• Look Back In History
• Pmessages
• Quiz
• Stump The Staff
• Top Fifty
• Close

Ringing in the New Year Right!

Posted: Jan 10th 2008 By: IZW Staff

January 5th, 2008 was IZW?s first show of the New Year and a chance to show why they were voted Federation of the Year two years in a row by the fans in Oklahoma and they did not disappoint.

IZW had their largest crowd to date at the Impact Arena this past Saturday, and they put on a show that will not be forgotten this New Year by the fans. It all started with IZW Tag Team Champion John Zorthos and Brad Michaels interrupting Jesse Storm?s opening announcements to come to the ring and boast about Impact, Inc.?s presence in IZW from the beginning and what the New Year would surely bring for them and to explain Michaels loss to IZW Impact Division Champion Kenny Campbell the previous week as collusion between Mike Iles and Campbell, only to be cut off themselves when IZW Commissioner Mike Iles showed up on the Zorthotron 420 with a message for Impact, Inc. He stated that all Brad Michaels did with his whining was lose his rematch against Campbell for that night and got himself put into a match with Striker, he then told Johnny Z that he would defend the IZW Tag Team Titles that night WITH or WITHOUT a partner and then wished Impact Inc. a Happy New Year.

After the exciting announcements the crowd was ready for some action and the first match was upon us, it would be Dexter Hardaway returning from a one week suspension for attacking Dustin Heritage and putting him out of action, taking on Se7en in a #1 Contenders match for the Impact Division title in what was a very competitive match, it would end seemingly normal as Dexter picked up a victory after a back and forth match between the two, but then after it was over Dexter decided to attack Se7en as he had Dustin Heritage two weeks earlier after a victory, this time he would go even further, after laying Se7en out he retrieved a chair from ringside and hit Se7en twice as he lay motionless in the middle of the ring. No one knows exactly what is going on with Dexter but he seems determined to simply hurt people, the question is, What is Mike Iles going to do about it?

Next, on the Zorthotron 420 we would see Johnny Z going around the locker room looking for a tag team partner to help him out that night, first, he approached former IZW Tag Team Champion Kenny Campbell, after trying to persuade him all Kenny could do was laugh uncontrollably as he left the room, then Johnny Z noticed Brian Grimm and went over to try and convince him this could be his big opportunity in IZW only to have Grimm state that his grandmother was ill and he needed to take her some soup, Johnny Z then ran into Dexter Hardaway who everyone thought would be game by the crowds response only to have Dexter inform Johnny Z that no one in the locker room liked him and he was on his own, as Dexter left the area Johnny Z seemed to have a moment of insight about his actions towards others, but just as quickly resorted to his old self and claimed he would figure it out as always.

The following match would be Brad Michaels vs. Striker and it was a classic, from the opening bell these two would take it to each other, it started out fast and hard and quickly became a brutal battle of two time tested veterans who both tried to inflict as much pain as possible on each other, Michaels would eventually gain the upper hand on Striker and this is when things got hairy, Nathan Sensation who has to be Striker?s student for 4 weeks after a loss to him at "Chaotic Christmas", decided to get involved on his teacher?s behalf only to have his plan backfire when he inadvertently laid out Striker and got himself superkicked in the throat by Brad Michaels, afterwards Brad simply covered the unconscious Striker and picked up the 1-2-3. What would Striker?s reaction be when he woke up.

Next, Jesse Storm was informing the crowd about the different awards won by IZW talent in the Oklafan Year End Fan Awards, he stated Brad Michaels had won Most Hated, Marianne Albright was Woman of the Year, IZW had won Federation and Website of the year, but upon announcing that Michael Barry had won Wrestler of the Year and Most Popular, the now familiar music of the new IZW Champion Tommy Revell came over the speakers, he and Marianne Albright then proceeded to come to the ring and talk about Michael Barry being old news and that obviously 2008 would be Tommy Revell?s year seeing as how he had rid IZW of the parasite Michael Barry and he was now the IZW Champion, telling the crowd to get used to it because it wasn?t going to change anytime soon.

After all of this, the next match up was John O?Malley vs. a returning Black Mamba 5, this match was just another example of how good John is as he controlled the match from the beginning picking up an easy victory. On his way to the back however, John was assaulted by Brad Michaels yet again, but this time things would be a little different, after Michaels threw John back into the ring, the Juggernaut John O?Malley would turn things around, laying a barrage of punches on Michaels then tossing him back out of the ring to the delight of the crowd.

After intermission the ZorthoTron 420 showed us Striker giving Nathan Sensation a lesson as to why cheap under handed tactics won?t get you anywhere good in wrestling, using the events of his match earlier in the night as piece of evidence #1. He told Nathan to go out and win the Impact Division Title from Kenny Campbell tonight?. The Right Way!

Now it was time for Nathan Sensation vs. Kenny Campbell with the Impact Division Title on the line. The match was hard hitting from the beginning as Kenny hit Nathan with various power moves, Nathan tried to restrain from using dirty tactics but when this did not work he used them to gain the advantage, towards the end of the match after hitting Kenny with a top rope DDT Nathan went to get a chair and make sure of the win and that was it for Striker, as he came out of the curtain asking Nathan what he was doing, Nathan turned his attention to Striker and when he turned back around he was greeted with a Falcon?s Arrow from Kenny Campbell, your winner and still IZW Impact Division Champion Kenny Campbell!

The main event was here and the crowd was ready to see Johnny Z get beat up trying to defend the Tag Team Titles on his own. After The New Age Syndicate and Johnny Z were all in the ring, the bell was about to sound and we once again heard the music of the IZW Champion Tommy Revell. He and Marianne Albright came to the ring and he was Johnny Z?s partner, after a brief promo explaining why he chose to help Johnny Z the two blindsided The Syndicate gaining a brief advantage quickly reversed by a double clothesline from Shawn Sanders before Tommy gained the advantage on Shawn, after the referee missed two tags by Shawn while being distracted Shawn finally made the tag to Scott, after two double back body drops it looked like we might have new Tag Team Champions, but in the end Johnny Z and Tommy regained the advantage, hit Shawn with a double DDT and retained the belts for Impact Inc.

It was a great start to a New Year at IZW this past Saturday Night, this week will be just as good if not better. We?ll see all the IZW Heavyweight and Impact Division Titles defended again, will Mike Iles have something to say Dexter Hardaway and will another chapter in the feud between John O'Malley and Brad Michaels be written this week? Come out this Saturday, January 12th to the Impact Arena in Oklahoma City and find out!

Tags: IZW, John Zorthos, Brad Michaels, Jesse Storm, Kenny Campbell, Mike Iles, Striker, Dexter Hardaway, Dustin Heritage, Se7en, Brian Grimm, Nathan Sensation, Marianne Albright, Michael Barry, Tommy Revell, John O'Malley, Black Mamba 5, New Age Syndicate