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AAW The Art of War
2/17/2017 – 115 Bourbon Street
Just as the unseasonably warm weather arrived for the weekend in Chicagoland, AAW Pro Wrestling Redefined held “The Art of War” in front of another packed house at 115 Bourbon Street.
1.) The opening match pitted two pairs of “Bests” in wrestling in a tag team contest. The Best Friends, Trent Baretta and Chuck Taylor, went head-to-head with the Besties in the World, Mat Fitchett and Davey Vega. Vega and Baretta began the match, with Trent delivering a knock-down chop to Vega. Vega was able to avoid a flurry of more chops and tag in Fitchett. It was Fitchett and Taylor who wowed the crowd with their strong array of maneuvers, but the Best Friends showed the better teamwork together.
Vega had enough of Baretta and Taylor taking up the spotlight, and he went on a one-man rampage. He tossed Baretta into the wooden pole near ringside and followed it up by whipping him into the guardrail. That turned the tide in their favor, as the Besties in the World continued an isolated attack on Baretta. Trent was later able to tag in Taylor, but the match went into a free-for-all mode. Both teams had impressive pinfall attempts turned unsuccessful. While trying to execute an impressive two-man attack on Best Friends, Chuck Taylor ran in and forced a misfire, leading Vega to hit a brainbuster over the knee of his partner, Fitchett. With Vega alone in the ring, the Best Friends combined for a two-man chokeslam and pinned Vega.
After the match, a video was shown of Marty DeRosa trying to interview of Killer Cult. However, JT Davidson quickly dispatched Marty from the area. Davidson told AAW that they were welcome for the Killer Cult being the reason why AAW fans packed the house. Abyss, Sami Callihan, and Jake and Dave Crist all discussed why the Killer Cult are the best group in pro wrestling.
2.) Accompanied by Scarlett Bordeaux, Conor Braxton hit the ring with a fury and a purpose. However, it was Scarlett who commanded the time. She wanted Marty DeRosa to hit the ring to interview her. Bordeaux bragged about dumping Braxton’s former partner, Eddie Machete. Scarlett said she got Braxton a big match that would make him proud. The man whom Braxton would face was Zema Ion.
Braxton attempted to show good sportsmanship by shaking his opponent’s hand, but quickly kicked him in the gut. Zema Ion soon recovered and threatened to hit a dive to force Braxton to the outside. Zema then dove between the ropes to another side of the ring, but Braxton caught him. Braxton hit him against the wood pillar, and followed it up by tossing him off the ropes from the outside and delivering an uppercut.
Back inside the ring, Braxton used his height and strength to counter the sly and shifty Zema Ion. It didn’t hurt that Scarlett made her presence felt to distract Zema Ion. At any opportunity where Zema could gain control, it was Bordeaux who reversed course to help Braxton. Bordeaux thought her sex appeal would stop Zema in his tracks, but on a second try, he went ahead and forced her to get out of the way of him hitting a suicide dive onto Braxton on the outside.
As Braxton was able to regain control, his numerous tries to pin Zema Ion fell flat…literally. Ion was able to get out of the way of a diving splash off the top rope. Zema then exited the ring to the stage to get a running start, hitting an awesome springboard tornado DDT. That sent Braxton down for the three count, giving Zema Ion the victory.
After the match, a video was shown of Marty DeRosa interviewing Jason Kincaid, who is making his AAW debut. Kincaid, who is scheduled to face Matt Riddle, said the AAW fans would see something different from him.
3.) Kincaid would get the chance to make an impact immediately, as he faced “The King of Bro”, Matt Riddle. Riddle brought along his Progress Wrestling Atlas Championship belt, which he won in England one month prior. The match worked in Riddle’s favor, as the former mixed martial arts fighter went to work on the canvas. Kincaid tried his best to out-grapple Riddle, even frustrating the lead Bro at times.
Even more surprising was Kincaid’s energetic approach of trying to regain an edge in the match by disrobing his vest and taking down his shoulder straps. The fire in Kincaid carried him with an impressive flurry of attacks. Kincaid shocked the crowd by crawling up the wooden post and jumping off of it onto Riddle. Kincaid kept up the attack with a suicide dive that forced Riddle to hit the back of his head against the guardrail.
Inside the ring, the two men traded near falls after hitting some awesome maneuvers, frustrating and shocking each of them as a result. It was Riddle who became desperate after hitting a spike piledriver and getting only a two. But, out of that desperation, Riddle was able to reverse out of an attempted pin and lock on the Bromission on Kincaid, forcing his opponent to tap out quickly.
4.) One half of the AAW Tag Team Champions, Trevor Lee, was in action against Matt Sydal. Joining Lee for the match is his tag partner, Jack Evans, who was on crutches. Evans reluctantly, but bragged while apologizing for being injured. Evans mentioned that there’s no rule that states the Tag Team titles cannot be put on the line in a singles match. So, Evans issued the proposal for Lee to accept, while technically berating him. Lee was angered enough to accept Evans’ idea, making his singles match against Sydal for the AAW Tag Team Championship.
Lee said that he wanted a dance-off to determine the Tag Team titles, as he dropped the mic at Sydal’s feet. The dance-off was short lived as Lee attacked Sydal for his dancing attempts, but Sydal hit some powerful kicks to send Lee down to the mat. Sydal continued to frustrate Lee numerous times, forcing the titleholder to reconsider his strategy away from the ring. By regrouping, he was able to coax Sydal into going after him and punished him as a result of doing so.
With a methodical approach, Lee was able to break down Sydal, but the man who was reborn was not ready to give up. Sydal found a burst of energy to deliver a roundhouse kick to Lee, following it up with more kicks and even a pin attempt. Sydal even hit a spike headscissors on Lee that only mustered a two count. Soon afterward, Sydal hit a reverse rana and looked to head to the top rope. Sydal’s attempted 450 splash was broken by Lee lifting his knees. Lee then hit a fisherman’s brainbuster on Sydal and was able to get the pinfall victory to retain the AAW Tag Team titles.
5.) In a special attraction, Low-Ki returned to AAW to take on El Hijo del Fantasma in the Mexican luchador’s AAW debut. Low-Ki donned a full suit and wore gloves, as his hitman-like attire tried to combat Lucha Underground’s Fantasma. The World Warrior brought a voracious attack against Fantasma, weakening his opponent whenever possible.
El Hijo del Fantasma had to pick his spots to get back at Low-Ki, but returned the punishment that he received from Low-Ki in kind. Whether it was through bonejarring maneuvers, backbreaking submission attempts, or diving attacks both inside and out of the ring, Fantasma showed that he was ready to bring the pain to Low-Ki.
Fantasma thought he had the match one with a Frankensteiner followed up by a frog splash, but Low-Ki kicked out of consecutive pin attempts. Low-Ki removed his suit jacket before heading to the top rope. Fantasma went after him, doing exactly what Low-Ki wanted. Low-Ki hit the diving stomp onto Fantasma, who was hung in the tree of woe, and successfully made the pinfall.
After the match, Marty DeRosa hit the ring to inform Low-Ki that AAW officials have said that he is now in contention for AAW Heavyweight Championship. Low-Ki responded by thanking El Hijo del Fantasma and said that the bulls-eye has now been planted on Sami Callihan’s back.
A video was shown of Marty DeRosa having an interview with Eddie Kingston. Kingston explained his despair that the man who believed in him and mentored him, Homicide, has been injured. Kingston expressed his anger at the Killer Cult for what they did to Homicide. In particular, Kingston explained his hopelessness and sadness will be turned into motivation and anger when he faces Abyss in the ring.
6.) Following intermission, the team of Dezmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz goes up against the monstrous duo of “Unbreakable” Michael Elgin and Brian Cage. On paper, it looks like a total mismatch as the young, athletic pair are opposed against the heavyweights. Wentz was first up to test Cage, using his quickness and elusiveness to try to gain the upper hand. Switching partners, it was the student going up against the teacher, as Xavier and Elgin put on an impressive display.
The match was filled with jaw-dropping moves from both teams. Xavier and Wentz pulled off a combination powerbomb/suplex to bring down Elgin from the top rope. Later, while on the stage, Cage threw Xavier back into the ring into the waiting arms of Elgin, who slammed him down to the mat. Elgin and Cage showed off their strength and stamina by tagging in and maintaining hold of a standing suplex on Wentz. But, Wentz and Xavier were able to regain control of the match with impressive flips and quick attacks to both Cage and Elgin. The standout move was diving in concert onto both Elgin and Cage on the outside.
However, the resiliency of Wentz was incredible as he withstood a diving superbomb by Elgin and an F-5 from Cage. He kicked out at two. That astounded both Elgin and Cage, setting off a nonstop flurry of moves, concluding with Elgin powerbombing Wentz and Cage finishing him off to get the pinfall victory. The four men stood together in the ring, until Elgin grabbed the mic. Elgin went on and praised his two opponents for what they did in the match to evoke a “This is awesome!” chant from the crowd. They all raised arms, and Elgin and Cage left the ring to allow their beaten opponents a chance to soak in the approval from the fans.
7.) The newest member of the Killer Cult, Abyss, hit the ring for the next match against Eddie Kingston. Kingston didn’t wait to be introduced before making a bee-line to get to Abyss. The two men traded blows, as Abyss retreated to the outside. It was there that Abyss used a steel chair and threw it at Kingston, as the man from Yonkers was about to attempt a dive. The two men continued brawling at ringside, up against the guardrail and soon went into the seating area.
Kingston and Abyss took a tour of the facility, so to speak. They used garbage cans, beer, and even brawled onto the top of the bar. It was there that Kingston took the risk and dove from off the bar and onto Abyss near the last row of seats. Finally, both men returned inside the squared circle, where two steel chairs sat waiting to be used. But, that wasn’t enough for Abyss, as he procured another chair and a bag of thumbtacks. Abyss opened up the bag of tacks and emptied them near one corner of the ring in an effort to chokeslam Kingston through it.
Eddie Kingston would not allow that to happen, as he stacked the three steel chairs in the ring. JT Davidson tried to interfere with a steel chair of his own. Kingston thwarted that attempt and nearly injured Davidson’s throat with the chair. Kingston was able to slam Abyss into the stack of chairs, but only managed a two count. The distraction by Davidson allowed for Abyss to get back up and deliver that chokeslam of Kingston onto the thumbtacks. The pain was too much for Kingston to endure and he went down for the three count.
After the match, Abyss wanted to powerbomb Kingston onto the thumbtacks again, but Low-Ki hit the ring to put a halt to it. Low-Ki showed no fear, entering the ring to dissuade the monster from any further attacks. JT Davidson had to hold back Abyss and guided him to the back. Meanwhile, Low-Ki attended to his friend, aiding Kingston out of the ring.
8.) The main event match is a 6-man tag match, as the leader of the Killer Cult, AAW Heavyweight Champion Sami Callihan, along with Jake Crist and Dave Crist faced the trio of AAW Heritage Champion ACH, AR Fox, and Rey Fenix. The six combatants did not wait for the bell, as they executed a flurry of maneuvers for the fans in attendance.
Once things relatively settled down, it was the Callihan Death Machine who subdued ACH. The two singles champions in AAW battled it out, until the former Heritage champion AR Fox tricked Callihan into attack and dove over the corner ring post and onto the Crist brothers and Davidson at ringside. There was more dives executed, with Fenix hitting a corkscrew dive to the outside that was absorbed by the remaining five wrestlers. Another all-inclusive suplex was hit, that led to Jake Crist powerbombing ACH in a pin attempt.
The numerous kicks being delivered both by and against all six men were a sight to behold. It was a mix of chaos and insanity. It was one-upped by a flurry of springboard RKOs. Even when they got back to their feet, there were kicks delivered that sent the Killer Cult down. That allowed for simultaneous dives from off the top rope by ACH, AR Fox, and Fenix. However, those simultaneous pin attempts all amounted to a two count. As those three men tried to execute a high-risk move, the Killer Cult cleared the ring of Fenix and ACH. They then hit their own combination move on AR Fox, but he was able to avoid the three count.
Callihan lifted AR Fox up and the Crists delivered kicks to the face, leading into a sit-down powerbomb. That didn’t get the job done. A subsequent submission attempt by Callihan on Fox was nearly successful. However, Fenix was able to prevent Callihan from AR Fox tapping out to the Stretch Muffler. It was down to Fenix and Callihan, and the luchador was able to reverse out of a powerbomb attempt and hit one of his own. That took down the AAW Heavyweight Champion for the three count, as the crowd erupted in elation. Fenix, ACH, and AR Fox celebrated their victory in the ring, with ACH gyrating along to the beat of Fenix’s music.
AAW Pro Wrestling Redefined will hold its next event, entitled “The Chaos Theory”, at the Knights of Columbus in LaSalle, Illinois on Saturday, March 4th. Headlining the event is an appearance by former WWE superstar Val Venis prior to the night’s matches. Already announced for in singles action is “All Ego” Ethan Page taking on Krugar (fka Adam Rose in WWE). In a 2 out of 3 falls match, Dave and Jake Crist will represent OI4K against the team of Dezmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz. Also scheduled to appear is Sami Callihan, AR Fox, Penta El 0 Miedo, Rey Fenix, JT Dunn, Mat Fitchett, Davey Vega, Nick Brubaker, Arik Cannon, Space Monkey, and more. Tickets and more information on this event can be found at AAWrestling.com.
AAW Pro Wrestling Redefined will return to its roots for its next Chicagoland event. On St. Patrick’s Day evening, Friday, March 17th, AAW Pro will return to the world famous Berywn Eagles Club for “Homecoming”. Announced for this event are Homicide, Andrew Everett, Drew Galloway, the debut of Shane Strickland, the return of Zack Sabre, Jr., and more.
Tickets and more information for AAW’s return to Berwyn can be found at AAWrestling.com.
