Thursday, December 28, 2017

PWG: Head Like A Cole Review




1) Trevor Lee vs. Keith Lee

The battle of the Lee's! It sounds appealing, but is honestly so skippable. Some good taunting by Trevor early on before this thing falls into stale territory. This is where my comment about this show having such mixed reviews comes into play. I saw some people give this the same rating I am, whereas some said Trevor Lee was the only good thing about this. To me, that's an outrageous climb considering the only thing I enjoyed about this Keith Lee's few shining moments. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, though so onward we go. Couple hot minutes near the end that ALMOST made up for the boring first half/mid portion. Keith Lee wins therefore I leave with a decent taste in my mouth. It's crazy how Trevor Lee went from the person I was most excited to see on PWG shows to more of a malcontent.

Match rating - **1/2

2) ReDragon (Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish) vs. Chosen Bros (Jeff Cobb & Matt Riddle)

NOW WE'RE TALKIN. Grappling at it's finest here with four men who do it better than arguably anyone else in the world. Nice stalemates to start between all four men, O'Reilly pairing off with Cobb and Fish pairing off with Riddle. Both teams do some isolation work and showcase their true tag team skills before things sorta break down. The Fish/Riddle work from early on leads to some intense work between the two that leaves Fish bleeding the hard way from his left (I think) eye. That turns up the intensity level even higher for the closing sequence of high power moves with both teams busting out everything to gain the victory. In the end, the Chosen Bros get the big win with the Bro to Sleep on Bobby Fish. They remain undefeated.

Match rating - ***1/2

3) Michael Elgin vs. Shane Strickland

Basic fun little big man vs spotty smaller guy here. A lot of people hate on Strickland, but to me they just take stuff too seriously. This was about as easy on the eyes as you can get. Strickland does flips and Elgin does power moves. It doesn't go too long and its straight & to the point. I'll take that over a drawn out opener like Lee/Lee earlier with no specific story that just goes long to hit the 15 minute mark and for no other reason, any day of the week. Elgin lays down Strickland with the Elgin bomb and walks out with the victory.

Match rating - **3/4

4) Adam Cole vs. Sami Callihan

The Panama City Playboy gets the streamer treatment and a massive ovation as this is his last PWG show before heading off to NXT. Five and a half years after debuting in Reseda, taking the promotion by storm with a long reign as World Champion, Cole is making his exit. And what better opponent than career-long rival, Sami Callihan? These two started in pro wrestling together back in CZW and brought their rivalry over to PWG in 2012-2013 in a series of bouts that ended with a 60 minute Iron Man Match at "Is Your Body Ready?" in June of 2013 for the PWG World Championship. This wasn't quite the same as any of the other meetings though as there was no bullshitting around. The two had a long staredown at the beginning of the match only for things to explode into a brawl filled with chair spots and stiff blows. In the end, Cole falls to his arch rival after getting caught in a cradle pinning combination. After the match, Cole gets one last "Adam Cole Bay Bay" before bowing out. Thanks for the memories, Adam.

Match rating - ***1/4

5) Mark Haskins vs. Lio Rush

I'm not quite sure why this is so high on the card considering there's no real backstory and neither of these guys have brought anything too notable out since debuting in PWG, but none the less, we are here and it's a decent little showcase for both men. Definitely better than the opener and Elgin/Strickland. Not much to talk about, though. Rush wins with a frog splash.

Match rating - ***

6) Penta El Zero M & Fenix (c) vs. The Young Bucks - PWG World Tag Team Championship Match

These two teams were involved in my pick for PWG Match of the Year thus far back in March in a three way tag match that saw the Lucha Bros win the titles. So, I'm pretty stoked for this and I'll say right out of the gate that it definitely delivered. It's not on the level of the aforementioned bout, but it's definitely a fine counterpart. Just these two teams doing their thing flawlessly in front of a hot crowd eating up every second. Penta & Fenix continue to break out new double team moves that I've yet to see from them in Reseda and The Bucks continue being the best at what they do. To most people's surprise, Penta & Fenix retain here after a crazy match.

Match rating - ****

7) Zack Sabre Jr (c) vs. Trent? - PWG World Championship Match

The Bucks & The Lucha Bros got the crowd warmed up nicely for this main event and boy, was it a barnburner. This feud between ZSJ & Chuck has brought us some awesome stuff so far and this was no different. This match got set up from that amazing tag match a few months back where Trent pinned ZSJ, earning the Best Friends a big victory. So going into this, ZSJ seems slightly vulnerable considering he HAS been pinned by Trent during this reign before. And them starting the match with Trent going for the same move that put ZSJ away and seeing the champion escape quickly & frantically to the outside makes it even more believable. Everything about this ruled. ZSJ is being a dick and torturing Trent. They do a lot of teasing and building towards stuff. Everything meant something. ZSJ's work on Trent's leg was a story that continued coming up through the very last second of the match when Trent went for a second crunchie and couldn't hold the weight. This was just fantastic stuff with a hot finishing stretch. ZSJ retains by tying Trent up in a precarious position following the failed crunchie attempt.

Match rating - ****1/4

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