As I have said before, not only am I a fan of mainstream wrestling such as WWE and TNA but I also enjoy the independent wrestling scene very much. I feel that the independent wrestling scene is the glue that holds pro wrestling together because there is no other place to truly lean your craft on your way to the big time. Sometimes when you only attend shows in your own area, you forget about the fact that there are local shows going on all across the country. This weekend, I had the pleasure of checking out a DVD from the good folks at All American Pro Wrestling based out of the southern Illinois area. This company has gotten excellent reviews from the folks of Pro Wrestling Illustrated and I know once I put this DVD in that I would be in for a real treat as the Illinois area has always played host to some excellent wrestlers such as CM Punk, Colt Cabana, and “Scrap Iron” Adam Pearce in the past few years. When I looked on the AAPW website to get a bit more information on the company, what I liked was the fact that not only have had some great names stop through for shows, but that the shows are reasonably priced and even allows military veterans to get in their shows at no cost all! This show was AAPW’s big anniversary show known as “Zero Hour”. And the most admirable thing here is the fact that money from the show is being donated to the American Cancer Society giving fans great wrestling to go along with a great cause. The show started off with an excellent match featuring KC Jackson taking on Joey O’Riley for the AAPW No Limits Title, and it was good to see both guys give their all in order to be crowned champion. While O’Riley would come out the victor, he made sure to show great sportsmanship afterwards in shaking his opponent’s hand before celebrating his victory. This is how you start off a show and get the fans interested right away, and it set the tone for what is an excellent show. This event also brought back the lost art of the wrestling manager with J. Wellington Beauregard. He reminds me a little bit of Jim Cornette with a little bit of Brother Love sprinkled in, and that’s a good thing. I also enjoyed seeing the women compete, and I will say that even as guy who is 6’3 280 pounds I am not sure if I would want to go one on one with The Great Cheyenne! And I think that Angelus Layne has an excellent combination of beauty and skill in the ring. This show also had an excellent battle royal featuring all sorts of excellent wrestlers with unique gimmicks! And I will even say that the AAPW Tag Team Title match between Matt Cage & Christian Rose vs Brandon Espinosa & Ace Hawkins is one of the best tag team ladder matches that I have seen from any wrestling promotion that I have even watched in my whole 27 years of watching pro wrestling. For me, one of my favorite segments of this show was the interview that Gaylord Stevens gave Colt Cabana who is one of my favorite wrestlers on the independent scene and a very cool guy in person. WWE SIGN THIS GUY! I don’t know how they dropped the ball with having him on their roster before. Gaylord Stevens had me laughing throughout this whole segment too with a great finish featuring Cabana knocking the guy out leading the Colt Cabana to take part in a tag team match where he teamed with Heath Hatton to take on Gaylord Stevens and Ax Allwardt in a great match with a very funny finish. Even the match between two big men brought it when the Mississippi Madman with his green hair took on the undefeated Bull Bronson who kept his undefeated streak live with the victory. The final match of the night featured an excellent bout between Edmund “Livewire” McGuire and defending AAPW Champion Mike Masters in a Steel Cage Match where McGuire would wrest the title from Masters to become the new champion. This was an excellent Steel Cage match, and a great way to end the show. I will say that after watching this show, I can see why AAPW has been featured in Pro Wrestling Illustrated so many times. AAPW has an awesome roster of talent top to bottom, and a card that had a little something for everyone with a Ladder Match, a Battle Royal, and a Steel Cage match. I want to also give huge props to the gentlemen on commentary Adam Testa and Kevin Hunsperger who both did an excellent job of selling the important of each and every match on the card. I also enjoyed how live the crowd was at this show, and it seems like the fans definitely went home happy with a ticket stub and a lot of memories. I would suggest anyone in the Southern Illinois area to check out AAPW. And even if you aren’t from their area you could always check out AAPW’s website at www.aapwrestling.com where they have DVDs of their shows available for $10 , on Facebook at Facebook.com/aapwrestling , and you can also follow them on Twitter @aapwrestling, digital downloads $3.99 at www.ivpvideos.com, and check them out on Youtube at YouTube.com/aapwcollision As always, you can email me at invidwarriorz@gmail.com or you can follow me on Twitter @whosantcox. Until next time, God Bless.
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