Break It Down: PWG Dio!

Dio! on June 11th, 2010

Opening Match: Phoenix Star and Zokre vs. Johnny Goodtime and Jerome Robinson
Los Luchas are making their return to PWG with this match. Goodtime snaps off a headscissors on Zokre and follows with a hurricanrana. Zokre answers with a knee strike and they find themselves at a stalemate. Robinson and Star exchange slaps and armdrags. Goodtime catches Star with a slingshot dropkick. Zokre lands a springboard moonsault on Goodtime and Star adds a splash. Los Luchas isolate him until he connects with an enzuigiri on Star and makes the tag. Robinson snaps off a slingshot hurricanrana on Zokre. Los Luchas stop Robinson’s momentum with some new double team moves. Star hits a tilt-a-whirl-backbreaker on Robinson. Goodtime tags in and connects with a few dropkicks. There’s an incredibly dumb spot where Zokre purposely puts himself in position to be caught with a dive from Goodtime. Zokre stops a dive from Robinson and lands a plancha over the ringpost. In the ring, Zokre hurricanranas Goodtime into the turnbuckles. Goodtime responds with an enzuigiri and an innovative spinebuster. Zokre launches Robinson into a spear from Star. Zokre blockbusters Goodtime onto Star’s knees. Robinson sends Zokre to the floor and follows out with a moonsault. Goodtime hits a fisherman buster on Star for the win at 15:42. This was a successful return for Los Luchas. The crowd was into their offense and they received nearly sixteen minutes to showcase themselves. While this match was never dull or uninteresting, there were some problems. I noticed a few moments of sloppiness and even though the contest went sixteen minutes, the finish felt like it came out of nowhere. Still, both teams did a fine job of gaining the crowd’s interest and keeping the action moving. **½

Match #2: Brandon Bonham vs. Ryan Taylor
Taylor brings the mockery early on but pays for it. He sends Bonham to the floor and follows out with a plancha. Back in, Taylor blocks an enzuigiri and applies a half crab. He takes over until the action spills to the outside and Bonham connects with a double stomp from the apron. Bonham maintains his momentum with a dive and connects with an enzuigiri in the ring. He adds an exploder and another enzuigiri. Taylor comes back with an impressive lungblower followed by a scissors kick. He connects with more kicks. Bonham reverses an alabama slam and hits the Hammer of the Gods for the victory at 12:28. Taylor was able to showcase more of his abilities here and is another local that has truly reached a higher level. He worked well with Bonham and they delivered a good match that had the crowd engrossed in the action. There’s really not much more to say. The story of 2010 in PWG has been the elevation of local talent and this match is a perfect testament. ***

Match #3: Scott Lost vs. Akira Tozawa
Lost charges before the bell with a kick. He blocks a diving hip attack but gets caught with a dropkick. Lost finds success with his judo throw and connects with a flash kick. He follows with a modified gourdbuster and a suplex. Tozawa falls victim to a Superman Spear and Lost accidentally pulls his tights down. Tozawa hits a flying hip attack and lands a dive to the outside. In the ring, Tozawa misses a series of headbutts and settles for a senton. Lost connects with a roundhouse kick but Tozawa answers with an enzuigiri. Lost hits a superplex and connects with a flying elbow drop. Tozawa responds with two german suplexes for the win at 8:37. Tozawa made a good first impression at DDT4 and continued to impress against Lost. They packed a lot of action into nine minutes and this was just a fun match to watch. Considering that Lost would be retiring at the next show, giving Tozawa the win was the right call. Hopefully Tozawa is used as much as possible in PWG during his stay in the United States. **¾

Match #4: Brandon Cutler, Dustin Cutler, and Joey Ryan vs. Matt, Nick, and Malachi Jackson
The Young Bucks throw out some Boston Celtics references and push around their younger brother. Malachi surprises Ryan with an armdrag. The Cutlers start brawling with the Young Bucks. Dustin catches Nick with a low blow and the Cutlers hit stereo shoulder blocks on Matt. Dustin lays out Malachi with a boot and he gets worked over. Malachi hurricanranas out of a military press and catches Brandon with a dropkick. Matt blind tags in and the heels isolate Dustin. He eventually overhead suplexes Matt and makes the tag. Ryan german suplexes Matt but gets planted with a tornado DDT from Nick. Dustin is dropkicked off the apron. Ryan stops a dive from Nick with a spear and superkicks Matt to the floor. He powerbombs Nick to the floor onto Matt. Malachi catches Ryan with a chinbreaker and the heels now work him over. He dodges his opponents long enough to make the tag. Brandon elevates Matt into a back suplex from Dustin. Brandon catches Nick with a guillotine leg drop while Dustin hits a nasty spinebuster on Matt. The Cutlers continue to punish the Young Bucks with double team moves. Ryan kills Matt with an exploder into the turnbuckles. Malachi spikes Brandon with a tornado DDT but walks into a boot from Dustin. Matt connects with a missile dropkick on Dustin and hits a standing sliced bread. Everyone starts hitting moves and landing dives. All six men are down. They do a tower of doom spot in the corner and the crowd goes crazy. Matt hits a wheelbarrow facebuster on Ryan and Nick adds a frog splash. The Young Bucks hit More Bang for Your Buck on Ryan and Malachi adds a shooting star press for a nearfall. The Cutlers save Ryan from multiple superkicks. The Cutlers hit their spike tombstone on Malachi for the victory at 22:02. I think it’s safe to say that every time the Young Bucks and the Cutlers are in a match together, it’ll be worth seeing. As usual with their matches, the beginning and middle portions were fun with an incredibly hectic finishing stretch. Another goal of this match was to put over Malachi as legitimate and worthy of his brothers’ respect. While that plan somewhat worked, Malachi has some progress to make in getting his offense over and timing it right. Nevertheless, if you’ve enjoyed previous matches between the Young Bucks and the Cutlers, this contest will be right up your alley. ***¾

The Young Bucks attack the Cutlers after the match and connect with superkicks. Malachi tries to stop them to no avail.

Match #5: Candice LeRae vs. Christina Von Eerie
They trade control of a wristlock and Von Eerie connects with an enzuigiri. She armdrags LeRae to the floor and dropkicks her into a fan in the front row. Back in, LeRae traps Von Eerie in a tree of woe and connects with a dropkick. Von Eerie botches a springboard clothesline and LeRae hits a senton. The action goes back to the floor where Von Eerie drop toe holds LeRae into a chair. LeRae hits a neckbreaker in the ropes and lands a dive to the outside. In the ring, Von Eerie hits a facebuster. They collide after both going for a crossbody. LeRae hits a nice stunner but Von Eerie answers with a pedigree for a nearfall. LeRae catches Von Eerie with a ballsplex from the middle rope. LeRae lands a moonsault for the win at 11:04. Much like their previous outing at Guerre Sans Frontieres, this was a harmless match that the crowd seemed to enjoy for what it was. I think these two are more entertaining in intergender matches, although they have been done a lot recently. **

Match #6: Chris Hero vs. Brandon Gatson
Hero tries to intimidate Gatson early on but his tactics don’t seem to work. They trade pin attempts and find themselves at a stalemate. Hero retreats to the floor after a few armdrags and Gatson teases a space flying tiger drop. Hero recovers with a powerslam and flash kicks Gatson to the outside. Hero takes control in the ring until Gatson clotheslines him to the floor and follows out with a space flying tiger drop. Gatson connects with an elbow drop from the apron and hits an STO back in the ring. Hero misses a mafia kick and gets caught with a spin kick. Hero blocks a corner splash and hits a vicious powerbomb. He applies a hanging cravate and turns it into a neckbreaker. Gatson comes back with a slingshot ace crusher but walks into a mafia kick. Hero follows with two more mafia kicks. Gatson blocks a third and hits a neckbreaker. They tease finishers and Gatson almost finds success with a rollup. Hero kicks him in the head and connects with a roaring elbow for the victory at 22:57. This was extremely similar to Hero’s match against Brandon Bonham at the last show. I also have the same complaint as I did then. For a near twenty-three minute contest, I wish that Gatson would have been given more nearfalls instead of simply looking resilient. I never thought that Gatson would win this match and I think the contest could have been structured better to truly put Gatson over. These two still managed to work well together and despite my complaining, I enjoyed this match. However, they could have done things a little differently to make the action more effective. ***

Hero gets on the microphone and puts over Gatson. He also talks about his recent change in style and how he’s used elbow strikes less frequently. He nearly gets into an altercation with a fan and Rick Knox has to break it up. He makes it clear that he wants the PWG World Title.

Match #7: PWG World Tag Team Titles: El Generico and Paul London © vs. Brian Kendrick and Kevin Steen
Steen makes Kendrick introduce him as Kevin Ezekiel Steen, referring to Kendrick’s alliance with Ezekiel Jackson in the WWE. Steen attacks Generico before the bell. London catches Steen with a crossbody but finds himself on the receiving end of a snot rocket. Steen and Kendrick start working over Generico until he hits a brainbuster on Kendrick. London snaps off a hurricanrana on Steen and follows with a missile dropkick. Kendrick traps London in a figure four and Steen adds a delayed vertical suplex. London is isolated until he back drops Kendrick to the outside and follows out with a moonsault. In the ring, London finds knees on a dropsault and Steen hits his pumphandle neckbreaker. Kendrick walks into a leg lariat and London makes the tag. Generico lands a flying crossbody on Kendrick and gets his knees up to block a swantan from Steen. London walks into a powerbomb from Steen. Generico throws him to the floor and follows out with a dive. Steen powerbombs Generico onto the apron. Back in, London double stomps Steen but falls victim to sliced bread from Kendrick. Generico catches Steen with a corner yakuza kick while London superkicks Kendrick off the apron. Generico hits a half nelson suplex on Steen and follows with a brainbuster. London lands a shooting star press onto Steen and ¡Peligro Abejas! retain their titles at 13:58. After seeing some of the awesome tag team matches that Steen and Generico have been involved in, this has to be considered a slight disappointment. At fourteen minutes, I felt as though this contest only scraped the surface of what these two teams could do together. There were some nice character interactions throughout and the match was structured effectively to fill fourteen minutes with constant action. However, I hope that Generico and London start upping their game in future title defenses. They certainly have a tough act to follow considering the high quality of the Young Bucks’ defenses, but they have an interesting dynamic and support from the PWG crowd. ***¼

Steen lays out Kendrick with a package piledriver after the match. I’m assuming he did this simply because he can.

The 411: Dio! is another consistently solid release from PWG, although it doesn’t quite match the quality of some recent shows. The undercard featured a few noteworthy happenings. Los Luchas made their return to PWG, Bonham and Taylor delivered a quality match, and Tozawa continued to showcase himself during his extended stay in the states. The Young Bucks and Cutlers stole the show in a great six-man tag and would move on to main event the next show. The last two matches are both worth watching, however I think they could have been better if structured differently. Overall, there’s enough quality matches here to earn a recommendation. PWG has definitely done better this year and I wouldn’t necessarily make this show a top priority to purchase. However, PWG also never makes me regret spending fifteen dollars on one of their releases and this is no exception.

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]