Here’s a show that isn’t on the Network but would make for a good but cruel April Fool’s Day episode of AEW Dynamite. Let’s head Into the Vault for AWE Night of The Legends! This was a show that happened on October 15, 2011, and was on PPV. Should people have paid for it? Let’s find out!
Actually, no. Scrap that. No one should’ve paid for this PPV. If you did, you got got and you already know this. It’s been over eight years, now. Let’s just look at the show.
You Can Skip These Matches
Oof…where to begin? AWE Night of Legends had eight matches but only seven were promoted. Out of those eight, you can absolutely skip four or five of them. The Dreamer-Funk match? You have Dreamer who can still go and Funk who—it’s hard to say. Funk could go when he passed 60. While Dreamer and Funk will always look dope on paper this isn’t the best example of that.
Then again, I didn’t expect them to bring their A-game for this event. It wasn’t like this was going to be the show that really put Awesome Wrestling Entertainment on the map, folks. Skip the midget match. Just…skip it. I can count the number of midget matches I’ve actually enjoyed on one hand and still have fingers left. Skip!
The intended main event would’ve probably been a “Maybe Watch.” Instead, it turned into a no DQ match between Nash and Morton. As expected, Morton did his thing and bled as he is wont to do. Nash did his thing as well. You know, that Nash thing that Kevin Nash does. Separately, it works depending on their opponents and setting. Here? Nah. This didn’t work at all.
The funny thing is, I could see 50+-year-old Nash and Morton putting something good together with storytelling and all that jazz. That didn’t happen here.
Maybe Watch These Bouts
Jim Duggan vs. Mohammad Akbar. I remember Akbar being a bright wrestler when I’d watch the OVW shows. He came off as someone who studied, figured out his gimmick posthaste and worked it.
He was the perfect foil for the flag-waving Duggan. The match itself was nothing to write home about but given what you should expect and the time given, it wasn’t bad. I wouldn’t say you should watch this match but it’s between skip and “Do you.”
Saturn against CW Anderson was adequate. Anderson isn’t great but he’s solid, Saturn was returning from…life, dude. Life caught up to Saturn but here he was in the ring with a somewhat passing but slow bout. Finlay taking on Alex Silva was solid but it ran a little on the long side. This was during the period when Finlay had left WWE, took his break, and was just wrestling matches against mostly new faces.
You could say it was his retirement tour. This match would’ve probably been great if five or six minutes were shaved off. When coupled with the rest of this show, it seemed to go on forever. Sometimes that happens to good matches on trash shows.
Watch This Match
Sonjay Dutt against Jamin Olivencia was pretty good. Watching this match again, I know it’s a solid match that benefited from being on early in the card. Both have been wrestling since the early 00s and we’re all familiar with Dutt by 2011.
Olivencia is someone who stuck around in former WWE developmental camps and still wrestles for OVW. I found him to be pretty good and would probably shine elsewhere. These two were one of the highlights of a mostly bleak show.
Hell, these two could’ve been paired up to face the Rock n Roll Express and turned out the best match on the card. Leave Nash to DDP, I suppose.
AWE Night of The Legends Verdict
What’s to say? This was just a bad show. The hype between Nash and Morton was great going in but it didn’t pay off. I don’t want to say legends shows post-2000 are doomed to fail—no actually, yes. They are doomed to fail. A show with legends on it? Might turn out great. The show is dedicated to legends? Awesome. This? Bruh.
It would’ve probably gotten a higher score if Marty Jannetty was on it. I will say, the commentary team of Chris Cruise and Larry Zybysko was good. Cruise should’ve been used throughout the 90s and 00s, so this show gets a .5 for that. Other than that, AWE Night of The Legends is an event that really should’ve never happened.
Rating: 3.5/10
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