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Views from the Hawke’s Nest: Pro Wrestling Guerrilla Fear 2011 Review

January 26, 2012 | Posted by TJ Hawke
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Views from the Hawke’s Nest: Pro Wrestling Guerrilla Fear 2011 Review  

December 10, 2011
Reseda, CA
Commentators: Excalibur, Kevin Steen, Joey Ryan, and Chris Hero

TJ Perkins vs. Kenny King
TJP and King locked up for a moment, but they were quickly interrupted by The Fightin’ Taylor Boys. They’re pissed that Los Luchas had to miss the show and they attack King and TJP. So, now we have a tag match.

TJ Perkins & Kenny King vs. The Fightin’ Taylor Boys (Brian Cage-Taylor & Ryan Taylor)
A brawl broke out and Ryan quickly just tossed the referee (a new one to PWG) out of the ring. The referee recovered almost immediately (bizarre), and King and TJP made a quick comeback. The Taylors were able to cut off TJP, and they started to work him over. TJP got a couple of rollups on Brian, but the Taylors cut him off again. TJP finally escaped the attack and tagged in King who made a great hot tag. TJP recovered and wiped out Ryan and King with a suicide dive. Cage-Taylor then took out everyone with a top rope moonsault to the floor. That was unexpected…and awesome. The Taylors had King pinned, but TJP made the save. King hit the shotgun knees on Cage-Taylor, but Brian kicked out. The Taylors then hit an assisted Canadian Destroyer on King: 1…2…3!

This was an unexpectedly great opener. I think this may actually be my favorite performance from the Taylor Boys (without Chuck), as they really got the crowd behind the makeshift tag team. King and TJP both looked good here, and I honestly wouldn’t mind if they teamed together in PWG going forward. King is a natural tag team wrestler, and I am not really surprised that it was a tag team match that got him finally to be truly over with the PWG faithful.
Match Rating: ***1/2

The Amazing Red vs. Roderick Strong
This matchup seems spectacular on paper, but word of mouth has made me damper my expectations drastically.

Kevin Steen: “Amazing Red recently escaped from TNA, I hear.” Excalibur: “Also known as escaping from prison.” Steen: “[Red is now] looking to make an impact in a real wrestling company now, instead of trying to make an impact the owner’s vagina.” Excalibur no-sold that last comment. Red used his quickness effectively at first, but Roddy cut him off and started to work him over. Roddy, as I hoped, was tossing Red around like a ragdoll. Roddy tossing around small people always leads to a good time. Red finally came back after a beautiful satellite DDT. Red was looking gassed, but he still managed to hit a running corkscrew plancha. Roddy avoided a Code Red, and then got a nearfall. Red came back with his ridiculous spinning enzugiri. Red hit a super tornado facebuster, but Roddy got his leg on the ropes. Roddy hit an Angle Slam (Steen called it a “Drunk Slam,” but Exaclibur again, no-sold it). Red escaped a Strong Hold, and hit a Code Red (but it was more like a sunset flip pin). Red then hit a reverse hurricanrana and a Red Star Press: 1…2…NO! Roddy came back with a torture rack backbreaker and a brutal Gibson Driver: 1…2…3.

Red was gassed a minute into his comeback, but he managed to hang in there. Apparently, he apologized to the crowd for his performance after the match, but I don’t think that was necessary. He wasn’t in 2002-2003 ROH form, but he still looked like he obviously had something to offer, and I would like to see him get more high profile independent shots. I would also like to see Roddy get a PWG World Title shot in 2012. He and Generico have great chemistry.
Match Rating: ***

Joey Ryan, Scorpio Sky, Peter Avalon, & Ray Rosas vs. B-Boy, Candice LeRae, Famous B, and Chris Kadillak
B-Boy got on the card as a surprise after Los Luchas had to pull out. Famous B, Kadillak, and Rosas debuted at the last PWG show, and they all instantly got over. All of the rudos were dressed like Joey Ryan tonight; Ryan is apparently bringing sleazy back again.

Avalon tagged in early and said he wanted the BITCH…B-Boy. B-Boy’s look after that was priceless. Steen randomly starts questioning Lucha psychology on commentary, and then B-Boy KILLS Avalon with a forearm. Famous B tagged in and sadly did not use leg lariats. Later, Ryan molested LeRae in several ways, as the crowd chanted, “This is Wrestling!” Reseda is the best. LeRae made a comeback, but the 4 Joeys all started taking turns molesting her. The 4 tecnicos then did stereo House Parties. The 4 Joeys recovered, and then isolated Kadillak. Ryan and Avalon molested Kadillak, in an attempt to show that they are equal opportunity molesters. Kadillak was worked over for a while, but eventually tagged in LeRae who hit a Ball Plex on all of the Joeys. LeRae avoided an atomic drop, and then delivered Pimp Slams to all the Joeys. CUE EVERYONE DIVE TO THE OUTSIDE SEQUENCE! It ended with B-Boy giving Ray Rosas a DVD on the ring apron. B-Boy then hit an ace crusher on Avalon, but Sky attacked B-Boy. CUE EVERYERONE HIT BIG MOVES ON EACH OTHER SEQUENCE! Much to my delight, Famous B hit a LEG LARIAT on Ryan and then MURDERED his face with a Swanton Bomb: 1…2…NO! CUE THE SECOND EVERYONE HIT BIG MOVES ON EACH OTHER SEQUENCE! LeRae hit a Mustache Ride on Ryan, but Avalon pulled the ref out. Sky and Ryan hit some combo moves on LeRae after that to pick up the win.

This match started strong but it lost a lot of momentum by the end. Still, everyone got over, and these multiple person matches that feature Candice LeRae almost always work. Would it be nice if they let LeRae get over without having her be molested in every match? Sure, but at least she usually ends up out-wrestling the men these days. It also helps that she is damn good at wrestling.
Match Rating: ***

Chris Hero vs. Willie Mack
Mack defeated Hero at this year’s BOLA, in what was supposed to be Hero’s last singles match in PWG. A couple of months later…and here we are again.

Mack is in the ring, without an opponent, and then Chris Hero just decides to walk out, which caused the fans to nearly riot. I think technical difficulties caused a mishap or something with the music, but Excalibur only briefly mentioned them. Hero immediately pounds on Mack to start the match. Mack quickly came back and the two men started trading strikes. They end up on the outside and started brawling in the crowd for a little bit. Back in the ring, Hero had the advantage and was working Mack over. Hero started berating Mack, but Mack got pumped and fought back. Hero cut him off with an Iron Claw slam, in a tribute to Bison Smith (who just recently passed away at the time of this show). They started trading big moves and nearfalls after that. Mack avoided a moonsault, hit a backdrop driver, and then hit a big lariat: 1…2…NO! CHOCOLATE THUNDER DRIVER: 1…2…3!

This was a step down from their BOLA match in my opinion, but it was still a good time. PWG should really be encouraged by how well the crowd is responding to Mack; his offense got a tremendous response. Both men brought the intensity, and the crowd responded to the surprise return of Hero perfectly. I hope Hero gets to come back to PWG one more time. Hero’s body was the subject of debate from live reports; to me, he seemed pale and a little more round in the mid-section compared to his last appearance in PWG. It didn’t affect his work here, so I don’t care at all, but it may be an issue when he hopefully gets signed by the WWE. If he is not going to the WWE, then who really cares? It should also be noted that Hero showed so much more fire and intensity here compared to his ROH surprise return, a couple of weeks later.
Match Rating: ***1/4

Future Shock (Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly) vs. The RockNES Monsters (Johnny Yuma & Johnny Goodtime)
Cole and O’Reilly made an awesome PWG debut at Steen Wolf, and PWG faithful immediately took to the fast-rising tag team. They should be a part of PWG for years to come.

The teams went back and forth for a while, with neither team getting the decisive advantage. Eventually, Cole hit a superkick on Yuma out of nowhere, which allowed Future Shock to isolate the younger Monster. The crowd seems a little cold coming off the big Hero return, but the teams are taking their time, trying to get them invested. Yuma escaped a double team move, and tagged in Goodtime. And the crowd went mild. Cole killed Goodtime with a slingshot DDT on the ring apron, and O’Reilly then took down Yuma with 7 butterfly suplexes. Goodtime then ate two butterfly suplexes of his own. Shock hit their finisher on Goodtime, but Yuma made the save. Future Shock then hit a killer series of moves on Yuma, but Goodtime saved him from the pinfall. Crowd was into it by this point thankfully. Yuma recovered and the Monsters hit a powerbomb, Sex Factor, and Frog Splash to finish Adam Cole.

Good match. I prefer Future Shock as a team, but I’m actually glad that Monsters won because it’s important for PWG to keep these local favorites over as a legit act. Both of these teams have had better matches this year, but they managed to get the crowd invested when they weren’t at the start of the match. Personally, in order to have maximized crowd investment, I think this match either should have happened before the Hero match, or it should have been saved until after intermission.
Match Rating: ***1/4

American Wolves (Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards) vs. Super Smash Bros. (Player Uno & Stupefied)
The Wolves were about to break up in ROH around this time, but PWG doesn’t really care about such nonsense. SSB had a great PWG debut at The Perils of Rock ‘n’ Roll Decadence in a losing effort to the RockNES Monsters. Both Dos and Stupefied look to be in great shape here.

Hero (on commentary now and for the rest of the show) and Excalibur proceed to explains Hero’s 3 month absence as if he was a character on Lost. That greatly amused me. SSB did some shenanigans early, which allowed Uno to hit a TOPE CON HELLO to both of the Wolves. SSB were in control for a little while, but Davey was able to crotch Uno to cut him off. The Wolves worked over Uno after that. Excalibur seemed to get bored at one point, and decided to bring up Lost again, but at that precise moment, Uno hit a facebuster on Davey. Stupefied made a hot tag and ran wild on the Wolves, busting out a lot of big offense. The Wolves came back and hit a series of moves on Stupefied, but Stupefied survived. Eddie wiped out Uno with a suicide dive. Davey then hit Stupefied with the superplex-Falcon Arrow combo: 1…2…NO! The Wolves locked both SSB into submissions, but they escaped. The teams traded some more big moves and nearfalls after that. Eventually, Davey killed Stupefied with a soccer kick; Uno then somehow survived two double stomps and a giant chop to the head. POWERBOMB-BACKSTABBER: 1…2…NO-Eddie then locked Uno into the Heel Hook and stomped his head in…UNO TAPS!

It’s so nice seeing the Wolves working heel, even if they are not rubbing it in our faces (wordplay!). They are both so good at working over their opponents so that the crowd is invested in the comeback, and that is exactly what happened here. The Super Smash Bros. are woefully underexposed at the moment, and any independent wrestling group should be looking to get them on their roster.
Match Rating: ***3/4

Davey put over Super Smash Bros. after the match (and he even acknowledged how cliché it was that he is putting someone over again after a match). Eddie then passed on shaking Davey’s hand after the match, and Davey said he will see him in NYC (for Final Battle 2011). That was a nice little Easter Egg moment.

El Generico vs. Dick Togo
This match was a part of Togo’s retirement tour. Generico had just won the PWG World Title at Steen Wolf, but this was a non-title match.


Photo credit to David Chen

Excalibur: “At long last everyone, Dickmania has come…” Excalibur and Hero describe their love for Togo on commentary. Things were quite jovial in the ring at first. Generico proved to be a step or two quicker, which caused Togo to use some strikes. Togo took him down and casually hit a standing moonsault (and both Hero and Excalibur marked out because they had never seen Togo do that before). Togo was working over Generico for a while, but Generico low-bridged Togo to the outside. 180 ASAI MOONSAULT! That was absolutely beautiful; literally, that may have been the best looking outside dive I have ever seen. Back in the ring, Generico hit a Blue Thunder Bomb for a nearfall. Togo hit a neckbreaker out of nowhere to get back in the match; Togo followed that with a low superkick: 1…2…NO! Togo was building some momentum, but Generico killed him with a Michinoku Driver. Half-Nelson Suplex: 1…2…NO! Togo got a couple of rollups, and then locked in a Crossface. Generico escaped and then came back with a Yakuza Kick and a Brainbuster: 1…2…NO! TOGO WITH A PEDIGREE! Togo went to the top rope, but Generico met him up there: TOGO HITS A PEPSI PLUNGE! ANOTHER PEDIGREE! TOP ROPE SENTON: 1…2…GENERICO KICKS OUT! Exclaibur: “This…is…serious!” Generico recovers and hits a Yakuza Kick! BRAINBUSTAHH!!!!!!!: 1…2…3!

A fantastic match for Togo to have on his retirement tour. They started out slow, but once they got going, they had the crowd in the palm of their hand. Fantastic job by both men. By the way, it’s time for a mini rant. Certain wrestlers (**cough** Davey Richards **cough**) have been criticized for their supposed lack of selling and what not. In this match, El Generico, considered to be one of the premiere sellers in the world, essentially took 3 pedigrees (one was ‘super’ even) and a top rope move, and then just popped up and hit his finishing sequence to win the match. I’m not saying Generico did a crappy job of selling; I’m saying you only need to sell enough to make sure the crowd is with you and still suspending their disbelief. Anyway, I loved this match.
Match Rating: ****

The Young Bucks© (Nick Jackson & Matt Jackson) vs. Appetite for Destruction (Kevin Steen & Super Dragon) [PWG Tag Titles]
Super Dragon had seemingly retired in 2008 (after receiving a series of concussions over the course of his career), but he finally returned at Steen Wolf to save his former enemy, Kevin Steen, from the Young Bucks.

Huge brawl to start the match, and Super Dragon immediately hits Nick with a chairshot to the head. More brawling. Hero actually openly discusses Dragon’s past issues with concussions, as the wrestlers do some more brawling. They finally ended up in the ring, as the Appetite for Destruction continued to dominate. Dragon Curb Stomped Matt’s head into Nick’s crotch: awesome. The Bucks came back though; Matt hit Dragon with a Silver King DDT on the ring apron/floor. Steen came back with a Finlay Roll on Matt through multiple chairs; that got a huge reaction from the crowd. Super Dragon then wiped out both Bucks with a TOPE CON HELLO~! Steen pulled out a table, which still gets a HUGE pop in 2012. I’m not complaining, I just find it fascinating. Nick took out Steen with a chair; Dragon was put on the table and Nick hit a top rope frog splash on Dragon through the table. The Bucks were able to work over Steen after that. Steen ate 500 superkicks, but survived only to be given a spinebuster through a pair of chairs. Nick then gave Steen a 450 with a garbage can. Super Dragon recovered and went to give Nick a Psycho Driver, but Nick escaped. The Bucks then killed him with superkicks. Steen recovered and gave Matt a Sleeper Suplex. Super Dragon set up another table on the outside. Steen gave Matt a pumphandle neckbreaker through a chair! Dragon then gave Nick a PSYCHO DRIVER OFF THE APRON THROUGH A TABLE! Super Dragon then gave Matt a Double Stomp on a chair! PACKAGE PILEDRIVER-DOUBLE STOMP COMBO ON MATT: 1…2…3!!!! NEW CHAMPS!

For the second straight show, PWG delivered an absolute violent spectacle of a main event. All 4 men gave their bodies to us on this night, and I am extremely grateful. Super Dragon looked like a new man compared to the last time we saw him, and I think he still has a lot to give to PWG if he remains a part-time wrestler. Obviously, a multi-man match with plenty of smoke and mirrors would be able to highlight Dragon’s strengths and hide any ring rust, but I honestly thought he looked to be in great ring shape anyway. I would love to see him get a chance to go 1v1 with El Generico for the World Title in 2012. As for Steen and the Young Bucks, they showed once again why there are some of the (unqualified) top professional wrestlers going today in the world. I am so glad that PWG presents them like the main event stars that they should be.
Match Rating: ****1/4

Kevin Steen throws the belts down and bends the metal plates (the PWG tag belts are notoriously ugly and low rent). Steen says they don’t want the crappy belts because they got Young Buck stink on them Steen then puts over Dragon’s girlfriend for beating cancer this year. That was a very nice genuine moment, and Super Dragon looked touched (well, it’s hard to tell with the mask). Steen then gives one of tag belts an elbow drop, a psycho driver, and a snot rocket. Only in PWG. End Scene.

You can buy this show and all PWG shows at the PWG Online Store . As I say every month, PWG is absolutely one of the best wrestling companies today and they deliver top notch shows every month.

Thanks everybody for reading! You can send feedback to Twitter or at my email address: [email protected]. If you are a wrestling personality who would like to be interviewed by 411mania, you can also contact me in either of those ways.

PLUGS!

I recently participated in my very first podcast at Pro Wrestling Ponderings . I joined Jerome Cusson, Kevin Ford, and Ari Berenstein, and we talked about the Chikara invasion of Ring of Honor on January 20th.

Be sure to check out some of my past 411 Interviews

Kevin Steen Part 1 & Part 2
Eddie Edwards
Johnny Gargano
Mike Quackenbush
Nigel McGuinness
Lance Hoyt/Vance Archer/Lance Archer
Adam Cole
Gran Akuma

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For all of my interviews (like TJ Perkins , Steve Corino , Davey Richards , Jimmy Rave , Joey Ryan , Kyle O’Reilly , AR Fox , etc.) before 411mania, check out my Road to Mania Blog (where I still do stuff like Wrestlemania Build coverage, Wrestling DVD reviews, movie/TV reviews and more).

Clear Eyes. Full Hearts. Can’t Lose.

The 411: As usual, another excellent show from PWG in a year that almost exclusively featured excellent shows from them. While the second half of the show is truly exceptional, the first half of the show featured some really fun matches (especially the opener) and provided some great moments (Hero's return). I cannot recommend this DVD strongly enough. If you are interested, here is the Predictions Roundtable I organized for PWG's Kurt RussellReunion III show that is coming up this Sunday in LA at Wrestlereunion.
411 Elite Award
Final Score:  9.0   [  Amazing ]  legend

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