Editor’s note; This is not a full length review of AAW, this is a brief review of my thoughts of the PPV. All opinions here are mine and may not reflect AAW’s.
To paraphrase a great man.
Finally.
AAW
HAS COME BACK
To Logans Square.
It was a hard-hitting show from beginning to the end, from the Alive taping (which I won’t cover except a small bit because of spoilers) to the end of the main show. AAW never disappoints, and Destination: Chicago was no different. I missed some things due to being uncomfortable in the very tight space of Logans vs the more spacious Bourbon, and the fact that I was absolutely invested in the match and just forgot to take pictures. I planned to write a longer article, but typically the Fite TV app is not working very well, so it’s going to be shorter than planned. I did, however, land this fantastic shot of Skye Blue looking very not impressed with her opponents in the ring:
Let’s get on with the main card! The opening bout was Davey Vega vs Jake Lander. At the beginning of the match, Davey was convinced to throw down his Bestest of Friends jacket and leave it behind. Sadly, he agreed to it, threw the jacket down at the “suggestion” of the utter slime bag John E Bravo, and went on with the match. A sad day for AAW as John Capital E Bravo convinced him to leave a legacy behind in the ring. I believe John Capital E Bravo should be banned from ringside from now on, but that’s AAW’s call. Davey Vega of course won the match because of his stooges. I don’t think this guy could buy a win on his own anymore. He relies way too much on John E Bravo to do his dirty work for him, and really should learn to stand on his own. Sure he has a good thing with Bravo and them, but he can’t seem to win a match without help anymore. The best part of the match, however, was when good old Russ Jones came out and caused absolute devastation, taking out both of Bravo’s lackeys, but Bravo himself, much to the delight of the fans. Bravo called out Russ Jones after Vega picked up the W, which was a big mistake. He apparently thought the numbers game would work in his favor, but it actually worked against him, despite Owens and Chambers coming out to attempt to cash in the bounty on Russ’ head. It was not to be as Jones destroyed Bravo’s lackeys, and then gave Bravo a birthday knee to the back of the head.
Happy birthday, John, capital E, period, Bravo. #ThankYouRuss
Next up was Juice Robinson vs the very hard hitting 1 Called Manders. Manders lived up to his hard hitting reputation and beat the holy hell out of Juice. Manders beat him in the ring, out of the ring, in the crowd, out of the crowd, even the poor announcer had to take cover from Manders reign of awesomeness. However, in the end, Juice picked up the W somehow. Oh right, because Infamy came out and decked Manders in the head with the tag belts. #FuckINfamy, they’ve been interfering with SGC matches for months, and tonight was no different. But as they were celebrating in the ring by beating up Manders due to him putting a member of Infamy in the hospital….
Out comes “WHAT’S MY NAME?” Jake Something and Stallion Rodgers. This was not a match. This was a brawl. This was pure bad-assery, as SOMETHING and Rodgers started off strong, beating the absolute hell out of Steele and Joeasa in the ring. Out of the ring. Back in the ring. This match went everywhere, as matches with Infamy do because Infamy can’t stay in the ring. I don’t think they have the talent to. Infamy has to use cheap tactics to win, and nearly did so. All of a sudden we see a water bottle seemingly materialize out of thin air and slap Infamy right in the head. Manders had come back out and was going to cost them the titles, and he lived up to it. Thank god, the infamous reign of those cheaters Infamy was over, and we crowned our first new champion of the night, Jake “WHATS MY NAME?” SOMETHING and Stallion picked up the W, and the titles, and the crowd couldn’t have been happier. Now run back to your cave Infamy, you’re done. This match showcased Jake’s strength, as on one occasion he had both members of Infamy up by the neck, one in each hand, and slammed them down. It also showed just how well a good tag team is, with quick tags, great double moves. Infamy has a distinct advantage as they are a fluid, well oiled team, but they still lost, and the crowd loved it.
Next up was a great 5 man match with a great stipulation. The winner could take on for any championship, any time, any where. Interestingly enough Xavier Walker was not in Ace’s corner tonight. This fast paced match featured Ace Perry, Frontman Jah-C, Hakim, “The baddest mother fucker on the planet” Schaff, and the biggest surprise of the night, the return of Rich Swann.
This match was pretty good, I’m not going to go into great detail because this was long, and crazy. But unlike a lot of matches in other places like WWE that don’t really showcase everyone, as one person gets squashed, AAW gave everyone a chance in this fantastic match. I thought Rich Swann would get all the attention, but he got just as much, if not a little less, match time than everyone else, which was nice to see. AAW has these multiple man matches, and they don’t give one person a lot more time than another, it’s always a nice balance between everyone. It’s something nice and refreshing. I think everyone got a pin at some point. At one point Ace fell out of the ring thanks to Rich Swann by us, and the guy by me goes
“You didn’t deserve that Ace!” Ace just said
“It’s Rich Swann.”.
At one point Ace Perry tried to Meteora Schaff while Schaff had Hakim in his arms. Schaff didn’t budge, and powerbomb/power slammed both men with ease, then flew through the ropes and took out four men in an amazing feat of speed.
Another thing I liked is I expected Swann to win this, being the “star”, but again, AAW did not let us down, and Hakim Zane ended up picking up the W in this one over everyone. What an absolutely fantastic match put on by AAW once again.
At the end when everyone was chanting “Please come back!” Rich Swann yelled “YOU BET YOUR ASS I’LL BE BACK!”
Next was the Heritage championship, with two young veterans. 24 year old Ace Austin and 25 year old Myron Reed. Two young wrestlers who fight like they’re old timers already. Ace and Myron are, with the exception of 21 as of September 12th year old Skye Blue, I believe are the two youngest on the roster. These two put on an absolute clinic of technical and high flying, Ace Austin was without Madman Fulton tonight as well, and showed just how great he is as a singles competitor. I’ve seen him in Impact as a singles competitor, and in both AAW and Impact as a tag team, and Ace Austin is really onto something. This young wrestler fights like a well seasoned veteran, and if he’s not AAW Champion in the next two years, I’ll be really surprised. Myron, on the other hand, has a very similar style to Ace Austin. Quick, fast on his feet, high flyer. Myron at 25 has already won the heritage title, and after losing it tonight, I feel puts him in the main title shot picture soon. Myron also has that “Seasoned veteran” style. It’s not something you see from larger places today that just bury their younger talent and push men that should be retired. At one point Myron launched himself over the corner post into the air and onto Ace Austin by the entryway in one hell of a jump. The entire match, as only AAW can do, was amazing. Well paced, fast when it needed to be, slow when it needed to be. The crowd was evenly divided between “New Champ” and “Old Champ”. But in the end, Ace Austin would pick up the W, but his title reign would last literally only minutes.
At 1:29:27 on Fite, Ace Austin wins the belt.
At 1:30:00 Hakim enters the ring to “congratulate” Ace Austin
At 1:31:18 Ace accepts the challenge
At 1:31:37 Ace Austin gets the hell beat out of him from behind
At 1:32:00 Hakim Zane wins the Heritage title for the third time in 5 seconds.
Ace Austin barely held the belt for 3 minutes.
Ace’s girlfriend Gia came out to try to help Ace out while he was being pummeled, but she got her face slammed into the mat for her trouble. The Hussle and the Muscle pick up the belt and left. Hakim Zane is absolute scum.
Davey Richards and Daniel Garcia were next. This was a good match. The funny story here was 24 hours previous, Garcia was beating up CM Punk on AEW. Then he was on AAW taking on Davey Richards. 24 hours later he’ll be back on AEW.
Davey Richards looked fantastic, one half of the American Wolves. This was a great match, really technical, with some pretty hard hits as well. I haven’t heard or seen from Richards in quite awhile, so to see him for the first time in a couple years, since I saw him with Kingston as the American Wolves, was a nice surprise. He really put it all in the ring against Red Death, but it wasn’t enough, and Garcia picked up a win.
I really hope Richards comes back to AAW, he’s really a fantastic wrestler, and he showed he’s still got it after all these years out of the spotlight. It was nice to see a clean handshake in the middle of the ring of respect.
Next match up was a returning Jody Threat against AK Allison Kay for the AAW Womens Championship. During the match, the announcers mentioned Daffney and her passing. They said to remember to check on your friends and family. No one is ever alone, if you feel that way, talk to someone. Talk to a friend, a family member. If you feel that darkness starting to take you over, contact the suicide hotline, 800-273-8255. You’re not alone. Jody sure wasn’t alone, as Alison Kay and Jody had a hell of a fight. There wasn’t a lot of technicality in this fight, it was just that, a fight. Jody and Allison chopped, kicked and punched the hell out of each other the entire match, most of it outside, and a great drinking contest on the apron between Jody and Allison, with Jody finishing it off. Allison would pick up the W in this fight later on. Sadly the best photo I had, cameraguygimmik photobombed me.
The next was fantastic. Arez, the King of Strange Style, vs Laredo Kid, a fan favorite. I’m not going to really break this match down or discuss it, because this is something I’d like to dedicate something in more detail to, because it was definitely a match that deserves more love than a few paragraphs. So we’ll save this for later this week. Needless to say, this was an A++ match, with fan favorite Laredo Kid picking up the W.
The final match was the main event that stretched the full 60 minutes. If you didn’t see this one, all I’m going to say is Josh Alexander lived up to his Walking Weapon name, and took a hell of a beating from Yehi, who took a hell of a beating from Josh. These two monsters absolutely destroyed one another. The pins, the near pins, the near submissions, I think killed everyone’s energy, including the ref, by the time the show was done. In a good way. If you didn’t see this, go get the PPV on Fite. You will not regret it, and every match in the show is worth the buy price. Go watch it. Watch them beat the hell out of each other, and watch the most amazing match I’ve seen in a long, long time..
So that’s it for AAW. What did you think? Were you there? Did you watch on Fite? Drop a comment on Twitter! You can find me at
@its_rileythomas on twitter
Riley#8854 on Discord
Riley_Thomas on Glimesh where I occasionally stream.