Eddie Kingston vs. Anthony Henry, IWA-MS Ted Petty Invitational 2018 Night One (9/21/2018)

This was a 1st Round match in the 2018 Ted Petty Invitational tournament.

Here we have a match with a few things to like a lot.

First, the venue.

IWA Mid-South has been finding new charmingly low-down and filthy venues for two decades at this point, and this basketball barn in Indianapolis is another welcome addition to the collection. The white paint on the wooden walls, the exposed wood ceiling structure, the hoops set up, the fact that — and this is crucial and really the IWA Mid-South specialty — that it is a reasonably sized independent wrestling venue that this company specifically just cannot fill, giving it that classic IWA emptiness that really lets you take everything in.

The second thing to love is that, shock of all shocks, Eddie Kingston vs. Anthony Henry is a pretty great wrestling match also.

Certainly, it is not the most in-your-face obviously great match that they could have, these are two wrestlers who have a real proper epic in them. Instead, it is the sort of match that guys with some experience in larger and more noteworthy promotions, to say the least, probably should have in a barn for IWA Mid-South in 2018. Instead of the bombast (mostly, of course, Henry is still a Davey Richards fan at heart, and it peeks its way through a few times unfortunately, including a decidedly not great fighting spirit bit in the finish where he no-sells two Backfists to the Future before being knocked out by a third to the back of the head in something that feels both unearned and like the finish of another entirely different match between the two), this is a much more grounded match, both literally and then also figuratively, one of those more guttural and dirty feeling Kingston matches from the back half of the decade.

Additionally, and maybe most importantly, this also has the benefit of being an Eddie Kingston Knee Match, and there are few things in wrestling better than that.

Second to only Toshiaki Kawada, Kingston is maybe the best knee seller in the history of pro wrestling, and while that case isn’t made by a 2018 IWA Mid-South match, it’s yet another example of why. It’s not just limping and staggering, it’s everything. The way he gets into it is even unique, going out after an early grappling run leads to a Henry knee bar and adjusting, always with his back to the ring to try and protect it from sight, if at all possible. Henry prefers his striking and his bombs, so the match is never one hundred percent about the leg, but Eddie also takes great pains to never forget it, and more importantly, to never allow you to forget it.

Kingston’s every movement feels painful, even if that pain is more of a dull ache and a nagging sort of a thing than something leaving him immobile and robbing him of any chance. In a way, I prefer that more, this minor hindrance he has to gut through. Even in a smaller dose, Kingston again comes at it in a way few others even consider, not just getting the nuts and bolts elements of the thing right, but also always adding in this other element to his selling, annoyed with his body for betraying him. Even in a match where he always feels like the better wrestler/fighter and still goes on to win, that annoyance is still there, made even more interesting because of that, feeling less like something to be apoplectic about, and more like a fly that got into the house that he just can’t seem to track down. It’s not as dramatic as other big Eddie leg selling performances, but as a result, arguably, it’s one of his more human ones ever.

It’s not an exceptionally flashy match, far more of a show of more basic ideas, but when you have two wrestlers with such a command of all of those ideas, that doesn’t matter one bit.

The exact match people who will seek it out will enjoy.

***

 

Jonathan Gresham vs. Anthony Henry, IWA-MS Ted Petty Invitational 2017 Night One (9/14/2017)

This was a 1st Round match in the 2017 Ted Petty Invitational.

Listen.

I know the TPI is not what it was. As a teenager with a cousin with a car and/or with a job and enough disposable income to buy public transit tickets/taxis with, I went to the 2006, 2007, and 2008 Ted Petty Invitationals. I freaked out over Quackenbush’s win in 2007, the Hero/Kingston Last Man Standing, had Brent Albright yell “SHUT YOUR ASS” at me, was maybe the first guy on the “Sami Callihan should have won the 2008 TPI” train in 2008, all of that. I get it. Truly. If anyone ever wanted to pay me to talk about any of those Ted Petty Invitationals, I would have so many things to say. I am not trying to run some narrative about this tournament, or any since 2008’s, being on the level of that first decade or so of these.

This match just rocks.

Purely and simply, it is classic Jon Gresham.

Anthony Henry is a very skilled wrestler. He hits hard, he sells reasonably well, and at no point in this match am I left thinking this match is lacking because of Henry’s performance. However, Gresham dictates, the pace,, he spends the match chipping at the knee, and it is on Anthony Henry aka Tony Henry aka Tony Hank to live up to that, and he does. He sells just a little more with each attack, and while this is not an especially deep match, treating a crowd less familiar with their tricks to a sensational showcase of all that they have to offer, it is one that benefits from the little things both men put into the match all the same.

Gresham runs him down at the end and with the good leg trapped, Gresham simply slams the bad knee over and over into the canvas, until Henry submits. It’s not only a finish that feels correct as the end of a match, the logical conclusion of Gresham’s attack becoming more savage and desperate, but the sort of attack that you cannot blame anyone for surrendering to, benefiting Henry in this way as well.

A phenomenal little hidden gem, out there on IWTV for you if it seems like the sort of thing you might be into.

***

Chris Hero vs. Timothy Thatcher, IWA-MS Ted Petty Invitational 2015 (12/11/2015)

This was a first round match in the 2015 Ted Petty Invitational Tournament.

It is an absolute hoot to see Timothy Thatcher in an IWA Mid-South ring. It’s the dream (unfortunately not the entire dream, as Hero refuses to go back to “Kryptonite”), even if this is far from the company that I spent far too much time and money on as a teenager with an ability to get to Joliet and/or Midlothian in the mid-late 2000s.

Immediately, Timothy Thatcher is a perfect fit for all the reasons you might expect, beyond just being an incredible wrestler. Thatcher’s always great in a more intimate venue and setting like this, as even if he doesn’t give the sort of effort you might get when he has more time and a story to bite into or more history to play with, it still works because of the way Thatcher is. Few other wrestlers are better suited to transition to a smaller room (as Thatcher’s shown both before and since) as someone like Thatcher, whose style is so physical, tactile, and grounded in a way that is rarely hurt by the size of the building he’s in.

To his credit, we also see one of the better recent performances by Chris Hero in this match too.

It’s not a top five Chris Hero match of 2015, it’s only the third best Hero/Thatcher match of the year at best, but it’s the sort of Hero performance I love. After some shaky work elsewhere, it’s the sort of Hero performance that reminds me why I really loved to watch him wrestle to begin with. Fittingly, in the place where he first became that kind of a wrestler. It’s helped by the tournament being one show this year and them only wrestling around fifteen minutes, but there’s virtually no mid-2010s Hero excess baggage in this match. It’s a performance to match Thatcher’s usual grounded approach, with a focus on some neat arm selling spots, and a return to a very charming kind of austerity.

What works specifically well about this match is the different approach between this and their other matches, which is to say it’s the only match of the set where Chris Hero gets to live up to that moniker. No shit talking, no taunting, and none of the stuff that’s been the basis of their three prior matches, replaced instead with a more spartan performance and role within the match.

It’s the only match between them in which the match features Hero climbing a mountain instead of Thatcher, and it stands out so much as a result.

The core elements of the thing don’t change all that much. Hero wants to hit, but he’s still dangerous down on the ground. Thatcher is at home there and grinds it out better than anyone. Hero talks zero shit and doesn’t spend minute dropping bombs in control, and while Thatcher never really zeroes in like he would prefer, he’s clearly the more in control of the two throughout the match. It’s not as powerful of a match or performance as their bigger 2015 matches, but in a way, it feels like the match they’ve been building towards. Hero’s now the underdog against this guy who beat him two out of the last three times, the payoff to Thatcher making it look easier and easier every time, gradually getting more of a feel for Chris Hero until he can show up here and totally dominate him.

Charmingly, it’s not the striking that bails Hero out either. Thatcher has Hero’s current offensive attack as thoroughly scouted as always, largely avoiding the major elbow set ups and never allowing Hero to come close to breaking out his Piledriver spots. It’s not even an old trick that helps Hero like it did in their PWG match, the adjustment itself marking Hero surrendering and giving up his goal of trying to ever knock Thatcher out. What Hero does is learn from that though, and rely on something Timothy Thatcher won’t see coming.

Instead of the Hero’s Welcome, Hero takes the opportunity in their one IWA match to go back to his roots, and he simply outwrestles Thatcher when he’s not expecting it. While Thatcher drives for his big Fujiwara Armbar and counter-punches Hero when he tries the usual, Hero once again slips by him, and now simply takes him into a picture perfect backslide, with his hands around Thatcher’s wrists in it in the old way. It’s a perfectly applied pin coming entirely out of nowhere, and it’s enough to beat Thatcher.

Hero puts the series to 2-2, succeeding for a second time when the match is in an environment where Hero has a stronger connection to the history of the promotion, and when he can dig deeper into an old bag of tricks. Unintentional or not, it’s a lovely commentary on the current version of Chris Hero and what he’s turned himself into. When he focuses on his easier bombs and routine bully work, Thatcher can pick him off with great ease. When he gets back to wrestling like he did in his prime, or focusing on out and out wrestling, it’s a far more even match, and one where Hero might finally have the advantage. I have every doubt this is the story they intended to tell so much as how things just happened to work out, but it’s always lovely to see a story told that reflects my own feelings on the matter. I shouldn’t have to tell you over and over again that this isn’t actually Hero’s peak. Look at these four matches against Tim in 2015, because the matches say it themselves.

The truth is in the wrestling, especially here with Timothy Thatcher, who finds it near impossible to tell a lie once the bell rings.

If a match has to be smaller and less grandiose than before, it should be what this was, a wholly different version of the thing, not just in composition, but in tone as well. Another charming display of versatility from one of wrestling’s greatest pairings.

***1/4