Views from the Hawke’s Nest: AAW Durty Deeds 2013

February 10, 2013
Palatine, Illinois

Commentators: Phil Colvin & Daryck St. Holmes

AAW Heritage Title Tournament Quarterfinals
Juntai Miller vs. Lamar Titan (w/ Nikki & Kevin Harvey)
Miller took him down with a spinning heel kick. Titan came back with Trouble in Paradise. Titan was in control for a while after that. Miller came back with a BOING knee stomp. Miller then hit a Yakuza. They hit roundhouse kicks at the same, and they both went down. Miller hit the kneeling curb stomp. Titan came back with a huge lariat and a Muscular Slam: 1…2…NO! Titan hit a Sick Kick, but Miller avoided Titan’s finisher. Miller came back with a Yakuza and a modified Meteora: 1…2…3.

I’m surprised We Are Here took another loss here, but I am beyond delighted that Juntai Miller picked up the win and advanced in the tournament. This was a very good opener, and this is exactly what Miller should have been doing in 2012. Lamar Titan continues to look good, but We Are Here’s storyline continues to not make much of a positive impact on me.
Match Rating: **3/4

AAW Heritage Title Tournament Quarterfinals
Davey Vega vs. Louis Lyndon

Lyndon hit a moonsault to the floor early on. Back in the ring, Lyndon went after Vega’s left arm. Vega came back with a lariat and a leaping knee. Vega got a nearfall with a dragon suplex! Lyndon caught Vega with a bridging Regalplex: 1…2…NO! Lyndon hit a nasty palm strike, but Vega then hit a DDT on the apron. Vega went to the top rope, but Lyndon met him up there. Lyndon then hit the flying cross armbreaker! Vega taps immediately!

This was a really entertaining match that lasted for the perfect amount of time. Lyndon seems to be getting a little sloppy lately, but I think he was the right person to advance here.
Match Rating: ***

AAW Heritage Title Tournament Quarterfinals
ACH vs. Mat Fitchett
Fitchett hit a standing shooting star early on for a nearfall. ACH came back with the diving lariat through the ropes. The crowd was really behind ACH after that. ACH hit a diving crossbody for a nearfall. ACH got a modified abdominal stretch. Fitchett escaped and hit a standing meteora. Fitchett went for a Pele kick, but ACH caught him with a dropkick. Fitchett came back with a superkick and a tiger suplex: 1…2…NO! Fitchett went to the stage and then leaped back into the ring with a hurricanrana. ACH came back with the Air Jordan! Best move. Fitchett came back with another superkick and a Falcon Arrow Backbreaker: 1…2…NO! ACH hit another crossbody, but Fitchett rolled through: 1…2…NO! Fitchett went for a shooting star, but ACH avoided it. Brogue Kick from ACH. SUPERKICK FROM FITCHETT! ACH seemed to be setting up for the package piledriver, but he somehow transitioned it into a Cram for the Exam: 1…2…3!!!

Rich Swann was in the crowd. ACH gave him a hug.

Awesome, awesome match. This was easily the best Heritage Title Tournament match so far. ACH is the future of professional wrestling, and Mat Fitchett is pretty fucking entertaining himself. Great stuff. Book these men.
Match Rating: ***3/4

Zero Gravity (Brett Gakiya & CJ Esparza) vs. The Irish Airborne© (Dave & Jake Crist) [AAW Tag Team Championships]
I feel like I’ve seen these two teams face off a million times, but I’ve probably only seen them once or twice. Zero Gravity were in control early on. They hit stereo dives off the stage at one point. Eventually, the Airborne isolated Esparza, and they worked him over for a while. Gakiya was eventually able to tag in, and he made a big comeback. Zero Gravity hit Dave with the Flippy Cup: 1…2…NO! Eventually, the Airborne came back and hit Esparza with the ghetto stomp/tombstone: 1…2…3.

This was a perfectly acceptable tag title match. Neither team is really interesting to me, but they provide solid action. They both struggle at making me emotionally invested. On a side note, the Airborne are the best in wrestling at coming across as complete dicks. Can’t be an act.
Match Rating: **3/4

Davey Richards vs. Sami Callihan
These two met a year ago in AAW, and Davey was victorious. Davey recently turned heel. Sami is beloved in AAW.

Sami hit an exploder for an immediate nearfall. Lots of strikes. Lots of movez. Sami got the reverse mount. Davey came back with the modified Indian Deathlock. Sami escaped by applying a fishhook. Davey hit a mafia kick. Strikes. Submissions. Davey was going after Sami’s left leg. Sami tried for the Silverking lariat, but his knee gave out. Davey called himself the best in the world. Davey hit the soccer punt from the apron. Sami came back with a tope suicida. Sami hit Davey with a chairshot to the back. Back in the ring, Sami hit a Brogue Kick and a Jackknife powerbomb: 1…2…NO! Davey came back with some headbutts. Sami avoided the ghetto stomp, but then Davey hit a tombstone: 1…2…NO! Sami rolled to the apron. Ghetto stomp from Davey. Another ghetto stomp from Davey: 1…2…NO! Sami avoided a buzzsaw kick and hit a shoulder breaker: 1…2…NO! Sami came back with a superkick to the back of a knee and a Liger Bomb: 1…2…NO! Sami got the Stretch Muffler! Davey reversed it into a Drunk Lock. Sami escaped and accidentally caused a ref bump. Stretch Muffler. Davey tapped out. Shane Hollister ran out and gave Sami a superkick. Blah. Davey covered him: 1…2…NO! Davey hit a series of kicks to the head: 1…2…3

The ending sucked, but until then, this was very entertaining match on a night full of them. These two have been awesome in AAW, and this is the second time they have stolen an AAW show together. This seemingly confirms that Davey Richards vs. Michael Elgin is imminent.
Match Rating: ***3/4

We Are Here (Keith Walker & Tweek Phoenix w/ Kevin Harvey & Nikki) vs. The Northstache Express (Darin Corbin & Marion Fontaine) [Steel Cage Match]
I hate this feud.

Walker and Corbin brawled on the floor. Fontaine and Phoenix brawled within the confines of the steel cage. Walker and Corbin eventually joined them in the cage. Fontaine ate a German into the steel. Ouch. Corbin somehow ended up on the floor, and We Are Here attacked Fontaine for a while. Eventually, Corbin got back in the ring and made a comeback. The Express managed to hit a double team powerbomb on Walker. The Express hit Phoenix with their finisher, but Nikki broke it up. Some cage match, eh? Corbin tried to be a gentleman to Nikki, but she shoved him into the cage. Walker killed Fontaine with three consecutive powerbombs. Corbin hit Walker with a tornado DDT: 1…2…NO! Walker hit Corbin with a snap superplex. Phoenix got busted opener. Walker got sent to the floor. The Express hit Phoenix with a Killswitch/Ghetto Stomp combo. They then hit Phoenix with a Superfly Splash/Guillotine Legdrop: 1…2…3

Lamar Titan attacked the Express after the match. Louis Lyndon showed up and hit a dive from the top of the cage.

I really have no idea why this was a cage match. The cage ended up not being a really significant part of the match, and wrestlers seeming entered and exited the cage at will. This match was fine, but it was not especially exciting or emotional. The fact that I did not care about this match did not surprise me.
Match Rating: **3/4

There was a video hyping Jerry Lynn’s return to AAW for one final show.

Dan Lawrence cut a promo from the bar. This went on a long time. Apparently AAW needed a lot of time to take down the cage. This went on forever and should not have made the DVD.

Markus Crane vs. MsChif
MsChif kicked his ass at the last show. Crane challenged her to a rematch. I love Markus Crane, but these two do not produce the most entertaining matches. MsChif got a nearfall with a standing moonsault. Crane got a nearfall with a spear. Crane went to the top rope, but MsChif scared him, and he fell down. MsChif hit the Desecrator: 1…2…3.

This was whatever. Markus Crane is very amusing.
Match Rating: *

Mason Beck attacked MsChif again after the match. Blah. Beck hit a Dream Street. Chandler McClure came out. Apparently he lost a Retirement Match to Colt Cabana two years ago. McClure offered to be Beck’s manager. Beck gave him the Dream Street. “No one tells me what to do.” I assume McClure won’t be back anytime soon, but I like how he was used here. It makes the AAW storyline universe seem like it’s not just happening in a narrow vacuum.

AAW Heritage Title Tournament Quarterfinals
Samuray Del Sol vs. Kyle O’Reilly
Del Sol went for a wheelbarrow move, but O’Reilly reversed it into a cross armbreaker. Del Sol escaped. They went back and forth for a while until O’Reilly hit a middle rope jumping gutbuster. O’Reilly was in control for a while after that. Del Sol came back and got a nearfall with a Code Red. O’Reilly avoided a buzzsaw kick and a hit a saito suplex: 1…2…NO! Del Sol came back with a standing Sliced Bread #2: 1…2…NO! Del Sol hit the Rising Sun from the middle rope! O’Reilly came right back with a lariat and a delayed Regalplex: 1…2…NO! O’Reilly got a triangle choke, but Del Sol made the ropes. O’Reilly made the top rope, but Del Sol caught him with the Del Sol driver: 1…2…3.

These guys are good, and I enjoyed the work they put in here. The crowd didn’t react great to them, and I’m guessing they were a little burned out from the three segments that came before this match. Regardless, this was good (even if it was a little underwhelming given the talent in the ring).
Match Rating: ***1/4

Jimmy Jacobs vs. Mason Beck vs. Arik Cannon vs. Shane Hollister (w/ Markus Crane & Scarlett)
Hollister hit Jacobs with a Flying Chuck early on. Beck took down Hollister and Jacobs. And Cannon. The Mason Beck babyface singles push none of us asked for is in full effect apparently. The other three guys teamed up and tossed Beck from the ring. Hollister and Cannon went at it. Beck dominated again. There was one awkward bit where Beck held up Cannon, but Cannon then just sort of fell down. Beck gave Jacobs and Cannon a double chokeslam. Shades of The Big Show. Tower of doom spot. Jacobs and Cannon hit a spear/lariat combo on Beck. Jacobs and Cannon slugged it out. Jacobs got a nearfall with the Thugbait. Jacobs hit Shane with the Contra Code. Crane pulled out the referee. Jacobs wiped out Crane with a tope suicida. Scarlett interfered. Jacobs spanked her. Blah. It’s not 1999 anymore. Cannon hit Jacobs with a kneeling superkick. Hollister hit a God’s Last Gift on Jacobs. Cannon let Hollister just pin Jacobs: 1…2…3

This was fine until the bizarre finish where Cannon apparently decided that he didn’t care about winning a match. That feels counterproductive to the goal of making fans care about the results of matches. Nothing before the finished was particularly inspired, but I was entertained most of the way.
Match Rating: **3/4

Michael Elgin© vs. Silas Young (w/ Val Malone) [AAW Heavyweight Championship]
These two had the big AAW feud of 2012. They had a trio of AAW Heavyweight Championship matches. Personally, I didn’t think a fourth match was very creatively interesting. However, these guys always have awesome matches, and I am just fine with watching another one.

They went back and forth for a while to start the match. Elgin managed to send Young to the floor, and he then hit a baseball slide dropkick. While they were on the floor, Val Malone got involved. That allowed Young to get the advantage, and he worked Elgin over for a while. Young went after Elgin’s left arm. Elgin was eventually able to his a belly-to-belly suplex. Elgin then made a big comeback. Young came back with a backbreaker/lariat combo for a nearfall. Elgin came back with a Chaos Theory for a nearfall. Elgin transitioned that into a deadlift bridging German: 1…2…NO! Young came back with a pedigree for a nearfall. The crowd is vocal, but not hot for this. Elgin then avoided the Pee Jee Waja Plunge. Elgin then came back with a lariat. Elgin then hit a middle rope Air Raid Crash: 1…2…NO! Elgin then hit the backfist, buckle bomb, and Elgin Bomb: 1…2…3.

Davey Richards attacked Elgin after the match. He knocked him out with a buzzsaw kick. Davey challenged Elgin to a future Heavyweight Championship match.

This is probably the weakest match between these two that I have seen (that includes their awesome ROH match in 2012). While there was nothing wrong with the match on a technical level, it was just missing the drama and the emotion of their previous matches. These two have such great chemistry that all of their matches are interesting and entertaining. However, since the context of AAW forces me to compare this match to their previous matches, I have to confess my slight disappointment that this match wasn’t that epic.
Match Rating: ***1/2

Also, I don’t say it enough, but Phil Colvin and Daryck St. Holmes are one of the best commentating duos in all of professional wrestling.

Thanks everybody for reading! You can send feedback to my Twitter or to my email address: [email protected]. Also, feel free to check out my own wrestling website, FreeProWrestling.com. Also, check out my Best of Chikara blog and an archive of all my 411 video reviews.

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The 411: I think this was one of the most enjoyable AAW shows that I have ever seen. While not every match was good (or worth the time), this is absolutely one of the most consistent AAW shows out there. The best match for my money was ACH vs. Mat Fitchett. ACH should obviously be the future of wrestling, and Fitchett is someone who should be getting more looks in ROH, DGUSA/Evolve, Chikara and CZW. All the other Heritage Title tournament matches were also good, and as always, the matches truly gave the midcarders a purpose. Davey/Sami and Elgin/Young were both good, even if those wrestlers have had better matches together. I recommend this DVD for sure. Support AAW by buying 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.

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]