A View From A DKM: No Trick, All Treat
I sure have had the chance to enjoy a lot of wrestling recently. In San Antonio I saw the world title change hands, in Sherman I got to see the Freebirds in action, and on Halloween night I got to see the an iconic show just a few minutes from my house. Iconic Heroes of Wrestling Excellence (IHWE) had their first show as a licensee of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and it was well attended considering the night it was on and had a lot of top notch action.
We got to see locals with Dee Smiley over Little Tony and John Allen pin Brandon Collins to open up the show. They got the night started and the crowd ready. Dirty Andy Dalton got a victory over Unholy Gregory James in competitive match-up. Dalton has been on all three events I have been to recently and won at all three. Moonshine Mantell came up short against Ricky Starks, but man did the crowd love him. Ashton Jacobs won a 6 man elimination match for the DFW title. It featured mostly locally known guys, but Americos, who has done quite a bit of travelling was among the competitors. In an odd turn of events, Texas Red, a gentle big man, who was very happy and enthusiastic before and during the match did not take being eliminated very well. After the match he attached the former champion with a chair, stomped on the stuffed dog he brings to the ring, and stormed out leaving the fans a bit confused.
Jax Dane, who had been sitting ringside, came to the ring for an interview with Doyle King. He introduced himself to the crowd, talked about what he has done in the ring and where all he has wrestled. He also talked about looking forward to the new partnership between IHWE and the NWA and that he hoped to come back in the future to defend his title.
After an intermission we got a street fight between IHWE founder, David Fuller and Barrett Brown. The match actually started on a walking track on the second floor of the Crowley Rec Center. The fight eventually made it down to the ring and they put on an action filled match (in and out of the ring). Brown eventually got the pin fall put the crowd chanted “You still got it” to Fuller.
IHWE then saw its first defense of an NWA title as NWA North American Champion Tim Storm took on the challenge of Brian Breaker. It was a good big man match that spilled out of the ring a couple of times, one time right by me. Storm got the win but the challenger earned the respect of Storm and the crowd.
The main event saw two well-known veterans of the ring clash as Charlie Haas, with former WCCW World Champion Black Bart, defended the IHWE title against a former champion Rodney Mac. It was an exciting match-up and it didn’t disappoint as the two went at. Back and forth they went until Mac ends up throwing Haas into referee, Rick Manning. He goes down and gets taken to the back, James Beard comes in and is about to count 3 on Haas when Bart pulls him from the ring. Things fall apart quickly at this point. Bart attacks Beard, Andy Dalton, Ricky Starks, and Barrett Brown come out and give Haas a bat and help him attack Mac. David Fuller grabs a chair to try and help but Brown gets out of the ring to stop him. At this point Dalton and Starks are holding James Beard for Haas to hit with the bat when some other under card wrestlers come out and get taken out as they try to get in the ring. Just as things look really bad out comes The Monster. Ricky Starks jumps out of the ring and Godzilla Jax Dane literally throws him to back. Once Dane is in the ring, he double clotheslines Dalton and Brown as Haas sneaks out of the ring after Mac takes the bat from him. Brown goes to attack Dane who chokes slams him so hard I honestly though Brown might go through the ring. Dane then hits Dalton in the corner, picks him up for a Samoan drop and then sends him in to a Mac tackle.
Someone gives Dane his belt and he tells Haas to come and get it. Haas get back in the ring and holds his belt up and Dane responds in kind. After a hot standoff that sees Bart try to get Haas out of the ring and Haas throwing some jabs toward Dane, Haas finally decides to leave for the night when one of his jabs lands and Dane doesn’t even blink.
Although he show ran a bit long for my tastes I will certainly be back for their next show on January 30th of next year.