Monday AIW - Chandler Biggins Memorial Tag Tournament 6/15/19

The Production (Derek Director/Eddy Only) vs. The Young Studs (Eric Ryan/Bobby Beverly)

PAS: This was very entertaining with only a little awkwardness keeping it from MOTYC list level. Eric Ryan is completely nutso, Young Studs take over early only to leave an opening, when Ryan gets hiptossed off a the ring apron onto a steel chair which Derek Director had just vacated. Ryan is out here taking 1994 Mick Foley bumps in random opening indy tag matches. We get a lot of big nasty bombs from both teams, there were a couple of silly "make one partner suplex the other partner spots" but plenty more sick shots to the side of the skull, and big throws. Studs are probably better in garbage matches, but surprisingly good at working somewhat traditional tag babyfaces.

ER: I really like both of these teams, but this was a little herky jerky, had a bunch of things that just felt a couple inches off. You know, things like Eddy Only not being able to quite make the distance on his 'cross the ring somersault dropkick, or the "DDT my partner" spots not really moving too fluidly, but these teams are good and there's going to be plenty of good stuff. I love Ryan's bloody white jeans, such a scary and badass piece of ring gear, an awesome piece of a guy who will punch you and big crazy. I don't really like it when a match mixes silliness with asskicking, as it can really take away from violence; but the violence here was still on display, and obviously good. Ryan's Japanese armdrag assisted cannonballs, and they played nicely into Ryan getting hiptossed off the apron into a chair. Wild spot. This is more offense than we typically get to see from The Production, and I liked it. A couple things can be tightened up, but I was impressed with them pulling off tandem 'cross the ring buckle bombs on the Studs, and thought Derek had some nice strikes, liked their Derek kneelift/Only yakuza kick combo. I think there's an even better match these two teams will have.

PME (Philly Collins/Marino Tenaglia) vs. Weird World (Weird Body Evan Adams/Worldwide Alex Kellar)

PAS: This was babyface vs. babyface and had a light heartedness to it I enjoyed. Weird Body is such a unique looking wrestler, but has found a way to leverage his crazy looking skeletal frame into plausible wrestling offense. I loved how Eddie Kingston kept putting over the sharpness of his elbows and knees, I would imagine it would suck to get smacked in the face with a bony elbow like that, and Kingston kept yelling every time a PME guy would put Weird Body in a rear waistlock. The Baba chop exchange with Philly and Worldwide was great, they were really laying in the Baba chops. Just a textbook example of doing a babyface vs. babyface match without devolving into dumb shit like dance offs and slow motion spots.

ER: Phil makes a lot of great points about babyface vs. babyface matches here, and it's obnoxiously true that modern indies have turned face vs. face tags into total goofy jack off fests, and it kind of comes off like new teams resent being faces so they just go for easy goof around laughs instead of just being actual good teams. Here are two good teams who don't devolve into playing patty cake stopping the match to talk about their favorite Snick shows, while still coming up with fun spots that add to the match. I loved every part of Weird Body climbing all over Philly, scampering around his body and getting into a wild spot on Philly's shoulders, Philly trying to buck him off, Weird Body eventually getting the victory roll; they looking like a weird human version of on of Bayley's Buddies. They also did a fun chicken fight spot, with Marino and Weird Body getting swung into each other's boots, before Kellar and Philly had a good punch and overhand chop exchange. The finish was real hot too, with the spot of the match being Marino's big ass missile dropkick across most of the damn ring, with Worldwide taking a justifiably big bump to the floor to leave Weird Body alone in the ring.

28. Jollyville Fuck-Its (T-Money/Nasty Russ) vs. Wes Barkley/Joshua Bishop

PAS: I loved this, the Fuck-Its maybe my favorite current act in wrestling today. Just a total asskicking team, who always brings it. The Bishop and Barkley team are fun too, with Barkley cheapshotting and bumping and Bishop being a great heater. T-Money is a big bumper, he takes a high backdrop from Bishop and lands hard on the wood floor, Russ takes an awesome bomb on a set up bed of chairs, while Barkley and Bishop end up taking some really nasty rail rides. Finish was clever with Barkley getting a cheap roll up pin, only to learn that Fuck-It's rules are always 2/3 falls, and they get pounced and cannonballed for two quick falls and the Fuck-It's win.

ER: Hell yeah, this is exactly what I want out of an AIW tag match. Jollyville are untouchable as a team right now, night in night out best tag team in wrestling. They move through matches so assuredly, they move with that Midnight Express confidence where they know the exact right spot they need to be to keep these well oiled machinations moving. Barkley I haven't seen much at all, and he brings a fun goofball charisma to a match like this, and Bishop is really good at bumping generously for a beating while still looking credible. The ringside brawling is all good, and the camera keeps lingering on great action, and will then suddenly cut away into a quick violent spot from T-Money, before going back to Russ throwing hard punches and kicks. Barkley bumps big into the crowd and is great at cockily celebrating early and then getting punched for it. Bishop takes a rail ride like vintage Sandman or Raven, I get the best 1999 vibe from this dude. Jollyville are total beasts. T-Money hits that big spinebuster and I dug all the work around the Pounce (Barkley manages to avoid it and Bishop winds up in the line of fire). At one point we see Russ dragging Barkley around and then we cut to T-Money wrapping the ring skirt around Bishop's head and neck like he was snuffing out an underling. Russ is so awesome at coming up with cool ways to lay a beating. I loved his yakuza kick to Barkley's leg in the corner, and then in a snap he hits this sick double stomp precisely aimed right to the back of a seated Barkley's head, and in the same movement keeps running to hit a fast tope con giro into Bishop on the floor. Russ is like a Midwestern Hijo Del Santo. A Santito who will also take a freaking splash mountain into a bunch of set up chairs. Jesus. Phil went over the finish, and I agree it was great. It was all great.

To Infinity and Beyond (Cheech/Colin Delany) vs. Spirit Squad (Mikey/Kenny)

PAS: This didn't do a ton for me. It was basically a nostalgia match for something I am not nostalgic for at all. 2006 RAW was a sewer for the most part, and the Spirit Squad stunk. I like Infinity and Beyond a bunch, and they were total pros selling for all of the Spirit Squad spots, but I had little interest in watching them run through that. Right team won, and I think AIW is pretty successful using nostalgia acts to draw, it just isn't normally the parts of the show I care about.

8. Manders vs. Big Twan Tucker

PAS: Well fuck me this ruled. This is basically two jacked up rookies refusing to back down and just pummeling each other. Manders is an ex-Iowa linebacker who has some great meathead intensity. Twan is on a role after appearing in an angle in NXT and turning face the night before. This reminded me a lot of the IWA-MS Samoa Joe vs. Hero match, with both guys barreling right ahead and the intensity just building. Pretty crazy that two rookies can build this kind of engagement with the crowd, but they went from buzzing to totally losing it, as both of these guys hammered each other. Kingston was marking out on commentary, as like all of us he can appreciate a fist fight. Manders drops Twan right on his head with a jackknife, it is only a two count, and while Manders is jawing with the ref, Twan crushes him with a tackle. Impossible not to dig the fuck out of this.

ER: One of the great joys of pro wrestling is when a performance goes beyond the abilities of the performers. It can happen to established guys - I think Gargano/Almas from TakeOver Philadelphia obviously lands in the category - or it can happen to newer guys, and here were two newer guys exceeded all expectations in the best way. AIW has a lot of guys who can hit hard, and it can be hard to stand out on some of their shows because guys work so hard up and down the card. The stars aligned for this one and made it something truly special. I had seen Twan a few times on other cards, and had never seen Manders before; consider me now a fan of both. They came in fast and were on a constant collision course, big bodies drawn together by asskicking magnets. This had the feel of a grubby fight, the kind of match where Jim Ross would be talking at length about both men's college, high school, JV, Pop-Warner, and Family Reunion BBQ Flag Football careers. Both guys have no problem running into the other, and the strike exchanges were nice off center, with rhythm replaced by hard landing. I loved how Twan would start a strike in close, more like a short shoulderblock, and then build to a couple hard back elbows, then build to an elbow across the jaw, and Manders was right there with him. The best of these violent spectacles have some things go slightly bad, but to the benefit of the match. It starts with little moments like Twan eating a drop toehold into the ropes and hitting his face on the top rope before getting slumped into the middle rope; Manders crunching him with a cannonball to the back is great insult to injury. But Big Twan's awesome cinderblock head resting on his shoulders helps him withstand some pretty horrifying stuff, eating a man sized German and then just getting slammed right on the top of his damn head on a jackhammer. 2019 has been the year of jackhammers going terribly within matches that are awesome. Twan realizes he just escaped death and decides to just swam Manders with mass, and this all ruled.

Tim Donst/Dr. Daniel C. Rockingham/Brian Carson/Parker Pierce vs. Eric Taylor/Arthur McArthur/Chuck Stone/Mike Montgomery

PAS: This was a team of veterans against a team of AIW students, which is a match structure I have loved before. This wasn't nearly at the level of the No Consequence multi-man matches, as this group of students seemed mainly focused on getting over their signature comedy spots (a sad part of 2019 wrestling, where you are mainly focused on becoming a meme, everybody is a fucking Tik Tok comedian now.) We did get some really solid rookie beatings though, with Parker Pierce being an especially nasty crowbar, I loved his hook kick and chops. Fun match, but not sure if I know which of those students is going to break out.

PB Smooth vs. Tom Lawlor

PAS: I think Smooth has a lot of potential, he is obviously enormous and a good athlete, if I were AEW I would sign him and give him a tag partner (hell they should just sign the entirety of 40 Acres and a Mule). But I am not sure he is ready for a singles match that isn't filled with a bunch of shenanigans. There were some cool individual moments, and I liked how Lawlor pushed the pace and worked stiff, I am not sure this was ever together enough to really fall apart though.

The Production (Derek Director/Danhausen) vs. PME (Philly Collins/Marino Tenaglia) vs. Jollyville Fuck-Its (T-Money/Nasty Russ) vs. To Infinity and Beyond (Cheech/Colin Delany)

PAS: This was really disappointing. I love AIW multi team tag matches, this was a rematch of their match from WrestleMania weekend which is one of my favorite matches of the year, and it just fell flat. To Infinity and Beyond get DQ'ed about a minute in, and the Fuck-It's bow out relatively easily a couple of minutes later. We then get a PME vs. Production match, which was fine, but never really pushed the throttle to a crazy level or anything. There was a moment or two, and PME winning was a nice tribute to Chandler Biggins, but I was really amped for this, and I didn't get what I wanted. These guys were headlining a show, and it was their chance to really deliver something special, and it just missed the mark.

PAS: The first round of the tourney was fun, and Twan vs. Manders was an out of nowhere gem, still can't help being a little down on the show, hopefully night 2 delivers big. However, two matches landing on our 2019 Ongoing MOTY List is never a bad thing.