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IZW Redemption Review

Posted: Sep 29th 2014 By: Andrew Willingham

Redemption promised the IZW World a ton of action. It promised a crazy five-way Impact Scramble, a battle between the tag team champions, and one man standing tall holding the IZW Championship. It delivered bigger than anyone could have expected and in ways that no one could have imagined!

The night started with a huge contest between former partners as Big Business Damon Windsor would face his former partner and the man he stabbed in the back at the Impact Chamber, The Image of Fear Kevin Morgan. Morgan wanted nothing more than to get his hands on Windsor but Big Business wanted to bury the hatchet and remain friends. Morgan quickly let him know that would not be an option. He slapped away the offered handshake and leveled Windsor with a big clothesline. Windsor battled back, targeting the left arm of Morgan which had been less than 100% for weeks. But even only one good arm Morgan is more dangerous than most men with two. The Image of Fear continued to show remarkable resolve as Windsor never lost focus on his point of attack. Morgan seemed to be all out of steam as Windsor delivered his patented elbows on the corner, he sauntered to the center of the ring and removed his elbow pad, looking to deliver the knockout blow to his former partner but it was not to be. Morgan sprinted out and speared Windsor, hoisted him up and drove him down with the Oklahoma Stampede and then sealed his fate with the Moment of Fear.

Morgan told the IZW World that he wouldn?t stop until he got to Johnny Z and that Windsor would only be a speed bump on that journey. After this match it would be hard for anyone to disagree with the man who now holds both IZW Tag Team Championships.

The controversy with the Tag Team Championships was finally over but it was just beginning with the Impact Division Championship. It was announced that Angel Camacho had suffered an injury and would not be able to make the Impact Scramble. So Co-Commissioner Mark Wilson made the call that the winner of the Bobby Starr/Jordan Jacobs match would be inserted into the scramble and get a shot at the Impact Division Championship.

Both Starr and Jacobs seemed especially driven with an Impact Division Championship opportunity on the line. Starr was more aggressive and violent than we had ever seen him before. But Jacobs has been better than ever as of late. Since his series of matches with Johnny Z and almost being IZW Champion, Jacobs has been really hitting his stride. Jordan battled back from a big spinebuster and fought out of the single leg Olympus Crab. Starr continued to blast Jacobs with vicious shots and ran full speed at him in the corner but Jacobs caught him with a buckle buster, scaled the ropes and used the Light Switch to turn Starr?s lights out. Starr was left to lick his wounds while Jacobs went on to ready himself for his shot to once again become Impact Division Champion.

From one Bull to another we would next see The Bronze Bull taking on The Attorney Jeff Wolfenbarger. Wolfenbarger would be accompanied to the ring by former IZW superstar and commissioner Kool-Aid. Wolfenbarger tried to have a nice birthday celebration for Kool-Aid earlier but it was cut short by The Bronze Bull who verbally ran down both men. Bull thinks that he is far and away superior to both men but a fast and furious flurry of offense from Wolfenbarger sent Bull scrambling to the outside. Wolfenbarger didn?t let up and cornered Bull and ran in with a pair of splashes but Bull stopped the second one and threw him over his head with a deadly belly-to-belly suplex. Not one to let an advantage go, Bull threw Wolfenbarger outside and started laying on the punishment. Jeff had another trick up or two up his sleeve though. He dropped Bull neck first on the rope and hit a springboard leg drop. Jeff went for the Final Impact but Bull reversed with a northern lights suplex that swayed things back his way. Bull picked up Wolfenbarger and drilled him with Greetings from Mt Olympus. But Bull refused to make the cover, he wanted to rub it in. He picked Wolfenbarger up again and spit at Kool-Aid. Kool-Aid jumped on the apron and returned the favor, blinding Bull and allowing Wolfenbarger to slip into a sunset flip and get the win over the Bronze Bull. Wolfenbarger swore to be the thorn in the side of Johnny Z and Impact Inc and has certainly been just that by beating the crown jewel of Johnny Z?s followers.

Next up was the 5-Man Impact Scramble for the Impact Division Championship. Sheepy O?Brien, O?Malley and Randy Price would challenge for Drake Gallows? Impact Division Championship as scheduled but via his win over Bobby Starr earlier, Jordan Jacobs would be inserted into the madness of the Scramble. This match was a masterpiece in chaos. From the very start all five men went full steam at each other and while alliances may have existed at the beginning, it quickly became every man for his self. O?Malley looked to take out four birds with one stone as he fought all four of his competitors into one corner, ran across the ring and delivered an Irish Car Bomb to everyone involved. This would grant him a pin on O?Brien to become the interim Impact Division Champion. His opponents eventually subdued O?Malley and Gallows was ablt to score with an emo-killer on O?Brien onto two chairs to get a pinfall of his own. As O?Malley and O?Brien brawled on the outside, Jacobs dove from the top rope with a flipping senton onto both men. Not to be outdone, Price climbed up and as all three men reached their feet, he dove off with a corkscrew moonsault. The four men were in a heap on the outside but that left one man unaccounted for, the Urban Legend himself Drake Gallows. Gallows earned his nickname from the death defying things he has done to rule the Impact Division. The IZW World let out a collective gasp as they saw him start to climb a giant ladder that took him all the way to the roof of the Impact Arena. He shrugged his shoulders and dove off. But the dice rolled snake-eyes for Gallows and as he dove the ladder shifted underneath him and he fell short, narrowly missing the ring apron but crashing to the floor below. Randy Price looked to capitalize on the chaos but was caught with O?Brien?s Trouble and O?Brien became the current champion. The two Irishmen O?Malley and O?Brien brawled on the outside while Price tried to hit the splash from the past on Jacobs with the seconds ticking away. Jacobs got out of the way and hit the Light Switch and covered Price. Referee George Knight?s hand hit the mat for the 3 with less than a second left in the match.

Two Irishmen consumed each other in violence, the man who laughs at danger rolled the dice and lost and the man who wasn?t even originally in the match utilized every last second of the match to once again proudly hold the Impact Division Championship.

After the match Price was dejected and coming down to share his thoughts was his former mentor the returning Coach Gary Tool. The IZW World expected Tool to take Price?s head off after Price cost him the IZW Championship. But instead Tool said the blame for what happened to him lied on the IZW World. He laid into the fans in the Impact Arena and said that he was proud of Price and his actions and that he reminded Tool of what Old School really was. What does this mean for the future of Randy Price and/or The possibly reunited Old School Suckas?

Next up was an old fashioned Street Fight between Shawn McHale and Mark Wilson. The two Co-Commissioners started with some classic wrestling and it evolved into an old fashioned brawl. McHale tried to keep it clean but that wasn?t in Wilson?s playbook at all. Wilson targeted the leg of McHale, punishing it with chop blocks and kicks. Wilson looked to put McHale away with a perfectly executed figure four leglock but McHale fought his way out. When that didn?t work Wilson went into his bag of dirty tricks. He pulled out a handful of powder to blind McHale but the #1 knocked it right back into Wilson?s face. When Wilson regained his vision he was staring right at McHale who flipped him the double #1 and hit a Stunner to get the win. The #1 proved to the IZW World that he was exactly that as he put the Butterscotch Stallion out to pasture.

There was only one score left to be settled. The IZW Championship would be on the line as man who was screwed out of the IZW Championship at the Impact Chamber Jermaine Johnson would look to dethrone the Natural Born Leader. Few people in IZW know each other as well as Johnson and Z. They have fought alongside each other and against each other time after time. While Johnson is perhaps the most decorated competitor in IZW the feat he has never accomplished in his amazing career is a one-on-one pinfall victory over Johnny Z. Johnson came in extremely confident and certainly gained control quickly but Z is a master of the mind games would not be shaken by the early advantage and turned things into his favor. Neither man kept a strong advantage for the majority of this modern classic. The two men know each other so well that every move and offensive strategy was met with a counter attack. When frustration got the best of him, Z decided the best defense was to kick Johnson in the lower region not once but twice. The two men battled to the outside where Johnson took over and bashed Z all around the Impact Arena. As he tried to return Z to ringside, Z backdropped him onto the concrete around the ring area. Enraged by the beating he had been on the end of, Z drilled Johnson with a series of punches and vicious chops. Z got even more malicious and tried to piledrive Johnson on the outside but Johnson reversed. Johnson fired up and tossed Z inside where he connected with his kicks in the corner and lifted Z up in the Power & Strength suplex but Z landed on his feet and hit the Final Impact that almost retained his championship. The two men traded an Energy Shot and a Float-Over DDT but each only got a two count. Johnson closed in on the IZW Championship when he hit Power & Strength from the top rope and mounted the 2nd rope for the ES2 but Z caught him with a boot to the face before he could connect. Z perhaps saw this as his last chance, he measured Johnson and went for the Big Bott in the Corner but Johnson caught him and dropped him with a powerbomb. The Hype Section came to a fever pitch as Johnson again mounted the ropes to set up for the ES2 and that?s when all hell broke loose. Sensing their leader was in imminent danger, Impact Inc dashed into the ring and pounded Johnson. Even though they were banned from ringside the rules of a No Holds Barred match prevented a disqualification. In a moment of Deja-vu Damon Windsor Chokeslammed Johnson and presented him like a sacrifice to Z. But before he could take advantage Shawn McHale hit the ramp followed by Kevin Morgan, Jeff Wolfenbarger, and Jordan Jacobs. They cleared the ring of Impact Inc and left the two men in the match to fight it out. But the damage had been done, Jermaine Johnson struggled to even get to his feet and Z revved up the Big Boot when he stopped in his tracks at the appearance of Double D! D stood at the top of the ramp, brandishing a steel chair and Z stood in the ring as his jaw quivered and the color left his face. Z knew his day of reckoning for his misdeeds against D had come. D hit the ring and Z bailed out. Z continued to try to get a grasp on the situation and Double D readied the chair and blasted Jermaine Johnson! The IZW World was in shock. Z climbed into the ring and in the most shocking and disturbing images ever in IZW Johnny Z lovingly embraced Double D. Z celebrated yet another of his former enemies becoming a follower and then CRACK!!! Double D drilled Z with a chair to the skull too! D stared coldly at both men then retrieved the IZW Championship from ringside. He then simply walked out of the IZW Arena leaving fans with more questions than answers. We got what we were promised, one man stood tall with the IZW Championship but it was neither of the men in the match. It was Double D, the man who never lost the IZW Championship to begin with. A silent but definitive statement made by Double D as he has seemingly reclaimed ownership of the IZW title he never lost.