[2001-01-06-IWA-MS-An IWA Odyssey] Sabu vs Tracy Smothers vs Ian Rotten

[soup23]

One of those “only in IWA” three way dances. Smothers is classic in his entrance flicking off everyone and riling up the crowd to the extreme while dancing a bit. Ian has the weight that Mean Mitch Page gains in the next year. Smothers jumps him when he enters the ring and before Sabu can come out. This is really clever as it gets the crowd to chant for Sabu. They tumble to the outside and here is Sabu beating on both men and throwing chairs at Smother’s head. Smothers dancing to the crowd chants never gets old. Smothers and Ian are again on the outside and Smothers gets irish whipped into the chairs. Ian follows him allowing Sabu to hit a triple jump dive onto both of them. Sabu does look like he is on his game so far. Smothers gives some nasty rabbit punches to Rotten on his knees on the outside. Smothers smacks Rotten with some sort of weapon and Ian is busted open. A light tube shot follows for good measure. Tracy turns his attention to Sabu and lays him on a table at ringside. Tracy goes up to the top but gets crotched allowing Sabu to give him a jumping leg sweep where Tracy hits his jaw on the chair on the way down. Ian’s eye looks nasty and Tracy starts working it over by punching it. The crowd informs Tracy that he does in fact suck dick. Tracy does a jig along with the chant. Ian has a fan and busts it right over Tracy’s head. Tracy is unphased and returns with a chairshot and him and Sabu take turns trying to pin Ian. Tracy pounding on that eye is sick. Tracy gives Sabu a DDT onto a chair and he has really been a force of nature in this match being the main antagonist for both Ian and Sabu throughout. The pace has been relentless and this has failed into many three way tropes of one guy standing around. Ian is pissed and hurls Tracy into the wooden scaffold that holds the stage where the camera is set up. Tracy takes out another row of chairs and the House of Hardcore is in disarray. Sabu and Ian square off for a second before Tracy fires back and smashes a huge light tube cluster over Ian. He then responds by peppering that injured eye. What a dick. Tracy grabs some Mustard! And squirts that on Ian and we pretty much are in Tupelo now. Ian hits a brutal chairshot on Tracy and gives him another to his back for good measure. Tracy is finally knocked out for a bit and we have some Ian and Sabu interaction. Sabu hits a legdrop inside the ring for a nearfall. Here comes that bastard Tracy though who won’t stay down. Triple jump moonsault is hit to perfection by Sabu who has really impressed and not overshadowed this match at all while still being a key component. Tracy gives Sabu some back heel kicks in succession and Ian goes for a chair shot but can’t see Tracy due to the blurred vision from the injured eye. That is awesome. He swings again and knocks out referred Brent Blades. Sabu leg drops Ian through the table on the outside and Tracy baseball slides Sabu out and then football charges him into the crowd. Seizing the opportunity, Tracy rolls Ian in and hits a back forearm off the top and a Van Dominator type spot to pick up the win and end twelve minutes of action. “You still Suck!” the crowd chants with the other half shouting “dick”. The only spot of the match that I didn’t like was the finish but this was exactly what you want of a big star coming in, delivering an impressive performance where he hits his spots cleanly, but also doesn’t take away from the main storyline going on in the promotion between the two guys that will still be there next week. This was a complete blast to watch. Ian grabs the microphone and challenges Tracy to a falls count anywhere match Wednesday night which I am so sad we don’t have on tape. They give spirited semi-shooty promos to each other. Tracy gets in the last word spouting some Tennessee proud. Ian says some things about Tracy stint in Memphis and ends with the battle cry, “if you aint hardcore, you aint shit”. ***1/4

[GSR]

Tracey makes his way around ringside giving everyone the middle finger and getting in the face of anyone who gives him one back! He jumps Ian the moment he steps in the ring and they’re not bothering to wait for Sabu to arrive. A gorgeous overhead suplex by Ian before he spears Tracey through the ropes and both take a spill to the floor. Here’s Sabu and he’s right into the mix, launching a chair at Tracey’s head. Springboard leg lariat for a one count. Smothers is getting his fair share of stick from the fans who start a “Tracey sucks dick” chant which he dances along to. He tosses Ian to the outside, but Rotten reverses the Irish whip and Tracey goes flying into the ringside chairs sending them scattering. Triple jump plancha to the floor! Sabu rams Smothers’ head into the ring post and then looks under the ring for a table. While he is doing that Tracey blasts Ian in the head with a drinks can busting him open. Sabu has managed to find himself a table although no-one ends up going through it just yet. Smothers peppers Rotten’s cut with jabs as he looks to open it up even more. He DDT’s Sabu onto a steel chair, but Ian has recovered in time to break up the pin. Tracey breaks a cluster of light tubes over Ian’s head and then squirts mustard at him. The customary Rotten chair shot makes an appearance as someone in the crowd yells out “have you lost your f*cking mind you f*cking idiot!” Triple jump moonsault and Tracey breaks that pin up by clocking Sabu with a baking tray which he then waffles Ian with. Jumping heel kick to the back of the head of Sabu. The ref botches a spot as he was out of position when Ian was supposed to connect with a chair shot to him after Smothers had ducked out the way. They go right to that same spot again and it looks like Ian makes him pay for screwing up as this chair shot was worse than the one he previously gave Tracey. Slingshot leg drop by Sabu puts Ian through that table he’d set up earlier. Smothers with a ‘jawjacker’, but quits on the cover so he can wallop Sabu one more time with the baking tray. A version of the ‘Van Daminator’ to Ian and Tracey picks up the win, although there’s a rather subdued response to the fall as it sounds like the replacement ref doesn’t slap the mat and you only realise the match is over when the bell rings to signify it. Ian takes the mic post-match and tells Smothers that his fat ass is still here and challenges him to a ‘falls count anywhere’ match on Wednesday at the next show. Rotten pushes his buttons calling Tracey the most fired jobber in the history of wrestling, claiming Steve Armstrong carried him for all those years and making lots of gay cracks about him and Cornette, Terry Golden and Kevin Kelly (I have a feeling jibes like that are going to be a staple for 2001). After a bit more back and forth Tracey accepts and the match is set.

 

This carried on right where they left off on the previous Wednesday with all three men going hammer and tong right from the get go. I also liked how this didn’t have the semi-regular trope of one guy standing around doing nothing for portions of the match like so many of these three ways have the tendency too, everyone was always ‘busy’ and doing something. Rows of chairs ended up all over the place and the fans had to be on their guard so they weren’t caught up in the action, as Tracey was even channelling concession stand brawls of the past the way he squirted Ian with that mustard! A night when Sabu was on, however the star of the show was Smothers. Admittedly it’s only one angle and one match, but he’s had a heck of a start to 2001. A couple of gripes regarding the ref being out of position to take the chair shot and the finish, though they don’t take much away from this. No idea what the rest of the card was like, but based on this and the six man tag that preceded it, the fans absolutely got royally entertained tonight.

[Migs]

After watching some of the other ECW guys on the indy scene have messy matches that seem sloppy and lazy, it's fun to see these guys go all out and make things messy in a good way. A way that feels really out of control at times and even a bit dangerous for the fans (I would not want to be that close to light tube shots). It's total anarchy, but everyone hits their stuff. Great brawl.

[soup23]

I echo most of my thoughts above but I liked this even more this time. I think that is a combination of I do feel like I have gotten progressively more lax on my match ratings over the year. The second reason is watching a lot of the 2000 indies and even IWA matches beyond this, they have some really fun brawls but they also have some long and plodding stuff that just takes forever. This did it’s job, had creativity, Sabu was on point, and they kept the big angle going between Ian and Smothers. A highlight was Tracy grabbing the mustard and squeezing that on Ian to give the match overall a Memphis flare. ***3/4 (7.3)

[AstroBoy]

Hey this was really good fun.  Tracy did a great job kind of keeping things moving and had some fantastic punches on Ian's nasty cut.  Sabu did his part and this was just a breezy fun three way.

***