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Iles makes immediate impact as new IZW Commissioner

Posted: Oct 29th 2007 By: mikeiles

With all the back handed actions of Impact Inc., most notably IZW Tag Team Champion and owner John Zorthos, it was just a matter of time until they received their come uppance. That come uppance came in the form of a new commissioner appointed by the Oklahoma Boxing Commission.

Gary Tool was the commissioner of IZW when the company first got off the ground. He had to make controversial decisions, but for the most part they appeared fair. Eventually it was revealed that Tool was a member of the Zorthos led Impact, Inc. faction and since that time IZW has not had a real commissioner at the helm. All decisions have come from Zorthos himself.

Mike Iles has been commissioner of NWA Oklahoma/Universal and most recently Sooner World Class Wrestling in addition to his work as Associate Editor of Oklafan. His sudden departure from SWCW on Friday of last week came as a shock to some as it appeared he was trying to build a faction himself. He stated during his resignation speech that he never intended to "screw over" the fans that his turn against Rick Garrett was against Rick Garrett only. He said that with SWCW's future in jeopardy he felt it was in the best interest of the company to step down. When contacted for this story, Iles said "I had been contacted by the Oklahoma Boxing Commission about 4 weeks ago and they asked if I was interested in doing some work for them at IZW. Originally I thought it was odd as I was commissioner of a rival company to IZW, but they said that with my experience working for nearly every fed in Oklahoma, working out of state for other feds, and my work with Oklafan, they felt had enough experience for the job they needed me for. I went to the IZW show at their request to give them an honest opinion on the actions of John Zorthos and the rest of Impact, Inc. To be honest I was apalled. I saw a video of Kenny Campbell being hit by a truck, then another video of Campbell being assaulted by Zorthos while Campbell was tied up. Then in the ring that night, Brad Michaels attacked John O'Malley with a chair and now O'Malley is out of wrestling after announcing his retirement. O'Malley has a child on the way and should not have been treated like that. Then again, no one deserves to be treated like that."

The Oklahoma Boxing Commission made Iles an offer he could not refuse. He said "I had to resign from SWCW first off. I called the Board of Directors and told them I would be stepping down effective immediately. I got no resistance and I was not surprised by that either. When my resignation was announced on Oklafan I made sure I did not mention I would be appointed as IZW Commissioner so as not to tip off Zorthos."

Iles made his presence known almost immediately. O'Malley had vacated the Impact Division Title and in a statement said he knew the IZW Championship Committee would make the right decision. To start the show, Zorthos came to the ring with Brad Michaels. Zorthos said he was the law in IZW and that he was the "championship committee" and began to award Michaels the Impact Division Title. Gary Tool then brought a fax to ring announcer Jesse Storm who read it to the fans in attendance. It said that due to the power hungry actions of IZW owner John Zorthos, the Oklahoma Boxing Commission has appointed Mike Iles as new IZW Commissioner. Iles came out as after running down his list of qualifications to the fans and to Zorthos & Michaels, Zorthos thought it was a joke. Iles said it was no joke and he was now in charge. Zorthos threatened to fire Iles, to which Iles responded that he works for the Oklahoma Boxing Commission not IZW and surely not Johnny Z. He then said Michaels was not being awarded the Impact Division Title and asked Michaels to hand it over. Michaels refused until Iles said if he did not relinquish the title he would shut down the show and send all fans home with a full refund. Michael quickly handed the title over. Iles then announced a tournament for the vacant title would take place and said in the interest of fairness, Michaels would be allowed in the tournament, but his match would be right then. Iles pulled an index card out of his jacket and told Storm to announce Michaels opponent for the evening, which just happened to be SWCW Champion Striker. When asked about Striker being named as Michaels opponent, Iles said it was merely coincidental, but Striker was more than eager to take on Michaels especially after what happened to O'Malley.

Later in the evening a video was shown on the ZorthoTron 420 that showed Iles chastising Tommy Revell for his actions the previous week when he gave Marianne Albright a spinebuster. Iles told him that because of a grey area in the Oklahoma Boxing Commission books, he would not be suspended but as long as Iles himself was on the job, Revell would not put his hands on another female in IZW. Revell scoffed and said he would put his hands on anyone as he saw fit and walked away.

Finally during the main event between IZW Champion Michael Barry and Dexter Hardaway, Tommy Revell ran to the ring and attacked Barry. As Revell and Hardaway began working over Barry, Kenny Campbell made the save. Iles went down to the ring and said if the 4 of them wanted to beat the hell out of each other it was fine by him and turned into a tag team match that was eventually won by Barry & Campbell.

Iles has made an immediate impact in his new job. In his tenure as NWA Oklahoma/Universal commissioner, he took a no nonsense approach to the job. His early tenure as SWCW commissioner showed much of the same until his turn against Rick Garrett. Iles closed by saying "I had a problem with Rick Garrett plain and simple, and I took it upon myself to try to right the wrongs I felt he had perpetrated. But I can't stand idly by and let a power hungry fed owner like John Zorthos rule with an iron fist. I remembered what I said the first time I was in the NWA Oklahoma ring after being named commissioner. I said first and foremost I am a wrestling fan, and a wrestling fan was now in charge. Impact, Inc. needs to be put on notice. I will continue to do what is right for the fans. The Oklahoma Boxing Commission has put me in charge. I don't answer to Johnny Z. I am the boss whether he likes it or not."

Tags: IZW, John Zorthos, Impact Inc., Gary Tool, Mike Iles, NWA-OK, NWA-U, SWCW, Rick Garrett, Kenny Campbell, Brad Michaels, John O'Malley, Jesse Storm, Tommy Revell, Marianne Albright, Michael Barry, Dexter Hardaway