PWG World Champion - Zack Sabre Jr
PWG World Tag Team Champions - The Young Bucks
Commentators: Excalibur, Rick Knox, Chris Hero & Chuck Taylor
Coming off another great BOLA tournament, Marty Scurll challenges his best friend, former partner, & fellow englishman, Zack Sabre Jr for the PWG World Championship at the 4th Annual Mystery Vortex in which every other match on the card is unnannounced and picked at random.
1) Candice LeRae vs. Trent?
The night begins with a return and god dammit, it's about time we saw Candice LeRae back in PWG. 2014 was her year and 2015 saw the slow decline of her & partner Joey Ryan, but she looks to restake her claim against Trent. A man who himself has been on a bit of a rough whim since going to war with former partner Chuck Taylor at 13 earlier in 2016 in a match that turned way more brutal than anyone ever expected. BUT none the less, we are here and this is a fun opener. Candice gets all her signature stuff in, Trent is the perfect douchebag to counteract the babyface appeal of a returning Candice. There's several close falls and sick exchanges near the end. Trent ends up putting Candice away by planting her with two scrunchies.
Match rating - ***
2) Trevor Lee vs. ACH
Alright, this show is offically seriously feeling too much like 2014. ACH is back and Trevor Lee lambasts his ass at the bell. Lee is aggressive and ACH is playful, but deadly. Not necessarily a memorable return for ACH or anything that will make you wanna see him become a regular part of PWG again, but this was enjoyable and as a massive mark for his initial Pro Wrestling Guerrilla run, I loved seeing him roll through one more time. Trevor Lee gets the predictable win with a small package driver. Woot.
Match rating - **1/2
3) Matt Sydal vs. Pete Dunne
Another pretty anti-climatic match here as the show reaches a mellowing pace. Sydal is fresh out of Japanese jail and Dunne is coming off his debut BOLA weekend. This was one of those matches where there was a cool exchange or two, but it never really built into anything noteworthy and never even really flowed that well. Definitely not what you'd expect from Sydal and one of the fastest rising and unique cruserweights. BUT ya can't win em all and this wasn't horrible by any means so aye. The closing sequence was pretty solid as they built towards Sydal finally hit the SSP with a bunch of reversals and false finishes. Sydal finally hits it and puts Dunne away.
Match rating - **1/2
4) Chris Hero & JT Dunn vs. ReDragon (Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish)
At first, it felt like this was gonna be the pick me up the show needed. Dunn & Fish had a fantastic opening exchange that felt like the start of a rivalry, as Excalibur even noted on commentary. Plus, we got a sick Hero/O'Reilly stand off that got a standing ovation from Reseda. But then this fell into going way too long and way too dull of a pace. 27 minutes was just too much and I lost interest half way through. I love all the guys involved, but this one just missed the marker for me. O'Reilly taps Hero out to get ReDragon the victory. It gets **3/4 for the opening half and the few good exchanges we did get out of this damn near dream line up.
Match rating - **3/4
5) Adam Cole vs. Chuck Taylor - #1 Contender's Match for the PWG World Title
NOW WE'RE TALKING BABY. Excalibur announces this as a number one contender's match and Chuckie T is ELATED and the crowd explodes with chants for the Kentucky Gentleman. Adam Cole is a bit pissed. This is made even worse when Excalibur turns to fat jokes when introducing him and ADAM COLE RUNS THROUGH THE CROWD TO CONFRONT HIM to which Excalibur responds "He is too fat to get through this small space" - Cole tries to attack Excalibur, Chuckie T comes up from behind and GRABS THE HEADSET. God dammit I love this. They battle for a little on the stage, Cole calls Excalibur a son of a bitch, and Chuckie hits a dive into the crowd. Things head back to the ring and it's just quality banter although it settles into quite the perfect heel/babyface #1 Contender dynamic. The crowd is super behind Chuck even though you can tell they kinda expect Cole to win. The support for Taylor is enough to make it feel like he has a chance, though, and in the end, he had more than a chance as he drops Cole with a third awful waffle for the win and the crowd EXPLODES. Awesome moment, hella fun match that brought this show back up to par.
Match rating - ***1/2
6) The Young Bucks vs. Jeff Cobb & Matthew Riddle
The momentum continues here with another vintage Young Bucks performance against two fresh faces in Reseda. Cobb & Riddle have both made their names in singles contests, but this is probably the biggest match for either in PWG thus far and this is their first time ever teaming together. They played off that story well all match with the Bucks outsmarting them, but Cobb & Riddle still showing some good team work. The Bucks isolated Riddle and built to the hot tag for Cobb who cleaned house. Then we got the big break down of crazy shit from everybody. In the heat of all of this, Cobb & Riddle pull out the surprising victory out of nowhere in this non title match. HUGE moment for them and I still can't believe it myself. The utter excitement and disbelief on their own faces after the victory was priceless. GOOD STUFF.
Match rating - ***3/4
7) Zack Sabre Jr (c) vs. Marty Scurll - PWG World Championship Match
To be completely honest with you, the era of PWG which I've fallen off on this current era in which ZSJ leads so I always seem to underestimate the potential of his championship matches and boy did it bite me in the ass this go round because WHAT A MAIN EVENT. Sabre & Scurll have crossed paths many a time over the past few years, including a meeting in the semi-finals of the 2015 BOLA tournament that underwhelmed many including myself, however this more than made up for it. On that night, the crowd was pretty exhausted as were the athletes themselves, on this night there was much more energy and a story to be told. Pure technicality and stiffness for 30 minutes between two best friends vying for the PWG World Championship and it never got old. The smoothness of these two kept you on your feet for it felt like any moment could be the moment a pinning combination counted to three or a lethal submission was locked in. And on top of that, even when things weren't moving at a fast rate, the strikes left you cringing and as the match crept on, the exhaustion showed as both men could barely stand. This felt like the most pure display of wrestling you could ask for and it ruled. Until the final few minutes, that is, where Scurll brought his umbrella as well as powder into play AND there was a ref bump. It didn't take away from the match, though, just gave it a different little twist and set up for the babyface to overcome the odds as Sabre would end up stretching Scurll in an ungodly hold that he couldn't escape thus forcing him to tap. Awesome match.
Match rating - ****1/4
Post-match, Scurll looks as if he's going to attack Sabre only to shake his hand just in time for Chuck Taylor, the new number one contender to emerge. And man, once again I wasn't very excited for Chuck/Sabre on paper, but seeing them two in the ring together gave me goosebumps, or moreso seeing Chuck that close to the PWG Title gave me goosebumps because he has been the unsung, beloved hero of PWG since 2008 and now he's getting a chance he's never gotten and god damn this is gonna be good stuff. Perfect way to close out the year.
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