AIW, that’s Absolute Intense Wrestling, held their annual Absolution show last night in Cleveland Ohio. Fortunately, though the miracles of modern technology, that show is already available for viewing at Smart Mark Video.
The show emanated from The Ohio City Masonic Arts Center in Cleveland. The two-level venue looked perfect for an independent show with a lively crowd.
The Singh Warriors (Joshua Singh, Frankie Flynn, Brian Carson, & Kaplan) d. The Iron Curtain (Gregory Iron, Benjamin Boone, Martini, and Jerry) when Gregory Iron pinned Singh with a roll-up. This match was the “get the crowd riled up”. Lots of dives and multi-man moves. After the match was over The Iron Curtain attacked Singh. Then, to the delight of the crowd, it was VADER TIME. Vader, yes VADER, came out for the save. Vader disposed of The Iron Curtain, including a chokeslam to Gregory Iron himself.
Note: Iron did have his tights pulled down for most of the match, so watch at your own risk.
Athena d. Absolute Women’s Champion Veda Scott with a Blockbuster to win the title. Again, this shows how much more interesting womens’ wrestling can be outside of the main WWE Roster. Both women worked hard, and I still think Veda Scott will get a call to work for WWE at some point.
Davey Vega d. BJ Whitmer with a Tree Of Woe Footstomp to retain the Intense Division Title. This was clearly a match to help establish Vega as a fighting champion. Whitmer holds the record for the longest Intense Title reign, and Vega holds the record for the most defenses.
Ethan Page d. Eddie Kingston (w/The Duke) in an I Quit Match by using barbed wire to the forehead. If hardcore brawls around the building are your thing, this match certainly provided that. I don’t know if Kingston has lost an I Quit Match before this.
AIW Tag Champions To Infinity And Beyond (Colin Delaney & Cheech) d. Hot Sauce Entertainment (“Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams & Tyson Dux) when Cheech pinned Williams. Hot Sauce Entertainment came to the ring dressed like The Blackjacks. Of course the gimmick with Hot Sauce Entertainment is they fancy themselves massive entertainers, but actually look and act quite bland. Good tag team match.
Louis Lyndon d. Candice LaRae, Cedric Alexander, Flip Kendrick Tyler Thomas, and ACH when Lyndon made LaRae submit to the Dragon Sleeper. Let me make one thing clear, I am not a fan of intergender matches. This is just my opinion, but it’s difficult for me to take an intergender match seriously. In a real world example, we all know Ronda Rousey is one of the toughest women in the world. I don’t think anybody believes that Ronda Rousey could beat Brock Lesnar, or even Anderson Silva. That’s an extreme example, but it’s the best analogy I can make off the top of my head.
That said, this was a good match for the chaotic nature a six way scramble style match is supposed to bring. The crowd was definitely into the match, and ACH got a hero’s welcome in his return to AIW.
Tim Donst d. Nick Gage in an Anything Goes Match with a Small Package. There were a lot of tack bumps in this match. Again, if you like the hardcore weapons match, this match is right up your alley. The big story here is Donst is wrestling his first match since recovering from Cancer. Donst cut a heartfelt but profanity laced promo about being back before getting laid out by Gage.
In the Semi-Main Event, Ricky Shane Page d. Absolute Champion Josh Alexander with a Heater forearm and Tombstone Piledriver. There was a false finish where it looked like Alexander suffered an injury only to pop up and pin RSP. Eddie Guerrero would’ve been proud. Veda Scott also came out and got superplexed. This capped off a long story involving Page not being able to win a big match, and being down on his luck.
The main event was so surreal it has to be seen to be believed. The Dudes On TV (EC3, Matt Cross, Raymond Rowe, DJZ, & Samoa Joe) faced Team AIW (Alex Daniels, Josh Prohibition, Johnny Gargano, & The Young Bucks) in a 10 Man Tag Match. This match alone was worth the cost of the event. From a talent standpoint alone it had wrestlers not only from AIW, but WWE/NXT, TNA, ROH, New Japan, and Lucha Undergorund…. All in the SAME MATCH.
I won’t give the finish, because I think people should check out this uniqueness of the match without having me spoil everything. If you want to see this once in a lifetime match check out Smart Mark Video and order the event. It’s only 10 bucks.
Remember, this is independent wrestling, so you’re not going to get PPV or even national TV level production values. What you will see is a lot of up and coming talent, and a few names you haven’t seen in a while, tearing the house down doing what they do best.
Also remember that AIW does have their own streaming service if you need to easily catch up on past AIW events. For a limited time you can use the promo code “FAIRTOAAR” and save almost 50% on a 6 month subscription.
