Photo credit: @aiwrestling
The AIW infantry made its way to the Tadmore Shrine in Akron, Ohio on Saturday evening to host DAMN! As usual, FITE+ streamed the event for those who could not attend and celebrate with the boisterous devotees squished within the confines of the culturally inclusive shrine.
Although the at home viewers were not privy to the preshow match between Austin James and Tyson Riggs nor the autograph session given by WWE Hall of Famer and wrestling giant Ron Simmons, the incrementally intense and entertaining show they did lay eyes on was well….worth an ass kicking damn.
Commentated by a revolving door of characters, Matt Wadsworth, Dustin Alberty and Brian Carson, the 3 hour spectacle may have started slow and on a posh note and may have been tinged with audio quality issues, but it nonetheless built up steam as the night progressed and culminated in a main event that was exhilarating at literally every minute and might I dare say, every second.
Bulking Season (Arthur McArthur & Chuck Stone) vs Money Shot (Elijah Dean & Zach Nystrom)
Big wigs in the wrestling business will often talk about the interdependence of the opening, middle and closing part of any given card; each serving their purpose in telling overall, a well balanced and meaningful and intrinsically connected narrative. That being said, if those tuning in for the first time yesterday played by those rules, they might have expected stale, half ass bread most of night.
The first bout forcibly pushed out a is this it? vibe; short, not really sweet and underwhelming. Money Shot brought a minute tang of entertainment with some slightly stimulating but generic back and forth with the crowd and Bulking seemed to do the wrestling with a couple of moments of aggressive attack.
Money Shot got the win quickly with hardly any build. All in all, an emotionally stifling and dry start to the evening.
Steph De Lander vs Ziggy Haim
If these 2 were hoping to pick things up, they did a slightly better job thanks to the rock n’ roll-badass mystique of De Lander. As Matt Cardona’ intrusive and lawless game leveling sidekick, her debut match was a ripe opportunity to pack a punch or 2 and inaugurate her brand in a forcible way.
De Lander wasted no time and got things started by cutting a promo to set the tone for the proceeding match; well at least for those in attendance at the Shrine. For those at home, we wish we knew what the fuck she was saying. For those that can read lips, please send us a transcript.
If Haim was there to put De Lander over in her inaugural match, she gets some points for that. Although she brought some tension via early in your face thrash talking, this was clearly De Lander’s night. She means business; and proved to be a force to be reckoned via hard hitting wrasslin’ and of course, the stealth and guile of a brilliant heel in the making.
Haim played the victim of manipulation and underhandedness quite well after De Lander distracted the ref by feigning injury only to apply a blistering boot to the unexpecting face of Haim and ending it with an F5 like closer.
De Lander celebrated her victory with the expected brash and pomp of a heel before telling everyone watching to go fuck themselves as she headed for the back stage area. This match may have warranted more time. Another short one with barely any tangible build that ended well but abruptly. The bread was getting a little fresher.
The Bitcoinboiz (Eric Taylor & Mikey Montgomery with The Duke) vs Trademark Name Army (Swoggle & Wes Barkley)
And now a moment of well intended and deserved levity. If you were not happy with the show by this point, well at least John Thorne and company made a respectable effort to make you laugh about it in a good way.
The tag champs, The Bitcoinboiz went into this match blindfolded metaphorically speaking, having been assigned mystery guests as their opponents. At their side and to help in their offensive endeavor was none other than The Duke, who handed the commentary mic to Dustin Alberty in his temporary absence.
After The Duke heckles the crowd with derogatory comments he and the tag champs are to their dismay, first introduced to one half of their adversaries: Wes Barkley who only doubled their frustrations by then announcing and welcoming a la DX, his partner-Swoggle.
You knew right off the bat this was going to be a bag of chuckles when Trademark sauntered their way to the ring dosing the crowd with glow sticks and neither they or the champs and The Duke, disappointed us. Was this match full of edge of your seat, story building wrestling? No, not really. Was it entertaining as shit? Absolutely. Between Swoggle’ dancing, antics and both teams making an applaudable effort to sell wrestling moves from everyone involved but especially Swoggle, this was a treat for everyone-young and old.
Hats off to the Duke for great moments of heelish interference and interplay and a respectable ending where he belts Swoggle in the head with an actual boot allowing Bitcoin to the get the 1-2-3 and retain.
Fred Rosser vs Dominic Garrini
The evening now moves in the direction of mid-card wrestling with two formidable individuals who did rather well in building momentum. Fred Rosser from New Japan Pro was warmly welcomed by the AIW family in the stands and took it to Garrini in a short but much sweeter match.
This was a blatant shoot style bout with little BS and all grit and grunt; with a great sequence of jaw braking blows between the competitors, powerful German suplexes from Garrini and displays of wrestling prowess from both men. Garrini and Rosser dominated each other with sheer physicality in equal and reciprocal fashion.
In the end, Garrini picked-up the W after narrowly escaping a cross-face chicken wing and managing a pin after landing on Rosser back first to force the pinfall. After a well fought victory, Garrini respectfully hands the mic over to Rosser who shares words of gratitude with the crowd and thanks his compatriots in AIW for allowing him the opportunity; at least from what one was able to understand.
A Few Words from Ron Simmons & Intermission
Before entering the half way point and intermission, the legendary Ron Simmons was acknowledged and introduced into the ring. Simmons was welcomed with enthusiasm as the Nation of Domination theme music played in the muffled background and proceeded to share some thoughts with those watching. Seems like it went over well with the live fans as the response and reaction was more applause. Whatever. He could have chopped wood at this point as it probably sounded all the same for those watching on Fite.
The intermission section was time well used to air finely produced video packages that provided background to the stories behind the matches closing the last portion of the show; those being the upcoming tag team cage match, 4 way Intense title dance and the main event between the AIW champ and his adversary.
Steel Cage Tag Team Match: Youthanazia (Josh Prohibition & Matt Cross) vs The Philly Marino Experience (Marino Tenaglia & Philly Collins)
A story and feud literally 1 year in the making could have not ended on a better and more violent note. It looks like PME knew what they had coming to them as they endeavored to ditch the match and avoid the heat by attempting to walk out on Josh and Matt before the bell even rang. This of course only catapulted the revenge seeking Youthanazia to pursue them and launce each man individually, back into action.
Even before the bell rang, the fighting took to the floor; one could sense this was going to get bloody and gnarly quite fast. PME began getting their asses handed to them not far along into the match and Collins was the first to be busted open; gushing a river of crimson all over himself and his opponents.
For the most part, the match was effectively worked and a good mix of story topped with risking taking wrestling and violence. Youthanazia looked to have had things in the bag right before the narrative took a dip in the direction of the bad guys; Papa Pepperoni interferes as he has done in the past to the benefit of PME. Guised as a ref though not sanctioned as one, he clobbers the actual official to the point of bloodletting and takes over the role with brute force.
With one more ally on their side, PME takes advantage of the moment and manages to lock Cross out of the cage and chain the door shut leaving Prohibition at the mercy of the ruthless trio who pummel him emphatically. Not long after however, both Cross and the official ref find their way back into the cage and fight and into their respective roles as wrestler and wrestling marshal; the latter giving Pepperoni a taste of his own shitty pizza.
The match ends with a glorious and brutal finale as Youthanazia bags Collins’ face, drive a kindle stick to his head and put him through a pair of tables head first. To add salt to the wound, Prohibition then plants a brain buster on the bloodied foe to finally get the pinfall.
4 Way Match for the AIW Intense Title: Derek Dillinger w/ Ziggy Haim vs Tom Lawlor vs Chase Oliver vs Shaw Mason
This is another one that seemed to have ended prematurely and was deserving of more air time based on the quality of the match. By the same token, the match was well put together and rather exciting despite of and in response to time constraints.
It was clear that Dillinger is no push over and was going to live up to his self proclaimed hype and prediction that he is “going to be champ forever” although his opponents fought back and went toe to toe with him. There was quick but substantial work done in and out of the ring with Dillinger bringing the strength and aggression, Mason the Angle like attack and athleticism and Oliver the high flying moves.
That Dillinger is not going anywhere but in the direction of victorious dominance was clear by his impressive pinfall over Mason that came as a result of a curbstomp headfirst into the Intense title that Haim managed to get in the ring. looks like it’s 246 days and counting for a very Intense and imposing champion.
Kaplan vs Sam Holloway
This battle was a fitting segway into the main event of the evening. Holloway was going into this with a loosing record and either had nothing to loose facing the current AIW Hardcore champ in this non title match or everything to gain by pulling the upset.
Make no mistake, Kaplan is hardcore and went about this challenge as a hardcore warrior showing signs of less than human force, brutality and agility without the use of weapons and depending solely on his wrestling ability and animalistic desire to whip some ass.
The sheer physicality of the encounter was the story in this case; when a man of Kaplan’ size (over 300 lbs.) flies through the ropes onto his opponent at a speed of a man about 30-40 lbs. lighter than himself, “Jesus Christ” is about the only reaction you can have when witnessing such a spectacle.
Things surprisingly and surreptitiously took an advantageous turn for the better for Holloway when brawling outside the ring with Kaplan; showing ferocious courage and will the former took control of the offense from here and managed to get the Kaplan back into the ring to build on the momentum.
Rattling the Hardcore champ with a massive German suplex and a double barrel leg drop, Holloway continued to dominate until the point of victory that came as a result of a signature choke slam.
Perhaps taking their que from the Garrini-Rosser match, both competitors brought out their inner beasts to deliver an action pact beatfest that potentially left viewers pleasantly surprised, delighted and inspired.
AIW Absolute Title Match: Matt Cardona w/ Fonzie and Steph De Lander vs Joshua Bishop
Main events are all about saving the best for last or what you hope to expect as the best. Cardona and team and Bishop did that and more. There were hardly any lulls in this one; it was truly a beautiful trainwreck and upside roller-coaster from beginning to end; a noteworthy testament to the value and talent of Indy wrestling.
Cardona wasted no time pushing hard on the accelerator by applying the Radio Silencer very early in the match leading us to believe that this was going to be an easy and fast win over Bishop. And that could not have been any further from the truth. This battle left no leaf unturned; the war braced nearly every nook and cranny in the Shrine expect for the toilette with Cardona and Bishop fighting in and out of the ring, into the crowd and across the stands to the point where the cameraman lost sight of them as they disappeared into the hoards of people.
The savagery of the fight was also not limited to its geographic reach but the willingness of both men to destroy each other. Generally, guard rails are used to block off designated areas for security and circulation purposes; these 2 animals used them as landing pads for their beaten bodies as they mercilessly slammed each other into and unto them.
It was also clear that Joshua Bishop might be outnumbered throughout this chaotic danse from hell with numerous interferences and attempts to foil Bishop’s game from De Lander and Fonzie; the former imposing herself as quite the effectual enforcer.
As the match continued, the attack plan from Cardona’ squadron became increasingly twisted as the players began to multiply when PME got involved in the hostile takeover; that is until Trademark Name Army came to Bishop’s aid to thwart the evil plot and maybe settle unfinished business. To the shock and disenchantment of team Cardona, Swoggle was able to get a low blow in on the Indy god.
Although being busted open towards the end of the fight, Bishop showed mind blowing resilience and grit by continuing to kick out and escape pinfalls after being triple teamed by Cardona and his minions numerous times. With a plethora of chair shots and a low blow from De Lander (although it was revealed that Bishop was wearing a protective cup most of the match; a telltale sign that Bishop had a defense strategy of his own) one final low blow (without the protection), a nasty concerto and a final Radio Silencer from Cardona finally put away the bloody and willful beast admitting the self proclaimed king of the deathmatch to retain the Absolute title.
Despite technical challenges and a lackluster start to the night, AIW DAMN! proved that at any moment, things can be turned on its head and go in a different direction. The last half of the bill culminating in the main event, is a surefire example of how Indy wrestling showcases its biggest asset; the wrestlers and how when they come together as a team, can take lemons and make a sweet ass margherita.
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