified to the live audience because their faces were blurred out. I was completely confused by what happened, especially because so many of the wrestlers were at ringside for the remainder of the match. Nonetheless, this was a good to great match where both guys got to perform at a high level.
Nothing else on the show really stuck out to me in the ring. I did enjoy Dan Berry and Bill Carr’s bad cop/good cop tag team though. How have there not been more teams with a similar gimmick? Seems to easy and it can be done well, even if one of the wrestlers isn’t as talented. Carr and Berry played their roles well. Necro Butcher (under the auspices of a new manager) lost to Izzy Deadyet in a fairly mundane and average main event. If you like hardcore matches and staple guns, you’ll probably think that match was better than I did. Pinkie Sanchez successfully defended his Crazy title in a sloppy opener against Lloyd Cthuowitz. The finish of the match was pretty noteworthy as it was a DDT on the top rope! Cthuowitz is a well-dressed Jewish lawyer character. Buxx Belmar defeated Oni the Leopard King after that. Couple notes there. Belmar put a condom on his hand and licked it. Oni then put the condom on his finger. Belmar looked impressive despite what he did after the match as he put the condom in his mouth and drank water laced with tobacco. Yup, pushing boundaries. Finally, Tabarnak De Team of Matthieu St. Jacques and Thomas Dubois won a pretty average tag team match. They’re a Montreal based team, and this was their debut. They defeated the Food Fighters of Bastian Snow and Pasquele.
I think every independent wrestling fan owes it to themselves to watch at least one ISW show. It’s very unique, and there is a hint of places like PWG and Chikara in the way they conduct themselves. I’m not sure whether I’ll watch another show again, but it was certainly a very different experience given what else I watch.
Grade: C+
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Quick Results, times, and match ratings
-Undisputed King of Crazy: Pinkie Sanchez defeats Lloyd Cthuowitz via pinfall after a DDT on the top rope/12:30/**
-Buxx Belmar defeats Oni the Leopard King via pinfall after the gutbuster/6:26/**1/4
-The Food Fighters (Bastian Snow and Pasquele) vs. Tabarnak De Team (Matthieu St. Jacques and Thomas Dubois) by pinfall after a double suplex on Pasquele/11:21/**1/2
-Gladd Badd defeats Giant Tiger after a jackknife pin/7:16/*1/2
– Tremendous Investigations Inc. (Dan Berry and Bill Carr) defeat Leon St. Giovanni and Mighty Mo by pinfall after Dan Berry hits the spiral tap/8:39/**1/2
-Chris Dickinson defeats Jaka via pinfall after the pumphandle bomb /14:34/***1/2
-The Other Championship: Frankie Arion successfully defends his championship over Addy Starr. Arion took a count-out loss on purpose./6:37/*1/2
-Kitsune defeats AR Fox via pindall after the shooting star press/14:40/****1/4
-Inter Species Championship: Izzy Deadyet successfully defends the championship over Necro Singh via pinfall /15:39/**3/4
For more information on ISW, check out their website. To purchase DVDs or MP4s, go to Smart Mark Video. For on-demand, go to SMVOD.
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