Phil Colvin appears alone in the booth after the intro rolls. Derek St. Holmes is on vacation, meaning Dave Prazak will be in on commentary.
AAW Heavyweight Championship - Shane Hollister (c) (w/ Scarlet Bordeaux) vs. Juntai Miller
Not only is Scarlett there, but Markus Crane and Dan Lawrence came out too. Juntai Miller clears Markus Crane out of the ring as the match starts. That gives Hollister the jump on Miller. Scarlett distracts Miller next, setting Hollister up for a slingshot elbow. Miller rolls out of the way before it lands. Hollister maintains his dominance early on, grinding Miller out.
Hollister taunts Miller as Miller crawls around in pain. He eggs Miller on before grabbing a hold to work Miller's shoulder. Miller powers out of it. He follows up with high knees until Hollister cuts him off with a chop. Miller dodges a superkick and seizes the opportunity to bulldog Hollister. Hollister doesn't let that train get rolling. He stops Miller in his tracks with a spinning back elbow. Hollister charges Miller in the corner; Miller gets his knees up, putting Hollister down.
Miller gets behind Hollister and fights for a dragon suplex. Hollister squats to avoid it and locks his hands together, not letting Miller get the leverage he needs. Repeated back elbows get Hollister out of that predicament. Even more elbows slam Miller until he drops. Hollister tries to lift Miller for Shug's Last Gift, this time it's miller who won't be lifted. He rolls Hollister into a small package, getting a two count.
Hollister finds himself daze and facing the corner after a drop toe hold. Miller drives Hollister's head into the bottom turnbuckle with a hard curb stomp. Miller pulls Hollister up and lands the dragon suplex he wanted before. Miller waits for Hollister to get up. The champion looks hurt. Miller rises to charge but Hollister pulls the trigger first, flying across the ring with a hard drop kick.
They exchange forearms. Both wobble. Hollister throws knee to Miller's head; Miller returns the favor. Hollister catches Miller's leg on his last attempt, scoops him into the air, and power bombs the young challenger. Hollister lines up a super kick, goes for it, misses, then eats a hard slap on the counter. Miller throws a flurry of elbows and a backfist. He hits the ropes. Hollister cuts him off with a superkick. Next he lands a German suplex that bridges into the pin. It's good for two.
Miller slips out of another Shug's last gift. He gets behind Hollister, scoops the arms, and hits a second dragon suplex. Hollister gets up right away, fired up, looking to fight.Miller lands a BIG boot. Hollister screams, Miller BIG boots him again. Hollister finally drops to his knees, letting Miller land a second curb stomp of the night, this one square in the middle of the mat. He wants to go for the pin but Dan Lawrence and Markus Crane get involved, leaping onto the apron. Miller has to swat them away like flies. Hollister gets the chance to recover, pulling himself up. Miller hits a running kick and goes up top. Double knees land on Shane. He covers. Two count!
Miller tries the double knees from up top again. Hollister moves and Miller rolls through. He charges at Hollister. Hollister superkicks him square in the jaw. Miller staggers so Hollister adds a second. Hollister drags Miller in. He lifts the challenger up and drops him square on his head via Shug's Last Gift. Hollister rolls that into a cradle. The champion retains his title.
Match Rating: ** Not the best match from either guy, nor a real stand out for AAW TV. It's not bad but there are definite flaws. Miller has a lot of potential though at the same time he still looks green. His offense looks like it should be stiff and hurt like hell. The problem is that he doesn't always lay it in. As a result, some of it looks bad, particularly the Muay Thai knees. The fighting spirit spot from Hollister was odd. He's not a babyface, so the champion getting amped up and no-selling struck me as weird. On the bright side, as I watch AAW I find myself enjoying Hollister's finisher more and more. They protect it a lot, it doesn't have a crazy set up, and he can take it straight into a cradling pin.
Silas responds to Hollister in another pre-taped video. He can't wait to get his hands on Kingston and show him who's actually the coward.
Silas Young vs. Eddie Kingston
Silas barrels into Kingston before the match even starts. He slams his fists into Kingston's side and drives him into the corner. He chokes Kingston, forcing the New Yorker to escape to the outside. Kingston tries to fight back out there, not that it works much. Silas beats him from corner to corner, throwing Kingston into the guard rails, choking him with his boot. Kingston begs for mercy. He gets a couple of shots to Silas' gut then whips the Last Real Man into the rails. Silas remains undeterred, getting back at Kingston with a boot to the gut so that the ass whoppin' can go on.
Silas finally rolls Kingston into the ring. That gives Kingston the opening he needs to rake Silas' eyes. Silas comes back at Kingston with a ton of fire. They start slapping each other. Not hard slaps, more like little shows of disrespect. Silas whips Kingston into the corner. He charges but Kingston tosses him over the ropes and back outside.
Kingston tries a vertical suplex but Silas isn't letting it happen. He punches Kingston in the side then counters it, suplexing Kingston on the hardwood floor. They take it back to the ring where Silas lands a double ax handle from up top. Kingston and Silas throws stiff, stiff chops into each other. Young drops Kingston with the last of those. Silas is up on the middle rope with Kingston in the corner, starting the 10-punch combo, but Kingston inverted atomic drops him to cut that off.
Kingston throws Silas with an uranage that gets a two count. Kingston hits the sliding D, an elbow to the back of Silas's head while seated, but that only gets two. Kingston keeps upping the ante. He tries a backdrop driver but Silas gets out. Silas throws high kick then springs off the corner. Some miscommunication happens but the end result is Kingston going down. Silas starts to look for the Pee Gee Waja Plunge when Kingston slips off his shoulders. Kingston backdrop drivers Silas. Two count.
Silas ducks under a spinning backfist. He scoops Kingston onto his shoulders, rushes the corner, and hits a Nagasaki roll, a/k/a the Finlay roll. Silas calls the finish, slapping the corner. Alex Colon comes out from back and distracts Young before he can try the Pee Gee Waja Plunge. Those precious seconds let Kingston get to his feet. He backfists Young once, then twice, dropping Silas. He makes the cover. Silas kicks out at two.
Silas has Colon go looking under the ring for a chair. The two high five, so clearly they have something together. Val Malone sprints out and grabs that chair away from Kingston before he can dome Young with it. She slaps the hell out of Kingston too, getting a bit of retribution. Kingston is about to go after her when Silas makes the save with a Killer Combo. Kingston kicks out at two on the pin. Young puts Kingston in the stock lock, a full nelson stretch, right in the middle of the ring. Kingston refuses to tap. Luckily for him Colon jumps onto the apron, distracting Silas. Colon grabs Val, forcing Silas to go after him. He gets Colon into the ring and crushes him with a Nagasaki roll. Silas boots Colon a few times for good measure. Kingston rises up. He stalks behind Silas and low blows him with a swift kick. Silas eats another spinning backfist. He collapses to the mat. Kingston makes the pin and defeats Silas in the main event!
Match Rating: **1/2 Better than the opener and there was quite a bit going for it. The two do a fine job brawling, especially outside the ring. There are a few slip ups and awkward transitions that drag down the match. This may not be an all time great match but it does an excellent job continuing the feud.
Final Thoughts
One okay match and one pretty good match tonight. Neither match is tearing down the house this week. Silas and Kingston see their feud get bigger and bigger now, especially in the promo Silas cuts after the match. The Kingston-Young feud is the highlight of these initial AAW episodes. The blow off is coming up soon, May 2, and the TV is setting it up wonderfully.
No comments:
Post a Comment