AAW

ALIVE

OCTOBER 1, 2020 

115 BOURBON STREET – MERRIONETTE PARK, ILLINOIS

Watch: FITE TV

AAW HERITAGE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH 

HAKIM ZANE DEF. TRAVIS TITAN

Travis Titan is a product of the Black & Brave School and someone that AAW has clearly earmarked as a future star. Hakim Zane, fka Rohit Raju in Impact, has been a terrific addition to the AAW roster since his debut in 2019. Zane constantly calls out “Internet fans”, a gimmick that I find to be overdone and played out, but Zane brings a fire and legitimacy to his words and actions that it really works. 

Titan is someone that will breakout when indies find their footing after resuming from hiatus. His foundation is strong, it’s now a matter of continuing to add tools to his game. He was given plenty of time with Zane, someone whose matches are built off of character work more so than workrate, and was able to put forth a really respectable effort. This is the consistent work that I’ve missed from AAW over the last nine months. A perfectly reasonable affair to kick off the show. After a brief moment of panic for Zane, who was locked in the Crossface, he rolled out of the submission and landed an Unprettier on Titan for the win. ***1/4 

KARAM OPEN CHALLENGE 

JAKE SOMETHING DEF. KARAM 

After calling the entire roster “gutless cowards” in preparation for his open challenge, Karam squared off against AAW homegrown Jake Something, who answered the call. Something always does his best work in AAW, but this was a misstep for both men. While they certainly got the idea over that Karam losing his first match in AAW is a big deal, they did little between the ropes to make this worthwhile. This was clunky and awkward. **1/4 

The Besties in the World cut an excellent promo backstage. They’ve been running AAW’s tag team division for years now and this promo exemplified why. They are as charismatic as it gets on the indie scene currently. It blows my mind that they haven’t broken out on a larger stage. 

ELAYNA BLACK DEF. SKYE BLUE 

Both of these women are very young in their careers. Blue is only 21 years old. She isn’t exceptional at anything in the ring, but in the four minute encounter against Black, she had no issues performing the task at hand. Black looked vicious, and in a women’s division looking to evolve past the days of Kimber Lee and Havok, I expect to see a lot more of her in the near future. Simple, efficient squash. **1/2 

Fred Yehi returns on 10/29. The hype package they played for him was excellent. 

MATTHEW JUSTICE DEF. MANDERS 

Matthew Justice belongs in The Arena, circa 1996.

I loathe ECW nostalgia. I wish it would die. ECW died when I was two years old and I’m currently preparing to graduate college. It’s a thing of the past, and while I respect what that promotion did for wrestling, it has been dead for a long time and it needs to remain buried. That being said, Matthew Justice delivers every single time. He’s the best brawler on the indie scene today and that is not only because of the intensity he brings to his matches, but the innovation that he brings to his matches. Last September, he and Good Brother #3 brought the house down with high-risk door spots. Tonight, he launched himself and Manders through a table with a Death Valley Driver off of a scissor lift. Justice is on another level right now. 

Outside of the death-defying spot that ended the match, these two had strong chemistry with one another. Manders works the way a guy like him should look. He based a lot of this match around hitting the Iowa Stampede on Justice, a move that he was eventually able to connect with, but one that did not finish Justice. The same can be said for the lariat that Justice kicked out of at 1. This was a manly brawl with two beasts in the AAW hoss division. Justice continues to deliver every time AAW calls his name. Recommended for the finish alone. ***1/2 

GRINGO LOCO, AIR WOLF, & ANGEL DORADO DEF. ACE PERRY, STEPHEN WOLF, & TREY MIGUEL 

Trey Miguel was Stephen Wolf’s mystery partner. Those two began teaming when they broke into the promotion in 2017 as the Air Buds, but have not teamed in AAW together since April 2018 when Miguel’s alliance shifted towards The Rascalz. 

Miguel and Gringo Loco, who hasn’t been an AAW regular in a decade, were the unequivocal stars of this match. Loco is an immensely talented and unique flyer who was on the cusp of breaking out in a big way in Cleveland a few years ago before finding his way into MLW. While no one in this match had an issue keeping up with the pace or bringing their own unique moves to the match, Miguel and Loco were the ones that looked the most comfortable doing it. I hope Loco continues to work AAW, not only because he’s still considered an under the radar talent despite a few heavily retweeted gifs, but because this style of six-man tag should be a standard affair for AAW. Everyone looked better coming out of this match than they came in. 

Miguel accidentally collided with Wolf on an errant dive, leading to Wolf clocking him and heading to the back. With Miguel down and Wolf nowhere to be found, Ace Perry ate Gringo Loco’s finish. I would be shocked if anything on the show tops this. I hope to see AAW utilize this kind of match more often, as it gave six (relatively) young performers the chance to showcase what they do best. ***3/4 

Jake Crist, in a voice so full of whimpers that Raven would be proud, cut a promo saying that the view from the backseat never changes, but tonight he has a chance to take control and take the AAW World Title. It was, without a doubt, the best promo Jake Crist has ever produced. 

HYAN DEF. CHRISTI JAYNES 

Hyan moves to 5-0 in AAW with this win over Christi Jaynes. Like always, Hyan gave her opponent just enough to look like a threat without ever diminishing her own monsterotive status. Jaynes hit a moonsault to the floor that wiped out both Hyan and her boyfriend Stephen Wolf, but in the end, Hyan was too strong and powerful, putting Jaynes away with a double underhook facebuster. **3/4 

ACH returns to action on 10/29. 

AAW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH 

ACE AUSTIN & MADMAN FULTON DEF. DAVEY VEGA & MAT FITCHETT 

With this win, Austin & Fulton have ended the 400 day reign of The Besties. 

A lot of this match was built around the injured leg of Davey Vega and the targeted pectoral muscles of Mat Fitchett. As a result, the usual fast-pace, high-intensity Besties formula was absent. Instead, we got Madman Fulton imposing his will while Ace Austin, who wrestled this entire match in a face mask, picking up the pieces along the way. 

Fitchett does his best work climbing back into a match. Tonight, he countered a Fulton chokeslam by maneuvering his way into a standing cross armbreaker. It’s amazing how good of a grappler you can become after Drew Gulak tears you to pieces. Fitchett battled back and hit a nasty looking Liger Bomb on the big man, but it wasn’t enough to secure the victory and the titles for his team. In the end, Austin and Fulton connected with a Powerbomb/Blockbuster combination to score the pin. The challengers showed terrific chemistry as a team as they rolled to their first reign as the AAW tag champs. ***1/4 

AAW WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH

MANCE WARNER DEF. JAKE CRIST

This marks Warner’s third defense of the AAW World Championship. 

I want to applaud the effort of both of these men. They went out there and worked incredibly hard – in the case of Warner, he bled all over the ring. The issue with this match is that it struggled competing with the earlier Matthew Justice brawl. The urgency was not there. Despite cutting a great promo earlier on in the night, the energy that Jake Crist needed to bring to the table was absent. These two put on an impressive display of big bumps with Crist going through a table after a middle rope chokeslam and Warner going through one of his own after a middle rope tombstone (a spot too big to be so ineffective in a match like this), but as a whole this felt like a few big spots at the end making up for an otherwise mundane affair. 

At the very least, Warner feels like the rightful champion of this promotion, currently. Prior to the shutdown, AAW was in a transitional period of making sure the undercard got time to develop and prosper, and Warner has the charisma and the audience’s trust enough to lead the main event scene. It’s worked so far. He feels like a top of the line champion. 

After the match, Hakim Zane and Karam confronted Warner. He tried to fight them off, but the two-on-one proved to be too much for him. Jake Something made the save, then struggled with the champion over the belt for a brief moment. It appears we’re heading towards Warner vs. Something. ***1/4 

Final Thoughts:

AAW’s return to the indie landscape marks a return to a professional output from a company that has unmatched production in the US indie landscape. After a summer of backyard brawls and loosely constructed scrambles, AAW brought to the table a well-run, well-paced show that gave us inclinations as to what is to come in the future. Between the lucha six-man tag, the Matthew Justice brawl, and the strong showing from the women, AAW once again provided a strong array of talents up and down the card. Despite no truly stellar matches, AAW Alive receives the thumbs up from me. Well worth your time and energy as AAW continues to build the next generation of indie stars.