MATT JUSTICE VS. JOSHUA BISHOP BARBED WIRE MATCH, ALEX SHELLEY, MANCE WARNER, MORDECAI & MORE: 10/9 AIW THUNDER IN INDIANAPOLIS REPORT

AIW “Thunder in Indianapolis”

The Collective 2020: Part 3

10/9/20 - Indianapolis, IN

Halfway through the day, I’ve got plenty of caffeine flowing through my being, and I’m ready for another show full of good wrestle stuff! AIW is up next! Let’s gooooooo!
 

There’s some weird match ups on this card I’m definitely looking forward to. We get a promo video to kick off the show, talking about how much it sucks to come into contact with barbed wire and giving a great highlight reel for the folks on this card. Matt Wadsworth is on commentary.

Match 1: Dr. Daniel C Rockingham vs Zach Thomas vs Derek Dillinger (w/ Ziggy Haim) vs Pretty Boy Smooth (w/ Jocelyn) 

Zach Thomas knocks Smooth off the apron from the start. Zach whips Dr. Dan through the ropes to take out Smooth again. Dillinger uses Ziggy Haim as a weapon to take out Thomas. Dr. Dan uses Dillinger to knock Smooth down again. This is a good gimmick. PB Smooth comes around the ring from the other side and makes it into the match, immediately slamming down everyone but not going for any pins. Smooth traps Dr. Dan into a shoulder lock but Thomas makes the save. Dillinger chokeslams Haim (at her request) from the top onto Thomas and Dr. Dan on the floor. Smooth chokeslams Dillinger to the apron. Jocelyn gets involved and Smooth backdrops her into everyone. Joceyn gets involved in a tandem beat down on Dr. Dan. Dillenger with a moonsault on Thomas for a near fall. Dr. Dan with a uranage backbreaker to Dillenger. Thomas hits a powerbomb on Smooth. DIllenger takes out Thomas. Dr. Dan hits a powerbomb on Dillenger for the pin.

Winner: Dr. Daniel C Rockingham

4-ways can be chaos but this was just the right amount of crazy. They were able to tell a fun story in the action. Loved seeing Haim and Jocelyn get deeply involved into this match. Dr. Dan winning was a surprise for everyone, even Dan. 

Match 2: Danhausen vs Mordecai

 I tried to explain Mordecai to my partner. I don’t know if she was confused by the concept, my excitement or both. Mordecai is definitely weirded out by Danhausen. Danhausen wants to steal the sigil staff but it burns his hand. Ring the bell. Mordecai menaces Danhausen with the staff. Mordecai insists Danhausen is a vampire. Danhausen gets a couple of ineffective chops in before his jar of teeth falls and breaks. Mordecai kindly collects some of the teeth at ringside and returns them. We go to the outside and Danhausen does the Tequila spot. Mordecai gets kicked in the face a bunch. Mordecai recovers and gives Danhausen some vampire teeth so they can both be vampires (a callback to Kevin Thorn). They try to get the vampire to be a vampire with them. Mordecai hits Danhausen with a realtor sign (with a familiar name on it). Danhausen getting stomped out. Danhausen recovers and hits his slingshot German suplex. Danhausen gathers up his loose teeth and stuffs them into his mouth only to kick them back out. Mordecai recovers and goes for a Razor’s Edge but Danhausen rolls through and pins him. 

Winner: Danhausen

This wasn’t QUITE the Mordecai I expected. He had the costume and staff but this was a fun goofy version of the man who did callbacks to his vampire character days and did a commercial for his business. Thankfully, Danhausen is the perfect partner for this goofiness. Was it entertaining? Yes. This is what matters.

Match 3: Dominic Garrini vs Erick Stevens

These two have to put their friendship on hold for the next several minutes. Doesn’t seem to be an issue as Dom takes Stevens right down and they scramble for position. They get to their feet and start throwing shots back and forth. <STREAM DIES FOR 2 MINUTES> Dom takes back over with slams and kicks. Trading loud chops and forearms, neither wanting to back down. Dom with a choke back suplex. Stevens with headbutts and a northern lights boom. Diving forearm to the back of Garrini’s head and that’s it for Dom.Winner: Erick Stevens

The stream had issues throughout this match so I lost a couple of minutes of action. across 2 cutouts. Getting a little worried for the remainder of the night but what I saw of this match was some hard-hitting fun.

Match 4: Bitcoin Boiz (Eric Taylor & Mikey Montgomery w/ The Duke) vs Allie Kat & Levi Everett

Levi charges the Boiz during his own entrance. Match kicks right off. Allie with a tilt-a-whirl armbar. Levi with a shoulder lock. The Bitcoin Boiz are tapping but the ref is distracted by the Duke. The Boiz use the distraction to superkick Allie and double team her. Levi gets the tag and destroys both his opponents. Spinebuster to Mikey for a near fall. The Bitcoin Boiz hit Levi with a golden boot, followed by a superkick and flip DVD for the pin.

Winner: The Bitcoin Boiz

This was a by the numbers face/heel tag match. The dirty heels used their dirty tricks. The faces tried to overcome but the cheating was too cheaty. This worked and was a fun watch, as the classics often are.

Match 5: Lee Moriarty vs Alex Shelley vs Tre Lamar

This is gonna be a fast-paced war. They all trade some fast paced technical sequences to start. Shelley finally kicks out the leg of Lamar and lays in some loud slaps. Lamar back with a springboard rolling drop kick. Moriarty in to kick Lamar some more before Shelley hits a crossbody on both. Shelley directs traffic, causing Lamar & Lee to crash into each other several times and even using super kicks to switch a pin attempt back and forth. Shelly showing his muscles while his opponents recover. Shelly ties up the leg of Moriarty while holding Lamar in a cross face. Lamar hits a dive on Shelley to finally shut him down and goes to work on Moriarty. Springboard lariat and a butterfly suplex for a pin attempt that Shelley is forced to break up. Moriarty leaps to the top to toss Lamar from there for a near fall. Chest kicks to Tre. Lee sidesteps and trips Shelley into a drop kick on Tre. Lamar coming back but Shelley hits DDT/Facebuster combo on his opponents. Shelly gets Lamar into a tree of woe and hits a basement drop kick and then tosses Lee into the tree. Shelley sets them up for a double sliced bread, near fall on Moriarty. Fast pin attempts between Shelly and Moriarty. Lamar back in and hits a frog splash elbow on Moriarty. Shelley is too slow to break it up and Moriarty takes the fall.Winner: Tre Lamar

This was a triple threat but this could have been a 2 on 1 of new vs old guard of AIW. Shelley was great, playing the cocky vet and picking and choosing his shots on his younger opponents. Ultimately, his gamesmanship cost him the match when he took his eye off Lamar long enough to lose the break attempt. The action delivered when it was firing and the story being told anytime the match slowed down was on point. Good work! 

Match 6: Mr. Brickster vs Mance Warner

Brickster takes it to Mance early. Seating him at ringside and charging a chair into his head. Brickster starts loading the ring with doors and pummeling Mance with a chair. Brickster takes too long grabbing chairs and talking into the camera. Mance chops his way back into the ring. Brickster drops Mance and water boards him with a rag and a bottle of bleach. Brickster antagonizes the crowd while Mance recovers again, wearing the crimson mask. Mance smashes Brickster in the face with a chair and Brickster is bloody too. Trading headbutts and chair shots. Close two count as they seem to have been in a double pin. Brickster setting up the doortable. Brickster sets up a double door stack and super plexes Mance through it. Another chair configuration set up Mance piledriver Brickster through it for the pin.

WInner: Mance Warner

Mance ain’t done, putting Brickster through another door and chases him off with door parts, shoving the referee down and DDT’ing Brickster on the floor. This was a violent fight. The bleach spot was definitely unique. Mancer definitely got more an more heated at the antics of Brickster throughout, leading to that conclusion. 

Match 7: The Karate Man (Ethan Page) vs “Filthy” Tom Lawlor

Lawlor fights several ninjas on the way to the ring for his boss fight with the Karate Man, recently resurrected after being killed by Lawlor in their previous match. Lawlor goes toe to toe with his karate skills before laying out his opponent with a lariat and a 10-punch. “karate sucks!” Says Lawlor. Lawlor hypes up but gets caught with a bicycle kick from the Karate Man. Lawlor chokes out Karate Man with his black belt and throws salt in his eyes. Karate Man is trying to use Lawlor with his sense of hearing. Unfortunately, he eats several kicks. Another bicycle kick and a leaping corner kick sends Lawlor down. Lawlor eats two “spinning” roundhouse kicks for a two count. Two atomic drops and a big boot....uh oh....he tries a hulk pose, the fans boo. He does a warrior rope shake. Booooo. He puts Karate Man in a torture rack but he slips out. They lock up on a pair of chops, both unwilling to give. The ninjas surround the ring and attack, Lawlor and Karate Man teams up to take them out. With the ninjas cleared, Lawlor quickly hits the 5 points of death and kills Karate Man after he takes 5 steps. The ring announcer brings Karate Man back to life with CPR. 

Winner: Tom Lawlor

:blink: This is SUCH a weird gimmick. It probably went a little too long but it was still entertaining for what it was.

Match 8: To Infinity & Beyond (Colin Delaney & Cheech) vs The PM Experience (Philly Collins & Marino Tenaglia) (2 out of 3 falls for the AIW tag team titles)

PME sends the champs to the outside early and outworks them with tandem coordination. Elbow drop/Sideslam combo for a near fall on Delaney. Delaney gets a couple of near falls on Marino before resorting to grabbing the rope to steal the first fall.

Marino eats a ton of heat at the start of the second fall. PME hits a tandem facebuster on Delaney but he manages to kick out. Marino toe to toe with Cheech and he ties up the leg with a backslide to get the pin and tie up the match.

We have chaos now. Cheech almost loses to a pop up powerslam from Philly. PME focusing on Cheech with a double stomp DDT but Delaney breaks it up. Philly gets drop kicked into the turnbuckle face first. Philly hit with a double GTS but Marino barely makes it in time to break up the pin. PME hit both their opponents with a pop up face buster and a second for good measure on Delaney to get the final fall.

Winners (and new champs): The PM Experience

It’s always weird to me when a 3-fall match takes less time than a single-fall one. That aside, this was some fast-paced action from two teams that clearly knew each other’s playbook well. Good tandem work, both teams looked great. If this was their final encounter for a while, it was a good feud ender. We get a promo video highlighting Matthew Justice and Joshua Bishop’s year-long history of violence with each other.

Main Event: Matthew Justice (w/ Fonzie) vs Joshua Bishop (w/ Wes Barkley) (no rope barbed wired match for the Absolute & Intense Titles)

Bishop is starting this contest with a barbed wire 2x4....and no shirt. That’s confidence. Justice is out with Fonzie, blowing that whistle and holding the belts. Trading chops at the bell, Bishop is immediately sent back first into the wire and then dragged by the forehead around the ring. Justice tastes the wire on an errant whip. Bishop misses with the 2x4, Justice connects with a chair throw and a swinging DDT onto the 2x4. Kick out! Wes Barkley is setting up a ladder at ringside to get into the ring and interfere. He ends up diving on Bishop and Justice beats him with a chair and throws him into the post. Barkley gets seated in a chair and absorbs shots from the 2x4. Bishop back up, bloody as hell and stun guns Justice onto the wire. Bishop is tying up Justice’s arms with string and Barkley blasts him with unprotected chair shots to the head. Fonzie convinces the ring crew to give him an opening and he blasts Barkley with a chair. Bishop cuts him off and Fonzie eats a chair to the face.

Bishop and Barkley pull out a table....a REAL TABLE! and another one! It’s weird to think of a proper table as a novelty but we’ve seen a lot of door/chair structures these days. Fonzie gets laid out on a table and Barkley dives through it. Bishop wants to powerbomb Justin but he gets speared off the ring through the other table. Owwww. Justice sets up another table near the exit and lays out Bishop on it. Justice heads up into the stands by commentary and hits an elbow, driving Bishop through the wood. Justice drags him back to the ring for the count but Bishop kicks out! Justice pulls out barbed wire boards from under the ring. Bishop DVD’s into the first board. Justice makes a sandwich with the other board,. Justice brings the ladder in and hits a splash onto the board sandwich. Bishop is DONE so Barkely pulls out the ref before he can make the count. Justice sets up another table but Bishop cuts him off with a chair shot and hits an awesome bomb through the table. Justice out at one. Bishop hits another chair shot. Justice begs for another so Bishop climbs the ladder and hits a chair shot to the head to crumble Justice, who stays down for the three count.

Winner (and new champion): Joshua Bishop

What a car crash of a match. Plenty of plunder and wild spots. Those chair shots were a little scary. If Justice is constantly trying to pay tribute to the ECW of old, he is succeeding in spades. This was a good watch.

And that’s it for AIW “Thunder in Indianapolis”! AIW does a variety show type of wrestling card. The danger can be if you don’t balance your acts right, you can be left with a show that doesn’t always flow well from match to match. That was kind of the case here. Every match felt like it happened in a vacuum and wasn’t always part of a cohesive show. Apart from the main event plunderfest, the triple threat was the highlight of the night.

Up next is GCW’s “For the Culture” at midnight. Time to make some coffee. Until then!

If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!

• Tweet