For Tim Donst, AIW was a second home. It was a safe haven. As his career and personal life crumbled elsewhere, Absolute Intense Wrestling was the place he could come to and prove that he was one of the best wrestler’s in the world. At Absolution VII, he did just that when he claimed the Absolute Title in a four-way dance featuring Johnny Gargano, Eric Ryan, and Shiima Xion—three men who’d come to define much of the modern era of AIW. Beyond the formation of #NIXON, everything at the outset of Tim Donst’s reign as Absolute Champion seemed great. But at Hell On Earth 8, 50% AIW Owner Chest Flexor and Acting President Matt Wadsworth put together an extremely volatile team to combat #NIXON and the Necro Butcher. Weeks before Kingston was scheduled to defend his CHIKARA Grand Championship against Donst, the two were expected to make nice, watch each other’s backs, and defend AIW. As soon as BJ Whitmer was dropped on his head by Chris Dickinson, the team fell apart. While Pedro DeLuca made the announcement that #NIXON had won the hellacious eight-man war, Donst and Kingston got into a verbal altercation that very quickly devolved into a backstage fistfight.
It wasn’t obvious at the time, but this was the beginning of Tim Donst’s downward spiral in Absolute Intense Wrestling. At The End of the World in December, Kingston interjected himself into Donst’s defense of the Absolute Title, delivering a Backfist to the Future on the champion before laying out Eric Ryan, who fell on top of Donst to secure his second run with the title. At February’s Conspiracy Theory event, Donst and Kingston squared off in an AIW ring for the first time. Not only did Kingston win the match, but he quit the company, insulting Donst by telling AIW management that the Mat Wrestling Machine wasn’t worth the phone call it’d take to book him. Finally, at Gauntlet for the Gold 8, an enraged Tim Donst stormed the ring, demanding to face Kingston one more time. He was taken from the ring by AIW management, still screaming for the War King, as Pedro DeLuca moved the show on, bringing out Angelus Layne and Addy Starr for a #GNO Showcase. Where some men find an eerie sense of focus in their anger, Donst’s was so overwhelming that he entered that evening’s Gauntlet in street clothes and was eliminated quickly, low-bridged by Starr, who waved a red-flag at the bullish Donst by striking him with a backfist of her own.
With Starr and Kingston both gone from AIW, Donst officially has no outlet for his out-of-control behavior. He enters this Friday’s JT Lightning Invitational Tournament not as the Mat Wrestling Machine of the past, nor as the Tim F’n Donst Cleveland fans took up as one of their own, but as the proverbial loose cannon. This Friday, in a first time ever match, the unhinged Donst will face Adam Cole. Though Cole hasn’t been in an AIW ring since last year’s Point Break, his resume on the independent scene speaks for itself. Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, Combat Zone Wrestling; Cole has been there and won and championships from the likes of Kevin Steen and Jay Lethal, defending them against the world’s greatest wrestlers. He brings this resume to Turners Hall on Friday, looking to add one of the scene’s most prestigious tournaments to his already lengthy list of achievements, and, should the dice roll his way, return to Panama City with a guaranteed championship opportunity against the man who leaves the Absolution VIII iPPV as Absolute Champion.
Maybe, with Starr and Kingston gone, we’ll see the return of the Tim Donst who worked tirelessly the climb the ranks in AIW, who selflessly dedicated himself to fighting Flexor Industries and #NIXON, who we were proud to call our champion. Or maybe we’ll get a meaner, nastier, more brutish Donst; one who acts more like the jaded bully who beat the crap out of a young kid in Pottstown, PA for sport than he’d care to admit. But if we get the Tim Donst who showed up to #GFTG in jeans and a t-shirt, a Tim Donst whose reaction to being eliminated five minutes into the Gauntlet was to hang his head and exit Turners Hall through the crowd, than Tim Donst is in for a long night, and Adam Cole is moving on to Round Two. We have faith that the Tim Donst who comes to the JT Lightning Invitational Tournament this Friday is a man—a professional wrestler—who, above all else, is driven to be the best in this sport. Tomorrow, we find out if Tim Donst has any faith left in himself.
