Date: July 24th, 2015
Champions: 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)
Commentators: Excalibur, Rick Knox, Joey Ryan, Chris Hero, & Dan Barry
PWG returns just one month after Mount Rushmore 2.0 formed and shocked the world as the video spread around the internet. What's next in this new era of PWG? Where do Andrew Everett & Trevor Lee go after losing their tag titles in their first title defense? What's next for Mike Bailey after losing in his PWG World Title Match? How will The Young Bucks fare in their fourth tag team title reign? Who will Super Dragon strike next? PLUS Akira Tozawa returns to face long time friend & competitor Ricochet and much more. So, needless to say, there's a lot to look forward to!
1) World's Cutest Tag Team (Joey Ryan & Candice LeRae) vs. Team Tremendous (Dan Barry & Bill Carr)
I didn't catch Team Tremendous' debut in PWG earlier this year at DDT4 however I am pretty familiar with them. I heard it wasn't much to talk about aside from a solid showing so I was interested to see how'd they fare here against Joey & Candice. Turns out, they ended up being one of my favorite parts of the evening. How did I not realize that they would be a perfect fit for PWG? Joey asks who wants his lollipop and Bill wants it. Joey teases giving it to Dave Meltzer only to give it to another fan at ringside. Dan Barry asks for it anyway and the fan drops it! OH NO! It rolls into the second row and Bill Carr ventures down there to get it and they put the evidence in their bag with a tag on it as the crowd erupts! The gimmick & humor of Team Tremendous is offically OVER in Reseda. The match gets going and it's just as fun as all the pre-bout shenanigans. Candice looked awesome just like she did at MV3. The innovation that I mentioned in that review was showcased here again. Not only by her & Joey, but also by Team Tremendous that wowed the crowd with a number of unique double team moves. And not to forget Bill Carr's Canadian Destroyer! Joey takes the pin as Team Tremendous get a huge victory over the former tag team champions.
Match rating - **3/4
2) Brian Cage vs. Johnny Gargano
The show got off to a great start and it looked to continue here as Johnny Gargano nails Brian Cage with hurt's donut only seconds in. This is followed up by a huge dive. The crowd is on fire and then this goes into your standard movesy match. It had no real flow or story despite them hitting some cool stuff here & there. Gargano diving off the apron with a backflip and being caught in mid-air by Cage being the most notable. I also loved seeing Johnny pull out the swinging DDT off the side of the apron again. Other than that, this wasn't anything to rave about and will seen by most people in negative light as your stereotypical PWG match. Cage picks up the win with Weapon X.
Match rating - **1/2
3) Andrew Everett vs. Rich Swann
This fell under the same mold as Cage/Gargano for me. They did stuff for about 10-12 minutes and then it was over. Crazy flip exchange early on after they did the slightest little bit of mat work. Everett changed things up in his dive routine as he didn't do the springboard SSP and instead hit some sort of knee drop thing which was awesome. Swann did some fun stuff as well here. If you look at this as an exhibition, you'll probably enjoy it, because that's really what it was. As a match as a whole, it wasn't much to rave about. Nice win for Everett though to bounce back after the tag title match loss.
Match rating - **1/2
4) Trevor Lee vs. Tommaso Ciampa
I like this! Ciampa had a smile on his face early as Trevor Lee flipped him off only to be the one that turned vicious. Ciampa forced Trevor to fight from under nearly this entire match and I loved that gameplan. It didn't start out that way though as Lee NAILED Ciampa with the mushroom stomp as soon as the bell rang. Once Ciampa got control however, it turned nasty with a orange crush looking manuever into the ring post. Lee would get a flurry here and there only to get cut off once again. They put together a great finishing run with a few nearfalls and awesome counters. Trevor going for a hurricarana only to get in the Project Ciampa back breaker on the knees was sweet. The finish followed suit with Lee going for a small package, bouncing up, and SMALL PACKAGE DRIVERRRR for the three count. Good match here.
Match rating - ***1/4
5) Chris Hero vs. Mike Bailey
With the year that both of these men are having respectively, there was no way this could be anything other than awesome and that's EXACTLY what it was. The story writes itself from the time that you see this match written out on paper. Hero is the much larger, strike heavy, technically sound veteran and Bailey is the smaller, high flying, jiu jitsu expert newcomer. It's a recipe for success that translated as such in the legion hall. Many people have compared this to the Hero/Tozawa match and while it's a similar and sound comparison, I'd say this match was unique in it's own way due to Bailey being known for strikes almost as much as Hero is. Both men threw everything they had into this match. There were times when Hero thought he had Bailey down only for him to come back for more. Hero would slap him in a way that said "stay down" yet Speedball just looked up at him with a face of determination. I don't think anyone saw the end result of this match coming despite Bailey getting a few flurries where it looked like it was over. Then again, he'd hit a barrage of offense only for Hero to kick out at one on a certain occasion to which Bailey responded simply with his jaw dropped in the center of the ring. In the end, the underdog would come out victorious in a shocking victory that came out of nowhere in the form of a roll up. Bailey delivers AGAIN in a big match with a former World Champion and Hero continues to have one of his best in-ring years yet and raises the stock of yet another young star. Match of the night.
Match rating - ****1/4
6) Ricochet vs. Akira Tozawa
TOZAWA IS BACK! It almost feels surreal. For those who don't know, Akira Tozawa came into PWG in 2010 during his stay in the US to gain experience elsewhere. Prior to that, as Excalibur would allude to on commentary, Tozawa was looked at as essentially a joke in Dragon Gate in Japan. They tried to make him into this and that. The fans even didn't care for him and there wasn't much hype at all when he was announced for PWG five years ago. Then Tozawa came in and PWG just let him be himself and in a number of months, he became one of the brightest personalities the promotion has seen. Beyond that, he became the star he was destined to be as he let his true self shine through. From the time he & Chris Hero tore it down at the 2010 Battle of Los Angeles, fans were hooked on him. Tozawa would go on to compete in PWG regularly until the summer of 2011 when he had to head back to Dragon Gate. It was a bittersweet moment as he said goodbye. Never to be seen again until now! So, with that backstory behind you, let's come back to reality. It's Tozawa against his best friend Ricochet in his one night only return to PWG. The humor that Tozawa is known for was displayed throughout the contest, but especially early on as he mocked Ricochet's hand springs and poses. It was interesting to see this play out as you knew each man had something to prove with Ricochet defending his home turf and Tozawa wanting to make his comeback a successful one. I felt like this was more about fun than anything though. These two went out and reminded us of why we enjoy BOTH of them so much. Highly entertaining contest here with a number of SPOTZ and nearfalls.
Match rating - ***3/4
Post match, Ricochet & Tozawa embrace as the crowd chants "please come back" before Tozawa exits the ring. Ricochet leaves behind him and turns to salute the crowd once more when SUPER DRAGON COMES THROUGH THE CURTAIN AND NAILS HIM FROM BEHIND! Here we go, ladies and gentleman! It was only a matter of time. PSYCHO DRIVER TO RICOCHET! The calvary is released at this point as Joey Ryan, Candice LeRae, & Johnny Gargano hit the ring to lay in the shots to Dragon. He isn't phased as they stop and he just looks at them from the corner. Meanwhile the Bucks slide in the back door with Super Dragon masks on. Gargano & Joey turn around - DOUBLE SUPERKICK TO THEM BOTH! Dragon has Candice on the mat and is setting her up for the curb stomp.. oh no.. SUPERKICK TO CANDICE! CURBSTOMP! This is just brutal. Three fourths of Mount Rushmore 2.0 proceed to deliver three doses of the violence party to Joey, Candice, & Gargano and Dragon closes it out with a CURBSTOMP TO CANDICE INTO THE TURNBUCKLE! The Bucks head to the outside of the ring to confront AKIRA TOZAWA! He gets knocked down pretty quickly. Everett & Lee are out next and get superkicked in the entrance way. Mike Bailey comes out and hits The Bucks with a chair. Dragon is in the ring posing and turns around. MIKE BAILEY IS FACE TO FACE WITH SUPER DRAGON! CHILLS! They start going at it and sadly the exchange ends with Speedball eating a clothesline. The crowd is chanting for Biff Busick at this point. Dragon is still flaunting when AKIRA TOZAWA RE EMERGES INTO THE RING! One time tag team partners, Dragon & Tozawa start trading shots until DOUBLE SUPERKICK! PSYCHO DRIVER TO TOZAWA! Well, so much for that. The beatdown on all of them continues and they set Joey up for a Meltzer Driver on the FLOOR! Before it can be done, ANGELICO RUNS IN WITH A KNEE STRIKE to one of the Bucks. JACK EVANS WITH A HUGE DIVE ONTO THE BUCKS & DRAGON! JACK IS BACK IN PWG, MAAAAN! Evans takes his momentum onto the stage where he poses on the table before clearing the way for an ANGELICO DIVE OVER THE RING POST INTO THE CROWD! EVERYBODY IS DOWN! DEAR LORD! And just like that, the main event is underway!
7) The Young Bucks (c) vs. Jack Evans & Angelico - PWG World Title Match
The craziness that I just detailed carried over into this match as you very well may have expected. It seems like The Bucks have just settled into insanity since returning to PWG after a few months away because this was exactly like their match at MV3 except even wilder, if you can imagine it. So much so that when deciding what to say here and how to rate became pretty difficult. As with many Bucks matches, I simply leave it at crazy instead of trying to name everything they did. But I do have to say that Evans & Angelico matched them in just about every possible way. With innovation, with insanity, with how the match was laid out. It was just spot after spot after spot, but like usual with The Bucks it was done SO well. Most people shit on The Young Bucks' style without realizing how intricate what they do actually is. Not every team can do what The Bucks do, in fact, I'd say not many can. With that in mind, this was the definition of a perfect spotfest, in my opinion. From the execution to how it was laid out, it was just awesome in every possible way. From a serious rating perspective, I'd give this ***1/2 because there was literally only like two tags that I can remember in this entire match. However, entertainment & enjoyment play a big part in my ratings and this was a ton of fun. Jack & Angelico making the save and taking out The Bucks & Dragon was the perfect way to start it and introduce/re introduce them to Reseda. As a friend of mine on Twitter said, this entire angle and match was like the perfect lead-in to BOLA. After a bunch of wild shit, The Bucks win with a MELTZER DRIVER ON THE FLOOR and retain the tag team titles in a jaw dropping contest. After the match, Jack & Angelico get a standing ovation and Jack says something I couldn't fully make out, but he mentions The Bucks and BOLA and that they're just getting started. The crowd roared about half-way through so I couldn't make it all out. Plus he wasn't even using a mic so, yeah. This was great.
Match rating - ****
Overall thoughts: The final three matches are your reasons to buy this show. In all honesty, the undercard was pretty underwhelming. The opener was loads of fun and Ciampa/Lee was solid however Cage/Gargano and Everett/Swann left a good bit to be desired. Once Hero & Bailey tore the house down though, it was off to the races from there. Tozawa's return is must see for the moment alone, but the match was nice too with he & Ricochet both getting their stuff in. The angle before the main event was once again great. Anything involving Dragon has a special hype to it. Seeing all the babyfaces run down was super cool like always. Mike Bailey had another star making showing as he went face to face with Dragon during this plus Tozawa showed down with Dragon which ruled. Then the main event was the definition of insane. This isn't a Mystery Vortex III, but it's damn sure worth seeing for the three aforementioned matches. And onward we march to the 2015 Battle of Los Angeles!
Thanks for reading and be sure to follow @TheTeamPWG!
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