All photos by Paul Stratoti

Complete results by IWC Play-by-Play Announcer & Media Correspondent Joe Dombrowski

IWC presented its fifth annual and most successful “Night of Legends” spectacular to date as an estimated 1500 fans literally packed Rocky Grove High School to nearly overflowing levels to watch on and celebrate the very best of professional wrestling’s past, present, and future.

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The legends bouts were plentiful and very crowd-pleasing, including the double-tough brawler from Glenns Falls, NY “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan assuming the three-point stance and crashing into the 747 and one-time Jive Soul Bro the ever-dangerous One Man Gang en route to victory.

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Former World Champion and WWE Hall of Famer Sgt. Slaughter dishonorably discharged the savage beast from the jungles of Uganda “The Ugandan Giant” Kamala by weakening him with the Cobra Clutch, and finishing the match with the Slaughter Cannon.

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Following the match, Slaughter got his hands on a very suspicious looking version of Kamala’s handler, Kimchee, who was unmasked to reveal… Chest Flexor?!?

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Flexor would return later in the night, claiming promoter Norm Connors forced him to don the Kimchee suit, and proceeded to issue an open challenge to anyone that wanted to wrestle him. Unfortunately, the man accepting that challenge was the Roughneck himself, “Total Protection” Mr. Hughes, who quickly and brutally disposed of Flexor.

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Twenty-four years ago, wrestling‘s original phenom, “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka and “Ace” Cowboy Bob Orton Jr. stood as corner men in the main event of the very first WrestleMania. Tonight, their war continued as the innovator of high-flying wrestling was able to defeat arguably the most technically sound competitor of his era using a variation of the Superfly Splash.

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The Patriot, the man who embodies and represents the spirit of every town and every man, woman, and child in the good ol’ USA defeated former bodyguard and New World Order member Virgil, with a little help from the local high school administrator whose wife Virgil had unwisely made several passes at before the match began.

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One year ago Lord Zoltan joined Abdullah the Butcher in a bloody brawl with “Wildfire” Tommy Rich and Lumberjack Leroux, and this year the battle continued as the 30+ year legend from Bourbon Street met the ax-wielding woodsman. Zoltan had struck up an alliance with J-Rocc, illegally assisting Zoltan numerous times, until wrestling’s original oddity, George “The Animal” Steele emerged to even the odds. Thanks to the distraction, Leroux was able to pick up a victory, and enjoy a post-match snack with Animal Steele in the form of, what else, but a turnbuckle.

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Beyond the legends, the IWC full-time roster had much unfinished business to handle as well. The major story being Shiima Xion once again doing the impossible, defeating “The Baddest Man In IWC” Ray Rowe to retain the IWC Championship.

This event was Shiima’s final contractual obligation with IWC before Xion officially leaves behind the politics and favoritism that cost him his title to begin with, and begins as a full-time member of the AAA promotion in Mexico. Shiima has stated before that if promoter Norm Connors wants his title back, he’ll have to come to Mexico to get it. What will the boss do to bring the IWC Championship back home?

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IWC Tag Champions Dave & Jake Crist, Irish Airborne, were opposed by Mickey & Marshall Gambino, who were upset over the means in which Airborne won the titles. No one appreciates a good fight more than the Gambinos, and they more than anyone, want to see things settled in the ring, not in the boardroom.

However, it wasn’t Norm Connors watching out for his “chosen ones” that led to the brothers Crist retaining the gold, it was the final nail in the coffin of “The Family” as sister Viki Gambino used a loaded purse to cost her relatives tag team supremacy. With Irish Airborne still champions, and Mickey & Marshall on their own for the first time in years, what is next in IWC’s unpredictable tag team division?

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Daizee Haze emerged victorious over “Scream Queen” Daffney in a small measure of revenge from January’s mixed tag match which saw Daffney’s partner, Sami Callihan, grab Haze from behind and drop her on the back of her neck. Delirious is currently set to face “The New Horror” May 15 at part of the historic Super Indy VIII weekend, will Daizee’s momentum carry into Super Indy or can Sami Callihan find another way to one up the man from the Edge of Sanity?

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“Fabulous” John McChesney defeated the 350+ pound confidante of Ray Rowe, Shane Taylor, despite the active presence of Rowe and Norm Connors at ringside. McChesney also had telling choice words for Norm, telling him “Norm didn’t make me, I made myself”. It’s clear that now, moreso than ever, the old John McChesney has returned, just in time for the very event that catapulted him to superstardom. Can John McChesney be the first man in history to win 2 Super Indy Tournaments as part of the biggest Super Indy ever?

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The final seed was filled for Super Indy 8 as the youngest and shortest reigning Super Indy champion ever Jason Gory defeated Super Indy 1 alumnus CJ Sensation. Gory joins the star-studded roster of Super Hentai, Colt Cabana, John McChesney, Delirious, Davey Richards, Christopher Daniels, Too Cold Scorpio, Justin Idol, Elijah Burke, Michael Façade, and Joey Ryan in the most competitive field ever seen. Can Gory find singles glory much like his BFF-teammate has done, and if not which of these twelve men will win this battle of attrition?

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Speaking of Michael Façade, a split-second miscue led to the degeneration of a newfound friendship. Façade and Logan Shulo gained mutual respect in their best of three series, but when Façade accidentally struck Shulo, Logan snapped, choosing to abandon the Suburban Terrorist and walk out of the match. From there, Façade was left two-on-one with the most decorated tag team dynasty in IWC history, Sexual Harassment, Eric Xtasy & Justin Idol, who were able to use an unfortunate situation to win the match, giving Idol momentum leading into Super Indy 8 with Eric Xtasy right behind him supporting him. What’s next for Shulo and Façade and how will Façade and Idol fare in Super Indy VIII?

The “Megastar” Marion Fontaine, and amply-mustached flamboyant individual who has made waves throughout Ohio and beyond, debuted against a man he’d crossed paths before, the Perpetual Pervert of Pittsburgh, “DeeeLicious” Jimmy DeMarco. Fontaine put up a fantastic battle, but the Pope of Grope’s roll as of late continued to grow, as he downed Fontaine with the C4.
And in a special unadvertised bonus, “Astonishing” Aaron Williams was able to defeat “The Messiah of a New Age” Dustin Rayz.

All photos by Paul Stratoti

Complete results by IWC Play-by-Play Announcer & Media Correspondent Joe Dombrowski

Commentary from Paul Stratoti

Strat: Welcome once again to IWC this time for Night of Legends V.

Virgil: “Old School is hot and that is why I am here today. One of the greats was unable to show up today and I was honored to have been requested by Promoter Norm Connors to return again this year for Night of Legends V.

Strat: Do you have a top wrestling memory?

Virgil: “Summer Slam ’92 when I beat Ted DiBiase has to be one of my highlight memories. Now I met DiBiase in 1986 and it was also the first time I ever saw Andre the Giant in person. He was a great individual.”

During this time one of the fans in attendance at the Press Conference asked Virgil of his opinion of Paul Wight otherwise known as the Big Show as a Giant compared to Andre.

As Virgil relaters: “The statistics speak for themselves. Andre was 7’4.5 and weighed at one point up to 560 pounds. He was a great individual. Every arena that Andre went to would sell out and there wouldn’t have been a Hulk Hogan if Andre wasn’t around.”

NOTE: Veteran wrestling fans may well remember that many wrestling reporters were claming that Big Show, previously known in WCW as Paul Wight the Giant was actually related to Andre, however it was soon discovered that in fact that was not the case and the correlation was soon dismissed.

George Steele: “This afternoon many fans have been asking me ‘What brings you?’ Well, this is what brought me here today.”

[Our Animal then extended his hand outward and waved his arm slowly back and forth indicating his answer as being the fans in the soon to be capacity crowd of enthusiastic IWC fans.

“You know, I was dyslexic in high school and that gave me the incentive to act mean and weird as my wrestling persona unfolded and I remember once throwing a man out of the ring 17 times.”

One fans asked him to relate some of his big wrestling memories.

“When I began my career I became good friends with Johnny DeFazio during which time I was feuding with Bruno Sammartino as the Student. While we were discussing a mainstream name Johnny said, “This is the Steel City. Let’s call you Jim Steele.” …  Soon George Steele was born…

“I remember drinking Crown Royal one night before I met the Lord. I had a scheduled match against Dean Ho…and I never made it to the ring.”

Another fan asked him why he was so smitten with Miss Elizabeth who was married at the time to Macho Man Randy Savage.

He replied with “Because my wife doesn’t do windows.” He then concluded his session with “God Bless every one of you!” after which he returned to the dressing room.

Superfly Jimmy Snuka was next for the Q & A when one fan recalled his amazing leaps.

Snuka: “I dove off of cliffs in training to dive off the turnbuckle.”

Another fan asked him about his current WWE feud with Chris Jericho:

Snuka: “Every WrestleMania is the Superfly’s main gimmick.. Jericho, pay back is a bitch, brother!”

Later Jim Duggan had his session where he answered a fan question about his beginning.

‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan: “While I was working the territories at the beginning of my career I was wrestling as Big Jim Duggan. One night Vince McMahon Sr. was watching me wrestle and he came up to me and said that he was impressed with me and said “Come up with something other than Big Jim and you’ll be invited to join us. The rest is history.”

One fan asked him if there is any wrestler that he would have liked to wrestle that he hasn’t after which he replied, “You know, 30 years ago this April I began my career. I would have loved to wrestle Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson. Yet, during my WCW days I wrestled Steve Austin when he wrestled as Stunning Steve and had hair.“I beat Steve so bad that he had to shave his head!”

During the matches I visited the merchandise table of www.HighSpots.com and was checking out their impressive collection of wrestling belts that they had for sale. As I spoke with Amber Gertner (the former wife of former ECW personality Joel Gertner) about those belts we spoke of the Cauliflower Alley Club. She states that she plans to be in Las Vegas in 2010 during which time CAC holds its 45th Anniversary.

Great site-thank you and GOD BLESS

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