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SWOGGLE, WHITMER, DONTST, LAREDO KID, RAY ROWE, JANELLA, PAUL BURCHILL & MORE: 2/17 AIW 'WALK THE PLANK' IN CLEVELAND, OH REPORT

By Dave Repicky on 2017-02-18 15:58:00

A I W   Walk the Plank

Our Lady of Mount Carmel    Cleveland, Ohio

No Vacancy- a large walk up crowd caused a lot more chairs to be put out over the course of the night

I have been looking forward to the first AIW show of the year for some time. Lots of great match ups on paper that delivered in reality.

The show started out with a four way between, Façade, Flip Kendrick, Lucky tHURTeen and Shawn Schultz, who everybody in Cleveland is getting to know. Façade’s fiancé filmed the match standing next to me. As Façade was entering the ring  Lucky told him his music sucked, which cracked me up for some reason. Lots of action that spilled out of the ring. Nice sequences between all four. I especially enjoyed when former Ninja Elite Squad partners Flip and Façade were facing off . In the end Schultz pinned Lucky for the win. Big win for Schultz over 3 more established guys. Good opener.

Two newer workers, Kaplan and the 7 foot savage PB Smooth had a slobber knocker that Smooth won. Not the prettiest match ever but fun to watch guys learning. PB Smooth is one to watch for down the road.

Next up was a rematch from  December’s Jelly of the Month Club show as (Horn) Swoggle took on Britt Baker. Britt was seeking revenge after Swoggle’s less than honorable win in December. Before she could hit the ring, Britt was attacked by fellow AIW students Brian Carson and Yale’s own Dr Daniel C Rockingham. After a 3 on one beat down, Dick Justice and Space Monkey- Space Justice made the save. We then had a six competitor intergender, interspecies match. Really don’t know what Carson and the Doc have against Britt, other than she’s way better than either of them, but they’re always beating on her. In the end, Britt tapped Rockingham for the win. Britt Baker is going to be a big, big  star in the very near future. Looking forward to Girl’s Night Out 19 next month when she faces GAIL KIM.

Next up was scheduled to be Cleveland’s Son of Havoc, Matt Cross against Bad Boy Joey Janella. This had WOW written all over it. Unfortunately Cross recently found out he had a broken leg and is out indefinitely. AIW promised a suitable replacement and they delivered. Out came Queen of Cleveland, Mrs. Johnny Wrestling, Candice LeRae in her first appearance since the Johnny Gargano farewell show in September. Great back and forth match that saw Janella eventually emerge victorious. Afterwards, the usually cocky bad boy extended his hand in a show of respect to Candice as the crowd ate that up. Afterwards Janella proclaimed himself a giant killer and challenged Scott Flash Norton to a match next month at Gauntlet for the Gold 12. Looking forward to seeing Candice go for Shimmer title on April 1. She deserves it.

3 way dance for AIW Tag Titles closes out the first half. Team Crazy Pain, Steve Pain and Gringo Loco defended against former champs To Infinity and Beyond, Cheech and Colin Delaney, and The Jollyville F***Its, Nasty Russ and T-Money.  This was Loco’s first match back after suffering a heart attack in December. I knew this was going to be something and it was.  Crazy match that had guys flying everywhere. T-Money’s Pounce is as good as anyone’s ever. In the end the champs scored a double pin on Delaney to retain. This was one of matches of the night. If you’ve never seen Steve Pain, check him out. He’s the real deal. People were talking about this match on the way out.

After intermission, BJ Whitmer with The Duke took on Clevelander Mike Tolar, who recently returned to the ring after a multi year absence. He had a large group supporting him. Tolar picked up the win after Dominic Garini came and distracted Whitmer. Lots of good mat work here. Afterwards Garini attacked the Duke with a sharp object. Whitmer challenged him for next month. High stakes match coming up with Garini becoming Whitmer’s young boy if he loses and Whitmer leaving AIW if he loses.

The Pirate Paul Burchill’s return to the ring was next. His opponent is one of my favorites, the grossly under rated Captain of the Ship Louis Lyndon. Burchill looked good for being gone for awhile. Match even went over the guard rail and into the crowd for a minute. In the end the ref got distracted allowing Lyndon to use his recent go to move, a kick to the crotch to pick up the win. As much as I enjoy Lyndon, I wish he didn’t cheat to win.

Another match I was looking forward to was next. Cleveland native and half of War Machine, Raymond Rowe took on the Laredo Kid. Incredible bigger guy/smaller guy match that was top 2 or 3 of the night. Rowe hit some amazing power moves and punches throughout. His size was too much for the game Laredo (who’s awesome).

Second title match is next.  Intense Champ Alex Daniels along with Gregory Iron, but no Veda Scott, Marti Belle or Ray Lyn their No Strings Attached colleagues, took on former Absolute champ in All Ego Ethan Page. After Greg did his usual spiel on the mic, it was Daniels’ turn. He picked on a little kid in the front row. Daniels said the kid said he didn’t like Daniels during intermission at the merch tables. The kid , Jackson, jumped behind his Dad. Page came to the rescue as Jackson was wearing one of his shirts. We got a brief anti bullying message and the match was on. Another good back and forth the match that saw Daniels retain after Iron got involved.

Main event time for the Absolute Title. Another hometown guy, Josh Prohibition defends against Catch Point’s Hot Sauce Tracy Williams. Williams is another one of my faves. He’s a no nonsense old school wrestler.  These two were putting on an absolute (pardon the pun) clinic for 15-20 minutes when a$$$%#e Tim Donst came and ruined everything once again. He lost to Josh in November and can’t get over it. He’s showed up at the last two shows even though he “wasn't’t booked”. Great, great match until the end. This sets up a 3 way dance for the Absolute title next month. Prohibition vs Williams vs Donst. If Donst loses, he can’t compete for the title for a year.

Top to bottom a great show. Look at the names we had: Prohibition, Williams, Ego Page, Rowe, Laredo, Whitmer, Cheech, Delaney, Janella, LeRae, Swoggle, Baker, Façade, Lucky, Donst and Cross who was signing. That’s a lot of top level indy talent on one show. My fourth show since July and our group’s grown from 2 for 4. I’m sure we’ll be back soon. Keep up the great work Thorne, Biggins and AIW crew.

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