The Independent Mid-Card 07.31.07: Castagnoli vs. Tank

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Tank
Fight Sports Midwest – Chapter 1 – Portage, IN – March 17, 2007

The Wrestlers:
Fight Sports Midwest – An offshoot of NWA Midwest, Fight Sports Midwest is based in Portage, Indiana, an extended suburb of the Chicagoland area. With the announcement of its very first card, FSM made clear that it was going to put on big matches featuring some of the top talent on the United States Independent scene. Major players like Austin Aries, Samoa Joe and Eddie Kingston would mix with up-and-coming talent like Tyler Black, Josh Abercrombie and the Iron Saints to create a super card-like atmosphere. Familiar stars from promotions like Ring of Honor, IWA Mid-South and CHIKARA would help put the new company on the map as a potential player in Independent professional wrestling.

Claudio Castagnoli – Known affectionately as “The Most Money Making Man”, Switzerland’s Claudio Castagnoli has been one of the true rising talents of the Independent scene over the past few years. A student of Chris Hero, Castagnoli has teamed with his mentor across the country as the Kings of Wrestling, dominating tag team competition in countless promotions. Having been a major player in both Ring of Honor and CHIKARA, Castagnoli is also known for his work in Combat Zone Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and IWA Mid-South. Though he had spent much of the last year-and-a-half as a heel in Ring of Honor, by this point Claudio was starting to earn back the fans’ respect. It was unclear entering this first Fight Sports Midwest show which persona Claudio would be using.

Tank – A noted powerhouse, Tank is recognized for his hardcore and strong style tendencies as well as his enormous size. Primarily a part of the IWA Mid-South roster, Tank has competed in almost every sort of death match imaginable, often using weapons in tandem with his strength to put away smaller opponents. Interestingly, though Tank usually has both height and weight advantages on his opponent, Claudio Castagnoli is one of the few Independent stars who stands taller than “The Strong Style Psycho”.

The Match:
I’ve Got to Have It hits and Claudio Castagnoli busts through the curtain. He wears his customary suit and is carrying his trusty briefcase. Clearly working as a face, Claudio invites continued applause from the crowd and moves swiftly into the ring. He is in the process of removing his suit when Tank’s music hits and we’re joined by “The Strong Style Psycho”. Tank wears a bizarre, but imposing mask to the ring, with leather straps holding the black-and-white skull image to his face. Ring announcer Joey Eastman announces the match for one-fall with a twenty minute time limit and introduces each man in succession. For those of you who don’t yet appreciate the weight difference in this matchup, Claudio is announced at 234 pounds (which is relatively sizeable for an Independent wrestler) while Tank weighs in at 384 pounds. Tank gets a solid ovation of his own and is checked by referee Bryce Remsburg. Remsburg audibly calls for the bell and we’re off.

Both men circle and Tank forces Claudio to the corner on a lockup. He grants a clean break without incident and we get another lockup. This time, Tank has a bit more trouble forcing Claudio to the corner, but eventually succeeds again. Another call for a clean break is heeded and Claudio does a few squats to get over the challenge of taking on a competitor of Tank’s size. On the third lockup, Claudio grabs a wristlock and then turns it into a double hammerlock before swinging Tank around into a headlock. Tank sends Claudio off the ropes to break and neither man budges on a shoulderblock collision. Tank challenges Claudio to try again, but the results remain the same. Claudio decides he needs to prepare better, so he does a few pushups and then some more squats before running the ropes again. This time, however, he stops short of the shoulderblock and reapplies the headlock. Claudio segues into a wristlock and then puts Tank in an awkward modified Octopus Stretch. Claudio has a tough time keeping the hold on due to Tank’s size and eventually Tank just walks over to the ropes to break things up. Claudio keeps trying to pull Tank off the ropes during the referee’s count, but is barely able to budge the big man.

Claudio backs off and scratches his head, literally trying to figure out a reasonable strategy to attack Tank. Both men move in for another lockup and this time Claudio finds a way to hop onto Tank’s back, first looking to apply a sleeper hold and then switching things up to grab a mounted overhand wristlock of sorts. It’s all for nothing, however, as Tank calmly walks back over to the ropes and grabs them with his free hand to force another break. Claudio hops off of Tank’s back and moves away again.

Claudio circles around Tank, but gets caught with a straight right when he moves in for a lockup. Claudio responds with a pair of dropkicks, but they barely faze Tank. Claudio goes for a bodyslam, but that works out about as well as you’d expect and Tank (after mockingly patting Claudio on the back) just drops Castagnoli with a clubbing forearm. Tank tosses Claudio out to ringside and then hops out himself. Tank chops Claudio against the guardrail and then gets a forearm shot and another chop to continue the assault. Claudio tries to fight back with some shots to the midsection, but Tank no-sells them and goes to the eyes to counter. Tank sits Claudio in a ringside char and after a forearm shot just levels him with a quartet of stiff headbutts. Tank, thinking that’s enough to gain a clear advantage, rolls Claudio back into the ring.

Back inside, Tank kicks a kneeling Claudio in the ribs and then snapmares him into a stiff kick to the back. Tank hits a series of crossface forearms and then poses for a bit as Claudio sells the damage. Claudio tries to come back with some kneeling headbutts to Tank’s gut, but they don’t do much damage and Tank clobbers Claudio with a kneelift. Tank drops Claudio with a big headbutt and then grabs a surfboard stretch. Claudio tries to power out, so Tank releases and grabs Claudio’s hair, using it to slam him backwards into the mat. Tank locks in a rear chinlock, but Claudio begins to work his way to his feet. Claudio tries to elbow out, but Tank again uses Claudio’s hair to drop him down to the mat. Another stiff kick to the back follows and Tank picks up Claudio, forcing him into the corner. Claudio gets whipped cross corner and hit with a running forearm shot that drops him down to the mat. Tank goes back across the ring and comes running with a flipping senton splash that absolutely splats Claudio into the corner. Tank pulls Claudio away from the ropes and covers for a two count. That’s the first pinfall attempt of the match.

Tank chokes away at Claudio on the mat, but releases before the referee’s count reaches five. Another choke follows, but when Tank releases and goes for an elbowdrop, Claudio is able to roll out of the way. Tank goes for another elbowdrop, but Claudio moves again. Claudio comes off the ropes with a clothesline, but still can barely move Tank. Another clothesline gets the same result, but on the third attempt, Claudio ducks a clothesline from Tank and rebounds off the ropes only to get caught with an uranage backbreaker that gets two. Tank goes to the corner and climbs to the second rope, but Claudio catches him on the way down with a European uppercut that finally drops the big man to the mat for the first time.

Both men are down and the referee begins to count. They make it to their feet before he reaches four and begin to exchange forearms. Claudio starts to get the advantage and begins to hit a series of European uppercuts. Claudio hits a roaring European uppercut and then ducks a clothesline from a wobbly Tank. Claudio hits a European uppercut to the back of Tank’s head and then springboards off the second rope into a final European uppercut that puts Tank down for the three count at 7:50. It takes about five seconds for the bell to ring, so that time is a little longer than it actually took Claudio to get the win. Claudio gets his arm raised by Remsburg and rolls out to ringside to celebrate as we cut out.

The Analysis:
Well, though the ending was rather abrupt, they certainly told a solid story for an under eight minute match. Claudio, who normally has little trouble out-muscling an opponent, was in an unfamiliar position with Tank and had to gameplan on the fly when his normal efforts didn’t get the job done. He had to rely on his speed and stamina to outlast his larger, slower opponent, and wait for an opportunity to hit a flurry of strikes. It’s notable that Claudio hit barely a handful of moves and was still able to put Tank down, relying on the series of European uppercuts to do the damage needed.

Tank is an interesting performer, as he actually works more quickly and efficiently than most larger competitors do. He knew he was stronger and tried to use that to his advantage, smartly working Claudio over at ringside and trying to bait him into trading strikes. That said, Tank was clearly out-classed in the ring here against the more talented and experienced Castagnoli. I’m curious what a longer match would have looked like, with Claudio needing to use a longer sequence to put such a large and resilient opponent away. While I’m not sure that Tank could have gone all that much longer in the ring, it certainly would have been more realistic for Claudio to have to hit more than a series of strikes to win the match. It’s unclear how fair it is to expect the fans to believe that even though it took almost six minutes for Claudio to so much as drop Tank to his knees, that a bunch of forearms would be able to knock Tank quite that silly.

The Aftermath:
Fight Sports Midwest ran its second show, entitled Chapter 2, a couple of months after this show, but has yet to run a third show as of this writing. The company had been preparing to run Chapter 3 in Midlothian, Illinois (one of the homes of IWA Mid-South) on August 3, 2007, but it seems at this point that the show has been postponed indefinitely due to unforeseen circumstances.

Tank has continued his work for IWA Mid-South, including a continuing series of bloody death matches against the likes of Ian Rotten, Axl Rotten and Mickie Knuckles. In May, Tank lost a shot at Chuck Taylor’s IWA Mid-South World Championship. Tank is scheduled to participate in a pair of hardcore matches at the upcoming IWA Mid-South shows, including a High Impact Tables Match on August 5, 2007.

Claudio Castagnoli did not appear on FSM’s Chapter 2, but has continued his work for Ring of Honor where he has continued to gain momentum as a fan favorite. Though he was unable to win the ROH World Tag Team Titles from Jay & Mark Briscoe in a trio of attempts so far this Summer (once teaming with former partner Chris Hero and twice pairing up with Matt Sydal), he did earn a title shot at ROH World Champion Takeshi Morishima which will take place during the company’s upcoming Death Before Dishonor V weekend. Also, as was mentioned in the opening of this column, Claudio won last week’s inaugural Race to the Top Tournament, besting El Generico in the Finals after having defeated former partner Matt Sydal as well as Mike Quackenbush and Jack Evans. It seems as if the sky is the limit for Claudio after this most recent accomplishment, as he now stands ready to step in as one of ROH’s marquee performers.

The Final Word:
I’ve watched both of the Fight Sports Midwest shows since they arrived late last week and have really enjoyed both of them. Though they’re not as consistently excellent as the better ROH shows are, they are a great example of what the Independent scene is all about. Between the two shows, fans get a great look at many of the biggest stars in all of Independent wrestling, giving the uninitiated a chance to see competitors like “Lightning” Mike Quackenbush, “The Last of a Dying Breed” Eddie Kingston, and “The Anarchist” Arik Cannon all in one place at one time. If someone was interested in seeing a true Independent wrestling experience, these would be amongst the best shows to share with them.

If you’d like to see this week’s match, Fight Sports Midwest’s Chapter 1 is available at smartmarkvideo.com. The card features a main event match between Samoa Joe and Eddie Kingston as well as Josh Abercrombie taking on former ROH World Champion Austin Aries in a first time ever matchup. Also on the show is the showdown between Figure 4 Weekly’s Bryan Alvarez and “Sweet ‘n Sour” Larry Sweeney. That match in particular generated a large internet buzz earlier in the year, as Sweeney goaded former in-ring competitor Alvarez out of retirement for one final match.

While you’re here at 411 this week, be sure to check out some of our other great columns. Ari has Column of Honor, Stu has a possible new format for Friendly Competition, and Bayani has an abnormally large number of pictures of scantily clad women in Truth B Told. There’s also Buy or Sell featuring Michael Bauer and Brad Garoon as well as last week’s ROH Roundtable. Wilcox is handling Why I Love Wrestling this week with Jordan out of town, and I’ll actually be taking care of things for that column next week. Adamson has Destiny and you should be sure to check that one out as well.

As for me, I’m going to go finish recovering from the weekend, but if you’re curious, the bachelor party short form goes like this:

Arrive in Philadelphia, wait for Matt, dinner with Matt, Brian & Jeremy, dominate trivia game, make ridiculous comment about sorority girls, lose to Jeremy at newfangled Golden Tee, listen to borderline racist commentary while eating ice cream, begin use of ‘This is what men do!’ catchphrase, boldly say I’ll ride an exercise bike for a half-inning of Braves vs. Diamondbacks, back out of bet due to Braves’ incompetence, sleep, eat bagels, throw football (twice), go bowling, purchase booze for the trip, purchase Big League Chew for the trip, go to Wawa, go to get water ice, Phillies vs. Pirates, purchase shot glasses, continue to work ‘This is what men do!’ catchphrase, drive to Atlantic City, get detoured due to massive accident, beat Matt at p’diddle 4-3, arrive at Borgata, wander around, lose some money on wacky pseudo-Wheel of Fortune game, the rest of the group arrives, pregame in the suite, drunkenly toast Matt, meet Dr. J in the lobby, win some money at craps (possibly apocryphal), lose some money at craps (possibly apocryphal), drink more, eat for first time since Wawa at 4am, drunken poker tournament begins, lose in 3rd place in drunken poker tournament, sleep for 3 hours, quickly shower and leave Borgata, drink water, drink more water, drive through ‘wrath of the lord’ rainstorm, drink more water, vainly continue to work ‘This is what men do!’ catchphrase, arrive back in Philadelphia, try to segue into ‘Big League Chew’ catchphrase, fail, watch Shark Week, Stacy arrives, hug Stacy, mock Stacy, mock Matt & Stacy, throw football again, mock Stacy some more, drive Matt to train station, jointly mock Matt & Stacy with Jeremy, plan wacky rehearsal dinner roast, see Matt off, get lost in New Jersey thanks to Jeremy’s directional incompetence, finally arrive back in Philadelphia, sushi, get gas, go back to the house, mock Stacy some more, sleep, shower, head to airport, wait for plane to arrive, continue to wait, wait a while longer, get on plane, sit on runway for a long time, continue to wait on plane, finally take off and head home.

Couldn’t have been a better weekend. Love you Matty. Let me know if you’re ever in Costa Rica.

For the rest of you, have a good week and keep a look out for Why I Love Wrestling this weekend. Next week this column will be back as usual, though I have no idea what we’ll be doing. Until then, keep making moves and remember that THIS IS WHAT MEN DO!