10 Live Observations From ICW's Fear And Loathing VIII
7. The Iron Man Battles The Man Beast
Joe Coffey is a unique competitor within the land of ICW. While the company is known for hardcore wrestling, theatrics, twists and turns and an over-18s style show, Coffey is one of the traditionalists. Hes a personal trainer in his day to day life, he lifts weights, hes trained in Japan and the art of wrestling is very serious to him.
Known as 'The Iron Man' for his endurance in the ring, Coffey had a backstage scuffle with Rhino a few months ago that resulted in a huge brawl and the match was set for Fear & Loathing as the NXT superstar and ECW legend went one on one with ICWs Iron Man. Rhino has appeared at ICW several times and when I interviewed him last year he mentioned to me that he was reminded of the original ECW by the promotion due to how great the crowds are, the atmosphere and the passion of the wrestlers.
Coffey and Rhino traded heavy duty punches and kicks and gave each other everything they had during the bout. It was refreshing to see a current WWE star and ECW legend pour his body and creatives juices into ICW. There was no performance being phoned in here (as some older stars tend to do during independent events).
In the end, Coffey defeated The Man Beast and the ICW faithful went away with more respect for Rhino and a continued intrigue with where ICWs Iron Man is going to go next.