Colling It In The Ring: PWG All Star Weekend VI Night One 1/5/2008

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla presents All Star Weekend VI Night One
Date: 1/5/2008
From: Van Nuys, CA

Excalibur is in the ring and says he is in charge of the show due to Dino Winwood getting in a car accident. He is actually happy about it and is making changes to the show. He says the Strong/Evans tonight is not a number one contender match. Instead, it’s the first of three matches to see who should be the number one contender to the PWG World Championship. He also books Susumu Yokosuka and CIMA in a match due to them being late to the show. They are part of a stable in Dragon Gate. It’s also announced that Super Dragon has the night off… paid! Bryan Danielson is called out to the ring to hear the changes to his match. Excalibur offers Danielson a match that hasn’t happened in PWG before. That would be a match with Low Ki, for the title, which starts right now!

Opening Contest: PWG World Champion Bryan Danielson vs. Low Ki: As expected, the match starts with mat wrestling. Danielson doesn’t cleanly break away as he delivers an uppercut early on. Ki responds moments later with a chop. Danielson is digging his knuckles into Ki’s eyes it looks like. Nothing all that exciting is going on as they are keeping a mat wrestling based style. There is several counters, but this type of wrestling isn’t exactly exciting to me. Ki delivers his first stiff kick to Danielson’s chest after dropping the champ across the top rope. They go to the floor and begin to exchange blows. Ki has focused on Bryan’s ribs while Danielson is working over Ki’s left elbow and wrist by stomping on his arm. Danielson manages to hit a diving head butt and goes for the chicken wing submission, but can’t get the hold on. Ki hits a running somersault kick in the corner. Looks like it will finally pick up a little bit. Ki nails the champ with a nice springboard spin kick for a near fall. Danielson hits a butterfly suplex and locks in a cross arm breaker, which was nicely done. Ki cuts the champ off on a suicide dive attempt with a kick. Ki hits a double stomp while Danielson was hanging over the middle rope, but only gets a two count. Ki looks to botch the Phoenix Splash and Danielson gets a triangle choke locked in. Danielson gets a near fall after a dragon suplex. Ki nearly wins after a counter of the Cattle Mutilation. Danielson is ramming Ki with brutal elbows but Ki kicks out at two on the cover. Ki bites Danielson on the top and the champ is in the tree of woe. Ki hits the double stomp! Ki hits the Ki Krusher but can’t get a three. Ki gets the dragon sleeper in the middle of the ring! Ki with a series of elbows and back to the dragon sleeper. Danielson is forced to tap out. NEW CHAMP. (**3/4. That may seem like a low grade, because it feels that way for me. That mat wrestling for the extended period of time wasn’t exciting or enjoyable. There were a few good counters, but for my personal taste it took too long to get going. Once they did get going, it was a fine match with the finish being nicely done.)

Second Contest: El Generico vs. Karl Anderson: Anderson gets control of the bout thanks to an attack prior to the bell, but it doesn’t last long. After a few rights, Anderson hit a tilt a whirl back breaker. Anderson is focusing his attack on the lower back area. For the most part, Anderson has controlled the match. Generico hits a nice hurricanrana off the top rope. Generico takes Anderson out with a twisting dive over the top to the floor. Dr. Pepper can shot by Generico on the floor. Generico nearly wins with a top rope cross body. Anderson hit a nasty looking clothesline for a two count. Generico comes back with a tornado DDT but Anderson plants Generico with a spine buster on a springboard attempt. Generico kicks Anderson in the corner and hits an arm trapped suplex out of the corner. Anderson looked to have landed badly on his neck. Anderson nearly wins with an Oklahoma Roll after a front suplex and kick. Generico surprises Anderson with a running kick and wins after a brain buster. (***. A better paced match than the first bout. These two worked well together.)

Third Contest: Ronin vs. Scorpio Sky: A few minutes into the match until Sky hits a nice head scissors and takes Ronin out with a dive on the floor. Ronin counters a hurricanrana by nailing Sky right in the face with a forearm shot. Sky can’t get anything going as Ronin hit a tilt a whirl back breaker. Sky takes Ronin out with a somersault dive over the top to the floor. Ronin has hit a couple of good back breakers but runs into a jumping knee. Sky hits a top rope frog splash for only a near fall. Ronin hits a dropkick off the middle rope. Ronin nearly wins after a stiff clothesline. Sky continues to kick out at two after a power bomb. Sky hits an ace crusher and wins the match after a TKO where Ronin lands on Sky’s knees. (**. An alright match between these guys. Ronin seems to be working a style that doesn’t fit his size. I wasn’t interested all that much in this bout.)

Fourth Contest: Scott Lost & Joey Ryan vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black: A rather slow start to the match as a few minutes into the match and there hasn’t been anything more than right hands between Jacobs and Ryan. As soon as I write that, Black tosses Ryan to the floor and Jacobs dives onto Ryan. Double dropkicks to Ryan who was in a tree of woe. Jacobs gets worked over by the Dynasty. Black tried to help with a springboard lariat, but was cut off in midair. Lost and Ryan have some good chemistry and hit a spine buster/reverse neck breaker combo. Jacobs hits a back senton splash on Ryan for a near fall. Jacobs blocks a superman spear from Lost by getting his knees up. They collide attempting the same spear in the middle of the ring. Black gets the hot tag and cleans house. Lost accidentally spears Ryan after a roll up on Black. Black takes both men out with a twisting dive over the top to the floor. Lost gets control of Black with a Flatliner to a kneeling Black. Oh shit, Jacobs hits a dangerous hurricanrana on Ryan, who was on Black’s shoulders. Jacobs nearly broke his neck it looked like. Jacobs hits a senton splash while Black was holding Ryan. Black slams Ryan gut first to the canvas and Jacobs has a choke hold locked in. Jade Chung is distracting the referee while Ryan is tapping. Lost makes the save and hits a combo with Ryan where Ryan is able to hit a face buster on Jimmy for a near fall. Double superkick to Jacobs. Ryan takes Jimmy out with a suicide dive on the floor. Black pele kicks Lost, followed by the Buckle Bomb and a big boot. Ryan launches Black off the top so Lost can hit an ace crusher in midair! Lost elbow drops Black while across Ryan’s knee for the win. (***1/4. A really good tag team match between these two teams. I was kind of surprised that the Age of the Fall lost here. Also strange to see them play the face role since they were the top heel group in ROH at the time. Anyway, a solid match with Black and Lost looking like the superior wrestlers out of the bunch.)

Fifth Contest: Roderick Strong vs. Jack Evans: This is the first match of their best of three. The second match will take place on night two while the possible third match would take place at the January 27th event. Early on, Evans hits a nice backflip head scissors. Evans misses a dive on the floor and Strong wheels a female in a wheelchair into Evans! That was hilarious. Strong controls Evans with a back breaker in the ring. Evans comes off the middle rope with a Blockbuster for a two count. A standing corkscrew moonsault by Evans for another near fall. Strong dropkicks Evans off the apron to the floor and tosses Evans into chairs in the crowd. Strong is stretching Evans both in the ropes and in the middle of the ring. Evans springboards off the top to hit a spinning kick. Strong regained control with a gut buster. Evans nearly won after a slingshot somersault from the apron. Evans hits a reverse hurricanrana and goes to the top rope to hit the 630 and wins the match. (**3/4. A fine match between these two. Evans was flipping around quite a bit and Strong was able to look really good with his offense on a smaller opponent. Some good action, but I wasn’t hooked into the match for some reason.)

Sixth Contest: The Young Bucks vs. Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino: Matt and Yoshino started off but neither man got any offense in as they simply countered everything. Doi and Nick go back and forth with basic offense. Bucks hit a double dropkick to the back of Yoshino’s head. Matt moonsaults off the top to land on Doi’s arm. Nick hits a cannonball off the top onto Doi’s arm as well. Doi continues to be worked over by the Bucks for a few moments. Doi gets Matt trapped in the ropes and hits a running dropkick in the ropes. Matt gets his arm worked over with a few top rope spots by his opponents. Doi cannonballs into both Buck’s in the corner. Doi comes off the top to hit a senton splash on Matt as he was held across the middle rope by Yoshino. Matt drops Yoshino with a reverse neck breaker and Nick gets the hot tag. Nick comes from the apron to hit a face buster back in the ring on Yoshino. Nick moonsaults Yoshino on the floor and Matt dives onto Doi across the ring. A nice sequence of moves sees Matt get powerbombed out of the corner by Doi and Nick hitting a frog splash on Doi moments later. Bucks with a gut buster/top rope leg drop combo on Yoshino. Stereo 450 splashes by the Bucks but they can’t get a three count. A powerbomb/top rope neck breaker by Doi and Yoshino on Nick. Doi drives Matt down to the canvas from the middle rope with a slam. Yoshino has a triangle choke on Nick and that gets a submission victory. (***1/2. A damn good tag match between these two tag teams. I’ve never watched Doi or Yoshino’s stuff before, but they are impressive wrestlers. Match of the night thus far, easily.)

Seventh Contest: Alex Koslov vs. TJ Perkins: Apparently, Perkins feels that Koslov has developed a big head since competing in Japan and doesn’t respect the business. A quick, nice exchange leading to a standoff between the two. Perkins tries to get a submission but Koslov won’t give in. Koslov superkicks Perkins on the floor after avoiding a suicide dive. Koslov maintains control with a power slam back in the ring and a vertical suplex. Koslov locks in a surfboard in the ropes for a few seconds, which is something I’ve never seen before. TJ dropkicks Koslov in midair as Koslov jumped off the top rope. Perkins follows up with a head scissors out of the corner and a neck breaker before hitting a suicide dive on the floor. Perkins avoids being suplexed to the floor and blocks a side Russian leg sweep by Koslov in the ring. Koslov nearly wins after a kick to the side of TJ’s head. TJ counters a back suplex off the middle rope with a cross body and nearly wins with a frog splash off the top. TJ knocks Koslov silly with two kicks, but Koslov was faking and almost rolls TJ up. Koslov has the Red Scare locked in but TJ gets out of the hold and has his version of the hold locked in for a few seconds. Koslov gets a seated figure four on Perkins. Koslov catches Perkins on the ropes to hit a side Russian leg sweep and gets the submission with the Red Scare. (**. Aside from the unique finish to the match, I was bored with the match.)

Eighth Contest: Susumu Yokosuka vs. CIMA: They have their legs locked together and stand on their heads to chop each other early on in the contest. Yokosuka controls CIMA with rather basic offense until CIMA hits a backstabber. Yokosuka nearly wins after an exploder suplex out of the corner. They are spanking each other to get some laughs. CIMA and Yokosuka go to the top after CIMA hit a sit out slam from the top. Yokosuka basically no sold the move and hit an exploder suplex off the top. CIMA delivers three double stomps and a Cradle Shock for a two count. Yokosuka drives CIMA to the mat with a gut wrench side slam. CIMA plants Yokosuka with a DDT after locking in a choke briefly. Yokosuka stops CIMA on the middle rope to hit a Death Valley Driver. They are now just no selling moves. CIMA wins with a roll up. (**1/2. The no selling of moves and losing with a roll up just annoys me. Nothing special of a match between these two. Until the sequence of no selling, the fans seemed to not be overly into the match, and I don’t blame them.)

Main Event: Claudio Castagnoli, Human Tornado & Eddie Kingston vs. Candice LeRae, Chris Hero & Necro Butcher in a No Disqualification Match: Everyone other than LeRae start brawling in the ring. She eventually goes after Tornado until he bails to the floor. Butcher tosses Claudio into a bunch of chairs while LeRae has been choking Tornado for a minute. Claudio rams Butcher back first into the wall as they have been brawling in the crowd the entire match thus far. They have no gone outside where Butcher throws a trash can at Claudio. Tornado runs outside to help Claudio. A trash can over Butcher’s head leads to a chair shot from Claudio. Necro is throwing stones at his opponents to fight them off! Everyone is outside fighting! Hero slams Tornado onto the trash can and stones. Claudio slips and falls on the pavement so Hero hits a senton splash! Butcher dumps water inside a trash can on Claudio! This is one of the funniest brawls I’ve ever witnessed. Tornado spin kicks Butcher outside in the rain. They are finally back inside the building. Butcher slams Kingston with a chair across his back. Tornado is being worked over by Hero and Candice in the ring. Butcher is choking Claudio with his belt. Candice takes Kingston out with a hurricanrana off the top. Claudio drops Hero with a bicycle kick and Tornado nails Candice right in the face with a super kick. Tornado taunts her by air humping her on the apron. Tornado hip tosses Butcher off the apron to the floor. Claudio leaps off the middle rope to hit an uppercut on Hero. There is some order to the match now as Kingston works over Hero. Tornado continues control with a running bulldog. Hero is worked over by Kingston and Claudio prevents a tag to Butcher. Hero power bombs Kingston out of the corner and Necro gets the hot tag and uses his head to knock all the heels down. Necro hits a dangerous hurricanrana off the top on Kingston. Tornado hits a tornado DDT but Hero makes the save on the cover. Tornado hits a corkscrew kick and a dropkick to a seated Hero in the corner. Hero blocks a low blow and hits a Hero’s Welcome but can’t get a three count. Hero nails Tornado with a forearm shot. Claudio enters and hits the TKO on Hero. Hero big boots Claudio and Kingston enters but is met with a discus elbow from Hero. Hero misses a dive on the floor but Tornado takes Kingston out with a cross body on the floor. Hero takes the heels out with a moonsault off the top to the floor. Butcher takes Claudio and Tornado out with a somersault dive off the top to the floor! Candice has gotten up and hits Kingston with a missile dropkick. Kingston slaps Candice but her comes Hero. Kingston slaps Hero with the back of his hand and pins Hero after a back suplex.

As a result, Human Tornado will wrestle Candice LeRae o night two. (***1/2. A good brawl with some comedy spots, but for the most part is a really enjoyable fight. It also came across like this was the first match on the show that the means were interested in seeing and there was actual emotion into the match. The fans are sold into the Tornado/Hero/Candice angle.) After the match, Butcher hits Tornado with a chair. Tornado grabs a microphone and tells Candice that what he has in store for Candice “R. Kelly ain’t got shit on me.”

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The 411: A couple of good tag team matches and a main event brawl that delivered were the highlights of the show. Aside from those few matches, everything else was average, for the most part. I’ll give the a show a slight thumbs up.
Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]