The March 30 episode of IZW Adrenaline was explosive from start to finish as it was the beginning of the Impact Player of the Year Tournament, with the winner to be crowned at Coronation on May 11 in a Ladder Match. This year promises to outshine all other past tournaments combined as the talent in the locker room has never been deeper. Along with the tourney there was a stunning turn of events after the final bout, when an IZW Superstar might have stepped into the ring for the last time, as a few gruesome and tense moments took the air out of the arena and left everyone watching in shock.

 

 The show started with the first round of the Impact Player of the Year Tournament as “The Brass Bull” IZW Wrestler battled “Lights Out” Jordan Jacobs. Starr got the better of the exchanges early on with a brutal clothesline, a series of forearms while also driving his shoulder into the midsection of Jacobs. But Jacobs reversed the momentum in an instant as he sidestepped a leaping clothesline and followed it up with a double knee to Starr’s spine. Jacobs then implement a ground-based attack as he locked Starr up in a modified arm triangle choke looking to choke Starr unconscious. Whether it was gaining strength from the Gods or something else, Starr was able to fight off the submission attempt and get back to his feet. Starr gave Jacobs a 1-2-3 combo with a back breaker followed by a neck breaker and then a face planter. Jacobs was then whipped into the corner but managed to plant a boot right in Starr’s face as Starr came forward with a clothesline attempt. After Jacobs bashed Starr’s face in the turnbuckle he took a running leap and destroyed Starr’s face with a flying double knee. After several forearms to the base of Starr’s neck, Jacobs hit a jumping knee to Starr’s jaw. Jacob’s got greedy and went for a top rope leg drop and missed giving Starr the opening he needed. A spear by Starr was met with a jawbreaker by Jacobs.

 Later, Starr showed off a submission game of his own as he had Jacobs locked in a sleeper hold. Jacobs was trying furiously to break the hold and backed up to squish Starr against the turnbuckle, but instead referee George Knight was caught in the crossfire and knocked silly. Jacobs finally broke free as both men gasped for air on the mat. With all three men down, “The Bronze Bull” Aaron Neil came down to the ring doing a 180 from his recent behavior as he gave Jacobs a Greetings From Mt Olympus! Another Greetings From Mt Olympus, by Starr, and Jacobs was done for as Starr advanced to the second round of the tournament. But not so fast! Behind the scenes Madam Commissioner Erica got Co-Commissioner “Number 1” Shawn McHale to reverse the decision do to Neil’s blatant interference. It would be Jacobs advancing to the second round with Starr having another first round match, next week against “The Worst in the World” Copycat.

 

 Next up Randy Price came down to the ring to tear into “Bad” Brad Michaels and Bryan Cruize, the latest version of the Old School Assassins. Michaels and Cruize came down to the ring to bully Price, but it didn’t happen as at the end of the verbal skirmish a match was made for later in the night with Price taking on his former mentor and trainer Michaels.

 

 In the next match, “The Bronze Bull” Aaron Neil took on Bryan Cruize (with “Bad” Brad Michaels) in another first round match of the Impact Player of the Year Tournament. Neil quickly wiped the smirk off of Cruize’s face with a splash and elbow drop prompting Michaels to trip up Neil. As Neil followed Michaels around the outside of the ring, Cruize regained his composure and when the in-ring action resumed was able to sneak in an eye poke that stopped Neil dead in his tracks. Kicks to the midsection by Cruize and a sneaky punch by Michaels had Neil in a bad spot half way through the match. Cruize sunk in a tight neck crank trying to sap what energy was left from Neil. Then something happened that hasn’t happened in over a year. The crowd got behind Neil and started chanting his name. This extra buzz created in the Impact Arena helped spur on Neil as he fought out of the hold and looked for a clothesline, but was instead met with a spinning heel kick by Cruize. Cruize went back to his neck crank but Neil was able to break free once again and landed a spear that dropped Cruize like a bag of bricks. Both men were fighting back injury at this point as they rose to their feet where Neil dug a little deeper and hoisted up Cruize onto his shoulders slamming him down to the mat with his finisher, a Greetings From Mt Olympus. Neil got the pinfall, but his night wasn’t over as Madam Commissioner Erica came down to the ring to let her voice and power be known. She promised consequences for Neil’s desertion of Impact Elite. Those consequences came in the form of The Convict, who is now a puppet for Erica and her evil ambitions. Neil went full force against The Convict as he landed elbows and a 10-punch combo followed by a spinebuster. But The Convict popped up and hit a devastating clothesline followed by a 15 to 20 that left Neil a broken pile of flesh in the middle of the ring.

 

 Next up, Double D took center stage as he cut a scathing promo on the new IZW Champion, Johnny Z. In D’s mind, Z hasn’t accomplished anything. Double D, The Captain of the Force, called Z out to the ring looking to settle their score from March Mayhem, but as Z’s music hit it was “The Image of War” Kevin Morgan and “The Big Picture” Damon Windsor who crossed the threshold. Big Business was looking to have a 2 on 1 match with Double D which D willingly accepted, but to even up the odds, Co-Commissioner Shawn McHale came out of the announcers’ booth and made it a tag team match adding Jermaine Johnson to the mix. Windsor and D squared off first with D catching an arm ringer and nearly wrenching Windsor’s shoulder out of socket. Johnson tagged in and applied even more pressure to Windsor’s AC joint. D hopped back into the ring landing a double axe handle on Windsor’s shoulder and then proceeded to violently chop Windsor’s chest ending with a Force chop that tore the hide off. Johnson was back in now and he didn’t stop chopping until Windsor’s second layer of flesh was bright purple. Windsor was hit with a body slam and knee by Double D and an elbow to the face by Johnson before Windsor dropped Johnson hard on his back with a sidewalk slam. Windsor was able to tag in Morgan who gave Johnson a running power slam with such force that Johnson’s body bounced off the canvas like a tennis ball. Morgan tagged Windsor back in as Windsor had a bag full of knife edge chops waiting for Johnson. A double suplex by Big Business had Johnson writhing in pain. Morgan was next up as he did a running slam, tossing Johnson into the unforgiving turnbuckles followed by a big boot choke to Johnson’s throat. Later, Johnson showed some life for a brief second, landing punches to Windsor’s midsection, until Windsor stuffed that comeback with a clothesline. Another clothesline by Morgan and Johnson was nearly knocked out. Against stacked odds, Johnson pulled a rabbit out of the hat as Big Business went for their finisher, the Detonator. Johnson reversed the Detonator into a double DDT and made the tag to a fired up Double D who hit BB with elbows and forearms. Johnson then climbed up to the ropes and landed a double ES2 as Double D covered Windsor for the pin.

 

 In the main event, Randy Price took on “Bad” Brad Michaels in a matchup of two opposing forces of Old School. Price was heated from the get go, hitting Michaels with a clothesline, back elbow and headlock/hip toss take down. Michaels broke free as the two moved back to their feet where Michaels cinched up on a side headlock, followed by a swinging neck breaker and big elbow. A knee by Michaels had Price seeing stars. Michaels went to shoot Price into the ropes but Price reversed it into a flapjack as the tide began to turn in the direction of the Old School Sucka. Price almost got the pinfall after a big elbow of his own with Michaels getting a shoulder up at the last millisecond. A clever poke in the eyes by Michaels followed by a raking of the eyes with the elbow and Michaels was once again in control of this back and forth main event! Price was able to get Michaels back down on the mat with a running clothesline and a belly to back drop. Price climbed up to the top rope to inflict the Old School Splash on Michaels, but Bryan Cruize ran out to the ring and tossed Price off the top rope causing an immediate disqualification, giving the win to Price. Then there was more. Much more.

 

 Cruize pummeled away at Price’s face with right hand after right hand until a super kick by Michaels followed by a modified face plant suplex by Cruize. The beating continued as Michaels destroyed Price’s face with more punches. Cruize brought a steel chair into the ring and gave Price another face plant suplex with Price’s face and head crashing against the unforgiving metal. As Copycat, who was also in the announcers’ booth all night said, Michaels and Cruize were on a mission to assassinate the career or Price and their onslaught continued. The Old School Assassins gave Price a spike piledriver on that same chair. Price was out cold with the very real possibility that he could have suffered a broken neck.

 

 Price remained motionless for several minutes after the attack, prompting Jermaine Johnson, Double D and IZW Wrestler to come down and check on his status. There was no movement. Finally, the medic crew came to the ring and had to stabilize Price’s neck, place an oxygen mask over his face and position him on a stretcher in a very tense moment, before taking him out of the Impact Arena and into a waiting ambulance where he was taken to a local hospital with multiple neck and spinal injuries. Johnson and Starr rode with Price in the ambulance as Double D had a sick look on his face as the ambulance drove away. Throughout the whole ordeal, Price didn’t move once and you couldn’t help by fear the worse as these untimely events were unfolding.

 

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