-Taped from Berwyn, Illinois
-Your hosts are Phil Colvin and Kevin Harvey
-Ryland Foxx is standing between AAW tag team champions Zero Gravity. They’ve got a big title defense against Awesome Threesome. Esparza says the defense is no big deal. Not like they’re actually going to lose the belts or anything. The camera moves to Marion Fontaine staring at Scarlet’s ass. Based on her managerial skills, that’s pretty much the only thing she’s good for. Oh and taking awful chokeslams from Keith Walker. Apparently she wouldn’t manage Fontaine if he were the last wrestler on earth. Who’s the babyface in this scenario? Fontaine is a jerk, and Scarlet is a bitch.
-Jesse Emerson vs. Marion Fontaine
Match in Five Words or Less: Stache Steps Up
Match Summary/Analysis: The best part about Fontaine is his running in character commentary throughout his matches. Awesome. What you’ve got here is two rising stars who need a win after losing at Epic. Emerson is very technically sound, and he’s apparently a lawyer. There’s a bunch of jokes I could make, but I try to be above that sort of thing. Other than Cody Rhodes, Emerson is the only wrestler who I can think of who doesn’t wear kneepads. Emerson controls a good 80% of the contest until the ending. Sweet superplex gets 2.5. Spin kick and a tea bag by Fontaine. Superkick and spin kick followed by a springboard moonsault for two. Crossbody misses. Emerson powerbombs him. Alabama slam but Emerson still won’t cover. Goes for another move but Fontaine O’Connor rolls him up for a three count. Very enjoyable contest between the newcomers. Both guys shined and looked crisp. Hope both guys become important factors in AAW.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Marion Fontaine/7:36/**1/4
-Louis Lyndon vows revenge on Keith Walker for what happened to Scarlet and Krotch. Still needs work on promos.
-The Clash (Cameron Skyy and Tommy Treznik) vs. Austin Manix and TD Thomas
Match in Five Words or Less: Battle of Michigan
Match Summary/Analysis: Could it be a Clash squash? No Mena Libra because of a broken foot received in AIW. Thomas gets early offense and shows off his athleticism for the crowd. He reminds me of a taller Hieracon. This is the second straight match where everyone came off pretty well but didn’t do too much to hurt the rest of the crowd. Heat segment on Manix which is surprising since he’s the bigger man. Clash get better with every match in AAW, and I wish they didn’t come in with such huge fanfare. I think a slow burn would have worked much better. Flatline by Manix leads to a hot tag. Nice combo by Thomas on Treznik. Too much dancing leads to a poke to the eyes. Cleansing (double death valley driver) leads to a three count and a solid victory.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: The Clash/8:01/**1/4
-Truth is excited for tonight as he’s sending Nate Mattson to face Chris Hall. Mattson and Truth used to be AAW tag team champions. Martini leaves the locker room to find Danny Daniels sweeping the building up. Daniels is just another broke wrestler (in storyline), and Martini berates him for this fact. Wonder where this is all headed. Walker steps up to him, and Daniels appears to be a broken man.
Keith Walker (w/Truth Martini) vs. Louis Lyndon
Match in Five Words or Less: Lyndon Is Improving
Match Summary/Analysis: I think I’ve figured out Keith Walker. Give him a smaller opponent, and he has a good match. This is a similar contest to the one Walker had with Krotch a couple months prior. Walker almost gets into a fight with a fan before the bell. Lyndon uses his speed to barely stay alive. Walker responds by just simply beating the bajesus out of Lyndon whenever he gets a chance. Chokeslam overhead suplex gets 2.9. Probably should have been the finish cause that was pretty great. Nice chinbreaker into the knees by Lyndon. Series of strikes and kicks get the big man down. Moonsault misses. Uh oh. Lyndon out of a chokeslam into a choke. Cross armbreaker. Walker out but a rana. Lyndon almost gets a submission, but Walker grabs the ropes. Swinging DDT for two. Moonsault press almost gets two. Martini hops on the apron. Right hand but a lariat misses. Lyndon enziguris Walker through the ropes. Martini ends up in the ring. Lyndon goes after him like an idiot. LARIAT! Lyndon is dead. Walker wins. Another solid match that served its purpose.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Keith Walker/8:57/**3/4
-Ryland Foxx comes out to announce the AAW title match for Scars and Stripes. It will be Dan Lawrence against Silas Young on that night. Lawrence and Young are about to pick each other’s opponents for this evening however. Young says Lawrence won on a fluke and compares him to the fans. The usual basically. Young says he can beat Lawrence on any day. Lawrence talks about how much he respects Young and lays down the challenge for a 2-out-of-3 heavyweight title match. Now onto the business at hand. Lawrence picks Rhino as Young’s opponent. Young chooses two opponents, Irish Airborne. Or is it three? Mason Beck comes out make it 3-on-1 handicap match. The situation quickly disintegrates as Ryan Boz and Shane Hollister come out to make the save. Kevin Harvey has seen enough and makes the match a six man tag with a special championship stipulation since Shane Hollister is supposed to challenge for Mason Beck’s Heritage title on this night. He also bans Young from ringside as a bonus.
-Dan Lawrence (AAW Heavyweight Champion), Shane Hollister, and Ryan Boz vs. Mason Beck and Irish Airborne (w/Val Malone) (If Hollister pins Beck, he wins the AAW Heritage championship)
Match in Five Words or Less: They Forgot About Beck
Match Summary/Analysis: Not a fan of singles titles being defended in tag team matches but at least Hollister has to pin the champion to win the title. Feeling out process between Dave and Hollister. Jake and Lawrence in next briefly. Boz tags in and lays in a clubbering followed by s slingshot suplex. Lawrence and Hollister clear out Airborne before both being hitting by a spinebuster from Mason Beck. Beck wants Boz in. Beel on Lawrence. Heels take control of the match and focus on the heavyweight champion’s left arm. Beck actually tosses him over the top rope and back inside the ring. Hot tag to Hollister. Strikes for everyone! Flying knee on Dave. Flatline on Jake. Kick to Beck. Stomp off the top on Beck for two. Hollister loads his boot up but misses. Beck picks him up and slams him in a modified spinebuster. He decks Boz off the apron. Beck picks Hollister up out of a sunset flip and tosses him down again. Yeesh. Boz in with a series of clotheslines . Beck boots Boz down. Boz sent into the rail. Beck tossed into the rail as well. Boz and Beck head to the locker room . Airborne double team Hollister. All four men battle in the ring. Airborne nearly hits the spike piledriver on the champion, but Hollister kicks Dave off. Lawrence with the roll-up for the win. Solid little match from these six. Beck really got to showcase his power offense throughout, and I think it served him well. Boz taking Beck to the back was a bit awkward considering the issue with Hollister, but I guess they can solve that issue with a one-on-one championship match down the road.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Dan Lawrence, Shane Hollister, and Ryan Boz/12:16/***
-Chris Hall vs. Nate Mattson
Match in Five Words or Less: In Honor Of Eastman
Match Summary/Analysis: Mattson is a former tag team championship partner of Martini. His purpose is to job to Hall and keep the issue with Keith Walker going. Joey Eastman was also taken out a couple months ago by House of Truth. Not the best match but Hall certainly isn’t as bad as he used to be. He may have even lost some weight which helps him in the mobility and stamina department. Even Martini’s efforts to interfere do nothing to stem the tide of Hall. Mattson does a professional job of carrying Hall. Big splash leads to a Vader bomb and a win for the big man. This sets up the following month. Hall wants Keith Walker now. And wouldn’t you know it? Here he comes. The behemoths brawl. Mattson with a chop block. House of Truth with a beatdown. Scarlet walks out for God knows what reason. She slaps Walker in the face like a complete moron. She takes another awful bump on a chokeslam. The worst. At least AAW officials remember to carry her to the back this time.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Chris Hall/6:17/*
-Jimmy Jacobs vs. Sami Calihan vs. Alex Colon vs. Christian Hayme vs. Samuray Del Sol
Match in Five Words or Less: Borrowing A Page From DG
Match Summary/Analysis: You can look at the names and tell who’s winning and who’s jobbing. First fall actually wins. This is very similar to the freestyles you might see in Dragon Gate USA. Whatever you think of Sami Callihan, he did everything to get himself over with this Berwyn crowd. Colon and Callihan have a great sequence to start. Series of armdrags by Del Sol on Colon. Pace picks up even more when Hayme interferes. Jacobs and Hayme battle next. Hayme is the only guy truly acting like heel. Then Callihan just stiffs the holy hell out of Hayme with strikes. Huge dive and the back of Hayme’s head nails the rail. Del Sol with an asai moonsault on Callihan. Colon with a twisty splash on both men. Hayme dives and hits his leg on the rail. His head may have smacked the floor. Multiple men battle in the ring. Everyone except Jacobs ends up in the top rope. Jacobs powerbombs them all. And that’s why he’s smart. He didn’t have anything to do with that stupid bump. Series of covers can’t get him the win. Action too fast to call. Guys take turns controlling the match. Callihan hooks on a stretch muffler on Del Sol. Jacobs breaks the hold but ends up in the muffler himself. Hard chops by Callihan. Reverse angle slam into a bridge for two by Hayme. 450 ends awkwardly. Jacobs applies End Time. Fun showcase for all the newcomers and an important recovery match for one Jimmy Jacobs.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Jimmy Jacobs/8:49/***1/4
– Jacobs announces a return match with Arik Cannon to take place at Scars and Stripes. Prazak comes out point out Cannon isn’t in the building. Jacobs responds by putting Prazak in End Time to send a message. That was rude.
-AAW Tag Team Championship: Zero Gravity (Bret Gakiya and CJ Esparza) vs. The Awesome Threesome (Knight Wagner and Jordan McEntyre w/Eryn)
Match in Five Words or Less: NEW CHAMPIONS?!
Match Summary/Analysis: Zero Gravity comes out in shirts way too large for them. They look like little kids in them, and that’s not a positive thing. Irish Airborne want a shot at the tag team titles next May if Gravity are still the champs. Airborne attack the champions even before the bell rings because they’re jerks. Awesome Threesome take advantage. McEntyre smartly goes for a number of covers. Esparza recovers and hits a nice springboard dropkick on Wagner. Double team by the champs. Armdrags by Gakiya. Miscommunication by the challengers. Bit of s screw-up by Wagner and Esparza. Heat segment. McEntyre sends Wagner down on Esparza in a torture rack position. Harvey calls it a Burning Wagner. Great name for that move. Double boots by Esparza. Mini pele kick leads to the tag. Strike on Wagner. Roll-up on McEntyre. Chaos ensues. Gakiya dive as Esparza fakes him out. Facebuster on McEntyre for two. Flippy cup. 1-2-NO! Superkick by McEntyre gets two. Twisting splash misses badly. Step-up dropkick by Gakiya on Wagner. Assisted moonsault. Shooting star elbow attempt but Eryn gets involved. Gakiya is taken out of the ring. Double penetration on Esparza. 1-2-3!!!! NEW CHAMPIONS! From jobbers to champions in about two years. AAW has done a fine job building these two men up to actually be legitimate tag team champions. Congrats to them and here’s to a long and successful title reign. They really need to step up now that they are the champs and have championship quality matches. This wasn’t quite there, but it was close.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: NEW Tag Team Champions- Awesome Threesome/9:21/**1/2
-Silas Young (w/Val Malone) vs. Rhino
Match in Five Words or Less: Rhino Can Go
Match Summary/Analysis: I’ve taken a lot of shots at the ECW guys who have appeared over the last few months, but one thing that can be said about Rhino is he’s a fairly professional guy who actually had success outside the confines of the bingo hall. To be fair, Stevie Richards did work hard at Epic, but the performance of the other two BWO members and the stupid ending easily could make you forget that. Rhino controls with some basic stuff early. Young gets Rhino angry and takes advantage for a short while. Shoulder tackle sends Young out. All over the building they go. Even the announcers point out how this seems to happen in every main event. Right hands. Attempted gore but Val steps in the ring. Young goes to work after pushing Rhino off the turnbuckle to the floor. Young applies a sleeper and almost gets the win, but Rhino gets his arm up the elusive third time. Young sent into the top turnbuckle. Shoulder tackle by Rhino. Rams Young in the corner. Belly-to-belly suplex for two. Young regains control and heads up top. Double stomp misses. Rhino hits a main event spinebuster. Young dodges a gore. Referee gets taken out as Rhino nails am acecrusher. Mason Beck takes advantage and hits a huge boot. Shane Hollister prevents further damage. Dive to the floor. Rhino hits a GORE! GORE! GORE! Cover for the win. Very interesting that they’d have Rhino essentially beat Young clean as a sheet. I have to assume a rematch (perhaps for the title) is forthcoming. This was the best performance of anyone I’ve seen who used to be in ECW and has competed in AAW.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Rhino/13:40/***
-The Awesome Threesome celebrate with the belts and get a little lewd with Eryn’s boobs. Jesse Emerson trips on some alcohol that was spilt on the floor.
-Shane Hollister says Mason Beck’s days as champion are numbered.
-Truth Martini is looking to the future with Nate Mattson. Mattson says a tag match will happen at Scars and Stripes. Nate Mattson and Keith Walker versus Darrin Corbin and Chris Hall.
-Mason Beck says there’s nothing Hollister can do to take belt. Well, he can pin him for one.
-Val calls Rhino’s win against Young a fluke. Young turns his attention to Dan Lawrence and his rematch.
-Dan Lawrence talks about his upcoming championship match with Silas Young.
Line of the Night: Dan Lawrence’s last line, “Rock on Harlem Furniture. You’ll like our style.” If you’re not from Chicago, you may not understand. But it’s pretty amusing.
Finish of the Night: The five way felt a little but like an extended finishing sequence, but it nonetheless worked for the match. Very good work from all involved.
MVP: Tough for a show like this to truly have someone who was outstanding based on the star ratings. Based on that, I’ll give it to the Awesome Threesome for getting their first titles and improving so much in the last six months.
The Verdict: There wasn’t anything special about this show, but there wasn’t anything bad either. Every match served its purpose and wasn’t offensive. Tough to say thumbs up or down for that reason. A lot of angles were advanced and the next show was set up better than any show AAW has set up for in months.