PWInsider - WWE News, Wrestling News, WWE

 
 

CORGAN-NWA UPDATE, RONNIE GARVIN DAY IN KENTUCKY, ELGIN VS. SABRE WOWS AT AAW IN CHICAGO, PWG AND MORE

By Mike Johnson on 2017-05-09 14:20:00

Last week in Las Vegas, where a number of NWA-affiliate promoters were in the same place to take part in the Cauliflower Alley Club gathering, a conference call was held with Billy Corgan where Corgan introduced himself to the promoters and basically reiterated that the NWA brand was going to be in good hands and that once the sale is complete, they will be looking over everything and making plans on how to move forward.

There was a weird situation overnight as the Facebook page for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla was changed to a page devoted to "Bar Wrestling", a new promotion Joey Ryan will be running in Los Angeles.  The page was later turned back, but not before it was a major talking point on social media among wrestling fans.  The belief is that Ryan, not PWG, runs the page.  We've reached out to Ryan to try and confirm what happened. 

Appalachian Mountain Wrestling inducted former NWA World champion Ronnie Garvin and The Batten Twins into their East Kentucky Hall of Fame, the first inductees.   Fans from seven States were in attendance at the event, which drew 300.  Garvin was one of the most popular wrestlers ever in that era and his return was a major story with local newspapers and news stations leading into the event.  Garvin was also presented a Life Time Achievement Award by Perry County, KY presented to him by a local judge. It was also proclaimed that May 6th was Ronnie Garvin Day in Perry Country, Kentucky.  Bart Batten made an emotional speech about starting with his brother in East Kentucky for ICW after training with Randy Savage. His twin brother Brad passed away of a heart attack three years ago. Bart had trouble fighting back tears when talking of Brad. 

A new trailer for Blade Runner 2049, which will feature Dave Bautista, was released this week:



AAW returned to Logan Square in Chicago on 5/6, drawing 545, a record for the venue as they allowed more standing room than usual.  We've heard the show was again a great event.  Here are some notes:

*The show opened with a Scramble match where Aeroboy defeated Connor Braxton, Paco Gonzalez, Myron Reed, Jason Cade and Space Monkey with a Swanton in 8:09.  Space Monkey got a massive, almost to the point of ridiculousnes, reaction.  Gonzales and Reed are Michael Elgin students who were said have done very well.   This was said to have been a lot of fun.  After the match, AAW champ Sami Callihan attacked Aerostar as the story is that he hunts masks here.  He tried to unmask Aerostar but Rey Fenix made the save and laid him out with a Canadian Destroyer.  While Sami was down, ACH came down with the referee and asked for his scheduled AAW title bout, which was slated to headline, to start right now.  Callihan was on the offensive but made a comeback and won via submission with the Stretch Muffler in 11:24.

*There were several debuts.  Ethan Page showed up unadvertised to prevent the crowd from singing "Happy Birthday" for Colt Cabana, leading to a match, which Cabana won, but not before his parents, who were in the crowd, slapping and punching Page.  There were a lot of good comedy spots here.  Bobby Fish also debuted, losing to Trevor Lee, who scored the pin after hooking the tights.

*The consensus from those we heard from is that Michael Elgin vs. Zack Sabre Jr. may have been one of the best matches in the history of the company and was absolutely the best match the promotion has had in 2017.  They went nearly 20 minutes with lots of great back and forth spots and great wrestling.  It was described as a wrestling spectacle.  Fans were throwing money into the ring as if it was a lucha show in Mexico.

*David Starr defeated Eddie Kingston in a match where the story was that Starr kept attacking Kingston's bad neck with the idea being that the promotion was putting sympathy on Kingston, a former champ here, with the idea that he was at the end of the line, part of his story going forward.  Starr looked great.

*Callihan did double duty, offering to team with Jake Crist to defend the AAW Tag Team championship in a no time limit, anything goes match against AR Fox and Rey Fenix with all sorts of crazy brawling, dives, table spots and more.  Fans were throwing money again after this and it was described as a blow-away, orgasmic, nutty scene.  Feniz and Fox won the belts in about 18 minutes of madness.

*In another hot match, AAW Heritage Champion Penta El Zero M defeated Keith Lee via Canadian Destroyer in 7:59 to retain his championship.

*Stephen Wolf, Trey Miguel and Chuck Taylor defeated Mat Fitchett, Davey Vega and Alex Daniels when Taylor pinned Daniels after his Awful Waffle in 13:01.

If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!