IZW & RPW Titles Unified on January 5
Greg DeMarco (The host of IZW Impulse)
A capacity crowd witnessed a history making even on January 5, 2008 at the Broadway Recreation Center in Mesa, Arizona as the NWA-Arizona championships were unified with the IZW championships in front o fa standing room only crowd. It couldn’t have been more fitting that the most important matches in Arizona wrestling history were contested in front of the most vocal crowd IZW or RPW ever witnessed.
The first unification match of the evening saw Arizona veterans Native Blood (Navajo Warrior & Ghostwalker) overcome the antics of the 602 Wrecking Crew (Jacob “The Riot” Herzberg & “The Irish Hand Grenade” Marty Murphy) to regain the IZW Tag Team championships and capture the vacant NWA-Arizona Tag Team titles. The rookies were impressive once again in the biggest match of either of their careers, but the veterans were too much for them to handle as Native Blood finished the evening with both tag team championships. Seeing Native Blood backstage, it was obvious they had been through a fight, and that this isn’t the last time they’ll have to deal with the 602 Wrecking Crew.
In the show’s main event, “XXX” Lawrence Tyler successfully defended the NWA-Arizona Heavyweight championship (a title that he has never lost since August 12, 2006 when he became the first ever NWA-Arizona champion), and regained the IZW World Heavyweight championship for a record 4th time when he pinned “The Hawaiian Lion” John Williams. Both men pulled out all the stops in this outrageous battle, as Lion took the action into the stands, hitting “XXX” with several Lion Chops amongst the crowd in the bleachers. LT didn’t hold back either, using brass knuckles to finish the IZW champion off and capture the two biggest titles in all of Arizona. If you thought Lawrence Tyler was difficult to deal with, his interview after the match proved that this is just the beginning for the Arizona’s unified heavyweight champion, who promises to be bigger, badder, and more in your face in 2008.
In other news, “The New York Giant” AJ Summers pinned “The Feature Presentation” Jay Garland by flying 15 feet across the ring with a frog splash to win the IZW Invitational Tournament final that also included “Everybody’s Favorite Brazilian” Antonio Mestre. For AJ, with just one year of active competition, this is a huge breakout win that will only propel him upward in his career in IZW. Lucha Reigns pinned Mucha Reigns following a Springboard Shirinui, forcing his former partner to unmask in front of all of the IZW faithful that once rooted for the young team as IZW Tag Team champions. Also, Lehi David Smith’s rant in the middle of the ring was interrupted by Redrum (TNA’s Rellik), who proceeded to destroy LDS, much to the delight of the sold-out Broadway Recreation Center.
Full results:
1. Johnny Dynamite defeated Country Bear
2. Skull & Bones (“Miracle” Mike James & Dread Pirate Bernie) beat Ryan Lynch & James Freeman
3. Erica D’Erico pinned Violet Flame
4. Redrum (TNA’s Rellik) demolished Lehi Davd Smith
5. Fearless Jack Bull’s promised stunt was interrupted by IZW Board of Director’s representative Strangler Steve King and and attack by “The Limited Edition” Tommy Drake
6. Lucha Reigns pinned Mucha Reigns in a Mask vs. Mask match, forcing Mucha to unmask
7. “The New York Giant” AJ Summers defeated “The Feature Presentation” Jay Garland and “Everybody’s Favorite Brazilian” Antonio Mestre in a 3-Way Dance to win the IZW Invitational Tournament
8. Native Blood (Navajo Warrior & Ghostwalker) defeated The 602 Wrecking Crew (Jacob “The Riot” Herzberg & “The Irish Hand Grenade” Marty Murphy) to unify the IZW and NWA Arizona Tag Team Championships
9. “XXX” Lawrence Tyler pinned “The Hawaiian Lion” John Williams to unify the IZW World and NWA-Arizona Heavyweight championships
All of the action, and so much more, will be covered in an upcoming episode of IZW Impulse, which can be seen at www.risingphoenixwrestling.com/impulse.html. For more information, visit www.impactzonewrestling.com. IZW returns to action Tuesday night, January 15th at The Sets in Tempe, Arizona.