AAW RETURNING TO ACTION THIS WEEKEND IN IL
By
Mike Johnson on 11/27/2013 9:02 AM
AAW RETURNS TO ACTION NEXT SATURDAY NIGHT!
*** *** ***
AAW: Professional Wrestling Redefined - FREE MATCH:
Monster Mafia vs. Zero Gravity From Reign of Violence on 8/23/13.
AAW has had a banner year for team wrestling, this match is the proof.
*** *** ***
AAW T-Shirts NOW AVAILABLE!
Four Designs including the Phil Colvin #SweetJeebus T!
*** *** ***
Want to see the best pro wrestling in the midwest and eat at one of Chicagos best restaurants in the same evening?
You can get tickets to ride on The Squared Circle party bus to and from the Windy City Classic IX at
The Squared Circle will be hosting the Windy City Classic IX after party.
*** *** ***
Saturday, November 30th
Berwyn Eagles Club (6309 W. 26th St. Berwyn, IL)
Doors open: 7:00pm
Belltime 7:30pm
Front Row: $18.00 SOLD OUT
General Admission: $13.00
$1.25 Beers at the bar
Windy City Classic IX
1. AAW Heavyweight Championship Match: Shane Hollister (with Scarlett Bordeaux) vs. Kevin Steen
2. Allegiance Tag Team Tournament - Finals: winner Block A vs. winner Block B
3. Allegiance Tag Team Tournament - Semi-Final Match - Block A: Irish Airborne (Jake & Dave Crist) vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Silas Young
4. Allegiance Tag Team Tournament - Semi-Final Match - Block B: Zero Gravity (Brett Gakiya & CJ Esparza) vs. #NewAgeNationOfDomination (Ethan Page & Ricochet)
5. AAW Heritage Championship Match: ACH vs. The Money Matt Cage
6. Grudge Match: Heidi Lovelace vs. Miss Natural Heather Patera
7. Kyle O' Reilly vs. Ali
Already signed: AAW Tag Team Champions Kung Fu Manchu (Louis Lyndon & Marion Fontaine), Legendary Dan Lawrence, The Markus Craine Experience, Christian Rose, Knight Wagner, MsChif
*** *** ***
Our last two events featurinig rounds one and two of the Allegiance Tag Team Tourment are availale on MP4, VOD, DVD from our good friends at www.smartmarkvideo.com
AAW DVD October 25, 2013 "War is Coming" - Merrionette Park, IL
1. Allegiance Tag Team Tournament: Keith Walker & Lamar Titan vs. Zero Gravity (Brett Gakiya & CJ Esparza)
2. Allegiance Tag Team Tournament: Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander vs. Chuck Taylor & Johnny Gargano
3. Allegiance Tag Team Tournament: Dan Lawrence & Markus Crane vs. Juntai Miller & Prince Ali
4. Christian Rose vs. Silas Young
5. Jimmy Jacobs vs. Knight Wagner vs. Louis Lyndon vs. Matt Cage
6. Allegiance Tag Team Tournament: Drew Gulak & Gran Akuma vs. Irish Airborne
7. Allegiance Tag Team Tournament Quarter Final
8. Allegiance Tag Team Tournament Quarter Final
9. AAW Heavyweight Championship: Eddie Kingston vs. Shane Hollister
AAW October 18, 2013 "Hostile Intentions" - Berwyn, IL
1. Allegiance Tag Team Tournament: AAW Tag Team Champions Kung Fu Manchu (Louis Lyndon & Marion Fontaine) vs. Team Defend UK (Mark Andrews & Pete Dunne)
2. Allegiance Tag Team Tournament: Alex Colon & Eddie Kingston vs. Heidi Lovelace & Ryan Boz
3. Allegiance Tag Team Tournament: AAW Heritage Champion ACH & Matt Cage vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Silas Young
4. Falls Count Anywhere: Christian Rose vs. Marek Brave
5. Truth Martini Invitational Battle Royal
6. Christina Von Eerie, Heidi Lovelace & MsChif vs. Heather Patera, Jessicka Havok & Saraya Knight
7. Allegiance Tag Team Tournament Quarter Final
8. Allegiance Tag Team Tournament Quarter Final
9. AAW Heavyweight Championship: Arik Cannon vs. Shane Hollister
*** *** ***
AAW War Is Coming - Results
10/25/2013 – 115 Bourbon Street
By Qumar Zaman
AAW Pro Wrestling Redefined held their second show in a one-week span, a rarity for a local independent wrestling company, but the card was stacked with the continuation of the Allegiance tag team tournament and headlined by the AAW Heavyweight Championship match between the titleholder Shane Hollister and Eddie Kingston.
For those that don’t know, the Allegiance Tag Team tournament is a 16-team bracketed tournament, where the individual winners get to have a match of their choosing, either as a team or separately as individuals.
1.) “War is Coming” opened with the Allegiance tournament, with the first of 6 matches that were contested (4 first-round, 2 second-round). It kicked off with the group of We Are Here, consisting of Lamar Titan and Keith Walker led by their evil mastermind Kevin Harvey, against a former AAW Tag Team Champion in Zero Gravity, Brett Gakiya and CJ Esparza.
Over the last few AAW shows, the power that the We Are Here group once held has diminished to the point that they need some sort of spark, which can be gained with success in the Allegiance tournament. They’ve lost Tweek Phoenix to injury and the group has not caused as much destruction within the company as was touted by its leader Harvey.
Dissension within the We Are Here group during the match was apparent. There was a noticeable lack of uniformity in their wrestling attire (Titan wearing green and Walker in red), and it heightened when Titan refused to tag in his partner. Walker’s anger grew and he force tagged himself into the match, taking out his anger on Zero Gravity. Walker put both Gakiya and Esparza in the corner and proceeded to fast-chop both men, slapping their chests at least 15 times each, and then stacked them together for a German suplex in one of the more impressive moves of the match. But, the dissension allowed for Zero Gravity to knock Walker out of the ring, leading them to double their attack on Titan, and getting the victory to advance in the tournament.
The frustration within the group boiled over at the conclusion of the match as Harvey instructed his monster, Walker, to attack Titan. This breathes new life into the We Are Here group, as Walker is the clear behemoth of the group, and with Harvey in his ear, he can look to join the list of men looking to take the AAW Heavyweight title from Shane Hollister.
2.) With Zero Gravity advancing, we get another Allegiance tournament match. The winner of this match faces Zero Gravity later in the evening in a second-round match. This match brings a pair of teams that aren’t part of the main AAW roster, but that fact alone showcases the importance of the tournament. The team of Chuck Taylor and Johnny Gargano opposed the C&C Wrestle Factory, the duo of Cedric Alexander and Caprice Coleman.
Gargano and Taylor are an entertaining duo, playing the part of a humorous duo that use their youth and flashy wrestling to wow the audience. Both men took time to sit on the stage of 115 Bourbon Street, while their partner was in the ring wrestling. Taylor even exited the ringside area and went through the crowd for a time-out. He even made his way towards my seating location, and while I was trying to give “Chuckie T” some strategic advice, all he wanted to know was which of his opponents, Alexander or Coleman, had hit him out of the ring.
On the opposite part of the spectrum, Alexander and Coleman are a duo that uses their strength and size to their advantage. Both men are part of the expansive tag team division in Ring of Honor, and their experience in that promotion, combined with their talented ability, made them a good opponent for Taylor and Gargano.
The one advantage that Taylor and Gargano have is that they both have experience wrestling in AAW, and I feel that their chemistry in the ring over the years has blossomed. They worked very well together in this match, and Gargano’s Hurts Donut move on Alexander sealed the deal for them. Taylor and Gargano advanced in Allegiance to face Zero Gravity.
3.) Moving to the other side of the Allegiance bracket, we have a pair of make-shift teams. The highly impressive duo of Prince Ali and Junthai Miller with their high-risk, high-active maneuvers battled the odd pairing of Dan Lawrence and Markus Crane.
Miller has always impressed in his time in AAW, and the pairing with Prince Ali, who has been equally as impressive in a shorter amount of time in the company, seems to be a great fit. It provides a great contrast to the Lawrence/Crane pairing. Those two have proven to be a laughably entertaining pairing, with Lawrence seeking to use whatever options are presented to regain the AAW Heavyweight title he held not so long ago and Crane just getting beaten up in every which way.
Crane has a ceiling in the company (I mean, he won’t be the AAW Heavyweight Champion anytime soon), but he’s impeccable and perfectly suited in his varying roles in AAW, whether it be teaming with Lawrence or as a lacky for the champion Shane Hollister. He provides humor to the crowd with his flexing arms, boisterous optimism to overpower his more physically built opponents, or interacting with the environment around him. He did that at 115 Bourbon Street, a venue already decked out with Halloween decorations, as he high fived a skeleton that was hung up on a post during a celebration on the outside.
Prince Ali and Junthai Miller worked very well together, and they managed to dispatch Crane and Lawrence. Miller hit a devastating diving stomp of his knees from the top rope onto Crane. Ali superkicked Lawrence, preventing him from breaking up the pin attempt, thus leaving Miller to cover Crane for the 3-count.
4.) We step away from the Allegiance tournament, as the “Bitter Lunatic” Christian Rose entered the ring. Rose recalled the last time he was at 115 Bourbon Street when he and Marek Brave had a brutal hardcore match. Rose said he didn’t come to AAW to be brutalized in hardcore matches or to be attacked by guys like Brave, who was suspended for hitting a referee with a kendostick at last week’s “Hostile Intentions” event in Berwyn. Rose said he came to AAW, which he incorrectly said stood for “All American Wrestling”, to wrestle. Rose issued an open challenge, which was accepted by Silas Young.
Silas Young has taken a vast turn from where he once was in AAW over the last couple of years. He used to enjoy deriding the fans that came to AAW events, basked in the glory of being the company’s longtime champion, and battled anyone and everyone who came his way. After the arrival of Eddie Kingston to the company several months ago, we have seen a new Silas Young. A man that once didn’t care for the fans has now received their approval, as he came to their defense, calling them “his idiots” at one event a few months ago. He may be called the “Last Real Man” of pro wrestling, but you can also say that he’s the lifeblood of AAW. That’s how important his role and Young himself has been to this company.
Young’s mettle has been tested by so many over such a long period in AAW that facing Rose was akin to adding another name to a long list of downed opponents. Rose put up a good threat against Young, but it was no match against Silas, who gained the victory.
5.) The next match was a 4-way with a utilization of both regular tag-in and lucha tag-in rules. The four competitors were Knight Wagner, “Money” Matt Cage, Jimmy Jacobs, and one-half of the AAW Tag Team Champions, Louis Lyndon.
Earlier in the show, we heard from Jimmy Jacobs in a taped promo, looking beyond this match tonight. He and his partner in the Allegiance tournament, Silas Young, have already advanced to the semifinals. These two polar opposites joined forces in this tournament to win the tournament and the opportunity given to the winners. Each man wants their own match: Silas wants Eddie Kingston and Jacobs wants to be the AAW Heavyweight Champion. Jacobs repeated his desire to hold the title, saying that he looks forward to winning the tournament and that he will defeat whoever leaves 115 Bourbon Street as the champ, whether it’s Shane Hollister or even Kingston himself.
Because of Jacobs’s overlooking of the match, I didn’t consider him to be one of the guys to come out on top of the match. He gave my thought more credence when he spent time sitting on the stage seats, much like Chuck Taylor and Johnny Gargano did earlier in their match. His promo from earlier in the night served to provide an opportunity for Shane Hollister’s valet, Scarlett Bordeaux, to interfere and distract Jacobs from winning the match.
I also had a similar feeling for Louis Lyndon. He’s currently a titleholder, but he’s had great matches in AAW as a singles wrestler, so he could surprise. This match was really a steppingstone for either Knight Wagner, who won the services of Truth Martini as his manager (Truth was absent at this show), or for “Money” Matt Cage, a relative newcomer to AAW with a bright future.
Wagner, a former AAW Tag Team champion in his own right, has a fresh story after his rivalry with Tony Rican to begin the 2013 calendar year hit its climax. The union with Martini can revitalize what Wagner can provide. The veteran looked very good in this match, but Cage had an opportunity to impress. Cage did that, and his finishing move of a springboard facebuster using his leg to press the head down to the mat, was definitely powerful enough to get the pinfall over Wagner.
6.) The last of the first-round Allegiance tournament matches featured another former AAW Tag Team Champion against a pairing of two great individuals from the indy scene: Jake and Dave Crist of Irish Airborne and the team of Gran Akuma and Drew Gulak. The winners would face the team of Prince Ali and Junthai Miller later in the night.
Considering the fresh faces of Akuma and Gulak relative to the confines of AAW, I had the notion that they were not going to beat Irish Airborne. The Crists have been one of the more underappreciated teams in AAW, in my opinion. Even though they held the belts for quite some time proving their worth, this duo has shined brightly each time they step into an AAW ring, both as champions and as contenders.
And, as far as Akuma and Gulak are concerned, I thought their inclusion, much like that of the Taylor/Gargano pairing, was an example of giving importance to the Allegiance tournament by having wrestlers outside of the main roster involved. They did provide a moment of hilarity, using the generic theme song of Steve Blackman and with Gulak sharing some similarities of “The Lethal Weapon.”
It was a fine appearance by Akuma and Gulak, but Irish Airborne hit their Irish Coffee combination finisher, and they advanced to the next round of the tournament.
Right before intermission, we had a special appearance by the “Greatest Intercontinental Champion of all-time”, the Honky Tonk Man. The Honky Tonk Man was in some rare form on the mic, swearing like a sailor because of a band playing loud music in an adjacent hall and few rowdy fans speaking out of turn. He explained to the crowd why he was growing his hair out, saying that he was doing it for the Locks of Love charity, which makes wigs for children dealing with medical conditions that cause them to lose their hair. Honky Tonk Man then sang along to his theme song to end his appearance.
7.) Coming back from intermission is the first of the two remaining second round matches in the Allegiance tournament, pitting Chuck Taylor and Johnny Gargano against Zero Gravity. Taylor and Gargano had a promo shown prior to intermission, where Taylor sounded very confident after their first round win and that winning their second round match would be a breeze. Gargano was trying to reel in Taylor’s bravado, but nothing could stop an overconfident Kentucky Gentleman from speaking his mind.
Because Taylor and Gargano are one of the “outsider” teams, it would have been a shocker had they defeated AAW stalwarts in Zero Gravity. Gakiya and Esparza gained the upper hand on Taylor and Gargano, eventually getting the victory to become the third team to advance to the semifinals of the Allegiance tournament.
8.) We conclude this portion of the Allegiance tournament with the other second round matchup: Irish Airborne against Prince Ali and Junthai Miller. A win at this stage for Ali and Miller would be an immense boost for both men.
Ali and Miller used their flashy moves and high-risk attack to their advantage in their first round victory. They tried to implement a similar attack against Irish Airborne, but they could not repeat the same success. Prince Ali was the victim of the Irish Coffee tombstone combo move from Airbone, and the Crist brothers become the fourth and final team to make it to the semifinals of the Allegiance tournament.
The semifinal matchups will have Ethan Page and Josh Alexander of the Monster Mafia taking on Brett Gakiya and CJ Esparza of Zero Gravity, and the team of Jimmy Jacobs and Silas Young taking on Irish Airborne.
9.) The main event of “War is Coming” is the battle for the AAW Heavyweight Championship between the titleholder Shane Hollister and the challenger Eddie Kingston. Both men delivered superb promos that were shown earlier in the event. Hollister said he was going to smash Kingston’s face in, and as the champion of the company, it appeared like Hollister was going to defend its honor. Hollister wanted to put Kingston’s recent reign of terror to an end, apparently showing a different side of the boastful champion. On the other hand, Kingston talks about how winning titles fills a void in his life that not even drugs could fill. Kingston also mentions how he tormented Val Malone, Silas Young’s wife and valet, and Scarlett Bordeaux might be next, considering how much he loves “gingers” and threatened to punch her.
After both men entered the ring, they continued the verbal assault on one another. And, while Hollister was talking to Kingston, Markus Crane tried to sneak attack Kingston. But, Eddie had no ill effects from the attack and swiftly delivered a backfist to Crane.
The action was more of a brawling type, which fits Kingston’s m.o., but Hollister has had to deal with a lot of brutality both on his road to becoming champ and in his quest to defend it against any opponent. One of the more powerful attacks was Kingston cornering Hollister and delivering more than 30 fast chops to the chest of the champion. But, that only re-energized the champ who dealt back with offense of his own.
The turning point of the match had Hollister’s valet, Scarlett Bordeaux, take a handful of white powder, and while intending to throw it in Kingston’s face, hit referee PJ Drummond with it instead. That opened the floodgates with the ref downed. Silas Young sought this opportunity to attack Kingston and prevent him from winning the championship. Another referee came from the back to adjudicate the match, but Silas knocked him out. With no referees, chaos ensues as a number of wrestlers come out to fight. They brawl out of the ring and onto the stage, practically destroying the right side of the seating area there. It came to a head when Jimmy Jacobs dove from the upper-corner seating area onto the group of wrestlers. Jacobs then took the AAW Heavyweight Championship belt and held it in the ring to the dismay of the champion Hollister. Eventually, Jacobs handed the belt back to a referee to give back to Hollister, but a message was sent by Jacobs.
As for the match itself, it was ruled a no-contest. It wasn’t the best result for a main event match featuring two talented wrestlers. The result soured the promos that both men gave for this show earlier in the night. But, it gave Jacobs a chance to present him as a true contender who has a shot at the title.
The next AAW event is their big show of the year, Windy City Classic IX, on Saturday, November 30th at the Berwyn Eagles Club. Kevin Steen is scheduled to make his AAW debut. AAW Heritage Champion ACH will face “Money” Matt Cage. And, the semifinals and finals of the Allegiance Tournament will take place.
