-Taped from Berwyn, Illinois
-Your hosts are Phil Colvin and Dave Prazak
-We hear Davey Richards’s promo from last month as highlights of his match with Sami Calihan play on the screen. Loving the way AAW is starting out their shows with brief video packages now.
-Lamar Titan vs. Isaias Velazquez vs. Tweek Phoenix vs. Mr. Miller
Match in Five Words or Less: Miller Time Indeed
Match Highlights: Velazquez and Titan are out of the Vanguard wrestling promotion in Lake Forest. You may remember Velazquez from a match he had with Ophidian back in Chicago for Chikara last June at the Case of the Bulletproof Waldo. Phoenix is fresh off a heel turn. Miller and Velazquex start out quickly. Take down by Velazquez. Armdrags by Velazquez. Miller with a nice spin kick. Whip. Velazquez up and over. Kick to the head. Roll over and a dropkick to the side of the head. Tweek in with a stomp to the head. Off the ropes and a side slam. Bodyslam and a running headbutt. Forearm. Velazquez up and over. Forearm misses. Enziguri misses but he recovers for a kick. Titan hits a springboard armdrag. Running rana. Leapfrog and a cross body gets two on Tweek. Elbows to the back of the head. Miller trips him and comes back in the ring. Elbows on Titan out of the waistlock. Flapjack by Miller. He stomps Titan down. Tweek takes him to the corner and a shoulder block. Double chops to either side of the neck. Velazquez taken off the apron. Discus clothesline misses. Kicks from Miller. Tweek fades down. Discus clothesline hits this time. Velazquez catches him off the top rope. Upper kicks by Titan. Uranagi backbreaker into his knees. Miller in. He drives Titan face first into the turnbuckle. Snap dragon suplex on Titan. Tweek hits a back elbow. He goes to the top rope and hits a frog splash on Titan and Velazquez. Darin Corbin attacks from behind and takes Tweek to the backstage area. Titan with a one footed dropkick on Velazquez. Velazquez hits a back suplex and superkick to the ear. Charge met with a kick by Miller. Running sliding kick. Double stomp to the back. Done.
Match Analysis: A solid way to start the show as Miller gets his second consecutive victory in AAW. Not sure he’s worked himself back into title contention but I certainly think he should be built up for the Heritage title sooner rather than later. Velazquez and Titan looked solid in their debuts and certainly would deserve another opportunity in AAW. Tweek did not play much of a factor in the match, but brawling to the back with Corbin was a sensible move to get Miller the win.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Mr. Miller/6:13/**
-Truth Martini and Danny Daniels are in the back. Martini tells a story about a wife wanting to be an equal. Women apparently don’t know their place. He relates to the Chicago street fight forthcoming later on in the evening. Tonight is not about wrestling but about fighting. Daniels says it’s not about having a five star match but he’s ready to beat the hell out of MsChif. They walk away. MsChif screams in the camera a lot.
-BJ Whitmer vs. Mason Beck
Match in Five Words or Less: Tall Boy Battle
Match Highlights: Chop exchange almost right away. Whitmer forearms Beck outside. Quick knee by Beck into a headlock. Whitmer sends him off the ropes. Shoulder tackle by Beck. Armdrags from Whitmer. Into the armbar. Into the corner for a knee to the midsection. Whitmer up and over. Another series of chops. Back elbow. Standing dropkick by Beck. Series of stomps and clubbering blows. Whip across to the corner. Backbreaker. Whitmer with a series of right hands. Knee and overhead slam by Beck. Beck stretches Whitmer’s back out. Knee to the back. Whitmer with a series of right hands. More chops. Elbow by Beck. Beck whips Whitmer in. Big splash misses. Russian legsweep by Whitmer. Series of clothesline by Whitmer. Running knee. Vertical suplex rolled over into a northern lights suplex. German suplex blocked with elbows. Exploder by Whitmer. Beck hits a spinebuster. 1-2-NO! Whitmer ducks and hits a kick to the side of the head. Two straight fisherman’s busters lead to a two count. Elbow by Beck. Running boot. 1-2-NO! Spinebuster out of the firemen’s carry. 1-2-NO! Whitmer hits a flatliner. Peruvian necktie and Beck is forced to tap out. That would be two consecutive tap-outs for Mr. Beck.
Match Analysis: Good match again from Beck as he battles another veteran. Beck is undoubtedly getting better, but I hope we can get him back to winning soon enough. Whitmer just doesn’t have bad matches anymore, and this was another example of a good BJ Whitmer match.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: BJ Whitmer/10:06/***
-Cameron Skyy is back to set things straight. He’s disappointed in how corrupt AAW has become. They randomly turn on Mr. Miller, so I guess he’s out of the group. Fine with me. Miller can now move onto bigger and better things by himself.
-Dan Lawrence and Gregory Iron vs. The Clash (Cameron Skyy and Austin Mannix)
Match in Five Words or Less: That Was Something
Match Highlights: Lawrence and iron didn’t get along the previous month when they wrestled Shane Hollister and Marcus Crane. It feels like the Clash haven’t won in years. Lawrence his his boot caught but hits a clothesline. Chop in one corner. Chop in another corner. Skyy whips Lawrence over. Boots caught on both sides. Mannix is caught as well. They all sort of go in the corner. Iron with left hand punches. Clash taken in double corners. 10 punches in the corner on each side. Mannix sent into Skyy. Lawrence dropkicks Mannix out of the corner. Lawrence goes outside with right hands. Mannix sent back in the ring. Chops from Iron. Head into the knee. Gimp slap blocked. Mannix boot caught and sent into Skyy. Shoulder tackle by Iron. Springboard… something. That was bad. Skyy misses a clothesline. Left hands from Iron. Shoulder tackles and Skyy taken into the corner. Double team goes awry. Mannix catches Lawrence. O’Connor roll countered. Mannix with a kick. Roll-up by Skyy. Heat segment on Lawrence. Tag is made but the official misses it. Clash take advantage of course. Enzigri by Lawrence and a hot tag to Iron. Cross body. Chop and a neckbreaker. Off the ropes with a clothesline. Skyy sent in the corner. Iron hits a running clothesline on Skyy. Iron hits a cross body on both men. Skyy gets his boot up. Spinning bulldog. Gimp slap before Iron drops Skyy face first. Lawrence in. Double back drop. Mannix shoves Iron into Lawrence. Lawrence shoves iron out of the ring. Cleanser hit. Clash actually get a victory.
Match Analysis: I don’t know what happened, but this was a borderline disaster. There seemed to be some obvious miscommunication between the guys. I’m not going to assign blame because I wasn’t in the ring, but considering Gregory Iron recently suffered a concussion, I can’t help but be concerned for his well being after watching this contest. The Clash seem to be a cursed group at this point because even in what was a victory for them, the match quality wasn’t there. I do hope this gives Clash new focus and more opportunities for Skyy, Mannix, and Tommy Treznik.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: The Clash/9:15/*
-Lawrence slaps and shoves Iron after the match.
–Colt Cabana promo. Okay, first something about some people coming on August 24. Then Colt Cabana lays down a challenge to Shane Hollister. He says it’s time to fight to a decision.
-Shane Hollister (w/Marcus Crane) vs. Louis Lyndon
Match in Five Words or Less: Rising Stars Unite Again
Match Highlights: Lyndon and Hollister have each won one singles match in AAW, so this is a rubber match of sorts. Some stalling early as Hollister does some push-ups. Now we have a little bit of a Suge Step. Lyndon controls on the mat to start. Some fun exchanges between the two men. Lyndon locks a cross armbreaker. Hollister rolls him up for two. Lyndon with an arm toss. Springboard into an armdrag. Boot to the midsection by Hollister. Pair of uppercuts. Lyndon goes between the ropes and hits a boot. Diving roll-up for two. Full nelson but Hollister blocks the suplex. Again with the beautiful counters. Sweet rana by Hollister. Hollister catches him with an elbow. Suplex but Lyndon goes on the apron. Blows to the back. Lyndon goes for a suplex to the outside. Referee prevents that. Crane takes Lyndon down. Baseball dropkick by Hollister. Crane tosses Lyndon into the ring post and then the center pole. Hollister says it’s already over. Lyndon hits a northern lights suplex and bridges over. Elbow and karate thrusts to the back of the neck. Trip from the outside and Hollister hits Lyndon in the head with a kick. Series of kicks to the back. Slingshot into the bottom rope. Scoop slam. Suge Step into the knee drop. Crucifix into the elbows. Hollister celebrates as if he’s won. Hollister taunts Lyndon. Counter into an O’Connor roll. Hollister hits an enziguri. Hollister places his knee in Lyndon’s back and pulls him by the chin. Kick to the ribs. Hollister with a forearm. Another series of kicks by Lyndon. Slaps to the face and kick combinations. One more to the head. One to the midsection. Bicycle kick misses. Palm srike and a jumping knee. Dropkick. 1-2-NO! Deadlift German suplex blocked. Discus punch by Hollister. German suplex by Lyndon gets two. Lyndon elevated to the apron. Elbow by Hollister. Battle on the stage as they knock each other down with forearms. Forearms by Lyndon. Hollister comes back with a spin kick. Powerbomb countered. Lyndon kicks Hollister off the stage. Cannonball senton the floor. Tope con helo wipes out Marcus Crane. Back in the ring. Lyndon gets distracted but gets kicked right in the head. Sweet superkick by Hollister. Slap across the face. Lyndon with a roll-up. 1-2-NO! Kick to the head by Hollister. Spike rana hits. Brainbuster blocked. Palm strike by Lyndon.1-2-NO! Hollister sent in the corner. Running forearm followed by a kick. Moonsault. 1-2-NO! Backbreaker. Lyndon climbs but of course the entourage becomes involved once again. Hollister shoves him down. He drives his arm across Lyndon’s chest. God’s Last Gift ends it.
Match Analysis: These two guys have incredible chemistry together, and this match was another example of why they’re two of the rising stars in this business. Great exchange of holds to start gave away to even better back and forth action. The only thing that bothered, and this would really annoy me in a match later on, is all the interference that goes on in this company. It’s just becoming distracting at this point. Once in a while? Fine. But two and three matches every show are being compromised by other people not involved in the match.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Shane Hollister/14:07/***1/4
-Jimmy Jacobs encourages Arik Cannon to continue drinking beer before the show since they’re competing in a ladder match. That may actually help him there Jimmy. Not sure that’s the best idea.
-Jesse Emerson (w/Truth Martini) vs. Krotch
Match in Five Words or Less: Building Up
Match Highlights: Emerson’s charge misses right away. He comes back with some clubbering blows and right hands. Whip but Krotch goes up and over. Headscissors. He gets caught in an overhead slam. Clothesline. Krotch sent head first into the turnbuckle. Series of strikes in the corner. Knee in the midsection. Butterfly suplex into a two count. Krotch with rights and lefts. Emerson chokes him along the middle rope. Martini has some fun of his own. Atomic drop into a Russian legsweep. Chinbreaker and dropkick by Krotch. Back drop by Emerson. Krotch goes to the apron. Seated senton for two. He mets Emerson with a back elbow. Boots. Dropkick off the middle rope. Krotch gets distracted by Martini. Emerson hits a diving powerbomb for the victory.
Match Analysis: Just a match to set up the next match and not much else. Probably a good idea to get Emerson a victory for once considering his recent losing streak. Again with the distractions or interference.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Jesse Emerson/3:21/*
-Danny Daniels comes out to help make an example of Krotch. Double team by the House of Truth but here comes MsChif to make the save with the claw.
-Chicago Street Fight: Danny Daniels vs. MsChif
Match in Five Words or Less:
Match Highlights: Daniels takes the gloved claw off. MsChif with forearms but a shove by Daniels. Again with the forearms and knees by MsChif. Daniels sends her outside. MsChif sent into the apron. Bodyslam by Daniels. Chop on the outside. Daniels slaps the middle pole. MsChif with chops. martini gets involved. Daniels takes advantage with a right hand. MsChif goes to the eyes. She rips a his face. Kick to the midsection and a clubbering blow to the back. Forearm. Daniels puts MsChif on the bar. She boots him away. Cross body on Daniels and Martini. Forearm. Daniels nails her with a cup of something. Chop to the chest. Another chop as they head back to ringside. Headbutt by Daniels. MsChif sends Daniels head first into the post. Martini trips MsChif and comes in the ring. He brings out some baby powder but has it kicked back in his face. Drop toehold sends Daniels into Martini. Then he gets rammed into the bottom turnbuckle. Series of double stomps. She ties Daniels along the bottom rope. Daniels knocks MsChif on the top rope. Superplex. Martini brings out a chair for Daniels to use. He sets two chairs back-to-back. Series of backbreakers across the spines of the chairs. 1-2-NO! Daniels uses his feet to pull on MsChif’s hair. Into a submission. Daniels to the bottom rope but it doesn’t matter. Martini has a kick blocked. MsChif takes them both over and has single leg crabs on each of them. Emerson comes back but fares no better. Forearms by MsChif. Daniels tears MsChif down. They go for a spike piledriver. Krotch makes the save and hits a diving knee on Daniels from the top rope. Rana on Emerson. Krotch dives on Emerson. Martini with another distractions. Daniels sends her into a chair as Emerson takes control on Krotch. Martini accidentally hits Emerson with the book. Krotch goes for a dropkick but gets piledriven on the floor. Emerson takes Krotch to the back as the actual participants roll back into the ring. Daniels says he’s going to kill MsChif. Claw to the face…literally. Martini misses a book shot and gets clawed in the groin area. Daniels samoan drop. Daniels gets dropped. Back to the submission. She screams at Martini. Rubix Cube ends the match for Daniels.
Match Analysis: What an overbooked match this was. So much interference and extracurricular bs involved in this match. I don’t understand why Daniels won since this would appear to the blowoff to the angle considering it was a street fight. There wasn’t anything all that fine or exciting about the match. Martini’s interference got tiresome real fast considering it was a street fight and he either should have been taken out or just kept right on interfering. Can you tell I didn’t like this match?
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Danny Daniels/14:45/**
-Irish Airborne (Dave and Jake Crist) vs. The Northstache Express (Darin Corbin and Marion Fonatine)
Match in Five Words or Less: Corbin And Fontaine Get Tweeked
Match Highlights: This is a number one contender’s match according to Phil Colvin. Fontaine and Jake begin. Basic to start. Pretty basic to start. Fontaine hits a cross body as Corbin ducks. Dave and Corbin take their turn. Corbin blocks a kick and hits a knee strike. Shoulder block by Dave. Springboard dive misses. Armdrag into the armbar by Corbin. Double hip toss. Fist drops. Vertical suplex. Double whip on Dave. Fontaine sent up and over. Running spear by Corbin. Tea bag by Fontaine. Dave takes Corbin to the corner. Chop to the back gives way to Jake kicking him in the back. Forearm/enziguri combo from the heels. Dave hits a prone Corbin with a senton. Left hands by Corbin. Dave rolled over. Corbin flapjacks him. Fontaine nails Dave off the apron. Facebuster with help from Corbin. 1-2-NO! Jake hits a running kick, and we have our heat segment on Fontaine. Enziguri leads to a tag on Corbin. Clothesline and back elbows for everyone. Dave sent off for a back drop. Jake hits him in the back. Corbin reverses a whip. Catches him and drops him on both knees. Left hands by Corbin. Swinging neckbreaker. Dave sent into Fontaine’s knees. Acecrusher. Assisted reverse DDT. Fontaine hits a springboard moonsault. Tweek Phoenix sends Corbin into the support pole. IA hit their Irish Air Raid. Fontaine kicks out for whatever reason. Fontaine battles both men off. Jake sent shoulder first into his brother. Rydeen bomb but Dave breaks the count. O’Connor roll gets two for Fontaine. Kick to the midsection by Dave. Chop in the corner. Fontaine hits a back elbow. Chops. Dave sends him off. Tandem spike piledriver finally ends it.
Match Analysis: There really is something off about this show as this should have been a really fun back and forth tag team match. Things were merely okay for both teams, but the fact that the match continued so long after Corbin was knocked out only added to my frustration. I haven’t really mentioned this, but the crowd for this show has simply been awful. They’ve been quiet and not really into anything. The show would be significantly better if the crowd was awake and into things. As is, this show is really struggling.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Irish Airborne/13:01/**1/2
-Silas Young promo complains about redundancy. He mocks his opponents in wonderfully humorous fashion. Great promo that is the highlight of the show up to this point.
-Fit Finlay vs. Davey Richards
Match in Five Words or Less: Why So Short
Match Highlights: Well, this should be mildly interesting. Some very intense mat work as you might expect from these two. Richards locks in a rocking chair. Finlay with a takedown and a wrap of the leg. Cross armbreaker. Finlay applies a leg submission. Richards reaches the bottom rope. Quick boot and into the headlock by Finlay. Shoulder tackle and Richards powders. Richards stalls a bit on the outside. Drop toehold by Finlay. He locks up the left leg. Richards counters into a chinlock. Snapmare and Richards ties up Finlay’s arm. Into the standing position. Forearm by Finlay. Headlock takeover. Uppercut by Finlay. Back to the headlock. Richards hits a dropkick. Running kick but Finlay drives Richards into the apron. European uppercut sends Richards into the corner. Comeback by Richards. Boot and a clothesline gets two for Finlay. Right back to the headlock. Solid knee and into the chinlock once again. Hard blow to the chest in the corner. To another corner for a forearm. Planting scoop slam and an elbow drop. Chinlock. Another blow across the chest. Hard smack in another corner. Richards begins battling back but Finlay maintains the advantage. Richards sent chest first into the ring frame. Clubbering blow across the chest. Elbow strike. Finlay drives his knee across Richards’s throat. Finlay comes back with yet more strikes and blows across the chest. Charge misses for Finlay. Richards hits a dropkick off the middle rope. Forearm exchange. Richards with a series of kicks. Finlay slowly fades in the corner. Whip across. Running forearm and a snap suplex. Flying headbutt hits. 1-2-NO! Kick misses. Finlay rolls him up for two. Kick to the head gets two. Into the ankle lock. Finlay kicks him away. Finlay charges but is met with a knee. Cover for two. Richards with a kick. Finlay pulls him out of the corner. Richards driven down face first by Finlay. Tombstone piledriver countered into the ankle lock. Richards sits down. Finlay taps.
Match Analysis: With an out of nowhere finish comes some level of disappointment. My respect for Sami Calihan in a way has improved by leaps and bounds after watching most of Finlay’s other matches and being disappointed by them. This wasn’t bad, but it was disappointingly short considering this was truly a dream match on the independent scene. This was enjoyable for what it was, but I really needed more to really sink my teeth into.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Davey Richards/14:19/***1/2
-Finlay announces this could be one of his last matches in the United States and thanks the crowd. Both men shake hands and hug it out. Classy move by Finlay.
-Apparently, Shane Hollister isn’t going to wrestle Colt Cabana because he’s a joke. Hollister says Cabana needs to get off the stage and to get out of the ring.
-Ladder Match-AAW Heavyweight Championship: Silas Young (w/Val Malone) (champion) vs. Arik Cannon (AAW Tag Team Champion) and Jimmy Jacobs (AAW Tag Team Champion)
Match in Five Words or Less: Still The Champ
Match Highlights: Cannon and Jacobs argue in the middle of the ring as Young slowly goes for the ladder. Jacobs and Cannon fight. Double dropkick sends the ladder into the champion. Jacobs with right hands. Forearm off the ropes. Jacobs turns his attention to the champion. The tag team champions battle over the ladder. Cannon sends him back in the corner. Young bulldogs Cannon into the ladder. Stomp and choking in the corner on Jacobs. Jacobs and Young take turns trying to climb up the ladder. Exchange of right hands. Jacobs sent into the ladder and the ladder collapses. Senton misses badly. Indian deathlock on the ladder and Cannon downs a beer. Golden mist and a can to the face of Jacobs. Right hand in the corner. Jacobs fires back. They exchange. Young nails them both. Young takes turns hitting each challenger with a ladder. Young starts using the chair. Jacobs sent outside the ring. Cannon hit in the back. Cannon tossed back outside as well. Ladder set up. Cannon catches Young while on top of the ladder. Back suplex hits. Jacobs climbs. Cannon tips he and the ladder over. Cannon and Young exchange chops on the outside. Cannon sent into the apron. All three men brawl on the stage next. Jacobs elbow drops Cannon. Tag team champions briefly work together on Young. Jacobs clears the people on the stage. Cannon sends Jacobs head first into the ladder. Jacobs atomic dropped on the chair. Young with a blow to the back. Forearm hit. Young sent into the ladder next. Jacobs hits a dive on both men from the other crow’s nest. Battle for a suplex back in the ring. Then they battle to send one another into the chair. Cannon hits an exploder on Jacobs into the ladder. Young sends Cannon into the chair. Stomps on both men from the champion. Young goes for a second ladder. Young chokes Jacobs. Cannon is now bleeding. Young goes for a table. Jacobs fight back and hits stomps in the corner. Ladder set up. Cannon send outside by Young. Jacobs tries setting the ladder up. Young tosses Jacobs out. Young sets the table instead of climbing. Jacobs tries climbing. Young with blows to the back. Young places Jacobs on the table. Cannon shoots the ladder into Young’s midsection. Cannon climbs and stands on the second ladder. Young fights him off. Cannon sent off. Jacobs hits a Laurinitis crusher on the champion through a table. Jacobs clutches his knee. Val Malone goes after Cannon. He punches her in the face of course. Both challengers climb up to the ladder. They manage to get the belt, but of course they each drop it and Young is down at the bottom and ready to catch the title belt.
Match Analysis: This was a good match, but I almost feel like the ladder stipulation hurt the match. These are three excellent wrestlers who don’t need a gimmick to make the match outstanding. Young setting up the table instead of climbing the ladder also felt very out of character for him. This was a good match, not a great one. Much like a lot of other matches tonight, it really felt like something was missing from this show.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: STILL AAW Heavyweight Champion-Silas Young/16:52/***1/4
The Verdict: This was probably the weakest AAW show of the year, which is very disconcerting considering they came off what was literally one of their best shows of the year. My thumb is in the middle on this show because while there is some issues with the booking, there’s still some good wrestling throughout. Much like every Bourbon street show previous to this one, it felt like something was missing. There has never been that magical moment at any of these shows. In addition, the crowd response has simple not been able to elevate these shows to any great degree either.
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