by CreedP » Sun Mar 24, 2013 9:31 pm
Incredible shows on both nights, now that I'm back at home (had to work Sunday after 2 PWGs shows, I'm exhausted! lol) I can chime in more on the shows. Starting from the top (I'm not normally a person to rate matches, but I'll try):
NIGHT ONE:
1. Paul London d. Kevin Steen (***)
A great way to start off the show, the two of them were hilarious trading comments during the start. Kevin messed up London's hair so he darted off to the restroom to fix it, and doubled back after the fans reminded him to 'WASH YOUR HANDS'. Sadly, my buddy's trenchcoat got soaked by somebody's beer after the action went out of the ring. Excellent opening match, though I'm having trouble remembering more details about it. Must be the lack of sleep... There was a moment where Paul went to the back to get gloves, put them on.. then took them off to challenge Steen to a duel, and slapped him with the gloves. That went about as well as you'd expect! But in the end, London won with a Shooting Star Press.
2. Young Bucks d. Chuck Taylor/Johnny Gargano (non-title) (****)
This match was a blast, I don't watch much wrestling these days so all of Gargano's offense was new to me, and -very- creative! He fit in well with the PWG crowd. Some hijinks from both sides but a lot of great action. This got the crowd from 'great show' to 'AWESOME SHOW' in short order. I still kick myself for not doing the long 'Chuck Chant' during the first part of the match when it was quiet, sighs. Bucks won this with More Bang For Your Buck, but Chuckie T and Johnny looked great. Gargano got a strong PLEASE COME BACK! chant after the match, he's welcome any time!
3. Eddie Edwards d. Jay Lethal (***3/4)
Black Machismo was in full Savage mode tonight, amusingly SlayJ got the only response during the entrance because he wisely offered the Macho Man handshake, and got it back from Lethal! Great match back and forth, as mentioned Lethal trying to get the fan-assisted whip only to slam back-first into the ring was hilarious. LOTS of pro-Lethal chants here, though Eddie still got plenty of love. He won with the Achilles Lock, but both men looked strong. More PLEASE COME BACK! chants for Jay Lethal, excellent debut.
4. Inner City Machine Guns (Ricochet/Swann) d. AR Fox/Samuray Del Sol (****1/2)
OH... MY... GOD... this match was what me and my road-trip buddy were wanting to see most, and it didn't disappoint, quite possibly the match of the night. First off, the 'All Night Long' entrance is massively over with the crowd, shame it won't be on the DVD, even Legion Larry got in a little dancing! But once the match got underway, it was bell-to-bell action, all four guys were on fire. Fox and Samuray got the fans attention with some wild moves I hadn't seen before, great dives and flips and wow, more than can be said in words! Ricochet scored the win with a 630 splash on Samuray Del Sol, but the PLEASE COME BACK chants were in full force for the newcomers!
Thankfully we got an intermission, it was much needed after that incredible match!
5. Roderick Strong d. Trent? (**1/2)
Definitely the weakest match of the show, though I don't fault Roderick, he knows his way around well enough. Trent tried the snobbish heel thing, but he seemed to be working more on his gimmick than his wrestling. He did break out a couple moves, but this was all Roddy's show. A few people cheered for Trent, but not many... and after the End Of Heartache (which didn't look as good as it should IMO), Trent got a couple 'Don't Come Back!' shouts after he left quickly post-match. This didn't sit well coming back from intermission, might have been better earlier on the card - maybe switched with Lethal/Edwards. Wasn't bad for a match, just wasn't particularly good - Eh.
6. Unbreakable F'n Machines d. Future Shock (***3/4)
Nothing wrong with this match, mind you, it just seemed a little hard to get into it after the post-intermission downer. Granted, personally - that was in part to receiving bad news via text message from my fiancee, so it might just be me. What I saw of the match had solid action from both teams, though, I'll probably enjoy it more rewatching the DVD. Amusingly, I've been to 4 shows and every time (except Failure to Communicate, obviously) Adam Cole ends up right at my feet, heh. Anyway, back on topic, good back-and-forth match won with Elgin's spinning power bomb on O'Reiley.
7. Drake Younger d. Sami Callihan (??)
I don't really know how to rate this. I'm not even sure whether I thought it was a great match or not. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad at all! It was incredibly brutal, as CZW-style violence came to PWG. Both men beat the hell out of each other, and no matter what Sami did, Drake would not give up or quit. The match started out good, but after Drake was dropped onto a metal trash can (standing up), the back of his head was busted open massively. Blood was running off his head like sweat, it was a bit disturbing for us... we worried if they'd have to stop the match to give him medical attention. It was, quite literally, hard to focus on the match with so much concern for Drake Younger as a person. THAT SAID, it was just nuts - Sami hit him with tons of stuff, brought out thumbtacks, even poured SALT on Drake's openly-wounded head. Yeesh. But the story was clearly... Drake Younger would NOT DIE. Finally he got the win and the crowd went NUTS.
NEXT WORLD CHAMP was echoing through the building, nearly everyone in the crowd was cheering for Drake. He started to cut a promo but was attacked by Adam Cole, who said he'd keep his title. Drake finally recovered to the crowd's delight, and thankfully went to the hospital right afterward. He told me later he took 9 stitches for the gash in the back of his head, and 5 for the one in front, 18 all told. Yikes. What a guy.
(Sorry I'm so hazy about Night One, Night Two kind of overshadowed it a bit for me)
NIGHT TWO:
1. Jay Lethal d. Willie Mack (***1/2)
As Lethal passed our side, which didn't see quite as much action on Night 1, he said "You guys ready to see a bunch of dives?" Thanks for the warning, Jay! Right off, it spilled out and my chair got broken, ha! Both men had a lot of good moves... at one point, Lethal comes up behind Willie for a back suplex -- nothin' doin'. He tries a couple times, pulling and Willie shifts a bit but still isn't leaving the ground... So they kept going and added 'Millions of Dollars - Millions of Dollars' Hilarious stuff, not to mention Lethal was about 75% Savage through the match - he called Willie 'Kamala' at one point. A lot of fun, and good moves, though the Lethal Combination didn't go quite right. But when the big Elbow Drop wouldn't finish Willie, Lethal dropped 3 more to finish him off. More PLEASE COME BACK chants, and I sure hope he does!
2. Chuck Taylor/Johnny Gargano d. RockNES Monsters (***3/4, wait I mean, " ***** ")
Another fun match, like night one, from Chuckie T and Johnny G. It started with Chuck's declaration that the fans like wrestling on the apron, so they should start the match there. After the opening exchange, Chuck said this match was 'five stars', and the fans picked up the chant. Lots of action in and out of the ring, lots of cheers and chants, including WE HATE YUMA and the dueling LET'S GO JOHNNY / LET'S GO JOHNNY chants. Yuma picked up on that last one and told Gargano 'Fuck Chuck, come join the Johnnys!' All four guys were really fired up and bounced all over the place, funniest match I've seen in quite a while. Gargano got the win with the Hurts Donut and got more PLEASE COME BACK chants. (Yuma, still at ringside: "Oh, we will!")
3. Paul London d. Trent? (**3/4)
London started off by going through the crowd, lots of high-fives and hugs, which just annoyed Trent. London's antics really made this match a lot more entertaining, such as his 'challenge for a duel', or telling Trent that his tits were almost as nice as Melina's... 'Wait, aren't you John Morrison?' A funny JOHNNY NITRO chant followed. Trent seemed to do a little better here, but... it just didn't work for me. It was like Shane Helms at Kurt RussellReunion II, where he acted like he was better than PWG. Eh. There was some talk of a Don't Come Back chant in my area, but after losing to an SSP, Trent spurned the post-match handshake and left quickly.
4. Unbreakable F'n Steen Machines d. Inner City Machine Guns & AR Fox (****1/2)
A smart change in the card made earlier in the day, combining 2 matches into a single six-man. Steen was quick to have Angelo Trinidad announce the team correctly, rather than 'F'n'. ("F'n? What are we, 12? Say it right!") Then Kevin started off with AR Fox... (kick) "Welcome to PWG!" (shove into the corner) "I'm Kevin" (overhand blow) "...and I don't like you!" The match was a blast, like Elgin/Ricochet from BOLA multiplied by 3, seasoned with Steen's humor. Like when they brought all 3 opponents to the center, had to coordinate which way to face, then Kevin said they should 'hold them up for a really long time!' Steen took his victim all the way over to the mat and had to wait while Cage and Elgin held theirs, until he got tired of waiting and pushed over the suplexes, pointing to his watch to apologize. But when it all broke loose, it was an insane sequence of power moves, flips, dives, and overall awesomeness. Machines one when Steen gave AR Fox a Package Piledriver and rolled him back to Elgin for the spinning power bomb. Another fantastic pre-intermission match for All Star Weekend!
After the match, Steen said he got a message from someone who really wanted to see the show, be a part of it... but not to worry, because El Generico is doing just fine. The crowd erupted in cheers and got an OLE! OLE OLE OLE chant going. He thanked the fans, talked about All Star Weekend, and said he hopes Drake Younger takes the title from Adam Cole. And thankfully we got a much-needed breather after that.
5. T.J. Perkins d. Samuray Del Sol (***3/4)
Great to see T.J. back, and another red-hot match with Del Sol as well. Lots of fast-paced exchanges, great flips and dives, just really amazing stuff. Can't wait to see this on DVD because it was just too much to remember, but both guys had their working boots on. TJ got the win with a 450 Splash, and Samuray got the PLEASE COME BACK chants. I really hope he does, he could help fill a void left by Generico's return to the orphanage.
6. Kyle O'Reiley d. Sami Callihan (***3/4)
I mentioned before the match that this could be a chance for Kyle to establish himself as more than just Adam Cole's tag partner, and did he ever. He got heel boos while Sami got cheers, but as the match went on, he was getting a lot more cheers. After his leg giving out after a top rope move, Sami kept working that leg, while Kyle tried his best to work through it. He really put on a great match while struggling with his leg issue, and won over the crowd. A triangle choke made Sami tap out, and Callihan gave O'Reiley respect after the match. And so did the crowd.
7. Young Bucks d. DojoBros (****)
You knew the match would be intense when the Bucks started out by sinking to a new low, double superkicking Angelo Trinidad as he finished announcing them. Amazing back-and-forth action, including some early dives by Dojos - can't recall seeing Roderick really doing an over-the-rope dive before. The Dojos had the match won, but as Rick Knox counted the pinfall, he was nailed with a 450 Splash. Strangely, he fell off the apron then rolled under the ring and wasn't seen again all night. But I believe the Bucks hit More Bang For Your Buck on Eddie for the win, not completely sure though. Another great match from the Bucks, and I doubt we've seen the last from Edwards and Strong.
8. Adam Cole d. Drake Younger (****)
Great, hot match to start out, action spilling into the crowd early on. They brawled back and forth right in front of us, and finally got it going in the ring. The crowd was almost completely behind Drake, cheering for everything he did, and rallying for him when he was down. Just incredible. Both guys gave it their all, neither could put the other away. Cole survived not one, but TWO Drake's Landings, and Drake fought off the Panama Sunrise and the Florida Key. At one point, Younger was daring Cole to hit him.. took a shot, and gave a non-verbal 'thank you, may I have another?' Hell of a match, until Cole stole the win with a roll-up and a handful of tights. Crowd didn't like that at ALL, a pretty good BULLSHIT chant started.. but I'm okay with it, Adam Cole is good enough to be more than just a transitional champ who loses his first title defense.
Great shows on both nights. Fun bits I recall:
* Sami's still shoving people down on the way to the ring. He got SlayJ two shows in a row, but he was in the bathroom, so my pal in the next seat from his got it instead. Also, Terminator Fan was handing out streamers for Drake on night one, just like he did for Generico (by the way, you ROCK, dude!) And Sami got him too! haha
* A female fan was heading back to her seat when Cole came in, so he got all sleazy with her.
* Seeing Joey Ryan and Candice LeRae chilling at the bar watching the show
* SlayJ trying to start an 'O'Chet!' chant only to get nixed by Steen himself in VERY short order, whoops.
Awesome shows, following up the 'awesome show' trend of DDT4'13 and Mystery Vortex. Good lord this company is on fire!
CREED