NOTE: So, full disclosure, this did not win the latest poll, Wardlow & Jake Hager's MMA match did. However, and I was not aware of this until I went to watch it, old episodes of Dynamite aren't very accessible right now. I think the only place to watch them in the United States is if you have Hulu's Live TV plan, and as much as I enjoy writing this blog, I don't know if I can justify paying $70 to watch one single wrestling match. I was hoping someone had uploaded the whole match online, but didn't have any luck. My apologies to anyone who voted for it or was hoping to see it covered, but for now, I'm gonna take it off the list of options. I've had this one written for a while (wrote it back when I covered Candice LeRae-Christina Von Eerie match while I had a Highspots subscription) in case I needed a backup to post, so with that out of the way, I hope you enjoy!
Before I say anything, I feel like I need to put this out there up front; do not watch this match. It is not worth it. Don't seek it out. It's not a fun watch, it's just incredibly uncomfortable. So here it is, Mickie Knuckles vs Mike Levy from IWA Mid-South's 2008 Queen of the Deathmatch event. Founded in 1996 by Ian Rotten after he was fired from ECW, IWA Mid-South is partially remembered for being where some of the top names in the 2000s independent scene (guys like CM Punk, Chris Hero, Matt Sydal, and Tyler Black, among others) got some of their first big exposure during their careers. However, that tends to get overshadowed due to the exploits of Rotten himself. Over the course of Rotten's career as a promoter, there has been no shortage of stories surrounding Rotten's slimy behavior. From a history of not paying wrestlers, to accusations of some truly reprehensible behavior, to reprehensible behavior he's admitted to, Ian Rotten has made a long list of enemies over his career. For a more detailed (and very hostile) discussion on Rotten's history, I heavily recommend the interview Rotten did with Jerry Wiseman on his radio show And Then The Bell Rings, featuring many others Rotten has wronged throughout the years. It's something else. People he's worked with don't like him. People who have worked for him don't like him. Hell, as of writing this, IWA Mid-South is in a state of limbo after their Heavyweight & Junior Heavyweight Champion Jake Crist alleged Rotten hadn't paid him in over a month, leading to the company going on hiatus. Ian Rotten is an infamous figure in professional wrestling, and The Mike Levy Incident is just one of many reasons.
The story goes that prior to Queen of the Deathmatch, Mike Levy, who was either an inexperienced wrestler or a backyard wrestler (multiple places list either or and I've never been able to find a concrete answer), began posting on online wrestling forums about wanting to participate in the tournament. I imagine most promoters wouldn't book people just because they were posting online about wanting to wrestle, but Ian Rotten apparently had no issue doing such a thing. Levy would be booked to go up against Mickie Knuckles, a mainstay of IWA Mid-South, in an impromptu second-round matchup in the Queen of the Deathmatch tournament. This was done entirely as a joke, but because Levy was either incredibly inexperienced (he has only two recorded on Cagematch.net prior to this match) or a backyard wrestler with no actual training, this "match" turns into a complete mess early and results in what can really only be described as a borderline assault that doesn't end when the bell rings, and ended up with IWA Mid-South legitimately getting investigated by the Indiana State Police, though no charges were filed.
Before the match starts, Levy enters the ring with a microphone. Levy demands to have a death match right now. This brings out Ian Rotten, who Levy has to hand his microphone to because that's the level of production we're dealing with. Also, this whole show takes place in the parking lot of a bowling alley. Just pointing that out. Rotten says that Levy has become an "internet legend" over the last few days and says he'll give him a bye in the tournament because he's "probably bi." Just some straight-up middle-school humor. He then just flat-out calls him the F-slur (not typing it out) before saying he's not going to add him to the King of the Deathmatch, but the Queen of the Deathmatch tournament. That brings out Mickie Knuckles, who openly laughs at Levy as she walks out from the back. Rotten approaches her and whispers something to her before she grabs a barbed wire-wrapped crutch from someone in the crowd. She slides that into the ring as she continues walking around ringside, grabbing more weapons and throwing them into the ring. The ring announcer then announces Levy as "Perez Hilton's #1 Fan" because it's been about 10 seconds since we've had a gay joke. Knuckles grabs what seems to be a light tube taped to a stick as the ring announcer announces her as "The Walking Episode of COPS." Just a heads up, don't expect many pictures in this one, for obvious reasons.
As soon as he does that, Knuckles smashes the light tube into Levy's side. The bell rings as Knuckles hits multiple crossface strikes on Levy before headbutting him in the back of the head, all while the commentators call Levy another slur on commentary. Knuckles then hits Levy directly in the head with a wiffle ball bat with thumbtacks taped to it before hitting him in the back right after. Levy Knuckles follows up with a knee strike, and Levy fires back with a few of his own. He then delivers a stiff headbutt, which prompts this match to go from a deathmatch to an uncomfortable deathmatch. Knuckles gives Levy an incredibly stiff headbutt of her own, prompting Levy to hit two more headbutts. Knuckles then starts straight up slapping & punching Levy, prompting Levy to start doing the same. Knuckles then knocks Levy down with a knee before loudly yelling "YOU THINK YOU'RE GONNA FUCK ME UP!?" before punching him in the face
Knuckles then grabs a bundle of light tubes taped together on a stick, continuing to scream "YOU THINK YOU'RE GONNA FUCKING HEADBUTT ME!? before smashing the light tubes right across the side of Levy's face. More yelling about how Levy headbutted her before kicking him in the face and smashing a computer keyboard over his head. Another stiff kick to the face is followed by a kick to the chest and a stomp to the back. Knuckles then grabs a plastic water cooler jug tapped to a stick and repeatedly hits Levy with it, hitting him in the face & head multiple times. More screaming about Levy hitting her before she punches & headbutts him. Knuckles grabs two more light tubes as Levy grabs the plastic bat, hitting her in the arm. Knuckles doesn't sell this, and Knuckles smashes the light tubes so hard against Levy that half of one of them flies out of the ring, over the crowd, and hits a tarp behind them. Levy hits her again, and she again doesn't sell it before slapping him, grabbing the bat, and then hitting him in the head again. Knuckles then drags the thumbtack-covered bat across Levy's back before just swinging for the fences across his back. No matter how hard your imagining she hits him, it's probably harder.
Knuckles follows up by hitting Levy in the crotch with the bat before leaving the ring, grabbing a ladder wrapped in barbed wire, and bringing it back to the ring. Someone hands Knuckles a barbed wire-wrapped guitar and smashes it over Levy's head. Based on the fact that she is wrestling in a bowling alley parking lot, I can only assume that she did not draw a dime either. Levy starts to fight back, and the two trade blows before Levy slams Knuckles' head into what I think is a walker old people use that also has a toilet seat on it that also has light tubes taped to it. They miss the light tubes, so Knuckles slams Levy's head into the light tubes. She then grabs another wiffle ball bat, this one with cans taped to it, and hits Levy twice. Levy grabs the broken guitar and hits Knuckles with it. She doesn't sell the first hit and just hits Levy with the bat again a few more times, but she eventually starts selling. The commentators refer to Levy being on his knees as "a position he's been in before, I'm sure." Again, middle school-level humor. Levy hits a DDT, quite literally the first actual wrestling move of the match. We are five minutes in.
Levy then follows up with a suplex (wrestling move #2) onto the barbed wire-wrapped ladder, which Knuckles sells for approximately five seconds before hitting Levy with what I think is a milk jug covered in thumbtacks on a stick. At ringside, another wrestler Devon Moore hands Knuckles another water cooler jug on a stick. Remember him, he'll be making this uncomfortable death match a very uncomfortable death match soon. Levy hits her in the back, but Knuckles low blows him and hits him many times with the water jug. Knuckles drags Levy over to the corner and sets him on the top rope before hitting him with a bundle of light tubes tapped together, sending glass flying ringside. Knuckles then hits our third and final wrestling move of the match, a belly-to-belly suplex off the top rope and onto the ladder for the three. Now, if you're thinking "Yeah, this sounds like a sloppy, trash hardcore match that turns pretty stiff, but what makes it so infamous?" This:
Knuckles rolls out of the ring as Devon Moore and another wrestler, Tank, enter the ring. Tank holds Levy's head over the ladder and pulls his arms back as Moore goes to the second rope. Moore jumps off the rope and hits a curb stomp onto the ladder. They then switch spots, with Moore holding Levy in place as Tank dives off the second rope and stomps Levy into the ladder. They're both rough to watch, but the second one is particularly awful, as it looks like Tank just lands full force on Levy's head and crushes him into the ladder. I genuinely have no idea how Levy did not get seriously injured from that spot. Moore then takes the mic and runs down Levy before giving him a superkick that he looks like he gets all of. Moore then screams "LEARN HOW TO FUCKING SELL, MOTHERFUCKER!" Moore stomps away at Levy, continuing to scream at Levy to sell as Ian Rotten comes out from the back. Rotten grabs a crutch wrapped in barbed wire and hits Levy repeatedly, also screaming at Levy to learn how to sell. Tank then takes the mic and calls Levy the F-slur before Rotten's son (now a wrestler known as JC Rotten) hits him with a kendo stick. Moore then hits Levy with an unprotected chair shot to the head.
Ian Rotten then takes the mic and says that Levy is a dipshit. He says Knuckles has a national TV deal (she was signed to TNA and had debuted earlier the same month as this show) before kicking Levy in the face, further screaming at him for not staying down. Some other guy (no idea who) then hits Levy across the back with one of those big plastic baseball bats with light tubes taped to it, dragging the broken glass across his back. Rotten brings Knuckles over, who has a giant lump on her forehead, and shouts at Levy, saying he gave her that when she has to be a national television next week. A couple of things. First off, Knuckles gives Levy countless headbutts in this match, including a notably stiff one early on, so I don't know how you can blame him alone for that. Second, if you do want to blame him for it, then maybe you shouldn't have booked someone who's (at best) barely wrestled or trained to wrestle one of your buddies with a TV deal. And third, if you or Knuckles were really worried about getting her appearance messed up before going on TV, then why would you book her IN A DEATHMATCH TOURNAMENT. Another wrestler, Mad Man Pondo, comes out from the back and suplexes Levy onto the walker from before. Keep in mind this is outside the ring and there's no padding at ringside, so he pretty much suplexed him on the pavement. Rotten yells at him some more as someone ties Levy's feet up in his shorts & boxers to mercifully end this incredibly uncomfortable experience.
The Verdict
Horrifying to watch in every way. Right off the bat, it's a sloppy mess, which is really all you can expect from a match featuring someone as inexperienced as Levy was here. It quickly turns into a rough watch as Knuckles starts stiffing an aforementioned inexperienced Levy. And after the match ends, other wrestlers come out to continue beating down Levy, with moments ranging from stiff to horrible reckless & dangerous. It's a red-tier match, without a shred of doubt.
The Rankings (Best to Worst)
- Sgt. Slaughter vs Colonel DeBeers-AWA SuperClash III
- Jake Roberts vs George Wells-WrestleMania 2
- Jeff Jarrett & Owen Hart vs D'Lo Brown & Test-WrestleMania XV
- Tommy Dreamer vs Bully Ray-Victory Road 2011
- Corporal Cajun & Lt. Loco vs The Perfect Event-Halloween Havoc 2000
- Triple H vs Kevin Nash-TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs 2011
- Wrath vs Glacier-World War 3 1998
- The Rock's 25th Anniversary Battle Royal-Survivor Series 2021
- Hardcore Holly vs Billy Gunn vs Al Snow-WrestleMania XV
- Wendi Richter & The Top Gunns vs The Diamond Exchange-AWA SuperClash III
- Wahoo McDaniel vs Manny Fernandez-AWA SuperClash III
- Rick Rude vs Jake Roberts-WrestleMania IV
- Too Much vs Al Snow & Head-King of the Ring 1998
- Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns-Greatest Royal Rumble
- The Fatal 4-Way Intercontinental Championship Match-WrestleMania XV
- Ernest Miller vs Norman Smiley-Fall Brawl 1998
- The Concrete Crypt Match-The Great American Bash 2004
- Shane McMahon vs Eric Bischoff-SummerSlam 2003
- Mordecai vs Hardcore Holly-The Great American Bash 2004
- Luther Reigns vs Charlie Haas-The Great American Bash 2004
- The Tag Team Gauntlet-Extreme Rules 2010
- The Gimmick Battle Royal-WrestleMania X-Seven
- Hernandez vs Matt Morgan-Victory Road 2011
- Randy Orton vs Bray Wyatt-WrestleMania 33
- Vampiro vs Sting-Great American Bash 2000
- T&A vs Head Cheese-WrestleMania 2000
- David Arquette & Diamond Dallas Page vs Jeff Jarrett & Eric Bischoff-WCW Thunder (4/26/2000)
- Tyson Fury vs Braun Strowman-Crown Jewel 2019
- The Texas Tornado vs Dino Bravo-WrestleMania VII
- The Women's Tag Team Turmoil-WrestleMania 37 (Night 1)
- Triple H vs Sgt. Slaughter-D-Generation X: In Your House
- Konnan vs One Man Gang-SuperBrawl VI
- Ultimate Warrior vs Hercules-WrestleMania IV
- Candice LeRae vs Christina Von Eerie-PWG DIO!
- The Fabulous Moolah vs Velvet McIntyre-WrestleMania 2
- Rick Rude vs Hawk-Clash of the Champions XXV
- The Rock 'n' Roll Express vs The Stud Stable-AWA SuperClash III
- Ernest Miller vs Disco Inferno-Bash at the Beach 1999
- Shelton Benjamin vs Viscera-New Year's Revolution 2006
- Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar-WrestleMania 38 (Night 2)
- Carmella vs Asuka-Money in the Bank 2018
- Steve McMichael vs Reggie White-Slamboree 1997
- General Rection vs Lance Storm & Jim Duggan-Halloween Havoc 2000
- Chyna vs Ivory-WrestleMania X-Seven
- Lars Sullivan vs Lucha House Party-Super Showdown 2019
- The Last Rites Match-Destination X 2007
- Alexa Bliss vs Bayley-Extreme Rules 2017
- The Tag Team Fatal 4-Way Match-WrestleMania 13
- The Barbed Wire Christmas Tree Match-TNA iMPACT (12/20/2007)
- Gunner vs Garett Bischoff-Against All Odds 2012
- Tag Team Battle Royal-WrestleMania XIV
- EVIL vs Tomohiro Ishii-Wrestle Kingdom 16 (Day 1)
- The Chamber of Horrors-Halloween Havoc 1991
- Toru Yano vs Great O-Khan-New Japan Cup 2021 (Day 6)
- Legion of Doom vs Power & Glory-WrestleMania VII
- Corporal Kirchner vs Nikolai Volkoff-WrestleMania 2
- Glacier vs Wrath-The Great American Bash 1997
- The Mountie vs Tito Santana-WrestleMania VII
- The Natural Disasters vs Money Inc.-WrestleMania VIII
- Ivan Koloff vs Paul Jones-Clash of the Champions IV
- ODB, Taylor Wilde, and Roxxi vs The Kongtourage-Genesis 2009
- Kane vs Triple H-WrestleMania XV
- Rachel Evers vs Marti Belle-Mae Young Classic (Episode 2)
- Jake Roberts vs Rick Martel-WrestleMania VII
- Kazushi Sakuraba & Yuji Nagata vs Daniel & Rolles Gracie-Wrestle Kingdom 8
- Ivory vs Tori-SummerSlam 1999
- Giant Baba vs Bulldog Bob Brown-AWA WrestleRock
- The Reverse Battle Royal-Impact! (10/26/2006)
- The Undertaker vs King Mabel-In Your House 5: Season's Beatings
- Savio Vega vs Rocky Maivia-In Your House 14: Revenge of the Taker
- Jerry Blackwell vs Boris Zhukov-SuperClash II
- Nikita Koloff vs Bobby Eaton-Bunkhouse Stampede
- Alex Wright vs Steve McMichael-Halloween Havoc 1997
- The Great Khali vs Kane-WrestleMania 23
- Genichiro Tenryu & Koji Kitao vs Demolition-WrestleMania VII
- Savio Vega vs Crush vs Faarooq-Ground Zero: In Your House
- The Shockmaster vs Awesome/King Kong-Starrcade 1993
- Greg Gagne vs Ron Garvin-AWA SuperClash III
- Total Divas vs Other Divas-Survivor Series 2013
- Randy Savage vs George Steele-WrestleMania 2
- The Intercontinental Championship Elimination Chamber-Elimination Chamber 2015
- The Oddities vs Kaientai-SummerSlam 1998
- Paul Orndorff vs The Magnifcent Muraco-WrestleMania 2
- Team RAW vs Team SmackDown Men's Elimination Match-Survivor Series 2017
- Earthquake vs Greg Valentine-WrestleMania VII
- Rick Steiner vs Van Hammer-Bash at the Beach 1999
- Triple H vs Randy Orton-WrestleMania 25
- Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice-WrestleMania VIII
- Paul Ellering vs Teddy Long-Capital Combat
- Dusty Rhodes vs Big Boss Man-Saturday Night's Main Event (10/31/1989)
- The First Blood DNA Match-Halloween Havoc 2000
- Konnan vs Scott Hall-Fall Brawl 1998
- Damian Priest vs The Miz-WrestleMania Backlash
- Tyson Tomko vs Stevie Richards-Unforgiven 2004
- Kane vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2009
- The 2022 Women's Royal Rumble
- Rick Steiner vs Scott Steiner-Fall Brawl 1998
- The Extreme Elimination Chamber-December to Dismember 2006
- Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Hog Wild
- Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Souled Out 1997
- Dustin Rhodes & King Kong vs Awesome Kong & The Equalizer-Battlebowl
- Finlay & Little Bastard vs The Boogeyman & Little Boogeyman-No Way Out 2007
- Mr. Anderson vs Rob Van Dam-Victory Road 2011
- Hulk Hogan vs Sgt. Slaughter-WrestleMania VII
- Jake Roberts vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania V
- El Gigante vs Nailz-G1 Climax 1994 (Day 1)
- Yokozuna vs King Mabel-In Your House 4
- Dusty Rhodes vs The Honky Tonk Man-SummerSlam 1989
- Sting & Hawk vs Meng & Kurasawa-Clash of the Champions XXXI
- The Hurt Business vs RETRIBUTION-WWE Monday Night RAW (10/26/2020)
- Mankind vs Paul Wight-WrestleMania XV
- Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage-Uncensored 1998
- Santino Marella vs Heath Slater-WWE Friday Night SmackDown (9/27/2013)
- Al Snow vs Big Boss Man-Unforgiven 1999
- Vince Russo vs Ric Flair-WCW Monday Nitro (6/5/2000)
- Allie vs Leva Bates-Fyter Fest 2019
- Mickie James vs Ashley-Royal Rumble 2006
- Antonio Inoki vs The Great Antonio-NJPW Sumo Hall Show (12/8/1977)
- Christy Hemme vs Big Fat Oily Guy-Against All Odds 2007
- Kenzo Suzuki vs Billy Gunn-The Great American Bash 2004
- The Big Show vs Erick Rowan-TLC: Tables, Ladders, Chairs 2014
- British Bulldog & Jim Neidhart vs The Dancing Fools-Fall Brawl 1998
- Stevie Ray vs Konnan-World War 3 1998
- Vampiro vs The KISS Demon-Bash at the Beach 2000
- Team WCW vs nWo Wolfpac vs nWo Hollywood-Fall Brawl 1998
- Vampiro vs Oklahoma-Starrcade 1999
- Diesel vs King Mabel-SummerSlam 1995
- Big Swole vs Penelope Ford, Rebel, and Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D.-AEW Dynamite (8/27/2020)
- Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania III
- The Undertaker vs The Big Bossman-WrestleMania XV
- Jinder Mahal vs Randy Orton-Battleground 2017
- Van Hammer vs Terrance Taylor-Clash of the Champions XVI
- Goldberg vs KroniK-Halloween Havoc 2000
- Junkyard Dog vs Moondog Spot-Wrestling Classic
- The New Blood Gauntlet-WCW Monday Nitro (6/5/2000)
- Chris Jericho vs "Goldberg"-Fall Brawl 1998
- Jimmy Valiant vs Wayne Bloom-AWA SuperClash III
- Hulk Hogan vs Kevin Nash-WCW Monday Nitro (1/4/1999)
- Sting vs Hulk Hogan-Halloween Havoc 1999
- Hulk Hogan vs Jeff Jarrett-Bash at the Beach 2000
- Randy Savage & Sid Vicious vs Kevin Nash & Sting-Bash at the Beach 1999
- Kazuchika Okada & Toru Yano vs EVIL & Dick Togo-The New Beginning in Hiroshima 2021 (Day 2)
- Glacier vs Mortis-Slamboree 1997
- The Junkyard Invitational-Bash at the Beach 1999
- Michael Nakazawa vs Alex Jebailey-Fyter Fest 2019
- The 1997 World War 3 Match
- The 2022 Men's Royal Rumble
- Roman Reigns vs The Undertaker-WrestleMania 33
- Konnan vs Stevie Ray-Slamboree 1999
- The 1998 World War 3
- The Undertaker vs Goldberg-Super ShowDown 2019
- Hiroshi Wajima vs Tom Magee-All Japan Pro Wrestling 1988
- Jim Duggan vs Big Boss Man-Royal Rumble 1990
- Meng vs Jim Duggan-Uncensored 1995
- Jim Steele vs The Equalizer-SuperBrawl IV
- David Flair vs Dean Malenko-Bash at the Beach 1999
- The Golden Truth vs Breezango-Money in the Bank 2016
- The Undertaker vs Giant González-WrestleMania IX
- Carmella vs Asuka-Extreme Rules 2018
- Sting vs Tony Palmore-Battle 7
- D-Generation X vs Brothers of Destruction-Crown Jewel
- Wendi Richter vs Leilani Kai-WrestleMania
- Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar-WrestleMania XX
- Hornswoggle vs Chavo Guerrero-WWE Monday Night Raw (7/20/2009)
- Edge vs Triple H vs Vladimir Kozlov-Survivor Series 2008
- Rosita & Sarita vs Angelina Love & Winter-Victory Road 2011
- Kevin Sullivan vs Dave Sullivan-SuperBrawl V
- Steve McMichael vs Brian Adams-Road Wild 1998
- Scott Hall vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl IX
- Boris Zhukov vs Paul Samson-Beach Brawl
- Roddy Piper vs Hollywood Hogan-Halloween Havoc 1997
- Kane vs The Great Khali-Breaking Point
- Hollywood Hogan & Dennis Rodman vs Diamond Dallas Page & Karl Malone-Bash at the Beach 1998
- PN News & Bobby Eaton vs Steve Austin & Terrance Taylor-Great American Bash 1991
- Scott Steiner vs Sid Vicious vs Jeff Jarrett vs Road Warrior Animal-Sin
- Hollywood Hogan vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl 1997
- The 2015 Royal Rumble Match
- Kazuchika Okada vs Gedo-New Japan Cup 2020 (Day 2)
- Batista vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2007
- Sting vs Hollywood Hogan-Starrcade 1997
- Sable vs Tori-WrestleMania XV
- Super Invader vs Todd Champion-WrestleWar 1992
- Brock Lesnar vs Cain Velasquez-Crown Jewel 2019
- King Kong Bundy & Jim Neidhart vs Yokozuna & Jake Roberts-Heroes of Wrestling
- Sid Vicious vs The Nightstalker-Clash of the Champions XIII
- Mabel vs Savio Vega-King of the Ring 1995
- Monty Brown vs Trytan-Destination X 2005
- The 8-Divas Tag Match-Survivor Series 1999
- The Fabulous Freebirds vs The Renegade Warriors-Halloween Havoc 1990
- The Knockouts Gauntlet-One Night Only: Live! 2016
- AJ Styles vs Frank Trigg-No Surrender 2008
- Rick Rude vs Masahiro Chono-Halloween Havoc 1992
- Mike Awesome vs Vampiro-Halloween Havoc 2000
- Bray Wyatt vs John Cena-Extreme Rules 2014
- Brothers of Destruction vs KroniK-Unforgiven 2001
- The Miss WrestleMania Battle Royal-WrestleMania 25
- Mabel vs The Undertaker-King of the Ring 1995
- Wendi Richter vs The Fabulous Moolah-The Brawl to End it All
- David Flair vs Kimberly Page-Mayhem 1999
- The Truth Commission vs The Disciples of Apocolypse-Survivor Series 1997
- Daffney vs Miss Hancock-Bash at the Beach 2000
- The Bushwhacker vs The Fabulous Rougeaus-WrestleMania V
- Randy Orton vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-WrestleMania 37 (Night 2)
- Lex Luger vs Sting-WWA The Retribution
- The Beverly Brothers vs The Bushwhackers-Royal Rumble 1992
- Savio Vega vs Rocky Maivia-WWF Monday Night Raw (4/14/1997)
- Teddy Long vs Eric Bischoff-Survivor Series 2005
- Adrian Adonis vs Uncle Elmer-WrestleMania 2
- Mike Sanders vs Ernest Miller-Halloween Havoc 2000
- Savio Vega vs Rocky Maivia-WWF Shotgun Saturday Night (1/25/1997)
- Greg Valentine vs George Steele-Heroes of Wrestling
- Abdullah the Butcher vs One Man Gang-Heroes of Wrestling
- Major Gunns vs Miss Hancock-New Blood Rising
- Vince Russo vs Booker T-WCW Monday Nitro (9/25/2000)
- Bradshaw & Trish Stratus vs Christopher Nowinski & Jackie Gayda-WWE Monday Night RAW (7/8/2002)
- The Countdown to Armageddon Match-WCW Thunder (10/18/2000)
- Rayo de Jalisco Jr. vs Blue Demon Jr.-AAA TriplemanÃa XXX: Monterrey
- Triple H vs Scott Steiner-Royal Rumble 2003
- Goldberg vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-Super ShowDown 2020
- Mr. McMahon vs Pat McAfee-WrestleMania 38 (Night 2)
- Santina Marella vs Vickie & Chavo Guerrero-Extreme Rules 2009
- Kevin Nash vs Scott Steiner vs Goldberg-New Blood Rising
- Brock Lesnar vs The Undertaker-WrestleMania XXX
- Hollywood Hogan vs The Warrior-Halloween Havoc 1998
- Mr. T vs Roddy Piper-WrestleMania 2
- The Royal Family vs Clowns R' Us-Survivor Series 1994
- The House of Horrors Match-Payback 2017
- The Blacktop Bully vs Dustin Rhodes-Uncensored 1995
- Buff Bagwell vs Roddy Piper-Bash at the Beach 1999
- Team Dos Caras vs Team El Canek-Leyendas Mexicanas 2017
- Pat Patterson vs Gerald Brisco-King of the Ring 2000
- The Wyatt Swamp Fight-The Horror Show at Extreme Rules
- The Four Doinks vs Team Bigelow-Survivor Series 1993
- Sting vs Jeff Hardy-Victory Road 2011
- Bret Hart vs Mr. McMahon-WrestleMania XVI
- WarGames 2000: Russo's Revenge-WCW Monday Nitro (9/4/2000)
- Oz vs Tim Parker-SuperBrawl
- Brock Lesnar vs Braun Strowman-Crown Jewel 2018
- Brock Lesnar vs Ricochet-Super ShowDown 2020
- Toru Yano vs KENTA-G1 Climax 2021 (Day 1)
- Konnan & Tygress vs Shane Douglas & Torrie Wilson-Halloween Havoc 2000
- The Fabulous Moolah vs Ivory-No Mercy 1999
- New Jack vs Vic Grimes-Living Dangerously 2000
- The Mighty Maccabee vs The Iron Sheik-Maccabiah Mania II: Shekel Slam
- Van Hammer vs Doug Somers-Halloween Havoc 1991
- Eddy Steinblock vs One Warrior Nation-DWA Wrestling Legends Tour 2010 (Day 2)
- Ultimate Warrior vs Andre the Giant-Saturday Night's Main Event (11/25/1989)
- Jeff Jarrett vs Sting-Halloween Havoc 2000
- The Doomsday Cage Match-Uncensored 1996
- "Donald Trump" vs "Rosie O'Donnell"-WWE Monday Night RAW (1/8/2007)
- Kane vs The Undertaker-Judgement Day 1998
- Toru Yano vs Jado-New Japan Cup 2020 (Day 1)
- Rebel vs Shelly Martinez-One Night Only: Knockouts Knockdown
- Sable vs Torrie Wilson-The Great American Bash 2004
- The Evening Gown Pool Match-Armageddon 1999
- Kaitlyn vs Maxine-NXT (10/19/2010)
- Sabu vs The Sandman-November to Remember 1997
- The 1996 World War 3 Match
- Seth Rollins vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-Hell in a Cell 2019
- Michael Cole vs Jerry Lawler-WrestleMania XXVII
- The Bushwhackers vs Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff-Heroes of Wrestling
- James Storm vs Chris Harris-Lockdown 2007
- John Laurinaitis vs John Cena-Over the Limit 2012
- Hulk Hogan vs The Giant-Halloween Havoc 1995
- The Shark Cage Match-Big Time Wrestling (1976)
- Ultimate Warrior vs Goldust-In Your House 7
- Los Villanos vs Los Psycho Circus-Triplemania XXIII
- Jenna Morasca vs Sharmell-Victory Road 2009
- The Lingerie Street Fight Battle Royal-AWA SuperClash III
- Akira Maeda vs Andre the Giant-NJPW Big Fighter Series 1986 (Day 15)
- The 1995 World War 3 Match
- Butterbean vs Bart Gunn-WrestleMania XV
- New Jack vs Vic Grimes-XPW Freefall
- Mickie Knuckles vs Mike Levy-IWA Mid-South Queen of the Deathmatch 2008
Thanks for reading! Be sure to share if you enjoyed and leave any suggestions for matches you'd like to see covered on the Worst in the World in the comments. I'll have another post tomorrow, so make sure you come back to the blog for the next edition of The Worst in the World. Stay tuned...
Another aspect of the "learn to sell" comments from the IWA-MS goons is that Mickie Knuckles kind-of-sort-of REALLY is bad at selling.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I feel that an epilogue is needed on this one: keep in mind that this was the semi-final match for the QotDM tournament, so Mickie Knuckles had to wrestle ANOTHER MATCH before she would go on television for TNA Impact. According to the dude that posted a comment on this show on Cagematch, there was headbutting involved in the finals, which Miss TV Mickie Knuckles LOST by the way. This tournament happened on June 21, and the Impact episodes were filmed on June 23 and June 24. However, where things get even dumber is that Rotten had Knuckles in another match on July 6, which ended prematurely when Knuckles tried to jump off some elevated surface (might have been scaffolding I have not seen the video in a while but I know it is out there) onto her opponent (Sara Del Ray) but instead landed on the hardwood floor of the basketball court and broke her leg. TNA was going to save a spot for her, but the first surgery was unsuccessful, and she was ultimately released from her contract. If you have someone that is supposed to be your next big star, why would you put her in these high-risk matches?
All in all, it really does surprise me that guys like Mustafa Ali, Sammi Callihan, Jonathan Gresham, Ricochet, Claudio Castagnolli, Chris Hero, Bobby Fish, 2 Cold Scorpio, Seth Rollins, and Jon Moxley all worked for IWA-MS after this incident. There were many great matches in IWA-MS prior to this incident, but personally I do not think I could work a show for a company that pulled off something like this.
Yeah, I don't know why the people you mentioned would still work for IWA-MS after this. Part of it was probably the exposure (also, Dave Prazak played a big part in getting guys like Hero & CM Punk into the company, but I don't know if he was still involved in 2008), but everything I've ever read about Ian Rotten as a promoter makes me think he's not someone you'd want to do business with.
DeleteDo every Scott hall match from first wwf run in 2002
ReplyDeleteThose have already been reqested
DeleteHere's some matches from the Great Amrican Bash 1990
ReplyDeleteDoug Furnas vs Dutch Mantell
Mike Rotunda vs Iron Sheik
El Gigante/Junkyard Dog/Paul Orndorff vs Arn Anderson/Barry Windham/Sid Vicious
Vader vs Tom Zenk
I'll add them to the list. Thanks for the suggestion!
Deletehttps://www.tokyvideo.com/es/video/jake-hager-vs-wardlow-full-match
ReplyDeleteI was able to find the match
DeleteThank you very much! I think I'd seen that link when I looked up the match, but I wasn't familiar with tokyvideo so I just skipped over it.
DeleteI feel you should maybe look at Sarray vs Lash Legend from the very last days of 205 Live... it's a relic of the worst parts of NXT 2.0
ReplyDeleteI've debated covering that match. From what I remember, that match had to be heavily edited, so I don't know if the version that aired is as bad as it actually was. I'll still take a look at it. Thanks for the suggestion!
DeleteHere's a multi match idea: Halloween Havoc 1991
ReplyDeleteBig Josh/P.W. News vs The Creatures
Oz vs Bill Kazmaier
Brian Pillman vs Richard Morton
WCW Halloween Phantom vs Tom Zenk
Arn Anderson/Larry Zbyszko vs Firebreaker Chip/Todd Champion
I'll add them to the list. Thanks for the suggestions!
DeleteHey, did you know the first ever ROH match was a gay-bashing? I didn't! But I learned today, and now you will too! Christopher Street Connection vs. Da Hit Squad from ROH's first show. It's probably a red match for Steve Corino's loudly homophobic commentary alone.
ReplyDeleteI'd seen clips of that a long time ago, and from what I remember, I agree it should be covered here.
DeleteHere's a stinker from Halloween Havoc 1992
ReplyDeleteRon Simmons vs The Barbarian
I'll add it to the list. Thanks for the suggestion!
Delete