BG Says: PWG European Vacation – England

February 19, 2006 – Kent, England

Disco Machine and Commissioner Dino Winwood tackle commentary, and as usual be sure to switch the audio channel over to hear them.

As usual Winwood starts the show in the ring with some announcements. His only real announcement is that he’s the ring announcer tonight.

VS.

Topgun Talwar, Spud & Aviv Mayaan VS. Ronin, Disco Machine & Excalibur
I believe Aviv Mayaan got his name from Tel Aviv, Israel. I think that is neat. The PWG regulars attack Spud, Talwar and Mayaan before the bell. Disco chokes Spud in the ring. Spud comes back with an armdrag and a head scissors takedown. Mayaan tags in and hits a sledge off the top rope. He hits a back elbow for 2. He dropkicks Disco’s leg and hits an enziguiri for 2. Tits McGee tags in and works over Disco’s ribs. She hits a head scissors takedown and tags to Spud. Spud hits a missile dropkick for 2. Disco comes back with a second rope dropkick and a snap suplex for 2. Excalibur tags in and hits a bodyslam. He hits a kneedrop for 2. He hits a vertical suplex for 2. Ronin tags in and hits a running forearm. He hits a snap suplex for 2. He hits the elevated forearm and tags to Excalibur. Excalibur hits a headbutt but Spud comes back with a big DDT. Talwar and Disco tag in and Talwar hits a Van Daminator using Tits McGee. He clotheslines Disco in the corner as Mayaan hits Ronin with a head scissors takedown. Mayaan and Talwar follow Disco and Ronin to the floor with stereo dives. Spud kicks Excalibur to the floor and dives out onto everyone. Back in the ring Excalibur pokes Spud’s eyes but Spud comes back with the Yoshi Tonic for 2. Disco hits Spud with the Chokebreaker for 2 when Mayaan saves. Mayaan hits Disco with a swinging DDT for 2 when Ronin saves. Ronin hits Mayaan with the DVD for 2 when Talwar saves. Talwar hits Ronin with the Chipotlé for 2 when Excalibur saves. Excalibur goes for the Tiger Driver but Spud jumps off of Talwar’s back to hit the Shining Wizard. Excalibur cuts him off with the Manhattan drop and hits the Tiger Driver ’98 for the win at 9:30. This was the kind of frenetic opener you’d expect from these guys on a good night.
Rating: **¾

VS.
Martin Stone VS. Ricky Reyes
Stone puts on a wristlock to start. Reyes counters the hold but Stone suplexes him over to regain control. Reyes puts on a leglock but Stone gets to the ropes. Reyes puts on a headlock but Stone comes back with a shoulder tackle. Reyes hits a knee kick and a dropkick. He hits an armdrag and Stone bails. Back in the ring Reyes declines a knuckle lock and kicks Stone’s leg and back for 2. They jockey for position on the mat until Stone goes to the corner and hits a cheap elbow. He hits another back elbow and a chop to the back for 2. He hits a snap suplex. He puts on a camel clutch and goes to the eyes. Reyes swings blindly, leaving him open for Stone to whip him hard into the corner. Stone puts on a chinlock but Reyes hits a chinbreaker to escape. Reyes gets a sunset flip for 2. Stone hits a delayed vertical suplex for 2. Reyes comes back with kicks and an exploder suplex for 2. He hits a northern lights suplex for 2. He hits a DDT for 2. Stone hits an overhead suplex out of nowhere for 2. He hits a running forearm and a big hiptoss before hitting a lariat for the win at 6:23. Reyes must be allergic to European lariats. The match was pretty dull.
Rating: *¾

VS.
Quicksilver VS. Scorpio Sky
This was originally scheduled to be the AXP versus Chris Sabin and someone else but the TNA guys didn’t show up so we get this match where former tag team champions explode! They jockey for position to start and Quicksilver puts Sky on the mat. He puts on a hammerlock but Sky counters to an armbar. Quicksilver blocks a monkey flip to get a jackknife pin for 2. Sky gets a pair of roll ups for 2. Quicksilver pulls Sky down from a leapfrog to roll up him for 2. He hits a forearm and a leg lariat. He gets crotched on the top rope going for a climbing enziguiri, allowing Sky to knock him to the floor with a top rope dropkick to the back. Back in the ring Sky puts on a chinlock. He stays on the neck with a Hennig neck wrench for 2. He drags Quicksilver to the apron and hits a guillotine legdrop for 2. He hits a back elbow and stomps on Quicksilver’s chest. He hits a backbreaker and rolls Quicksilver up for 2. Quicksilver comes back with forearms but Sky catches him with a facebuster for 2. He hits a kneedrop for 2. Quicksilver blocks a blind charge and hits a springboard clothesline. He hits the climbing enziguiri and a falcon arrow for 2. He hits the Silver Slice for 2. He goes for the inverted version but Sky blocks it and hits a backbreaker for 2. Quicksilver dodges a dropkick and catapults Sky out of the ring. He dives out onto Sky, getting 2 back in the ring. He hits a Quick Qrusher variation for 2. Sky hits an implant DDT for 2. Quicksilver gets a sunset flip for 2. He hits a piledriver for the win at 15:35. The pacing of the match was a little strange and you’d think they’d play a little more with the former tag team partner model but they didn’t. As it is the match was just a solid back-and-forth contest.
Rating: ***

VS.
Andy Simmonz VS. Frankie Kazarian
They lock up to start. Simmonz grabs a headlock but Kazarian counters to a wristlock. They trade headlocks and go into a test of strength. Kazarian hits the Edge-o-Matic and the momentum kick. Simmonz bails and says some unintelligible things to the fans on the microphone. Back in the ring Kazarian puts on an armbar and twists Simmonz’s nipple. He gets a roll up for 2. Simmonz asks for a test of strength but Kazarian kicks his arm away. Simmonz attacks Kazarian’s midsection in the corner but Kazarian comes back with a sunset flip for 2. Simmonz hits a shoulder tackle for 2. He hits a clothesline in the corner and a neckbreaker for 2. He puts on a nerve hold but Kazarian escapes and gets a roll up for 2. Simmonz gets a roll up for 2. They continue to trade roll ups past the point of believability and good judgment. He hits a vertical suplex for 2. Kazarian kicks Simmonz’s face and unloads forearms. He hits a dropkick and a clothesline. He hits a slingshot DDT for 2. Simmonz hits a dropkick off the top for 2. He hits a powerbomb for 2. He hits a powerslam for 2. He climbs the ropes but Kazarian cuts him off with a jumping thrust kick and hits the Flux Capacitor for the win at 15:52. This was silly without actually being funny, which is never a good thing.
Rating: **

VS.
Joey Ryan © VS. Jonny Storm [PWG World Championship Match]
Storm encourages the fans to tease Ryan as the match begins. They lock up and roll to the floor. Back in the ring Storm slaps Ryan across the face. He baits Ryan to the floor and slaps him again. In the ring he puts on an armbar and then sentons the arm. He blocks a low blow and pokes Ryan’s eyes repeatedly. He goes back to working on the arm for a while. He hits a second rope Japanese armdrag for 2. Ryan puts him on the apron but Storm drops his arm on the top rope. Ryan hits Storm with a suicide dive and beats him up on the floor. Back in the ring Ryan hits a dropkick for 2. He chokes Storm in the ropes until the referee forces him to break. Storm hits a DDT and a head scissors takedown. Ryan bails so Storm follows him out with a suicide dive into a DDT. Back in the ring Storm gets 2. He sets Ryan up top but and hits a second rope reverse hurricanrana for 2. Ryan hits a knee to the gut and a boot to the face. He hits a superkick for 2. He sets Storm up top and hits the Mustache Ride for 2. Storm hits a modified Pedigree for 2. Ryan giant swings Storm into the referee, so when Storm rolls Ryan up there’s nobody to make the count. Ryan low blows Storm right in front of the referee and then puts powder in his hand. Storm ducks the toss and the powder hits the referee. Storm hits Ryan with a superkick, making him bail. Ryan grabs his belt and tries to hit Storm with it only to play dead and leave Storm holding the belt. The referee comes to, sees Storm with the belt and disqualifies him at 15:19. I’m quickly losing my patience with Ryan as champ. If a serious challenger doesn’t emerge soon it won’t be long before this (sure to be long) reign becomes unbearable. This match was the usual for this reign, which I find myself saying over and over.
Rating: *½

VS.
Kevin Steen VS. El Generico
The powder from the World Championship match is still on the mat. Steen attacks Generico from behind before the bell. He hits a short-arm clothesline. Generico comes back with armdrags. Steen goes to the eyes and chops Generico. He hits a European uppercut and chops Generico again. Generico comes back with a dropkick and Steen bails. Back in the ring Steen hits the Ace Crusher for 2. He hits on the camerawoman and asks a fan about British curse words. He hits a bodyslam for 2. He blocks the Half & Half suplex and puts on the crossface. He hits a senton for 2. He hits a double stomp to the back for 2. He puts on a chinlock and slams Generico to the mat. He hits the somersault legdrop for 2. He sets Generico up top and pulls on his legs, effectively damaging the groin. He drops Generico into the Tree of Woe and hits him with the Cannonball for 2. Generico dodges a charge and Steen gets crotched in the ropes. Generico hits him with a springboard moonsault for 2. He puts Steen down with forearms and a clothesline. He hits a leg lariat but Steen comes back with a big chop. Generico low bridges Steen and follows him out with a crazy plancha. He gets back into the ring and dives off of the top rope onto Steen. Back in the ring Generico climbs again and hits a big splash for 2. Steen blocks the swinging DDT with a backbreaker for 2. Generico gets a backslide for 2. He hits an exploder into the corner for 2. He goes for the BRAINBUSTAH but Steen fights him off. Steen goes for the Swanton Bomb but Generico gets his knees up. Generico hits the Yakuza kick and the Half & Half suplex for 2. He climbs the ropes but Steen shoves the referee into the ropes, crotching Generico. He brings Generico down with the DVD and climbs the ropes to hit the 450 splash for 2. Steen flips out and hits the package piledriver for the win at 18:41. Steen is always entertaining, but his antics sometimes distract from the match. That happened in the first half of this contest. In the second half they focused on the match and had the kind of match you’d expect from them. After the match Steen makes nice with Generico, only to lay him out with a clothesline. He throws water on Winwood on his way to the back.
Rating: ***¼

VS.
AJ Styles VS. Jody Fleisch
The crowd is psyched for this match. They lock up and fight to the corner. Styles puts on a wristlock and keeps Fleisch from flipping around to escape. Fleisch puts on a headlock but Styles goes back to the wristlock. Now Fleisch is able to flip out of it. He goes after the leg but Styles quickly gets to the ropes. The fans start ragging on TNA so Styles gets sore and gives a speech about how TNA and PWG are on the same side. What a gaymo. Styles hits a hurricanrana but can’t hit the Styles Clash. Fleisch misses a springboard maneuver and runs into a dropkick. Fleisch bails so Styles dives out onto him, getting 2 back in the ring. He hits a backbreaker for 2. He puts on a chinlock and then hits a back elbow for 2. He hits a vertical suplex for 2. Fleisch misses a couple kicks but connects with many after that. He hits a head scissors takedown into the turnbuckle and then comes off the top rope with a terribly botched hurricanrana attempt. Styles looked very foolish selling it. Fleisch hits the Michinoku Driver for 2. He hits a clothesline and a chop. He hits a legdrop over the middle rope. He misses a springboard shooting star press but hits an enziguiri. Styles falls to the floor so Fleisch follows him out with a springboard shooting star press. Back in the ring he hits a missile dropkick. He puts on a headlock but Styles comes back with the Pelé Kick. He hits a pumphandle gutbuster for 2. Fleisch hits a chinbreaker but Styles catches him in the Torture Rack. He spins Fleisch out into a slam for 2. Fleisch blocks a kick and hits an enziguiri. He hits a crazy backdrop facebuster for 2. Styles hits the flip DDT for 2. He blocks the Phoenix DDT for a moment, only to have his face driven into the mat. Fleisch hits a running shooting star press for 2. He catches Styles up top and hits a second rope hurricanrana for 2. Styles hits a lariat out of nowhere but Fleisch catches him with a roll up for 2. They trade pin attempts until Styles hits a hurricanrana and then the Styles Clash for the win at 19:21. I appreciate the effort and the fact that in a Fleisch match only one move was obviously botched. The finishing stretch was fantastic and they were also able to keep the crowd involved despite the mistakes they made. However, I truly feel that wrestling has evolved to a point that Fleisch’s reckless style is irrelevant now that guys like Generico, Jack Evans and Matt Cross can do the same things without falling on their faces.
Rating: ***½

VS.
Super Dragon & Davey Richards © VS. Chris Bosh & Scott Lost [PWG Tag World Team Championship Match]
Dragon and Bosh start. They trade holds in a beautiful exchange until Dragon gains control. He gets a pair of roll ups for 2. He puts on a cross armbreaker but Bosh gets to the ropes. Richards tags in and works over Bosh’s arm. He kicks Bosh down for 2. Lost tags in and puts on a headlock. He goes for the Sharpshooter but Richards counters to the STF. Lost gets to the ropes. Dragon tags in and chops Lost around the ring. He counters the Superman Spear into a butterfly lock but Lost comes back with the body scissors. Dragon counters to a surfboard with kicks to the back of Lost’s head. He hits a back suplex for 2. Richards tags in and hits a back elbow. He hits a snap suplex for 2. He hits a bodyslam and puts on the Stronghold. Lost breaks it up. Dragon tags in and stands on Lost’s crotch while he’s trapped in the Tree of Woe. Richards hits a baseball slide and Lost bails. Back in the ring Dragon puts on the Mark Nulty Special. Lost gets to the ropes. Lost his an enziguiri but Dragon keeps him from gaining any momentum. Richards tags in and puts on a stranglehold. Dragon adds some extra damage with a double stomp off the top. He kicks Lost’s chest for 2. Bosh low bridges Richards but Richards comes back with a kick to the chest on the apron. Lost hits Richards with a suicide dive, getting 2 back in the ring. He puts on a chinlock as Dragon and Bosh brawl on the floor. Lost hits a knee to the gut and tags to Bosh. Bosh hits a fisherman suplex for 2. Lost tags in and hits a gutbuster for 2. He hits a vertical suplex for 2. Bosh tags in and bites Richards’s face. He hits the Chris Bosh Special but Dragon kicks the back of his head. Lost comes in illegally and hits a Manhattan drop. He hits a leg lariat for 2. He stomps on Richards’s face and tags to Bosh. Bosh gets beaten up so Lost tags back in. He hits a backbreaker and climbs the ropes. Richards crotches him and hits a superplex, landing squarely on his own neck. Bosh and Dragon tag in. Dragon hits a back elbow and the Koppo kick. He kicks Bosh’s back and climbs the ropes. He hits a dropkick on Lost while hitting a senton on Bosh for 2. He puts on the leggy nelson but Bosh gets to the ropes. Richards hits Bosh with an overhead suplex and Dragon hits the Curb Stomp. That gets 2 for Richards. Lost suplexes Richards into a backbreaker from Bosh for 2. Lost hits Dragon with a superkick. He hits Richards with another backbreaker. Lost hits Richards with a backbreaker and then fights with Dragon. Richards comes back with a DDT on Bosh. Dragon and Lost tag in and Dragon hits a turnbuckle powerbomb. He puts on the STF and Richards puts Bosh in the crossface. Lost gets to the ropes. Richards hits Lost with an enziguiri. He hits a running forearm and a lariat for 2. He goes for a shooting star press but it hits Lost’s knees. Lost puts on the Sharpshooter and Bosh hits Dragon with a head scissors takedown on the floor. Richards gets to the ropes. He puts on the crossface but Lost gets to the ropes. Lost hits a neckbreaker and tags to Bosh. Dragon tags in and hits Kawada kicks. He hits a short-arm lariat and a powerbomb into Richards’s lungblower for 2. He sets Bosh up top but gets hit with a sunset bomb and Lost follows up with a flying elbowdrop. Bosh hits a backbreaker for 2. Lost suplexes Richards to the floor as Dragon hits a German suplex on Bosh. He hits a dragon suplex and the Psycho Driver for the win at 31:42. There is really no reason why these tag title matches have to go so long. They aren’t boring but there is no story being told that takes thirty minutes to tell. The middle ten minutes were entertaining but ultimately useless; the match would have been just fine as a twenty minute contest. All that being said and lack of a coherent story aside this was an excellent war of attrition and the best match of the weekend. After the match Richards shakes his opponents’ hands but Dragon slaps them across their faces. When Lost fights back Richards sides with Dragon.
Rating. ****

Highlighting the PROMOS button on the main menu will reveal the following backstage shenanigans
Jonny Storm is very excited about PWG coming to England. There’s nobody better in England than himself, so he’s sure he can win the PWG title. Then if he feels like it he’ll defend the title in California.

Ricky Reyes is not in the mood to give an interview, taking out the cameraman.

Frankie Kazarian thanks Disco Machine and Excalibur for letting him borrow their gear. His stuff got lost by the airline. Disco apparently didn’t know that Kazarian borrowed his tights, and Excalibur doesn’t want to take the towel back that Kazarian used.

Andy Simmonz is sure that next time Kazarian comes to England the result of their match won’t be the same. Whatever.

Spud is woozy after Excalibur dropped him on his head during the match. Next time Spud comes to PWG he wants to drop Excalibur on his head.

Kazarian talks about his gear being confiscated at the German airport for being too sexy. Since he was trained in MMA he’s going to wear MMA-style trunks. He doesn’t want to say that PWG conquered Germany, but they totally did.

Scorpio Sky shows off a dance move to Kevin Steen, but the sexual nature of the dance upsets Steen by reminding him of childhood trauma.

Later, Steen cuts a promo about the weekend. He doesn’t have a problem saying PWG conquered Germany. Now in England he’s going to beat up Generico for the 7,000th time. Then, back in Los Angeles, he gets a title match against Joey Ryan. He’s not going to let Ryan cheat to win back in California. He’s going to outsmart Ryan and become the champion again. Then he’s going to show off his belt to the ladies until they get sick of him enough to sleep with him. Nothing is cooler than having sex for the second time! AJ Styles wraps things up by pointing out that Steen is fat.

The 411:  A better show than the one in Germany, this somehow felt like a return to the norm for PWG. The building looked like a So Cal building and thus wasn’t distracting. There matches had a better mean rating, which is always a plus. Styles vs. Fleisch was pretty good, as was Steen vs. Generico and Quicksilver vs. Sky. The main event was very entertaining, even if Super Dragon really needs to get a handle on match lengths. If you can only afford one show from the first European Vacation than make sure it’s this one. Make sure to check out The Cool Kids' Table as well as my archive.

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]