I had the pleasure of attending this weekend’s AAW show in Logan Square, with one of the hottest crowds I’ve ever been a part of. Because of the acoustics of the building, and the pure intensity of the fans, this was easily the loudest wrestling event I’ve ever attended. I cannot tell you the amount of wrestlers I talked to afterwards – especially the guys that aren’t regulars, or the ones making debuts – that were amazed by the atmosphere, and said they would kill to work in front of crowds like this every day of the week.
Normally you hear people talking after the show about how good it was, with one or two exceptions, and discussing what worked and didn’t work. I heard nothing but praise Saturday night, after a night where every match ranged from good-to-fantastic, with plenty of special moments, debuts, and surprises. This was among the best shows of 2017 so far, with a match many (myself included) have called the greatest singles match in AAW history.
It was a legit sell-out of 545 as ticket sales closed the day before the show and none being sold at the gate. It was the largest crowd for an AAW event at the Logan Square Auditorium, which is unfortunately not a building they run very frequently. Hopefully after the reaction they got from this show, they’ll add it to the rotation more often.
AAW Take No Prisoners Results
Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago, IL
May 6th, 2017
1. AEROBOY def. CONNOR BRAXTON, MYRON REED, PACO, JASON CADE and SPACE MONKEY in a six-pack challenge [8:09]. This was an awesome opening match with non-stop action, and the crowd was on fire from bell to bell. Space Monkey and Paco got the biggest pops, while Braxton received nuclear heat. All five guys superkicked Braxton as soon as the match started. He came back later and got his revenge by giving everyone a spinebuster. There were a ton of dives, including Paco almost going into the crowd, and Myron clearing the corner turnbuckle with a suicide senton to take everyone out. There was a Tower of Doom spot with Braxton suplexing all five guys, and a big finisher-fest that ended with Aeroboy getting the pin by senton bomb. This was the perfect way to kick off the show. AAW continues to bring new, up-and-coming talent, as well as returning talent that they can build into future stars, and each of them shined brightly here. Braxton was the stand-out, and drew heat like a world class star.
AAW Champion Sami Callihan came out of nowhere and attacked Aeroboy, clawing at his mask. Fenix ran out to make the save and laid out Callihan with a Destroyer. ACH, who was scheduled for a title match on this show, then ran out with a referee.
2. SAMI CALLIHAN (c) def. ACH to retain the AAW Championship [11:24]. About 10 seconds after the bell rang ACH rolled up a groggy Callihan and got the closest two-and-three-quarters you can imagine; everyone bought into it. They went back and forth killing each other with huge moves in and around the ring, as the crowd traded “new champ” and “old champ” chants. ACH hit a 450 splash at the end, but JT Davidson pulled the referee out of the ring. ACH kicked JTD right in the face, but Callihan caught him with a low blow, then a sit-down powerbomb, into the Stretch Muffler for the submission.
3. TREVOR LEE def. BOBBY FISH [8:29]. I really liked this match, but it was definitely a change of pace. Trevor, who usually comes out to “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift leading to an impromptu arena-wide dance party, made them cut off his music and got a ton of heat for it. Lots of strikes and kicks back and forth to start, with Lee slowing things down in the middle. Fish hit two corner exploders, but was caught coming off the top rope and Lee rolled him up for the pin. Like I said, I enjoyed this match quite a bit and thought Lee controlling the pace and focussing on drawing heat over flashy moves was the right choice, given their position on the card. This was Bobby’s first AAW show and he did a great job, getting the “please come back” treatment after the match.
Marty Derosa came out and wanted to introduce us to his good friend and Chicago’s own Colt Cabana. A loud “happy birthday” chant immediately broke out. Colt’s parents made it just in time and were in attendance for this, getting a loud “Marsha and Steve” chant. Derosa led the crowd in singing “Happy Birthday” to Colt, but the song was interrupted by none other than Ethan Page, who got a big reaction as he was not advertised to appear. Page said that he brought a gift for Colt – the gift of facing him in a match, tonight. They traded insults back and forth until a match broke out…
4. COLT CABANA def. “ALL EGO” ETHAN PAGE [9:31]. This was a fun match filled with comedy spots and cheap heat, as you might expect from these two. At one point they brawled into the crowd and Colt’s mom slapped Page in the face, leading to a huge “f— ’em up, mom!” chant. The birthday boy won with the Billy Goat’s Curse. The match was a lot of fun and had so many special elements, from it being Colt’s birthday, to the surprise appearance, to his parents being there; the crowd was ridiculously hot, and just wanted to give their hometown boy a good celebration.
5. “UNBREAKABLE” MICHAEL ELGIN def. ZACK SABRE JR [19:09]. Go out of your way to see this match when it becomes available. Not only was it one of the best matches I’ve ever seen live, but a lot of people were making the case that it was the best AAW match ever. I would not disagree. They destroyed each other, and the match went on and on with false finishes and nearfall after nearfall. Sometimes you do that style and it doesn’t work, other times you get two guys on an elite level who are known for absorbing punishment, combined with the right crowd, and it works perfectly. This was the later. There were dueling chants throughout the entire match that just kept getting more loud as it went on, and on. Elgin countered an armbar into a Falcon Arrow. They had a long battle on the top rope with Sabre transitioning between submissions six feet in the air. ZSJ caught him out of the air with an armbar takedown, but Elgin deadlifted him into a powerbomb. They went back and forth, trading counter for counter, absorbing punishment, until Big Mike hit a crucifix Elgin Bomb for another ridiculously close nearfall. He couldn’t believe it, and the crowd was so loud you couldn’t even hear yourself speak to the person right next to you. Sabre hit two penalty kicks, but on the third he got caught with a huge lariat and a spinning Elgin Bomb for the 1-2-3. I was up on the balcony with the crew, and it was really cool to watch the roster gradually make their way out to watch the match as it progressed. When you have a crowd reacting the way they did, it’s impossible to ignore; by the end nearly everyone was out there.
-INTERMISSION-
6. DAVID STARR def. EDDIE KINGSTON [10:19]. This was a strange one. The match itself was good, and one that has grown on me the more I think about it. Eddie has his neck tapped up and Starr focussed on it throughout the entire match. He even ripped off the tape about halfway through, and hit a few moves – like a super Fisherman’s buster right on the neck – where if the injury wasn’t legit before the match, it may have been after! Kingston had some solid comebacks, taking advantage every time Starr taunted too long or played up his character. They had a sick exchange of chops, and Starr ended up taking the win after a Ushigoroshi, a rolling elbow to the back of the neck, and bridging suplex pin.
After the match, things got weird. Kingston was down on the mat for several minutes, with the referee talking to him, but eventually he sat up and grabbed a microphone. He was having trouble speaking at first, and was obviously very emotional. Eddie revealed that he had a severe neck injury that randomly caused his arms and legs to go numb. He said he asked David Starr to stay away from his neck, and called him every name in the book. Kingston got kind of dark, saying that he’d been wresting for 15 years and had given his life to the business, but that it wasn’t “good enough”. He said he had lost his passion for it, and that wrestling had become a one-way romance. He’ll be going to get checked out by a doctor, but ended his speech by saying that “David Starr is the son of a b—h that ended Eddie Kingston”.
I know Eddie’s been dealing with some lingering issues for a long time. He told me during WrestleMania week that with his age (35) he was being more careful about bumps, and how he dealt with his injuries. That said, he took more bumps in this match than I’ve seen him take in years, so if this is the way he’s going out, at least for awhile to heal up, it was one hell of a way to do it. In the moment, just because of who he is and being known for blurring the lines, this came off like a shoot. But in thinking about it, he clearly knew he was going to have to take time off, and was trying to put as much heat on David Starr as a newcomer to AAW as humanly possible. So in that respect it went from a weird moment where a guy shouldn’t be shooting on another guy in front of the fans, to actually a pretty noble moment where he used his exit to put another younger guy over.
7. CHUCK TAYLOR, TREY MIGUEL & STEPHEN WOLF def. DAVEY VEGA, MAT FITCHETT & ALEX DANIELS [13:01]. This was a super fun six-man tag match showcasing three of the new AAW prospects with three veterans. Along with the crazy opener, the new talents are really coming along, and were all doing their best to come up with spots and moments that will stick with people. Before they got started Daniels made everyone stop so he could take off his shirt, but had another shirt underneath it. He kept doing this, with more shirts on, while Chuckie T stood there looking utterly unimpressed. I don’t know that I’ve seen a newcomer do anything as effective to both draw heat, and put over all his merch simultaneously. Miguel and Wolf also looked very good, with non-stop action in a match given more time than you might expect, and they used every bit of it. Chuck won the match for his team with the Awful Waffle inverted piledriver.
8. PENTA El 0M (c) def. KEITH LEE to retain the AAW Heritage Championship [7:59]. This was the only match of the show that I missed a good portion of, unfortunately. Keith Lee has been building a huge name for himself on the indie scene lately, and the crowd was very excited to see him make his AAW debut against the guy I would consider the number two star in the promotion after Sami Callihan. Pentagon won with a Destroyer off the top rope. I didn’t hear anyone complaining about the match, but a lot of people were surprised it didn’t go longer.
JT Davidson came out and said that Dave Crist was injured and the fans wouldn’t be seeing the Crist brothers defend the tag team titles. Dave is legitimately in bad shape and needed to have the night off. This originally got a ton of heat from the fans, who likely feared a bait-and-switch main event, until JTD introduced his replacement as Sami Callihan. It’s always hilarious listening to the crowd go nuts for Sami, then five minutes later hate him with an undying passion.
9. AR FOX & FENIX def. JAKE CRIST (c) & SAMI CALLIHAN to become the NEW AAW Tag Team Champions [17:34]. Just an awesome main event. What do you to end a show that’s seen a million Destroyers, a million superkicks, and non-stop action from a world class roster of talent? Well, if you’re these four guys, you do even more Destroyers and superkicks, and go even harder than everyone before you. They literally started with a rotation of all four superkicking each other, then all four hitting Destroyers on each other, including a spot where OI4K used Fox’s momentum to Destroyer his own partner. The crowd ate it up. The rest of the match was a crazy brawl all over the building, with a ton of chairs being used, and the tables coming out at the end. Fox did the “get the tables!” spot with Fenix; I guess he’s the third Lucha Brother now! There were so many insane moves – Jake took a Spanish Fly from Fox into a springboard tombstone piledriver; Sami got a chair kicked into his face and took a swanton through a chair; Jake suplexed Fox through a chair and bent it in half; Fenix hit a double foot stop on Jake while he was sitting in a chair. At some point Fenix lost a tooth, and they couldn’t find it after the match. The finish saw Callihan and Fenix take each other out with a piledriver through one of the tables, while AR Fox put Jake through another table with a springboard Spanish Fly for the pin.
AAW returns to Berywn on May 25th featuring Jack Swagger making his debut against Michael Elgin.
