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Guerrilla Reviewfare: PWG Bowie

April 15, 2016 | Posted by Jake St-Pierre
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Guerrilla Reviewfare: PWG Bowie  

Last time I visited PWG, they weren’t on the biggest roll I’d ever seen. In fact, their first show of 2016 Lemmy was decidedly an underwhelming effort that didn’t have much I was keen on re-visiting. Nothing of note felt consequential, and the wrestling wasn’t blowaway enough to balance it out. Not that we’re talking about a terrible show, but it was most definitely a subpar PWG effort. Will Bowie – the second straight rocker tribute of the year – right the ship, or is 2016 bound to pale in comparison to the incredible year that preceded it?

We are TAPED from the American Legion in Reseda, CA.

Your hosts are Excalibur and the usual lot.

Chuck Taylor vs. Dalton Castle
If there was ever a promotion for a match of this magnitude, PWG is it. Dalton Castle has caught the attention of many an ROH fan with his incredibly whacky charisma and equally flamboyant gimmick, all the while being very serviceable in the ring. Unfortunately, I’ve fallen out of ROH as their product has descended into perpetual mediocrity, but I’ve enjoyed Dalton Castle every second I watched him. And the fact that he was booked with Chuck Taylor puts an amount of joy in my heart I can’t justify with words.

Chuck Taylor gets an enormous ovation upon introduction, as does Castle. Unfortunately copyright laws prevent the entrances from being shown, so the DVD audience doesn’t get to see THE BOYS!~! Dalton Castle pulls off a ridiculous bridge, faking out Chuckie on a test of strength. “What are you, some kind of pervert?!” asks Dustin, who drops the Peacock with a shoulderblock. Chuckie gets out of a deadlift German, before they trade bodyslam attempts into a GENTLEMAN VS. PEACOCK STANDOFF. Dalton shitcans Chuckie, and fakes the Kentucky Gentleman out on a potential dive. Dalton has Chuckie’s number in most of the wrestling exchanges so far, until Chuckie launches Castle into the turnbuckles with a belly-to-belly. Chuckie lets his mean streak shine a bit to take control, until Dalton drops him with a running lariat and makes his comeback. Dalton catches Chuckie in mid-air, and turns it into a sweet Northern Lights for a two count. Sole Food scores, but Dalton dumps Chuck again with a T-Bone Suplex. Chuck misses a moonsault after an ST-Joe, and falls to the Stalling Deadlift German from the Peacock. Dalton puts Chuck up top for a superplex, but Chuckie headbutts him off, which allows Dalton to run across the apron and knee Chuckie out to the floor. CHUCKIE CON HILO! CASTLE HITS A SWINGING RANA OUT ON THE FLOOR! Chuckie gets the win with a flash Victory Roll in the ring at 11 minutes. *** Perfectly serviceable opener with some pretty fun wrestling, and a finish that came at the exact right moment. They actually went a more serious route with this one than I was anticipating, but since both guys are actually pretty great wrestlers, it got over just fine and ended up being just as good in the end. And I’m all for this new Chuck Taylor push, so any win he gets is perfectly okay by me.

Chris Hero vs. Trent?
Hero had his most underwhelming match in some time last month against Roderick Strong, so I’m hoping he comes through here with a great match against a guy in Trent who is one of the most underrated guys in the business. He should be a top guy in Ring of Honor but for some reason he got saddled with Rocky Romero, so that’s probably not happening any time soon. But hey, it’s happening here, so who am I to complain?

I’ve seen the guy wrestle a million times but I keep forgetting how tall Trent Beretta is. Trent isn’t too willing to shake Mr. Hero’s hand, but Chris is overtly friendly about it so he obliges. Hero’s mat wrestling catches Trent offguard in the opening moments. Trent bodes Hero in on a shoulderblock contest, but instead trips him down with his hilarious heel strut to complement. Classic Greg. Hero throws a chop and a step-up knee for his troubles, which sends Trent outside in certain pain. Hero follows him out and resorts to a sneaky jab to fold Trent up. Trent recovers and hits a flash Tope Suicida to take control. Trent’s apron taunting lets Hero recover enough to whack Trent with a bicycle kick that sends him outside once more. Hero throws Trent back in and hits the Rope Guillotine from the Smackdown games, which pretty much earns a star on its own. We need a Three Handled Credenza and a Woman’s Special Slap to get this the five star treatment. Hero gets too liberal with his sentons, as Trent gets his knees up on a third one. That helps him until Hero knocks him dead with a slap. Trent throws some of his own, but he’s again crumbled with a bicycle kick. Trent still fights back and hits a corner-assisted Mushroom Stomp to the chest, followed by a Tornado DDT for a two count. Hero cuts him off for a second, but Trent superkicks Hero out to the floor and hits a Tope Con Hilo… BUT HERO CATCHES HIM! ROLLING ELBOW ON THE FLOOR! That was insanity. Back in the ring, Hero hits his weird Orange Crush variant for a two count. Trent gets two on a flash backslide, and hits a super Frankensteiner… but Hero rolls through… Trent hits a Shining Wizard! Trent looks for the Dudebuster, but can’t get him up, so Hero powers out and hits a rolling Mafia Kick for a two count! Hero looks for a Piledriver, but Trent gets the fuck out of Dodge. Trent slaps Hero, which pisses the big man off enough to attempt an Avalanche Piledriver. Trent gets out and looks for a Sunset Powerbomb, but Hero elbows him out and looks for a Moonsault… BUT TRENT RUNS UP AND HITS A SUPER GERMAN! BUSAIKU KNEE! HERO KICKS OUT! Trent goes up top, but Hero moves… and runs right into a superkick and a schoolboy for 2! SNAP PILEDRIVER FROM HERO! TRENT KICKS OUT! Hero looks for another one, but Hero fights out of a powerbomb. DUDEBUSTER FROM TRENT! HERO KICKS OUT AGAIN! HERO COUNTERS A POP-UP RANA INTO A JUMPING PILEDRIVER! TRENT KICKS OUT AGAIN!~! TOMBSTONE… COUNTERED FOR TWO! TOMBSTONE SCORES! That’s finally it in an incredible 20 minutes. **** Well I suppose it’s safe to say that whatever disappointment I may have felt from Roddy/Hero last month has thoroughly evaporated. This match was really, really excellent on a number of different levels. My favorite thing about this match was how both men’s roles changed as the match went on. From the get, it seemed like Trent had an arrogant, cocky air about him. The way he yapped at Chris in between moves was very heel-ish, his strut was over the top, and he just played like your archetypal heel. But as Hero got the advantage, you could sense that entire persona disintegrate with every strike, so much so that the crowd lived and died by Trent’s comebacks as the match winded down. That’s a nice piece of psychology that works well, as it provides the audience with a subtle shades of grey chemistry between its characters. And there’s really not a better promotion to work that style than PWG, whose crowd loves 99% of the men that walk through its doors but are still willing to go with the flow of the characters as they see fit. All that to essentially say that this match was a phenomenal piece of work that provided ample opportunity to see both men at their best. Great stuff.

Sami Callihan vs. Jack Evans
Sami Callihan has only had two matches since leaving WWE, and hasn’t really set the world on fire in either of them. His match with Drew Gulak in December was fun enough, but he had the dullest match of the night at Lemmy and didn’t really seem to click. But, with Jack Evans being the most entertaining personality on the PWG roster at this point, I figure there’s gonna be something here that works for me.

Jack wastes no time taking the microphone, cutting a promo the sound system in Reseda isn’t letting me piece together until Jack Evans hilariously detests God for creating the Reseda crowd. He then buries Sami six feet beneath the Earth, to which Sami responds by threatening to kiss Jack Evans on the mouth. Evans eats the kiss early, and throws one back to Sami’s cheek. They do the criss-cross, which blows Jack up to the point where he’s forced to take a timeout because “the California commission allows it”. Jack Evans takes a beer pitcher and tries to chug it, much to the disgust of Excalibur. Sami’s all fuck you and CHUGS HALF A PITCHER before spitting it all over fans Sandman style. Jack can’t take the heat as Sami just goes around the ring chugging various pitchers, all while throwing chairs in the ring. They face off on chairs Necro Butcher style, and Jack is feeling some drunken Kung Fu. Jack sends Sami out of his chair, and counters a chair shot slickly. He jumps off the chair for a flipping Rana, but Sami catches him… which only delays the inevitable as Jack ranas Sami on the chair, followed by a Space Flyign Tiger Drop outside! Sami fights back as Jack stalls some more, and he drops Jack face-first on the apron. Sami locks on a Stretch Muffler on the apron, but Jack gets out and 450’s Sami on the floor! Half and Half scores for Sami as we finally hit the ring, but it only gets 2. Jack drops Sami with a Pele Kick and hits a standing Sky Twister for two. Jack puts sami up top for something, but Sami fights back and looks for a Sunset Powerbomb, but Jack FLIPS OUT OF IT, only to eat some hard paint brush boots in the corner! Sami hits a slingshot neckbreaker for two, as Jack gets his foot on the ropes. Sami puts Jack in the Tree of Woe, but Jack sits up and tries to counter out of whatever Sami is trying to do. Jack sits up again and hits a Spider Superplex! Phoenix Splashs scores, but Sami gets the ropes himself at 2. Sami catches a Moonsault Double Stomp into a Stretch Muffler, but Jack counters with a rollup for two. Sami hits an inverted Dudebuster for a two count of his own. Jack catches Sami on a flash crucifix for the win at the 14 minute mark. *** About as entertaining as you would expect given the personalities and abilities of both men. The wrestling down the stretch was actually pretty entertaining and better as a match than anything Sami’s done yet, but the bizarre opening 6 minutes or so are really the only thing anybody’s going to remember. And rightfully so, as they knew the crowd would love it and made the most of it. Hard to complain about that really.

Adam Cole vs. Andrew Everett
I could have sworn Everett blew out his knee again a few months ago, but I guess it must have not been so serious. He actually is coming off surgery though, as this is his first singles match since recovering. Cole returned to PWG singles action in pretty underwhelming fashion against Speedball Mike Bailey last time out, while we haven’t seen Everett since BOLA. Hopefully Cole is feeling a bit more ambitious this time around, because this has “great” written all over it.

Andrew Everett looks like Rhett Titus if Rhett was on heroin and good at wrestling. Adam Cole says he’s out to make everyone in Reseda his Valentine’s Day bitch, after Angelo Trinidad hilariously introduces Andrew Everett as THE BIG DOG. Chuck Taylor and Excalibur make up an incredible imaginary backstory to this match as Adam Cole taunts Everett relentlessly, so much so that Everett hits him with a dropsault for his troubles. Andrew Everett leaps, but Cole dropkicks him out of mid-air and shitcans him. Adam Cole hits the Fireman’s Carry onto his knee, and Andrew Everett takes the most mental turnbuckles of all time afterwards. This guy is gonna be dead by 30. Adam Cole wants Everett to suck his dick, but Everett dodges that and a Panama Sunrise and hits a spike rana to come back. Excalibur and Chuck Taylor are on top form in this match, but not as top form as Everett’s SPRINGBOARD SHOOTING STAR PRESS TO THE OUTSIDE! Everett brings Cole inside and DOES THE DEAL with a Falcon Arrow, but Cole kicks out! “These kids have no respect for the business!” says Chuckie T. Cole fights back with a superkick to the knee, a Shining Wizard, and a Figure Four. For a guy who’s blown out his knee so much, Everett doesn’t look like he’s had a minute of surgery. Everett hits a sweet Springboard Enzuigiri for a two count. Cole MURDERS Everett with a superkick, and Everett’s bump makes Dolph Ziggler’s crumble physics look like The Great Khali. Everett escapes the Florida Key and hits the JUMPING REVERSE RANA! BEAUTIFUL SHOOTING STAR! COLE KICKS OUT! This guy is a freak of nature. Everett puts Cole up top, but Cole fights back and sandbags a super rana. PANAMA SUNRISE! KNEE BRAINBUSTER! Adam Cole gets the duke in 15 minutes. ***3/4 If not for the pretty pedestrian opening few minutes of this match, we’d be talking another potential four-star affair here. But we’re picking nits, as this was an excellent match for what it was, and a stark improvement over the dull Speedball/Cole encounter from Lemmy. Andrew Everett’s insistence on dying in the ring would make Kurt Angle take a step back, but selfishly it allows for incredibly entertaining moments that gets fans out of their seats, and you’ve got to admire the boy for that. Cole was on point as the slimebag heel here – as he always is – and his dissection of Everett was very fun to watch unfold down the stretch. For a guy who’s had 2 knee surgeries in two years, Everett didn’t look to have missed a single step, and it helps that he was given a fantastic opponent to go out there with. Great stuff.

Trevor Lee vs. Zack Sabre Jr
Trevor Lee’s encounter with Sami Callihan last month is probably his most forgettable match in PWG yet, while Sabre had a very entertaining – albeit somewhat of an exhibition – match with Akira Tozawa. But given Trevor’s heel-ish tendencies lately and Zack Sabre Jr.’s inability to have a boring match, I don’t think we’re going to have any issues here.

Trevor putting his hand on his heart is hilariously random, but makes sense as Zack Sabre Jr might be the most British person that ever British’d. Zack goes after Trevor’s ankle immediately, which causes Lee to get the fuck out of Dodge just as quickly. Trevor Lee manages to survive a scramble with the Brit, but his face isn’t one of confidence. Trevor puts on a headlock but Zack counters it with ease and just massacres Lee with some wacky hold and a stomp to boot. That doesn’t make the Caveman too happy, and he wants a test of strength. Zack uses his inhuman bridging ability to keep Trevor at bay, rolling into a stranglehold with ease. Zack finds himself in one, but he does the ol’ Johnny Saint scoot, which befuddles Lee. Trevor hilariously plays to a “Fuck TNA” chant by yelling “BUT I’M A CHAMPION”. “I will go home and not whip this prick’s ass” he continues in his amazing Southern accent. Zack begs him to shut the fuck up, following that by putting on a hammerlock with his legs. Zack is just running a clinic on every extremity Trevor has, with some very fitting running commentary from a mortified/entertained Chuck Taylor. Zack puts on a triangle, but Trevor counters nicely into an alley-oop that guillotines Zack on the ropes, and knocks him outside. Trevor CHUCKS Zack across the ring, dropping him on his head in the process. That was some Jack Evans type shit. Zack makes his comeback… or so we thought, as Zack runs right into a lariat. Sabre comes back again, going after Lee’s leg with a dragon screw, followed by the running lifters. Sabre COUNTERS THE MUSHROOM STOMP by picking the legs! PK! Trevor kicks out, however. They go through an AWESOME counter sequence that ends in a snap Dragon Suplex for Sabre, who follows up with the step-up Tornado DDT and a Kimura! Trevor heaves the Brit up and smashes him into the corner to break the hold, but Zack pulls off a running triangle that Lee counters into a powerbomb on his knee! MUSHROOM STOMP! That sequence RULED. Sabre gets out of a deadlift German, but eats a running forearm from Trevor. Sabre counters an STO move with a barrage of wacky holds, and a Tiger Suplex for two! ARM-TRAPPED DRAGON SLEEPER! Trevor counters out and superkicks him! Both men are spent, so they trade criss-cross strikes in the middle of the ring! Trevor headbutts Zack, who responds by slapping the living shit out of him for his troubles. Zack sweeps Trevor down though, and hits a diving European Uppercut. MOONSAULT CROSSBODY OUT OF NOWHERE BY TREVOR! ZACK KICKS OUT! SMALL PACKAGE BY ZACK! TREVOR KICKS OUT! Armbar…countered…ROLLED INTO A KIMURA! TREVOR COUNTERS INTO ORANGE CRUSH! ZACK KICKS OUT! Zack rolls out of the ring, and eats a boot from Trevor on the apron. Zack counters a German into an Octopus Hold, into AN INSANE SUBMISSION! TREVOR TAPS! That’s it in 24 minutes. **** I’m not sure it’s going to surprise the 2 people that read my reviews, but this was yet another fantastic, virtuoso performance by Zack Sabre Jr. The man is just on another level of great from 99% of the guys that step inside a wrestling ring, and this match especially is a great reason why. Instead of just using wacky counters for the sake of wacky counters, he’s got such a grasp of psychology in that he knows exactly when to time those counters so they make the utmost sense. He used Lee’s cockiness and aggression against him and that allowed an easy pathway for his counters, and when he put in those holds, the urgency with which Trevor tried to escape them was just the icing on the cake. And let’s not pretend this was a one man show either. Trevor Lee pulled out what has to be his best singles match performance in a good while, playing a great dickhead heel to counteract probably the biggest babyface in Reseda currently. He used that heel persona to brutalize Zack when he needed to, which made it even sweeter when he got his comeuppance. The submission at the finish was one of the most painful-looking things I’ve seen in a good bit, and props to both guys for making it seem organic and fluid. Fantastic, fantastic stuff here.

Mike Bailey vs. Evil Uno
If you’re as big a geek as I am, I’m sure you’re aware of the Player Uno saga in PWG. He came into PWG with Stupefied in 2011 as The Super Smash Brothers, which ended up becoming the most popular team in PWG in a matter of months. Unfortunately, their last show was DDT4 2013, where Uno separated his shoulder en-route to losing the tag team titles to Michael Elgin & Brian Cage. And it wasn’t because they’d run their course or anything like that, it was because of their issues at the border. They got caught coming into DDT4 2013, but got let through without incident. Once they got booked for All Star Weekend 9 however, that’s when things went bad and they had to pull out. Now they weren’t BANNED from the US, but booking the SSB became a risk for PWG if they got caught again, as then PWG would be out a hotel room and plane ticket. Which is ironic, seeing as how Speedball just recently got banned from the US for FIVE YEARS, which hurts his career in a major way. Which really, really fucking blows if we’re being honest because he had an incredible 2015 and took part in 4 of PWG’s best matches last year. So unless he can get a work VISA – which Uno has – we’re not going to be seeing him in PWG for a very, very long time. But let’s not be sad, as we finally get the return of Uno in the PWG debut of his Evil Uno persona that was a staple chant during his time in Reseda. I’ve never seen it and heard great things, so I’ll shut up and get down to business.

Uno slams Speedball down to the mat early, punking him out with a boot to the head for good measure. Speedball gives him a taste of his own medicine though, however without the boot… or foot, I guess in Speedball’s case. They trade shoulderblocks, and Speedball comes out on top with a springboard variation. Uno offers a handshake, and despite the crowd’s insistence to the contrary, Speedball is too respectful to decline. That earns him a nasty spike DDT. Speedball looks like he’s been hitting the gym lately. Not as paunchy as usual. Speedball hits a standing moonsault kneedrop on Uno, who tries to leave, but Bailey dives on him… but UNO COUNTERS THAT INTO AN ALABAMA SLAM ON THE APRON! SUPLEX ON THE FLOOR! Speedball dodges a chop on the outside, which makes Uno smash on the ringpost. Uno gives Speedball a neckbreaker in the ring for his troubles. Uno BITES SPEEDBALL’S FOOT, which is an exercise in both terrible hygiene and great heel work. Uno hits End of Days for a two count. Uno hilariously uses Justin Borden as a pawn for the Super Smash Brothers taunt by throwing him in the way of a running Speedball. Speedball hits a roundhouse to the face, but Uno ain’t having that shit and goes nuts on Speedball with chops like he was Necro Butcher or some shit. Speedball fights back with a beautiful twisting heel kick that takes Uno off his feet. They trade Helluva Kicks, until Speedball hits a beautiful 540 Kick and Salida Del Sol! Uno hits a leg-capture chokeslam for a nearfall. Speedball hits a spinning back kick and a running kick in the corner, followed by a running Red Arrow for two! Uno nearly takes a reverse rana, but Speedball ranas him outside instead and COMES DOWN ON TOP OF HIM WITH AN INSANE SKY TWISTER!~! Uno fights back and hits a One Winged Angel on his knee for a close nearfall. Uno hits a Pop-Up Powerbomb using the TESTICULAR CLAW as help. JUMPING PILEDRIVER! SPEEDBALL KICKS OUT! REVERSE RANA FROM SPEEDBALL! Uno hits a Falcon Punch as Speedball is up top, AND MURDERS SPEEDBALL WITH AN AVALANCHE TOMBSTONE!~! SPEEDBALL KICKS OUT AGAIN! Uno goes up top and HITS A MOONSAULT! SPEEDBALL KICKS OUT AT ONE!~! RIVERDANCE KICKS FROM SPEEDBALL! SLAPS FROM UNO! SPINNING BACK KICK! 540 KICK! SHOOTING STAR KNEEDROP! BUZZSAW KICK! Speedball picks up the win in a faaaantastic 18 minutes. **** I’m not sure a single soul in that Reseda crowd tonight was very sure that Uno could pull off this sort of match as a singles guy. The crowd wasn’t incredibly overwhelming with their support for the guy during the intros, but as the match wore on – and as his antics kept ramping up – the crowd woke up in amazing fashion and turned this match from something good to something legitimately memorable. I think most would have still preferred a SSB return simply because their run in 2012 is a big reason why 2012 is their second-best year ever, but a sane man shouldn’t have a single complaint after seeing Evil Uno’s performance here. His heel work was seamless, and if you didn’t know better, you wouldn’t have thought this was the guy who nearly had a heart attack when Delirious called Princess Peach a tramp. He did the stalking, methodical beatdown of Speedball really well, which a lot of guys aren’t exactly the most exciting at doing. But being that it’s Speedball, who can take a shit-kicking like nobody’s business, it was engrossing the entire time. And half of it wasn’t even because Speedball was selling so well, it was because I was still a bit in awe of this Evil Uno character. Maybe in a vacuum this isn’t as great as I’m saying, but at this moment, in front of this PWG crowd, this couldn’t have gone better for either guy. It really sucks that this is the third-to-last Speedball match in PWG, but hopefully there’s more Uno to come. Excellent match here.

PWG World Title: Roderick Strong © vs. Drew Galloway
This is a really intriguing matchup for a lot of reasons. Drew has had good matches every time he’s been in PWG, and finally seeing Roddy against someone that can conceivably throw him around is going to be interesting. Plus, I’ve been pining to see Galloway in arm’s reach of a belt that actually means something, so it has some sentimental value too.

Roddy takes the mic from Angelo Trinidad, but the crowd isn’t too keen on letting him speak. They stop, and Roddy tells Rick Knox to get his bald ass to the back because he wants Justin Borden reffing his match. Roddy tries to jump Galloway to start, but Drew ain’t having it and here we go. Drew launches Roddy out of the ring with a belly-to-belly, and the Scot kicks his ass on the outside for a bit. Drew lawn-darts Galloway into the ceiling support, followed by just chucking him into the emergency exit door. They finally get back to ringside, where Roddy is able to use his speed to annihilate Galloway with a baseball slide. They finally head back into the ring, where Galloway catches Roddy in mid-air with a scary tilt-a-whirl slam. They head back out to the apron, where Roddy hits Drew with the apron backbreaker. Galloway starts a comeback as they head back into the ring, but he runs right into a dropkick from the champ. A fan calls Roddy “wildly mediocre”, which brings Roddy away from Galloway and right into the fan’s face. Galloway dives out from the apron onto him, but Roddy rakes his eyes and hits a leg lariat for a two count. Roddy hoists Galloway up like a child and drops him on his hip for no real reason other than to be a dick, which earns him a Buckle Bomb in response. Galloway comes back with a barrage punches in the corner, followed by a hearty middle finger to Justin Borden. Galloway comes off the top rope with a flying clothesline, then a sweet Spinebuster for a two count. Swinging Bulldog scores for Galloway, who then puts Roddy up top laying down for a casual kick to the stomach. Galloway climbs to the top, but Roddy crotches him and puts him in the Tree of Woe. Galloway sits up though and hits a super Belly-to-Belly! Galloway hits a Reverse Alabama Slam onto the top turnbuckle, followed by a Sick Kick for two! Roddy kicks his knee out and hits a Curb Stomp! Roddy puts Drew up top and hits a Superplex, Death By Roderick, but Drew counters a Sick Kick into a lariat. FUTURE SHOCK! RODDY KICKS OUT! They go up top again, but Roddy slips out of an Avalanche Fireman’s Carry and drops Galloway from the top. Roddy goes mental with kicks in the corner, and hits Death By Roderick and the Sick Kick. Gibson Driver scores, but Galloway kicks out! Roddy takes his knee pad down and looks for a jumping knee, but Drew catches him in a Tombstone! Roddy kicks out! Roddy dodges a corner spear, which sends Galloway shoulder-first into the corner. Roddy distracts Justin Borden with a belt and hits Galloway with one for another nearfall! Galloway hits a boot, but Roddy murders him with three jumping knees. End of Heartache scores for the win in 22 minutes. ***1/2 Just like the Hero match last month, something here just did not connect the way it needed to. And I think it’s because the crowd doesn’t really buy into any challenger that’s not Zack Sabre Jr. at this point. I see both sides of the argument, but I think I have to agree with the crowd here for a few reasons. PWG has telegraphed the Sabre/Strong rematch to be a bout of certain magnitude, and everybody knows it. I don’t think the audience buys that Hero or Galloway had a chance in hell of winning the belt, which doesn’t allow for any remote mystery or intrigue regarding the result. And the matches aren’t worked with enough urgency to let us suspend our disbelief for a second, and that doesn’t help either. This felt like an ROH house show main event with few fun nearfalls and sequences, but not much in the way of impact or genuine excitement. Now with two guys of this calibre in the ring, that sort of match is always going to have a high benchmark regardless of stature, so it’s not like I came away angry or ripped off at what I got. I liked Galloway having the size advantage, and the way Roddy worked around that made for some fun pieces of storytelling. But nothing they did beyond that screamed “main event level” to me, especially after the fantastic set of matches that came before it. This match was a victim of circumstance, which hurt it in a storytelling and intensity sense, but it’s still a really good match that I don’t think anybody is going to dislike on any level.

Post match, Adam Cole comes out to congratulate Roddy on his win. They set up chairs to really punish Galloway, who tries to fight back, but the numbers game is too much… until Zack Sabre Jr. runs in! Kimura on Roddy! Cole superkicks Sabre! Cole and Strong get the fuck out of Dodge before they get in real trouble. Roddy makes the challenge for All Star Weekend 12, and it’s on! The mic is dead, so Zack says come All Star Weekend, he’s the new champion.

8.5
The final score: review Very Good
The 411
PWG rebounded big time with Bowie, so much so that it's probably their best standalone (as in, not a part of a tournament or double-shot) show since Mystery Vortex III back in May of 2015. We got 7 matches on the card, with three of them hitting the four star mark and another coming incredibly close. Sure, the main event under-delivered, but the other two matches were excellent for what they were and were needed on the card to space the great stuff out. If you see one match from the show, I guess I'd recommend Trent vs. Chris Hero, but really you can't go wrong on this one for 2 and 1/2 hours. Two big thumbs up for Bowie.
legend

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PWG, Jake St-Pierre