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DVD Review : Inter Species Wrestling’s Hot Summer Rubdown
Reviewed by Steve “Rockamaniac†Wilson of MainEventRadio.com
What happens when a wrestling promoter takes some of the best independent wrestling talent out there today, mixes them with some “Animalsâ€, “Zombiesâ€, Lego, and bar room full of drunk people? Well you get Inter Species Wrestling’s latest DVD event, Hot Summer Rubdown, which took place this past June 29th in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Let’s face it nowadays on the Independent wrestling scene, there is a lot of the cookie cutter, trying to be mainstream type of companies who hope and pray that you’ll give them a look and slide a few bucks their way. On the rare occasion you’ll find a fed who tries to be unique, Chikara is undoubtedly one example, and Inter Species Wrestling took the Chikara idea and gave it their own twist to provide what has to be one of the most unique wrestling events you can watch on DVD today.
As you can tell by the name of the company, ISW prides itself on its battles between man and beast, in ISW, the beast can be a panda, a bear, a terrorist cow, or even a giant alcoholic tiger. You also get some unique human characters such as Stinky The Homeless guy, The Badd Family (a father and two sons who are biker bullies from the 1980’s that love to dish out some punishment) and T-Unit (a group of wiggers) Yes, ISW takes the comedic side of wrestling to new levels, and the opening battle of the DVD provides you with a definition of ISW’s comedic inter species battles, as Beef Wellington takes on “A Bear†with Giant Tiger as the special guest referee. In recent years Wellington and the giant tiger have had a bitter feud revolving mainly around the fact that the giant tiger had a sexual affair with Beef’s father. Coming off a recent loss to Giant Tiger, Beef Wellington was forced to be Giant Tiger’s “love slave†for a period of 72 hours, during which many sexual acts are alleged to have taken place, all of which Giant Tiger filmed and wants to show to the ISW crowd, Beef however does not want that footage released and this match between Beef and a opponent of Tiger’s choosing would determine the rights to the footage, Tiger recruits one of Beef Wellingtons long time rivals, a Bear, who legitimately was trained by former WWE star Jacques Rougeau. For those wondering, A Bear, is exactly what you think, a large bear suit being worn by someone, and the match features many of the spots you would expect such as the dreaded Bear hug! And back rake with Claws! Not to mention that Giant Tiger, who has an alcohol problem is the guest referee who has trouble keeping his clothes on. I have to note here that my explanation of this match in no way does its comedic level justice, if you’re a fan of comedic wrestling, you’ll be in stitches watching this match, and quite frankly it will be like nothing you’ve seen to date.
The great thing about Inter Species Wrestling is their ability to provide something for everyone, and with names like Kevin Steen, El Generico, Player Uno, and Sexxxy Eddie, Fans of solid indy wrestling are given what they’re looking for as well. The second matchup on the DVD features a battle for the ISW title between ROH/IWS superstar Mr Wrestling Kevin Steen and Chikara/IWS Star and ISW Champion Player Uno. What ensues is a classic back and forth battle between the two men featuring numerous believable false finishes, its no surprise that Steen’s frustration gets the best of him at the end of the match and he is disqualified by referee Bakais, but this alongside the main event featuring El Generico and Twiggy taking on resident ISW living dead members Izzie Deadyet and Zombified, provide for two of the better matches ive seen not only on the quebec indy wrestling scene, but the Canadian and US indy scene’s this year.
If there was one match on the DVD that is able to showcase both of ISW’s abilities in one match, it has to be the Fans Bring the lego matchup between Moohammad The Terrorist Cow and Flip D Berger (a local Mc Donald’s employee) Sure at first read that sounds silly, and could provide for some laughs, which it does, but at the same time provides for a hell of a near 20 minute battle.
Admittingly, Inter Species Wrestling may at first sound like the dumbest thing you've ever heard of in the world of professional wrestling, the thought of people in animal suits taking on humans could make any person say why would anyone want to watch something like that? However anyone who says doesn’t realize what they are missing with ISW. If you’ve been searching out something new to add to your wrestling DVD collection, whether you’re a fan of “comedic wrestling†or not, give Inter Species Wrestling a try, if their sense of humor doesn’t tickle your fancy, never fear, there is enough solid wrestling action for you to watch and not regret the purchase.
Inter Species Wrestling’s Hot Summer Rub Down (as well as all of the ISW’s previous events) is now available on DVD via Fortune Video Editing and Smart Mark Video. Fans in the US can order a copy through SmartMarkVideo.com, Canadian and international fans are encouraged to check out FortuneVideoEditing.com to get a copy, it’ll cost ya 20 bucks and for more info on the fed check out interspecieswrestling.com
