Views from the Hawke’s Nest: PWG European Vacation – England 2007

Portsmouth, England
October 27, 2007

Commentators: Excalibur & Disco Machine

Joey Ryan vs. Spud
Oh em gee, it’s the Rockstar Potato! In PWG!

As you would expect, this match was all gaga. Ryan was in control for most of the match but Spud got his licks in for sure. Spud eventually made a HUGE comeback. Ryan had to poke him in the eyes to slow him down. They actually traded some decent nearfalls. Spud revered a splash mountain powerbomb into a hurricanrana and then gave him a bodyslam (after failing badly twice earlier). Spud built up some momentum, but Ryan eventually caught him with a superkick: 1…2…3

The power of Spud. Spud is such an entertaining character that the crowd absolutely rallied behind him in his quest to defeat Joey Ryan. This was a very successful opener, and one of the better Joey Ryan comedy matches that I have seen.
Match Rating: ***

Austin Aries vs. Zebra Kid
There was a lot of back and forth action at the start. Neither man could get a firm advantage for a while. They brawled on the floor and in the merchandise area. They continued to work a back and forth brawl. They got back in the ring, and Aries hit a number of elbow strikes. Aries hit a brainbuster for a nearfall. Aries called for the 450, but Zebra shoved him to the floor. Zebra blocked a super brainbuster and then hit a diving elbow: 1…2…3

Much like Aries’s match with Dragon the night before, I found it very hard to care about this match. The match was all back and forth, and I never got invested in either performer.
Match Rating: **1/2

Aviv Maayan & LT Summers vs. The Kartel (Terry Frazier & Sha Samuels)
I have never heard of anyone in this match.

My expectations are very low for this. The match started as a brawl. I have a bad feeling about this. Sha Samuels was cut off early and worked over. This was so beyond awful. I am so delirious right now. I cannot believe this is happening. The sound from the ring died for a minute or so. Sha Samuels eventually sent Summers into a post and then started his comeback. He fell down on his first lariat. Samuels caught Summers out of nowhere with a small package: 1…2…3

I’ve never gone lower than a DUD before. I was so tempted to here. A DUD just does not capture the pure awfulness of this match. I really just have to do it.
Match Rating: -*****

Bryan Danielson© vs. Martin Stone [PWG World Championship]
Dragon tweaked his neck early, and Stone started going after the neck. Dragon came back with a tope suicida. Back in the ring, Stone came back and went after the neck some more. Dragon came back with a series of elbow strikes, but Stone turned him inside out with a lariat. Stone got a nearfall with a brainbuster. Dragon avoided another brainbuster though and hit a Busaiku Knee. Cattle Mutilation! Stone taps out!

While this match was shorter than you would expect from a Bryan Danielson championship defense, it did not take away from the enjoyment at all. If anything, I found this defense refreshing after the disappointment from the Aries defense from the night before. (For the record, I don’t think matches need to be long to be great, and I often find that long matches are long for no reason. It’s just that Bryan Danielson matches are some of the few matches that I prefer to be longer.)
Match Rating: ***1/4

Andy Simmonz© vs. James Tighe [IPW: UK Championship]
Not much of note happened early on. There was just a lot of back and forth action. The action was mostly trading holds. Neither man did much to interest me. Simmonz somewhat got control for a bit, but it did not last long. Tighe hit a couple of slams for a few nearfalls. Simmonz hit the stupidest looking flip bulldog thing from the middle rope for a nearfall. Simmonz caught him with a COLLAR AND ELBOW TIE UP PINNING COMBINATION: 1…2…3

This was dreadful, but it was not quite as dreadful as the tag match earlier in the show. This was just regularly awful. Unlike that match, these guys came across as being trained in the physical aspects of pro wrestling. Much like that match though, these two had no idea how to get people to invest in the match.
Match Rating: DUD

PAC vs. Human Tornado
Please save us, guys! I know you can do it!

They actually brawled on the floor for a bit. Tornado managed to cut him off though when they got back in the ring. There has been a couple of botched sequences so far in this match, which is a little disappointing. Tornado worked him over for a while. PAC eventually sent Tornado to the floor and then hit a twisting moonsault onto him. PAC then made a comeback in the ring. Tornado came back with another sloppy tope con hello. Back in the ring, PAC avoided a Pimp Slap and hit an enzuigiri. PAC went for the SSP, but Tornado got his knees up. Tornado dropped him on his head with a discus lariat. Torndao hit a nasty…tornado DDT and then hit flipping funplex: 1…2…3!

I would have thought these two would go together like peanut butter and jelly, but there definitely a few moments of sloppiness and there was a distinct lack of “flow” to the proceedings. I would never have guessed that Joey Ryan would have had a better match with PAC than Tornado did, but here we are.
Match Rating: **3/4

Kevin Steen & El Generico© vs. Super Dragon & Davey Richards [PWG Tag Team Championship]
The match started exactly the same way. Davey worked the match for the first ten minutes for his team. Dragon finally tagged in and assaulted Generico. Generico was worked over for a long time. Generico eventually escaped and made a hot tag to Steen. Steen ran wild-ish. Steen hit Dragon with a tope con hello. He then hit lots of movez on Davey. Generico took out Dragon with a dive. Generico later ate the Curb Stomp. The teams went back and forth. Generico hit Davey with a big dive and then the through the turnbuckle DDT on Dragon. Steenerico had all the momentum. Davey and Dragon came back. Dragon did a dive on Generico, which I did not think he would bust out given his condition at the time. Steen ate a sunset flip bomb Davey, a supernatural driver from Dragon and a STANDING SSP from Davey: 1…2…GENERICO WITH THE SAVE! PSYCHO DRIVER ON GENERICO ON THE FLOOR! SSP ON STEEN: 1…2…3! NEW CHAMPS!

Well, this match absolutely ruled (especially down the stretch), and it was easily the best match from the first two shows. It started off similarly to their match from the tour’s first show, but they turned it on in a way that the crowd (and I) really got into. These four have great tag chemistry together, and it’s cool to go back and see their matches.
Match Rating: ****

Thanks everybody for reading! You can send feedback to my Twitter or to my email address: [email protected]. Also, feel free to check out my own wrestling website, FreeProWrestling.com. Check out a full/organized list of all the wrestling show reviews I’ve done at 411mania.

Check out some of your favorite PWG wrestlers in free matches!
The Briscoes vs. The Hardys
The Young Bucks vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico
Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Super Dragon & Excalibur
Claudio Castagnoli (Antonio Cesaro) vs. Kevin Steen
El Generico vs. Chris Hero
The Young Bucks & Petey Williams vs. Paul London, Brian Kendrick, & Jay Lethal
The Young Bucks vs. Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli
Low Ki vs. Super Dragon
Johnny Gargano vs. Eddie Edwards
Akira Tozawa vs. Johnny Gargano
Ricochet vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Chuck Taylor vs. Arik Cannon
Chris Hero vs. CM Punk
Bryan Danielson vs. Drake Younger
Akira Tozawa vs. Brian Cage
AJ Styles & Matt Sydal vs. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Colt Cabana
Akira Tozawa vs. Zack Sabre, Jr.
Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly
ACH vs. AR Fox

For more information on PWG, check out their:
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The 411: Much like France show, this European Vacation has few matches that are worth watching. As such, I cannot recommend it. The main event has been the best match of the tour so far, but it was not enough to recommend the whole show. Some of the matches with the locals were so fucking bad.
Final Score:  4.5   [ Poor ]