Danny Daniels vs Rainman (IWA MS, 9-18-2004)

IWA Mid-South Ted Petty Invitational, Highland, IN

NOW we begin the second round of the actual tournament. My God. 2003 TPI winner Daniels beat Todd Sexton in round one, while Rainman scored a notable upset over NWA-TNA star Chris Sabin.

After a series of collar-and-elbow tie-ups prove basically fruitless in providing anyone with an advantage, Rainman decides he’s done with collar-and-elbow tie-ups, and punches Daniels in the face after pretending he was ready to lock it up square again. Now that’s a good wrestling move.

Daniels getting a couple of tough draws in terms of crowd reaction in this tournament, two NWA Wildside guys most of the crowd aren’t familiar with at all. But this one gets a better spot than the Sexton match did, and Daniels is being a lot more colorful here.

Rainman busts out some of his Power Plant offense and does a cool cobra/camel clutch hybrid. Rainman throws rights and left hands at someone about nine inches taller than Daniels, which Daniels repeatedly “ducks.” Rainman is concussed.

Rainman hits a flying ass, which he does not call the rear view to the best of my knowledge. Rainman counters a piledriver attempt with a concrete crack. Listen, I know that move became more widely popular as the Alabama Slam(ma), but I appear to be the only person online who remembers Taz/Joey Styles calling it the concrete crack in ECW, or I have hallucinated this for 20+ years. Either way I didn’t change 15 years ago and won’t now.

(A follow-up from Twitter: it appears to have been “concrete crash” in ECW, which is PROBABLY why I’m the only one who has been saying “crack” for the entirety of this century.)

Daniels was a babyface by this point, but he’d been a real fuck prior to that turn, and there were still IWA fans that didn’t trust his motivations. And he displays quite clearly that he hasn’t completely changed his colors in this match. He hits Rainman with a blatant low blow at one point, and kicks referee Bruce Gray into the ropes to crotch Rainman, who was climbing in the corner.

Finish is neat. Daniels knocks Rainman loopy with forearms while Rainman is seated up top in the corner, then hits a superplex. But he misjudged HOW loopy Rainman was, and the couple seconds he wastes upon landing allow Rainman to cradle Daniels up and score another upset. Rainman? More like Cinderellaman!

Neither of these guys were amongst the Superworker types on the indies at the time, but this was a fun match. Daniels pulling out his heel tricks is a nice touch, as he really is still kind of a fuck even if he’s a generally nice fuck now, and Rainman getting another upset win allows for some more drama from the tournament.

Rating: 3/5