wrestling / Video Reviews
Perry’s Perspective: AAW Jawbreaker 2015 Review
Loading...EVENT: AAW Jawbreaker 2015
DATE: October 9, 2015
LOCATION: Berwyn, IL
VENUE: Berwyn Eagles Club
COMMENTARY: Derek St. Holmes & Phil Corvin
AAW has been running shows since 2005 with their biggest home grown star currently walking around the WWE with their World Title. Of course I am speaking of Tyler Black, now known as Seth Rollins. I started watching AAW in November 2011 so I have yet to see any of Black’s AAW work but he has certainly done alright for himself. Many of the names you will see in this review are names you will know from around the current indy scene. However there are still some talents that are waiting for their moment on a bigger stage like ROH or PWG that are worthy of your viewing eyes. If you already know AAW then you will probably wanna skip the first paragraph of each match as those are used to make newer viewers and readers a little more familiar with the talents.
MATCH: Allysin Kay vs Mia Yim::
Kay has been a regular in AAW this year and has put on a solid string of matches with the likes of Heidi Lovelace and Candice LeRae. This is Mia Yim’s first match at AAW and the first time I have seen her wrestle since a crazy TLC match against Greg Excellent in CZW back in 2002. St. Holmes hypes that this is a big SHIMMER weekend so they are kicking it off with a SHIMMER preview. He wasn’t kidding as I look and see that SHIMMER held 4 events the following 2 days!
Mia Yim really had a chance to show off a lot of impressive offense with a variant of kicks throughout the match.. The crowd stayed neutral for both ladies during the contest, though Kay is technically the heel. Unfortunately for Yim all those kicks were not enough to do the job as in the end Kay was able to put Yim away with the discus lariat. Good outing for both ladies in what seemed to be a nice tune-up match for their SHIMMER weekend ahead.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Allysin Kay by pinfall @ 7:11 (**3/4)
BACKSTAGE: Davey Vega & Mat Fitchet discuss why they are going to win the AAW Tag Team Titles tonight. The promo takes place in the bathroom and they are interrupted by ACH exiting a stall with a can of pringles and Alicia Fox action figure. This may have been my favorite promo all year.
MATCH: AAW Heritage Championship Six Man Mayhem Match: Louis Lyndon (c) vs Brett Gakiya vs CJ Esparza vs Gregory Iron (w/Mr. Bernard) vs Markus Crane vs Shane Sabre::
This is the secondary championship in AAW and Lyndon has held the belt since 6/19/15, this is his third defense. Lyndon is belt known on the indies as half of the high flying tag team Aeroform (with Flip Kendrick), but Lyndon has really come into his own as a singles guy. Iron is the leader of the Iron Curtain stable who housed the former champion, Christian Faith. Gakiya & Esparza are the tag team Zero Gravity, another high flying team as you would guess by the name and are mainstays at AAW. Crane, just like the four men before him, is a long term AAW talent whose current gimmick has him as a hobo. Sabre is a long term wrestler for SMASH in Canada that made a few appearances in AAW last year. Sabre “re-debuted” as a recruit of Ethan Page last month in a losing effort to Marcus Crane.
One fall to a finish in these six man mayhem matches with 2 “legal”competitors, but as is always the case that lasts around 50 percent of the match before things just break down. Lyndon starts early with the impressive aerial moves with a springboard face stomp on Sabre on the ropes. A few minutes in both members of Zero Gravity get tagged in as the announcers lose their shit. Gakiya & Esparza argue over who is the “Shawn Michaels” of the team and then try to get everyone from the outside to come in and take a tag team move, Crane is the only one crazy enough to accept.
For those keeping track it took about 6 minutes for the match to become “everyone get in your shit and get out of the ring”. So I guess that means the match is going about 11 or 12 minutes. ZG hits Crane with a few double team moves and Esparza seems content to just allow Gakiya to take the win the belt, however Crane breaks up the fall. The commentary notes that Sabre is really impressing here and I must agree as he is getting to show a good amount of offense and selling well on the defense. Spot of the match was perhaps Iron whipping Crane to the outside, Crane then delivers a double hurricana to Lyndon and abre on the outside. After a high spot by ZG only Lyndon and Iron are in the ring. Iron attempts to grab the tights but only gets 2 before Lydon chokes Iron and makes him tap.
This was the fun match that I expected. We got a few minutes of psychology and then minutes of fun spots. Thankfully Iron was the least used competitor in the match as that is a sure fire way to bring a match dwn.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Louis Lyndon by submission @ 10:18 (***)
BACKSTAGE: Devin Cutter with The Hooligans cut a counter promo about the tag title match that ends with a really bad overall pun.
MATCH: Candice LeRae & Heidi Lovelace vs Jessicka Havok & Tessa Blanchard::
This will be my first time seeing the daughter of Tully Blanchard, Tessa, as she makes her AAW debut. Havok has had a few matches here in AAW, and is the same Havok that feuded with Awesome Kong on TNA TV to start the year. LeRae is an indy darling (and apple of Johnny Gargano’s eye) as she has made quite the name for herself in intergender matches at PWG for a few years. Lovelace has the most AAW history, dating back to 2012, amongst these ladies and has come into her own this year.
Havok spends a good amount of time just destroying the back of LeRae. There seems to be some dissension between Havok & Blanchard as Tessa yells at Jessica “I’ve got this” when tagged in and attempts to double team LeRae. Havok then stands on the apron with hand extended for minutes while Tessa controls the match. Blanchard finally tags out once she is found in the slightest amount of trouble. LeRae was finally able to make the tag and went off on Havok with a series of kicks before Blanchard takes a blind tag. Miscommunication double team attempt by Blanchard and Havok leaves Jessica on the floor and Tessa taking offense from Candice in the ring. Very sloppy looking hurricanrana from Lovelace to Havok (on her knees) as we enter the closing stretch and the ladies are looking exhausted. Lovelace with the tadpole splash on Blanchard and that will end it.
Solid match but the flow was just not there. The heat segment felt like it lasted forever and it was confusing as to if we were supposed to care about Havok and Blanchard not liking each other as there was no pay off after the match.
OFFICIAL RESULT: LeRae & Lovelace by pinfall @8:55 (**1/4)
MATCH: ACH & Ricochet vs OI4K::
Now we are starting to get into the good stuff, this has the potential to be a show stealer. OI4K are Dave & Jake Crist and have been in AAW for quite some time and are looking to rebound from losing the tag straps to the Hooligans at last month’s show. These are two bigger guys who have an array of high flying offensive and double team moves. ACH has been a regular a AAW dating back to 2012 but has shown up a lot less this year as his popularity is bringing him everywhere. Ricochet (or Prince Puma to the LU readers) is another phenomenal talent who has competed at AAW from time-to-time but has never called it home. To sum all that up we have 4 guys who know how to wrestle and really know how to fly, this will be fun.
Killers go for the handshakes, but Ricochet feigns trying to hit Jake as a joke. Neither member of OI4K find this amusing. The majority of the first 5 minutes are spent exchanging holds and dance moves, and then exchanging tag team partners. Finally Jake tags Ricochet while applying a headscissors to ACH and Ricochet decides he has had enough of the games and chops Crist. We are now back to our regular tag team pairings. After just a lot of your typical back and forth wrestling we get Dave Crist and ACH hitting stereo dives on opposite sides of the ring, followed up a minute later by Jake and Ricochet hitting stereo moonsaults. Jake Crist with a very messy looking (happens a lot) springboard arm drag. Sometimes it’s really cool to be a big guy and show your agility, but sometimes that agility is really not there.
ACH and Ricochet hit a fantastic double kick into a folding press for the cover on Dave but this is broken up by Jake. Once Jake is sent to the outside Ricochet goes to the top but is hit with a superplex turned into a powerbomb for his efforts. Tombstone formation into an RKO from the ACH-Ricochet tandem. ACH goes from a springboard kick while Dave is on the top but is stopped and thrown back to Jake. Dave comes off the top with a spike piledriver to finish ACH. Well that certainly did not steal the show as I was hoping. The crowd disagrees with me I guess as they chant “that was awesome” post match, but really when is that chant not given? Good match that I think could have been better with a little less comedy.
OFFICIAL RESULT: OI4K by pinfall @ 18:40 (***)
BACKSTAGE: Allysin Kay runs down Heidi Lovelace
MATCH: Last Man Standing Match – Eddie Kingston vs Tyson Dux:: Kingston has been around AAW since 2013, possibly not missing a show in that time. Kingston has been around every major indy that I can think of for at least a match or two in the last few years and is often hit or miss. However Kingston’s work this year in AAW has been on the hit side, even while fighting nagging injuries that led to him losing the Heavyweight title earlier in the year. Dux is a Canadian talent who has a brief run with TNA back in the day that came to AAW earlier this year wanting to make an impact. There is no better way to do that than to target the man who has become the face of AAW. These two wrestled last month, the match only went 10 minutes and it was a let down. Let’s hope this is a large improvement.
It takes less than 2 minutes for Dux chest to be as red as a tomato with chops flying from Kingston. Kingston wants to make sure all the fans get a chance to see and experience this and works Dux all around the barricade area. It doesn’t take much longer after this before we get the hardcore blunder out, chairs and a kendo stick to be specific. Kingston takes an absolute blast of kendo stick to the face as Dux is just owning Kingston. The crowd is very much behind Eddie as Dux lays out some thumbtacks. Kingston and Dux have a nice series of reversals around the tacks that ends with Kingston backing Dux into the turnbuckle. Kingston attempts to get the superplex but another reversal by Dux puts Kingston onto the tacks via sunset flip.
Dux stops the referee’s count on Kingston saying “that son of a bitch is gonna really get it” and heads to the back. Kingston sits in the ring waiting for his return, when Dux comes back it is with a steel barricade in hand. Dux knocks Kington with a chair to keep him down while Dux assembles the four chairs in the ring along with the barricade to make a table. Dux tries to set Kingston up for a spot with his newly made table, Kingston fights out after hitting at least five spinning back fists (the first four were no sold by Dux). Kingston then delivers a superplex to Dux onto the barricade table that DOES NOT BUDGE! The ref gets to 8 before Kingston starts to stir. Kingston makes it back to his feet, Dux does not. Lots of hatred was shown here but there was still something missing that would have made it a four star contest. I think it may have been the way Kingston was selling as he almost just looked bored at times.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Eddie Kingston by TKO @ 19:04 (***1/2)
MATCH: Christian Faith (w/Gregory Iron & Mr. Bernard) vs Kongo Kong:: Oh man, this is gonna be ugly! Kong is about a 7 foot monster that looks like the lovechild of Haku & Kamala (seriously go look him up if you have never seen him before) and is making his AAW debut here tonight. Faith is the most recent former Heritage champ and is also a big fella himself (you may know him as Rickey Shane Page, but with a mask). Faith and Iron Curtain leader Gregory Iron have been showing some dissension lately, it should be interesting to see if that continues. Faith hits Kongo with a German suplex which looked extremely impressive. Faith hits Kong with a DVD but only gets 2. This is curious booking of Kong to me as he should come in here looking like the monster that he is. Kong heads to the top rope and ends it all with a big splash. This was no technical masterpiece but both guys worked really hard. Kong has the fans chanting his name by the end, that’s what you want from a debut.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Kongo Kong by pinfall @ 5:00 (*1/2)
After the match Gregory Iron gets on the mic and reminds Christian Faith or “Rickey” that anytime Iron wants to pull the plug that he can. Faith snaps and sends Iron to the mat before heading to the back.
BACKSTAGE: Trevor Lee (preparing for his second AAW match) cuts a promo on Silas Young. I guess this was the first time I had heard Lee speak as I had no idea he had such a think Carolina accent.
MATCH: AAW Tag Team Title: The Hooligans © (w/Buck Nasty) vs Davey Vega & Mat Fitchett::
Vega & Fitchett now come to the ring to the song “Bad Love” by Taylor Swift and it is glorious! Vega & Fitchett have been around AAW for sometime now, but have only been competing as a regular team since June. Fitchett is a guy that has impressed me for quite some time in AAW and I am perplexed as to why he has not shown up elsewhere yet. The Hooligans (Devin & Mason Cutter) are a pair of stout gentlemen who wrestle barefooted and in overalls. They debuted in AAW about a year ago and have destroyed everyone in their paths on their way to winning the titles last month.
The Hooligans are very similar to OI4K with their offense and Mason shows that early with a flipping senton onto Fitchett. Some great tandem offense shown by the Hooligans as Mason comes off the ropes with a moonsault as Devin hits a standing legdrop on Fitchet. Fitchett is finally able to get the hot tag to Vega after taking quite the beatdown from the Cutter gang and selling every bit of it like a champ. After 30 seconds on the outside Fitchett seems ready to return, Vega powerbombs Fitchett onto Mason for a 2 count. Buck Nasty brings Vega to the outside as the Hooligans deliver a couple of cannonballs to Fitchett along with a fantastic jackknife powerbomb. Looks like Fitchett may have got back in a little too early.
Fitchett pulls off what I can only describe as an inverted spike piledriver on Mason as Mason was attempting a side slam. The action breaks down to all four men just going at it as we finally have our first real chance to see Vega after being almost 10 minutes into the match. Double team by Fitchett and Vega gets a 2 count before Buck Nasty throws himself in the ring as if he is having a seizure to break up the count. Vega and Fitchett approach Nasty before Devin throws Vega to the outside and scoops up Fitchett. The Hooligans use OI4K stomp piledriver finish and that ends things
This was a good tag team match and perhaps the best match I have seen The Hooligans in this year. Fitchett is phenomenal at taking offense and selling so this was a great match up to show what the new champs are made of. I would have liked to see a little more Vega in the ring, or a little more offense from Vega & Fitchett in general.
OFFICIAL RESULT: The Hooligans by pinfall @ 11:44 (***)
BACKSTAGE: Gregory Iron finds Christian Faith (unmasked but back to) and apologized for what he said tonight. Iron tells “Rickey” that he just needs to have faith. Faith seems to accept this as he puts on his mask and nods.
MATCH: Silas Young vs Trevor Lee::
Lee is also coming out to a T-Swift song (not sure what it’s called but something about players gonna hate). Then outcomes Silas Young, the man with the BEST entrance music in all the land with “Don’t Stop Believing”. For me Silas Young is AAW. When I started watching the company a few years back he was engaged in an amazing feud with Michael Elgin. Elgin was still a fairly fresh face on the indies and had not become stale as he has in recent years and together those two men got me hooked on AAW. Young has been competing in AAW since DAY ONE in 2005, over 100 matches in total with the company. Lee has been breaking out all across the country this year and if you have not seen him yet than I am very surprised.
Young has a knee brace on the left knee, both commentaries are playing this up big so let’s not be surprised if that becomes a focus during the match. Two minutes into the match Young is playing with the brace as it seems to have come loose. Young has been a long time heel in AAW but the fans love him. Young pulls off some nice heel tactics, such as pulling the ref in front of him to stop Lee early on in the match to try and establish the correct dynamic. St. Holmes notes that Lee’s father was the first ever OMEGA Champions… damn!
Just as expected the knee brace is an issue for Young here and Lee tries to take advantage to get on the offense while Young fixes it. The two continue to wrestle a very good contest with Young controlling most of the match with flurries from Lee with his trademark offense such as the dead lift German. In the end Young attempts to go for a DDT in the corner but Lee is able to counter into a small package for the surprise three count. The match had a good flow to it but needed a few more minutes and a little more offense from Lee to be very good. I hope we get a rematch down the line.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Trevor Lee by pinfall @ 15:09 (***1/4)
BACKSTAGE: Fitchett & Vega argue over who lost their match. ACH plays the mediator.
We have 50 minutes left on the show as we start a fantastic video package highlighting the AAW version of the Ethan Page & Johnny Gargano feud.
MATCH: AAW Heavyweight Title Two-out-of-Three Falls Match: Ethan Page © vs Johnny Gargano::
Though Gargano states in the pre-match video promo that he has spent “most of his career at AAW” that is not quite true. Gargano has been around AAW since 2009 but it has been an on-and-off relationship with this year being his most consistent year. Page has been a pretty steady regular since 2013 when he entered with his now retired tag team partner (and man he won the AAW title from in June) Josh Alexander. This was taped the weekend before these two wrapped up their EVOLVE feud with a terrific I Quit match.
This is Page’s third title defense and second against Gargano (I gave their first match ***¾).The accidently displays the championship belt upside down before being corrected by Page. The first fall consisted of a lot of showboating from both men. Gargano getting the crowd going with “Johnny Wrestling” chants while Page showed off his “All EGO” dance. Gargano also did some work on the arms which would become helpful at the end of the first fall when Johnny locked in the GargaNO Escape at 5:23 for the tapout victory to win the first fall.
The second fall starts with brawling on the outside as Page bailed to the floor right away. Page controlled the first few minutes of the match on the side until Gargano was able to use the ring post to hit an elevated tornado DDT. After spending almost 5 minutes of action entirely on the floor Page makes his way back into the ring. When Gargano attempts to get in Page kicks the rope right into a low blow on Gargano at 10:35 to win the second fall.
Gargano tries hitting all of his signature DDT moves to Page fairly early in the third fall but none of them are enough to put Page away.Chop exchange, followed by both attempting to run the ropes and then finally a double enzuigiri to knock both men off their feet. Page wins a battle on the top rope and attempts to powerslam Gargano down off his shoulders. Gargano counters mid-air into another tornado DDT though, but is only able to get 2. That was perfectly executed. Gargano goes for a flying spear from the ring apron but Page counters by shoving the ref into the line of fire. Gargano gets in and drops Page with the GargaNO Escape, to which Page taps to again but there is no ref!
Page with a low blow, followed by his former partners tombstone and he goes for the cover while calling for a new ref. Page gets the new ref but also only gets a count of 2. Buckle bomb by Page that Gargano no sells and delivers a big boot. Page no sells the big boot and delivers one back, no sell from Gargano. Gargano comes at Page and with a boot of his own and nearly hits the new ref but stops himself short. Page then responds by kicking the ref for our second ref bump of the match. The original ref is back in as Gargano drops Page but only for a count of 2. Page finally puts Gargano down with the spinning Dwayne (spinning Rock Bottom.
Good contest between the two, I would call it the second best match they had this year just behind EVOLVE 49. Both guys worked hard and now Page will be carrying the AAW Heavyweight title into the biggest show of the year next month in Chicago.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Ethan Page by falls @ 25:15 (****)
BACKSTAGE: Silas Young hypes the four way #1 contender’s match next month
BACKSTAGE: OI4K promo on The Hooligans
BACKSTAGE: Louis Lyndon hypes the four way #1 contender’s match next month
BACKSTAGE: Hooligans & Buck Nasty talk about next month’s match with Team Tremendous
BACKSTAGE: Eddie Kingston hypes the four way #1 contender’s match next month
BACKSTAGE: Ethan Page ssays he has got rid of Johnny Gargano for good
Want to see this show or any of the many more shows produced by AAW? There are two great ways to do so!
Firstly you can visit Smart Mark Video for both digital and disc orders. If you get over there today they are running a special sale of 25% off ANY order of $50 or more.
The second viewing option is the AAW On Demand service. The service costs $7.99 a month and gets you access to 175+ hours of AAW greatness. Also if you use the code “REDEFINED” you can get your first 3 months of service for just $4.99!
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