Beatdown At IWA-MS Event Involving A TNA Knockout Sparks Police Investigation

The CBS affiliate out Louisville, Kentucky has a report on a beatdown incident on an indy wrestler by the name of Mike Levy several weeks back at an IWA-MS show in Sellersburg, Indiana. The IWA-MS promotion is now being investigated by the police on the heels of upset fans e-mailing the online footage to the local authorities as well as the television station.

On June 21, 2008, Mike Levy, an indy wrestler from North Carolina, was booked into IWA-MS's female Death Match tournament, which was attended by maybe 75 people. Rather, Levy is apparently an untrained wrestler who through some message board postings, made it known that he wanted to participate in the IWA-MS Death Match tournament. The false hype by a few wrestling message board posters led IWA-MS promoter Ian Rotten to add Levy to the women's tournament as a joke.

Levy's opponent in the match was current TNA Knockout Mickie Knuckles, and he took a horrible beating from her. She worked stiff on him, giving him several brutal shots with weapons throughout the match. Levy, who was apparently trying to defend himself, also starts throwing legit punches at one point in the match. This greatly angers Knuckles, so she becomes even more violent towards him. During this, Knuckles gives herself a huge lump on her head from headbutting Levy so much. The beating went on for eight to ten minutes before Knuckles got the win. As bad as the beating was, it was actually the tame part.

Following the match, two apparent wrestlers dressed in street clothes enter the fray. One's a skinny guy by the name of Devon Moore, and the other is a guy by the name of Tank, who looks to be about 400 pounds and is supposedly a wrestler. The crowd began chanting for Levy's finisher The Curb Stomp, which WWE star Paul Burchill uses. Tank then grabs Levy and holds his head over a barbed wire ladder. Devon comes the top rope with a double stomp that drove Levy's head hard into the ladder. As if that wasn't enough, the 400-pound Tank climbs to the second rope and lets his much larger size come crashing down from the second rope, stomping Levy's head into the ladder in a sickening fashion. Tank had trouble maintaining his balance through this, and he toppled over after stomping Levy's head.

Following this, the Moore gets on the mic, insulting him. Levy is sitting up, and Moore gives him a stiff kick in the chest. He then kicks him several more times, and telling him to "learn to sell," in his expletive-laden tirade. The 400-pounder then gets on the mic and tells him in his thick Southern drawl to go back to North Carolina, and to never come back to their parts again.

Too add insult to injury, even Ian Rotten's young son, who appears to be 12-years-old, gets involved in the beatdown. The child can even be seen asking "daddy" if its alright to hit him. Levy, who is now outside the ring, gives the grounded Levy with a few stiff shots with a Kendo Stick. Moore follows this up by hitting Levy with a chair. While Levy is down, the child kicks him in the back of the head.

Ian Rotten then gets on the mic and says, "Unlike you, she has a career you dip****. Unlike you, she's going to ******g national TV on Monday." He then kicks him in the head and tells him to "stay the **** down." He also adds, "I told you to stay the **** down. Don't you ****** move. You move and I'll rip your ****** nuts off and feed 'em too yah." Rotten then gives the okay for apparently a fan to hit Levy over the head with a weapon, which breaks upon impact.

Rotten's spiel is not over, as he brings Mickie Knuckles over. Holding his arm over Knuckles, Rotten says, "Look at this. Look up at me you dumb mother******. Look at your knot on her head. She's got to go to national television, cause you don't know how to f***** work with that on her head. You f***** no-good c***-******* son of a b*****." It should be noted that Knuckles likely gave the bump on her head to herself. During one sequence in the match, Knuckles gets incensed and gives Levy a repeated number of vicious headbutts.

The beatdown is still not over. Rotten kicks him in the head following his tirade and the child throws something at Levy. An apparent wrestler in plaid shorts (it's hard to tell, as some of them look like members of the audience) gives Levy a really sloppy suplex on top of some debris. Rotten gets on the mic again, and says, "This is a message to anybody who wants to f*** with us. I told everybody yesterday, you f*** with one of us, you f*** with all of us. You're a f****** outsider b**** and don't you ever forget it Internet Sensation." Rotten then mutters, "It's over," and finally leaves.

In the background, you could hear a fan say, "This is one of the greatest moments of my entire life."

If you'd like, you can see a 16-minute video of the incident in its entirety at this link.. However, the video has been getting pulled whenever possible.

WLKY has video from the match, although some of the footage claiming to be a part of beatdown directed towards Levy were spots from his match with Knuckles.

Rotten was interviewed by WLKY and claimed that the beating was supposed to look like a "gang-style beating, and it did." Rotten said that Levy wasn't seriously injured, and that this was all a part of the show. He said that while Levy took some "brutal strikes," he also added that it's "not ballet." Rotten also said that Levy is scheduled to participate in their Fall Death Match tournament later in the year.

The police officer investigating the incident said, "It was hard for me to know whether everything was a part of the show. I was assured that it was. I'm not so sure." Charges have yet to filed regarding the matter, due to Levy not pressing charges himself as well as a "lack of evidence."

In a side note coming out of the investigation, the event was held outside a bowling alley and they didn't have the proper zoning variances to hold outdoor entertainment. Although, they claimed they weren't aware they were needed. Should the bowling alley promote future wrestling events, they'll need to get the proper permits first.

You can see WLKY's video report at this link.

Following the incident, Knuckles was booked at two Impact tapings the next week. This is where she defeated ODB and Roxxi Laveaux in matches involving weapons. On Sunday, July 6, Knuckles broke her femur in her right leg after a botched attempt to dive off a platform onto Sara Del Rey during the main event at the IWA Mid-South Summertime Black & Blues indy show in Joliet, Illinois. The rest of the show was canceled following the injury. Mickie underwent surgery the next day and is expected to miss six months of in-ring action. A job in TNA is expected to be waiting for Knuckles as soon as she is cleared to return to the ring.