Break It Down: PWG Express Written Consent

Back with some more PWG. This would be one of their more anticipated shows with the debut of Paul London as well as returning wrestlers such as B-Boy and Human Tornado. Oh yeah…and the surprise return of Colt Cabana…A DAY AFTER SCOTTY GOLDMAN WAS RELEASED!!!

Express Written Consent on February 21st, 2009

Opening Match: Scorpio Sky vs. Zokre
They trade hurricanranas and Sky sends Zokre flying with a dropkick to the knees. Zokre lands a spiraling dive to the outside and the crowd is extremely active tonight. He follows with a springboard moonsault. Sky returns the favor with a dive of his own. Zokre does a headstand on the apron and Sky kills him with a kick. Sky spikes Zokre on an implant DDT for a two count. They trade pin attempts and Sky hits a jawbreaker. Sky goes back to the DDT but it results in another two count. Zokre gets a quick pin with Sky’s foot visibly on the bottom rope for the win at 8:06. The crowd absolutely hated that finish. They should too, as it was clearly botched and there’s no harm in continuing the match for another thirty seconds to remedy the situation. The action before that was engaging but the finish killed the match. *½

Match #2: B-Boy vs. TJ Perkins
B-Boy is making his return to PWG here. On the other hand, this would be Perkins’ last match in PWG before heading to the east coast. B-Boy showcases some of his offense early and it all looks good, especially his corner dropkick. Perkins tries to chop B-Boy, which ends up being a mistake. Perkins settles down and starts working over B-Boy’s left arm. Perkins ties B-Boy’s arm to the top rope with his belt. He follows with an elbow drop. B-Boy catches Perkins with an ace crusher and continues the comeback with a death valley driver into the turnbuckles. Perkins lands a superkick and a frog splash for a two count. B-Boy escapes multiple cross armbreaker attempts. Perkins hits a 450 splash for a nearfall. Perkins gets nailed with a shining wizard but is able to kick out of a pin attempt. B-Boy counters a pin attempt into a rear-naked choke for the victory at 16:20. These two are familiar with each other, so they had some nifty back and forth exchanges here and there. That’s not to say there weren’t a few sloppy moments. However, this was a decent match that showcased B-Boy in his return and Perkins on his way out. **¾

Paul London is in the ring and cuts a barely coherent promo. This man is either drunk, high, or simply genius. Joey Ryan (in a WWF shirt) interrupts and calls London a psychopath. All of this escalates into a quick punch exchange which London wins.

Match #3: El Generico vs. Kenny Omega
Omega is hoping to halt the progress of Generico’s orphanage with a win here. They have a staredown and Omega lands an epic eye poke. Omega eye pokes Generico again causing him to mistakenly armdrag Rick Knox. Generico blocks another eye poke and lands Mexican punches in the corner followed by a leg lariat. Generico hits a flying crossbody but Omega ultimately responds with yet another eye poke and a facebuster. Omega really goes to work on Generico’s eyes, making me think that it could be an effective strategy taking all comedy out of the picture. Generico comes back with a hurricanrana and a dive to the outside. Back in, Generico hits a splash from the top for a two count. Omega answers with a nice powerbomb but loses the advantage when he gets hit with a michinoku driver. Omega lands the stop-enzuigiri and a neckbreaker for a nearfall. He follows with a beach break for another two count. Omega hits the Hadouken into a small package for a nearfall. Omega and Rick Knox get into a shoving battle. Knox ends up hitting Omega with a clothesline, setting up the turnbuckle brainbuster to give Generico the win at 18:24. My rating might be high, but I enjoyed the heck out of this match. The eye poke strategy by Omega was not only comical, but it made me start to think that it was a sound plan. The finishing stretch may have went a little overkill with the nearfalls, but there is no denying that Knox’s clothesline will go down in PWG history. Highly enjoyable match. ***½

Match #4: No Disqualification: Austin Aries vs. Necro Butcher
Aries grabs any means of self defense before the match, including a bag of popcorn. Aries gets on the mic and wonders how he got into this match. Necro grabs a fan at ringside and shows off some chain wrestling. Aries tries to do the same to John Ian, but ends up getting reversed. Excalibur wonders about possible lawsuits on commentary. They take turns making fun of each other’s ring outfits. Aries dominates on the mat, but Necro shows what he can do technically with a monkey flip. Aries crotches Necro on the ringpost and dropkicks him in the head. Aries introduces a chair, but only uses it to sit down and apply a nerve hold. He also uses his chain to choke Necro. Aries goes for the Ram Jam but wipes out onto a chair. Necro takes the match to the outside and throws Aries into a chair. They battle into the crowd but it’s a little too congested. Back in, Necro hits a bulldog onto a chair. A chair slam and modified ace crusher get two counts. Aries hits a low blow and two chair shots. He follows with a chain-assisted corner dropkick a sick brainbuster onto a chair for the victory at 18:25. I’m not a huge fan of Necro brawls (especially when they run this long) but Aries’ new gimmick helped freshen this up a bit. The crowd brawling didn’t work because of the large audience but some fun antics with a sick finish make this passable. **

Match #5: PWG World Title: Chris Hero © vs. Colt Cabana vs. Human Tornado
Hero wins a mat wrestling exchange and fakes a dive. A voice comes over the loud speakers saying “wait just one second” and COLT F’N CABANA appears, making the match a triple threat. Hero and Cabana take turns laying into Tornado. Tornado is able to find an opening and show some of his offense that we haven’t seen for some time in PWG. Cabana hits the flying asshole on Tornado. Hero catches Cabana up top and hits a cravate suplex. Tornado blocks a blockbuster and lands a hurricanrana. Tornado nails Cabana with the killer spin kick. Tornado blocks a roaring elbow and hits Hero with the DND. Cabana locks in the Billy Goat’s Curse on Tornado, but Hero breaks it up with a roaring elbow. Hero escapes another DND and lands a roaring elbow on Tornado for a two count. A yakuza kick allows Hero to retain his title at 14:26 (timed from the first bell). Pretty questionable booking to put your face champion in a match with two other wrestlers that the crowd would get behind more by default. This was more or less a showcase for Tornado to show how he rebound from his injury and for Cabana to get back into the independent scene. Decent match, but it never turned into anything great. **½

Match #6: Paul London, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson vs. Karl Anderson, Scott Lost, and Joey Ryan
The Young Bucks get the better of Ryan and Anderson to start. London enters and squares of with Lost (his former tag team partner). They botch a hurricanrana but London rebounds with a springboard crossbody. The Young Bucks continue the assault on Lost by working over his left arm. Interesting spot as Ryan and Anderson take turns twisting Matt’s arms then kissing him. On the third try, Matt ducks, leading to you know what. The Dynasty finds an opening and isolates Matt. Lost inadvertently hits the superman spear on Ryan, allowing Matt to tag out. London cleans house before taking a wicked fall through the ropes. This allows The Dynasty to beat down London until he almost drops Ryan directly on his head and makes the tag. The Young Bucks pull off some crazy double team moves on Lost. Anderson hits a missile dropkick on Nick for a two count. The Young Bucks hit their double team facebuster. The battle goes to the outside where Anderson MURDERS MATT WITH A DDT ON THE APRON!! Lost follows with an ace crusher on Nick and London dives to the outside onto Ryan. Back in, the Dynasty hit their backbreaker-elbow drop combination on Matt for a nearfall. Everyone just starts hitting each other with moves, ending with Nick spiking Lost on a hurricanrana. Ryan blocks a dive from Nick but ultimately ends up diving onto Anderson. Matt hits a 450 splash on Lost followed by a moonsault by Nick and a shooting star press from London to give the faces the win at 22:28. In a weird twist of fate, London ended up being the weak link in this match. That’s not to say that he did horrible but his execution on a lot of moves was sloppy. The action up until all of the craziness was not too engaging, but once the match hit second gear, it was amazing. It’s unreal how flawless the Young Bucks’ offense is and Anderson looked solid. Very good main event and the crowd was extremely into London. ***½

The 411: Express Written Consent was a historic show for PWG. It featured the returns of Scorpio Sky, B-Boy, Human Tornado, Colt Cabana, and Karl Anderson. Also, Paul London made his debut while TJ Perkins said goodbye. Although the match quality isn’t extremely high, there are two very good matches in the comical Generico/Omega encounter and the crazy main event. I am going to give this show a recommendation based on the historical importance and previously mentioned matches. It’s really up to you to decide how much all of the returns mean to you. For me, it was a lot of fun to see some returning faces and the show was enjoyable.

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]