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The Enlightenment: AWF Wrestling — International Assault II (06.01.07)

December 29, 2007 | Posted by J.D. Dunn
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The Enlightenment: AWF Wrestling — International Assault II (06.01.07)  

AWF Wrestling — International Assault II (06.01.07)
by J.D. Dunn

  • Check out the website here.
  • June 1, 2007
  • From Sydney, Australia.

  • Bryan Danielson opens the show and calls Sydney a hellhole. He likes Melbourne, though! Nigel McGuinness shows up and claims Danielson is just upset that he picked up a hooker who turned out to be a man.
  • Opening Match, Four-Way Elimination: Scotty Club vs. Chris X vs. The Captain vs. Taipan.
    Good news: hot camera chick is back. Since it’s a four-way, it’ll be hard to do play-by-play, but I will say that things have improved dramatically in the production area and in the in-ring product. Chris X now has a personality to go along with all his moves. Of course, that personality is Chris Sabin’s, but it works for him. Taipan is a big dude. The crowd makes fun of him for being on steroids, and he gleefully plays it up. Of course, this was three weeks before the Benoit killings, so he may have changed his tune. He spikes Chris down with a spinebuster and eliminates him at 3:53. Club and the Captain try to doubleteam him, but that doesn’t last long. He tosses Club to the floor and hits Captain with a TKO. That sets up a standing moonsault at 5:53. That leaves Club alone against the behemoth. Or, as Steven Wright might say, the bo-hoimeth. Club stays on top and hits Rolling Germans. The crowd chants, “You’re not Benoit!” so Club retorts, “I’m much better.” Taipan destroys him with a sitout facebuster and a frogsplash, though, so I’m guess not. That gets the win at 8:10. Taipan looked awesome, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he became a big star somewhere down the line. The match was rushed. **1/2

  • Young Lion’s Title: Powerhouse Theo vs. Steve Ravenous.
    Is Ravenous even eligible? Theo rolls over him early. He’s a powerhouse, after all. Ravenous outsmarts him by yanking his hair on a test of strength. Ravenous tries a suplex, but Theo counters to a small package for two. Ravenous just pops up and nails him with a clothesline to take over. He gets two off a backdrop suplex. Theo rages back with a series of clotheslines, though. A front powerslam gets two. Theo sets up for the Gore, but Ravenous sidesteps him and sends him into the post. That leads to a T-Bone Suplex and a Dick Driver. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Ravenous sets up for the Pump-Handle Emerald Frosion, but Theo slips out of it and dropkicks him. SPEAR! He sets up for a piledriver, but Ravenous counters to the Emerald Frosion! ONE, TWO, — Ravenous picks him up. Oooh. That’s not a good idea. Indeed, as Ravenous mounts him for punches in the corner, Theo lifts him up and powerbombs him for the win at 11:33. Typical Rhino match. That’s not a bad thing, necessarily, but Theo is to Rhino as Benoit was to the Dynamite Kid. **1/4

  • Austin Aries vs. Il Cognito.
    They trade counters on the mat for a while until Cognito headscissors Austin Aries, and YOU CAN’T HEADSCISSOR AUSTIN ARIES! Aries tags him with a dropkick and hits a suicida to pop the crowd. Cognito makes a run for it and then pokes him in the eyes. Aries tries to shoulderblock him in the gut, but Cognito gets the knee up to take over. Cognito busts out the hammerlock chops but stops to play to the crowd. Aries comes back with the Usual (slingshot corkscrew splash, quebrada, corner dropkick, brainbuster, 450-splash). He leaves out the brainbuster, though, so Il Cognito is able to crotch him to block the 450. Cognito thrust kicks him and does an interesting head-and-arm suplex. His springboard legdrop misses, though. Aries punts him in the head, hits the Brainbuster, and finishes with the 450-splash at 15:41. Aries is so fun to watch in there, and Cognito was more than ready to give him a good match. ***

  • AWF Australasian Title: TNT vs. Billy Kidman.
    The fans chant, “You killed Chavo!” at Billy Kidman. You know, I can think of at least one thing that Kidman should be known for other than that. Ah, then the fans chant, “Torrie Wilson!” That’s more like it. They exchange a lot of hammerlocks until Kidman hits a hiptoss into a low dropkick. Someone in the crowd rightly busts him for ripping off Jay Lethal. TNT comes back with the People’s Neckbreaker (where you floatover) for two. Kidman gets caught in a leapfrog, and TNT slingshots him over the top. He follows him out with a somersault plancha and bangs his legs on the railing. Ouch. Back in, Kidman punches his way back but takes a Northern Lights Bomb and a moonsault for two. Kidman cuts him off with a dropkick and goes up for the Shooting Star Press. TNT crotches him, though, pissing off the crowd. That leads to a rope-assisted DDT at 11:09. The fans really wanted to see the SSP. Kidman looked a little overweight (probably why he kept the shirt on), but he still looked agile in there. TNT looked solid, as always. ***

  • Mark Hilton vs. Kid Kash
    Kash’s pre-match banter with the ringside fans must be why they dropped the “Family Friendly” label. He says he traveled 20 hours to get here and they paired him up with some nobody. Hilton blitzes him with a flurry of moves. Kash avoids a charge, though, and starts kicking the crap out of him. He works the back a bit with a rear chinlock and then starts ramming Hilton’s back into the railing. The fans get on him for being a “faggot,” so Kash starts arguing with them again. He delivers the Dead Level (brainbuster) but doesn’t take the pin. Did he learn nothing from Ravenous? Hilton gets pissed and hulks up. Hilton’s Shooting Star Press misses. Well, that explains why Kidman didn’t work his in. Kash finishes with the Moneymaker at 16:08. Too one-sided to be *really* good, but Kash did a good job of getting the fans behind Hilton. **1/2

  • AWF Tag Team Titles: The Platinum Players vs. Billy Flyswat & Massive Q.
    Flyswat and Q are doing the Rey Mysterio/911 thing. Flyswat gets his few quick moves in and brings in Q to a big pop. Q avalanches the Players and they work in the “Oooh, look what happened totally by accident. My penis just got stuck in your bum” spot. Flyswat plays face-in-peril. The ref breaks up the Dream Sequence because they’re doubleteaming. Flyswat gets curbstomped but avoids the flipping senton. HOT TAG TO Q! He cleans house with a flying Bossman Slam and a splash. Sadly, Flyswat tags back in and gets nailed with the Doomsday Device at 11:22. Solid formula tag. **1/4

  • WSW Title: Nigel McGuinness vs. Bryan Danielson.
    Big “This is Awesome!” and “ROH!” chants go out. Not that ROH doesn’t probably appreciate that, but they’re not tied to Ring of Honor. Feel free to chant, “AWF!” It would be just as applicable. They do their usual good opening wrestling segment, and the crowd chants, “Cena sucks!” Well, that’s random. Nigel works in the handstand spot with Danielson unable to figure it out. Dragon finally charges in and gets rolled up for two. Nigel tries it again a few minutes later, but Dragon nails him with a running dropkick. The crowd mockingly chants, “boring” at Dragon, so he applies an abdominal stretch just to screw with them. He uses the ropes like a good heel, though. The ref catches him, but of course, he has ’til five! Nigel and Dragon trade uppercuts, and Nigel nails him with a lariat. The running corner uppercut knocks Dragon silly, and Nigel adds another lariat for two. Dragon comes back with a missile dropkick and a suicida that nearly takes them into the crowd. Back in, Nigel sunset flips Dragon and hits him with a thrust kick, but Danielson counters the cover into the Cattle Mutilation. Awesome! Nigel makes the ropes and blocks Dragon’s diving headbutt. They both stagger up and start trading forearms. Nigel falls back but hits the Jawbreaker Lariat for two. Danielson avoids another swing and O’Connor Rolls him for two. Nigel sets him on the ropes and goes for the flying lariat, but Dragon ducks in and rides him down into CATTLE MUTILATION! Awesome! Nigel rolls through, but Danielson fires off elbows and rolls him back over! Nigel refuses to tap, so Danielson scissors his arms and rolls him onto his shoulders for the pin and the WSW Title at 22:29. Another great match between these two in a series of them this year. ****
  • The 411: Easily the best AWF show I've seen so far. It was on par with ROH shows as far as in-ring product goes. They dropped the kiddie style that made it look like an OVW taping and taken a step up production and talentwise. I realize that this was more of an all-star supershow scenario, but I'd still like to see some form of angle advancement to get me really involved in the promotion.

    Thumbs up, though, especially for Danielson/McGuinness.

     
    Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]  legend

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    J.D. Dunn

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