Break It Down: PWG World’s Finest

World’s Finest on March 17th, 2012

Kevin Steen and Super Dragon were supposed to defend the PWG World Tag Team Titles in a four-way main event, but an injury sustained by Super Dragon caused some card reshuffling. Steen cuts a promo to start the show, but Peter Avalon attacks him from behind. That’s certainly ambitious of him. Patrick Hernandez calls for the bell, leading to…

Opening Match: Peter Avalon vs. Kevin Steen
They trade strikes, with Steen’s having more effectiveness. Avalon takes him down with a leg lariat but gets caught by a senton after excessive celebrating. Steen hits his flipping leg drop and lays in a few chops. Avalon sends him into the ringpost but loses his momentary advantage after another brutal chop. Steen shrugs off a few crossbody attempts. Avalon finds success with a springboard crossbody but falls victim to a spinning side slam. Avalon avoids a corner charge and hits a basement flatliner. Steen responds with his pumphandle neckbreaker. Avalon surprises him with a small package for a two count. Steen misses a corner cannonball and Avalon low blows him. Avalon drives him into the canvas with double knees for a nearfall. Steen blocks a hurricanrana and hits a TKO. Steen follows with an elevated package piledriver for the win at 9:01. Everyone knew that Steen winning was inevitable but they were able to keep the action entertaining despite that fact. Avalon looked competitive without Steen coming off as foolish and the crowd got behind the odd matchup. This was a decent opener, although I’ll be curious to see if this match helps Avalon out in the long run. **¾

Steen says that “it takes a real man to jump somebody from behind” and that he respects Avalon. He apologizes for not defending the tag titles but reminds everyone that he never received his rematch against El Generico for the PWG World Title.

Match #2: Ray Rosas vs. Brian Cage-Taylor
Rosas snaps off a satellite headscissors and a wheelbarrow armdrag. He adds a hurricanrana and a sliding dropkick. Cage back drops Rosas onto the apron. Rosas catches him with a well-placed kick and hits a spear. Cage responds with a delayed vertical superplex from the middle rope. He takes control until Rosas comes back with a tornado DDT. Rosas connects with a springboard back elbow and lands a dive to the floor. In the ring, Rosas finds success with a diving headbutt and reverses Weapon X into a code red for a nearfall. Cage blocks a hurricanrana attempt and hits a nasty backbreaker. They have a nice exchange ending with Rosas hitting a tornado DDT. He follows with a brainbuster for a two count. Cage responds with a discus northern lariat for the victory at 10:51. I think Rosas proved himself as a useful singles wrestler after being booked in tag team matches thus far in PWG. He showcased some impressive offense and the crowd gave him a surprisingly loud ovation until a slip-up on the ropes. Cage is becoming more well-rounded and these two delivered an energetic contest that was perfect for its place on the card. ***

Match #3: Candice LeRae vs. Joey Ryan
Although these two haven’t had a singles match since 2008, I feel like they’ve been apart of random tag team matches together countless times. They begin brawling and LeRae lands a dive to the floor. She follows with another dive and this time DDTs Ryan onto the floor. Ryan drops her back-first across the apron and spanks her in the ring. Terrific. Kevin Steen actually mentions on commentary how many times they’ve wrestled in PWG. LeRae hits a ballsplex and snaps off a hurricanrana. She applies an octopus hold and transitions into a russian leg sweep. LeRae hits a swinging neckbreaker and reverse hurricanranas Ryan from the middle rope. Ryan landed on his head and that looked scary. Very scary. LeRae misses a top rope moonsault and gets caught by a superkick. Ryan parades around the ring in celebration. LeRae hits a powerbomb out of the corner. LeRae reverses a boobsplex into a rollup for the win at 7:54. If you’ve ever seen these two interact in the ring, then you’ve seen this match. The action was fine, barring the extremely dangerous reverse hurricanrana from the middle rope that almost broke Ryan’s neck. At this point, I understand that Ryan is male and LeRae is female – the humor is getting old. After seeing how well CHIKARA has booked Sara Del Rey, it’s sad that PWG hasn’t tried to do something similar with LeRae. *½

Match #4: TJ Perkins vs. Scorpio Sky
They begin with some chain wrestling and trade control on the mat, with both men attempting some dangerous submissions. Perkins traps Sky in a pendulum and tries to transition into an STF, but Sky reaches the bottom rope. Sky finds himself in the tree of woe and Perkins connects with a hesitation dropkick. Sky responds with a german suplex into the turnbuckles and a back suplex. They exchange kicks and Sky takes control after a backbreaker. Perkins lures him to the floor but Sky blocks a dive with a leg lariat. Sky lands a dive of his own. Joey Ryan comes out to check on his partner. Back in, Sky hurricanranas Perkins off the middle rope. They avoid each other’s kicks. Perkins lays in a superkick but Sky answers with an enzuigiri. Both men are down. Perkins hits a neckbreaker and a sit-out powerbomb. He locks in an STF but Sky is able to reach the ropes. Sky connects with a nasty bicycle knee strike for a nearfall. He reverses another STF attempt into a small package for a two count. Sky hits an ace crusher and synchs in a dragon sleeper for the victory at 14:23. This contest was reminiscent of Perkins’ early matches in EVOLVE in that each participant was solely focused on winning the match and attempted various quick submissions to do so. Sky has learned some new tricks since venturing into MMA and Perkins was the right opponent for him to showcase his new offense. I think opinions on this match will vary a bit, but if you like the style of professional wrestling that they were attempting, you should enjoy this contest. ***

Match #5: Johnny Goodtime and Johnny Yuma vs. Player Uno and Stupefied vs. Matt and Nick Jackson
These three teams were supposed to be involved in a four-way with Kevin Steen and Super Dragon for the PWG Tag Team Titles, but Super Dragon was injured and so we’re receiving a triple threat for nothing instead. The Young Bucks attack everyone before the opening bell. Stupefied knocks Nick off the apron and into the crowd unexpectedly. The Young Bucks both attempt moves off the top rope to no avail. The Super Smash Brothers and the RockNES Monsters actually work together to fight them off. Stupefied lands a standing moonsault onto Matt while Uno drops a fist. The RockNES Monsters follow with some double teaming of their own. Nick double stomps Yuma and takes out the SSB with a dive. The Young Bucks isolate Yuma until he takes advantage of some miscommunication and makes the tag. Goodtime stomps Nick into the canvas and connects with an enzuigiri. He follows with a falcon arrow. Matt interrupts a springboard maneuver from Stupefied and the Young Bucks now work him over. He snaps off a double hurricanrana and tags out. Uno hits a neckbreaker on Matt and follows with a DDT-flatliner combination on the Young Bucks. The SSB hit a double stomp-stunner combination on Nick. The RockNES Monsters land stereo dives to the floor onto the Young Bucks. Stupefied adds a dive of his own. In the ring, Stupefied walks across everyone’s shoulders and catches Goodtime with a tornado DDT. Yuma hits a stunner on Uno but the Young Bucks superkick them. Stupefied connects with a double pele kick on the Young Bucks but gets bicycle kicked to the canvas by Goodtime. All six men are down. The RockNES Monsters hit the Weapons Grade Bolognium on Stupefied for a nearfall. Uno german suplexes Matt from the middle rope and Stupefied follows with a top rope splash. Goodtime enzuigiris Matt into an ace crusher from Yuma. The RockNES Monsters find knees on a Weapons Grade Bolognium attempt from the middle rope. The Young Bucks superkick Uno but can’t hit More Bang for Your Buck. The SSB hit FATALITY! on Nick for the win at 17:53. This was fantastic and I can’t imagine how much more chaotic it would have been with Kevin Steen and Super Dragon involved. I think the Young Bucks are underappreciated in contests like this, as they were apart of every exchange in the first few minutes and held the match together until the finishing stretch. You can just look at the three teams involved and imagine how awesome the finishing stretch turned out. This match delivered everything that you were expecting from it and I’d have to think a lot of promotions are kicking themselves for not booking the SSB sooner. ***¾

Match #6: Alex Koslov vs. Kyle O’Reilly
Koslov connects with a dropkick before the opening bell. O’Reilly fires back with a series of kicks. They have an exchange where they dodge each other’s kicks and find themselves at a stalemate. Koslov tries to start a “Russia” chant but only gets met with more kicks. O’Reilly snaps off a hurricanrana. Koslov retreats to the floor and blocks a dive. He hits an apron-assisted DDT onto a propped chair. They brawl into the crowd and drink beer to commemorate St. Patrick’s Day. Koslov applies a surfboard in the ropes and takes control in the ring. They trade pin attempts and O’Reilly hits a dragon suplex. Koslov connects with an enzuigiri, sending O’Reilly to the outside. Koslov lands a dive off the top rope. Back in, Koslov finds success with a frog splash but gets caught by a corner yakuza kick. O’Reilly hits a superplex and synchs in a cross armbreaker. Koslov turns the hold into a pin attempt for a nearfall. They exchange strikes, ending with Koslov laying in a nasty superkick. O’Reilly traps him in a guillotine choke. Koslov overhead suplexes him but O’Reilly hangs onto the hold. O’Reilly hits a DDT from his position and reapplies the guillotine for the victory at 13:54. This match didn’t look incredibly interesting on paper and the crowd was pretty unresponsive to most of the action. They did come alive for Koslov’s antics, as his absence from independent wrestling has freshened up his gimmick. There’s not much to say about this contest except that it was a decent exhibition that didn’t click as well as they’d hoped. **½

Match #7: Willie Mack vs. Roderick Strong
Excalibur and Joey Ryan have a hilarious exchange on commentary talking about the complexity of Mack’s mindset going into this match. Mack takes down Strong with a shoulder tackle and controls on the mat. Strong kicks him in the gut and starts working over the left leg. The action goes to the floor where Mack drops Strong across the apron. Strong tackles Mack into the apron. They trade chops in the ring. Strong connects with a gamengiri out of nowhere. Mack uses his power to hit a suplex but immediately gets caught by a dropkick. He finds life after an enzuigiri and both men are down. Mack hits a samoan drop and lands a standing moonsault. Strong blocks a charge but walks into an exploder. Mack connects with a slingshot dropkick and hits an ace crusher out of a bearhug position. Strong responds with an enzuigiri and an olympic slam. He applies the Stronghold but Mack is able to reach the bottom rope. They battle on the apron and Mack gets dropped back-first onto it. They trade forearms and Strong connects with a superkick followed by a flying knee strike. Mack blocks a Sick Kick attempt with a sit-out powerbomb. Strong dazes Mack up top with a gamengiri and hits a superplex. Strong adds a gutbuster and connects with the Sick Kick for a nearfall. Mack answers with a back heel kick and hits a reverse piledriver for the win at 19:38. I thought the action was quite enjoyable but the crowd seemed indifferent until the final two minutes of the match. This was very different from their previous match. Last time, they traded strikes for the majority of the contest and Mack was able to keep up with Strong. Now, Strong wanted nothing to do with strike exchanges and looked for openings to cut off Mack’s momentum and keep him contained. Both men delivered a solid performance; I just wish the crowd would have been as vocal as they were during their previous match together. ***¼

El Generico and Eddie Edwards are in the ring for their PWG World Title match. Right after the opening bell, Kevin Steen appears on the apron. Steen has permission from the PWG officials to be added to this match. Generico and Edwards don’t mind and we have a triple threat…

Match #8: PWG World Title: El Generico © vs. Eddie Edwards vs. Kevin Steen
Generico yakuza kicks Steen off the apron. Edwards stops Generico from diving by superkicking him and then lands a few dives of his own. Edwards connects with a missile dropkick on Generico, who responds with a leg lariat. Steen hits a lungblower on Edwards followed by a corner cannonball on Generico. Steen and Generico exchange strikes, with Steen’s forearms having some impact. Edwards hits a backpack chinbreaker on Steen but runs into a superkick. Generico attempts a slingshot maneuver but Steen catches him with an ace crusher. They have an exchange involving a lot of biting. Generico lures both of his opponents to the floor and follows out with a dive. In the ring, Generico lands a flying crossbody onto Steen. He plants Edwards with a blue thunder bomb. Edwards enzuigiris Generico and hits a sit-out gourdbuster on Steen. Steen elevates Edwards into a powerbomb and then uses Generico to hit a backpack senton. All three men are down. Edwards comes off the middle rope with a codebreaker on Steen. Generico overhead suplexes Edwards into the turnbuckles. Steen german suplexes Edwards, who shoulder-capture suplexes Generico at the same time. Everyone trades strikes. Steen hits a double samoan drop. Generico catches him with a half nelson suplex. Edwards connects with a flying double stomp on Generico for a nearfall. He locks in a half crab but Generico reaches the ropes. They battle on the middle rope and Generico hits a turnbuckle brainbuster. Steen powerbombs Generico onto the apron and covers Edwards to become the new PWG World Champion at 15:35. Steen becomes the second person to ever hold the PWG World Title and a PWG World Tag Team Title simultaneously, with Generico being the other person. It’s an interesting twist to the Steen/Generico feud and I’m curious to see how they progress in PWG. This match featured some creative three-way spots and everyone received a chance to stand out. However, for the third straight match, the crowd’s lack of enthusiasm hurt the action. Additionally, Edwards was almost treated as an afterthought and it seemed like his involvement was solely used to freshen up the Steen-Generico dynamic. Still, this was a worthwhile main event with an interesting result. ***¼

The 411: World’s Finest was a consistent show but that’s no surprise when talking about PWG. There were numerous matches throughout the card that cracked three stars, with the three-way tag team match earning match of the night honors. However, there wasn’t a “must see” match on this show and a possible explanation could be the unenthused crowd. The crowd’s quietness was especially apparent during the final three contests and it took away from the show. Nevertheless, World’s Finest still packed enough quality to receive a recommendation - just not as strong of a recommendation as I’m used to giving a PWG show.

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]