Guerrilla Reviewfare: PWG Sells Out, Vol. 1 (Disc Two)

The last disc kicked a pretty large amount of ass, and now with more “homegrown talents” being present on this disc, I’m sure it’s going to be more of the same…’cause who doesn’t love a little bit of Joey Ryan?

Titles vs. Masks: Arrogance (Chris Bosh & Scott Lost) (c) vs. The Aerial Xpress (Quicksilver & Scorpio Sky…w/ Dino Winwood)
From 2nd Anniversary Show…this was when Scorpio Sky still had a mask and well before he played Harold. I’ve never seen Quicksilver wrestle before, but I’ve seen everyone else in some capacity.

Quicksilver and Scott Lost start us off with your usual scientific wrestling stuff. Lost punishes Quicksilver’s arm with an awesome combo of knees and elbows, and he tags in Bosh afterwards. That brings in Scorpio Sky, who controls Bosh a bit. AWESOME sequence between Bosh and Sky, which Sky wins. Lost comes in and reverses a dropkick into a gutbuster. Lost plays to the crowd because of that, and eats a dropkick for his troubles. Quicksilver comes in and slows it down with a rear chinlock. Bosh almost has control of Sky after dual tags, but Quicksilver comes in on a double team. The isolation doesn’t last for long, as Quicksilver accidentally falls gut-first onto Lost’s foot. For right now, Quicksilver plays your Ricky-Morton-in-a-Mask. Quicksilver buys himself some time with a standing moonsault, but eats a lariat from Lost. Man, this match is tedious as holy balls. It sucks, actually. SILVER SLICE FROM QUICKSILVER! Quicksilver tags Sky in finally, and Arrogance takes the wrath of a black man in a mask. Lost almost takes control again, but Sky DDT’s him on his head. Quicksilver tags back in and inexplicably no-sells all of his previous beating and flies around the ring. DOUBLE TEAM WHEELBARROW FAMEASSER! Lost comes in and puts in a Sharpshooter, but Quicksilver lariats Scott out of it. A Dropkick/Powerbomb from AXP gets a two count due to a save from Bosh, who takes A SUNSET POWERBOMB ON THE FLOOR! STEREO DIVES FROM AXP! Quicksilver totally misses his, and looks legitimately hurt. I’m not sure, but I believe that this was the match that retired the masked man. He takes a chair to the head, sandwiched between the ringpost and the chair. Sky gets in the ring and puts in a camel clutch, but Joey Ryan comes out and superkicks Sky off of it. DINO WINWOOD JACK KNIFE POWERBOMBS JOEY RYAN! Things finally come down, and Sky kicks out of a double backbreaker from Arrogance. Northern Lights Backbreaker! Kickout! Frankensteiner by Sky! Lethal Combination! Kickout! STEINER SCREWDRIVER FROM BOSH! NEARFALL! That was a fucking nearfall, my friends. Scorpio Sky rolls through and pins Scott Lost for three. AXP wins the match in 26 (!) minutes. *1/2 Why the fuck was that match 26 minutes long? I mean, really, that is just the absolute worst thing you could do to these guys. For such a big grudge match, it lacked any sort of heat or intensity and even during the decent finishing sequence, the intensity never really shone through like it should have, like a lot of the bad indy stuff you see. It’s just MOVES MOVES MOVES in place of an actual story, where a story is crucial to the execution of the match. That’s why Kazarian/Pearce was so great on Disc 1! They made it seem like a real fight and played the crowd all while doing their moves. They sold the moves like they MEANT SOMETHING and ultimately had a much better match. And for all the cool spots that these four did (and admittedly, there were a few), they just sucked when it came to crafting a match together in a logical, convincing way. Look, I love Dino Winwood and all (he’s hilarious on commentary) but when he’s the best part of a 26 minute blowoff to a feud (that had no explanation whatsoever) you know you did horribly. I understand that I’ve rated a lot of spot-based matches a lot higher than I rated this, but were they supposed to be big grudge matches? No. They were either indy dream matches like Dragon/Joe or just plain exciting exhibitions, like Danielson/Joe or Gibson/Styles. This was a terribly worked match, plain and simple. For example, the first 15 minutes were just plain bad here, as the heat segments never lead to anything and as was said, for such a big “fight”, they had a long, tedious feeling out process for no reason other than to show off their technical “skills” in a climate where they weren’t necessary. I’m starting to think that Quicksilver was supposed to be involved in the finish, but his being legit hurt stopped that. So as an overall opinion, this was kind of exciting for the last few minutes or so, but the first 20 sucked something fierce and hurt the match in a bad way. I get that showing off your homegrown talent is a must if you’re putting out a best-of, but this match sucks. It does not belong on this set whatsoever. I’ll give them a star for going out there and trying, and half a star for pulling off some innovative spots. But man…this was the drizzling shits.

After the match, Bosh thinks they’ve won the match at first, but accepts the loss by putting the title on Scorpio’s shoulder. Scott Lost hits Scorpio with his belt and throws some of the WEAKEST FUCKING PUNCHES ever. Joey Ryan, Lost, and Bosh unmask Sky, who is bleeding. Some people come and try to tend to Sky and cover his face, but Scorpio doesn’t let that shit happen. Scorpio cries at the loss of his mask, even though it was done illegally.

Ricky Reyes, Davey Richards, Joey Ryan, & Scott Lost vs. Super Dragon, El Generico, Jack Evans, & Frankie Kazarian
From Battle of Los Angeles on September 4th, 2005. Oh look Davey Richards, my FAVORITE person. It’s okay though, Joey Ryan is here. With a SHAVED TORSO!~!

Joey and Generico start, and a simple wristlock gets Joey mad heat. Generico responds with an armdrag and an armbar, but since this is the independent circuit of wrestling, it leads to nothing. Kazarian and Reyes come in, and in no time we see a GENERIC INDY STANDOFF!~! Lost and Evans come in, and Evans sends Scott out with a spinning round kick. That brings in Davey Richards, who TOSSES Jack into the corner. That brings in Super Dragon, and who trades finisher attempts with Davey. Dragon puts in a pretty casual STF, and he DECKS DAVEY WITH A CHOP TO THE FACE! Generico tags in and hits a dropkick. Davey Richards jumped over Generico and almost busted ass doing it, which would have been hilarious. Generico misses a springboard dropkick, which allows Joey Ryan to come in. Ryan hits a dropkick and tags in Ricky Reyes, but Generico gets the tag to Jack Evans before any more damage can be done. Evans cleans house with a bunch of his awesome flippy stuff, but Reyes downs him with a neckbreaker. Lost and Davey come in, and Frankie Kazarian hits a double tree of woe/corner sit dropkick thing on both of them. Everyone dives to the outside, and JACK FLIES WITH A SASUKE SPECIAL! Stuff breaks out inside the ring and Lost LOCKS IN A DOUBLE SHARPSHOOTER ON GENERICO AND EVANS! JOEY RYAN DUMPS DRAGON ON HIS FUCKING HEAD! SUPER FLUX CAPACITOR ON SCOTT LOST BY KAZARIAN! Ricky Reyes and Richards hit a powerbomb/Backcracker on Evans. Dragon KILLS Davey with a lariat, but for only a nearfall. Tiger Suplex from Davey gets only 2. Dragon puts Davey up in the Psycho Driver, but Reyes holds his pants. SKIPPING A GENERATION FROM JACK EVANS OFF OF DAVEY RICHARDS ONTO REYES! HOLY FUCK! PSYCHO DRIVER ON RICHARDS! Super Dragon pins Davey at the 20 minute mark. **** A fantastic spotfest this was, but since I’m someone who’s easily amused by these things, you probably think a little less than I do about it. Jack Evans stole the show with his INSANE spot at the end, as well as his awesome Sasuke Special. Everyone except for probably Ricky Reyes and Scott Lost had some memorable stuff, and the finishing stretch was something from the Heavens. Awesome stuff if you’re looking for mindless, spot-heavy action.

Guerrilla Warfare: Kevin Steen vs. Super Dragon
From Astonishing X-Mas on December 18th, 2005. I’m sure any self-respecting PWG has seen this one.

It’s Brawl City from the start, and Steen THROWS SUPER DRAGON INTO THE SIXTH ROW OF CHAIRS! CHAIR DUEL! About 6-7 minutes in and we still haven’t even entered the ring. Dragon throws the entrance frame onto Steen and suplexes him ON THE HARDWOOD FLOOR. We finally enter the ring, where Kevin Steen curb stomps Dragon. Dragon gets PISSED, and curb stomps Steen twice. Dragon sets Steen on a table outside the ring and tries to dive onto him, but Steen stops him and SUPLEXES DRAGON THROUGH THE DAMN TABLE! SWANTON IN THE RING! Dragon knocks Steen off the top rope and hits the fatty senton. Dragon gets a chair from under the ring and BRAINS him with it. CURB STOMP ON THE CHAIR! “Nova, eat Super Dragon’s shit, you will never do the curb stomp as well as Super Dragon.” – Disco Machine. DOUBLE HEAD STOMP ON THE SEAT OF THE DAMN CHAIR! NEARFALL! Super Dragon goes and gets some THUMBTACKS! STEEN POWERBOMBS DRAGON ON THEM! NEARFALL! Kevin Steen goes out and grabs a bunch of chairs and puts them in a pile, and PACKAGE PILEDRIVES DRAGON ON THEM! KICKOUT!~! Steen gets pissed and just decides to climb the stairs back up to the exercise room of the JCC. Steen comes back down with nothing, but finds a BARBED WIRE BOARD! FUCKING FRYING PAN SHOTS TO THE HEAD OF SUPER DRAGON! Steen tries to powerbomb Dragon through it, but he takes a lariat instead. DOUBLE UNDERHOOK SUPLEX OFF THE TOP ROPE THROUGH THE BOARDBY SUPER DRAGON! HOLY SHIT. Dragon takes Steen onto the apron and PSYCHO DRIVES HIM THROUGH A TABLE ON THE FLOOR! Jesus H. Christ. Dragon stops the pin himself and goes to a popcorn barrel with HANDCUFFS! HUGE CHAIR SHOT! Dragon puts Steen on the top turnbuckle and DROPS HIM ON HIS FUCKING HEAD WITH A PSYCHO DRIVER ON THE TACKS!~! It’s fucking academic in 31 minutes. ****3/4 Only El Generico and Kevin Steen do grudge matches as well as this. Get this, right now.

Jack Evans and Roderick Strong vs. Davey Richards and Super Dragon
From Hollywood Globetrotters on March 6th, 2006. Oh fuck yes.

Strong and Richards start…I’m sure I’ve seen that match a couple of times. Their technical wrestling doesn’t differ much from any other beginning sequence that they’ve done. Super Dragon and Jack Evans tag in simultaneously. Jack decides that it’s a good idea to flip out of Dragon’s stuff and talk shit to him. It helps him for now, but Dragon starts destroying him with chops and an STF. Dino Winwood and Disco Machine are fucking hysterical on commentary for this one. Dragon catches Evans in mid back handspring and back suplexes him, allowing Davey to come back in and pick Jack apart. Dragon comes back in and he totally no-sells a Jack Evans comeback by killing him with a chop. Jack Evans is taking a shitkicking of epic proportions, and he has a crazy propensity for A) taking insanely rag-doll esque bumps and B) being stretched to holy hell. Roddy tags in and tries to clean house, but Super Dragon ain’t having that shit. Davey hits a kick combo on Roddy for a 2 count, and prevents a comeback with a poke to the eyes. This match has been pretty slow, but still super fun all the same. Looking at that AXP/Arrogance match’s “feeling out process” compared to this match, it’s insane how much better at working all four guys in this match are compared to them. SUPERPLEX FROM STRONG ON DRAGON! Jack Evans finally tags back in and hits a DOUBLE JUMP CORKSCREW RANA! STANDING PHOENIX SPLASH! Two count only. Davey KILLS Jack with a DDT. Dragon puts Evans in a surfboard and flips him over, DROPPING JACK ON THE TOP OF HIS FUCKING HEAD! Davey Richards even cringed at that. Vicious. Davey puts in a straight jacket clutch over his knees, and DRAGON COMES DOWN WITH A DOUBLE STOMP ON HIM! God, Jack Evans is taking the biggest, most absolute shitkicking of anyone I’ve ever seen right now. Curb Stomp from Dragon, but Roddy breaks up the pinfall. EVANS TAGS STRONG IN! REGALPLEX BACKBREAKER! Two count only. Roderick Strong sets Davey and Dragon stomach to back on the second turnbuckle, and Evans HITS A PARTNER ASSISSTED MOONSAULT DOUBLE STOMP ON THEM! CURB STOMP ON JACK! SSP/FOOT STOMPS! NEARFALL! This match fucking rules. Jack counters a Psycho Driver into a REVERSE RANA and dives onto him on the outside with a SPRINGBOARD 450! SHOOTING STAR PRESS FINDS KNEES FOR DAVEY! SICK KICK! NEARFALL! DR DRIVER FROM DAVEY ON RODERICK! Jack hits a flipping (what else would it be?) neckbreaker, but SUPER DRAGON CATCHES HIM IN MID-AIR OFF OF A DOUBLE MOONSAULT! POWERBOMB LUNGBLOWER! Dragon and Richards win the match in 32 minutes. ****1/2 That was perhaps one of the most exciting matches I’ve flat-out ever seen. They kept my attention throughout the super-long length, and had me going insane by the last 5 minutes. If you loved the Briscoes/MCMG matches in ROH, I can almost guarantee you’ll love this match, because they are almost identical in the way the matches progress. This was an insane match, probably one of PWG’s best.

Guerrilla Warfare Cage Match for PWG World Title: Joey Ryan (c) vs. B-Boy
From Threemendous on July 6th, 2006. I’ve heard terrible things about this match, but my undying love for Joey Ryan will help me give this a chance.

It starts off with B-Boy shaking off shots from Ryan, and decking him with an elbow. Ryan misses a chairshot, eats a backdrop driver, and gets pie-faced with a chair shot. B-Boy puts his head against the frame of the cage and dropkicks his head into it. Joey cheats to get an advantage and almost immediately,B-Boy blades. Joey earns more love from me by teasing a chairshot to the back of the head, but instead sitting in the chair and putting on an ultra-comfortable chinlock. B-Boy gets out, but is drop toe-held onto the chair. Joey KILLS B-Boy with a ladder shot, but eats a jumping Shining Wizard. B-Boy THROWS THE FUCKING LADDER AT JOEY’S FACE! CHAIRSHOT! DVD ON A PILE OF CHAIRS! Joey nearly taps to a Crossface, but gets out and connects with a spinebuster. B-Boy almost gets a Mustache Ride through a table, but counters…until Joey Ryan HITS A SUPERBOMB THROUGH A TABLE! Joey decides to fuck with Rick Knox, and JOEY THROWS HIM AGAINST THE CAGE! B-Boy hits a Go To Sleep, but by the time another ref gets out here, Joey kicks out. Y’know, this match is pretty good so far. We head to the outside, where B-Boy throws Joey into the sixth row, and goes under the ring and gets a table. The FANS help B-Boy set up the table by the ring apron. B-Boy sets up three chairs and lays Joey on them, climbs the ringpost, and DOUBLE STOMPS JOEY ON THEM! Joey low blows B-Boy and tries to climb the cage to the inside. B-Boy meets him up there, but Joey elbows him off THROUGH THE TABLE! We head back inside the ring, where B-Boy hits a cutter on Joey off the ladder in the ring for a two count. B-Boy sets Ryan’s head on the rung of the ladder, puts a chair on his head, and DOUBLE STOMPS HIS HEAD! Scott Lost comes to help Joey Ryan, and HITS A VERTEBREAKER ON A PILE OF CHAIRS! NEARFALL! Human Tornado comes out and tries to level it out, but Scorpio Sky and Chris Bosh come out to attack him. Now here comes Excalibur, Kevin Steen, and Davey Richards come out to help. It’s safe to say that all hell has broken loose. Human Tornado is left with Joey Ryan in the ring and he puts him on a table. Tornado goes to the top of the cage, but he SOMERSAULT DIVES ON TOP OF EVERYONE ON THE FLOOR! B-Boy recovers and goes to the top of the cage and SPLASHES HIM THROUGH THE TABLE! NEARFALL~! The crowd was sold like a bitch on that one, hook, line, and sinker. Jade Chung comes in to do something, but my wife Candice LeRae jumps her. Joey THROWS CANDICE INTO THE CAGE! CHAIR GO TO SLEEP FROM B-BOY! Jade Chung breaks the pin and eats a GTS! Joey Ryan pulls the ultimate heel move and chokes B-Boy out with an ether rag (see, your precious PWG has done it too, not just ROH) to win the match in 35 minutes. *** This certainly wasn’t perfect, but the criticism you see for this match seems a bit harsh to me. Sure, it was a pretty slow-paced brawl and the 35 minute length was a bit much, but for any wrestler to hold a crowd’s attention for so long at such a slow pace is a feat in and of itself. These guys knew what they were doing, and they tried their asses off to do it. And hey, unlike that abortion of a tag match, they made it seem like they wanted to murder each other. However, a lot of these spots were telegraphed and contrived to holy hell. I’m not asking them to teleport a table right before a huge top rope move or anything, but let us believe it might happen in a real-life situation for even only a nanosecond. So yeah, like I said, this isn’t nearly as bad as most would like you to believe but there are some glaring flaws within this. It’s just a matter of how far you can look over them.

Battle of Los Angeles Semi-Final Match: CIMA vs. El Generico
From Battle of Los Angeles Night 2 on September 3rd, 2006. For the first time on the DVD, we are in Reseda! The venue actually looks pretty sweet with lighting, but the audio sucks.

CIMA starts off with a top wrist lock and gets a cradle for an early two count. They tie their legs in a grapevine, and do that headstand slap thing to a huge pop from the crowd. They break, but Generico jumps right back on CIMA with a nervehold of all things. Generico tops that with a much fancier “Tijuana Moonsault.” CIMA catches Generico off the ropes with a Backcracker. CIMA ties Generico’s mask tassles to the bottom rope like a dick, but Generico eventually unties himself. Generico knocks CIMA to the outside and HITS A SPRINGBOARD MOONSAULT ON HIM! HE DIVES THROUGH THE TURNBUCKLES AND TORNADO DDT’S CIMA ON THE FLOOR! The crowd accordingly goes insane. Generico heads into the ring and hits a diving splash on CIMA for a 2 count. Generico misses a shoulder thrust and is hung on the second rope by his mid-section, and CIMA hits a DROPKICK FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RING TO A PRONE GENERICO! HUGE FALCON ARROW FROM GENERICO! TWO COUNT! This match is pretty awesome right about now. ICONOCLASM FROM CIMA! FROG SPLASH FINDS KNEES! YAKUZA KICK! HALF AND HALF SUPLEX! NEARFALL! Holy shit, what a nearfall. The crowd went insane for it too. CIMA responds with a huge Tornado DDT and a Schweinn! NEARFALL! ONE MORE SCHWEINN! CIMA wins the match at the 18 minute mark. ***3/4 This was a greatly exciting match between two greatly exciting wrestlers. They had the crowd in the palm of their hands the whole time, and Generico did his usual great job of playing the plucky babyface. I for sure thoughtthe Generic Luchador would win, but CIMA earned his win with a hell of a match.

PAC vs. El Generico
From All Star Weekend 4 on November 18th, 2006. This is the good shit.

My fuck, Pac looks so different than he does now. Guess is HAS been 6 years since this happened, but still. We start the match with a couple of clean breaks, then we transition into some mat wrestling. Pac drops Generico with a dropsault, and he slides rack into a front facelock. Pac takes Generico down with an INSANE tilt-a-whirl rana. We head to the floor, where Pac hits a HUGE Asai moonsault after being catapulted onto the ring apron. Pac spikes Generico on his head with a big rana, and he takes him in the corner to do even more damage. Generico drops Pac with a leg lariat for a 2 count, and takes some time to rest after being hit with a vast array of Pac’s moves. Split-legged moonsault from Generico gets two, and immediately after Generico DESTROYS Pac with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Pac eats a chop from Generico but CONNECTS WITH A BACK HANDSPRING TORNADO DDT! Holy shit. STANDING BACKFLIP SENTON BY PAC! NEARFALL! El Generico cuts Pac off on the top rope, but Pac shoves him off violently. He MISSES A SHOOTING STAR LEG DROP! HALF AND HALF SUPLEX! NEARFALL! Whoa. Everyone in the crowd is standing as PAC REVERSES A BRAINBUSTER INTO A FUCKING HURRICANRANA! NEARFALL! Some of the shit Pac does perplexes me to no end. PUMPHANDLE ORANGE CRUSH!~! HOLY FUCK! NEARFALL! Some of the shit El Generico does perplexes me to no end. El Generico climbs the top rope BUT PAC JUMPS UP AND REVERSE RANAS HIM OFF OF THE TOP ROPE! STANDING BRITISH AIRWAYS! Oh my GOD! British Airways finds knees, and GENERICO KILLS PAC WITH A TURNBUCKLE BRAINBUSTER! That’s it in a simply phenomenal 17 minutes. ****1/2 What a jaw-dropping peformance these two shelled out, and this was one of the best promotional debuts I can ever recall seeing in wrestling. Pac was on like crazy, as he never botched and never even flubbed. This match also garnered some of the biggest crowd pops I can ever recall seeing in a Reseda crowd, and this was before PWG really hit its stride! If you ever want a good introduction to the WWE-bound Pac, this match will suffice perfectly. Phenomenal way to end Disc 2.

The 411: The three best matches of the set are on Disc Two, but the two worst matches are on here as well, so if you can wade through the dip in overall consistency, this one is almost as good as the first disc. Dragon/Steen, Pac/Generico, & GenNext/Dragon & Davey are all worth the lackluster brawl and the terribly bland and indyriffic tag match. More awesomeness ahead!
Final Score:  9.0   [  Amazing ]