For this week’s homework we all watched AIW live on IWTV and for the first time in years, Absolution is back. This is the fifteenth incarnation and even if it wasn’t the weekly watch assignment from the At Odds with Wrestling podcast, I would have watched it anyways. 

Matt Cross vs TKD vs Riley Rose vs Chase Oliver vs Kommander vs Gringo Loco. 

This match was not announced ahead of time. I have trouble calling six man matches because there’s so much going on. Nice to see Gringo Loco in AIW and I’ll be curious to see what he does against the AIW talent. 

Wow. Kommander is a rope master. This match is better paced than similar GCW scrambles. Gringo Loco does amazing things in the ring for his frame. Kommander ran the fucking ropes! Kommander is not stealthy because he is now on everyone’s radar. Chase holds Riley, Gringo kicks out Charlie’s legs so Riley drops on his head then kicks Chase! What a sequence. Chase with the Shooting Star onto Riley for the pin. That was like a scene in a Marvel movie where we start following one person and each move flows into another and across multiple people. 

Twan Tucker vs Matthew Justice (with Bill Alfonso). 

Twan backdrops Matthew over the guardrail and onto all of the chairs. This is a really good fight right from the start. Twan showed up ready. Matt is so damn big, agile, and violent. Twan is down. He needs his own second gear. Matt finds some of the AIW 3D doors under the ring. Matt throws everything into the ring and on top of Twan. Twan spears, Matt moves, and Twan doesn’t break the door. Justice attacks Twan’s shoulder over and over with a chair. Twan kicks out at one! How?! Fonzie is in and throws a chair at Twan’s head. Matt hits a spear but Twan is still out at two. Justice sets up two tiers of doors. The two men fight for position. Twan grabs Matt and hits a powersalm from the top through two doors. Twan wins. The AIW 3D door is still in one piece. Matt shakes Twan’s hand. No need to knock on that door first, Twan has arrived. 

Wes Barkley vs the Duke. 

Duke carried out to the ring! The boot is on a pillow. Infinity stones! The Duke plays his role so well. The Marvel movie news was taking place at this time, so I was a bit distracted. The referee takes away a chair from Wes. Wes hits Duke with the boot! Duke gets his foot on the ropes. Duke driver and Wes is out at 2 and damn near almost three. That was so close. A second Duke driver and Duke gets the pin. Wow. Did not expect that. 

Katie Arquette vs Joseline Navarro in a two out of three falls match. 

How can these two women keep going at this pace and keep beating the hell out of each other for possibly three falls? I don’t know how they’re going to survive the first one. Katie hits a hell of a piledriver and somehow only gets a two count. Joseline gets the first fall. Katie goes for a move in the corner. Does she knock herself out? Joseline gets the second fall and wins the match. She looks pissed. Katie is out. I’ll have to listen to certain podcasts this week to see what happened here. 

Casey Carrington IV (with Brian Carson and Jackson Stone) vs Dominic Garrini in a Dog Collar match. 

Casey and crew come out dressed as the Dudleys. Dom comes out to “Never Break the Chain” and that’s bad ass. Dom bleeds first. Jackson goes up for the Dudley Wassup. Dom piledrives Casey from the mat through a door to the floor. That looked scary. Casey starts tearing up the ring. Dom piledrives Casey onto the exposed wood of the ring. Then Dom stretches Casey with the chain wrapped around his mouth and the rest of his head and face. Casey gives up. Good nasty violence. 

The Jollyville Fuck Its vs the Bitcoinboiz (with an elaborate entrance) vs Members Only vs To Infinity and Beyond. 

Wait, where’s Cheech? Colin introduces his teammate for tonight, Louis Lyndon of 9 to 5. The newer teams jump the veterans. Colin ditches Louis and Louis takes 4 kicks. Nasty Russ hits a great moonsault off the top to the floor. T Money goes to dive but Colin and Lyndon catch him in the ring. Lyndon with a dragon sleeper on Russ. Members Only break up the move. Colin accidentally hits Lyndon. Lyndon says screw it and kicks Colin. Members Only with a cradle piledriver and the pin. 

PB Smooth vs Isaiah Broner. 

The fight goes outside right away. Smooth suckers Broner in. Broner hits the post instead of Smooth. Smooth works over Isaiah’s arm. This is the best Smooth match I’ve seen. Great story in this match. Broner gets a lariat out of no where for the pin. 

Kaplan vs Tim Donst. 

Kaplan throws a chair into the ring and hits the ref. The door is tossed in and lands on Donst. At some point in all of this Donst starts bleeding. Kaplan dives over the top and lands with a gross thud. Misses a second dive and crashes to the floor. This is just a sloppy fight. I mean that in a good way. It’s messy and that adds a great sense of reality. Suplex onto the floor. OMG. A door is suspended between the ring and the rail. Donst skips the door and powerbombs Kaplan onto the rail. Donst off the top Flip through Kaplan and the suspended door. Kaplan powerbombs Donst through the chair and destroys it. Donst barely kicks out. Kaplan misses the split leg moonsault. Donst goes for the magistral cradle. Kaplan stuffs it, sits down, and Kaplan gets the pin. Kaplan extends his hand, but Donst spits at him. Donst escapes through the crowd before getting those hands again. 

Bulking Season (as the Road Warriors) vs PME (AIW Tag Team champions). 

Philly has a last minute save for his partner. Marino catches Chuck going for a dive and hits a DDT on the apron. Chuck moves and the ref eats a kick from Marino. PME handcuffs Chuck to the corner. PME celebrates. Arthur comes along and unlocks the handcuffs. Where was Arthur when Tay Conti needed him? Chuck shocks PME with his freedom. Philly with a superplex. Chuck bounces. Marino with a course change and splash as he comes down from the top. Still only gets a two count. Super Arthur is in and slams PME. Arthur kicks out of PME’s finisher. No one ever has! Corner spot gets messed up but everyone rolls with it. Boulder shoulder! Arthur pins Marino. We have new tag team champions! 

Matt Cardona comes out. Big time heel heat to give up the titles. Cardona announces tonight’s match stipulation and oh shit. It’s a no rope barbed wire match. 

Derek Dillinger (with Ziggy Haim) vs Joshua Bishop. 

Bishop hits the wire first! Derek hits the wire and almost falls to the floor. Bishop gets tangled up in the wire in the corner. This is going to get bad. Fisherman suplex onto the barbed wire board. Bad for both men. Fight goes outside of the ring. Bishop is all fucked up. Did he sustain a leg injury? Both men are bleeding from the head and back. Bishop also bleeds from his leg. Ironically, taking the fight outside is better because the floor is safer than the ring. Derek drops Ziggy onto Bishop multiple times. The barbed wire wrapped clapboard is now in play. Ziggy is out of place but Bishop is so focused he ignores her. The door is bridged outside the ring. The action comes back inside of the ring. Derek with a moonsault off a chair because there’s no ropes to climb! Derek demands one side of the barbed wire is taken down. Derek with a figure four. Josh grabs a barbed wire wrapped 2×4 and runs it into Derek’s legs. Derek hits a DVD out of the ring to the floor. Supposed to be through the door but that damn AIW 3D door doesn’t break. Derek grabs a lunch box full of tacks. Bishop onto the tacks. Chairshot follow up. He will not give up. Derek hits the Sunset bomb into a barbed wire covered door. Derek puts the barbed wire door onto Josh. Derek flips Ziggy onto the door that’s on Josh. Wes comes out to stop it. Ziggy gets wrapped up in the wire. Wes tastes the barbs. A chokeslam onto the tacks followed by a black hole slam and Derek kicks out at one! Bishop bomb onto the barbed wire board and still Derek kicks out. Derek hits a German suplex and Josh’s head bounces on the thumbtacks. Discus by Derek only gets a two. Josh with a chairshot and a Drunken Driver then hits Derek in the head with the wrapped 2×4. That is what it took, and Joshua finally gets the three. 

I think Josh’s body got really fucked up by that match. Derek has nothing to feel bad about and those titles will be his one day.

What an amazing show that furthers the fandom for AIW’s next show, and many years worth of shows to come.