Shameless Plugging: AIW’s Absolution 7—THIS SUNDAY

This Sunday, Absolute Intense Wrestling returns to Cleveland’s Turner’s Hall on Sunday, July 1, for the biggest event in its history, Absolution 7, a celebration of seven years of AIW.

Titles will be decided, feuds will be settled, and, like any good birthday party, there’ll be plenty of surprises. Absolution 7, in addition to bringing together the best, hottest stars in the Cleveland scene, boasts a multitude of guest stars from around the country, as Ring of Honor’s Jay and Mark Briscoe and Adam Cole make their AIW debuts, and Archibald Peck, “Psycho Shooter” Drake Younger, the sensational ACH, Veda Scott, and more make their return to the Sixth City. They’ll be joined by the likes of Johnny Gargano, Tim Donst, AIW Absolute Champion Eric Ryan, BJ Whitmer, AIW Tag Team Champions “M-Dogg 20” Matt Cross and Josh Prohibition, Colin Delaney, Façade, and more!

Tickets for this event are $15 and can be ordered online exclusively at shop.aiwrestling.com. Doors at Turner’s Hall open at 5 p.m., and INTERNET PRE-ORDERS WILL BE ADMITTED FIRST. This is the biggest card in AIW’s seven year history, a showcase of both what Cleveland wrestling stands for, and what independent professional wrestling is all about. For more information, visit AIW’s Facebook page at facebook.com/aiwrestling, and follow AIW on Twitter, @aiwrestling.

The full card is as follows:

The J.T. Lightning Invitational tournament was probably the greatest night in Eric Ryan’s career. Not only did he win the tournament, but, thanks to a decree by Acting President Matt Wadsworth, he also won the AIW Absolute Title, bringing an end to one journey and marking the beginning of another. His first title defense will be his stiffest challenge yet, as he faces not one, but two contenders to the crown—Tim Donst and Johnny Gargano.

None of these men are strangers to success. Donst, a former holder of CHIKARA’s Young Lions Cup, won a four-way match to win a shot at the Absolute Title. Gargano, a former Absolute Champion himself, is DG-USA’s Open the Freedom Gate champion and won AIW’s Gauntlet For the Gold to earn this opportunity. Eric Ryan, the champion, has gone undefeated for over a year in his quest to take home the Absolute championship.

All three men have been building quite a legacy in Cleveland, and their paths cross for one of the most prestigious titles in independent wrestling this Sunday. Without question, this is the biggest main event in the history of Absolute Intense Wrestling, and, no matter the winner, the company will have a champion that’s the envy of the wrestling world.

Ring of Honor’s own seven time tag team champions, Jay and Mark Briscoe, make their AIW debut this Sunday, teaming up to take on the combination of Dave and Jake Crist, The Irish Airborne.

Few tag teams are able to match the intensity or the tag team chemistry of the Briscoe Brothers, but if any team in the world is able to “Man Up” like them, it’d be the Crists. The Irish Airborne, recently the AIW Tag Team Champions, have been to war against Chest Flexor’s Aeroform duo, have moonsaulted off of basketball hoops, have carried the AIW banner high, and now they have a shot to knock off one of the greatest tag teams of all time. With nothing to lose and plenty of notoriety to gain, the Airbornes will do their damnedest to spoil the Briscoes’ AIW debut. Don’t miss out.

For months, “The Passion” John Thorne has antagonized his former stablemate and friend Rickey Shane Page. He’s distracted Page during his matches, blatantly interfered, and, oddly, prevented others from doing the same. The two have traded fists, insults, and Pick Your Poison opponents—”Psycho Shooter” Drake Younger for RSP, and long-time rival Hailey Hatred for Thorne—and the time has come for the two men to settle their issue one-on-one in the ring.

They will do so at Absolution 7, and due to some hard bargaining by Thorne, he will decide the stipulation that night. Will they battle over a coal miner’s glove? Will they wrestle each other under ROH’s Pure Rules system? Will AIW officials keep a bamboo cage in the back should Thorne decide to finish this in a Punjabi Prison?

No matter the stipulation—monster trucks atop Turners Hall or a Lion’s Den adjacent to the building—this will be, as per doctor’s orders, John Thorne’s LAST MATCH. Will Rickey Shane Page spoil Thorne’s retirement party and find out why The Passion has antagonized him, or will Thorne ride off into the sunset having pulled one over on an old friend? The passion of Thorne meets the persistence of Page in Cleveland, and nobody will leave the arena unscarred.

Before being announced as a participant in CHIKARA’s Young Lions Cup X, ACH made it all the way to the finals of the J.T. Lightning Memorial Tournament, where it took two package piledrivers by Eric Ryan to put him away. After coming so close to championship gold, ACH looks to continue his phenomenal run in AIW, but he must meet the challenge of rising Ring of Honor star Adam Cole to do so.

Cole, making his AIW debut at Absolution 7, is nonplussed by the success of the much-talked-about ACH. The 22-year-old superstar has, in a short amount of time, faced the likes of Claudio Castagnoli, Chris Hero, the Briscoe Brothers, the Young Bucks, and former ROH Champion Davey Richards. ACH has had plenty of success, including a huge victory over Willie Mack in round two #JLIT action, but considering Cole’s notoriety, this may be his highest profile match yet. Two of the most buzzed-about young talents in wrestling meet for the first time in Cleveland in a must-see match. Do not wait for the DVD on this one.

BJ Whitmer revitalized his career in AIW. He considers AIW his home. For a year now, his home has been under siege by Chest Flexor and his Flexor Industries, a group of supremely skilled wrestlers who, at one time, held every championship in Absolute Intense Wrestling. Now Flexor Industries is down to one title belt, the Intense Division Championship, held by the man known as “The Thrust,” Bobby Beverly.

Beverly, a young man with unlimited potential, has used his affiliation with the devious Chest Flexor to win matches, avoid title defenses, and run roughshod over AIW. At Straight Outta Compton, he, Flexor, and The Chad pulled a shocking upset when they defeated the AIW Frontline of Whitmer, Johnny Gargano, and Tim Donst in a Compton Street Fight, a match that saw a beer bottle shattered over Whitmer’s head, resulting in severe lacerations.

Whitmer made it to the finals of #JLIT, but was eliminated from the triple threat match for the Absolute Title when Beverly clocked Whitmer with the Intense Title from behind. Whitmer has a shot at revenge and a chance to end Chest Flexor’s tyrannical reign in one match. Will he take that opportunity, or do The Thrust and Chest Flexor have one more trick up their sleeve?

Weeks before #JLIT, Marion Fontaine uploaded a video to AIW’s YouTube account acknowledging that some fans didn’t think he had what it took to win the tournament, that he lacked a certain something that’d prevent him from taking home AIW’s biggest prize. He emerged at the tournament as a strapping young lad in top fighting form, a bareknuckle boxer with the vim and vinegar of our boys who fought the Great War. Fontaine did incredibly well for himself, too, until he ran into Colin Delaney, the self-proclaimed “Extremely Cute Wrestler,” who cheated his way to victory over the mustachioed superstar.

It’s not the first time Delaney has outsmarted Fontaine, either, as he successfully avoided a confrontation with the angry Fontaine in a triple threat match. But at Absolution 7, the two meet in a contest that decidedly favors Fontaine—a bareknuckle brawl. If you saw Fontaine during #JLIT, you already know how well this plays into his hands. If you’ve seen anything from Delaney of late, you know that the man may have a screw loose, but that he always has a plan. Their match at #JLIT was one of those classic encounters that must be seen in order to be believed, and their Absolution 7 rematch will be no different.

Former AIW Tag Team Champions Aeroform get their rematch against the team that unseated them, and they get it at the biggest event of the year. Undoubtedly an important match for Chest Flexor and Flexor Industries as they look to re-consolidate their power in AIW, Louis Lyndon and Flip Kendrick will do anything and everything to get championship gold around their waists again.

Youthanazia—the team of Cleveland legends Josh Prohibition and “M-Dogg 20″ Matt Cross—reformed in surprising fashion, as Prohibition chose Cross as his “Dream Partner” in a battle against Gregory Iron and Colt Cabana. Since then, the wildly-popular duo have fought with and wrestled against each other, surprising Aeroform with their championship win and main eventing night one of #JLIT in a match that paid tribute to their former teacher and mentor. Here, they look to defend a strengthened AIW against the wily Chest Flexor and continue establishing themselves as one of independent wrestling’s greatest tag teams. It’s an even contest pitting two extremely well-oiled, confident teams against each other, and it’s just part of one of the most stacked cards of the summer.

Six of the best, most exciting wrestlers in North America look to climb their way up the AIW ladder, meeting at Absolution 7 in a six man scramble. Archibald Peck, “Psycho Shooter” Drake Younger, Canada’s “All Ego” Ethan Page, Davey Vega of the Sex Bob-Ombs, AIW’s own Façade, and a participant to be named on the night of the show will collide in a fast-paced war, pitting diverse personalities and styles against each other in a golden opportunity to attract the attention of top AIW brass. Who is the mystery man? Who will come out on top? You’ll need to be at Turners Hall to find out.

Jock Samson made his AIW debut by jumping a guardrail and attacking The Duke, and has since made life a living hell for the leader of the Alpha Beta Duke fraternity. At every opportunity, the loud-mouthed, oppressive southerner has assaulted the Duke, assaulting him with the help of the Submission Squad and Conway, his trusted bullrope. Despite The Duke beating him via countout—a decision Jock protests due to his being clotheslined over the top rope, a blatant violation of the Bill Watts rulebook Jock lives his life by—he has been unable to shake Samson, even when joined by Da Latin Crime Syndicate.

At Absolution 7 there will be no hiding behind gangs, there will be no running, and there will be no dispute. Jock Samson and the Duke will be tethered at the wrists by a Texas bullrope, and there won’t be a winner until one man so thoroughly beats the other that he can touch all four corners of the ring, dragging his opponent along the way. The Texas bullrope match is becoming a rarity, and is one of the most dangerous matches in professional wrestling. The rope can be used to choke, whip, hogtie, and humiliate a man. The cowbell attached to it is as lethal as a steel chair. The long-simmering, good old fashioned feud between these two men has ended up here. The only question left to ask is which one is man enough to finish the other.

—Absolution 7 emanates from Cleveland’s Turners Hall, located at 7325 Guthrie Avenue, on the corner of Guthrie and 73rd. Doors open at 5 p.m. with a 6 p.m. belltime, and online pre-orders are admitted first. Don’t be left out! Go to shop.aiwrestling.com to order your tickets now.