Night One of the 11th edition of All Star Weekend saw Trevor Lee & Will Ospreay steal the show as well as the respective returns of Adam Cole and Sami Callihan to PWG. After all this insanity, what will Night Two have in store? It's time to find out!
December 12th, 2015
PWG World Champion - Roderick Strong - Since: Black Cole Sun (December 2014)
PWG World Tag Team Champions - The Young Bucks - Since: Mystery Vortex III (June 2015)
Commentary: Excalibur, Chris Hero, & Chuck Taylor
1) Chuck Taylor vs. Kikutaro
Kikutaro grabs the mic following the introductions to talk about how happy he is to be back in PWG after seven years away. His last appearance in Reseda came in 2008 at Life During Wartime where he faced off with Necro Butcher, so needless to say, it's been a while. He offers Chuck a handshake only to kick him in the crotch and go for a bodyslam, but CHUCK REVERSES AND FALLS ON HIM! 1..2..3.. WHAT? This thing is over in a matter of seconds! The Kentucky Gentleman heads to the back only to be talked into a rematch as Kikutaro still had the mic in his hand. This was really all the comedy gold you'd expect from two wrestlers like Chuck & Kikutaro who are at the top of their class in their respective countries. Rick Knox takes part in the fun on several occasions..well, I wouldn't call it fun because he got kicked in the groin, but you get the idea! Light hearted way to get the evening off to a good start!
Match rating - **3/4
Post match, Kikutaro wants the mic again and reiterates how glad he is to be here. He also says that he hopes to be back more in 2016 since he's apparently moving to America. Before anyone can rejoice, Roderick Strong runs in from behind and nails him with a jumping knee. Vintage Mount Rushmore. Adam Cole & The Young Bucks follow the World Champion into the ring and stand over Kikutaro before booting him to the floor. Nick Jackson ends this shitfest by laying in the ring and saying that if we aren't down with what just happened, he's got two words for us - suck it.
2) Marty Scurll vs. Timothy Thatcher
From a comedy match to a mixed bag. You've got super serious grappler Tim Thatcher and skilled, but extremely charismatic technician Marty Scurll. Scurll pulled a number of shenanigans early and often here however Thatcher wasn't having any of it which made for a good dynamic that the audience played off of. The match was pretty mat based, even more so than I expected, with the only real high impact action coming in the form of a dive to the floor by Scurll early on. That's not a bad thing though because it was an extremely solid contest that saw Scurll & Thatcher trade numerous submissions as well as a number of stiff strikes. In the end, it was a unique form of the latter that would lay Scurll down for more than a three count as Thatcher hit him with the headbutt of the century and pinned him for the victory.
Match rating - ***1/4
3) Michael Elgin & Brian Cage vs. Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa
Now THIS is what I wanted out of an Unbreakable F'N Machines return match. Their meeting with The Wolves on Night One was underwhelming and left a lot to be desired, but this match reminded me why I wanted Elgin & Cage back as a team in the first place. Swift exchange of counters in the opening sequence between Elgin & Gargano leads to a control segment for the Machines. They do their signature stalling suplex that lasts for well over a minute at the time and keep complete control of the match by basically throwing Gargano & Ciampa around like rag dolls. For instance, Gargano went for a dive at one point only to get caught so Ciampa tries to make the triumphant save only for Elgin & Cage to toss Gargano at him in mid-air. Good tag match here that sees Elgin & Cage emerge with their second victory of the weekend.
Match rating - ***1/4
4) Ricochet vs. Mark Andrews
If I could describe this match in one word, it would be "fun" because this was just so entertaining to watch. Typically in Ricochet matches, he's the highlight and while he did his part here, Mark Andrews was the real standout for me. The way he flawlessly flew around the ring, flipping and kicking, hitting three variations of the frankensteiner in a row was just too fucking sweet to not mark out for. I thought he was just okay at first, but I definitely vote for him to continue coming back to Reseda after this. Despite him being a human highlight reel in this junior heavyweight exhibition, Ricochet would come away with the win after a benadryller kick to the face.
Match rating - ***1/2
5) Trevor Lee vs. Matt Sydal
The aggression shown by Trevor Lee against Will Ospreay on Night One translated over to this night as he attempted jump Sydal at the bell. The veteran had him scouted however and nailed him with a kick for his troubles. The two go back & forth early before the angry young man from Carolina takes control which leads to the ultimate Sydal comeback. The entire final half was great with Sydal & Lee trading maneuvers and near falls. This was yet another awesome match up out of Lee as he has really honed his craft. For the second night in a row, he has a match that I'm undoubtedly gonna go back and watch again. After several near finishes, Sydal goes for the SSP, but Lee gets the knees up and rolls Sydal into a pinning combination to sneak the victory.
Match rating - ***3/4
6) Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay
The hype for this one was unreal and somehow, it managed to live up to it. When you look at it on the surface, this is really two generations of junior heavyweights clashing. Omega having wrestled almost all of Ospreay's life is a crazy thing to think about, but it made for a beautiful explosion when these two locked up and pulled out all the stops here in the co-main event of one of the biggest weekends of wrestling in 2015. I could try to name all the jaw dropping moves, counters, exchanges, & moments that Omega & Ospreay delivered here, but it wouldn't do this match justice. Just trust me when I tell you that, this is a match up you need to see, especially if you're a fan of both of these guys, in that case this is a MUST SEE. This was absolutely everything you'd want it to be. The crowd was on it's feet for the entire final few minutes as two of the best in the world from totally different paths duked it out. After an admirable fight, Ospreay finally fell victim to the One Winged Angel despite battling out of it twice before. Omega picks up the win, but Ospreay left one hell of an impression.
Match rating - ****1/4
7) Roderick Strong, Adam Cole, & The Young Bucks vs. Chris Hero, Joey Ryan, Candice LeRae, & Mike Bailey - Guerrilla Warfare Match
Roddy is in the ring first as Cole & The Bucks circle around. He grabs the mic and says it's Mount Rushmore 2.0 versus the world and the war starts now, JUMPING KNEE TO RING ANNOUNCER ANGELO TRINIDAD! Roddy flaunts as the calvary runs in! Joey Ryan, Candice LeRae, Chris Hero, & Mike Bailey charge the ring and the battle begins. The fight is all around ringside and Excalibur has quite the time trying to keep up with everything. By the time 10-12 minutes goes by, almost everyone on the babyface team has been taken out. Joey Ryan gets thumbtacks shoved down his trunks and gets superkicked in the crotch. Candice LeRae gets an orange crush powerbomb through a stack of chairs. Mike Bailey got the upperhand for awhile and hit a ladder assisted reverserana on Adam Cole before being laid on the ladder himself as Nick Jackson hit a senton on him off the top rope. Excalibur gets targeted at some point in here when everyone is down. My timing and order of things may be a bit off, so please forgive me, when you see the match you'll see how chaotic it was and understand it's impossible to remember all the things that happened along with the order of events. None the less, Rushmore targets Excalibur. Roddy & The Bucks plow through the crowd and Excalibur backs up towards the PWG banner as they close in BUT NO! HE RUNS AND DIVES ONTO THEM OFF THE STAGE! EXCALIBUR DOESN'T GIVE A FUCK! He marches into the ring and gets right in Adam Cole's face only to be told to suck his dick. In the midst of the suck it, Excalibur punches him in the crotch alas Chris Bosh - LIONCOCK! I marked out so hard for that even though half the crowd didn't understand the significance of it, it still ruled. A small, scattered Bosh chant did break out, though. But yeah, Excalibur ends up getting taken out as well. When all this is said and done, Chris Hero crawls back to fight against all four guys in a great power up fighting spirit spot. He throws shots at all four men and hits running boots in the corner on them all before a quadruple combo of superkicks and jumping knee variations sees Hero get brought down. I think it was after this when Joey Ryan got the tacks in his crotch and Justin Borden tries to carry him to the back only to get superkicked. Cole stands in the center of the ring to do his BAY BAY pose AND THE LIGHTS GO OUT. The crowd is roaring, the lights come back on, AND ITS KYLE FUCKING O'REILLY! This moment is one I'll remember forever. I obviously saw it coming considering it was pretty much unavoidable if you have Twitter and follow wrestling fans, but it still sent chills up and down my body. I've seen alot of epic returns in PWG (and elsewhere) however none match up to this moment. People in the crowd were literally bouncing up and down in unison as O'Reilly took the fight to his former rivals Adam Cole & Roderick Strong. It was a sensational moment that I'll never forget, simply epic. Not to mention it being perfect timing considering a year ago to this day was when Kyle O'Reilly lost the title to Roddy in what would be the last time we saw him in PWG until now. The memorable moments wouldn't end here though, as Rick Knox would come down to get his revenge with a doomsday device on Matt Jackson. Candice LeRae hit a trio of ballsplexes on The Bucks. Roddy & Kyle had several awesome exchanges including one which saw O'Reilly lock in the guillotine choke on the apron and with no other choice, Roddy runs and they go flying off the apron through a table on the floor. Excalibur runs back down and nails Adam Cole with the Tiger Driver before Chris Hero calls Kikutaro to the ring to bring him an elbow pad filled with thumbtacks. The Bucks superkick Kikutaro off the apron, but Hero still manages to pull out the stops and nails Roddy with the thumbtack filled elbow to pick up the win for Team PWG, if you will.
Match rating - ****1/2
Backstage, Mount Rushmore is regrouped and talking about the "bullshit" that occurred out there. Roddy says he didn't think he'd get along with Cole, but it ended up working out despite them losing. The Bucks talk about how they still have the belts and are still the best in the world. Even though they lost, it took the entire PWG locker room from the commentators to the referees to the ring announcers to beat them. The Bucks say they are heading to Japan while Cole & Roddy hold it down to start 2016. Roddy also tells Zack Sabre Jr that he won't be facing him come January 2nd at "LEMMY", the first show of the year. They do the suck it and 2.0 chant as the promo fades out.
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