BG Says: PWG Smells like Steen Spirit

August 19, 2005 – Los Angeles, California

The idea behind this show was simple. Aside from featuring the first PWG Championship defense from new champion Kevin Steen and the first tag title defense from new tag champs El Generico & Human Tornado, the show focused on everyone’s status going in to the premiering Battle of Los Angeles tournament. The brackets were set, and certain guys needed a lot of momentum going in if they were going to have success in the tournament.

Disco Machine and TARO (sadly) tackle commentary, and as usual be sure to switch the audio channel over to hear them.

New Co-Commissioner Dino Winwood starts the show by talking about how difficult his new job is. He says (as I mentioned before) that the BOLA tournament is pretty much set, but one match still needs to be singed. It will be Chris Sabin taking on the returning Frankie Kazarian. Kazarian comes out and largely glosses over the fact that WWE couldn’t think of anything to do with him so just stuck him on Velocity for a few months and then fired him for refusing to get a hair cut. He makes some World Wildlife Fund jokes and never really goes anywhere with his promo.

VS.
Hook Bomberry & Topgun Talwar VS. Disco Machine & Ronin
Disco Machine has an issue with Gunning for Hookers’ new manager Ed Powers (which I guess makes them Gunning for Powerful Hookers) over a money issue they had years before when they were both in the porno industry. Talwar and Ronin lock up to start. Talwar hits a hiptoss and puts on a headlock. Ronin slaps Talwar across the face but walks into a head scissors takedown. Talwar puts on the Cristo and rolls Ronin up for 2. Ronin hits a forearm and tags to Disco. Hook tags in and takes Disco to the mat. Disco comes back with the head scissors. Hook starts to take control but Ronin runs in and keeps that from continuing. Disco hits a snap suplex for 2. Hook hits a dropkick for 2. Talwar tags in and bites Disco’s nipple. Gross. He tosses Disco to the floor where Powers and Hook take a few shots. Back in the ring Hook tags in and puts on a cravat. He kicks Disco’s back for 2. Ronin hits a cheap shot and Disco hits a powerslam. Ronin tags in and takes Hook to the floor. They trade chops and Ronin rams Hook into the post. Back in the ring Ronin gets 2. Disco tags in and hits a guillotine legdrop for 2. He hits a dropkick for 2. He puts on a chinlock and hits a clothesline to the back of the head. Ronin tags in and trades forearms with Hook. Hook hits an enziguiri and tags to Talwar. Talwar hits a pair of clotheslines and a Manhattan drop. He hits an atomic drop and a shoulder tackle for 2. He hits his clotheslines in the corner and the basement shoulder tackle for 2. Disco comes back with rolling snap suplexes and a facebuster for 2. Ronin tags in and hits a twisting suplex for 2. Talwar comes back with the Rydeen Bomb and tags to Hook. Hook hits a drop toehold and a dropkick to the face for 2. He hits the Michinoku driver for 2. Ronin telegraphs a block and hits a short-arm clothesline for 2. Talwar hits the Chipotlé on Ronin and dives onto Disco on the floor. At the same time Hook puts the dragon clutch on Ronin for the win at 14:54. That doesn’t bode well for Ronin’s spot in the New S.B.S. This was a decent opener, but nothing special.
Rating: **¼

VS.
Scott Lost VS. Charles Mercury
Mercury is sporting a lame hairdo and some really dirty looking facial hair. Lost attacks Mercury before the bell. He hits a European uppercut but Mercury comes back with an armdrag and knees to the back. Mercury hits a dropkick and a bodyslam. He hits a frog splash off the second rope for 2. He puts on a cross armbreaker but Lost gets to the ropes. Mercury hits a vertical suplex for 2. He puts on a chinlock and unloads with chops. He clotheslines Lost to the floor and follows him out to hit a bodyslam. He hits a senton to the back off the apron but back in the ring Lost drops him on the top rope and punts his ribs. Mercury rolls to the floor so Lost rushes out and hits a running forearm. Back in the ring Lost stomps the face for 2. He puts on the body scissors but Mercury counters to something I’d almost call a modified Boston crab. Lost gets to the ropes. Mercury looks to counter a clothesline but the spot gets botched. Lost hits an elbowdrop off the second turnbuckle for 2. Mercury comes back with a DDT for 2. He hits a Busaiku knee kick for 2. Lost blocks a blind charge and hits a gutbuster. He climbs the ropes and hits a flying elbow for 2. He goes for a backbreaker but Mercury blocks and hits a fisherman suplex. He puts on a cloverleaf but Lost gets to the ropes. Lost hits a back heel kick and a torture rack backbreaker before putting on the Sharpshooter for the win at 10:31. Mercury actually looked alright here, and if he gets his look together he’ll hopefully be on upcoming shows.
Rating: **

VS.
Joey Ryan VS. Rocky Romero
Ryan cuts a promo before the match but the audio isn’t the best and the crowd jeers him quite loudly so I can’t really make out what he says. They lock up as the crowd demands that Ryan die. Romero grabs a cravat but Ryan counters to a headlock. The crowd loudly cheers everything Romero does while loudly booing Ryan, which I haven’t heard in PWG before. They continue to trade holds until Romero gets a head scissors takedown and Ryan begs off. Romero gets a head scissors hold on and hits a hurricanrana. He kicks Ryan’s back and hits a cheap shot. Ryan falls for the Lady in the Lake but comes back with a headlock. Romero victory rolls Ryan to the floor but on the floor Ryan victory rolls Romero into a chair. He rams Romero into the post and drops his hammerlocked arm onto the apron. Back in the ring Ryan hits a hammerlock bodyslam and keeps the hold on. He rams Romero’s shoulder into the referee and then grabs a chair from the floor. He sets it up in the corner but Romero catches him with a roll up for 2. Romero hits a big roundhouse kick and a flapjack. He kicks at Ryan’s leg and then swiftly kicks his shin to take him off his feet. He puts on the anklelock but Ryan counters to an armbar. Romero hits a dragon screw and puts the anklelock back on. Ryan gets to the ropes. He hits a superkick for 2. He sets Romero up top but Romero comes back with a cross armbreaker. Ryan grabs the ropes and tries to pin Romero. The referee catches him and kicks his arm away (hey, makes sense in this situation) and Romero puts the cross armbreaker back on. Ryan escapes so Romero puts the anklelock back on. Ryan properly positions himself and rolls forward, sending Romero into the chair and then rolls Romero up for the win at 14:51. Why didn’t the referee just pull the chair out of the corner and toss it away at some point during the last seven minutes of the match? I was too busy thinking of that very question to really appreciate the match. That aside the second half of this match was great and led beautifully into the finish.
Rating: ***

VS.
Davey Richards & Hardkore Kidd VS. Alex Shelley & TJ Perkins
Shelley and Richards start. They trade holds but it’s mostly Shelley dominating Richards. Richards starts to gain an edge with a wristlock but Shelley wrestled circles around him and ties up his legs. Perkins tags in and puts on a chinlock. Richards counters to the STF but Perkins scrambles to the ropes. Shelley tags in and puts on a hammerlock. Richards comes back with a kick to the shoulder and tags to Kidd. Kidd’s girth works against him as Shelley puts on a leglock. Kidd puts Shelley in a leglock at the same time and both men’s partners take the opportunity to hit the other’s partner. Kidd gets mad at Richards for encouraging Perkins to kick him. Shelley puts Kidd in a camel clutch and Perkins hits him with a dropkick. Richards’s just standing on the floor while Perkins runs around the ring makes him look like an idiot. He tags in but Perkins catches him with a pair of dropkicks. Richards bails so Perkins follows him out with a pescado. Back in the ring Perkins hits a snap suplex for 2. He works over the arm and tags to Shelley. Shelley kicks Richards’s head and rams his shoulder into the corner. He snaps Richards’s arm against the ropes and hits a basement dropkick. He hits a hammerlock northern lights suplex and tags to Perkins. Perkins blatantly calls spots while the camera focuses on his face, making the chops Richards unleashes upon him deserved. Kidd tags in but Perkins grabs him and goes for a piledriver. Richards runs in and kicks Kidd onto Perkins for 2. Kidd hits the headbutt to the crotch and shoves him to the floor. Richards and El Jefe take their shots on Perkins with the help of a folding chair. Back in the ring Richards tags in and hits a snap suplex for 2. He spits in Shelley’s face and whips Perkins hard into the turnbuckle. He hits a backbreaker and tags to Kidd. Kidd hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and keeps pressure on the back. He hits a bodyslam and a legdrop for 2. He ties Perkins up so Shelley runs in and pokes his eyes. Richards tags in and hits a back elbow for 2. He puts on a chinlock. Kidd tags in and gets tricked into diving onto nothing on the floor. Shelley and Richards tag in and Shelley tricks Kidd into clotheslining Richards. He hits a bulldog/clothesline combo on both opponents and then kicks off Kidd to hit a swinging DDT on Richards. He hits the Complete Shot on Richards and climbs the ropes. Perkins climbs too and they hit a flying elbow/frog splash combo for 2. Kidd hits a big boot on Shelley but Perkins sends him to the floor with a leg lariat. Richards hits an enziguiri on Perkins and Shelley doesn’t hit a superkick on Richards but slaps his leg to make a sound anyway. Richards comes back with a DDT on Shelley and trades slaps with Perkins. Perkins hits an overhead suplex but Richards no-sells it and hits a lariat. He tosses Perkins to the floor but Shelley cuts off his dive with a superkick that actually connects. Shelley hits a brainbuster for 2. He blocks a blind charge but Richards catches him with a snap back suplex. Richards hits a running forearm to Shelley and a suicide dive to Perkins. Kidd hits an avalanche and a jumping back elbow on Shelley. Perkins hits Kidd with a hurricanrana and hits a tombstone piledriver on Richards. Richards completely no-sells it and hits Perkins with the DR Driver for the win at 20:50. This had a LOT of mat wrestling for a tag team match, which made it uniquely engaging. The second half of the match, which saw a lot of Hardkore Kidd wrestling wasn’t so good. The bottom line really is that it went too long and didn’t fill the time with anything exciting until the very end. All the no-selling and missed spots didn’t help either.
Rating: **½

VS.
Kevin Steen © VS. Quicksilver [PWG Championship Match]
Steen wanted this match against Quicksilver to prove that he could beat him faster and more definitively than Super Dragon did the month before. Co-Commissioner Dino Winwood, being Quicksilver’s manager, wasn’t hard to convince. Steen powers Quicksilver to the corner and then hits a cheap shot when Quicksilver does the same. Quicksilver ducks a slap and slaps Steen around before rolling him up for 2. He gets a headlock takeover and hits a hurricanrana. Steen bails and catches Quicksilver going for a dive. Quicksilver squirms away and hits a moonsault press off the apron. Back in the ring Steen crotches Quicksilver on the middle rope. He hits a double stomp and a short-arm clothesline for 2. He blocks the Silver Slice and puts on a Mexican stretch but Quicksilver fights out. Steen sets Quicksilver in the Tree of Woe and hits a dropkick for 2. He tosses Quicksilver into the air and then drops Quicksilver on the top rope. He hits a senton for 2. He stays on the ribs and keeps the pressure up with chops. Quicksilver blocks a blind charge but Steen counters a sunset flip to one of the scariest looking double stomps I’ve ever seen for 2. Quicksilver comes back with the Christo but Steen rams him into the corner to escape. He drapes Quicksilver across the second turnbuckle and hits a double knee stomp for 2. Quicksilver reverses the package piledriver to a DDT. Steen loses the shirt but it’s not enough to keep away from Quicksilver’s onslaught of offense. Quicksilver hits a back bodydrop and a bodyslam. He slugs Steen across the face on the ground and then hits a climbing knee in the corner. He hits a springboard clothesline and the Silver Slice for 2. Steen hits a spinning back suplex for 2. He climbs the ropes but Quicksilver cuts him off. Steen fights back and hits a second rope brainbuster for 2 when Quicksilver grabs the bottom rope. Steen climbs the ropes again but Quicksilver crotches him and brings him down with a hurricanrana. He hits the DVD but Steen hits the Steenalizer into the corner for the win at 18:47. Well, he beat Quicksilver with the same amount of ease and about six minutes faster too. The match wasn’t quite as good, although Steen does get points for not breaking character during the match.
Rating: ***¼

After the match Steen brags about beating Quicksilver faster than Super Dragon did and says he’ll beat Dragon in the first round of the Battle of Los Angeles tournament on his way to winning the thing.

VS.
Christopher Daniels VS. Chris Bosh
PWG had written on their website leading to the show that Daniels had requested to wrestle Bosh in order to get taste of the Arrogance style, hoping to learn a little about BOLA opponent Scott Lost in the process. Before the match Daniels says it was Lost who requested that he wrestle Bosh in the hopes that he’d soften him up before the tournament. Bosh discredits Daniels by calling him old, impotent and phallic. They lock up and Bosh gets a headlock takedown. Daniels gets a snapmare so Bosh shows him some respect. They knuckle up and Daniels gets a takedown for 2. They trade holds on the mat and then agree to wrestle for themselves, not for the fans. Bosh goes for the Chris Bosh Special but the referee blocks him from doing it. Daniels puts on a headlock but Bosh escapes and hits a shoulder tackle. He stands still afterwards as he tends to do, mystifying Daniels. Daniels gets too close and Bosh gouges at his eyes. Daniels responds with the same, prompting some hilarious girly screams from Bosh. Bosh hits the STO into a backbreaker for 2. They trade roll ups and Bosh puts on the Kayak. Daniels squirms out and dumps Bosh to the floor. Back in the ring Daniels gets 2. He works over Bosh’s back for 2. He hits a bodyslam and an elbowdrop to the back for 2. Bosh hits a back elbow and a crossbody off the second rope but the referee again blocks the Chris Bosh Special. Daniels hits a series of knees to the back and puts on a chinlock with his knee in the back. He hits a falcon arrow for 2. Bosh hits a backbreaker and they slug it out. Bosh hits a back bodydrop and a back elbow. Daniels falls to the floor so Bosh follows him out with a head scissors takedown, almost chokes himself out on the bottom rope on the way over. His face after bouncing off the rope was priceless, which makes me feel like a bad person. He gets back into the ring and dives out onto Daniels. Back in the ring Bosh hits a backbreaker and climbs the ropes. Daniels gets his knees up on the splash attempt and rolls Bosh up for 2. He gets a backslide for 2. He hits the uranage but misses the triple jump moonsault. Bosh gets a roll up for 2. He gets a sunset flip for 2. Daniels ducks an enziguiri but can’t hit one himself. Bosh finally hits the Chris Bosh Special and rolls Daniels up for 2. Daniels reverses to a roll up with a hand full of tights for the win at 18:46. The heel vs. heel spots were all a lot of fun. Daniels mostly dominated, which makes sense, and the build to the Chris Bosh Special (with Bosh almost killing himself along the way) was great too. Much better than I expected. After the match Bosh promises to win the tournament next month.
Rating: ***½

Dino Winwood comes out to the ring to present the tag title belts to the new champions. Joey Ryan hits the ring and tries to clothesline Winwood down but Dino Matrixes his way underneath it and spears Ryan to the mat. He follows up with a jackhammer and that’s all she wrote for Mr. Ryan. Dino Goldberg then gives the belts to the champions, who are wearing a Rick James and a Rastafarian wig, respectively. Petey Williams comes out to happy birthday chants. He says that Chris Sabin is hurt so he can’t help him challenge for the belts. Since it’s his birthday he feels good enough to win the belts himself. His sometimes partner Kazarian comes out and says he’ll be his partner for the evening.

VS.
El Generico & Human Tornado © VS. Petey Williams & Frankie Kazarian [PWG Tag Team Championship Match]
Generico and Williams start. They play games to start, prompting Kazarian to take the camera away from the action to complain about the silliness. Williams hits a hurricanrana and pulls off Generico’s dreads. Generico hits an angry armdrag and puts his hair back on. Tornado tags in and hits a slingshot dropkick. He hits another dropkick and hits hair falls off. Williams hits an atomic drop and sets Tornado in the Tree of Woe. He stands on Tornado’s crotch but that of course doesn’t work and Tornado hits the Pimp Slap. Kazarian tags in and touches Tornado’s hair. The oil that comes off on his hand puzzles him and slows him down. They pull each other to the mat by the hair and then knuckle up. Tornado dances into an armdrag but Kazarian comes back with a dropkick. He hits a bodyslam and tags to Williams. They hit a double back elbow and Williams pins him for 2. Kazarian tags in and hits the momentum dropkick. He hits a gutwrench suplex for 2. He puts on a cravat and hits a knee to the gut. Tornado gets a head scissors takedown and a hurricanrana. He hits the tornado clothesline and a bulldog. Generico tags in and hits a pair of clotheslines. He hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for 2. He hits a back elbow and a standing moonsault for 2. Tornado tags in and hits the Pounce. Generico tags in and runs into the Edge-O-Matic. Tornado and Williams tag in and Williams cleans house. He hits a Russian legsweep on Tornado and goes for the Canadian Destroyer. Tornado blocks it and tosses Generico into him. Kazarian kicks Generico to the floor but Tornado clotheslines him to the floor. Tornado hits the big dive onto both opponents as Generico drinks Gatorade. Kazarian hits a slingshot DDT on Generico for 2. Generico climbs the ropes but Kazarian catches him with a superkick. Tornado hits Kazarian with a swinging DDT and Generico follows up with a big splash for 2. Williams hits Generico with a legdrop on the apron but Tornado tosses him to the floor. Kazarian hits Tornado with the Wave of the Future for 2 when Generico saves. Generico hits Kazairan with the brainbuster but Williams catches him with the Canadian Destroyer. Tornado runs in and hits Williams with the Regalplex for the win at 19:31. The first half was comedy, but I wasn’t laughing much. The second half was straight-up action and decent action at that, but largely without focus and any kind of salesmanship.
Rating: **¾

VS.
Super Dragon VS. Samoa Joe
Steen may have beaten Quicksilver faster than Dragon did but Dragon shows here than he can always book himself higher on the card. This is the rubber match between these two, with each man winning by count out in previous matches. Now Joe isn’t the ROH champ and Dragon isn’t the PWG champ so maybe we’ll get a real finish. Joe gets a headlock takedown to start and slaps Dragon across the face. Dragon pushes Joe against the ropes and hits a cheap slap. They trade forearms and Joe opens up with kicks. He hits an enziguiri and the Big Joe Combo for 2. He puts on a chinlock and hits a big shoulder tackle. He hits a high knee in the corner but Dragon comes back with a dragon screw. Dragon hits the Koppo kick but Joe returns fire with a powerslam for 2. Dragon rolls to the floor but gets back in at 10. Joe chops Dragon down and stretches out his legs while standing on his face. Dragon unloads with strikes but Joe hits him with an overhead suplex to the floor. That’s how their first match ended! This time Dragon gets back in the ring at 19. Joe baseball slides him to the floor but Dragon rushes back in and hits a lariat for 2. He climbs the ropes and hits the senton bomb for 2. He sets Joe up top and hits a butterfly superplex for 2. He climbs the ropes again but misses the double stomp. Joe hits the STJoe for 2. He hits a powerbomb for 2. He hits Dragon with the Curb Stomp for 2. He hits a lariat for 2. He sets Dragon up top but Dragon squirms away and rolls Joe up for 2. Joe slaps Dragon around and sets him up top again before hitting the Muscle Buster for the win at 13:10. Dragon will be in the Battle of Los Angeles tournament and Joe won’t so I don’t really get the point of this. The match was fun and thus at 13 minutes felt incredibly short. The finish came out of nowhere too, which I’d say puts it somewhere between their first two matches.
Rating: ***¼

Highlighting the “EXTRAS” button on the main menu will reveal the following backstage shenanigans
Gunning for Powerful Hookers think about Powers’s porno while celebrating their victory. Powers throws in all kinds of sexual innuendo while talking about taking Talwar and Bomberry to the top.

Charles Mercury takes out a gun but says that rather than kill himself he’s going to kill the people that have been criticizing him. Why would he come back and start talking about murder? That’s just weird.

Scott Lost says that Mercury didn’t have a chance at beating him tonight. At the Battle of Los Angeles he takes on Christopher Daniels. When he first got into the business he wanted to wrestle Daniels, but now that he’s so old he just wants to beat him to advance in the tournament.

Joey Ryan says that he’s put down Romero, Shelley and Claudio Castagnoli on his way to proving he’s the best technical wrestler in the world. His next step will be defeating the departing James Gibson, who is on his way back to WWE.

Kevin Steen also talks about the list of men he’s recently defeated and then takes the camera away from the cameraman and shoots some fans. He calls them losers and threatens to pee on them. In the Battle of Los Angeles his title won’t be on the line, but he’s still not going to lose a single match.

Hardkore Kidd says that while people are calling TJ Perkins the future of PWG he thinks Davey Richards is the future. Tonight he showed that he can hang with the Hardkore Kidd, which is more than he can say for the partners he’s had in the past. Richards says that it took him three tries but tonight he proved that he can beat him.

Dino Winwood and Quicksilver reflect on the show. Winwood is tired after a night of commishing and Quicksilver is so beaten up he can’t talk. Dino thanks Quicksilver, saying he wouldn’t be in PWG if it wasn’t for him. He then starts to get a big head about the money he’s making and the title shot he got his friend.

The 411:  The commentators were selling this as a set-up show for the Battle of Los Angeles all night, and the wrestlers were largely performing in that fashion. None of the matches were bad but nothing was good enough to really give this a recommendation.
Final Score:  6.5   [ Average ]