Pro Wrestling Guerilla Seventh Anniversary Show Report
Posted by Chris Lansdell on 07.31.2010
Get all the results from last night's action...
Here's a report from last night's PWG 7. Thanks to 411 reader Tom Ford for sending this in.
I attended the PWG show last night in Reseda, CA. My first show at PWG's home stead and it was quite the show. Not a match was a bust. Perhaps slight disappointment. But when you have people chanting "Match of the Year," You can't necessarily discount it.
PWG's "7"
-Pre Show: It took the PWG security staff quite a while to let people into the building. Place was jam packed, they kept stuffing people into seats like sardines. People were still being let in as the third match of the night was ending. They didn't start letting people in till ten of 8. Show couldn't have started before 9 with a bell time of 8. That could be my ONLY complaint.
Paul London was on the ring apron eating cookies pre show. El Generico came out and wanted one, which London obliged. The crowd then started chanting "Magic Cookies" and Generico became quite concerned. Was a fun little bit to tide the crowd over.
Excalibur welcomed everyone to the show. He gave a speech about how much they're going to miss Scott Lost. He said welcome to PWG, where, "WE RECYCLE!" which, of course, brought a "We Re-Cycle" chant from the crowd. All plastic bottles were promptly thrown in the trash.
First match was Johnny Goodtime, Brandon Gatson, and Candice LeRae d. Peter Avalon, Malachi Jackson & Ryan Taylor. Nice high paced opener. Goodtime came out with a Nintendo Power Pad from the old days. He was stomping up a storm like he was playing Track and Field to start the match, only for all three of Gatson, Goodtime, and Candice to be attacked. The heels went to work on Candice before she got the advantage. She worked over, I think Ryan Taylor in the corner with an innumerable amount of elbows and forearms that brought about a "Fuck 'em up Candice" chant. The good guys took control until Avalon entered the ring, demanding Candice. They had a few funny inter-gender spots, mostly Avalon rubbing himself up on Candice from behind in a rear waist lock. Goodtime hit a springboard moonsault to the outside and then picked up a pitcher of beer pouring some into his mouth. Candice went over Malachi with a top rope moonsault, while Goodtime and Gatson took out the others with springboard moves to the outside.
Chris Hero came out for commentary after that for the next match.
Brandon Bonham d. Brian Cage
The crowd started off the night chanting "WHO ARE YOU!" at Brian Cage, to which a small section of his, no doubt, immediate family chanted back "Brian Cage!" By the end of the matchup though, both sides knew who Brian Cage was. Hard fought match. Spotty and with little psychology but the moves were done pretty crisply. The match ended when Bonham hit a Canadian Destroyer. The crowd proceeded to chant "That was Awesome" and "Please Come Back" to Cage.
Akira Tozawa d. Chris Sabin
Pretty fun match. Tozawa stole the match with his facial expressions and screaming. Sabin hit his signature moves, the second rope spring splash to the outside. Sabin had Tozawa in a tree of woe and delivered a baseball slide drop kick. Then went for hesitation drop kick only for Tozawa to pull himself up. Sabin stopped himself and kicked Tozawa in the gut and then went back and nailed Hesitation dropkick. Finish happened after a German suplex, which Tozawa screwed up the bridge, only to lift Sabin back up on his shoulders and deliver another brutal looking German for the pin. Wasn't crisp but got the job done.
Scorpio Sky d. Scott Lost via KICK TO THE HEAD?!?
Scott Lost hit Scorpio with a drop kick early. He grabbed streamers thrown for his going away party and flung them as he hit the move, making it look so much more awesome.
Scorpio wound up hitting his finisher twice before a screwed referee's count(He counted two and made his hand softly hit the mat for three, when it shoulda been a three count) which made the kick to the face finish anti-climatic. Lots of near falls. I felt the match started out slow but picked up steam as it went. Neither man was really at a loss, step wise in the ring. Quite a few high spots. Big spot was a belly to belly suplex from inside to outside the ring.
Scott Lost got on the mic and said that he promised his family if he wasn't supporting himself completely through wrestling by the time he was thirty, he promised he'd quit. But he also said tomorrow he has an announcement to make on twitter, wrestling related. So who knows.
We had intermission. I saw Tozawa at the merch table, along with Chris Hero and Candice. Candice was signing beer coozy's for five dollars and Hero was meet and greeting. Seems Tozawa had a friend he was just hanging with.
Brian Danielson d. Roderick Strong via CRIPPLER crossface.
Probably the best match psychology wise on the night. Danielson came out to Final Countdown, crowd of course threw in ties. Danielson picked up a tie and motioned to choking out the official with it to a pop. Lots of "Kick his fucking head in" chants and "You're gonna get your head kicked in" chants directed at Strong.
During some point in the match, Roderick Strong took a tie and started choking Danielson. The Crowd chanted "YOU ARE FIRED!" When Danielson repeated the motion, the crowd chanted "You are hired!" to astonished looks from the American Dragon.
Dragon hit Cattle Mutilation at a certain point in the match. Good mat work. A nice diversion from the high flying spot fest of the rest of the night.
Bryan cut a promo afterwards. I lightly transcribed it. Don't expert verbatim but I got the major points.
"I can't use that language, I'm a PG wrestler. I'm here for the kids. See, I'm here cause of kids like this right? But I'm also kinda here for people who want to see other people get their heads kicked in. Looking around, I've never seen this building so packed. My music started playing and I couldn't hear anything. Might be cause the song sucks. Maybe cause all you guys are awesome. PWG, you guys are the best fans around. Sometimes, I get embarrassed about being a sports entertainer, but you guys make me feel proud to be a wrestler. Two great matches are still to come. Have a great evening."
Davey Richards d. Chris Hero to retain the PWG Heavyweight Championship. After the match, fans in attendance had a "Match of the Year," chant, which I would heartedly dispute. It was however, a great match. Davey however, wouldn't sell Hero's kicks to the face that would have made him more prone/more likely to lose the championship. Lots of stiff strikes, elbows and forearms from Hero throughout the match. Multiple Yakuza kicks. I didn't expect a title change but they made me believe it could happen. Richards was working over Hero's Leg after dragon screwing him inside the ring ropes. Davey locked in the Texas Cloverleaf numerous times to Hero getting to the ropes. Hero hit numerous stiff strikes for near falls. Finish came when Davey locked in the ankle lock for the third time, this time with a grapevine, for Hero to tap out. Match was solid, Hero sold his bad leg for most of it, but I'd knock it down a peg for Richards' Hulking up factor. Still, Richards and Danielson need to have a match, just for them both to hulk up into violent fits of rage and just WAIL on each other. I hope that's next show.
YOUR MAIN EVENT, the seventh match, of the seventh Anniversary show...
Had a Parental warning that you SHOULD PAY ATTENTION OR BE HURT BY FLYING BODIES. And they were quite right to warn you.
¡Peligro Abejas! (El Generico & Paul London - Champions) d. The Cutler Brothers (Brandon & Dustin Cutler - Challengers) & The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson - Challengers)
This was garbage spot-fest wrestling at it's finest. London really did a great job keeping everything coherent and interfering at the right time to break up pins. The action was ALL over, and there were TONS of suicide dives to the outside. At some point, the Culter Brothers tossed one of the Bucks onto a pile of bodies from the elevated announcers booth. Two tables(and POPPERS) were introduced to the match. There was a cool spot with the Bucks where Max Buck(What's his PWG name?) did a cartwheel back flip and then stopped, grabbing a back rack to rack his opponent's back. At one point someone went flying over a bar stool into the back bar, but they were out of my vantage point.
Jeremy Buck went through the table on a Paul London top rope suplex. The Cutler Bros hit their dual tombstone onto two set up chairs. I believe Jeremy hit a 450 splash through a table for the other broken table. At the end, Generico hit a turnbuckle brainbuster on one of the Bucks as London Shooting Star Pressed the mass of bodies on the outside to retain.
All in all one of the better shows I've attended. I would have liked a title change, but that's not even a REAL complaint. I don't think I could signal out a SINGLE bad match. The closest thing would be Sabin/Tozawa or Sky/Lost, for their botched finishes, but ultimately, this was quite the spotless show. I would argue that every match on the show is worth watching. I'd say the show averaged out to 3 1/2 stars, and that's me being rough on my assessment of the show. Certainly one to pick up on DVD when it comes out. Hopefully the internet doesn't gush all over Hero/Richards though, because while it was a great match, maybe match of the night, it can't be match of the year. Top ten match? Maybe. Sure. But I'd have to rewatch it.
Still, PWG, two for two on my endeavors. Kurtrusslemania was a great show, and this definitely surpassed that.
Posted By: theBZa (Guest) on July 31, 2010 at 11:30 AM
Scorpio Sky d. Scott Lost via KICK TO THE HEAD?!?
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If you were more familiar with PWG you'd know that a "Kick to the Face" is actually Scott Lost's main finisher, the big fat kill, and for those that never seen it before, it's a brutal reverse spinning thrust kick to the head, it's brillant.
Sounds like an awesome show, LOVE PWG.
Posted By: The Celt (Guest) on July 31, 2010 at 11:55 AM
Sounds like a fun show! Thanks for the PWG coverage.
Posted By: Guest#4180 (Guest) on July 31, 2010 at 12:16 PM
Was Bryan Danielson's Crippler Crossface actually that Omnoplata (sp?) that he started using in the WWE?
Posted By: Guest#1235 (Guest) on July 31, 2010 at 12:56 PM
Kinda sad Lost's last match had a screwy finish.
Posted By: Guest#7487 (Guest) on July 31, 2010 at 01:33 PM
Why is it that the people who review Indy shows on here never seem to know what they're talking about?
Kick to face = big fat kill
Jeremy Buck = Nick Jackson
Max Buck = Matt Jackson
Anyways, sounds like a great show. Glad to here lost
Posted By: Guest#2136 (Guest) on July 31, 2010 at 01:40 PM
I'm sure gonna miss Scott Lost but he is a smart man to realize his body has limits, at the age of 30 he's realized that his health is more important than his career if he still hasn't made it to the next level. I wish him the best, thank you Scott!
Posted By: Alex (Guest) on July 31, 2010 at 02:12 PM
``During some point in the match, Roderick Strong took a tie and started choking Danielson. The Crowd chanted "YOU ARE FIRED!" When Danielson repeated the motion, the crowd chanted "You are hired!" to astonished looks from the American Dragon.``
This has win written all over it.
Posted By: Guest#1482 (Guest) on July 31, 2010 at 02:33 PM
Actually from what I saw
Davey Richards vs Chris Hero was a nice mix of technical and high flying.
Davey sold well and was ruthless. Hero looked like he had it won a couple times. Davey put hero over on the mic after their great match.
Match of the night, no surprise here.
Posted By: Guest#8564 (Guest) on July 31, 2010 at 02:41 PM
Why is it that the people who review Indy shows on here never seem to know what they're talking about?
Kick to face = big fat kill
Jeremy Buck = Nick Jackson
Max Buck = Matt Jackson
Anyways, sounds like a great show. Glad to here lost
Posted By: Guest#2136 (Guest) on July 31, 2010 at 01:40 PM
I was on my iTouch writing this, lol. I accidently submitted it before I got to finish. What I was going to say was:
Glad to hear Lost did the streamer spot from BOLA '07. Sounds like a great show. Although I do think it sucks that Scott Lost did nothing but job since BOLA '09. I guess he wanted to put over other people since he was leaving, but come on. Scott Lost vs. Davey Richards in '06 was awesome. I would've loved to see them go at it for the title.
Posted By: Yup. (Guest) on July 31, 2010 at 04:29 PM
I was the commentator that sent in the report. As you can see at the top, I said it was my second PWG show, and only first at their home base of Reseda. I couldn't have known what Sky's finisher was as he was just returning to PWG, at a time when I had never seen him before. And I wasn't shocked a kick to the head could win a match, but that kick to the head didn't look at brutal as you described it being. I was in the back of the event and it was occasionally hard to see due to the turnbuckle post being in my view.
As for the Young Bucks screw up, blame drinking and TNA giving out shitty names. Y'know what, just blame drinking.
As for Richards/Hero, I mean, Richards was selling when he was hit, but when he was hitting moves he was working too crisp to be selling an injury in my opinion.(And isn't wrestling psychology an opinionated subject?) Hero meanwhile, was hobbling on his leg while make simple runs from one corner to the other. Richard sold when he was actively down. Hero sold more passively.
That's not to say it wasn't a great match. Definitely the match filled with the most drama, the one match of the night I thought could go either way that meant something to the long term prosperity of PWG. Both guys put out their all and there were some vicious maneuvers hit. I just don't think it's match of the year. Perhaps best match from PWG in 2010, perhaps it's a contender, but there's gonna be too many faults looking back at this one at the end of the year to consider it the best match of 2010. I mean, I did say it's probably top ten. And the only reason I didn't say definite is I haven't seen RoH/Chikara/Dragon Gate/Anything Mexico/Anything Japan in anything but spurts this year.
Best match of the night? Sure. I'll give you that. Although I do love an unabashed spotfest street fight as much as any old ECW fan.
If you want other fan thoughts on PWG, I just found this message board post on their official site.
Posted By: Ford (Guest) on July 31, 2010 at 06:20 PM
Fuck yeah.
PWG > ROH
Posted By: poffo316 (Guest) on August 01, 2010 at 03:33 AM
I guess Danielson will win wrestler of the week because people voting will claim this match somehow "advanced his career".
Posted By: Guest#4223 (Guest) on August 01, 2010 at 03:18 PM
Fuck yeah.
PWG > ROH
Posted By: poffo316 (Guest) on August 01, 2010 at 03:33 AM
It's not like PWG doesn't main event with ROH talent all the time... oh wait..
Well PWG is on national TV too... ohh dam wait..
Posted By: Guest#2356 (Guest) on August 01, 2010 at 03:42 PM