Views from the Hawke’s Nest: PWG Sells Out – Volume 2 – Disc 1

 

Are You Adequately Prepared to Rock?
October 4, 2003

Frankie Kazarian vs. AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels [Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Championship]

The action never let up in this one, which both helped the match and gave it a low ceiling. There was no story to sink your teeth into, but I was never bored. That makes for a solid wrestling match in my book (if a rather pedestrian main event). The finish was cool as Kaz hit AJ with the Wave of the Future just as AJ was giving Daniels the Clash. Kaz then pinned Daniels to retain the title. (***)

 

An Inch Longer Than Average
November 15, 2003

Super Dragon vs. Joey Ryan [Guerrilla Warfare]

One of the issues with earlier PWG is that Excalibur makes a lot more homophobic jokes on commentary. Not in the “I hate gays” way, but more in the “that’s gay” way. I know that is a product of the times (I’m embarrassed to say that I used “That’s gay” as an insult as late as 2007), but it still takes away from my enjoyment of some of the matches. Anyway, I point it out because Excalibur was relying on this type of “humor” even more than usual this match.

The match itself was not all that bad considering it is a lengthy Joey Ryan singles match. In fact, there were several points throughout the match where I thought we may have a great match on our hands. It did however just go way too long given how much unfocused brawling was going on. There was this great element of the match though: Ryan targeted Dragon’s right arm for a period of time, and Dragon sold this like a motherfucker. That was not enough to call it a good match, but I appreciated it all the same! Dragon won clean with a Psycho Driver onto a guardrail. (**1/2)

 

An Inch Longer Than Average
November 15, 2003

Frankie Kazarian(c) vs. Bryan Danielson [PWG World Championship]

2003 Bryan Danielson is possibly my favorite Bryan Danielson. He’s incredibly physical and focused in the ring. He’s a dick, but it’s not as overt as he would be in 2006-2007. It is the perfect balance. He brought that to this match, and it really put Kaz over for surviving the Bryan’s brutal onslaught and then to win clean with the Flux Capacitor. If you have not watched much of 2003 Bryan Danielson, you owe it to yourself to watch as much as possible. (***1/2)

 

Pimpin’ in High Places
December 13, 2003

CM Punk, Frankie Kazarian, & Joey Ryan vs. Super Dragon, Colt Cabana, & Adam Pearce

This was an obnoxiously-long match that ended up only being about Pearce giving Kazarian a piledriver on the PWG title belt to pick up the win. This felt like a middle finger being shoved in my face. No need for anyone to ever watch this match. (*)

 

Tango & Cash Invitational
January 25, 2004

Super Dragon & Bryan Danielson vs. The X-Foundation (Joey Ryan & Scott Lost)

This was a semifinal match in the tournament to crown PWG tag team champions. There was a portion of this match was amazing. As you might expect, that was portion was the Dragons beating the shit out of Joey Ryan. That was one of the best sequences in PWG history, which is truly saying something. Sadly, that idea was not explored as much as I wanted, and the match suffered as a result. The Dragons won at least when Bryan tapped Ryan out with Arms Across America. (**1/2)

 

The Musical
April 17, 2004

Chris Bosh & Quicksilver(c) vs. Super Dragon & Excalibur [Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Tag Team Championship]

Much like the previous match on this set, this match was fairly enjoyable when Super Dragon’s team was dominating. They quickly got away from that though, and it just became super tedious to experience. If you like this match, more power to you. There was very little interesting about it and possibly even less that was entertaining. Dragon and Excalibur won the titles after a Psycho Driver from Dragon. (*)

 

Battle of Los Angeles
September 4, 2005

AJ Styles vs. Bryan Danielson

This was a semifinal match in the 2005 BOLA.  Much like every Bryan/AJ match that I have seen, they did much more of a Bryan match than an AJ match. This has led to all of their matches being merely good instead of great.  They had a great finish though, as Bryan went for the Airplane Spin but AJ reversed it into a small package. (***1/2)

 

Beyond the Thunderdome
March 18, 2006

Cape Fear (El Generico & Quicksilver) vs. Arrogance (Chris Bosh & Scott Lost)

The winners became the number one contenders for the PWG tag titles. I’ve never been a big fan of Lost or Quicksilver, but this match ended up being pretty awesome. While this building didn’t have the overall greatness of Reseda, this match was definitely enhanced by the PWG crowd (which was molten as Quicksilver and Generico started their comeback). My expectations for this match were modest; the wrestlers blew me away. Cape Fear won after a turnbuckle brainbuster on Bosh.  (****)

8.5

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

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