PWG Card Subject to Change III DVD Review

-Taped from Reseda, California

-Your hosts are Excalibur and ???

-Joey Ryan promo to start. He’s out to give a history lesson. This should be a lark. He brags about his title reign and talks about making the PWG title a world championship. Tonight is about Joey Ryan. I sure hope not. Ryan promises no gimmicks or shenanigans. Well, I call shenanigans on him. The crowd heckles him, so he rips off The Rock. He ends the segment by hugging John Ian. Aww.

-Peter Avalon vs. Johnny Yuma

Match in Five Words or Less: MIDGET MADNESS (Well, Sort of)

Match Summary/Analysis: Good to see these two getting a singles showcase. Yuma and Goodtime were supposed to wrestle Kevin Steen and Akira Tozawa, but Steen had a family emergency. Some stalling and feeling out to start. Yuma uses his ass to maintain the advantage. Not sure what to say about that. An incredible sequence on the outside leads to a dropkick by Yuma. Excalibur and Joey Ryan discuss Words with Friends. Moonsault by Yuma off the apron. Avalon uses heel tactics and slows the match down. Clothesline, elbow, and shoulder block start the comeback for Yuma. Splash in the corner. Gutwrench powerbomb? Did Yuma really just do that? Avalon is crotched on the top rope. Yuma meets him and crotches himself. Yuma in the tree of woe. Double knees get two for Avalon. Enziguri and tiger driver get two for Avalon. Pumphandle neckbreaker and again only two. Ex factor WITH HIS LEGS gets the three count for Yuma. Quite the innovative little finish to a decent enough match. Nothing too impressive but I appreciate them getting time to develop something.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Johnny Yuma/12:02/**3/4

-Candice LaRae vs. Portia Perez

Match in Five Words or Less: Acceptable

Match Summary/Analysis: Pretty weird to see the show get off to a slowish start with a couple regular singles matches instead of some opening tag match insanity. LaRae starts with ARMDRAGS! A call back to 2003 commentary. Perez takes control and is clearly wrestling heel while trying to reignite the Canada versus United States feud. Back and forth with a series of pinfalls. Double clothesline and both women are down. LaRae with a tope suicida. Double sledgehammer off the top and that was before Randay Savage died. Perez comeback. One footed dropkick for two. LaRae with yet another armdrag. She struggles to roll Perez up but eventually does and gets three. I’ve seen better matches when LaRae has wrestled men. She comes off as a better worker and more compelling character when she wrestles men as opposed to women.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Candice LaRae/7:10/*1/2

-Roderick Strong vs. Willie Mack

Match in Five Words or Less: Back the Mack

Match Summary/Analysis: It’s been six months since Strong wrestled in PWG. Basic to start. Strong works Mack’s left arm. Kick to Strong’s shoulder. Armdrag and a flying knee by Mack, who’s really got the crowd behind him tonight. Whip and a splash in the corner. PWG really may have something in this guy. Beautiful standing dropkick. Strong sends Mack into the post back first. Chops but Mack hits one of the most vicious chiops I’ve ever seen in response. Strong starts a violence party, AND MACK COMES BACK! That was tremendous. Crowd seemed to fall even more in love with Mack. Strong shows no regard for human life after sending Mack into a set of chairs. Back in the ring for more chops by Strong. Mack wins a vertical suplex battle. Strong quickly regains control and hits a vertical suplex of his own. Every time Strong tries to degrade or put Mack down, he comes back. Huge dropkick by Strong. Mack comes back. EXPLODER! He just tossed Roddy on that one. Clothesline to the corner. Up and over dropkick. Amazing. Strike exchange. Strong chops him right in the throat. Mack tosses Strong over in something that nearly looked like a suplex. Forearm battle. Pair of enziguris by Strong. LEAPING KNEE IN THE CHIN! Strong places Mack on the top rope. BACKBREAKER ON THE TOP ROPE! Mack lands on the outside. Strong has to lift Mack in the ring. 1-2-NO!  Forearms and kicks. Side kick by Mack. Hard forearm. Strong counters out. Mack hits a samoan drop for two. Kips up. STANDING MOONSAULT! Baby driver (Rick Knox officially named that move for the record. I was going to go with cradle rock). Enziguri to the back of Mack’s head. Gutbuster. Stronghold! Mack counters out into a roll-up for two. Superkick and awkward sick kick finally gets Strong the win. An excellent match where Mack got to show his stuff in a singles match and further endear himself to the PWG crowd. Make no mistake about it. This man is the breakout star of 2011 in PWG.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Roderick Strong/19:58/***1/2

-Low Ki vs. Akira Tozawa

Match in Five Words or Less: YES!

Match Summary/Analysis: This wasn’t originally scheduled to be on the card. Luckily, PWG loves its fans and wants to actually have better matches if the originals can’t happen. Hence, this match. Low Ki goes for a number of holds, but Tozawa works out of all of them.  Tozawa tells the crowd to shut the fuck up again while applying a headlock. That will never stop being old. Continued series of holds and counters. Tozawa kicks Ki in the ear. An incredible pace is set. Series of nearfalls. Crowd is in love with this match in the first five minutes. Ki wants a microphone. Well, that’s rare. Ki says you won’t see what just happened on WWE television. Well then. Strikes by Tozawa in the corner.  Ki responds with chops of his own. Yeesh. Ki slows things down. Can’t blame him. Kick exchange. More chops. Bit of a botch so Ki kicks Tozawa in the head.  That’ll learn him. More striking. Tozawa goes for a dive, but Ki hits a jumping kick. Bodyscissors. Someone in the crowd tells Tozawa not to piss of Low Ki. Who says fans are stupid? Ki dropkicks Tozawa in the back of the head. Surprising amount of holds from Ki in this match. Guess that stuff about learning pacing in WWE was true. Kick to the gut a follow-up spin kick from Tozawa. Yet another strike exchange. Ki comes out on top. Running elbows by Tozawa. Charge caught by Ki’s boot. Drops Ki down and hits a knee. Back-to-back tope suicidas. Crowd wants to see it again. Tozawa can’t deliver. Tozawa hits the highest Thesz press I’ve ever seen, although it was a bit on the awkward side. Ki out of a German and it’s foot stomp time. Tozawa meets Ki on the top rope. Bicycle kick brings Ki down. Back drop driver. Tozawa sent face first into the buckle. Ki dropkicks him in the chest. To the top rope. FOOT STOMP! Done. I liked but didn’t love this match. Not nearly as much craziness as you might expect. it’s clear Ki has slowed his matches down since signing with WWE. Perhaps for the better in some cases, but I was expecting more from this match.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Low Ki/20:38/***1/2

-Johnny Goodtime vs. Ryan Taylor

Match in Five Words or Less: A Somewhat Good Time

Match Summary/Analysis: Goodtime immediately dives on Taylor, even before the bell rings. I guess that’s how you bring the crowd back from intermission. More innovative offense on the outside of the ring. He tries to fake Taylor out on a dive, but Taylor kicks him. Scissors kick. Taylor dominates Goodtime on the outside of the ring. Standing stretch muffler by Taylor back in the ring. He finally takes his shirt off and snaps Goodtime’s head. SHENANIGANS! Goodtime comes back with a dropkick to Taylor’s face. Another dropkick from the outside to the inside of the ring. Battle for a vertical suiplex on the apron. Goodtime ends up on the floor. German suplex attempt fails. Taylor drops Goodtime knees first on the apron. OUCH! Tope suicida. Excalibur is flirting with Portia Perez on commentary. They’re discussing comic books. Taylor straight jackets Goodtime’s arms. Taylor applies a reverse Indian deathlock. More focus on the leg. Taylor drives his knee down, but Goodtime sunset flips him for two. Hurancanrana. Goodtime leg lariat. Goodtime sends Taylor into the buckle with his feet. Enziguri. Falcon arrow. 1-2-NO! First time ever for someone kicking out of a falcon arrow. Taylor tosses Goodtime off the top. Goodtime then tosses Taylor. Taylor crotches him. BACKCRACKER! Back drop driver. Kick to the face. 1-2-NO! Taylor applies what looks like the Labelle lock. Out of the hold. Goodtime rolls him up for two. Immediately back into the LaBelle lock. Goodtime slowly works out of the hold and kicks him away. Goodtime stomps him down and hits a jumping double stomp. Leg hook DDT gets Goodtime the win. That came a bit out of nowhere. I’m glad the matches are getting a lot of time tonight, but I almost feel like they’re getting too much time. These guys seemed to lose steam toward the end. Still, I enjoyed what these two brought. Taylor has definitely improved his technical work, and Goodtime is great at breaking out new and creative offense on a consistent basis.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Johnny Goodtime/15:33/***

PWG World Championship: Claudio Castagnoli (champion) vs. Joey Ryan

Match in Five Words or Less: If Ryan Won…Riot

Match Summary/Analysis: After months of chasing the title, it all comes down to this for Joey Ryan. He better not win. I’ve got people with pitchforks and stakes ready to go for a riot if he does.  Some grappling to start. Claudio comes out on top, despite Ryan being a technical wizard. Who would have thought? Ryan heads outside since he’s being so thoroughly outwrestled. Ryan manages a hold or two but can’t keep the big man down. Surfboard into a rocking chair into a roll-up. Ryan takes a breather. Crowd wants a test of strength. Ryan thumbs him in the eye. There goes Ryan wrestling clean. Claudio comes back with a series of chops in the corner. Ryan gains control on the outside. He even bites Claudio. Much like the NHL, that’s apparently legal in PWG. Claudio goes for a European uppercut and hits his arm on the post. Ryan works over the arm to set up for the submission later on. Champion comes back with a pair of clotheslines. Powerslam gets two. Big man even breaks out a dropkick! Half crab but Ryan goes into the ropes. He refuses to let go of the ropes. Uppercut to Ryan’s thigh. Ryan low bridges Claudio, and his arm gets caught in the ropes. Swinging DDT to the outside. That’s about the safest version of that move you’ll ever see. Ryan hits the pedigree and applies an armbar. Claudio thankfully reaches the ropes.  Pop-up European uppercut with the left hand by Claudio. UFO. Stretch muffler but Ryan grabs some rope. Charging forearm. Claudio goes for a bicycle kick but accidentally hits the referee instead. Ryan delivers a belt shot but only gets two. Ryan brings a chair into the proceedings. Claudio hits a running European uppercut. I’ll give Claudio credit for continuing to sell his right shoulder during this entire match. Strike exchange. Ryan wins when Claudio tries to use his right hand. Claudio uses a superkick! 1-2-NO! Ryan sends Claudio’s arm into the chair. How is that not a disqualification. Kimura and no one is buying the submission. That about says it all. Claudio climbs up while Ryan is still applying the hold. FALLAWAY SLAM FROM THE TOP ROPE! Claudio is literally carrying Ryan to a watchable match. Series of counters leads to Ryan hitting a superkick on the champion. 1-2-NO! Crowd chants “You can’t beat him.”  Claudio reverses another superkick into a stretch muffler, and Ryan immediately taps out. Thank God. I can now tell my friends in the back to put their rioting materials away. Claudio showed why he’s one of the best workers in the world by making Ryan look halfway decent. No way could this match have been a classic, but Claudio did his best. He sold his injured body part for the entire match and used some psychology of his own throughout. About the best you could have hoped for. Now, let’s make sure Joey Ryan never sniffs a PWG world title match ever again.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: STILL PWG World Champion-Claudio Castagnoli/24:05/***1/4

-PWG World Tag Team Championship: El Generico and Ricochet (champions) vs. The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson)

Match in Five Words or Less: Bischoff Is A PWG Champion?

Match Summary/Analysis: The Bucks brag about being in Impact wrestling. I know it’s their schtick, but should they still actually be proud of this fact? I feel like this is first Bucks match not to start in a crazy brawl with all kinds of chaos even before the match begins. Generico starts out with Matt Jackson. Challengers do their pose. Quick chop and Generico deservedly mocks them. Generico takes a couple of slaps before hitting his three armdrag combo. Ricochet tags in. They have  a crazy fast sequence before the champions work over Nick. Chinbreaker by  Matt and Nick tags in. Challengers get a double hip toss and hit a double dropkick. More work on Generico’s arm. Nice sequence leading to the hot tag. Flatline into a cannonball senton on Matt. Wow. Matt sends Ricochet to the outside and dropkicks him. Heat segment on Ricochet.  Double backflip kick and a tag to Generico. Clotheslines for everyone! Swinging DDT. He fakes a dive, but Ricochet clears everything to hit one of his own on Nick Jackson. Blue thunder bomb back in the ring gets two for Generico. Ricochet nails a shooting star press while using Generico’s back for support. Michinoku driver on Matt for two. Yakuza kick blocked. Half nelson fails as Nick nails a superkick. Double team facebuster. Nick moonsaults Ricochet off the apron as Matt gets a two count. Generico fights them off. Double team by the Bucks fails. Ricochet comes in the ring and gets punched in the face. He comes back with a leaping kick. Matt knocks Ricochet off the top. Generico goes for a top rope brainbuster. Ricochet hits a rana. Yakuza in the corner followed by the half nelson suplex. Reverse rana by Ricochet. 1-2-Nick Jackson breaks the count. Ricochet hits a phoenix splash off the top, but Matt shoves Generico into the pile. Fist battle between Nick and Generico. Generico ducks a superkick, but his partner gets it instead. Nick with a running knee lift to his brother. Nick hits a low blow and nearly steals the titles with a roll-up. Exploder in the corner. 818/yakuza combo. Ricochet covers, but Matt puts his brother’s leg on the bottom rope. Generico misses a dive. Time to play the superkick game. More Bang for Your Buck. New champs. About what I expected from this main event. Very good action throughout. Ricochet continues to impress in his PWG performances, and I think it’ll start transitioning into wins real soon.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: NEW PWG World Tag Team Champions- The Young Bucks/21:14/***3/4

-One more note before the awards and verdict. Just three weeks after this match took place, Matt Hardy and Eric Bischoff defeated the “Generation Me” for some indy fed in Orlando. Does that mean they’re the champions or just number one contenders? Without a doubt, it was one of the best moments in PWG tag title history when their champions got jobbed out to an untalented Hardy brother and a 50 plus year old man.

Line of the Night: Joey Ryan’s opinion of the opener, “This is perhaps the most adorable match in PWG history.”

Finish of the Night: Nothing too extraordinary so I give to the semi-main event for having the good sense to just have Joey Ryan tap clean at last.

MVP: Rarely would I give this award to a guy who had only had a three star match, but Claudio worked nothing short of a miracle in his title match. He proved why he deserved the belt in one performance. Well done.

The Verdict: Another easy thumbs up for PWG. I say it month after month, but everyone who reads these reviews probably knows by now that PWG is the best and most consistent company on the independent scene right now. This was another very good show in a series of them despite Kevin Steen not being on the show, and some of the card having to be changed.

For more information on PWG and their upcoming shows, check out PWG’s website. To buy this and many other PWG DVDs, check out Highspots. Below is a list of contact information for both the website and me.

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