[2000-07-01-IWA-MS-Heroes, Hurt & Hot Wax] American Kickboxer vs Hy-Zaya (Lumberjack Strap)

[soup23]

Kickboxer had a good night as he again looked good here by his standards showing some intensity and landing some stiff strikes. The match has a chaotic back and forth with the lumberjack straps and carried a trope finish of Hy-Zaya bleeding first but the referee being distracted and now Kickboxer is bleeding to and loses the match. A good match but overall this was one of the more distasteful wrestling matches I have ever seen. Hy-Zaya and Richard X are backed by Uncle Honkey and the racial overtones are disgusting. When I first started watching IWA in 2002-2003, it certainly wasn’t the classiest promotion in the world but the biggest offenses revolved around Tracy Smothers getting into it with a pregnant crowd member or Ian talking down some stoner that was talking shit. Even in ring, the Peter B Beautiful situations and the like aren’t the best way to handle business but Peter did talk a lot of shit beforehand. So far in 2000, we have seen plenty of gay slurs everywhere in multiple promotions and why that doesn’t excuse that behavior in the slightest, it does show a complete ignorance or timeframe of the era. This match is something beyond that with the racial overtones. You start with fans getting the opportunity to be a lumberjack with straps to beat up the black man and then you have Ian halfway through the match telling Kickboxer to hang the son of the bitch. The most disgusting thing happens after the match in Ian’s post match promo where he says to remember that his great great grandfather owned Hy-Zaya’s great great grandfather. Ian was never someone I looked at with a great moral compass and wrestling is littered with terrible people but this is being used as a in ring angle and Ian is the face of the promotion. I don’t know if Ian weakened his views as time went on or just realized with more visibility and SMV filming the shows, really extreme viewpoints and comments like this wouldn’t be tolerated. Either way, this left a really bad taste in my mouth and made me ashamed to be a fan. DUD

[Tim Evans]

A lumberjack first blood match is a weird stipulation to have. The camera work makes this hard to watch as it's focusing on the ring post. From what I saw it was pretty bad. Chad is right about the racial overtones. It's about a 7 on the Jamie Dundee in KAW scale.

[GSR]

I think it’s a mixture of wrestlers and fans who’re the lumberjacks here with Ian also down at ringside, presumably to make sure things don’t get too out of control.  The fans are like some baying mob though with the ferocity that they’re whipping Hy-Zaya and every time he darts back into the ring to get away, Kickboxer tosses him right back out to them.  Zaya counters a huracanrana with a powerbomb and the ref stops counting at one, realising that this is ‘first blood’ and he shouldn’t be doing any such thing.  Kickboxer fires back and grabs a strap from one of the lumberjacks to do some whipping of his own before hanging Zaya over the top rope.  In a funny moment Zaya manages to get Kickboxer to the floor but Ian runs the heels off before they can get many licks in; he doesn’t bargain for one over enthusiastic fan though who isn’t following the script and whips an unexpected Kickboxer on the behind!  As a big old melee breaks out with everyone fighting each other, Kickboxer cuts Zaya across the forehead with a shard of broken light tube.  The official is otherwise engaged with the brawl though so doesn’t see what’s happened.  Honky covers the cut up and blasts Kickboxer between the eyes with a right hand busting him open (you can clearly see Kickboxer blade himself).  The referee then sees him bleeding and awards the match to Zaya.  That finish doesn't sit well with the fans who chant "bullshit" as Honky puts his charge over his shoulder and carries him to the back.

Not particularly good and I felt for Zaya having to take those shots from the excitable fans.  Camera work wasn’t the best either, particularly towards the finish.