Guerrilla Reviewfare: PWG From Out of Nowhere

Hello 411Mania. It is the return of your favorite capital-letter-abuser Jake St-Pierre! I know by not starting from where I left off, I have reneged on a couple of emails I got from very gracious readers. For that, I do apologize. I understand that I missed BOLA, and to be honest, I did have every intention of reviewing it. Unfortunately, life got in the way in the form of a crashed hard drive, so my computer wasn’t worth much in its last few months. That, coupled with the fact that I just didn’t really feel like reviewing wrestling. I wasn’t really all too enchanted with wrestling in general for around 6 months and unfortunately, that carried over to most products. Even if they were good, I couldn’t have cared less. I caught the shows I wanted to and kept up with PWG, but only recently have I decided to dive back in and see what I’ve truly been missing. Hopefully you’ll accept me in my return as I hope to have improved from the year or so I’ve been gone.

When I last reviewed Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, things were pretty good. Kyle O’Reilly won the PWG Title from Adam Cole in a great match that I probably overrated in hindsight (like most things!). The trio of Andrew Everett, Cedric Alexander, and Trevor Lee found themselves a new home in Reseda after a sensational debut at Mystery Vortex 2, but Andrew’s shine was cut short after an unfortunate ACL injury. That didn’t stop Alexander or Lee, as both went on to impress everybody in PWG with every match. This especially goes for Trevor, as he got a major push up the ladder during 2014, getting to the semifinals in BOLA after only his 6th show. Roderick Strong also made an odd ascent up the PWG ladder, winning the World Title from Kyle O’Reilly at the end of Black Cole Sun, a move I still do not agree with. I’ll withhold judgment however, until I get to his match as champion so I can truly see how he carries himself in the Reseda environment. So without further adieu…

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

Your hosts are Excalibur and friends.

Biff Busick vs. Mike Bailey
Biff Busick debuted during my review sabbatical, but I did get a chance to see him in casual watching. I was very impressed with his efforts against Tommaso Ciampa, as well as that maniacal four way at Black Cole Sun, even though Uhaa Nation pretty much made everybody look silly. I’d never heard of Mike Bailey prior to this booking, so I was coming in blind with virtually no knowledge of how things would turn out.

So Mike Bailey is wrestling barefoot with dorky kickpads sort half-covering the top of his foot, which doesn’t earn him points on look. Couple that with the gi he walked out in, I don’t really find anything about him aesthetically to even remotely rave about. It’s nothing special early on until Bailey pulls off a back handspring, directly into a side headlock takeover. He throws a couple stiff kicks and shitcans Busick, immediately diving on top of him with a moonsault from inside the ring! Busick gets control back as they enter the ring again, throwing Bailey into the turnbuckle with a massive Irish Whip. Busick works Bailey over with some methodical offense, cutting off a couple comeback attempts in the process. Bailey counters a sunset flip with a WICKED standing moonsault knee-drop, followed up by a standing corkscrew moonsault! Busick blocks a running kick and comes back with a running bulldog for a two count. Bailey comes back with a stiff enzuigiri, but Biff one-ups him with a standing Blockbuster for another nearfall. Bailey comes back again with a stiff roundhouse kick, but Biff gets the ropes during the pin attempt. SHOOTING STAR KNEEDROP FROM THE SECOND ROPE! NEARFALL! That was a great nearfall count from the ref. They had me fooled there. They head out to the apron where Bailey just Ethers Busick with kicks to the chest, knocking the big guy back into the ring. Busick just straight up massacres Bailey with a European Uppercut, knocking him from the top rope! A SWEET super half nelson suplex scores, but only gets a nearfall! A mean discus lariat scores, but Bailey kicks out again! Bailey attempts a comeback with some stiff kicks, but Bailey taps to the rear naked choke in 12 minutes. *** This was a pretty solid debut for Bailey in a vacuum, but he wasn’t really all that impressive aside from the Shooting Star Kneedrops. I feel like there are plenty of guys on the indies who can do what he can do while actually looking a little credible in the process. I just can’t get behind the skinny fat guy who comes to the ring in a Gi and wrestles barefoot. It’s just dorky. He isn’t terrible at all but I don’t find him to be anyone worth keeping around. I hear he had a tremendous showing against Trevor Lee at Don’t Sweat The Technique, so I’ll withhold anymore concrete judgment until I see that. This was a good opener as well, so don’t let my criticism of Mike Bailey deter you.

Tommaso Ciampa vs. Cedric Alexander
I don’t find myself overly excited by this match up, as I don’t feel like Cedric really shines in singles matches. Tommaso has been nothing but disappointing to me in PWG and hopefully with the announcement he’s leaving ROH, he’ll go on to be a more hungry talent for PWG going forward.

Cedric Alexander is feeling the Flair Strut early on, and he catches Cedric with a mean dropkick that sends Tommaso out of the ring. Ciampa throws a chair at him to prevent a dive, but Cedric resets and dives out with Tope Con Hilo anyways. Cedric takes Tommaso around the ring for some chops. Ciampa MURDERS Cedric with a rebound German Suplex and follows up with a vicious knee that sends Cedric outside! Ciampa throws himself on top of Cedric outside and takes control from there. Ciampa stiffs Cedric with a knee, drops him with an STO, and puts on a Garga-No Escape Crossface. Cedric counters however to save the match. Cedric looks for the Three Amigos, but Ciampa counters to prevent the Hat Trick. Cedric kills Ciampa with a nearly-catastrophic suplex into the ropes. That was almost really, really bad as awesome as it looked. Cedric follows up with a Michinoku Driver for 2. Cedric prevents a running knee with a sweet springboard enzuigiri, and they REPEAT A BOTCH. I expect better from these guys, to be honest. Ciampa makes up for it a little bit by rocking Cedric with a knee, but Cedric comes back with a Detonation Kick for a close nearfall. Cedric takes mean bump off of a discus lariat, but kicks out at two. Project Ciampa scores for ANOTHER nearfall. Cedric gets out of an Avalanche Air Raid Crash and hits three vicious dropkicks to a stuck Ciampa in the corner. Lumbar Check gets the win in 12 minutes. *** This was another good match, but it lacked flavor. This felt like something you’d see at an ROH house show and that’s not what I expect out of a PWG match. I suppose you could counter with the old card-placement argument, which is somewhat valid, but it still felt like they were going through the motions. If a match gives me that vibe, then the ceiling can only be so high.

Best Friends vs. Beaver Boys
If you’re not aware of my affinity for the Best Friends tag team, I’m sure you’ll get enough chances to find out how large that affinity is. The Beaver Boys are a relatively unknown entity to me however, as they largely wrestle in CZW which isn’t exactly on my “promotions to watch” radar. I once saw John Silver wrestle on an EVOLVE show and I recall being pretty impressed with him, so I’m coming into this with high hopes.

This is Trent’s first match in PWG in eight months after a knee injury, and I’m glad to see him back. The Beaver Boys are getting severely booed, but it’s just because they love Chuck Taylor so much, which is understandable. Chuckie gives Reynolds a hard screaming shoulderblock to a big pop, followed up some flexing. Reynolds comes back with some pretty sweet agility, making this apprehensive crowd cheer his moves, much to their chagrin. Chuckie tags Trent in, and Trent takes control almost immediately. The crowd urges Trent to try a moonsault, and he hits it with the greatest of ease despite Rick Knox and Excalibur’s worries about Trent’s knee. Chuckie pulls off one of his own as well, and this crowd is wowed. John Silver comes in now and boy, is he short. He immediately makes that thought go away, replacing it with A GORILLA PRESS ON TRENT. I’m sold. Very impressive body splash double teams by the Beaver Boys follow. Trent comes back with a slingshot face rake, followed by the most graceful senton ever from Chuck Taylor. Alex Reynolds draws the IRE!~! of the crowd after breaking up a Best Friends hug. Alex Reynolds is awesome. This dude is great heel. I don’t feel like describing the last sequence would do it justice, and Trent follows said sequence up with the quote of the century; “You just came on my friend!” I’ll let the lack of context fuel your desire to see a PWG show. Trent and Chuck give Alex his comeuppance and FINALLY GET THEIR HUG! God, these guys are just the best. And the best part is, as wacky as this match is, there’s some pretty cool psychology going on here. Chuckie drops the grenade down Alex Reynolds’ pants and REYNOLDS EATS A DOUBLE SUPERKICK TO THE GRENADE! The explosion affects everybody except the referee, and Alex Reynolds especially is in a bad way. Everything about this match is just wonderful. John Silver is irate that Alex got a grenade to the dick, so he MASSACRES THE BEST FRIENDS SINGLE-HANDEDLY! John Silver rules too, if you were asking. Silver eats a superkick to the dick, but he gives one to Chuck. STEREO DICK KICKS! Alex comes back in and eats stereo dick kicks of his own, but there’s nothing there! The grenade blew his junk off! Double low blow from Reynolds! HERE COMES THE SWEAT RAG! Silver kills Trent with a German suplex! Reynolds suplexes Trent into another German Suplex from Silver, who then throws Trent into the turnbuckle. Chuckie and Silver duke it out in the middle of the ring, and Chuckie MURDERS Silver with a pop-up powerbomb for 2! Reynolds breaks up a rollup and crotches Chuckie T on the top rope, but Trent runs up and gives him a Super German! SEXY CHUCKIE KNEE! That only gets a nearfall! This match is all kinds of awesome. Best Friends chokeslam gets the win in an objectively entertaining 18 minutes. ***3/4 I cannot say that this match gets the four star treatment because the wrestling wasn’t quite there, but when a match is this purely entertaining, there comes a point where the technical wrestling part of it doesn’t matter too much. What this lacked in “wrestling acumen” was made up for in sheer personality and charisma. The comedy here was laugh-out-loud hilarious and the Beaver Boys came out of the gates with an utterly fantastic performance that should most definitely earn them more bookings. Alex Reynolds was a wonderful heel here, being slimy, weird, and gross while John Silver picked up the work side of things in spectacular fashion. They have tremendous chemistry as a team and I’d love to see how they handle themselves in a more serious match. The Best Friends continue to be one of the best things about PWG and I’m so happy Trent is back because of that very reason. This was tremendously entertaining and the kick in the ass that this show needed. The “funny-don’t-make-money” camp isn’t going to like it, but if you like big laughs in your wrestling, look no further. Bravo to all four men.

ACH vs. AR Fox
I’m sure those playing along at home can make a pretty good guess as to how this match is going to turn out.

Not much of note happens early until they exchange dropkicks Malenko-Guerrero style. ACH drops Fox outside with a Flatliner on the ring apron. Fox comes back with a 619-esque move on the apron and comes down with a springboard Imploding Senton! That move is always awesome. Fox puts ACH on the ring apron and comes down with the leg drop! ACH comes back with a mean dropkick that knocks Fox on his head but it gets 2. ACH backs Fox up in the corner and throws the 10 Punches, but Fox counters him and gets 9 of his own. Fox builds up the 10th Punch, but ACH chops him out of his boots for a 1 count. ACH drops Fox with a Lou Thesz Press and attempts to follow up with a Stunner, but instead opts for a Texas Cloverleaf Giant Swing directly into the Cloverleaf! Fox comes back with a plethora of moves, hitting a Casadora Bulldog for a nearfall. Fox keeps control but doesn’t quit win the match. ACH dodges a 450 and hits a mean spin kick through the ropes. Fox gets out of the way of a potential dive, but ACH doesn’t let him rest as he nails a MEAN running kick from the apron. ACH comes down with a double stomp to the back of Fox’s head, but Fox get the ropes at 2. ACH hits an odd looking Fisherman’s Suplex type deal for another nearfall. Fox hits a nifty springboard backwards Ace Crusher for a two count. They exchange stiff kicks, and Fox counters a Stunner, but ACH recovers with an O’Connor Roll for 2. FOX DIVES OVER THE RINGPOST ONTO ACH! A Snap German picks the win up for ACH at 17 minutes. *** I was just wasn’t feeling this match until the last few minutes. I am very confident that ACH can carry his own in long matches like these but I have yet to really find myself impressed by AR Fox in these situations. His style isn’t very impactful and is not conducive to a singles match environment, where he has to do more than destroy himself to carry the load. He is tremendous in tag matches, but I’ve yet to really be convinced by him as a singles act. I would love to be proven wrong but he isn’t very entertaining without better partners to feed off of. Fundamentally this was pretty good, but for most of this match, I found it to be another house show-esque effort with no real reason to come back.

Drew Gulak vs. Chris Hero
Oh for the love of God please do not go 30 minutes. These self-indulgent Hero matches get really annoying after a while. Part of the reason I didn’t bother reviewing ELEVEN was because Hero/O’Reilly absolutely sucked and reviewing it meant watching it again. Rather than lose my mind, I chose to cut my losses. I do hear he has been killing it in EVOLVE so maybe he’s reined it in a little bit. When Hero is on, he’s incredible.

Chris Hero’s inability to get into shape has probably unfairly hindrered my enjoyment of some of his matches too, so I will try to be objective. If he at least attempted to find gear that looked a little better like Kevin Owens did, I wouldn’t really gripe but he just looks sloppy in trunks. I’m sure you can figure out how the beginning of this match goes. A lot of chain wrestling, if you aren’t aware. Gulak fakes a handshake and drops Hero on his head with a mean German Suplex. He uses that to take control. Gulak goes from a sitting hug to another German Suplex. Gulak starts working Hero’s leg afterwards. Hero tries for a counter or two but Gulak finds himself in control despite Hero. They trade chops and Hero gains the advantage due to the strength advantage, and he STIFFS Gulak with a boot. Hero follows up with a mean elbow to a cornered Gulak. Hero looks for a moonsault, but Gulak moves and locks in an Ankle Lock! Hero smacks Gulak with a rolling elbow for a two count. Gulak throws some standing lariats, but Hero doesn’t seem fazed as he elbows Gulak’s arm out of way the way. Gulak eventually drops Hero with a discus lariat for a two count. They trade strikes and jabs and Gulak goes back to the knee to gain some semblance of control. Hero counters a Sunset flip for a close nearfall, but Gulak gathers himself enough to lock in an ankle lock. Hero tries to counter, but Gulak refuses to let go. Hero fires off a couple upkicks in an attempt to counter, but Gulak eventually locks in his finisher the Gu-lock! Hero finds the ropes after a struggle. Gulak runs into a couple Chris Hero boots in the corner, and eats a mean kneelift. Hero ROCKS Gulak with a Rolling Elbow but nearly loses to a backslide. Gulak kicks out of a La Magistral cradle and they trade pins until Gulak rolls into the Ankle Lock again! Hero rolls out and loses his boot to Gulak, and Gulak DROPS Hero with a boot shot after he finds himself in trouble. Hero barely kicks out. Hero counters a Tombstone into a JUMPING Tombstone of his own. JUMPING PILEDRIVER gets the win in 22 minutes. ***1/2 This was a really good match and despite the relatively long length, it didn’t drag like a lot of Hero matches tend to. They made the most of their time and did some cool stuff. The only thing holding it back was the lack of a third gear, which you sort of need if you’re going to go over 20 minutes. I know this contradicts my introduction, but I feel like this needed even more time as they were just starting to get really good before they ended it. I hope Hero keeps this going because I want him to be a premiere name on the indies. Gulak showed me a lot of good stuff here too and I hope to see him in more profile matches as PWG rolls on. Good stuff here, just needed a little more to put it over the top.

Ricochet vs Matt Sydal
Matt Sydal has been a tricky cat since he came back to the indies. He hasn’t overly impressed me but he’s shown flashes of what made him an internet darling in the first place. I don’t really have a solid opinion yet, and hopefully putting in work with one of the best workers in the world will shed some new light.

“I think they might have had a singles match in EVOLVE or something, in front of 32 customers,” says Chuck Taylor. I don’t know how anybody can even give Chuckie small criticism. He’s perfect. Everybody is flipping around early, and it’s awesome. Sydal hits a fantastic headscissors that sees him flip around Ricochet approximately 29 times. Sydal comes off of the apron with Meteora. Sydal maintains control in the ring with his awesome standing moonsault. Sydal schools Ricochet with some technical wrestling. This just in, I still despise the “This is Wrestling” chant with all of my smarky heart. Ricochet comes back with a running Ace Crusher. An “out of nowhere” chant by the crowd is misinterpreted as “iron boner” by Excalibur. Ricochet gets control this time around. Ricochet puts in some wacky hold that I can’t describe. I haven’t changed that much. Sydal tries to counter out of a suplex and hits the Final Cut, a move Big Show used to do. Sydal hits a leg lariat and goes up top, but misses Meteora. Sydal comes back with a beautiful moonsault into a Tornado DDT! Sydan hits the Randy Orton backbreaker and DESTROYS Ricochet with a running knee in the corner. Ricochet hits a Standing SSP and a Regalplex for a two count! SYDAL COUNTERS AN ORANGE CRUSH INTO A RANA! That only gets two. I believe that was the same counter he used against KENTA in ROH. Ricochet lands on his feet after a jumping super rana from Sydal and HITS A BLUE THUNDER BOMB! HERE IT IS DRIVER only gets 2. I haven’t seen that move in a while. Ricochet dropkicks Sydal into the corner and goes up top but misses a Shooting Star Press. Ricochet counters a pumphandle but misses a Benadryller, and Sydal MURDERS RICOCHET with a Pumphandle Driver. Sydal misses a Shooting Star, eats a Benadryller, and Vertigo hits for the three at 20 minutes. ***3/4 The best singles match on this show so far and the best part is, I don’t think it scraped the surface of crazy stuff they could do. That’s not to say I was disappointed, because I was very satisfied with this, but I think it says a lot to Sydal and Ricochet’s talent that you could tell they were holding back but still turned out something great here. Ricochet stays in his lane as the most consistently good high flyer in the world, and Matt Sydal kept up with him in a good way. Great match here.

The Young Bucks vs. Monster Mafia
Oh my God, it’s like PWG wanted me to buy this show.

The Bucks waste no time in attacking the Mafia early on, after a fantastic self-introduction. Josh Alexander shitcans both of the Bucks and the Mafia gets Matt alone in the ring. Matt comes out on top with a Too Sweet to the eyes and RUNNING SUCK-IT LARIATS INTO THE CORNERS. Alexander catches Matt on a body splash and throws him into an Ethan Page powerbomb! Nick blindsides them with a double crossbody! The Bucks hilariously hit stereo 3 Amigos much to the happiness of the crowd. Nick does the Eddie Guerrero taunt for literally 30 seconds while Josh Alexander looks on. Ethan Page tags in and mocks him, and the Mafia takes control after some shenanigans. That was ridiculous. Matt dives out on top of Ethan with a dropkick, and they knock Alexander off of the apron with the headscissors/dropkick. This allows the Bucks to take control. Page counters an Abdominal Stretch with some kind of facebuster, but he takes the back handspring back rake for his troubles. Assisted slice bread scores, and a knee gets a two count. Page counters Poetry in Motion by giving Matt a spinebuster onto his brother. Ethan jumps off of Nick and hits Matt with a cutter! Alexander tags in and cleans house for a bit, hitting a double suplex on the Bucks. Ethan Page runs and assists Alexander with a Blue Thunder Bomb and dives out on top of Nick! Alexander catches a slingshot X-Factor, and Nick finds himself on the apron. Josh BUM RUSHES HIS BODY INTO NICK! CASADORA BULLDOG FROM PAGE INTO A WHEELBARROW SUPLEX! JACKNIFE INTO AN AIR RAID CRASH…BUT HE RUNS INTO A SUPERKICK! Page tags in and dukes it out with Matt and get the advantage but earns a knee to the back from Nick. Page and Matt throw hard right hands and Matt tells him to suck it before each one. Nick pulls Page out of the ring, and Alexander pulls Matt out of the ring, which lets Josh and Nick duke it out. Nick hits a running knee in the corner and Josh eats a superkick from Matt after countering one from Nick. Page hits Nick with an enzuigiri! LOCHNESS LOWDOWN FROM THE MONSTER MAFIA! MATT JACKSON KICKS OUT! Mafia looks for a double piledriver on Matt, and put Ethan in a tombstone position with Alexander. THEY SUPERKICK ALEXANDER’S KNEES AND DROP PAGE ON HIS HEAD! SUPERKICK TO ALEXANDER! PAGE KICKS OUT OF A PINFALL! Monster Mafia finagles its way out of More Bang, and the Bucks hit Stereo Low Blows! Slingshot X Factor on Page! TORNADO DDT ON THE FLOOR TO ALEXANDER! MELTZER DRIVER!~! That is it in 18 minutes. **** This was an immense debut from the Monster Mafia. They threw out some wicked double team moves that I’ve legitimately never seen before. They tow the line between smooth and inventive and the results are very positive. They also aren’t your usual flippy guys like the Inner City Machine Guns, who—while they have had incredible matches with the Bucks—were getting a little same-y after a while. Monster Mafia does something different and come off as badass heavy hitters, which the Bucks blended with easily. I look forward to seeing more from Monster Mafia as they came out with a tremendous effort against the best tag team in the world and held their own. The Bucks haven’t had a bad match since like 2008 and can carry two refrigerators to a great match, but Alexander and Page went above and beyond to prove their worth to the PWG Tag Division and thus didn’t need to be carried. Match of the Night by far.

PWG World Title Match: Roderick Strong © vs. Trevor Lee
As I mentioned in the intro, the 20 year old Trevor Lee’s star has risen fast in PWG after his incredible debut over a year ago. He went on to beat Kevin Steen in Steen’s last PWG match, he defeated Michael Elgin in BOLA (something that pissed ROH off in a pretty big way), and he also beat Chris Hero in December to be apart of Roderick Strong’s first title defense. I’ve said that I dislike Roddy being PWG Champion, but as long as he has great matches, I don’t mind too much. We’ll see how Lee steps up to the plate.

Trevor Lee gives off a heavy Sami Callihan vibe, but doesn’t look as emo-wannabe-ish. Roddy and Trevor are both tentative to start off. Roddy is so tentative that he hops outside to buy himself some time. It’s slow chain wrestling to begin. Roddy dips out after he doesn’t get much going. Trevor Lee is defiant after taking a stiff chop from Roddy, which helps the crowd get on Roddy’s case. Roddy gets pissed and stomps a mudhole in Lee for being a dick. Roddy just throws some mean dropkicks at Lee now, getting a little more aggressive. He’s doing really well as a heel here, so maybe my concerns were unfounded. Roddy catches a running kick from Lee and sweeps Lee on the apron, making Trevor land in a pretty nasty way. Roddy keeps control inside the ring, going after Lee methodically now that he’s bought himself some time. Roddy gets in a spat with Rick Knox, but that causes Lee to nearly steal the win. Roddy doesn’t let that faze him though. Lee finally gets his as he MURDERS Roddy with a mushroom stomp! Lee builds up some steam, hitting a running front kick for a nearfall. Lee hits a nice Gutwrench Suplex but meets a Roderick Strong chop on the outside. Trevor gets away and slingshots over the top rope with a tope con hilo! Trevor very nearly gets the win off of an RVD esque rollup. Lee reverses an Angle Slam with an armdrag. LEE COUNTERS DEATH BY RODERICK WITH A DROPKICK TO THE THROAT! That only gets 2. Lee looks for a Package Piledriver, but Roddy gets out and finds the apron. Half Nelson Backbreaker scores for the champ, buying himself some time. Roddy drops Trevor on his face with a front suplex drop and beckons him, stiffing him with running knees and forearms, getting a nearfall off of a backbreaker afterwards. Roddy counters a Hurricanrana into a Stronghold! Trevor breaks it with some upkicks, but Roddy drags him off the top rope…until Trevor counters with a knee and hits a Deadlift German Suplex! They trade forearms and strikes in the middle of the ring, until Roddy hits DEATH BY RODERICK! TREVOR COUNTERS A SICK KICK INTO THE FLIPPING CROSSBODY!~! RODDY KICKS OUT! Roddy catches Trevor on the top rope and looks for a Superplex and hits it, BUT TREVOR ROLLS THROUGH INTO AN ORANGE CRUSH! RODDY KICKS OUT! They trade slaps in the middle of the ring, and Trevor drops Roddy with a forearm. Roddy fights back with a low kick and a jumping knee, but Trevor Lee fights back with a combo…BUT RUNS INTO THE SICK KICK! GIBSON DRIVER! SMALL PACKAGE FROM TREVOR! RODDY BARELY KICKS OUT! JUMPING KNEES FROM RODDY! 360 END OF HEARTACHE! That’s it in 25 minutes. **** This is a generous rating, but I feel like it deserves it all considering. It told a pretty good story of Roddy being the all-knowing veteran, cutting Trevor short at every turn. That made Trevor have to pick his spots and be less aggressive, but ultimately that pluckiness didn’t get him the belt. It was essentially experience vs. inexperience and we usually know which one wins every time. That’s not to say this match buried Trevor Lee or anything; if anything, it made him look like a legit contender. You give him a Drake Younger-esque journey toward another title shot—and actually have Lee win the belt unlike Younger—and I think it’ll be a great story. Lee hasn’t peaked yet and it’s obvious PWG is willing to make him a star, and this match furthered their cause. He looked on equal ground with Roddy, but he just wasn’t experienced enough to put it over the top. The action only got really good in the last five minutes, but Roddy’s ring generalship and heel work gave it an extra bit of zest. So Roddy isn’t a complete bust as champion, but I don’t think he needs an Adam Cole-esque reign and could probably serve to lose it at the anniversary show or something. He did very well here though, and for this show, that’s all that matters. This was a great psychological main event.

8.0

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

PWG's first show of 2015 was a very solid beginning for what could be defined as a new era for the promotion. Since PWG no longer has access to contracted Ring of Honor talent like Kyle O'Reilly or Michael Elgin, they had to book new and up-and-coming wrestlers to fill the void. While I'm not too keen on ROH pulling their talent, the new blood presented on From Out of Nowhere proved that PWG could and did pick up where they left off with the Ring of Honor wrestlers. While I'm not too keen on Mike Bailey, the Monster Mafia and Beaver Boys came in and wrecked the place and made such endearing debuts that, if I was booking PWG, I would give them permanent spots on the roster. Despite the departure of some key guys, we still have access to The Young Bucks and other permanent PWG fixtures, who mixed with the new talent in a great way. As for the show, this was another consistently good PWG effort. It's not a blowaway effort or anything like 3/4 of their 2012-2013 efforts as it featured a couple disappointments, but that isn't to say you're not in for a fantastic treat with this show. It still blows away many indy promotions in the world, but it could take some time to get back to their highest standards due to the mass influx of new guys. In closing, I recommend this show in a substantial way, as it follows the good old PWG formula of smooth spotfests all over the card, including two near MOTYC's in the co-main and main events.