The Independent Mid-Card 05.01.07: Generico vs. Sabin
Posted by Samuel Berman on 05.01.2007
Our first trip out West to PWG, plus a special bonus SCATHING RANT! You know you want to read this one!
Hello and welcome back to another edition of The Independent Mid-Card. Last week I proclaimed that Pro Wrestling Guerrilla would make it's long-awaited (by Bayani at least) IMC debut in this week's column. Then I went to Ring of Honor's Chicago Ridge show on Saturday and saw one of the best wrestling matches I've ever seen. Usually when there's a major occurance on the Independent scene, I like to touch on a related match in that week's column. So I was left wanting to fulfill my PWG promise AND highlight one of the great match's participants. What to do, what to do? Oh, that's right, one of the participants was in last year's Battle of Los Angeles Tournament. Well that works out pretty well. So come along, because this week we're going out West for a Left Coast edition of The Independent Mid-Card.
El Generico vs. Chris Sabin
Tournament – Second Round Match
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla – Battle of Los Angeles: Night Three – Reseda, CA – September 3, 2006
The Wrestlers:
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla – Before I jump into the individual wrestlers in this matchup, I think it would behoove me to say a few words about PWG as an organization. Defining the concept of the inmates running the asylum, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla is a company founded, run by and featuring a group of pro wrestlers from Southern California. Affectionately referred to as ‘The PWG Six', Disco Machine, Excalibur, "The Professional" Scott Lost, Super Dragon, Top Gun Talwar and Joey Ryan comprise the ownership of PWG, and have all been major players on the company's shows from the very beginning. The company began running events during the Summer of 2003 and since then has continued to grow to the point where it is widely considered to be in the uppermost echelon of American Independents. A part of what makes PWG so special is the overall sense of humor in the promotion. Show titles are to be taken with a grain of salt (examples include All Nude Revue and (Please Don't Call It) The O.C.) and the commentary is done in a near stand-up comedy manner. PWG has also helped serve as a springboard for a number of local SoCal talents to impress an international audience and increase their profiles with numerous Midwest and East Coast companies. Conversely, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla has also allowed their fans an opportunity to see countless wrestlers from companies like Ring of Honor and CHIKARA perform live outside of their ‘home promotions'. Other than the ownership group, key players in the company over the years have included "Photogenic" Chris Bosh, Kevin Steen, El Generico, The Havana Pitbulls, B-Boy, "Scrap Iron" Adam Pearce and "The Future" Frankie Kazarian. Major names to have appeared in PWG include Samoa Joe, CM Punk, Colt Cabana, "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson, Chris Hero, CIMA, "Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels, AJ Styles, James Gibson, Austin Aries, Roderick Strong and Jay & Mark Briscoe.
El Generico – Though he's actually Canadian, "The Generic Luchador" El Generico is billed from Tijuana, Mexico. A fantastic, if mute, competitor who wrestles a hybrid lucha libre style that also integrates mat wrestling and more than his share of comedy, Generico is a long-time PWG mainstay who had routinely tagged with fellow masked wrestler Quicksilver under the team name Cape Fear. Two days prior to this, El Generico had defeated yet another masked wrestler Delirious to advance to the second round of the Battle of Los Angeles Tournament.
Chris Sabin – A routine visitor to the Independent scene, Chris Sabin actually butters his bread as a member of the TNA roster. A multiple time X-Division Champion for that organization, he is regarded as one of the top high-flyers in the world of professional wrestling. Originally hailing from Detroit, Sabin was one of the big names that PWG brought in to help increase the profile of the tournament. Sabin defeated ROH regular "Classic" Colt Cabana in the very first match of the 2006 BOLA Tournament to advance into this contest.
The Match:
As a note before I begin play-by-play, I should note that PWG's commentary format is included as an alternate audio track on all of their DVDs. For the purposes of this review I am using the non-commentary track. I do encourage anyone who checks out this match to listen to the commentary as I've found the PWG commentators (which has a rotating cast) to be both funny and interesting, though they do have a tendency to go off topic a fair amount of the time. That said, let's get to the match.
We cut to the match with both competitors already in the ring for the introductions, so I can't attest to either participant's entrance music. Generico is introduced first and then Sabin. The referee checks each guy and then calls for the bell.
We get a handshake to start, thus delighting the ROH fan in me, and then the two men circle as the crowd begins to clap. Sabin grabs the arm and twists into a wristlock. Generico reverses to one of his own, but Sabin goes through a nice sequence and counters to a hammerlock. Single-leg takedown from Sabin and he grabs a kneeling armlock. Generico counters with his own single-leg takedown and grabs a leglock. Sabin tries to get a rear chinlock to break, but Generico wrenches on the hold. Sabin finally segues to a figure-four headscissors, so Generico rolls towards the side and puts his foot on the ropes to force a break from the ref. Both men take a moment of pause while the crowd applauds the parity and again they circle.
A lockup leads to another wristlock from Sabin, who then moves to a hammerlock and takes Generico down with a snapmare into a crucifix cradle for two. The crowd applauds again. Generico takes his time as the two circle yet again. Both men tentatively grab a knucklelock, but Generico quickly moves to a waistlock. Sabin drops down to the mat and breaks the hold before grabbing a front facelock. Back on their feet, Generico reverses into a wristlock and then a standing front facelock of his own. Sabin forces Generico back to the ropes for the break and then gets a sort of armdrag snapmare. Sabin blocks a kick and then grabs a knucklelock and hits a chop to the chest. Sabin, still holding the knucklelock, grabs the top rope and flips forward into an armdrag, but Generico gets one of his own. Sabin gets a legsweep and covers for one, but when Generico tries the spot himself, Sabin counters to a step-up headscissors takedown. Generico begs off, but Sabin chops him in the corner. Generico responds with a chop of his own and then they exchange another pair of chops until Sabin gets a knee to the midsection and both men take a moment to catch their breath.
Sabin pushes Generico into the corner for a forearm, but Generico reverses a cross-corner whip. Sabin gets his elbow up on a blind charge and then hops up to the second rope, doing a front flip out of the corner to grab a reverse armlock and then armdragging Generico to the mat. Sabin comes off the ropes, but gets caught as Generico hits a spinning armdrag. Sabin bails to ringside and walks all the way to the back wall of the room to catch his breath and regroup, looking particularly frustrated along the way. The ref begins to count him out. Sabin moves back to ringside, finally climbing back in as the count reaches seven.
Sabin and Generico circle again and are again tentative about grabbing a knucklelock. Generico rallies the fans and the two finally look to grab the knucklelock, but Sabin flips Generico off instead, earning a chant from the crowd. Generico rolls out for a water break, which the fans love. Finally, he rolls back in and they go for another knucklelock, but Sabin kicks Generico to take over.
Generico reverses a cross-corner whip again, but Sabin floats over on the blind charge. Sabin comes off the ropes, but gets caught with a leg lariat that gets a two count. Generico picks up Sabin and hits a backbreaker for two and then gets a standing moonsault, also for two. Generico then goes to pick Sabin up, but Sabin grabs the leg and hits a dragon screw legwhip. Sabin comes running with a forearm shot in the corner and then snapmares Generico and comes running off the ropes with a dropkick to the back of the head for two. Sabin gets a knee to the back and then picks Generico up and locks in a modified abdominal stretch. Generico finally gets Sabin to break, but Sabin rolls him right into a schoolboy cradle for two. Sabin gets a stiff kick to the ribs and then slams Generico and hits a slingshot somersault senton from the apron for two. Sabin grabs a modified surfboard stretch that sees him pulling back on Generico's arms while pushing his head into Generico's back all from a kneeling position. The crowd claps to try to urge the Generic Luchador on, and he finally works his way to his feet and tries to elbow out. Sabin gets a knee to the midsection and comes off the ropes, but gets caught with a back elbow. Generico goes for a slam and then a suplex, but Sabin fights it off and actually bites Generico's hand into a wristlock and then forces him to the corner.
Sabin puts Generico on top and follows for a superplex attempt, but Generico blocks it and pushes him off. Generico follows him down with a double jump cross body block and follows up with a pair of clotheslines. Generico goes for a backdrop suplex, but Sabin flips out of it and goes for a strike which Generico counters by grabbing a knucklelock and chopping his chest before popping up to the top and hitting a flying tornado DDT. Generico covers, hooking the near leg and getting a two count.
Generico picks up Sabin and pushes him to the corner. He puts Sabin on the top rope and hits a forearm strike before following him up. He looks for the Brainbustah! (second-rope brainbuster that lands the recipient on the top turnbuckle), but Sabin fights it off. Sabin pushes Generico off the turnbuckle and gets a kick to the face when he tries to climb back up. Sabin then grabs a front facelock and goes for a tornado DDT, but Generico goes with the momentum and sets Sabin right back on the top rope. Generico goes for the Brainbustah! again, but again Sabin blocks, pushing Generico off and falling to the mat himself in the process.
The fans clap as both men slowly make it to their feet. Sabin comes off the ropes, but Generico ducks a clothesline. Generico then runs off the ropes himself, but gets caught with an ace crusher. Sabin follows up with a stiff spinning back kick to the face and then comes off the ropes with a running seated dropkick that puts Generico all the way down. Sabin gets a beautiful spinning sitout powerbomb, but Generico kicks out at two. Both guys are spent and the crowd claps again for them to get back up. Sabin finally picks up Generico and gets a couple of strikes to the face, but gets caught with a dropkick when he comes off the ropes. The momentum carries Sabin all the way to ringside, but he pops right back in and hits a vicious lariat that sends Generico spinning to the canvas. The sell on that lariat is a thing of beauty. Sabin pounds the canvas and calls for the Cradle Shock (fireman's carry into a cross-legged Michinoku Driver). He goes for it, but Generico elbows out of the fireman's carry. Sabin comes running at Generico, but gets caught with an exploder suplex into the corner and covered with a double-leg cradle for two. Generico comes running in for the Ole! (running big boot to the corner), but Sabin catches him with a superkick. Sabin hits a fisherman's buster and climbs to the top, coming down with a flying senton before grabbing an inside cradle for two. Sabin picks up Generico and goes for the Cradle Shock again, but Generico goes deadweight on him. Sabin gets a few strikes, trying to hit the move, but Generico keeps blocking it. Sabin finally decides to go for something else and sets Generico in a tree of woe for his hesitation dropkick, but Generico gets free and meets Sabin in the opposite corner with the Ole!. Generico puts Sabin on top and gets the elusive Brainbustah! and then climbs on top for the pinfall at 16:20 to advance to the Battle of Los Angeles Tournament Semifinals. El Generico is announced as the winner and the ref raises his hand as we quickly cut out.
The Analysis:
I felt as if it took a while for Sabin and Generico to get out of first gear. Their opening sequences were a nice start to the match, establishing an even match between them, but seemed to go on a bit too long. Sabin's frustration when he rolled out to the floor was a reasonable response to him not yet being able to mount a string of offense, but was strangely placed as Sabin had yet to even attempt a major maneuver.
In truth, I understand that both men had to plan as if they'd have to wrestle two more matches that same night, but it seemed like they were perhaps holding back a bit too much for their own good. About halfway in, Generico started going for the proverbial home run with multiple attempts at hitting the Brainbustah!, but it almost ended up being his undoing as Sabin was finally starting to hit his spots. It also seemed a little strange that Generico was able to recover so quickly from the fisherman's buster and flying senton to unhook himself from the tree of woe.
I also want to mention that I credit Sabin's selling and willingness to lay down after basically only taking the Ole! and the Brainbustah!, as he had pretty well dominated the previous five minutes but ended up jobbing to just those two moves in sequence. It certainly made Generico's finishing flurry look strong heading into his next match.
The Aftermath
Chris Sabin was thus eliminated from the Battle of Los Angeles Tournament. Sabin has since appeared periodically for PWG while teaming with fellow TNA talent Alex Shelley as Motor City Machine Guns (an homage to both men hailing from Detroit). The duo is currently entered in the upcoming tournament for the vacant PWG Tag Team Titles. Additionally, Sabin currently holds TNA's X-Division Title and recently appeared for Ring of Honor as he & Shelley faced off with Jay & Mark Briscoe in an absolutely classic encounter.
El Generico would go on to face CIMA in the BOLA Semifinals, losing to Japan's Technical Wrestler of the Year award-winner in what was widely regarded as the best match of the tournament. Though Generico was unable to beat the Dragon Gate star, the message was clear that he was ready to move up the card. By early 2007, Generico would be one of the promotion's cornerstones, winning both the Tag Team Titles with partner Quicksilver as well as defeating Human Tornado to win the coveted PWG World Heavyweight Title. Though Cape Fear was stripped of the tag belts (whose new owners will be decided in the aforementioned upcoming tournament), El Generico continues his reign as PWG Champion. Also of note, Generico has recently begun to make his presence felt in Ring of Honor, where he and former PWG Champion Kevin Steen have been competing in the tag ranks, including a non-title win over ROH World Tag Team Champions Jay & Mark Briscoe.
The Final Word
I said it in my live report and then repeated it in my Wrestler of the Week picks, but the Briscoes vs. MCMG match from Saturday's ROH show is one of the best tag matches I have ever seen and is a must-see for anyone who takes their Year End Awards voting seriously. I'm tired of all of the ‘a Match of the Year can't take place in ROH because no one sees it' garbage. If you like pro wrestling and care at all about the business as a whole, then you have no excuse not to watch this match and judge it against any tag match the WWE or TNA puts on this year. Let's put it this way: TNA is about to tag Shelley & Sabin together on a semi-permanent basis, so fans are going to have the chance to get familiar with their style as a team. However, none of the teams in TNA is on the Briscoes' level. Let me say that again: NO TEAM IN TNA IS AS GOOD AS JAY & MARK BRISCOE! This was the best matchup one could want for MCMG, as they got to go for 35 minutes against the top tag team in the world. Again I say that if you call yourself a pro wrestling fan, you MUST see this match.
Oh, and another quick rant while I'm here. Someone (I mean, maybe there was more than one of you, but one wrote in to Larry) was apparently VERY upset that I voted CM Punk as my top selection for two straight weeks in WOTW. According to this individual (who by the way didn't have either the decency to email me personally or the common sense to realize that me voting for a member of the ECW roster could hardly be construed as me being a ROHbot) I'm a ‘dirty ass CM Punk mark' and a ‘chump'. He says that I am ‘ruining it for [him] and just voting for someone that [I like] who has done NOTHING in the weeks of voting'. Well let me clue you in, man: I write for 411 and can indeed vote for WHOMEVER I DAMN WELL PLEASE. In my mind, the CM Punk heel turn is going to be a major part of ECW's storylines for the next six months at minimum, so for me ‘speculating how great a heel turn is going to be' IS a valid excuse for the top choice of the week. And for the record, if this is such a big problem that I'm ‘ruining' WOTW for you, then by all means, next time there's an open call you should write in, get a weekly column here on the site, and start voting however you like to counteract my SINGLE VOTE. Until then, don't call me ‘Sammy'.
Rant over.
For the all but one of you who didn't need to read that, be sure to check out some other stuff while you're here at 411. Ari's Column of Honor and Stu's Friendly Competition are always must-reads. Also, be sure to check out both guys in the most recent Buy or Sell. Rob Halden thinks Kurt Angle is an Idiot, and I'm hard-pressed to disagree. There's also Brad & Jake's review of ROH Dedicated and JD's look at Enter the Dragon and The Chicago Spectacular Night One & Night Two (for both of which I sat ringside). Oh, and Bayani's latest Truth B Told.
If you like my stuff, you can check out my live reports from this weekend's IWA Mid-South and Ring of Honor shows. This week will also hopefully be the return of the occasionally read Box in the Attic column that has had to go on the back burner for the last month or so due to real life interjecting itself.
As a final note, I want to say that I got the chance to see PWG's Joey Ryan and Scott Lost perform live this weekend in Chicago for IWA and really enjoyed both guys' performances. Ryan in particular is truly destined for greatness.
With that said, I'm out to finish watching the Brewers beat the Cardinals. To be honest, I'm not really sure what we're going to look at next week. Might be more PWG. More likely it'll be back to ROH. Who knows. Check back to find out.
