Guerrilla Reviewfare: PWG All Star Weekend 9 – Night 1

I was giddy as hell once I got this weekend of shows in the mail. The debut of a lot of the DGUSA guys really interested me, as did Trent Baretta making his first relevant indy appearance. I’m sick of reading reports, so I’ll see for myself.

We are TAPED from the American Legion in Reseda, CA. Your commentators are Excalbur and the usual gaggle of misfits.

Paul London vs. Kevin Steen
This is London’s first PWG appearance since late 2010, and I think we all hoped he’d be a little more motivated to put on some better matches this time around . We’ll see.

Steen tussles London’s hair, so London runs to the bathroom to fix his mop. Upon re-entry, London has a very difficult (but funny) time getting Steen down with a shoulderblock. London isn’t quitting though, and stupidly lets Steen get a head of steam and DROP HIM ON HIS HEAD with another big shoulderblock. London goes to the back and gets a couple of gloves, and challenges Steen to a duel…and BITCHSLAPS HIM WITH THE GLOVES. Paul realizes that he just fucked up big time, but outsmarts Steen in the first real action of the match. London kicks Steen in his chest hard, and NAILS A POP-UP DROPSAULT! ASAI MOONSAULT! Steen comes back outside by smashing him into the ringpost, and he gets a two count off of a back suplex in the ring. Steen spends too much time dicking around, so London nails a couple of roundhouses to the back of his head and sweeps him off of the apron. London chucks Steen out to the apron and DOUBLE STOMPS HIM ON HIS HEAD FROM THE TOP TURNBUCKLE. Steen catches Paul on a springboard and nails an F-Cinq! Only two. Paul London throws a beautiful dropkick, it must be said. He tries to lift Steen up in a Fireman’s Carry, but Mr. Wrestling’s fat ass stops that…until London LIFTS HIM OUT OF THE CORNER FOR A DVD! London goes up for the London Star Press, but Steen puts the brakes on him. He crotches London on the top rope, put him in the Tree of Woe, and Cannonballs him! SLEEPER SUPLEX! London kicks out at 2.8. Steen goes up top but eats knees on a Steenton Bomb! Steen looks for a back superplex, but London NAILS A SUNSET POWERBOMB! LONDON STAR PRESS ONTO STEEN’S BACK! Paul London picks up the win in 20 minutes. ***1/4 Perfectly serviceable opener, although it was a bit long in the tooth. London looked a hell of a lot more motivated than usual and it paid off with one of his better singles matches in PWG. They didn’t burn out the crowd, which is great, but they could have shaved this down five minutes and had an even better match. No harm, no foul I guess. Good stuff either you way you look at it.

The Young Bucks vs. Johnny Gargano & Chuck Taylor
Here we have one of the first brand new arrivals of the weekend in Johnny Gargano, who’s been the DGUSA champ for over a year now and is a regular in CHIKARA. Hopefully he’ll get more eyes on him with PWG because he’s fantastic.

Chuckie T and Matt Jackson start off, and Matt fires off a couple of right hands to get the upperhand early. Chuckie comes back with a rapid fire belly-to-belly and a slick kip-up. Chuckie bits Nick’s hair, and here comes Johnny Gargano. Gargano goes through a sweet lucha sequence with Matt, and dives off the apron onto Nick, coming back in for a slingshot DDT that spikes Matt on his head! Sweet Double Team gets the biggest pop of the match, and Nick is in trouble in the ring. Matt comes in for more of the same, but blind tags Nick, who CONNECTS WITH A SPINNING ENZUIGIRI! Gargano pays Ricky Morton for the time being, and starts a 2-1 comeback by moving out of the way of an enzuigiri and nailing a reverse STO/DDT combo! Chuckie T tags in and LANDS A SWEET TOPE CON HILO! Gargano nails a tope suicida while Taylor nails a Lionsault for 2! Matt gets out of a double team and helps Nick with a running knee, but Gargano counters Sliced Bread #2 with a superkick and Taylor THROWS NICK INTO A CUTTER! Gargano catches Matt with a low enzuigiri, but EATS SLICED BREAD NUMBER TWO AND A RUNNING ENZUIGIRI! Only 2. Nick nails a springboard X-Factor on Gargano, AND TAYLOR NAILS NICK WITH SOLEFOOD! APRON DDT BY MATT! GARGANO SPEARS MATT OUT OF THE RING INTO THE CHAIRS~! JESUS. Taylor takes Early Onset Alzheimer’s, and SO DOES GARGANO AS HE LEAPS INTO THE RING! More Bang For Your Buck countered INTO A LAWNDART ONTO THE SECOND TURNBUCKLE! DOUBLE STOMP/TOWER OF LONDON! NEARFALL~! Okay, this rules and I won’t hear anything to the contrary. Matt low-blows Taylor and Gargano eats Early Onset Alzheimer’s! Buckle Bomb/Enzuigiri hits, and More Bang For Your Buck wins a SICK match in 17 minutes. **** This was great. If there’s one thing the Young Bucks are good for, it’s having insane spotfests with almost every team they face; this was no different. There were a couple of very convincing nearfalls along with the sheer speed and insanity they wrestled with, so there’s some more indy fanboyism to heap on. In all seriousness though, this was just a blast to watch and it was obvious from the start that Johnny Gargano was going to earn a regular spot in PWG, but I didn’t know it would be like this.

Jay Lethal vs. Eddie Edwards
I fully support Jay Lethal being in PWG, as he has been tearing it up in ROH lately with the likes of Kevin Steen and Michael Elgin. Who better to the face than Eddie Edwards?

They change up your usual opening scientific stuff with a rapid fire hammerlock counter sequence, but end up in a GENERIC INDY STANDOFF!~! anyway. Eddie trips Lethal coming off the ropes and they just go counter-for-counter, and it’s way too fast to call. I am perfectly okay with the GENERIC INDY STANDOFF!~! coming out of that sequence. It’s crazy how much more entertaining it is to watch guys actually try and change it up. Lethal goes all Black Machismo, but ends up in the Tree of Woe with a face full of Eddie’s boot. A fan whips Eddie into another dropkick in the corner. Eddie takes this time to absolutely PLASTER Jay Lethal with chops. Jay comes off the top rope with a double axe handle. Excalibur – “Imagine how serious your brain damage has to be if you can still wrestle, but you still think your Macho Man Randy Savage.” Lethal confides in a couple of fans to whip him into Eddie, but he eats the apron instead. Jay scolds the fans, so Eddie hits a tope suicida to take advantage of the distraction. Lethal connects with a superkick and HITS A BEAUTIFUL JERICHO-ESQUE SPRINGBOARD DROPKICK! Eddie hits Lethal with a dropicking coming off of a springboard, but takes a back suplex into a neckbreaker for 2. Eddie counters a back handspring into a Rex-Plex, but Lethal doesn’t die. Eddie eats boot, so he CHOPS THE SHIT OUT OF LETHAL and nearly puts in the Achilles Lock, but is countered. Instead, a diving lungblower hits. Eddie hits Diehard for 2. Jay hits the Lethal Combination and hits Hail to the King! Eddie kicks out, but RIGHT INTO A KOJI CLUTCH! Eddie counters into the Achilles Lock! Jay hits a Dragon Suplex, a superkick, but IS SUPERPLEXED MID LETHAL INJECTION! LETHAL NAILS THE LETHAL INJECTION! EDDIE KICKS OUT! Eddie counters a super Ace Crusher with a Frankensteiner, and KILLS HIM WITH A LARIAT…AND A POWERBOMB! Achilles Lock gets the win in 22 minutes. ***3/4 Awesome match, but with a more gradual build and slower pace. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, and they killed it nonetheless. It isn’t as good as Lethal’s recent outings, but I would imagine he’s got a regular spot in PWG too. Another great match on this show.

The Inner-City Machine Guns vs. AR Fox and Samuray Del Sol
They were right putting this on before intermission, because this is going to be fucking bonkers.

Rich Swann leads an animated rendition of Lionel Richie’s “All Night Long”, because he can. Fox and Swann start us off, as Chuck Taylor predicts that AR Fox is going to die. Rich’s rapid kip-ups piss Fox off, so AR dips for a little bit. Fox KILLS SWANN WITH A SPINNING BRAINBUSTER! METEORA FROM RICOCHET! Oh man, this is going to be so sick. Del Sol comes in with Ricochet, who violently kicks out of a wristlock. Del Sol and Ricochet GO THROUGH THE MOST FUCKING INSANE SEQUENCE OF CARTWHEEL COUNTERS I HAVE EVER SEEN!~! That brings the crowd up big time, and for good reason…shit. THE BEST INDY STANDOFF OF ALL TIME!~! happens, as Excalibur proclaims “I will never wrestle again.” Del Sol gets himself out of trouble and tags Fox in, takes control of Ricochet. Split Legged Corkscrew Moonsault gets a 2 count. Double partner-assisted Casadora ends in a legdrop from Fox for a 2 count. Ricochet catches Del Sol with a cutter, and tags Swann in to pick up the pieces. A beautiful dropkick connects for a 2 count. Ricochet comes back in and DROPS AR Fox, who comes back in like a house on fire while Del Sol wallows in the middle of the ring. Del Sol hits some rapid fire chops, but Ricochet drops him with an elbow…until Del Sol kips up into a hurricanrana! AR Fox tags in and hits a missile dropkick and nails a heat seeking missile on Ricochet, one on Swann, and a tope con hilo on Ricochet! Swann clocks Del Sol with a kick, but Del Sol hits a sweet sitout Shiranui for a 2 count. Del Sol splits and Swann tumbles out, so Del Sol HITS A SICK SPRINGBOARD TORNILLO~! Fox and Ricochet are left in the ring, and Fox BACK SPRINGS RIGHT INTO A REGAL PLEX! Ricochet hits a standing SSP for a 2 count, and Del Sol disposes of Swann, leacing Ricochet by himself. SHOOTING STAR CANNONBALL FROM FOX! Ricochet nails a Pele Kick and THE SICK NO HANDS PLANCHA OVER THE RINGPOST!~! Fox NAILS A BATSHIT CRAZY IMPLODING SENTON TO THE MACHINE GUNS~! TOP ROPE LEGDROP ON THE APRON! 450 FROM FOX! SWANN KICKS OUT! SWANN SPRINGS OUT OF A CUTTER! SWANN LEAPS OVER RICOCHET FOR A DROPKICK! JUMPING RANA SENTONS FOX ON TOP OF DEL SOL! TOPE CON HILO FROM SWANN! 630 FROM RICOCHET! The Machine Guns win a motherfucking WEEKEND STEALER in 20 minutes. ****1/2 I think I’ve gotten my point across regarding my views on DGUSA and EVOLVE, but no one will doubt the sheer volume of talent that runs through those two promotions. This was one of the craziest matches of 2013 so far, from the opening cartwheel sequence to the batshit mental last five minutes. The really good matches make me jump out of my seat, and this was no exception. This was the best PWG match since Steen/Cole from Mystery Vortex, but it’s probably better in the grand scheme of things on sheer action alone. I’m sure to a regular DGUSA fan, this is nothing, but for me (especially in front of the PWG crowd) this was incredible on almost every level.

Trent? vs. Roderick Strong
Why there’s a question mark in Trent’s name, I don’t know. But I know that he looks bigger than Roddy by a little bit, which is weird because he was one of the smaller dudes in NXT when he was there.

Nothing much happens early other than a couple of Trent chops. Trent slingshots in and basically just footwashes Roderick, so Roddy’s all like FUCK YOU and chops him in the throat. “You wanna see some shit?” says Roddy. Trent eats chop. The former Dudebuster gets out of a resthold with a jawbreaker, and fires off some more chops. Roddy puts him on the top rope, but Trent bats him off and hits a swank corkscrew senton. Trent hits a crossbody for a two count, and the crowd just doesn’t seem to care much. Trent stomps Roddy whilst in the corner like Scott Lost, but Roddy reverses a suplex and chops the hell out of Trent. Olympic Slam scores for a 2 count. Trent eats a backbreaker and the fireman’s carry gutbuster for another two count. Trent hits a nice legdrop over Roddy, who’s hung on the second rope. They fight on the apron until Roddy EATS a knee and tumbles off. SPRINGBOARD CORKSCREW SENTON TO THE OUTSIDE! Trent heads back into the ring and hits a tornado DDT. Trent goes up top and nearly takes an Air Raid Crash, but reverses into a super rana…reversed into a sunset flip! BACK PILEDRIVER! Roddy kicks out. Roddy takes the match with an Orange Crush Backbreaker in 17 minutes. ***1/4 It wasn’t too bad for a guy like Trent? who is still trying to adjust to the indy style, but this suffered from a combination of bad match placement and general lack of pizzazz in what they were doing. I’ll give it a pass because it got really good the last few minutes, but I’m not blown away.

Future Shock vs. The Unbreakable Fucking Machines
Heel Adam Cole time. That’s always great.

Excalibur accidentally misspells ‘entrance’ casually. That’s nice. Kyle and Cage start off with some run-of-the-mill chaining. Cage DEADLIFTS OUT OF A CROSS ARMBREAKER and drops Kyle on his head. Elgin and Cole come in now, and Elgin just tosses Cole like a baby. Cole wants a test of strength, but fakes out and SUCK MY DICK. Elgin KNOCKS HIM DEAD WITH HIS DICK. God, I love heel Adam Cole. Elgin – “How did my dick taste?” That’s the most charisma I’ve seen from Michael Elgin since I started watching him. Cole eats a shoulderblock and here comes Cage. Cage passes Cole to Elgin in a vertical suplex, because they’re goddamn monsters. Cage drops him down after a minute or so for a 2 count. Kyle tags in and gets a little bit of offense, but Elgin overwhelms him. Cole comes in to save Kyle from further harm, but can’t…until he gets a chair and smacks Elgin behind the ref’s back. That allows Future Shock to take control for a little while, until Elgin powers back up and DEADLIFT GERMAN SUPLEXES COLE WHILE O’REILLY IS ON HIS BACK! Cage tags in and runs rampant on Adam Cole, including providing a platform for Elgin to powerbomb Cole onto with his knees. Elgin finds himself in the tree of woe and dropkicked, but Future Shock hits Chasing The Dragon for a close two count. Cage counters a double suplex by tossing both O’Reilly and Cole back, and Michael Elgin comes in with some mean chops on both of them as well. SAMOAN DROP/LAST CALL! Elgin puts both of them in the corner and lariats them multiple times. HELLEVATOR FROM ELGIN! RUNNING KNEE FROM COLE! COLE EATS A DISCUS LARIAT FROM CAGE! DOUBLE FUCKING MACHINE SUPERPLEXES~! TWO COUNT! Corkscrew Senton eats knees from O’Reilly, and Kyle counters a deadlift from Cage into a guillotine! Cole tags in blindly and Future Shock hits a butterfly DDT into a wheelbarrow suplex! Cage misses a discus lariat and eats an enzuigiri from Cole, so Elgin comes in to pick up the pieces. ELGIN BEHEADS O’REILLY WITH A LARIAT! BACKDROP DRIVER FROM O’REILLY! PANAMA SUNRISE FROM COLE! ELGIN KICKS OUT~! Cage powerbombs Cole on his knee, and Elgin pins O’Reilly with an Elgin Bomb in 23 minutes. ***3/4 With a little more action down the stretch, this could have crept in to four star territory. As it is though, we still got some really good stuff. Cole is one of my favorite wrestlers anywhere right now, especially in PWG, because the cliched opening stretch is always fun because of his antics. Elgin showed a little bit of personality in there, and it provided some funny moments too. Once they got down to the wire, they turned it up and pulled off some great nearfalls. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t good.

Number One Contender Guerrilla Warfare Match: Drake Younger vs. Sami Callihan
This is the third match in their batshit insane series, and the bitching and moaning about these two has apparently hit an all-time high with this one. Since I’m heartless, I’m going to love it.

Action spills to the outside early, where Younger slams Sami on a chair Necro-style. Drake sets up four chairs in a little square, and sets a chair on top of it. Younger tries to suplex Sami on it from the apron, but Sami gets out…only to eat a somersault off of the top rope. Younger sets Sami on the top rope, BUT SAMI POWERBOMBS HIM ON THE BOTTOM OF A TRASHCAN! Jesus Christ. Oh my fuck a PIECE OF SKIN IS HANGING OFF OF DRAKE YOUNGER’S HEAD. He is POURING blood out of it now. Christ. Drake plays possum and SUPLEXES SAMI THROUGH A TRASHCAN. A two count only. Drake makes a pile of chairs in the ring, but SAMI SUPERPLEXES HIM ON IT! Drake takes two hard lariats AND A MOTHERFUCKING AWESOME BOMB THROUGH THE CHAIRS OUTSIDE! Dear God. Excalibur and Kevin Steen are speechless. Sami gets a staple gun and STAPLES HIS HEAD TO COUNTER A SUNSET FLIP! Son of a bitch. Drake flips him off, so SAMI STAPLES TWO DOLLARS TO HIS CHEEK! Jesus tapdancing Christ. STAPLE GUN TO THE DICK FROM DRAKE! PILEDRIVER! Sami kicks out. Even Kevin Steen is begging for this to end. Drake goes for the thumbtacks. SAMI THROWS TACKS IN DRAKE’S FACE! BACKDROP DRIVER ON THE TACKS. Drake gets a head full of tacks…ugh…this is getting to be a little much, even for me. Sami Callihan brings out salt… and pours it all over Drake Younger. Come on guys. Drake nails Tiger Driver for a 2 count. Drake Younger misses a somersault through a chair, and Sami puts in a Stretch Muffler. Kevin Steen is absolutely disgusted. DRAKE NAILS DRAKE’S LANDING THROUGH A CHAIR. Drake Younger mercifully ends this in 20 minutes. ***1/4 Look, I’m not a squeamish person. I’ve been watching wrestling since I was 7 years old and my discovery of independent wrestling has only heightened my fondness for this crazy shit. But never have I been as mortified because of a simple wrestling match. This was some of the sickest, most brutal stuff I’ve ever seen. If you can believe it, it’s more brutal than Sami’s Cage of Death match with Danny Havoc in CZW, my favorite deathmatch. Yes, I just admitted that. I’ll explain if need be. This…I’m just not sure what to think. I respect both of these men for taking risks to entertain the audience, but it was just too much. It doesn’t belong in PWG as far as I’m concerned. I was really liking this until the staple gun stuff (and my rating reflects that), but Sami pouring salt all over Drake just took me straight out of the match. Drake Younger doesn’t need to take these risks, and Sami Callihan sure doesn’t either. Luckily, Drake is quitting the deathmatch bullshit and focusing on actual wrestling. It takes a lot of shit to get me out of a hardcore match, but it happened here. I loved their other matches, but this isn’t PWG. This is CZW stuff, and it doesn’t belong in the best promotion in North America. It belongs in CZW and that shitty Big Japan promotion. This was great until the staple gun stuff as I said, but I detract points if something takes me out of the match itself. This shouldn’t be a PWG main event, honestly.

The 411: After a slightly disappointing DDT4 show in January, Night 1 of All Star Weekend reminds everyone of how good PWG really is. It's better for its consistency moreso than its outstanding match quality top-to-bottom, but the best wrestling shows are the events that you can sit down and take in one sitting. I do say that with the pre-disposal that most of you reading this review have seen anything AR Fox and co. have done, because for a sheltered fan, that tag match might need a bit of a comedown period. So for the regular fans of independent wrestling, this is just another great PWG show in a long line of them. Strongly recommended, as usual.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]