Guerrilla Reviewfare: PWG Sold Our Soul For Rock ‘n Roll

So Mystery Vortex II came and went by without much storyline-wise to speak of. Neither Kevin Steen or Drake Younger were around (and they were tending to circumstances they couldn’t control and HAD to miss the show, so no biggie) and while I didn’t say it in my review, I feel like their lack of presence damaged the show ever so slightly, even if the in ring action was top-notch and was still a fantastic show. This show has a ridiculous card and even though Mystery Vortex II was indeed great, I found myself anticipating this one a lot more. Will it live up? Tune in at 11.

Roderick Strong vs. Brian Cage
We haven’t seen Cage in singles action the past few shows, as he and Michael Elgin tore it up with the DGUSA guys, but I’m glad he’s back doing singles stuff. Roddy had a forgettable affair with Anthony Nese at the last show, so hopefully he picks it up here.

Brian Cage has gotten rid of the bloated bodybuilder look in favor of the “oh shit that guy does steroids extremely well” look. Roddy comes out ridiculously hot, and the crowd is ricockulously loud, so I’m happy so far. I’d be happier if Taco Bell didn’t fuck up this burrito I’m eating, but you can’t win them all. Brian gets the upperhand outside and hits the FUCKING MACHINE SUPLEX!~! on Roddy to a huge pop. Cage hits two tilt-a-whirl backbreakers, much to the approval of this really eager crowd. These guys are louder than usual. BRIAN CAGE PULLS OFF A FLAWLESS 818! How can you not love this dude? He catches Roddy coming in with a Northern Lights Suplex for a two count. He catches Roddy off of a crossbody and curls him, but Roddy counters into a small package that BRIAN COUNTERS INTO A DEADLIFT VERITCAL SUPLEX! Holy crap. This match is awesome so far. Brian Cage misses a GRACEFUL DOUBLE JUMP MOONSAULT and both are down. Roddy comes at him with mean chops in the corner. Roddy hits a fast trio of forearms, but can’t get him up for a backbreaker. He CRACKS Brian with a dropkick and gets a close nearfall. Cage counters a running forearm into a POP-UP POWERSLAM for a close two count. Cage CATCHES RODDY IN MID-AIR WITH A SUPLEX…but Roddy counters into a Backstabber! Cage hits a Funplex sort of move for a two count, but Roddy’s landing was a bit wonky. Roddy recovers enough to get ANNIHILATED BY A LARIAT! RODDY BRAINS CAGE WITH A KNEE! FOR TWO…RIGHT INTO A STRONGHOLD! Cage comes back with a backbreaker/Sister Abigail combo for two. Roderick hits Death By Roderick and HITS THE SICK KICK! Roddy wins at the 12 minute mark. ***1/2 I don’t really see why they had Roderick get the win here considering he’s more of a gatekeeper than anything, but I don’t suppose it matters enough to debate further…especially since this match was really, really good. They started off hot and didn’t let up, and the hot crowd was happy to help them out even more. I think if Brian Cage doesn’t weigh himself down with muscle mass, he’s a really good worker and it showed here. I hope he gets another big opportunity because he flourished with his last push. For the second show in a row, PWG starts off their show in tremendous fashion.

AR Fox vs. Rich Swann
It’s odd not to see these guys in tags or trios matches, but I guess things needed a little changing up. Can’t say I’m against it.

Swann dances a little bit and pisses Mr. Fox off with his head-games. Afterwards, we get the good ol’ feeling out process. Fox takes a retardedly amazing bump off of a dropkick. AR Fox either cares about fans too much or is going through a really entertaining depression. HE MURDERS SWANN WITH AN IMPLODING SENTON TO THE FLOOR! He takes control of Rich in the ring, and destroys him with a reverse STO and SHELLSHOCKED!~! I remember when Ryback was awesome. Swann kills Fox with a Tornado DDT! Swann back-kicks Fox in the face mid-run and HITS A HOPPING RANA OFF THE TOP ROPE! I am such a mark for guys who can do that move. A standing frog splash scores for Swann, but only for a nearfall. Fox misses Lo Mein Pain, but hits a Blue Thunder Bomb for two. He misses a 450 Splash and DIES by the hands (or legs I guess) of a Swann scissor-kick. Fox gets his feet up on a Swann frog splash and gets a small package for a two count. Fox hits a corkscrew brainbuster after a snazzy counter sequence and HOPS UP FOR A 450 SPLASH! SWANN KICKS OUT! Swann spits a ridiculous loogie at Fox and earns a kick to the face for his troubles. They trade pins like madmen for about 20 seconds, and Swann kills Fox with a Lethal Injection for two. Swann soccer kicks Fox and hits a Phoenix Splash to win it in 14 minutes. ***1/4 This wasn’t as good as it had the potential to be, but then again, it only is the second match of the show so you can’t exactly burn out the crowd. So for its place in the card, this was perfect. Put these guys before intermission though, and I’m sure they could cook up something even crazier.

Best Friends vs. The World’s Cutest Tag Team
This cannot be anything but drop-dead awesome and I won’t accept anything else.

I assume Candice and Joey are fucking in real life? If so, Joey might be the de-facto heel of the match based on that. Chuckie isn’t sure he wants to fight a woman, and he says “I’m from the great state of Kentucky and my mother told me to never put my hands on a woman.” He tells Trent to do it because he’s just too much of a gentleman. What a guy. The crowd busts into a fantastic “Equal Rights” chant. Candice tags into Joey, which the crowd doesn’t like. They want Candice but Joey doesn’t let no hoe bring him down. And there’s my first misogynistic comment of the night. Things finally get underway between Joey and Trent with the usual. Joey makes the crowd happy by tagging Candice in, and Chuckie tells Trent to not fight back. Trent nearly bodyslams her, but his best friend’s all “no, that won’t work.” Chuckie finally tags in and apologizes as he puts in an arm wringer. That allows Candice to reverse. Chuckie almost bodyslams her, but thinks better and lets Candice have her way with him. I mean, he never said he wouldn’t do that with her. Joey comes back in and the Best Friends do their thing normally for a little bit. Chuckie hits that great Tope Atomico, but Joey comes back and tags in Candice, who murders Trent with a diving rana! Candice makes Chuck spear his own partner, and Joey throws her into a tornado DDT on Trent. Chuckie…*GASP* pulls her hair to break up the pin. Candice slaps Chuckie, who then walks out seemingly to get away from the situation. Trent tells Candice to go get him, but that earns him a Violence Party in the corner. But…CHUCK TAYLOR COMES OUT IN MOTHERFUCKING DRAG. I’m not sure how to react to this but I think I love it. HE DROPKICKS CANDICE AND GIVES HER THE VIOLENCE PARTY!~! Kevin Steen is uncontrollably laughing on commentary. SPLASH MOUNTAIN BY TRANSVESTITE CHUCK TAYLOR. TOPE CON HILO! Candice plants Chuckie with a tornado DDT and ranas him onto Trent outside! Joey hits a crossbody on Chuckie for a two count. Trent follows up with a missile dropkick on Joey for a two count. Trent looks for his back piledriver, but Candice dropkicks him into a Yoshi-Tonic! CHUCKIE MURDERS CANDICE WITH A DELAYED AWFUL WAFFLE! JOEY BREAKS IT UP! Trent hits Joey with a Busaiku Knee, and Chuckie follows up with a double stomp to the back. They look for the Best Friends chokeslam, but end up kissing somehow. Joey Ryan GIVES CHUCK TAYLOR A BOOB-PLEX and Candice gives Trent a reverse rana to win the match at the 17 minute mark. ***1/2 The rating isn’t so much for the wrestling, even though it was really good, but the comedy here was just great. I’m still a child apparently, so everything here tickled my fancy in one way or another. Everybody in this match had the charisma to pull it off, so maybe that’s why this was executed so well. Chuck Taylor stays one of my favorite wrestlers because he’s probably the most consistently funny wrestlers ever, unless you don’t find Colt Cabana tiring. So yeah, I’d call this an all-around success.

Alex Koslov vs. Rocky Romero
THE FOREVER HOOLIGANS EXPLODE! I don’t really like these guys’ singles matches, so hopefully the PWG crowd gives them something to spruce it up with.

Koslov bitches Romero out of a handshake and Romero thinks they’re doing the “LOL nope we’re making up thing” only to eat a mean punch from his shitty friend. Koslov tries to make it up to his buddy with a handshake but to no avail. It’s slow going from there. Romero ties himself up in the ropes to try and fake out his partner, but Alex has seen that before, and dropkicks him to the floor. He dives out to the floor onto him, hitting the light fixture on the way down. Why give these guys so much time? This is not fun to watch. How many times can you put on a cross armbreaker without any variation or good counters? They’re doing Kyle O’Reilly’s style in a much more hackneyed and boring way. Rocky Romero wins with a cross armbreaker in 18 minutes. ** I vote for not bringing these guys back unless they’re a tag team because that was 20 minutes of my time I will never get back. That was such a bore and just brought down this show big time.

ACH vs. Ricochet
If there’s a God, he showed up at the right time. This is going to be godly.

ACH tries to shake his opponent’s hand, but Ricochet brings him in for a headlock. ACH LEAPS up to the top rope and armdrags him out of the ring. Ricochet one-ups him by back-flipping out of an arm-wringer, but ACH gets out of the way of a potential dive. ACH taunts Ricochet’s shoulderblocking strength, so ACH comes back with one of his own…that Ricochet DISRESPECTS with a kip-up. The flips these guys do are just stupidly good. Good psychology with the oneupsmanship deal they have going on. After too much athleticism for my brain to take, ACH dropkicks Ricochet out of the ring and HITS AIR JORDAN!~! THE FANS CROWD-SURF ACH TO A BITCHSLAP FROM RICOCHET! Oh my God I love this match with one thousand hearts. Ricochet hits the “fuckin’ unnecessary” kick and they get heated with strike exchanges. I can’t describe the hold Ricochet puts on ACH, but he does some great things with it. ACH outsmarts Ricochet by faking out of a dropkick. GIANT CLOVERLEAF SWING BY ACH…INTO THE CLOVERLEAF! ACH takes some control and gets a little cocky, hitting a backbreaker while calling out Roddy at the bar. After meditating, ACH hits a back suplex for two. It was phenomenal how much of a difference in talent this match is from the previous one. Even the slower moments are ten times more entertaining than whatever that Romero/Koslov match was. Ricochet counters a Super Sayan ACH move with Meteora and everybody’s down. A kick combo scores for a nearfall. ACH sandbags a Regalplex and eventually gets out, but Ricochet doesn’t quit that easily. He throws ACH to the apron, but ACH dives in with an Ace Crusher for a two count! That was pretty. Ricochet dodges a dive in the ring from ACH and DECKS him with a Superman Punch! DEADLIFT BRAINBUSTER BY RICOCHET! ACH KICKS OUT! Ricochet attempts to go up top, but ACH dodges a Phoenix Splash and gets two on a snazzy cradle! He follows up by dodging an enzuigiri and essentially turning it into a facebuster. ACH guillotines Ricochet on the rope and heads up top and MURDERS RICOCHET WITH A DOUBLE STOMP TO THE BACK OF THE HEAD THAT SPIKES HIM! ACH wastes too much time getting to the top rope, but RICOCHET KILLS HIM WITH A BACKFLIP KICK! He falls off the top rope AND RICOCHET DIVES OVER THE RINGPOST ON TOP OF HIM! He always manages to dive differently over that thing and it’s amazing. SHOOTING STAR PRESS! ACH KICKS OUT!~! ACH DODGES A KICK AND HITS A REVERSE RANA! HE THROWS HIS BODY INTO HIM! 450 FROM ACH! RICOCHET KICKS OUT~! Good LORD. ACH puts Ricochet’s dead ass on the top rope and looks for an imploding Tiger Driver, but Ricochet HITS THE 630! That’s it in an awesome 21 minutes. **** And of course these are the two to be the first to hit four star territory in this show. They’re consistently the best part of any event they’re on and you’d be a dork to expect any different from a match with these two in it. I needed a pick-me-up from that snoozefest of a last match, and these two were just the guys to do it. ACH needs to be a world champion somewhere by the time 2015 or so ends because there’s no way this guy isn’t going to be one of the best wrestlers in the world by then. Hell, he’s one of the better ones out there now. Imagine him in a year or so with even more seasoning. And of course, Ricochet is probably in the top 5 when it comes to pure talent on the independent scene and his work in PWG and what I’ve seen in DGUSA/EVOLVE say that for me. Top notch effort from these two, and yet it felt like they only got to about half of what they were capable of. That earns the four star rating right there.

Kevin Steen & The Young Bucks vs. Cedric Alexander, Trevor Lee, & Johnny Gargano
At Mystery Vortex II, Cedric and Trevor were involved in one of the best promotion debuts I’ve ever seen with Andrew Everett, thus earning permanent spots on the roster. Unfortunately, Andrew hurt his knee and couldn’t wrestle, but they had perhaps a better replacement for him in Johnny Gargano. It’ll be interesting to see how Cedric, Trevor, and Johnny’s efforts in trios matches stack up to Swann, Fox, Ricochet, and co.

Steen and Cedric get in a mean shoving match before the match starts, and Nick Jackson gracefully superkicks multiple flying streamers. Unfortunately, he eats it on the last one. Not the streamer, however. Johnny and Steen start things off, or so we thought, as the Bucks jump him and the other two on his team. Gargano dodges the Bucks and jumps Mr. Wrestling. Cedric tags in and he and Steen go straight the fuck at it. Things get INSANE for like two seconds with dives and whatnot, but things calm down for a short time. Lee and Steen go at it hard as well (including some really uncomfortable forearms from Steen), but Lee can’t fight off the Bucks, falling victim to a ridiculous spike DDT. The three-way “suck-it” by Mt. Rushmore is amazing, as you would think. Chuck Taylor makes a tremendous racist joke about Cedric Alexander that has Excalibur dying while Chuckie does laugh-filled commentary. Lee fights back on the Bucks and DESTROYS MATT WITH A GERMAN INTO THE SECOND TURNBUCKLE! Johnny Gargano tags in and puts on a Tarantula Black Widow while TREVOR LEE HOPS OVER HIM ONTO NICK AND STEEN! Why are people booing Johnny Gargano? Is this an elitist indy hipster thing or what? Watch PWG turn him heel and suddenly he’s God. Johnny still falls under control of Mt. Rushmore. I can’t call these triple teams Mt Rushmore is doing but I doubt I could do them justice so maybe that’s a blessing. Mt. Rushmore are just going ridiculously heel, until Johnny moves out of the way of a Steen bumrush in the corner that knocks both Bucks down. Johnny goes apeshit on Steen, and here comes Cedric! Cedric is great at hot tags, so shit breaks down pretty well. Double Tope Suicidas by Gargano and Lee, and Cedric follows with a Tope Con Hilo…THAT STEEN CATCHES INTO A POWERBOMB ON THE APRON! SWANTON BOMB! That only gets a nearfall. LEE REVERSES A CROSSBODY AND FLIPS ONTO STEEN!~! POP UP POWERBOMB ON GARGANO! Buckle Bomb/Enzuigiri by the Bucks is followed by a CANNONBALL from Steen! MUSHROOM STOMPS FOR THE BUCKS! STEEN COUNTERS INTO A DISGUSTING LIGER BOMB!~! Okay, I like Trevor Lee for sure. Lee dodges More Bang For Your Buck, and GARGANO LAWN-DARTS MATT INTO THE FUCKING RINGPOST! BACKBREAKER FROM CEDRIC! STEEN BREAKS IT UP! GARGANO COUNTERS THE PACKAGE PILEDRIVER INTO GARGA-NO ESCAPE! NICK SUPERKICKS HIM OUT OF IT! CEDRIC HITS STEEN WITH THE 540 KICK! HOLY FUCKING SHIT THE BUCKS JUST SUPERKICKS TREVOR LEE IN MID-MOONSAULT! Jesus Christ on a goddamned crutch. One More Bang for Your Fuck later and Mt. Rushmore wins it in 19 minutes. **** So I’m pretty sure Cedric, Lee, and Gargano can hold up their hand of the bargain in these matches. Especially Trevor Lee, who did ridiculous shit all the way through in this match and proved to me that he really deserves the PWG spot. He took some disgusting bumps in this and for such a young guy, he really can carry his weight when it comes to this kind of stuff. The Bucks and Steen did their thing and I really loved the more aggressive Steen in this match, as his exchanges with Cedric and Trevor really got over his personality. All in all, this was another highly successful trios match in a long line of them for this company lately.

Steen takes the mic and the crowd thinks it’s a farewell speech. Steen says he’s going to be honest and puts everybody over who’s gone to WWE from PWG. Steen says it’s true…he’s going to iHop after the show. It wasn’t a farewell speech, as Steen is wrestling Trevor Lee at ELEVEN, but you’d have to think if they were giving the guy a sendoff, it’d be a little more organized than that, right?

Knockout & Submission Only Match for the PWG World Title: Adam Cole (c) vs. Kyle O’Reilly
These guys faced off at Matt Rushmore after Kyle won BOLA, but Mount Rushmore prevented Kyle from getting a fair fight. He gets the rematch here, and it feels like a much bigger deal for some reason. All I know is I’m pumped.

Cole gets on the mic before things get started and says “I’m Shawn Michaels and you’re Marty Jannetty.” The analogies continue, and they get more hilarious. I don’t know how Kyle can win at this point. Kyle gets fed up and attacks Cole with hockey punches. Kyle gets the upperhand quickly with kicks and sweeps. Cole puts on a chinlock because he can. Cole goes after Kyle’s knee, for the Figure Four presumably. Cole puts in the amazing ringpost Figure Four. I don’t know why Rick Knox is counting, maybe force of habit. Oh well. O’Reilly ARM WRINGS COLE HARD TO THE GROUND. Good God. O’Reilly does mean things to Cole’s arm in the mean time. SUPER ARMBREAKER BY KYLE! CROSS ARMBREAKER! REVERSED INTO A HALF CRAB! God the counters never stop! Cole puts in the Figure Four. Here you go Koslov and Romero. Cole stops a Rebound Lariat and puts on a Half Crab in the ropes. They both end up on the apron and Cole looks for a German on the apron, but Kyle gets out. BRAINBUSTER ON THE APRON! Psychology is great. They end up in the ring together, and they slug it out. O’Reilly goes for Kawada kicks, and Cole slaps the shit out of him. They trade superkicks, and O’REILLY MURDERS COLE WITH A LARIAT! Cole BRAINS KYLE WITH A SUPERKICK! Cole collapses as well and they’re both down. Kyle counters the Panama Sunrise, so Cole goes for a Cradle Piledriver, but KYLE COUNTERS INTO A TRIANGLE CHOKE! COLE DEADLIFTS INTO A BUCKLE BOMB! COLE HITS A BRAINBUSTER ON THE KNEE! Kyle kicks out Cole’s knee and locks in the triangle again, but Cole KICKS RICK KNOX IN THE DICK! Kyle puts on a Guillotine while Knox recovers and HERE COMES THE REST OF RICK KNOX! THE ROSTER CLEARS OUT TO CLEAR THEM! CANDICE AND JOEY EAT SUPERKICKS! Kyle gets rid of them and HITS A RUNNING DROPKICK FROM THE APRON ONTO MOUNT RUSHMORE! COLE STIFFS HIM WITH A SUPERKICK! KYLE GIVES NO FUCKS! ANKLE LOCK BY COLE! KYLE GETS OUT AND HITS TWO BRAINBUSTERS! BRYAN DANIELSON STOMPS! TRIANGLE CHOKE! COLE TAPS!~! COLE TAPS!~! WE HAVE A NEW CHAMPION!~! 26 minutes later and Kyle O’Reilly wins the PWG belt. ****1/4 Again, these guys tear down the house with a unique yet equally exciting match. The limb work here was flawless. The different ways Kyle O’Reilly could manipulate Adam Cole’s arm were ridiculously fun to watch and I loved that Kyle was the one to vanquish all of Mount Rushmore instead of the guys that came out to help. Not because I dislike the people who helped him, but it puts him over as a badass champion more. I mean, that’s nitpicking, but it’s little things like that that can push a match over the top for me. The psychology here as well as the finish was genuine and that’s why this gets my nod for Match of the Night. The pop when Cole tapped was one of the loudest pops I’ve heard since Super Dragon came back. I highly look forward to what Kyle does with his reign. He sure kicked it off in a fantastic way.

Kyle gives his obligatory speech and I’m glad he got to make it. Just to think I could have stood to never see this guy again two years ago. Goes to show what hard work can do for you.

The 411: This show sits about neck and neck with Mystery Vortex II. The one thing it has on Mystery Vortex is that it flowed much, much better as a continuous watch (it was only 2 hrs and 19 minutes as opposed to Mystery Vortex's nearly 3 hour runtime), so much so that I reviewed this in one sitting, something I don't think I've ever done. Sold Our Soul for Rock n Roll is consistently good as well as noteworthy, with the world title change being the biggest thing to happen in PWG since Kevin Steen turned on Rick Knox back at BOLA. Both Mystery Vortex II and this show had stinkers in Nese/Strong and Romero/Koslov respectively, but everything that surrounded them worked like a charm and keeps up a consistently great streak for PWG shows. I'd call this one better than DDT4, and equal with Mystery Vortex II. The streak of shows admittedly hasn't been up to the balls-to-the-wall reputation of 2011-2012 PWG shows, but then again, I don't think it matters too much. If it's PWG, it's always good.

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]