RB Report: PWG Album of the Year

PWG Album of the Year
Van Nuys, California
March 10, 2007

*I already had the first two matches reviewed and then my computer decided it wanted to restart and didn’t save the document, and I don’t really want to watch them again, so just a few words for them.

*Dino introduces Excalibur as the Commissioner of Food and Beverage. Dino announces a tag team tournament and Excalibur announces the Briscoe Brothers as the first team. Blah, blah, blah, this section went on for too long. Frankie Kazarian came out and said Human Tornado‘s not here. Blah, blah, blah, open challenge, Disco Machine. He comes out, match is for 1/6th ownership of PWG.

*Disco Machine vs. Frankie Kazarian
Solid match, but pretty dull. Nothing really of note to write about anyway. Seemed very by-the-numbers. Can’t really complain about much else. Disco got the win when Dino distracted Frankie.

Rating: **.

*FrankySteen (Kevin Steen and Franky The Mobster) vs. Arrogance (Chris Bosh and Scott Lost)
The pre-match stuff was hilarious. The first half of the match was great and funny stuff, but then the second half got way too chaotic and they kinda lost me. Some cool double-teams, but they ended up going a bit overkill. Arrogance won when Lost rolled up Steen. Good match.

Rating: ***.

*TJ Perkins vs. Ronin
Perkins is TAFKA Puma. Ronin is a chunky, indy-tastic masked guy. Perkins is wearing socks sticking out of his boots a la Dynamite Kid. Wanker. He attempts to use his agility to gain control over the heavyweight Ronin, but eats a big forearm. They go to the mat and Perkins controls. Perkin actually busts out the Delfin Clutch. I don’t like this guy. KENTA-like kicks follow. Ronin cannot get a hold of the smaller, quicker Perkins. Haha, Perkins misses a charge and falls to the outside. Ronin chops him up around ring-side. They get back in and Perkins gets a two-count with a DDT. Crowd gets behind Ronin. He hits an ace crusher and goes to the apron. Springboard splash gets two. Perkins kicks away. He goes for the DDT again, but Ronin counters with a vicious swinging neckbreaker. Perkins is up and no-selling straight away, hitting leg lariats and rolls-through a dive from the top after Ronin moves. CLOTHESLINE by Ronin gets two. Death Valley Driver finishes Perkins and Ronin is victorious(10:39).

Rating: **. Another solid match. Perkins has potential to be really decent someday

*Nemesis vs. Phoenix Star
Nemesis is like Ronin – a big guy in a mask, only Nemesis wears black. Star is a small guy with a mask. Fans start a pathetic “lucha libre” chant. They exchange holds and Phoenix Star really impresses me with his counters. They do a sequence to an INDY STAND-OFF~! The rather rotund Nemesis slams Star and gets two off of a legdrop. Star busts out an awesome armdrag, but Nemesis pounds him down. Yoshi Tonic by Star out of the corner. Star shows that he’s also powerful with chops. Nemesis puts the brakes on that and nails a spinning neckbreaker. Star hits a really great triple-jump rolling armdrag. Nemesis catches him in a choke and transitions it into a facebuster. Nemesis beats Star around ring-side before taking the action back to the ring and getting a two-count. ARGENTINE BACKBREAKER by Nemesis! He goes to the top rope. BAD MOVE! Nemesis quickly follows. He gets him up in a super back supex position but quickly turns it around into a facebuster. He covers and it’s over(9:50).

Rating: **3/4. I really enjoyed this match. I had never seen Phoenix Star before and I’ll be damned if he didn’t impress the hell outta me here, just busting out a ton of great stuff in this match and he done it all crisply, too, which is rare on the indys.

*Tuxedo Match
Joey Ryan vs. Topgun Talwar
You fuckin’ kiddin’ me? I’m guessing there’s a feud going on here because they had an awful match at the last show. Anyway, if you’re unfamiliar with the rules of a tuxedo match, think bras and panties, but with guys in suits. Ryan attacks before the bell and takes Topgun’s jacket off. Topgun returns the favour. I realise it’s supposed to be funny, but this is just awful. Topgun works a lot of hair-based offense. They fight to the outside and Joey chokes Topgun. Off with Topgun’s shirt. Topgun does some Trish Stratus offense. Well, according to Excalibur on commentary he is. Topgun’s trousers and Joey’s shirt come off. Off with Joey’s trousers. Topgun thinks he’s won, BUT HE STILL HAS A TIE ON! They do an awful spot in the corner and Joey takes Topgun’s thong off to get the win. I should note, that Topgun was wearing shorts under the thong. Even Excalibur says that it’s “mercifully over”.

Ronin comes out attacks Joey Ryan, but unfortunately for him, a fake Scorpio Sky comes out and takes out Ronin. I don’t know the story behind this, so I’m completely lost.

Rating: I don’t do minus stars, but I’m seriously considering starting just to award this match something. I think I’ll jsut go with the age-old HORSESHIT rating.

*Colt Cabana vs. Karl Anderson
Fans chant “GILLBERG” at goatee’d, bald Anderson. Usual Cabana stuff to start. He’s got a nice little jew-fro going on up top there. They do some sillyness. Colt works the leg. My DVD starts skipping. The player’s probably annoyed at the ridiculous dullness of this show. Colt decides to target the arm. Anderson eventually has enough of the comedy and barbarically beats Cabana down. Cabana has to go to the outside, but Anderson follows him. He continues the beating on the outside for a while before taking it back in the ring. Anderson misses a big back senton from the top rope. Flying butt bump and a biel throw by Cabana. A judo-like throw by Cabana gets two. Cabana brings the awful and Anderson hits a spinebuster. He follows with a Boston crab and Cabana verbally submits(11:54).

Rating: 1/2*. Ass. The antics were wearing thin after just four minutes. I sure haven’t been missing Colt since he left for the WWE. Leave your hate mail below please.

*Rocky Romero vs. Claudio Castagnoli
I really miss the awesome blue and yellow tights that Claudio is sporting here. I have high hopes for this match to somewhat make this DVD a worthy purchase. They feel each other out and exchange holds on the mat. Claudio’s superior strength doesn’t do him much good against the wily Romero. They fight to a stalemate, which is bordering on an indy stand off. Hell, I’m just gonna do it. INDY STAND-OFF~! Romero uses his trademark leg kicks, but Claudio comes straight back with his uppercuts. They go back to the mat. Claudio doesn’t give Rocky time to go back to his kicks and takes him straight back down. They counter each other’s stuff and Claudio is sent to the outside. Claudio follows with a tope. Back in, Romero goes for an armbar, but Claudio lifts him up and slams him into the corner. Rocky hits a springboard tornado DDT. Claudio eats a kick to the face. Romero rolls into an armbar. Claudio makes a big attempt at an uppercut, but Romero counters with a German suplex. He can barely get him up, but manages to hit a back suplex. After some back-and-forth action, Rocky gets a two from a backslide. Claudio throws Rocky up, but Rocky lands a ‘rana and gets two. Rocky again goes for the armbar. RELEASE GERMAN DUMPS ROCKY ON HIS HEAD! ROCKY IS BACK ON HIS FEET! UPPERCUT BY CLAUDIO! He pins and it’s over(15:50)!

Rating: ***1/4. Really good match. It lacked that extra little something to make it amazing, but this was a great back-and-forth encounter. Both guys looked great and I loved Rocky’s suplexes to Claudio, the way he didn’t get him too far up for them, but managed to get him up enough to do damage.

*PWG World Title Match
“The Generic Luchadore” El Generico (c) vs. Davey Richards
Generico won the title at the last from his former tag team partner The Human Tornado. Davey tries to fight cleanly, but Generico loses patience with the act and shoves him out the ring. Davey takes his time getting back in. He attempts to leave because the fans like Generico more. He eventually gets back in. They manage to counter each other’s offense and Davey has enough and goes to the outside for a drink. He gets back in and Claudio chops away. There’s a long period of nothing much happening. Generico comes off the top rope, but Davey catches him with a gutbuster. He follows that with a backbreaker. Generico fires back with punches, but they don’t do much damage and Davey sends him to the mat with kicks. Generico nails a big leg lariat out of nowhere. A big kick to the mid-section puts Generico back in his place. It’s ridiculous that we’re not twenty minutes into the match and still not much of note has happened. Davey wears him down on the mat. Five minutes later, Generico gets his second win. He unloads some shots and a tornado DDT gets two. Generico hits a TAKA Michinoku-esque moonsault to the outside onto Davey. Davey’s mouth is busted. He cuts Generico off from his dive between the second and bottom rope. They battle it out on the top rope. Davey gets pushed off and a big splash gets two from Generico. Davey gets a close two-fall on Generico. Kondo Clutch by Davey. Generico nails a brainbuster, but gets two. Generico misses the Yakuza kick in the corner. Davey grabs him and hits an exploder into the corner. Generico manages to hit the Yakuza, but Davey comes right back and hits a clothesline that causes Generico to land on his head. We’re now more than thirty minutes in. Generico gets his knees up when Davey goes for the SSP. Yakuza in corner, BRAINBUSTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH~! Davey somehow manages to kick out at two. Roundhouse kick sends Generico loopy. Excalibur declares it “shades of MIRKO CROCOP”! I LOL’d. Generico hits a BRAINBUSTER ON THE APRON! That was fucking disgusting. He covers and it’s over(34:06)! The DVD ending straight after the fall with no post-match celebration is bizarre.

Rating: **1/2. The last ten or so minutes were really good and exciting, but the rest was mind-numbingly dull. They could have trimmed ten minutes off this and it would’ve been great. Davey spent way too much of the match jaw-jacking with the fans rather than actually going after Generico, which annoyed me.

The 411: Really poor show. The last two matches and Frankysteen vs. Arrogance were decent, but the rest was just missable filler. Avoid.
Final Score:  4.0   [ Poor ]