AAW has no introduction this month, so neither do I. Let's go.
Danny Cannon vs. Marek Brave vs. Knight Wagner vs. Ty Colton
It's a fatal four-way. No tags, no count outs, no DQ, all action. Action so fast that I'll stick to the highlights. Brave lands a high cross from the top corner on to all three outside less than a minute in. That should tell you what kind of match this is. Danny Cannon joins the fun with a springboard corkscrew. Him and Colton work as fast as they possibly can in the ring after that. Tons of moves until Colton puts Cannon out of commission with a double stomp as Cannon lays across the middle rope.
Marek Braves goes at Colton until Knight Wagner pulls Brave off the top rope and drops him with an elbow. Colton gets to his feet. Him and Wagner shake hands, making a little truce, until Colton backstabs Wagner a heartbeat later and tries a school boy. Wagner repeats the process. Mini-Davey ends the feudin' and fightin' with a double DDT.
Cannon is caught in a tree of woe while Brave goes up top. Colton and Wagner join them, standing on the ropes until they superplex Brave and free Cannon. Cannon launches Colton with a dropkick. Knight Wagner running knees Cannon. Marek Brave spears Wagner and goes straight into a pin. Colton makes the save.
Colton misses a phoenix splash on Brave but Cannon lands a rotating splash on Colton. Both are hard to pull off here. The ceiling at the Berwyn Eagles Club is obnoxiously low. Cannon gets to shine a bit until he goes overboard. Brave flattens Cannon with a super kick as he comes off the top, then gets the pin.
Match rating: ** Really fast paced opener. It's a pure spotfest, but it did it's job: it got the crowd excited and plenty warmed up as the night opened up. It should do likewise on TV.
More Eddie Kingston after the AAW opening video. Kingston recaps what he did last week and loves every moment of it, to say the least. But tonight his attention turns to Juntai Miller.
Eddie Kingston vs. Juntai Miller
Kingston's got a mic before the match can start and he goes right for the cheap heat, ripping on the Blackhawks. The mic dies on him for a minute, giving the crowd a chance to chant "New York sucks!" A fan pegs him in the head with a streamer, a second almost gets him, and Eddie is pissed. Miller is cool as a cucumber over in the corner, waiting for Kingston.
Kingston arm drags Miller to start. Kingston throws one chop before Miller turns the tables with a half dozen of his own, chopping Kingston all around the ring. Miller arm drags Kingston and puts him in a hold until Kingston pushes him back into a corner and breaks the hold with a face wash. Kingston has to roll outside to escape Miller's offensive barrage, but Miller follows him out with a corkscrew dive.
Kingston grabs the ref and pulls him into Miller as Miller gets back in the ring. Kingston chokes Miller on the ropes, then gives Miller an eye poke when he tries to fight back. Kingston starts to work Miller's neck with with a cravate. Miller almost escapes with a few gut shots, but Kingston neckbreakers him before that can happen.
Miller finds himself back in the corner where Kingston chops him again and again. Miller sells how beat down and hurt he is while the bully Kingston throws him around. Kingston takes too long taunting the crowd, giving Miller enough time to raise a knee to Kingston's jaw when Kingston charges. Miller chops Kingston once before a Kingston forearm puts him down. He fires up, full of spirit, but another Kingston elbow drops him again. Miller keeps on fighting. He drives Kingston's head into the mat with a hard stomp. Kingston kicks out at two. Miller charges, Kingston catches him with an overhead suplex. Then a lariat. And a tiger suplex to boot, but Miller kicks out at two.
It's all Kingston now. He puts Miller down with a back suplex, then a running forearm as Miller sits up. Again a two count. Miller shows a ton of heart, but no amount of heart saves him from Kingston's spinning backfist. Kingston doesn't bother going for the pin. He lets Miller writhe around in pain. The ref checks on Miller, who is barely able to stand. Kingston goes to drag Miller up, but Miller's been playing possum. He enzuigiris Kingston, high kicks him, and big boots him. All of that is still only good for two.
Kingston is the one staggering now. Miller goes to the top. Kingston moves before Miller can land a double knee. Kingston spinning backfists Miller again, but before Kingston can get a pin, Silas Young interferes. He attacks Kingston until the undercarders, AAW's resident security guards, break the two up. Kingston backfists Silas while some of them hold him back.
Match Rating: * I like both guys a lot, but this wasn't the best I've seen of either. It's mostly sloppy and plodding, but there are some definite pluses. In particular, I think Miller does a fine job selling and looking like he's taking a beating. Plus there was no finish to the match. Miller disappeared, Kingston walked away. More important than the match rating is that the Silas-Kingston feud gets hotter.
Zero Gravity (Brett Gakiya & CJ Esparza) vs. Monster Mafia (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander)
"Big guys versus little guys" as Phil Colvin calls it, and he's spot on. Monster Mafia look like their combined weight would double Zero Gravity's. Alexander powers out of a headlock almost immediately by simply throwing Esparza across the ring. Esparza tries working holds until Alexander just smacks him away.
Esparza and Gakiya have to use trickery and high flying to their advantage. Alexander tags out to Page. Brett Gakiya catches him with a crucifix into a pin, but Page kicks out. Gakiya wrestles more like a high flying gymnast, but it's working against Page. Until Page knees him right in the gut, then it stops. Gakiya tags out to Esparza, who tries to dive onto Monster Mafia. Alexander stops that with a hard forearm. As he gets back into the ring, Gakiya comes charging, flips over Alexander and the top rope, and lands on Ethan Page. And the guard rail. Had to hurt.
Alexander has Gakiya on the ground, grabs him by the neck, and throws him overhead with a fall-away slam in one hell of a physical spot. Alexander and Page lay the hurt on Gakiya. At one point, Alexander tries to drag Gakiya around by the ankle. Gakiya kicks the bent-over Alexander in the head, so Alexander stomps right on his chest. Monster Mafia double team Gakiya. Page goes for a pin, but Esparza saves his partner.
Alexander toys with Gakiya, sticking a boot in his face. Gakiya kicks Alexander's thigh, buying himself some space, but Alexander elbows Esparza off the apron. Gakiya rolls past Alexander, dives for the hot tag and gets... nothing. Except a deadlift backdrop when Alexander finds him. Gakiya keeps trying to sneak his way past the Monster Mafia, but they're throwing him around like a toy. Gakiya finally gets his much needed tag. Esparza comes flying in. He hits a cross body on Page, dropkicks Alexander, then flying clotheslines Page.
Page tries to dump Esparza outside, but he clutches the rope. Page puts him down with an enzuigiri instead. Monster Mafia double team Esparza until Gakiya can make the save. Zero Gravity get Flippy Cup 2.0, but Alexander kicks out. They drag him over to the corner, looking for an assisted moonsault, which lands. Esparza never gets to come off the top; Page pulls his teammate away. Gakiya flips over the top rope again, but Monster Mafia catch him and double powerbomb him into the ring apron. Esparza launches himself from the top, splashing the two big men.
Esparza tries going to the top yet again. Page yanks on the rope to stop that. Monster Mafia take Esparza and crush him with a double styles clash. That's a lot of weight coming down on a little guy, and it's enough to get the pin.
Match Rating: **3/4 There was a lot of good to this one. Zero Gravity eating Monster Mafia's offense, mostly by flying around the ring on tosses and slams, looks great. Zero Gravity resort to tricks and high flying to level the playing field. There's some sloppiness and I think Monster Mafia probably sold a little too much if anything, but they still looked like, well, Monsters, while Zero Gravity were hard fighting but undersized heroes.
After another break, we get some more revealing footage of Scarlett and an outro from Colvin and St. Holmes. They close it out, but Kingston gets the last word. I'm cool with this trend. Kingston wants AAW to send someone tough and bad at him. He's just getting started here.
Final Thoughts:
This hour of TV flew by. It's a really strong showing in AAW's main event. Every match did what it should. The opener is all action. The second match develops the main story on AAW TV. The main event is the best match they've shown yet. Thumbs up.
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