PWG: Mystery Vortex III Review

It's been awhile, but I'm back. The delay has sucked however I've been getting a lot of things done to make this site even better so I feel that it will ultimately all be worth the wait. Plus, with Threemendous IV shipping out on DVD next week and BOLA just around the corner, I think business is really about to pick up and we'll see my initial goal for this site fulfilled so expect more content in the remainder of the year.

That starts here as I take a look at the fourth PWG event of 2015, Mystery Vortex III: Rock and Shock the Nation. As you likely know, Mystery Vortex events are just as they are advertised - a mystery. No matches are announced prior to the event which makes for some surprises unless of course you aren't there and end up reading the spoilers or the back of the DVD case when you get it. Regardless, I'm hyped on this card so let's get right into it.

Date: June 26th, 2015

Champions: PWG World Champion - Roderick Strong (Since Black Cole Sun - December 2014)

PWG World Tag Team Champions - Andrew Everett & Trevor Lee (Since DDT4 2015 - May 2015)

Commentators: Excalibur, Rick Knox, Chris Hero, Joey Ryan & Ethan Page

1) Tommaso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano

Here we have two class of 2013 competitors facing off in the opening contest. They've clearly went in completely different directions since debuting as Gargano started off hot in the latter part of 2013 only for the buzz to simmer down in 2014 despite making it to the finals of the Battle of Los Angeles. As for Ciampa, he's been more consisent by putting good matches just about every time out aside from the disappointing contest with ACH earlier this year. I felt like this backstory was worthy of mentioning although I'd say it didn't really affect this match at all because it was highly entertaning with both guys delivering their best contest in PWG since last August.

Ciampa with an air raid crash on Gargano on the ring apron.

I was so glad this didn't fall under the stereotypical PWG opener category. The crowd was hot and Ciampa & Gargano responded by delivering a match that got the show off to a pretty great start. They didn't blow their load early despite a fast & furious begininng that saw an awesome exchange on the outside with Gargano springing off the apron with a swinging DDT on Ciampa into the crowd. Ciampa was dominant throughout with Gargano still having several flurries of his own. There were a number of unique counters here and even a few callbacks with Ciampa hitting many of his signature knees early on only for Gargano to start countering them as the match went on. The action was good for just about the entire match and that combined with a few false finishes near the end was the icing on the cake for this fun opener that had the crowd on it's feet in the final few minutes.

Match rating - ***1/4

2) World's Cutest Tag Team (Joey Ryan & Candice LeRae) vs. Monster Mafia (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander)

This is a rematch from the DDT4 Tournament which took place a month prior to this event. At that show, Page & Alexander ended the tag title reign of Joey & Candice only to drop the belts an hour later to the Beaver Boys. WCTT is clearly out to get their win back here which makes this rematch a logical choice for this card. I heard many people in attendance label this as average, but I honestly really enjoyed it. In this contest, you have two of the best characters in PWG at the moment in the form of Candice LeRae & Ethan Page. They're the perfect opposite for each other with Page establishing himself as a dickhead since debuting and Candice being as hot as ever. Speaking of that, man, was the crowd on Joey's case or what? Before the match even got going you could hear "Fuck Joey!" and "No more Joey!" chants. It seems like the more the crowd hates on him, the more popular Candice gets which has began making their team a real mixed bag. It makes for some epic hot tags when Candice is tagged in though. We got several of those here and with Candice's maintained popularity has come an tweaked & improved moveset. A double stomp to the loins?! Jeeeeezus!

The steam that Candice had here was reminiscent of that which she had when her meteoric rise began in the summer of 2013 and it made this match what it was. Not to mention Ethan Page's "I'm the real fucking Magic Mike" comment to Sofia Burgera at ringside. THAT BOY WILD! He continues this later in the contest by baring his ass to the hard cam and attempting to shove Candice's face in it once again but BALLSPLEX! Huge pop! That exchange perfectly details what I was saying earlier about these two. Perfect opponents and two of the best characters in 2015 PWG. The ending made me cringe as Candice hits a top rope reverserana on Josh Alexander's injured neck! AAAHHH! WCTT pick up the win as Candice gets the three count following that manuever. Another really fun match.

Match rating - ***

After the match, the crowd begins showing Josh Alexander their appreciation as he's retiring due to persistent neck issues as you may have heard. "Thank you Josh", "Walking Weapon", and "Alexander" chants filled the legion hall as Joey & Candice show respect to Josh and leave him in the ring to relish in Reseda one last time. He's only been around a few months, but I'd say he's left his mark and as he posted on social media, PWG allowed him to fulfill his dream as he never aspired to be in WWE, his biggest goal was to make it to PWG and he did that and even has his name in the history books as a former tag champion. Cool moment here. Ethan Page holds up the hand of his partner and SPINNING DWAYNE OUT OF NOWHERE ON ALEXANDER! That son of a bitch! I am so stoked to see what PWG does with Ethan Page next. He's not on the anniversary show, but there's no way they can't bring him back. At this point, he's easily the second most hated guy on the roster behind Roddy.


3) Biff Busick vs. Timothy Thatcher

As the cameras cut on, Busick runs right up to Thatcher for a hype staredown! Chris Hero is on commentary and he & Excalibur seem just as pumped for this as me. The bout between these two at Beyond Wrestling last year was one of my favorites of the year and it was in front of nothing but fellow wrestlers at a secret show. That means this COULD be a classic. Well, it was no where near the level of the match, but it was solid while it lasted. It felt like they delivered a condensed version of their previous contest in Beyond which was nice in some aspects however I knew deep down they had much more in them that they could have displayed if they would have gotten more time. Still, they put on a technical display followed by a fairly intense strikefest before Busick tapped Thatcher out to a chokehold. I'm hoping for a rematch in the future.

Match rating - **3/4

4) Roderick Strong vs. Mike Bailey - PWG World Title Match

Roddy is out on the mic being an asshole and says he isn't wrestling tonight despite originally planning to issue an open challenge. Mike Bailey comes out and Roddy decides that he IS gonna wrestle only because he knows he can beat Speedball in under five minutes! OOHHH! It isn't long before Roddy's insults continue by calling him a nerd and mocking his ring gear. It hasn't even begun, but this match is already perfect. The bell rings and SPINNING BACK KICK NAILS RODDY OUT OF NOWHERE! FUCK! Roddy bails out of the ring. Speedball follows with another kick and then hits a cancoon flip moonsault thing off the second rope! He isn't done! Speedball backs into the crowd and hits a running swift kick to Roddy! The action continues on the outside and it's pretty insane. Bailey goes for a dive and RODDY CATCHES HIM! Bailey is fighting off to no avail. ORANGE CRUSH ON THE RING APRON!!!

Roddy takes control and brutalizes Speedball from this point forward. Chops, submissions, and whatever else he could do to wear down Bailey. He was never able to put him away though. Bailey teased a comeback a few times and even kicked out of one of Roddy's signature backbreakers. It turns out this was only just a tease of what was to come in the last half of this match as both men got pushed to new limits and the result was a spectacle to watch unfold. Bailey countered out of the End of Heartache by LANDING ON HIS FEET! He follows it up with the standing shooting star press for a nearfall.

Roddy goes for another backbreaker and BAILEY GETS ON HIS SHOUDLERS, REVERSERANA!! 1..2..RODDY KICKS OUT! Speedball climbs the top rope and keeps the momentum going with the SHOOTING STAR KNEE DROP! 1..2..RODDY KICKS OUT AGAIN! It turns out that this blast of offense not only stunned Roddy, it also pissed him off. Roddy goes nuts near the end with strikes, backbreakers, and TWO end of heartaches to retain his PWG World Title. This was awesome. Another fantastic title defense from my pick for wrestler of the year thus far.

Match rating - ****1/4

5) Brian Cage vs. John Silver

I like the idea of this match on paper. Cage is the buff big guy and Silver is the buff small guy, if you will. I saw a post on Twitter compare to this to a video game and that's honestly a good comparison to make. Both guys have unreal physiques despite being different in stature which made for a number of great displays of strength & agility.

Silver powerboming and deadlift suplexing Cage are just two examples. Cage showed his own agility as well by busting out a hurricanrana in the early going. This was placed in the cool down spot of the card after that barnburner in Roddy/Bailey, but don't sleep on this contest because it serves its rightful place in this show and is an enjoyable watch.

Match rating - **3/4

6) Chris Hero vs. Zack Sabre Jr

I should have known. I should have known this would be a MOTY candidate considering the year both of these men are having. You've got the veteran Chris Hero having one of his best in-ring years yet as he's been killing it in both PWG and Evolve among other Indies as well. Then you have the UK sensation Zack Sabre Jr that has been on a tear since having his big run in America last summer. It's a match made in heaven and it lived up to, no, it exceeded the expectations I had for it.

The story of the match to me was both men playing to their strengths. Hero & Sabre are both similar however they have their clear strengths when compared to one another. Hero is a great technician. One of the best of the past 15 years. As good as he is though, Zack Sabre Jr is that much more studied and well versed. It really boils down to that of Hero's striking becoming more of his focus which allowed someone like ZSJ to become the better technical wrestler. It's a observation that sounds like it would put Hero at a disadvantage when really it doesn't because as skilled as Sabre is in the technical & british styles, he's no where near the striker that Hero is.

The bloodied finger of Chris Hero that became the focal point of this match.

This clash made for a pure wrestling contest that is the finest of it's kind. Hero threw his strikes and tried to knock out Sabre while ZSJ focused on the limbs and in this case, fingers, of Hero and tried to break the big man down. As the minutes went on, things went from professional & reserved to personal & heated as Sabre viciously stomped the arm of Hero which caused a previously injured figured to becoming bloodied. It doesn't sound very brutal on the surface, but believe me, it will make you cringe. Hero's finger looked completely disformed and to top things off, he fought through it being targeted the entire match and even squeezed blood out of it onto the back of Sabre.

Sabre blocks an elbow shot from Hero and turns it into a cross arm breaker.

All the aformentioned things made for a contest that had me on the edge of my seat for the complete duration of the match. I literally felt like it could end at any time and everything they did felt like it meant something. As said before, this was pure wrestling at it's finest with a real, vicious touch thrown in there which made this bout more brutal than I ever expected a match between these two men to be. It's easily one of the best matches of the year overall and rivals Sabre's PWG World Title Match with Roderick Strong for the best PWG Match of the Year thus far. So yeah, you should definitely watch this. It's phenomenal.

Match rating - ****1/2

7) Andrew Everett & Trevor Lee (c) vs. The Young Bucks - PWG World Tag Team Title Match

The boys are back in town.

Everett & Lee are in the ring to give the speech they didn't get to give on the DDT4 DVD as they mention how much this particular event means to them because its where they debuted last year in the opening contest against each other in a three way match with Cedric Alexander. It looks like they are going to wrestle each other due to having no challengers for the tag titles they've just won then a voice comes over the speakers from the back telling them to hold up. IT'S The YOUNG BUCKS! Pop of the night! PWG has new microphones for this show, by the way, they look awesome. Matt cuts a promo and this shit gets going as Everett & Lee dive out of the ring onto The Bucks.

"THEY KICKED HIM IN THE DICK!" - Ethan Page
"IN MID AIR!" - Excalibur

From this point on, the chaos begins. Just looking at the names in this contest will tell you how this went. It was exactly what you would expect - complete craziness in the best possible way. The innovation of the Young Bucks meshed well with the innovation of the NC boys. It was almost mirroring in a way despite Everett & Lee being no where near as experienced of a tag team as The Bucks. I pretty much made a rule to not attempt to name all the amazing spots in Young Bucks matches a while ago so I'm gonna stick by that and just let the GIF's give you an idea of the wild stuff we saw here.

Everett & Lee cleaning house

This match wasn't all spots and flips, though. There were a number of call backs and tributes here as well. The Bucks hit a double apron powerbomb as Excalibur "that's a shout out to Big Kev!" MY BOYS! Then later in the match, The Bucks transition back to bad guys began as they pulled Rick Knox out of the ring. THE RIVALRY NEVER ENDS! Knox & Nick argue - SUPERKICK TO KNOX! Ethan Page is going nuts laughing on commentary. TREVOR LEE WITH THE DIVE ONTO NICK INTO THE CROWD! HOLY SHIT!

Back in the ring, Trevor Lee eats a superkick and HE SOAKS IT UP! Clothesline to Matt that turns him inside out. Lee with the powerbomb! But there's no ref! Roderick Strong hits the ring!! RUNNING KNEE TO LEE! Patrick Hernandez runs down as The Bucks cover him for the three count to become the PWG Tag Team Champions once again.

Match rating - ***3/4

Afterwards, you probably have already read what happened, but I would love to talk about this and do play by play so here we go.

Roddy hands The Bucks the belts. They look confused. They take the belts to a mixed reaction and out comes Joey & Candice. They jump Roddy and The Bucks solidify their turn by stomping them and SUPERKICK TO CANDICE! Johnny Gargano is out and he gets superkicked. Roddy & The Bucks pose for the hard cam when RICK KNOX RUNS INTO THE RING FROM BEHIND WITH A CHAIR! The Jacksons get nailed. Roddy sick kicks Knox and then brutally throws him.

The PWG Champion calls for chairs and starts setting up the same contraption he put Kyle O'Reilly and Rick Knox through last summer. He sets Knox up for the orange crush bomb through the chairs and LIGHTS GO OUT! HOLYYYY SHIT! A dark figure is seen slithering into the ring as the crowd is going bonkers. You already know! The lights come back on - SUPER DRAGON! Everyone is going crazy. Dragon has had enough, he's -- NO! HE GRABS KNOX, PSYCHO DRIVER THROUGH THE CHAIRS!!!! Dragon opens his jacket to reveal a Mount Rushmore 2.0 shirt. He embraces with Roddy & The Bucks. Dragon is ready to kick some ass and oh no, Candice :(

Candice has been using the violence party for months and clearly Dragon didn't like it as he lets her feel it herself then PSYCHO DRIVERRRR! God help her. Excalibur has dropped his headset at this point and Ethan Page is calling all this shit on his own as Excalibur stomps through the crowd and enters the ring. What is he thinking?! He goes right up to his former partner Super Dragon and gets right in his face yelling "WHAT THE FUCK?!" Is this 2003-2005 PWG? I love it! People in the crowd are literally jaw dropped as Dragon elbows Excalibur and sets him up for the curb stomp, but first SUPERKICK FROM THE BUCKS. CURB STOMP!

Dragon hands out multiple variations of the psycho driver to Everett & Lee as a way of showing off. Rushmore is celebrating more when BIFF FUCKING BUSICK EMERGES!!! He's been calling out Dragon on Twitter for WEEKS. This is epic! Busick stares down Dragon in the corner. Dragon flips him the bird and DOUBLE SUPERKICK TO THE BACK OF THE HEAD! So much for that.

Mike Bailey is out next to try to stop this destruction. He kicks Roddy who is on the top turnbuckle drinking a pitcher of BEER BRO. I can't even make the old jokes with all this shit going on. Bailey ends up getting fucked with a psycho driver and beer pitcher to the face.

Roddy gets on the mic as The Bucks head backstage. They bring out a box full of Mount Rushmore 2.0 shirts. These boys know business! Dragon fucking leaves before Roddy is even finished because he's Super Dragon and doesn't give a shit. Roddy welcomes everyone to the new "and improved" Mount Rushmore! Wow! That whole segment was even better with the commentary and despite having watched the video of it on YouTube multiple times prior to getting this DVD, I still got chills when watching it. Amazing.

Overall thoughts: What a damn show. I don't even know where to start. I can say right off the bat that I highly recommend it. And if you're a PWG fan, it's a must see. Roddy/Speedball and Hero/Sabre are phenomenal matches, both totally different from one another. That's honestly what made this show so great, I think. The variety. You had the pretty hot opener, the story driven Mafia/WCTT tag with Alexander's farewell to follow, the vicious, cocky veteran against the valiant young underdog challenger in Roddy/Bailey, the striker against the technician in Hero/Sabre, and the all time PWG greats against the kids who've taken the promotion by storm in Bucks/Everett & Lee. All that combined with that huge storyline development and swerve at the end makes this a show of the year candidate.

I feel like PWG has a fresh new start going forward from here with many future matches being teased and set up along with new characters being fully made. Candice LeRae comes to mind as she got the best reaction she's gotten since last year and busted out a bunch of new stuff in response. I'm actually excited about what's ahead for her for the first time in awhile. Ethan Page is another person I'm REALLY hoping that PWG brings back. I enjoyed him prior to PWG, but he's fit in perfectly and has provided something different. Page has carved himself into a character of his own in Reseda. Unfortunately, he's not booked for BOLA and wasn't at Threemendous IV, but I beg PWG not to drop him. The steam he had coming out of this show was pretty big, in my opinion. The most impact a newcomer in PWG has made from a character/personality standpoint in quite some time, to be honest.

Then you have the obvious Mount Rushmore 2.0 against just about everyone. We've already seen them set up Dragon & The Bucks in Guerrilla Warfare against Everett, Lee, & Busick which is gonna be mindblowing however I feel like that's gonna be just the start. You've got Mike Bailey, Joey & Candice, & Gargano all gunning against them after this show's attack. Not to mention talent & top babyfaces who weren't at this show like Ricochet & Matt Sydal. I'm so stoked for what feels like a new era in PWG.