Monday AIW - Ain't Nothing But a Gangster Party 4/20/18

43. Eddie Kingston vs. PCO

PAS: Another fun stop on the PCO indy tour. Kingston is a great opponent for PCO because he is going to bring the structure and selling to a match focused around a crazy old man being nuts. Kingston is great at selling frustration early as PCO outfoxes him, and when they start to lay in shots they really lay them in. This is basically like a Big Japan tubby guys slugfest, with Kingston adding in great selling to the fun of watching big guys hit each other. I liked how both guys mixed up their shots, with Kingston laying in the slaps and PCO hitting some nasty thrust punches to the ribs. I loved the PCO moonsault, really pretty and lands with a thud. I liked Kingston sneaking in a couple of big suplexes and a backfist to put him down. The match didn't need a bunch of near falls, and I dug it ending on a kill shot.

ER: I thought this was great, 12 minutes of two big guys pasting each other with nothing but hard shots. I thought this was one of the tightest of the PCO return matches, kept snug and reigned in, focusing way more on beating your opponent down instead of setting up stunt spots. PCO is a tough as nails 90s WWF guy, so Kingston appropriately where a 90s WWF jobber singlet and matches up absolutely perfectly. Every strike exchange worked for me big time, with big chops from both guys, PCO hitting nasty running elbows, Kingston throwing digestion disrupting kneelifts, and a fantastic moment where PCO ran wild on the ropes before hitting the hardest lariat he possibly could. These guys established they were going to kick each other's asses, and this was all ass kicking for the duration. The big moves were all spaced out nicely, and King's suplexes all looked finisher worthy - big heavy back suplexes and a huge German that sends PCO all the way over - while the PCO dives we build to at the end looked huge. PCO sends Kingston into the aisle with a big tope, then flattens him with a big tope con hilo and moonsault. They fit so much into the runtime, and Kingston was fantastic playing off PCO, thought all the stuff around his backfist was awesome, and he would pepper in "non moves" things like throwing a table in frustration early in the match. This looked like a perfect pairing on paper, and delivered in full.

MJF vs. Louis Lyndon

PAS: This was a pretty entertaining short match. The kind of thing which would get a thumbs up if it appeared on an episode of the Pro. MJF toned down his horseshit a bit and actually worked a wrestling match. I liked all of the arm work by both guys, although MJF didn't seem to be able to bump fully for Lyndon's fancy stuff( awkward landing on a reverse rana). I liked the finish with MJF taking advantage of the no rules stip by kicking Lyndon in the nuts and slapping on an armbar.

KTB vs. Tim Donst

PAS: Pretty fun big man match with Donst using the no-DQ rules to do some nasty spots with the ropes. I really liked when he when he tied KTB up into the ropes and bounced off them to spring KTB ribs first onto a chair. He also hit a nasty suplex into the corner and finished by wrapping him up in the ropes to make him tap. It never really kicked into third gear despite the punishment both guys took, which seems to be the pattern with Donst matches, although I did enjoy it.

Space Monkey vs. Gary Jay vs. Danhausen vs. Facade

PAS: As a rule I don't like multi man matches it is hard to hit every complex thing and it is difficult to build a match with lots of guys. They tend to stay at the same level without dips and peaks. I normally DO like AIW multi man matches, as it seems like a fed which frequently can overcome those problems. This one had more of the bad than the good though. Space Monkey comedy spots were probably the highlight of this match, and I really liked the bump Danhausen took on the banana peel. The concept of doing the Jacobs/Whitmer spike battle with a spike and banana is amusing, but still a match with comedy spots as a highlight - if it isn't a Brazos match - is going to be tough sledding for me.

PB Smooth vs. Eddy Only

PAS: This didn't jump out at me on paper, but was really enjoyable. Smooth is legitimately gigantic and has great potential, and having him work basically a handicap match against the entire Production really made him stand out. Only goes above and beyond to make him look great too, he gets posted and bleeds a gusher, takes huge bumps on all of PB's chokeslams and bombs, makes him really look like a force. Loved the spot where Smooth countered a tope by leaping up and catching him mid move and hanging him on the top rope. Frankie Flynn, Danhausen, Derek Director and Magnum CK all come into to get pinballed, and they finish by overwhelming him and smashing him with a ring rope hook. Smooth does get Shelton holed a bit, as Papa Shango comes out to Voodoo curse the production. Magnum CK really goes over the top in an entertaining way selling the black goop, what a pro that guy was.

ER: This one actually DID jump out on paper for me. I like mismatches and this sounded like a good one. When I was a kid and my dad let me rent a wrestling tape when we were at the video store renting Air America or some shit, I would always look for the Coliseum Videos with the weirdest matches. I wasn't angling for who could possibly be a "good" match, because my concept of what made a match good was wildly different at age 10. If I saw something like Doink vs. Giant Gonzalez on a tape, I was definitely getting that tape. And this match felt like a killer Coliseum Video exclusive. I'd get that tape going "There's no way Doink could last 1 minute against Gonzalez!" Well, sure, in a fair fight. This match had the exact kind of bells and whistles and I loved it. Eddy worked overtime here - as did all of the Production, really doing their part to set up cool moments for Smooth - and the match starts with Eddy getting caught on a sneak attack dive, getting lawndarted into the ringpost, and coming up bloody as hell. Hell yeah. Derek Director gets pump kicked in the chest, Magnum CK takes a somersault Arn bump and eats a back elbow, and we get bananas spots like Smooth palming Eddy's bloody head like a basketball and chokeslamming him, or getting him even higher on a traditional chokeslam, or - and this was the best spot of the match - leaping from the floor as Eddy was running towards the ropes, essentially dunking Eddy's neck right over the top rope. When the hell else has anybody done THAT?! Finish is Eddy absolutely crushing Smooth with a ring hook, totally bitchin finish for a No DQ match. Papa Shango's appearance clearly makes the Coliseum Video connection complete! This thing was like 5 minutes and they were the exact 5 minutes I wanted.

Cheech/Colin Delaney/Josh Prohibition/Jollyville Fuck Its vs. No Consequences (AJ Gray/Tre Lamar/Chase Oliver/Gary "The King" Baller/Joshua Bishop)

PAS: No Consequences had one of my favorite matches of 2017 their 10 man against a veteran squad at Absolution, and this is a similar style. This is a no rules show, and it starts with the Fuck It's coming from the back and jumping No Consequences and it is basically a stiff brawl on the outside interspersed with some crazy dives. T-Money who is a big dude opens up the diving with a nutso superman plancha, and it just gets crazier. Cheech flies into the audience, and then gets the back of his head busted open when he misses a ring apron DDT. Chase Oliver hits a couple of crazy dives, Joshua Bishop gets pounced into a contraption of carpet tacks, and the vet team ends up destroying AJ Gray with a money maker on a chair and then a Russ Myer cannonball through a table. Gray did a great convulsion sell during this, which really put over the brutality. This whole show had a very ECW vibe, and this was that kind of craziness at its best.

ER: This doesn't quite reach the heights of their 2017 masterpiece, but there is so much damn greatness throughout that it doesn't matter a bit. This was a wild 10 man brawl, with insane dives happening every minute, hard punches, mean double teams, the kind of insanity you'd want from these nuts. Literally everything with Jollyville was perfection. Russ is a guy who may presently be my favorite wrestler to watch. He commits to everything, makes every punch count, doesn't skimp on kicks, and when the finish calls for an elbowdrop through a table this man is going to to fly in with that elbow like a satellite crashing to earth. T-Money is built solidly as hell, and hits like a freight train. His dive here is incredible, as he clears the top rope no hands style but stays horizontal. That's dangerous as hell as your body naturally wants to just torpedo you face first into the ground, but he keeps it level and crashes through everyone. They're my team, ride or die. There's some danger on some of the dives: Baller hangs on too long on a flip dive and almost brains himself on the apron, AJ Gray does an amazing tornillo but the catchers aren't quite there, but dives ARE dangerous so there's gonna be some danger! Oliver hits a bonkers moonsault to the floor and crushes Russ's esophagus with a cool chest breaker that saw him vault off the bottom rope, Delaney plants Lamar with a sick DDT on the apron (Cheech does the same and ends up getting a nasty cut on his head), Lamar hits an evil baseball slide dropkick through the ropes, Gray gets an awesome fired up babyface moment before his doom and throws a ton of great rapid fire punches to everyone that looked like he was trying to punch through their forehead. This one was a little more disjointed than their classic, a little messy, but these guys wear messy really well.

Mathew Justice vs. Ethan Page

PAS: This was sort of the Tommy Dreamer match for this ECW show. Lots of brawling in the crowd, and shots with water bottles and beer cans. Justice and Page both throw their bodies around a bunch in this match, landing weird on chairs and the floor, but I am not sure what it all means at the end. The match starts with Page insulting a fan on the mic and ends with a Dr. Dan run in, and this match is one of my only problems with AIW which is the punishment that guys take in matches that don't mean much. Really violent show, but too many matches built around punishing bumps minimizes each bump.

Weird World vs. Philly Marino Experience vs. Young Studs vs. #Duke Money

PAS: This was a comedy garbage match with some guys bleeding like pigs and taking huge bumps for what was basically for yuks. It's starts out with PME and Duke Money having a tag match, but a couple of minutes in the Studs come from the back and start brawling, and then a couple minutes after that Natural Born Killaz starts playing and Weird World comes out dressed like the Gangstas with a shopping cart full of weapons. It is pretty crazy throughout, with Eric Ryan legdropping a shopping cart, guys getting mauled with cheese graters and thumbtacks. It certainly had energy, and the spectacle of it made it memorable, but one after another with big violent spectacles, tends to burn me out.

Tracy Williams/Dominic Garrini vs. Nick Gage/Tom Lawlor

PAS: This was worked as a No DQ brawl like the rest of the show, but they distinguished themselves by really laying it in. Lawlor especially was just pasting people, huge superman punches, big kicks, as he was trying to take out Garrini who broke his arm earlier in the year. The coolest stuff in the match was when they mixed some shootstyle into the brawling, including Williams sinking in a tight choke, Garrini countering a Lawlor superman punch with a flying triangle, and Lawlor removing his armpad and beating Garrini bloody with his cast (Garrini did a pretty obvious blade job, which was a problem in his awesome Mania weekend match too, big Garrini fan but he has to work on his close up magic.) Gage hung well in that atmosphere, as he came off as a Tank Abbot style MMA brawler. I thought the stuff with the thumbtacks and tables was unnecessary, in a vacuum it was fine but on a show where nearly every match had props, they would have been better off just having a wild stiff Murakami brawl. Still dug this a bunch. 


ER: Another AIW show, another Kingston match on our 2018 Ongoing MOTY List, and it genuinely feels like every single AIW show is treated like a big deal. They're the best.