Kevin’s PWG Nice Boys (Don’t Play Rock n’ Roll) Review

PWG Nice Boys (Don’t Play Rock n’ Roll)
March 18th, 2017 | American Legion Post #308 in Reseda, California

I checked out PWG’s first 2017 show, Only Kings Understand Each Other, and found it to be a good show. There’s only one match from it that I’d consider must see (Fenix vs. Trent?). Their second effort of the year has a more intriguing card, so I figured I’d review it.

Brian Cage vs. Keith Lee vs. Sami Callihan
Callahan was scheduled to face Adam Cole. Cole’s injured and Sami was told he could join any match. The madman picked this one, against two monsters. Cage and Lee got to remind the crowd of their ridiculous athleticism for men their size on more than one occasion. They both snapped off ranas and tope con hilos. Sami was a strange inclusion here. He brought a sense of chaos to the match, but I think this would’ve been better off as just Lee vs. Cage. I appreciate that they didn’t try to do something that didn’t work for them. They just went out and had a wild spot fest, which is exactly what the live audience wanted. There were so many wild moments and absurd spots throughout this. Callihan’s best moments were a destroyer on Lee and Yoshi Tonic on Cage, within a minute of each other. Shortly after, Cage hit the falcon arrow (HE DID THE DEAL) and won at 16:00! A ridiculous opener in the best way. There were a few sloppy moments, and I didn’t like most of the outside stuff. Other than that though, this was one of the more fun ways to open a PWG show. It’s the most I’ve ever enjoyed Callihan, Lee was way over and the falcon arrow finish was awesome. [***½]

The Chosen Bros vs. OI4K
OI4K is the former Irish Airborne, while the Chosen Bros are Matt Riddle and Jeff Cobb. I’ve never been big on the Crist brothers, but Cobb and Riddle are a blast. OI4K was game to bump for their opponents. They were beaten up and thrown around in entertaining ways. The crowd ate up everything the Chosen Bros did. OI4K used tandem offense to neutralize Cobb. They also busted out some impressive aerial offense, harkening back to their days as Irish Airborne. Parts of the final stretch were great, but I do think OI4K did some standing around at times that kind of made things feel awkward. The Bros nailed a fantastic lawn dart/bicycle knee combo, before the Tour of the Islands and Bromission ended it at 16:47. It went a bit long and had some slow points late, but this was still a good tag team match. The Chosen Bros have shown great chemistry in their short stint as a team and the fans loved them. [***]

Lio Rush vs. Trevor Lee
At Only Kings Understand Each Other, Lio debuted against Ricochet in a damn good match. Lee has been playing up his “TNA Superstar” status for heat in PWG. He jumped Rush at the start, but the quick youngster didn’t stay down. There was a good spot where Rush nearly got counted out, but a fan helped him to his feet. He’s quite popular and doing very well since leaving ROH. That’s a trend these days if you didn’t notice. Lio fought from behind, but instead of the typical tale of him being a complete underdog, he looked like Trevor’s equal at times. As expected, the finishing stretch ruled. Lio had counters for some of Lee’s best offense, including God’s Last Gift. He also countered a German into a reverse rana and went for the frog splash. Trevor got the knees up and used a small package. Rush kicked out and turned it into his own inside cradle for the upset in 13:29. That was one hell of a sprint. Lio took the beating he’s so good at taking and Lee was a total dick. The ending was great and I enjoyed the upset. [***½]

Dezmond Xavier vs. Shane Strickland
A pair of PWG debuts here. Xavier has made waves across the indies (notably CZW and FIP), while Strickland’s been great for a while and plays Killshot in Lucha Underground. Shane was way over, getting tons of “Swerve” chants. This was one of the spottiest of spot fests I’ve seen in a while. It felt way more like a compilation of their greatest hits than a match. The moves they did were quite wild, particularly Xavier’s standing dragon rana down the stretch, and the crowd enjoyed the hell out of it. Chuck Taylor’s “WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?” when Xavier did that move was great. Strickland survived that and won with the brutal looking JML Driver in 12:52. The greatest hits strategy worked for the live crowd. They enjoyed this, but it wasn’t quite for me. [**½]

Best Friends vs. The Leaders of the New School
For those unaware, the Best Friends are Chuck Taylor and Trent?, while LDRS consists of Marty Scurll and PWG Champion Zack Sabre Jr. This started with a brawl and once LDRS got in trouble, they tried bailing. The Best Friends brought them back and got in control. LDRS turned it around with some cheap shots. They played the asshole heels so well. Trent? was the face in peril, with LRDS cutting off the hot tag expertly. They were nearly on some Revival level shit. When Chuck finally got the tag, it felt very earned. As things eventually broke down, LDRS threw bombs at the faces, who were incredibly resilient. We got a great moment of stereo submissions from LDRS, only for Chuck to break up the chicken wing by powerbombing Sabre onto his partner. Chuck fought Marty to the back, leaving Trent? alone with the champ. Sabre went after the shoulder, but might’ve been too cocky. Trent? found a way to pull him into a cradle piledriver (shout out to Sabre’s stablemate in NJPW, Minoru Suzuki) and pinned the PWG Champion at 23:21! Beretta has been tremendous in 2017 and this was his best performance. His face in peril run was fantastic. As great as the Best Friends were, LDRS played their roles perfectly. Sometimes, a heat segment in a tag match can drag but everyone did their part to make this one interesting. [****¼]

Marty Scurll returned to attack the winners with low blows. He brought chairs into play, leading to a chair bridge powerbomb on Chuck. Marty challenged the fallen Chuck to a match and Chuck accepted as long as it would be a Reseda Street Fight. That should be fun, but man I’m all for Trent? vs. Sabre for the title at some point.

PWG Tag Team Championship: The Young Bucks (c) vs. Fenix and Pentagon El Zero M vs. Matt Sydal and Ricochet
This could be hit or miss for me. I don’t care for Sydal and I hate the Bucks. I love Fenix, Pentagon and Ricochet though. The Lucha Brothers last appeared and stole the show during BOLA weekend. Tornado rules here, so it was the expected craziness. This was fucking insane. There’s no other way to describe it. Some of the highlights saw Ricochet do a goddamn Canadian Destroyer on the apron. Like, what? Sydal and Ricochet teamed up for an SSP version of the Meltzer Driver (Dave was at ringside) for another cool moment, as well as Ricochet (he was kind of the star) doing his own SSP to the outside where he got so much height, he hit a light fixture. I dug Pentagon & Fenix using the same superkick barrage on the Bucks that the Bucks used to beat them at BOLA last year. They surprised many by capturing the titles with a package piledriver into a spinning destroyer on Ricochet at 20:02. A fitting main event that delivered the goods. Admittedly, there were a few things to keep this from a MOTYC. There was a spot where the Bucks and Lucha Brothers battled “CERO MIDEO/SUCK IT” taunts (each team did the taunt of the other), which was cool but lasted far too long and crossed into annoying territory. At times, it had a similar vibe to Strickland/Xavier where some moves just felt like they were doing for a pop, rather than with a point. With that stuff out of the way, this was still great and worked perfectly for the live crowd. They lost their collective minds and it was exactly what the Reseda crowd wanted. It’s the one style of match the Bucks do well, but Ricochet and the winners shined brightest here. [****]

8.5

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

One of the better PWG shows I can recall. Outside of Strickland/Xavier, which will still have its fans, I thought the entire show delivered. The opening triple threat was great fun. Guys like Lee and Rush have been a great influx of new blood to freshen up the shows. Rush/Lee was damn good and the Chosen Bros tag was solid. The show really became great with the final two matches. Two completely different, but awesome tag matches. One told a brilliant story and the other was the perfectly insane PWG match and you’ve got an easy winner.