Mike Reviews Inter Species Wrestling “Love Hurts”

Happy Inter Species Friday Everyone!

Today we’re watching Love Hurts, a show from Inter Species Wrestling. ISW is a wacky promotion from Canada where Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Evil Uno, 2.0 and others would sometimes ply their trade.

Love Hurts features Owens in the Main Event taking on Uno and a Zombie. That’s not a sentence I was expecting to type anytime soon, but there were go.

Let’s see if Love Hurts also hurts the eyeballs

You can view the full card by clicking below;

ISW Love Hurts card

You can watch along on the official ISW YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2eRSBgCdJg

Love Hurts is emanating from Montreal, Quebec on the 24th of February 2008

Calling the action at different points are Mike Rotch, Kevin Steen, Giant Tiger, Shayne Hawke, Twiggy, Llakor & Franky The Mobster

Giant Tiger is walking around in a garage swearing until Kevin Steen walks over and attacks him, leading to a Kevin Steen promo by a petrol station somewhere until Giant Tiger attacks him and steals the ISW Title. We then cut to Giant Tiger threatening to make sweet love to Beef Wellington’s father. Well that was certainly a start to the show

Before the opening match can start, Beef Wellington joins us to say that he will not be facing Giant Tiger later on. That would be something the old beef would do, but this is new Beef. He has a beard and everything! Beef says he’s going to leave and watch the Spice Girls, but the ring announcer confirms that Beef will only get his $20 wage if he wrestles the tiger, which means that Beef reluctantly has to agree to the match later on. Beef’s delivery was funny there, I’ll give him that

Opening Match
Michael Von Payton Vs El Hijo del Bamboo

Neither of these two seemingly made it out of the independent scene. Von Payton is representing Ontario here, so he’s obviously not very popular in Quebec. That has to be similar to wearing a Celtics jersey in Los Angeles or something. Bamboo is ISW’s only second generation wrestler apparently, and he seems to be a panda bear. Nobody send this video to Namco or ISW might be getting a lawsuit heading their way. Whoever is playing the role of Bamboo here can barely walk properly in the panda costume, so this should be some top level graps right here. Bamboo does commit to the bit at least, moving around like a bear in the early going, although a series of arm drags kills the immersion somewhat. The crowd seems to have fun with all at least. Von Payton is a decent exasperated straight man, not really knowing what to make of the weird creature he’s having to do battle with here. Bamboo tries a 6-1-9 at one stage, but the oversized legs on the panda costume prevent him from delivering the move in a funny bit. Bamboo eventually makes a big comeback with a Diamond Cutter and a Swinging DDT, but Von Payton manages to counter an attack from the top rope into a kind of sit out Spicolli Driver for three.

WINNER: MICHAEL VON PAYTON
RATING: **

Thoughts: By wrestler Vs Panda standards, this was about par I’d say. The crowd got into the joke and Bamboo actually did some funny stuff at points, so it was watchable, if stupid. Von Payton was kind of just a guy, but he performed his role well enough. Love Hurts and so does deforestation if you’re a panda

Match Two
The Badd Boys (Brad Badd & Chad Badd) w/ Dadd Badd Vs ??? & ???

The Badd Boys are 2.0 playing the role of mean bikers. The two masked opponents for The Badd Boys are just two skinny fellers there to get beaten up and the commentary team goes through about 10 different names for them and the ring announcer just sort of mumbles something when announcing them in a funny gag. In what must be an intentional bit, The Badd Boys enter to generic production music that The Quebeccers once used in the WWF. Dadd Badd drags one of the ring crew members in there and flings him out onto the stage, as this now looks to be a six man tag. The enhancement guys get clubbed down Demolition Style by The Badd’s, as this is basically just a total squash, with The Badd’s quickly picking up the win. Love Hurts and so does getting clubbed by some angry bikers

WINNERS: THE BADD BOYS
RATING: SQUASH

Thoughts: This was basically a Demolition/Road Warrior squash match, but 2.0 and their weird looking “Dad” were the ones doing the squashing. Thankfully they found three dudes skinny and small enough that they could somewhat make that work. It was an easy enough nights work for 2.0 I guess, and they looked to be having a lot of fun doing it at least

Twiggy and his manager Ratcliffe have a promo backstage ahead of Twiggy’s match with El Generico later on. Ratcliffe says that Twiggy has been taking this match seriously tonight, even turning down a night with some chicks. Twiggy says that he needs to know if he can hang in there with El Generico. This was a decent promo for this level of wrestling and it was one of the first serious things we’ve seen on Love Hurts thus far

Match Three
El Generico Vs Twiggy w/ Ratcliffe

Generico is Sami Zayn playing a fake luchadore. Twiggy looks to have a 1980’s underdog babyface vibe and seems to still be working the Canadian independent scene to this day. This one has a Teacher Vs Student storyline going on, with Generico supposedly having a hand in training Twiggy. Unlike other matches on the card, this looks to be a more “serious” bout where they focus on having a straight wrestling match without silly stipulations or gimmicks (although I guess El Generico’s gimmick is inherently silly, but you hopefully get my point).

The story being told is a good one, with Generico being the more experienced wrestler of the two and Twiggy having to prove himself against his mentor figure. They keep it on the mat to start, but Twiggy throws a chop to show that he’s fired up and wrestling with a bit of a chip on his shoulder. I haven’t seen Twiggy work much, but he’s totally fine here and plays his allotted role in the match well as the gutsy go-getting youngster with a point to prove, whilst Generico fits well into the canny veteran looking to catch out the impetuous youngster role.

The crowd responds well to getting some normalish (because again, a fake luchador is wrestling here) wrestling in this one and gets behind Twiggy in the hopes that Twiggy can pull off the upset. Generico controls the majority of the bout, but not in a heelish way, with Twiggy selling well and making comebacks when he can. Twiggy’s selling is very good actually, and he does a solid job of drawing sympathy from the crowd without making Generico look like a bully for waling on a smaller opponent because he shows good fire in his attempts to fight back. Generico does the usual thing of someone in his role here, of trying to win without going too far so that he hurts his student, whilst also getting frustrated that the youngster won’t stay down despite his best efforts. Generico takes plenty of bumps for Twiggy when the time calls for it, including a swinging rana out on the floor at one stage.

There’s a brawl in the crowd at one stage, which feels a bit out of place in a match like this as it’s supposed to be a respectful battle between mentor and student, so brawling on the floor doesn’t feel like it fits in that story. The brawling itself is fine at least, and Twiggy gets a very good near fall back in the ring with a leaping back Senton from the top rope. We of course get the dramatic trading of strikes at one stage, because even back in 2008 that was a sequence that every “epic” match was required to have. Generico manages to get the Helluva Kick and a Splash off the top, but the kick wasn’t really a finish on the indies for Generico so that combo of moves only gets him a two.

Twiggy gets a fantastic swinging DDT at one stage and follows that with a Helluva Kick of his own, but Generico is out at two in a very good near fall. The near fall game has been very good in this one I must say, and the crowd have been getting into the false finishes. A match like this will either end with the veteran finally putting the youngster down or the youngster catching the veteran OUTTA NOWHERE, and they go with the former here as Generico gets a Brain Buster and that’s enough for three. Love Hurts and so does getting dropped on your head by your mentor

WINNER: EL GENERICO
RATING: ***3/4

Thoughts: This was a lot of fun, with them telling the “Mentor Vs Student” story well and the crowd getting into the action. Some might find this a bit too “indie” at points, and I get that as there were a few instances of wacky big moves and dives that folks kind of just got up from or survived too easily, but the storytelling and character work from both wrestlers was definitely there and this was a surprisingly normal match for such a ridiculous promotion as ISW. As it’s available for free on YouTube, and Remi Sebei almost always delivers (be it in front of 50 people or 50,000), I’d recommend checking this one out if you normally like his work

Generico shows respect to Twiggy following the match due to Twiggy giving him such a good fight and the crowd responds well to that

Giant Tiger cuts a backstage promo and brags about effing Beef Wellington’s father in the backside. Apparently that will cease if Beef Wellington wins tonight, but if Tiger wins then he gets Beef for 73 hours. Okay then, that’s certainly a match stipulation. Doesn’t Beef’s dad get a say in all of this by the way? Is it fair for someone to have their derrière put on the line in a match like this when they aren’t even involved in said match? Does Beef’s dad like the fact that Tiger is supposedly giving it to him from behind or is it something that’s happening against his will? I mean, if Beef’s Dad is into getting rodeoed by a nutcase in a tiger mask, then what’s really the issue? We don’t kink shame here folks. These are the sort of questions that ISW makes me ask. Anyway, Tiger is naked and rolls around for a bit on a sofa, as I wonder what the fudge I’m watching here

Match Four
Beef Wellington Vs Giant Tiger

Beef is someone I mostly know from CZW, where he would deliver the dreaded “Ass Punch” to hapless opponents. Giant Tiger is a dude dressed like Tiger Mask, if Tiger Mask wore silver shorts, wrestled shoeless and had love-handles. Despite the fact that Giant Tiger has essentially made this an Indecent Proposal match where he gets to take the loser to his Tiger’s Den for 73 hours and have his way with him supposedly against said opponent’s will, he still seems to be the babyface here, because ISW I guess.

If I wrestled in ISW and was able to come up with my own wacky stipulation, I’d totally challenge someone to a match where they had to buy me a boxed PAL copy of Die Hard the Arcade game for the SEGA Saturn if I won. That or Saturn Bomberman, whichever one was more expensive on eBay on that particular day. Tiger of course does a tonne of suggestive offence, such as the Bronco Buster and actively trying to grab Beef right in his Wellington at one stage. Yeah I don’t think you’d get away with this match in 2025, but 2008 was a different time I guess.

Tiger actually busts out Trish Stratus’ rana off the top rope at one stage, as this match has been a mixture of questionable comedy and actual wrestling moves. Beef to his credit is at least a good exasperated straight man (pun certainly not intended) who doesn’t know what to do with this horny nutcase in a mask. Tiger doesn’t seem to really know how to wrestle, as any move that doesn’t involve some kind of cooperation from Beef looks pretty awful, especially when Tiger has to take his own bump from something.

Beef tries to brain Tiger with a metal pipe, but Tiger pulls the referee in the way, which leads to Beef grabbing the mic and saying that his father is a 60 year old diabetic who can’t handle having Tiger giving it to him all the time. However, this allows Tiger to throw vodka in Beef’s eyes and deliver a no-hands Pedigree for three. That was a suitably mental way to end such a ludicrous match at least, so kudos for that I guess. Love Hurts and so does getting boomshakalaka’d by a crazed man in a tiger mask.

WINNER: GIANT TIGER
LOSERS: THE REST OF HUMANITY (AND BEEF’S BOTTOM I GUESS)
RATING: DUD

Thoughts: This was all kinds of atrocious as the “comedy” didn’t land and the “wrestling” was pretty much awful from start to finish. All on Giant Tiger I should add, as Beef looked like he actually knew what pro wrestling was whilst Giant Tiger looked more like a drunk toddler having too much fun on a bouncy castle

Tiger demands a smooch from Beef following the match, and the crowd seems to be in favour of that. Look, I’ve nothing against anthropomorphic tiger and human relationships in theory, but I think consent is quite an important factor in them and that seems to be absent here. Or does the fact that Beef agreed to the pre-match stipulation essentially constitute as him giving consent to be molested by said anthropomorphic tiger? Any legal eagles in the comments feel free to let us know, especially if you happen to be an anthropomorphic eagle as well as a legal expert, because that sounds really cool and I’m sure the readership would have lots of questions for you. Okay…I think this show might have officially broken my brain

Main Event
Three Way for the vacant Inter Species Title
Kevin Steen Vs Player Uno Vs Zombified

This would Kevin Owens doing battle with Evil Uno and Stupefied/Stu Grayson. Steen was using “Turning Away” by Drowning Pool as entrance music here and it remains a cool intro song. Sadly I think it’s been so long since he used it that it probably wouldn’t get a reaction if he used it in WWE, but I’d enjoy it at least. It’s amazing seeing Stu Grayson as a skinny dude playing a zombie here when you think about how hench he got in The Dark Order. Apparently someone called Viking was the ISW Champ, but they’re not here, so the belt has been vacated with the winner getting it here. The belt isn’t actually the venue though, because this is Indy Wrestling and Viking quite literally has the physical belt and hasn’t returned it yet. Uno can kind of hold his own in a slugfest with Steen and can also do wacky lucha spots with Zombified, so he’s almost the glue that holds this one together in some ways.

It’s all action for the most part, and it’s decent action with all three actually being in the ring quite a bit rather than the usual formula in one of these where one wrestler sells out on the floor whilst the other two fight in the ring. Steen almost looks annoyed to be here at points, but he seems to be putting the effort in inside the ring at least, getting some very cool power moves on the skinny Zombified at points, with Zombified being a good ragdoll for the bigger Steen. Uno has a Nintendo Entertainment System controller design on his gear, and normally if you pressed start he’d “pause” and not be able to move until it was pressed again, but Steen tries that here and Uno decides it’s not going to work today because he’s so fired up. Hey, at least make your wacky internal logic consistent guys. And the Sega Master System was a better console than the NES anyway (I’m sure The Brazilian Kid will agree should they read this).

The action never really stops in this one. It’s Indi-riffic at points, with some frankly silly moves going on, but it’s also never boring. Steen is clearly a level above the other two, which makes sense as he’d been working at a high level on the Indies for quite a few years prior to this whilst Zombified and Uno were still establishing themselves and hadn’t been able to work regularly with the sort of talent that Steen was mixing it up with in ROH, PWG and CZW. The finish sees Uno double stomping Steen from the top rope at the same time that Steen delivers the Package Piledriver to Zombified. Steen is out following that and it allows Uno to nearly kill Zombified all over again with a Pump-Handle into a Piledriver for three. Love Hurts and so does taking two Piledriver moves in quick succession, even if you’re an un-dead zombie.

WINNER AND NEW CHAMPION: PLAYER UNO
RATING: ***

Thoughts: This was all MOVEZ and little else, but it was entertaining in that it was action packed and some of the MOVEZ on display were very cool. It won’t be for everyone (which is probably something that should be imprinted across the screen for the entire show I think) but I enjoyed it for what it was

In Conclusion

Love Hurts seemed to be pretty standard based on the other Inter Species Wrestling shows I’ve watched in the past. You had silly gimmicks, some frankly awful wrestling at points, and a couple of more serious matches just to give the folks looking for standard pro wrestling something to enjoy as well. I don’t think I can recommend Love Hurts overall because it was SO weird that it would turn off most viewers just looking for a regular wrestling show, but Twiggy Vs Generico was good fun and it’s worth watching that one at least. It starts on around the 34 minute mark if you’re interested

Not a recommended show

You can find more reviews in my archives