It was another tremendous weekend of professional wrestling in the Chicagoland area as both AAW and Dragon USA put on great wrestling show. A few surprises were along for the ride and much fun was had. Tonight, I’ll talk about AAW and why this show was even better than US vs. Them.
-The locker room was quite crowded on this evening with all the guests and some of the Dragon Gate USA staff. One of the wrestlers remarked that usually when there’s this many people in a locker room, there’s usually a battle royal. Thankfully, this was not the case.
-Jay Bradley and Kyle O’Reilly tried to out stiff each other in the opener. Four minutes of two men beating the hell out of each other. Although it is somewhat disgusting of a spot, O’Reilly’s selling of a move by spitting high in the air has become one of my favorite spot. The best part about this spit job in particular was the loogie went a couple rows into the crowd and it ended up by a man who completely no-sold it. Awesome. Bradley won the match in about four minutes. But an enjoyable four minutes this was.
-The six man mayhem match was next. Featuring three of CHIKARA’s biggest stars, Aeroform, and Trik Davis, the winner would go on to face Silas Young the next night for the AAW heavyweight championship. Aeroform showed that they need a lot of work because they were quite sloppy once again. If there were ever two guys needed a trip to Japan or some time training in the CHIKARA training school, it’s these two. I think Lewis Lyndon and Flip Kendrick have good potential, but they’re just green and lack experience. Hallowicked won, and this made me very happy because I think the world of him in the ring.
-The “Chan Clan” came out next. Jordan McEntyre, Knight Wagner, and Johnny Wisdom came out to honor the birth of manager Chandler McClure by bringing a birthday cake. McClure seeing the cake and immediately panicking because of the rule about birthday cakes in wrestling legitimately made me laugh hard. Colt Cabana, not originally announced for the show, indeed proved the rule correct by putting McClure’s face into the cake. Although it was a waste of a perfectly good birthday cake, it at least turned out to be a humorous moment.
-The humor ended when Arik Cannon came out and beat the hell out of Cabana. Cannon calling Cabana’s Heritage title reign a joke was… I love shoot comments that aren’t meant to be shoot comments. After this beatdown, My New Favorite Wrestler Ever Johnny Gargano came out for his match with Cabana. This was a solid seven minute match, and the humor not being as much of a factor after the Cannon beatdown helped significantly. Cabana retained in about seven minutes in one of his better efforts. It was announced later in the show that Cabana and Cannon would meet one more time at February’s Bloody Valentine.
-Davey Richards against Super Crazy turned out to be the biggest disappointment of the weekend. I think much of the problem had to do with Crazy either dislocating or spraining his thumb a few minutes into the match. The match ended shortly thereafter, and Davey at least won clean. The crowd cheered their chosen wrestler passionately, so the heat was turned up a notch. I’d say **3/4-*** as an estimate for a match rating, but I really have to see this on DVD before sticking with that rating.
-Phoenix Twins and Dan Lawrence faced off against the House of Truth next. As much as I enjoyed the six man tag at Us vs. Them, I thought this was even better. The Twins/Truth rivalry has become the top rivalry in the company. Lawrence and Mason Beck stole the show last month and didn’t seem out of place at all. Lots of good traditional tag team wrestling, and I think this match had a little extra something because there was a feud going on. I was a bit concerned that with the previous match turning out to be such a disappointment that the show wouldn’t turn out so great, but I was thankfully proven wrong. I’d say a ***1/2-***3/4 match. If you’ve never seen these two teams or have only seen them in Ring of Honor, this is reason enough to buy the DVD.
-After intermission, the Chan Clan of Wagner and McEntyre actually won a match over Ryan Boz and Nick Brubaker. I was busy interviewing one Johnny Gargano, but I did notice Boz and Danny Daniels beating the hell out of Brubaker after the match since he was the one who lost.
-Irish Airborne and Zero Gravity had a return match from Windy City Classic V. I don’t ever see Airborne ever being anything more than a mid level tag team as far as the independent scene goes, but I think they’re a lot better than they were in 2006. New tights and using less high spots helps a lot in this area. Gravity continues to get better with each passing month, and I’ll be interested to see if they ever become serious contenders for the AAW tag team titles. Airborne picked up the victory since it seems like they haven’t won a match in forever, but this was a decent little tag match.
-A lot of people criticize Tyler Black for his crappy promos and what they perceive to be his sliding work in the ring. I would his match with Shane Hollister on this night as Exhibit A on why those critics are RETARDED. These two had the match of the night, and maybe the best match of the entire weekend. Think about that one for a minute. Great wrestling between two guys who are real life friends. Hollister picked up a big win, and I’m hopeful he can get the heavyweight title sometime in the near future.
-I hit a wall of burnout in the match before the main event. Lince Dorado and Krotch (or as they should be known- Pussykrotch) took on Darrin Corbin and Arik Cannon. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the match itself, but I just wanted to get to the main event and go home. Cannon pinned Lince, and I know a certain PWP writer who would love this result.
-Finally, it was main event time. Silas Young rebounded from his mediocre match with Brad Allen the week before to put on an epic heavyweight title match against Jimmy Jacobs. I think the world of Jacobs as a heel worker, and I continue to be impressed with his work as a babyface. This went 20 minutes, and the crowd got into this match passionately. Jacobs is beloved by the Berwyn faithful, and they wanted so desperately for him to regain the belt. Unfortunately for the fans, Young retained his title using the guillotine choke.
-I loved this show. Loved it to the point where I considered this a better show than Us vs. Them. The biggest difference with The Chaos Theory was the main members of the rosters are the ones who shined. Richards and Crazy probably helped draw the crowd, but it ended up being an afterthought as far as the actual match goes. I’d say this show had one four star match for sure and two others were borderline. No match deserved a DUD or the even more dreaded FAIL rating, so I give this show a major thumbs up. If you’ve never purchased an AAW DVD, start here and you will not regret it.
AAW was fun, but my weekend was only half over. Tomorrow, I’ll discuss Dragon Gate USA.
An excellent write up, Jerome, and I wholeheartedly agree. I have not started my column for this week, but it will have similar focus to it. I'll most likely be discussing the weekend from the perspective of this being my first experience with Dragon Gate, the Young Bucks, and Shimmer (thanks to a purchase made by my daughter), as well as my first experience recording a tester podcast. As far as the comparison to Us vs. Them goes, I'm still watching that show, so I can't state an opinion in that aspect, but, I will keep that in mind as I continue on through the Us vs. Them card.
I can't wait to read your write up on DGUSA tomorrow, as it was everything I expected it to be and more.