AAW Killers Among Us Review 6/17/16

Hey guys it is Josh Masterson, the internet’s resident TNA and EVOLVE fanatic. I recently bought my second AAW show, Killers Among Us from June so I decided to review it and am really hoping it is better than the last AAW show I reviewed.

Kongo Kong and Desmond Xavier vs Candice LeRae and Heidi Lovelace vs Shane Hollister and Markus Crane vs Connor Braxton and Eddie Machete
There was some decently fun stuff here, mostly with Shane Hollister and Desmond Xavier. I’m not familiar with either of them as this is only my second AAW show and I’m relatively unfamiliar with this entire side of indy wrestling but I would like to see more of both of them in real matches and not stuff like this (In between when I wrote this part of the review and posted the whole thing it was announced that Xavier will be facing Ricochet at the next show so that should be really good). Even though there was some fun stuff there was too much dumb hoverboard stuff and Kongo Kong just isn’t good. *1/2

Tommaso Ciampa vs Josh Alexander
I had no idea what to expect going into this as I’ve never seen Alexander doing anything except teaming with Ethan Page and Ciampa has always been hit or miss for me. For example I loved his match with Johnny Gargano from the Cruiserweight Classic and enjoyed his match with TJ Perkins (fka Manik) from EVOLVE  a couple months ago but his match with Zack Sabre Jr, who rarely has matches I don’t enjoy, from AAW EPIC was a chore to watch. This was a decent match once it got going but it took a pretty long time for that to happen. I almost turned the sound off on my TV multiple times, the commentary was legitimately awful during this match. This didn’t make me like either of them more but it didn’t really make me like them less. I’ll forget this match happened by tomorrow. **1/4

Jessicka Havok vs Kimber Lee
I like both of these women a lot and had been wanting this match to happen for a while so I was pretty excited for this. Unlike the last match they wasted no time in early on, getting right into it. This was another fine match that was nothing special, Kim did well at playing the underdog, a role she very much excels in. **1/2

Drew Gulak vs Silas Young
This was a really enjoyable match with Gulak working a different type of match than I’m used to seeing with him and Silas having a good performance. Drew Gulak is in my opinion one of the best and most versatile talents in the world today so it is always a treat to see him. While the knee brace antics got somewhat excessive at times it was a really fun match that was very easy to get through. ***1/2

Hooligans vs Mat Fitchett and Davey Vega
I don’t know what it is about these two teams but at the last show and then this show when they come on my screen I just mentally check out. Both teams work hard but the matches just never have any flow or anything to them. Mat Fitchett could be really good but if I never saw these two teams wrestle again it’d be too soon and I’ve only seen it twice. *1/4

Chris Hero vs Drago
Chris Hero is the best wrestler in the world and this was just another great match on the long list of great matches he has had this year. This was very different than most of his matches and was a great fast paced match. I would’ve liked it to be a little bit longer but regardless it was a really good match. ***3/4

AAW Heritage Championship
AR Fox vs Aerostar
This was a really good, high-flying, fast paced match but it got bizarrely little time. It was very good for what it was but it being so short didn’t allow for the match to really progress into something special. Either way it was enjoyable even if it could have been a lot better. ***

Trevor Lee vs Andrew Everett vs Cedric Alexander vs Moose
This was a completely insane spotfest that never stopped moving for the entirety of the match. Such a crazy match, Trevor Lee is fantastic and he was the MVP of this but everyone did so great, even Moose who I’m not really a fan of. ****

Zack Sabre Jr vs Johnny Gargano
I was extremely excited going into this match as when these two faced off in March at EVOLVE 56 they produced my second favorite match of the year thus far. This, just like that, was a fantastic technical match but this was different as Sabre was more heelish than usual and worked the crowd more than I’m used to seeing him do. This was such a great match and while it wasn’t as good as their meeting in EVOLVE it is very much worth going out of your way to see and proved once again that these are two of the best wrestlers on the planet. ****1/4

Eddie Kingston/Homicide vs Sami Callihan/Dave Crist
I had no idea what to expect going into this. I’ve always been a fan of Homicide and it was good to see him as this was my first time seeing him since Beyond Wrestling’s Fete Finale event in December. However I haven’t really enjoyed Sami Callihan since his return to the indies, I’ve never known how to feel about Eddie Kingston, and I haven’t seen enough of Crist to have an opinion on him. This was an extremely fun brawl with a lot of cool moments. It was nonstop action from start to finish and I enjoyed all of it (aside from when Homicide began using the fork, that was just disgusting and I almost had to look away). Very fun way to end the show. ***1/2

Final Thoughts: This was a fantastic show. The last AAW show I reviewed, EPIC, only had one match above *** and while it was a MOTY candidate, I expect more from a company that books so many amazing talents. This was exactly what I was hoping this show would be. While there were a few bad matches early in the show everything that I expected to deliver did and I even enjoyed the main event a lot when I wasn’t expecting to. This is definitely a show of the year contender in my eyes as it had something for everyone. You like high-flying? Fox vs Aerostar and the four way. Technical? Sabre vs Gargano. Brawling? The main event. I recommend this show to pretty much anyone.

Final Rating: 8.5/10