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Guerrilla Reviewfare: PWG Only Kings Understand Each Other

May 4, 2017 | Posted by Jake St-Pierre
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Guerrilla Reviewfare: PWG Only Kings Understand Each Other  

PWG comes into 2017 after a banner 2016, although ending on an ever-so-slightly underwhelming note with the still-great Mystery Vortex IV. However, PWG came roaring into the year with a tremendous card, full of big debuts and a top-to-bottom fun card on paper. Jay White, Lio Rush, and Ohio Is 4 Killers all make their PWG debuts, and Chuck Taylor finally gets a PWG Title shot against Zack Sabre Jr. Couple that with a NEW RING~! after their old one was apparently lost in a fire, and PWG seems to be en route to a wonderful opener for their 2017.

We are TAPED from the American Legion in Reseda, CA.

Your hosts are Excalibur and the usual gang.

Cody vs. Trevor Lee
I’m afraid the bloom is thoroughly off the rose for young Cody Rhodes. I did enjoy his BOLA efforts against Sami Callihan and Marty Scurll, but the problem is that he went on after to have the exact same match with pretty much everyone on the indie wrestling circuit and refused to evolve his game in any substantial way. It’s basically “hey, look my dad was Dusty Rhodes” and “lol I have a hot wife and I was Stardust once!” cheap pops and not much else. To be fair, I thought his Bullrope match with Jay Lethal in ROH was very good, but he’s done almost nothing memorable in any way since getting to the indie scene. Compare him to a guy like Trent Beretta, who even had a very mediocre PWG debut and still ended up becoming one of the most fun wrestlers in the world. But hey, the guy’s over, so my bitching and moaning only carries so much weight. And he’s going up against Trevor Lee, who I just watched have an incredible match with Chip Day, so he’s high on my list at the moment.

Trevor starts immediately by hitting a HUGE Avalanche German and a PK from the apron! He hits a deadlift German inside the ring for a 2 count. This new ring looks much easier to bump on, that’s for sure. The old ring always looked like a killer to bump in. Cody battles back and hits a powerslam and a Beautiful Disaster Kick… followed by a big double jump Plancha to the outside. Cody tries to springboard, but he runs right into an elbow from Trevor that stops him right in his tracks. The crowd boos HEAVILY for something, and the only thing I’d imagine was that this was the comment that Trevor made about Dusty that Cody got in a funk about. Pretty clever editing there on Super Dragon’s part there as it sounded like the crowd just destroyed some poor woman for telling Trevor that he talks too much. Cody hits his brother’s laying punch and hits a Musclebuster off all things. Cody starts making a faster comeback before hitting a double jump dropkick that whiffs something fierce, but I’d die if I tried that so I can’t penalize him for it. Cody eats a Bicycle Kick and runs after Trevor, but that earns him a Mushroom Stomp of death for 2. That’s not what it’s officially called, but Excalibur called it that in Trevor’s PWG debut so I’m sticking to it. Cody hits the Hardcore Holly hanging toe kick, but accidentally bumps Rick Knox. He hits Trevor with Cross Rhodes, but Rick Knox can’t count. Knox recovers as Cody keeps on Trevor, who hits the spinning crossbody and a Fisherman’s Buster for the win in 11 minutes. *** Rock solid opener here, worked at a torrid pace from the opening bell and never getting boring, which is all I can hope for out of a Cody match. Cody actually did a lot of the legwork here and carried himself adequately, so I don’t have many complaints about this one. I thought the whole logic around the ref bump was a bit weird, but it didn’t actively detract from the proceedings and we got a satisfying finish anyways.

Rey Fenix vs. Trent?
I’ll be honest, I am proper giddy for this match on paper. I will go to my grave saying that Trent Beretta is the most underrated wrestler in the world, and Rey Fenix is quite damn great himself. Put these two in a PWG environment, and I struggle to think of a way this would disappoint given both men’s willingness to die.

Trent backs Fenix into the ropes and asks him for “no lucha shit”, which the fans greet with a chorus of boos and a “Lucha Shit” chant. They trade wristlocks, where Trent manages to one-up him on the scale of Lucha Shit early, until Fenix SHOWS HIM WHO’S BOSS. Trent breaks it up and just chops Fenix to the ground for that ridiculousness. Trent throws a weak chop and acknowledges it as such, and Fenix DESTROYS HIM with some overhand chops that knock his gum out of his mouth and crumble him. Trent doesn’t want anymore of that, and Fenix suckers him in to a Bicycle Kick that sends young Greg to the outside, where he throws a chair at Fenix’s head. I must say that this is one of the hottest non-BOLA PWG crowds I’ve heard in a very long time, as they lose their mind for Trent’s big slingshot face-rake. Fenix sends Trent out of the ring with a Rana before coming out with a BEAUTIFUL Tope Con Hilo. Senton Bomb scores for a Fenix two count. Trent goes up top for something, but settles for a Tornado DDT… that Fenix COUNTERS WITH A ROLL INTO AN ACE CRUSHER! RIGHT INTO A DRAGON SLEEPER! Trent gets the ropes. Ten consecutive kicks to the chest get Fenix a two count, much to the crowd’s delight. Fenix responds to some Trent slaps with a superkick, but he gets PILEDRIVEN ON THE APRON for his troubles! Trent hits his swinging DDT, and a Sexy Chuckie Knee gets two. JERRY LYNN PILEDRIVER from Beretta, missing the explosion from the Best Friends episodes unfortunately. Trent toys with Fenix a bit, calling him a Lucha Piece of Shit, but Fenix sends him out to the apron and DOUBLE STOMPS HIM ON THE APRON~! Trent makes it into the ring at 19, before Fenix clobbers him with a Yakuza Kick and A HUGE DOUBLE STOMP! TRENT BARELY KICKS OUT! They trade some winded strikes before Fenix hits a crazy rolling kick in the corner, but TRENT COUNTERS A TILT A WHIRL INTO A DUDEBUSTER~! Trent is your winner in 14 minutes. ***3/4 Just as good as it appeared to be on paper, albeit not quite a showstealer. This was structured like a lucha match (like a lot of Fenix’s PWG outings), as there was no real heat segment or story being told. They just threw bombs at each other, which is the exact match the PWG crowd likes. And guess what, when these two men worked to their audience… it worked! Wacky how that happens. Fenix busted out his usual arsenal of innovative stuff, while Trent sold his ass off the entire time before picking up a great win off a great finish to keep his momentum going strong into this year. Nothing to complain about here whatsoever, and we’re 2 for 2 to start off PWG’s 2017!

The Chosen Bros vs. The Unbreakable F’n Machines
I gotta be honest, I groaned a little bit when this matchup was first announced. Not because it wasn’t going to be a good match, but because I feel like Cage and Elgin being a team just doesn’t quite suit either man’s talents correctly. But then I thought about it more, and I realized that there is a 100% chance that I’ll get to see Jeff Cobb vs. Michael Elgin in some form, and that’s not something anyone on the planet Earth should complain about.

Jeff Cobb has dropped a pretty good amount of weight, which scares me as the dude is already scary enough without being jacked. Riddle and Elgin start off with a friendly handshake, and it’s grapple city in the earlygoings as you’d expect with the King of Bros. Riddle muscles Elgin up for kicks, so Big Mike shows his strength likewise and hurks him up for a takedown of his own. Riddle responds by working a headlock, and makes it a priority to keep it on despite Elgin’s attempts to create some separation. Elgin catches a leapfrog into a Fireman’s Carry, but Riddle immediately slithers over to a rear naked choke, forcing Elgin to buck him off immediately. Cobb tags in, and here comes Brian Cage to meet him. Cobb runs right into a Cage dropkick, followed by a sweet standing moonsault that misses. Cobb hits a dropkick and a standing moonsault of his own, both of which hit for a two count. Cage hits the 818, and Elgin blind tags in for a sweet Spinout Powerbomb that gets 2. Elgin heaves Cobb up for the stalling vertical suplex, and HE SWITCHES OFF WITH CAGE~! Riddle marks out on the apron despite his partner being in a world of hurt, which is hilarious. Cage works over Cobb for a bit, but he runs right into the Olympian’s big spinning back suplex. Riddle and Cage tag in, and Riddle goes wild on both Machines with strikes and suplexes! Cobb saves him from Cage, and they hit a roundhouse/German combo on the Machine before turning their sights to Big Mike. Elgin holds his own fighting both Riddle and Cobb, but a jumping knee and Olympic Slam respectively put an end to that. Cobb tags in proper for a big Elgin/Cobb hoss fight, which Elgin wins before ragdolling BOTH MEN WITH GERMAN SUPLEXES! Cage tags in and picks up the scraps, hitting Cobb with a neat Alabama Bomb for a two count. The Machines have Cobb alone, hitting a sloppy Hellevator. Riddle saves his partner and locks in a guillotine on Cage before settling for a Fisherman’s Buster. He tries one on Elgin, who DOES THE DEAL with a Falcon Arrow… but Elgin runs into a PSYCHE OUT GERMAN FROM COBB! The Chosen Bros double team Cage with German Suplexes, but Big Mike saves the day. Cage drops Riddle with a discus lariat, and the Machines DESTROY Cobb with backfists and lariats! SUPER ELGIN BOMB ON COBB! F-5 FROM CAGE! COBB KICKS OUT! RIDDLE LEAPS OFF ELGIN’S BACK AND KNEES CAGE! BRO TO SLEEP ON ELGIN! BRO TO SLEEP ON CAGE! TOUR OF THE ISLANDS ON CAGE! The Chosen Bros get one hell of a win in 15 minutes. **** A complete barnstormer of a match, one that I personally didn’t see coming if we’re being truthful here, resulting in a slightly generous rating. This really was a hoss fight done to perfection, with all four guys going out there and doing their best to progressively escalate things without ending too late or too early. They didn’t waste our time with boring heat segments – mostly because it wouldn’t make sense given the general badassery of all four men – and instead opted to hit each other with crazier and crazier power moves until one team got the best of the proceedings. It didn’t quite have the deeper story that the Chosen Bros/Young Bucks encounter did, but Cobb and Riddle made up for it by working smoother together and doing a great job of working the match they were sent out to do. The crowd was going mental at several points, and everything was in its right place. Sometimes you don’t need a big psychological angle to work with, ya know?

Ricochet vs. Lio Rush
Another total showstealer on paper, as Lio Rush makes his PWG debut after – wait for it – treading water in ROH for a good year. He finally gets a chance to break out properly against perhaps the best potential opponent for him in Ricochet, who rarely ever falters in his PWG outings.

Lio isn’t having Ricochet’s early condescension, throwing a few slaps in retaliation. Cue the HUGE LOW KI/AMAZING RED SEQUENCE that forces Ricochet to bail to the floor. Rush hits a sweet springboard rana before sening Ricochet to the floor with an enzuigiri. Ricochet dodges a Rush dive, but gets booted in the face. Rush tries to moonsault off the apron onto him, but Ricochet catches him and powerslams him on the apron before hitting a big Spaceman plancha! Ricochet hits an awesome pop-up Wheelbarrow German, and Lio’s sell for it is quite fantastic. Lio attempts to make his comeback, eventually knocking Ricochet to the floor and hitting two Lope’s that would make Austin Aries proud. Huge Tornado DDT scores for Lio, getting his first real nearfall of the match. Ricochet meets Lio up top, but Rush moves out of the way and hops right back up for a Frog Splash that misses, and they have a furious trade of counters that ends in a nearfall for Ricochet. Lio escapes a Benadryller and they TRADE CRAZY SPINNING KICKS until they both collapse. Another crazy spinning kick gets Lio a nearfall. Lio hits a huge reverse rana and goes up top for a Frog Splash! Ricochet kicks out. Ricochet catches a kick and nails a rolling elbow, followed by a Northern Lights into a Brainbuster… right into the Benadryller… for 2! Shooting Star scores for Ricochet… AND LIO POPS UP AT 2~! Lio collapses in exhaustion though, and eats a few kicks to the head, before RICOCHET KILLS HIM WITH AN AXE KICK! VERTIGO! Ricochet pins Lio Rush in 17 minutes. ***3/4 Not quite the out-of-this-world spotfest it had the potential to be, but this had a lot of great moving parts to it as a match that I don’t think a lot of people will catch. First off, I highly enjoyed Ricochet finally being the bigger man, throwing Lio around at will and really doing a great job taking the heat. The commentary pushed how Lio Rush was only about 2 years in, and since he was wrestling a similar – and much more experienced – wrestler in Ricochet, there was a lot Lio just didn’t have under his belt. That made for some incredibly fun comeback sequences from the confident Lio, who looked like he was adapting more as the match went on. He surprised me with how good his facial expressions were too as he traded some quite intense strikes with Ricochet and made himself out to be even more determined than his opponent. There’s still a visible rawness to what Lio does, but that worked in his favor in this match because it helped tell a very good, subtle story of Ricochet having his number due to how alike they are in terms of style, but how far apart they are in terms of big stage experience. Ricochet was just smoother and more polished, and that was that. I think the finishing stretch could have been a little more heated – and there was a little bit too much striking as filler for my taste – but this overall was an incredibly solid debut for young Lio Rush and another feather in the cap of the fantastic King Ricochet.

Marty Scurll vs. Jay White
Jay White is one of the more under-the-radar debuts PWG has had in a while, as the New Japan young boy has been quietly improving in the ROH midcard. He has tons of potential but has a ways to go in the charisma department, but there’s no better place to hone your craft than the big atmosphere of PWG. Marty Scurll is… well, Marty Scurll, and it’s almost impossible to have a bad match with him at this stage.

Marty chucks a fan’s hat across the building, and Jay White returns it to him in wonderful babyface fashion. Marty is very unhappy at the idea of that, and he threatens the fan with his umbrella. Marty decrees how good he is at technical wrestling as he and White feel each other out. Marty is feeling extra wacky tonight, until a very vocal young lady calls him “fucking stupid.” He bitchslaps young Jay White and welcomes him to PWG, and Jay is happy to respond in kind before hitting a beautiful dropkick that sends the Villain to the floor. Marty dodges a dive by climbing under the ring and coming out on the other side to jump a confused Jay White. Marty sends White to the floor, where he hits the superkick from the apron, sending Jay reeling into the fans. Marty methodically works Jay over around and inside the ring as a result. Jay starts making his comeback with a DDT, and he begins building a head of steam with a bevvy of strikes. Jay hits a beautiful diving forearm from the second rope. Jay hits a barrage of uppercuts to an aproned Marty before diving out with a Tope Suicida. Jay White puts on Marty’s wacky mask and transforms into Marty, hitting the Just Kidding Superkick and tries to snap his fingers, before settling for an eyepoke after a cute little exchange sees the mask prevent one of Marty’s. The mask comes off and Jay finally eats the eyepoke, followed by a Tombstone that gets a two count. White puts in a half crab after some resistance from Marty, right into Cattle Mutilation, a move Marty likes to use on occasion. He transitions that into a crossface, but Scurll finds the ropes. Marty looks for the superkick from the apron, but Jay catches him and gives him a brainbuster of sorts on the apron. White counters out of a Chickenwing, and hits a Flatliner right into a deadlift German. He dodges the Just Kidding kick and nails a lariat, but Marty battles right back with a brainbuster. Marty lets down the top knot and fires off a barrage of superkicks, but he runs right into a Jay White crossface… and eventually a Rings of Saturn. Marty escapes and stomps Jay’s hand, before snapping his fingers as Jay flips him off. Just Kidding superkick scores, but Marty pops up after a suplex and locks in the Chickenwing for the win at 18 minutes. **3/4 Bit of an underwhelming debut for Jay White here I’m afraid, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say that I’m not sure it’s really his fault. As much as I like Marty Scurll as a wrestler, his matches do tend to suffer when he doesn’t take them seriously. Here, he was way more interested in getting himself over rather than making Jay White look like his equal, and the match itself didn’t have much heat because of it. The crowd wanted to like Jay and it’s obvious he has a lot of potential, but Marty was just a bit to full of himself to make his opponent look good. There weren’t any exchanges that made me feel like Jay was on Marty’s level, even if what he did do was incredibly fluid and polished beyond his experience. Some of the comedy got a pop out of me, like Jay transforming into Marty by putting on his mask, but overall that sort of tomfoolery negatively contributed to the match as it just got less heated as it went on. It’s not often you see this in PWG, but unfortunately Jay White’s debut was a bit of a damp squib.

Tornado Trios Match: Superkliq (The Young Bucks & Adam Cole) vs. Ohio Is 4 Killers (Sami Callihan, Jake Crist & Dave Crist)
One of the most random debuts I can ever recall seeing in PWG, as the former Irish Airborne makes their PWG debut tonight against three of the company’s biggest stars. They’ve been slowly but surely building their name up in places like AAW and Beyond with their chaotic brawls, and when you think of it that way, a PWG appearance seems like a logical step-up. Their partner Sami Callihan has long been one of the dullest parts of PWG shows since returning in December 2015, but has started to refine his style into the famed Sami Sprint rather than working insufferably long 20 minute matches and thus started to earn back some of the fan following he had before leaving. This isn’t my ideal use for the Young Bucks, but I am looking forward to see what kind of craziness the Ohio boys are gonna dish out.

Dumb guy ring announcer messes up Jake Crist’s name in a nice moment, and Nick Jackson refuses to allow the guy to announce his team. Cody Rhodes comes out instead to announce his Bullet Club comrades in a fun touch, and he does an infinitely better job. I can do without the cheap WWE mentions, but that’s basically Cody’s schtick at this point so hey. OI4K jumps all four men at the bell, and it’s a Pier Sixer from the jump. Sami and Cole fight it out in the middle of the ring until Dave Crist saves his partner with a dropkick. He heads up top and hits a splash onto Cole, but he meets the Young Bucks immediately. Nick accidentally kicks his brother and eats a DVD from Jake. Cole looks for a Brainbuster, but Jake won’t go up much to his chagrin. The Bucks save Cole from the stress, and the Superkliq runs wild. Sami interrupts the running double kiss from the Bucks by kissing everyone on the lips, and he runs wild on the Superkliq with some running facewashes to all three opponents. Sami sends Nick to the outside with a German and measures for a dive, but Matt halts his momentum. Matt dives out on top of the Crists, with Nick following with a HUGE ESCALERA! Cole measures for a dive, but of course, he only wants to say his name. That earns him a Bicycle Kick and the Crists hit BIG STEREO DIVES onto the Superkliq! Cole looks for the Panama Sunrise, but Dave Crist stops him and goes up for a double superplex with Sami, but the Bucks stop them with double backrakes! TOWER OF DOOM INTO A POWERBOMB ON COLE FROM JAKE CRIST! Jake hits a Black Mass kick on Cole, but eats a double pop-up Powerbomb from the Bucks. Dave hits Matt with a Sister Abigail-esque DDT, but runs into an X Factor from Nick that he transitions right into a moonsault on Jake! The Bucks have Sami alone in the ring, but he’s game to fight them off as best he can, dodging superkicks and double dropkicking them out of the ring. He runs right into Cole though, who Sami doesn’t back down from either. He hits a sweet Go-To-Sleep variant and a sliding elbow for a 2 count. Cole superkicks Sami and hits Panama Sunrise, but Sami powers out at 2. Cole tunes up the band, but he runs right into a superkick from Jake Crist, and ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE until Sami folds Cole in half with a rebound lariat. ACE CRUSHERS FROM EVERYONE! COLE IS GOING TO THAT PLACE~! BUT HE EATS AN ACE CRUSHER FROM DAVE! HUGE WALK UP DOOMSDAY ACE CRUSHER FROM DAVE ON THE BUCKS~! NICK KICKS OUT! The Bucks catch Dave up top, but Sami pushes the Jacksons to the floor to save his partner. He and Cole trade Bicycle Kicks in the center of the ring as Dave recovers hurting his dick, and THEY HIT A HUGE DOUBLE STOMP TOMBSTONE ON COLE! The Superkliq telegraphs some attacks in the corner, but run into Bicycle Kicks, only for OI4K to run into a trio of superkicks when they try the same. STEREO 450’S/FAT SPLASH from the Superkliq gets a trio of nearfalls. The Superkliq hits a wacky Indytaker/Senton combo for another two count. EARLY ONSET ALZHEIMER’S ON OI4K~! SAMI SPITS IN THEIR FACE! EARLY ONSET ALZHEIMER’S ON SAMI! The Superkliq picks up the win in 16 minutes. **** If you looked at this match on paper and imagined what it would be like in real life, this was everything you’d expect and more. Its high rating on my end comes from the fact that they forewent the whole “heat segment/hot tag” business and just dove straight into the wackiness with the tornado rules, working this match at an insane pace from the first second. Something has to be said for the great psychology of that move, and I wanted my rating to reflect how much I appreciated that. It turned into a Young Bucks special of maddening spots at a million miles a minute, but it wasn’t like that for no reason. They’ve made a whole persona around wrestling this kind of match, and with OI4K’s reputation as similar workers, doing this sort of sprint was exactly what I think they should have done. That in itself is enough psychology for me to love the match. Sure, we’ve seen crazier spotfests (the BOLA trios match, obviously) but that doesn’t mean this one is diluted. This one was a little shorter than many Bucks matches too, but that shortened length also meant we got an incredibly speedy match with hardly any dips in the action. We also got to see the personalities of everyone involved, everyone’s trademark spots (like Dave Crist’s ridiculous Ace Crusher), and some innovative takes on tired multi-man tropes like that crazy Tower of Doom powerbomb from Jake Crist. So no, this isn’t something that will reinvent the wheel, but it worked incredibly well for what they were aiming for, and that’s really all that matters.

PWG World Title: Zack Sabre Jr. © vs. Chuck Taylor
This is a big match for Sexy Chuckie T, as he’s built up a great win streak over the past year, including wins over his former best friend Trent, Marty Scurll, and even ROH champion Adam Cole en route to getting this title shot. He might be the most beloved singles wrestler in PWG currently, and it all pays off in some form in this match. It all actually reminds me a bit of Drake Younger’s big run in 2013, leading to his unbelievable match with Adam Cole that I still maintain would be a legit five star match if Drake had won. Will Dustin finally win the big one? That’s what we’re here to find out.

Chuckie gets a streamer shower from this geeked Reseda crowd, and Zack actually gets a fair amount of boos for daring to go up against the Kentucky Gentleman. Chuckie nearly gets the early win with a small package and HITS A SHORT PILEDRIVER! Zack kicks out again and desperately rolls out of the ring. Chuckie stays right on him and works him over around ringside with some chops that send him into the fans. Zack creates separation with an uppercut, but sprints right into a Chuckie T lariat. Chuckie looks for a moonsault, but ZACK CATCHES HIM IN A TRIANGLE! Chuck scrambles to the ropes almost immediately. Chuckie taunts Zack’s uppercuts a little bit, and he counters a guillotine into a Brainbuster for another nearfall. Zack counters Sole Food into a PK, milking some boos from the crowd. Zack eats a chop from the challenger, and responds by wrenching his neck non-challantly, and finally starts to use some of his aggression after a rocky start. He’s too busy dealing with the fans though, and Chuck fires back with some forearms, but Zack hits a RUNNING TRIANGLE! Chuck counters that with a Half Crab before sending Zack outside for a Tope Con Hilo! ZACK BACK SUPLEXES HIM ON THE FLOOR! He puts on an Octopus Stretch before Chuckie counters and PILEDRIVES HIM on a chair! He gives Zack a trio of nasty DDT’s in the ring, but only gets 2. Chuck hits his moonsault for a two count, the first time I’ve seen him hit it in God knows how long. Zack counters out of a Piledriver and hits a Half and Half before hitting another PK, followed by a Ligerbomb for a 2 count. Zack puts on a nasty Stretch Muffler variation, but Chuck rolls himself to the ropes. Zack toys with the Kentucky Gentleman a little bit, but Chuckie is defiant as he eats some uppercuts. Chuckie kicks out of the European Clutch, and FIRES UP AFTER SOME SLAPS! OCTOPUS COUNTERED INTO A DUDEBUSTER! Zack kicks out! Chuckie measures for the Awful Waffle, but Zack telegraphs it and hits a German and a running uppercut that knocks Chuck into the corner. Zack runs right into a kneelift and CHUCKIE HITS THE AWFUL WAFFLE! ZACK KICKS OUT! ANOTHER ONE COUNTERED INTO A TRIANGLE! COUNTERED INTO A LIGERBOMB! BUT ZACK KEEPS IT ON! ELBOWS! Chuck Taylor passes out and Zack retains the title in 16 minutes. **** This was a phenomenal main event that had potential to be even better than it was. There were so many awesome little psychological moments here that’s hard to name them all without being longwinded. The main one was how completely focused Chuck Taylor was from the get-go. He knew exactly what sort of danger Zack Sabre Jr presented with his grappling and overall stamnia, so he attempted to end things as early as possible with multiple high impact moves. He wasn’t able to end it, but he was able to keep away from Zack’s ground game for quite a long time and control the bulk of the match. Zack was on the defensive for a lot of the bout, and Chuck didn’t mess around whatsoever in trying to get the title. Only problem was, he just wasn’t as skilled as Zack Sabre Jr. Once Zack gets you on the ground – especially if you’re not all that adept there – it’s not very long until you end up either tapping or passing out. And sure enough, as hard as Chuck Taylor tried, he wasn’t able to deal with Zack’s grapping acumen. Chuck also got to show some great babyface fire, eating some stiff strikes from Zack and only coming out harder, a side of Chuckie’s personality we don’t often see. He played a fantastic foil to the increasingly heel behavior of the champion, willing to give him his comeuppance at every opportunity as Zack progressively got more hostile towards the intensely pro-Chuck crowd. I think they could have worked another five minutes at a higher octane pace and perhaps had a Match of the Year contender on their hands, but that’s hardly me complaining about what I got. I still got an incredibly satisfying main event, worth the build and providing a tremendous payoff to Chuck Taylor’s pursuit to the title, even if as a HUGE fan of the guy, the finish was slightly deflating. Absolutely riveting stuff for the 16 minutes they worked.

Marty Scurll comes out after the match with a mic and yells at the crowd for booing Zack, and tells Zack that he’s got his back, and the LDRS unite to turn on Chuck Taylor! HERE’S TRENT! Greg cleans house and saves his best friend… and they HUG! Hell of a way to end the show given the finish to the match, and we’ve got an easy match for the next show because of it!

8.5
The final score: review Very Good
The 411
PWG enters the new year with one of their best non-BOLA shows in ages, with one of the most consistently great cards you'll ever see. While there's nothing in the way of a Match of the Year candidate, there are damn close to five 4-star outings here and only one match that I would classify as a disappointment in White vs. Scurll. I'm a man who highly values consistency in a show, and at a brisk run-time of 2 hours and 14 minutes, this show is incredibly watchable and formatted in such a way that you aren't burnt out by the end. Big, big recommendation for Only Kings Understand Each Other!
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