|
|
The 7th Annual Iron Man Tournament will take place at the Mira Ceti War Memorial on Cetus. The executive committee waited until the last possible moment to determine who would gain entry into the round robin tournament. Here are this year's elite 10:
Vengeance (GWF champ)
Malice (I-P champ)
Vyper (TV champ)
Colossus
Heracles
Wolf
Matador
Pegasus
Chaos
Mandrill
Wolf is the only man to have competed in every Iron Man Tournament. The first two years were his best, finishing fifth both times, though the first one only had six competitors. He then fell to 7th, 9th, and the last two years finishing last.
Chaos won this tournament the first time he was entered. His 160 points out of a possible 180 is the most ever scored in any of the Iron Man type tournament. He finished third the following two years and fourth last year.
Matador has been in three of these events, with a 3rd, 4th and 5th place showing. Pegasus was 2nd last year and Vengeance was 7th.
Once again the Gladiators have been put in a tough spot. Vengeance wrestles just once on day 1 and 2, then will be in the ring 7 times on the final day where his shot to win it will take place. Malice has four contests on the first day and five on the second to complete his nine matches.
Matador could get first place after his six matches on the final day. Colossus and Wolf wrestle five times on day 2, while Mandrill has five on opening day.
Also signed for the event: Rising Sun and Titan Attack against the Hitmen in a six-man tag match. In a Titan Death Match, former team members the Ninja Assassins and the Theatre of Pain will do battle. Alpha Force and Lance At-Las will face Paragon and Prodigy.
Past and current grudge matches highlighted the first day's activities. Chaos beat Mandrill; Colossus beat the Matador; Chaos beat Pegasus; Heracles went 4-0 in his matches with wins over Wolf, Chaos, Pegasus and Malice. TV champ Vyper surprised the critics by taking 2 of his 3 events, beating I-P champ Malice and Mandrill.
Standings after day 1:
1. Heracles 80
2. Vyper 40
3. Chaos 40
4. Mandrill 40
5. Vengeance 20
6. Colossus 20
7. Pegasus 20
8. Malice 20
9. Matador 20
10. Wolf 0
In an added six-man tag-team attraction: the Fighting Titans battled the Hitmen. This match lasted nearly 20 minutes with great wrestling on both sides. The match ended with the Titans being disqualified out on the floor.
Malice, Colossus and Wolf have 5 matches on day 2 of the tournament with which to catch up. Marquis matches on the middle day are Colossus vs. Pegasus; Colossus vs. Chaos; Vengeance vs. Malice.
On the final day, Vengeance will wrestle 7 times so he can still take the tournament. Matador has 6 matches and Vyper 4. Here are the standings:
1. Heracles 90
2. Chaos 80
3. Colossus 70
4. Mandrill 70
5. Wolf 60
6. Malice 60
7. Matador 40
8. Pegasus 40
9. Vyper 40
10. Vengeance 20
In a Titan Death Match, the Theatre of Pain looked to settle their differences with the Ninja Assassins. They did so by dragging their opponents around the ringside area and taking a solid victory with them as they exit the Assassin camp.
On day 3, Vengeance faces everybody except Mandrill and Malice. Also, Alpha Force and Lance At-Las will meet Paragon & Prodigy.
Seven men still had a chance to win it all on day No. 3. Vengeance, GWF champion, had 7 matches to wrestle in an attempt to win it all and not have a ton of challengers lined up for his belt. He was unable to get the job done.
Heracles went into the final day in first place, and he just edged out two others to stay there at the end. His 30 points gave him 120 for the tournament, and by virtue of his pinfalls over Chaos on opening day and a D.Q. win against Matador the final day, Heracles is your Iron Man winner.
With five matches left in the tournament, Vengeance defeated Chaos. That win made it mathematically impossible for anyone else but Heracles to win the event. In the final match, Matador's win over Wolf propelled him into a first place tie along with Heracles and Chaos, but Matador lost to both men with the Heracles match ending in a D.Q. so Matador got third, Chaos second.
Colossus snagged 4th place with 110 points. Wolf beat Vengeance so that gave him fifth and the Gladiator sixth. Mandrill had no chance at winning and dropped his only match on the third day to Matador. I-P champ Malice was finished after day 2 with just 60 points for 8th. Vyper, TV title holder, impressed everybody with his determination despite his 9th place finish and 50 points. Pegasus no-showed with just 40 points, an unacceptable performance for the supposed marquis man in the GWF.
Here are the final results.
1. Heracles 120
2. Chaos 120
3. Matador 120
4. Colossus 110
5. Wolf 80
6. Vengeance (GWF champ) 80
7. Mandrill 70
8. Malice (I-P champ) 60
9. Vyper (TV champ) 50
10. Pegasus 40
The rankings were shook up some. Heracles goes from #7 to #1. Vyper made it in as TV champ and moves from #18 to #8. Pegasus was the No. 1 contender before the Iron Man but now is at #9.
Also at the Iron Man, Alpha Force and Lance At-Las took on Paragon and Prodigy. It wasn't the Champions' teams day. Paragon crushed A.F. and Prodigy flew around the ring and all over him. Lance never got in the ring as the CPC wiped out the aging veteran.
After the match, a masked man hit the ring and taunted the fallen legend. The CPC were kept back by this man from any after the match activities, but made it known he was not a friend and would be seen again. He decked Lance for getting in his face.