1. Mickie Knuckles vs. Hailey Hatred (IWA-MS 8-1-03)- 1
2. Mickie Knuckles vs. Ian Rotten (IWA-MS 11-7-03)- 1
Our 1st bout was Mickie's debut, which she talks in length about in her interview on this same release. Hatred looks like she'd be an effective bouncer at a Hells Angels bar. Mickie has the sympathetic look down but she was completely terrible here, botching an arm drag and a sunset flip to the point of embarrassment. There was a seriously brutal elbow from Hailey that would probably make me waste a Sat. afternoon at Urgent Care. And the aftermatch powerbomb on two chairs, was the worst botch i've seen for that spot and the most brutal. Ian didn't seem motivated at all; looked probably like a day in training class, him just moving slowly around the ring, punching and having his way with Mickie. Bored me.
4. Mickie Knuckles & Daizee Haze vs. Lacey & Rain (IWA-MS 5-7-04)- 3
5. Mickie Knuckles vs. Tracy Brooks (IWA-MS 9-16-04)- 2
6. Mickie Knuckles vs. MsChif Anything Goes (IWA-MS 2-5-05)- 6
This woman's tag got more time than any women's match that has aired on Raw in the last decade. Lacey had the whole heel act down, guess all that time on the road with Jimmy Jacobs pontificating and so forth. A lot of the current indy women put over Daizee but I don't think I've seen weaker strikes since that Urkel idiot from the early 90's sitcom boom. Sick FMW type fisherman buster was best spot of the bout. The next singles match was in a really dank arena with a sparse crowd. They were working training school drills which was thrilling for the live crowd. Prazak tried to put over neither woman had thrown a strike within the first 6 minutes like this was a technical marvel. Mickie was still really green, and Tracy was no help. Not sure who looked dumber; Mickie botching a whip in spot or Tracy wearing an IWA shirt that said "Operation Extinction Vince."
Here's the first active bout that I liked. MsChif grabs your attention right away, not just the leather pants and green eyeliner but her selling to every detail. Mickie is hitting hard and while this is mostly a brawl, great attention is given to all the strikes and where they land and selling them naturally. I really liked the bit where they start taking bumps in a super stiff boxing ring. Some good psych was worked with some S&M spiky vest and the steel chair which played into the finish.
7. Mickie Knuckles vs. Sara Del Rey (IWA-MS 2-11-05- 5
8. Mickie Knuckles & Eddie Kingston vs. Mike Quackenbush & Chris Hero (CHIKARA 2-19-05- 6
Only 9 people are there for this match (or show, not sure which) and they don't seem to be that enthralled with anything in the bout. This has to be one of Sara's 1st bouts, i know former member Geo was smitten with Del Ray, and while I think she's very good at knowing her character, how to portray it, i've never really seen a match that it translated into. This was pretty good though, particularly the loving care they put into the pace of this (like they possibly may with some homemade Thanksgiving dressing). Also a really dialed down but still quite stiff exchange of strikes and a well placed tried and true spot of going for a move over and over again until it works and it paid off in spades. Now, Mickie still has terrible timing here, and she throws a shining wizard that was more unsightly than Daizee Haze's Senior Photo but this was well done.
So Quack & Hero's team name is "the Superfriends", clearly they're supposed to be the Wonder Twins right? Eddie and Mickie are sort of playing hillbilly brother and sister here, there's a lot of goofy interplay, add in all of Quack's tricks, Hero and Kingston both wearing white vinyl straight from Lady Gaga's underwear drawer. There's a really rough suicide dive on Mickie from Quack and she's in this a lot, mostly drills and working with Hero, you feel like the live crowd paid for a training sesh instead of an athletic contest. 15 minutes in, Kingston tries for a chinlock for a submission; yeah that's going to work and Herman Cain is a decent human being. For all you single guys in the KY area, Mickie is quite flexible as shown by a backbend deathlock; not sure what Chikara's identity is at this point as it just seems like a low rate PWG venue. Hero's taking liberties with Mickie as in the background you can see a kitchenette with floral patterned curtains in a strange mix of violence and bad decorating taste. Kingston comes in and black holes all the heat by trying to do a Noah finishing run, but the crowd finally wakes up after a skull splitting headbutt that's louder than Matt Hardy's cry for help. One of the better Chikara bouts I've seen
9. Mickie Knuckles vs. Chris Hero (CHIKARA 4-15-05)- 6
10. Mickie Knuckles vs. MsChif (Steel Cage) (IWA-MS 4-30-05)- 7
This match versus Hero literally took place in a bar, and I love the promotional banner advertising it: "Pro Wrestling", simplicity is such a beautiful thing. Hero is taking out some aggression here, like Mickie was the cheer captain at high school that turned Hero down for the Senior Prom because he was wearing an Eradicator outfit to it. I mean he beat Mickie's face for a good 12 minutes. They threw some psych in with an arm injury that registered with no one but this was a fun hard hitting bout.
This cage bout blows away anything done on WWE TV in years. Some really brutal blows, both women took nasty bumps into the cage and they played off their past battles. A superbomb at the end was absolutely devastating and the only thing I didn't like was it wasn't the finish. MsChif has some great instincts and they had a great back and forth.
My impression of Mickie Knuckles is she's come a long ways as a performer and she's actually really good at emoting and selling; she can play tough and other times looks like she's on the verge of tears from a move or shot. I think her evolution came from competing with really good workers and the MsChif feud was really hot.
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