Hey, I just wrote this, and this is crazy, but here's TH's format, so read this maybe.
Highlights:
General Observations:
Match of the Night: Allysin Kay (c) vs. Mia Yim, AIW Women's Championship Steel Cage Match - This match felt like a title match, a feud blowoff, and a steel cage grudge all in the same fell swoop. For an issue that started over a no-show and an accidental kick to the face, both Yim and Kay turned it into one of the best parts of 2012 in any promotion, in large part to the three crazy matches they put on. This one was literally the crowning achievement, mainly because it ended on the crown of said cage.
But before we get to what might be my favorite finish of the year (or maybe even the last two or even three years), the meat of this match provided everything I could have wanted out of two wrestlers who ostensibly loathed each other in the main event of what was the biggest show for the Girls' Night Out brand to date. They scrapped and scraped. Yim had a thirst to close the door on Kay as Champion and rival by punishing her in spots where she refused to escape when she could and where she hung Kay upside down from the top of the case. That interplayed well with Kay's rough exterior flaking off when she figured that not only her title was in jeopardy, but her health as well. I didn't expect to see her try to escape through the door, but when she tried, it worked.
That all led to the finish. There weren't a whole lot of escape attempts from the top, so it made Kay's application of the triangle choke not only cool-looking, but incredibly smart. Why spend another 20 minutes jousting with Yim atop the pink fence structure when she could just grab her by surprise and tap her out in the most precarious spot possible. It was sublime in its brilliance.
Overall Thoughts: I got worried when the third match ended and I had yet to feel something visceral. Athena/Stephie was okay, but I've seen better from both, especially the former. There's no reason why Trash Cassidy should even be thought of as a booking option, and while the tag match had a decent story, for whatever reason, it felt flat in execution. I hate having to turn in a bad review for a company that normally delivers on its product. I want to like things.
Thankfully, starting with Cruise/Lee, the show really started to pick up and build to a crescendo that featured one of the best main event matches all year long. Basically, the final four matches all were displays of how good certain genres within wrestling could work. Dobson/Naughty was a fantastic hardcore match. Scott/Rush hit a lot of great comedic notes. SDR/Hatred was the joshi/puro influenced strong-style match we all came to expect when it was announced. Finally, Kay/Yim was that visceral, passionate main event style feud blowoff that shows why it has attained top status. Highly recommend getting this on VOD.
Highlights:
- Despite interference from Sassy Stephie's manager, Chest Flexor, Athena was able to score the win in the opening match with the O-Face.
- Thunderkitty defeated Trash Cassidy with a roll-up after Cassidy hit the ropes with a chair, causing it to bounce back and knock herself out.
- Nikki St. John and Annie Social defeated the dysfunctional team of Angel Dust and Miss Heidi, as St. John pinned Dust with a roll-up. After the match, Miss Heidi turned on Dust and joined the other team under the tutelage of Sammie Geodollno.
- Melanie Cruise missed her guillotine leg drop from the top, allowing Kimber Lee to score the upset roll-up pinfall.
- With the ring area littered in thumbtacks, Crazy Mary Dobson defeated Lil Naughty with a standing somersault senton.
- Veda Scott scored a surprise inside cradle victory over Courtney Rush, thanks to her manager/teammate Gregory Iron's willingness to take a punch or two from Rush on the outside.
- In a brutal contest of attrition, Hailey Hatred pulled out victory over Sara del Rey with an Everest German suplex and her signature running Liger Bomb.
- Allysin Kay retained her AIW Women's Championship by tapping Mia Yim with the triangle choke while hanging off the side of the steel cage.
General Observations:
- There was a promo montage before the show began. Most notably was Sara del Rey telling Hailey Hatred "You're undefeated in AIW? I'm undefeated IN LIFE!" I'm not sure there is a verbal comeback to that one.
- Athena easily got the crowd clapping for her before the match, and really, it wasn't a shock given she made it to this GNO thanks to a fan Kickstarter effort.
- Sassy Stephie extended a hand to Athena, and of course Athena fell for it. The oldest trick in the book. Dark Helmet is right. "Now you see evil will always triumph, because good is dumb."
- The opening match really was disappointing, mainly because Stephie looked a bit rusty or off here, but I'll be damned if her bridging Olympic Slam wasn't the prettiest darn thing in this match until...
- ...well, the O-Face is pretty much the prettiest darn move in professional wrestling.
- Thunderkitty probably had the best gimmick of the night. I love anachronisms to begin with, but there's a certain fascination with a wrestler stuck in the VERY early days of pro wrestling. I dunno, I think if she's in there with a good opponent, she might be able to do more than have to lug dead weight around, y'know?
- Too bad Trash Cassidy was probably the worst goddamn wrestler I've seen all year. Either that was the worst sandbag I've ever seen, or she should go back to wrestling school and/or the gym, pronto. Her cardio looked awful. I know mine isn't great either, but I'm not trying to wrestle now, am I?
- Miss Heidi tagging out of the match almost immediately after she went in was pretty amusing. Her total ring time was probably less than a minute, and dumb me didn't see the turn after the match coming until it came. Duh.
- I feared the worst with Annie Social in this match, but she actually was not terrible here. Thank God, because if she had her lead boots on in this match following having to watch Trash Cassidy? I might have fallen asleep.
- It was jarring to see how much larger Cruise was than Lee in the fourth match. I'm really not used to seeing tall women, and Lee is especially tiny in stature.
- I hate the idea of gender specific moves that don't have to do with the victim's genitalia, but I do love me a good old-fashioned head pound on the mat. I wish more men would do that, actually.
- Lee actually busted out a pretty nice Koji clutch-looking move on Cruise in the ropes. Sometimes, I wish the ropes weren't a break zone, because I love seeing submission moves tangled up in them.
- Lil Naughty busted out the thumbtacks early in the Pondo Rules match. I was a bit surprised that the tacks were the only weapon busted out, but both competitors were so creative in how they were used. Naughty used one to slice open Dobson's forehead, while Dobson shoved a bunch in Naughty's mouth and then punched her in the mush. It was the most artistic hardcore match I've seen in awhile.
- Dobson is known more as a hardcore wrestler, but she showed some high-flying chops with a top rope rana and then her finish, the somersault senton.
- On her way to the ring, Scott pulled a thumbtack out of her boot and started yelling at the camera in her trademarked, bratty, pouty-faced style.
- Gregory Iron, inspirational good guy overcoming a disability in most places, got on the mic and basically told the crowd to stop JOing over the women wrestling for them. I'd call it very presumptuous, but I'd rather not get into that line of thinking.
- Before the match between Scott and Rush began, the Winnipegger pulled out a "Super Legal Waiver" and had the ring announcer read it. "I, (Veda Scott), pinkie swear not to sue (Courtney Rush) if she suplexes my brains out. (Which she will)" I'm not entirely sure pinkie swears are binding legal contracts in the state of Ohio, but they should be.
- Scott really upped her offensive game for this match, punctuated by hitting a Codebreaker on Rush through the ropes. She's made major strides in her one year in the biz, I have to say.
- Rush broke out an EVEREST version of her Skyward Suplex, which looked even more bad-ass than any variation of the Olympic Slam Kurt Angle ever did.
- del Rey really liked putting people into the turnbuckle before she went to be all trainer and shit down in Florida, didn't she? She countered a Hatred corner charge with a drop toe hold into the corner and did her signature roll up hard into the turnbuckle in this match.
- Hatred dumped del Rey back into the ring after a tussle on the outside and walked back to do a running strike of some sort. As she came back, she clapped sarcastically and smiled slyly into the camera. I thought it was fuckin' awesome.
- del Rey had Hatred on her knees (GET THE THOUGHTS OUT OF YOUR HEADS, PERVS), and hit her with two axe kicks. Hatred, after the second one, let out a war cry like she was about to hulk up. Then del Rey booted her again, and she fell flat. That was probably my favorite sequence of the match.
- What did Kay do upon entering the arena for the main event? Oh nothing, just pulled out a GODDAMN MACHETE.
- Yeah, so Yim hung Kay from the tree of woe... from the top of the cage. I don't care what anyone says, there's no fucking way that she didn't have at least marks on the backs of her thighs from the prongs coming off the top of the cage.
- Just putting it out there, but if we're talking about a clean finish that protected both wrestlers but still made the victor look like a supreme bad-ass, nothing comes close to having Kay choke out Yim hanging from the cage in the triangle. Nothing. Outstanding end to an outstanding feud.
Match of the Night: Allysin Kay (c) vs. Mia Yim, AIW Women's Championship Steel Cage Match - This match felt like a title match, a feud blowoff, and a steel cage grudge all in the same fell swoop. For an issue that started over a no-show and an accidental kick to the face, both Yim and Kay turned it into one of the best parts of 2012 in any promotion, in large part to the three crazy matches they put on. This one was literally the crowning achievement, mainly because it ended on the crown of said cage.
But before we get to what might be my favorite finish of the year (or maybe even the last two or even three years), the meat of this match provided everything I could have wanted out of two wrestlers who ostensibly loathed each other in the main event of what was the biggest show for the Girls' Night Out brand to date. They scrapped and scraped. Yim had a thirst to close the door on Kay as Champion and rival by punishing her in spots where she refused to escape when she could and where she hung Kay upside down from the top of the case. That interplayed well with Kay's rough exterior flaking off when she figured that not only her title was in jeopardy, but her health as well. I didn't expect to see her try to escape through the door, but when she tried, it worked.
That all led to the finish. There weren't a whole lot of escape attempts from the top, so it made Kay's application of the triangle choke not only cool-looking, but incredibly smart. Why spend another 20 minutes jousting with Yim atop the pink fence structure when she could just grab her by surprise and tap her out in the most precarious spot possible. It was sublime in its brilliance.
Overall Thoughts: I got worried when the third match ended and I had yet to feel something visceral. Athena/Stephie was okay, but I've seen better from both, especially the former. There's no reason why Trash Cassidy should even be thought of as a booking option, and while the tag match had a decent story, for whatever reason, it felt flat in execution. I hate having to turn in a bad review for a company that normally delivers on its product. I want to like things.
Thankfully, starting with Cruise/Lee, the show really started to pick up and build to a crescendo that featured one of the best main event matches all year long. Basically, the final four matches all were displays of how good certain genres within wrestling could work. Dobson/Naughty was a fantastic hardcore match. Scott/Rush hit a lot of great comedic notes. SDR/Hatred was the joshi/puro influenced strong-style match we all came to expect when it was announced. Finally, Kay/Yim was that visceral, passionate main event style feud blowoff that shows why it has attained top status. Highly recommend getting this on VOD.
