It was a smaller crowd tonight than the previous two shows, I'd estimate a little over 200 people. Interestingly, the crowd had a lot more women then I'd expect to see. We're talking upwards of 10%. I imagine part of the attendance drop off was no Kevin Steen, but the weather did some damage. It's ugly out there right now.
AAW had a few announcements before the show. First, Val Malone will never be seen in AAW after what happened to her last month. AAW also barred Silas from the building tonight. The big news was that AAW will be seen on the Maddy GTV Roku channel starting March 1. The shows will reportedly be up on youtube too.
Four Way Scramble Match
Show opened with something designed to go as fast as possible. Marek Brave picks up the win in this one that really got the crowd going by the end. One of the wrestlers, whose name I did not catch and is a prelim guy from the previous show, is a Davey Richards clone. Same body type, working a very similar style, and same height (or lack thereof). Good opener.
Dan Lawrence and Marcus Crane vs. Zero Gravity
There was a lot of Lawrence and Crane doing their confused, I don't know how to do tag wrestling moves shtick. Zero Gravity were high energy as always and pick up the win in about 8-9 minutes. It was fine. Dan Lawrence looks like Dave Meltzer and it really adds to my enjoyment.
Tweek Phoenix and Keith Walker (/w Nikki, guided by Kevin) vs. Colt Cabana and Junai Miller
It felt like Miller got barely any time in this match. That's a shame, he stood out the most to me in his limited action. Cabana picks up the win over Tweek in a match that was all Colt. If you like Cabana, you should like this.
John Gresham vs. Eddie Kingston
Kingston cut a promo on Silas before the match and brought out his woman to show us what a real woman was like. From a distance it looked like Veda Scott, but it clearly wasn't once she got closer. No clue who she is.
This was my first time seeing Gresham and I'd like to see more of him. It was a solid match and Gresham got some offense in but Kingston was always meant to win this one. And he did.
Davey Richards and Kyle O'Reilly vs. Kung Fu Manchu
Louis Lyndon picked up the win over Davey via school boy. Davey Richards did not look like he was having a good time. I don't mean that someone was stiffing him or he ate a lot of offense. I mean that he looked pissed. The crowd was not that into him and it may have gotten to him.
Davey puts Kyle over after the match because this is his last show in Berwyn (just like last month). Kyle drops him with a spinning kick and says he doesn't respect Davey.
AAW Heritage Title Match - Matt Cage vs. ACH
Rematch from two months ago. A good match between the two again with a scary moment early one when ACH dove through the ropes and Matt Cage moved. ACH hit the guard rail hard and from the otherside of the ring it looked like he might be hurt bad. He was fine to continue the match but Cage would beat him again, this time by grabbing the ropes during a pin. Cage hit ACH with the Heritage title again after the match.
Tony Rican was announced as the AAW match maker again. Unfortunately for him, Keith Walker, Tweek, Nikki, and Kevin want to show that they are to be taken seriously. They attack Rican, throw a fireball in his face, and beat up a slew of prelim guys (including Moondog Bernard and Seaman) before leaving the ring.
AAW Heavyweight Title Match - Shane Hollister (w/ Scarlett) vs. Jimmy Jacobs
Scarlett is gorgeous. That's all I'll say there. The match was pretty slow paced for the majority of it and the crowd was quiet. Probably not the best thing when its your semi-main for the evening and your main title on the line.
Things picked up in a big way when Hollister was standing on the apron outside the ropes. Jimmy ran and speared him off the ring, ramming both of them into the railing outside. It looked like they left a big dent there and when we next see Jacobs he's bleeding bad. I mean bad; he had the crimson mask and it was dripping all over him and Shane. Jacobs fight like hell to beat Shane, but Shane outlasts him and Jacobs gets woozy from blood loss, letting Shane capitalize and finish Jacobs off. The final quarter saved what was previously a slow match.
Shane and Marcus Crane were beating on the very wounded Jacobs when Colt Cabana came out to make the save. He had the longest pool cue I've seen in his hand to help scare them off.
AAW Tag Title Match - Men of the Year (Michael Elgin & Ethan Page) vs. Ricochet and Uhaa Nation
Uhaa Nation is in ridiculous shape. He looks massive. Not only that, but he moves extremely well. He can move enough to land a standing moonsault, spring to his feet, and immediately hit another standing moonsault.
The match itself played off the earlier Ricochet and Page interactions from Windy City Classic IX. Ricochet wants his revenge; Page wants to show Ricochet up. Uhaa and Elgin, the two brick shithouses, were meant to be together in an indy dream match here.
I'll wait until I have the DVD to give a full break down and review, but to sum it up: This. Ruled. It became a spotfest, though they didn't entirely abandon selling, but it was frenetic and elicited some well-earned chants of "this is awesome!" I'd say a **** match and I want to see more of all of these guys in AAW. I'll get more Men of the Year for sure after they retained their titles. Elgin deadlift powerbombed Uhaa Nation to put him out of commission. Ricochet, the legal man, got a turnbuckle powerbomb after that with Page finishing the job with an uranage.
Overall Thoughts
Another enjoyable show from AAW. The crowd was smaller, which may have hurt some of the matches when there wasn't as much noise as the previous two shows, but there were a bunch of good ones on the card and the main event was damn fun.
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