Guerrilla Reviewfare: PWG Death to All But Metal

We are TAPED from the American Legion in Reseda, CA. This card is a little odd in its placing, as what would normally be the main events are before intermission due to some early flights for the Super Smash Brothers and Kevin Steen. Also, I understand we have two other PWG reviewers here, but it’s a promotion that I like a lot as well. So if my plans stay as they are you will see PWG shows being reviewed chronologically from myself as well as the other two.

Your hosts are Excalibur and whoever decides to join him.

B-Boy vs. Famous B
It looks like B-Boy is back regularly in PWG, so there’s that. Seems like Famous B (who looks a LOT like JTG…wait, who?) is a regular now too.

B-Boy has some trouble with Famous B’s speed early, which frustrates him a little bit. He uses his power throughout the earlygoing to try and thwart this, plus using his trademark stiff-as-shit strikes. An example is B-Boy thwarting a baseball slide with a roundhouse kick to the head, slowing Famous B down after he started hot. B-Boy continues his control by hitting his basement dropkick, sending his opponent down the floor to get a lackadaisical two count. Throughout the next few moments of this match, Famous B tries all sorts of things to get the upperhand and finally he buys himself some time by hitting a dropkick on an airborne B-Boy. Famous B builds up a good head of steam, even getting a nearfall off of a rope hung butterfly backbreaker. B-Boy comes back with a DISGUSTING FIREMAN’S CARRY BOMB INTO THE TURNBUCKLES! B-Boy catches Famous B coming off of the top rope with a sitout powerbomb! This is turning into quite the little match. Famous B misses a moonsault to the outside, but he SPRINGS OFF OF THE ROPES AND DDT’S B-BOY! SWANTON! B-Boy kicks out in the nick of time. B-Boy takes a couple of superkicks but gets an Ace Crusher before he falls, even trying to lariat Rick Knox because he was out of it. B-Boy hits an Air Raid Crash to win in an awesome 13:20. ***1/2 One of the better openers I’ve seen in a while. Famous B was made to look B-Boy’s equal down the stretch and that kind of back and forth story helped make this match as good as it was. I’m quite impressed.

TJ Perkins vs. Ryan Taylor
I’m not sure I’m totally sold on TJP yet. As much as I’ve seen him wrestle, he’s never impressed me enough for me to say “oh hey, that TJP is fucking awesome.” I haven’t really had the opportunity to see Ryan Taylor in a single’s climate, so we’ll see how this one pans out.

They start with some chain wrestling that TJ controls, but Ryan gets frustrated and goes for the stiff strikes. TJP gives him some back, as per the course for a TJP match. The best part so far is Ryan Taylor pimp slapping but you do NOT fuck with TJ Perkins. After this little exchange, Perkins uses his speed and technical prowess to slow down the match momentarily with a headlock. Taylor wriggles his way out and buys himself some time with a scissors kick and locks Perkins in a Trailer Hitch. TJ tries to use his kicks to find himself out of trouble, but he soon finds out that Taylor can match him. Instead, TJP uses his diving abilities by hitting a cannonball to the outside. Taylor finds himself on the offensive again, but he only gets a nearfall with a sweet Razor’s Edge. TJP uses his speed to retaliate by basically no selling a dropkick and hitting a hurricanrana. TJ hits a powerbomb of his own and finishes up with a 450 Splash in 10:02. **1/2 TJ Perkins didn’t impress me anymore than he already has, because his selling and psychology issues were readily apparent. For a guy who’s been working forever all around the world, you’d figure he could pick up a fundamental wrestling skill that so few actually put to use nowadays. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the match enough, but neither TJP nor Ryan Taylor gave me a reason to be too impressed.

PWG World Title: Kevin Steen © vs. Brian Cage
So I guess this is the unceremonious split of the original Fightin’ Taylor Boys. I’m not complaining considering Brian Cage is awesome, although Cage apparently is only called Brian Cage in singles matches according to Excalibur

Kevin Steen begins by counting Cage’s abs and as soon as he ties up with him, he yells “Oh fuck” and gets shoved down. Cage asks Steen to hit him with a shoulderblock but Steen says “No, you go asshole” and subsequently gets put on his ass. Steen’s hilarious in this match. For example, he stops the crowd from clapping and says “Okay, fuck this shit, I believe in myself”, goes for a test of strength, but gets owned. “You work out, I eat asshole!” See Davey Richards, while you’re shooting your shitty shoot interview and trashing Kevin Steen ,or fucking promoters for money, Mr. Steen is consistently entertaining the fans and performing for them, not for his ego you prick. Steen prevents a couple of suplexes from Cage and gets one of his own. Cage catches Steen jawing with a fan and uses that opportunity to brawl with him on the outside. It’s Kevin Steen we’re talking about here Brian: that’s his fucking yard. Steen mocks Cage while he has control, but hurts his hand punching Brian’s abs. That earns Cage a senton. Cage builds some momentum with a HUGE TOPE CON HILO! Steen fires back with a SUPLEX ON THE RING APRON! That only gets him a 2 count. Cage returns with a DEADLIFT SECOND ROPE SUPLEX! A fucking machine he is, Excalibur. DISCUS LARIAT! Steen reverses into a crucifix pin in 16:23. After the match, Kevin Steen puts Cage over as one of his hardest opponents. Awww. ***1/2 Kevin Steen provided the entertainment, Brian Cage provided the “being a fucking machine” in what was a very fun title match. The countdown is still going for Brian to return to the WWE and be awesome there, but I’m perfectly content with him staying in PWG.

No DQ for the vacant PWG World Tag Titles: The Super Smash Brothers vs. The Young Bucks
These four tore the house down at DDT4 and with an out to do even more crazier spots with the No DQ stip, my expectations are ridiculously high. The reason the titles are vacated is because Super Dragon’s heel injury just isn’t healing. See what I did there? I kill me.

The Smash Brothers start off hot, throwing both of the Jackson’s out. The Bucks come back, but their momentum is a bit stalled when Player Uno backdrops Matt on the chairs. For the next few moments, this is just an insane brawl on the outside, using the chairs around them instead of setting up stuff, which is a better way to brawl in my not-so-humble opinion. Stupefied is whipped onto the commentary stage and HE DIVES OVER THE COMMENTARY TABLE ONTO THE BUCKS!~! That was one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen. POWERSLAM ON MATT THROUGH A CHAIR! Jesus. MIDSECTION CON-CHAIR-TO! Stupefied tries to springboard but NICK THROWS A CHAIR ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE RING TO HIS HEAD! Normally I’m against unprotected chair shots but holy shit, that was too awesome to bitch about. Stupefied eats another chair and Nick hits an Asai Moonsault on him. Uno counters the handspring back rake with a back rake of his own! The Bucks nearly hit Stupefied with a chair but Stupefied kips up to dodge them (!) AND HITS A DOUBLE PELE KICK! MATT HITS AN INSANE HOPPING TORNADO DDT ON THE APRON! Stupefied reverses a tombstone from Matt AND THE SSB HIT A SPIKE TOMBSTONE PILEDRIVER ON THE APRON! That was fucking disgusting. The Bucks hit stereo low blows, but they don’t hit More Bang For Your Buck. GET OVER HERE SUPLEX ON MATT THROUGH A TABLE OUTSIDE~! FATALITY~! MATT PULLS RICK KNOX OUT AND SUPERKICKS HIM! More Bang For Your Buck by the Bucks! New Ref! RICK KNOX PULLS HIM OUT!! RICK KNOX DODGES A SUPERKICK AND LARIATS THE SHIT OUT OF NICK! FATALITY!~! The Super Smash Brothers win the PWG Tag Titles in a phenomenal 19:16. After the match, Kevin Steen awards the Smash Brothers the tag titles. ****1/2 This is my PWG MOTY so far, as evidenced by half the words being capitalized. How in the sam hell does Gabe Sapolsky not know what he has with the Smash Brothers? They are the best tag team in the world today and even if Rick Knox helped them, it made the match BETTER if you can believe it. They have some insane chemistry with the Young Bucks, and with some of the stuff they pulled out during this match I have no idea how they’re gonna top it in the ladder match at Threemendous III with Future Shock. But hey, that’s what I said with Steen and Generico and look how that turned out. If you only watch one PWG match this year, make it this one. It’s sensational and one of the best matches of any kind you’ll see all year. Every match I watch on this show makes me even happier I pre-ordered Threemendous III!

Peter Avalon, Ray Rosas, & Joey Ryan vs. The RockNES Monsters & Candice LeRae
When Joey Ryan and Peter Avalon are in the same match with Candice LeRae, you know what’s gonna happen. You know what else is gonna happen? I’m going to probably marry Candice LeRae. No, I won’t, but it never hurts to try. Y’know, unless your fiancée kills you. Then it hurts.

This Candice LeRae quasi-raping begins almost immediately, but the RockNES Monsters channel their inner Christopher Street Connection and pull Peter Avalon’s tights down. This match isn’t much special to start, but we get all three faces diving onto the heels to an apathetic pop. Peter Avalon tags in and now he tries to sexually deviate Johnny Yuma. You fucking kook, Candice is right over there! Johnny Yuma is your Ricky Morton for the match. I just want to see Candice. This is actually not as bad as I’d heard, it’s pretty good. But man, this usually hot Reseda crowd couldn’t give a dick about this match. Maybe if Candice stripped down during it they would be into it. Hint, hint PWG. Jeez, I’m worse than Joey Ryan…but hey, that’s an honor. Joey continues his feud with Candice by pie-facing. I am probably the only guy who isn’t sick of these two going at it. DOUBLE STOMP ON JOEY’S BALLS BY CANDICE! Johnny Yuma hits the Sex Factor and now everyone is down. Candice hits a sloppy double ballplex on Rosas and Ryan (not as awesome as it sounds) and the RockNES Monsters pick up the win with a Mushroom Stomp/Cutter combo in 13:30. **3/4 Not as good as they had the power to do, but still not as bad as others make it out to be. Solid but unspectacular would probably be the appropriate phrase to describe this.

Michael Elgin vs. Willie Mack
Oh yeah, this is the good shit. Both Elgin and Mack are incredible for how young they are (24 & 25 respectively) and have shown numerous times that they are something special. This is Unbreakable’s debut in PWG and he came back for Threemendous III against Sami Callihan (!) and is facing DAVEY RICHARDS (!!) at the Battle of Los Angeles Stage 1. Safe to say I’m glad he’s in PWG.

Elgin pretty much wins a chop battle, beating a few weak chops. However, Elgin CATCHES MACK IN MID-CROSSBODY AND POWERSLAMS HIM! Jesus Christ, this man is strong. HUGE running shoulderblock to big pop. Elgin GERMAN SUPLEXES MACK NECK-FIRST ONTO THE TURNBUCKLE! Elgin picks the 260 pound Willie Mack up for a 26 second Vertical Suplex. This match is so awesome. Elgin walks through a superkick and drops Mack with a gamengiri, but Mack comes back with an odd looking bell-to-belly suplex for a 2 count. DEADLIFT CHAOS THEORY FROM ELGIN! TWO COUNT! Elgin misses his back-to-front senton as Mack moves and buys himself some time. Mack starts making his comeback, but Elgin catches him during his slingshot dropkick and DEADLIFTS HIM UP FOR A POWERBOMB! Willie begins one more comeback and picks up the win with the Chocolate Thunder Driver in an astonishing 13:20. ***3/4 Normally this would be the part where I say I may be overrating the match, but fuck you. This match was everything I expected it to be and more. It was an awesome knockdown, drag-out heavyweight fight that you don’t see often enough, especially on the independent scene. I’ve beaten it into everyone’s head that Michael Elgin is inhumanely talented and strong but good Lord, only a guy like Michael Elgin could do the shit to Willie Mack that he did here. Great, great stuff.

El Generico vs. Ricochet
These two had a phenomenal match at The Curse of Guerrilla Island two years ago. They’ve had some good matches in EVOLVE (God, I hate that promotion) and are apparently blowing off their recurring rivalry here. I approve.

Generico starts a little more grounded than usual, giving Ricochet a clean break. Generico looks to use his speed to nullify some holds from Ricochet, but Ricochet has him scouted. Generico loses his cool after Ricochet gets in his face, allowing Ricochet to maintain control for the time being. Generico falls to what he was trying to avoid, as Ricochet uses his agility and speed to take Generico down. Generico starts coming back though, all the while being a little smug to his rival. Generico keeps control, but he bails after Ricochet hits a sudden 450 Senton. Ricochet puts in a pretty sweet-ass hold I’ve never seen before, putting in a sort of standing bow and arrow while banging Generico’s head on the second turnbuckle. Ricochet swings around to keep himself on the ropes, but GENERICO YAKUZA KICKS HIM OFF THE ROPES! TOPE CON HILO! Generico gets a close two count off of a great Blue Thunder Bomb. REVERSE RANA FROM RICOCHET! NEARFALL! Generico takes advantage of some Ricochet taunting, but GETS HIT WITH AN INSANE BACK SOMERSAULT DOUBLE STOMP! 818! PHOENIX SPLASH! GENERICO KICKS OUT! Generico hits some vicious slaps but he takes a Dragon Suplex! Two count only. Jesus H. Generico gets up and looks for a top rope brainbuster, but Ricochet drops to the apron to reverse it and AND HITS A SUPER SPRINGBOARD REVERSE RANA! GENERICO KICKS OUT! Generico powers up and looks for another turnbuckle brainbuster, but eats a kick to the face! Shooting Star Press gets knees! YAKUZA KICK! TURNBUCKLE BRAINBUSTER! El Generico finally beats Ricochet in 21:50. ****1/4 If you ever questioned this match being worth a main event slot on a PWG show, this is your answer. What amazed me is how they could put on such an exciting, gripping match all the while keeping up the psychology of Ricochet being just a little faster than Generico and the body psychology of Generico’s neck taking so much punishment. You can’t really beat a match with this kind of excitement integrating such a good story into it. This was a perfect way to cap off another stellar PWG show.

The 411: Like every PWG show, there's something you have to see here...in this case, it's the spectacular war between SSB & The Young Bucks. However, there's plenty of other good stuff to be had, as Michael Elgin proves how much of a freak of nature he truly is and El Generico finally prevails over Ricochet in a low-end MOTYC. Even the "bad" stuff isn't bad. Strong recommendation here.
Final Score:  9.0   [  Amazing ]