-Taped from Berwyn, Illinois
-Your hosts are Phil Colvin and Derek St. Holmes
-It’s a conference call with Kevin Harvey and referee Waldo Peeps. Harvey has given more authority to the officials and wants them to step up even more. He mentions what happened to Nate Matteson and his career ending courtesy of Darin Corbin kicking him in the balls. Ryan Boz comes in and puts his hands on an official, thus violating the rule Harvey was just emphasizing. He is suspended for 30 days. Boz makes a phone call.
-Truth Martini comes out with Jesse Emerson and Danny Daniels. Martini mentions Matteson is out with a bad groin. Isn’t that a problem we can all relate too? He also mentions the challenge Joey Eastman laid out for Bourbon Street. He turns his attention to tonight and mentions a potential fight. He challenges Tweek Phoenix since it was allegedly him who took out Keith Walker. Tweek Phoenix indeed comes out to take on all three members of the group. Eventually, the numbers game catches up to him. Marion Fontaine makes the save and clears the ring. I guess we have a match.
-Tweek Phoenix and Marion Fontaine vs. Jesse Emerson and Danny Daniels (w/Truth Martini)
Match in Five Words or Less: A Preview
Match Summary: Basement dropkick on one side. Tope suicida on the other. Brawl continues on the outside of the ring. Fontaine uses kicks to keep the advantage before hitting a running teabag. Atomic drop by Emerson. Running senton by Daniels misses. Headscissors by Fontaine. Whip to the corner and a tag. Running dropkick by Phoenix. Upperkick sends Daniels out of the ring. Martini tries grabbing the leg. Chase leads to a Daniels clothesline. Back suplex into the rail. Phoenix ends up on the wrong side. Back in the ring for a cover and two. They continue working Phoenix over. Comeback and an atomic drop on Martini. Phoenix takes Daniels in the corner. Drop toehold of Martini in the corner. Fontaine and Emerson enter the ring. Rana. Flying forearm leads to a two count. Leg kicks. Leaping DDT. Superkicks for everyone. Phoenix dropkicks Emerson leading to a sunset flip for two by Fontaine. Back suplex on Daniels. Rocket Launcher hits. Emerson has the official distracted. Babyfaces bring chairs in the ring but miss Emerson. Martini brings him completely out of the ring. A complete no name runs in the ring and decimates all. He kicks the chair out of Phoenix’s hand and powerslams him. Emerson hits an Alabama slam. Daniels hits a piledriver. Double count leads to the victory.
Match Analysis: A perfectly adequate opening tag team match to get the show started. The issue between Martini and Eastman was forwarded, and we got to find out who Keith Walker’s replacement was in House of Truth. Solid encounter with a logical ending.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: House of Truth/9:31/**1/2
-Truth Martini accepts the challenge for a cage match and announces the match will be conducted under Wargames rules. He then introduces the fans to Hunter Paine, i.e. the giant man who took out both babyfaces by himself.
-Eryn has a bad neck. Ryland Foxx is apparently a doctor ready to diagnose the problem. Knight Wagner and Jordan McEntyre prevent Eryn from being anally raped with a turkey baster. An early contender for worst segment of the year as this was hideous.
-Mat Fitchett vs. BJ Whitmer
Match in Five Words or Less: Whitmer Does His Job
Match Summary: Mat work to start. Pun not intended. Cross armbreaker and Fitchett has to grab the ropes. Whitmer dominates a test of strength. Short elbow and clubbering blow from Whitmer. Clothesline ducked. Headscissors by Fitchett. Armdrag exchange and a stalemate. Whitmer sent up and over. Tope con helo by Fitchett. Quick roll-up gets two. Modified chinlock. Whitmer elbows his way out of the hold. Nice headlock by Fitchett. Kick in the face. Standing moonsault for two. Whitmer tosses him up and drops him. Series of boots. Hard chop sends him down immediately. To the corner for more chops. Hard elbow off the ropes. Backbreaker. Hard chop. Head first into the buckle. Strike and Fitchett ain’t doin so hot. Forearm. Whitmer grabs a chinlock. Fitchett hits a rana. Step-up enziguri. Clothesline misses. Fitchett has to hit three clotheslines to send his man down. Whip is reversed. Back elbow. Moonsault gets two. Whitmer meets Fitchett with a forearm. Overhead suplex leads right into a northern lights suplex. Exploder blocked. Fitchett goes up and over. Dropkick low. Standing moonsault on Whitmer’s back. Exploder by Whitmer out of nowhere. 1-2-NO! Fitchett O’Connor rolls Whitmer. Big kick to the head. 1-2-NO! Kick blocked. Twisting fisherman’s suplex. A second one only gets two. Powerbomb turned into a ridiculous reverse rana. 1-2-NO! That was an incredible spot. Fitchett is now getting cheers from the Berwyn faithful. Up top he goes. Whitmer meets him. Fitchett shoves him off. Shooting star press misses. Flatliner into the Peruvian Necktie. Fitchett finally taps.
Match Analysis: Whitmer did an incredible job making the kid look like a million bucks in this match. What a spectacle this was. Amazing what happens when you allow two people to just go out there and have a fun match regardless of its position on the card. I hope both guys become regular members of the roster. And for Fitchett, this was his breakout in the Midwest. I look forward to a possible rematch down the road.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: BJ Whitmer/12:40/***1/2
–Code of honor is followed as there is clear respect after an excellent match.
-Interview time as Jimmy Jacobs comes out to talk about his goals. He wants to earn the opportunity to take on Silas Young once again. Irish Airborne, the AAW tag champs, come out. Jacobs calls them a naughty name. Dave Crist buries Jacobs and says he doesn’t deserve a heavyweight title match. They say Jacobs isn’t even worth their time. Jacobs has a message for Young he wants to deliver through the team. Airborne of course has the numbers advantage. What’s up with these dumb babyfaces battling the odd?. Arik Cannon of all people clears the ring of Jake and Dave Crist. BUT HE’S NOT EVEN SUPPOSED TO BE HERE TONIGHT! Cannon enjoys a PBR before making a lewd comment at Irish Airborne. Technically, Cannon is suspended for one more show, but since DG USA didn’t book him in Los Angeles, here he is. Cannon talks about their “I Quit” match and its epic nature. Cannon has a few beers in him. He calls for a tag team mach against Dave and Jake Crist. Jacobs actually accepts.
-The Clash talks about being a unit. Cameron Skyy calls out J. Miller for AAW seeing potential in him. Mena Libra is replacing Miller in the eight man tag for later. He turns his attention to Austin Mannix. They’re going to eliminate Zero Gravity, MsChif, and Dan Lawrence.
-Samuray Del Sol and TD Thomas vs. Josh Raymond and Christian Able
Match in Five Words or Less: Yeah! They’re winning!
Match Summary: Feeling out process between Del Sol and Raymond. Neither man gains the advantage. Able tags in. Del Sol poses but decides to bring Thomas in. Now we’ve shifted from Lucha to straight power. Spinning back fist. Able fires back with an elbow of his own. Shoving ensues. The feeling out process is over. Elbow to the gut. Snapmare and seated lariat by Able. Thomas hits a combo kick. Whip. Thomas caught. Law dart and lariat. Del Sol doesn’t even allow for a cover. Enziguri on Raymond into an acecrusher on Able. Raymond hits an awkward backcracker. Roll-up and another nice spin kick by Thomas. Able comes off with a pounce. Spin kick by Del Sol. Short kick and a superkick by Raymond. Everyone is down. Slingshot into a superkick by Del Sol. Clothesline on both men from Able. Powerslam. Running enziguri by Thomas. Able lifts both men and sends them down. Raymond hits a step-up Michinoku driver, apparently called the Crisis Driver. Able hits a TKO. Double pin and the victory.
Match Analysis: I appreciated the unique nature of this contest with no formula and two teams just battling. Since they were both babyfaces, it made sense for things to start friendly and then quickly get ugly. Because Raymond and Able are babyfaces and rising up the ladder to get back toward the titles, it made no sense for them to play de facto heels. Very smartly worked contest.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Josh Raymond and Christian Able/7:37/***
-Shane Hollister says Louis Lyndon is what started the problems. He makes fun of him for being such a babyface and bowing to the needs of the people. Hollister is also getting a haircut before the next show.
-J. Miller vs. Knight Wagner
Match in Five Words or Less: Hell Of A Knight
Match Summary: Back and forth they go off the ropes with much crispness. They go to a stalemate. Wow. Leg sweep by Wagner. Double chops. Round kicks by Miller. Shot to the midsection and European uppercut by Wagner. Running knee strike. Miller uses his legs to drive Wagner into the middle buckle. Series of kicks to the upper body. Snap suplex. Running scissor kneedrop. Knee to the gut. Wagner goes for a leapfrog but gets sent down face first. Miller stomps Wagner down. Wagner hits a clothesline and a back elbow. Dropkick. Sends him out. Russian legsweep. Quick legdrop. Scissor kick blocked. Back elbow by Wagner. Up top. Miller kicks his leg out. Running boot to the head. 1-2-3.
Match Analysis: This has to be the best Wagner has ever looked. He showed crispness and fire. This is what I hope to see more of in the future. Miller is certainly someone to watch on the independent scene in the years to come based on his abilities. This didn’t steal the show, but this was a very good showcase for them.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: : J. Miller/5:37/**3/4
–Jordan McEntyre comes out to cut a looooooong promo. He calls out his partner for losing. He lays down a challenge to anyone who might be in the back. Come on Jordan. Keith Walker? Really? Gregory Iron comes out, but this promo is far from over. McEntyre can’t talk and gets a little tongue tied while trying to make fun of him. I thought Iron was the handicapped one.
-Jordan McEntyre vs. Gregory Iron
Match in Five Words or Less: Better Than The Promo
Match Summary: Iron hits facebreaker. Series of clotheslines and elbows. Boots up. Splash but McEntyre can’t quite catch him. Backbreaker. Snap suplex. McEntyre decides not to kick Iron’s arm. Sunset flip for two. Fireman’s carry slam. Springboard elbow drop. Again, he teases working the arm but passes. No low blow either. Iron kicks him away. Hard running elbow.Off the ropes with a kick. Spinebuster by McEntyre. Iron hits a shot in the back and a neckbreaker. Gimp slap for two. Charging back elbow. Bicycle kick by McEntyre. Tiger driver countered. O’Connor roll blocked. Facebuster gets three for Iron.
Match Analysis: After that sterling promo, the match had to be better. Not much else to say.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Gregory Iron/4:29/*1/2
-Kevin Harvey is out, and he puts over the company right away. Apparently, the suspension with one Ryan Boz stands after what happened earlier tonight. Ditto for Arik Cannon being out 30 more days. Then Jim Lynam, still an AAW owner who hasn’t been seen in quite some time, comes out. Lynam says Harvey is not taking care of his business. Two rulings. One: Ryan Boz is not suspended and will compete in the main event. Two: Arik Cannon will be teaming with Jimmy Jacobs to wrestle Irish Airborne for the belts… right now.
-AAW Tag Team Championship: Irish Airborne (Jake and Dave Crist)(champions) vs. Jimmy Jacobs and Arik Cannon
Match in Five Words or Less: The Odd Couple
Match Summary: Airborne start attacking Jacobs before Cannon comes out. Cannon does eventually make his way to the ring and takes out the champions. Brawl outside. Poor P.J. Drummond tries gaining control. Not happening. Cannon applies a standing Indian deathlock. He wants a beer. Jacobs tosses it to him. Amazing how much more amusing it is when Jacobs does it as opposed to his fellow D.U.F compatriot. Jacobs comes in for a spear on Jake. Into the buckles. Series of double stomps. Dave hits a leaping enziguri. Jake comes in with punches. Standing moonsault. Jacobs driven in the corner. Running shin strike. Cannon dropkicked off the apron. Back suplex. Double stomp to the shoulder by Dave. Double boots and knee strikes. Cannon sent down yet again. Right hands by Dave. Kick. Clothesline misses and he gets taken back to the corner. Jacobs takes turns striking IA but to no avail. Crotch one Crist. Cannon gets into a punching battle with Dave. Cannon finally tagged in. Clothesline and back elbow. Another clothesline. Charge on Jake. Clothesline/bulldog combination. More striking on Dave. Boot and Total Anarchy. 1-2-NO! Jake saves his brother. Jacobs saves his partner with a spear. Double team from the champs on Jacobs. Double cover but Jacobs kicks out. Set-up for the spike tombstone. Dave hits a dropkick off the top rope. Block. Cannon and Jacobs punch each other. Airborne runs into each other. Double roll-ups lead to a three count. Then they just stare at each other as they have the belts put in their hands.
Match Analysis: Last month, I stated one of the finishes for Twisted Christmas was one of the worst I’d seen in months. Tonight, this was one of the best. Great visual with Jacobs and Cannon both pinning fallen opponents after a miscommunication. Then the glare they gave to each other… just perfect. The match itself was good, but they’ve definitely got something better in them for a possible rematch. The finish though? Worth watching to see just because these two are awesome at what they do.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: NEW AAW Tag Team Champions- Jimmy Jacobs and Arik Cannon/12:45/***1/4
-MsChif, Dan Lawrence, and Zero Gravity (Bret Gakiya and CJ Esparza) vs. The Clash (Cameron Skyy, Tommy Treznik, Austin Mannix, and Mena Libra)
Match in Five Words or Less: Energetic
Match Summary: Gakiya and Skyy start out hot and heavy. Series of strikes. Kick blocked by Gakiya. Leg kicks. Skyy misses a clothesline. Nice rana. Another forearm. Treznik forearms his own partner. Gakiya ranas him. Skyy double sledges him from behind. Gakiya dives on Treznik and Esparza hits a spring clothesline on Skyy. Twisting splash. Skyy eye rakes Esparza. Mannix in and immediately gets armdragged. Lawrence and Esparza double team. Backbreaker and some mocking by Lawrence. MsChif in. Quick knee. MsChif counters into a quedadora. Hard chop and standing moonsault. Libra pulls MsChif down by the hair. Mannix slaps. Libra with a hard punch. Hip attack. Sliding Laurinitis crusher. Phil Colvin’s best line ever. Heat segment on MsChif continues. Comeback by MsChif. Esparza starts the comeback on Skyy. Standing frog splash gets two. Up top. Mannix and Treznik buy time for Skyy to snapmare Esparza. Diving forearm to the kidney. Clash works over Esparza now. Demolition Decapitation on Esparza. Swinging backbreaker into a Russian legsweep by Treznik. Mannix with a knee strike and then follows up with the running knee. Whip and charging back elbow. Shot in the corner. Trip by Skyy and a legdrop by Treznik. Whip. Esparza hits an elbow. Big boot on Treznik. One foot dropkick. MsChif gets the hot tag. Back fist. Tornado DDT. Mena enters. Quick shot to the gut. Skyy prevents a submission hold and uses one of her own. Everyone gets in on the act. What is this? Dragon Gate. Mannix ends the fun. MsChif low bridges him out. Tope suicida into a DDT by Lawrence. MsChif on the top rope. Samoan drop attempt blocked. Chokeslam driver only gets two. Cleansing blocked by ZG. Enziguri on Treznik by Gakiya. Esparza runs into a boot. Reverse DDT on Skyy. Kick misses. Treznik hits a bus driver. MsChif hits him in the lower abdomen. Assisted Code Red gets two. Libra hits a charging hip attack on Esparza to knock him out of the ring. Spear and Libra is hung out to dry. Ridiculous chop sends her out. No one is in the ring. Libra slams MsChif into the first row. Headbutt in response. Libra rams into the rail. Girls go in the crowd. Lawrence and Mannix eventually end up in the ring. Girls are by the door. Rana off the top rope. 1-2-NO! Too much stuff going on right now. Brawl in the locker room for the girls. Lawrence is battling Treznik and Skyy. Cleansing finally hit. ZG break up the count. Misdirection by ZG. Enziguri into a superkick. Flippy Cup 2.0. Mannix sends Esparza into the ring post. Mannix drives Gakiya hard into the mat. 1-2-NO! Mannix and Skyy turn back their focus to Lawrence. Noggin knocker. Dropkick on both men. Treznik clotheslines Lawrence out. Esparza maneuvers to the outside. Gakiya hits yet another solid kick. Assisted moonsault. Esparza hits a shooting star elbow. This finally gets the babyfaces the victory in a really excellent tag team match.
Match Analysis: Part of me thinks the match went a little too long, but overall this was a really great atomicos style match. Lots of action as this has been a pretty long running AAW feud at this point. MsChif and Libra are clearly set to end their feud sooner rather than later. Would be nice if Clash could pick up victories in some of these matches to get some heat for themselves. All five members are talented in their own way and are also showing significant improvement.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: MsChif, Dan Lawrence, and Zero Gravity (Bret Gakiya and CJ Esparza) 17:48/***1/2
-Val Malone says Silas Young is taking a vow of silence. She says Beck can take out Elgin, and it will be a piece of cake. Young makes a cake eating motion to drive home the point.
-Shane Hollister vs. Louis Lyndon
Match in Five Words or Less: Hollister’s Revenge
Match Summary: This is a rematch from a previous bout where Lyndon upset Hollister. Some aggressive feeling out to start. Headscissors, which seems to be the move of the night, executed by Lyndon. Hollister offers a handshake. Kick to the midsection and a series of right hands. Open hand slaps from Lyndon. Cross armbreaker. Into a triangle choke. Shoulder block by Hollister. Lyndon armdrag. Shoulder block in the corner. Lyndon misses a springboard moonsault. He takes a seat and rolls him over. German suplex gets two. Hollister powders. Lyndon gets tripped up. Hollister still can’t get the advantage. Powerslam. Lyndon heads to the top. His feet become tangled in the ropes. He leaps into a gutbuster courtesy of Hollister’s knees. Series of stomps. Hollister keeps thrusting, and I’m not sure why. Strikes the gut. Full nelson. Roll through into the cross armbreaker. Hollister delivers another hard stomp. Series of kicks to the back. Short kneedrop and blatant choking. Headbutts but Hollister knees him. Some smack talk and a paint brush. Kick to the side. Lyndon fights back with a series of kicks. Palm strikes. Kick combo sends Hollister outside. Basement dropkick sends Hollister into the crowd. Lyndon asai moonsaults all the way to the wall. Rear naked choke by Hollister. Lyndon fights out of the hold. More knees. Small package into a head kick. Back to the cross armbreaker. Hollister rolls him up by the tights for two. Up and over on a suplex. O’Connor roll blocked. Dragon suplex by Lyndon gets two. Into the key lock. To the top they go. Cross armbreaker off the top. Hollister gets into the ropes. Boots by Hollister. Feet on the ropes but the referee sees it. Palm strike misses. Superkick. Roll-up for two by Lyndon. Whip in the corner. Moonsault countered into a chinbreaker. Spike rana! This match is ridiculous. Brainbuster ends Lyndon’s night in an incredible match.
Match Analysis: I was stunned when I heard this only went 13 minutes because of how vicious and brutal these two went at it. There are some wrestlers who like to think they can incorporate martial arts into wrestling. I feel like these two did it in a way more natural way. Lyndon continued working the arm the entire match. He used different holds and even put on multiple variations of the cross armbreaker. Great psychology from these two. I’m hoping with the series tied at two, they can have a third match. This came across like a breakout for Lyndon, and Hollister recovered big time after a terrible ending to the Twisted Christmas match with Colt Cabana. Certain people at ringside could learn a lot about wrestling from watching this match.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: 13:23/***3/4
-Hollister teases doing the same thing he did to Lyndon as he did to Gregory Iron back at Windy City Classic. Gregory Iron leads the way in making the save. This is the angriest and most intense I’ve ever seen him. Great work on his part. Huge dive to the outside. Straight punches by Iron to anyone he can hit.
-Silas Young (AAW Heavyweight Champion) and Mason Beck vs. Michael Elgin and Ryan Boz
Match in Five Words or Less: A New Challenger
Match Summary: Silas Young going around and getting into it with various drunk fans might be better than a lot of indy shows. Young tells Elgin he doesn’t belong in the ring with him. Boz and Beck brawl to start. Biting in the corner. Straight right hands. Back elbow. Elgin quickly comes in and hits an elbow drop. Suplex blocked. Forearms and an overhead suplex on Beck. Elgin tossing that dude around looks impressive. Young kicks Elgin in the back. Young knees Elgin in the back. Boot by Beck. With Elgin in trouble, here comes the heavyweight champion. Double sledge to the back. Knee strikes. Shoulder tackles go nowhere. He brushes Elgin aside. Fail. Elgin brings Young in the corner. Series of hard punches. Young brings Elgin into the middle buckle. Elgin counters with a back suplex. Beck hits a running boot. Whip in the corner. Series of shoulder tackles. Young with a shot to the midsection. Young drives Elgin into the corner. Chop and shoulder tackle in the corner. Elgin reverses into a vertical suplex. Kick by Beck. He walks all over him… literally. Elbow drop. Hard right hands by Elgin. Knee strike into the midsection. Elgin hits a chop but eats another knee. Young sends Elgin into the corner. Chops by Elgin from corner to corner. Young rakes the eyes. Beck and Elgin exchange ridiculous blows. Elgin rammed into the ring post. Elgin rams Young into the rail. Beck gets the same treatment. Young goes for a cover back inside. Elgin drives Young in the corner. Young reverses a whip. Double team by the heels. Elgin lifts both men up and slams them. That was amazing. Considering the size of both men? Jebus. Elgin tags Boz. Punches for everyone! DVD on Beck. Young splashes his own partner. Boz driver countered. Shot by Beck. Kick on Beck. Young deposited outside. Beck lifted to the top rope. Superplex blocked. Beck shoves him down. Elgin meets beck and overhead superplexes him down. Boz covers but gets two. Elgin goes for the powerbomb but gets sent in the corner. Enziguri. Beck with a kick. Young asks for the tag. He spits on Boz. Backbreaker. Beck stomps him down. Great variation there. Young trash talks Elgin some more. German suplex by Elgin gets two. Elgin lifts himself over. Val Malone saves Young from the powerbomb. Young double legs him, puts his feet on the ropes, but gets two. Butterfly move but he gets backdropped over. Elgin flips Young over. Young hits a pedigree. 1-2-NO! Nagasaki roll blocked. Young hits a forearm. Whip reversed. Charging clotheslines. One final lariat gets two. Nagasaki roll. Pee Gee Waja plunge misses. Elgin tags Young with an enziguri. Two fresh men come in. Beck misses a giant boot. Beck mountain. Elgin blind tags. Silas does the same. Swinging uranagi. Val Malone goes on the apron. He shoves Malone into Beck. Boz takes them both out with a tope suicida. Elgin preps for a dive. He runs into a Nagasaki roll. Elgin rolls out and superkicks him. Bucklebomb into a powerbomb and the three count.
Match Analysis: This match was both really good and served a purpose. Making Elgin a top challenger for the heavyweight title had to be a goal here based on pinning Young. Young made Elgin look tremendous, and Elgin continues to put on a strong performance no matter where he wrestles. As much as Ring of Honor has given him chances, AAW has allowed Elgin an even greater chance.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Michael Elgin and Ryan Boz/19:21/***1/2
The Verdict: The Chaos Theory was the perfect way for AAW to kick off the new year. The key for any indy wrestling is to establish new stars constantly while also allowing their veterans to showcase their abilities. Louis Lyndon and Shane Hollister stole the show in what was the best match of the show. Guys like the Clash, Zero Gravity, and Knight Wagner are stepping up their game. Michael Elgin became a top contender for the heavyweight title in one night. On the other hands, Jacobs and Cannon are the new oddball tag champs who don’t like each other. An easy thumbs up for Chaos Theory.
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