[2000-12-30-APW-King of Indies 2000] Michael Modest vs Robert Thompson

[GSR]

The more famous King of Indies was in 2001, that was the event that Rob Feinstein saw which led to the creation of Ring of Honor, however there was one which took place twelve months prior.  There is a basketball game going on in the arena behind the ring, which I hope stops, because that could be real distracting.  ‘The Natural One’ Michael Modest throws his drink at Thompson, jumping him before the bell.  After Thompson blocks having his head rammed into the turnbuckles, he returns the favour, using the top, middle and bottom buckles.  Modest takes solace on the arena floor, wanting a time out, but considering he was pretty vocal to the referee earlier I doubt he’ll be getting any favours from him.  That basketball game is not stopping by the way. He drags Thompson out with him, ramming his head into the metal guard rail.  A measured elbow drop, only to then throw Thompson back out to the floor, this time launching him over the top rope.  As the official admonishes him, Modest gives him a shove which results in the ref shoving back and the crowd chanting “ref, ref, ref”.  Modest hammerlocks the arm and sends Thompson shoulder first into the ringpost.  He snapmares him at ringside and then brings a chair down across his back leading to more shoving of the ref as he tries to get the action back inside.  That cool armwringer into the mat that Modest does, why more people don’t steal that either I don’t now.  ‘The Natural One’ crowbars the arm looking for a submission, Thompson stretching a leg to the ropes for the break.  He ducks under the clothesline and catches Modest with a sky high.  Modest starts backing off but Thompson isn’t having any of it.  I do like the way Modest takes a whip to the corner.  Big scoop powerslam.  Thompson takes his time heading upstairs and I was convinced Modest was going to move out the way of whatever was coming next, however he still connects on the frog splash with Modest barely kicking out of the cover.  The referee gets between the pair to separate them and Modest gets in a cheap shot.  He does slip as he goes to climb the ropes, so punches the arm a couple of times before resetting.  No issues this time, Modest leaping from the middle turnbuckle to the mat with a Fujiwara armbar and forcing Thompson to tap.

Standard first round tournament fare, although Modest’s character work was strong.