This is the final show in this series that I have watched previously. I remember basically nothing from it, so this is going in clean. This is also the final PWG show in 2015; by next show, we will be jumping ahead a bit farther and seeing a lot of new faces. I’ll do what I can to appreciate what I have had, before it potentially goes south…
Biff Busick vs Brian Cage
The monkey’s paw curls on my previous wish to see Biff in more singles action, I see. This is the by-now standard “Brian Cage gets to look cool” match, and Biff really shines him up with some bumps off of power spots throughout the match. Biff, bless him, does target Cage’s left knee at points, but of course he was never going to sell that. Now, I’m not pre-disposed to like this sort of match (ie. one featuring Cage), but the match was just a little over 10 minutes and was the opener, so I can’t get too mad at it. **3/4
“Speedball” Mike Bailey vs Trevor Lee
The now seemingly-ubiquitous Speedball is on only his 2nd PWG show here, having debuted for the company earlier in 2015. This is the start of a larger rise in stock for him in America, as he kind of catches indie wrestling off-guard with his unassuming look and reserve of spectacular martial arts and high-flying moves. On the other side, the former super rookie Lee is building himself back up after a loss to Roderick Strong, and assumes the Chris Hero role by bullying around the rookie-er Bailey. These two are a keen match, as they are both very fast and explosive with their offense styles, albeit in slightly different ways; if I had to describe it, Lee is more explosive, while Bailey is sudden, if that makes sense.
Bailey impresses the crowd early with his now-trademark spots (running twisting shooting star press, hurricane kicks, etc.), and the two settle into a fairly short match that is all killer, no filler, just near-constant cool moves. The highlight of this move-fest is the one that made the inside cover of the DVD: Bailey hitting a reverse hurricanrana while both are on the apron, and looking like they both brained themselves. It’s a monster reaction and a memorable visual, so thankfully, they don’t go too far beyond that. Back in the ring, Lee reverses a top-rope shooting star press into a small package driver for the win, but Bailey continues to leave a lasting impression on the tastemaker crowd of the 2010’s. It’s a match that is all explosions, but the explosions are pretty. ***1/4
The World’s Cutest Tag Team (Candice LeRae & Joey Ryan) vs The Beaver Boys (John Silver & Alex Reynolds)
Seeing the name “The Beaver Boys” on a PWG show reminds me of where I was around the time of this show. I remember following PWG via results (I was and still am too poor to buy their shows), and when I started seeing teams names like theirs, I realized that there were people on the come-up on the indies that I didn’t recognize anymore. It felt like a shifting of my own place as an independent wrestling fan; it was no longer the late 2000s, when it felt like the sun rose and set on Ring of Honor and its contemporaries, and I was beginning to be left behind by what I didn’t know.
I certainly wouldn’t have guessed how familiar I’d be with Silver & Reynolds half a decade later thanks to AEW, and I’m glad I have that rapport with them as a team, because they didn’t do much for me here. Granted, they are locked into the Joey & Candice tag team formula, so it’s not really the best way to be introduced to a team, full stop. As usual, they do the lollipop bit, Candice gets her spots, they do a face-in-peril, a hot tag or two, and the champs win. Thankfully, as opposed to last time where it was all Candice getting beaten up only to be saved by her awful friend, they invert the formula by having Candice taken out early and Joey playing the face-in-peril; unfortunately, that doesn’t really work for me either because it requires me to care if Joey Ryan lives or dies, a tall order. The Beaver Boys have some neat double-team offense, and Silver is already showing promise with his swift offense, but this knows what it’s trying to do and never shoots beyond that. **1/2
Tommy End vs Chris Hero
Over the course of the past couple of shows, Chris Hero’s matches have been something of an oasis for me. Hero is standing out as one of my favorite performers in the PWG space, as he frequently takes the time to tell a story around the cool moves of him and his opponent, so it’s easier for me to invest in it. This time, however, Hero decides to do a more PWG-style bombfest, and I found myself a bit let-down by what seemed like a sure thing.
Tommy End here is making his PWG debut after spending most of his career fighting in Europe and the UK. He and Hero have a back-and-forth dynamic to their match that starts early, with both of them gaining momentary advantages before ceding to the other. It’s an interesting approach, and certainly a different one than I’ve seen from Hero so far, but there’s another element to this that began to take me out of what they were doing. Early on, End no-sells a rolling elbow from Hero in a show of his toughness; soon after, Hero no-sells an Ace crusher to regain control. This theme is peppered throughout the match and seems to be their interpretation of the PWG fireworks match where, instead of huge high spots and dives, they shrug off big attacks again and again to get to the next big attack. It can be an effective tool when used sparingly, but here, it gets to feeling like too much candy after a while.
This is certainly /an/ approach to this kind of match, and it’s one that is entertaining from time to time, but I couldn’t get super invested in a fight where, at any time, either guy could just decide that something didn’t hurt and just move on. By the end, Hero has to hit 4 rolling elbows and follow it up with a jumping tombstone to win, leaving me to wonder if his strikes are that effective if he needs to use so many. This works for the crowd and ultimately endears them to End (a performer I like today), but it left me a little cold. I think it’s good and all but, much like the previous match, it knows what it wants to do and will not be shooting above that target. This is spiritually the same match as ones like Lee vs Bailey, but at least those spot-fests are a bit more fantastic and don’t have me going “Come the fuck on” at the near-falls. ***1/4
ACH vs Tommaso Ciampa
I think I need to see more ACH matches elsewhere. I’ve been waiting for a performance from him that shows me what people at the time saw in him, and it seems like all of his matches in this series so far have been too comedic to really give me a sense of him as an in-ring performer. Here, he does a bit of basketball panto with Ciampa, and he gets into the Stone Cold ACH routine again, neither of which particularly move me. Outside of that, he and Ciampa go back and forth with some interesting moves and manage to end the match in decent time, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. Oh well. **1/2
Monster Mafia (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander) vs Love Gun (Chris Sabin & Matt Sydal)
Another act debuting in 2015 gets the spotlight in Monster Mafia to continue the theme of the night. Also, this match is the last one for Sabin & Sydal teaming together in PWG (so much for a new tag team being born), and the last for Sabin in PWG to date. As with the previous match in this series against the Bucks, Sydal & Sabin get a pretty good match out of MM that wouldn’t be out of place on an episode of wrestling television, but it never gets too far beyond that. Page & Alexander are a decent-enough team, with Page working the crowd as he is wont to do (especially the very-inebriated Horsewomen), but they didn’t stand out as much as someone like Mike Bailey previously did. Sabin & Sydal win their final tag match together, in the now-classic PWG move of putting over guys who won’t be here later. ***
Andrew Everett vs Ricochet
A battle between two high-fliers begins with both men doing their flippy version of a face-off, with Everett continuously springing out of Ricochet’s then-iconic backflip headscissors. After a great performance against Kyle O’Reilly at the end of last year, Ricochet still feels like a fairly big deal in PWG, but between him and Everett, neither have much going on between the high spots. The action in this feels strangely formless: After hitting a cool dive, either guy will hit some weak elbows or some vague set-up move to get to the next spot. Obviously, this is the niche both of them have long since settled into, but it doesn’t do much for either guy to have them go 20 minutes in a match that feels like it’s got too much air in it.
Not to say that this is bad or anything, just that it’s the match on the show that feels the least honest about the fact that it’s a stunt show. Everett pulls off some fantastic spots, including a beautiful springboard shooting star press to the outside and a shocking double moonsault, and Ricochet gives him quite a lot before beating him. This match had the vibe of old-school high-flyer vs new school, but if it’s all the same, I’d rather that Ricochet be put in there with guys who can lead him as opposed to being expected to lead himself. ***
Roderick Strong (c) vs Zack Sabre Jr. [PWG World Championship Match]
Zack’s rise in PWG continues with his first title shot. He and Roddy wrestle in perhaps the most straight-up indie match of the night, meaning that it’s based more around counter-wrestling, holds, and a few high spots as opposed to the approach of practically every match before it. Specific to this one, Roddy establishes early on that he cannot hang with Zack on the mat, so he uses a bit of brute force to take the advantage in a cool spot where he guillotines Zack between the middle and top rope while he is trapped in the latter’s armbar.
Given that it’s a Zack match, he concentrates on Roddy’s left arm when he gets the chance, which works decently. Roddy mainly pays attention to it when Zack is on offense and kinda drops it when he’s not, but he does enough to keep it in your memory. What’s interesting is that the crowd at times doesn’t seem all the way in on Zack, to the point that Chris Hero notes that the crowd is the most pro-Roderick they’ve been in his reign so far. Zack is hardly a forceful personality at this point, so the match focuses more on the ring work to try and make up for it. Roddy continues trying to press the advantage while Zack scraps for hope spots here and there, leading to a very hot finishing stretch of near-falls, ending in Strong dumping Zack onto his head and tapping him with the Strong Hold. A very solid, at times great, main event. ***1/2
Shelf Status
The word “mid” is thrown around a lot these days, but coming out of this show, I don’t really feel strongly in any sense. This felt like a very typical PWG show that you’d get around this time, with a lot of matches trying to outdo the others through sheer force of spots. Don’t get me wrong, cool moves are fun and I like them, but there was not a whole lot that I think I would be missing if I had just watched the trailer for this show instead of sitting down to watch the whole thing. I was never upset or bored, but I was never really thrilled either, so this one is Not Worthy.
(This is not a sponsored article. PWG physical media is available on their website. You can also stream it digitally on High Spots Network.)
A new era is at hand as we jump forward to 2017 next time for a double-shot…