[2000-08-05-IWA-MS-From Hardcore Hell & Back] Bull Pain vs Mitch Page

[soup23]

It is now pouring down rain which adds to the atmosphere. I can see some people hating it as it does fall into the IWA trap of going too long but I appreciated the fact that it didn't involve any crowd brawling and it was filled with some nasty punches and throws into the chairs. The fact that they are wrestling in a field also adds to the pain when Mitch does his somersault splash onto Bull. Bull gets into it with a couple of fans and gives them a good shove. The finish was pretty dumb where IWA adds in the Memphis style elements of Bull getting brass knucks from Blaze and using it to score the pin. Mitch sells the punch off the knucks well but after light tubes and everything else, it is a bit hollow that this one punch of knucks puts the big guy down. *** (6)

[AstroBoy]

The brawling here is fundamentally fine and Bull Pain threatening fans is a lot of fun but this was quite a slog to get through. It's not bad and it does build as it goes along but it doesn't do so in super entertaining fashion and these guys just kind of plod around until it all starts to run together a bit. The finish is a little silly but that's fine. The match was just a little too long and a little too rigid to leave a great impression.

 

**1/4

[Tim Evans]

Bull threatens Ian's wife and kids before the match and Ian doesn't even come out. I guess he wasn't there or something? THe rain storm added a little to this but still way too long. That finish is really rich coming from IWA and this ends up being another match where the crowd chants bullshit during the finish. That seemed to happen a lot.

[GSR]

I suppose it was inevitable that one day an Ian outdoor show would fall foul of the elements, today is that day with the bright weather from earlier long gone and some of the fans even using chairs to shield themselves from the rain.  Bull cuts a scathing promo saying that he doesn’t give a fuck about the IWA-MS Heavyweight title, but by defeating Mitch Page it brings him one step closer to “cottage cheese ass” Ian Rotten.  He calls Ian out and when he doesn’t show threatens his family and goes on to say he knows where he lives, knows where he shops and one day when he’s not looking, he’ll be there.  Mitch jumps Bull while he’s preoccupied with the fans and this quickly spills to the outside where he whips him into the empty seats.  Page gets busted open after Bull clocks him over the head with a metal sign before Pain goes about targeting Mitch’s arm, wrapping it around the ring post and punching his shoulder.  Reverse DDT onto a chair.  Bull takes offense to the “Bull Shit” chant he’s receiving and gets in the face of one ringsider who looks visibly shaken.  He’s back focussing on that arm, this time cracking it with a chair.  Pain takes a back drop on the floor and Mitch covers him after an elbow drop so it looks like this is ‘falls count anywhere’.  It’s absolutely pissing it down there now by the way.  Page botches a powerslam and then collects a wooden stick from a fan which he breaks over Bull’s back.  A DDT on the floor is missed by the camera, the wrestlers completely obscured by an oversized umbrella!  Wow, a release overhead suplex by Bull but that only gets him a two count.  He throws all he has at the champion, however nothing is able to put him away.  After failing to connect on the frog splash it looks like the match has turned in Page’s favour when Blaze appears at ringside and places some brass knux around Bull’s fist.  As Mitch lifts him up for a belly to back suplex Bull KO’s him with the knux to become the new IWA-MS champion.

Too long, too much your turn/my turn, too much jumping from in the ring to out and they also overdid it on taking bumps into the rows of chairs, Bull taking four for starters.  They did try to convey drama towards the ends with the near falls, but everything was one-two-kick out, no delaying things to the last moment, it was all too predictable.  It would’ve been nice if Bull did more arm work, but then again Page immediately stops selling it rendering it all pointless.  An interesting spectacle with this taking place in the rain, however not something I would be in a hurry to watch again.  Bull’s promo at the start was great and he is a real captivating character, although I was surprised that Ian didn’t show up, not even in the post-match.