AIW ended 2012 with a show that left a sour taste in my mouth even though it presented some quality action. The final four matches all had interference and it became tiresome. It was an instance of exterior persons hurting the quality of a match for the sake of pushing a story forward. It’s a thin line to cross and it was pole vaulted over on that particular show. Nevertheless, I was really looking forward to the first 2013 show, “Conspiracy Theory”, for many reasons. The card looked great, it was the first show after “National Pro Wrestling Day” and I was curious to see if there were any lessons learned from the “End of the World” show that ended AIW’s 2012 calendar year.
It’s always a shame when advertised talent becomes unavailable, no matter the reason. Although the Irish Airborne, originally set to challenge for the tag titles, not being available was certainly a disappointment, AR Fox missing the show and the main event level contest of him vs. Michael Elgin being put on hold has to be considered a bigger blow to the card. Thankfully, one man was up to the task of competing twice on this evening to make up for his absence: ACH.
ACH opened the show with Ethan Page who was just coming off a great performance at National Pro Wrestling Day. The pre-match promo from Page set up the match to make it seem as if ACH had his eyes on Page’s manager, Seleziya Sparx. This made for a story in the match where her distraction and some romantic music caused ACH to get off his game and for Page to take control. Sparx tried to interfere with a ring bell which backfired and caused her to be knocked to the floor. Page kicked ACH in the groin before giving him the Spinning Dwayne and getting the pin. Both of these guys are very charismatic and athletic so it was a really easy match to get into. The thing is, I do not believe that Sparx’s interference should be utilized in all of Page’s matches and should only be incorporated if it’s going to add something to the bout rather than be a hindrance. While it did help tell the story, I really think there’s money to be made in these two going out and having a straight forward contest. Hopefully we get one in the future. Speaking of rematches, one with ACH and Elgin would be phenomenal. I had high hopes for Elgin vs. AR Fox and equally high expectations when ACH took his place. To say they delivered would be an understatement. This was exactly what you would want in a power vs. speed mismatch. Both guys brought their best foot forward, had the big moves and near falls to keep the crowd going and made it seem as if it was either competitors match to take at any time. It was a bonafide four star match with a great finish. Elgin hit the Buckle Bomb and set up for the Revolution Bomb. ACH countered with a reverse Frankensteiner and followed up with the Cram for the Exam to scored what could be considered an upset victory. Even though Elgin lost in this bout and his match with Johnny Gargano, it’s easy to see that does nothing but bring his best no matter what match he’s in. He and ACH have bright futures in the world of wrestling and I am happy to see them be apart of AIW regularly. Easily the match of the night.
Louis Lyndon and Matt Cross are known for their high flying, and while we certainly got that in their singles contest, they progressed into it rather than going balls to the wall from start to end. It actually worked out really well because the crowd got into Cross’ bigger moves in the finishing stretch. Lyndon has been forced into becoming a singles wrestler since Flip Kendrick made his way up to Canada and each time out I feel like we see him grow more and more. Since the 2012 JLIT he’s introduced more submission and mat work into his repertoire. We saw it pay off here where he was able to catch Cross with a bodyscissors Dragon Sleeper. It was a first time submission loss for Cross and was put over as a big time deal on commentary. Lyndon is a guy who I can see being on the upper level of the singles rankings by the year’s end if they keep building him as such. Even if I do prefer Cross in his matches teaming with Josh Prohibition, there’s no denying that he brought the goods in this bout.
The Jollyville Fuck Its were supposed to be in a Beyond Wrestling showcase against Addy Starr and Bill Carr. It’s probably in the Fuck Its best interest that Starr didn’t make it because they got thrown in with NIXON (Rickey Shane Page and Bobby Beverly), the top heels in AIW. I had seen “Nasty” Russ Myers and T-Money in some showcase matches before but this was by far the highest profile bout I had seen them in. Not only did they look good, it’s easy to argue they outshined the AIW regulars. Myers cannonball splash is a sight to behold. T-Money has an Uhaa Nation type aura about him. I really think that if these two didn’t have such a vulgar team name they could have a chance to be regulars in an even bigger company. Maybe they don’t care, but judging by their talent alone they could be a force in independent wrestling in a few years time. They got a lot of offense on NIXON but of course ended up falling to them in the end. The Fuck-Its have been on every AIW show since this one, and I honestly think without this performance that may not be the case. Keep your eyes on them; I see great things in their future.
Someone others who clearly has a bright future in AIW are Josh Alexander and Davey Vega. Alexander has had great matches ever since he debuted and represented AIW well with Page at National Pro Wrestling Day. Vega had great matches with Mat Fitchett and continued to do so as a singles wrestler when Fitchett was benched due to an injury. Needless to say, these two had another terrific outing. Alexander killed Vega. He threw him into the guardrails multiple times, powerbombed him onto the ring apron, and driving his head into the mat with an Implant. Vega repaid him by causing Alexander to tumble to the floor when holding up Vega in a suplex, then giving him a tornado DDT on the floor. Alexander threw some hard rolling elbows and strikes while Vega employed aerial offense like a super Frankensteiner and a flipping square driver in response. It almost seemed like Vega was on his way to securing a victory when Alexander turned it over into a spinning tombstone and picking up the win. This was a great outing for both participants and one of the most fun bouts on the card.
Jock Samson has some charm to him I can’t define. I don’t really like him talking about beating his wife and whenever else, but he’s a lot of fun to watch and kind of endearing. Teaming him with Bill Carr and Doctor Col. Nolan Angus was a brilliant idea. Lord knows I’m not a huge Submission Squad guy, but they’re great foils for Samson and his partners of the month. They just know how to have a fun match with some good wrestling at certain points. Carr and Jay are easily the best workers on their respective teams but the match was all about Angus. Angus may have had the least amount of ring time but him turning into a hopeless cripple into the guy who won the match got a big time pop. Like I said, you’re not going to find a five star classic with a match like this, but I had a good time.
In case you have not heard or seen, Colin Delaney has cleaned up and gotten into amazing shape. I think he’s ready for a career renaissance if given the chance. It was an interesting choice putting a former alcoholic against life-long non-drinker Josh Prohibition. This could have been a typical wrestling troupe of a storyline but it luckily never came into play outside a mention on commentary. Instead we got a great, physical back-and-forth wrestling match. Delaney had not been as athletic as his early CHIKARA days for awhile but that offense is slowly but surely becoming more of his arsenal these days. They had a few segments of counter pins, leading to Prohibition countering Delaney’s backslide with the Drunken Driver for the win. Even though I think Delaney is on the upswing, I think this loss served him better. The story of him slowly growing back into his old successful self rather than getting that way immediately is a better story and will benefit him in terms of crowd reaction in the end. Good match.
Dickinson and Necro had a brawl. There were chairs, there was blood, it was stiff. Exactly what you’d expect. Essentially Dickinson has been having these brawls with “Deathmatch” guys in the past few months just to show how Intense he can be, leading to his inevitable title match with BJ Whitmer who he called out after the match. I very much look forward to that. Another thing I look forward to is The Batiri getting a proper rematch against Hope & Change (current AIW tag team champions Gregory Iron & Veda Scott). Their original opponents were set to be Irish Airborne, but them being unable to make the show, Kodama of the Batiri and Facade filled in. I am not the biggest fan of any of those four people so color me surprised that they actually a had a solid match. No botches and some fun wrestling. The only un-fun thing was yet another lousy finish in a Hope & Change match where Veda Scott played Eddie Guerrero with Veronica Ticklefeather’s baton and got the makeshift challengers disqualified. I’m numb to crummy finishes in their matches, but the sooner the belts are off Hope & Change, the better.
As a big time CHIKARA fan, Tim Donst vs. Eddie Kingston was the match I was most anticipating. The prevailing opinion amongst fans seems to be that their main event at “Under the Hood”, CHIKARA’s last show of 2012, was disappointing. AIW built this feud up in a few of their shows and it was my personal hope that they could put on the Kingston vs. Donst match that us fans expected and wanted. Unfortunately, that did not happen. Instead, they give us another cheap finish after some great wrestling. When Donst attacked Kingston from behind, Donst knocked into referee Jake Clemons, allowing Kingston to pull out a pair of Brass Knuckles and use them with a Backfist to get the win. If this isn’t the last match between them in the long run I’ll be less upset, but given that Kingston was set for the next event and didn’t appear makes me feel less hopeful. It’s a shame AIW wasn’t able to present the Kingston/Donst match we have clamored for but maybe it will lead us to something in the long run. That could be me just being optimistic though.
Eric Ryan’s championship win at “End of the World” was quite infuriating. The way he won left a sour taste in my mouth and I thought it was both unfair for Donst’s reign to end that way and for Ryan’s reign to kick off in such a manner. This is why I was happy to see his first defense be against Johnny Gargano, who is not just one of the biggest names in independent wrestling but one of the biggest Absolute champions ever. The wrestling was quite good. Nothing spectacular (aside from Gargano’s spin-out facebuster into the barricades) and the usual quiet crowd hurt it somewhat, but it was easy to see both guys were working hard. To me, this would have been the chance to have Ryan get a strong win to solidify his second reign and wash away the tainted win from Donst. Instead, we got Jake Clemons taking another ref bump. Thankfully, it didn’t lead directly into the finish, but it’s still pretty bad when you have the same referee taking a fall in three of the five last matches on the show. Ryan got to have Gargano pass out to a Lion Tamer which does do him some favors in the long run. The best part was when NIXON made their way out to continue doing a number to Gargano and Josh Alexander made the save. If this is how we’re going to bring Alexander into the main event scene, I am all for it. It’s just time for some of these title matches to have clean finishes.
Overall: The wrestling alone gives this show a solid recommendation. Elgin vs. ACH, Alexander vs. Vega and the main event really brought the goods. The undercard is a mixed bag but even in matches where the finishes aren’t so great the wrestling is good. I still think there’s some lessons to be learned by having too many cheap finishes on a show (you can make heels and advance stories in other ways, folks) but the overall direction of AIW is onward and upward as usual.
You can pick up this show on DVD from AIW’s store or Smart Mark Video. For a reduced price, you can also download the show as an mp4 from Smart Mark Video or watch it On Demand from SMVOD.
AIW presents “Absolution VIII” on iPPV on June 30th through SMVOD. You can pre-order this stacked show ft. Derrick Bateman, Michael Elgin, Johnny Gargano and others here.
For more information on AIW, check out their official website, their Facebook page, follow them on Twitter, and follow them on Tumblr.
Quick Results/Match Times/Star Ratings
1. Ethan Page pins ACH at 8:50 after a low blow and the Spinning Dwayne. **¾
2. Louis Lyndon submits Matt Cross with a Dragon Sleeper/bodyscissors combo at 9:28. **½
3. NIXON (Rickey Shane Page & Bobby Beverly) defeated The Jollyville Fuck-Its (Russ Myrers & T-Money) in 7:16 when Page tossed Myers into a superkick from Beverly. **¾
4. Josh Alexander wins a hard fought match with Davey Vega in 11:23 with a spinning tombstone piledriver. ***¼
5. The Submission Squad (Pierre Abernathy, Evan Gelestico & Gary Jay)/ The All American Ass Kickers (Jock Samson, Bill Carr & Doctor Col. Nolan Angus) when Angus pinned Abernathy with a Stone Cold Stunner at 9:18. **
6. Josh Prohibition pins Colin Delaney in 11:00 with the Drunken Driver. ***
7. AIW Tag Team Championship: Hope & Change (Gregory Iron & Veda Scott) succesfully defended the tag team titles against Kodama & Facade via DQ when Veda Scott faked that Facade had hit her with Veronica Ticklefeather’s baton. **½
8. Chris Dickinson defeats The Necro Butcher in 12:12 with a Tiger Driver. **¾
9. Eddie Kingston pins Tim Donst with a brass knucks assisted Backfist to the Future in 13:33. ***
10. ACH scores an upset victory over Michael Elgin with the Cram for the Exam at 23:34. ****
11. AIW Absolute Championship: Eric Ryan retains the title, causing Johnny Gargano to pass out in the Lion Tamer in 18:25. ***¼