Guerrilla Reviewfare: PWG Prince

Last time we saw PWG, they put on a fantastic weekend of wrestling with All Star Weekend XII. Marty Scurll and Kyle O’Reilly stole the entire weekend with their incredible outing on Night One, while we crowned a new PWG World Champion in Zack Sabre Jr during Night Two… which brings us to PWG’s fifth show of 2016 in PRINCE. Unfortunately, it’s also the third single show named after a fallen music legend as 2016 tries to depress even the best of us. Zack Sabre Jr was to defend his PWG Title against Michael Elgin in the main event, but injury shuffled the card a bit allowing for the debut of Kamaitachi, as well as an old-fashioned Michael Elgin double-shift. So without further ado…

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

Your hosts are Excalibur and the peanut gallery.

Adam Cole vs. Dalton Castle
Adam Cole had a couple great outings at ASW XII, against Zack Sabre Jr and Trent? on both nights. With him losing both of those matches, he slinks back down to the opening match to meet the greatness that is Dalton Castle, as unfortunately we’re not graced with the presence of one Chuck Taylor. But hey, you gotta take what you can get.

Dalton and Cole slink toward each other to start off, but Cole isn’t with it. Cole BAYBAY’s Dalton in the earlygoing, which causes Dalton to lay back in the crowd and let the audience fan him. Castle dropkicks Cole out of the ring, and looks for a dive, but Cole moves. Castle isn’t too angry about it, as he struts in the middle of the ring amidst the adoration of the crowd. Cole tries to blindside him, but Dalton has one up on him with an armdrag. Cole escapes the deadlift Gutwrench, but again finds himself thrown out of the ring. Cole dodges another dive, but Dalton elbows him down and hits a Lope Suicida! Despite this, Cole is able to dictate the pace as they get back into the ring, dropped Dalton with an elbow. Dalton boots Cole out of the COLE-TRAIN, hanging him on the top rope for a running boot on the apron. Cole catches Dalton back inside with a Fireman’s Carry onto his knee for a two count. This fairly new burial of Adam Cole’s physique on commentary is something I believe I can get behind, as Excalibur casually says “…on that patch of sourdough Adam Cole calls a belly.” Castle is sent into the ropes for something, but rebounds off with a lariat! Dalton hits the back elbow/Discus Punch combo more times that I can count, and counters Panama Sunrise into a Belly-to-Belly toss! Cole tries to Irish whip Castle into the apron outside, but Dalton slides from the apron for a hurricanrana on the floor! Castle botches something off the top rope, but recovers well by starching Cole with an elbow! Cole escapes the Bangarang, and hits the Brainbuster on the knee for two! Cole thinks he’s won however, so he’s a bowl of smiles as he flips his way off to the back. Knox goads him back in with a countout, however. Castle wins a striking match with Cole, hitting a barrage of punches, before Cole superkicks his knee out before a regular superkick to the face. CASTLE BRIDGES OUT OF THE PIN INTO A DEADLIFT GERMAN! COLE KICKS OUT! Dalton hits a barrage of knees into the corner, but eats a superkick. Dalton fights back and finally hits a third knee, but DIVES RIGHT INTO A SUPERKICK! SHINING WIZARD! KNEE BRAINBUSTER! Adam Cole wins a great opener at the 14 minute mark. ***1/2 While Chuck Taylor has had his fair share of uber-fun openers over the past 6 months or so, as a pure wrestling match, this is one of the better openers PWG has had in a while. The Reseda crowd is in love with Dalton Castle (as they should be!), so really if you give him a defined heel it’s really hard to not have a great dynamic based on personality alone. Luckily for everyone involved, he got Adam Cole – the most dastardly heel in the company – who is a tremendous worker in his own right, and when Dalton is able to let loose, he can work a damn great match himself. So really, this is all you could ever realistically want from an opening match.

Michael Elgin vs. Kamaitachi
Michael Elgin as I mentioned was supposed to get a shot at Zack Sabre Jr in what I thought was going to be a tremendous match, but with Sabre being forced to pull out, #BigMike moves back on the card a bit against the debuting Kamaitachi. Kamaitachi has been tearing it up with Dragon Lee in CMLL over the past year or so, and just recently made his move to the US as a part of his learning excursion. Will Kamaitachi find himself in the beloved Akira Tozawa role, or will he fizzle out? Well, it’s hard to have a bad match against Michael Elgin (and Kamaitachi RULES) so I’d be willing to bet a variation of the former.

I’m so glad everybody likes Michael Elgin again. Big Mike uses his strength in the earlygoing, but Kamaitachi sends Elgin outside and dropkicks him from the apron! Elgin gets back into the ring and hits a messy pop-up Ace Crusher, followed by a rolling elbow to Kamitachi for two. The crowd breaks into duelling chants for Justin Borden, so Elgin hugs the man himself to show his alignment. Elgin sets Kamaitachi on the second rope, hits a rolling elbow to the back of head, and finishes the combo off with a German for two. Elgin hilariously goes after some fan, which allows Kamaitachi to throw Elgin out and come out with a Dick Togo esque senton from the top rope! Kamaitachi hits a cool arm-capture dragon screw, effectively going after the legs of Big Mike. Things spill out to the apron, where Elgin gives Kamaitachi a Death Valley Driver on the ring apron! Kamitachi is able to kick out, however. Elgin tries to fight off a speedy flurry from Kamaitachi, who proves to be too much as he tries a super rana…but Elgin deadlifts. HE HITS IT ANYWAY! METEORA TWICE! Elgin kicks out! Kamaitachi dodges a Chaos Theory and gives Elgin a German, but runs into a superkick. Kamaitachi hits one of his own, but Elgin stiffs him with a rolling lariat! DEADLIFT F’N MACHINE FALCON ARROW! Kamaitachi kicks out! Buckle Bomb scores, but an Elgin Bomb is countered into a sunset flip! Kamaitachi goes up top, but Elgin counters Meteora into an ELGIN BOMB! Elgin beats Kamaitachi in 13 minutes. ***1/2 I would not quite say that Kamaitachi tore down the house in his debut, but he sure as hell did a great job of making an impression. The match was a tad disjointed in the earlygoing as it didn’t look like either guy had much of an idea of how to start things, but once they actually got started, it was smooth sailing from there. Elgin is one of those guys who never seems to phone it in and loves making the guy he works with look great, and he did that perfectly in proportion to the kind of match it was. Everybody knew who was winning, so Elgin and Kamaitachi worked around it and gave the crowd a few great teasers before eventually resorting to the inevitable. So let’s call this a success, eh?

Marty Scurll vs. Mark Andrews
Marty Scurll as I’ve said had an awesome weekend in PWG last time out, wrestling its MOTY so far in Night One before falling to Chuck Taylor 24 hours later. Mark Andrews had a pair of fun outings against Roderick Strong and Evil Uno, so this is a fun exercise in good matchmaking if I do say so myself.

It’s your usual technical fare to start things off, as both men are fairly evenly matched. They try to go at it again on the mat, but Marty has other plans as he pokes Andrews in the eyes for his troubles. Andrews backflips out of a sunset flip attempt and hits a basement dropkick to the Villain in a nice spot, following it up with a Frankensteiner on Scurll. Scurll teases throwing Andrews into the fans, but instead chucks him in the ring. That backfires as Andrews hits a double jump moonsault to the outside! Andrews looks for a Shooting Star Press, but Marty gets his boots up and superkicks Andrews from the apron. He throws Andrews at a fan, who catches the Welshman! Marty picks up a chair and looks to go to war, but POKES THE FAN IN THE EYE instead! How can you hate Marty Scurll?! Scurll rolls Andrews around the rings with various forms of the Surfboard, stretching poor Mark Andrews. Scurll hilarious does the Chickenwing taunt mid-Gory Special, before turning it into a pretty cool cradle. Andrews lifts up and counters it into a sunset flip, but Scurll kicks out. Andrews rolls through a Casadora and comes down on Scurll with a double stomp! Andrews hits a Northern Lights into a standing moonsault for another 2 count. Andrews nearly mangles the moonsault into the Tornado DDT, but beautifully recovers and spikes Scurll with it! Scurll KNEES ANDREWS OUT OF A MOONSAULT! A pair of Bicycle Knees score for another nearfall! The Michael Jackson roll into the Chickenwing from Scurll here is something to behold, but Andrews is able to slide out of said hold before Scurll surfboards him and stomps his knees into the mat! Scurll goes up top, and after Andrews nearly has him knocked down, he hits a Tower of London and a whacky half-nelson throw for 2. Scurll tries to snap Mark’s fingers, but the Villain superkicks Andrews’ knee out from under him! Mark hits a Stunner out of a suplex, but HANDSPRINGS RIGHT INTO A CHICKENWING~! ANDREWS ROLLS… BUT EATS KNEES ON A MOONSAULT! HE BACKFLIPS OUT OF THE KNEE SUPERKICK! DOUBLE BOOTS TO THE HEAD! They trade shots from their knees before Scurll says enough and superkicks him! Scurll runs… right into a Backslide for two! STUNNER OUT OF A SUPLEX… COUNTERED INTO A CHICKENWING~! ANDREWS GETS THE ROPE! That was a Jericho level of tease there for the rope break. Scurll ain’t happy, so he paintbrushes Andrews with a pair of slaps and chops! Andrews battles back and throws Scurll to the outside, followed by THREE TOPE CON HILO’S! SHOOTING STAR MISSED! SCOOP TOMBSTONE… BUT ANDREWS KICKS OUT! SO SCURLL SNAPS HIS FINGERS! Chickenwing again…but Andrews isn’t going down easy until Scurll starches Mark with three knees. The Chickenwing gets the win in a fantastic 24 minutes! **** This had all the makings of a MOTYC down the stretch, as we saw the same awesome countering that Scurll and O’Reilly gave us, but the one thing dragging this match down was an incredibly slow middle portion. The opening was fun as we got our usual Marty Scurll antics as well as a fun underdog dynamic with Andrews, but they really struggled to fill the time between that and the awesome last five minutes as time wore on. But when talking about everything BUT that middle portion? Absolutely phenomenal. I am utterly convinced that Marty Scurll may be the most underrated wrestler in the world right now, as he’s now worked two of these furious technical contests in 2016 and had one of the more pronounced performances in BOLA. The way he can seemingly counter almost anything into the Chickenwing is Kyle O’Reilly-esque, and using Mark Andrews as the test dummy for these counters worked exquisitely. Andrews – like the matches against Roderick Strong and Evil Uno – did a fine job of playing the plucky, speedy babyface here even if I do kind of wish he’d show a bit more personality in these matches. He has the great counters and fire needed for these comebacks he’s making, but something is missing. I’m picking nits at this point though, as both Andrews and Scurll came in with tremendous performances that came at the perfect time for this show. As I said, with a bit of time cut off this may have been on the level of O’Reilly vs. Scurll, but that’s hardly a complaint when the result is still a great match.

Trevor Lee vs. Andrew Everett
So here we are, a battle of former PWG tag champs and 2/3 of probably the best opening match in PWG history at Mystery Vortex 2. Trevor has been a joy to watch in 2016 with his over-the-top heel antics, as Andrew Everett has been pretty low key due to another knee injury. Either way, with two guys who have wrestled each other SO MUCH (they had a 90 minuter in CWF Mid-Atlantic if I recall correctly) I don’t see how it disappoints in Reseda.

Trevor Lee asks the crowd to listen to him, and he asks Andrew Everett to shake his hand because they’re both TNA SUPERSTARS. Everett falls for the oldest trick in the book, but is able to use his agility to get the upperhand in pretty spectacular fashion. Everett dropsaults Trevor outside and hits a Tope Suicida, which might be the tamest thing he does all night. He follows it with a Tope Con Hilo, and looks to cap it off with his awesome double jump Shooting Star, but Trevor knocks him off the ropes and PK’s him from the ring apron. Lee controls Everett from there, smacking him with a dropkick as a fan calls him DIXIE’S FUCKBOY. The crowd finds themselves a new chant, and Trevor is absolutely appalled. I mean, it’s probably an improvement over how she treats her employees nowadays so hey. Andrew whiffs a Pele, and Trevor hits a beautiful lariat/German Suplex combo. Everett fights back, and dives in from the outside with a beautiful DDT! Everett hits an upkick, followed by a springboard enzuigiri that sends Trevor to the outside! HUGE CORKSCREW PLANCHA FROM THE TOP ROPE! Everett comes back in the ring with a nice springboard spinning wheel kick for a two count. Lee dodges a moonsault, but Everett is able to roll through and hit Lee with a superkick. Everett hits a standing Lee with a shooting star for a two count, but Trevor fights back with a DISGUSTING standing double stomp! Everett counters God’s Last Gift into a rollup, but Lee kicks out… only to eat a Pele! Everett puts Lee up top for something, which ends up being A SUPER FRANKENSTEINER! BUT TREVOR ROLLS THROUGH~! SPIKE RANA FROM EVERETT! LEE KICKS OUT! WOW. Everett goes up top and HITS A 630! LEE’S FOOT GETS THE ROPE! Lee dodges a springboard Shooting Star to the outside… AND CATCHES EVERETT IN MIDAIR WITH GOD’S LAST GIFT! Trevor gets the win at the 15 minute mark. ***3/4 This is pretty much exactly what I expected, barring some momentarily sloppiness from both men at points. Lee’s heel persona goes a long way towards keeping the more reserved segments of his matches interesting, and here was no exception. Using his TNA association is such cheap heat, but it works because… well, it’s TNA. Everett is willing to go to insane lengths to get his opponent over, and while he didn’t do much of that here, he still took a good beating from his perpetual opponent. The last two minutes of this match specifically were probably the best bits of wrestling from the night, and had they had a bit more steam behind their moves beforehand, there’s a good chance we’d be talking Match of the Night. As it stands though, I still came away content and very satisfied with what I got, which is all that matters at the end of the day.

Jeff Cobb vs. Chris Hero
This is the debut of 2004 Olympian Jeff Cobb, who you may know as the man who plays THE MONSTER Matanza Cueto on Lucha Underground. He may be the thickest person in the history of humanity and while Chris Hero has a good 6 inches on him, IT DOESN’T MATTER because Cobb is a brick shithouse of epic proportions. All I’m hoping for is a Hoss Fight of The Century, so no pressure or anything.

Cobb gets a low-single in the early going, backing Hero up into the corner. Hero blindisdes Cobb with a Mafia Kick instead of a shoulderblock duel, so COBB DESTROYS HIM WITH A DROPKICK! DEADLIFT GUTWRENCH SUPLEXES FROM COBB!~! The straps come down, but Hero says enough of that shit and elbows him, and PUTS HIS STRAPS UP FOR HIM. Cobb replies by turning a bodyslam into a SUPLEX, but Hero battles back with a Mafia Kick after Cobb gets too cocky with his agility. This match has barely been going for 4 minutes and it’s already Match of The Night! Cobb dodges a senton and catches Hero in a waistlock, but Hero elbows out of it desperately. Hero muscles Cobb up for a release suplex for 2. Hero looks for a piledriver, but Cobb rolls out and nearly gets the win with the British Bulldog/Bret Hart finish. Hero puts Cobb on the apron and tries to boot him out to the floor, but Cobb ain’t budging. Cobb is NOT BACKING DOWN, and Hero begs off before hitting him with a flash knee. Hero whips Cobb into the ropes, but the Olympian fires back with an uppercut! Cobb hits a Belly to Belly, followed by a back suplex, and an Uhaa Combination! A Pumphandle Suplex scores for Cobb, but Hero kicks out. Hero flips out to the apron, and sends a running Cobb on his ass with a boot. A Rolling Mafia Kick scores, followed by another senton for two! Hero tries to finish things as Cobb throws a few faint shots, but instead starts toying with him! Cobb starts firing up, but Hero just has his way with Mr. Athletic. Cobb starts firing away with forearms, but Hero follows him into the ropes with a Mafia Kick. PILEDRIVER… AND COBB IS UP! JEFF COBB HAS NO NECK~! FAKE OUT GERMAN SUPLEX! Hero battles back with an elbow for a two count. Hero goes up top for a moonsault that misses, and Cobb follows with two Germans, and two Backdrop Drivers! Hero elbows out, but COBB COUNTERS THE DEATH BLOW INTO THE TOUR OF THE ISLANDS! Cobb misses a splash, and eats a rolling elbow and a Piledriver! Rolling elbow! Cobb is again able to kick out! Ripcord Death Blow scores, and a rolling elbow to the back of the head gets Hero the win in 19 minutes. **** This match is exactly what was advertised, and it was absolutely sensational as a result. There’s few things better in the world of professional wrestling than a good ol’ fashioned heavyweight slugfest, and in that regard, these men wrestled a clinic. Jeff Cobb is really the prototype of what you’d want a big, badass bruiser to be. He’s a brick wall of a man. Sure he’s got a bit of a gut and he’s stocky, but he’s as athletic as they come. I mean, he was a wrestler in the 2004 Olympics, so you can kind of fill in the lines with that. And he came in and made one hell of an impression on the PWG audience, who really only had his work as Matanza to go off of. And yes, he’s been phenomenal as Matanza Cueto, but he wrestled an entirely different match here and still did just as well as he does as a monster. If this is the start of Jeff Cobb being the breakout star of 2016, then sign me up. And what else can be said about Chris Hero? The man is easily in the top 5 best wrestlers in the world at the moment, and aside from the pretty dull match with Roderick Strong in January, he’s consistently a highlight of PWG. Whether it’s against debuting badasses like Cobb, or Tommy End or whether it’s against plucky babyfaces like a Speedball Mike Bailey, the man is always able to adapt to a situation and wrestle the best match of the night. And this match against Jeff Cobb is no exception, a rousing success on every single level imaginable. Bravo to both men.

Michael Elgin vs. Drew Galloway
Just like 2012’s penultimate show Failure to Communicate, Michael Elgin wrestles two matches in one night due to a shuffled card. Then, it was against Eddie Edwards followed by a triple threat with Kevin Steen and Ricochet. This time, it’s Brian Cage pulling out due to a family emergency, and his former tag team partner steps in to face Drew Galloway in what’s sure to be another HOSS FIGHT. 37

Galloway takes the mic and heels out on Brian Cage, saying he “didn’t know shitting your pants when you see Drew Galloway’s name across from yours could be personal reasons”. He says this isn’t some indy company when a random name comes out, this is PWG, where you have to be invited. So he’s making a challenge to someone in the back, and HERE COMES BIG MIKE. “Are you Big Mike, or are you a big fucking pussy?!” Here comes Elgin, and we’re throwing hands from jump street! Elgin catches Galloway mid-leapfrog, and tosses him over. He puts Galloway in the stalling suplex for 42 seconds, and Galloway rolls out of the ring. Elgin follows, and they brawl around the ring, including Big Mike Gorilla Pressing Galloway on the apron! Back in the ring, Galloway stomps out Elgin’s knee and starts working him over. He even pulls out the ringpost Figure Four, which is instant points no matter who’s doing it. Elgin starts fighting back, slugging it out with the Scot before bridging Galloway outside. Elgin slingshots Galloway in, catching him in a beautiful Oklahoma Stampede for two. Elgin catches a flying clothesline from Galloway and turns it intoa German Suplex, followed by a Tiger Suplex for 2. Chris Hero comes in on commentary as Elgin and Galloway slug it out, and later on Galloway hits a sliding kick for a two count. Elgin deadlifts Galloway up into a powerbomb, followed by a Buckle Bomb, but Galloway counters the Elgin Bomb into an Air Raid Crash for 2. Galloway meets Elgin on the apron, but Elgin grabs him in a Fireman’s Carry and FU’s him into the ring. Galloway stuns Elgin with the Claymore, and Future Shock scores… for 2! Galloway puts Big Mike up top, which backfires as Elgin hits an Avalanche Death Valley Driver! Huge lariat scores for Big Mike, but again Galloway kicks out! Galloway escapes a Buckle Bomb, and Future Shock scores for the win in 16 minutes. **3/4 This match didn’t click to the extent I wished it would have, and while I do heavily admire Michael Elgin’s propensity for working double shifts, it didn’t work to the usual effect here. That’s unfortunate too because I think a match between these two has the potential to be something special, but they just didn’t seem to have much chemistry here. Ya can’t win ‘em all, I guess.

Roderick Strong vs. Sami Callihan
When this match was announced I was a bit apprehensive. Roderick’s 2016 hasn’t really lit the world on fire like his 2015 did, and Sami Callihan has been even more underwhelming since his return. Of course with the talents of both men being what they are, it’s unfair to write them off so early, so who knows? 58

Roderick hilariously comes to the ring to Zack Sabre Jr’s music, and we cut to him in the ring with a mic in hand. He cuts a promo on Zack Sabre, but the crowd doesn’t let him get too far and neither does Sami. Roddy comes directly out of the gate with a Sick Kick, but it only gets two. Sami fights back with an enzuigiri, but Rick Knox gets in the way of a dive. So Sami throws Rick Knox outside on top of Roddy, and knocks Roddy through the curtain with a Tope Suicida! Sami tries setting Roddy in various corners of the ring for a running attack, but Roddy keeps moving. Roddy throws Rick Knox in his way, so Sami PICKS KNOX UP AND HITS RODDY WITH HIM! Sami runs around the ring before cannonballing Roddy into the fans! Sami tries it again, but only eats chairs, which allows Roddy to take control and give him a backbreaker on the apron. Roddy works over Sami’s back pretty thoroughly, but Sami begins to come back with the Bicycle Knee! Sami hits a Face Wash, but takes too much time as Roddy looks for a lariat, but Sami kicks out of it and catches Roddy in mid-air with a Death Valley Driver. Roddy comes back and puts Sami up top, but Callihan fights back and headbutts him off the ropes. Roddy goes back up, so Sami slithers under and kicks his knee out, causing the former champ to tumble to the mat. Sami follows up with a beautiful Ligerbomb, and nearly gets the Stretch Muffler on before Roddy slithers out. Sami goes chop-for-chop with Roderick Strong, and actually manages to hold his own, but when he changes it up, Roddy catches up with a leg-capture backbreaker. Roddy goes insane with running elbows in the corner, following by a back suplex into a gutbuster! Roddy hits a superkick and rolls over into Death By Roderick, but Sami counters it into a Stretch Muffler! Roddy gets out and rolls into a Stronghold, but Sami counters into an STF! Roddy finds the ropes, and we’re at a stalemate. They fight it out on the apron, where Roddy drops Sami with a backbreaker! Sami counters a Gibson Driver into a Rana, and kicks Roddy out of mid-Sick Kick! JAY DRILLER! ADAM COLE PULLS RICK KNOX OUT! TOPE SUICIDA ON COLE FROM SAMI! SICK KICK FROM RODDY! GIBSON DRIVER! DALTON CASTLE PULLS KNOX OUT! Cole again interferes, which allows Roddy to hit End of Heartache. Roddy wins in 23 minutes. ***1/4 As it goes, this match was actually on the way to being something pretty great until the interference put the brakes on it. And hell, if the interference was just left at Dalton Castle and Adam Cole doing their whole rigmarole, I’d have been okay with it as a transition to the next gear. But that’s now how it happened. The finish annoyed me more than usual as I thought we were done with this distraction finish stuff with Roddy losing the belt, and if you want to give Sami Callihan something to do, have him win a barnburner clean in the main event of a show. Instead, we’re back to where we were with Roddy having tainted wins and nothing really coming of it. But hey, it got Dalton Castle some interaction with more top guys so at least SOMETHING came of it, right? As for the match, it felt like it was building to a grand finishing sequence and it was on its way to being Sami’s best PWG performance yet, but the overbooking put a stop to it and brought everything they built to a screeching halt.

Dalton Castle comes out and saves Sami Callihan, hitting Cole with the Bangarang as Roddy watches on. He extends his hand to Sami, who opts for a kiss instead! The show ends with the crowd going banana…

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

Right before the Galloway vs. Elgin match, this show was looking like it could have been Show of the Year as we had the incredible Scurll/Andrews and Cobb/Hero matches, as well as a bevvy of fun matches like Everett/Lee and Castle/Cole. Unfortunately, Galloway and Elgin failed to truly click and the main event was marred heavily by an unnecessary interference finish. Prince is still a very, very good show with two four star matches, so we're not dealing with a disappointment or anything of the sort. I'd say it's a good deal better than Lemmy from January but a notch below both All Star Weekend XII shows as well as Bowie. Still, it's well worth the money just for Scurll/Andrews and Cobb/Hero if anything. Thumbs up for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla's Prince.