AAW
LEGACY
FEBRUARY 4, 2022
115 BOURBON STREET – MERRIONETTE PARK, ILLINOIS

WATCH: FITE TV

DAVEY VEGA DEF. SHANE HOLLISTER, STEPHEN WOLF, & STORM GRAYSON 

The show opened with a pair of Davey Vega and John E. Bravo promos, one backstage and one in the ring. The gist of both of them were the same; Ace Austin, Vega’s original opponent for the evening, couldn’t make the show due to travel issues, thus Vega deserved to be the interim AAW Heritage Champion. 

Given his standing within the ranks of the Heritage title, it made sense for Vega to go over in this odds-and-ends four-way. He continues to be a tremendous weasel. The entire act with Bravo & company is a winning combination. 

It should be noted that Shane Hollister returned to AAW after a five-and-a-half year hiatus in this match. The last time he wrestled in AAW, Zack Sabre Jr wrestled Johnny Gargano and AAW was promoting the stars of Lucha Underground. Hollister looked fine, albeit unspectacular. 

Outside of Vega, the real star of this match was Storm Grayson. Given the way that Joe Dombrowski and Tyler Volz spoke of Grayson, it seems like he’ll be pushed hard going forward. He has a great body and a ton of potential. He and Vega are capable of having a great match in the near future. 

Hollister connected with the God’s Last Gift to Grayson but was pulled out of the ring before he could score the pinfall. This led to Davey Vega connecting with his finishing maneuver and pinning Grayson for the win. A fun, chaotic four-way that didn’t overstay its welcome. ***

After the match, Stephen Wolf continued his attack on Shane Hollister. 

ACH & JAH-C DEF. CAMARO JACKSON & MIKE OUTLAW 

Pardon me while I buy all of the stock possible in Camaro Jackson. Throughout my years of covering AAW, I’ve labeled a few guys as future stars. I called it with Dezmond Xavier and I saw the long-term potential in Mat Fitchett. Camaro Jackson is the next guy. He has thighs like Daisuke Sekimoto and is training with Davey Richards. I like his odds. 

Jackson showed off a number of great power spots in this match. At one point, he had ACH on his shoulders and squatted down near the ropes so Outlaw could do a dive over both men, which was followed by a tremendous Death Valley Driver. Jackson also showcased a vicious lariat, Sekimoto-esque, dare I say, during this match. 

The dynamics here were beautifully executed. ACH and Jah-C played their roles as the teacher and the student perfectly and Jackson and Outlaw did exactly what they should’ve done as bruising heels. I thought it was interesting that ACH took most of the heat in this match instead of Jah, but that goes to show how giving ACH is to the next generation. Jackson and Outlaw could’ve easily pummeled Jah until ACH made the hot tag, but the initial shine was given to Jah instead. 

The two teams concluded the bout by trading strikes in the middle of the ring. ACH had to survive an onslaught from Jackson in order to pick up the fall, which he eventually did with a tremendous looking brainbuster. 

A few awkward moments in this match prevent it from going in the notebook, but this is well worth your time. ACH & Jah took a beating, they eventually rallied back, and the finishing stretch gave all four guys a chance to shine. This is what tag team wrestling should be. ***3/4 

REN JONES & CHRISTI JAYNES DEF. VICTOR BENJAMIN & LADY FROST 

If the prior match was everything I like about tag team wrestling, this was the antithesis of that. This was slow and awkward and ultimately very dull. A lot of this match was Victor Benjamin selling for Christi Jaynes. I think Jaynes is talented and absolutely has a role in AAW, but that role is not beating up a guy that looks like Victor Benjamin. At no point did I believe any of her offense was hurting this man. And she gave him a lot of offense. 

I did like Ren Jones yanking Lady Frost off the apron as Benjamin was going for the hot tag, but even that demonstrates the absurdity of this match. Jones won with an elbow drop off the top. **1/4 

Mike Bennett cut a promo noting that for him, it was gut-check time. He said that he respected the hell out of Josh Alexander, but this match was about more than respect, it was about his legacy. This was very good. 

RUSS JONES DEF. JAKE SOMETHING  

Somehow this was only 7 minutes. Jones and Something threw everything they had at one another, and in the end, Jones had enough to go 13-0 since rejoining the AAW roster in 2021. 

I’ve talked a lot lately about how I think AAW offers something different from the indie landscape that I’ve become so turned off by in a post-Gabe scene. With most of the big indies, I don’t care for their production, their commentary, or their lack of booking. Basically, I don’t think they run professional operations. AAW delivers in all of those categories. The other thing that I feel that most indies lack at this point is a roster of tough-looking men. Wrestling might be for everyone, but I prefer my rosters be full of ass-kickers. I understand this might be ironic coming from a known Dragongate fan, but I stand by my statements. 

Jones and Something are ass-kickers. I don’t see any other high-profile indie rolling out guys that look like this. They wrestled this match with the intensity of a G1 sprint with each strike echoing throughout Bourbon Street and every suplex looking like death. It was beautiful. This harkened back to the Hoss Battles of yesteryear with Something nailing his Mike Awesome dive, Jones dropping him on the apron with a vicious DDT, and both men throwing bombs at one another throughout the contest. 

In the end, the strikes of Russ Jones were too much for Jake Something. A knee strike to the back of the head finished the match. Another match worthy of your time. ***1/2 

JOSH ALEXANDER DEF. MIKE BENNETT 

I’ve been watching Mike Bennett for just about a decade now. Throughout that time, I haven’t had a lot of nice things to say about him. He’s had me blocked on Twitter for years. More often than not, I find his presence to be off-putting. But God damn, Mike Bennett was superb in this match. 

On seemingly every AAW show, Josh Alexander goes out there and has the best match on the show. Legacy was no different. He and Bennett worked an exhausting, physically demanding 20-minute match that ended with Bennett submitting to Alexander’s signature ankle lock. This had all of the heat and intensity of a vintage ROH match, amazing given how for so many years, Bennett represented an uneasy changing of the guard for that promotion. 

Alexander comes so close to doing too much so often, but given that his current gimmick is essentially that he gets off by doing cardio, I am going to let it slide. I feel tired after every one of his matches, not because they’re bad, but because there’s so much to them. The chain wrestling here was so smooth. Then they shifted to submissions, with Bennett trying to get the victory with a London Dungeon and Alexander relying on his Ankle Lock. When that didn’t work, they shifted to bombs, with Alexander at one point hitting five consecutive German suplexes. Bennett connected with an Avalanche Cradleshock. None of that was good enough to score the victory. 

Alexander ripped off his headgear after being unable to put Bennett away. He was immediately taken down by a spear. Bennett went for another piledriver, but Alexander escaped, took down Alexander, and locked in one final Ankle Lock that forced Bennett to tap. Alexander is simply one of the best wrestlers in the world at this point. ****1/4 

UNSANCTIONED NO RULES MATCH
SCHAFF DEF. FRED YEHI 

Is Fred Yehi wrestling’s most underrated talent? I have a hard time believing anyone else has him beat. Since becoming a full-time entity in AAW in January 2020, Yehi has shown that he can tell stories (the program with ACH), he’s shown that he can chain wrestle with the best of them (the Josh Alexander 60 minute match), and now he’s reinforced the fact that he’s a vicious brawler who can fight with the best of them. Yehi’s approach in these matches reminds me of Bryan Danielson’s approach against Takeshi Morishima. The big spots deliver, but I’m more intrigued by the small movements Yehi makes throughout the match. I fully believe he’s engulfed in a war whenever he’s in a No DQ match like this. 

A lot of the viciousness in this match was brought on by Yehi. He brained Schaff with a chair early on and then followed that by digging a fork into his skull. Schaff fought back by hitting a German suplex on a door that was resting in the corner, then powerbombing Yehi through that door to fully destroy the homegood. They followed up that brutal door spot with another one, as Schaff set up a door on two chairs, but Yehi grabbed a railroad spike, jabbed it into his head, and then launched Schaff off the top rope through that table. 

Schaff survived, which sent Yehi searching for a pair of bricks, fitting since he said he wanted to destroy Schaff’s life brick-by-brick. He smashed one over the head of Schaff, but the big man fought back and absolutely crushed Yehi over the top of the head with the remaining brick. That gave Schaff an opportunity to land the DD214 for the victory. Both guys looked tremendous in this match. ****

AAW HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
MAT FITCHET (c) DEF. LAREDO KID 

This victory marks Mat Fitchett’s first successful defense of AAW’s Big Gold Belt. 

I have to start off by apologizing to Mat Fitchett. I’ve reviewed AAW, schedule permitting, for five years now. Unfortunately, my personal schedule prevented me from finding the time to review his title win against Fred Yehi in November. I’ve been a champion of Fitchett for years, at times getting annoyed that he was still teaming with Davey Vega despite the fact that they were such a great act together. I always knew Fitchett could be a top-of-the-line singles star for AAW and I’m glad to see that it’s finally happening. 

His first defense against Laredo Kid reinforced the idea that these are two of the 50 best wrestlers in the world. They worked it with the urgency that a championship match deserves. While it seemed obvious that Fitchett would retain and continue his reign as champion, they did a good job of giving Laredo Kid a handful of spots that made it seem like he could score the huge, upset victory, notably when he held the ropes on a schoolboy pin out of desperation. The challenger ate a Pele Kick in return, but followed that up with a Poison Rana and a 450 of his own. It looked like at that moment, we could’ve had a new AAW Champion. 

Fitchett fought on, however, and hit a Bloody Sunday out of the blue for the win. This was approaching notebook territory, but the finish felt abrupt. I wish they would’ve gone another 3-4 minutes because the longer this match went, the more I felt like Laredo Kid could’ve won. As it was, it was still a very good bout. ***1/2 

BULLROPE MATCH
SILAS YOUNG DEF. MANDERS 

Well, you can’t win them all. 

As this show progressed, I felt like I was watching a vintage AAW show. Normally these shows survive on solid storytelling and exciting young talent, but Legacy was full of rock-solid, well-worth-your-time matches. In a way, this match also reminded me of vintage AAW, but it reminded me of those God-awful Crist Brothers/Eddie Kingston/Tommaso Ciampa/Sami Callihan walk-and-brawls that would end the shows on a sour note. 

I thought this was horrific. They did everything you’d expect from a bad main event brawl. Manders is a very good wrestler who has had a number of fun brawls in this building, but he was rendered helpless against the lethargy of Silas Young. This was 25 minutes of dry, uninspired brawling that ended with Val Malone returning to the promotion and aiding Silas Young in victory. They fought at the bar, they smashed doors over their heads, and then after a big referee bump, the ANGLE~! happened with Malone coming down to the ring and at first aiding Manders before the TURN~! which sent him crashing through a pile of doors and chairs. At least the bump was gnarly. I really hated this. 3/4*

Final Thoughts:

AAW’s Legacy offered the consistency of a superindie with specialized talent that has been specifically cultivated by this promotion. After a year and a half of rebuilding after the signing exodus of 2019, the vision of AAW’s new era is finally paying off. The wrestlers that they have taken their time with like Fred Yehi, Schaff, Russ Jones, and Jah-C have proven to be fruitful. The matches on this show that were good, were really good. I highly recommend watching this show and then saving 25 minutes by skipping the main event. Even with such a poor conclusion to the show, I give Legacy a strong thumbs up.