Monday AIW - JT Lightning Invitational Tournament Night 2 6/15/19

Dominic Garrini vs. Nick Gage vs. Zach Thomas vs. Joshua Bishop

PAS: This was a four way with some really cool moments and some issues inherent in four ways. We get a renewal of the Bishop vs. Garrini feud, including a crazy spot where Bishop breaks a rear naked choke by throwing himself and Dom off the ring apron through a table. I also really liked the final offensive run that Gage used to put away Thomas. Still I think I would have been more interested in any version of these four guys in a singles match, and there was some goofy stuff like everyone going around in a circle elbowing each other. I liked this, but it isn't anything I am going to remember for long.

Mance Warner vs. Pat Buck vs. Savio Vega vs. Lee Moriarty

PAS: I enjoyed Warner vs. Savio throwing hands, and Warner getting the Duke's belt and cosplaying Austin vs. Savio. Moriarty pretty much just took bumps and shoehorned in his Johnny Saint stuff, and Buck didn't make much of an impression either way. I did like Moriarty's bump on the finishing lariat by Warner, it was almost Pat Tanaka-ish.

ER: This match was kind of enough for me. I really liked this return of Savio, he's a guy who in his current state really appeals to me. He's a bigger, slower guy now, but he hits as hard as ever and I kind of need a modern Abby who wanders around and throws violent throat thrusts, hard overhand chops, and even hard kicks to the stomach. I don't need much more out of a guy. I dug Warner poking Savio in the eye while Savio was shaking his hand out after a hard chop, dug the strap getting brought in, could have watched Mancer waste Moriarty with lariats a half dozen more times. I need more 2019 Savio, but this scratched a good itch.

Marko Stunt vs. Matthew Justice vs. Kid Kash vs. KTB

PAS: This was the best of the three semi-final matches, as they just went out there and did 8 minutes of crazy spots. Kash was running around cracking people with chops and punches, and did a dive into the crowd. Stunt was taking nutso bump after nutso bump, including taking a second rope sunset driver from Justice. There are a lot of tiny guys in wrestling, but Stunt legitimately looks like a small child, not a tiny adult, so Justice brutalizing him has extra spice.

ER: This was good fun but criminally short, not quite getting 5 minutes. These are guys with more than 4 minutes of material, and at least we got to see some good material jammed into the short runtime. Agree with Phil about Stunt, he kind of trips me out as nothing about him reads "adult" so it just feels like somebody's kid getting tossed around. Imagine what kind of push he would have gotten if Feinstein or Pena were still allowed to run shows/alive. Kash throws Marko to the floor with an awesome press slam, KTB and Justice take nice bumps into the crowd, Stunt hits a nice flip dive off the top into them, Kash crashes into them, and we get some fun in ring car crash stuff. I liked KTB throwing Kash around with Irish whips and planting a diving headbutt on Justice, enjoy the gusto that Matt Justice has for setting up big spots, fully agreed with the commentator who says Kash reminded him of Marty Jannetty, and loved the exclamation point ending with Justice sticking Stunt with the money in the bank. I wanted at least 5 more minutes of this.

Eddie Kingston vs. Tim Donst

PAS: This was pretty by the numbers Eddie Kingston, which is still going to be pretty enjoyable. He and Donst have a bunch of history, including Eddie mauling him when he was a rookie, so this match was full of stiffness and shit talking (although this is more of a good natured shit talking King then we have gotten recently). There is a nasty bump into the guardrail by Kingston where he just torches his knees, and we get a great backfist for the pin. Post match there ends up being a heated pull apart between Kingston and Lawlor, and that definitely got me amped for that match.

ER: This felt pretty one-sided for a King match. Donst never felt out of it until the final backfist, but he felt like a guy struggling to pull ahead. It wasn't a long match (10 minutes) but felt a little all over the place, though I'm not going to be one to complain about King breaking out offense. Brawl through the crowd was good, as a big thing Donst has going for him is he's a guy who reads "pain" when he takes a tumble. He always looks like a guy in over his head at a pick up basketball game, so every landing feels like something that will end with him wearing a protective boot for several months. He hits a great dive here on King, and both take nasty spills over the guardrail, into the guardrail, King gets his knee tied up in a chair, all good stuff. I dug the commentary putting over King's attention to detail, speculating on him breaking a knuckle after he shakes his fist out punching Donst in the hard part of the forehead. Donst really risks his body at points, in addition to that dive he also leaps off the apron into Kingston, not trying for anything fancy, literally just leaping off with an avalanche. I would have like to see a couple comebacks from Donst before King put him down, but overall I really liked how they worked with each other.

To Infinity and Beyond vs. Aeroform

PAS: I really enjoyed this, it took a bit to get going, with 2IAB jawing with the crowd, but really picked up when they isolated Louis Lyndon. Cheech and Colin are a really great 2019 heel offense team, and I love all the cutoffs and hope spots which they gave Lyndon. Flip is a great hot tag, landing an insane capoeira kick, and a combo sunset flip bomb into the corner with a Lyndon high kick. Nice run of crazy nearfalls, which ends with a brutal looking double team with a double knees to the stomach of Lyndon while Kendrick is powerbombed on his brothers back. Nasty duo of cheapshotting heels against a pair of highflying sympathetic babyfaces, tag team wrestling at its base done really well.

ER: ER: I love Cheech and Delaney! They're easily one of the best teams at doing these kind of breathless 10 minute tags with several intricately set up double team spots, and not make them look hokey or overly prepared. They keep some of those sharp edges on sequences, and the important thing is their complicated stuff actually looks like it would hurt. I never see them with that vacant look in their eyes as they miss clothesline by 2 feet, too busy thinking about the next dance step. Their stuff is fun, and they can make some improbable stuff look probable. I love all of Delaney's inside out and outside in dropkicks, and I somehow never see it coming when he slides out of the ring to dropkick someone through the turnbuckles. They're good at setting up moments for their opponents, both really good at being guys who get momentarily distracted only to turn around and run into a boot. They're also really good at simple cut off spots, and it's crazy more teams don't do stuff as simple as running across the ring to elbow your opponent on the apron. The finish was nasty as hell, a powerbomb onto your partner that looked this painful for both opponents should be the finish.

Allie Kat vs. CPA vs. Dr Daniel C Rockingham vs. Manders vs. Erik Taylor vs. Mike Montgomery

PAS: This was a rest of the locker room six way, it had it's moments. I enjoyed some of the reckless bumping and highflying of the two students Taylor and Montgomery, and Manders was fun chucking everyone around. There was the section where everyone tried to get their comedy spots over, and there was too much Allie Kat, but this was mostly enjoyable.

40 Acres (PB Smooth/AJ Gray/Tre Lamar) vs. The Production (Danhausen/Derek Director/Eddy Only)

ER: This was a well done angle that I didn't really want to see. Eddy Only hurt his ankle on the earlier show, so this is a handicap match, putting the Production as the underdogs with only Derek Director and Danhausen going against the 3 man 40 Acres. I really like The Production as heel indy scum Kaientai, attacking in numbers that is sometimes effective, sometimes leads to them being crash test dummies. They were good here at being sympathetic underdogs - Only even runs out on crutches and momentarily comes out ahead before getting killed in short order - but it's a role I don't really want to see them in. This goes less than 4 minutes and is mostly 40 Acres dominating, until PB Smooth accidentally takes AJ Gray out with a pump kick. This fleetingly evens the odds and gives us a nice brief run of heroic Derek and Dan. But I like these guys as big bumping schemers, not heroes! Everyone did a real good job here, Derek and Danhausen are big bumpers so obviously they're going to get crushed by 3 dudes with nice offense (Derek gets killed on a clothesline, Only eats a huge slam for the finish), but this could have been a killer 10 minute trios match - and on paper when I saw "40 Acres vs. The Production" on the card I thought it could be the low key match of the night. This angle was well done, but I got greedy.

PAS: Yeah this wasn't much of a match, but a fun segment. I agree with Eric about the Production as faces, they are much more fun as sleazy heels, but they did do a nice job. Derek's bump on AJ Gray's clothesline was especially nasty, Gray was great as a bruiser heel, a role I haven't seen him in before, his clip of Only's bad ankle was especially nasty. I think this could be a fun feud, but I imagine it would be more fun with a role reversal.

Tom Lawlor vs. Erick Stevens

PAS: There was a lot of cool stuff in this match, but for some reason the Fite TV replay has a pretty significant clip in the middle which makes it hard to fully rate. I really liked the opening with Stevens hitting a low top right into Lawlor's back when he was walking to ring side, and the have a fun brawl into the crowd including Steven's taking a big bump into chairs and Lawlor hitting a long airplane spin through the crowd. Stevens catches Lawlor with a powerslam on a guardrail, and we jump to both guys in the ring and Lawlor in control, no idea how we got there. Finish run had some cool stuff, including Lawlor kicking the shit out Stevens should with upkicks and some cool chokes. They do go into a pop up suplex exchange which I hate, and I though there was one too many kickouts. Still this was some stiff, violent stuff, and I could see it making a list if we can find a copy with the missing chunk.

Mance Warner vs. Matthew Justice vs. Nick Gage

PAS: This was pretty fun, but flawed. They started just throwing bombs out of the block, with Warner trying quick KO's on both guys, with a running knee and big pop up headbutt. Pretty much the whole match was big finishers, spots on chairs and spears through tables. When you start a match at 10, you really can't push it higher. Middle of the match Jock Samson comes down and jumps Warner and the Duke turns on Warner to eliminate him. Justice and Gage kill each other, but there is a big no sell section in the middle which I hate (last two matches both have it, and they need to retire it). I am amused at Justice winning a match with nothing but finishers by using a small package, but I was basically indifferent towards this.