By Sean Radican, Torch columnist

RADICAN’S AAW REVIEW SERIES
“WINDY CITY CLASIC IX”
NOV. 30, 2013
BERWYN, ILL.

The Eagles Club is packed and the announcers say they have a record crowd. Page and Ricochet are doing all sorts of Nation of Domination mannerisms prior to the opening well. Page tells Zero Gravity that he and Ricochet are The New Age Nation of Domination.

(1) The New Age Nation of Domination (Ethan Page & Ricochet) beat Zero Gravity (C.J. Esparza & Brett Gakiya) in an Allegiance Tournament Semi-Final Round match. Ricochet is replacing Josh Alexander as Page’s partner due to injury. Zero Gravity hit some nice tandem offense during the early stages of the match before Gakiya wiped out Page with a flip dive to the outside. Page fired back on Esparza with a spinebuster and Ricochet followed up with a D-Lo Brown leg drop. Ricochet hit a Rock spinebuster and did the peoples standing moonsault for a nearfall. Page wasted a lot of time and Esparza countered a suplex into a neckbreaker. He ducked an attack from Ricochet and tagged in Gakiya, who ran wild. The action broke down after Ricochet broke up a double team attempt on Page. Ricochet hit a crazy looking dead-lift suplex on Esparza, who rolled to the floor. Gakiya fired back on Page and Ricochet. The action continued at a rapid pace with both teams going back and forth. Gakiya went for a sunset flip, but Page sat down on him and held the ropes for the win. I don’t know how the ref didn’t see Page holding the ropes. The match was a lot of fun, especially with Page and Ricochet doing Nation of Domination mannerisms. Zero Gravity are a blast to watch as well. (**3/4)

Kyle O’Reilly was interviewed backstage. He said everyone paid to see O’Reilly vs. Ali. O’Reilly was told Ali wasn’t there tonight, which caused him to spit out his water. O’Reilly said he needed an opponent and he wanted a shot at the gold. O’Reilly asked who makes the decisions here. O’Reilly said he wanted Louis Lyndon and the interviewer promised to make a phone call.

(2) Jimmy Jacobs & Silas Young (w/Val Malone) beat Irish Airborne (Dave & Jake Crist) in an Allegiance Tournament Semi-Final Round match. The announcers mentioned that Jacobs and Young both wanted to win the tournament to get different matches of their choosing with Young wanting a grudge match with Eddie Kingston and Jacobs wanting a shot at the AAW Championship. They played off the past relationship between Young and Irish Airborne, as Young accepted a handshake from Jake during the early going. Dave offered Jacobs a handshake after a fast-paced exchange, but Jacobs punched him right in the face. Jacobs got cut off by Dave and Irish Airborne began working him over. Jacobs fired up after taking a kick from Jake and followed up with a huge clothesline, but Young was distracted and Jacobs couldn’t make the tag. Dave tagged in and hit a slingshot into a pin on Jacobs and the crowd chanted that was awesome, which was funny. Jacobs finally made the tag to Young, who seemed reluctant to go after Dave, but he finally nailed him with a punch. Young ran wild on both members of Irish Airborne. Irish Airborne fired back with Jake launching Young into a knee from Dave for a nearfall. Young countered the spiked piledriver and hit his back breaker clothesline combo on Dave for a 2 count. The action broke down and Jacobs got the end time on Jake, but Jake countered it and Irish Airborne hit a double stomp/tombstone piledriver on Jacobs for a nearfall. I can’t believe Jacobs kicked out of that. Irish Airborne set up for a double superplex on Jacobs, but Young broke it up and headstand on the top turnbuckles into a moonsault and Jacobs followed up with a big senton on Dave for the win. The crowd was lukewarm at first, but this turned into a heck of a match by the end with a nice storyline thrown in. (***)

Jacobs looked sick after the match and threw up before collapsing at ringside.

Truth Martini cut a promo backstage from earlier in the day. He said Knight Wagner was a diamond in the rough. He the introduced the newest member of the House of Truth. He said the newest member was a natural beauty. Heather Patera entered the picture and said Heidi Lovelace had never beaten her and she never will beat her.

(3) Heidi Lovelace beat Heather Patera (w/Truth Martini). Lovelace ran wild on Patera during the early stages of the match. Martini and the ref got into it and Martini wanted a piece of the ref after he scolded him. The ref went after Martini in an extremely odd fashion and Martini bailed. Patera caught Lovelace with a running knee strike on the apron and began working her over on the outside. Lovelace fired back and hit some big chops on the outside. Lovelace went for a move off the apron, but Martini swept her legs out from under her. Patera hit a delayed vertical suplex on Lovelace on the edge of the stairs on the outside and the crowd gasped. Lovelace mounted a comeback and hit a springboard kick for a 2 count back inside the ring a short time later. Patera fired back and hit a German with a bridge for a 2 count. Lovelace mounted a comeback and took out Truth on the apron. She went up top and hit a frog splash for the win. This was short, but good. (**3/4)

After the match, Martini tried to hit Lovelace with the book of Truth, but it slipped out of her hand. Knight Wagner ran down and held Lovelace for Martini, but MsChif and Tony Rican made the save. Moondog Bernard and SeaMan were shown with their manager backstage. Dr. Keith told them they were on the main show and they went crazy.

Knight Wagner then came out and cut a promo. He said he had Tony Rican’s gear and he tossed it into the dumpster. Wagner said with Truth on his side, he would go to the top.

(4) Kyle O’Reilly beat Louis Lyndon. Lyndon is one half of the AAW Tag Team Champions. O’Reilly got a cross arm breaker right away, but Lyndon managed to break free and presented O’Reilly with a crane stance, which caused him to back away. Both men exchanged flying knees before O’Reilly got a running start before slapping Lyndon in the face. Lyndon teased a kick a short time later and returned the favor. They went to another exchange and both men hit slaps at the same time to come to a stalemate. O’Reilly shook hands with Lyndon before nailing him with a big forearm. Lyndon fired back with a series of kicks and covered O’Reilly for a 2 count. O’Reilly fired back and hit a flurry of kicks capped by a leg sweep to regain the upper hand. Lyndon fired back and hit a dropkick on a seated O’Reilly. O’Reilly asked for another and sat up. Lyndon went for a third running dropkick, but O’Reilly caught his legs and tied him up in a leg submission. Lyndon struggled before getting the ropes to break the hold. Lyndon finally mounted a comeback and caught O’Reilly with a spinning kick to the head for a 2 count.

The pace picked up and Lyndon caught O’Reilly with a jumping knee strike on the apron and hit a springboard moonsault to the outside to wipe out O’Reilly. They traded counters and Lyndon hit a dragon suplex with a bridge for a 2 count. O’Reilly fired back and hit a snap German, axe kick, and a big forearm for a nearfall. They went to a crazy exchange with O’Reilly finally sending Lyndon down with a big kick to the back of his head for a 2 count. They ended up battling up top and Lyndon went for a reverse hurricanrana, but O’Reilly held on to the ropes. O’Reilly hit a tornado DDT and a brainbuster. Lyndon kicked out and O’Reilly immediately applied the cross arm breaker for the win. This was a good match with some really good exchanges, but the crowd atmosphere wasn’t all that great. (***1/4)

O’Reilly and Lyndon shook hands after the match. The announcers mentioned that was the first time Lyndon had tapped out in AAW.

ACH was shown cutting a promo earlier in the day. He talked about 2013 being a good year. He talked about winning the AAW Heritage Title. He mentioned that he had beaten great competition along the way. He said he had mutual respect for all of his opponents except for Matt Cage. ACH said he takes the sport very seriously. He said Cage runs his mouth too much. ACH said he was offended by Cage’s comments. He said tonight that Cage would walk out with his foot up his rear end. That was a good promo.

L.O.S.E.R.S. came out for their match and the fans went nuts.

(5) Keith Walker (w/Nikki & Kevin Harvey) beat L.O.S.E.R.S. (SeaMan & Moondog Bernard w/Arlo Presley). The announcers said the match would end in tears as Walker made his entrance. Walker no-sold attacks from SeaMan and Moondog. The fans booed as Walker posed in the ring. Walker continued to humble his opponents for a long period of time. Walker placed SeaMan up top, but Moondog hit a low blow and then hit the rocket launcher on Walker for a nearfall. The crowd went nuts, but Walker obliterated Seaman and Moondog with a pair of clotheslines for the double pin. This was fun while it lasted, especially when SeaMan and Moondog got their hope spot. (N/A)

Nikki chased L.O.S.E.R.S manager into the ring. Harvey bit his head before Walker nailed him with a choke slam.

The New Age Nation of Domination cut a promo backstage. Ricochet asked Page who they beat. Page said they were facing Young & Jacobs. Page said he was pumped to take Alexander to the finals of the Allegiance Tournament, so he took the best wrestler that wasn’t busy. Ricochet tried to decide whether or not that was an insult or not. Page mentioned several members of the Nation of Domination that were bust. The man operating the camera made an awkward comment about whether or not Owen was busy. They signed off doing the Nation of Domination pose.

(6) Matt Cage beat AAW Heritage Champion ACH to become the new AAW Heritage Champion. The announcers wondered if Cage had gotten under ACH’s skin with his comments before the match. Cage teased a clean break, but ended up slapping ACH across the face followed by the double bird. ACH did a back flip and came forward and slapped Cage across the face. Cage bailed to the floor and sold frustration. A fan in the crowd ended up holding Cage so ACH could chop him on the outside. Cage grabbed the ref and put him in front him. He then shoved the ref away and nailed ACH with a leg lariat. Cage jawed with the fans as he worked over ACH. Cage slapped the hat off the fan that had held him on the outside earlier. ACH tried to mount a comeback, but Cage sent him face first into the ringpost on the outside. The fans chanted for ACH as Cage continued to dominate the action. ACH finally caught Cage in the corner and drove him face first into the middle turnbuckle. ACH hit a kick from the floor followed by a slingshot ace crusher, but Cage kicked out and rolled to the apron. ACH fired up and hit a sick five through the ropes. He went for another dive, but Cage caught him with a hurricanrana inside the ring. Cage set up for a dive, but ACH ran into the ring and nailed him with a clothesline and both men were down.

Ach set up for the spirit bomb, but Cage blocked it. Cage hit a palm strike out of the DVD position, but ACH kicked out at the last second and the fans applauded. Cage went for a superplex a short time later, but ACH blocked it. ACH dumped him to the mat and went for a big frog splash, but Cage got out of the way and rolled him up while holding the tights for a 2 count. Cage peeled out imaginary money in the corner and set up for a code breaker, but ACH blocked it. They rolled around on the mat, but ACH caught Cage with a big palm strike. ACH eventually pulled the ropes on Cage, who spilled to the floor. Cage hit ACH with the title belt as the ref was trying to bring ACH back into the ring. Cage then hit a code breaker for the win. This was a good match and Cage does a good job of getting heat. Cage’s win sets him up for ACH’s babyface chase of the Heritage Title presumably. (***1/2)

The fans booed as Cage held the title up. The announcers said the wing on the title belt had gone into ACH’s eye.

L.O.S.E.R.S were shown backstage. Moondog said things didn’t go well. Their manager Arlo Presley tried to pump them up by saying they made the main show and lived to tell about it. SeaMan said they took their beating and would become stronger than ever. SeaMan said they would watch videos and train to become better. Presley said all three of them had taken a beating and it showed how tough they are to still be standing. He poked Moondog’s chest and he screamed in pain. Their manager said this isn’t the last time we would see them.

(7) Dan Lawrence & Knight Wagner & Markus Crane (w/Truth Martini) beat Marion Fontaine & MsChif & Tony Rican. Fontaine and Rican came out first and said the odds didn’t look good, but they had a partner. MsChif’s music played and she came out to join them. Crane wouldn’t shake hands with Fontaine at first, but he tricked him into a handshake with a wrestling hold. The comedy continued as the ref got involved and the babyfaces made the heels look like fools. I loved the dancing double duck of an attack from Lawrence and Crane from Fontaine and the ref. Dan Lawrence stomped on MsChif’s stomach, which is uncomfortable in hindsight. He then pretended to take a dump on her, but she got a rollup on him for a 2 count. Rican finally got a piece of Wagner. He was wearing street clothes because Wagner dumped his gear into the garbage earlier in the show. Wagner’s strategy didn’t appear to have much of an effect on Rican’s ability to pummel him. Rican chased Wagner to the outside, but a distraction from Martini and Crane allowed Wagner to toss him into the guardrail. Rican took a beating for a long period of time. Lawrence held Rican while Crane ran the ropes like an idiot before pulling up and slapping him across the face. That was funny.

Rican finally made the hot tag and Fontaine ran wild on Wagner. Fontaine went up top, but Lawrence and Crane tossed Wagner to the outside and ducked a splash from Fontaine. MsChif got the tag and got cut off, but Lawrence and Crane couldn’t decide what to do with her. Lawrence pretended to drop a deuce on MsChif, but she rolled out of the way and he ended up on top of Crane when Fontaine wiped him out. Fontaine cleared the ring and wiped out Crane and Lawrence with a cool senton to the outside. MsChif set up for a dive, but Wagner cut her off with a falcon arrow for the pin. Rican saved the pin and went after Wagner. Wagner tossed Rican out of the ring. Martini grabbed MsChif, but she ducked a punch from Wagner. Patera ran in and hit MsChif with a foreign object and Wagner covered her for the win. This had some good comedy spots, but it was a bit clunky at times. (*3/4)

Crane got on the mic after the match and bragged about their win. He said they’re on a roll. Crane said nobody could handle them. Ryan Boz’s music played and he came down to the ring. Crane ran away when Boz got into the ring. Boz then picked up Lawrence and hit the Boz driver.

Kevin Kellum interviewed Kevin Steen backstage. He blew wind at Kellum because he mentioned this was “Windy City Classic.” Steen said he got a title shot because he’s Kevin Steen. Steen said he had never seen Hollister wrestle. He said he had heard a lot of great things about Hollister, but he was too busy to watch him because he’s Kevin Steen. Steen said it’s rare for the champion to have something to prove to someone making his debut. Steen said he would walk out of this show as the champion so AAW would have to bring him back. He said he was sure Hollister was talented, but he wouldn’t walk out with the title because he’s Kevin Steen. Steen then got a wheelchair and said it would help Hollister leave the building before blowing wind in Kellum’s face.

St. Holmes interviewed Angelus Layne in the ring about her return to AAW. Layne said she had been out of action because of a concussion. She said she wasn’t medically cleared yet, but she would be back in AAW. Christian Rose came out and appeared to be upset. He said he was out here because he was an honest man. The crowd tried to drown him out with shut the f--- up chants. Rose said he had been told AAW didn’t have an opponent for him, but they had time for an overrated injury ridden ho-bag like Layne. Layne slapped Rose across the face. Layne said he wasn’t going to do what the fans thought he was going to do. He said he was going to handle it like an adult. Rose then nailed Layne with a forearm. He got a chair, but Marek Brave made the save. He challenged Rose to a match. Rose said no and walked towards the back. Brave said he wasn’t going anywhere and he would be at every show and he would find Rose and kick his a---. He told Rose he would leave if Rose pinned or submitted him tonight. He said he wanted the same commitment from Rose.

(8) Marek Brave beat Christian Rose in a Loser Leaves Berwyn match. Rose charged the ring and they went after each other. Rose got the upper hand on the outside and tried to bail to the back. Brave followed him and when they came back out Brave was attacking Rose with a kendo stick. Brave went for a big shot with the kendo stick, but Rose duck and he nearly hit the ref. Rose then nailed Rose with a big boot and went to work on him with the kendo stick. Rose hit a pair of sentons and covered Brave for a 2 count. Brave tried to mount a comeback, but Rose drove him down with a double boot stomp to counter a charge in the corner. Rose blocked a superkick and applied a Boston crab submission. He stomped on Brave’s fingers as he tried to crawl to the ropes. Brave finally managed to get the ropes to break the hold. Brave mounted a comeback and hit a spear for a 2 count. The crowd just doesn’t seem to care about this match. A chair came into play, but Rose countered Brave and dumped him face-first onto the chair. He followed up with a falcon arrow on the chair, but Brave kicked out. Rose went for a chair shot, but Brave grabbed his junk and then superkicked the chair into his face. Brave then wiped him out with a sick chair shot for the pin. This match dragged in spots because the fans didn’t seem into the action at times, but they picked things up nicely down the stretch. (**1/2)

The announcers said Rose had to leave the promotion.

Shane Hollister cut a promo backstage. Hollister said he knows all there is to know about Steen while Steen knows nothing about him. He said Steen had stepped on a landmine by coming to his home. Hollister said he would die for AAW. He said all the naysayers would change their minds when he beat Steen tonight. This was a good promo from Hollister.

Page and Ricochet came out together, but went backstage and came back out doing the NOD pose. The announcers said Young had to pick a new partner because Jacobs couldn’t compete in the Finals of the Allegiance Tournament. Young didn’t come out right away and the announcers said he was still looking for a partner. Young came out with Val Malone. Young got on the mic and said Jacobs had suffered a concussion and couldn’t compete. He said he had picked Jacobs was because as much as he hates him, he’s tough. He said he doesn’t trust anyone in the back, so he would have Val be his partner. Val sold surprise as ringside. Young told Val to just stay on the apron, but he would do it on his own. The announcers said if Young won, the win would count for Jacobs as well.

(9) Silas Young & Jimmy Jacobs (w/Val Malone) beat The New Age Nation of Domination (Ethan Page & Ricochet to win the Allegiance Tag Team Tournament. Page told Malone she has nice pie, which gave Young an opportunity to nail him with a series of chops. Young hit a suplex, but only got a one count. Page shoved Young off and ran over to his corner and tagged in Ricochet. Ricochet eventually cut off Young and nailed him with an axe kick. Ricochet and Page began tagging in and out to work over Young. Ricochet set up for the people’s SSP, but Young got his knees up. Ricochet managed to tag in Page before Young could recover and they continued to put a beating on him. Young ducked a kick from Ricochet and he connected with Page. Young then wiped out Ricochet with a big clothesline and everyone was down. Jacobs appeared in the entrance way and fought his way down to the ring. Several officials tried to hold him back, but Jacobs ran through them and got the hot tag.

Jacobs ran wild and wiped out Page and then Ricochet with a pair of dives. Jacobs hit the contra code on Ricochet. He then took down Page with a spinning head scissors before nailing him with the contra code, but Page kicked out. Jacobs got the end time on Page, but Page managed to toss him over his head to the mat. The action continued at a rapid pace and Young ended a crazy sequence with a huge clothesline on Ricochet and the fans went nuts. What a sweet sequence that was! Ricochet tossed Young to the floor and nailed him with a huge flip dive. Page hit an ace crusher on Jacobs and Ricochet followed up with a SSP for a nearfall. Ricochet went up top, but Young ran over and nailed him with a top rope German for a nearfall and the fans went crazy again. Young went for his finish on Ricochet, but Page nailed him with a kick to the head. Ricochet nailed Jacobs with a big kick to the head a short time later and Jacobs sold his head. Ricochet went up top, but Jacobs tried to cut him off. Ricochet hit him with a kick to the head, but Jacobs popped up and knocked out his legs from under him. Jacobs went for a super contra code, but Ricochet blocked it. Jacobs bit at Ricochet’s head and hit a super contra code for the win. Holy crap that was great! This made for a good story with Young going at it alone and then the crowd going nuts when Jacobs came out and both teams went back and forth. What a match. (****)

The fans chanted for Jacobs after the match. The ref came to the ring and gave the Allegiance Tournament Trophy to Jacobs and Young. Jacobs and Young held the trophy up for the crowd and got another round of applause. Young said he wanted Jacobs to be his partner so he could get his hands on Eddie Kingston again. Young said he didn’t want a title match. He said he just wants Eddie Kingston in the ring so he can kick his a--. Young then gave Jacobs the trophy to take home with him. “You got a concussion kid. Take the trophy home.”

Page and Ricochet recovered and the fans applauded. The fans chanted thank you nation at Page and Ricochet. Page yelled at Ricochet and asked if he was going to screw him over like Rock did Farooq. The crowd wanted them to hug it out. Ricochet was about to leave, but Page wanted to do one last pose. Page asked the fans to sing the NOD theme. The fans then sang and did the music for the NOD theme as Page and Ricochet did their pose. Page then hit the Rock bottom on Ricochet and did a Rock pose on the turnbuckles as the crowd booed.

Cage cut a promo backstage. He talked about how his goal was to be the Heritage Champion and take the gold from ACH. He said ACH had been a great champion, but he didn’t compare to him. He said people complained about his big money contract, but he delivered. Cage said he was going to celebrate. Cage said with the money comes respect and that’s what he’s in the game for. This was a solid promo.

(10) Kevin Steen beat AAW Champion Shane Hollister (w/Scarlett & Marcus Crane) to become the new AAW Champion. The announcers talked about Lou Thesz banging rats back in his day. One of them said the rats had big bushes. Steen went to the outside and nailed Crane with a big forearm. Hollister then hit Steen with a dive through the ropes and they began brawling at ringside. Steen hit some huge chops on the outside and Hollister’s chest was visibly red. Steen crotched Hollister on the ringpost and some fans chanted thank you Kevin. Scarlett interfered and Steen blew snot on her. Hollister then slipped going for a springboard kick on the apron, so he ended up hitting a DDT on the apron instead a short time later. That was awkward. Hollister tossed Steen back into the ring and began working him over. Hollister went up top again and slipped before steadying himself and hitting an awkward missile dropkick. Scarlett tried to console Hollister in the corner and short time later and Steen obliterated him with a cannon ball. Both men were slow to recover. Hollister got the upper hand with a series of kicks and strikes, but Steen ducked a charge off the ropes and hit a pair of big sentons for a 2 count.

Hollister fired back and hit a head stomp for a 2 count. Hollister put Steen up top. Steen ended up biting Hollister’s head before dumping him down to the mat. Steen then hit a swanton bomb for a 2 count. Steen went for the package piledriver, but Hollister slipped out, slowly climbed the ropes and hit a tornado DDT for a 2 count. Hollister then hit another kick to the head for a 2 count. Hollister went up top, but missed a double stomp. Steen hit a pop-up powerbomb and went for the package piledriver, but Scarlett ran into the ring. Steen tried to hit a package piledriver on Scarlett, but Hollister nailed him with a superkick. Steen spilled to the outside, but managed to catch Hollister on his shoulders when he went for a dive. Steen launched Hollister into the ringpost and then hit an apron bomb. He then rolled Hollister into the ring and covered him for a nearfall. Steen went for his finish again, but Crane distracted him. Hollister hit a low blow and went for shug’s last gift, but Steen blocked it. Steen then hit a sleeper suplex and the package piledriver for the win. Hollister was off in some spots, but other than that, this was a fun back and forth contest. It was definitely a big surprise to the crowd that Steen won and they reacted huge to his victory. (***1/2)

The fans went nuts for Steen’s win after the match ended. Phil Colvin went crazy on commentary. The announcers mentioned they thought Steen was only in for one show. Steen celebrated with the title as the fans continued to applaud.

ACH cut a promo backstage talking about his loss to Cage. He said he lost because Cage is as good as he hypes himself up to be. ACH said the month of November hasn’t been in his favor. He said on Nov. 3 he had found out his grandmother had passed away, which broke him. The next week he suffered a knee injury and he feels like he hasn’t been the same. He said he also had personal issues that were breaking him. ACH says he does this every day for a living. ACH says he doesn’t come to life on the weekend after training all week. ACH said he needed time to find his motivation and said he would take December off and go back to Texas. He said he was going to go find his motivation. He said this is only the beginning for him.

Dr. Keith tried to interview Christian Rose in the parking lot. He said it wasn’t fair that he worked years to get to AAW and in 3 seconds it was taken away from him. He promised to be back again one day.

Lyndon and Fontaine talked about being eliminated from the Allegiance tournament. They talked about how they had both lost on the show. Fontaine said they needed to recharge. Fontaine said they had to right the wrong after losing to Monster Mafia in the tournament. Lyndon said they would have one more match to prove who the best team is in AAW.

Truth cut a promo with Wagner and Patera. Martini said there would be a fans bring the weapons match with Wagner & MsChif taking on Rican & MsChif. Martini said the HOT would bring pain and destruction next month.

Kevin Harvey and Nikki cut a promo backstage. Harvey said he had gotten rid of Aaron Cannon and Darin Corbin. He talked about Boz being back. He said he had one piece of unfinished business with Michael Elgin. He said the match should have been finished when Boz took a vicious kick to the head. He said he was happy because Boz was so happy.

Ethan Page cut a promo backstage. He said he was frustrated with his loss in the finals of the Allegiance Tournament. He said Ricochet had let him down, but Josh Alexander wouldn’t have let him down. He said that’s why he laid Ricochet out. Page said the Monster Mafia would terrorize AAW when Alexander came back.

Young cut a promo backstage. He said he came into the show with a plan. He said he and Jacobs both came together because they both had something that they wanted. He said he just wanted a match with Kingston. He said he wants Kingston in a fight to show him what happens when he messes with a man and his family. He said Eddie could think he’s in control, but he’s not. He said Kingston was getting in the ring with him under any stipulation and he would end him. He said he didn’t want to beat Kingston in a wrestling match, but he wants to beat him in life.

Steen cut a promo talking about winning the AAW Championship. Steen said AAW was lucky to have him coming back. He said Hollister wasn’t so lucky. He said he would offer Hollister a rematch. Steen said he would go home now where it’s not so windy, but it’s cold as hell there. He said the belt would keep him warm.

Hollister cut a promo backstage. He said he didn’t expect to lose the match. He said he would learn from this situation. He said it’s about how many times you get knocked down and keep moving forward. Hollister said next month he would take his AAW Championship back.

Kingston cut a promo at home. He said he was suspended. Kingston said he was done with Young because he beat him and took out his woman. Kingston said he wouldn’t be at the show in November, but he would be back in December. Kingston talked about how Young cost him the AAW Championship. He promised that he would get his hands on Val Malone next month for Young costing him the title. He also promised to come after Hollister as well, which was awkward since Steen is now the champion.

Overall score: (7.5) – This was a good show and AAW drew their largest crowd in history. It probably didn’t hurt that Kevin Steen was brought in for the first time to face AAW Champion Shane Hollister. The problem with the show was that it dragged at times and it felt like a lot of matches could have been cut to make it a tighter show.

The show started off a good stretch of matches. I really enjoyed the pairing of Page and Ricochet as the New Age Nation of Domination. Page has a lot of charisma and comes across like a real jerk in the ring. He’s improved his game since the first time I saw him earlier in the year.

The second half of the show dragged a bit with the Keith Walker squash, Six Person Tag, and Rose-Brave taking up a lot of time and not being all that compelling to watch. ACH-Cage had a good match with Cage using underhanded tactics to win the AAW Heritage Championship to bring things up a bit during an otherwise dull stretch of action.

The highlight of the show was the Allegiance Tournament final with Jacobs making his surprise return to the ring after suffering a concussion during his semi-final round match teaming with Young against Irish Airborne. The crowd exploded for Jacobs’s getting the hot tag and running wild after Young had taken a sustained beating. Young and Jacobs winning the match set the crowd on fire.

The main event was solid, although Hollister seemed off his game at times. Things heated up down the stretch with Steen overcoming outside interference to beat Hollister. The reaction of the crowd to Steen winning the AAW Championship was a great moment.

AAW does a lot of things right. I like how promos air during and after the show. The announcing and introductory video give AAW a unique feel and you know you’re not just watching another independent show, as AAW has a distinct brand identity. One of the things that holds the presentation back is that the crowd audio seemed muffled most of the night unless the crowd exploded like they did for Jacobs running down to the ring during the Allegiance Finals or Steen’s win. It would be a plus if AAW could find a way to capture the crowd noise better. There wasn’t a blow away MOTYC on this show, but AAW does a good job of making nearly everything you’re watching seem important and the huge crowd they drew for this show is a testament to the dramatic improvement of their overall product in 2013.

You can purchase AAW “Windy City Classic IX” on DVD by clicking HERE or by visiting SmartMarkVideo.com. For a VOD version of this release, Visit SMVOD.com.

***

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