This was the third of three straight wrestling weekends for yours truly. The fact that this one even happened is thanks to my friend Adam, as he came up with a game plan to enjoy some of the few entertaining spots in Springfield before heading down for AAPW in Marion. Going into the show, I had relatively low expectations. On a show with nowhere near the pedigree, it would have been illogical to expect something as good as PAC vs. El Generico. Yet in some ways, there was even more pressure to deliver a quality show. The rest of the locker room could not rely on the international superstars to carry the load. On this night, it was up to the local guys.
The big difference between Summer Chaos and Main Event was that five key people who weren’t there in January were there on the last night in June. Matt Cage, Christian Rose, Ace Hawkins, Brandon Espinosa, and Joey O’Reilly made major contributions to the show, and I would argue these are the five core guys to build the future of AAPW around. I’m going to be reviewing the DVD of the show in the coming weeks and will expand my thoughts on each match and angle there. Plus, I’m writing this on midnight on a six hour drive home. So don’t expect lucidity in this review.
The most vivid memories of the night came during the tag team title match with featured four of the aforementioned wrestlers. Cage and Rose are by far my favorite act in AAPW. It’s one of the reasons I interviewed them for the podcast (coming soon to an iTunes account near you). It’s not just their in-ring ability that has gotten notice from me but some of their tremendous promo work. In some ways, their interview skills have outshined what they do in the ring. I appreciate that these guys take pride in their ability to talk and don’t just simply rely on their work to do the talking for them. Their match with Triple X is easily the best match in the history of Collision. On this night, they had two equally outstanding opponents. Ace Hawkins is one of those wrestlers who seems to think he’s better than he actually is, but even though he’s still new to the business, he’s not that far from being one of the top indy high flyers in the United States. He and Espinosa are a good solid babyface tag team, but man… Rose and Cage feel three steps above everyone. After watching their match tonight, I’m convinced they need to receive chances in promotions like AAW, AIW, and even Ring of Honor. No disrespect to Alex Castle (Cage’s partner in a number of other indies), but I’ve really come to appreciate the Cage/Rose duo more just because I watch a lot more AAPW in relation to a lot of the other companies they work.
I mentioned Joey O’Reilly a bit earlier since he’s the best high flyer you’ve never heard of. He was in a four way match with Jay Spade, KC Jackson, and Sean Vincent. I can’t say this was the best match I’ve ever seen due to some disorganization and what appeared to be a botched spot. O’Reilly still found a way to put together some great spots and looked very fluid at times. He’s someone to keep an eye on the Midwest. Some company could make an easy 15 dollars from me if they booked O’Reilly/ACH.
I’d be lying if I said every match was outstanding, but most everyone worked hard and delivered solid performances. Unlike last time where there were a couple of awful matches in the middle of the first half of the show, this was definitely a more consistent show from open until close. There were three matches that did very little for me. Truk Thompson/Ben Boone, Serenity/The Great Cheyenne, and Bull Bronson/Justice served their purposes but did little else. If nothing else, they had clean finishes and set the winners on a course to do something important in the future… if you count a feud with the Mississippi Man important.
I think the best pure collection of talent was contained in the six man tag that took place before intermission. Gregory Iron was supposed to be in the match, but he’s been told by doctors to take until the month of August before going back into the ring. Looking back on the fact that Iron wrestled in AAW last week is pretty scary now with hindsight. Farmer Billy Hills may not have name value of a Gregory Iron , but he is a valuable and integral member of the AAPW roster. He jived in with the other five guys well and did not look out of place. Matt Cross is a solid veteran of the indy scene at this point. You know exactly what you’re going to get with him. A solid to good back and forth match. The third member of the team was a young man named Kyle Sykes. To be frank, he was young and green. But he also showed himself to be a potential star. Without disrespecting southern Illinois, it needs to be said that Sykes has to leave the area if he’s ever going to expand and become a bigger star. I feel like I could say this about a number of other people too, but Sykes was specifically cited by AAPW management as having a high level of potential. On the other side were some other good wrestlers. Mark Sterling is the very definition of underrated. He does a number of little things that may not get noticed by typical wrestling fans, but he can definitely be a ring general and seemed to really pace the tag match well. Bradley Charles saw limited action but had excellent facials and is someone else to watch out for the next few months. Chase King rounded out the team and did nothing to either distinguish himself or show himself not to be worthy of the opportunity. I enjoyed this match a great deal, and it was the perfect way to end the first half of the show.
In a way, the semi main event could easily be lost in the shuffle, both because of what happened in the tag team title match before, and then what happened in the main event after. Heath Hatten is very much the golden boy of the promotion as you can tell by who he’s wrestling and the increased amount of television time being dedicated to him. Ax Allwardt was in the main event in January, but because of the loss, he’s now being shifted lower on the card in order to work with Hatten. This was a good match that Allwardt appeared to be controlling from a workrate standpoint. Considering the screw job that was to come, it made a lot of sense for the babyface to come out the winner. It’ll be interesting to see where they take Hatten. Is he going to become a top contender to the new world champion or continue this feud?
The main event of this show is almost worth a whole column unto itself. One of AAPW’s biggest angles ever happened a few Collision episodes ago when Mike Masters “attacked a fan.” For smart mark fans, it’s easy to point and laugh at what a silly angle it was. Somehow AAPW has made it work. I believe I mentioned in my January review how there are some things that this promotion can get away with that a lot of other promotions can’t. This angle is probably at the top of the list. Another benefit was having a fan base, and even certain people within the industry believe that what they were witnessing was real. Yes, apparently actual people who should be smarter believed that Masters went crazy and beat up a poor fan in the middle of a television taping. If the angle hadn’t been showed on television, I myself could have seen myself falling for it. But if you watch the TV, it’s very clear that it was all a part of the show. However, if you were in Marion, Illinois on this night, you would have thought this was a life or death situation. Edmund McGuire’s winning the match and ending Mike Masters career was a foregone conclusion. It was just a matter of how.
If you want to watch the perfectly executed main event given the company and crowd, watch McGuire and Masters. I’m not going to sit here and tell you this was one of the greatest matches of all time. But everything they did mattered. There was a use of a garbage can here. In a lot of other matches it’s just used to make a loud noise or as another comedy prop for a hardcore match. It definitely meant something here as the champion, McGuire, used it to try and take his opponent out for good. McGuire at one point looked at some fans and said it wasn’t time for Masters to be beaten yet. It was this hubris that seemed to play a part in McGuire losing the match and title. Masters focused his attack on McGuire’s leg and applied a deadly reverse figure four leglock. McGuire was stuck. He couldn’t reach the ropes, yet wasn’t going to tap the championship away. The owner of the promotion, who has not been seen very much in AAPW recently, stepped up the apron and threw McGuire’s own towel into the ring. I’ll give some opinion on the angle shortly, but I want to describe to the best of my ability what happened after the match. First, the crowd didn’t know what to do. Silence. Anger. Crying. Grown ass people mind you. Tears rolling down their faces. People walking out of the building cursing Masters under their breath. I’d say this was the exact reaction AAPW was looking for. I also have to give credit to the ancillary characters for playing their roles. Chris Hagstrom began stripping Ric Flair style because he was so frustrated by what happened. Kevin Hunsperger was left to explain the chaos all alone. It was a great scene that can only be appreciated live. I can’t imagine the DVD will even begin to capture the essence of what made this angle to successful at the fans.
The one major flaw I see comes with having yet another crooked owner in professional wrestling screwing the babyface champion. I can totally see how someone could read the above paragraph or see the show and have that level of judgment. Regardless of whether you’ve seen the story play out, it’s perfectly legitimate to look at something and say whether it interested you or not. I think what helps AAPW in this situation is having someone like Mr. Hagstrom to battle with the owner in some capacity. It’s not like Sean is just going to go hog wild and not have someone to be his “equal.” In some ways, what is happening behind the scenes comes to life in this angle. Sean is old school. Chris is new school. What happens next is up to AAPW. I come down on the side of new and better talent being showcased. I firmly believe in the idea of moving forward and constantly trying to evolve one’s product. If AAPW wants to be taken seriously, guys like Mississippi Mad Men have to be removed from the roster to make way for guys who can deliver in the ring and expand the audience. I have the utmost respect for what fans want, but putting someone who’s a danger to himself and his opponents isn’t healthy for anyone. The five guys I mentioned at the very beginning of this article, as well as Heath Hatten, are the future of AAPW. Hopefully, management doesn’t decide to throw in the towel on them.
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Its funny how you say Cage/Rose deserve a chance in ROH or bigger feds and they are 3 steps above everyone but fail to realize Espinosa/Hawkins have worked for ROH in the past, as well as Hawkins doing WWE (sure it was a squash but it was on PPV and who else on AAPW roster has but Hatton?) and Espinosa is a stand out at OVW aka TNA Impact’s development promotion. Yes, Cage has done DGUSA but it was a quick squash, not as big as a WWE PPV squash who is as you would say “3 steps ahead” (at least) of DGUSA. There are reasons why some workers don’t get too far out of their “home” area…maybe you should look into that. Stop being narrow minded for the flashy moves like you are for some guys and look into the true wrestling talents like Edmund McGuire, who understands to work for the fans not the boys in the back…
Observor, you say that and seem to forget this quote. “If you want to watch the perfectly executed main event given the company and crowd, watch McGuire and Masters. I’m not going to sit here and tell you this was one of the greatest matches of all time. But everything they did mattered.” Their work was outstanding. I also like Espinosa and Hawkins as evidenced by the fact that I said this in the beginning “Matt Cage, Christian Rose, Ace Hawkins, Brandon Espinosa, and Joey O’Reilly made major contributions to the show, and I would argue these are the five core guys to build the future of AAPW around.” My argument was Rose and Cage as a team are better than everyone else. Espinosa and Hawkins absolutely deserve more chances as singles in companies like ROH and WWE. Hawkins was rookie of the year for a reason. You wouldn’t hear any argument from me if they also got increased opportunities.