Monday AIW: Matches from AIW Bobblehead Night 9/20/19

ER: Phil wrote this show up several months ago, so I figured I would swoop in and watch the matches I wanted to watch from it, and add any worthy matches to our 2019 MOTY List!


Bitcoin Boys (Mikey Montgomery/Eric Taylor) vs. Aeroform (Louis Lyndon/Flip Kendrick) vs. The Production (Danhausen/Derek Director) vs. 40 Acres (AJ Gray/Tre Lamar)

PAS: AIW four team scrambles are maybe my favorite thing in current wrestling. This match was missing some of the regular standouts (WHERE ARE THE FUCK-ITS?!?!), but was still a blast. This match was really high flyer heavy and we got some really nifty dives by the Bitcoin Boys, Aeroform and Tre Lamar. There was also some nasty double teams, including a spot where Derek Director takes Tre Lamar on his back and smushes a Bitcoin Boy with a cannonball in the corner. The Bitcoin Boys had some moments of questionable offense, but took huge uncalled for beatings in this match, and that is always fun to watch. I didn't love the finish, and this wasn't at the level of the best AIW 4 way tags, but that is a super high bar to clear.

ER: This one didn't hit me the same as the best AIW multi man tags, but as Phil mentioned they have established a high bar for these types of matches. I think the only real dips in action centered around Danhausen working as Danhausen, and everyone kind of needing to hit pause while he Danhausens. I've really been digging the Bitcoin Boyz on these shows, they're real brats who have no problem leaning into enziguiris and getting tossed around, and I love how they'll also cheapshot and jump Aeroform and continually write checks they can't cash. The dives were fun, with Aeroform hitting stereo Asai moonsaults to the floor and Eric Taylor hitting a tope con giro through Mikey's legs. AJ Gray was wrecking people left and right, loved his big lariat. Derek Director was a big standout for me, and the backpack cannonball is a fantastic move. The saves kept things moving nicely, and I was left wanting more (in good ways and bad ways!) after a surprise Bitcoin roll up. I liked this and these AIW matches always scratch an itch, sometimes the scratch is more satisfying and lasting.


41. Philly Marino Experience (Philly Collins/Marino Tenaglia) vs. To Infinity and Beyond (Cheech/Colin Delaney)

PAS: Another absolute banger from these two teams, I can't remember the last time a tag rivalry has been this consistently excellent (maybe Usos vs. New Day although that got worn out after a while.) The storytelling of this match was a bit different, your previous matches have been all about PME trying to climb the mountain and unseat the champs, here they have knocked TIAB off that mountain and are trying to keep them down. Cheech and Colin are a bit less sure of themselves, a little more desperate and PME are on a roll. Philly takes a huge backdrop onto the ramp and sells a bad back for the finishing run really well, that little bit of tentativeness costs him a couple of times. We get good heat sections on both PMErs and a cool hot run, with Infinity trying all of their dirty tricks. I loved the couple of big near falls after the hot tag, and the super Sunset Dreams is a great escalation finish.  I also appreciate how both team work towards real heel and face reactions, there is no "Fight Forever" or "Both These Guys" chants in their matches, just beloved babyfaces fighting against dastardly heels.

ER: This was great, and I too appreciate the different structures that their tag matches have taken on. I never feel like I'm watching the same things done somewhat differently, as they really feel like they try to bring a different approach to each match. I like how they've matched up (at least) half a dozen times and don't necessarily do callbacks to prior matches, but their motivations change match to match. That's a fun, sustainable way to have a bunch of matches with the same guys and have it still feel fresh. It also helps when both teams are really great, which is what this is. These teams know each other and that history is implied throughout. Marino had a great undersized babyface performance here, loved that moment where Cheech is blocking him from breaking up a pin, so Marino just flies in with a springboard blockbuster, sacrificing his body to send everyone into a dogpile; later he punts Cheech from the apron, get his second attempt caught by Delaney, handsprings off the apron and superkicks Cheech past Delaney's ear, and then gets lit by a Delaney roaring elbow. There are always so many moving parts to these matches, and they're always new, never revealing where they're going until we get there. I really liked Philly's back selling, from taking a gnarly hip toss from the ring to the entrance ramp. Phil was right, he's not out here hamming it up, but it did slow him down and did cost him; rubbing out his hip while getting Irish whipped felt like he took something great out of Eddie Kingston's notebook. I love the efficiency of these tags, as we don't ever get bogged down in shock faced kickouts and chant milking. Here, when PME unexpectedly kicked out of a potential finish, Delaney just sat on the mat shaking his head laughing, like "These guys are gonna make me hurt them" before getting right back to just that. Marino and Delaney both take great bumps off DDTs, and I loved the early fun of "cutting Marino off, then cutting off Philly's cut off, oh and now Delaney is gonna hit a quick tope on Marino to cut him off again." These teams are just great at telling a new story in several interesting ways.


103. Tom Lawlor vs. KTB

PAS: This was good stuff, one of the better Lawlor title defense for sure. KTB brings this fun sprint intensity to all of his matches, and these guys go right at each other reckless from the start. They wing punches and chops and don't pause to stare and make faces at each other. KTB has really fun power spots, including just powering Lawlor over the top rope when Lawlor was stomping on his chest, and Lawlor does some cool MMA counters, like catching KTB mid spear in a guillotine choke, and snatching him out of the air into triangle chokes. Never lets up and ends cool and clean. Really a house show title match, and the post match Bishop angle sets up the next big title defense perfectly.

ER: This went a little long for me, but it's the first time they've met up in a singles and it's a big main event title match, and I dug how they had a straight match without weapons. Now a straight match for these two still means some bodies were going to crash hard, but an AIW main event without weapons or plunder feels novel. AIW guys are really good at working and appealing to the crowd in ways that don't detract from the match, as Phil points out you don't need to make silly faces and jackoff hand gestures to get people excited about two guys exchanging strikes. Just hit each other and people will cheer! That's how it starts, and it keeps up a damn impressive pace for the duration. I expected this to be more power vs. striking, but Lawlor is crazy so he throws in just as much power game as KTB. There's a great spot where KTB leaps in with an avalanche, Lawlor sidesteps and catches him off the ground, and Lawlor walks him toward the center of the ring in a go behind before dumping him with a suplex. KTB hit a nice spear early which set up a great moment down the home stretch where Lawlor grabs a guillotine off the spear. KTB is a fearless flyer for a guy his size, and his dives land well without putting his opponent in a dangerous position. I've never seen him just barrel through a guy, he just manages to wrestle heavy while landing light (sometimes I can do with a little more heavy, but safety first kids). The finish is inventive and mostly works, with KTB flying off the top for a diving headbutt but getting caught in a triangle (I think Lawlor was good at waiting to the last minute to shift his hips into it) and we get great moments of KTB powering Lawlor up but falling back to his knees, before powering him up again to finish off the powerbomb and break the triangle. The initial struggle before collapsing back to his knees was a strong visual, really put over just how difficult that would be this deep in a match. KTB immediately goes for a Beast-sault and immediately  lands right back in the triangle. They started at a quick pace that made it feel like this was going under 10, and the fact they kept it up well past that mark felt big.


2019 MOTY MASTER LIST

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IWTV Worth Watching: Alpha-1 Wrestling!

Manders vs. Steve Brown Alpha-1 3/10/19

ER: I threw this on because I was looking for Manders gems that hadn’t been unearthed yet, and I stumble upon a big ol Indy Akebono in Steve Brown!? Steve Brown, whose name would never stand out and make me seek him out, is a big fat guy with an awesome territory fat guy body. I’ve probably watched shows that had Steve Brown in a 6 man with other dudes I wouldn’t want to watch in a 6 man, and probably never even noticed the name Steve Brown listed. It is the least noticeable name. And yet STEVE BROWN is very much noticeable, and he does great fat guy offense and bumps for big Manders offense. Now, this entire match is 2.5 minutes long. It’s slight. But it’s a fun as hell Viscera vs. Bradshaw Attitude era short Raw match. Both guys run into each other, Manders has a big shoulder tackle off the middle rope, Brown has some big fat guy slams and a wonderful spinning heel kick (delivered just like Viscera used to deliver them, rest in power). Steve Brown feels like the guy I on sight excitedly wanted Barrington Hughes to be, but turns out Hughes can’t be trusted in a ring for more than a minute at a time. Brown is a guy I will be seeking out. I mean this is a dude who chokeslammed Manders to hell!!


Manders vs. Kody Lane Alpha-1Wrestling 6/23/19

ER: I saw Manders live 4 (5?) times in a weekend at SCI, and I saw a guy who was clearly putting in time and working as many dates as possible. This was several weeks earlier and you could see how much he learned just leading up to SCI. Even as a guy with just raw power, leaning into strikes and offense, he's a bunch of fun. Kody Lane is a lanky guy who maybe tries to do too much, could benefit with his moveset being tightened up a bit, maybe lose some things with tougher execution. The stuff that hit straight, hit well. Lane had a big running boot scrape style kick through the ropes to the floor, hits a cool tornillo plancha into close quarters (fans were seated fairly close to the ring in a small rec church rec room), really landed hard on a senton, and did things like block a Manders lariat by kicking his arm; Manders hit a big powerslam (lifting Lane over the ropes from the apron), big wind up elbow to Lane's cerebellum, and did some cool little things like laying extra heavy on a schoolboy. I bet this match would be good in 2020.


Philly Marino Experience vs. Ethan Page/Josh Alexander Alpha-1 Wrestling 6/23/19

ER: A nice, efficient tag match. Page and Alexander cut Marino off from Philly, wreck him with backbreakers and gourdbusters, and Marino gets to take a good beating and then fire back with harder shots than Page or Alexander were throwing. Marino is a great 2019 Ricky Morton, as his comebacks are fiery and stiff, but he takes a painful beating. Ethan Page had a couple devastating backbreakers, really using his size advantage to lift Marino up and spin him hard, theatrically onto his knee. He and Alexander had some double teams that worked due to their big size over Marino, like holding him upside down like they were giving him a swirly, before throwing him down on his stomach. The double teams Philly was a part of were kind of silly, a lot of help from Page and Alexander, but Marino's comeback was really exciting, nicely laced in chops and punches.

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2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Missing AIW Match 1/19/18

PAS: While putting together the AIW Complete and Accurate I realized that Eric reviewed every match on the Death Rowe show except for this multi man tag, which is of course our favorite thing in AIW. And guess what? It ruled.

ER: I have no clue why I wouldn't have reviewed this tag match. As Phil said, I reviewed EVERY OTHER MATCH on that show, EXCEPT this one. And that makes no sense, because AIW tag scrambles are one of my absolute favorite match types in wrestling. Usually I just cherry pick 2-3 matches I want to watch on any given indy show, and this would have been one of those 2-3! For some reason I did the opposite and wrote up everything but the match that excites me most on paper. I can only assume there was something wrong with the video and the match was glitchy or missed. I got nothing.


43. To Infinity and Beyond (Cheech/Colin Delaney) vs. Philly Marino Experience (Philly Collins/Marino Tenaglia) vs. Young Studs (Bobby Beverly/Eric Ryan) vs. Excellence Personified (Dr. Daniel C. Rockingham/Brian Carson)

PAS: AIW has mastered these multi man tag matches, and I really think To Infinity and Beyond are the glue that holds them together. This is really early PME, they have really developed in a great team, but this match was 18 months ago and they are still pretty seamlessly integrated into the match. This is the most I have enjoyed Dr. Dan, as he cuts out the comedy and just takes bumps. I think TIAB are just conducting a complex amount of traffic. Philly Collins's fat boy moonsault to the floor is one of the more impressive highspots around, he gets great height and lands with tubby force. Brian Carson has a crazy bump to the floor where he cracks his head on the top of the metal post, we get a bunch of cool double teams, and some really well timed cut offs. Just such an enjoyable bit of craziness.

ER: Yep, this ruled, easily my favorite match of the show. I'm never going to know/remember why I didn't watch this match with the rest of the show. AIW has my favorite tag scene in wrestling, and they do these wild action multi mans SO much better than anyone else, and Delaney/Cheech really do seem to be the consistent denominator in all of them. But this match was filled with star performances. Yes, Cheech and Delaney are constantly a part of that, and seem to trigger each new momentum change, while looking explosive as hell. Delaney runs into guys faster and with harder elbows than anyone in this thing, he has gotten so good in the past couple years. PME looked great too, with Marino dropping a great underdog babyface performance. Every time he would come in it lead to something exciting. Philly built to his big moments nicely, and that moonsault to the floor was like a strike that sends every single pin exploding backwards. But my favorite thing he did might have been when he got accidentally tied up in the ropes, to set up Delaney's sliding German. I'm a big fan of guys finding cool ways to set up someone else's trademark offense, anything other than just standing there and waiting. Brian Carson takes the bump of the match, missing an avalanche and hitting the ringpost, and then continuing to tumble over the top and off the ring steps to the floor. Young Studs looked good as ever, Beverly delivers his slams super fast and Ryan threw the best punches of the match, and threw them often. This whole thing was 8 guys running hard and running into each other, taking big bumps, finding fun ways to break up pins, just the best, most thoroughly mapped out tag. These matches are the best versions of those Dragons Gate scrambles that got acclaim over a decade ago.


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Eric Reviews Great Matches from AIW Absolution 2019, One Week After Phil Reviewed Them

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

ER: I was bummed by the non-match we got last time, and this gave me just what I wanted. It's no surprise that giving these guys time to do their thing was going to be fun as hell, and this was probably even better than I thought it would be. This was the first time I've seen The Production as babyfaces, and it kind of works because they have so many fun spots. 40 Acres work as a great heel stable, real showoffs with talent worth showing off. This was predictably all action, and the action was cool. Danhausen had this slick slingshot German, Derek was hitting cannonballs and sunset flip bombs, Only was throwing hard elbows and punches (and then getting hiptossed from the apron to the floor because my god), and we built up to a dynamite moment where PB hits the slam dunk onto Danhausen on the top rope while Lamar is hitting a huge tope con giro over him and into the obstructed view Director. I loved Danhausen scrambling onto PB, dug PB's big punch, and dug the plausible way they gave The Production the win.

PAS: These guys teased a match at JLIT, and I was amped we got to see a whole match. This was unsurprisingly great, I talked before about how the face/heel dynamic of this feud seemed off, but I take that back, the Production are great babyfaces and 40 Acres have a real nice heel charisma. Lamar especially comes off like a great super athletic dick, the wide receiver who does a six part dance routine after a six yard catch. He really rips off some awesome highspots in this match, including a crazy flip tope. Smooth threw a good looking KO punch, and threw around Only and Danhausen, and Gray was throwing heat. There was some superfluous stuff with Danhausen making guys eat beads and kicking them in the mouth, but man was this energetic, innovative, stiff, violent tag wrestling done well. All of these guys outside of Gray are AIW students I think, and the fact that they can deliver this is pretty impressive.

50. Philly Marino Experience vs. To Infinity and Beyond (Cheech/Colin Delaney)

ER: This is a big blow off tag match, which earns them some of its end run excess, but not all of it. This was rather different from their excellent May showdown, and I dug how this was a lot of TIAB cutting off the ring and preventing tags. Cheech and Delaney were stalking the ring with big confidence, always trying to slow things down and punishing mistakes. TIAB weren't necessarily breaking rules, but they worked like guys who had the answer key to the test and weren't being showy about it. Philly had some big offense (his tope must be like getting hit with a Yugo in a crosswalk) and I like how they kept him cornered and occupied. I love how the tope turned immediately into Delaney hitting the sliding German while Marino was still on the middle rope, one of several cool ways TIAB kept shutting down momentum. Delaney does some complicated things that don't read as complicated, they come off easy, like when he casually climbed up and over the ropes to hit an effortless springboard cutter on Philly. It looks like it should be more difficult, but again, Delaney looks like he has all the answers.

I didn't really love the home stretch, starting with Marino kicking out of an absolutely devastating Delaney tombstone off the middle buckle. I don't think there was much chance of anything else down the homestretch looking any more dangerous than that, and some wind got taken out of my sails on that kickout. From there the match didn't seem as organic to me. It felt like a series of resets and restarts, hitting a big move, taking a breather and then all getting up to try another move. Some of them were pretty nasty (the tag team vertebreaker on Marino looked neck snapping and lead to a nice use of breaking up the ref's sure to be 3), other stuff looked pretty stupid (Philly setting up a tandem "I grab him and you flip my leg and then I hit him" kind of move but really requiring Cheech and Delaney to move to specific spots to do it). PME deserved the big win, and they went out and have a big match, and a bunch of this match was primo. But I think that home stretch seemed too set-up heavy for wrestling with no props.

PAS: This was the climax of this feud with PME being the super over babyfaces getting one last shot at the heel champions.  It is a classic wrestling story and these are a pair of teams who can execute it to a tee. I have talked before about what a great classic heel team To Infinity and Beyond are, and this was a hell of a heel team performance, Colin Delaney is a such a smarmy prick, he had this great smirk on his face on the outside and gets such joy out of cheap shots and cheating.

There is this great spot early when Marino stands on the second ring rope to hold the ropes open for a Philly tope on Cheech, Colin slides into the ring on one side, and slides all the way to the other rope grabbing Philly's legs on the way out and just dumping him on his head. Just awesome stuff. During the heat section on Marino that follows, Marino is able to get loose and hit a springboard blockbuster, and Delaney just grabs his wrist after the impact to slow down the tag. You just don't see that kind of attention to detail much anymore.

I did think this got a bit kickout heavy at the end, and there were a couple of complex things that PME tried which didn't come off cleanly. It drops it a bit below their awesome May match in my mind. Still I loved this, and the big PME victory felt like a huge moment in the fed.

64. Matthew Justice vs. Joshua Bishop

ER: This is one of those matches where my opinion may shift depending on my mood while watching it, but I watched this with the bleary eyes that come after taking a 20 minute after work nap, and I gotta say the 1999 throwback worked for me. These two are crazy and I don't know how someone like Justice functions at a day job. I can only speak through my own body's experience, but there are days where work is a pain because I slept wrong, or I had my neck tilted while watching TV on the couch or something. I can't imagine taking some of the spills these two take and then a couple days later go "Well, time to put in a couple cosmetic body hours at the gym!" The idea of "letting your body heal" makes no sense to me after seeing them take these falls, because while they are doing a tribute to 1999, my body is still recovering from stupid sports things I did in 1999. How are these men able to do THIS!?

This was a series of crazy spots leading into more crazy spots, but if you're going to do a series of crazy spots well, these were absolutely crazy. There really is something taboo about unprotected chairshots, performed well after a time where "we all know". In 1999, we had a little plausible deniability. We don't have that now, so it really adds a big hit of crazy to a match modern match when they have multiple unprotected shots. Bishop looks really good even when he's not strewn bleeding on pavement (look how undeniable his lariat is that sends Justice over the top to the floor!), but he's also really impressive at handling weapons, getting good reads on doors, guardrails, chairs, a guy who makes nasty shots look nasty. Justice gets his body put through the ringer, like an early lawn dart into the crowd that just sees him land awfully on a bunch of set up chairs; later in the match he gets powerbombed from the ring onto a propped up guardrail at ringside, and that railing doesn't give a ton as Justice just sticks to it like a spider's web. I thought Barkley and Alfonso were great seconds who added to the match. Barkley was great at teasing a fall from the balcony (I wasn't actually expecting him to do it!), got brained by a thrown chair from Alfonso, and that chairshot set up a big spear through a door from Justice. Alfonso was a good presence, amusing tree of woe'd himself to set up a chair assisted dropkick for Justice, took a big bump getting thrown out of the ring, really was much more active than I expected. Bishop has great heel champ charisma, and Justice is a real diehard babyface, and that powerbomb into barbed wire was a suitable finish for their brand of crazy.

PAS: Justice comes out with Bill Alfonso to even the odds, and Alfonso is still pretty great as a garbage wrestling second. Bishop is clearly a ECW Superfan and was visibly thrilled. It is tough to run another match after flying off a balcony in the match before. You really can't do it again and it would be insane to try to top it. The presence of Alfonso really made this almost a tag match, with a lot of the big spots going to Alfonso and Wes Barkley, including Barkley getting thrown off the balcony and being speared through a door. We also got a lot more construction in this match than in the May match, which outside of the finish kept it pretty propulsive. Here they spent a lot of time setting up the big bumps and spots. They were really big bumps and big spots, but the intensity waned a bit. Still these are two crazy dudes, who are going to do crazy shit on a big show, and the elbow off the entrance ramp by Bishop and the Awesome bomb on the rail by Bishop stand up to any crazy shit you are going to see all year.

17. Eddie Kingston vs. Tom Lawlor

ER: This was a match I probably only could have enjoyed if it involved Eddie Kingston. He has a way of twisting moments that I've long tired of seeing into something at minimum interesting, and at best high drama. This is a great match-long collapse of Kingston, a match about twice as long as I'm used to seeing him in, and it plays out like Bad Lieutenant: King starts out in bad shape, and things only get worse the longer it goes. I like the desperation attacks King goes for at various points, throwing strikes at whatever part of Lawlor is closest to him, and lashing out at whatever part of Lawlor will buy him an extra second of recovery. Lawlor wears him down from go, and we build to our big centerpiece of the match, which is the epically long chop battle. If you told me you had just seen a match with an "epically long chop battle" and I needed to see it, I'd politely tell you to fornicate yourself and then go watch something that wouldn't curse my eyeballs. And this was a long chop battle. Probably too long. But Kingston is that old comedy note of a joke running so long it goes from funny to unfunny and back again. Kingston takes this spot through a real rollercoaster, he and Lawlor milking every minute of it, and the announce crew was great at talking about how neither man wants to punch because that would be admitting they needed an easy way out. Kingston is not ever going to be the guy taking the easy way out, and everyone knows that, and so this becomes a game of outlasting a man who will never do what is best for himself, just a guy who can't quit because of pride. I loved the twists and turns of the chop battle.

I was there live for the Bryan Danielson headlock match (it was both good and bad), and Kingston did more interesting things here with a chop than Danielson did with a headlock. I loved when he dropped down to a knee before throwing one, loved how his arm kept getting more chopped out the longer it went, and I loved Lawlor calling him a pussy which leads to the strap down moment. I cannot think of another person in wrestling who would have made this sequence anywhere near as engaging. The backfists were maybe the meanest I've ever seen Kingston throw, loved how Lawlor timberrrred from them, and love how Kingston's match-long pride kept him from actually capitalizing on his sure wins. Lawlor eating a backfist but managing to fall on the arm, leading to a big sub attempt followed by trapped knees to Kingston's chest until he can't take any more and gives up the arm, was a fantastic finish. Kingston absorbed punishment and hard kicks and knees and called Lawlor a motherfucker like only he could. The nearfalls in this were great as I was standing on my feet thinking Kingston was actually going to get the belt after that first backfist. These two crafted a match that borrowed from other styles and other genres, but was clearly their own thing. And I don't know who else would be able to do this thing as well as they did.

PAS: This is big match, main event Eddie Kingston which is about the best thing in wrestling in 2019. These guys were clearly trying to work a King's Road All Japan match and pulled it off, although it was a bit more '99 AJPW than '94 AJPW which I would have preferred.  The long chop section in the middle achieved its goal for sure, and it was performed about as well as that spot can be. Kingston is amazing at selling a chop, gritting through pain to fire back, and refusing to back down, and Lawlor was right with him. It is a spot I don't like, but it did deliver. Opening feeling out section was really great, I love the little shootstyle beats that Kingston added to his game the last couple of years. Finish run was epic stuff, Kingston obliterating Lawlor with backfist, but being too beat up to jump on the pin, and I loved Lawlor hanging on to the arm after eating a suplex and leading in to those sick knees to the head and the armbar stoppage. It felt like AIW was building to an Eddie win, although losing in a match like this really doesn't damage you. I wonder where they go from here with him, if he is indeed retiring in a couple of months. Kingston and Lawlor as a Walking Tall tag team against Bishop and Barkley will be a lot of fun, but it feels like he needs another big story act to finish up his run.


ER: All of these matches are on our 2019 Ongoing MOTY List. This should not be much of a surprise.

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Monday AIW - Absolution XIV 8/2/19

Big Twan Tucker vs. MJF

PAS: This was pretty much fait accompli when MJF made it an impromptu Loser Leaves Town match to start. Twan brings a lot of energy to his matches which is really his big strength. MJF isn't a guy I am going to miss, he is so OTT with everything he does that he comes off hacky. His pantomiming surprise when Twan fires back is a bit much for the last row of a sold out arena, much less a small show like this. His execution looked fine, and he did put Twan over huge for his big moment. Twan is on quite a roll, and I will be interested to see where he goes from here.

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

PAS: These guys teased a match at JLIT, and I was amped we got to see a whole match. This was unsurprisingly great, I talked before about how the face/heel dynamic of this feud seemed off, but I take that back, the Production are great babyfaces and 40 Acres have a real nice heel charisma. Lamar especially comes off like a great super athletic dick, the wide receiver who does a six part dance routine after a six yard catch. He really rips off some awesome highspots in this match, including a crazy flip tope. Smooth threw a good looking KO punch, and threw around Only and Danhausen, and Gray was throwing heat. There was some superfluous stuff with Danhausen making guys eat beads and kicking them in the mouth, but man was this energetic, innovative, stiff, violent tag wrestling done well. All of these guys outside of Gray are AIW students I think, and the fact that they can deliver this is pretty impressive.

Mance Warner vs. Jock Samson

PAS: This was Bunkhouse match, which was basically worked as a two on one plunder match. I don't get how Warner's Ryan Gosling Drive Satin Bomber jackets work with his hillbilly gimmick. Some fun spots, including Warner throwing students, the referee and a fan into Samson and the Duke. Duke isn't afraid to take sick chair shots, and he took a couple of doozies here. I was amused at them stapling a $100 bill to Warners head, that was probably more then either guys payout for this. Finish was suitably crazy with Warner throwing Samson through two door with the Duke getting smushed in between.

Swoggle vs. John Thorne

PAS: Joey Janela had transpo problems so Thorne put on his old gear and has a pretty violent comedy match with Swoggle. It had a yarder feel but as kind of a compliment. Guys landed awkwardly into things, chairs bounced off heads weird, Thorne top rope double stomps Swoggle which looked like it might shoot his liver out of his asshole. Thorne took a couple of really bad shots in this, he is pretty nuts for working this kind of match last minute. Not sure why you run a weapons brawl between a midget and the retired promoter, in between a bunkhouse match and an I Quit match, but it was weirdly entertaining.

Dominic Garini vs. Tim Donst

PAS: These guys had a great brawl last month, but this veered a little too much into geek show territory for me. This lacked some of the intensity of the Garini vs. Bishop match from Mania weekend, this had a lot of wandering around and setting up gross out spots like Donst trying to rip off one of Dom's toes with pliers, or Dom putting a baseball cap full of thumbtacks on Donst's head. Garrini took a couple of nasty headdrops on a board which wouldn't break, and I kind of liked the callback to the lighter fluid spot from Slumber Party. Donst submitting before he got skewered worked as part of his heel character, but fell a bit flat as a finish. Definitely a spectacle, but the least of the Dom garbage matches I have seen.

KTB vs. Louis Lyndon vs. Wheeler Yuta vs. Lee Moriarty

PAS: Solid four way, with KTB being the highlight. He is a guy with several big spots who works stiff so he is perfect for these kind of matches. He breaks out his Samoan Drop two guys while tossing the third spots which is nutso, and he breaks up a dragon sleeper with an Asai moonsault. Moriarity takes some big bumps, but his stuff with Lyndon and Yuta got a little dancey. There are multi-man matches on almost every AIW show and this was pretty in the middle.

PAS: The Duke comes out and intros his new team the Bitcoin Boys, only to be interrupted by Bunkhouse Buck who cleans house with great punches and a swinging belt. Fun surprise, I can imagine how hard I would have marked out if I was in Cleveland.

Zach Thomas vs. Nick Gage

PAS: Thomas is one of the students that they are really pushing, he has a barrel chested build and has some nice power offense. He clearly was amped to work a Nick Gage death match and really sells out. The match opens with Thomas recklessly topeing right into a swung chair. This is a spot we see a lot but rarely this nastily. Much of the match has Gage working over Thomas, with Thomas firing back with big throws and slams, often into contraptions. There was a bit of construction which is always a problem in these matches, and Gage matches aren't really my thing. Still this was a good version of that Gage match, and I am on board to watch more of Thomas

Philly Marino Experience vs. To Infinity and Beyond (Cheech/Colin Delaney)

PAS: This was the climax of this feud with PME being the super over babyfaces getting one last shot at the heel champions.  It is a classic wrestling story and these are a pair of teams who can execute it to a tee. I have talked before about what a great classic heel team To Infinity and Beyond are, and this was a hell of a heel team performance, Colin Delany is a such a smarmy prick, he this great smirk on his face on the outside and gets such joy out of cheap shots and cheating.

There is this great spot early when Marino stands on the second ring rope to hold the ropes open for a Philly tope on Cheech, Colin slides into the ring on one side, and slides all the way to the other rope grabbing Philly's legs on the way out and just dumping him on his head. Just awesome stuff. During the heat section on Marino that follows, Marino is able to get loose and hit a springboard blockbuster, and Delany just grabs his wrist after the impact to slow down the tag. You just don't see that kind of attention to detail much anymore.

I didn't think this got a bit kick out heavy at the end, and there were a couple of complex things that PME tried which didn't come off cleanly. It drops it a bit below their awesome May match in my mind. Still I loved this, and the big PME victory felt like a huge moment in the fed.

Matthew Justice vs. Joshua Bishop

PAS: Justice comes out with Bill Alphonso to even the odds, and Alphonso is still pretty great as a garbage wrestling second. Bishop is clearly a ECW Superfan and was visibly thrilled. It is tough to run another match after flying off a balcony in the match before. You really can't do it again and it would be insane to try to top it. The presence of Alphonso really made this almost a tag match, with a lot of the big spots going to Alphonso and Wes Barkley, including Barkley getting thrown off the balcony and being speared through a door. We also got a lot more construction in this match, then in the May match which outside of the finish kept it pretty propulsive. Here they spent a lot of time setting up the big bumps and spots. They were really big bumps and big spots, but the intensity wained a bit. Still these are two crazy dudes, who are going to do crazy shit on a big show, and the elbow off the entrance ramp by Bishop, and the Awesome bomb on the rain by Bishop stand up to any crazy shit you are going to see all year.

Eddie Kingston vs. Tom Lawlor

PAS: This is big match, main event Eddie Kingston which is about the best thing in wrestling in 2019. These guys were clearly trying to work a King's Road All Japan match and pulled it off, although it was a bit more '99 AJPW than '94 AJPW which I would have preferred.  The long chop section in the middle achieved its goal for sure, and it was performed about as well as that spot can be. Kingston is amazing at selling a chop, gritting through pain to fire back, and refusing to back down, and Lawlor was right with him. It is a spot I don't like, but it did deliver. Opening feeling out section was really great, I love the little shootstyle beats that Kingston added to his game the last couple of years. Finish run was epic stuff, Kingston obliterating Lawlor with backfist, but being too beat up to jump on the pin, and I loved Lawlor hanging on to the arm after eating a suplex and leading in to those sick knees to the head and the armbar stoppage. It felt like AIW was building to an Eddie win, although losing in a match like this really doesn't damage you. I wonder where they go from here with him, if he is indeed retiring in a couple of months. Kingston and Lawlor as a Walking Tall tag team against Bishop and Barkley will be a lot of fun, but it feels like he needs another big story act to finish up his run.

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Monday AIW - Keep Their Heads Ringing 5/17/19

Jollyville Fuck-Its vs. Youthanazia (Josh Prohibition/Matt Cross)

ER: This was a lot shorter than I wanted, and much more of a Youthanazia match than I wanted. Jollyville is probably my favorite team on the indies, and every single second this was a Jollyville match the match was really good; most of the time when it was a Youthanazia match, it wasn't. Jollyville jump them to start and Russ is absolutely a must watch guy for me, he can make an opening match punch exchange feel like a good fight and really spill to the floor fast, and both he and T-Money make somewhat soft looking dives look better than they actually are. There's a lot of Jollyville forced to stand around and wait for Youthanazia to hit their complicated offense, and I'd rather just see them kicking asses than painfully waiting around for things. There was one moment where T-Money had to stay still bent at the waist, and Russ had to stay still up on Cross's shoulders, while Prohibition took ages to get to the top and steady himself to hit a double mushroom stomp. I felt for those dudes forced into a time stand still moment. But I also got to see Russ throwing his hard punches and great knee to the stomach, got to see the airplane spin/punch combo (and I always like how Russ takes incidental damage during that spot), and finish is genuinely good: Russ reverses a powerbomb with a really nice rana, send Prohibition flying into the ropes to knock Cross to the floor, and T-Money hits the Pounce. Simple, effective, and really well executed finish.

PAS: This show was supposed to be headlined by Lucha Brothers vs. Fuck-Its, which would have been a really cool opportunity for the Jollyville Boys to get a showcase. Running the first time battle between Ohio Backyard legends Fuck-Its and Youthanazia was a good booking compromise, but I wish it was longer and better. I agree that it was too much elaborate MDogg and Prohibition offense and not enough ass kicking. That pounce finish was killer though, Josh bumps neck first right into the ropes.

Dominic Garrini vs. Tim Donst

PAS: This was really good, my favorite Donst match since that first Kingston match years ago. Garrini is pretty much a must watch at this point, he has had a hell of a 2019. The whole thing was a super stiff brawl, with Garrini doing some really awesome Ju-Jitsu attacks early, including a jumping triangle, he also just wrecks Donst with a stiff lariat on the outside. The turning point of the match comes when Donst catches Garrini coming into the ring with a nasty forearm which catches his knee in the ropes. Then its Donst wrecking the leg with Garrini selling the damage. There is a great spot where he goes for his big jumping knee and just collapses in pain. I really liked the finish too, with Donst snapping and demolishing Dom's knee and leg with chair shots, finishing with one to the head and then just obnoxiously putting an unconscious Garrini in a rear naked choke. Sets up the big Submit and Surrender match at Absolution really well, and sold me on a match I was agnostic on.

ER: Dang what a fight this was. I didn't think these two would be a good match for each other, honestly. Donst is a guy with cult popularity who usually does a couple things I like in a match, but also can come off sluggish. Nobody really had time to be sluggish here and the sadistic side of Donst really took this to the next level. I would have been pretty happy if the match never even progressed to knee stuff, as the shots into the guardrail were tough and Garrini looked like he was going to attack Donst like a pitbull the whole match. That would have been cool. But Donst elbows Garrini, Garrini gets his leg tied in the ropes as a bonus, and Donst zeroes in. Donst was a real jerk with the leg work, and Garrini sold it great and really worked at 60%. Donst's outright attacks were good (one of the more convincing ankle locks I've seen, usually it just looks like someone standing there holding a foot like a dingus), and his dickish attacks were even better (at one point he comes up and grabs Garrini by the face...and kicks him in the side of his knee). Garrini's selling was choice, not doing any exaggerated limping or back row drama, but getting up slow and doing little things, like trying to hop into throwing a German suplex and having to bail on it almost midway through, not throwing with the same intensity as he typically will. Donst is so ruthless on this finish, the chairshots were all sick, and the choke to an already downed opponent feels like a Kurisu move. This was a killer fight.

CPA vs. Danhausen vs. KTB vs. Louis Lyndon

PAS: This was a fun multiman match, with our boys the Production running a lot of interference for Danhausen. This is the annual no-rules show, so this was basically a six way with Eddy Only and Derek Director. KTB has some fun strength spots and got a chance to toss a bunch of people around. I am not sure what CPA's deal was, he seemed to be workshopping four or five comedy gimmicks at the same time, he is an accountant who loudly yells out early 2000s WWF finishers, while being clumsy, while being a secret Taylor Swift fan? Pick a lane. Production is always worth watching.

AJ Gray/PB Smooth/Tre Lamar vs. Weird World/Kaplan vs. Young Studs/Swoggle

ER: This was a pretty big waste of 9 guys, and felt like we only got 5 minutes of a potentially worthwhile 15 minute tag. Nearly everyone in this was underutilized. Weird Body is probably my favorite cult indy guy (Brickster? Mecha Mercenary?), and I barely saw him in this one (the match was also in the dark a lot, due to entrances, so his dark singlet could have just been shrouded in darkness), didn't see Worldwide, Eric Ryan disappeared after a minute, just what was the point of this? The Young Studs armdrag into the turnbuckles is really great, and the match gets a couple hot little moments (Kaplan belly bumping the bricks off of Swoggle and then taking a Beverly chairshot to the side of the head was nasty), but this was a rushed non-use of some talented guys.

PAS: This is clearly Eric watching this match on his phone on the toilet at work, as Weird World was in the coolest spot of the match where he gets used as Terry Funk's ladder only to take a sick bump when Worldwide was clotheslined. The match starts with Gray, Lamar and PB Smooth forming 40 Acres and a Mule and doing some pretty solid heel mike work about being overlooked and abused. Swoggle and the Young Studs answer the open challenge, and I don't think the best thing for your new heel stable is having them sell big for Swoggle, but I guess I get it. Kaplan and Weird World come out later to Natural Born Killaz doing a Gangstas gimmick, which is a running gag on the no rules shows. It amused me last year and I thought it was fun here. I did think PB Smooth destroying Bobby Beverly with the chokeslam through the carpet tacks was a nice way of getting their heat back after selling for Kaplan and Swoggle, and thought overall this was a decent way to introduce 40 Acres and get in the yearly Weird World Gangstas tribute.

Philly Marino Experience vs. To Infinity and Beyond

PAS: This was really good stuff. TIAB are a really great heel tag team, they honestly remind me of the Midnight Express, they get a little wacky double team heavy, but shit 2019 MX would totally get wacky double team heavy too. PME are a hell of babyface team, great connection with the crowd, big bumps, fired up offense, they really check all the boxes. This was no DQ like the rest of the show and I loved how they still worked a southern tag formula by having Marino eat the guardrail on a missed assisted plancha. So he was down on the outside while Philly gets double teamed. Marino's eventually comeback is worked just like a hot tag. They have some big near falls including Delany pulling the ref out right before the three. The dickishness of the heels landing multiple low blows while staring at the ref was pretty great. Liked this a lot and I imagine their Absolution match is going to be awesome.

ER: I thought this was tremendous, and don't think the modern Midnight Express label is hyperbolic despite clearly seeming hyperbolic. This tag is just the right amount, has bonkers action, a couple of excellently timed saves (love Cheech rolling over the top of everyone at just the right time and yanking the ref out of the ring was just as well done and unexpected), just a scorching tag match. For the first minute I actually thought I was accidentally playing this in 1.5 speed because that opening fist exchange looked like things were landing way to well to be playing in normal speed, and that vibe kept up through much of the match. Seriously watch Delaney and Philly going at it and tell me those madmen are working at normal speed. Everything here is done with some great force, like Philly's avalanches and the way Marino dives face first right into the guardrail. When Infinity has Philly laid out in the corner, they even do all their chain combos real deliberately, leaping in with hard facewash dropkicks, swinging in with a thud on the 619, and Philly is a great FIP for the boys. I love how he took a back suplex, and loved how Infinity kept sinking in the pinfall attempts deep to really force a kickout. The whole match was hot and really one of my favorite tags of the year. It was put together so tight - on a show that practically begged for overkill - and here they were just making the most out of Marino coming back, snug shots, and nearfalls that all worked. This whole thing ruled.

Joshua Bishop vs. Matt Justice

PAS: This was a hell of a brawl before the crazy spot which went viral. Matt Justice is always worth watching, but this was the best actual match I have seen him in (outside of the awesome 10 man a couple years ago, but he was one of ten). A lot of times his matches kind of fall apart as he sets up stunts, and while the stunt at the end of this match did take a bit to set up, the brawling before the stunt was brutal and solid. Bishop is a guy I would buy stock in. He is getting better every time I see him and has real size and portrays that size well. He is a great looking bleeder with his platinum Barry Windham hair, and isn't afraid to both dish out and take a big beating. There was some really nasty looking stuff with guardrails and chairs, and also some great looking straight punches. The finish of course is the craziest spot of the year with Justice hitting a Death Valley Driver off a balcony through four tables, totally bonkers and certainly a moment to remember. Bishop has been in two of the brawls of the year so far, hell of future if he doesn't cripple himself.

ER: I know we always make the point throughout some of these shows that it has to be hard to stand out on shows like this. AIW cards are absolutely stacked and shows like this with no rules are filled even more so with guys dying on bumps or eating awful weapon shots. So hats off to these two for crafting a match that stood out as its own thing. Bishop won the Intense title from Justice on the prior show and here he's hanging by a thread the whole time. He seemingly comes out already bleeding, and forehead blood soaking through a big white bandage is one of our Great Wrestling Visuals. And once the shots start coming, they really start coming. Both guys eat hard chairshots, and they tear up the ringside area moving guardrails around with their bodies. Justice eats a brutal low angle lawn dart into a guardrail and later takes a nasty hotshot on the rail, looked like he was angry with his teeth and wanted to teach the bottom row of them a lesson. Bishop comes off like peak Raven to me, as he throws himself hard into his opponent's brawling, torches himself on rail bumps, even has similar movements. Justice throws himself into attacks, hits a pretty unhinged dive to the floor and a plancha far over the railing into the crowd, and both guys kept landing in ways that hurt my joints, my knees, my face, everything. Also, I had not seen THEE finish. I am inside of a tiny niche pro wrestling bubble, and yet even within that small bubble I seem to remain somehow aloof to things. Going into this match I had no idea there was a notable finish, and my god what a finish. The set up was indeed lengthy (he needs a guy setting up props for him, bring in a rookie who just sets up destruction derby sets) but my god did it payoff. The camera angle and the hang time made it look like Bishop was taking a death valley driver off a 3rd story balcony. What a freaking crash, one of the all time crazy spots/bumps. Some backyarder needs to recreate this off their stepdad's roof NOW. I love Bishop retaining by being having his lifeless corpse placed on top of Justice's similarly lifeless corpse. No clue how they're going to top this, but brothers, elevate this feud!

Eddie Kingston vs. Nick Gage

PAS: This is minor key Eddie Kingston. It is really tough to do a brawl right after the insanity of Justice vs. Bishop, so both guys lean on their charisma. There was some nice looking brawling and I enjoyed how they did a catch as catch can opening as almost a comedy spot. This really didn't need tacks - especially considering how the main event was going to end - but otherwise this was solid, and Kingston's Saito suplex on the chair was super nasty.

MJF vs. Penta el Cero Miedo

PAS: These are two shtick heavy guys, whose shtick I am super tired of. There was a fair amount of Twan Tucker on the outside and he has a really great intensity, him going nose to nose with Penta felt like a bigger deal then any Penta vs. MJF showdown. Basically Pentagon cashing a check and MJF doing his OTT heel stuff.

Mance Warner vs. Tom Lawlor

PAS: The brawling stuff is pretty cool, but this was mostly a weapons brawl. Lawlor uses a staple guy on Warner's tongue, they go through a mousetrap table, there is a tack bat, etc. Very IWA-MS main event. It was fine outside of the carny freakshow parts. Got to give credit to my man The Duke who always takes a huge bump or two, here he gets accidentally brained with a super violent chair shot. It is tough to main event these no rules shows. By the time they get to your match the crowd is a bit burned out and even an upped ante can't bring them back.


ER: So AIW could have pretty much put whatever they wanted on this card and it would still be the easiest recommendation because THREE matches made top 30 on our 2019 Ongoing MOTY List, with Infinity & Beyond vs. PME landing in our top 20! That's excellent pro wrestling baby, this is why we've been reviewing all this AIW!

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