point-of-no-return-2013

The idea of AAW as a Midwest version of PWG seems less like hyperbole with every show. Another example came in the form of Point of No Return 2013. Last year around the same time, Michael Elgin was challenging for the AAW title a second time against Silas Young, and their match went the full 60 minute time limit. That came three weeks after Elgin’s game changing performance with Davey Richards during Ring of Honor’s Ft. Lauderdale shows. While Ring of Honor took a wait and see attitude with Elgin, AAW shot him to the top with a series of star-making matches with Young. Now Elgin is the champion, but his star still doesn’t show as brightly as Davey Richards, which is why a match like this is still so important. These two have met many times since Wrestlemania weekend last year, but no match seems to have the peak they struck the first time around.

Something about the main event of Point of No Return seemed to click even more than any of the others save for the Showdown in the Sun. As things stand right now, Elgin and Richards is my match of the year. The Berwyn crowd, which can sometimes be quiet at the worst possible times, was up for everything and almost willed these two gentlemen into an all-time area classic. A solid wrestling match in the first half gave way to a wild and crazy second half where they dropped everything on each other and then some. These two wrestlers had the crowd in the palm of their hands the whole time. I cannot say enough about what they did. Very simply one of the best of the year and by itself worth buying the show on DVD or MP4.

Two matches prior, another member of Team Ambition was challenging for a title. Kyle o’Reilly and ACH had a match that on many independent cards would probably be the best match. On this card, it struggled for second. O’Reilly is developing into an all around complete performer. Anyone who thinks these two guys are just only wrestlers who do movez simply aren’t paying attention. They not only have the ability to give indy fans what they want in the ring but have a great deal of charisma and can cut promos. ACH is as over as anyone within AAW. This is a man who wasn’t on the roster a year ago and was being squashed by Mason Beck. Now Mason Beck can’t even get on shows while ACH is wrestling in high caliber bouts against top level indy stars like O’Reilly. O’Reilly is still developing his heel persona, but he seems really game and I predict will hold a lot of singles gold before he moves onto one of the national companies. O’Reilly worked over ACH’s back similarly to how Richards worked over Elgin’s leg. I also appreciate ACH constantly adding new moves, for example, winning with the tiger driver on this night.

There were a lot of better than average matches on this show, and Point of No Return was so good Silas Young and Jimmy Jacobs jerked the curtain. Nonetheless, they still had a fantastic opener. They didn’t kill themselves or overload the audience with a lot of false finishes, but their natural experience and wrestling ability allowed them to still have a relevant contest. Young’s story right now is that he’s lost focus and needed to regain it by wrestling in the opener. Jacobs called Young out for claiming to have carried the company as champion. Young won relatively clean. I loved the ending sequence as Jacobs hit a top rope DDT, stayed with it, and applied the End Time. Young then countered and won . No interference or BS. Young came away the better man, but Jacobs wasn’t buried either.

I wish I could say the same thing about Jacobs and Young as I did for Sami Callihan versus Shane Hollister. The match itself was fine, and AAW Sami Callihan is by a country mile my favorite version. Because he’s kept on a tighter leash, he doesn’t have as much of a chance to do the things that annoy me. He was very much in control in playing the pure babyface to Hollister’s jerk heel character. AAW tried to get everyone to sympathize with Scarlet after allegedly suffering frequent mental and physical abuse the last two shows. There wasn’t time to flush this angle out and allow anyone to actually buy what was happening. My gut tells me ¾ of the AAW audience wasn’t buying any of it and Scarlet’s low blow on Callihan was perfunctory. Hollister did a great job engaging the audience and showcasing himself yet again. I knew another match was coming given the controversial finish, so I wasn’t as angry, but the ending left me a little flat.

Rich Swann made his debut in a triple threat number one contender’s match for the Heritage title. Goofy as it might seem for him to be in title contention, I thought this served its purpose in a big way with Lamar Titan getting a clean win over an international superstar. Titan has lost only one time since making his debut, and putting him with ACH will only make him look better. Louis Lyndon was also involved in this particular three way. These three interacted well and were able to keep the show flowing. Titan was able to show more personality and break out more offensive moves being he was in a singles match and not slotted in with either Tweek Phoenix or Keith Walker. I’m hoping Titan can be given more promo time as the year progresses and will be the singles focus of “We Are Here.”

Speaking of “We Are Here,” it’s no secret my opinion of them is mixed. Titan has had some brilliant moments. Kevin Harvey and Nikki Mayday excel in their roles at ringside. The problem has been the feud with Northstache Express, which feels like has been going on forever. After this show, that’s no longer the case. On the plus side, they saved the best for last as they put together a very good tag team match. It was a joy to see this feud not only end but give me something to derive pleasure from. What I appreciated most was Marion Fontaine and Darin Corbin not getting along before losing, not being able to complete double teams or tagging at inappropriate times. A great job of telling a story and paying it off.  I like Fontaine a lot more with Louis Lyndon as a team and feel their in-ring work will match up better with AAW’scurrent ethos. They even interacted after the show in a post-match promo. I expect a big push for them. Meanwhile, “We Are Here” can hopefully move into a more productive feud.

Another good match featured two men who have history with Irish Airborne combining to try and take the tag team titles.  Arik Cannon and Mat Fitchett were a thrown together team who basically had no chance. This only reinforces my belief about how badly this division needs bolstering, but the performances were at least good. Fitchett is all the way back, and I hope he can get a push or be paired up with Davey Vega on a more consistent basis. Airborne’s title reign has been about as good as you could expect given a lack of challengers, but their gimmick of injuring people and being giant heels has been effective.

The women of Shimmer got a showcase six man tag since there was a full two days of taping to come the next Saturday and Sunday. In an interview segment, Truth Martini paid Saraya Knight a whole dollar to take out MsChif. This was actually a nice callback to the October 2012 show as Martini helped Knight retain her Shimmer title over MsChif. This time there were six women involved. MsChif teamed with Christine Von Eerie and Heidi Lovelace against Knight, Taylor Made, and Miss Natural. The Shimmer matches on AAW shows are generally decen, but they don’t capture the full experience. Smart finish as MsChif got her win back over Knight. If AAW is going to make a serious run at a women’s division, these are the right people to move forward.

The final match to discuss featured Colt Cabana and his oddball partner of Junthai Miller against Dan Lawrence and Marcus Crane. While the weakest match of the show, it wasn’t actively bad and at least kept the storyline with Lawrence and Cabana going. Lawrence should be officially attached with Hollister’s crew since he can work comedy tags with Crane while also serving in a sort of second in command role for when Hollister finally wins the AAW title. Miller seemed to be almost wasted in this role, but without more consistent or higher profile bookings in other major indies, it’s going to be tough for Miller to be anything besides what he is now, a solid midcarder who has good matches with people.

In a couple of non-matches, an Eddie Kingston promo was shown. He called out Richards, Elgin, and Young. Obviously, this is a great move for AAW. Bringing in someone with that level of experience  and emotion will only enhance the AAW brand even more. Knight Wagner was out complaining in the second half of the show. AAW owner Jim Lynam had Ryan Boz clear him out of the ring. Not sure where that’s headed, but Tony Rican appears to be heading toward wrestling competition instead of remaining a matchmaker based on the post-show promo.

People might find it hard to believe that AAW can put on one of my favorite independent shows of the year, but they surely did it here with Point of No Return. Top to bottom a fantastic viewing experience. A lot of familiar faces were used excellently again. It’s tough to think of many shows from this year I would recommend more than this one.

Grade: A-

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-Taped from Berwyn, Illinois

Commentators: Phil Colvin and Derek St. Holmes

Quick results, times, and match ratings:

-Silas Young defeats Jimmy Jacobs via pinfall after a roll-up/15:24/***1/4

Colt Cabana and Junthai Miller defeat Dan Lawrence and Marcus Crane by pinfall after Miller double stomps crane/8:16/**

Lamar Titan (w/Kevin and Nikki) earns the number one contendership for Heritage Championship by defeating Rich Swann Louis Lyndon. Titan pinned Swann by pinfall with the uranagi into the knees/12:07/***1/4

Keith Walker and Tweek Phoenix (w/Kevin Harvey and Nikki) defeat Darin Corbin and Marion Fontaine in a “Losing Team Must Split” match./10:01/***

Shane Hollister defeats Sami Callihan by pinfall after Suge’s Last Gift/13:43/***1/4

Heidi Lovelace, and Christina Von Eerie, and MsChif defeats Saraya Knight, Heather Patera, and Taylor Made. MsChif pins Knight after the Desecrator/9:05/**3/4

AAW Heritage Championship: ACH defeat Kyle O’Reilly to retain the Heritage Championship by pinfall after the tiger driver/16:11/***3/4

AAW Tag Team Championship: Irish Airborne (Jake and Dave Crist) retain the tag team titles over Arik Cannon Mat Fitchett/11:41/***1/4

AAW Heavyweight Championship: Michael Elgin retains the title over Davey Richards by pinfall after the spinning powerbomb/25:39/****3/4

For more information on AAW and their upcoming shows, check out AAW’s Website. To buy this and many otherAAW DVDs, check out Smart Mark Video. Below is a list of contact information for both the website and me.

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