I recently had the pleasure of attending a live anniversary show that featured a number of solid matches and a raucous Chicago crowd. You might be thinking the Ring of Honor 9th Anniversary show. While it was an enjoyable show, I don’t think it held a candle to what AAW presented for their 7th Anniversary show. The show was by no means perfect, and I’ll talk about a couple negatives throughout the report. But here’s a full rundown of the show. I don’t these for every show, but I had a lot to say and didn’t want to take up 20 minutes of podcast time since there’s so much going on in the wrestling world.
Preshow featured a match that turned out to be the longest 1 minute and 50 second match ever. Let’s just get into the main show as Mason Beck squashed yet another man. Austin Mannix was another in a series of men to be squashed by Beck. It’s grown pretty tiresome to see him in non-competitive matches, but that would all change later. Beck won quickly before Kevin Harvey came in the ring and announced there was a new sheriff in town, him.ith Jim Lynam not really an active part of the company anymore, Harvey is going to be the on air decision maker. Dividends came immediately as irish Airborne and Mason Beck were banned from ringside in the three way AAW title match. But it’s not like anyone else would interfere, right?
Awesome Threesome of Jordan McEntyre and Knight Wagner defeated Samuray Del Sol and Samuray Del Luna. McEntyre and Wagner are almost in the same position as All Night Xpress in Ring of Honor. They’re stepping up their game and becoming more serious. There’s still a long way to go, but at least the matches are better, and they’re winning matches clean. Del Sol and Del Luna looked good together, and they deserve more opportunities in AAW. It wasn’t a show stealer but very acceptable for the second match on the show. This was a sign AAW’s 7th Anniversary had potential to be something special.
Up next, a match I was very much looking forward as two of the more underrated guys in independent wrestling battled Shima Xion and Arik Cannon had a good back and forth contest which resulted in a big rebound victory for Cannon. Dave Prazak threatened to end his business relationship with Cannon if he had lost. Very smooth contest and it fit its place on the card. I think what impresses me most about Cannon is he understands where he is at all times. He can transition from heel to babyface so well. The heat he draws in Berwyn almost isn’t fair because of how easy it is. I’d like to see Xion be a consistent presence in AAW because his appearances have basically resulted in good matches.
Women’s action came up next. Mena Libra and Naveah had an entertaining contest. Naveah has improved greatly, and Libra showed a great deal of presence. If the company is serious about building a women’s division that doesn’t feature obvious names, this is a great starting point. Even the crowd seemed to appreciate the match.
The final match before intermission featured Shane Hollister successfully defending the AAW Heritage title. I think it’s interesting AAW keeps bringing in outsiders to face Hollister. Austin Aries, Davey Richards. And now another one in the person of Mike Elgin. Elgin has been in AAW before, but it’s obvious he received this chance because of his work in Ring of Honor and Michigan connection. My theory on bringing in outsiders is so Hollister doesn’t burn through the roster defending the Heritage title, and he can have some fresh opponents for an eventual Heavyweight title reign. Oh, it’s going to happen. I’ve been right before. Find out why in my recap of the main event. I loved this match. Great little man vs. big man action. Elgin’s power offense comes across well. He’s intense without going overboard while Hollister has mastered the sort of underdog babyface championship role. Not a four star match but Hollister continues his impressive title reign. ROH could take notes from AAW on how to handle a secondary championship. This was nearly a thumbs up show before intermission.
Before intermission, one of the more shocking announcements showed on the video board. AAW announced an official return to 115 Bourbon Street for Friday, May 13. On that night, DENNIS RODMAN and SCOTT HALL will appear. I swear. It’s happening. Rodman is a guy who became very popular in Chicago as a member of the Bulls. He participated in the second Bulls three peat and also has a background (maybe not such a positive one) in professional wrestling. Scott Hall… well, it’ll be interesting to see what kind of shape he’s in if nothing else. I’m not even sure how to react at this point because of genuine surprise. The most important thing is the attendance. A meet and greet with these two will bring out even more casual fans. AAW and their sponsors have done a great job thinking outside the box and making these bar shows special. But I think there is an aspect to this show that will make it the biggest AAW show ever which I’ll talk a great deal about once AAW makes that announcement official.
After intermission, disaster nearly struck. Dave Crist made his way into the ring, stood on the bottom rope… boom. Thing collapsed and Crist fell to the ground. He stayed on the ground for a minute, and it didn’t look good. I think Mr. Crist may have been more embarrassed than hurt because he went through the entire match and only holding his head. Irish Airborne defeated Darrin Corbin and Chris Hall. The match never really got going. I consider the work here a wash considering what happened. The guys shouldn’t be blamed for anything that occurred once the bottom rope break. Thankfully, this was the only bad match on the card. I’m also not sure what’s being accomplished by having Darrin Corbin lose every month. I can’t think of a single time when a losing streak angle has worked for a guy. Will be interesting to see if AAW can turn the tide.
Keith Walker beat Krotch in the next match. Truth Martini had the Book of Truth with him. For you Ring of Honor fans out there, you’ll remember Christopher Daniels stole the book and made a point to talk about this fact in a recent videowire. I know there shouldn’t be strict continuity between companies, but there wasn’t a reason for Martini to have the book. It didn’t play into the match at all, and my hunch is I’m the only one who cares about this. It’s not a huge deal at all, but keeping kayfabe (even if it is two different companies) isn’t always a bad idea. The match itself turned out better than I could have hoped. I’m not a fan of either guy, so my expectations were low.
The second of three very good championship matches took place next. I wasn’t sure if Zero Gravity would hold onto the championships over CLASH. Tommy Treznik, Cameron Skyy, and Mena Libra have shown themselves to be very capable in and out of the ring. Their gimmick is very good, and I’m even a mark for their theme song. Unfortunately, something just isn’t working. I think struggling to beat Krotch and not going over strong against undercard guys has hurt the progress of what could be a tremendous heel group. Even though the match went under ten minutes, this was a very good tag team match. Dug the finish too. CLASH set up for a double Death Valley Driver. Esparza superkicked Skyy. Gakiya rolled Treznik up for a quick three. Great little finish that makes sense and also kept some heat on CLASH. I’d like to see CLASH go back to the undercard and obliterate some people before winning the titles at last during the summer. Krotch made the save for ZG, so I guess that feud must continue.
Before we get to the main event, an actual quote from my year end AAW column: Silas Young will remain AAW champion until the anniversary show when he loses the belt to Dan Lawrence in Berwyn.
I’d like to thank AAW, their management, and Dan Lawrence for actually proving me correct for once. Lawrence defeated Silas Young to finally win the AAW championship after a 16 month title reign. These two along with Jimmy Jacobs put together one of the best three way matches I’ve seen in recent memory. This wasn’t just two guys battling with the other guy camping outside. An incredible breakneck pace was maintained. By the main event, I had forgotten there was no top rope. After 15 minutes, Arik Cannon ran in to nail Jacobs with a kick. I can only assume this will lead to a program with them. I give this a whole hearted thumbs up. Save their first singles match for the big May show, and you’ve got the beginnings of a great feud that should be a treat for AAW and other independent wrestling fans across the world.
Then it was down to Young and Lawrence. They did everything in their power to make it seem like Young was going to retain. Phil Colvin described the closing moments better than I ever could, so this is from his recap of the event on the AAW messageboard. In the closing moments Young hit the PeeGee WaJa Plunge but Lawrence cradled Young’s shoulders to the mat for the pin as the crowd exploded for the title change as AAW entered year number eight. It was party time in Berwyn. The crowd exploded when P.J. Drummond’s hand slapped the mat for three. It was one of the feel good ending professional wrestling has forgotten about in recent years. The dastardly heel finally got his in the end. The babyfaces came out to celebrate with the new champion. He was even hoisted on their shoulders. I loved every moment of the match and then the subsequent celebration. It sent AAW into year eight with a warm, fuzzy feeling. A tremendous night of action and fun. I’ll probably end up seeing better shows and matches throughout the year, but a blueprint for a great professional wrestling show can be found here. This is my favorite AAW show top to bottom since I attended my first show in July 2009.
Three months into 2011, AAW has already had an amazing year. Three solid shows. Their most attended show ever in February. A great anniversary show. This is a company that’s trying to put their best foot forward and will continue to do so come May. If AAW sucked, they would never be mentioned on our show, and I wouldn’t be going to Berwyn every month if I didn’t like the company. My patience for bad wrestling is small and gets smaller every day (Thanks Mike Bennett.). I hope everyone will give AAW a chance within the next few months because they’ve got some really underrated talent, and they treat their championships with respect.
I’ve shilled enough. Now be ready for some AAW DVD reviews coming up in the next couple weeks. Best of 2009 and The Chaos Theory are up first.
