In the Gangnam TWB style...
Highlights:
- With three spots in the Gauntlet for the Gold main event at stake, Da Latin Crime Syndicate of Luis Diamante, Joey the Snake and K. Fernandez defeated the Submission Squad of Gary Jay, Evan Gelistico and Pierre Abernathy, with Diamante and Joey taking out Jay with a Cracker Cracker (doomsday lungblower).
- In a battle of the gimps, Colin Delaney hit Marion Fontaine with a crutch shot to the skull and a roll up for the win.
- Eric Ryan fended off an impromptu appearance by Kobold and pinned Ophidian in a makeshift three way match with his package piledriver.
- Colt Cabana's Intense Championship shot turned into a six man tag, himself, Southside St. Clair and Cliff Compton against Bobby Beverly, The Chad and Chest Flexor. Compton got the win with a Superfly Splash on Flexor.
- BJ Whitmer got the hard-fought victory over Tim Donst via tap out with the Peruvian Necktie.
- The Irish Airborne of Dave and Jake Crist earn number one contendership to the AIW Tag Team Championships with a double stomp-aided tombstone piledriver on Mat Fitchett (teaming with Davey Vega)
- Post-match, Aeroform came out and attacked the Airborne, keeping them from cashing in their title shot in the next match. Their replacements were Matt Cross and Josh Prohibition.
- Cross and Prohibition won the Tag Titles with a Tiger Driver '98 from Prohibition and a shooting star press from Cross.
- In an elimination match that also included Michael Facade and ACH, Uhaa Nation scored the final duke over Rickey Shane Page with a standing shooting star press.
- Making his first appearance since EVOLVE 10, Johnny Gargano eliminated Tim Donst to win the Gauntlet for the Gold match, clinching a title shot at Shiima Xion at Absolution 7.
General Observations:
- If K. Fernandez and Gary Jay weren't in the same match at the same time, I'd be convinced that K-Fern was Jay in a mask.
- I absolutely love Marion Fontaine's entrance. He really looks like he's having so much fun doing that, even though he's probably the smallest wrestler ever.
- Delaney was already in a boot with a crutch (using said crutch as a weapon to start the match), and he worked Fontaine's leg so we got DUELING GIMPS!
- One of the worst things in wrestling is the "Sin Cara-style" ranas. Close your legs, dammit! Yes, that means you Eric Ryan (but I saw Rickey Shane Page do it later on... ugh).
- Kobold looked like he nearly died on taking Ophidian's knees to the face. Conversely, knowing what Ophidian looks like now, it was weird seeing him in his old Portal getup.
- Colt Cabana stole Alyssa Kay's hat! It got passed around all match. In fact, she said that she was surprised it didn't get lice. I would've gotten it checked.
- Luke Gallows was going to wrestle, but he tore his groin. He was replaced by a grown man in a necktie and a diaper. He was called Southside St. Clair, but Gallows, who did impromptu commentary at ringside, called him "Baby Dick."
- A lot of matches had the feeling out process and mat wrestling, but two matches stood out. The first was Whitmer/Donst because they did it up Olympic style. The second was in the first tag match, when Davey Vega and Jake Crist even went into their feeling out process with the intent to kick it into overdrive.
- At one point, Donst leaped from the apron to the floor and wrangled Whitmer in a casadora arm drag. My apprehension against the lucha set up aside, that was pretty nice.
- Dave Crist also wore Alyssa's hat. I think she didn't mind that one as much.
- Fitchett took a powerslam into the corner from Jake Crist. The fans chanted "YOU JUST DIED!" Not sure I would've disagreed with that.
- Matt Cross with his one Flagpole Press (where he grabbed onto the ringpost on the outside and stretched himself out like a FLAG) redeemed his shitty Chikara performance at King of Trios 2010.
- Midway through the tag title match, Josh Prohibition gave Lyndon a neckbreaker through the ropes on the apron and then came back into the ring by giving him a Hennig-style flip-forward neckbreaker. Amazing spot work.
- ACH was the star of the elimination match, even if he wasn't around for half of it. From his backing off of Nation at the beginning of the match to him doing the "I'm an Ass Man" dance before doing a fame asser on Page to catching Nation in the corner and giving him the FU, he was the man in this match.
- Facade is amazingly gifted and agile, but he's still a bit sloppy for my tastes.
- The Duke and Colt Cabana seriously engaged in sumo when Cabana entered the Gauntlet match.
- Cabana also had one of the best, most drawn-out eliminations in battle royale history, using an eliminated Cliff Compton to keep from going onto the floor. I thought it was a bit anti-climactic that Eric Ryan just shoved his feet onto the floor the way he did though.
- Fitchett standing up to both Nation and Whitmer and getting his chest chopped to hell was both brutal and amusing to watch.
- One dude in the crowd thought #30 would be Icarus. God bless that dude.
Match of the Night: My favorite match on this card was the tag contest between the Sex Bob-ombs (Davey Vega and Mat Fitchett) and the Irish Airborne (Dave and Jake Crist). This was my first exposure to the Airborne, and while I'm not a fan of Dave's "trying-too-hard" punk rock-cum-Hot Topic look, there's no denying that he's an entertaining wrestler. The speed at which he and his brother move in the ring with their moves without them missing their marks or looking a bit too stiff was just amazing, at least in that match.
The Bob-ombs were their equals during this match, which was a taut, fast-paced and crisp tag team contest. Vega and Fitchett, the latter especially, took their share of big bumps, especially on that powerslam in the corner. However, they were able to dish out their share of impressive offense as well. I was especially impressed with the open of the match, when Jake and Vega put a shiny new spin on the feeling-out process. So fluid.
Both teams broke out the double team offense as well. I think these two teams have incredible chemistry together, and if they had gotten time on a show that wasn't already stacked with a long battle royale and a Tag Team Championship match, they'd be able to exceed their already awesome results from this show. Of course, we have to wait for that because of Fitchett's unfortunate injury, but thus is life.
Overall Thoughts: This show started out slow for me. I wasn't too big a fan of anything that happened before Donst/Whitmer except for the Delaney/Fontaine match. That one was fun as all get out, mainly because both guys are great at comedic timing and over-selling their gimpiness. The six man tag was especially disappointing given who was involved. Cabana took a backseat and Gallows was more annoying than funny.
The show really picked up with that aforementioned match. It had a solid story behind it, and Donst really is coming into his own as a bigtime wrestler. That going into the tag matches was probably the best part of the show, although ACH did his best to steal the show all for himself. And how about Uhaa Nation? Dude is a genetic freak, although he's another guy that I'm bummed is hurt right now.
The battle royale was as one might expect and then some. It was incredibly fun, even if it suffered by a few questionable eliminations that didn't feel like they had the pomp needed. That being said, I want to see more of Duke and Jock Samson, especially the latter. That guy is entertaining. If I was at Turner Hall and not watching about seven months after the fact, I might have been more HOLY SHIT at Gargano's return, but it was still really cool to see him come out of the back. Awesome moment and promo to end the show. All in all, I thought that GftG 7 was a decent show and worth watching, if only for the second half of the proceedings.
