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AIW
Cleveland's Absolute Intense Wrestling, headed by John Thorne, ran their biggest weekend to date on 9/5-9/7, promoting a three day "WrestleRager" event that featured a lot of unique names, some legitimately surprising returns and well received matches. There was a lot of news coming out of the weekend for the promotion.
AIW stripped Michael Elgin of their championship after he was unable to get back into the United States for their third show and defend it. He worked the first night, going to a one hour draw against Tim Donst (great heel) and Josh Alexander. The original plan was to have him lose it on the third and final night of the weekend in a rematch from night one. Those two instead fought for the vacant title with Donst winning. Elgin had traveled to Cleveland and then on to Toronto, so a lot of personal belongings still in Ohio when he got flagged at the border.
The original plan was for the weekend to be called "Grado Does America" bringing over the comedy star from Europe. TNA launched British Bootcamp 2, Grado was pulled from the weekend. TNA reimbursed AIW for Grado's paid-for travel expenses and paid for Abyss to come in and work the third night of the weekend. Abyss fought AIW regular Rickey Shane Page in a Monsters Ball match, winning by chokeslamming RSP though a barbed wire table
Seleziya Sparx, who was scheduled for the Friday event, also missed the show as she, like Elgin was flagged at the border coming in from Canada. The story making the rounds was that when she tried to claim she was coming in just to travel, the border agent pulled up a website that featured her match results, compared them to her passport stamps and then ruled she wasn't allowed back into the States for several years. Sparx is said to be looking into seeing what she can do to reverse that. She had a pretty regular spot in ROH, so if she can't fix that, it could obviously be in jeopardy.
A big legitimate shock for long-time fans of the promotion was the return of ROH star Raymond Rowe, who was a regular here before a pretty personal issue with the promoters. Rowe made a surprise appearance, returning for the first time in seven years (which on the indy scene is the equivalent of 25) to challenge his trainer, Josh Prohibition to face him when Rowe returns from the broke arm he suffered in a motorcycle wreck.
The breakthrough star the weekend was said to be Dick Justice, a talent from Upstate New York who does a police officer gimmick. One the second night, he stopped the match he was in to sing Third Eye Blind's "Jumper" as you can see at this link.
Among the names brought in were Tracy Smothers, Cliff Compton (who fought each other in what was said to have an awesome, entertaining bout), Colt Cabana and TNA star Crimson, who had worked here before getting signed. Eric Ryan, a regular here, returned from a broken leg. Candica LaRae from California made her official debut as well.
Complete results of the weekend saw:
Night One:
*Brent Banks defeated Bolt Brady.
*The Duke & Eddie Kingston defeated Ethan Page.
*Colt Cabana defeated Dick Justice. They ran an angle after where Gregory Iron came out and kicked Dick Justice out of The Iron Curtain and they beat him down.
*Johnny Gargano defeated Josh Prohibition. After the match was the return of Raymond Rowe.
*Colin Delaney defeatedTyson Dux, Veda Scott, Abe "Action" Jackson, Bobby Beverly and Cheech.
*AIW Intense champion Davey Vega defeated Pete Dunne,
*Jimmy Jacobs & BJ Whitmer defeated The Hooligans.
*Rickey Shane Page defeated the debuting Candice LeRae.
AIW Absolute champion Michael Elgin fought Tim Donst and Josh Alexander to a one hour draw.
Night Two:
*Pete Dunne defeated Rickey Shane Page.
*Eddie Kingston defeated Bobby Beverly.
*Crimson defeated Brent Banks, Bolt Brady, Marion Fontaine, Eric Ryan, and "Supercop" Dick Justice.
*AIW Intense champion Davey Vega defeated Louis Lyndon.
*The Jollyville F**k-Its defeated The Iron Curtain, Colin Delaney & Cheech and The Hooligans.
*Colt Cabana defeated Tyson Dux.
*Candice LeRae defeated Johnny Gargano.
*Cliff Compton defeated Tracy Smothers via DQ when Jock Samson interfered
Night Three:
*Ethan Page defeated Eddie Kingston.
*Veda Scott defeated Candice LeRae.
*Dave Vega defeated Johnny Gargano, Tyson Dux and Pete Dunne.
*Cliff Compton & Colt Cabana defeated Jock Samson and Tracy Smothers.
*Gregory Iron and The Iron Curtin defeated Cheech, Bobby Beverly, Dick Justice, & Colin Delaney
*Alex Daniels defeated Joshua Singh.
*Monster's Ball Match: Abyss defeated Rickey Shane Page via chokeslam through a barbed wire table
*Tim Donst def Josh Alexander to become the new AIW champion.
Concluding with lots of Nuts and Bolts on Page 4!
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