[2000-10-20-IWA-MS-KOTDM 2000: Night One] Ian Rotten vs Mark Wolf (Barbed Wire Bat & Board)

[soup23]

Wolf was probably a month in at this point. This is a plunder walk and hit match but one where I enjoyed some aspects of it. Ian gives some vicious chops and a chair shot that like usual is spine tingling. Wolf showed some fire and takes a heck of a beating for his experience level. The highlight of that is a dragon suplex onto the barbed wire board. Ian looks in control when Todd Morton runs in and has some sort of spray can that he knocks out Ian with from the stench and then puts Wolf on top for the pin. Morton cuts a promo afterwards calling Ian a fat fuck and raising Wolf’s hand. Ian then does a promo begging for a match tomorrow night. Ian going out in the first round is a big blow and upset for the KOTDM tournament. **1/4

[Tim Evans]

This is about as close to a squash as you can do in a deathmatch. Ian just destroys Wolf with chops, tube shots and the bat to the back. Ian doing a dragon suplex to Wolf into the board was just sick. The finish left a bad taste in my mouth. I get why they did it but doing it in the first round is weak.

[GSR]

Wolf looks a bit nervous as he makes his way around ringside, almost as if he’s regretting what he’s got himself into.  Jim Fannin notices and advises him where the exits are if he wants to use them, but Wolf flips him the middle finger and is going to stick this out.  A stiff forearm to the face by Ian gives us an early indication of how this one is going to go.   Wolf catches Rotten with a clothesline and then pulls his vest up over his head as he fires away with some bad looking punches.  Ian responds in kind, more stiff forearms followed by four vicious chops to the chest.  He breaks a bunch of light tubes over his head and then drags one of the broken shards down his back cutting him open.  Wolf is bleeding from the forehead too and Ian digs the glass into it to open that cut up some more.  The action spills to the floor where Wolf gets a rare opportunity to give something back, shoving Ian’s head into the barbed wire board, although an unfortunate camera angle shows that he’s just holding him over it while Ian gigs himself.  Rotten with another blistering chop to the chest before an absolutely horrific chair shot that looks to have damn near put Wolf to sleep.  Ian picks him up and continues the beating with the help of a drawing pin covered baseball bat.  That cut on Wolf’s back looks sore as.  Roaring elbow, wooden board broken over the head, broomstick up the ass!  Back inside and Ian with a Dragon suplex into the barbed wire board, there was no give in that board though which doesn’t break.  As the referee checks on Wolf, Todd Morton runs out, sprays a rag with something and holds it over Ian’s mouth ‘knocking him out’.  He puts Wolf on top of him and, unlikely as it would’ve seemed at the outset, he moves onto the quarter finals as the crowd chant “bull shit” at what they’ve just seen.  After waking up Ian challenges Morton, telling him that he wants a piece of him tomorrow night.

An Ian beat down, and even though he doesn’t take all of the match like he has done in other matches that follow a similar pattern, he takes the majority only giving Wolf the occasional and briefest of comebacks before returning to kicking his ass.  The chair shot was a skull cracker, absolutely disgusting.  I’m taking that was the only plausible way they could think of to eliminate Ian, but it wasn’t good and no surprise that it resulted in more “bull shit” chants from their audience.