Views from the Hawke’s Nest: PWG Ten

August 9, 2013
Reseda, California

Commentators: Excalibur, Kevin Steen, Rick Knox, Joey Ryan, & Chuck Taylor

Joey Ryan Taylor with Peter (Joey Ryan, Ryan Taylor, & Peter Avalon) vs. B-Boy, Willie Mack, Candice LeRae
“When Joey Ryan was released by TNA, it was the saddest day of Super Dragon’s life,” – Excalibur.

Death, taxes, and Joey Ryan vs. Candice LeRae. Willie Mack and Ryan Taylor were working early like they wanted more bookings. Ryan cut off LeRae with a running pie face. This lead to a sleazy heat segment. Ryan Taylor hit a fan with a stiff-sounding forearm. Weird. LeRae gave Ryan a stunner. Mack tagged in and made a fantastic comeback. Willie hit ROLLING Finlay Rolls. Willie then hit a triple Samoan drop. Willie got sent to the floor. Taylor hit a plancha. B-Boy suplexed Avalon to the floor. Ryan speared B-Boy to the floor. Willie helped Candice give Joey a hurricanrana to the floor. Willie hit a tope con hello. Terminator 2 fan was going nuts for all of this. All the movez were hit. LeRae hit Ryan with a fucking RISING SUN I, a ballplex and the tope suicida swinging DDT. Ryan Taylor was taken out by the fan that he hit earlier. Turns out, that fan was Scott Lost! Willie Mack then hit Avalon with a spinning Chocolate Thunder Driver: 1…2…3

This was an absolutely fantastic opener, and it should hopefully serve as a reminder to PWG that the SoCal local scene should be a part of every single PWG show. Bravo to everyone involved in this.
Match Rating: ***1/2

Brian Cage vs. Tony Nese
This was Nese’s PWG debut.

Cage dropped Nese on the apron, headfirst, and Cage worked him over after that. Nese came back and hit a Fosbury Flop. “Do you think Tony’s rival in high school was ‘James Nephew?’” – Excalibur. It took me a moment, but eventually, that slayed me. Nese went for a dive, but Cage caught him into a delayed brainbuster. Cage hit a high angle Drunk Slam. Nese hit some kicks, but Cage hit a discus lariat. Nese went for a dive, but Cage caught him with a powerbomb. He then hit a Buckle Bomb and Weapon X: 1…2…3

This was a solid debut for Nese. I don’t think Cage was the best opponent for Nese work with, but they put together a moderately entertaining match. Nese is capable of much more though.
Match Rating: **3/4

The Forever Hooligans (Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov) vs. The RockNES Monsters (Johnny Yuma & Goodtime)
Yuma now has short hair.

There were a lot of shenanigans early on. Romero and Koslov teased fighting each other, but they hugged instead. After a while, the Monsters cut off Romero and got the heat. Koslov eventually tagged in and made a comeback. The Hooligans dominated for a while. The Monsters came back. Goodtime hit Rocky with a double stomp and then took out Koslov with a tope con hello. Yuma got a nearfall on Rocky with a Sexfactor. The Hooligans hit Yuma with the Contract Killer: 1…2…3. For good measure, Koslov hit Goodtime with a plancha as Rocky pinned Yuma.

This match was heavy on the gaga early on, and I was not really feeling it. The action down the stretch was a little better, but it was not anything special. This was not a great use of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champions, and I left this match feeling that I did not need to see the Monsters in PWG again for a while.
Match Rating: **

Michael Elgin vs. AR Fox
Apparently AR Fox got to the show about an hour before the show started because of air travel. He also apparently has to get a ride to the airport right after his match.

Elgin got control of the match early, and he worked him over for a bit. Fox came back with a bulldog and a Lo Mein Rain. Fox went for a tope suicida, but Elgin caught him and hit a side slam right on the floor. Elgin hit a delayed vertical suplex, where he had him up so long that the fans gave up on counting. Fox avoided the Fucking Machine suplex and hit the My Dick Explodes. Elgin came back and got a couple of nearfalls. Fox came back with a tope con hello over the turnbuckle. Elgin came back with a FUCKING MACHINE FALCON ARROW: 1…2…NO! But nobody kicks out of the falcon arrow!??!? Fox came back with a Sliced Bread on the apron and then casually hit a 450: 1…2…NO! Fox went for the shooting star cannonball, but Elgin caught him and hit a buckle bomb. Elgin went for the Elgin Bomb, but Fox reversed it into a reverse rana! Elgin came back with two backfists and a SUPER powerbomb: 1…2…3!

This started a little slower than I expected, but they really turned it on throughout the match and peaked at all the right moments. I think a more compact match between the two could potentially be better, but this was pretty great.
Match Rating: ****

Friends In Similar Tights (Chuck Taylor & Johnny Gargano) vs. Paul London & Brian Kendrick
The match started with Gargano and Kendrick sitting on their partners’ shoulders. It was awesome. FIST was in control for a bit, but Londrick came back with stereo tope suicidas. Gargano and Taylor came right back. Taylor hit a tope con hello on Spanky. London hit a springboard double stomp to the floor. They went back and forth some more until FIST hit Spanky with Eatin’ Pussy and Kicking Ass: 1…2…3!

This was a fun match to come back from intermission with. They mixed some good comedic spots with fun action, and the final product was a good time. The chicken sequence to start the match was the clear highlight of the proceedings.
Match Rating: ***

Kyle O’Reilly vs. TJ Perkins
This should be fantastic.

They went back and forth for a really long time. It was, in fact, fantastic. They traded Japanese strangleholds. Kyle managed to get control of the match, and he worked TJP over for a bit. He was specifically going after TJP’s right arm. TJP came back, but Kyle caught him with a guillotine. TJP survived and hit the Detonation Kick! Kyle fired back with a lariat. They traded strikes until TJP hit the Nifty Powerbomb. They traded submissions. Kyle hit the running Soccer Punt of death for a nearfall, and he then hit a bridging Regalplex: 1…2…NO! TJP came back with a lungblower variation for a nearfall. TJP hit a Liger Bomb, but KO blocked a frog splash. Kyle then hit a swinging DDT and a brainbuster: 1…2…NO! CROSS ARMBREAKER ON THE INJURED ARM OF TJP! TJP TAPS OUT!

As I predicted, this was fantastic. The early sequence where they traded lots of holds was beautiful, and the closing sequence was tons of fun as well.. The middle portion was slightly less interesting, but at least the arm work done then lead to the finish. Great work by these two.
Match Rating: ***3/4

Adam Cole© vs. Kevin Steen vs. Drake Younger [Guerrilla Warfare match for the PWG World Championship]
Steen shoved Cole’s face into his dick. Younger and Steen killed Cole for a while. They all went back and forth with some really fun stuff. A table, a traffic cone, and a trash can lid were the early weapons of choice. Cole hit Drake with a Panama Sunrise THROUGH a table. Steen pulled Cole out and powerbombed him on an apron. Steen then gave Drake a package piledriver THROUGH some chairs. Cole tried to steal the pin, but Steen saved the match. Steen hit Cole with the Turnbuckle Brainbuster, but Cole bounced to the floor! Drake miraculously recovered and posted Steen. Drake went to steal the pin on Cole: 1…2…NO! CRUCIFIX FROM COLE: 1…2…3!

Adam Cole and The Young Bucks trios team name is Fruit Roll-Up. Honestly, I thought that finish was a little weak given the brutality seen in this match. I did not mind the length of the match at all (just fourteen minutes or so), but I really think Cole should have won with something other than a Fruit Roll-Up. This was a great semi-main event though other than the finish.
Match Rating: ***3/4

The Young Bucks© (Nick & Matt Jackson) vs. DoJo Bros (Eddie “Eddie Edwards” Edwards & Roderick Strong) vs. The Inner City Machine Guns (Rich Swann & Ricochet) [Ladder Match for the PWG World Championships]
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

ALL THE MOVEZ. It was amazing. I really do not know what to write. Ha, I got something. Matt held a ladder on the ropes, and Nick ran up it to do a tope con hello onto everyone else. The Bucks quickly got a giant fucking ladder. Nick started bragging about being able to do the spot where he goes from the ladder to the ropes to the floor, but he accidentally crotched himself when he attempted to do it. The Young Bucks are the best. Ricochet did the Nick Jackson ladder-to-the-floor spot, but he did it with a moonsault. Ricochet did multiple diving moves through the giant ladder (including a tope con hello over a turnbuckle. Nick killed Swann with a sunset flip powerbomb from a ladder and through a table on the floor. Nick dove off a ladder for a tandem tombstone on Ricochet. Swann ate a Doomsday Ghetto Stomp from the Bros. Matt superkicked everyone, as Nick climbed got the belts. That was one of the weaker superkick sequences unfortunately. The Young Bucks retain.

The fans chanted “Ten More Years!” and “Super Dragon!” after the match.

This match was not quite as epic as the Threemendous III ladder match, but this was absolutely a fantastic main event. The biggest difference between this match and last year’s ladder match was that the finish here was pretty flat compared to the rest of the match (whereas the 2012 ladder match peaked right at the end when Rick Knox wiped out the Young Bucks with a tope con hello). Every man in the match absolutely did their part to make this a spectacular close to PWG’s tenth anniversary.
Match Rating: ****1/4

Thanks everybody for reading! You can send feedback to my Twitter or to my email address: [email protected]. Also, feel free to check out my own wrestling website, FreeProWrestling.com. Check out a full/organized list of all the wrestling show reviews I’ve done at 411mania.

Watch some free matches featuring PWG wrestlers (in non-PWG matches, sadly):
Akira Tozawa vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Kyle O’Reilly vs. Sami Callihan
Sami Callihan vs. Masato Yoshino
RVD vs. Sami Callihan
Kevin Steen vs. Claudio Castagnoli
El Generico vs. Kota Ibushi vs. Jigsaw vs. Nick Jackson
Davey Richards vs. Kota Ibushi
El Generico vs. Samuray Del Sol
El Generico vs. Player Uno
The Young Bucks vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico
The Young Bucks (Nick Jackson & Matt Jackson) & Petey Williams vs. Jay Lethal, Paul London, & Brian Kendrick
El Generico vs. Chris Hero
The Young Bucks vs. The Kings of Wrestling
El Generico vs. Davey Richards
Davey Richards vs. Michael Elgin

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The 411: Ten was a great show with a number of delightful matches. While the first three shows of 2013 from PWG would quite underwhelming, Is Your Body Ready? and TEN were returns to the form for the best wrestling promotion in America. Big "Thumbs Up" for this show.
Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]