[2000-10-21-IWA-MS-KOTDM 2000: Night Two] Rollin' Hard vs Corporal Robinson (Flaming Casket)

[soup23]

A weak ending. Both guys looked drained and it is mainly a punch and hit affair with no rhyme or reason to the violence they are inflicting on each other. The finish is weird in that it is a legit casket match where you have to set the casket on fire. This makes the finish really anticlimactic as they don't really tease putting each other into the casket until Corp is put in it and lit on fire. That is a crazy dangerous spot and the smoke fills up the dingy arena but Rollin' Hard has to be the worst KOTDM in history. *

[Tim Evans]

What a crappy gimmick and finish to end the KOTDM. Both guys try but are pretty tired and so is the crowd. The big ass casket in the middle of the ring means that the guys have to take bumps on the barbwire ropes. The finish would have been better if Corp took the bump into the casket while it was on fire but that's too dangerous. The way they did it just makes it look weak.

[GSR]

There’s a giant casket in the centre of the ring which is going to make wrestling in there pretty difficult.  Corp, covered in dry blood from the previous rounds, looks absolutely shattered as he bumps fists with the fans at ringside.  As I thought, that casket has reduced the amount of space they’ve got to wrestle in by about two-thirds so they’re limited to just punching each other and hitting each other with weapons that the fans pass to them.  Rollin throws Corp to the outside, moves the casket out the way and then launches himself at him with a suicide dive between the barbed wire.  I doubt many light heavies would try something like that, let alone a wrestler the size of Hard.  More hitting each other with weapons.  Corp collects something that he pours over Rollin and which gets an “I-W-A” chant.  Hot wax maybe?  They return to the ring where Hard ducks under a Corp kick and catches him with a Samoan drop.  He tries to pin him but is reminded by the referee that to win this he needs to put his opponent in the casket and set it on fire.  Both tease taking a bump into the casket before Rollin shuts it back up and gives Corp a release Death Valley Driver whilst stood on top of it.  The lid gets re-opened, he clotheslines Corp into the casket, shuts it and sets it on fire as we have ourselves the 2000 King of Death Match champion.  Ian Rotten is in with the fire extinguisher to put out the flames, while Corp is quickly dowsed with water.  The expected post-match speech follows as he tells the fans to help “keep the dream alive” and to come out and support them every week so they can give you wrestling to be proud of.  Axl invites “the boys in the back” to all come out and join them, with a special note for “the little guys up in the stand” who showed everyone what midget wrestling is supposed to be.

A disappointing finish to the tournament due to the ‘Flaming Casket’ gimmick and the constraints of trying to work a match around that almighty coffin.