Views from the Hawke’s Nest: Pro Wrestling Guerrilla Sells Out – Volume 1 – Disc 3

Based on a True Story
January 13, 2007

Joey Ryan(c) vs. Human Tornado (w/ Candice LeRae) [Guerrilla Warfare Match for the Pro Wrestling Guerilla World Championship]

“Tonight, I’m going to own you [Human Tornado] like it’s 1860.” Joey Ryan, everyone.

When this popped up on the set, I was hoping it would be a violence/blood-fest that compensated for the fact that Joey Ryan would likely be working on top for the majority of the match. Unfortunately, it was just a 40+ minute Joey Ryan match with some plunder and blood sporadically employed throughout the match. They also integrated some big spots. Theoretically, they should have meant more because they used only a handful of them in a long match. Unfortunately, it was a terrible match so that did not help. Tornado ended up winning after a brutal combination of movez. Unfortunately, I stopped caring about the match about thirty minutes before the finish. Crowd dug the title switch at least. (3/4*)

 

Holy Driver Down
February 24, 2007

Kevin Steen vs. PAC

This was largely the match you would expect these two to have in 2007: Steen dominated the majority of the match until PAC made an exceptionally flippy comeback. Steen’s lengthy heat segment was not really done to set up anything, but I think it did actually benefit the match. PAC’s comeback seemed all the more impressive after surviving the beatdown. PAC needed a shooting star senton and British Airways to finish Steen off. This was a great match and the best match that I’ve seen between the two. (****1/4)

 

All Star Weekend
April 8, 2007

PAC vs. Kaz Hayashi

The previous match featured an opponent who knew how to work to PAC’s strengths. Hayashi decided to go a different path, as he made his heat segment about working a limb (PAC’s left arm). PAC, of course, did not sell the arm in any meaningful way, and the match devolved into a back-and-forth movez fest. The last part is not necessarily a bad thing, as the PAC vs. Kevin Steen match reviewed above very much turns into that. However, that match was great in part because of how they built to that sequence. That sequence being done here was tonally inconsistent and ignored the work done in the first half of the match. The match was fun to watch but it could have been so much more. Hayashi won clean with The Final Cut. (***)

 

DDT4
May 19, 2007

Bryan Danielson vs. Cima

This match was pretty dynamite in a few ways despite being a thirty minute draw. I really liked how each man had a clear strategy. Dragon went after an arm. Cima went after the neck. If Cima had been in control longer, he may have been able to finish Dragon with the Schwein. They also managed to keep up a really good pace for a thirty minute match. My only real nitpick is that Cima should have probably been selling his arm a bit more down the stretch. (***3/4)

 

DDT4
May 20, 2007

Briscoe Brothers (Jay & Mark Briscoe) vs. PAC & Roderick Strong

This was the Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament Finals for the vacant PWG World Tag Team Championships.

The match was pretty standard for the time for the first 80-90% of it, but the finishing stretch really put it over the top. Mind you, everything that came before the finish was perfectly fine. It just did not stand out or grab me much. They really got the place unglued for the final few minutes though. Huge props to all involved for that. (***1/2)

 

Giant-Size Annual #4
July 29, 2007

PAC & Roderick Strong© vs. El Generico & Kevin Steen [PWG World Tag Championship]

The structure of the match was paint-by-numbers for the major independent wrestling companies of the last fifteen years, but it was executed just about as well as it can be done. I enjoyed this from the beginning until the very end. Steenerico won the titles cleanly after their package piledriver/brainbuster combo on The Man Whom Gravity Forgot. (****)

As Generico and Steen celebrate in the ring, a bloody Bryan Danielson comes out and tells asks Steen to go to the back. Dragon challenges Generico to a PWG World Title match, because that was the originally scheduled main event. Dragon slapped Generico and it’s on!

 

Giant-Size Annual #4
July 29, 2007

El Generico© vs. Bryan Danielson [PWG World Title]

I consider these two to be two of the greatest wrestlers ever (both are in my personal top five). As best as I can tell, they worked each other THREE times in singles matches. That is absurd. They worked a surprisingly high-energy match here given that both guys had already worked full matches earlier in the show. The finish was classic PWG booking as they did a title change in an unannounced title match (by “classic,” I mean they’ve done it more than once and haven’t had all that many title changes). Bryan won clean with the Cattle Mutilation. A damn fine way to end this set. (***3/4)

 

Watch these wrestlers in some free matches!

Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Super Dragon & Excalibur

AJ Styles & Air Paris vs. Kaz Hayashi & Jimmy Yang

Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe [Great match!]

El Generico vs. PAC

El Generico vs. Davey Richards

El Generico vs. PAC

8.5

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

In fitting PWG fashion, there is a lot of greatness here (with that mostly being concentrated in the more modern period) but a fair amount low-points as well (and a lot of those are due to Joey Ryan matches). The positives far outweigh the negatives, and even the older bad stuff (like the Punk match) was absolutely worth watching in order to get more familiar with PWG's older shows. This is an easy recommendation if you can get your hands on it.