The PopCulteer
May 8, 2009

South Charleston/IWA Update 

First things first, a few weeks ago I wrote about how the City of South Charleston booted IWA East Coastout of their Community Center. In that piece, I wrote that the blame fell squarely on the shoulders of Mayor Frank Mullins and City Manager Carlton Lee. It turns out I was wrong.  Mullins and Lee were diplomatically accepting blame that should not have fallen on them. It does seem that the complaints about language and violence were indeed not the real reason IWA was asked to leave. However, Mullins and Lee were basically falling on their swords to cover for the real culprits.

There is some sort of governing committee that oversees the South Charleston Community Center, and they were the people who decided that they didn’t like the crowds (or the money) that IWA East Coast brought into their facility. They apparently feel that, in order to best serve the community, they should restrict the use of their facility solely to dues paying members.  Evidently they DO want to run the taxpayer-supported Community Center as a country club.

Mullins and Lee don’t have the power to overrule the committee, but to their credit they will allow IWA EC to use the gym at Oakes Field, which is a nice building, though it’s lack of air conditioning may make it a bit rough in the summer. It’s expected to be the home of this year’s Masters Of Pain/Zero G Tournament in October.So we nearly have a happy ending. The location of the June 24 show, which will feature Oderous from GWAR taking on Tracy Smothers in a “Loser Leaves Earth Match” is still yet to be announced. Check IWA East Coast.com for the latest news.

 “Let’s See How This Goes” Photo Essay

Speaking of IWA East Coast, Wednesday night saw their latest show, “Let’s See How This Goes,” which introduced a lot of new blood into WV’s pre-eminent Wrestling Federation. We’re going to tell you about it in words and pictures. Before the matches began, it was announced that Gypsy Joe, the hardcore legend, is the new commissioner of IWA East Coast. Joe came out and watched the show with the fans.

The opening match saw IWA regular, Zac Vincent, defeat Eric Ryan and Kalipso in a three-way match. Above you see Vincent delivering a nasty kick to Kalispo’s head.  This was an amazing, high-flying match that fired up the crowd. The crowd stayed hot all night, as Skateland, in Campbell’s Creek was rocking.

The next match saw veteran wrestler Ricky Morton, half of the legendary Rock N’ Roll Express, defeat Colton Collins.  Collins is a rising star in IWA East Coast, and after the match, Morton raised his hand in a classy move.  At right, you can see Ricky checking with the Commissioner to see if it’s okay to stomp Colton in the crotch.

The next match was a wild one, with Viper defeating the new-to-IWA Bulldozer in a hard-fought contest. Viper came out with barbed wire wrapped around his arm, and the crowd really got into this match. Below you see Bulldozer dropping his weight on Viper’s body.

Viper has been wrestling for IWA East Coast for a few months now, but with this match, he finally won over the fans, who belted out a healthy “Viper, Viper” chant.

Below you see a bloody Viper acknowledge the crowd and his opponent. I wouldn’t be surprised to a rematch. Indeed, this night was so impressive, I wouldn’t be surprised to see several rematches from this card.

One of the big attractions of the night was ECW legend, Axl Rotten, who totally demolished “The Passion” John Thorne.

Above you can see Rotten delivering a chairshot to Thorne’s skull.

To the right, you see the post-match celebration. I didn’t get the name of Rotten’s valet, but she kept the crowd fired up, and I thought this was a pretty cool shot of the two of them in the ring.

The next match saw Eric Darkstorm, who has made a mark for himself thus far in IWA by cutting week-long promos that don’t go anywhere, taking on newcomer “The Gift” Jason Kincaid. Expectations were low for this match, since Darkstorm’s previous matches were marred by such horrible mic work that nobody noticed that the guy can wrestle.  This time, he picked up the mic, said a few words, then put it back down, delighting the crowd.

Darkstorm and Kincaid proceeded to turn in an epic match that may rank with the greatest in IWA EC history.  Seriously, this is one that you buy the DVD just to see. Darkstorm may have shut up his critics simply by shutting up. Darkstorm wins with a Rolling Enziguri.

Next up we had IWA regulars, The Day Brothers, who lost to Irish airborne in an exciting tag-team match, featuring plenty of high-flying moves.

After the match, The Day Brothers were met by former IWA Champ, Trik Nasty and his manager, Woody Numbers, who seemed to be intent on forming a heel faction of sorts.

Nasty went on to defeat Flash Fury, with an assist from Numbers.

This was yet another strong match on a very strong card. To the right you can see Nasty countering a body press from Fury with a leaping mid-air kick. Below he delivers a monstrous clothesline.

The next match saw The Necrobutcher, who was featured in “The Wrestler” beating Mickey Rourke into cardiac arrest, taking on IWA’s rising star, Elkview Adam.

The action quickly spilled out of the ring, as the two battled all over the building. At right, you can see Necro pounding Adam as he sits down where fans had been–before they scattered.

Below you see Necro standing over Adam on the opposite side of the arena.

This was a pretty brutal match, with every fan getting an up-close view before the action spilled back into the ring.

There’s always action outside the ring when Necrobutcher is involved. The crack security team at IWA keeps the fans safe, while letting them get as close to the action as possible.

At one point, when Necrobutcher decided that the bell would make a good weapon, he even took the time to ham it up a bit for the cameras.

Mine included.

The match ended when Necro finally pinned Adam after a Chairbreaker. Adam put up such a hard fight that The Necrobutcher seemed surprised when he finally got the pin.

Closing the show we had IWA’s founding father, Mad Man Pondo, taking on “Misfit” Mike Levy. Pondo is always the crowd favorite, and at left you can see him decorating the ring with thumbtacks. 

Did I mention that this was a Thumbtack Match?

At the very top of this column you see Pondo whacking Levy in the head with his trademark “Stop Sign Head Shot. ”

If you have any doubts about the authenticity of the thumbtacks being used in this match, just check out Levy’s boots in the photo below. That’s not sparkly glitter on his wrestling gear.  It’s real, honest-to-god, pointy-on-one end, thumbtacks. Stepping on one of those can cause a grown man to squeal like a little girl. Imagine what rolling around in them must feel like.

With that many thumbtacks in the ring, you know that this couldn’t feel very good.

After the match, a bloody but victorious Pondo sends the crowd home happy with a few words of wisdom.

Slacker Rudy

You may be wondering where the weekend rundown of area shows and the “Cool Comic Of The Week” are this week in The PopCulteer. Well, to be honest, WordPress ate this post three times, I have to be somewhere in four hours and I haven’t been to sleep yet, so…the regular features will return next week in The PopCulteer. Expect a new RFC next week, too.  Meanwhile, check The Gatecrasher blog  for a good list of the weekend’s music.