The big event of the weekend was a 24-man tournament. Night one included 12 opening round matches in the tournament and night two saw the semi-final, and final rounds of the tournament along with the AIW debut of Hornswoggle.
The winner of the tournament is not only 2016 JLIT Champion but also will receive a future match against AIW Absolute Champion Ethan Page.
Night One
1st round tournament matches:
- Louis Lyndon beat Cheech via Dragon sleeper submission.
- Cedric Alexander pinned Veda Scott
- Tim Donst defeated Little Guido
- B.J. Whitmer (with The Duke) beat Candice LeRae
- Dan Severn defeated Colin Delaney via submission
- Billy Gunn pinned Brian Myers
- DJ Zema Ion beat Laredo Kid
- Colt Cabana defeated Homicide
- Alex Daniels pinned Britt Baker
- "Hot Sauce" Tracy Williams beat Dominic Garrini (substituting for Tyson Dux)
- Raymond Rowe defeated Big Damo
- Josh Alexander defeated Johnny Gargano
Night Two
Semi-final tournament matches
- Josh Alexander pinned Billy Gunn after hitting an elbow to the back of the head in a match also involving Colt Cabana and BJ Whitmer (with The Duke)
- Raymond Rowe pinned Tim Donst after hitting the Death Rowe in a match also involving Dan Severn and "Hot Sauce" Tracy Williams
- Alex Daniels (with Gregory Iron) won a fatal four-way involving DJZ, Cedric Alexander and Louis Lyndon when DJZ landed a top rope 450 splash on Lyndon and Daniels stole the pinfall.
- Brian Myers and Hornswoggle defeated The Full-Blooded Italians (Little Guido and Big Moe) when Hornswoggle pinned Moe after hitting the tadpole splash.
INTERMISSION
Up next was the first of two 'Pick Your Poison' matches between AIW Absolute Champion Ethan Page and #1 contender Josh Prohibition. Page picks Eric Ryan to be Prohibition's opponent which led to …
- Josh Prohibition beat Eric Ryan after hitting the Drunken Driver.
Next was the open challenge from Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae. Coming to the ring was Gregory Iron and Alex Daniels. Iron spoke on the mic saying Daniels has a bigger match later on. Instead, Veda Scott was Iron's tag partner which led to ….
- Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae defeated the reunited Hope and Change (Gregory Iron and Veda Scott) when LeRae pinned Iron after Gargano gave Iron a Lawn Dart, LeRae gave Iron a Balls-plex and both gave Iron a superkick.
Up next was the 2nd 'Pick Your Poison' match. Josh Prohibition talked about scary wrestlers and picking Homicide to be Ethan Page's opponent which led to …
- AIW Absolute Champion Ethan Page pinned Homicide in a non-title match when he tried a sunset flip and Page held onto the legs for the win.
- Josh Alexander becomes the 2016 JLIT Winner defeating Raymond Rowe and Alex Daniels in a three-way elimination match. Rowe pinned Daniels after a Death Valley Driver / Piledriver combination. Alexander pinned Rowe after hitting a spinning tombstone piledriver.
Afterward, Alexander announced he was cashing in his title opportunity and joining Josh Prohibition to challenge AIW Absolute Champion Ethan Page at Absolution XI in July.
AIW JLIT History
- 5/21/2011 Shiima Xion aka DJZ *
- 5/12/2012 Eric Ryan
- 5/25/2013 Ethan Page
- 5/24/2014 Michael Elgin
- 5/23/2015 Raymond Rowe
- 5/28/2016 Josh Alexander
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Format change This year's tournament had 12 singles matches on night one and then three fatal four-way matches and a three-way elimination tournament final on night two. Previous years' had as many as nine singles matches and a three-way elimination tournament final on night two. This was a welcomed change. Less matches on night two kept the show paced well. I'm actually interested in a Josh Alexander / Raymond Rowe feud as opposed to previous years when the guys at the end of the night are overexposed.
JLIT star power This year's tournament had by far the most recognized names. Good for AIW. Even though the tournament final included three regular AIW guys, this tournament appears to be gaining credibility nationally.
Death Valley Driver / Piledriver move I am going to try to describe this. Raymond Rowe had both Alex Daniels and Josh Alexander on his shoulders. Rowe gave both men a Death Valley Driver and doing so Alexander gave Daniels a piledriver at the same time. Unbelievable. I have never seen a move like this before and it was visually spectacular. The best part …. it led to a pinfall.
Tag Teams AIW has not had regular tag teams for a quite a while. I've been hoping the soon-to-be married Gargano and LeRae tag up for a while. Greg Iron and Veda Scott getting together was a surprise. Let's hope this continues.
Dan Severn Turning 58 years old next week, it was special attraction to see "The Beast" on the show competing. His opponents in the ring slowed the pace when working with them so props to those guys. I liked the passing of the torch from Severn to Raymond Rowe.
I also liked the fact that Severn didn't tease a rear-naked choke or other moves from his MMA days. If Severn can beat professional fighters like Tank Abbott, Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie with an MMA move, I wouldn't expect Tracy Williams to escape it.
I don't need to see Severn at next month's show wrestling but it was cool to see him one last time.
MISSES
None This was a solid show top to bottom. I'm not a fan of multiple person matches (only two of the eight matches were 1x1) but tonight it worked. Best AIW show of the year.
AIW: Back to the Future Cup
5/28/2016 Cleveland, Ohio
- Dr. Daniel C. Rockingham pinned ""The Bone Collector"" Dominic Garrini
- Joshua Singh defeated Garrison King
- Frankie Flynn beat Kaplan
- Brian Carson defeated Space Monkey
Up next was The Weird World (WeirdBody Evan Adams and WorldWide Alex Kellar) open challenge. Accepting the challenge was Brian Myers and Hornswoggle which led to ….
- Brian Myers and Hornswoggle defeated the Weird World (WeirdBody Evan Adams and WorldWide Alex Kellar) when Hornswoggle pinned Adams after hitting the tadpole splash.
- Big Damo pinned Laredo Kid
- Frankie Flynn wins the 'Back to the Future Cup' defeating Dr. Daniel C. Rockingham, Joshua Singh and Brian Carson in a four-way elimination match.
Order of Elimination: Singh pinned Rockingham, Carson pinned Singh, and Flynn forced Carson to submit. Flynn now gets the match of his choice at #ABSO11 in July.
Afterward, The Duke and BJ Whitmer attacked Flynn.
4/30/2016 Cleveland, Ohio
- Solo Darling defeated MJ Jenkins with a spinning neckbreaker
- Maria Manic pinned Samantha Heights after hitting an Alabama Slam
- Angeldust defeatd Brittany Blake with a lungblower
- Crazy Mary Dobson beat Niki Savo
- Marti Belle pinned Kelly Klein
- Britt Baker defeated Sonya Strong with a leg drop to the back of the head
- Bandelero hit a Swanton Bomb on Gringo Loko to win a fatal four-way match also involving Skayde Jr and DJ Z.
- Mia Yim beat Shayna Baszler with a package piledriver
- Gail Kim pinned LuFisto after countering a burning hammer with Eat Defeat
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