AAW Epic Review 4/9/16

Hey guys, it is Josh Masterson, the internet’s resident TNA and EVOLVE freak. This was actually my first time watching an AAW show and I was very excited as they booked a lot of my favorites for this show.

Jessicka Havok vs Candice LeRae vs Kimber Lee vs Heidi Lovelace

I was very excited for this match as I’m a big fan of Havok, LeRae, and Kim and like Heidi from what I’ve seen. This was a really fun opener, all four women worked hard. It didn’t really go long enough to be anything special but there were a lot of creative spots and it was very fun. **3/4.

Johnny Gargano vs Andrew Everett

I was pretty excited for this match as I consider myself a fan of both guys. There was some good stuff here but overall I don’t know how to feel about it. They worked very hard but I feel like it took a long time to really get into second gear and it bothered me. Even when it got into second gear it was still like a ‘fun’ match which I’m not really into. I just wasn’t really into it at all and its difficult for me to rate it. **1/4

Chuck Taylor and Dan Barry vs Zero Gravity vs Shane Hollister and Kongo Kong

I had negative expectations going into this as Chuck is one of my least favorites ever. The only person I like in this match is Dan Barry but I’ve never seen him without Bill (his tag team partner in Team Tremendous). Before this I had never seen Zero Gravity either so I didn’t know what to expect from them. This was okay, there were some fun points. Zero Gravity and Shane Hollister all looked pretty decent here. Chuck did okay and actually kept the “comedy” to a minimum. Dan Barry did very well as usual, he is so good. **1/4

Silas Young vs Timothy Thatcher

I like Silas (not in ROH cause hes just a dumb comedy character now) and Thatcher is one of my favorites in the world so I was very excited for this. Thatcher has received a lot of criticism for his work in EVOLVE this year as many people feel while the promotion progresses forward he hasn’t gone with it. I still think hes great though so I was looking forward to this. Silas trying to do the grappling style early on was fun but then Silas was in control for a lot of it and it just was kind of dull. I do have to give credit to Silas for going from getting a huge pop in his entrance to being hated by the end of the match, but the match itself was pretty disappointing. **1/4

Chris Hero vs Trevor Lee

I was really excited for this as I’m a big fan of both guys. But up to this point  the matches I had been really excited for had been pretty disappointing, so I was hoping that would not be the case for this match. There were a lot of creative spots in this match and it was great. Every time you see Hero you just fall in love with him as a wrestler all over again, hes without a doubt one of the best in the world. Lee did great here too. They completely killed eachother and it was one of those matches that you never want to end. The commentators were screaming the entire match, which was a little bit annoying, but so was I. I had multiple ‘wrestling orgasms’ in this match. Two of the best in the world, you need to see this match like now. I could watch them wrestle eachother for 3 days straight and wouldn’t get bored once. ****1/2

Gregory Iron vs Kongo Kong

My expectations for this were below zero (not as low as the Chuck Taylor match but close). I think it was worse than I expected. It was like 5 minutes and was completely horrible. Do not watch this match if you want to still like wrestling after it. Am I allowed to give negative star ratings? -*

AAW Tag Team Championship

The Hooligans (c) vs Davey Vega and Mat Fitchett

I had very little expectations for this cause I haven’t seen either of these teams before. The Hooligans could do some cool stuff but Fitchett definitely looked the best here. I’ve been hearing good things about him and he looked great in this match. There was some cool stuff but it just never really clicked that much for me to get to the next level. **1/2

Zack Sabre Jr vs Tommaso Ciampa

I really did want to like this a lot as Sabre is one of my favorites in the world. Ciampa is someone I’ve always felt has been a bit overhyped, but I usually enjoy him. There was some good stuff here but it went ridiculously long. There were some really cool counters and some stuff I liked a lot but overall I was disappointed. Its very rare that I watch a Sabre match and don’t love it. I feel like if it got 15-20 minutes it could’ve been great, but in my opinion the length killed it. I don’t know the exact length but I believe it was around 30 minutes, give or take a couple. I feel bad for not liking it that much cause they both worked so hard but it just didn’t work for me. **3/4

Final Thoughts: I don’t regret getting this show as I enjoyed the opener, LOVED Hero vs Lee, and enjoyed certain aspects of a few other matches including the main event. I recommend it just for Hero vs Lee but I know a lot of people disagreed with me and loved Gargano vs Everett and the main event. It was pretty much a one match show to me but it was still a relatively easy watch aside from the horrifyingly awful Iron vs Kong match and the main event dragging. I’ll definitely give AAW another shot in the future (the talent list on their upcoming show is crazy) but this wasn’t a very good show to me.

Final Rating: 5.5/10.