IWF 5/27/1993 - The Best of the IWF

IWF 5/27/1993 - The Best of the IWF

The IWF was Eddie Mansfield's promotion taped from Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. It seems like it was on some regional sports channels in the Florida area in the early 90's and I don't believe it was on that long. I've never seen it, so this is new to me as well.

"Welcome wrestling fans to another action packed hour of the Best of the IWF"

"I've taken the 13th step of the 13th pyramid, I've chewed upon the beetlenut and I've ate the cosmic cookie, but in all my days, I remember most when I was tied upon the tree of woe and the lady of the lake would not let me go." - Nasty Ronnie

"Do you get it? The New Demoltion." - Demolition Blast

"New pain, new fury and new problems for all of you in the IWF" - Demolition Blast

"We're not here to enjoy Universal Studios. We're not here to have fun.  We're here because Nasty Ronnie brought us here for a purpose - that's to clean up the IWF and we're gonna start that by getting rid of Tinkerbell and Lightfoot." - Demolition Ax

"You're paying us to do a task and we do it better than anybody else. You're paying us to hurt people. We do that good." - Demolition Ax

Odessa Slim vs Java Ruuk

"Java Ruuk, big 320 pounder from the Sudan"

"Whether you black, white, green or purple, it don't matter. Everyone loves Odessa." - The announcers

"A small taste of Mo. You see that black pad right there? That's the elbow."

Java Ruuk just randomly takes a bump

The finish

Odessa Slim beat Java Ruuk with a 1993 version of the people's elbow. Oh this was bad. Odessa Slim was doing a Dusty Rhodes tribute to Dusty's lesser known gimmick Uvalde Slim. This was all Dusty mannerisms here and he didn't quite pull it off like Dusty did. Java was either drunk or just plain clueless and he legit took a bump from just standing on the apron.

"High flyin' rock and roll action coming to these area's - New York, New Jersey, Texas, Florida, Georgia and many more."

Not a single date nor arena nor place to buy tickets listed for any of these upcoming events by the way.

"It's time to quit talkin' boys and start fightin'." | "We don't have a thing to prove to ya, you gotta prove it to us." - Demolition Ax

Rob Van Dam vs Pat Powers

"Very charming and introspective man, but he is deadly." - Kevin Kelly

"He's a highflyer man and he just gets down and boogies." - Eddy Mansfield

The finish

Rob Van Dam got the win here in a squash with a split legged moonsault. RVD wasn't a bad face at all here and was likeable, but hadn't quite morphed into his ECW mode yet. Interesting to see him substitute some of his flashier stuff for dropkicks and crossbodies.

"Chubby MC, you stole my belt, geek. I'm gonna kick your teeth in the next time we get in the ring." - The Nuclear Assassin

"Chubby MC, you might have taken the wrestling world by storm, but I know one other place you've taken by storm and that's the food buffet at any food court in any mall around." - Nasty Ronnie | "You know Chubby MC, you think I'm gonna hit and quit in the IWF, well I'm gonna stay and play."

"I hate rap music and I hate Chubby MC." - Demolition Ax | "I'm gonna rid the IWF of that fat rapper."

I believe this is Ax's 3rd promo in 17 minutes. I love the guy, but it's enough at this point.

IWF Tag Team Champions Thunder and Lightning vs Nuclear Assassin and Buck Quartermain

I don't know if I liked or hated this

"You'll get a nosebleed being up that high." - Mansfield

The finish

Thunder and Lightning got the win with a flying shoulder block off the top. All squash here and it was fine. T&L looked alright and the announcers put them over hard.

"When you book a match between Ax and Blast and Thunder and Lightning for the gold, it'll sell out any arena in the world."

Ax is now on his fourth promo of the show.

The Possessor vs Chris "The Doctor" Proctor

Nothing screams tough guy quite like a 50 year old with an earring and leather chaps.

Elvis is your referee

Nasty Ronnie comes in and gets DQ'd

Chris "The Doctor" Proctor beat the Possessor via DQ when Nasty Ronnie jumped in. Afterwards, Proctor nailed Ronnie and hit the Possessor with a chair. It was only a few minutes long but was fine for what was it. Not much more to say really.

They went back to the announcers and they basically put it over like the Possessor beat up Proctor and that clearly wasn't the case. I think they used the wrong film.

Ax is now on his 5th promo of the show

IWF World Television Champion Chubby M.C. vs Orlando Perez

LOL even his opponent dances

"This man is a party waiting to happen all over the country."

"Orlando Perez is just about done."

"Up and down as he drops the base."

Chubby M.C. won with a nice Samoan drop. Quick squash here and Chubby wasn't that bad at all.

The Nuclear Assassin accused Chubby M.C. of stealing food from the buffet and then walking out without paying.

Ax then cut his 6th promo of the show.

Kevin Kelly met up with the Blues Brothers:

He wanted to find Chubby MC and they said he wasn't around right now.

They then asked him to go hunt babes.

Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs Joe Bruce

Greg won in no time with a back suplex, lots of elbows and a figure four.

"We're not leaving studio grounds. We're moving into the psycho house and kicking out Norman Bates." - Demolition Ax

Ax's 7th and final promo of the show. Some say he's still cutting promos for this show today.. He called Odessa Slim "Mr. Slim Jim".

Overall thoughts: The squashes weren't that bad or anything, but the Kevin Kelly segment was dumb and the heels did way too much talking in between promos here. It totally wore me out on Ax for a while. There's no need to see this show and nothing was great or stood out. I'm not sure if this was different than the usual shows since this was a best of or not sadly.