Views from the Hawke’s Nest: AAW Defining Moment 2012

Berwyn, Il
August 24, 2012

Commentators: Phil Colvin & Dave Prazak

Cameron Skyy vs. Mr. Miller
The CLASH. Go away. Miller was so clearly the standout of the CLASH stable, and I’m glad that AAW recognized that and rewarded him by taking him out of said stable.

Miller took him down with a spinning heel kick early for a nearfall. Skyy actually locked in a FACE CLAW to cut off Miller. Skyy briefly worked over Miller, but Miller quickly came back and hit his superkick stomp for a nearfall. FACE CLAW BACKBREAKER: 1…2…NO! Skyy hit a diving elbow for a nearfall. Miller came back with his Yakuza variation and a Ghetto Stomp: 1…2…3!

Maybe AAW doesn’t think Miller is ready yet to be put in high profile matches on a regular basis, but I’m kind of getting annoyed at his lack of upward momentum. I’m glad that he’s winning and all, but he really needs to do something interesting asap. The CLASH are so not interesting at the moment.
Match Rating: **

Jim Lynam told Kevin Harvey and the rest of @AAWWeAreComing that Keith Walker has been sent home because he still doesn’t have medical clearance. The invaders/uprisers then beat up some jobbers who were looking to get Lynam’s attention. It was awfully polite of Keith Walker to just “go home” when the last time we saw him, he was “invading” the company. I understand in independent wrestling that there are times when wrestlers can’t make shows (which stands out more than the bigger companies because there are so few shows), but AAW really should have come up with a better excuse then that.

Irish Airborne (Dave & Jake Crist) vs. Zero Gravity (CJ Esparza & Brett Gakiya)
These two teams were feuding before Zero Gravity went on an AAW hiatus.

Zero Gravity quickly wiped out the Airborne with stereo topes. Phil Colvin mentioned that this would be a big match for determining tag title challengers, but the Airborne and Josh Raymond/Christian Able already have shots owed to them. The Airborne managed to cut off Gakiya, and the rudos worked him over for a bit. Gakiya eventually hit Dave with an enzuigiri, and Esparza made a hot tag. Gravity used a series of double team moves to get the advantage. Esparza went for a slingshot plancha on Dave, but Dave caught him with a leaping knee. Dave then hit Gakiya with a kick to the balls behind the ref’s back. Seems no need for the referee to have his back turned since there are no disqualifications in AAW. Airborne then hit the Ghetto Stomp/Tombstone on Gakiya: 1…2…3!

This was a really solid undercard tag match. Airborne have been looking good lately in a variety of promotions, and if they continue to deliver results, they should be pushed more. AAW’s tag division has become pretty shaky this year, and I think they need to strengthen it as soon as possible.
Match Rating: **1/2

Sami Callihan cut a promo in a basement. Sami found BJ Whitmer, his partner for tonight, behind the freezer. This was a wacky segment. The main takeaway was that BJ Whitmer wears cargo shorts.

Lamar Titan (w/Kevin Harvey & Nikki Mayday) vs. Isaias Velazquez
This is the first official match for the @AAWWeAreComing stable.

Velazquez hit a slingshot double stomp. He then called for a suicide dive, but Harvey stalled him and Titan cut him off. Titan worked him over for a while. Velazquez made a comeback and connected on a series of…interesting moves. Velazquez went for a Ghetto Stomp, but Titan avoided it and hit a Crucifix Driver: 1…2…NO! Titan then hit an urinagi backbreaker: 1…2…3!

This match was OK. These guys clearly work a lot together, but a lot of the things they did felt over coordinating in a distracting way.
Match Rating: **1/4

Tweek Phoenix and Titan attacked Velazquez after the match. Marion Fontaine made the save…

Tweek Phoenix (w/ Kevin Harvey, Nikki Mayday, & Lamar Titan) vs. Marion Fontaine
Phoenix fell to the floor early, and Fontaine then wiped him out with a tope suicida. Phoenix ended up on a barricades, and Fontaine hit a Tea Bag. Back in the ring, Fontaine hit a diving cross-body for a nearfall. Fontaine went for another one, but Phoenix caught him with a powerslam. Phoenix got the heat after that. Phoenix tried to use his boot as a weapon, but Fontaine avoided it and hit an Ace Crusher. Fontaine then hit a Drunk Slam and a Lionsault. Harvey distracted the referee with a lighter. Phoenix knocked Fontaine out with his boot: 1…2…3

Phoenix attacked Fontaine some more after the match.

Despite the annoying finish, I really enjoyed this match. This was the best Fontaine match I’ve seen in a while for the simple reason that he acted like he cared. I’m all about fun in wrestling, but wrestlers like Fontaine, Darin Corbin, and Colt Cabana can sometimes lose the balance between having fun and looking like you care about your work. @AAWWeAreComing is an interesting idea, but I think they could use someone closer to the main event to make them seem more important. Maybe that’s why Keith Walker is in the group, but he wasn’t at this show, and the whole group seemed less important as a result. Then again, if everyone in the group gets elevated by this angle (which is probably the idea), that won’t seem so necessary.
Match Rating: **1/2

Dan Lawrence came out on crutches to speak with Phil Colvin. Lawrence says he has the utmost respect for Gregory Iron despite their recent struggles as a team. Lawrence says he slapped Iron because Iron has been costing their team a lot of victories. He treats Iron like he was any other partner. Colt Cabana came out and made fun Colvin’s attire. He then went on to criticize Lawrence’s attitude. Lawrence says Colt shouldn’t worry about him, because he has a match tonight.

Colt Cabana vs. Jesse Emerson
Emerson had a good match with Michael Elgin at the last AAW show.

Emerson tried to bully Cabana early on, and Cabana pretended to cry. Cabana went to the first row and gave a lady a motorboat and that made him feel better. A wrestling match broke out soon after. Colt ran through Emerson for a while with his usual arsenal. Emerson was eventually able to cut off Colt, and he got the heat after that. Emerson connected on a double sledge. He went for a second one, but Colt blocked it. Colt made a comeback. Cabana called for a Go-2-Sleep, but Emerson avoided it and hit a sloppy Rock Bottom: 1…2…NO! Cabana then hit the Go-2-Sleep: 1…2…3!

This match was much better than I expected. Jesse Emerson has really impressed me lately, and I think he should be a big part of AAW’s future. Colt seemed slightly more motivated than usual here.
Match Rating: **3/4

We saw a video Scarlett saying she was embarrassed because Colt Cabana took off her shirt at the last show. She then said that Shane Hollister needs to hurt Colt soon, and until then, the “candy shop is closed.” ACTING~!

Sami Callihan & BJ Whitmer vs. Team Ambition (Davey Richards & Kyle O’Reilly)
This should be awesome.

Someone chanted “He showed up!” and then “Thanks for coming!” at Davey. I loled. Davey dumped Sami to the floor and delivered the soccer punt from the apron. Kyle then hit Sami with the diving knee off the apron. Team Ambition brought Sami back into the ring, and they got the heat on him for a while. Davey gave Sami the sack tap, and he then took a victory lap. Davey was on the middle rope, and Sami shouted “American Pussy” before hedelivered his superkick to the knee. Whitmer tagged in and ran wild. Whitmer got a nearfall on KO with a spinebuster. Whitmer got another nearfall with a bridging Northern Lights Suplex. Sami and Whitmer actually worked over O’Reilly for a while. Sami called O’Reilly “sexy” and then kissed him on the lips. O’Reilly did not approve of this. O’Reilly eventually fought back and took Whitmer down with a superkick. Whitmer and O’Reilly fell to the floor, and were wiped out by tope suicidas from Davey and Sami, respectively. Sami and Davey then went into the ring and started beating the shit out of each other. Davey killed him with a lariat: 1…2…NO! The match just got awesome by the way. Sami hit Davey with a facewash and Whitmer caught O’Reilly with an exploder. Davey took on Whitmer and Sami by himself for a bit. Sami got Davey into the Stretch Muffler, and Whitmer punted Davey’s head off. That was awesome. O’Reilly got Whitmer into a guillotine, and they both fell to the floor hard. Davey reversed the Muffler into a Cloverleaf, but Sami reversed that into a Small Package for a nearfall. Whitmer took Davey down, and O’Reilly then took Whitmer down with a saito suplex. Sami took out O’Reilly with a shoulder breaker. All four men were down. Whitmer gave O’Reilly a German, a Dragon suplex, and a powerbomb: 1…2…DAVEY MAKES THE SAVE! Ambition gave Whitmer a Buzzsaw/Brainbuster combo: 1…2…SAMI MAKES THE SAVE! Sami got KO with his Sleeper Slam! O’Reilly taps out!

The crowd gave all four men a standing ovation after the match.

This was a hell of a match and a hell of an effort from all four men. They clearly went into the match trying to steal the show, and they damn near did that. There were two negatives with the match. First, the crowd lost steam at several points, especially near the end, which hurt the match overall. Second, that finish came out of nowhere. Neither of those points are the end of the world, but they do cause the match to seem slightly less great overall. Regardless, I enjoyed this a lot, and all four of these men should be booked as often as possible by AAW.
Match Rating: ***3/4

Danny Daniels vs. lil Waylon
I hope this is short.

Daniels dropped Waylon onto the floor early. Looked like a nasty bump. Daniels beat him down for a while, but Waylon eventually caught him with the Gargano slingshot spear. Waylon then hit a diving DDT for an actual nearfall. The crowd is completely DEAD. Waylon went for a Ghetto Stomp, but Daniels avoided it. Daniels hit a piledriver: 1…2…3

The crowd gave zero shits about this entire thing. They may have gotten burned out from the last match. The Danny Daniels push doesn’t interest me in the slightest. Bring on Daniels vs. MsChif in a cage match already.
Match Rating: ½*

Markus Crane vs. Davey Vega vs. Austin Mannix vs. Trevor Court vs. Mason Beck vs. MsChif
Court is from Billy Roc’s School of Roc training school.

The crowd treated everyone but MsChif and Beck like jobbers. Beck dispatched of said jobbers rather easily. Beck hit Court with a middle rope fallaway slam. Damnnnnnnn. Beck and MsChif squared off. Neither one of them got intimidated by the other. Beck overpowered her. Court then took Beck down with a missile dropkick. Court took Mannix to the floor with an Ace Crusher. Vega wiped them out with a somersault plancha. MsChif then sent Mannix to the floor onto all of them. Beck then Military Pressed MsChif onto everyone else. Beck went to the top rope and wiped out everyone with a plancha. A ref bump allowed MsChif to hit Beck with the mist. Of course, since there are no disqualifications in AAW, that was needless. Court took out Beck with a 450 Knees. Shades of Kurt Angle. Mannix and Vega were sent to the floor by Crane. MsChif managed to lock Crane into the Octopus. Crane taps out!

It would probably be a stretch to call this match “good,” but considering that the dead crowd clearly wanted no part of four of the people in the match, I was impressed that they all got the crowd into the action. Since MsChif is probably still involved in a big angle with Danny Daniels, it made sense for her to win. Trevor Court impressed me here, and I hope that AAW brings him back.
Match Rating: **1/2

Silas Young and Val Malone were outside. Silas says he is the champion forever.

ACH vs. Shane Hollister (w/ Markus Crane)
ACH lost to Silas Young at the last AAW show. Hollister has been on a winning streak.

Hollister jumped ACH at the bell, and he hit a kneeling superkick for a nearfall. ACH came back with a Silverking dropkick and a somersault plancha. ACH went to the middle rope. Crane distracted him, which allowed Hollister to superkick ACH to the mat. Hollister got the heat after that. ACH eventually was able to make a comeback, and he got a nearfall with a slingshot Ace Crusher. Hollister came back with a rolling elbow. Hollister hit a chinbreaker, a kneeling superkick, a half-nelson suplex, and another kneeling superkick: 1…2…NO!!! ACH came back with a GIANT SWING TRANSITIONED INTO A TEXAS CLOVERLEAF! Crane jumped up on the apron, and ACH broke the hold. Hollister was able to cut ACH off again. Hollister went to the top rope, but Colt Cabana ran down and knocked Hollister off the top rope. ACH then promptly hit the Cram for the Exam DDT: 1…2…3!

This was a really good semi-main event. I wouldn’t say that AAW has dropped the ball with ACH by any stretch of the imagination, but the fans don’t exactly know how to react to him yet. He debuted in April as a jobber to Mason Beck. He next appeared in August as a surprise challenger for the Heayweight Title (and lost obviously). Now, he’s beating a long time AAW roster member (who was in the middle of a push) with outside help. I don’t know, it’s just been a weird start for ACH in AAW. Hollister’s rudo work is missing “something.” I can’t place my finger on it, but for a guy that has the talent to be the guy in AAW, his act at the moment doesn’t belong in the main event.
Match Rating: ***1/4

Silas Young© (w/ Val Malone) vs. Michael Elgin© [AAW Heavyweight Championship/AAW Heritage Championship/I Quit Match]
Silas Young has been the Heavyweight Championship for the better part of the last three years. He dropped the title briefly to Dan Lawrence at one point in 2011, but other than that, he’s been the guy in AAW for a very long time. Elgin has challenged for the belt twice this year, but he’s been unsuccessful both times. Both of those matches had shenanigans, which is why this is an I Quit match. Elgin has been the Heritage Champion for almost a year. Both titles are on the line.

They went to the floor early, and Elgin sent Young into the steel steps. They went through the crowd and ended up in the bathroom. Elgin put a garbage fan on Young’s head. Colvin just informed us that Young has been champion for a total of 874 days. They brawled through the crowd some more. They ended up back in the ringside area, and Elgin accidentally hit the ringpost with his left arm. Young then went after that left arm repeatedly. Young hit his backbreaker/lariat combo. Young locked in a couple of submissions, but Elgin refused to quit. Young pulled out a ladder. Elgin kicked the ladder in Young’s face, and he then gave him a backbreaker on the ladder. Elgin was in control after that. Elgin pulled out a chair. Elgin shoved the chair into Young’s gut. The ladder was bridged in the middle turnbuckle, and Young sent Elgin a couple of times into the ladder face-first. Young hit a full-nelson bomb and then locked in the Stock Lock. Elgin powered out of it and hit a gamengiri. Elgin then hit an Air Raid Crash onto the apron. Elgin fell to the floor. Young refused to quit. Elgin got the Crippler Crossface. Young refused to quit. Young managed to get both of them to the floor, and Young hit a back suplex on the floor. Young took a wrench and dug it into Elgin’s mouth. Elgin told him to suck his dick, so Young drove the wrench into his dick. Young then trapped Elgin in the bridged ladder. Young then whacked Elgin’s left knee with a chair repeatedly. Young got bored and went onto the ladder, only for Elgin to deliverer a swinging neckbreaker to the mat. Elgin then used the ladder and a chair to beat down Young. Elgin bridged the ladder between the apron and the barricade. Elgin went for a powerbomb onto the ladder, but Young avoided it. Elgin then hit the Chaos Theory and transitioned into crippler crossface. Malone tried to interfere, but Elgin then locked her into the crossface. Young hit Elgin with a chair, and he then got the Stock Lock. Elgin stood out of it and hit a FU on a chair. Young caused Elgin to crash into a chair. Young then tied Elgin’s left arm to a ring rope with some duct tape. Young had trouble getting the tape ready, so the setup for this spot was a bit labored. Young hit him in the head with a chair. Elgin got his other hand up for the chairshots. Young went for a running chair shot, but Elgin backdropped him to the floor. Young grazed the bridged ladder on the way down. I’m guessing Young was supposed to go through the ladder. Elgin couldn’t get the duct tape off, so Elgin used the wrench to take apart the turnbuckle. Some in the crowd chanted boring. Those people were fools. Elgin couldn’t get the turnbuckle off. Young got on the apron, and Elgin choked him with the duct tape and the ropes. Young had the nastiest gash on his ribs from the ladder spot. Elgin hit Young with the chair. Elgin untied him from the ropes and hit a powerbomb. Elgin then got the chair and a wrench. Elgin shoved the wrench in Young’s face and dick, but Young refused to quit. Elgin then powerbombed him through two chairs and locked in the crossface! YOUNG SAID “I QUIT!” NEW CHAMPION!

This was an incredible end to not only a great trilogy of matches between these two, but also Silas Young’s second reign as AAW Heavyweight Champion. These two men solidified themselves as two of the best wrestlers in the world this year, and every promotion in the world should be looking to book them as much as possible. This match was incredibly brutal and violent, and the effort truly made me think these two men hate each other. I can’t put this match over enough. This is a genuine MOTYC that you have to go out of your way to see.
Match Rating: ****1/4

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The 411: This DVD is probably AAW at their best for right now: there are two to three matches that are absolutely worth going out of your way to see, but there is also a bunch of matches on the undercard that don't feel worth the time it takes to watch them. Luckily for AAW, Michael Elgin vs. Silas Young was great enough to easily earn this DVD a "Thumbs Up" and the strength of a couple of key matches underneath it make it the best AAW DVD I've seen this year. Win a free copy of this DVD here. Buy this DVD for $15 at the AAW store. You can also go to Smart Mark Video and get the show as a $15 DVD, a $11.99 MP4, or as a $9.99 Video on Demand. Also, check out a full/organized list of all the wrestling show reviews I've done at 411mania.

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]