TPI 2007 Night 2/Ibushi vs. Generico

Here we go, finishing up the 2007 Ted Petty Invitational.

1) Nigel McGuinness & BJ Whitmer vs. The Iron Saints for the IWA-Mid South Tag Team titles.
Nigel for some reason gets a tag title shot and he gets to choose a mystery partner. I still don't know why you'd bring in Nigel and have him lose in the first round. Nigel says he can't find a tag partner, so he'll fight on his own. But oh no! He's got a mystery partner... BJ WHITMER! Can BJ's streak of good matches continue? Doubt it. By the way, now he's got short blonde hair. BJ and Nigel are feuding outside the promotion, I guess. BJ wants to put their differences aside and win the titles. Why? Because winning the IWA-MS tag titles will get them bookings. Yeah, Nigel needs to win the presitigous IWA tag titles to get more bookings. Nigel says he's going to trust BJ. One of the Thomasellis (no clue which) now has a fauxhawk. So he passes up his awful long hair for a fauxhawk. I guess it's a step up. With that, Nigel's frosted tips, and BJ's new hair, this is a match full of bad hair. Nigel and Vito starting off. Vito's got the fauxhawk. Ben Jordan said BJ Whitmer's a regular in Pro Wrestling NOAH. Tell me that's a lie. Back and forth with both guys working each other's arms. Sal tags in, but Nigel rolls away. They're just doing pretty standard reversals and matwork here. BJ gets tagged in. BJ refuses a clean break and starts to chop Sal, not wanting to do any matwork like Nigel did. BJ tags Nigel in. Nigel with a clean break but he pays for it when Sal punches him. Butterfly suplex by Vito after Vito tags in. Headscissors, but Nigel handstands and gets out. Now Sal's in. Cobra clutch into the LARIATO~! Nigel really hit that fucker hard. BJ tags in and covers for 2. Chop battle turns to forearms from BJ. Spinebuster botch, and now a normal spinebuster. Nigel's back in. Big ol' uppercut. Nigel throws Sal out, and BJ heels it up with an illegal foot choke. Nigel gets a 2 count, and another, and a third. I want someone to do that spot and get a pin one day. Divorce court leg sweep. BJ's in and the challengers have targeted Sal's arm. Or not. BJ gave him a vertical suplex and now Nigel's uppercutting Sal on the outside. Back in the ring, BJ with a leg lariat. BJ tagged in Nigel, but Nigel didn't have the tag rope. BJ got angry, and Nigel grabbed the tag rope and tagged in. Clothesline and now Nigel with a keylock. Vito breaks that shit up. Randy Orton style chinlock now from BJ. Sal tries to fight out, but BJ knees him in the midsection and then gives him a traditional backbreaker. Nigel in. Backbreaker but Sal got the ropes. BJ back in and he's toying with Sal, slapping him around. Sal with chops, but BJ cuts him off. Back body drop, but Sal puts on the brakes, and gives him the swinging fisherman's suplex. GOLDEN GATE SWING as Ben Jordan says. Wasn't that what Alex Shelley named it? Vito gets the hot tag and rolls up BJ for 2. Not very hot as BJ just gave him a brainbuster and tagged out. Nigel with uppercuts and Tracy Smothers style double chops. Buncha elbows and the running uppercut, followed by a lariat. 2-count. Nigel goes for the Tower of London, but Sal's in. BJ throws Sal out of the ring. Vito's up top, cross body for 2. BJ charged on the outside and missed... some kind of attack on Sal. The Iron Saints go for a move, but BJ shoves Sal off the top. Now Vito takes the kick and lariat combo from Nigel but kicks out at 2. I've written way too much about this match. Forearm battle, lariat misses and Vito backslides Nigel for 2. BJ accidentally kicked Nigel. BJ with a powerbomb on Vito. BJ shoves Nigel, Nigel shoves him back. Nigel gives BJ the lariat. Brent Albright ran out and is beating up Nigel? I guess he's friends with BJ? Were they in the Hangmen's Three together? Iron Saints run off BJ and Albright. No contest ruling. Vito got on the mic, and basically said "hey, Nigel, you throw good clotheslines. You two want a challenge? We're right here." Sal said the same thing. BJ has a microphone. BJ tells Ian the next time he gets Brent and BJ together, to give them a title match.

2) Claudio Castagnoli vs. Mike Quackenbush vs. Chuck Taylor in the TPI final.
Here it is. Claudio beat Nigel, Davey Richards, and Brent Albright. Quack beat Billy Roc, Joey Ryan, and Josh Abercrombie. Chuck beat Jimmy Jacobs, (no longer 2 Cold) Scorpio, and Human Tornado. People love them some Claudio. Quack's coming out to a new song. No Tears for Fears = bullshit. Quack's doing a good job of selling how important this tournament is for him. Chuck's breaking out his blue and green tights. They say "1337" on the back. No clue why. No clue why I said he's wearing blue and green tights. Elimination style in case you didn't know. Both the Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight titles are on the line as well. This should be a fucking great match. Crowd's pretty split between Quack and Claudio. Chuck won the Heavyweight title at last year's TPI. So it's a milestone for him. Ian Rotten on commentary. Claudio and Quack starting off as Chuck watches. Claudio had a wrist lock so Chuck grabbed a rear waist lock. Claudio kicked Chuck in the ass. This is gonna be hard to call with all 3 going at it. Claudio with TWO front facelocks now. Chuck and Quack with arm wringers. Claudio rolls through and kips up. Sends the two into each other and now works over Quack on the mat. Quack sent into the corner, scaring off Chuck. Now Chuck with a arm wringer on Claudio. "Lightning Chuck Taylor" he says. Claudio throws him into the ring where Quack takes over. Claudio rolls up Quack for 2. Small package by Claudio on Chuck for 2. Quack with a headlock on Chuck, Claudio with a headlock on Quack. Claudio comes off the ropes with a crossbody to both men. Claudio sent to the outside by Quack. Now Quack and Chuck in there. Quack roll through into the half crab but Chuck gets the ropes. Claudio and Quack staredown. Ian puts over the Wrestle Factory. Quack with some cool arm drags and such on Claudio. Claudio sent to the outside again. Quack goes for the dive, but Chuck cuts him off with a dropkick. Chuck now with the big tope onto Claudio. Quack with a HUGE twisting dive off the top onto both opponents. Chuck cuts off Quack with a whiplash on the rope. Chuck in a headlock, working over Quack's injured and concussed head. Chuck rolls through with the guillotine now. Claudio's still on the outside. Chuck with a neat arm drag and he rolls through into a modified headscissors. Claudio gets back in and breaks up the hold. Chuck clotheslines Claudio back out. Chuck puts Quack on top, but Quack shoves him off. Claudio's in and hits a big step up enzuigiri. Chuck hits Spike Dudley's Acid Drop and then a big running Yakuza for 2. Sole Food misses and Claudio with an uppercut. Deadlift German suplex for 2. Claudio now gives Chuck the giant swing. Chuck gets the Sole Food and tries the Awful Waffle, but Claudio fights out. Quack is back in and gives Claudio an arm drag. Quack presses Chuck onto Claudio and sweeps Claudio's leg. Cool looking jackknife pin into a double pin but both guys kick out. Claudio with the Bicycle Kick on Chuck. Claudio went for a powerbomb but Quack got him with the hurricanrana for 2. Quack off the top with a dragon rana but Claudio catches him and hits the Ricola Bomb, but QUACK KICKS OUT. Quack with the palm strike and a botched QD3. Now Quack with the QD2 and he eliminates Claudio. Chuck rolls up Quack and grabs the tights for 2. Brainbuster by Chuck but another 2 count. Chuck hits the enzuigiri and then a moonsault off the top, but Quack moves. Quack goes for the QD3, and he hits it perfectly, but Chuck gets out. Now Quack with an STF, except a full nelson instead of a facelock. Chuck gets the ropes. Quack goes for the running palm stirke, but Chuck got the boots up. Awful Waffle, QUACK KICKS OUT. Fans pop HUGE for that. Chuck goes for the corner assisted Awful Waffle. No. Super Awful Waffle, but Quack gets out and tries a sunet flip powerbomb. Chuck hangs on, but Quack gets him out and hits the powerbomb. Now the Chikara Special. CHUCK TAPS. Mike Quackenbush overcomes the concussion and wins the TPI as well as the Heavyweight title. Quack's selling this as a huge victory. "Thank you, Quack" chant. Eddie Kingston comes out with Ian Rotten. King gives him a hug. Bryce does the same. Ian puts him over. Quack thanks the fans and says 2007 was a great year for him. Getting married, the King of Trios success, winning the NWA Jr. title, going to Japan for the first time. Thanks the fans, puts over Ted Petty.

All in all, a pretty good tournament. Not the best, but the right guy won, and there was some pretty good wrestling throughout. What more can you ask for?

Switching gears. My last match before I hit the hay.

3) Kota Ibushi vs. El Generico
Haven't seen this yet, but I heard it was great, and after seeing their interactions in the Rey de Voladores 4-way, I have to see this. This was Kota's fourth match in ROH after wrestling Davey, Claudio, and then tagging with Aries against the Briscoes. God the audio quality in ROH is so awful. There should also be an option to turn off commentary. Code of Honor followed. Lock up and Ibushi with a clean break. Generico wants none of Ibushi's kickboxing stance. Generico tries a takedown but Ibushi gets control. Generico out. Ibushi now with arm control. Clean break in the ropes by Generico. Ibushi wins the test of strength. Now Generico trips up Ibushi and puts him in a headlock. Shoulder tackle from Generico, but a big dropkick from Ibushi. Hard kick from Ibushi. Snapmare and another hard kick. Stike combination from Ibushi, goes for the kick but Generico ducks. Moonsault but Generico gets the knees up. Generico in control with a leg lariat for 2. Generico with the big springboarde into the crossbody for 2, keeping on the attack. Generico with the slam and the split legged moonsault. That's a great move. Forearm exchange. Generico wins, but he runs into an Ibushi hurricanrana. Ibushi with a running kick as he fights back. Generico catches him with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker to stop Ibushi's momentum. Generico goes up top but Ibushi with the carthweel into the big moonsault kick. Ibushi hops over onto the outside turnbuckles with the moonsault. Generico tried to come into the ring by slingshotting himself in but Ibushi gave him a DDT. Rolling solebutt, goes for the kick but Generico moves. Ibushi with a twisting senton. Generico Blue Thunder powerbomb for 2. Running Yakuza but Ibushi gets the boot up. Ibushi runs into a nasty Michinoku Driver. Running Yakuza from Generico but Ibushi hangs onto the foot. Big roundhouse kick from Ibushi, runs into a Generico boot. Generico big boot but Ibushi with the kip up dodge, high kick, German suplex. Ibushi went up top, Generico cut him off and went for the top rope brainbuster. Ibushi shoved him off and went for the moonsault. Generico moved so Ibushi hit the standing moonsault. YAKUZA IN THE CORNER. Generico made it count. Flying splash connects but only 2 for Generico. Brainbuster, but Ibushi gets out and hits the spinning kick. Palm strike cuts off Ibushi. Top rope brainbuster attempt, Ibushi out and tries the sunset flip powerbomb. Generico lands on his feet and hits the basement dropkick. Running Yakuza hits again. Generico with the top rope brainbuster attempt. Ibushi super reverse rana only gets 2. Ibushi up top. Phoenix Splash for the win. I didn't expect the win there for Ibushi after he lost his first 3 matches. Pretty great finishing stretch there. "Please come back" chant. Generico doesn't give Ibushi a post-match handshake at first, but later caves.

That's it, everybody. Tomorrow? We'll see.