Last night was quite the emotional night for AAW. It was an opportunity for the fans and workers to say good-bye to an individual who has meant so much for the company. As successful as Tyler Black was in Ring of Honor when it came to the tag team scene with Jimmy Jacobs and being the world champion, his career path has followed the path of AAW. AAW was nothing back in 2005 and 2006, just another local indy jumping up and down for attention. Now it has to be considered one of the best independent wrestling companies in the Midwest and definitely a promotion that deserves more respect across the country than it’s getting. All that being said, let’s talk about the show.
The name of the show was “Redefined: Unfinished Business.” The idea was Bryan Danielson would come back to face Silas Young for the AAW heavyweight championship. The day after this main event was announced, Danielson returned in the main event of Summerslam. While he still could finish up his dates with Dragon Gate USA, he was pulled off the AAW show. Jerry Lynn and Arik Cannon were apparently supposed to face off for the Heritage title. Then Lynn seriously injured himself training for a match with Rob Van Dam to be held at Hardcore Justice. Fortunately for AAW, Tyler Black’s last match for the company was an easy draw that I ultimately think made up for the loss of two stars.
Nothing much can be said about the preshow matches or the opener between Chris Hall and Juice Robinson. They merely happened and existed. Eric Ryan of AIW and Young Lion’s Cup did compete on the preshow and looked pretty decent. Be interesting to see if they bring him back.
The second match was the Chan Clan of Jordan McEntyre and Knight Wagner against Aeroform of Louis Lyndon and Flip Kendrick. Just an excuse to put over Aeroform. Not a bad thing, but the match didn’t do anything for me either way. If nothing else, I give credit to AAW for giving everyone on the card, even the lower mid-carders, the opportunity to be in angles. Wagner continues to feud Derek St. Holmes who serves as one of the voices of the company but also Wagner’s uncle. Lyndon got the pin, and I have a feeling he’s going to be a big player in the future.
Couple of interesting promos were shown throughout the night. One involved some individuals from Clash wrestling out of Michigan. They’re invading AAW but doing it a very different way than Nexus or BDK. They merely cut a pre-taped promo and sat a ringside for a brief portion of the show. The most notable name who appeared with the group was Cameron Skyy. Skyy appeared at the Young Lion’s Cup and showed a lot of personality. He showed strong promo skills on this night, and if he can deliver in the ring, this angle has a ton of potential to be a fresh concept as far as doing an invasion angle.
Another promo was Shane Hollister talking about his return to professional wrestling on October 22 at the next AAW show. Keep this in mind for later.
Kevin Harvey interviewed AAW Heavyweight Champion Silas Young. I’ve talked about Young being one of the most underrated guys on the indy scene many times. What Young can also do is draw heat. Legit “I can’t stand this guy and want to see him get his brains beat in” heat. Young ran down Danielson and Lynn for not being on the show in such a way that he put himself over instead of reminding people those guys weren’t in Berwyn. He talked about running through the entire company. He then shifted his attention to the challenger for the night, Ricochet. This was actually Ricochet’s debut for AAW, and he’s got a shot at the belt. Interesting decision but Ricochet is certainly a guy who’s been impressing the hell out of fans and experts alike. Jimmy Jacobs came out and called for a truce with Young because he didn’t want Tyler Black’s last match to be ruined by a screwjob. Young agreed.
Up next was my first opportunity to see the ICW/ICWA Texarkana Television Title defended. Larry Sweeney defeated Krotch in a sloppy match. Not sure whether Dan Lawrence is just that much better as a worker, but I wasn’t impressed with the work of either guy. Sweeney is not in the greatest of ring shape, but he can still cut a dynamite promo. His tearing down of the Berwyn faithful brought me back to his heyday of 2007 or 2008 when he was on fire in multiple companies. The guy knows how to be a heel and how to cut a great promo. I wish he could take care of himself and be a part of independent wrestling for many years to come. Finding good promos on the indy scene is really hard, and with Sweeney being a constant question mark, it’s hard to consider him a reliable talent. Sweeney also took a good misting from an injured MsChif. Least AAW gave her a little something to do.
Arik Cannon’s Heritage title defense against Samurai Del Sol came up next. I don’t even know what to say about this match. Del Sol made decent showings the last couple months in preliminary matches. These two guys seemed to be wrestling on different planets at times. Number of botched spots made this hard to watch. It was actually a bit surprising to see out of Cannon because he’s a guy who may not look like the greatest worker, but he always finds a way to produce quality matches with a wide range of guys. Referee blew the ending as Cannon got a three count, but the referee counted two. Cannon dropped Del Sol right on his head, got a three count, and berated the official for being an idiot and White Sox fan. See, Cannon is from Minnesota and a Twins fan. Can’t argue with Cannon here based on how crappy my White Sox have been this year. Cannon talked about running through the roster, almost as much as Silas Young has been doing. Shane Hollister came in and challenged Cannon to a title match right then and there. I don’t think the crowd quite got these two were about to wrestle right then and there for the belt. In just 27 seconds, Hollister finally defeated his arch nemisis to become the AAW Heritage champion. This has been a long time coming as Hollister wrestled Cannon many times over the last couple years, only to come up short every time. Now Hollister is back in AAW and immediately has a number of different programs with which to work on.
Let’s face it. Tyler Black leaving creates a huge void in AAW. The company absolutely has to create new stars, or they’re not going to continue to grow. The company once again had lady luck on their side as Shane Hollister’s return from broken ankle coincided with Black’s departure. Giving Hollister was a brilliant for two reasons. It made everyone forget what a horrible match they just saw and set Hollister on a course towards becoming the top star. I’m not sure what the future holds for Hollister, but I think he’s going be the heavyweight champion sooner rather than later. I think a return match with Cannon could happen within the next few months, once Hollister is fully healthy.
Chuck Taylor finally made his debut in a six man tag just before intermission. He teamed with FIST stablemate Johnny Gargano and Danny Duggan to take on Trik Davis and Zero Gravity, Awkward spots came a plenty in the early portion of the contest. I think Gargano and Taylor worked well together as a goofy duo who still remain heels. They did a dancing double fist drop spot that I’m almost positive will be used on future CHIKARA shows. Duggan did not look as out of place as I thought from a workrate standpoint, but it was obvious he didn’t have that much chemistry with Gargano and Taylor. Things settled down as the match wore on. Zero Gravity picked up another nice victory as Esparza hit the shooting star elbow on Duggan. Makes sense to have him lose at least. Pretty obvious they’re building to a tag team title victory and long title reign, but sometimes a lot of fun can be hand in a team’s journey towards the belts.
Got an interview with Johnny Gargano and Chuck Taylor at intermission. What a wacky interview. Listen to it if you get a chance. They accuse me of being a racist. Fun times had by all.
Dan Lawrence continued his roll beating Darrin Corbin with a roll-up. Based on what they’ve been doing with Lawrence and a promo that was shown shortly after the match, it looks like Lawrence will be getting another shot at the AAW heavyweight championship at some point. Another story was Corbin. He had brand new colorful tights, and as we would find out later when Joey Eastman came out, Ryan Cruz is nowhere to be found for now Nikki Mayday (his girlfriend) left Corbin. An okay match to come out of intermission.
Joey Eastman came out after the match in attempt to reunite with the Northstar Express. It’s not to be for a while, but this segment was very gay. Literally. Truth Martini was next, and it’s clear they’re building to Eastman managing a tag team against the House of Truth. That will be a lot of fun. Eastman delivered a low blow to Martini. The other two members of the House of Truth, Josh Raymond and Christian Able, made the save and another beatdown of Eastman ensued. Martini nailed Eastman in the head with a book.
Mason Beck defeated Jeff Brooks with the razor’s edge. Not sure what the plan is for Beck, but he is now a babyfacewith Valerie Malone.
In a match for the AAW heavyweight title, Silas Young beat the debuting Ricochet with the end time submission hold. A fine way for Young to build up more heat by beating his latest challenger with Jimmy Jacobs’ submission hold. This was a smartly worked match with a clean ending. Ricochet has nights where he’s off. This was not one of them. Ricochet delivered a solid performance by hitting everything cleanly and keeping the real high-flying stuff out. Young controlled much of the match but allowed Ricochet a few hope spots in order to make him look like a credible challenger. I’d say a ***1/4-***1/2 match.
Main event time. House of Truth and Age of the Fall has a classic main event that delivered on all accounts. Tyler Black came out to a huge ovation and the crowd, which was pretty hot all night, exploded for Black. The man who made his debut almost six years ago came out smiling and relaxed. It almost seemed like Black was at peace with himself and his decision to leave the indy scene. Unlike CM Punk sobbing back in August 2005, Black was happy and energetic. Jimmy Jacobs matched this energy and showed his usual babyface fire throughout the match. Ending was also great as Silas Young took Jimmy Jacobs away from the ring. Black did some back and forth with Able, Raymond, and Martini. As he was about to overcome the odds one more time, Raymond rolled him up and got the three count. I’m not usually a fan of these roll-up endings, but this was the only possible ending considering the circumstances.
A sidenote before I finish the report. AAW has put on a number of quality main events over the years. I’d say on just about every show this year has featured a four star match. Many of the matches have involved Tyler Black, but the House of Truth have also been featured performers in a number of matches as well. They’re easily the best tag team in the Midwest. It’s not even close. Raymond and Able excel at double team moves and making heat segments interesting. As sad as it is for Tyler Black to be leaving, it’s almost a tragedy that Raymond, Able, and Jacobs aren’t also able to perform on national television too. Great work throughout the year from all four men. I’m excited to see what House of Truth’s second AAW tag team title reign will be like since they’re first was quite good.
After the match, Tyler Black said his good-byes as the locker room cleared out to say good-bye. Black got on the microphone, took a shot at his own lack of promo skills, and thanked a number of people including trained and AAW owner Danny Daniels. It was a classy departure for someone who is by all accounts a humble guy that will get an opportunity to possible excel on WWE television. A number of familiar faces showed up at the show to make it an even more special (Chris Sader was not one of the people who made the show special by the way).
Overall, this was an up and down show. The last two matches took this from a surefire thumbs down to at least a thumbs in the middle. I’ll have to wait for the DVD before making a final judgment. The main event is well worth going out of you way to see. The AAW title match is very interesting (even moreso considering what happened with Ricochet the next night), and it seems like the seeds are being laid for some sort of invasion angle.
I’ll write live reports for the Dragon Gate shows in Chicago and Milwaukee on Sunday and likely most them last that night or Monday.
