One of the hallmarks of AAW has been their ability to have a match of the year candidate before intermission, almost overshadowing what happens in the second half. On this night, the second tournament in less than a year got underway. The Allegiance Tag Team Tournament is an opportunity for tag teams and singles wrestlers alike to get guaranteed chances at matches. This means a team like Monster Mafia can challenge for the AAW tag team titles if they want. As I’ll talk about later, it’s also a chance for Silas Young and Jimmy Jacobs to get individual matches they wanted. The tournament was supposed to begin at Hostile Intentions. Instead we got the aforementioned Monster Mafia wrestling Team Ambition of Davey Richards and Kyle O’Reilly. I guess a babyface turn for Team Ambition took place in Rio De Janiero or something because they were behaving as such during this match. All logic gaps aside, this was an incredible super indie type match as both teams went back and forth. This was the way you start a tournament off, with a great match that really puts over what will be the favorite moving forward. Richards and O’Reilly did a great job making Monster Mafia look like stars in AAW. Josh Alexander and Ethan Page have turned in some spectacular performances despite not being a regular team just eight months ago. They’ve got chemistry, a hard-hitting style which plays off well against the smaller teams in the company, and a finisher ,the Double Dominator, which they used to polish off O’Reilly. This match alone almost makes the DVD worth purchasing.
There were at least three matches that had nothing to do with titles which were heavily hyped. Sadly for two of the matches, the finishes appeared to be botched by the referee. Jimmy Jacobs and Eddie Kingston wrestled in a singles match one time in 2006 for a random indie out of Detroit, so obviously this was. a huge match between two AAW veterans Things were just seemingly getting going when Kingston hit a rolling forearm. Referee went down and made an awkward count before ringing the bell. Jacobs appeared to be knocked a bit loopy after an exploder, but this was still an unfortunate match to see such a bad ending. Just an okay match and a big disappointment overall. Keith Walker versus Michael Elgin as a novelty match was highly anticipated among those within AAW. It’s very rare on the indies to such two huge man wrestle. My only critique is the match went about 3-5 minutes too long. Lots of hard-hitting strikes and some fun visuals with Elgin holding Walker in the air for 30 seconds in a suplex. I think they started to lose the crowd toward the end but regained them a bit as they started hitting finishing type maneuvers. Elgin won with a powerbomb, but again, there was a similarly awkward ending. I have no idea how this happened twice, but it’s totally unacceptable and deflated two important matches. It’s especially galling in the second match as Walker had an undefeated streak of over two years. The bright side is a natural rematch. The third notable dream contest was Silas Young versus Eddie Edwards. In ROH, Edwards would be the clear favorite and babyface. Here, the crowd was more mixed, and this was a point of emphasis in the advertising. Crowd didn’t seem to know who to cheer for at times as typically happens in babyface versus babyface matches. Young won a very good match in about 15 minutes with the Pee Gee Waja Plunge. Very enjoyable and I’m glad we saw it before Edwards exits the indies.
In a post-match promo, Jacobs and Young announced their intention to team up in the tag tournament. Jacobs wants Shane Hollister for the AAW title. Young wants Kingston. Young also threw in a caveat of getting a title match with Jacobs. Even though they’re not friends, it’s a friendship of convienience. In another promo, Matt Cage accepted an offer not only to finally officially come into AAW, but he will be in the tag tournament with ACH. The idea is that Cage has his match with ACH but can scout him further by teaming with him.
Let’s get into the title matches. Arik Cannon challenged Jimmy Jacobs for the AAW title in the main event. These two had a pretty big feud back in 2009 and Cannon dominated. Now Hollister has seemingly passed him on the AAW totem pole. Thanks to oodles of interference, Hollister retained. This was a decent enough match, nothing too spectacular. It felt at times like something was missing for this to really get into the next level. There was lots of brawling and Cannon bled. ACH was supposed to wrestle Mat Fitchett, but Christian Rose ended up as a last minute replacement. With this being the third match on the show, it was tough for these two to get traction. This is a match that could have been built to and made important. Instead, it felt thrown together. I like both guys tremendously, and this was still an above average contest, but it should have been more. After the match, Marek Brave attacked Rose to keep their issue going. Assume another match is coming. Finally, Kung Fu Manchu continued both their title reign and undefeated streak in defeating Zero Gravity. Poor Bret Gakiya almost killed himself twice. First, he ate a DDT on the outside of the ring and started bleeding. Then, and I’m not sure if this was related to the head injury or not, Gakiya almost killed himself on a dive with an awkward landing as if part of his body had hit the ropes. Monster Mafia came out to remind everyone they’re feuding with ZG while Esparza was put away. Fontaine hit his springboard moonsault after some double reaming and got the pin to get the win. Very good little match that didn’t observe the tag team formula. This only went nine minutes but felt perfectly timed. Kung Fu Manchu have been a revelation in AAW, and I’ve enjoyed all of their matches up to this point.
Prince Mustafa Ali has had a rather inconsistent run in AAW, yet all of his performances have generally been strong and I want to see him get booked every month. I’m sure performing so well on a charity show against Shane Hollister will only help Ali get regular bookings. It felt like a new start at Defining Moment with Ali beating Wagner in the opener. Even though this went six minutes, Wagner actually got to do stuff. My hunch is these two have wrestled before, and that’s why they were able to have the quality of match they did in such a short amount of time. I’ve become a huge fan of Ali and think he could be a big part of AAW next year.
Both Michael Elgin and Jimmy Jacobs are on the hunt for heavyweight title matches. One man earned it in one of the oddest stip contests you’ll ever see. Colt Cabana put his jacket… and pants on the line in order to get a potential title opportunity against Shane Hollister. It was a tag that saw Cabana and Junthai Miller wrestle Dan Lawrence and Markus Crane. It was Crane who wanted Cabana’s jacket. There was an excessively long promo segment before the match, and I guess someone forgot to add the final stipulation because PJ Drummond got on the microphone and made it a “Uncle” match, meaning the loser had to say “Uncle.” This led to the finish with Cabana, while the Billy Goat’s Curse, asking Crane who touched him as a child. Some might get offended by this, but I laughed. Something a bit more comedic and light-hearted to change up the card. Cabana declared his intentions to be in the tag team tournament but got attacked afterward by Hollister and his goon squad.
Heidi Lovelace defeated Jordan Jobwa McEntyre. McEntyre took a Boz Driver. Pointless use of Lovelace.
The one tag team tournament match on this show really elevated this show. Some good to great matches rounded out the card. All three title matches delivered appropriately. The only disappointments came in matches where the finishes got screwed up by the official. AAW continued their strong year with another very good show.
Grade: B+
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-Taped from Berwyn, Illinois
-Commentators: Phil Colvin and SOBER Dave Prazak
-Prince Mustafa Ali defeats Knight Wagner by pinfall after the 450 splash/6:24/**1/2
-Title shot vs. Jacket and Pants “Say Uncle” Match- Colt Cabana and Junthai Miller defeat Dan Lawrence and Marcus Crane/9:11/**
-ACH successfully defends the AAW Heritage Championship by pinning Christian Rose/13:21/***1/4
-Kung Fu Manchu (Louis Lyndon and Marion Fontaine) retain the AAW tag team titles over Zero Gravity (Bret Gakiya and CJ Esparza) by pinfall. Fontaine pins Esparza after the springboard moonsault/8:55/**3/4
-Eddie Kingston defeats Jimmy Jacobs by pinfall after a Backfist to the Future/9:37/**1/2
-AAW Alliegance Tag Team Tournament First Round: Monster Mafia (Josh Alexander and Ethan Page) defeat Team Ambition (Davey Richards and Kyle O’Reilly)by pinfall. Page pinned O’Reilly after a Double Dominator /24:36/****1/4
-Heidi Lovelace defeats Jordan Francois McEntyre by pinfall after the frog splash/5:35/*1/2
-Silas Young (w/Val Malone) defeats Eddie Edwards by pinfall after the Pee Gee Waja Plunge/15:46/***1/2
-Michael Elgin defeats Keith Walker (w/Kevin Harvey and Nikki Mayday) by pinfall after a powerbomb/19:14/***
-Shane Hollister successfully defends the AAW heavyweight championship over Arik Cannon by pinfall after a Buzzsaw kick/17:54/***1/4
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