BRM Reviews AAW Thursday Night Special (GREAT!)

[Big Red Machine]

AAW Thursday Night Special (5/25/2017)- Berwyn, IL

CONNOR BRAXTON vs. PACO- 4.75/10
This was initiated by Connor Braxton, upset that he wasn’t booked in a match tonight, interrupting out hosts to cut an angry promo and declare an open challenge, which was answered by Paco. The match was very good for the time it got. They told a very basic story of the big, strong, mean heel taking on a smaller, never-say-die babyface, and they told it to near perfection in the short time they had. A great way to open the show.

MARTY DEROSA INTERVIEWS COLT CABANA- meh.

LAREDO KID vs. MYRON REED vs. JOEY JANELA vs. JAKE CRIST (w/JT Davidson)- 6.75/10
The goal of this match appeared to be to give Rip Rogers an aneurysm. Seriously, they did, like, ten straight dives. I thought it actually worked really well (the dive spots in the match, not the assassination attempt), but I can definitely see a criticism that it was excessive and that they could have accomplished the same thing with half the number of dives. The whole math was basically a giant spotfest, but it definitely felt like the right thing to do at this point in the card.

MARTY DEROSA BACKSTAGE WITH DAVEY VEGA & ALEX DANIELS- Alex is now an honorary member of the Besties in the World.

COLT CABANA vs. TREVOR LEE- 6.25/10
Cabana was up to his usual tricks so Lee fought back with his own, dirtier tricks.

MARTY DEROSA INTERVIEWS JACK SWAGGER- fine promo by Cabana.

JUVENTUD GUERRARA PROMO- it’s a Juvi promo. It’s great in its own crazy way.

ALEX DANIELS & DAVEY VEGA vs. TREY MIGUEL & STEPHEN WOLF vs. TEAM TREMENDOUS- 5/10
The match was fine. The heels stole the win from Team Tremendous, which is probably the finish that does the most for everyone (Miguel & Wolf are unestablished enough that they look fine just hanging with the more experienced competitors, even if they do eat the pin).

MARTY DEROSA INTERVIEWS DONOVAN DIJAK- very bad. He stumbled around, saying pretty much nothing of any value.

SAMI CALLIHAN PROMO- GREAT!

KEITH LEE vs. DONOVAN DIJAK- 8.5/10
For those who haven’t seen Keith Lee before, one of the announcers provided the most perfect possible description of him: “Keith Lee is like if Tracy Morgan got hit by gamma rays.”
The last time these two men had a match against each other was a mere five days ago at Evolve 84 in this very city. In my review of that math I noted that the usual match these two had been having together had kind of hit a point of diminishing returns, as it was focused on two very large men doing crazy athletic things that you wouldn’t think men their size would be able to do. They seemed to have had similar thoughts, as they changed it up this time out. This time the story was about power, with both men striking the other as hard as possible and pulling off amazing feats of strength, with the athletic stuff peppered in at key moments in between. This match was awesome enough that I, who generally do not like fighting spirit and kick out and one spots, did not mind some very major instances of it at the finish. Dijak kicking out of Lee’s moonsault at one was something I particularly loved because rather than doing the big “ROAR! I am now impervious to pain!... until you hit me again” thing that you see most of the time, emphatically kicked out at one but then went right back to selling his chest, while still giving the defiant scream. It really felt like he was fighting through the pain rather than just no-selling.


MARTY DEROSA INTERVIEWS SHANE STRICKLAND & LIO RUSH- fine

TREY MIGUEL & STEPHEN WOLF PROMO- Miguel was fine. Wolf needs some work.

MARTY DEROSA TRIES TO INTERVIEW JOEY JANELA- good stuff from Janela.

MICHAEL ELGIN vs. JACK SWAGGER- 7/10
This started out slow but got pretty great towards the end. I’d like to see Swagger face someone with some size but who is more of a wrestler (Sami Callihan comes to mind). Elgin won, and then was informed by Marty Derosa. he is now officially in line for a title shot. He then cut a meh promo putting Swagger over.

MARTY DEROSA INTERVIEWS TREVOR LEE- good stuff from Trevor. He wants a shot at as many titles as he can get. He seems to be heading for Penta el 0M’s AAW Heritage Title next. Should be a great match.


AAW TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Rey Fenix & A.R. Fox(c) vs. Lio Rush & Shane Strickland- 8/10
All of the cool flips and athletic stuff you’d expect, but only one spot felt choreographed. I would loke to see Lio Rush vs. Rey Fenix at some point.

MARTY DEROSA INTERVIEWS KEITH LEE- he tells him he’s getting an AAW Heavyweight Title shot on July 15th. Lee’s promo was fine.

AAW HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Sami Callihan(c) (w/JT Davidson & Jake Crist) vs. Juventud Guerrera- 8/10
Sami always bring a wonderful intensity to his matches, and I’m really getting into this feud between him and the Luchadors. The story here was Juvi being the high-flying babyface we all want to see him be while Callihan tried to slow him down by working over his back.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Great!
The heels beat Juvi down after the match. Rey Fenix comes out to make the save but he gets beaten down, too. Crist and Davidson restrained Fenix while Sami cut a promo and then went to remove his mask but Michael Elgin came out to make the save. The heels made a hasty retreat while Elgin cut a promo on Sami to build up to their AAW Heavyweight Title match next month.

Yet another GREAT show from AAW. I’m really starting to get into this promotion, and will probably be watching just about every show from here on out.

[cero2k]

Jesus Christ, the amount of promos and interviews during this show. AAW seems like a good fit for you, it's pretty much the PWG roster, but with storylines.

[Big Red Machine]

Jesus Christ, the amount of promos and interviews during this show. AAW seems like a good fit for you, it's pretty much the PWG roster, but with storylines.

Yeah. Although the announcers could do a slightly better job with some of them. I'd like a few more stories, ideally. It's kind of like PWG was in 2011/2012. The stories are around the singles title while the tag titles seem to mostly be random stuff. Also, there are too many Canadian Destroyers, although they did tone that down as this show went on (four in the first four matches, but none after that). Too many Canadian Destroyers everywhere, IMO. ROH is like the only place not doing them.

[Big Red Machine]

Jesus Christ, the amount of promos and interviews during this show. AAW seems like a good fit for you, it's pretty much the PWG roster, but with storylines.

The more I think about it, the more I wonder why PWG doesn't do them anymore. I can totally see Excalibur as an over the top Okerlund-style interviewer and making it work.