[2000-11-22-MAW] Dino Bambino vs Ian Rotten

[soup23]

Ian gives his best Dudley Boyz promo before the match running down the crowd. It is pretty crass by 2018 standards, but in 2000 it was edgy and not as over the line stuff that I thought it was pretty interesting to see him generate some legit heat from riling up the crowd. Ian at least has some self awareness in poking fun at himself by saying all the women in the crowd want to be with him and then posing in the opening moments of the match like he is Rick Rude.  The match is an Ian massacre. I can certainly see complaints that it went on too long but he demolishes Dino with punches, barbed wire bats, chairs and tables. Dino is a bloody mess and the crowd does have a nice smattering of Come On Dino chants throughout the attack. Referee gets bumped and Carmine Despirto comes into referee. Ian doesn’t like his count and delivers a double DDT to him inside the ring and on the outside. I am unsure who then comes in to referee but he looks like Klondike Bill. Dino is able to get a quick crucifix pin and win the match.  Too much overbooking at the end of the match to negate a pretty intriguing beating and heel performance by Ian. Ian offers a challenge for December 23rd and puts his MAW career on the line. *** (6)

 

[GSR]

The returning Ian Rotten is being managed by Dave Prazak and goes on to give a legitimately funny promo, hurling offensive insults and one liners at the audience.  When some of them start to cheer for him he tells them not to because they’re the reason he got fired in the first place; sitting on their hands while he was bleeding his guts out leading management to think he wasn’t over any more.  He even goes on to steal Puppet’s line from the King of the Death match tournament, saying how all the men want to be him and all the women want to be with him.  After Dino makes his entrance he gives him the opportunity to lay the MAW belt aside, go home and have a happy thanksgiving with his mother.  The crowd start chanting “fat fuck” at Ian, whose response is to start flexing his ‘muscles’ at them.  Of course Dino didn’t leave and Ian goes full on Tracey Smothers complaining of non-existent hair pulls and pulling of the tights as Dino gets the better of the opening exchanges.  When the official gets between the pair to separate them, Ian with a cheap shot poke to the eyes and he immediately then ramps up the aggression and intensity.  For some reason the numpties in the audience are chanting “boring, boring” so Ian, sort of, struts about like a long forgotten Fargo.  Prazak passes him a chair which he holds above his head as if he’s about to brain Bambino, but drops it to the mat and slugs him instead.  He brings out a barbed wire baseball bat and, sheesh, powerbombs Dino hard onto it.  I thought he was going to tease them again, I wasn’t expecting him to actually do it!  Bambino crawls to the outside and you can see the puncture wounds on his back from landing on the bat.  A skull crushing chair shot follows, the chair bending over Dino’s head.  Fuck, he gives him a second and those “boring” chants have long disappeared.  Some of the fans are straight up concerned about the beating Bambino’s taking as they ask “are you okay?”  Probably not!  Dino tries to fire back but Ian blocks a shot and forearms him across the chops.  Ian powerbombs Dino onto a table that doesn’t break so he ends up splashing him through it.  Bambino is a bloody mess by this point.  They return to the ring, Dino ducks a lariat and hits a reverse DDT.  Lionsault, however the referee is woefully out of position as he makes the cover giving Ian additional time to kick out.  Dino’s not impressed so clotheslines the official but gets caught with a release German suplex.  MAW owner Carmine DeSpirito takes the place of the referee only to receive similar treatment when Ian gives him a double arm DDT (both inside and outside the ring) thinking that he was deliberately slow counting his pin attempt.  ‘Burning Hammer’ on Bambino that looked more brutal than either of those chair shots with the way he landed on his head.  Some old boy replaces DeSpirito in the black and white and Dino with a crucifix take down as he gets the three to retain the MAW title.  Post-match Ian thinks he was screwed and got a shoulder up, so challenges Bambino to a rematch on 12/23 in a barbed wire tables match where, if he doesn’t win, he will never come back to West Allis again.

Masterful stuff from Ian at the beginning the way he was going at it with the crowd and generating some real heat with his one liners and insults.  I really enjoyed the opening of this too, Ian trying to hang on the mat, complaining about everything under the sun when he couldn’t and then first opportunity, cheap shot and the beating begins.  Bambino took some serious punishment here with the powerbomb onto the baseball bat, two vicious chair shots, the powerbomb onto the unbreakable table and finally the ‘Burning Hammer’.  Not sure that two ref bumps at the finish was necessary, but this was thirty five minutes that flew by.