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Went to the ACW 100th show tonight in Austin. Finally met Biss face to face.
Good show. Very hot crowd who never tired, even after 5 hours (yes, FIVE hours). Every wrestler on the card was over, pretty much the only time i've ever seen that in my life. ACW clearly has a very loyal fan base.
If you know anything about Austin TX, the following statement will make a ton of sense to you: ACW is the perfect wrestling promotion for Austin. Fits the local culture to a tee. Lots of artsy/bohemian types in the crowd, unlike any wrestling crowd i've ever seen. Just a real fun atmosphere, full of people who clearly respect the art of pro wrestling, and suspend disbelief, but also realize that this is just fake fighting so not take it so seriously.
I was an ECW regular in it's heyday, same for ROH during its peak. I've been to WWE tv tapings and PPV's, lucha shows, CHIKARA which has great fans, and i've been among the geeks that go to niche shows like DGUSA. I've easily been to hundreds of wrestling shows in my life, ranging from indie shows that had a half dozen people in the crowd, to gigantic WWE ppv productions. And I can say with the utmost confidence, that this ACW show had the best crowd i've ever been a a part of. How they stayed hot for five hours, for an (semi) outdoor show in Texas summer heat, is beyond my understanding. The product was *SUPER* over from pre show openers to the main event.
The venue was a bar in downtown Austin called The Mohawk. Awesome setting. The ring is exposed to the elements. There is a balcony that surrounds the ring, so fans are both above ring level, and also under the balcony at ring level. On one side of the ring is a stage, where normally bands play. It's pretty intimate, and thanks to the balconies, the sound comes from all sides and all angles. Wrestlers enter from the balcony area, emerging from a staircase.
The whole thing has an ECW feel. Rabid fans, gritty setting, wrestlers of varying levels of experience all comfortable in their own skin, working a bunch of different styles, coming to the ring to loud rock songs that everybody instantly recognizes.
Robert (RD) Evans had a great modern indy style match against Bolt Brady. Brady is a tall, thin, wiry black dude who is super athletic, if not a little green (think Ricochet or AR Fox two years ago, but with professional looking gear). Evans is "The Barrister" RD Evans of ECW, and Archibald Peck/Mixed Martial Archie of CHIKARA. You can instantly see whey Evans gets booked everywhere. His charisma is at a level above everybody else in this promotion. His facial expressions and mannerisms are elite level. He never wrestles for ROH, and does comedy in CHIKARA, so this was really the first time i've seen him work a long match. And he;s good. Really carried things versus the younger opponent.
There was a four way tag team ladder match that had too many sick spots to describe. A train wreck, in a good way. They probably did too much, but the corwd ate it up and it was the most over match of the night, so what do I know? One of the ladders broke early on, leading to some dangerous looking spots that had me shitting myself. The stars were Jason Silver, who I believe did a few EVOLVE shots this year, and "Centerfold" Palmer, who also impressed me in a singles match earlier in the show with his charisma and solid work.
"Showtime" Summers, an old school ECW era bad ass tatooed brawler, the kind of guy who looks like he could genuinely beat anybody's ass in the building, had a crazy ECW style brawl/fight with the 6'7" Killah Cash. Cinder blocks, blood, chairs.
ACW is the home of the American Joshi tournament, so you know they push the ladies. Two women's matches, including a hot four way that was a little sloppy at times, but very well booked. They did the old Heyman Special, where the champ was eliminated quickly, which the crown ate up because they knew they were gettting a title switch. Porche Perez is a 5'2" package of charisma, and Athena is a fantastic female athlete.
ACH defended his ACW Title against the enormous Jakus Plisken. I had my doubts that a small flier could have a good match against a large jacked up dude like Plisken, but ACH has come a long way from the spotfest stuff I saw him do in the past. I was impressed with his selling and they did a lot of great big man/little man stuff that was not typical or cliche. Plisken can move and is a good worker for such a big muscular guy. This was a very good match that told a good story.
Some of the wrestlers came off a little indyriffic, but they were all having fun and they were all over so that's all that matters. And none of them were embarrassing themselves. They could all work, which is all that really matters. Aside from some indie guy gear here & there, nobody was groan inducing.
I had a great time. ACW is a cool little promotion, tailor made for Austin, and probably a better tribute to the old ECW than any of the east coast copycats that have been trying to recreate ECW for the last decade. The entire show was very well booked, great attention to detail and everything made sense.
sidenote-I go into the bar area to introduce myself to Biss, and they have a Misawa vs Kawada match playing on the flat screen. I popped.
Good show. Very hot crowd who never tired, even after 5 hours (yes, FIVE hours). Every wrestler on the card was over, pretty much the only time i've ever seen that in my life. ACW clearly has a very loyal fan base.
If you know anything about Austin TX, the following statement will make a ton of sense to you: ACW is the perfect wrestling promotion for Austin. Fits the local culture to a tee. Lots of artsy/bohemian types in the crowd, unlike any wrestling crowd i've ever seen. Just a real fun atmosphere, full of people who clearly respect the art of pro wrestling, and suspend disbelief, but also realize that this is just fake fighting so not take it so seriously.
I was an ECW regular in it's heyday, same for ROH during its peak. I've been to WWE tv tapings and PPV's, lucha shows, CHIKARA which has great fans, and i've been among the geeks that go to niche shows like DGUSA. I've easily been to hundreds of wrestling shows in my life, ranging from indie shows that had a half dozen people in the crowd, to gigantic WWE ppv productions. And I can say with the utmost confidence, that this ACW show had the best crowd i've ever been a a part of. How they stayed hot for five hours, for an (semi) outdoor show in Texas summer heat, is beyond my understanding. The product was *SUPER* over from pre show openers to the main event.
The venue was a bar in downtown Austin called The Mohawk. Awesome setting. The ring is exposed to the elements. There is a balcony that surrounds the ring, so fans are both above ring level, and also under the balcony at ring level. On one side of the ring is a stage, where normally bands play. It's pretty intimate, and thanks to the balconies, the sound comes from all sides and all angles. Wrestlers enter from the balcony area, emerging from a staircase.
The whole thing has an ECW feel. Rabid fans, gritty setting, wrestlers of varying levels of experience all comfortable in their own skin, working a bunch of different styles, coming to the ring to loud rock songs that everybody instantly recognizes.
Robert (RD) Evans had a great modern indy style match against Bolt Brady. Brady is a tall, thin, wiry black dude who is super athletic, if not a little green (think Ricochet or AR Fox two years ago, but with professional looking gear). Evans is "The Barrister" RD Evans of ECW, and Archibald Peck/Mixed Martial Archie of CHIKARA. You can instantly see whey Evans gets booked everywhere. His charisma is at a level above everybody else in this promotion. His facial expressions and mannerisms are elite level. He never wrestles for ROH, and does comedy in CHIKARA, so this was really the first time i've seen him work a long match. And he;s good. Really carried things versus the younger opponent.
There was a four way tag team ladder match that had too many sick spots to describe. A train wreck, in a good way. They probably did too much, but the corwd ate it up and it was the most over match of the night, so what do I know? One of the ladders broke early on, leading to some dangerous looking spots that had me shitting myself. The stars were Jason Silver, who I believe did a few EVOLVE shots this year, and "Centerfold" Palmer, who also impressed me in a singles match earlier in the show with his charisma and solid work.
"Showtime" Summers, an old school ECW era bad ass tatooed brawler, the kind of guy who looks like he could genuinely beat anybody's ass in the building, had a crazy ECW style brawl/fight with the 6'7" Killah Cash. Cinder blocks, blood, chairs.
ACW is the home of the American Joshi tournament, so you know they push the ladies. Two women's matches, including a hot four way that was a little sloppy at times, but very well booked. They did the old Heyman Special, where the champ was eliminated quickly, which the crown ate up because they knew they were gettting a title switch. Porche Perez is a 5'2" package of charisma, and Athena is a fantastic female athlete.
ACH defended his ACW Title against the enormous Jakus Plisken. I had my doubts that a small flier could have a good match against a large jacked up dude like Plisken, but ACH has come a long way from the spotfest stuff I saw him do in the past. I was impressed with his selling and they did a lot of great big man/little man stuff that was not typical or cliche. Plisken can move and is a good worker for such a big muscular guy. This was a very good match that told a good story.
Some of the wrestlers came off a little indyriffic, but they were all having fun and they were all over so that's all that matters. And none of them were embarrassing themselves. They could all work, which is all that really matters. Aside from some indie guy gear here & there, nobody was groan inducing.
I had a great time. ACW is a cool little promotion, tailor made for Austin, and probably a better tribute to the old ECW than any of the east coast copycats that have been trying to recreate ECW for the last decade. The entire show was very well booked, great attention to detail and everything made sense.
sidenote-I go into the bar area to introduce myself to Biss, and they have a Misawa vs Kawada match playing on the flat screen. I popped.
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