Heel Turn: Chaotic and violent night of wrestling in New York, examining Sami Zayn, Místico entrance and more

The thought of going to an independent pro wrestling show usually brings up images of empty bingo halls and wrestlers who are hoping to make it to the big time.

Awesome Championship Wrestling (ACW) on Saturday night in Poughkeepsie, New York, couldn’t have been further from those preconceived notions. ACW Reckoning took place in front of a packed MJN Center and aired on Triller. There were several matches that featured fireworks, TV quality productions, multiple champions and even a steel cage match to cap the night.

The event came to a controversial and chaotic end.

Vik Dalishus and Hale Collins, the tag team duo known as The Now, defended the ACW Tag Team Championship against Sent 2 Slaughter – Shawn Donovan and Danny Maff. It was supposed to be the end of a long feud that included Donovan and Maff crashing Dalishus’ wedding and Collins’ wrestling school ceremony. The four men were locked in a cage.

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Collins and Maff were each on the brink of winning the belts with the cage door open. Whoever escaped first would be declared the winner. However, both Collins and Maff reached the floor simultaneously. The referees argued over which wrestler hit first but the match was seemingly declared a tie. It caused Sent 2 Slaughter to erupt in anger.

The duo took their frustrations out on ACW officials and the referees. Sent 2 Slaughter’s manager then entered the ring with Maff and locked the cage. Collins was beaten down on the outside. Vincent and Dutch, known as The Righteous, came out of the back. But instead of helping, Collins was cuffed to the cage and they stole the tag belts. Collins was forced to watch as Sent 2 Slaughter beat up Dalishus, hitting him with multiple chair shots and hitting a spike piledriver.

Dalishus’ wife emerged and started to bang on the cage as officials rushed to get it open. They finally pried the side of the cage open and she fell on top of Dalishus, trying to prevent further damage. Sent 2 Slaughter was sent off and as they reached the ramp, fans started to throw water bottles at them. Fans were shocked to see how the event came to an end.

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Dalishus revealed the extent of his injuries in a post on Instagram.

“Last night’s cage match ended with me being taken from the arena on a stretcher after suffering multiple injuries. Right now, I’m still undergoing evaluation while we gather more information on the extent of the damage,” he captioned the post with photos showing the extent of his injuries.

“I want to thank everyone who has reached out with concern, support, and prayers. It truly means a great deal to me and my family during this time. Please continue to keep me in your thoughts as we move forward and learn more in the days ahead.”

Here’s how the rest of the card turned out.

• Leo Sparrow (c) def. GKM and Liamo to retain the ACW Cruiserweight Championship.
• Vincent and Dutch def. Wrecking Ball Lagursky and Yoscifer.
• Flip Gordon def. Matt Taven, Mance Warner, Brian Cage and Hammerstone to become the No. 1 contender for the ACW National Championship.
• Vicious Vicki and Lady Frost def. Steph De Lander and Indi Hartwell thanks to J Rod’s interference.
• Crowbar def. Vargas in a Poughkeepsie Street Fight.
• Zack Clayton (c) def. Dante Casanova to retain the ACW National Championship.
• Ben Bishop def. Foxx Vinyer.
• Andrade El Idolo (c) def. Richard Holliday to retain the Wrestling Knockout Chile Championship.

The night also featured Randy Savage and Mike Bell being inducted into the MJN Center Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame and Killer Kross and Shotzi vowing to make appearances at ACW’s next event, Indypendence Day on July 18.

Sami Zayn gets introspective

Life hasn’t been fair to Sami Zayn. He lost the United States Championship to Trick Williams at WrestleMania 42, lost his rematch at Backlash and was told he had to prove himself to get back up to challenge for the title.

But over the last few weeks, Zayn has complained about the state of pro wrestling. He took issue with the Gingerbread Man at the Gingerbread Man’s funeral. He’s been unsure of why the fans have been turning the other cheek toward him when he’s done nothing wrong.

Again, with a catatonic Johnny Gargano lying by his side, Zayn went off again.

“Things are changing around here. This place is not what it used to be. You know who feels it the most? Guys like us,” Zayn said. “I mean, remember wrestling? Remember when wrestling was a thing? When just being great at this and giving it your all, your passion, your heart, and as long as you did it great, the fans would always be on your side and you were guaranteed to rise because the cream always rises. Remember when that mattered?”

Zayn’s trauma dump appeared to trigger something in Gargano as “Johnny Wrestling’s” eyes followed Zayn as he walked away when the segment was over.

Pro wrestling fans have tried to grapple with Zayn seemingly being pushed out of the title picture. But there is some food for thought to go along with what Zayn has been saying.

Shockingly, it’s been more than 15 years since he debuted on WWE NXT. The veteran has seen it all in WWE. He’s been an NXT champion, an intercontinental and U.S champion and a tag team champion. He’s seen John Cena and A.J. Styles retire within weeks of each other and his best friend, Kevin Owens, sidelined due to a serious injury.

Zayn is the perfect example of anyone dealing with the ebbs and flows of a business. He is still highly regarded in WWE, obviously, but everyone else is clamoring toward the upstart rookies that are doing things he used to be able to do. Anyone who sits in the arena to watch him or sits on their couch to view “Friday Night SmackDown” at home can absolutely relate to how Zayn is feeling if it is put in the context of the WWE Universe.

Hell, Gargano is just as much a veteran as Zayn is and he hasn’t been able to speak in weeks.

The fact is that Zayn’s character development is becoming more relatable by the week. How he deals with time starting to pass him by is going to be interesting to see. SmackDown has had a few call-ups over the last month with Ricky Saints joining Williams on the roster and Carmelo Hayes returning to the fray on Friday.

Try not to get goosebumps as Natalia Jiménez sings ‘Me Muero’ while Místico walks out at Super Viernes:

Supercard of Honor results

Ring of Honor held Supercard of Honor on Friday night.

Athena continued her long reign as Ring of Honor women’s champion as she outlasted Billie Starkz, Maya World, Trish Adora, Yuka Sakazaki and Zayda Steel in a Survival of the Fittest six-way match.

Here were the other results on the card.

• Sammy Guevara def. Action Andretti.
• Rush def. LSG.
• Mina Shirakawa and Queen Aminata def. Janai Kai and Lacey Lane.
• Dezmond Xaver and Myron Reed def. Ariya Daivari and Tony Nese.
• Nigel McGuiness def. Josh Woods.
• Red Velvet def. Viva Van to retain the Ring of Honor Women’s World TV Championship.
• AR Fox def. Lio Rush to retain the Ring of Honor World TV Championship.
• Deonna Purrazzo def. Diamante to retain the Ring of Honor Women’s Pure Championship.
• Lee Moriarty def. Ace Austin to retain the Ring of Honor Pure Championship.
• Dalton Castle, Truth Magnum, Turbo Floyd def. Carlie Bravo, Shane Taylor and Shawn Dean to win the Ring of Honor Six Man Tag Team Championship.
• Mark Davis def. Xelhua to retain the AEW National Championship.
• Bandido def. Blake Christian to retain the Ring of Honor World Heavyweight Championship.

Blake Monroe is coming to SmackDown:

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More notes from a week in pro wrestling

• Dominik Mysterio def. Original El Grande Americano to retain the AAA Mega Championship on “Monday Night Raw.”
• Gunther earned a shot at the Undisputed WWE Championship with a win over Royce Keys. He will face Cody Rhodes for the title at Clash in Italy.
• Chelsea Green made an appearance on “Friday Night SmackDown” after an injury and a heart procedure has taken her out of action.
• Darby Allin defended his AEW World Championship twice in one week, defeating Konosuke Takeshita and Sammy Guevara. “Speedball’ Mike Bailey is up next before his hair vs. title match against Maxwell Jacob Friedman (MJF) at Double or Nothing.
• Cedric Alexander became the new Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) X Division champion, defeating Leon Slater on “Impact.”
• Fabian Aichner appeared on “Impact” after Alexander defeated Slater.
• Piper Niven shared an injury update from a hospital bed.
• AEW star Chris Jericho appeared in the Minnesota Vikings’ schedule release.
• TNA announced the return of the Ultimate X match for Slammiversary on June 28.
• Major League Wrestling announced a strategic alliance with Stardom. The company said in a post on X, “The partnership will focus on talent exchange and creative collaboration, allowing athletes from both globally recognized promotions to compete on new stages and in front of new audiences.”
• Killer Kross became the new World Series Wrestling champion in Australia.
• Myla Grace became the new World Series Wrestling women’s champion.
• Tiffany Nieves cashed in her opportunity and became the National Wrestling Alliance’s world women’s champion.