Colling It In The Ring Reviews: PWS 5th Year Anniversary Night One 6/1/2012

Pro Wrestling Syndicate presents Five Year Anniversary Night One
Date: 6/1/2012
From: Rahway, NJ

1.) The Briscoe Brothers vs. Davey Richards & Adam Cole: This match was not aired on the internet pay per view since all four men are wrestlers for Ring of Honor. Cole and Mark started off the contest. Mark gets the better of Cole with a few arm drags but doesn’t do anything big. Jay enters but Cole avoids him and tags in Richards. Richards knocks both Mark and Jay out with dropkicks and kicks Mark in the face from the apron. Jay blocks his shot on the floor and slams Richards face first onto the apron. Jay gets a two count following a vertical suplex on Richards. Cole trips Jay as he runs the ropes and quickly tags in to double team him with Richards. Richards locks in a cloverleaf but Mark quickly broke up the hold. Jay is trapped in the wrong corner but he tries to fight out with right hands and tags in Mark. Mark goes crazy with karate shots, making the noise as well. Mark drops Richards with an exploder suplex and slams Cole off the top for a near win. Richards prevents Mark from coming off the top and instead allows Cole to superkick Mark in midair for a two count. Richards kicks Mark in the chest and Cole gets a two count with a German suplex. Jay attempts a choke slam but Richards gets out and locks in the ankle lock. Cole drops Mark across his knee for a two count. Mark rolls Cole up while Richards has the ankle lock on Jay to win the match. (***. It was an okay opener, but nothing all that great. It seemed like these four weren’t going to put it all out there for PWS. Not a bad start to the show by any means.)

2.) AR Fox vs. Alex Reynolds: Reynolds and Fox start off with some mat wrestling and the fans appreciate their opening efforts. Fox delivers an arm drag and spinning heel kick as the match gets going. Fox connects with a split legged moonsault but Reynolds kicks out at two. Fox tries to pull himself up after going over the top rope but Reynolds dropkicks Fox to the floor! Fox returns and dropkicks Reynolds to the floor after Alex faked the fans out. Fox dives over the top and takes Alex out with a cross body. Holy crap, Fox springboards off the middle turnbuckle and moonsaults Reynolds on the floor. Reynolds catches Fox back in the ring on a springboard attempt to hit a gut buster. Reynolds sends Fox hard chest first into the corner to maintain his advantage. Reynolds is focusing his attack on Fox’s midsection. Reynolds drops Fox with a slingshot back suplex for a near fall. Fox avoids Reynolds in the corner and hits a dropkick. Fox soon delivers a running human cannonball splash in the corner but Reynolds kicks out at two on the cover attempt. Fox avoids a big boot and nearly pins Reynolds. Fox plants Reynolds with a Death Valley Driver and comes off the top with a Swanton Bomb but can’t get the three. Fox attempted a tornado DDT but dropped Reynolds across the top rope instead. Fox misses a springboard 450 splash! Reynolds hits a twisting Stunner for the win.(***. A quality bout here. I haven’t seen much of either guys work, but Reynolds did a very good job in the match. Fox had some nice spots throughout as well. Reynolds just left a better impression with me, I guess.)

3.) PWS World Tag Team Gauntlet Match: The majority of the guys involved in the tag team gauntlet match are local talents, aside from the Nasty Boys obviously. The Nasty Boys start the match with the Enhancement Talent guys. They took care of business rather quickly as Saggs got the pin for his team. Team Energy make their way down to the ring, I think. The Nasty Boys are just destroying them with weapons on the floor. The referee has been knocked out as well. Wow, the Nasty Boys have been disqualified. That doesn’t sit well with the fans. Mike Mattix and Marc Modest are next to come out for the gauntlet. Mattix and Modest get the pin after a suplex/top rope head butt combo. The Phat Pack are the last team to come out led out by PN News. The Phat Pack get distracted by a cute blonde and one of them get kicked to the floor while the other dude is met with four super kicks which is good enough to give Modest and Mattix the win. (*. No one cared about this match once the Nasty Boys got eliminated from the bout. A weak spot on the card so far.)

4.) Mil Mascaras vs. Samuray Del Sol: Mil controls Del Sol in the opening moments with a hip toss, which was really just Del Sol hip tossing himself. Mil continued his offense with a few head scissors. This is actually rather sad to see Mil wrestling as if it’s like watching someone in slow motion. Mil finishes the match off with a leaping forearm smash to win. A boring match that saw Mil refuse to give his younger opponent any kind of offense. Moving on…

5.) 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Big Van Vader: This is a flashback to World Championship Wrestling circa 1993 for me. Early on, Vader uses his size advantage to push Scorpio around. Vader delivers a short arm clothesline but Scorpio doesn’t go down. Scorpio returns to the clothesline but neither man goes down. Vader knocks Scorpio off his feet with a clothesline and a body attack as Scorpio ran the ropes. Vader punishes Scorpio with several body strikes. Scorpio tries a scoop slam but Vader is just too big and lands on top for two count. Vader drives Scorpio down with a big choke slam but can’t put him away. Scorpio leaps off the middle rope to knock Vader off his feet with a clothesline but misses a top rope moonsault. Vader slams Scorpio before hitting the Vader Bomb to win the match. (*1/4. A rather slow match, but that should be expected considering the age of both men. Scorpio can still go, but Vader is extremely limited when it comes to a pace of a match. This probably went a little longer than it needed to.)

6.) Tommy Dreamer & Dan Maff vs. Kevin Matthews & Devon Moore in a street fight: Devon Moore attacks Maff before the bell but Maff quickly turns the tables and hits Moore with chops and kicks. Maff hits a standing senton splash but doesn’t go for a cover. Maff nails Moore with a running back splash in the corner and hits a cannonball splash. Maff drives Moore down with a spinning slam but Kevin Matthews come out and attacks Maff until Tommy Dreamer comes down to even the match. He didn’t get that strong of a pop from the crowd, at least at first. Dreamer ends up challenging them to a tag team street fight. Matthews and Moore go to leave but obviously the match happens. All four of them brawl on the floor over by the merchandise area. Moore is hit with a trash can and rammed into the bleachers. Maff press slams Moore up against the wall. That was a nice spot. Matthews tosses Dreamer down the bleachers! Matthews tosses Dreamer back first into a plastic table. Moore whacks Maff with a wet floor sign. Dreamer plants Moore with a reverse DDT back inside the ring. Moore crotches Dreamer on the top rope but misses a running attack and is trapped in the tree of woe. Dreamer puts a chair in front of Moore’s face and hits his trademark dropkick. Dreamer and the Big O set a table up on the floor. Yes, the Big O is in attendance. Dreamer sends Moore through the table from off the apron with a Death Valley Driver! Maff back splashes Matthews in the corner and delivers a cannonball splash as the fans chanted “same old shit” at Maff. Matthews avoids the Burning Hammer and they exchange blows. Matthews nails Maff with a chair shot. Matthews follows up with a Flatliner onto the chair. Dreamer avoids it and plants Matthews with a DDT but Jay Lethal pulls the referee out! Lethal superkicks Dreamer and leaves. Matthews drives Dreamer down with a Flatliner and gets the victory. (**3/4. It was your typical street fight with a couple of nice spots sprinkled into the match. I was entertained by it as it’s difficult for a street fight to not have some kind of entertainment to it.)

7.) Taka Suzuki, Star Man, Mike Dennis & Koko B. Ware vs. George South, The Sheik, Apollyon & QT Marshall: The eight man tag match doesn’t have much, if any, of my interest. The PWS fans are behind Star Man, though. Taka Suzuki is controlled by Marshall with a spinning heel kick but he misses a splash off the middle rope. Star Man gets the hot tag and cleans house but the fans and myself are not entertained by it. Koko B. Ware brawls with George South on the floor. Sheik accidentally tosses something into Apollyon’s face and Mike Dennis gets the pin fall. After the match, Koko B. Ware gives Apollyon the stink face. This was just an awful match.

8.) Freight Train vs. Dynomite: I’ve never watched five dollar wrestling before but people seem to greatly enjoy it. Jake Manning is the special referee. Train tosses Dynomite down a few times, and it’s obvious he put next to zero effort into doing that. For those who don’t know, the point of these guys is to be funny and obviously make wrestling a joke. It’s so bad but I can’t stop watching it. Dynomite argues with the referee and is rolled up by Train for the win. If you enjoy wrestling, never witness this match. If you appreciate a good laugh, this won’t be offensive to you.

9) Veda Scott vs. Brittney Savage:The crowd is dead for this match. Jesus, Scott opens with a few kicks and Savage sells them rather poorly. The fans are booing them and it’s been twenty seconds. Mike Mattix is at ringside and he distracts Veda. That allows Savage to hit an ace crusher and she wins the match. Well, at least it was ridiculously quick.

Main Event: The Great Muta & AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Champion KAI vs. PWS World Heavyweight Champion Sami Callihan & PWS Tri-State Champion Tony Nese: Muta and KAI waste no time going after Callihan and Nese. Muta works on Callihan on the floor as he rams a chair into his face. They get to the ring where Muta hits his trademark spinning elbow drop. KAI tags in to dropkick Callihan to maintain control of the bout. KAI and Callihan are on the top rope where Callihan attempts a sunset flip powerbomb but KAI blocks it so Callihan settles for superkick. Nese tags in and elbows KAI in the corner followed by a running knee strike. KAI stops Nese with a wheelbarrow suplex! Muta returns as the legal man and delivers a dragon screw leg whip. Muta tries to get Nese to submit with an Indian death lock but that’s not happening. Nese is being worked over and tries to fight back with strikes and he manages to trip KAI in order to hit a springboard moonsault! Callihan is tagged in and he kicks KAI after avoiding him in the corner. Callihan kicks KAI in the face but only gets a two count on the cover attempt. Callihan botches a springboard clothesline attempt but hits a suicide dive. Callihan misses a top rope big splash. Muta tags in but Callihan clotheslines him in the corner followed by a running clothesline for a near fall. Muta is hit with a double kick and clothesline combo in the corner. Nese comes off the top to splash Muta but Callihan gets a near fall only on the cover. KAI knocks the referee out as Callihan had him on his shoulders. Muta enters with a chair but it gets kicked out of the ring. Callihan kicks KAI to the floor and grabs the chair to use it on Muta. However, Muta spits mist in Callihan’s eyes and hits the shining wizard to win the match. (***1/4. A fine main event to close the show. Part of me was hoping for the moonsault from Muta, but that is just wishful thinking at this stage of his life. Anyway, a solid way to close the anniversary show, in my opinion.)

Notable Matches For Night Two:
– Scott Steiner vs. Dan Maff
– PWS Tri-State Champion Tony Nese vs. AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Champion KAI
– Vader & Too Cold Scorpio vs. Jay Lethal & Devon Moore
– For the PWS World Heavyweight Championship, Ladder Match: (champion) Sami Callihan vs. Kevin Matthews

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The 411: The show opened up with two quality matches and then proceeded to drag along until they got to the street fight, which was average, really. The only other match that had much entertainment to it was the main event. There was a lot of boring, uninteresting matches on this card. On paper, I thought there would be more excitement, but that wasn't the case. Night two has a better lineup, although Muta isn't wrestling on the card. As for night one, I'm going to give it a thumbs down. There just wasn't enough quality wrestling to make it a show you should purchase.

Final Score:  5.0   [ Not So Good ]