ACH vs. Gary Jay from AIW’s Todd Pettengill Invitational 2011

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Recap from TJ Hawke:

This was a St. Louis Anarchy Showcase Pre-Show match.  Jay hit a handspring elbow for a nearfall early.  ACH came back with his Mortal Kombat kick and a tope con hello.  Jay avoided a top rope splash.  ACH then rolled hit a Glam Slam.  ACH gave Jay the Mic Check in the corner. ACH did his dive through the turnbuckle lariat.  Jay came back with a soccer kick off the apron, followed by a double stomp to the back.  ACH came back with a cannonball to a standing Jay. HADOUKEN FROM ACH: 1…2…NO!  Jay killed him with a Michinoku Driver: 1…2…NO! ACH came back and hit a 450 Splash off the middle rope: 1…2…3!

This was a nice little showcase for both guys.  ACH made a very strong impression here, and he grew by leaps and bounds throughout 2011.

Thoughts from Amanda Chamers:

You have to love ACH, The match hasn’t even started yet and he’s all over the ring. I love watching him; you never know what he’s going to do. He’s pure energy. If you bottled his sweat and added fruit flavor, you’d have Five Hour Energy.

…Ew.

But in all seriousness, the man is amazing. He does things in the ring that they don’t even have names for yet. Like at 5:40. He lands a perfectly respectable step-up enziguiri, and then he like… it’s sort of a dropkick, but then he drums his feet on Jay’s back. What IS that? Have you ever seen anything like that outside of a cartoon? He’s like the Roadrunner. He basically just breaks physics whenever he gets into the ring. And you can tell he loves it. He’s just a man doing what he’s made to do, and that is break physics and break bodies inside of a wrestling ring. And there’s nothing better than watching that happen in front of you. (Or via a screen, as the case sometimes happens to be.)

(There is also totally a hadouken at 9:34. I’m just saying.)

Which isn’t to take anything away from Gary Jay. I’ve always said that man has the sharpest chops in the business. I don’t know how he does it, but he chops so hard the first three rows feel it and the rest of the arena winces with the shockwave. He also breaks faces like an SOB. Look at this suplex at 5:55 or this driver at 10 minutes even. Those are brutal. Jay isn’t about something so nice as finesse. He’s just angry. He doesn’t want to have a good time in the ring; he wants to break your face. Or your chest. Or both. Or the ring WITH your face. Or your face with your chest, if that driver he pulled on ACH is anything to go by.

It’s nice to see that dynamic in play. “I’m going to break your face” vs. “I’m going to break your face, but I’m going to have a good time doing it” was fun. And maybe I’m just a hair biased, but AIW always does put on the greatest matches.