Every year Absolution is THE event for AIW. It’s where some of the best matches happen, a lot of storylines reach their conclusion, and the stage is set for the next twelve months. The 2013 installment was no exception. Although two matches had last minute changes, AIW presented it’s most stacked card of the year and arguably one if it’s most important shows ever.
It had been over a year since Mat Fitchett had been in an AIW ring. Originally he and Davey Vega were set to face The Briscoes at last years “Absolution VII” event, but an injury kept Fitchett on the shelf. He and Vega both honed their craft as singles wrestlers (Vega in AIW, Fitchett in AAW when his injury healed) but I have to say I was thrilled to see the team come back together to take on The Jollyville Fuck-Its, a team that has grown into the vacancy the Sex Bob-Ombs had left in their absence. Fitchett made a great impression in his re-debut for the company. There was no hesitancy to dive out of the ring, hit standing moonsaults, or even a reverse Frankensteiner. Unfortunately, Vega would suffer an arm injury during the match, likely from a Doomsday Back Cracker from the Fuck-Its. It was a killer move, figuratively speaking of course and had the fans prepared for an upset victory. With Fitchett out, Vega was slim pickins’ for the Bob-Ombs. After a waterwheel slam and Myers’ signature cannonball senton, the Fuck-Its came away with the win. Even with some moments of sloppiness, it was an exciting opening match and a perfect way to kick off the show.
ACH vs. Louis Lyndon was a match I thought was poised to steal the show. Sadly, a concussion kept ACH off the show. AIW more than made good on a replacement bringin back Lyndon’s former partner Flip Kendrick back from Canada for what was surely to be another exciting contest. Louis Lyndon had really made his mark as a singles competitor in AIW so it only made sense that he would control the majority of the match and end up the victor. Like he has been doing, Lyndon went for a variety of submission maneuvers when the opportunity presented itself. This isn’t to say he was averse to going with his high flying tendencies, as proven with a Bermuda Triangle moonsault to the floor. Kendrick looked a lot more crisp than he has in the past, busting out some new offense amongst his usual repertoire. I’ve never seen a Code Red into the corner until this match, nor an Oklahoma Roll into a release Regalplex. Despite his best efforts, Lyndon caught him a Dragon Sleeper and made his former partner tap out. As much as I was looking forward to ACH vs. Lyndon, I was very happy with what we got. Lyndon continues to look strong and Kendrick impressed in his surprise return to AIW.
Johnny Gargano wasted no time taking the fight to Ethan Page. For months Page has gotten under Gargano’s skin, causing him both the Gauntlet for the Gold and the JLIT tournament. It only made sense that Gargano would start off with a corner dropkick, suicide dive, and slingshot DDT. The game became a game of cat and mouse, with Gargano at times having to chase Page and whooping him when he had the advantage. There was a cool moment in the middle of the match where both men were trading kicks until Page caught Gargano with a spin-out DDT. There was also a nice exchange where Gargano kept going for the Hurts Donut while Page wanted the Spinning Dwayne. Both men ended up delivering their signature move but it didn’t get the job done for either guy. Gargano had to utilize the Garga-No Escape to get Page to submit and get himself the win. It’s hard to believe Page has only been in AIW for 14 months (at this point) and climbed the ranks as much as he has. It goes to show that hard work pays off. For me this was a match with the guy who personifies Cleveland wrestling and AIW passing the torch to one of independent wrestling’s next stars.
As much as the Hope & Change tag team title reign has bugged me from time to time, their loss of the titles was executed very well. Their feud with the Batiri had been filled with frustrations to the team, given the unfair advantages the champions had been presented. It only made sense that the Batiri would attack them on the floor before the bell and doing some damage to try and even the score given Hope & Change’s four count rule. Speaking of advantages, thanks to some help from Scott, Gregory Iron was able to clock Kodama with a chain and get the pinfall victory. Sadly the stipulation was that the Batiri would be forced to leave AIW if they lost. However, Matt Wadsworth noticed them cheating and re-started the bout. The Batiri immediately sent Veda Scott to Hell, then Kodama slungshot Iron into a knee strike from Obariyon to the face to win the belts. After the match, they double stomped Scott into a kiddie pool filled with cheeseburgers. Considering she’s vegan that was a nice insult to add to the injury. This whole segment was well done and paid off everything that had been built up to this point.
If I have said it once I’ve said it a million times; more often than not, Michael Elgin has the best match on every card he’s a part of. That held true on this show when he and Josh Alexander wrestled to a 30 minute draw. Alexander had his ear fill with fluids after an enzuigiri from ACH last month, causing his match with Elgin to last barely a minute. The rematch was immediately signed for this show and you just knew we were in for something special. How many tombstone piledrivers, backfists, powerbombs, and moves on the floor can one take? This match served to answer the question as these two unleashed everything they had leading to a 30 minute draw. They had a throwback to their first encounter with Elgin trying to beat Alexander the same way he did in that match. Not only to Alexander fight back from that (and much more) but also seemed to have the match won when the time limit expired. It’s tough for me to try and put this match into words, but rest assured it’s very likely to be the best match AIW puts on this year and by itself makes the show worth your money and time. You may think some of the action was overkill, but given that they never seemed to lose the crowd and they escalated the violence in a logical manner, and that it was a part of AIW’s version of WrestleMania, I thought it worked perfectly. Seek this out.
They very highly anticipated and well built up Intense Division Championship match between BJ Whitmer and Chris Dickinson did not come to pass. For whatever reason, Dickinson was not at the show. Matt Cross, Rickey Shane Page, and Bobby Beverly, who originally scheduled in a tag match with Josh Prohibition to make a new four way title match. (Before moving on, I’d like to give Josh Prohibition a world of props, for stepping down on his own for the betterment of the show. That’s the type of selflessness you never hear about in pro wrestling and he should certainly be commended for taking a step back.) They made the most out of the match and provided some really exciting stuff. Obviously with Beverly and Page being partners, the match served as a makeshift tag bout for the majority of the match. Cross would fly in to ensure that neither member of #NIXON won the belt from Whitmer. He interjected a table towards the end and took out Beverly, allowing Whitmer to put Page through the table and retain his title. Like I said, the action here was crazy at times and always crisp. Page/Beverly have had some awesome tag team matches since #NIXON debuted and since this was just like a tag, they brought the good into this match as well. Kudos to everyone for making the best of a bad situation.
Speaking of making the most of a situation, Pierre Abernathy wasn’t around to team with his fellow Submission Squad members Evan Gelestico and Gary Jay. Replacing him was Ryan Nemeth (going by Hot Young Briley), formerly Briley Pierce of NXT and the brother of Dolph Ziggler. Tracy Smothers made a quite an impact at the JLIT last month so it only made sense to bring him back to team with Jock Samson and Marion Fontaine. Before they coudl give the fans what they really wanted (a dance off), Briley and the Submission Squad attacked them from behind. The match was pretty much would you would expect, but in a good way. Some fun stuff from Smothers and Briley in the ring lead to Samson doing his first dive ever in AIW. All six men brawled around ringside and into the crowd. Tracy’s “daughter” Isabella even got involved on numerous occasions. Fontaine even pulled a book out of Human Tornado’s book by using a basketball hoop to assist with an offensive maneuver. Even though a table was uncooperative with being set on fire, Jock Samson putting Gelestico through a table with a belly-to-belly piledriver off of the stage. Even though the fire didn’t work out, the lighter fluid helped the Submission Squad win the match. Briley sprayed it into Smothers’ eyes until Jay rolled him up for the win.
Poor Tim Donst. He lost the Absolute Championship at the end of 2012, then both of his rivals (Eddie Kingston and Addy Starr) left AIW before anything of substance could come to fruition. There’s a silver lining here though, as Michael Hutter returned to AIW after not being around for over six years (in fact, Absolution II was his last show). For Hutter, this was to show that even though he was in WWE limbo for so many years that he could still compete on the level that many top wrestlers on the Indies (and elsewhere) could. The story building up to this was that Donst was a wrestler and Hutter was now a sports entertainer. Hutter was THE man in AIW in its early years while Donst had been taking the company by storm since the summer of 2010. These two went to war. You really felt both guys thought they had something to prove. It’s not everyday you see Donst toss somebody off the top rope. I have to be honest; seeing him put Hutter in the CHIKARA Special made me smile. Something about that move being put on a former WWE superstar is surreal. Hutter himself busted out some really good wrestling and of course his old standby, the Deviant Bomb. When Donst kicked out of that, Hutter put on the Stock Lock (an STF/full nelson submission) which caused Donst to pass out. This was a match that I was looking forward to but didn’t have high expectations. I’m happy to say I was wrong and that both competitors had excellent performances. Hutter is going to be an assett to AIW and Donst has been for years now. This match shows you just why that is. Donst kicked Hutter in the groin post match so this issue isn’t over.
If you go back and read my “Gauntlet for the Gold 8” review, the first words I wrote were “Colin Delaney should be the next Absolute Champion.” Going into this title match against Eric Ryan my feelings had not changed one bit. Seleziya Sparx was in Delaney’s corner while The Duke was in Ryan’s. Delaney had control for a while, but a thumbtack bat to the head from Ryan and being sent into the guardrails numerous times shifted momentum into the champion’s favor. Delaney managed to make a comeback and decided to play Ryan’s game by powerbombing him off of the apron and through four chairs. The Duke interjected but was shockingly confronted by Seleziya before he could do any damage. When she was about to take a powerbomb, Chest Flexor ran out and threw a fireball into his face! With Duke neutralized Ryan worked a bit harder and more quickly to vanquish Colin. Sparx gave Colin a purse full of thumbtacks which were precariously set up in the corner. He would end up sending Ryan into the tacks with a double stomp out of a tree of woe! After some more back and forth Delaney pinned Ryan with the 12 Large Elbow to become the new champion. It seemed as if justice were served and Delaney’s journey as a new, clean wrestler had reached its zenith.
However, Delaney’s celebration was short lived, as Ethan Page made his way to the ring. Sparx gave Delaney a low blow, re-aligning herself with Page. The Spinning Dqayne didn’t keep Delaney down. Sparx was looking to help out but took a superkick from Page for her troubles. Delaney went for the 12 Large Elbow when Page caught her on the top rope with a super Spinning Dwayne. Instead of the reign of Delaney we now have the era of All Ego. Page cut a fantastic post match promo discussing a few real life situations of people in wrestling telling him that he wasn’t good enough which only motivated him more on his quest for the title. Many AIW die hards may have seen this coming but it was a tremendous angle and a great way to set things up for the next year.
Overall: As I previously stated, the Elgin/Alexander match already gives you your money’s worth, but just about every match lived up to the hype or exceeded expectations. For AIW’s biggest show of the year this lived up to the hype. No doubt about it, you should give this show a look.
You can pick up this show on DVD from AIW’s store or Smart Mark Video. For a reduced price, you can also download the show as an mp4 from Smart Mark Video or watch it On Demand from SMVOD.
For more information on AIW, check out their official website, their Facebook page, follow them on Twitter, and follow them on Tumblr.
This Friday night, AIW returns to iPPV with “Double Dare”, their first eight team tag tournament! In addition to that, the AIW Women’s Championship is on the line and Johnny Gargano faces Jonathan Gresham! For all the details and to order the show, click here.
Quick Results/Match Times/Star Ratings
1. The Jollyville Fuck-Its (“Nasty” Russ Myers) & T- Money defeat The Sex Bob-Ombs (Davey Vega & Mat Fitchett) with Myers pinning Vega after a cannonball splash in 8:47. **½
2. Louis Lyndon forced Flip Kendrick to submit to a Dragon Sleeper in 11:07. ***¼
3. Johnny Gargano makes Ethan Page tap out to the Garga-No Escape in 13:29. ***½
4. The Batiri (Obariyon & Kodama) usurped the AIW Tag Team Championships from Hope & Change (Gregory Iron & Veda Scott) when Kodama slungshot Iron into Obariyon’s knee strike at 9:24. At first, Iron had pinned Kodama after nailing him with a chain, but Matt Wadsworth re-started the match. (The time reflects the totality of both matches and the time in between the bouts too) **¾
5. Michael Elgin and Josh Alexander went to a 30 minute draw. Must see match. ****¼
6. BJ Whitmer successfully defended the Intense Division Championship against Matt Cross, Rickey Shane Page, and Bobby Beverly when he put Page through a table with a half-nelson suplex in 11:43. ***¼
7. In a Bunkhouse Brawl, Ryan Nemeth & The Submisson Squad (Pierre Abernathy & Evan Gelestico) defeated The Old School Express (Jock Samson, Marion Fontaine, & Tracy Smothers) in 14:51 when Jay rolled up Smothers. ***
8. Michael Hutter made Tim Donst pass out to the Stock Lock in 16:57. ***½
9. Colin Delaney became the new Absolute Champion, besting Eric Ryan with the 12 Large Elbow at 18:27. ***
10. Ethan Page cashes in his JLIT title match to become the new Absolute Champion with a top rope Spinning Swayne in 0:55. N/R