wrestling / Video Reviews
Views from the Hawke’s Nest: Super Dragon – Destruction – Disc 1
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GSCW
December 14, 2002
Super Dragon (w/ Excalibur) vs. Bobby Quance
This set starts off with one of my favorite in-ring dynamics: a big bully beating a flipper who makes awesome comebacks. Super Dragon excels as that kind of bully. He looks relentless when he beats people, and he was even continuously trying to put Quance in submissions as a twist. He did not want to just beat Quance up; he wanted to win. Quance did a great job taking the beating, and his highspots generally looked great. They sometimes struggles to make those highspots look organic, but that is a micro issue in a match where the macro was executed very well. They finished the match with an extended back-and-forth sequence. They probably would have been better off with keeping it more condensed version of this sequence, but I appreciated the effort to just throw everything at each other until someone finally stayed down. Super Dragon was eventually the successful one, as Quance could not get up from the Psycho Driver. This match was crazy in a very endearing way. (***3/4)
GSCW
March 29, 2003
Super Dragon & B-Boy vs. Bobby Quance & Jardi Frantz
Unfortunately, this was just a type of tag match that I have seen way too much in the SoCal scene from this time period, and it’s a style that I do not particularly like. There’s an obligatory heat segment, the match breaks down, and they just do a bunch of stuff to close out the match. The Young Bucks managed to master the style later on and usually pull it off quite well. The matches like it from this time period though have never been my thing. To their credit, they absolutely got the crowd behind, and it turned out to feel much more epic than I would have initially suspected. Kudos to all four guys for getting the crowd into it. After Quance avoided a Psycho Driver, B-Boy killed him with a Shining Wizard for the victory. The closing stretched redeemed this a but, but they were aiming for much more. (***1/4)
PWG Are You Adequately Prepared to Rock?
October 4, 2003
Super Dragon & B-Boy vs. The Briscoes (Jay & Mark Briscoe)
This match was exactly what I feared the last one would be. It is better than my initial viewing on the PWG Sells Out Volume 3 watch. It would be a stretch though to call it “good” (despite the great effort), but it is very solidly worked. The California crew gets some shine, the Briscoes do an obligatory heat segment, and then the match ends with a lengthy back-and-forth sequence. None of this did much to grab me, but it was easy enough to watch. SD and B-Boy won after Jay ate a Shining Wizard and a Psycho Driver. (**1/2)
PWG 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 in 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)
Revolution Pro
November 29, 2003
Super Dragon vs. Taro [Mascara contra Mascara]
There is something undeniably endearing about this match. Super Dragon is the bully heel, and Taro is the plucky babyface. Dragon is much bigger, and Taro tries to do a bunch of highspots to give himself a chance. Given the huge stipulation, they bust out every move in the book to give the match the epic feeling. Does it work? No, not really.
I mean, these guys do EVERYTHING. The ending sequence was very cool, because Super Dragon decided he want to knock Taro the fuck out. He finally did after a double stomp to the head and a series of brutal lariats. Super Dragon unmaked him, and then they hugged.
I give these guys a ton of credit for killing themselves in this match and keeping the crowd entertained. The match was an exercise in excess though and was just generally not all that good. Taro gave a retirement speech and said his match next month was his last one. He went on to participate in four more matches though (including a dreadful one with Super Dragon on a 2008 PWG show). (**)
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)
Revolution Pro
March 6, 2004
Babi Slymm(c) vs. Super Dragon [RPW Mexican Lucha Libre Heavyweight Championship]
This match greatly suffers from having Babi Slymm on top for the majority of it. I’m not overly familiar with his work, but this match did a lot to not make me want to watch more of him. He had little to no charisma and did not beat down Super Dragon in a compelling way. Considering about half the match was worked with him in control, that was a major issue.
While the match is pretty much beyond saving because of Slymm, seeing Super Dragon work purely underneath was interesting enough to not make this experience a complete waste of time. A lot of his trademarked offense is well-suited for that role, and his timing with comebacks was mostly spot on. (The fact that he was trimmer and was more of a high-flyer at this point also helped.) He eventually won the match with the Supernatural Driver to get the title. (**1/4)
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Super Dragon vs. Bryan Danielson
