AAW TV Episode 7

Eddie Kingston starts us off in his street clothes, talking up his showdown with Silas Young. Tonight's the night they meet in the ring.  

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. 

AAW TV Episode 6

AAW comes back to its home base, the Berwyn Eagles Club, for tonight's action. We've got two matches on the docket tonight, so let's get to it.

L.O.S.E.R.S. (Moondog Bernard & Seaman) vs. Keith Walker (w/ Nikki and Kevin Harvey)
Handicap match. I guess Keith Walker is in for a world of hurt tonight. Luckily for him he's built like a brick shithouse. The LOSERS don't look so inspiring. Seaman clenches his fist and forearms Walker to start. Walker doesn't move. Moondog tries to rescue his partner. He gets a chokeslam for that.

Walker slaps the hell out of Seaman's chest in the corner. Moondog comes running for the save again, but Walker moves. Both LOSERS are in the corner. Walker slaps Moondog's chest now, worse than he did to Seaman's. Walker slaps the hell out of Seaman a bit more then throws him onto his right shoulder with a release German.

The LOSERS get a second to shine when Moondog hurls his partner off the top rope and into Walker. Walker gets up after a short respite. He lariats both LOSERS, one after the other, then covers each with one hand.

Match Rating: 1/2* "I can't wait to see the star rating online for this," said Phil Colvin during the match. Where there you have it. It's a squash, so I'm almost obliged to give it a N/R, but it went long enough tht I can give it something.


The cameraman finds the LOSERS backstage somewhere for the next segment. They're hurting bad, but they survived. For them, that's cause to celebrate.


Colvin and St. Holmes talk about the last ten years of AAW history. Last month was AAW's tenth anniversary and they showed a great video package to open it up, which they rerun here. Very well done video showing the talent who have come through AAW over the previous decade.


AAW Tag Title Three Way Elimination Match - Kung Fu Manchu (Louis Lyndon & Marion Fontaine) (c) vs. Men of the Year (Michael Elgin & Ethan Page) vs. Zero Gravity (CJ Esparza & Brett Gakiya) 
Ethan Page found Elgin backstage and hustled him into a tag team since his usual partner, Josh Alexander, is out. Elimination rules tonight, starting with Lyndon and Esparza grappling. Page can't help but heel it up while the honest Elgin watches with dismay. Esparza and Lyndon clear out the interloping Page so they can go back at each other. Fontaine tags in. Elgin tags in next. Page immediately tags his partner on the shoulder, so he's going in instead.

Fontaine bulldogs Page. He gives Page the run around while they're matched up, so Elgin has to tag in and save his partner. Gakiya tags Fontaine out while he's near the rope, meaning Elgin gets to face off with Brett "mini-Alvarez" Gakiya. Elgin works as the base for Zero Gravity. Zero Gravity and MOTY trade momentum between each other. Kung Fu Manchu are on the outside for a long while, 7 minutes or so, while Men of the Year and Zero Gravity hog all the action. Zero Gravity receive most of that action, forcing Gakiya and Esparza to bump and sell for their bigger opponents. Esparza finally tags in both Kung Fu Manchu members at the same time, so they come in with a slew of double teams, taking out Page and then Elgin. Kung Fu Manchu look for a dive outside onto MOTY, but Zero Gravity cut the champions off before they can both dive.

Esparza gets to be the first one who successfully lansd a dive to the outside, taking out Page. Kung Fu Manchu run to the corners and hit springboard moonsaults to the outside. Elgin climbs to the top turnbuckle but Gakiya dashes up the ropes and jumps off of Elgin's back onto the men outside.

Kung Fu Manchu have a long run where they take out Zero Gravity and start to work over Elgin. Page urns the tide. Elgin spinning backfists Fontaine, buckle bombs him, and hits the Elgin bomb. Elgin eliminates the champions and guarantees that the next fall determines AAW's new tag champs.

Elgin has Esparza up in a delayed vertical suplex when Page comes in and tries to give him a hand. Elgin wants to do it alone and pinches Page's belly. Page is unflappable. He hugs it out with Elgin, not letting the insult get between them. Zero Gravity land a flippy cup 2.0 on Page/ Elgin breaks the pin up. MOTY toss Zero Gravity all over the ring for the next few minutes, but the little flyers come back with sheer determination.

Zero Gravity try an assisted moonsault on Elgin. Elgin gets his knees up, then Page dumps CJ Esparza off the top and into the railings below. Elgin stops Page from using the ring bell on Gakiya, then gives him a stern talking to. Elgin does a backfist and a buckle bomb, but Page cuts in front of him to finish Gakiya off with an uranage. Page makes the cover and MOTY are the new AAW tag champs.

Match rating: *** Good match, very entertaining. Some really great spots in here though there is a bit of nonsense too. Elgin and Page make for an unusual pair. Elgin wants to win but wants to do it the hard, fair way. Unlike Page, he's not a cheater and won't take the low road. Elgin shakes hands with Zero Gravity after the match while Page looks on with disgust. Kung FU Manchu came into the match as champs but were out for a lot of it. Between standing on the apron and getting eliminated first, this match was mostly Zero Gravity vs. MOTY.


Final Thoughts
AAW TV goes by fast, I'll say that. It helps that episodes clock in at under an hour, instead of 2-3 like so many others. The video package is probably the highlight of the show this week. I liked the main event more live than I did on rewatch, but my tastes change and I notice more that I'm too caught up in live to complain about.

Speaking of live AAW. They've got a show this Friday at the Berwyn Eagles Club. Come check it out if you're in the Chicagoland area.

AAW TV Episods 4 and 5

Double review today! To save you all fromdroning, I'll have more concise thoughts instead of full recaps. As for the wrestling, AAW is developing some storylines through the first three episodes, so let's see how that continues in these two. 

AAW TV Episode 4

Colvin and St. Holmes start us off with a little intro to tonight's action. They kick it out to the opener. Looks like we've got AAW TV's first ever ladies' match to start. 

"Miss Natural" Heather Patera vs. "The Punk Rock Rag Doll" Heidi Lovelace

These two have a long-lasting feud in AAW, so long that this match, taped almost a year ago, already was part of an old rivalry. Patera's twice the size of the diminutive Lovelace. Heidi is all energy; Patera is a powerhouse. 

Patera tosses Lovelace around the ring and into barricades like a rag doll, so she earned nickname. Lovelace goes for quick roll ups and surprise pins multiple times. Patera is more of a tank in there, smashing through Lovelace with tosses, suplexes, slams, and just about whatever she wants. Lovelace's durability must have been too much for Patera, who resorts to pulling on her opponent's shorts to seal the win. 

Match Rating: ** Lovelace bumps like crazy for Patera and it looks great. Patera serves as a solid base for Lovelace to work off of too. These two have solid chemistry.

"Dirty" Dan Lawrence vs. Colt "Boom Boom" Cabana

It's a match between one wrestler who makes his opponents look like clowns and another wrestler who always looks like a clown. Lawrence has this great way of screwing up when he should succeed and pulling through when he should fail. Cabana is a total enabler. 

This match isn't about a bitter feud or rising up the ranks in AAW. It's a midcard comedy match with two guys pulling out tricks to one up each other over and over. Or in Lawrence's case, to keep falling on his face. Cabana gets Dirty Dan in the middle of the ring with the Billy Goat's curse.

Match Rating: **1/2 Stars can't adequately rate this match. It's not a technical wrestling showcase or something like that, but these two were made for each other. Superbly enjoyable and I've watched it three times in the past week. 

Markus Crane vs. Alex Colon

Crane goes for an immediate roll up that Colon reverses. Colon takes a little bit of punishment from Crane, but finishes him off in under two minutes. 

Match Rating: N/R Barely a match for Colon here. He got the W, but that's not enough for him, so Colon cuts a short promo after. 

Alex Colon vs. Silas Young

Silas Young comes out and grabs a mic to challenge Colon. Young is there to represent the very special AAW fans. Young and Colon open with chain wrestling. Neither is able to get a real edge, even with the major size difference. Young gets to show that size difference, and the power that comes with it, while Colon is keen on making things dirty.

Young gets to be an asskicker in this match, which he excels at. Colon and Young continue tonight's apparent theme: good chemistry. No noticeable mishaps in there, no mistiming of note, just solid wrestling. Young taps Colon out to end a fast-paced match.

Match Rating: **1/2 This one's a real sprint of a main event. Colon and Young work at a blistering rate. There's not a lot of selling or building off of work in the match, two things that up a rating in my book, but I can see a lot of people giving this more love than I do. It's a good piece to build up Young. 

AAW TV Episode 5

Silas Young gets up close with the camera somewhere backstage as episode 5 starts. He's looking for revenge and can't wait to beat Eddie Kingston's face in. 

Colvin and St. Holmes gives us our obligatory opening. Today's matches come from outside the Berwyn Eagles Club for the first time. Instead, we go down to Bourbon Street. 

AAW Heavyweight Championship - "Sugar" Shane Hollister (c) (/w Marcus Crane & Scarlett Bordeaux) vs. Flip Kendrick

AAW announces Hollister at 180 pounds. This is probably my personal fascination, but announced weights catch my interest. Hollister's is probably accurate. Kendrick is even smaller. Hollister uses that size advantage to push Kendrick into the corner at the start. Hollister can bully Kendrick around when he grabs a hold of him. Kendrick avoids letting that happen at all costs as he flies around the ring, into the ring, out of the ring, wherever he can. 

Hollister relishes in hurting Kendrick, like when he gets him in a seated stretch and starts to grind his thumb into Kendrick's ribs. He lays the boots into him after that, then tries a Jericho pin for good measure. 

Hollister looks like a confident champ. Kendrick has to be the upstart, which is hard enough without Markus and Scarlett there to distract him. He flies as well as anyone I've seen in AAW. Good thing for that, since most of his offense involves going through the air. Things get a bit sloppy in the latter stages here. Scarlett and Markus keep interfering too, possibly saving Hollister that night. Hollister closes out Kendrick with a great finishing sequence that I'll leave you to watch since I don't want to do it misjustice.

Match Rating: ** Hollister looks great when he controls the match and that's when things flow best. Kendrick can do some impressive flying, but he got too much in for my liking. Hollister flipped between looking like a dominant champ and a guy who was vulnerable, but not in a good way. 

Eddie Kingston responds to Silas Young. This won't be the last we see of him either. Kingston is in the main event today against Rhino, who gets some camera time of his own. 

Eddie Kingston vs. "The War Machine" Rhino

Kingston hurls a chair at Rhino from outside the ring before the match starts. Not content with having one opponent tonight, Kingston decides to get into it with the fans too. The match starts out with a bit of wrestling. Can't say that I expected that. With these two, I was thinking we would have a pure brawl on our hands. One stiff chop too many kills that. Let the punches fly! 

Kngston and Rhino trade hard chops outside the ring. Kingston parts the crowd to throw Rhino into the sea of chairs, PWG style, only for Rhino to turn the tables. The brawl goes into the crowd for a while until returning to the ring. They trade bombs back and forth as momentum trades between the two. Kingston lands a hard discus elbow then an exploder, but Rhino kicks out at two. 

Rhino's toughness gets the best of Kingston, who digs some chairs out from under the ring. He sets two up, facing each other then lays a third on top. Kingston starts climbing the ropes when Rhino cuts him off. Rhino grabs Kingston and powerbombs him through the chairs. That's a two count too. 

Rhino spears Kingston in the corner, but it's not a full gore. So he bides his time in a far corner, waiting for Kingston to get up. A full force gore follows, but that's not enough to end it. Rhino tries a second gore but Kingston gets a knee up. Kingston gets a chain from under the ring now. He wraps it around his fist and socks Rhino, but that doesn't get the three. A spinning backfist doesn't put Rhino down either. A second one makes him wobble. A low blow and a third backfist finally wrap things up.

Match Rating: ** There are things to like here. Both are adept at brawling and those segments of the match go well. Rhino gets put over huge here even in a loss. He ate so much punishment. The real problem is that things went too long. Going five minutes less would have helped a ton. 

Kingston cuts another promo that night after his match. Super intense. 

Final Thoughts

Two very different shows. The first one had four matches, three of substance, all of which went by in a flash. All three were smooth and enjoyable in their own ways. That was probably AAW TV's best episode yet. Episode 5, on the other hand, had two matches, both of which were significantly longer than anything on Episode 4. Both could stand to trim some fat from the matches. Not a great hour of TV, but the Kingston-Silas Young feud keeps building, so its worth watching. 

AAW Pro Wrestling - Episode 3

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.

AAW Pro Wrestling TV Episode 2

AAW has Phil Colvin and Dave Prazak on commentary. From the looks of it. AAW will reach into the distant past for content, so no worries about the TV show moving past the live events. Colvin and Prazak don't waste much time before sending us to the action, so I won't either. Let's get to it.

Zero Gravity (Brett Gakiya & CJ Esparza) vs. Kung Fu Manchu (Louis Lyndon & Marion Fontaine)
Quick action early on with all four men in the ring, unable to get the best of their opponents. Colvin and Prazak talk up how much Gakiya looks like Bryan Alvarez, adding that it's too bad Esparza doesn't look like Dave Meltzer. Kung Fu Manchu have control, working over Esparza. They double team Esparza again and again, leaving Gakiya on the apron, desperate to tag in. Lyndon and Fontaine work a slower pace to ground Esparza. Esparza flips through a German suplex, lands on his feet and gets the hot tag to Gakiya.

Gakiya springs off the top rope, taking out Lyndon. Gakiya tags back out to Esparza after a moment. Zero Gravity fly free, diving off the ropes, out of the ring, and off of each other. Lyndon stops Zero Gravity with hard strikes. Fontaine joins in, superkicking Esparza. Lyndon puts Esparza down with an upkick, Fontaine lands a springboard moonsault, and three seconds later the match is done. Kung Fu Manchu gets the win.

Match rating: *1/2 It's a fast-paced opener, which is very typical of AAW, but got it gets sloppy at a few points and is short.


Eddie Kingston vs. Francois McIntyre 
Kingston debuts in AAW. He establishes his dominance early, shoving Francois around and hits an exploder. Francois lands one spinebuster and gets a big head for it. Kingston blocks a suplex then counters with one of his own, chucking Francois into the turnbuckles. Kingston waits for Francois to get up, smashes him with a spinning backfist, and gets the pin.

Match rating: N/A This was a minute long and just a way to get Kingston in the ring. Kingston gets on the mic afterwards, which is much more eventful. Kingston is one of the better mic workers in the indies, very natural. He rambles at the start before getting to his point. He came all the way to Chicago for a fight, 90 seconds of action isn't enough. After a bit of crowd work, Markus Crane comes out, answering the challenge.


Eddie Kingston vs. Markus Crane
Crane shows a lot of empty bravado to stand up to Kingston. He backs down immediately when Kingston moves towards him at all. Kingston grabs Crane, hits a backdrop driver, and gets the pin. 44 seconds. He's halving his match times.

Match Rating: N/A Haven't seen a company use enhancement matches like this in a long while.


There's an editing transition and all of a sudden Knight Wagner is in the ring with Kingston. Wagner asks if he's supposed to be afraid of Eddie Kingston. Yes, yes he is. Kingston is dumb struck, laughing in Wagner's face. Wagner ducks a backfist, slaps Kingston, and we are on.

Knight Wagner vs. Eddie Kingston
Wagner hits a busaiku knee seconds in but it barely gets two. Kingston hits an exploder and then a big lariat. Wagner dumps Kingston outside. He dives over the top, crashing onto Kingston. Wagner rolls Kingston into the ring then goes up to the top rope. He leaps at Kingston, who spins around and smacks Wagner with a backfist as he's in midair. Kingston covers Wagner and goes to 3-0 on the night.

Match Rating: N/A This one maybe went two minutes. I like the concept of the finish, though I'm not sure if Kingston really connected.



AAW's ads vary it up a whole lot more than the first episode. That's a big plus, they got annoying last time around.  Still repetitive, but they tone it down.

Scarlett Bordeaux gets some more camera time. Come see her live some time.


Samuray del Sol vs. Silas Young (w/ Val Malone)
Two great local talents are up. Del Sol traveled all over in the last few years, including a career move down to Orlando now, but he's a Chicago local. Silas hails from Milwaukee, but he is an AAW mainstay. Silas and Del Sol start out with wristlocks, hammerlocks, and your intro chain wrestling. It's smooth and stands out a lot compared to much of AAW's action. Del Sol is crazy fast. I don't think I've seen anyone move around as quickly in a ring. Silas locks hands with Del Sol. Time for a test of strength. Silas probably has thirty pounds on Del Sol, but Del Sol is game.

Silas waistlocks Del Sol, squeezing him hard and refusing to let go. Del Sol flips out of that and uses his lucha stylings to take down Silas. He dodges a dropkick by laying out, grabs Silas' legs, and puts on a knee lock until Silas gets to the ropes. Del Sol wears out Silas with a kick to the back and a back suplex. Del Sol tries to springboard from the apron back into the ring, but Val Malone grabs his foot.

Del Sol goes for the same springboard as before but Silas ducks under it. At least Del Sol got to try this time. Silas stops Del Sol with a fireman's carry into a backbreaker. Del Sol is down; Silas puts a hard knee into his back. He kicks Del Sol again, taunting him. Del Sol blocks a suplex, so Silas clubs him in the back. Del Sol blocks it again, so Silas drives him into the corner. The third attempt goes through. Two count. Del Sol fights back for a heartbeat until Silas back body drops him, aggravating Del Sol's already injured back.

Silas continues to wear down Del Sol's back by driving a knee into it. He moves on to a neck crank, twisting Del Sol's head. Del Sol gets back to both feet but Silas immediately throws him down. Silas bends over to taunt Del Sol. Del Sol kicks him in the face, seizing his chance. Del Sol goes on a roll, kicking at Silas and landing a code red that's good for two. He hits a springboard cross body that Silas rolls through. Silas lifts up Del Sol and backbreakers him again.

Silas has Del Sol down with a chinlock and he taunts the crowd. Del Sol struggles to his feet then fights his way out of the lock. Del Sol hits the ropes and looks for a hurricanrana, but Silas stops it, dropping Del Sol across the top rope. Del Sol monkey flips Silas, both men are down.

The pace picks up once both men get to their feet. Del Sol lands an asai DDT that gets a two count. Del Sol drags himself up to the top rope. Silas gets up, Del Sol flips over him. Silas knees Del Sol and hits a killer combo: a backbreaker, kneeling lariat sequence. Del Sol kicks out at two on the pin.

Silas slows it back down. He screams at Del Sol, telling him he means nothing. Del Sol upkicks Silas with both boots as Silas stands on the bottom rope and leans over him. Del Sol struggles with Silas on the top rope until he brings Silas down with a rising sun. Del Sol blasts Silas with hard kicks to the chest. Silas ducks a third attempt, scoops Del Sol onto his shoulders and lands a Finlay roll. Silas springs up, headstands on the top turnbuckle, and goes for his signature springboard moonsault from there. Del Sol moves but Silas lands on his feet. Del Sol spikes Silas on his head with a hurricanrana. Del Sol hits a hard side kick, booting Silas in the face. Only a two count.

Both men move around in agony. Del Sol rises to his feet and gets the crowd amped up. Del Sol charges Silas but Silas evades him. Del Sol lands gracefully on the middle rope and springs back into Silas. Silas catches Del Sol in the electric chair position then drops him face first onto the top turnbuckle. Silas grabs Del Sol, plants him with a snake eyes to compress the spine, rolls into the stock lock, and forces Del Sol to tap.

Match Rating: **1/4 Good but not great. Also got a little sloppy at times which broke up the flow. The chain wrestling to start was probably the crispest part of the showdown and I could have gone for more of that. Silas stopped working over Del Sol's back after a while, but the finish calls back to that earlier work so I give it a thumbs up.


Kingston is back out with a microphone. He compliments Silas, who is still in the ring, saying it was a nice match. Kingston calls out the fans: they make him sick. He's disgusted with how the fans boo Silas, a long time champion, yet cheer him on arrival. He buries AAW fans, saying that they might as well be CZW fans. Low blow, man. Kingston didn't come here to get cheers. He came here to challenge Silas.

Silas says the fans ARE dumb, but they're HIS fans. Kingston might be a big deal elsewhere but in AAW all he did was beat three goofs. Silas gets in Kingston's face and says he hasn't done shit. If Kingston wants a match he has to earn it. But Silas will give him a fight.

Kingston gets the mic back. He loves fighting, but he's not getting paid to fight again tonight. He tries to ambush Silas when Silas turns away. Silas blocks a punch and the two go at it. Silas has the best of it until Kingston low blows him. Kingston gets a chair and is about to lay into Silas when Val jumps in the way. Kingston thinks about smashing Val with it, but drops the chair instead. He won't hit her with a chair, but he will grab Val  by the hair and punch her in the face. So he has some standards?

Kingston drags a table over to the side of the ring. He stabs it into Silas' side then brings Silas to the apron. Kingston puts Silas through the table with a sit out powerbomb. Val is out, Silas is out, and Kingston takes a seat in the middle of the ring. AAW is going to change, now they have a king.

Final Thoughts
A strong second show for AAW. We get Kingston's debut where he starts as a babyface that the fans love. Silas is a dickhead heel in his match versus Del Sol. But at the end of the hour, fortunes change and there's a double turn. AAW has a marquee feud to center itself around now.

AAW Pro Wrestling TV - Episode 1

AAW is my local promotion. I'm about twenty minutes away from the Berwyn Eagles Club where they run most of their shows and I've gone to the last four live events. I plan on going to all the nearby shows in the future too. Why? Because AAW is a good promotion with lots of top independent wrestlers coming in. Now I get to enjoy them live each month and on video each week with their new TV show. It's on MaddyGTV on Roku and the AAW youtube channel each Wednesday at 7 from here on out. Let's see how the first episode goes.


Announcers Phil Colvin and Derek St. Holmes start the show by explaining one of AAW's draws: no count outs, no disqualifications. AAW isn't an ultraviolent promotion, the referees have discretion to stop a bout, but as Colvin and St. Holmes explain: "we like to see winners and losers."

AAW's first episode starts with Kevin Harvey on the mic. His big brute Keith Walker stands nearby. Harvey demands an answer to this question: how can an undefeated streak end on a two count? However it happened, Harvey thinks its time for some closure. He calls out "Unbreakable" Michael Elgin. Elgin isn't afraid to answer.

Michal Elgin vs. Keith Walker
Walker rushes Elgin to start the match. He shows early on that he isn't afraid of Elgin. Not only that, but he's bigger than Elgin too, and is able to toss him with an overhead belly-to-belly suplex. Walker tosses Elgin into the barricades outside the ring a few times, then brings him back in for a chokebomb. Elgin kicks out at two on the ensuing pin. Elgin cuts Walker off with a spinning backfist. He ducks a lariat and hits a German suplex that puts Walker down.

Elgin charges from corner to corner and back seven times for seven lariats on Walker. Walker slips off Elgin's shoulders. Both men jockey for position on waistlocks. Elgin catches Walker with a black hole slam.Walker dumps Elgin with a back body drop shortly after that. Walker hits the ropes hard, first hitting Elgin with a forearm, then a butt bump. Walker's side suplex gets another two count.

Elgin blocks Walker's lariat attempt. Walker does the same to Elgin. Walker throws Elgin with a release German suplex. Elgin pops up, full of fighting spirit, and returns the favor. Walker is fired up now. He jumps to his feet and throws Elgin with a second German. Elgin stops a charging Walker with a boot, then backfists him. Elgin is about to powerbomb Walker when Tweek Phoenix comes running out of nowhere. It stops Elgin from powerbombing Walker. Harvey and Phoenix grab Elgin's foot, tripping him up, which lets Walker drop Elgin with a hard lariat. Elgin kicks out at two.

Elgin takes Walker by the legs. He deadlifts Walker up into the air and powerbombs him. Two scissor kicks follow once Walker got to his feet. Then a spinning backfist. A sit-out powerbomb finishes this one, giving Elgin the first win on AAW TV.

Match rating: ** It was a good opener live and holds up well on tape. It's two big men throwing each other around and makes for quite the spectacle. The biggest drawback to me is the German suplex exchange. I hate spots like that. Some people love them, but I don't.

AAW returns from the ads with a Matt Cage promo. He's worked hard to win the AAW Heritage championship and wants us to know it.

AAW Heritage Title - Matt Cage (c) vs. Mallaki Matthews
Cage headbutts Matthews instead of shaking the poor guy's hand. Cage is ruthless, stomping away at the stunned Matthews. Cage has a mean leg lariat and knows how to use it. Matthews makes the most of his limited chances. He has control of Cage for a minute before the Heritage champ ends that. Colvin and St. Holmes pick on Matthews a bit for being the inexperienced youngster making some mistakes. Rather than trying to cover it up, they point out how Cage will make him pay. Cage outfoxes Matthews repeatedly, like when he trips Matthews on the apron and Matthews goes face-first into the steel steps. Cage stops Matthews with his version of the facebuster code breaker in a short match.

Match rating: *1/2. It's a short match, but it's perfectly acceptable wrestling. Cage gets to heel it up, Matthews gets a shot on the main show. Nothing wrong here.

Another commercial break. We come back to Scarlett Bordeaux preening in front of a mirror. She cuts a short promo: she's Shane Hollister's manager and the sky is the limit for her. Twenty-two years old and already managing a champion.


Tweek Phoenix (w/ Nikki Mayday and Kevin Harvey) vs. Colt Cabana
Cabana is one of the most over guys in AAW and the crowd chants his name before the match starts. Cabana scares Phoenix out of the ring before the match even starts, chasing him around with a towel, trying to snap it at him. Cabana and Phoenix tie up once the bell rings. This one's exactly that you'd expect from Cabana: a lot of his British-influenced grappling and comedy spots. Cabana uses his guile to get a few shots on Phoenix while the ref looks elsewhere. Kevin advises Phoenix to slow the match down and wrestle at his own pace.

Phoenix gets a side headlock on Cabana for a few moments. That doesn't last long. Cabana gets his own side headlock and goes on to make a fool of Phoenix with his smooth wrestling. Cabana is too clever for Phoenix tonight. Phoenix gains the upper hand when Cabana doesn't take him seriously or turns his attention elsewhere. Otherwise, it's all Colt.

Nikki and Kevin do their best to slow down Cabana. Tweek is able run the show for an extended period after that, mostly working Cabana over with forearms. Tweek goes up top for a splash. He has to check the precariously low ceiling before taking the leap. That gives Cabana enough time to roll out of the way. Cabana goes up for a splash of his own. Tweek immediately rolls. Cabana saw that coming, so he lands on his feet and springs forward, splashing Phoenix.

Nikki and Kevin distract Cabana once again. Cabana gets the best of them too, taking both of them by the scruff of the neck and forcing Kevin to motorboat Nikki. Phoenix gets the jump on Cabana, dropping him with a loaded boot. He covers, but it's only good for two. A discus lariat follows, but that wasn't enough to put Cabana down. Cabana clocks Phoenix with another boot. He takes Phoenix by the legs and taps him out with the Billy Goat's Curse.

Match rating: **. The finish came out of nowhere on this one, which was is a peeve of mine. A bit of work to set up the submission would be nice. Still, Cabana really tied this one together. His timing and comedy manage to keep this from being an awkward match where the face controls the majority of the action and it gets zero heat.

More commercials! St. Holmes and Colvin give a quick wrap up, but Eddie Kingston gets to send us home. He's out in the alley, smoking a cigarette, and he wants a fight. I can't do this one justice. Kingston is a great promo with top notch delivery. Go watch it.


Final Thoughts
Glad to see AAW get a weekly series running. Tonight's episode had three matches from it's December show, One Twisted Christmas, so they're going back a few months for content.  I've seen all the matches at least three times now: live, once on video before, now this, and it still kept me entertained. It'll be even better your first time around. Give it a watch. The only complaint I have are the commercials which are kinda long and repetitive, but AAW is putting out a free show, so don't take that too heavily. Watch AAW, support your indies.

AAW One Twisted Christmas - 12/28/2013 show review

AAW's final show of 2013 packed the house again, much like the month before. It was standing room only in the Eagles Club.

Marcus Edwards vs. Moondog Bernard (/w Arnold Presley)
Marcus and Moondog only get a few seconds of action before Keith Walker comes out with Nikki and Kevin. Walker spears Moondog and lariats Marcus, forcing the ref to stop the match at 1:15.

Match rating: N/A

Kevin Harvey gets a microphone to ask about the injustice of Keith Walker's first AAW loss. How can a man lose a match on a two-count by a referee who has never come back? Walker wants Elgin. Elgin shows up without delay.

Michael Elgin vs. Keith Walker (/w Nikki Mayday and Kevin Harvey)
It's the battle of the behemoths. Walker and Elgin whip each other around from the start. Walker's big enough to choke slam Elgin on the apron when they're standing outside. Elgin clotheslines Walker in the corner six or seven times, running to the opposite corner before sprinting back to crush Walker each time. He burns a lot of energy doing it, but Walker gets the worse for wear.

Walker's got impressive strength to throw Elgin around the ring like he does. Elgin's normally the big powerhouse of a match. Elgin and Walker trade german suplexes later in the match. It's an impressive sight to see them tossed around. Unfortunately, both eat a german and immediately get up to hit a german of their own, foregoing any selling in between.

Tweek Phoenix makes his return to AAW by trying to interfere and attack Elgin. Elgin dispatches with him and gets back to work on Walker. Elgin shows how strong he is with a deadlift powerbomb on a very big man, then Elgin-bombs Walker for the win.

Match rating: **1/4. Good opener. It's fast-paced and get the crowd warm. It's a big man battle rather than a high flying bout to do that, which I really like.

AAW Heritage Title - Matt Cage (c) vs. Mallaki Matthews
Cage headbutts Matthews instead of shaking the poor guy's hand. He's ruthless, stomping away at the stunned Matthews. Cage has a mean leg lariat. Matthews makes the most of his limited chances. Colvin and St. Holmes do a really good job on commentary in this one. They're picking on Matthews a bit, but he's the inexperienced youngster making some mistakes in there. Rather than trying to cover it up, they point out how Cage will make him pay. Cage stops Matthews with his version of the code breaker.

Match rating: *1/2. It's a short match, but it's perfectly acceptable wrestling. Cage gets to heel it up, Matthews gets a shot on the main show. Nothing wrong here.

Fan's Bring the Weapons Match - Knight Wagner & Heather Patera (/w Truth Martini) vs. Tony Rican & Heidi Lovelace
Rican's got a weapon I've never seen before: the jug from a water cooler on top of a long stick. He's walloping Wagner's back with it and it makes a hell of a sound. Lovelace has a plastic guitar that she hits Patera with and Patera comes back at her with a solid roll of wrapping paper from the looks of it. It's carnage in there. Wagner's beating on Rican with a crutch and the only question is what weapons will they grab next? Guitars. The answer is guitars. AAW fans had a lot of extra guitars for some reason.

Wagner puts Rican through an ironing board outside. Patera spits on Rican and taunts him, but Rican refuses to strike her. Lovelace has no problem with hitting Patera, so she domes her with a cookie sheet. Patera lifts Lovelace up for a fisherman's buster, delays it, and plants her on a trash can. Patera gets between Rican and Wagner to save the latter. Rican refuses to hit a woman, but some hard shots from Patera change his mind and he finally forearms her.

Rican grabs a bag of thumbtacks and splays them out across the ring. He's got Wagner up in the corner and looks like he's about to superplex him, but Truth Martini hits Rican with the Book of Truth. Wagner michinoku drivers Rican off the top and into the thumbtacks, which both of them sell like death. Wagner pins Rican to wrap this one up.

Match rating: **. Another fun match. It's not a super serious affair, but it's plenty entertaining.

Tweek Phoenix (w/ Nikki and Kevin) vs. Colt Cabana
Kevin's got a mic before the start of this one. I'm a big, big Kevin Harvey fan, so I've got no complaints with this. Colt's one of the most over guys in AAW and the crowd's chanting his name before the match starts. This one's exactly that you'd expect from Colt: a lot of his British-influenced grappling and comedy spots. Kevin's advising Tweek to slow the match down and wrestle at his own pace.

Colt's too clever for Tweek for the majority of the match. Tweek gains the upperhand when Cabana doesn't take him seriously or turns his attention elsewhere. Tweek hits Cabana with a loaded boot and a discus lariat, but neither is enough to put Cabana down. Cabana clocks Tweek down with that same boot and taps Tweek out with the Billy Goat's Curse.

Match rating: *1/2. The finish came out of nowhere.

Davey Richards vs. Jimmy Jacobs
If I was disinterested in Kyle O'Reilly the previous show, then it's that much worse for Davey this time. Early grappling between the two gets some polite applause. It's a slow burn at the open but Jacobs and Davey up the pace a few minutes in.

Davey roughs up Jacobs a lot in the match and is really focusing on Jacobs' knee and ankle. He toys with Jacobs until Jacobs starts to get fired up. Davey tries to cut him off with kicks but Jacobs goes through them and puts Davey down with a neckbreaker. The crowd's pretty split between rooting for Jacobs and rooting for Davey. Jacobs has a guillotine on Richards while they're on the apron, which Richards escapes with an exploder. Jacobs hit the apron hard and rolls outside.

Davey double stomps the hell out of Jacobs's arm and gets an ankle lock on Davey, which he'd been working all night. Jacobs gets thrown into the corner and springs back, landing a jumping ace crusher. He pulls Davey up lands a contra code to follow up. It's over a few seconds later when Jacobs slaps on another guillotine, which was his move of the match.

Match rating: ***. A fine bout between these two. I'm a Jacobs fan and a Davey detractor, but they had good chemistry in there. The post-match talk was heavy handed, especially given that Davey came back just four weeks later for the next show, but the in-ring action was fine.

Markus Crane & Dan Lawrence vs. Arik Cannon & Ryan Boz
Boz looks like a giant in there next to Lawrence and Crane. Cannon's on the shorter side too, but he at least has some size to him. Crane and Lawrence look like they won't have much of a chance. Cannon's in there for most of the match which is a good call. He's the most polished worker of the four. Cannon rolls around the ring, making Lawrence miss and look like an idiot while Cannon grabs a can of PBR. He opens it up, has a sip, and cracks Lawrence over the head with the rest.

Boz gets tagged in and cleans house. Lawrence slips out of a Boz Driver and has control for a minute until he slips on the top rope. Boz finally spikes Crane with a Boz Driver to end this one.

Match rating: 1/2*. Short match. Boz and Cannon share some PBRs afterwards.

Eddie Kingston vs. Silas Young (/w Val Malone)
Silas wastes no time getting at Kingston, sprinting out from back and tackling Kingston to cut out any introductions and niceties. Silas and Kingston battle around the outside of the ring, whipping each other into the railings. Kingston gets a ladder from the back somehow and pushes it into the ring. It's too tall to stand up in the center, so he has to keep it off to the side. It doesn't get much use before Kingston dismantles it and starts to go after Val.

Kingston ends up bringing the steel steps into the ring, but it's Silas who gets to use them first. He does a running slam in a spot that really didn't work because the steps were too tall and it looks like Kingston gently rolled across them. Silas rolls Kingston up for the win a few seconds later in a finish that comes out of nowhere.

Match rating: *. It got off to a strong start and looked like it was going to be a hell of a brawl. Instead it finishes with a weak move and a roll up in what is supposed to be a blood feud. Very anticlimactic.

Kingston ambushes Silas after the match with a chair. He ties Silas to the ropes, immobilizing him and then beating any fight out of Silas with a spinning backfist. Kingston's about to smash Silas' head in with that chair when Val makes a save and pulls the chair out of Kingston's hands. She tries to hit him with it, but Kingston laughs off the weak blows and knocks the chair from her hands. Silas is forced to watch Kingston scoop Val up and brainbuster her on the chair. Refs and prelim guys storm the ring to check on Val and pin Kingston down, but he's smacking them around as they come in. They drag Kingston out of the ring and force him to the back. Val needs a stretcher to leave the ring.

AAW Tag Title Three Way Elimination Match - Kung Fu Manchu (Louis Lyndon & Marion Fontaine) (c) vs. Men of the Year (Michael Elgin & Ethan Page) vs. Zero Gravity (CJ Esparza & Brett Gakiya) 
Elgin already had one hard bout to start the show, but Ethan Page proposed a tag team and Elgin took Page up on the offer. Page is trying to prove to Elgin how good he is. At the same time, he can't help but heel it up while the honest Elgin watches with dismay.

Elgin gets to face off with Brett "mini-Alvarez" Gakiya. Elgin works very well as a base here for both members of Zero Gravity. Kung Fu Manchu are on the outside for a long while, about 8 minutes or so, while Men of the Year and Zero Gravity hog all the action. They come in with a slew of double team moves to take out Page and then Elgin. Zero Gravity cut the champions off before they can both dive onto Elgin who had rolled out of the ring.

CJ Esparza's the first one to successfully land a dive to the outside, taking out Page with his effort. Kung Fu Manchu run to two corners and hit springboard moonsaults to the outside once Page and Esparza got to their feet. Elgin is next on the turnbuckle but Gakiya dashes up the ropes and jumps off of Elgin's back onto the four men outside.

Kung Fu Manchu have a good run where they take out Zero Gravity and start to work over Elgin. It's Page who makes a save and turns the tide. Elgin spinning backfists Fontaine, buckle bombs him, and then hits the Elgin bomb to eliminate the champions and guarantee that the next fall results in new tag champs.

Elgin has Esparza up in a delayed vertical suplex when Page comes in and tries to give him a hand. Elgin wants to do it alone and pinches Page's belly. Page is unflappable though and hugs it out with Elgin, not letting it get between them. Zero Gravity manage a flippy cup 2.0 on Page but Elgin breaks the pin up. Elgin and Page are beating the hell out of Zero Gravity, tossing them all over the ring for a few minutes, but the little flyers keep coming back with sheer determination.

Zero Gravity try and assisted moonsault on Elgin. Elgin gets his knees up just in time and Page dumps CJ Esparza off the top and into the railing for about the tenth time. Elgin prevents Page from using the ring bell on Gakiya, then gives him a stern talking to. Elgin does his backfist followed by a buckle bomb, but Page cuts in front of him to finish Gakiya off with an uranage. MOTY are the new AAW tag champs.

Match rating: ***3/4. Hell of a match, very entertaining. Some really great sports in here and I love Elgin and Page as a team. Elgin wants to win and is a hell of a competitor. However, unlike Page, he's not a cheater and won't take the low road. Elgin even shakes hands with Zero Gravity after the match while Page looks on with disgust.

AAW Heavyweight Title - Kevin Steen(c) vs. Shane Hollister (/w Scarlett and Markus). 
It's a rematch of last month's main event. The roles are reversed this time: Steen's got the belt and Shane's the challenger. Markus is outside even though he ate a Boz Driver earlier in the evening. To his credit, he's selling his neck the entire time. Steen gets as big of a pop the month before and the crowd is way behind him again.

Hollister jumps Steen to start the match. He doesn't want to take the beating that he took last month again. Steen's not so easy to boss around. He has Hollister outside early on in the match, just like last month, and he's going to throw him into the railings in every corner that he can. Hollister's cringing bad as Steen chops him across the chest a few times. Seeing how red it became, that's not a shock.

Steen goes for an apron powerbomb when they wind up on the outside again. Hollister knows it all too well and manages to slip out of it and land back on his feet. Scarlett gets involved to help choke Steen out on the middle rope. Steen's chops are his main offense and he's brutalizing Hollister's chest.

Hollister isn't using kicks like he did in the first encounter. His offense isn't based on landing the sporadic big moves either; he traded kicks and dives in for a more methodical break down. Hollister does go up to the top rope and tries to frog splash Steen without success. Steen and Hollister do a very nice job of countering each other when either one tries to pull out a spot that worked last month.

Hollister pulls out a shining wizard that only gets a two count. He's back up to the top rope afterwards. This time it's his double stomp that Steen manages to avoid. Steen goes up top for a senton and does what Hollister can't: land a move from there. Steen has Hollister perched on the top rope and lands a vicious chop across his chest. He can't quite get Hollister up for a superplex and Hollister will double stomp Steen while Steen is in the tree of woe.

Steen lands the sleeper suplex that set up his package piledriver the month before, but he goes for a cover this time around. It only gets a two count and Markus comes in to interfere. He eats a package piledriver for the effort. Hollister is back to his feet and lays Steen out with a side kick, buzz saw kick combo. Hollister gets a steel chair out from under the ring. Steen destroys that chair when he puts Shane through it with a spinebuster a minute later.

The chair is a gnarled piece of metal now and Steen is going to package piledrive Hollister on it. Hollister pulls Steen's legs out from under him though and Steen smacks his head on the chair's remnants. Another buzzsaw kick puts Steen down but is only good enough for a two count. Steen struggles to get to his feet when Hollister curb stomps him back down on the chair. Hollister gets Steen up for Shug's Last Gift, again on the chair, and Hollister wraps up Steen's legs for the pin. Hollister regains the title in a hell of a bout at the 17 minute mark.

Match rating: ****. I knew I liked this one more than the first match up, which I did enjoy, but it's better on closer inspection. Hollister and Steen do a fine job working off the first encounter. They have a match that's more crisp this time around too, making for a fine contest.

Final Thoughts
Another solid show from AAW. Multiple strong matches and almost all of them are entertaining to boot. The crowd wasn't as hot as last month, particularly compared to the pop Steen got when he picked up the title, but the in-ring work makes up for it.

AAW Windy City Classic IX - 11/30/2013 show review

This was the first AAW show I attended. I had a great time and enjoyed almost all the matches live, but I wasn't sitting there and thinking "this is a three-star match" while in the moment. Now I'll watch with a more attentive eye to see how things stacked up.

Ethan Page and Ricochet vs. Zero Gravity 
Ricochet filled in for Page's usual Monster Mafia partner, Josh Alexander. This is a semi-final of the AAW allegiance tag tournament. Page and Ricochet opted to make a new name: The New Age Nation of Domination. Prepare yourself for a lot of Nation of Domination mimicry when you watch this. I mean that in the best way.

The biggest takeaway from this match is Ricochet. He stands out from the other three. This isn't a slight on Page and ZG, it's that Ricochet is so talented and charismatic. ZG are good flyers, Ricochet is great. No one looked bad, nor did Ricochet outshine everyone, he's simply the best of the four.

The match itself was an excellent opener. It had a few sloppier moments, but it entertained and got a very packed building to get their energy level up.

Match rating: **1/2

Silas Young and Jimmy Jacobs vs. Irish Airborne 
Our second semi-final of the night has no one stands out on another level, unlike the previous match. Young is really impressing me in AAW and Jacobs seems like a star in Berwyn, while the Irish Airborne come across as viable opponents both in person and on the rewatch.

The extended heat section was Irish Airborne keeping Jimmy far away from Silas while they take turns beating on him. They tag in and out more than about anyone I've seen and they club, stomp, and slam Jacobs for a good while. There's a good spot in the middle where Jimmy finally gets away to tag in Silas, who is nowhere to be found. Dave Crist, the man on the outside for Irish Airborne, goaded Silas into leaving the corner and almost fighting at ringside. Silas plays up being the pissed-as-hell bad ass, so getting frustrated with the opponent's taunts fit the role.

The hot tag hurt the match's flow. Silas is surprised to get the tag form Jacobs and Irish Airborne aren't sure how to handle Silas. There's an awkward delay before he actually goes at them, but Silas looks good once he starts.

Irish Airborne spike Jacobs with a double stomp and tombstone piledriver combination later on. He kicks out and Silas comes to the rescue before Irish Airborne can do any more damage. Silas lays out Dave Crist. Jimmy, still dazed from that tombstone, manages to gather the wherewithal to rise to the top rope and senton Dave before getting pin. Jacobs is in bad shape after the match, coughing and looking like he's about to vomit before he collapses outside the ring. Jacobs has to get assistance to the back, he looks in bad shape at this point, though truth be told it came across better live than on tape with a camera right in his face.

Match rating: **1/2 - not as fun as the opener, but it makes up for that with Jacob's selling and the match's storytelling.

Heather Patera vs. Heidi Lovelace
Patera aligns with Truth Martini in a promo before the match, meaning he's at ringside with her. Patera's in control from the start and it looks like she's going to dominate Heidi. Patera looks like she could break Heidi in half so Heidi has to be the faster one to have a chance.

Probably the biggest problem with the match is Heidi's lack of believable offense. Patera doesn't have this: her stuff looks like it hurts. She's got a powerful build and knows how to use it. Heidi can land some hard shots that look fine, but sometimes it doesn't seem believable that she can even hurt Patera with some of the chops. She's fine when she's moving and flying, not so much if she's trying to trade blows. Heidi uses that flying to finish off Patera with a frog splash in a short match.

Match rating: *. It's a short match, not bad for what it is, and it helped set up a match for next month when Knight Wagner attacks Heidi and MsChif and Tony Rican have to make the save.

Louis Lyndon vs. Kyle O'Reilly
I'll say up front that I have a hard time rating O'Reilly and wrestlers like him. I think he's very good at what he does, but the thing is that I really don't like what he does. I can absolutely do without the faux-MMA style, but at the same time I think O'Reilly is adept and could adjust fine to a style I much prefer. Why aren't you basing your style on my preferences, Mr. O'Reilly?

Louis uses his own martial arts-influenced style, but he takes it a lot less seriously, doing it much more for laughs in comparison. His own strikes stand up to O'Reilly's. They look better much of the time at that. This isn't a match with a lot of bumping or wrestling. It's mostly the two trading strikes back and forth, each gaining an advantage from time to time.

It takes a long way into the match for it to gain any focus. O'Reilly starts to break down Lyndon's back. The problem is he gives up going after it and Lyndon doesn't really act like it bothered him. Lyndon starts to become more of a flyer as the match goes on, and it works against O'Reilly for the time being.

O'Reilly brainbusters Lyndon, goes for the pin, but only gets a two count. He grabs Lyndon's arm and slaps on a cross arm breaker, which gets Lyndon to tap in a few seconds.

Match rating: **. Hate the ending. No arm work makes Lyndon tap to a cross armbreaker out of nowhere? I can do without it. Yes, I know that the arm bar is a very legitimate submission, but this would be like a guy tapping to a sleeper in three seconds because a rear naked choke is a legitimate submission too.

Moondog Bernard and Seaman vs. Keith Walker
Walker's got a pretty great bad ass aura to him. He beats these two poor souls like they stole something. The only thing I really dislike here is that Walker does the Kobashi corner chest slap spot, a spot I really don't care for, but given that he's beating on two bums in a squash I think it's fine.

Match rating: *. Walker looked strong, but he also looks like he's going to break someone's shoulder when he tosses guys around. This was a bit long for a squash too.

AAW Heritage Title Match - Matt Cage vs. ACH 
Both guys have charisma to burn but the fun part is that they're on the opposite end of the spectrum. Cage is a dickhead heel that you want to punch in the face. ACH has a likable energy that makes him easy to cheer for.

It's a slow paced start to the match even after Cage corners ACH, slaps him in the face, and flips him off. ACH is in control for much the beginning and Cage only takes the control by hiding behind the ref, cheap shots, and whatever else he can do to play dirty.

Both of them really start to lay into each other as the match goes on. It doesn't look or sound like they're working light as they slap and chop each other over and over. Cage ends up outside the ring after some confusion between the two. It really breaks up the match when it happens. ACH reaches through the ropes to grab him, giving Cage the chance to wallop ACH with the heritage title. That's enough for Cage to get back in the ring and finish this one seconds later. Cage is leaving Berwyn as the new AAW Heritage Champion.

Match rating: **3/4. Some apparent miscommunication or mistiming at the end really slows down what could have been a hot finish.

Markus Crane, Dan Lawrence, and Knight Wagner vs. Marion Fontaine, Tony Rican, and MsChif
Crane and Lawrence really don't do anything for me as characters. Luckily for me, Fontaine is here to balance them out. Rican throws a hell of a punch. I don't know if he's stiffing everyone in there or knows how to make it work. Either way, he's doing a fine job. Wagner will get the pin on MsChif after interference from Heather Patera.

Match rating: 1/2*.

Christian Rose vs. Marek Brave - Loser Leaves Berwyn
A punishment every man dreads. Who could go without returning to the fine suburb of Berwyn? Trash talk at a perfectly fine city aside, this is the first match of the night that plays up AAW's "no disqualification" rules. As well it should, given the stipulation.

Rose and Brave use a kendo stick and then a cane to try to beat each other into submission. Rose had a nice drop toe hold to put Brave out, though it wasn't enough for a win. Rose later got that chair superkicked into his head, which was already bad, but Brave absolutely reared back and hit him with a vicious head shot. It was uncomfortable live, not much better now, but at least it was a definitive end to a match.

Match rating: *1/2. It's actually pretty damn short for a match like this. The booking of the end works. Unprotected chair shots aren't going to see much love around these parts.

AAW Allegiance Tag Tournament Finals - New Age Nation of Domination (Ricochet and Ethan Page) vs. Jimmy Jacobs and Silas Young (/w Val Malone)
Silas announced that Jimmy wasn't going to make it out after his head injury earlier, but that doesn't stop Silas from coming out. He'll take on both of these guys by himself. Val is going to be his replacement partner, at least technically, but there's no way the last real man is going to let Page or Ricochet get their hands on her.

Silas is roughing both guys up for the start, but how long can one man stand up to two? Silas does everything he can to put on a gutsy performance. Ricochet gets the chance to show off some more of his acrobatics while Page can show his power. Silas is all heart and doing his best in there, but he's already wrestled tonight. He won't tag in Val either, who has to stand on the apron the entire time and watch Silas take the punishment.

Just as things look darkest for Silas, we see Jimmy Jacobs trying to force his way out from back. A wall of refs get in the way and won't let him enter. Jimmy walks away, dejected, before he rushes past them. He slides into the ring, charges across it, and dives through the ropes, right into Page. He's a bat out of hell for the next few minutes, bringing a lot of energy that translated to tape better than I remember live. His presence helps Silas get a chance to recover and all four men will lay each other out in a bang-bang sequence.

Ricochet hits a shooting star press on Jacobs that isn't good enough for the win. He goes back up to the top and Silas rushes up behind him then German suplexes Ricochet from up there. The last few minutes are hectic. Jacobs gets the pin on Ricochet after a top rope contra code. Jacobs and Silas are the AAW Allegiance tournament winners and each will get a match of their choice.

Match rating: ***1/4. I enjoyed it live, but I think it showed better on tape for whatever reason. Jacob's really picked this match up when he came out, but it was good before then.

Silas cuts a short promo after. He doesn't want a trophy, he doesn't want a title shot, he doesn't want a match. He wants Eddie Kingston.

Some great New Age Nation of Domination interaction after the match. I can't try to do it justice, so buy the DVD.

AAW Heavyweight Title - Shane Hollister (/w Scarlett and Markus Crane) vs. Kevin Steen
Steen feels like a star tonight. The Eagles Club is jammed pack, they were turning people away at the door, and it looks like a lot of them came here just for Steen. Scarlett is ridiculously attractive. Hollister's an asshole, but that's his job, so kudos to him.

Steen starts the match by rolling out of the ring and forearming the hell out of Markus, which gets a big pop. Hollister dives through the ropes to get back at him, but Steen quickly regains the upper hand. Steen chops the hell out of Hollister and throws him into the railings. Hollister kicks Steen when he has a chance to get some offense in.

Hollister takes a couple fine bumps as Steen tosses him around. He manages to escape the signature apron powerbomb by clutching on to the middle rope. The crowd is hot from the get-go and the wrestlers are working hard to keep it up. Hollister gets a lot less offense in for much of the match so he has to make it count. He goes for more high impact move and throws hard kicks to cut Steen down.

Hollister withstands a top rope senton, so Steen has to go with a pack piledriver. It's too soon for that and Hollister is able to slip out. Hollister blasts Steen with a hard kick to the head while the big guy was kneeling. Steen goes for another package piledriver, but this time it's Scarlett who breaks it up. Hollister saves her with a super kick.

Hollister's offense looks really good. He's kicking the crap out of Steen. Steen dodges a high kick and sleeper suplexes Hollister. Steen pulls him back up, spikes him with a package piledriver, and gets the pin to become the new AAW Heavyweight champion. The crowd absolutely erupts when Steen wins.

Match rating: ***1/2. A better match on close inspection than I first remembered. Hollister's offense looked legit and he did great selling for Steen, who controlled most of the match. The atmosphere takes this one to another level.

Final Thoughts
I loved it live and still enjoyed it on tape. It's not a perfect show. The middle drags a little and has a few matches that are nothing to write home about. Nothing screams "match of the year", but not every show has to have that that. There's plenty of solid wrestling and it's worth a watch.

AAW Chaos Theory - Quick recap

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.