Jimmy Jacobs vs Delirious (IWA MS, 9-17-2004)

IWA Mid-South Ted Petty Invitational, Highland, IN

This is a non-tournament ladder match for the vacant IWA Mid-South light heavyweight title. These two had met on Aug. 21 in Highland, going to a double pin. They were both set to be in the TPI proper, but withdrew to do this instead. The replacements were Super Dragon and someone else, I forget who it was, but Super Dragon alone made everyone happy despite losing two regular stars from the field.

Jacobs has tights with one pant leg, and a fella in the crowd, he goes — this fuckin guy, you can’t make this up — he goes, “Zach Gowen wants his tights back!”

Wrestling fans, I swear, makes you wonder why they aren’t ALL stand-up comedians instead of just like 8 of them.

Once the Hardys, Edge, and Christian fully revolutionized the ladder match in ’99, it was pretty clear there was only so much you could creatively do with it, with the jumping and the springboarding and all this. Jimmy Jacobs knew that very well by ’04, so Jacobs pretends he’s gonna do something flying with it, and then just picks it up and chucks it at Delirious’ head.

But Jimmy does put himself in the ladder, more or less, and use the top of it as a running battering ram, answering the eternal question, “What if The Bushwhackers had done a ladder match?” And it is good.

Both break out spikes, and Jacobs gets both and jabs them into Delirious’ head. Jimmy tears the mask open and Delirious is bleeding. Delirious hits Shadows Over Hell from the top of the ladder, which referee Tommy Thompson rightly gets in there to hold still, as neither it nor the ring are exactly TV grade.

They really try to do some fun stuff here, but the crowd keep taking me out of it; too many fuckin’ comedians doing their yuk-yuks at everything these guys do. Delirious sometimes did some comedy stuff, and Jacobs had been half a comedy wrestler before, but Jacobs was really trying to transition into being taken more seriously and this match is not worked for laughs at all. But indie fans of this time had a bad habit of taking forever to change with the act(s).

The tone of everyone changes on a spot where Jacobs goes for a flying back senton from the top of the crappy little ladder inside the ring, out to the floor on Delirious, who is laid out on a table. Jacobs slips on the jump, I’m guessing because there is simply not enough room for him to have gotten proper footing, and crashes down across the top rope, tumbling to the apron and then the floor. If you were right in front of where they were and could see it all, it was a scary moment. If you were where I was, just seeing Jimmy take that fall from the opposite side, the concern was huge immediately. It was ugly.

But Jacobs is luckily OK, says fuck that, gets back into the match, and hits the senton through the table he meant to, this time from the top rope to the floor. Everyone is fired up about Jimmy’s resilience.

The finish comes not long after, and it’s pretty cool. With Jacobs climbing the ladder and reaching for the suspended belt, Delirious flies off the top and dropkicks the ladder, but Jacobs hangs on to the hook, gets the belt loose, and drops down to the ring with it for the win.

The match is fun enough, and The Botch has no major impact on my rating. It’s really more the crowd that keep me from going any higher here. Also I’ve seen everything you can do in a ladder match and already had by 2004, too, for what it’s worth, and while I like both of these guys, a ladder can also be limiting if you’re not particularly good with the ladder.

Rating: 3/5