[2000-03-11-FWA] Mike Quackenbush vs Don Montoya

[soup23]

This is being billed as Quack’s retirement match which in retrospect is more insulting than Foley at No Way Out. Montoya in this snarky heel role really reminds me of Kevin Steen once he comes on the scene. Overall I thought this match had some good ideas but was way too long in execution. At one moment, a patron throws a drink at Montoya and he is pissed off as the announcer runs down the fan. I didn’t like the banana peel finish that allows Quack to get the win. A weird angle follows as the promoter informs Quack that Santo is coming in next month and he wants the belt. Quack doesn’t really answer him one way or another. **3/4

 

[Loss]

I think I've returned to my optimist streak as once again, I liked a match more than Chad. In this case, it's probably one that could have been easily predicted because of the pacing, the style in which it was worked and some of the nuances in Montoya's work that are going to get a thumbs up for me. A heel who calls for a water break after a long mat exchange? A heel who responds to a long boring chant by feigning outrage than snapping on a chinlock? I'm sold. Montoya is probably the unsung great indy worker of this time period in my mind. He doesn't work the traditional style we think of as an indy wrestling style. It's something a bit more old school and focused on getting heat, and the guy does exchanges really well. I thought the early exchanges, by the way, were off the hook (I think that's the first time I have ever used that term in my life -- shoot me), with Quackenbush doing his zany counters as crowd pleasing spots. The retirement angle surrounding this is dumb since as far as I know, Quackenbush had only been in wrestling for about 10 minutes before this match, but it's hard to complain about something that sets up El Hijo del Santo coming in. I thought Montoya's heat on Quackenbush seemed to go way too long -- not that the match was too long, but just the way they allocated the time they had. Still, this was great and came awfully close to being something really special. ***3/4

[Moonsault Marvin]

This was incredibly long and boring. A little Quackenbush goes a long way, as his cutesy approach to wrestling just isn't cut out for long matches and he isn't a compelling seller. Montoya should be commended for at least trying to fill the time with his heeling, such as the water bottle breaks, but it wasn't enough to save this one. Poor match.

[Tim Evans]

I remember this match being built up in PWI when Quack kept teasing retirement. Of course, the announcer keeps beating the viewer over the head with that and Don Montoya losing 105 pounds since November 1999. This was really bad. Like the worst HHH self-conscious epic main events bad. Montoya tried but Quack kept wanting to get his shit in. No reason for this match to be this long even if it's a supposed "retirement" match.

[Laney]

This match was way too long. There's a very extended heat segment with Montoya dominating that seems to just serve the purpose of making this a long match for the sake of it. The match eventually breaks down for the last 10 minutes or so with both guys hitting big moves, but it doesn't seem to really flow together.

 

There are some interesting tidbits in Quack's book about this match:

 

"That night, our match endure for thirty-one minutes, which is a lot longer than most wrestling fans' attention spans will tolerate. Montoya and I showed the crowd a little bit of everything. We brawled, we flew, we wrestled back and forth from chain to submission holds. Most of the audience was asleep by the halfway mark. It didn't really matter though. This time, we were going to do exactly what we wanted, and put on a match that would make us proud, even at the risk of leaving the crowd feeling flat."

 

Based on what Quack wrote, I think Tim's post that this is like a HHH self-conscious epic main event is on the money and was the intention here.

[Mattsdmf]

I dug this match for what it was. I'm really liking Don Montoya the more I see him. I enjoying his stalling and heat seeking as contrasted by Quacks indy-riffic moveset. I do think it was hurt from how long it was. Overall a pretty decent match.

[Robert S]

I'm with Loss here in that I really liked this match. Montoya is really great here and I wonder if he wouldn't have been a good replacement for Xavier as early ROH heel champion. Quack was fine in the opening slow-motion chain-wrestling, but his finishing stretch offense looked pretty shitty.

[GSR]

This is announced as Quack’s final match in professional wrestling, and Montoya had won a previous Battle Royale to earn the right to face him in his retirement match. The commentator mentions as well as being the FWA champion, Quack is also the SDW Jr Heavyweight champion and the ‘Three Way Dance’ champion, the latter a title I’ve never heard of before. Quack utilizes a Johnny Saint style escape out of a go behind and a Tiger Mask drop toehold. Don escapes a headscissors, applies a side headlock and with the camera zoomed in, smiles and winks at it! After a satellite headscissors Montoya takes to the floor, but Quack with a flip dive between the top and middle ropes out onto him. He throws Don back into the ring although is caught with a flapjackm winding him. A pair of chops by Montoya, but he’s no Benoit when it comes to laying them in. Double rear chinlock as he starts to take control in the match. T-Bone suplex for two. Corkscrew legdrop, and after posing to the crowd he attempts to pin Quack with one foot on his chest. Hmmm… Montoya tosses him to the outside where a member of the audience throws what looks like an empty burger wrapper at him. He points and says something to the guy as the commentator informs us that you can’t do that and he’ll be ejected from the building. Don lays Quack on a ringside table and climbs the turnbuckles, only for the spoil sport referee to stand between them to prevent him from doing anything. Back inside and Quack counters a ‘Death Valley Driver’ with a sunset flip, however Montoya rolls through and a lovely rocking horse Boston crab. He turns it into a regulation one before abandoning the hold when it’s clear he’s not going to get a submission. Montoya grabs his water bottle for a bit of rehydration, only to hit Quack in the head with it. A series of crossfaces, but as Quack fires back, he just kicks him between the legs. The crowd start to chant “boring, boring” at Don, so slaps on a rear chinlock in the middle of the ring and sits on it. Good man! He sets Quack for a superplex, however he blocks the attempt, shoves him backwards to the canvas and then nails him with a missile dropkick. Nip up and he’s found a second wind from somewhere. Don’s back on the outside again having a breather, and Quack with a plancha from the top turnbuckle to the floor. Roaring elbow, diving headbutt and Montoya kicks out just in time. Flying palm strike, springboard splash, but this time Don gets his knees up. Powerbomb and now Quack is the one kicking out. Fisherman suplex as the near falls continue, whilst even an ‘Ace Crusher’ off the top isn’t enough to put Quack away. A reverse DDT is reversed and a ‘Quackensmash’ (double jump, springboard twisting senton) for two. Montoya blocks the Dragon suplex and a trio of rolling Germans for…you guessed it. He heads upstairs but is too slow and Quack is back to his feet. Palm strike, ‘Quackendriver’ off the top and ‘Lightning’ Mike wins his retirement bout. Post-match Don puts Quack over and hopes he’ll come back at some point so they can do this one more time, before offering him his hand and strapping the FWA title around his waist. Some dude then announces that El Hijo del Santo is coming to the FWA on 4/15 for one reason, the FWA title and he wants to know if Quack will be here to defend it. He lays the belt in the middle of the ring as the crowd chant “please don’t go” and doesn’t give an answer one way or the other before leaving.

 

Add me to the Loss camp here, and interesting that this match didn’t make the four disc ‘Best of the FWA’ compilation that was put out by Smartmark video. I really enjoyed this, although at times in the first half, have to agree that the action was ‘too’ slow. It felt like Montoya was at times stalling (tying his boot laces, walking around the ring, playing to the crowd) just to drag this out to over thirty minutes. The early portion was very reminiscent of a World of Sport bout, and you can clearly see that as an influence on Quack. From here Montoya goes on a lengthy heat section and the crowd weren’t the most receptive with their “boring” chants, although absolutely digged Montoya just sitting on a rear chinlock when they did it the once. They ramped it up at the end with all the near falls, but think they probably did too many two counts before the winning ‘Quackendriver’ off the top. Montoya’s offense in this finishing stretch also looked much better than Quacks by the way. The whole retirement stipulation was very weird, maybe they just wanted to pop a house? I don’t know. Another feather in Montoya’s cap here after the Horowitz and Low Ki bouts.

[Edwin]

The announcer puts over the titles Quack has won and mentions he's a 3 way dance champion of Steel City Wrestling. That's odd? Also he mentions Montoya having dropped 105 lbs. since November 1999... Yet he's still a flabby big guy. He also mentions a fan has a Jushin Thunder Liger mask that will "only increase in value as time goes by..."

 

Anyway, Montoya being a flabby heel who needs a water break after the extensive mat work was neat. My biggest problem with Montoya is that he comes across too cartoonish a lot of the time. Despite that, him reacting to the fans "boring" chants by taunting a flashy move only for him to lock in a headlock was awesome.

 

I like Quack a fair bit, but he still hadn't developed and become the entertaining guy I dug 4 years later in CHIKARA. His palm strike is particularly bad looking. I didn't like him fighting back as they were moreso him trying to be cute and getting his stuff in than being effective.

 

This also went on for 10 minutes way to long.

 

Not particularly a bad mach, but definitely not a memorable one.