Because of the cold weather, the card was held inside the bar, not at the horseshoe pit. The long thin space had a listed capacity of 198, and was full. Tim Larson opened the show, and promoted the MIW TV title tournament. The red bowtie was absent.
(1) Doctor Darin Davis
(face) pinned "City Slicker" Jake Ricker (heel). Ricker is
yet another of the kids from the Sharkey/Fox camp. His best move was a
Horace the Psychopath style senton. Doc won with a fisherman's suplex,
and advanced to the TV title finals. Davis was real gentle with a shaky
kid.
(2) Robbie Thunder (face)
pinned Shawn Daivari (heel). I'm guessing that Daivari was
the heel here because he was introduced first and came to the ring with
an attitude. This match had rookie written all over it. A huracanrana
was botched on the first go, but repeated tries looked better. During
the match, High Roller Mago came into the ring area and sat at the
announce table. Thunder won following an X-factor and advanced to the
TV Title finals against Doctor Darin Davis. Both youngsters seemed to
emerge in one piece.
(3) Dan Jesser and Mike
Stormwolf (faces) defeated Cruel & Unusual (Ian Xavier and Big
Daddy Hoofer w/Ashley Xavier, heels) by disqualification.
Coming to the ring Ian had a verbal confrontation with a mark in the
crowd. This mark made his presence felt during several of the matches.
Several times Eddie Sharkey sat next to him to try to settle him down.
Lacey was the referee for this one. Mike Stormwolf was notable for his
aerial moves, getting in a dropkick and a flying shoulder block. The
heels took over later and gave Stormwolf "Cruel Intentions" but Jesser
broke up the pin try. Late in the match Stormwolf hit a standing
bulldog. The end was confusing from where I was sitting but seemed to
involve Lacey DQ'ing C&E for interference by Ashley Xavier. MIW
Commissioner Terry Fox then came out and announced that the pair would
be wrestling tonight.
(4) Sheriff Johnny
Emerald (face) pinned Red Lightning (w/ Sugar, heels).
During this match the High Rollers appeared again, and had some sort of
conversation with K-Train, who was ringside, but not scheduled to
wrestle. This match had some unintended humor when Lightning, while
holding Emerald in a hammerlock, went for a foreign object, only to
lose it down one of the legs of his tights. His misfortune got big
laughs from the "boys" watching the match. The Sheriff escaped from
that predicament though and hit a series of three suplexes for a two
count. Following a monkey flip by Emerald, Red Lightning's valet,
Sugar, tripped Red up, allowing the Sheriff to hit a pedigree and gain
a three count. When leaving some wag in the crowd said to Lightning,
"Get a haircut, Sally."
(5) Ashley Xavier
(w/C&U, heels) pinned Lacey (face). Lacey wore
what was described to this color blind field reporter as an iridescent
blue and red outfit. The pair moved earnestly through a textbook of
elementary wrestling holds with Lacey showing technique and Ashley
exhibiting heel power, with hair pulling and a body slam. Lacey came to
dominate with a sunset flip, a flying mare, and a Russian leg sweep,
only to have C&U interfere when Ian gave Lacey a suplex and
Hoofer delivered a top rope splash, then pulling Ashley onto Lacey for
the win. Again it was hard to see from where I was.
(6) Shifty (heel) pinned
Helmut von Strauss (face) to retain the MIW Cruiserweight Title.
Helmut a baby? I guess Minnesota wrestling fans just love bald-headed
German wrestlers. The pair did a good bit early on when Helmut tried a
Lou Thez press. Shifty caught him in midair, then fell backwards to
drop Helmut's throat across the top rope. After every move, Shifty
would stop and work the crowd. He got in a good facebuster and a
Shiftyvault leg drop. At one point, while jumping off of the top rope,
he hit his head on the low hanging ceiling. Strauss got in his kick
routine near the end but Shifty pinned him in a way that I couldn't see.
(7) Doctor Darin Davis
(face) pinned Robbie Thunder (face) to win the MIW TV title.
Both kept to the babyface role and exhibited sportsmanship. The High
Rollers came to the ring once again and were seen giving money to
K-Train. Doc did a drop toehold to set up The Glove, but Thunder
escaped. Robbie hit an X-factor for a two count. Davis sold an injured
"glove hand" throughout. He got the pin after a fisherman's suplex.
After the match Thunder handed Davis the belt, and the two hugged.
(8) Mitch Paradise (face)
pinned The Pit Boss (w/ The High Rollers, heels). This was
my first look at the Pit Boss. Mitch started off on offense with power
moves, a powerslam, a suplex bringing TPB into the ring, and a double
arm suplex. Then the Boss took over and with the help of the High
Rollers working Paradise over put on a sleeper hold. Mitch made a
Superman comeback from that and gave Pit Boss a powerslam, an enziguri,
a fallaway slam, and a chokeslam. He had Pit Boss beaten at that point,
but K-Train came and broke up the pin. The Rollers joined them and at
this point it was a four-on-one contest. Then a security guard, who had
been standing near the ring the whole evening, came to Paradise's aid
and the two cleaned house. –doc d'X