Back to this fucking promotion. After years of dicking their fans (and probably a lot of their wrestlers) around and making it seem like they were going to close for good, the company got back on a regular schedule. They decided that five years was long enough to go without a champion so they held a tournament to crown a new one. Their streaming record gets very spotty from here on out, so I’ll be glossing over title changes that aren’t readily available on IWTV. It’s safe to assume unless otherwise noted that there are 15 or fewer fans in the crowd at any given time, as the company continues to put on shows despite the vast majority of the wrestling world not realizing it still exists.
June 29, 2014 – Clarksville, Indiana
Kongo Kong def. Hy-Zaya {IWA Mid-South World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Suicidal Tendencies, the finals of a tournament get a champion holding the vacant title. I’m rather impressed with the way they found a pretense for having a bunch of guys at ringside (Kong kept attacking referees and people came out to help one of the downed officials) so Kong could hit a super jump. Frankly, I’m impressed with the match all around. I’d never seen either guy wrestle before (despite Hy-Zaya being an IWA MS guy basically forever) and both played their parts really well here. Kong in particular is crazy agile for a man of his shape. They built to a point that I totally believed Hy-Zaya might overcome the big man, but an annoying distraction from one of Kong’s many handlers led to Kong hitting a moonsault press (!) for the win at 16:50. This deserved a better finish, and saying than an IWA MS match deserved anything feels so weird. Kong is awarded the original title belt. Well, it’s the original plates (or a good facsimile) on a bright red belt. He held the title just shy of a year and defended it 20 times before losing it to Hy-Zaya. ***¼
September 11, 2015 – Clarksville, Indiana
Shane Mercer def. Hy-Zaya {IWA Mid-South World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Home Sweet Home. No complaints here. The requisite walk-n-brawl had enough points of interest to keep me from tuning out or wanting to fast forward. The stuff they did on the stairs against the wall was silly, but the crowd was really into it. Back in the ring, Mercer really beat the crap out of Hy-Zaya. The pacing was a little off but not to the point that they lost me or the crowd. Mercer’s strength and agility are very impressive. He hit a moonsault slam for the win at 20:17, and the way he transitioned into that move was insane. ***¼
October 9, 2015 – Clarksville, Indiana
John Wayne Murdoch def. Shane Mercer {IWA Mid-South World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From the 19th Anniversary Show. This match had a stint on the same set of stairs as the last one, only there was no spot off of them. So not only did it feel derivative, it also didn’t deliver. And it looked dumb. It was indicative of the frustrating nature of this match. The whole thing went on too long and had little payoff. For over a half hour, Mercer no-sold Murdoch’s offense. I’m not mad about that, those moments were the most exciting of the match. But then Murdoch would stop Mercer from winning by putting him in a chinlock. And after an eternity of that, Cash Flo ran in and hit Mercer with a low blow leading directly to Murdoch hitting the Deep South Destroyer for the win at 35:08. How do you do such a long match only to have a run in finish? Reed Bentley came out after the match with a contract for a title shot, leading directly to the following match. **
Reed Bentley def. John Wayne Murdoch {IWA Mid-South World Heavyweight Championship Match}
Benley hit a rolling elbow to win the title in seven seconds. He held the title for about six weeks before losing it back to Murdoch in a Texas Death Match. N/A
December 4, 2015 – Clarksville, Indiana
Reed Bentley def. John Wayne Murdoch {IWA Mid-South World Heavyweight Championship 2/3 Falls Match}
From Unfinished Business. Bentley won the first fall in about seven minutes with an elbow. I guess it was technically a pop up elbow but really he just made Murdoch jump up and down before hitting him. Seven minutes after that, Murdoch’s third attempt at the Koji Clutch won him the second fall. I’m glad that there was a little bit of build to the submission, but damn if that fall wasn’t all chinlocks outside of that. In the third fall, Bentley got his foot on the ropes to survive an avalanche Deep South Destroyer and Murdoch straight kicked out of the Pepsi Plunge. That was silly. At least Murdoch kind of sold like it gave him brain damage, but his version of doing that was pretty silly too. Then a bunch of heels rushed the ring to attack Murdoch, but Bentley turned on them and fought them off back to back with Murdoch. There’s probably a universe where that was executed well and got a huge pop, but this isn’t that universe. Then, Bentley hit Murdoch with a low blow to win the title at 27:02. That finish was frustrating because it had the ingredients of an interesting tale but it fell flat and was carried out as if by nervous school children. The rest of the match was actually pretty decent. **¾
December 11, 2015 – Clarksville, Indiana
Kongo Kong def. Reed Bentley {IWA Mid-South World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From the semifinals of the Ted Petty Invitational. This was little more than a couple of husky boys doing husky boy things and it totally worked for me. Do people dig Kong? Because I’m totally digging on Kong. And Bentley did absolutely nothing wrong here. Get Murdoch out of this title picture because these two hockey pucks are a lot of fun to watch. Kong hit a Superfly Splash for the win at 9:33. Kong went on to successfully defend the title in the finals of the tournament and also win the tournament, naturally. Bentley won the title match five months later. Two months after that, Murdoch beat Bentley for the title only to be moments later defeated by JJ Garrett. ***
October 6, 2016 – Clarksville, Indiana
Tracy Smothers def. JJ Garrett {IWA Mid-South World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From the 20th Anniversary Show. I don’t think it’s my job to be outraged on behalf of minority groups that I don’t belong to, but I have to say that there’s something ugly and nefarious about a very nice person wearing what has come to be known as a hate symbol on his tights. This was a match in name only, as Smothers was moving around the ring like the Iron Sheik in the 21st century. The lights went out and when they came back on, Rick Brady was on the apron distracting Garrett. Then, Smothers hit Garrett low with his stick to get the pin at 10:17. The apron distraction didn’t need the lights out, and the low blow didn’t need a distraction. I have no emotional connection to Smothers, and since those who have one and the people for whom this was booked, I’m left in the cold. *
December 22, 2016 – Jeffersonville, Indiana
Mitch Page def. Tracy Smothers {IWA Mid-South World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Winter Tryout Day. Page hadn’t wrestled in well over a year, which was evident in how little he could move. This match was a farewell match for him, so after he won the title he vacated it and retired. To date, he hasn’t wrestled another match. I’d hardly call this wrestling a match, though props to page for somersaulting into a cannonball senton given his state. He caught Smothers with a crucifix pin for the win at 6:48. Really terrible stuff. A few weeks later, Murdoch beat Aaron Williams in the finals of a tournament to crown a new champion. ½*
February 25, 2017 – Memphis, Indiana
Dave Crist def. John Wayne Murdoch {IWA Mid-South World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Ruler of Men. Yucky, Dave Crist. After twenty minutes of so so brawling and a decent amount of blood, Crist hit a superplex but Murdoch pulled his legs and both guys got counted to the mat. The match got restarted in the dumbest way, with Ian Rotten saying, “this match will continue to a finish.” A double pin is a finish, moron. Use different words. The action after the restart blew away the stuff they were doing before it, making me wish the match had been half as long. Crist hit an F5, the Square and Compass, a diving double stomp, and the Mary Magdalene for the win at 24:45. ***
Crist got injured three months later and vacated the title. Williams beat Larry D in a tournament final to crown a new champion, but D won the title back right after by cashing in a Money in the Bank ripoff thing. Then a week later, Michael Elgin beat D for the belt. Elgin was stripped of the title two months later, presumably because he took bookings in Mexico and Japan instead of IWA MS.
September 9, 2017 – Memphis, Indiana
Aaron Williams def. Dingo {IWA Mid-South World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Crowning a Champion, the finals of a tournament to do just that. They use the old title belt that I showed in my previous IWA MS title lineage post here, as Elgin hadn’t sent them the red belt back yet. I quite enjoyed this. Both guys put a lot of sweat equity into the match. It’s a bummer that the crowd was silent for the whole thing until the bell rang at the end. Williams hit a cradle piledriver and made Dinger pass out to a crossface at 16:32. These fans were a real bummer. ***¼
November 23, 2017 – Memphis, Indiana
Jimmy Jacobs def. Aaron Williams {IWA Mid-South World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Bloodfeast. This had strong obscure indie vibes to it. They’d get a good groove going and then suddenly stop the action to do something that was meant to be dramatic, but the lack of crowd interest (in large part due to lack of bodies in the crowd) made those moments fall flat. And the finish was pretty lame. Ace Perry ran in and took Jacobs’ spike out of his hands, only to hit Williams with it and leave. Jacobs didn’t seem to know why Perry did that, but he hit Williams with the diving senton for the win after at 22:49. I know that Jacobs is a big Wim Hof guy, but it was Williams in this match that was doing focused breathing exercises. I kind of got lost in the irony of that. Jacobs held the title for a month and a half before an injury forced him to vacate it. **½
January 11, 2018 – Memphis, Indiana
Mance Warner def. Ace Perry {IWA Mid-South World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From No Easy Road to the Crown, this was the finals of a tournament to fill the title vacancy. Okay, so first what I liked was all of Perry’s nods to his hero Jacobs, including the Ace Crusher into the Contra Code and his lackey running out to help him use the spike. But what I didn’t like was how poorly executed a lot of the stuff in this match was and that Warner straight up bladed in full view of everyone. Kind of a mess, which I guess you can chalk up to this being the third match for both guys? I dunno how much people recover between matches, I’m just a dude. Warner hit a lariat and the short headbutt for the win at 14:18. Warner lost the belt a week later to Jake Crist, who lost it the following day to Williams. **¼
February 1, 2018 – Memphis, Indiana
Mance Warner def. Aaron Williams and Jake Crist {IWA Mid-South World Heavyweight Championship Elimination Match}
From #WeAreIWA. Warner looks like less of a goober with a shaved head, but that singlet is still bad. About 15 minutes in, Williams pinned Crist with a high kick. Warner won the match at 19:41 with a lariat. Williams sold the lariat by doing the flippy thing everyone does now, but Warner threw it like he was in a pillow fight. The discrepancy irritated me. This match was indie midcard nonsense, save for the nicely done table spot off of the turnbuckle. I like Warner’s eye pokes too, but a main event they do not make. Two and a half months later, Calvin Tankman beat Warner for the title. Three weeks after that, Murdoch won the title from Tankman. **½
May 19, 2018 – Memphis, Indiana
Nick Gage def. John Wayne Murdoch and SHLAK {IWA Mid-South World Heavyweight Championship Death Match}
From King of the Deathmatch. The title was defended throughout the tournament, first by Murdoch, and then after this by Gage in the remaining rounds. This was round two of four. Everyone bled and Gage threw salt all over the place, so this is pretty messed up. The crowd was silent until SHLAK started hitting everyone with a filing cabinet, which was a very cool looking deal. Murdoch hit SHLAK with a suplex on said filing cabinet to eliminate him. Gage powerbombed Murdoch on the filing cabinet for the win at 9:39. This match gets half a star bonus because the commentators called Murdoch’s Sick Kick, a move name that I coined. But it was also very watchable for a deathmatch. It was short, it wasn’t disgusting for the sake of it, and the spots that led to pins felt believable. Gage vacated the title in August. He only ever wrestled for IWA MS once more after that, so there are probably some hard feelings there. Elgin beat Williams and Murdoch in a match to determine a new champion. ***
September 22, 2018 – Indianapolis, Indiana
Aaron Williams def. Michael Elgin and Larry D {IWA Mid-South World Heavyweight Championship Elimination Match}
From the finals of the Ted Petty Invitational. Elgin had defended the title successfully throughout the tournament. Elgin powerbombed Williams onto D to eliminate D about seven minutes into the match. I wasn’t hating the stuff that D was doing, so I didn’t feel he needed to go that early. But then, Elgin and Williams put together the most compelling IWA MS title change I’ve seen since the reboot. Elgin was rolling over both guys with powerbombs, clearly eliminating D and looking like he’d easily do the same to Williams. But Williams survived and found ways to avoid the Burning Hammer so he could hit his high kicks and get the win at 19:20. It was simple, it was effective, and it got the small crowd all fired up. Great job. ***½
November 1, 2018 – Jeffersonville, Indiana
Logan James def. Aaron Williams {IWA Mid-South World Heavyweight Championship vs. IWA Mid-South Junior Heavyweight Championship Match}
From November Pain. This was a perfectly fine, just fine match, but then the finish was stinking trash and I made Williams look like a goof much more than it made him look like someone who would have won if not for interference. Yes, Lukas Jacobs and Billy the P both took shots at him at the end, but it looked much more like he slipped off of the turnbuckle than that they forced him off. Either way, James hit the Hybrid Theory for the win seconds later at 19:58. Williams regained both titles three weeks later. **¾
March 15, 2019 – Jeffersonville, Indiana
Larry D def. Aaron Williams {IWA Mid-South World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From the 900th Show. D’s career was on the line too. The commentators started by saying that the match felt like a big deal, but I can assure you it does not. There are maybe 8 people in the crowd and they’re all sitting on their hands. I’m starting to lose my patience with these title matches, so it’s lucky there are only a few left in the can. This was the exact same story as the last match. They were putting on a decent, if way too long match and then a million people interfered in the most unconvincing way possible. A couple of refs got bumped in equally unconvincing fashion and then D hit two punches for the win at 22:51. Fuck off. Williams dropped the Junior Heavyweight Championship to Sage Philips two weeks later. D held the title until June, which is when he lost it to Kong. **
September 13, 2019 – Jeffersonville, Indiana
Aaron Williams def. Kongo Kong and Matthew Justice {IWA Mid-South World Heavyweight Championship Triple Threat Match}
From the Ted Petty Invitational Tournament. The title was defended throughout the tournament and this was the quarterfinal round. Williams, who is suddenly not a nunchuck-wielding gladiator but instead is an emo version of Billy Corgan, eliminated Kong with four high kicks a few minutes into the match. Justice tries to put Williams through a door against the turnbuckle, but Williams rolls him up with a handful of tights for the win at 11:47. This mostly sucked. *¾
Larry D def. Aaron Williams {IWA Mid-South World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From the finals of the tournament. Williams had successfully defended his title through the semifinals, but failed here. This was a lot better than their match from March. It had a bunch of ref bumps (for reasons that baffle me they happened in the middle of the match and not toward the end) but no interference. These two had clearly worked with each other a bunch of times because they had a few “I know you so well” spots that worked on me. D hit Williams with an over-the-shoulder backbreaker for the win at 17:23. Two months later, Kevin Giza beat D for the title. ***¼
January 23, 2020 – Jeffersonville, Indiana
Aaron Williams def. Kevin Giza {IWA Mid-South World Heavyweight Championship No Ropes Street Fight}
From No Retreat No Surrender. This bullshit again. Okay so the match was going along well enough, as the no rope stipulation was forcing them to be a little bit creative. And then Tyler Matrix interfered on Williams’ behalf and then Project Monix seemed to make the save only to turn on Giza. And the whole thing happened to the sound of crickets. Monix hit a DDT on a chair, getting the win for Williams like a full minute later at 21:34. Jesus Christ this sucks. *½
March 5, 2020 – Jeffersonville, Indiana
Ace Perry def. Aaron Williams {IWA Mid-South World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Let the Madness Begin. Williams had just fought to a (very boring looking) draw in a 2/3 Falls Match against Gary Jay. Perry ran in and cashed in a Money in the Bank ripoff contract and won the belt with his ugly Swanton Bomb in 7 seconds. The pandemic hit here, and IWA stopped running shows for a grand total of three months. To the surprise of no one, Rotten started running shows the moment he could, not enforcing mask mandates and generally (probably) being a superspreader. N/A
July 31, 2020 – Connersville, Indiana
Jake Crist def. Ace Perry and Kevin Giza {IWA Mid-South World Heavyweight Championship Triple Threat Match}
From the 2020 King of the Death Match tournament. I just heard a hilarious interview with Crist from about five months after this where he blames his departure from Impact on being associated creatively with Joey Ryan rather than being because his last name is Crist (his brother Dave had been accused of sexual assault, as well as other issues like being reckless in the ring). I don’t know anything about this Crist personally, but if he’s as much of a quiet homebody as he says then it sucks he was associated with Ryan and his brother. This match was like ten different kinds of indie bush league bad. First, it occurred at the height of the pandemic in front of a big, unvaccinated (vaccines were months away from existing) crowd many of whom weren’t masked. Crist spent most of the match inexplicably on the floor. That overselling was contrasted with Giza not selling at all for Perry’s Ace Crushers because he had to get up and get into position for more Ace Crushers that Perry wanted to hit. So the whole thing just looked fake as hell. Indie nonsense. The finish saw Lincoln Moseley run in to help Crist win, which whatever that’s fine, but the referee or the timekeeper screwed up and the bell rang off of Crist pinning Giza with a backslide. Clearly that was incorrect because the match kept going so that Crist could put both opponents in dragon sleepers to get the win at 9:42. When the result wound up being the same and the correct finish took place only seconds later, just call the audible and let the backslide be the finish. These guys all have some talent but this was awful. *½
Since the reboot, this title has changed hands an average of once every other month. I actually did the math; it changes hands an average of once every 61 days. So you’ll be seeing me struggle my way through more of these bad-to-medium matches in front of nearly no fans. This company will outlive me, surely.
From Diamond Ring Kensuke Office Changes. They emphasize that Nakajima beat Dragon Gate wrestler Kenichiro Arai 
From Dynamite 131. This is a qualifying match for the Owen Hart Foundation tournament. Joe debuted at ROH Supercard of Honor, saving Jonathan Gresham from Jay Lethal (whose soul searching apparently led him to turn heel) & Sonjay Dutt after the main event. And now that ROH and AEW are the same thing, that seems worth mentioning. Caster’s pre-match rap was cute. This was real squashy, with Joe needing only two minutes to put Caster down with the Muscle Buster at 2:52. Lethal & Dutt pop up on the big screens and Lethal says he’d been trying to get a hold of Joe during his difficult soul searching time, and Joe never picked up. They have a present for Joe next week. N/A
From Dynamite 132. Jay Lethal & Sonjay Dutt were in the front row cheering on Joe. Sarcastically, probably, as they brawled with Joe at ROH Supercard of Honor XV. 
From Rampage 39. 
From Dynamite 137. 
From Dynamite 138. This is a 
From Double or Nothing. 
From PWF York Cougar Football Fundraiser. I didn't know that this match happened until over a month after the fact. This started out as a non-title match, but we'll get to why I've listed it as a title match in a moment. FTR have Mick Foley in their corner while their opponents have Bill Behrens. I’ve never actually seen Behrens do an on-camera gig before. He's holding a tennis racket, presumably as an Umaga to Jim Cornette. But it's confusing because there was actually a tennis player named Bill Behrens. They announce this match as having a 20-minute time limit. Only 11 minutes in, they say there are three minutes remaining. Until then, this was as run-of-the-mill as a modern FTR match gets. But the announcement snapped everyone out of their heat-on-Wheeler funk and forced them to go for desperate pins. They announce ten seconds remaining a couple of times, but no one can get the roll up pin they're looking for. The 20-minute time limit expires at 1
From NXT UK 183. McGuinness started by essentially saying that Fraser is going to pee or poo himself during the match. Unnecessary. Had Shawn Michaels been game to have a good match against Vader, this is what it would have looked like. Actually, a more appropriate and modern analogue is Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins from SummerSlam. Much like that match, Frazer used quick strikes and avoided his larger opponent’s signature big move to stay alive. Here it was the powerbomb whereas there it was suplexes. Here, Frazer also successfully damaged WALTER’s knee, which slowed the big man down and made it hard for WALTER to hit the powerbomb. Unfortunately for Frazer, WALTER was able to bide his time and clothesline Frazer’s legs out from under him. An inevitable powerbomb followed and won the match for WALTER at 14:02. I hate to say this because I’m happy that he’s healthier, but the way WALTER has slimmed down has taken some of the magic away from his aura. At least for me it has. That said, dude can clearly still go as well as ever in the ring. ****
From NXT 659. Strong was feeling it here, which is thanks in large part to the crowd being maniacally loud from the get go I’m sure. His whole game was fast and devastating stick and move attacks. That worked pretty well, as WALTER was dazed from time to time. But as with all good WALTER matches (which is pretty much all WALTER matches), everything WALTER does is devastating here so it takes very little for him to take back control. And eventually he did just that and hit the powerbomb for the win at 9:46 (shown of 12:18). After the match, WALTER gets on the microphone and says that his name is Gunther now. I did not think WALTER would be a victim of the renaming curse this far into his run. What will they rename Strong?! ***¾
From NXT UK 185. Andy Shepherd helpfully announces from inside the ring that the reason for the stipulation is that the feud has gotten so violent that it wouldn’t be safe to have fans around. Devlin says during the match that it’s because he thinks Dragunov could only muster the energy to win if he had the crowd behind him. I like that explanation a lot more. The only real reason I could think of to do this without fans is that there was a scheduling conflict with one of the wrestlers for the regular TV taping date and they needed to get this thing filmed. We just had such a long stretch of empty arena NXT UK episodes that I can’t imagine anyone was dying to get another taste of it. This aired the day after Adam Cole vs. Orange Cassidy in a match that was also no disqualification and falls count anywhere, and this served up everything I felt was missing from that match. Now you might say, “Brad, Cassidy is not the same kind of character as Devlin or Dragunov, how could you expect the same level of violence or intensity?” To that I say, when Cassidy started his match by breaking his own sunglasses and rapidly punching Cole, he was indicating that level of violence and/or intensity. And instead the match was mostly wacky. Anyway, this was not wacky. It was stiff and intense and featured weapons that made sense and spots the didn’t take forever to set up. Dragunov got in trouble when his eye injury acted up. Devlin took control and beat the crap out of him. I wasn’t wild about how meek Dragunov was when Devlin was zip tying his hands, but I did like that in the end it turned out to be an error on Devlin’s part anyway because Dragunov’s finisher requires no hands. And indeed, a bound Dragunov jumped off the steel steps (which had been brought into the ring) and hit the Torpedo Moskau on Devlin for the win at 21:43. NXT UK is still sneaking in these dope matches that no one is watching. Y’all should watch them. ****¼ 
From AAA Triplemania Regia. FTR come out with Vickie Guerrero. This was supposed to be explained at an earlier AAA taping but FTR and Guerrero all missed them. AAA is notorious for having this kind of luck/being incompetent lately. FTR is also wearing Eddie Guerrero tribute tights, with American flags on one side and flames on the other, I suppose to pay homage to his Gringos Locos and Latino Heat gimmicks. This match mostly sucked, but one cool spot saw FTR tie Pentagon’s mask to the ropes and force him to unmask with his hands over his face to stop them from climbing the ladder. That would have been a very meaningful moment to lead up to the Lucha Brothers winning the titles back, but unfortunately instead it led into nothing. He just got his mask back and the match continued on in its lame, derivative way. At one point, Pentagon was the only man standing, but instead of climbing the ladder he grabbed a table from the floor. So the titles mean enough to him that he’d unmask to stop his opponents from winning, but not enough for him to get the titles when he had a clear path to do it? Vickie powered Pentagon, causing him to voluntarily jump through the table and Harwood grabbed the belts at 12:12. This was abysmal. *
From AEW Full Gear. Silver was hamming it up a lot more here than he was the year before in New York. That said, this had stronger just-a-match vibes than the aforementioned match. After Silver ripped out Cassidy’s pockets, Cassidy turned up the heat and these guys put on a middle of the row undercard match. Not bad by any means, but nothing memorable either. Cassidy hit the Beach Break rather out of nowhere for the win at 9:42. **¾ 
From the second Honor Reigns Supreme. The commentators sold this as Gresham getting a big shot against a top ROH guy after being an also-ran in the Television Championship division for a while. This was terrific. Both guys did a fantastic job selling their respective targeted limbs, and Gresham in particular played the role of the tenacious underdog perfectly. He didn’t just watch to see where Lethal would have trouble executing his finisher because of the damage he’d done to the former ROH Champion’s arm, he pressed the assault whenever he could, taking out the arm to make sure the Lethal Injection would never come. But what he couldn’t do was stop Lethal from battering his knee and ultimately winning with a Figure 4 Leglock at 17:54. ****¼ 
From the second Masters of the Craft. Columbus has way more Gresham fans than Concord did. That’s a neat little advancement to the plot, innit? They both went after the same limbs that earned them dividends in their previous match. And then they went ahead and built an incredible match out of that story. At first it seemed as though Lethal wasn’t going to be able to get Gresham’s leg to give out. But about halfway through the match, Gresham’s knee was in trouble. Gresham was able to escape the leglock this time by using the momentum of Lethal pulling him away from the ropes to shift to an armbar. But Gresham’s focus on the arm bit him in the ass. Lethal went for the Lethal Injection and collapsed again, but when Gresham went for a roll up after that Lethal cut back on it for the win at 18:27. This is one of the best American examples that I've seen of a match building on the match that came before. Rather than try to outdo the maneuvers from their first meeting for the sake of a big crowd reaction, they adjust their game plans in logical ways that, to me, were just as exciting. I think this match is slept on, by virtue of the fact that I’ve never heard anything about it before watching it. ****½ 
From ROH Wrestling 364. In real life, 
From Death Before Dishonor XVII. Gresham and Lethal had been teaming, but Gresham grew frustrated and started heeling. Ultimately, he turned on Lethal. It took them a little while to get there, but once they got into a groove this was exactly what I wanted from this match. It was back to their old tricks, with Lethal targeting the leg to set up for the Figure 4 Leglock and Gresham targeting the arm to block the Lethal Injection and set up for his Octopus. In the end, Lethal tried the cutback trick that worked for him in Columbus, but Gresham countered to a pin and then put on the gnarliest Octopus for his first win over Lethal at 17:20. This is the best kind of wrestling series. And none of it felt stale because it was a year after they’d wrestled last and because they found ways to energize the old tropes. And that’s not to mention Gresham busting out what I can only describe as a sumo-style assault. Gresham and Lethal make up after the match. ****
From ROH Wrestling 500. During the pandemic, ROH made the most of their empty arena shows by kicking them off with a tournament to crown a champion for the revived Pure Championship. Gresham won the tournament, and this was his fourth defense of the title. Lethal and Gresham were still allies here. In an interesting move, the other match on this milestone episode was two other partners fighting in Jay and Mark Briscoe. They cut to a commercial break about six minutes in, though the action didn’t get beyond (admittedly fast-moving) mat wrestling until the 10-minute mark. That had me thinking this was going to go long, but things took a different turn. Both guys had abused the other’s shoulders, and Lethal used that to his advantage best. He forced Gresham to use his first rope break to stop a pin, and his second to escape a crab. Then, he used the failed Lethal Injection to bait Gresham into a crossface, forcing the champ to use his final rope break. But he made the mistake of giving Gresham a breather and was quickly caught in a head scissor takedown giving Gresham the winning pin at 14:06 (shown of 16:40). For an empty arena match, this held my attention. It was totally different than their previous matches while still using a couple elements from the rivalry to elevate it just a bit. Not essential viewing, but if you’re working your way through their series you shouldn’t skip it. ***¼ 
