March 5th, 2016
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, Chuck Taylor, & Chris Hero
1) Chuck Taylor vs. Marty Scurll
Chuckie T picked up a surprising victory over Trevor Lee last night so he came into this with a lot of momentum. Scurll is coming off a killer match with Kyle O'Reilly in which he came up short so you know he's looking for retribution. Once again, he was the villain in more ways than one here. This was a pretty short and straight to the point opener so you can't really complain. Both of these guys are loaded with charisma and entertaining movesets so this was enjoyable. Chuck wins with an awful waffle.
Match rating - **3/4
2) Evil Uno vs. Mark Andrews
Lackluster final match for Uno in his recent PWG return/excursion. There were some neat exchanges and noteworthy moments, but as a whole this wasn't much. Andrews snags the win with a shooting star press after fighting from underneath against the bigger man for the majority of the match.
Match rating - **1/2
3) Drew Galloway vs. Trevor Lee
I tend to not care for Galloway and while Lee has a great moveset, his singles match can sometimes wander. This was pretty good, though. Lee was aggressive and heeling it up using his rough housing style, if you will, to get the advantage on the big man. Galloway powered back and we got a solid closing sequence which led to an AWESOME finish. Lee springboarded to the top rope, Galloway caught him in position for a chokeslam, he hung there for a second then Lee reversed in mid air into a small package to get the three count.
Match rating - ***1/4
4) Ricochet & Matt Sydal vs. Chris Hero & JT Dunn
I heard mixed reports on this one, but I have to say that I actually enjoyed it more than the Bucks/Ricochet & Sydal encounter from the night before. That match was full speed for the majority of the time whereas this one was well spaced out and everything had time to breath. Not to mention that it's a super fresh match up. Hero & Ricochet have NEVER met despite being two long time PWG regulars and the only pair that have ever faced off in Reseda out of these four is Hero & Sydal at BOLA in 2014. Now, this DID go 27 minutes which was a lot however it didn't feel that long at all, honestly. The only time it got noticeable was near the end when kickouts ran rampant, but even then they were well placed. It didn't turn into a clusterfuck of false finishes, by any means. But back to things about this match that ruled. You had Chris Hero showing his lucha expertise with a running hurricanrana and a fast paced exchange with Ricochet early on. As you can probably tell, Hero & Ricochet were the highlight of this. From those pop worthy exchanges to the story mainly being Ricochet taunting Hero as he & Sydal isolated Dunn. This made for the hot tag to Hero as he beat the ever loving hell out of The King with strikes of all kinds. Dunn made a great first impression and Ricochet & Sydal made sure of it by making him look REALLY good. I've been mixed on Death by Elbow in the past however this was by far their best match and had they shaved a few minutes off, this could've been a MOTY candidate. Despite the fact that it could've been more with a few changes, it's still a quality encounter and well worth your time.
Match rating - ****
5) Adam Cole vs. Trent?
What the actual fuck even happened here?! Cole & Trent went nuts in this explosively short contest. Super aggressive Cole attack from the bell, package piledriver on the ring apron, canadian destroyer off the top turnbuckle, tons of nutty shit packed into 9 or 10 minutes with Chuck on commentary being golden to boot. Fun fun fun.
Match rating - ***1/4
6) The Young Bucks (c) vs. ReDragon (Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish) - PWG World Tag Team Title Match
On paper, this is a dream come true, especially for someone like myself who has thoroughly enjoyed the Bucks/ReDragon series in the past few years. However, this match came at the wrong time in that we've seen these two teams do pretty much everything they could do with another in ROH and NJPW. With that came a match here that you would think would be a must see, MOTY candidate, turn out to just be a solid affair. That's most definitely not me trying to damper on it, I'm just saying it's not on the caliber of some of their other matches although it's still good because the Bucks & ReDragon are the two best tag teams on the planet today. They did their thing here and threw in a few spots I hadn't seen before along with the usual moments they've become known for. The most notable moment of the match for me was Nick breaking up O'Reilly's hanging guillotine choke with a 450 splash. That was just insane. The Bucks did a lot of shenanigans here with spraying body spray in the faces of both O'Reilly & Fish and kicking them in the crotch when the refs back was turned. The finish was pretty sick as The Bucks kicked O'Reilly & Fish repeatedly until they would stay down, then took their mouth pieces and put them in their pants only stuff them back into the mouths of the ReDragon duo. More Bang for Your Buck finishes things off and allows the Bucks to retain.
Match rating - ***1/4
7) Roderick Strong (c) vs. Zack Sabre Jr - PWG World Title Match
This is it. The match this entire show was built around and a rematch nearly a year in the making. All in all, though, this match is two years in the making as this rivalry began during Zack's first weekend in PWG back at the 2014 Battle of Los Angeles tournament. Now here we are, almost two years later, and the inferiority complex that compelled Roddy to attack Zack & Kyle O'Reilly following their stellar match on that unforgettable night in August of 2014, is still brewing as Roddy is destined to prove that Zack is NOT the best in the world nor the best in PWG, he is. Roddy's entire title reign has consisted of him being overshadowed by Sabre and it has tormeneted him. That leads us here and that's why barring some drastic circumstances, this was bound to be a MOTY candidate. The story and the characters made you care about this match, it didn't matter how many spots these two did, how many moves they busted out, this wasn't about flips or kicks, it was about the story and the championship. That's what made this special from the get go. Before the bell, Roddy tries to stop Knox from reffing the match by calling Justin to the ring, but KNOX SUPERKICKS JUSTIN AND RINGS THE BELL. Fucking hell! I also have to mention the amount of streamers that Sabre recieved during the introductions, that was a sight to see! Roddy & Sabre to start scrapping as the bell rings with the entire crowd on their feet for this dream match. As time went on, it became apparent that this was going to be a straight up fight and that's what it turned into. All killer, no filler. Every strike meant something. Every submission meant something. Some of it wasn't the cleanest these two could deliver, but that just went along with the intensity, high stakes, and big fight feel of this match. Sabre manipulated the body of Roddy, Roddy beat & bruised the body of Sabre. It was truly exhausting to watch two athletes of this caliber slug it out. The crowd ate up everything Sabre did. Every time he kicked out in the late going of the match, it was like a breath of life was brought back into the Reseda audience. It all built up to Sabre throwing Roddy from the top turnbuckle into a flying crossarm breaker then rolling him over and wrenching back on the leg & arm in signature Sabre fashion. The entire crowd was on their feet beating the mat, yelling for Roddy to tap, and in what had to be the most humbling moment of his title run, Roderick Strong submitted to Zack Sabre Jr. What followed was one of the most emotional moments that I can remember in PWG history as the place EXPLODED. The "shitty little champ" had been dethroned. Sabre finally got his due and jumped in the crowd to celebrate with the people who brought him to this point. Marty Scurll, Mark Andrews, & Drew Galloway join in on the celebration with their fellow Englishman. Awesome match, unforgettable moment, must see performance.
Match rating - ****1/2
No comments:
Post a Comment