BG Says: PWG Kee_ The _ee Out Of Our _ool!

March 27, 2004 – Santa Ana, California

A while back I took advantage of a deal that PWG was running on DVDs, buying four of them. This is the first of four, so while I had some extra time I figured I’d finally watch and review them. If they’re good I’ll probably be willing to go out of my way to get more, and thus there will be more reviews, and if not then not. On to the show.

Your hosts are TARO and Disco Machine, with Excalibur chiming in from time to time on AOL Instant Messenger. You have to hit the audio button on your DVD player remote control to hear them. That’s actually a pretty cool feature.

I get eased into the promotion slowly as the show kicks off with Gangsta’ Colt Cabana in the ring. He’s accompanied by PWG champion Gangsta’ Adam Pearce and Valentina. They complain that Babi Slymm choked Pearce out and then claimed it was a legal sleeper hold. See, Slymm is black so Cabana and Pearce stole his bling as revenge. Pearce’s homey Cabana will be unleashed on the big man tonight. The rumors are true, PWG doesn’t pull any politically incorrect punches.

VS.
Disco Machine VS. Charles Mercury
They lock up to start and Mercury slaps Disco against the ropes. Disco gets a pair of armdrags but Mercury comes back with a dropkick. Disco gets a headlock takedown and then hits a dropkick. He puts on a front facelock but Mercury comes back and tosses him to the floor. Mercury goes to the floor but Disco rushes to the apron and hits a somersault dive. Back in the ring Mercury hits a forearm to the back and puts on a sleeper hold. He goes to a bow and arrow lock and releases to hit an elbowdrop for 2. He puts on a chinlock and hits a vertical suplex for 2. He hits a knee to the back and a belly-to-belly suplex for 2. He stays on the back with kneedrops and gets 2. He gets a sunset flip for 2. It’s weird to hear Disco on commentary talking about his own match. Disco comes back with an enziguiri and they trade chops. Disco hits a powerslam for 2. He goes for a chokeslam but Mercury blocks and hits an Olympic slam. He climbs to the top but Disco crotches him. He hits a snap superplex for 2 and his finisher, the chokebreaker, for the win at 8:39. Good solid action here, but nothing special.
Rating: **1/4

VS.
Puma VS. Ricky Reyes
This match occurred in ROH over a year later with less than thrilling results. They trade kicks to start. Reyes gets the better of the exchange by kicking Puma to the mat. They dodge one another’s offense until Puma hits a leg lariat and an armdrag into an armbar. They fight on the mat and Puma comes up with an anklelock. Reyes reverses to his own but Puma makes it to the ropes. Reyes hits a stiff kick to the back and a forearm in the corner. He hits a knee to the face and a butterfly suplex for 2. Puma comes back with a powerful kick to the face and both men are down. He goes for the tiger suplex but Reyes blocks it and puts on a half crab. Puma makes it to the ropes. Reyes rips off Puma’s mask, and it’s PINOI BOY! The commentators get in on the joke as Reyes beats him down with forearms. Reyes ends up getting hit with a DDT on the apron. Puma hits a hurricanrana on the floor. Back in the ring Reyes hits a clothesline. He reverses a hurricanrana to a side slam for 2. Puma comes back with a superkick and a back heel kick for 2. He hits the 720 DDT for 2. Reyes hits a neckbreaker and a fisherman’s buster for 2. He spits on a fan and hits another fisherman’s buster. He hits a third for 2. He hits a knee to the face but Puma comes back with a German suplex and the tiger suplex for the win at 11:16. Outside of his ROH match with Samoa Joe this was the most entertaining Ricky Reyes match I’ve ever seen. It was filled with cool reversals and a a convincing heel performance. Don’t let the star rating fool you, this is how Reyes should be all the time.
Rating: **3/4

VS.
American Dragon & Samoa Joe VS. The Ballard Bros.
According to the commentators, Shannon is the more tan Ballard. He and Dragon start. Dragon gets a double leg takedown and works over the leg. He puts on a vertical STF and Shane makes the save. Shannon grabs a headlock and hits a shoulder block for 1. Dragon hits a monkey flip for 1. They trade pin falls and Dragon tags to Joe. Shannon backs up and tags to Shane. Shane slaps Joe so Joe unloads with chops and jabs. Shane hits a crossbody and a pair of armdrags. He hits a dropkick but Joe comes back with a forearm. Shannon tags in after Shane pokes Joe in the eyes. Joe goes for a kick but Shannon tags out to Shane after dodging it. Shane walks into the kick and Joe tags to Dragon. Dragon puts on a wristlock but Shane makes it to the ropes. Dragon hits an armbreaker and tags to Joe. Joe puts on a wristlock and headbutts the hand. Dragon tags in but falls into the Ballard corner and Shannon comes in. He hits a backbreaker and sends Dragon hard into the turnbuckle for 2. He puts on a chinlock but Dragon fights out of it. Shannon hits a back elbow and tags to Shane. Shane hits a backbreaker and an elbowdrop for 2. He puts on a chinlock but Dragon powers up into a short airplane spin before Shane brings him back down. He tags to Shannon who comes in with a camel clutch. Joe makes the save with a big kick. Shane comes in and puts on a Boston crab but Joe breaks that up too. The Ballards put on their holds simultaneously but the referee sends Shannon out. Shannon tags in legally and gets hit with a European uppercut. Shannon hits a dragon screw but Dragon comes back with an enziguiri. Joe tags in and hits the Thousand Hand Slap. He hits a powerbomb for 2 into the STF but Shane makes the save. Dragon tags in and cleans house on the Ballards. The Ballards come back with a double-team move for 2. Joe tries to save but ends up dropping a knee on Dragon. Shane comes in but Dragon handles both Ballards. He yells at Joe and then pulls Shannon off the top rope with a superplex for 2. He puts on an abdominal stretch. Joe grabs his arm to assist in the hold, pretty much without Dragon’s permission, and the referee disqualifies them at 12:23. Flash forward to the Ballards double-teaming Joe with Dragon cheering on from the floor. This match was actually pretty good, even if the finish was just to set up Dragon vs. Joe at The Musical.
Rating: **1/2

VS.
Babi Slymm VS. Colt Cabana
Slymm tries to get his bling back from Cabana at the bell and Cabana takes advantage. Slymm hits a pair of shoulder blocks an a clothesline and Cabana bails. Slymm follows him out and Pearce beats on him. The referee sends Pearce to the back but Valentina attacks Slymm and Cabana rolls him back into the ring. Slymm comes out with a double ax handle and takes over. Cabana rolls down the steps (of which there aren’t many) and Slymm hits him with a pizza box. Back in the ring Slymm slugs away and hits a back elbow. Cabana throws Slymm into the turnbuckle and Valentina slaps and chokes him. Cabana hits an elbowdrop for 2. He gets a roll up for 2. He hits a kneedrop for 2. Slymm puts on a Japanese strangle hold but Cabana gets to the ropes. Cabana catches him in a modified Rings of Saturn but Slymm makes it to the ropes. Cabana hits a spinning neckbreaker for 2. He hits a double knee strike in the corner but gets caught by a belly-to-belly overhead suplex into the turnbuckle. Slymm clotheslines Cabana to the floor. Cabana goes to the top but Slymm catches him with a not-so-superkick for 2. Slymm puts on a cobra clutch and Pearce comes back out to ringside. Apparently he’s now bought a front row ticket so he sits down and shows of Slymm’s bling. Cabana fakes that Slymm hit him with some bling and in the confusion Pearce rushes into the ring and lays Slymm out with his own bling. Cabana pins him with his feet on the ropes at 12:27. Well, the finish was just a mess and it was mostly punchy-kicky before that.
Rating: **

VS.
Adam Pearce (c) VS. Bobby Quance [PWG Championship Match]
The crowd is heavily behind Quance. Pearce chews out the ring announcer, but you have to change the audio track and turn off the commentary to hear it. Pearce grabs a headlock but Quance fights out. He hits a dropkick and an armdrag into an armbar. Pearce fights out but Quance hits a dropkick and goes back to the armbar. Pearce fights out and hits a spinebuster. He dumps Quance to the floor and follows him out. He uses Valentina as a shield and then takes over, rolling Quance back into the ring. He slingshots Quance into the bottom rope and then hits a butterfly suplex for 2. Valentina chokes Quance from the floor and Pearce hits a back suplex. He puts on the figure 4 leglock and gets help from Valentina for leverage. Quance makes it to the ropes. Pearce stays on the leg but Quance comes back with a snap mare for 2. Pearce comes back with a clothesline and a fistdrop from the second rope for 2. He hits a bodyslam and climbs to the top turnbuckle. He misses a senton splash and Quance fires back. He gets a roll up for 2. He gets another for 2. He gets a backslide for 2. He hits a hurricanrana for 2. He hits a slow motion Overdrive for 2. Pearce hits a leg lariat for 2. Quance hits an enziguiri and calls for the finish. He climbs to the top turnbuckle and hits the shooting star press but Valentina gets on the apron and distracts the referee. He goes for a spinning kick but Pearce dodges it and hits a piledriver for the win at 11:12. Good match, but I’m seeing a pattern here that’s starting to remind me of the WWE.
Rating: **3/4

Babi Slymm attacks Pearce after the match. Cabana comes out and Slymm gets beat down until the former champion Frankie Kazarian makes the save with a chair. He ties Pearce up in the ropes and goes to smash his brains in but Valentina gets in the way. Cabana recovers and takes Kazarian down. Slymm comes back and a huge brawl erupts. Referees and security come out to break it up and Commissioner Paul T gets knocked out. Good brawl.

VS.
Spanky VS. Frankie Kazarian
Kazarian rushes Spanky to start and Spanky bails. Back in the ring Kazarian psyches Spanky out. They lock up and Spanky climbs to the top rope so Kazarian drops him. He hits a hiptoss and takes Spanky to the mat with a headlock. He hits a hiptoss and puts on a headlock. Spanky skins the cat and hangs Kazarian up on the top rope and gets 2. He puts on a surfboard stretch but Kazarian gets out with a dropkick. Spanky puts on a leglock and hits a kick to the back. Kazarian fires back with jabs and a clothesline. He hits a bodyslam and a springboard legdrop. His leg hurts and he’s slow to cover and gets 2. Spanky goes for Sliced Bread #2 but Kazarian reverses to a backslide for 2. Kazarian goes for the Flux Capacitor but Spanky reverses to a victory roll for 2. They bump heads and go down. Back on their feet Kazarian hits an inverted atomic drop but Spanky comes back with a leg lariat for 2. He goes for Sliced Bread #2 but Kazarian reverses to the Wave of the Future for the win at 9:43. Spanky decides to be a poor sport and hits Sliced Bread #2 after the match. Best match of the show so far, but way too short.
Rating: ***

VS.
X-Foundation (c) VS. Chris Bosh & Quicksilver [PWG Tag Team Championship Match]
Bosh and Quicksilver attack before the bell. Quicksilver hits a spinebuster on Lost for 2. The challengers hit a springboard Hart Attack for 2. Ryan comes in and hits Quicksilver with a dropkick. He hits a northern lights suplex for 2. Bosh runs in and hits a clothesline. He hits a neckbreaker for 2 and tags to Quicksilver. They double-team Ryan for 2. Quicksilver puts on a surfboard stretch and then hits an elbowdrop for 2. Ryan comes back with a chinbreaker but Lost had been knocked off the apron and can’t get the tag. Bosh pulls Ryan out of the ring and rams his back into the post. Back in the ring Quicksilver hits a suplex for 2. Bosh tags in and bites Ryan’s head. He puts on a chinlock Quicksilver tags in and hits a leg lariat for 2. Ryan comes back with a superkick and tags to Lost. Bosh also tags in but Lost catches him with a hurricanrana and a clothesline for 2. Bosh tries for a handspring move but gets caught in the ropes and Lost hits him with a dropkick. He hits Quicksilver with a hurricane slam. He gets a roll up on Bosh for 2. He gets another for 2. Bosh catches a superkick and hits a low blow. He puts on a half crab but Ryan makes the save. He hits Bosh with a German suplex but Quicksilver blocks a second. He hits Ryan with a backbreaker and Bosh comes off the top with a fistdrop. Lost breaks up the pin with a flying elbowdrop. He hits Bosh with a spear and a jawbreaker. He hits a neckbreaker for 2. He misses a spear in the corner and then accidentally superkicks Ryan. Bosh tosses Lost out of the ring and pins Ryan to win the tag titles at 8:08. Lots of action in this match, but for a title change it was very short and made the (now former) champions look pretty bad. Ryan walks out on Lost after the match.
Rating: **1/2

VS.
Scorpio Sky VS. Super Dragon [Guerrilla Warfare Match]
Sky goes for a chair shot right away but Dragon blocks. He hits a back elbow for 2. They block each other’s finishers and Dragon hits a double stomp. He puts on a liontamer and pins his arm down to keep him from grabbing the chair. Dragon turns it into a half crab and then moves to an STF. He beats on Sky in the corner but Sky fights back. He grabs the chair but Dragon gets a double leg takedown to block. Sky puts on an anklelock but Dragon makes the ropes. Super Dragon comes back with the Curb Stomp, which is pretty nasty. It gets 2. He goes for a forearm in the corner but Sky blocks with the chair. He slams the chair into Dragon’s back and then wraps it around his head. It gets 2. He jabs Dragon with the chair over and over and puts on the full nelson leglock. Dragon leans back and gets 2. Sky hits a backbreaker and puts on a camel clutch. He hits another chair shot to the back for 2. He hits a dropkick for 2. He puts on a figure 4 leglock but Dragon fights out so Sky double stomps his balls. It gets 2. He goes to the floor and grabs a ladder from under the ring. He sets it up in the corner but has to throw it into Dragon’s face when he goes for a German suplex. He sets it back up in the corner and drop toeholds Dragon into it. He hits a sloppy slingshot sending Dragon into it. He puts in on top of Dragon and then comes off the top rope with a double stomp for 2. He puts on a crossface and then hits a hard forearm. He hits a legdrop and a dropkick in the corner. He comes off the top with a missile dropkick and Dragon falls to the floor. Sky follows him out with a corkscrew dive. It’s falls count anywhere and Sky gets 2 on the floor. Back in the ring Sky gets 2. Dragon comes back with a clothesline and Sky bails. Dragon goes to the floor and gets a table. He sets Sky on it on the floor and climbs to the top turnbuckle. Sky rolls off the table so Dragon tries again. This time Sky crotches him. He tries to bring him down with a hurricanrana but Dragon blocks and puts on an STF. Sky makes it to the ropes. Dragon hits a chair shot to the back and sets the ladder up in the corner. He hits another chair shot to the back for 2. He suplexes Sky into the ladder and then hits an inverted suplex into the ladder for 2. Sky comes back with a reverse hurricanrana for 2. He Curb Stomps Dragon onto the chair and then hits an inverted DDT onto the chair after setting it up for 2. He puts Dragon on the table on the floor and comes off the top turnbuckle with a senton Back in the ring Sky gets 2. He drags Dragon to the corner and comes off the top with a phoenix splash, but it misses. Dragon, thinking Sky is down, goes for the phoenix splash himself but Sky reverses to an Ace Crusher. He puts on a dragon sleeper but Dragon fights out and hits the Psycho Driver. Sky bails and Dragon rolls him back into the ring to get 2. He beats on Sky in the corner and hits a series of stiff kicks and knee strikes. He hits a big clothesline and sets up a chair. He shoves Sky’s head under the backrest and onto the seat of the chair and comes off the top rope with the most unfortunate double stomp ever for the win at 22:00. It was a violent spot-fest, but man oh man was it ever good at what they were going for. I was worried after all the kick outs that there could be no satisfying finish for the match, but they came up with a doozy.
Rating: ***1/2

Highlight the banana on the main page to reveal these bonus backstage shenanigans and tomfoolery
C. Edward Vander Pyle wants to explain why he’s no longer accompanying Adam Pearce to the ring. He calls Pearce his brother from another mother and tells us a story. When Pearce was retired a few years back he declined contracts from WCW and WWF. He turned down ECW because it wasn’t his thing and Rhyno took his spot. Pearce would ask him why it couldn’t be like the old days anymore, and that if it were still like that he’d be into wrestling. One day he called him up and said that he watched a tape and saw JJ Dillon managing Ric Flair, and now he wants Vander Pyle to manage him. Since then the two of them had run roughshod over the wrestling business on the West Coast. But in PWG Pearce couldn’t get the belt the old school way. So he threw away all the things the two of them valued in order to get the belt. Ric Flair never won a title with a frog splash into thumbtacks, so Vander Pyle took a walk. He feels he’s wasted a year of his life lifting up Pearce, only to see him sell out. Cool promo that would probably mean more to me if I’d watched PWG before this.

The Reference
In this section I’ll try to guess the source of the goofy show title. For ones I can’t guess, I invite readers to let me know the source. This show’s title is based on a clever sign that people put on the gates by their pools asking you not to pee in them, going so far as to not even have the letter P on the sign.

The 411:  It's obvious that Super Dragon is the main event special attraction for them, with the PWG champion getting attention throughout the rest of the show. There are no bad matches here and the main event is fun for what it is. I would have liked to see Spanky and Kazarian go a little longer, but overall I don't have any complaints. Good start for part 1 of 4 in my PWG experiment. You can pick up this DVD at Pro Wrestling Guerrilla's website. Join me when I return for part 2 of 4 with The Musical.

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]