You’re not reading this wrong! Lunacy popped up on my YouTube a few weeks ago, and what can I say, this reminds me of public access ECW Hardcore TV. It’s a bit campy, edgy and is unapologetically Juggalo.

Cokane, J-Rod, Big Al, Facade, and Kerry Morton have definitely intrigued me. On top of the established names like RVD, Nic Nemeth, Mr. Anderson and even Vince Russo has been refreshing.

Plus for somewhat legit reasons, Vampiro is having his retirement match tonight against PCO and Big Vito. So while I don’t know what to expect…I’m anticipating fun with a side of Faygo.

Ratings:

• St Claire Monster Corporation (Kongo Kong, Mr Happy, Beastman) vs Rock N’ Roll Express & Juggalo George South: AARP Trio win via Smashing Fat Dudes Together – (-**) – Yes that’s Negative 2
• Kamikaze Chaos Match: Mickie Knuckles vs Kerry Morton: Kerry wins via…Weapons – * 1/2
• The Outbreak (Abel & Jackson) w/Barnabas the Bizarre vs Brothers of Funstruction (Yabo & Ruffo): Outbreak win via As Above, So Below – ** 1/2
• JCW American Title: Facade (c) vs Mecha Wolf vs Ninja Mack vs Disco Ray w/The Ring Rat vs Boogie Boarding Mikey Avalon: Facade retains via Triple Jump Moonsault – ** 1/2
• JCW Women’s Title Tag Match: Katie Forbes Guest Referee: Big Al (c) & Dani Mo vs J-Rod & Nyla Rose: J-Rod wins via Double Chokeslam – ** 1/4 – TITLE CHANGE!!!
• Good Brothers & KENTA vs RVD w/Bill Alfonso, Willie Mack & 2 Tuff Tony: RVD wins via 5 Star Frog Splash – (-*)
• JCW Lunacy World Championship: EC3 Special Guest Referee: Cokane (c) vs Nic Nemeth vs Caleb Konley vs Matt Riddle: Cokane retains via Cokeslam – ** 3/4
• Vampiro’s Retirement Match: Vampiro vs PCO vs Big Vito: Vampiro wins via Nail in the Coffin – ***

Results:

Violent J opens the show, as he is want to do since he’s come back into part ownership. The Duke of the Wicked keeps it short and sweet since everyone’s been waiting. Smart move.

We move to a backstage segment with Jasmine St. Claire bitching at Vince Russo. There’s a stipulation of, if her Monster Corporation doesn’t win, they disband. She sort of alludes to the match, but it’s not an awful segment.

St Claire Monster Corporation (Kongo Kong, Mr Happy, Beastman) vs Rock N’ Roll Express & Juggalo George South

The monsters attack the ancient trio combine for probably 180 years old. Mr. Happy gets pushed away, George South and Ricky try to control Kongo Kong, but…oh no the Arm Wringers are working. I wasn’t sure at first, but Kongo is in the geriatric corner and isolated with frequent tags…not so quickly. Mr Happy gets tagged in, accidentally Lariats Kongo cause he’s silly.

Beastman just brings himself in and things are breaking down in Lucha level lack of rules. The big boys Monster Mash in the middle because Big vs Old mean everyone is slow. This match is in such slow motion it might be in reverse and Happy gets thrown into his own team because he’s a comedy goof who things its a game. This is…was complete crap.

I guess the pile of shit match got out of the way early. In the famous words of Roan from Grandia II…”Yikes”.

Kamikaze Chaos Match: Mickie Knuckles vs Kerry Morton

Special guest referee Claude aka Brian Zane. Kerry comes out with two white girls dressed like Geisha because he’s a Japanese Legend now.

After an Incel flavored misogynistic promo, he jumps Mickie before the bell, but she turns it around. Gives him the old Kitchen Sink and dumps him outside. Mickie tries to Dive, but Kerry has a perfectly timed Trash Can to her dome. He’s now grabbing chairs, doors, more trash can pieces. He’s building the kitchen just for Mickie. Since he takes forever, when he gets in Mickie grabs his balls and then hits him with a Brainbuster as he sells amusingly. After a few trash can lid shots, Kerry goes to grab Mickie…but you know, it doesn’t work the same for women. She snaps his fingers with her Kegel Grip. He grabs more weapons, cuts Mickie open, but Mickie continues to aim for Kerry’s dick including she just bites his…well…you know. Kerry is about to get Ass Attacked over and over, then uses a Trash Can to keep his face receiving her can.

Kerry goes to grab something but Mickie shoves her thumb up Kerry’s ass. Then she has Claude smell it and help him build the next prop spot. Kerry hits her with a few things, puts her on the gimmick pile, but thinks better than jumping onto it. Claude however rebuilds it and Kerry tries to rub his crotch in her face…which is dumb. So she Headbutts his crotch, he falls through the gimmick pile. Claude gets to a two count and then sneezes.

Kerry hits Claude with a V Trigger accidentally. Saito Suplex, German and then a Northern Lights Suplex from Mickie, but Claude is dead, so no referee for the count. Kerry manages to turn things around, Suplexes Mickie through a door, beats her across the skull with the pieces but she fires, Donkey Kick to the back of her head, and he pins her with his crotch in her face. Claude is miraculously alive, and counts the three.

Not a good match, but kinda fun in how despicably shit it was. 

The Outbreak (Abel & Jackson) w/Barnabas the Bizarre vs Brothers of Funstruction (Yabo & Ruffo) vs BackSeat Boyz (Tommy & JP Grayson)

Oh look, Ruffo found Yabo. Glad he’s not sleeping with the fishes yet.

The clowns bounce a balloon off the zombies…and the zombies fire and attack, so they start brawling. Jackson and Yabo start throwing hands, before Ruffo and Abel get involved again. The tornado aspect continues, there’s no control and Violent J walks out. Tells them to expect the unexpected.

BackSeat Boyz come down, T Gimmick the zombies, the clowns face off with them and BackSeats do a little dance, before the clowns make them pay with stereo Manhattan Drops and then a coconut crunch. Zombies are back up, slides under legs, stereo Slingblades, Corner Attacks of Splashes and Uppercuts, the Clowns flop out after the punishment. BackSeat is back in, but the zombies were winning until an Eye Rake, but then Tommy eats an Assited Flatliner. Outbreak wants As Above…but BackSeat stop it, hit the Street Sweeper! They want to T Gimmick Jackson, but Ruffo and Yabo Balloon the Boyz. Hulk Hand Uppercut rocks JP, Rubber Chicken Assisted Big Boot lays out Tommy.

Rubber Chicken Tickle doesn’t work on zombies so they dispose of Ruffo, hit Yabo with As Above, So Below and out favorite cocaine alcoholic zombies win the match!

The Outbreak had some cocaine on them and do celebratory cocaine! Barnabas is beside himself. 

JCW American Title: Facade (c) vs Mecha Wolf vs Ninja Mack vs Disco Ray w/The Ring Rat vs Boogie Boarding Mikey Avalon

Well if you score based on looks, you’d think only Mecha, Mack or Facade should win this match. 

Disco Ray starts his dance, trying to get the vibes rolling, everyone is playing along until he gets to Facade who just flips him off and shoves him. So everyone dogpiles Facade because he’s a dick, then we get a test of strength, but Ray is just vibing and dancing. Mecha clears the other three, but Ray’s hips don’t lie and he Splits under a lariat, hits one of his own, wiggles out cinque and drops Mack, Mikey Avalon eats a Flip, Flop and Fly with tambourines. Ray is having fun, but Facade returns to the match and ends Ray’s fun.

Ray tries to Irish Whip Facade, he does a Neck Bridge in the corner for about a minute. Ray gets Up and Overed, Avalon eats a kick after a Matrix, Mecha eats a Disaster Kick from Facade and then goes for an Escalara, but Ninja Mack cuts off Facade. Mack is taking too long to so his Cartwheel Corkscrew Splash and Avalon just gets involved. Avalon Sabu’s a Boogie Board at Facade and then a Scoop Slam with the board.

Avalon uses a Surfboard Stretch, with a Surfboard. Mecha Wolf clocks Avalon and spikes Ninja Mack. Frog Splash from Mecha, but Disco makes the save. Ray connects on a Neckbreaker, but Ninja Mack flies out of nowhere with an Uppercut, Facade with a Rope Walk Dropkick but Mecha hits a Busaiku Knee and everyone is down. Side Slam from Avalon, but Mecha Powders. Cannonballs for all from Avalon. Mecha Muta Mist to Avalon, Ninja Mack Superkick, Mack hits a Sasuke Special on Mecha! Ray tries some rope run, but Facade counters it into a cradle, Ray hits Panic at the Disco but Facade kicks out.

Ring Rat doesn’t want to give Ray the chair, she turns on Ray with a Low Blow. Facade has the chair, Facade Sabu’s the chair, sets it up, Triple Jump Moonsault for the Sabu reference, Facade retains. Not executed well, but neither were most of Sabu’s moves and then we see the Ring Rat walk up the ramp to Steven Flowe.

The Green Phantom comes out…oy vey. Oh and it’s literally just him walking around the crowd and then he leaves. 

JCW Women’s Title Tag Match: Katie Forbes Guest Referee: Big Al (c) & Dani Mo vs J-Rod & Nyla Rose

Oh, this is where Nyla is now. I haven’t heard her name in so long I thought she died.

J-Rod and Al start, a few strikes exchanged, Saito Suplex from Big Al and then an Air Raid Crash, for a near fall. Al tags in Dani, a delayed splash and another near fall. Dani keeps J-Rod in the corner with some kicks, a Snapmare to send her out, and then a few more kicks and lariats. Big Al asks for a tag, Dani says no, but when Dani gets close enough Al tags herself in and it gives J-Rod time tag out to Nyla.

Nyla lands one corner Splash, Al moves from the second, but Nyla just grabs Al and tosses her across the ring. Dani tags herself in, flies at Nyla and gets caught and slammed down. Nyla walks Dani to the heel corner, tags out to J-Rod and corner Shoulder Thrusts, quick tags are leaving Dani isolated and eating punishment. The heels are working together better than the tumultuous babyfaces. GAHD Damn J-Rod is gorgeous. Sorry it’s 5:30 in the morning and I haven’t slept. I’m distracted and my filter is slipping.

Quick tags continue, Nyla is now in but Dani manages to fight back. Crescent Kick from Dani, Code Red and…only a two count! Dani wants the Moonmist Twist, Nyla stops it, drops Dani and tags out to the Gorgeous Gladiator. Dani eats Snake Eyes and then a Big Boot but only two again. Corner Hip Attacks, J-Rod walks Dani out of the corner with her draped over her shoulders, Samoan Drop. Big Al breaks up the pinfall, Katie admonishes Big Al so Nyla walks in Double Chokeslam while the referee isn’t looking. J-Rod pins Dani…1-2-3! Alice expected Dani to kick out and the fact she didn’t, Al is frustrated.

I’m a big fan of J-Rod, Alice and Dani, but some of the spots were awkward and that finish fell flatter than a pancake. 

Good Brothers & KENTA vs RVD w/Bill Alfonso, Willie Mack & 2 Tuff Tony

RVD walking down about to ask KENTA to pick a hand. Between Tony and RVD…god damn these entrances are taking forever. 

Karl and Tony are gonna start, but he holds up a finger to grab his bottle of…Kettle One…or whatever that is. He polishes the bottle off and then ties up finally! Tony shoots off the ropes, eats a Shoulder Tackle so Karl tags in Gallows because of a the size discrepancy. Tony takes another swig from his bottle, and I get the liquid courage gimmick, but Tony is old, slow and wrestles like shit. Can we just get him out to someone who can go?

Thank Christ, Tony tags in Willie and now we might see some wrestling. Willie wants to test power, they run into each other a few times and no one gives. Gallows tries to Lariat Willie, Willie ducks and hits Gallows with the Gamengiri. Gallows tags out, KENTA points at RVD, and we get Rob Van Dam versus KENTA.

KENTA acts like they’re about to tie up, ducks it and goes to his corner chuckling. Rob lands a punch, KENTA is bleeding, RVD wants Rolling Thunder but Karl drags him out. Now is a shitty brawl but KENTA looks a bit out of it. The vibe seems like Rob connected with KENTA and hard wayed him. Willie hits a Stunner, KENTA with the Busaiku, RVD with a kick, RVD hits the Van Daminator on Gallows. Tony hits the Meteorite on Gallows, RVD goes up, 5 Star Frog Splash, RVD wins!

This was a pile of shit. RVD breaks KENTA’s nose on the second real move of this slog, they do something stupid for a few minutes before someone just said go to the finish. 

4 Way Elimination: JCW Lunacy World Championship: EC3 Special Guest Referee: Cokane (c) vs Nic Nemeth vs Caleb Konley vs Matt Riddle

Can this match be decent? Please? Like give me one. Nemeth comes out in Juggalo paint.

Caleb mouths off a little, everyone gangs up and chucks him out. Riddle starts throwing Knees, Cokane rolls through the turnbuckle, Rebound Big Boot, but a big Lariat miss and Riddle hits a few Gutwrench Suplexes, Senton, and works over Cokane. Caleb runs in, dispatches Riddle, tries to keep Cokane on the back foot but a Blue Thunder Bomb stops Caleb. Cokane pulls out straws and wants to use them like the MASADA Skewer spot, but Caleb fights him off. A little more jockying for position, Cokane tries his rope walk, but Caleb trips him up, Cokane crashes and Caleb kicks Cokane to the outside. Nemeth comes in hot, Splash, Rude Awakening, FameASSer for two!

Cokane wants a Cokeslam, Super Kick says no, Riddle hits a Cutter, wants a Tombstone, but no. Caleb hits a Low Blow on Nemeth, Burning Hammer, and Caleb eliminated Nic Nemeth first. Riddle hits an Exploder, Senton, PK, but Cokane comes in, Drop Step, Wrist Control, Rip Cord Knee, Fisherman Buster and Riddle is rolling. Floating Bro on both men and Riddle looks like the favorite at this point. Tombstone locomotion, Riddle hits a Gotch variation of the Brostone. Another Low Blow on Riddle from Caleb, another Burning Hammer, and Riddle is gone.

Caleb runs Cokane into the corners, Chop exchanges between the remaining two guys turns into punches. Backfist from Caleb, and then a Superkick, Caleb wants the Shotei, but hits EC3 accidentally. Cokeslam gets countered. Cokane gets thrown into the ropes, he’s wiley like a crackhead, eventually we get a Lethal Injection. Cokane goes for his cocaine, but Steven Flowe shows up again to play DARE officer and say no to drugs. LOW BLOW from Caleb! Burning Hammer number three! EC3 stops his count at two. EC…can’t count to three.

Ethan is putting his foot down with all the Low Blows. Cokane sits up, finds more cocaine, COKESLAM! 1-2-3! Tony Khan must’ve given Cokane the back up stash. Good call.

While Cokane retaining isn’t a bad idea…EC3 makes a cocaine angel in the middle of the ring afterwards, is funny. These matches have all been either garbage or depressing. 

Vampiro’s Retirement Match: Vampiro vs PCO vs Big Vito

Vamp walks out with J and Shaggy, gives Dark Carnival WCW flashbacks. Vampiro cuts a promo at the beginning of the match about the first time he met ICP in WCW. Let’s assume it’s a real retirement, he deserves a moment to wax poetic before the match. He then goes around the horn with a comment about PCO and Vito as well. But again, it’s okay, its a retirement angle. Vamp’s little comedic way he cuts a promo while still being poignant and cool, helps land the show. Now lets hope the match isn’t garbage.

PCO and Vamp are throwing chops while Vito doesn’t mind not being hit. Vito tries to hit the ropes and Double Lariat, but they level Vito and keep slugging. PCO rocks Vamp, Splashes him in the corner and then Kicks Vito in the stomach and throw him out. Vamp bounces PCO’s face off the post, Vito goes after Vamp, they fight into the crowd and Vito rocks Vamp, Vamp hits a random dude in the crowd, and the guy seems like a good sport. PCO returns to the brawl going after both guys, but Vito turns things around on PCO and fights Vamp back to the ring.

Vamp is flipping people off, absorbing the hits just to talk shit to the crowd and his opponents. It’s obvious that Vampiro is enjoying himself. Vito calls Violent J into the ring since the Dark Carnival stuck around for support. Vito kicks J, starts throwing down Forearms and then Shane Mercer slides in, the Mercer-Nary. Shane wraps his fist in a chain, Vito holds J, J ducks, Shane levels Vito. J and Shaggy gang up on Shane to take him out, now PCO starts beating on Vito. Fist to the head, Leg Drop, and Vampiro is content watching for a little bit. Vamp breaks the next pinfall attempt, goes for his own but Vito kicks out and Vito goes for a Crossface. PCO’s foot comes down to break up the submission, then his stomps on Vampiro, Vito tries to sneak a cover but not yet.

French Canadian Frankenstein with a few Forearm Shots and a short Lariat to send Vito to the ground. PCO lays strikes into PCO, but Vito shoves PCO out of the way to kick Vampiro himself. Two more instances of Vito shoving PCO away, and PCO is allowing it, but after the third shove, PCO catches Vito in a Chokeslam. Spinning Back Kick by Vamp on PCO, Nail in the Coffin! The Driver looked bad, the finish was odd, but Vamp is nearly 60 and battling Alzheimer’s. I’m not mad. Vampiro wins his retirement match!

Overall Score: 4.5/10

Well Spring Break started late and went long, so Strangle-Mania started like 66 minutes late. So I sit here, past 7am Eastern…and it’s not for Wrestle Kingdom…weird times man. But yeah, wrestling content, this was garbage. Anything that had a chance to be cool was either marred with short cuts or cut short because of an errant punch. Now I will say, a card with the Rock N’ Roll Express, George South, KENTA, RVD, Nic Nemeth, Nyla Rose and professional Zombie wrestlers…was not on my BINGO card this year. So there’s aspects of this show that were fun, the commentary booth was unhinged, J-Rod winning the title is the correct decision. She’s gorgeous, great physique, solid wrestler and going to be on the new American Gladiators, so it’s free publicity baby. The Kerry Morton match was also completely inane, but wonderfully so. There is a soft spot in my heart for Self Aware Comedic Hardcore.

Vampiro’s retirement was nice, sentimental, and a feel good moment since Vito ate the pin.

Like I said, there was no real wrestling to be extrapolated from this show, but there was some entertainment. I’m not gonna rate the show highly because the matches were almost all bad or barely passable. But being a little delirious from being up for like 32 hours with no sleep…I didn’t fall asleep. So at least the show wasn’t boring.

Maybe I’ll start covering Lunacy on Fridays (I cover TNA that’s also on Thursday, so JCW will have to take the tape delay backseat). But yeah, Cokane retaining, Steven Flowe going full heel and stealing the Ring Rat with Caleb Konley getting screwed by EC3. There’s some interesting possibilities for the weekly show.

Apologies for the slight delay getting to this but it’s Harry here once again. And for as verbose as I can be at times, I don’t feel the need to waste any time getting to this one. This is the second part of the double shot for AAW on ‘All In’ weekend in Chicago. 

The WayBack Machine takes us to August 31st, 2018 as we once again arrive at the Logan Square Auditorium (and oh boy does that become important later) for AAW’s Defining Moment 2018.

What I Watched #15

AAW Defining Moment 2018

8/31/2018

Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago, IL

Runtime: 3:18:22 (HighSpotsWrestlingNetwork)

Commentary By: Tyler Volz (PBP) and Marty DeRosa (Color)

THE RESULTS

• Match 1: Curt Stallion/Jake Something def. Ace Romero/Colt Cabana, Something pins Cabana @ 8:41
• Match 2: Shane Strickland pins Darby Allin, top-rope Swerve Stomp @ 13:30
• Match 3: Jessicka Havoc def. Palmer Cruise/Steve Manders, pinning Cruise with a Chokeslam @ 2:52
• Match 4: OI4K (Dave/Jake Crist) def. Ace Austin/Brian Cage, Dave pins Austin @ 5:55
• Match 5: AAW Heritage Title- Trevor Lee © pins DJ Z (Shiima Xion), roll-through on CBB with tights @ 13:30
• Match 6: AR Fox/Myron Reed def. Bandido/Flamita, double cover @ 15:42
• Match 7: Maxwell Jacob Friedman taps Marko Stunt, Salt of the Earth @ 10:41
• Match 8: Sami Callihan pins Jimmy Jacobs, Cactus Driver on a bridged guardrail @ 17:52
• Match 9: AAW Tag Titles- Eddie Kingston/Jeff Cobb © def. Davey Vega/Mat Fitchett, Cobb pins Fitchett @ 14:19
• Match 10: AAW Heavyweight Title- Brody King pins ACH ©, All Seeing Eye (Whiplash) @ 22:46

THE BREAKDOWN

Curt Stallion/Jake Something vs. Ace Romero/Colt Cabana

*The match was decent but nothing special. A pretty big win for Something at the end with the three count over Cabana, who has a storied past in Chicago and was one of the biggest names in independent wrestling. That said, I personally don’t love the flukish nature that Something pins Cabana, as I think Something could have used a defining pinfall to really give him a rub going forward. 

Cabana usually makes for a fun watch and I’ve grown to enjoy Ace Romero the more I see him (he especially stands out for Limitless, which I hope to get to one day soon). Jake Something is a huge star in the making and you can see it even early in the run of AAW that he has. Stallion is what Stallion is. Solid opener, but nothing you’ll remember post show. (**½)

Darby Allin vs. Shane Strickland

*Showstealer, plain and simple. Strickland had been with AAW for a while but to the best of my memory, it was more often in a tag team with Keith Lee (funny how that works out with 2022 eyes on it, as Swerve and Keith are the current AEW tag champions at the time of writing). I do believe this is only Darby’s second match in AAW (the prior being a five-ish minute loss to Brody King). Both guys are huge names now and with efforts like this, it’s easy to see how. Darby tries to keep pace with Swerve and is able to do so for a good portion of the contest until Swerve finds that next gear down the stretch and puts Allin down with the Swerve Stomp to a massive (deserved) ovation from the crowd. (****)

Jessicka Havok vs. Palmer Cruise/Steve Manders

*I dislike handicap matches in general. However, unlike certain other writers for this site, I don’t mind intergender wrestling. But the suspension of disbelief gets lost here when you have two dudes the size of Cruise and Manders struggling with Jessicka Havok, who should realistically not being coming in at 100% after taking the Ganso Bomb from Brody King through the chairs the night before. I won’t rate the match due to the Larry Csonka (RIP) Rule of not rating anything shorter than three minutes, but I’m calling this a miss regardless. (X)

OI4K (Dave/Jake Crist) vs. Ace Austin/Brian Cage

*The Brothers Crist come out to ringside to stand next to Havok after said match and call out Brody King and Jimmy Jacobs. They get one of those two men as Jacobs makes his way out, but informs Dave and Jake that neither he nor Brody will be facing them due to having prior obligations, but he did find the perfect opponents for OI4K. As for the opponent, Cage does make for a good size fill-in for Brody King. Ace Austin is a OI4K trainee that hadn’t quite made a name for himself at the time but has since turned into a pretty good wrestler, having just competed for NJPW in Best of the Super Jr’s as well as being Impact Wrestling’s X Division champion for a while.

The match itself was not memorable at all. I will admit to typing this review on a bit of a delay and other than the finish (a Tiger Driver ‘98 by Dave to Austin), I don’t remember anything that happened during the course of the contest. Not the best impression for these four men to leave. (**)

AAW Heritage Title- Trevor Lee © vs. DJ Z

*I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…I like DJ Z. I liked him more under his previous identity, but this was him using the Impact Wrestling name for more notoriety with the casual fan. That being said, despite DJZ winning a three way relatively quickly the night before while Trevor was in a war with Ace Romero, I never felt the title was in jeopardy here. For as much as I like DJZ’s run with AAW, this misfortune of his injury just so happened to coincide with Trevor Lee becoming one of the hottest acts on the undercard and there wasn’t anything in the build up to the rematch (despite some good promo work from Z) that made me think that the strap was switching here. 

As for the match itself, they have really good chemistry together and that isn’t a surprise given how many of the same promotions they were working for at the time as well as their history in AAW up to this point. I do think this match does a nice job of setting the stage for a return match as it is DJZ’s offensive attack at the end of the contest that gets reversed into the cradle (with a handful of tights) for the finish. The nature of the victory leads me to believe that the story with these two isn’t over quite yet. (***½)

AR Fox/Myron Reed vs. Bandido/Flamita

*This was similar to the main event the night before, but didn’t have the same crowd investment that match did. Bandido and Flamita once again shine here and it is easy to see why they become semi-regulars in AAW after this weekend. AR Fox and Myron Reed (Team Firefox, as they were referred to by Sarah Shockey) get a massive victory with a double pinfall following stereo 450 splashes. This sets up Fox and Reed for a title match against the winners of WRSTLING vs. Besties later in the night, but honestly, I think that Bandido/Flamita was the better pairing to have go forward to a title shot. Firefox had previously unsuccessfully challenged for the tag belts and if I’m being fully honest, I prefer AR Fox as a singles wrestler over being in a tag team. Good match, but I think the wrong team wins. (***½)

Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs. Marko Stunt

*Marko had just made a name for himself at GCW’s Lost in New York (a show I have watched) and this was a way for him to break out back in his Midwest home. MJF has been on a hot streak point up to this point (believe he is the current CZW Heavyweight champion, though I don’t think he ever actually defends that title) and MJF would make himself a known commodity the next night opening the ‘All In’ PPV against Matt Cross (in a losing effort)

Easy story to tell with MJF taking the much smaller Stunt lightly and Marko making him pay for it. It is unfortunate that more people didn’t get to see what Stunt is capable of, because his run in the indie scene before he went to AEW was quite special to watch due to his ability to connect with a crowd (no different here). The finish sees MJF take advantage of the arm work that he did early in match and after Marko escapes a fujiwara armbar, MJF is able to catch Marko in ‘Salt of the Earth’, a wakigatame (Marko on stomach as MJF applies a cross-armbreaker) for the the tapout. Very good work and Marko does really well for himself in his debut with another high end US Independent. (***)

Jimmy Jacobs vs. Sami Callihan

*Ooooh, boy. A lot to unwrap with this one. Let’s get the match first, because the drama that it creates leads to the fallout that has to be discussed. It is honestly a pretty standard Sami brawl for the time frame. PWG used to have what was known as the “Sami Sprint”…by which it would be Callihan vs. Opponent and the match would run anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes of hard hitting back and forth action with little in terms of a cohesive story or selling. Pretty much a ‘can you top this?’ kind of situation. This feels like that in a sense because the match features both Sami and Jimmy going into their well of tricks (the crowd brawling, the spike, the guardrail that gets used in the finish) while maintaining the crowd reaction from the prior night’s tag match. Fittingly, the finish is visually impressive as Callihan hits the ‘Cactus Driver’ (pulling piledriver) on a guardrail bridged across two metal folding chairs to secure the three count. (***½)

THE INCIDENT

The bigger story coming out of this is that this match almost costs AAW the Logan Square Auditorium and almost ends even more disastrously personally for Callihan. At one point, Callihan and Jacobs are brawling over by the stage in the venue (traditionally used for concerts) where Callihan buries Jacobs under a portion of the stage. Callihan then starts winging metal sitting chairs (not the standard folding ones you see in most companies because the four legged dinner table type chairs) at Jacobs. A voice comes over the house mic telling Callihan to stop, causing a loud visceral boo from the crowd. Callihan more or less tells said voice to “fuck himself” and hurls more chairs at Jacobs. 

At first, I thought it was Danny Daniels telling Callihan to stop, but it turns out it was actually building management. This becomes important when after the three count goes down, building security surrounds the ring to escort Callihan out of the building as they were pissed at Sami for throwing chairs that the venue used for other events. As I’ve heard the story, Callihan thinks this is part of a storyline and begins to push the security guys until one of them shows Callihan that he is carrying a real pistol and will use it if necessary. Things break down from there with the rest of OI4K getting involved and eventually Sami is escorted to the back (and presumably out of the building).

How much of this is real? How much of this is scripted? How much of this was sensationalized for additional attention? I don’t have the answers for those questions. I do know that cooler heads would prevail and AAW was able to continue running at LSA, however I feel the truth lies somewhere in the middle. It may have been a planned altercation to play off the recklessness of Callihan. It may have been a real reaction from the building to what they perceived as damage to personal property. The old axiom in wrestling is “believe none of what you hear and half of what you see”. Overall, it makes for a great story with a relatively happy ending all considered. But man does it take the wind of the crowd for quite a while. And I will have to check out the follow up AAW shows to see what the fallout truly is.

AAW Tag Titles- Eddie Kingston/Jeff Cobb © vs. Davey Vega/Mat Fitchett

*Trevor Lee’s promo before the match is not one I can do justice. I recommend the show in general, but Trevor’s asshole smarmy heel persona in AAW (Impact Superstar Trevor Lee) is one of the best things going in the company.

Match is good but you’d have to expect that from the four men involved. Kingston and Cobb work surprisingly well as a team and despite being on separate pages for most of the bout, Vega and Fitchett do link up for a few double teams (corner enzuigiri/Kippou kick combo being standout among them) to continue to prove why they are one of the best tag teams in pro wrestling (still are to this day, though not known as the Besties in the World anymore). The finish sees the final stab from Vega to Fitchett as Vega chooses to take Scarlett to the back after she gets knocked off the apron, leaving Fitchett alone to take a one-two combo of the Backfist to the Future from Kingston that staggers him into a Tour of the Islands from Cobb to finish the contest. The ring work is on point, the story is very well told and you can hear the disappointment from the crowd when Vega chooses the hussy over his long-time tag partner. (****)

AAW Heavyweight Title- ACH © vs. Brody King

*Unfortunately, something gets lost during the course of this contest through no direct fault of the participants. As I understand it, Brody King got concussed relatively early in the bout. Credit to ACH for keeping things together as well as he did, but I would be curious to see what they are capable of with both competitors at 100% capacity for the full duration of the match.

As for the match, it does tell a pretty good story. ACH comes in still pretty beat up from the match with Jeff Cobb the night before. However, ACH lets his pride (or perhaps his ego) get the better of him as he once again tries to hang step for step, strike for strike and move for move with a man much bigger than he is. It ends up coming back to bite him at the end as a distraction from Jimmy Jacobs allows Brody King to take a distracted ACH up into the All Seeing Eye (fireman’s carry into a Michinoku Driver) for the three count to crown a new champion. Slightly cheap on the distraction ending but does help get Jimmy some of the heat he lost earlier in the evening back after dropping the contest to Callihan. (***½)

THE FINAL REACTION

Overall, a better show then the day before but not without a couple flaws. Obviously, the big story to come out of this show would be the fact that AAW almost lost Logan Square Auditorium due to the issues in the Callihan-Jacobs match. Thankfully, those would be resolved and to my knowledge, AAW is still running there. But it gets awfully hairy there for a few.

The highs: two four star matches on this show and they come in completely different type contests. Eddie Kingston continues his march of dominance in AAW and cuts one hell of a promo at the end of the show to run down how ACH let him down by losing the title. Marko Stunt has a fun debut and quickly gets the crowd behind him. The lows: that handicap match helped no one and the tag match that followed wasn’t much better. The main event isn’t what it could have been either, but that’s a case of shit happens with the early concussion to King. I will also say that I thought Sarah Shockey did a better job on color commentary yesterday then Marty DeRosa does here.

We’ll call it an 8 overall. As I said, it is a better top to bottom show then Destination Chicago is. And while high on the guest stars (for obvious reasons), you also get a really good look at what the overall AAW roster is all about too. I look forward to coming back to AAW down the road (ironically, upcoming shows are a double shot as well for the ‘Jim Lynam Memorial’ tournament), but I do want to mix in some other odds and ends before I do so.

Best Match/Moment: Shane Strickland vs. Darby Allin

Worst Match/Moment: The Havok handicap. Especially when you consider what Steve Manders would come to mean for AAW, it’s a really inauspicious debut.

Overall Show Score: 8/10

MVP: Eddie Kingston. The key part of a match that tied for best match of the night honors and absolutely shows why he is viewed the way he is when it comes to talking with an amazing promo to close out the show.

THE SIGNOFF

So, where does ‘What I Watched’ go from here? I go on vacation in about a week’s time and will be gone for most of August. I spoke to Andrew and what I hope to do is reformat the ‘All In’ report that I did to the new style so you guys have something to tide you over.  As for where I go when I get back from vacation…well, the Peacock WWE Network watch-through that I am working on has reached a show that I’m not sure I’ve ever seen (and if I have, it has been quite a while). Therefore, ‘What I Watched’ #16 will be ECW’s Guilty as Charged 1999 to set the tone for a year where all hell breaks loose in two of the three major promotions. Hopefully, you guys enjoy the ‘All In’ redo to hold you over and I’ll be back later in August with Guilty as Charged. I appreciate everyone who has been checking these out and if you’ve missed any, feel free to click on my name at the top of the article to check out my archive. Thanks for reading.