Photo Courtesy of Corey Tatum From Larry Goodman: AWE hit the mark with their their first event for 2017. The company put thei...
 |
| Photo Courtesy of Corey Tatum |
AWE hit the mark with their their first event for 2017. The company put their best foot forward at the Museum Bar, drawing 160 in what might be considered an unsavory part of Atlanta. I loved the feel of the place and absolutely hope AWE should run there again. The Kool-Aid drinkers have proven they will follow their beloved promotion to the end of the earth, so why not the Museum Bar? The venue is spacious and intimate at the same time.
More than most AWE events, Da Art of Storytelling Part Five struck a balance between story and action. To me, it was more about the big picture more than any particular match. T With a running time of a little over three hours, the show moved along at a brisk clip. Burn out wasn't a factor as it ofen has been with AWE shows. The crowd had plenty left in the tank for the for the main event and closing angle that reignited the Murder One/Homicide feud from over a decade ago.
A'gau fired the opening verbal salvo of the evening in refernce to his decimation on ROH TV, stating the booker had to be delirious to book him that way. A'gau will be the featured guest on Tipping Point tomorrow night at 7pm.
Aaron Epic threatened to beat the ass of AWE President/head referee Stan Robinson if he didn't get a match. Robinson refuses to verbally communicate with talent leaving it to promoter/emcee Josh Wheeler to pass the message to Epic.
(2) Aaron Epic defeated Adrian Armour & Iceberg via DQ in 6 minutes if you call this winning. Epic was booked strong in a handicap situation until a posse of Hierarchy minions (Slade Porter, Aria Blake, Snoop & Trey) jumped all over him. Murder One came to the ring to direct traffic. Berg, who didn't factor into the match due to a nagging foot injury, delivered the coup de grace with a Ground Zero Splash.
The brains behind AWE appeared to be hell bent on getting sympathy for the biggest douche in wrestling, and did a damn fine job of it.
B-Team (Porter & Blake) were interjected into the following intergender match.
(3) Booty Call (Joey Ryan & Kiera Hogan) defeated Tripp Cassidy & Priscilla Kelly and B-Team (Slade Porter & Aria Blake) in 14:58. Comedy AWE style. Boatloads of dick spots and swapping of saliva. Cassidy and Porter kissed, as did Kelly and Blake. Ryan gave Blake a boob plex, and did the dreaded power of the penis spot with Kelly. For the finish, Ryan pulled the blow pop out of his groin, stuck it in Kelly's mouth, and Hogan kicked her face off.
(4) Martin Stone defeated Homicide to retain the GWC Championship in 15 minutes. Homicide had Stone in the STF when he got distracted by the looming presence of Murder One. Stone stunned Homicide for the win. Match was OK. There were better choices of opponent to put Stone in the best light in his first GWC title defense but that wasn't the point.
Stone said AWE clearly needed to bring Homicide back and said his sights were set on David Starr at Homegrown (May 1 at Opera Night Club).
(5) Chris Mayne won Adrenaline Challenge Rumble in 16:35. Match moved at a frenetic pace with a new wrestler entering every 15 seconds. Not sure what an established AWE stars like William Huckaby and Owen Knight did to get stuck in this deal but there they were was along with Dale Patrick, Kevin Park, Jaden Newman, Young Hierarchy (Snoop & Trey), "Raw Dawg" (didn't catch his name), the Heisenberg Twins of Atlanta Underground infamy, Ashton Starr (biggest entrance pop), Sylar Cross (looks like a different guy with the incredible weight loss), Luscious Laron/Ronnie Dazzle, O'Shay (the Afro-American half of Dogs of War), Jake Parnell, "Freshest Prince", and Calvin Tinkman (a superheavyweight, modern day Ray Candy in tiny trunks). The big men (Tinkman, Huckaby and Cross) helped each other to the exit leaving Starr, Knight, Mayne and Patricks as the final four. Patricks eliminated Starr with a sick piledriver on the apron. Mayne dumped Knight much to the fans' dismay. Patrick went for a repeat performance with the piledriver but Mayne planted him on the apron to win the match. What could have been a train wreck turned out to be way more entertaining than it had any right to be.
Wheeler called Ethan Case to the ring. Case, whose foot had been in a cast since breaking it at Show of the Year, vowed to be back in the ring at Homegrown.
(6) Gary Jay defeated former GWC Champion Jimmy Rave in 15:04. Jay kicked out of the smallest package in wrestling and blasted Rave with a jawbreaker for to extend his AWE losing streak to three consecutive matches. No doubt Jay is fearless and busts his ass every time out, but his look and work are too indyriffic for me to buy him as a major player.
(7) Chris Crunk defeated Ken Lee in a Loser Leaves Atlanta match in 13:32. The former partners gave this match everything they had. They beat the stew out of each other. Lee was cut around the right eye. As good as the match was, it would have been that much better if they had slowed down and sold larger to build drama. They kicked of moves that would have killed mortal men dead. Lee got a "holy shit" cyhant with a Spanish Fly. Crunk pinned Lee after dropping him on his head with four, count 'em, four front facelock brainbusters. Chants of "both these guys" and "that was awesome".
Mutal respect abounded in the emotional postmatch scene. Lee said his goodbyes to AWE, thanking Wheeler for the opportunity.
(8) The Carnies (Kerry Awful & Nick Iggy) defeated The Kraken (Murder One & Chip Day) via referee stoppage to retain the GCW tag titles in 9:50. Loved Iggy's top hat. This was an excellent main event and another chapter in the fierce war being waged by these two teams. Day got a "that's that weak shit" chant when one of his chops fell flat. They did dueling piledriver spot - Day on Awful and Iggy on Murder. Finish was tremendous. Awful locked Day in the Boston crab while Iggy kicked and punched Day's head until he passed out.
Things got pretty wild after the match. Homicide jumped Murder. A massive pull apart ensued with Homicide cursing Murder up one side and down the other in an attempt to lure him back into the ring.
