And we're back in Nashville again. Heads up for these reviews: I know ROH TV is way behind their live shows. I'm doing my best to avoid spoilers and enjoy this as a week-to-week show as it airs.
ROH Top Prospect Tournament Semi Final - Raymond Rowe vs. Corey Hollis
Hollis is about the most generic looking guy you'll see in wrestling. Only a beard helps separate him. It's not even a full beard, not that I can talk about that. Rowe's considerably bigger and more bearded. Rowe's got some fine looking punches and chops. The camera work during this match is awful. The hard cam must be busted or something because it's all the handhelds recording footage right now. Very shaky and amateur looking.
Hollis tries a hurricanrana that Rowe stops with brute strength. Both guys are working hard in there and it's a fast-paced match. Rowe scoops up Hollis for a full-nelson slam, but knees Hollis in the back of the head on his way down. Cool looking move, Hollis is out cold, and Ray Rowe is on to the finals.
Match rating: *1/2. Very short match. The rating isn't a knock, the match is simply too short to give any real credit too. I like Rower's finisher, but he'll probably kill someone with that before too long. It screams "concussion machine."
RD Evans (/w Veda Scott) vs. "Matt Cells"?
The undefeated RD Evans is out, 13-0. His opponent is a Shetland Jack Swagger that gets no introduction. "Matt Cells" is his name, I think. Veda gets a bit of camera time to remind us that the real top prospect is already in the ring. Matt is roughing up Evans in there. Evans takes a really awkward looking bump off the apron when Matt knees him. Looks like he landed right on his ass. Evans gets back in the ring, clotheslines Matt, and finishes him off with a diving headbutt.
Match rating: *. Another very short match.
Veda's got a mic and is in the ring afterwards. "You can all updates you blogs and your fansites." Will do, Veda, will do. Veda volunteers RD to go for 15-0 tonight. She issues an open challenge to ANYONE on the roster. Bad news, Evans, Michael Elgin answers first.
Michael Elgin vs. RD Evans (/w Veda Scott)
Elgin extends a hand as the crowd chants "Don't die, RD, don't die!" Elgin jerks Evans in with the handshake and then slams Evans. They're outside in a few seconds, where Elgin is throwing Evans into barricades. Goddamn, Evans is bumping like crazy into the boards.
Evans is dead in the water when Elgin rolls him back in the ring. Elgin puts Evans up on the top rope. Veda's there to distract Elgin just long enough for Evans to recover. He tries a sunset flip powerbomb but Elgin is way too strong. Elgin ends up back on the middle rope as Evans is standing on the apron outside. Elgin lifts Evans up for a superplex from there, delaying it so the crowd can count it out. I do like Elgin, I really do, but I can do without that spot ever single match. Buckle bomb. Spinning sit out power bomb. Evans is done. Elgin is not.
Elgin gets some chairs from outside to set up. Elgin powerbombs Evans through the chairs. RD Evans is victorious! 15-0! 15-0!
Security, a/k/a ROH's ring crew, swarms Elgin to stop any more carnage.
Match rating: **. Big credit to Evans for his bumping. Elgin played up that he's blinded by rage and wants to beat the hell out of someone, anyone, until he gets his hands on Adam Cole. Elgin gets to look like a monster, Evans gets to add to his win streak. Everyone's a winner.
AJ Styles returning to ROH video package. He'll be here next week.
Matt Taven vs. Tadarius Thomas
A collar-and-elbow tie up to start the match off. TD and Taven exchange wristlocks and work through a bunch of slick transitions to get up to trading headlocks. Thomas forearms Taven to end the chain wrestling segment of this match.
Taven pops TD with a missile dropkick. He hurricanranas TD, who dodges any impact by cartwheeling through it. The ref actually admonishes Taven for clutching TD's tights before and during a suplex. Very judicious enforcement of the rules, I approve.
Corino's talking about Matt Hardy on commentary, making an awkward mention of Hardy spending time with his beautiful wife. TD eats back-to-back enzugiris as he sits on the top turnbuckle. TD pushes Taven away when he tries a huracanrana. TD tries to ax handle Taven from the top. Taven counters with a superkick. Now Taven's up top and he lands a frog splash with plenty of air. It's enough to finish TD.
Match rating: *1/2. To be succinct: it was a bunch of moves. Neither guys are stiffs, but there's nothing to this match.
Another video package follows, giving a bit of back story to Jay Briscoe vs. Adam Cole. Cole's answering Briscoe's charges today. Jay's out there first, letting Cole know that he's there to kick ass and chew bubble gum. And he's all out of bubble gum. His line, not mine.
It's not Cole who greets Jay tonight, it's tag team champion Bobby Fish. Bobby Fish proclaims that he's a real champion, like Adam Cole. Jay Briscoe is a fake. Fish wants Jay to know that Cole won't dignify a fake title by coming out here, but Fish is more than happy to represent ROH in a match.
Bobby Fish vs. Jay Briscoe
Fish yells that he wants a shot at Briscoe's fake title as we go to a commercial break. Kevin Kelly lets us know the rest of the hour is going to Jay Briscoe vs. Bobby Fish, so I'm expecting a nice long match. Fish kicks the inside of Jay's thigh when they consider locking up. He's using leg kicks early on and Jay's selling the knee already, limping around moments in.
Jay headbutts Fish and whips him into the boards outside. He tosses the chairs from outside into the ring, but the ref cleared them out by the time Jay and Fish are in there again. Jay's laying the boots to Fish, who's trying to run away when the beating doesn't stop. The two take it outside again, where Jay is throwing Fish into the boards once more.
Fish is trying to run like hell until he gets an opening to take control. Fish follows up almost every move with a pin attempt. Slam then pin. Suplex then pin. Rinse and repeat. If Briscoe bumps, Fish pins. Fish starts to get more frustrated with each kick out.
Jay fights back with headbutts and boots. Both guys have good looking strikes that they trade back and forth. Jay makes Fish buckle over long enough to scoop him up for a falcon arrow. Two count. Jay wants the Jay Driller, Fish drives him into the corner to avoid it.
Fish puts Jay up on the top turnbuckle, looking for a superplex. Jay hammers away at Fish's sides and dumps him off the top. Fish takes a hell of a bump there, like he was trying to push himself as far away as he could. Jay lands a splash but it hurts him too. The ref's giving both men a ten count. Adam Cole finally shows up now. Cole claps and taunts Jay. Both men in the ring are back on their feet. They're exchanging stiffer and stiffer forearms until Fish starts to break. He starts to wobble. Fish's forearm attempt is barely a slap a slap now.
Jay doesn't let up. A few more hard forearms drive Fish back. He irish whips Fish, looking for the killing blow, but Fish ducks under it. Cole grabbed Jay's belt outside, distracting him away from Fish. Fish crouches in wait. The ref is yelling at Cole on the outside, giving Fish the chance to land a crushing low blow. Jay's hurt badly now. Fish hits a Saito suplex on Jay, covers, but only gets two! Great near fall, I thought this one was over.
Fish sizes up Jay. He wants to kick his head clean off, but a kneeling Jay gets under the kick. He grabs Fish by the waist and shoves him into Adam Cole, who was up on the ring apron. Jay doubles Fish over, hooks the arms, and a Jay Driller ends the main event.
Adam Cole gets in the ring while Jay celebrates his win. He's going to use the world title to blindside Jay, but Jay avoids it. Cole drops the belt and rolls out of the ring before Jay can get his hands on him. Jay's got both world title belts now, much to Cole's disgust.
Match Rating: ***. Good main event that was missing a little something to take it to the next level. Fish spammed pins early on then didn't get any in for a long while, which made his nearfall at the end entirely believable.
Final Thoughts
This week was much more entertaining than the last. We got a good-length main event, plenty of RD Evans, and more set up to matches down the road without feeling so much like a pure transition episode. Next week is AJ Style's return. I'm looking forward to it.
Jan 31, 2014
Jan 29, 2014
Match Review: Vordell Walker vs. Sigmon - Dec 23, 2013 and Jan 6, 2014
Double review tonight, thanks to DylanWaco's suggestions. I'm watching Vordell Walker vs. Sigmon in two for both. First, a submission match from the TCW show posted on December 23, 2013. Second up is their rematch posted on January 6, a 30 minute iron man match. Let's do this.
Submission Match: Vordell Walker vs. Sigmon
Walker's noticeably bigger than Sigmon. The announcers are spot on when they say he looks like a hell of an athlete. Sigmon ducks between the ropes when Walker nears him. Walker's chasing, trying to tie up and test strength. Sigmon wants none of that. He's back to leaning against the ropes, cowering in a corner after one Walker suplex.
Walker tries to single leg Sigmon, but Sigmon catches him in a headlock. The two are trying for quick submissions like wristholds and armbars, but no luck for either guy yet. It's a few minutes in when Sigmon starts to work in more common pro wrestling moves. They go outside, where Sigmon fails to throw Walker into the stairs. Walker hops up on them anyway and moonsaults Sigmon.
Back in the ring, Walker chopblocks Sigmon and starts to wrench on the ankle. Walker breaks down the knee and even throws in a spinning toe hold. I pop, Sigmon grimaces in pain. Sigmon tries to punch Walker off of him and Walker admonishes him with a hard smack on the chest.
Sigmon takes the fight back outside the ring. This time he manages to throw Walker into the steel steps. Sigmon gets Walker back in the ring so he can work over the shoulder. Sigmon is doing a fine job selling the knee, even on offense. Walker trips Sigmon and slaps on a figure four leg lock, targeting the knee once more. Sigmon's howling in pain, Walker's screaming "tap! tap!", and the two jockey for position. Sigmon finally rolls Walker over, reversing the figure four's pressure, but he has to let go after a few seconds.
Sigmon goes right back for Walker's left shoulder once he can. He has what looks like a triangle choke on Walker, who looks like he's gonna pass out. Walker slowly inches up, gets the bottom of his feet on the mat, and keeps on rising while Sigmon tries to tap him. Walker powers Sigmon up into the air, spins around, and tosses Sigmon into the corner.
Walker puts Sigmon down with a hard knee. He gets a stretch muffler on Sigmon, but Sigmon's too close to the ropes and he clutches on to the bottom one for dear life. Sigmon escapes to the outside and grabs the ring bell. The ref can't rip it away, getting tossed aside by Sigmon. Sigmon turns back around just in time to eat a knee from Walker that slams the bell against Sigmon's head. He's unconscious. Walker puts the stretch muffler back on and the ref checks on Sigmon. Sigmon's not responding and the ref calls for the bell, giving Walker the win by ... knockout? That's what the ring announcer calls it as. The announcers are confused, but they the add that the ref had no choice.
Match rating: ***3/4. Really good match. Great selling by both guys. Sigmon selling the leg was some of the best I've seen lately and it reminded me of Minoru Suzuki against Tanahashi. But I'm a ridiculously huge Suzuki fan, so all good qualities remind me of him. Anyway, big thumbs up on this one. I was going to critique it for being a bit short, but then I realized I had been watching it for 15 minutes, not 10. Sure went by fast.
Iron Man Match: Vordell Walker vs. Sigmon
These two have some unfinished business after the way that last one ended. Walker gets to claim victory in their last contest. Sigmon has a legitimate defense: how do you lose a submission match without submitting? Time to square this one up.
First thing I notice: a timer ticking up in the corner. It's a little touch, one I like that a lot. Sigmon slaps Walker at the onset. Walker's pissed and scoops Sigmon up, carrying him around the ring before slamming him down. Sigmon rolls outside the ring to compose himself for a minute before getting back in there. Sigmon's headbutting Walker and putting him in a headlock, which Walker escapes with a back suplex. Walker throws in an arm hold for good measure. Sigmon breaks the hold and goes back outside again.
Walker can slap Sigmon around in there and out strike him any day in an fair fight. Sigmon's not dumb enough to let that happen. He hides in the ropes and sucker punches Walker when the ref is between the two. Sigmon gives Walker a few hard chops in the corner, but Walker reverses their positions and throws a few of his own, much stiffer chops.
Sigmon keeps playing dirty rather than trying to square off with the superior athlete. He shoulders Walker's gut when he has Walker in the corner, trying to wear him out. That's Sigmon's gameplan while he controls the match. Beat on Walker, not with high impact moves or submissions, but with chops, shoulders, and chinlocks to grind it out. Sigmon O'Connor rolls Walker when he has him from behind. The ref's in a bad spot and Sigmon knows it. Sigmon pulls up on Walker's tights, getting the pin. Sigmon's up one.
Walker's mad as hell. He chases Sigmon outside and slams his head against the announcers' table. They get back in the ring and Walker still looks steamed. Sigmon gets back in control of the match and throws Walker through the ropes. He pulls up some of the mats around ringside, exposing the floor. He wants to suplex Walker, but Walker fights it off. Walker shoves Sigmon into the ring steps and grabs him tight once Sigmon nears again. Walker hits a frickin' overhead belly-to-belly, sending Sigmon onto the exposed floor. He's hitting Sigmon while Sigmon gets back up and lunges at him. Sigmon moves in the nick of time and Walker crashes into the ring post. This match is heating up fast. Sigmon gets Walker inside and climbs to the top. He tries a diving headbutt but this time it's Walker who evades a big move. Walker hooks Sigmon's arms and rolls him over for the three count. One fall each.
They're supposed to get a 30 second break between falls. This one only goes about 20 before Sigmon jumps Walker. Sigmon's going for bigger moves now. He manages to suplex Walker and follows up with a "Japanese strangehold" instead of a simple chinlock. Walker's able to power out of that. Sigmon throws Walker into the corner twice, whipping him sternum-first. The two end up battling on the top rope. Sigmon makes Walker buckle over in pain. He leaps over Walker and hits him with a hard sunset flip powerbomb. He covers Walker immediately and gets a pinfall while his feet are up on the bottom rope. Sigmon two, Walker one.
We're past the halfway mark when fall four starts. The two of them are outside where they were before, the spot by the ring steps and the exposed floor. Sigmon throws Walker into the ring steps. Walker take a hard, flat back bump right into them. The ref has to keep the ten count going. Sigmon gets to catch his breath as Walker fights to even stand. He's about to get in the ring at the count of nine but Sigmon hits him with a baseball slide.
Sigmon is in control for a while until Walker overpowers him and pancakes him against the corner. Walker powerslams Sigmon, then hits something like a sideways exploder after that. Sigmon dodges a knee and grabs Walker by the waist. Walker fights out of it with some hard elbows.
The announcers are adding a lot to this match. They're not perfect, but they're a lot better than most. They put the match and the moves over rather than themselves. The play-by-play gets excited at the right times. Like when Walker knees the hell out of Sigmon, who was busy taunting. Walker throws himself on Sigmon and gets another three count. We're 20 minutes in and it's two to two.
Both guys can barely stand when the next fall starts. Actually, Walker can't at all. He's still kneeling while Sigmon stumbles around. Sigmon hits a big clothesline that flips Walker over. Sigmon has to army crawl his way to Walker. It takes a bit too long and Walker can kick out at three. Walker gets Sigmon with an inverted piledriver but Sigmon kicks out at two. Sigmon Germans Walker but he can't bridge it for the pin. He goes for a diving headbutt from up top as his encore. It's only good for two. Walker kicks out just in time. The two get back up and they're trading chops, forearms, and punches. The nearfalls flow free. Walker hauls himself up to the top rope. He's thinking moonsault, but Sigmon throws his weight on the top rope to cut off Walker. He's up behind Walker and hits another German, this time from way up there. Sigmon doesn't go for the pin. He wants Walker up. Walker eats a lariat. It looked a bit weak, but Walker stays down for the three. Sigmon three, Walker two.
Four minutes left. They exchange chops. Walker buckle bombs Sigmon. It's not the Michael Elgin toss into the turnbuckle, but more of a proper powerbomb with Sigmon's back smacking the top of the turnbuckle. Walker clotheslines Sigmon. He gets Sigmon in a Boston crab; Sigmon fights to get the ropes. Sigmon manages to get out of that, only for Walker to throw on the stretch muffler. He cinches it in, dead center of the ring. Sigmon gets out, but the damage is done. He's limping badly. Walker dives into Sigmon's knee. A figure four follows. Sigmon's grimacing and fighting to reverse it. He drops his shoulders down to the mat, exhausted, and almost gets pinned before he can get them back up.
One minute left. Sigmon's fighting it. He turns the hold over on Walker. Walker rolls through and gets it back on Sigmon. Sigmon nabs the rope with 25 seconds left. Walker's hustling his ass off. He tugs Sigmon back to the middle of the ring and slaps on another figure four. He's wrenching it in. 10 seconds left. Five, four, three, two, one. The bell rings, this one is over. Sigmon's slapping the mat. He's had enough. Sigmon outlasted Vordell Walker this time.
Walker extends a hand to Sigmon after. Sigmon looks at the crowd, contemplating if he should trust Walker or not. He puts it out there for Walker, but slowly raises it away before Walker can shake it. "You're a loser!" And the winner's gonna limp out of here now.
Match rating: ****1/2. Loved it. Sigmon's selling is top notch once again. Love the call back to the submission match with the knee work. Naturally, the figure four isn't good for a fall, yet they still made it feel dramatic. They had a narrative in mind for the match and they stuck to it superbly. Walker's the bigger man, the better athlete. Sigmon's gonna have to pull this one out by hook or by crook. He manages to do it too. All the while they're wrestling as good of an iron man match as I've ever seen.
Submission Match: Vordell Walker vs. Sigmon
Walker's noticeably bigger than Sigmon. The announcers are spot on when they say he looks like a hell of an athlete. Sigmon ducks between the ropes when Walker nears him. Walker's chasing, trying to tie up and test strength. Sigmon wants none of that. He's back to leaning against the ropes, cowering in a corner after one Walker suplex.
Walker tries to single leg Sigmon, but Sigmon catches him in a headlock. The two are trying for quick submissions like wristholds and armbars, but no luck for either guy yet. It's a few minutes in when Sigmon starts to work in more common pro wrestling moves. They go outside, where Sigmon fails to throw Walker into the stairs. Walker hops up on them anyway and moonsaults Sigmon.
Back in the ring, Walker chopblocks Sigmon and starts to wrench on the ankle. Walker breaks down the knee and even throws in a spinning toe hold. I pop, Sigmon grimaces in pain. Sigmon tries to punch Walker off of him and Walker admonishes him with a hard smack on the chest.
Sigmon takes the fight back outside the ring. This time he manages to throw Walker into the steel steps. Sigmon gets Walker back in the ring so he can work over the shoulder. Sigmon is doing a fine job selling the knee, even on offense. Walker trips Sigmon and slaps on a figure four leg lock, targeting the knee once more. Sigmon's howling in pain, Walker's screaming "tap! tap!", and the two jockey for position. Sigmon finally rolls Walker over, reversing the figure four's pressure, but he has to let go after a few seconds.
Sigmon goes right back for Walker's left shoulder once he can. He has what looks like a triangle choke on Walker, who looks like he's gonna pass out. Walker slowly inches up, gets the bottom of his feet on the mat, and keeps on rising while Sigmon tries to tap him. Walker powers Sigmon up into the air, spins around, and tosses Sigmon into the corner.
Walker puts Sigmon down with a hard knee. He gets a stretch muffler on Sigmon, but Sigmon's too close to the ropes and he clutches on to the bottom one for dear life. Sigmon escapes to the outside and grabs the ring bell. The ref can't rip it away, getting tossed aside by Sigmon. Sigmon turns back around just in time to eat a knee from Walker that slams the bell against Sigmon's head. He's unconscious. Walker puts the stretch muffler back on and the ref checks on Sigmon. Sigmon's not responding and the ref calls for the bell, giving Walker the win by ... knockout? That's what the ring announcer calls it as. The announcers are confused, but they the add that the ref had no choice.
Match rating: ***3/4. Really good match. Great selling by both guys. Sigmon selling the leg was some of the best I've seen lately and it reminded me of Minoru Suzuki against Tanahashi. But I'm a ridiculously huge Suzuki fan, so all good qualities remind me of him. Anyway, big thumbs up on this one. I was going to critique it for being a bit short, but then I realized I had been watching it for 15 minutes, not 10. Sure went by fast.
Iron Man Match: Vordell Walker vs. Sigmon
These two have some unfinished business after the way that last one ended. Walker gets to claim victory in their last contest. Sigmon has a legitimate defense: how do you lose a submission match without submitting? Time to square this one up.
First thing I notice: a timer ticking up in the corner. It's a little touch, one I like that a lot. Sigmon slaps Walker at the onset. Walker's pissed and scoops Sigmon up, carrying him around the ring before slamming him down. Sigmon rolls outside the ring to compose himself for a minute before getting back in there. Sigmon's headbutting Walker and putting him in a headlock, which Walker escapes with a back suplex. Walker throws in an arm hold for good measure. Sigmon breaks the hold and goes back outside again.
Walker can slap Sigmon around in there and out strike him any day in an fair fight. Sigmon's not dumb enough to let that happen. He hides in the ropes and sucker punches Walker when the ref is between the two. Sigmon gives Walker a few hard chops in the corner, but Walker reverses their positions and throws a few of his own, much stiffer chops.
Sigmon keeps playing dirty rather than trying to square off with the superior athlete. He shoulders Walker's gut when he has Walker in the corner, trying to wear him out. That's Sigmon's gameplan while he controls the match. Beat on Walker, not with high impact moves or submissions, but with chops, shoulders, and chinlocks to grind it out. Sigmon O'Connor rolls Walker when he has him from behind. The ref's in a bad spot and Sigmon knows it. Sigmon pulls up on Walker's tights, getting the pin. Sigmon's up one.
Walker's mad as hell. He chases Sigmon outside and slams his head against the announcers' table. They get back in the ring and Walker still looks steamed. Sigmon gets back in control of the match and throws Walker through the ropes. He pulls up some of the mats around ringside, exposing the floor. He wants to suplex Walker, but Walker fights it off. Walker shoves Sigmon into the ring steps and grabs him tight once Sigmon nears again. Walker hits a frickin' overhead belly-to-belly, sending Sigmon onto the exposed floor. He's hitting Sigmon while Sigmon gets back up and lunges at him. Sigmon moves in the nick of time and Walker crashes into the ring post. This match is heating up fast. Sigmon gets Walker inside and climbs to the top. He tries a diving headbutt but this time it's Walker who evades a big move. Walker hooks Sigmon's arms and rolls him over for the three count. One fall each.
They're supposed to get a 30 second break between falls. This one only goes about 20 before Sigmon jumps Walker. Sigmon's going for bigger moves now. He manages to suplex Walker and follows up with a "Japanese strangehold" instead of a simple chinlock. Walker's able to power out of that. Sigmon throws Walker into the corner twice, whipping him sternum-first. The two end up battling on the top rope. Sigmon makes Walker buckle over in pain. He leaps over Walker and hits him with a hard sunset flip powerbomb. He covers Walker immediately and gets a pinfall while his feet are up on the bottom rope. Sigmon two, Walker one.
We're past the halfway mark when fall four starts. The two of them are outside where they were before, the spot by the ring steps and the exposed floor. Sigmon throws Walker into the ring steps. Walker take a hard, flat back bump right into them. The ref has to keep the ten count going. Sigmon gets to catch his breath as Walker fights to even stand. He's about to get in the ring at the count of nine but Sigmon hits him with a baseball slide.
Sigmon is in control for a while until Walker overpowers him and pancakes him against the corner. Walker powerslams Sigmon, then hits something like a sideways exploder after that. Sigmon dodges a knee and grabs Walker by the waist. Walker fights out of it with some hard elbows.
The announcers are adding a lot to this match. They're not perfect, but they're a lot better than most. They put the match and the moves over rather than themselves. The play-by-play gets excited at the right times. Like when Walker knees the hell out of Sigmon, who was busy taunting. Walker throws himself on Sigmon and gets another three count. We're 20 minutes in and it's two to two.
Both guys can barely stand when the next fall starts. Actually, Walker can't at all. He's still kneeling while Sigmon stumbles around. Sigmon hits a big clothesline that flips Walker over. Sigmon has to army crawl his way to Walker. It takes a bit too long and Walker can kick out at three. Walker gets Sigmon with an inverted piledriver but Sigmon kicks out at two. Sigmon Germans Walker but he can't bridge it for the pin. He goes for a diving headbutt from up top as his encore. It's only good for two. Walker kicks out just in time. The two get back up and they're trading chops, forearms, and punches. The nearfalls flow free. Walker hauls himself up to the top rope. He's thinking moonsault, but Sigmon throws his weight on the top rope to cut off Walker. He's up behind Walker and hits another German, this time from way up there. Sigmon doesn't go for the pin. He wants Walker up. Walker eats a lariat. It looked a bit weak, but Walker stays down for the three. Sigmon three, Walker two.
Four minutes left. They exchange chops. Walker buckle bombs Sigmon. It's not the Michael Elgin toss into the turnbuckle, but more of a proper powerbomb with Sigmon's back smacking the top of the turnbuckle. Walker clotheslines Sigmon. He gets Sigmon in a Boston crab; Sigmon fights to get the ropes. Sigmon manages to get out of that, only for Walker to throw on the stretch muffler. He cinches it in, dead center of the ring. Sigmon gets out, but the damage is done. He's limping badly. Walker dives into Sigmon's knee. A figure four follows. Sigmon's grimacing and fighting to reverse it. He drops his shoulders down to the mat, exhausted, and almost gets pinned before he can get them back up.
One minute left. Sigmon's fighting it. He turns the hold over on Walker. Walker rolls through and gets it back on Sigmon. Sigmon nabs the rope with 25 seconds left. Walker's hustling his ass off. He tugs Sigmon back to the middle of the ring and slaps on another figure four. He's wrenching it in. 10 seconds left. Five, four, three, two, one. The bell rings, this one is over. Sigmon's slapping the mat. He's had enough. Sigmon outlasted Vordell Walker this time.
Walker extends a hand to Sigmon after. Sigmon looks at the crowd, contemplating if he should trust Walker or not. He puts it out there for Walker, but slowly raises it away before Walker can shake it. "You're a loser!" And the winner's gonna limp out of here now.
Match rating: ****1/2. Loved it. Sigmon's selling is top notch once again. Love the call back to the submission match with the knee work. Naturally, the figure four isn't good for a fall, yet they still made it feel dramatic. They had a narrative in mind for the match and they stuck to it superbly. Walker's the bigger man, the better athlete. Sigmon's gonna have to pull this one out by hook or by crook. He manages to do it too. All the while they're wrestling as good of an iron man match as I've ever seen.
Jan 28, 2014
ROH TV show recap - January 25, 2014
7-10 years ago I was a huge ROH fan. After a few years away from wrestling, I started to get back into the WWE in late 2003/early 2004. But a few too many Triple H promos and a lot of Randy Orton on my TV started to scare me away and forced me to look for alternatives. There was TNA, which I was really glad to see get a show on Fox Sports/Comcast Sports at the time. Then I heard about ROH, who had only run a few shows in the Chicago market. But there were coming back every 3 months or so. These were my first live wrestling shows ever and I had a ton of fun going. My poor mom even sat through one, since I was 15 at the time and couldn't drive myself.
My wrestling fandom started to fade over time and I lost interest in ROH. Fast forward to 2012 and I'm a regular wrestling watcher once more. ROH isn't the indy darling that it once was. Most of the big stars from the mid-2000s moved on. Gabe was gone. Cary didn't own it. Things were different. I've watched their show a handful of times since then. Always online, since they don't have TV in the third largest city in the country and arguably their second biggest fanbase locale. It could be entertaining, but not so much that I felt compelled to keep watching.
Word is that the product is improving. I check the results and read some of the feedback and people like ROH's direction right now. So maybe it's time to give them another shot and start watching their weekly TV show. What's 45 minutes a week to a guy who spends way too much time watching wrestling anyway? Without further adieu, let's get to the show.
===
ROH is in Nashville, Tennessee for the taping. Kevin Kelly, on commentary with Steve Corino and Prince Nana, announces that we're getting Silas Young vs. Tommaso Ciampa for the TV title later tonight.
ROH Top Prospect Tournament - Andrew Everett vs. The Romantic Touch
Andrew Everett's a youngster, only 21. The Romantic Touch, a masked Rhett Titus, tries to gently woo a few women on his way to the ring. Everett shows off his flying ability early. It's not enough to do a tope out of the ring, he's gonna add a corkscrew to it. Everett's the embodiment of flippy do wrestling. It's a sight to see, but I wonder how long he'll be able to do it.
RT monkey flips Everett, who does a full 450 on it. RT gets Everett down with a high drop kick. Veda Scott bumrushes the commentary table and gets a mic in her hand, berating the announcers about the injustice of the ROH Top Prospect tournament. She's a lot better as a complaining heel than the baby face she was when I last watched. She's openly calling RT out as Rhett Titus and calls Everett "flips." I now love this woman. RT makes a romantic gesture towards Veda, but she's disgusted. Everett rolls RT up when he turns back around, getting a surprise pin.
Match rating: *. Nothing to this one really. Everett's ability to flip is impressive, but not cohesive with having a real match here.
Video package from final battle. BJ and Roderick Strong ambush Eddie Edwards. Jacobs joins them and spikes Edwards, literally. Strong, BJ, and Jacobs are a new stable from the looks of it. I'm down.
Jay Briscoe comes out before the next top prospect match can occur. Goddamn does he have a good look. He's got a big ass beard, a mohawk, leather vest, camo pants, and his own title belt. Jay looks like someone I would not want to fuck with. Jay wants Cole and he's mad as hell that Cole hasn't responded. Adam Cole comes out, but isn't about into the ring with the irate redneck.
Adam Cole is the real world champion, per Adam Cole. Not Jay Briscoe. Cole's great as a smug, condescending heel. He'll never care what anyone has to say if they're going to be dumb enough to believe Jay Briscoe is the real world champion. The only man he'll listen to his Matt Hardy, which the crowd boos. Cole actually does get in the ring for a moment, though it's only long enough to let Jay know that he'll get an answer next week.
ROH Top Prospect Tournament - Cheeseburger vs. Hanson
Cheeseburger is pretty damn over. He's a skinny little guy though. Hanson's not. He's billed at 275 and that looks about right. The crowd's chanting for Cheeseburger before the bell rings.
Hanson dominates Cheeseburger physically, which is no shocker if you just look at the guys. Cheeseburger tries a sunset flip but isn't strong enough to pull Hanson down. Any attempt at offense ends in disaster. The crowd chants for Cheeseburger again, rooting the little guy on. Cheeseburger's forearms slow Hanson down for a second and a drop kick to the leg puts him down on one knee. Cheeseburger bounces of the ropes. Hanson's back to his feet immediately and crushes Cheeseburger with a spinning leg lariat. Cheeseburger's not getting up from that and Hanson covers for the win.
Match rating: N/A. It was a squash match. Cheeseburger's really popular and bumped well. Hanson's spinning leg lariat was a fine finisher, albeit a bit stiff. Cheeseburger was bleeding some when they took him out of the ring.
Promo for AJ's return to ROH. Looking forward to it. I don't think I ever got to see AJ live in ROH, since my fandom coincided with TNA pulling a lot of talent.
Adam Page vs. Mark Briscoe
Mark's got a good look in his own right. It's similar to his brother, but his facial expressions read more as "nutty crazy" than "murderous crazy." The match can't even start before music interrupts the contestants. Out comes Jacobs, Whitmer, and Strong. Jacobs says they're sorry to interrupt, but they can do whatever the hell they want. They're "the Decade" from the sound of it.
Mark's been here since day one, which Jacobs hasn't forgotten. Mark belongs with the Decade, if you ask Jacobs. Jacobs slaps Everett, who's using ROH as a stepping stone. Decade triple team him, Mark Briscoe joins the fray to run them off, and it looks like we're getting a tag match after a commercial break.
We get a Veda Scott promo, hyping up RD Evans' undefeated streak all over the world. Good stuff.
Decade (BJ Whitmer and Jimmy Jacobs) vs. Adam Page and Mark Briscoe
They're still brawling inside and outside of the ring as we come back. It takes a minute for things to slow down and the match to really start. BJ and Jacobs are beating down Everett, getting the heat right from the open. The crowd's into Everett, who's doing a fine job as a face in peril. It's a short heat segment once Everett gets the tag to Mark pretty quickly.
Mark and BJ exchange looping punches to the head. Mark gets the advantage and busts out his kung fu skills. A clothesline sends BJ crashing outside. Jacobs knees Mark in the back as he runs the ropes to get a head of steam, wanting to dive to the outside. Everett hits a running shooting star press off the apron onto BJ to make up for that. Mark adds in a Catcus Jackian elbow drop off the apron for good measure.
Adam Page is big into flips today, but not as much as Andrew Everett. He tries to go up top and Jacobs cuts his legs out from under him. BJ hits a super exploder and Mark has to make the save.
BJ lariats Everett, killing his momentum. Jacobs and Whitmer hit their double team finisher, which is something of an inverted powerslam/ace crusher combo. I like it. Match over.
Match rating: **. I like the team of BJ and Jacobs, then again I always have. Everett could slow it down a bit.
Angry Kevin Steen promo. He's going to put Cliff Compton down because he ambushed Steen last week.
Silas Young vs. Tommaso Ciampa
Silas has strap with him as he enters. He plays up his "last real man" gimmick as a loudmouthed heel, unlike in AAW where he's more of a disgruntled babyface. Ciampa's in damn good shape. Taven's rudely interrupts before things can start and hypes up his TV title reign. He wants his belt back and he's up in Tommaso's face about it. It looks heelish until he extends a hand to Tommaso, doing something he wouldn't do before. Tommaso never gets to accept because Silas ambushes Taven. Security has to pull Taven away.
We've got Jay Lethal on commentary this time. I kinda like the revolving door third man in the booth concept for now. Unfortunately, him and Corino are bickering much of the time, which distracts from the in-ring action. Tommaso gets Silas outside and sits him down in a chair. He's creaming Silas with running rising knees. Silas manages to run before the third of those and grabs his strap from the corner. Tommaso chases Silas back into the ring. Silas pulls a clever one and kicks the middle rope just as Tomasso steps over it, cutting off the chase and giving the show a chance for a commercial break.
The two are exchanging punches and chops when we come back. Lethal is putting over Ciampa on commentary when he's not screaming with Corino. Silas gets his hands on that strap again, but Tommaso ducks under two wild swings. Silas slips and Tommaso busts his nose up with another stiff rising knee. These two work well together when they brawl. Silas keeps going for the strap. The ref pulls it away before Silas can get at Tommaso. Silas kicks out at one after Tommaso slams him. Silas hits a hard lariat, starts to build momentum, and suddenly Tommaso has him in the Sicilian stretch more or less out of nowhere. Silas taps immediately. He ambushes Tommaso while he celebrates and goes to get the strap. Jay Lethal comes to the rescue, but Silas fights him off. Taven's out next and he manages to get Silas out of there.
Lethal, Tommaso, and Taven eye each other up. They all want the belt, but it's Tommaso's for now.
Match rating: *1/2. Ending felt really rushed and maybe it had to do with TV restrictions. Or maybe they laid it out that way, I'm not an insider. Either way, I'm not a fan of guys tapping to submission immediately, especially if they weren't worked over before or don't have a reason to, like in an iron man match. Tommaso and Silas brawling was the highlight of the match when it happened, which wasn't often enough.
Final Thoughts
A fine 50 minutes that was lighter on wrestling than I would have guessed. Nothign to write home about. This one was much more of a transition week than anything else. ROH's TV product is supposed to support the live events, so that adds up. I'll be watching when the next episode is up.
My wrestling fandom started to fade over time and I lost interest in ROH. Fast forward to 2012 and I'm a regular wrestling watcher once more. ROH isn't the indy darling that it once was. Most of the big stars from the mid-2000s moved on. Gabe was gone. Cary didn't own it. Things were different. I've watched their show a handful of times since then. Always online, since they don't have TV in the third largest city in the country and arguably their second biggest fanbase locale. It could be entertaining, but not so much that I felt compelled to keep watching.
Word is that the product is improving. I check the results and read some of the feedback and people like ROH's direction right now. So maybe it's time to give them another shot and start watching their weekly TV show. What's 45 minutes a week to a guy who spends way too much time watching wrestling anyway? Without further adieu, let's get to the show.
===
ROH is in Nashville, Tennessee for the taping. Kevin Kelly, on commentary with Steve Corino and Prince Nana, announces that we're getting Silas Young vs. Tommaso Ciampa for the TV title later tonight.
ROH Top Prospect Tournament - Andrew Everett vs. The Romantic Touch
Andrew Everett's a youngster, only 21. The Romantic Touch, a masked Rhett Titus, tries to gently woo a few women on his way to the ring. Everett shows off his flying ability early. It's not enough to do a tope out of the ring, he's gonna add a corkscrew to it. Everett's the embodiment of flippy do wrestling. It's a sight to see, but I wonder how long he'll be able to do it.
RT monkey flips Everett, who does a full 450 on it. RT gets Everett down with a high drop kick. Veda Scott bumrushes the commentary table and gets a mic in her hand, berating the announcers about the injustice of the ROH Top Prospect tournament. She's a lot better as a complaining heel than the baby face she was when I last watched. She's openly calling RT out as Rhett Titus and calls Everett "flips." I now love this woman. RT makes a romantic gesture towards Veda, but she's disgusted. Everett rolls RT up when he turns back around, getting a surprise pin.
Match rating: *. Nothing to this one really. Everett's ability to flip is impressive, but not cohesive with having a real match here.
Video package from final battle. BJ and Roderick Strong ambush Eddie Edwards. Jacobs joins them and spikes Edwards, literally. Strong, BJ, and Jacobs are a new stable from the looks of it. I'm down.
Jay Briscoe comes out before the next top prospect match can occur. Goddamn does he have a good look. He's got a big ass beard, a mohawk, leather vest, camo pants, and his own title belt. Jay looks like someone I would not want to fuck with. Jay wants Cole and he's mad as hell that Cole hasn't responded. Adam Cole comes out, but isn't about into the ring with the irate redneck.
Adam Cole is the real world champion, per Adam Cole. Not Jay Briscoe. Cole's great as a smug, condescending heel. He'll never care what anyone has to say if they're going to be dumb enough to believe Jay Briscoe is the real world champion. The only man he'll listen to his Matt Hardy, which the crowd boos. Cole actually does get in the ring for a moment, though it's only long enough to let Jay know that he'll get an answer next week.
ROH Top Prospect Tournament - Cheeseburger vs. Hanson
Cheeseburger is pretty damn over. He's a skinny little guy though. Hanson's not. He's billed at 275 and that looks about right. The crowd's chanting for Cheeseburger before the bell rings.
Hanson dominates Cheeseburger physically, which is no shocker if you just look at the guys. Cheeseburger tries a sunset flip but isn't strong enough to pull Hanson down. Any attempt at offense ends in disaster. The crowd chants for Cheeseburger again, rooting the little guy on. Cheeseburger's forearms slow Hanson down for a second and a drop kick to the leg puts him down on one knee. Cheeseburger bounces of the ropes. Hanson's back to his feet immediately and crushes Cheeseburger with a spinning leg lariat. Cheeseburger's not getting up from that and Hanson covers for the win.
Match rating: N/A. It was a squash match. Cheeseburger's really popular and bumped well. Hanson's spinning leg lariat was a fine finisher, albeit a bit stiff. Cheeseburger was bleeding some when they took him out of the ring.
Promo for AJ's return to ROH. Looking forward to it. I don't think I ever got to see AJ live in ROH, since my fandom coincided with TNA pulling a lot of talent.
Adam Page vs. Mark Briscoe
Mark's got a good look in his own right. It's similar to his brother, but his facial expressions read more as "nutty crazy" than "murderous crazy." The match can't even start before music interrupts the contestants. Out comes Jacobs, Whitmer, and Strong. Jacobs says they're sorry to interrupt, but they can do whatever the hell they want. They're "the Decade" from the sound of it.
Mark's been here since day one, which Jacobs hasn't forgotten. Mark belongs with the Decade, if you ask Jacobs. Jacobs slaps Everett, who's using ROH as a stepping stone. Decade triple team him, Mark Briscoe joins the fray to run them off, and it looks like we're getting a tag match after a commercial break.
We get a Veda Scott promo, hyping up RD Evans' undefeated streak all over the world. Good stuff.
Decade (BJ Whitmer and Jimmy Jacobs) vs. Adam Page and Mark Briscoe
They're still brawling inside and outside of the ring as we come back. It takes a minute for things to slow down and the match to really start. BJ and Jacobs are beating down Everett, getting the heat right from the open. The crowd's into Everett, who's doing a fine job as a face in peril. It's a short heat segment once Everett gets the tag to Mark pretty quickly.
Mark and BJ exchange looping punches to the head. Mark gets the advantage and busts out his kung fu skills. A clothesline sends BJ crashing outside. Jacobs knees Mark in the back as he runs the ropes to get a head of steam, wanting to dive to the outside. Everett hits a running shooting star press off the apron onto BJ to make up for that. Mark adds in a Catcus Jackian elbow drop off the apron for good measure.
Adam Page is big into flips today, but not as much as Andrew Everett. He tries to go up top and Jacobs cuts his legs out from under him. BJ hits a super exploder and Mark has to make the save.
BJ lariats Everett, killing his momentum. Jacobs and Whitmer hit their double team finisher, which is something of an inverted powerslam/ace crusher combo. I like it. Match over.
Match rating: **. I like the team of BJ and Jacobs, then again I always have. Everett could slow it down a bit.
Angry Kevin Steen promo. He's going to put Cliff Compton down because he ambushed Steen last week.
Silas Young vs. Tommaso Ciampa
Silas has strap with him as he enters. He plays up his "last real man" gimmick as a loudmouthed heel, unlike in AAW where he's more of a disgruntled babyface. Ciampa's in damn good shape. Taven's rudely interrupts before things can start and hypes up his TV title reign. He wants his belt back and he's up in Tommaso's face about it. It looks heelish until he extends a hand to Tommaso, doing something he wouldn't do before. Tommaso never gets to accept because Silas ambushes Taven. Security has to pull Taven away.
We've got Jay Lethal on commentary this time. I kinda like the revolving door third man in the booth concept for now. Unfortunately, him and Corino are bickering much of the time, which distracts from the in-ring action. Tommaso gets Silas outside and sits him down in a chair. He's creaming Silas with running rising knees. Silas manages to run before the third of those and grabs his strap from the corner. Tommaso chases Silas back into the ring. Silas pulls a clever one and kicks the middle rope just as Tomasso steps over it, cutting off the chase and giving the show a chance for a commercial break.
The two are exchanging punches and chops when we come back. Lethal is putting over Ciampa on commentary when he's not screaming with Corino. Silas gets his hands on that strap again, but Tommaso ducks under two wild swings. Silas slips and Tommaso busts his nose up with another stiff rising knee. These two work well together when they brawl. Silas keeps going for the strap. The ref pulls it away before Silas can get at Tommaso. Silas kicks out at one after Tommaso slams him. Silas hits a hard lariat, starts to build momentum, and suddenly Tommaso has him in the Sicilian stretch more or less out of nowhere. Silas taps immediately. He ambushes Tommaso while he celebrates and goes to get the strap. Jay Lethal comes to the rescue, but Silas fights him off. Taven's out next and he manages to get Silas out of there.
Lethal, Tommaso, and Taven eye each other up. They all want the belt, but it's Tommaso's for now.
Match rating: *1/2. Ending felt really rushed and maybe it had to do with TV restrictions. Or maybe they laid it out that way, I'm not an insider. Either way, I'm not a fan of guys tapping to submission immediately, especially if they weren't worked over before or don't have a reason to, like in an iron man match. Tommaso and Silas brawling was the highlight of the match when it happened, which wasn't often enough.
Final Thoughts
A fine 50 minutes that was lighter on wrestling than I would have guessed. Nothign to write home about. This one was much more of a transition week than anything else. ROH's TV product is supposed to support the live events, so that adds up. I'll be watching when the next episode is up.
Jan 27, 2014
Match Review: Yuji Nagata & Ryusuki Taguchi vs. Jun Akiyama & KENTA - July 24, 2010
I've heard multiple references over the past year to KENTA having heat with New Japan, but could never find out why that was so. Google doesn't know the difference between "KENTA" and "Kenta (Kobashi)," so that made searching a futile endeavor. Today was the day that I got my answer. This may not be the only time KENTA has done something to piss people off, but it is the crux of the matter. I have no real opinion of him one way or the other. I generally like his matches but don't go out of my way to see them, absent special circumstances. So here we go:
Nagata's starting off against Akiyama. I've never been a big Nagata fan either, but this is from a few years past and against some quality opponents. Nagata and Akiyama are trading wrist locks and waist locks to start, drop down to the mat, and separate. They lock up again but Akiyama forearms Nagata. The two start to trade forearms back and forth. That evolves into trading boots to the face, then jumping knees.
KENTA and Taguchi tag in. KENTA slaps Taguchi hard and holy shit is he stiffing him. KENTA is drilling Taguchi with forearms and slaps. Taguchi returns fire but is obviously still working while KENTA takes it to another level. KENTA snaps a hard low kick in too before they start to grapple. KENTA leans Taguchi up against the corners and tries to slap him again, but Taguchi ducks under it and escapes.
Taguchi brings KENTA into his corner and Nagata tags in. Taguchi throws in one more hard slap for good measure. Nagata starts with a hard kick to KENTA's chest. KENTA slaps him a few times and tries to stiff Nagata, but the old pro is having none of it. He headbutts KENTA and wrestles him into the ropes. If KENTA is going to be stiff then Nagata is going to teach him a lesson. Akiyama is standing on his side awkwardly. KENTA and Nagata stare each other down and exchange words. KENTA is bleeding above the eye, probably from Nagata's headbutt. Akiyama has to step in the ring, but is is no big hurry to rush to KENTA's aid.
Taguchi tags back in and the two shoulder KENTA down after a double Irish whip. I have to wonder if KENTA learned his lesson for the match. Akiyama tags in and dumps Taguchi outside. They start brawling down the aisle and around the ring.
We get Nagata against KENTA again. KENTA and Nagata are wrestling once more and the ref separates them. We're back to Nagata vs. Akiyama for a bit, then Taguchi's in. Taguchi tries to stand tall with Akiyama, but the much bigger man eats his chops and forearms without flinching. One forearm sends Taguchi reeling.
We get Taguchi vs. KENTA for another major confrontation. KENTA is stiffing him about as bad as before. Taguchi, to his credit, looks like he's trying to be professional. KENTA's cut is nasty. It swipes a sharp path across his brow, above his right eye. It's a cut that a doctor would be checking on in boxing or MMA, but hopefully there won't be any more of that tonight.
KENTA tries a go to sleep but Taguchi lands on his feet. Taguchi ducks under a clothesline from KENTA, has both of his arms, and hits a straight jacket German suplex for a two count. Nagata's back in and KENTA strikes at him hard again. Nagata takes the hits and stands there. He's not going to let this little kid show him up. Akiyama and Nagata will be in the ring together a moment later. Their forearm exchanges are much less brutal. Akiyama hits an exploder, but it's not enough to end the match. A second exploder can't even keep Nagata down, but the crowd pops big for a standing guillotine. Taguchi has to dropkick Akiyama to make the save and Nagata pounces, slapping on a trademark armlock until KENTA makes the save.
KENTA really wants to go at Nagata, slapping him hard a bunch of times. Nagata lays him out with a kick to the chest. The wrestlers are cycling in and out at a rapid pace now. Taguchi's fisherman suplex is only good for two on Akiyama. The four continue to come in and out. An Akiyama exploder on Taguchi gets a near fall thanks to a Nagata save. Akiyama has Taguchi on his feet again and hits a wrist-clutch exploder for the pin while KENTA distracts Nagata outside. The two are sizing each other up outside even after the match. KENTA is pointing to the cut on his head and sticking his finger in Nagata's face. A group of people have to get between them before it gets worse.
Match rating: ***3/4. A very solid match. Well-paced and well-executed, but the real story here was KENTA starting something and Nagata really making him pay for it. It's hard to factor that into a rating. On the one hand, it adds a lot of emotion (real emotion, at that). On the other, it's uncomfortable to watch someone act like how KENTA did. I'll put my qualms aside though and give this one some snowflakes.
Nagata's starting off against Akiyama. I've never been a big Nagata fan either, but this is from a few years past and against some quality opponents. Nagata and Akiyama are trading wrist locks and waist locks to start, drop down to the mat, and separate. They lock up again but Akiyama forearms Nagata. The two start to trade forearms back and forth. That evolves into trading boots to the face, then jumping knees.
KENTA and Taguchi tag in. KENTA slaps Taguchi hard and holy shit is he stiffing him. KENTA is drilling Taguchi with forearms and slaps. Taguchi returns fire but is obviously still working while KENTA takes it to another level. KENTA snaps a hard low kick in too before they start to grapple. KENTA leans Taguchi up against the corners and tries to slap him again, but Taguchi ducks under it and escapes.
Taguchi brings KENTA into his corner and Nagata tags in. Taguchi throws in one more hard slap for good measure. Nagata starts with a hard kick to KENTA's chest. KENTA slaps him a few times and tries to stiff Nagata, but the old pro is having none of it. He headbutts KENTA and wrestles him into the ropes. If KENTA is going to be stiff then Nagata is going to teach him a lesson. Akiyama is standing on his side awkwardly. KENTA and Nagata stare each other down and exchange words. KENTA is bleeding above the eye, probably from Nagata's headbutt. Akiyama has to step in the ring, but is is no big hurry to rush to KENTA's aid.
Taguchi tags back in and the two shoulder KENTA down after a double Irish whip. I have to wonder if KENTA learned his lesson for the match. Akiyama tags in and dumps Taguchi outside. They start brawling down the aisle and around the ring.
We get Nagata against KENTA again. KENTA and Nagata are wrestling once more and the ref separates them. We're back to Nagata vs. Akiyama for a bit, then Taguchi's in. Taguchi tries to stand tall with Akiyama, but the much bigger man eats his chops and forearms without flinching. One forearm sends Taguchi reeling.
We get Taguchi vs. KENTA for another major confrontation. KENTA is stiffing him about as bad as before. Taguchi, to his credit, looks like he's trying to be professional. KENTA's cut is nasty. It swipes a sharp path across his brow, above his right eye. It's a cut that a doctor would be checking on in boxing or MMA, but hopefully there won't be any more of that tonight.
KENTA tries a go to sleep but Taguchi lands on his feet. Taguchi ducks under a clothesline from KENTA, has both of his arms, and hits a straight jacket German suplex for a two count. Nagata's back in and KENTA strikes at him hard again. Nagata takes the hits and stands there. He's not going to let this little kid show him up. Akiyama and Nagata will be in the ring together a moment later. Their forearm exchanges are much less brutal. Akiyama hits an exploder, but it's not enough to end the match. A second exploder can't even keep Nagata down, but the crowd pops big for a standing guillotine. Taguchi has to dropkick Akiyama to make the save and Nagata pounces, slapping on a trademark armlock until KENTA makes the save.
KENTA really wants to go at Nagata, slapping him hard a bunch of times. Nagata lays him out with a kick to the chest. The wrestlers are cycling in and out at a rapid pace now. Taguchi's fisherman suplex is only good for two on Akiyama. The four continue to come in and out. An Akiyama exploder on Taguchi gets a near fall thanks to a Nagata save. Akiyama has Taguchi on his feet again and hits a wrist-clutch exploder for the pin while KENTA distracts Nagata outside. The two are sizing each other up outside even after the match. KENTA is pointing to the cut on his head and sticking his finger in Nagata's face. A group of people have to get between them before it gets worse.
Match rating: ***3/4. A very solid match. Well-paced and well-executed, but the real story here was KENTA starting something and Nagata really making him pay for it. It's hard to factor that into a rating. On the one hand, it adds a lot of emotion (real emotion, at that). On the other, it's uncomfortable to watch someone act like how KENTA did. I'll put my qualms aside though and give this one some snowflakes.
WWE Raw 1/27 Show Report
It's time for the first post-Royal Rumble Raw. Word is that Vince had the writers meeting again today to rewrite tonight's episode. We might be in for something special or we might be in or another disappointment. Let's see where things go.
Show starts with some photos from last night's matches. Stephanie and Triple H are out. They even get the first Wrestlemania sign point of the night. Crowd chanting "Yes!" immediately when Stephanie starts to talk. Triple is taunting the crowd for being upset that they didn't get what they wanted.
Big announcement: Orton has to defend his title in the Elimination Chamber. Before anything else can be said, out comes Daniel Bryan. The crowd is going nuts. Daniel Bryan tells the crowd to not "Yes!" or chant is name because it makes the authority mad. Bryan says that the biggest disappointment last night was not being in the Rumble. WWE knew the crowd was going to be behind Bryan in full effect and tailored the opening for that.
Bryan wants in the Elimination Chamber match, of course. He's standing right up to Triple H to get what he wants. Triple H won't be the only one he has to stand up to as the Shield are coming out on cue. Bryan grabs a chair to fend them off, but he can't keep all three away. Sheamus' music hits and he runs down to the ring. Cena's out next to make it three-on-tree. Six man with these guys tonight? Yes, please.
Rey Mysterio, Jr. & Sin Cara vs. Real Americans
Announcers let us know that all six men from the brawl will be in an Elimination Chamber qualifier. Zeb out with a mic for the Real Americans' opening. Cesaro and Rey start in the ring and it's everything I dreamed it to be for the 10 seconds it lasts. Jack gets tossed outside of the ring at one point and Zeb starts to berate him. He slaps Jack and Swagger wants to get at Zeb for a second, but Cesaro holds him back. Swagger's got a new fire once he gets back in the ring. Him and Zeb are yelling at each other as we go to break.
The cameras keep showing Zeb on the outside. He's yelling at Cesaro when he gets dumped to the outside, though it's inaudible. Cesaro does an unexpectedly poor job getting set up for the six one night, but the match doesn't end there, luckily. Sin Cara springboards off the ropes and eats a big European uppercut. Cesaro hits the neutralizer and this one is over.
Match rating: **1/2
Cole clarifies that it is a six man tonight and the winning team gets all three members in the Elimination Chamber. There's also going to be a New Age Outlaws vs. Rhodes Brothers rematch tonight.
Bad News Barrett out to deliver us some uhh... bad news. He's actually getting a bit of heat too. Barrett announces Miz vs. Ziggler in the "battle of Cleveland."
Sneak peek of some WWE Network content. Its' a clip of Monday Night War: WWE vs. WCW.
Fandago entering with Summer Rae. The crowd's a lot less into him tonight than last night. And we're back to commercial in the middle of his entrance.
Fandango vs. R-Truth
A clean shaven Xavier Woods is on commentary. Emma is down at ringside with her sign, so the build for her debut continues. Woods is talking about his PhD while JBL puts East Carolina over as the Harvard of the south. Har har, wonder who went there. R-Truth wins an uneventful in-ring match.
Match rating: *
Brad Maddox in the ring to introduce our WWE World Heavyweight champion, Randy Orton. Orton wants to know whose idea it was to have him defend his championship in the Elimination Chamber. Batista interrupts him as he starts to rant about being the face of the WWE. The crowd's pretty dead.
Cleveland's chanting "Daniel Bryan" while Batista tries to talk. He's back to win the Royal Rumble, headline Wrestlemania, and walk out as champ. It's not personal who he faces; Dave's here for those goals. Big Dave finishes his spiel just in time for Brock Lesnar to interrupt. Him and Heyman come on down to the ring as Batista and Orton give him death glares.
Lesnar's patience is running thin. Maddox has two options: either make a match tonight between Orton and Brock Lesnar or put the number one contenders against each other. Batista vs. Brock. Paul Heyman likes both ideas, but he'll let the authority make the decision. Brock leaves without saying a word, just as it should be.
Battle of Cleveland - The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler
How will the WWE make both of these guys lose? Crowd's making some noise for their hometown heroes while the announcers rip on Cleveland and Ohio. Miz locks on his figure four and Dolph is screaming like it's the most painful thing ever. He's taking big bites of the scenery right now. JBL and Cole are BURYING Cleveland. Ziggler zigzags Miz for a win. No ambush or home town embarrassment for Ziggler, surprisingly.
Match rating: *
Rybaxel vs. The Usos
Rybaxel get the jobber entrance tonight. Ryback and Axel take turns beating on Jey. Ryback gets Jimmy up for the shellshock later but Jey gets a blind tag in. Jey superkicks Ryback, tags back out, and Jimmy lands a frog splash to wrap this one up.
Match rating: *. Forgettable but unoffensive. I liked the ending sequences.
Kofi Kingston vs. Alberto del Rio
WWE shows a highlight of Kofi leaping from the barrier to the ring from last night. It was a hell of a jump and a cool spot, much better than last year. Del Rio stiffs Kofi pretty hard with a kick to the face when he's in the corner and Kofi is charging in. Crowd is dead silent for this. It's a buzzkill when a crowd is so off. Del Rio and Kofi aren't over anywhere, but it's really pronounced tonight. Some of the crowd starts to chant "JBL." They pop big when JBL sits up and del Rio screams "sit your ass down!" at him. Del Rio looked legitimately pissed.
The crowd's finally making noise, but it's for Lawler now. The match itself is a dull affair that I'm having a hard time pay attention to. The crowd finally gets behind Kofi as he goes on a run. Del Rio tries to walk out of the ring but Kofi catches him and hits an SOS. ADR gets his foot on the rope just in time to break the three count.
Del Rio wins with his sidekick to a kneeling Kofi.
Match rating: DUD. Long and boring.
WWE Tag Team Championship - New Age Outlaws (C) vs. Cody Rhodes and Goldust
Road Dogg with a promo before the match. This I can do without. And it just keeps going. Dogg and Gunn saying they shouldn't have to defend their titles tonight. Goldust continues to be a damn fine worker, the best in the match, as he starts us off against Billy Gunn.
NAO acting like they're in over their heads. Not just that, but they act like they're afraid of the Rhodes brothers. Road Dogg's channeling Markus Crane tonight. JBL's doing that thing where he argues with everything Cole says. It's brutal.
Gunn's in control of Goldust when we get back from break. A Goldust powerslam changes that. Both guys are down but Goldust is a lot further from his corner. Goldust'll hit a code red before he gets the hot tag to Cody. Without any warning, we get Brock Lesnar coming down. He F5s Cody. The New Age Outlaws make a run for it while Brock F5s Goldust.
Match rating: About a *1/2 effort.
Paul says the choice we're getting is Brock Lesnar versus no one. What happens when Brock Lesnar does not get what he wants? He beats the hell out of people with a chair. He breaks the damn thing from hitting the Rhodes so hard. This is a scary guy. Of course Cleveland is dead silent.
Bella Twins and Funkadactyls vs. Aksana, Tamina, AJ Lee, and Alicia Fox
Brie annoys the hell out of me in the ring. She's actually become a pretty good worker, but I can't stand how loud she is. I guess when you're a vet you get to make that call. Aksana completely whiffs on an elbow drop. She does it again, but the second one was on purpose. Cole puts Nikki's shin injury over as super serious.
The divas take a spot from WrestleKingdom 8 (and nowhere else ever). No doubt they were up at 5AM scouting some moves. Naomi flattens AJ with her rear end to mercifully end this.
Match rating: 1/2*
Jerry Lawler's in the ring to announce the next WWE Hall of Famer. It's Jake the Snake! No Rumble appearance, but he gets this.
Next is another WWE Network promo. This time it's about Wrestlemania Rewind. They're pushing the network pretty hard, which I get. Meltzer's mentioned that they have a lot of stuff in the can for the network and given how Bryan had short hear and a close-trimmed beard there's no doubt about that.
John Cena, Sheamus, and Daniel Bryan vs. The Shield
And we've finally got some noise from the WWE crowd as the main event starts. It starts out with Cena and Ambrose, but Rollins tags in soon. Cena bests him in a short exchange and now it's Reign's turn. Lots of quick tags and short exchanges to start the match. Looks like they want everyone to interact a little.
Sheamus lets Bryan tag in and the crowd goes wild for his kicks. Cena gets a lot of noise when he's back in there, eliciting the "Let's go Cena! Cena sucks!" duel. Roman lays Cena out with a superman punch but refuses to go for the pin. Instead he waits for Cena to get up and tries to spear him, but Cena eveades it and Reigns dives outside. He hurt his leg on the fall, but manages to cut Cena off before he can tag someone in.
Ambrose put Cena down with a hard DDT. Ambrose has an absolutely insane look on his face afterwards. Cena springs up and AAs Ambrose out of nowhere, because who needs selling? Cena gets the hot tag to Bryan and Bryan is cleaning house on the Shield. Reigns gets the spear on Sheamus and a second one on Cena (who took it poorly). Bryan knocks Reigns out of the ring and Rollins suprises Bryan with a roll up that's only good for two.
Rollins buckle bombs Bryan but again only gets two. He needed a spinning sit out powerbomb to finish the job. Bryan and Rollins are tearing it up in there. Rollins again goes for a roll up but Bryan twists out of it and gets on the yes lock. Ambrose breaks up the pin and Sheamus brogue kicks him out of nowhere. The match picked up in a big, big way.
Cena' outside and waiting for a tag. Bryan gets to him and it's Cena vs. Reigns now. Cena trips Reigns and gets the STF. Reigns pulls Cena's arms apart to get out of the hold when the Wyatts make their ambush. They're attacking Cena, but Sheamus and Bryan make the save. Daniel Bryan, Sheamus, and Cena win via DQ and they're going to be in the elimination chamber.
Match rating: ***1/2. A proper finish would've put this in the ****+ range in my book.
Final thoughts
A good opening segment and first match bookend a boring Raw in tandem with the closing match. Disappointed at the finish of the match, especially because of the stipulation attached, but the ring work was on.
Show starts with some photos from last night's matches. Stephanie and Triple H are out. They even get the first Wrestlemania sign point of the night. Crowd chanting "Yes!" immediately when Stephanie starts to talk. Triple is taunting the crowd for being upset that they didn't get what they wanted.
Big announcement: Orton has to defend his title in the Elimination Chamber. Before anything else can be said, out comes Daniel Bryan. The crowd is going nuts. Daniel Bryan tells the crowd to not "Yes!" or chant is name because it makes the authority mad. Bryan says that the biggest disappointment last night was not being in the Rumble. WWE knew the crowd was going to be behind Bryan in full effect and tailored the opening for that.
Bryan wants in the Elimination Chamber match, of course. He's standing right up to Triple H to get what he wants. Triple H won't be the only one he has to stand up to as the Shield are coming out on cue. Bryan grabs a chair to fend them off, but he can't keep all three away. Sheamus' music hits and he runs down to the ring. Cena's out next to make it three-on-tree. Six man with these guys tonight? Yes, please.
Rey Mysterio, Jr. & Sin Cara vs. Real Americans
Announcers let us know that all six men from the brawl will be in an Elimination Chamber qualifier. Zeb out with a mic for the Real Americans' opening. Cesaro and Rey start in the ring and it's everything I dreamed it to be for the 10 seconds it lasts. Jack gets tossed outside of the ring at one point and Zeb starts to berate him. He slaps Jack and Swagger wants to get at Zeb for a second, but Cesaro holds him back. Swagger's got a new fire once he gets back in the ring. Him and Zeb are yelling at each other as we go to break.
The cameras keep showing Zeb on the outside. He's yelling at Cesaro when he gets dumped to the outside, though it's inaudible. Cesaro does an unexpectedly poor job getting set up for the six one night, but the match doesn't end there, luckily. Sin Cara springboards off the ropes and eats a big European uppercut. Cesaro hits the neutralizer and this one is over.
Match rating: **1/2
Cole clarifies that it is a six man tonight and the winning team gets all three members in the Elimination Chamber. There's also going to be a New Age Outlaws vs. Rhodes Brothers rematch tonight.
Bad News Barrett out to deliver us some uhh... bad news. He's actually getting a bit of heat too. Barrett announces Miz vs. Ziggler in the "battle of Cleveland."
Sneak peek of some WWE Network content. Its' a clip of Monday Night War: WWE vs. WCW.
Fandago entering with Summer Rae. The crowd's a lot less into him tonight than last night. And we're back to commercial in the middle of his entrance.
Fandango vs. R-Truth
A clean shaven Xavier Woods is on commentary. Emma is down at ringside with her sign, so the build for her debut continues. Woods is talking about his PhD while JBL puts East Carolina over as the Harvard of the south. Har har, wonder who went there. R-Truth wins an uneventful in-ring match.
Match rating: *
Brad Maddox in the ring to introduce our WWE World Heavyweight champion, Randy Orton. Orton wants to know whose idea it was to have him defend his championship in the Elimination Chamber. Batista interrupts him as he starts to rant about being the face of the WWE. The crowd's pretty dead.
Cleveland's chanting "Daniel Bryan" while Batista tries to talk. He's back to win the Royal Rumble, headline Wrestlemania, and walk out as champ. It's not personal who he faces; Dave's here for those goals. Big Dave finishes his spiel just in time for Brock Lesnar to interrupt. Him and Heyman come on down to the ring as Batista and Orton give him death glares.
Lesnar's patience is running thin. Maddox has two options: either make a match tonight between Orton and Brock Lesnar or put the number one contenders against each other. Batista vs. Brock. Paul Heyman likes both ideas, but he'll let the authority make the decision. Brock leaves without saying a word, just as it should be.
Battle of Cleveland - The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler
How will the WWE make both of these guys lose? Crowd's making some noise for their hometown heroes while the announcers rip on Cleveland and Ohio. Miz locks on his figure four and Dolph is screaming like it's the most painful thing ever. He's taking big bites of the scenery right now. JBL and Cole are BURYING Cleveland. Ziggler zigzags Miz for a win. No ambush or home town embarrassment for Ziggler, surprisingly.
Match rating: *
Rybaxel vs. The Usos
Rybaxel get the jobber entrance tonight. Ryback and Axel take turns beating on Jey. Ryback gets Jimmy up for the shellshock later but Jey gets a blind tag in. Jey superkicks Ryback, tags back out, and Jimmy lands a frog splash to wrap this one up.
Match rating: *. Forgettable but unoffensive. I liked the ending sequences.
Kofi Kingston vs. Alberto del Rio
WWE shows a highlight of Kofi leaping from the barrier to the ring from last night. It was a hell of a jump and a cool spot, much better than last year. Del Rio stiffs Kofi pretty hard with a kick to the face when he's in the corner and Kofi is charging in. Crowd is dead silent for this. It's a buzzkill when a crowd is so off. Del Rio and Kofi aren't over anywhere, but it's really pronounced tonight. Some of the crowd starts to chant "JBL." They pop big when JBL sits up and del Rio screams "sit your ass down!" at him. Del Rio looked legitimately pissed.
The crowd's finally making noise, but it's for Lawler now. The match itself is a dull affair that I'm having a hard time pay attention to. The crowd finally gets behind Kofi as he goes on a run. Del Rio tries to walk out of the ring but Kofi catches him and hits an SOS. ADR gets his foot on the rope just in time to break the three count.
Del Rio wins with his sidekick to a kneeling Kofi.
Match rating: DUD. Long and boring.
WWE Tag Team Championship - New Age Outlaws (C) vs. Cody Rhodes and Goldust
Road Dogg with a promo before the match. This I can do without. And it just keeps going. Dogg and Gunn saying they shouldn't have to defend their titles tonight. Goldust continues to be a damn fine worker, the best in the match, as he starts us off against Billy Gunn.
NAO acting like they're in over their heads. Not just that, but they act like they're afraid of the Rhodes brothers. Road Dogg's channeling Markus Crane tonight. JBL's doing that thing where he argues with everything Cole says. It's brutal.
Gunn's in control of Goldust when we get back from break. A Goldust powerslam changes that. Both guys are down but Goldust is a lot further from his corner. Goldust'll hit a code red before he gets the hot tag to Cody. Without any warning, we get Brock Lesnar coming down. He F5s Cody. The New Age Outlaws make a run for it while Brock F5s Goldust.
Match rating: About a *1/2 effort.
Paul says the choice we're getting is Brock Lesnar versus no one. What happens when Brock Lesnar does not get what he wants? He beats the hell out of people with a chair. He breaks the damn thing from hitting the Rhodes so hard. This is a scary guy. Of course Cleveland is dead silent.
Bella Twins and Funkadactyls vs. Aksana, Tamina, AJ Lee, and Alicia Fox
Brie annoys the hell out of me in the ring. She's actually become a pretty good worker, but I can't stand how loud she is. I guess when you're a vet you get to make that call. Aksana completely whiffs on an elbow drop. She does it again, but the second one was on purpose. Cole puts Nikki's shin injury over as super serious.
The divas take a spot from WrestleKingdom 8 (and nowhere else ever). No doubt they were up at 5AM scouting some moves. Naomi flattens AJ with her rear end to mercifully end this.
Match rating: 1/2*
Jerry Lawler's in the ring to announce the next WWE Hall of Famer. It's Jake the Snake! No Rumble appearance, but he gets this.
Next is another WWE Network promo. This time it's about Wrestlemania Rewind. They're pushing the network pretty hard, which I get. Meltzer's mentioned that they have a lot of stuff in the can for the network and given how Bryan had short hear and a close-trimmed beard there's no doubt about that.
John Cena, Sheamus, and Daniel Bryan vs. The Shield
And we've finally got some noise from the WWE crowd as the main event starts. It starts out with Cena and Ambrose, but Rollins tags in soon. Cena bests him in a short exchange and now it's Reign's turn. Lots of quick tags and short exchanges to start the match. Looks like they want everyone to interact a little.
Sheamus lets Bryan tag in and the crowd goes wild for his kicks. Cena gets a lot of noise when he's back in there, eliciting the "Let's go Cena! Cena sucks!" duel. Roman lays Cena out with a superman punch but refuses to go for the pin. Instead he waits for Cena to get up and tries to spear him, but Cena eveades it and Reigns dives outside. He hurt his leg on the fall, but manages to cut Cena off before he can tag someone in.
Ambrose put Cena down with a hard DDT. Ambrose has an absolutely insane look on his face afterwards. Cena springs up and AAs Ambrose out of nowhere, because who needs selling? Cena gets the hot tag to Bryan and Bryan is cleaning house on the Shield. Reigns gets the spear on Sheamus and a second one on Cena (who took it poorly). Bryan knocks Reigns out of the ring and Rollins suprises Bryan with a roll up that's only good for two.
Rollins buckle bombs Bryan but again only gets two. He needed a spinning sit out powerbomb to finish the job. Bryan and Rollins are tearing it up in there. Rollins again goes for a roll up but Bryan twists out of it and gets on the yes lock. Ambrose breaks up the pin and Sheamus brogue kicks him out of nowhere. The match picked up in a big, big way.
Cena' outside and waiting for a tag. Bryan gets to him and it's Cena vs. Reigns now. Cena trips Reigns and gets the STF. Reigns pulls Cena's arms apart to get out of the hold when the Wyatts make their ambush. They're attacking Cena, but Sheamus and Bryan make the save. Daniel Bryan, Sheamus, and Cena win via DQ and they're going to be in the elimination chamber.
Match rating: ***1/2. A proper finish would've put this in the ****+ range in my book.
Final thoughts
A good opening segment and first match bookend a boring Raw in tandem with the closing match. Disappointed at the finish of the match, especially because of the stipulation attached, but the ring work was on.
Jan 26, 2014
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.
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.
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.
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