January 19th, 2018
Opening Match: Matthew Justice vs. Shane Mercer
They exchange some stiff strikes and Mercer hits an exploder. Justice responds with a powerslam and clotheslines Mercer to the floor. Justice lands a dive to the floor and celebrates in the crowd. Mercer trips him up on the apron. They send each other into the guardrail. Justice steals a fan’s cane and hits Mercer with it to the crowd’s delight. In the ring, Justice hits a delayed vertical suplex and takes control. Mercer fights back with an impressive pop-up powerslam. Justice retreats to the floor, where Mercer catches him with an asai moonsault. Back in, Mercer hits a flipping fallaway slam from the middle rope and the crowd loves him. Justice responds with an overhead suplex into the turnbuckles. He misses a coast-to-coast dropkick but connects with a yakuza kick. Justice comes of the top rope with a knee strike for the win at 13:57. Justice has been reinvigorated recently and Mercer wanted to make a memorable first impression. The action certainly reflected both of those things. These two worked well together and the intensity of their back-and-forth exchanges was exactly what you want out of an opener. I would not be surprised to see Mercer back. ***¼
Match #2: Weird World (Alex Kellar and Evan Adams) vs. Big Twan Tucker and Parker Pierce
Kellar hits a gutwrench suplex on Pierce. Adams has some difficulty overcoming Tucker’s size and power advantage. Tucker and Pierce isolate Adams until he catches Pierce with a springboard crossbody and makes the tag. Kellar plants Pierce with a back suplex and hits a DDT on Tucker. He follows with a dive to the floor onto Tucker. Pierce lays out Adams with a northern lariat and hits the Flip Cup for the victory at 9:29. There wasn’t a ton to see here, as neither team really managed to stand out. I definitely prefer Tucker and Pierce, though, and they might fare better against more skilled opponents. *½
Match #3: Chase Oliver and Tre Lamar vs. Frankie Flynn and Magnum CK
Flynn and Magnum attack before the opening bell. Oliver catches Magnum with a standing shooting star press. Lamar and Oliver connect with stereo dropkicks in the corner and then land stereo dives to the floor. Flynn and Magnum take some time to regroup at ringside. Flynn catches Lamar with a backcracker and they isolate him. Lamar double stomps Flynn and makes the tag. Oliver spikes Flynn with a basement hurricanrana. Magnum attacks Oliver from the apron and now he gets worked over. Oliver makes the tag after catching Flynn with an inverted DDT. Lamar connects with a springboard lariat on Magnum. He superkicks Flynn into a crucifix bomb from Oliver. Lamar and Oliver land beautiful crisscross dives to the floor. In the ring, everyone trades superkicks. Magnum misses a flying elbow drop, allowing Oliver to land a shooting star press. Flynn knees Oliver in the face and hits the Final Cut for the win at 12:25. Oliver and Lamar might be a bit unpolished, but they’re an exciting team with a lot of energy. They could easily be a team to add some life to the tag team division. Flynn and Magnum were also on their game and this tag team match truly over-delivered. ***
Match #4: Jonathan Wolf vs. Malcom Monroe III
Monroe snaps off a hurricanrana but gets taken down by a gourdbuster. He recovers with another hurricanrana that sends Wolf to the floor. Monroe lands a dive. In the ring, Wolf connects with a timely superkick and takes control. Monroe fights back with a punt from the apron. Wolf blocks a hurricanrana and powerbombs Monroe into the guardrail. They exchange strikes back in the ring. There’s a silly exchange where they connect with the same kick, fall to the canvas, kip up, and connect with the same kick again. Monroe hits a lungblower followed by a german suplex into the turnbuckles. He hurricanranas Wolf over the top rope. Wolf goes into the front row for some reason, so Monroe lands a moonsault onto him from the top rope. In the ring, Wolf hits a northern lights suplex for a nearfall. Monroe answers with a 450 splash for a two count. Wolf hits a tombstone and a sit-out powerbomb. Monroe hits a destroyer from the middle rope and a reverse hurricanrana for a nearfall. Oh man. Monroe follows with a pumphandle piledriver for the victory at 14:31. They threw out every cool sequence or exchange they could do together without any rhyme or reason. The action looked good but it all felt so meaningless and the crowd quickly became desensitized to the proceedings. This embodied exactly what I do not want from professional wrestling. *
Match #5: No Consequences (AJ Gray, Garrison King, and Joshua Bishop) vs. The Production (Derek Director, Colby Redd, and Eddy Only)
Gray snaps off a hurricanrana on Director and connects with a leg lariat. King springboard dropkicks Director into a saito suplex from Gray. Redd catches King with a facewash kick in the corner. The Production work over King until he catches Director with a michinoku driver and makes the tag. Bishop cleans house with a series of shoulder tackles. The action starts to break down with everyone in the ring. Bishop powerbombs Only over the top rope and onto his teammates. Gray levels Redd with a lariat and lands a corkscrew plancha to the floor onto Director. Bishop hits a spike piledriver on Redd and King adds a wheelbarrow bomb for the win at 11:41. These multi-man matches between No Consequences and The Production all play out similarly and I’m waiting for one of them to really break through. This one actually lost steam down the stretch due to some mistimed sequences and the crowd ended up being dead for the finish. **
Match #6: Dominic Garrini vs. Juice Robinson
Robinson spinebusters out of an early guillotine attempt by Garrini and hits a back suplex. Garrini anticipates a senton and tries for a cross armbreaker. Garrini finds an opening to hit an overhead suplex. Robinson answers with an alabama slam and a corner cannonball. Garrini hits a backbreaker and transitions into a german suplex. He follows with a fisherman buster. Robinson creates some space with a yakuza kick and hits a powerbomb. Robinson wins a strike exchange with a brutal lariat. He attempts Pulp Friction but Garrini counters into a cross armbreaker for the victory at 9:28. Garrini has been booked to be quite dominant in recent months and this was yet another commanding performance. The action felt as though it was just about to kick into a higher gear before the finish, but what was here was decent. **¾
Match #7: Dedication Personified (Brian Carson and Dr. Daniel C. Rockingham) vs. The Philly and Marino Experience (Marino Tenaglia and Philly Collins) vs. The Young Studs (Bobby Beverly and Eric Ryan) vs. To Infinity and Beyond (Cheech and Collin Delaney)
The winning team will become the #1 contender for the AIW Tag Team Titles. All four teams start the match out brawling. Collins hits a samoan drop on Delaney but Cheech catches him with a facewash kick. Dedication Personified showcase some double teaming on Tenaglia. Tenaglia fights back with a dive to the floor. Collins follows with a moonsault from the top rope. In the ring, Delaney connects with a springboard elbow drop onto Ryan. Ryan answers with a delayed german suplex on Cheech. The crowd has been pretty quiet for the action thus far. Carson lands a top-rope splash onto Ryan for a nearfall. Tenaglia and Collins hit a dropkick-DDT combination on Delaney. Dedication Personified blindside Collins with a quick rollup for the win at 11:16. This match was reminiscent of the earlier six-man tag in that the finishing stretch didn’t flow well enough to captivate the crowd, so they just kind of politely watched on. The reality is that these four-way tags are difficult to pull off and this one didn’t come together. *¾
Match #8: Ray Rowe vs. Keith Lee
This is Rowe’s independent wrestling farewell before heading to NXT. Rowe is able to take Lee down to the mat with his power. Lee leapfrogs Rowe and connects with a dropkick. They battle over a test of strength and Lee flips out of a monkey flip attempt. Lee gets cocky so Rowe punches him in the face. Rowe follows with a few superman punches and sends Lee into the guardrail. Lee returns the favor and connects with a bicycle kick. They brawl around ringside. Back in, Rowe connects with shotgun knees and hits an exploder. Lee responds with a pounce but gets cut off from diving by a uranagi. Lee fights back with a slingshot crossbody for a nearfall. Rowe connects with a knee to the face and adds a series of more strikes. They exchange roaring elbows and clotheslines. Rowe connects with Death Rowe for a two count. Lee avoids a second Death Rowe and hits a spinebuster. He misses a moonsault and Rowe hits a destroyer for a nearfall. Rowe connects with Death Rowe and a roaring elbow. Both men collapse, but Lee falls on top of Rowe for the victory at 27:41. Given their eventual end point (both men collapsing due to exhaustion), twenty-eight minutes and a more methodical pace made total sense. This being a first-time matchup made the slower portions of the match even somewhat interesting. The finishing stretch was full of great moments and I would comfortably call this a fitting farewell for Rowe. I prefer the pacing and storytelling of Lee’s matches with Donovan Dijak, for instance, but given the context, these two delivered. ***¾
-Show Grade: C+
–You Need to See:
–You’d Enjoy Watching: Rowe/Lee, Justice/Mercer, Oliver+Lamar/Flynn+Magnum
–You Should Avoid: