AAW Bound by Hate: A Review

 

Greetings ladies and gents. I come to you today with a tale of a show that many of you probably were unaware of, but definitely should be. Quality like this is rare to find.

I attended a show put on by AAW this weekend. For those unaware, AAW is a company that runs the majority of their monthly shows out of the Berwyn Eagles Club in Berwyn, IL. They mix quality local Midwest talent with some of the larger names on the scene such as Davey Richards, Michael Elgin, and Sami Callihan just to name a few that have been around recently. Throughout the company’s history, they’ve featured Bryan Danielson, Nigel McGuiness, Tyler Black, Jerry Lynn, and countless others that went on to great things.

Admittedly, I was pretty disappointed when it seemed like I couldn’t make this rare Friday show thanks to my job, but alas, a last minute reprieve from work and I was ready to make the drive to Berwyn for AAW’s “Bound by Hate.” Now, before I begin, let me say that making the drive alone is both a feat and a compliment to the company. I live in Northeastern Wisconsin. The drive to Berwyn is about four hours one way. I gladly make an eight hour drive for a three hour show once a month because I know that I won’t be disappointed.

Continuing the tradition popularized by the twice-a-year SHIMMER Women Athletes events, I arrived about 45 minutes before the doors opened to mingle with fans already in line. AAW does a pre-sale for tickets on a front row and general admission basis up until a few days before the event. While you can reserve a front row seat, all seats are first-come first served. And, let’s face it, location location location is a universal rule.

A little bit before doors are opened, the owner of AAW Jim Lynam (@AAWOwner) will come out and chat for a bit with the fans. Easily one of the most down to Earth, coolest people I have ever come across. He’ll run down the card and get everyone a little more hyped up and this time around they had a little trivia contest to give away a t-shirt. After a quick reminder to follow their @AAWLeaks Twitter account for more giveaways and news during the show, Jim and Crew headed back in to get the doors opened up for the show.

Once I was in, I settled in to my usual spot near Jimmy the ring announcer. It’s a nice little corner spot that avoids most photographer obstruction. Location, location, location!The pre-show matches began pretty much as soon as my ass grove began forming.

To be honest, the pre-show matches are about what you’d expect. Nothing great, but something to break the ice. I just want to give an honorable mention to the guys that wrestle as The Moondogs. You really just do not see enough grown men get hit with rolled up newspapers these days. Good job, guys!

Austin Manix had the luck of the draw as the first man out once AAW Bound by Hate officially got underway. I was a little surprised to see his fellow stable member Mr. Miller follow him out. A little backstory if I may: Both Manix and Mr. Miller are part of a stable known as The Clash. Along with Cameron Skyy, Tommy Treznik, and Mena Libra, they arrive to Berwyn to save us. Things get a little iffy for the group when Cameron Skyy isn’t around to lead them, so color me surprised to see these two squaring off to open the show.

While the group is a heel group, Mr. Miller instantly became the face in the match according to the crowd. Miller’s style is a martial arts based ground attack with the occasional springboard move. Time seemed limited for the two, but they really went all out. Quite a few near falls, back and forth, and in the end Mr. Miller got the pinfall victory in about eight minutes. A really good opener that I wish got more time. I think the two could pull off something really special. After the show, Manix took to Twitter (@AustinManix) to request a rematch and I could not agree more.

Next on the card was a women’s showdown between Angelus Layne and MsChif. If I may get my personal bias out of the way early, I freakin’ love MsChif. Top to bottom, inside and outside of the ring, she just rules.

This match started out in the ring for all of about 30 seconds before they took to the floor. MsChif laid in a wicked chop right on the announcer’s table literally right in front of me. Angelus countered with a suplex onto the hardwood floor. They continued to brawl around the ring, into barricades, and MsChif returned a suplex on Angelus and they got back into the ring. A fun little brawl to say the least and something you won’t see during your usual women’s match. Once they got back into the ring, it was a solid if not unspectacular match. MsChif got the win and took her screaming victory lap around the ring.

AAW’s odd couple tag team champions Jimmy Jacobs and Arik Cannon were going to find out their next challengers in the next match on the card. In a three-way elimination match, The Awesome Threesome (Knight Wagner, Jordan McEntyre, and their manager Eryn) went up against Josh Raymond and Christian Able and The Northstache Express of Darin Corbin and Marion “The Stache” Fontaine.

Poor Awesome Threesome. Not only to Eryn end up on the receiving end of Fontaine’s “tea bag” bodysplash, but they’re closing in on nearly a year since their last victory in an AAW ring. August of 2011, by my count. This match didn’t help as they were the first team eliminated.

The highlight of this match had to be Josh Raymond’s top rope shooting star onto the floor. Very impressive and I really hope that does get added to the company video package. There’s not a lot of room in the Eagles Club, so kudos to everyone who helped keep him from splattering his head on the wood floor or the barricade. I couldn’t help but laugh when he tried to stand on the ropes after the move and ended up eating a face full of canvas. Even his partner Christian Able had a good laugh at that.

Good solid back and forth between the two teams that saw Raymond and Able get the win. Both teams are big fan favorites and shared a handshake after the match. I’m really looking forward to Raymond and Able against Jacobs and Cannon. That’s going to be a really good one.

The good times kept-a-rollin’ with NWA Heavyweight Champion Colt Cabana against Mason Beck. That title belt is absolutely gorgeous. Jimmy D even said he was surprised that Cabana got to tour around with it. This was after his Myspace camera phone picture of him holding it. Good times.

Mason Beck demanded Cabana not do “any funny shit” tonight, and he was completely ignored of course. Cabana made a few of his usual make the other guy look dumb moments and eventually an actual wrestling match started. Cabana really showed off his ground game and that culminated in a submission win with the Billy Goat’s Curse. Both guys looked good and it was a fun little match. Nothing all that memorable, but entertaining to say the least. The comedy in the match was well placed and I applaud the decision. What came next was an absolute war.

Davey Richards versus Sami Callihan.

Any reaction other than holy shit is completely wrong and invalid. This match had several months of hype and lived up to it. And then some.

Sami was featured in a vignette earlier about how he was going to “rape professional wrestling of its dignity and start with Davey Richards.” This was my first time seeing him live and he very much does have the it factor. Sorry, Bobby, but it’s true. Every little thing he did from how he stomped around the ring to “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, to throwing Jimmy’s index cards in the air, to the way he taunted Davey just screamed star.

I feel bad that I can’t really sum this match up in words. Amazing. Fantastic. Classic. Must see. None of it really does it justice. It was 20 minutes of just pure wrestling greatness. Sami worked over Davey’s ankle throughout the match, while Davey hit with his usual strong style moveset. Normally not a fan, but it worked very well here. I loved every second of it.

After numerous near falls and a good three minutes of the crowd standing and reacting to everything, Davey put Sami away with the ankle lock. After the match Davey got on the mic to put over Sami and rightfully deserved. This match was absolutely amazing and lived up to the hype. This match alone makes the DVD a required purchase. Fantastic match.

After intermission, we get a nice little surprise. Krotch is making his return to AAW after being out for a little more than a year due to injury. The celebration is crashed virtually immediately by Truth Martini and Danny Daniels. Truth, looking rather dapper in his modified top hat and women’s slacks, starts to run down Krotch and father’s day. This all goes back to Danny’s motivation to basically be a dick and beat people up coming from his wife leaving him and taking the kids. Honestly, I’ve been so indifferent to this whole thing. Truth can be funny, and I appreciate MsChif getting showcased in a feud with a man, but I…just don’t care. Danny Daniels does nothing for me. I don’t want to see him get his ass kicked, I just don’t want to see him. Anyway, Danny ends up jumping Krotch and a ref comes out for a makeshift match. Danny dispatches him a couple minutes with a piledriver. As he’s continuing the beat down, MsChif runs out and chases him away with her Freddy Krueger glove. She challenges him to a street fight at next month’s event to settle this once and for all.

Before she can leave, fellow House of Truth member Jesse Emerson runs out and hits MsChif from behind. Little miscommunication here when MsChif went forward and Jesse tried to pull her backward. Chif was lucky she didn’t mess up a knee there. Louis Lyndon runs in for the save on Chif and we have another match on our hands.

As odd as it may sound, Jesse Emerson vs Louis Lyndon was a match I was really excited for when it got announced. Lyndon is really coming into his own and Emerson has a great look and decent big guy move set. This match was basically Lyndon flying around and getting grounded by Emerson. Clocked in at less than 10 minutes, Lyndon pulled off the upset with a quick pin. Good match. And I still love the “Yes We Can” chants at Lyndon. Brilliant stuff.

The tag team grudge match was on next. “The Handicapped Hero” Gregory Iron and “The Party Danimal” Dan Lawrence were taking on Shane Hollister and Marcus Crane. This is another one that’s been building for a few months. Last month Shane was able to cheat his way to a win over Iron when a missed beer can shot from Lawrence hit Iron by mistake. In all fairness, Hollister was pulling crap all match and Danimal finally tried to do something about it.

The biggest thing I took away from this was the scary looking bump Iron took into the barricades. Marcus Crane’s gimmick can best be described as a tweeker. No better way to put it. He ran full force into Iron, who was on the ring apron, and he hit HARD on the barricade. Lawrence ran over right away to check on him and I was legitimately worried. It was just vicious.

Once he took the shot, Lawrence helped him back into the ring and Iron was basically the babyface in peril the rest of the match. Lawrence got a hot tag and cleaned up for a bit, but once he tagged out Iron got the beating again. The end came with a little miscommunication from the good guys. Gregory whacked Dan and got pinned. Danimal was upset to say the least and left Gregory in the ring. Little tease at the darker side of The Party Danimal and I’m curious to see where this one is going.

Semi-main event time and we get to see the AAW Heritage Title being defended. Speaking of a great looking belt. Job well done to whomever came up with that one. Anyway, the AAW Heritage Champion “Unbreakable” Michael Elgin is defending the title against Kyle O’Reilly.

Minor soap box moment, but Michael Elgin is a true talent. I hadn’t seen his work in ROH, but he completely won me over after I saw him live. His so big, so agile and just really damn good. His one hour match against Silas Young at last month’s Point of No Return event was one of the best matches I have ever seen.

That being said, I had high hopes for this one and was not disappointed. The two traded some hard hitting shots and the match was about equal in terms of offense. O’Reilly getting Elgin up for multiple suplexes was truly an impressive feat of strength. I’d never seen any of his work before, but Kyle O’Reilly looked very good in this match. Elgin ended up putting him away to retain the title. Elgin got a nice chant going for O’Reilly and I hope he ends up coming back again soon. Very impressive match for the two of them!

Main event time and it’s a doozy! Six man tag intertwining the tangled web of the AAW Tag Team and World Titles. AAW World Champion Silas Young and The Irish Airborne against Jimmy Jacobs, Arik Cannon, and BJ Whitmer. Jacobs and Cannon randomly teamed several months ago and pulled off a huge upset in beating The Irish Airborne for the tag titles, while last month BJ Whitmer nearly beat Silas Young for the title after winning a #1 contender battle royal. Well, Jimmy and Arik hate each other and everyone but The Airborne want to kill each other for a shot at Silas’ title. Jimmy and Arik routinely stop their matches to punch each other. Good times…

This match was a huge brawl from the start. All six ended up in the crowd at various spots in the Eagles Club. Personal highlight for me was BJ Whitmer hitting Silas Young with a slice of pizza. Further proof AAW is on the cutting edge of professional wrestling.

Jimmy Jacobs spent a good amount of the match taking some punishment once they brought things back into the ring. I really enjoy the Irish Airborne’s teamwork. They’re really underrated. They have this amazing top rope double stop, backbreaker, splash move that has to be seen to be believed.

In a very interesting twist, both Arik Cannon AND Jimmy Jacobs pinned Silas Young for the win. After a polite flip of the bird and a few F-Bombs from BJ Whitmer, Jimmy and Arik took turns posing with the world title. Tonight the crowd seemed slightly more pro Arik than Jimmy, but it’s been back and forth for months now. Jimmy teased chugging a Pabst Blue Ribbon, but ended up spitting it in Arik’s face and then the punches flew. The show ended with Jimmy Jacobs leaving with both tag titles and Arik Cannon leaving the world title in the ring. He wants it, but not that way.

And that’s all, folks!

From top to bottom, this was a really great show. The crowd was fantastic all night and one of the best in a long time. I can’t give them enough credit for not hospitalizing the obnoxious drunks that kept up with their nonsense. Not enough can be said about the quality of the matches. It’s pro wrestling. Simple angles, a backstage interview or two, and the story is told in the ring. That, in a nutshell, is why I love AAW.

Next month, AAW presents “Scars and Stripes” on July 21st from 115 Bourbon Street in Marionette Park, IL. You can find more information at AAWrestling.com, @AAWPro and @AAWLeaks on Twitter, and you can like AAW Pro on Facebook. Announced so far is Finlay vs Davey Richards. What more do you need? Check out a fantastic show from a fantastic company with some of the best fans around!