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Guerrilla Reviewfare: PWG All Star Weekend 14 (Night 1)
Image Credit: ROH
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Back to Reseda then for PWG’s latest installment of All Star Weekend. Last month saw an abrupt change of venue for the otherwise-homesteaded promotion, and it was an adjustment if nothing else. I thought the show itself was actually quite good, but the crowd heat noticeably lagged behind the usual Reseda fare and kind of left me feeling like the novelty wore off too soon. But like I said, we’re back for this big double-shot and I’ve tried to make it as spoiler-free as possible, given it’s been so long since I saw the card for these shows. I know we have some big debuts and a Young Bucks appearance, but I’m going in blind otherwise.
We are TAPED from the American Legion in Reseda, CA.
Your hosts are Excalibur and the gang. Or nobody. I don’t know.
Rey Horus vs. Trevor Lee
It surprises me to still see Trevor Lee booked, to be honest. The guy still has all the ability in the world but I can’t remember the last time I saw him do anything more than a house show match in a PWG ring. And given current-day TNA is a little less loathsome than usual, that gimmick is out of the window too. He’s still a reliable guy for a quick sprint though, so no harm done I guess. Rey Horus is one of those guys who can provide an exciting opener as well, so I can’t complain too much about this booking.
Trevor takes the mic and actually cuts a damn good promo, vowing to leave PWG’s final Reseda show as PWG’s new World Champion at the end. Horus jumps him mid-sentence with a SWEET Hurricanrana for a close nearfall, but no dice. Horus runs wild with dropkicks and clotheslines, sending Trevor for a loop. Double Jump Frankensteiner scores beautifully for Horus, but Lee dodges a subsequent dive to the floor. He instead goes up top, but Trevor pushes referee Justin Borden into the ropes to crotch the Luchador. Horus rolls outside to regroup, but Trevor gives him a PK from the apron to establish control. Trevor tries to unmask Rey Horus on the top rope, but Horus elbows him down… only for Trevor to drag him off and hit a Back Suplex. Trevor tries a Biel, but Horus counters with a Backslide for a flash two count. Horus starts building up some momentum, coming down on top of the Carolina Caveman with a springboard Crossbody for 2. Trevor rolls out to the floor, which proves foolish as Horus follows him with a big Tope Con Hilo. Horus inexplicably just throws a chair at Lee while on the outside, and he hits a standing Spanish Fly in the ring for a nearfall. Trevor uses the fans to keep Horus from dragging him inside, and he uses that distraction to hit the Mushroom Stomp for 2. SATELLITE DDT OUT OF A POWERBOMB FROM HORUS~! TREVOR KICKS OUT! That move never doesn’t amaze me. Lee uses Justin Borden again to try to get the upperhand, but Justin calls him on it this time. Horus sweeps Trevor off the second rope only for Trevor to slide back up, but Horus perseveres and hits the AVALANCHE CASADORA to pick up the win in 11 minutes. ***1/4 In terms of quality, this pretty much delivered on the potential it had on paper and might have even exceeded said potential too. Horus is really, really solid at these mile-a-minute sprints and really knows how to pick his spots, and Trevor is such a solid mechanic inside the ropes that he was able to provide a grounded foil for Horus to work around. Those moving parts made for a damn-near perfect opening contest.
Bandido vs. Taiji Ishimori
A super interesting matchup on paper, and one that looks prime to succeed in the PWG environment. At this point, Taiji Ishimori hadn’t made his big New Japan re-debut or had that great match with Hiromu Takahashi at BOSJ, but had been quietly doing well in TNA after leaving NOAH. Bandido made a fabulous debut at Time is a Flat Circle, teaming with Flamita in a spectacular losing effort against The Rascalz, but has his first singles opportunity here against the debuting Ishimori, whose quality has always been understated in my opinion.
Bandido works a Bow-and-Arrow early on, only for Ishimori to turn over into a quick nearfall. Ishimori tries a Frankensteiner, but Bandido cartwheels out of it… only to walk into an Ishimori lariat. Bandido DUCKS A LARIAT with a headstand, but Ishimori fights back with a great feinting Enzuigiri. Ishimori moves like a cat to the apron, where he comes down with a springboard Seated Senton, bringing the crowd to its feet again. Bandido catches him running with a wacky Spinning DDT, and he follows Ishimori to the outside with a SPACEMAN PLANCHA! Ishimori rolls through a crossbody, but walks into a wacky spinning Go 2 Sleep for a 2 count. Ishimori fires back with his gorgeous spinning (noticing a trend?) handspring kick, followed by a slingshot Double Stomp for 2. Tombstone Gutbusher scores for Ishimori, but again only get 2. Bandido fires back with a POP-UP ACE CRUSHER for a two count. I’m surprised I haven’t seen more wrestlers use that move before. Rolling Fireman’s Carry scores for Bandido, followed by a basement Superkick, but Bandido pops up and HITS A LARIAT! They trade chops before Bandido rolls into a Cross Armbreaker, but Ishimori essentially gives him a Ki Krusher to counter for 2. Bandido dodges a 450 and is able to Superkick Ishimori for a gorgeous Moonsault… COUNTERED WITH AN UPKICK! BLOODY CROSS! Taiji Ishimori is your winner in 14 minutes. ***1/2 I’m being a little generous on the snowflake rating here, but I think there was enough exciting offense to justify it in the end. In a lot of ways this was your run-of-the-mill Lucha exhibition, as there wasn’t much cohesion involved, nor a real uptick in intensity. It was just two guys hitting awesome moves until a finisher happened, which can get a little cumbersome if the wrong guys are in the ring. I think Bandido working North American indies and Japan will largely remedy this issue, and you can already see he has the pieces to be a real breakout star in 2018. I think Ishimori actually made a better showing of himself here though, as he has a veteran’s poise to his actions that the comparably green Bandido simply couldn’t match. Ishimori got the crowd up with the way he moved, which meant he didn’t have to go crazy with spots to make an impression. He was so fluid with everything he did and it’s a bit of a bummer his NJPW commitments may not give him much of a chance to work PWG further. His experience held this match together, but the bout’s format and style will polarize some viewers. I thought it was a lot of fun, but mileage will vary.
RingKampf vs. Violence Unlimited
We saw RingKampf’s debut as a team back at Mystery Vortex V in an interesting match with tag champs The Chosen Bros, and here they welcome a largely unknown entity (to me, at least) in Violence Unlimited. We’ve already seen one half of the team in Brody King, who has made quite the impression in his short tenure thus far despite being ¼ of the horrendous locals four-way at Time is a Flat Circle. His partner is making his debut though, another California indy worker named Tyler Bateman. Not to be confused with Tyler Bate, but I’d venture to guess taking one look at the guy would assuage those comparisons rather quickly.
Bateman and Thatcher start things off, and Thatcher gives Bateman a judo throw into an attempted Cross Armbreaker. Bateman does a good job of working through it though. Thatcher locks on a Half Crab despite some resistance from Bateman, who manages to counter out and bring Thatcher up by his nose. He throws the first strike in the match, so Thatcher ankle picks him and soccer kicks him in the back before kneeing him in the same spot for a one count. Thatcher goes after Bateman’s nose now, and Bateman scrambles up to his feet in a desperate attempt to get some separation. That brings in Brody King and WALTER, and King actually appears to be the bigger man. The crowd is hyped just watching these two circle, which is nice to see. King ducks a Walter chop, and actually nails one of his own, much to the Austrian’s chagrin. They duke it out with Shoulderblocks until Walter just cracks Brody with a boot that stops all his momentum dead in its tracks. Brody fires back though and steps up on the ropes, but Walter PULLS HIM DOWN and goes after the arm. That was a fantastic segment. Thatcher tags back in and continues the work his partner began, working over Brody’s arm. Thatcher tries a Butterfly Suplex, which proves foolish as King backdrops him out and tags Bateman in. Bateman tries to clean house, but Walter lariats him from the apron for daring to do such a foolish thing. Both Thatcher and Walter take turns giving Bateman Gutrench Suplexes. Bateman tries to get in a war of chops with Walter – and trying to act tough by taking his vest off – and it backfires spectacularly and ends with him staring at the lights. Walter boots Brody King off of the apron and just butt splashes poor Bateman back in the ring before tagging Thatcher back in to resume the carnage. Bateman parries a Thatcher enzuigiri, and here comes Brody King! DOUBLE SPRINGBOARD ARMDRAG ON RINGKAMPF~! TOPE CON HILO ON THEM BOTH~! He rolls Thatcher back into the ring for some double teaming with Bateman, capped off with a sweet High/Low lariat for a two count. Thatcher and Bateman are alone in the ring now, and they slug it out until Thatcher hits a Backdrop Driver. King and Walter both tag in and they DUKE IT OUT with chops until Brody King gets the last word with a big lariat. King and Walter still struggle back up and MURDER EACH OTHER WITH CHOPS~! I LOVE BIG DADDY WALTER. OVERHAND PALM STRIKE FROM WALTER! GERMAN SUPLEX! BUTTERFLY SUPLEX! King kicks out, and Walter tags in a fresher Thatcher to inflict more pain. Brody hits Thatcher with a German, but Thatcher counters the subsequent bridge into a Fujiwara! BRODY POWERBOMBS THATCHER! BATEMAN GIVES THATCHER A BRAINBUSTER! WALTER PUSHES BATEMAN INTO THE PIN! Thatcher and King duke it out, but Walter tags in and boots Bateman off of the apron before clubbing King with a lariat. SHORT LARIAT FOLDS KING! KING KICKS OUT! SHOTGUN DROPKICK FROM WALTER! POWERBOMB! KING KICKS OUT AGAIN! STEREO SLEEPERS! ARM TRAP SLEEPER FROM WALTER! RingKampf win in 20 minutes. **** I had more fun watching this match than perhaps any in PWG since October, and I fully expect that most will find this star rating a bit generous. This is the sort of match that favors RingKampf’s style; just a knockdown, drag-out festival of murder from which no man leaves unscathed. It’s pretty clear that the crowd’s interest was solely in the exchanges between Brody King and WALTER, and it’s clear to see why. Those two had fabulous chemistry together and really tore the house down every time they had to go one-on-one. One would surmise that a singles match should follow relatively soon because of their exchanges here. That’s not to say Bateman and Thatcher were worthless however, as I think their presence here added layers that a King/WALTER match might not have had. Thatcher was there to work Bateman and King over with holds and slow down the action in between the big exchanges, but he didn’t slow it down in a quality sense. His additions to the bout made total sense and added a sense of unpredictability and cohesion beyond the crowd-friendly destruction. I thought Bateman was clearly the least impressive of the four, but he performed his duties well also. I loved his ridiculous assumption that he could go chop-for-chop with WALTER, and that little segment made for a fabulous beatdown. So despite Bateman and Thatcher both falling a bit behind their partners in terms of crowd support and excitement, I thought they did exactly what they needed to. WALTER and Brody King were total superstars though, and I’d kill to see them have a fleshed-out match against each other coming out of this.
Robbie Eagles vs. Sammy Guevara vs. Flash Morgan Webster
Robbie Eagles – like Adam Brooks – is making his debut off of his performances in the ever-growing Australian scene, and he has a big chance to shine here against two exciting high flyers in Webster and Guevara. I like the booking here too as Eagles is an unproven commodity, but still will have enough of a chance to make an impression against guys more favorable to his style… plus, Guevara and Webster have never been the most advanced singles workers and are probably much better suited to spotfests like this instead.
Guevara explodes out of nowhere with a Superkick to Eagles before chucking him to the apron, but Webster assists the Aussie in getting Sammy to the floor so they can face off instead. Eagles hits a step-up Frankensteiner and spinning wheel kick before knocking Sammy back to the floor. Flash tries a Guillotine, but settles for a Sunset Flip when Eagles shucks him off. Imploding Senton lands for Webster, and it’s his turn to dispose of Sammy Guevara as the Texan tries to enter the fray. Eagles fights back, but Guevara trips him up and enters the ring finally. Webster almost immediately bridges him back out to the floor and looks for a dive, but Eagles trips HIM up and hits a Homicide-esque middle rope Hilo. Webster recovers and gets back at Eagles with an actual Tope Con Hilo though. Eagles meets him on the apron, but Sammy knocks them both back to the floor and soars with a GORGEOUS FOSBURY FLOP for his first real offense of the match. Guevara takes control in the ring and gives Webster a standing Shooting Star for a two count, as Eagles breaks up the pin. Webster actually manages to hit a SWEET DOUBLE REVERSE RANA, which comes off better than 99% of the guys who do it to a single opponent. Morgan hits a delayed Angel’s Wings on Eagles, but Guevara tumbles in to break up the proceedings. Guevara hits Flash now with sort of an Awful Waffle into a DDT, but Eagles breaks that up too so he can hit Guevara with a wacky Backpack Stunner into a One Winged Angel sort of maneuver. Eagle heads to the top rope, but Webster intercepts him before he can dive onto Guevara. Eagles knocks Webster down, but the distraction gives Guevara enough time to meet Robbie on the top rope himself. Eagles tries a super Reverse Rana, but Guevara lands on his feet… only to back into a Destino from Webster! Shiranui lands for Eagles on Webster now, and the Aussie heads up top for a 450… COUNTERED INTO A GUILLOTINE! GUEVARA BREAKS IT UP WITH A SHOOTING STAR! Sammy Guevara pins Robbie Eagles in 13 minutes. *** Maybe not as exciting or high-octane as one would expect given the match on paper, but everything ended up coming together into something worthwhile regardless. It was actually a bit refreshing seeing how these three worked this, as they attempted to let a loose narrative carry the match along. The early moments of Eagles and Webster dispatching of Guevara were fun enough and a clever way to do the formulaic “two guys fight, one guy rests” trope of a triple threat. There was at least a reason for it to happen, and it softened the blow of an otherwise run-of-the-mill match type. The spots were all crisp and well-performed too, even if there was a lack of heat at times due to the thrown-together nature of the match. I thought this worked though, and it provided worthwhile filler to help the crowd cool down after the match before it.
Joey Janela vs. Jonah Rock
Talk about odd matchmaking. Jonah Rock doesn’t seem to have properly broken out in the PWG landscape yet despite quietly improving and having solid performances, which is a shame as his matches with Jeff Cobb and Keith Lee especially were all quite great. If nothing else though, the reliable Bad Boy will bump all over Reseda for the big man, which ought to make for a perversely entertaining contest.
Janela foolishly attempts to get Jonah off of his feet with a shoulderblock, which proves even more foolish as he flattens the Bad Boy with a running high cross. Janela is finally able to get enough momentum to get Jonah to the mat with a shoulder tackle though. A trade of chops kind of kills that victory pretty quickly for him, emphasized by a Jonah Rock pop-up Samoan Drop a few seconds later. Jonah takes him outside and beats him about, and he just PRESS SLAMS JANELA INTO THE FANS instead of doing anything fancy. Janela is plucky though, and he tries to fight back despite Jonah really giving him a beating inside the ropes. Jonah measures for a Superplex, but Janela fights out and gives him a Sunset Bomb for 2. Joey gets a little too liberal with his moves though, and Jonah squashes him in the middle of Fireman’s Carry. Jonah follows with a back suplex, but jumps right into a Superkick from the Bad Boy. Jonah beats him down though and hits a Brainbuster, but Joey dodges a Frog Splash and gives Jonah a DEATH VALLEY DRIVER for a close nearfall. ORIHARA MOONSAULT FROM JANELA! He follows with a diving Double Stomp in the ring for another two count. Janela goes back up top, but Jonah enzuigiris him instead and finally hits a RING BREAKING SUPERPLEX! LIGERBOMB! JANELA KICKS OUT! FROG SPLASH! Jonah Rock is your winner in 11 minutes. ***1/4 Not a barnburner or anything of the sort, but this was yet another damn fine midcard match. They went at a surprisingly fast pace and made the most of their time, including some fun little builds to spots that ended up paying off in the end. Not that there was any outward psychological component to be found, but I like pointing out stuff like that because I feel it’s important to acknowledge the small rewards I get for investing in something. Something about Jonah Rock doesn’t seem to be connecting to the PWG audience, but I find him to be a great addition to the roster personally. He’s admittedly not as instantly attractive to a wrestling fan as a Keith Lee or WALTER, but the guy has the workrate to perform in a quality PWG match and has quietly built an impressive little resume for himself since his BOLA debut. I thought he and Janela worked quite well together considering the clash of styles, and they cut the match time down enough to never threaten exposing that clash. Jonah may just need another breakout match to really gain the support of the PWG fans, because I would hate to see lack of crowd reaction cost a good wrestler his bookings. But I guess that’s kind of how it should go when it comes down to it. Sometimes things don’t connect, but I’ll be holding out hope that they do for Jonah as I rate him quite highly.
Keith Lee vs. Hangman Page
Like Flip Gordon, Page is riding the wave of his Bullet Club involvement to a PWG debut. Now given this is being written after his great G1 Climax run, it might seem a bit more understandable as to why he’s booked here, but he hadn’t made that leap yet as of this show. Personally, I’d always saw something in him from the moment he debuted in ROH back in 2012. He might have (and still can be) a bit bland in the personality department, but I never felt as though he got a fair shake when it came to his in-ring capabilities. It doesn’t help that ROH’s astonishing inability to create a meaningful midcard means he hasn’t really ever had the chance to gain momentum on his own. I don’t know how he will fare in a PWG environment, but there are MUCH worse opponents to have for your debut than Keith Lee. Speaking of Lee, the big man is coming off of winning the PWG Title last show at Time is a Flat Circle. He’s not defending the title here though, for what it’s worth.
The crowd gets on Hangman for his untanned back, which I think is a joke from Being The Elite that I’m not remembering. Does kind of make him look like Scott Jorgensen if you follow MMA. Not completely recalling what this hubbub is about makes the earlygoings of this match a bit awkward for me, but if the crowd enjoys it, what can ya do. They explode into a fast sequence as a wrestling match breaks out, ending in a missed Booker T spin kick (!) from Keith Lee before a stalemate. Keith Lee hits a step-up Frankensteiner after telling Page to bask in his glory, bringing the crowd to its feet. Page low-bridges Lee to the floor though and tries his Shooting Star from the apron… only for Keith to catch him and SUPLEX HIM ON THE FLOOR! That is not a bump I would recommend taking. Keith Lee dodges a baseball slide on the floor and tries to Spirit Bomb poor Page into some chairs, but Page avoids being murdered and comes off of the apron with a Shooting Star on the chairs. Page tries to follow through on his momentum in the ring, but can’t budge Lee with a lariat. He urges Keith to “bask in his dick”, so Lee tries to Pounce him off of the ring apron. He takes too long posturing though, so Page slingshots in and finally crumbles the big man with a lariat. Page hits Lee with a Tope Suicida, and he polishes it off with an Orihara Moonsault. Keith catches a second lariat attempt and suplexes Page back before hitting a weird sliding high cross for two. Hangman counters Ground Zero into a Small Package in an impeccably timed reversal, but it only gets two. Keith rolls to the floor, where he’s able to finally hit the Spirit Bomb on the apron, followed by the Pounce into the crowd. Page makes it back in the ring, where he gets in an exchange of strikes with Keith, a predictably bad idea. Spirit Bomb scores, but only for 2. Keith measures for a Moonsault, but takes too long as Hangman powerbombs him off of the second rope and gives him an INVERTED TOMBSTONE~! That only gets 2. Hangman tries a Moonsault of his own, but he only finds the mat as Lee moves. Spirit Bomb again, but Page counters into a Reverse Rana. He tries to get Lee up for the Rite of Passage, but Lee counters into Ground Zero for the win in 22 minutes. **1/4 Not a debut that makes me hanker for more Hangman Page in PWG, despite the match itself being pretty decent in a vacuum. There was just no urgency to the action here, with nothing in the way of intensity or excitement to make Hangman believable in fighting from underneath. It felt like Keith had to slow down to work at Page’s pace, which had nothing to offer in this particular instance. Hangman wasn’t overly babyface nor did he really work as the heel, and that only added to the negligible chemistry they seemed to have. In reality, this was a decent 13-14 minute house show affair that was painfully dragged to 22 because there had to be “selling” and drama, neither of which panned out to be anything more than hollow concepts. I didn’t get the sense that Page was being brutalized, nor did he ever look like he posed a threat to Lee in any significant way. When neither of those stories are told in a successful manner, it makes the match come off pointless and meandering rather than a war of attrition. Page’s offense only seemed to pass the time rather than make use of it, and his faux-dramatic lying around only served to stretch an already bloated time allotment. The only thing within the match that got over was the Bullet Club/BTE schtick that Page has halfway lucked into. And it wasn’t all his fault – two to tango and all – as Keith didn’t really hold up his end of the bargain either, so there wasn’t any explosive offense or high-octane sequences to create some urgency. It was just two guys doing moves and laying around for too long, a niche already occupied by Triple H and Shawn Michaels in their Cell match. I don’t need more of that. I wouldn’t be opposed to bringing Page back as I still think he has a lot to offer, but he’d need to step it up several notches to really make a name. This just didn’t work for me.
PWG Tag Titles: The Chozen Bros © vs. The Young Bucks vs. The Rascalz
Good to see PWG thrusting Wentz and Xavier into the main event scene after their spectacular performance last month, and they’re in a prime spot to top themselves in theory. It’s damn near impossible for the Jacksons to participate in a bad spotfest, and the addition of Riddle and Cobb brings an interesting wrinkle to what would be an otherwise predictable (but still mouth watering) scenario.
Xavier and Riddle start things off, Riddle sporting a pretty snazzy cornrow hairdo tonight. He tries an early cross armbreaker, but Xavier tries like hell to fight it off before settling for scooting to the ropes. Xavier uses his flipping acumen to flumox Riddle, but can’t quite nail him on the striking end. Dezmond is frustrated, so he tags in his partner Wentz. Nick Jackson enters too via a blind tag, and he runs into a Wentz crossbody… only for Nick to walk him around the block with his big foray of moves. A Rascalz double team forces Nick to tag out to Jeff Cobb, who just throws Wentz and Xavier around, culminating in a kick/German combo alongside Riddle. Wentz eats a Sidewinder Suplex from Cobb, but he is able to get the knees up on a Broton and tag out to the Bucks. The Jacksons clean house on everyone until Riddle tries to kick them around… only for the Bucks to superkick his foot! Double Sharpshooter on The Rascalz now, but the champions break it up with German Suplexes. Both Matts – Riddle and Jackson – duke it out in the ring now as everyone calms down again. Nick breaks it up with a Superkick, thus earning himself a Bro 2 Sleep. The champs look for a Doomsday Knee, but Matt counters out and hits Sliced Bread on Cobb. Dezmond Xavier tags in, and The Rascalz clean house with a bunch of really cool fluid double teams on Cobb, but they only get 2. Cobb grabs them though and hits a sweet double Pumphandle Suplex, but Cobb runs into a Nick Jackson boot in the corner. Jackson uses that to tag in and crossbody both Rascalz before hitting them with a big Bulldog/Lariat combo. Matt takes out Riddle and Cobb with a Tope, but Wentz counters the slingshot X Factor from Nick and hits a HUGE STEREO DIVE WITH XAVIER! Riddle intercepts Xavier in the ring and puts Nick in an Ankle Lock. The Rascalz try the pushing Shooting Star, but THE BUCKS SUPERKICK WENTZ OUT OF THE AIR~! SUPERKICKS FOR EVERYONE! MELTZER DRIVER COUNTERED INTO STEREO PILEDRIVERS~! DOOMSDAY KNEE… FLIPPED OUT OF BY MATT! JUSTIN BORDEN EATS A SUPERKICK! Jeff Cobb suplexes both Bucks as the crowd rejoices, and Riddle takes out Xavier with a knee. Wentz climbs on Riddle’s back, but Riddle shucks him off right into a Last Ride from Cobb! Lawn Dart/Knee scores, but there’s no ref! A new referee heads out, but Nick Jackson SWANTONS HIM! Matt Jackson hits double low blows on The Chozen Bros, and the MELTZER DRIVER SCORES! Rick Knox makes his way out… BUT HE GIVES THE BUCKS THE FINGER~! They try to superkick Knox, but HE MOVES! SUPERKICK FROM RICK KNOX~! HUGE PLANCHA FROM WENTZ~! LAWN DART/KNEE ON XAVIER… COUNTERED IN MIDAIR WITH A LARIAT FROM DEZMOND~! TOUR OF THE ISLANDS… COUNTERED INTO A CRUCIFIX/METEORA~! ONE, TWO, THREE! We have new Tag Champs in The Rascalz. **** After a couple PWG main events that delivered well under expectations, this one stormed into Reseda and worked out spectcularly. In a lot of ways it was really a Young Bucks 101 sort of match, forgoing any sort of traditional format in lieu of playing the hits without much else really happening, but that’s what this should have been. And luckily that’s basically what PWG has been built on in the last decade, and with the Bucks’ PWG appearances becoming rarer as their outside obligations ramp up, the crowd was even more supportive of the act. Wentz and Xavier once again came out of this looking like a million bucks and I fully support their being given the titles at this juncture. Cobb and Riddle have run their course as a team and as much as the Young Bucks know how to carry those PWG belts, it’s just not their time anymore. The best option was truly The Rascalz and I’m very excited to see how they stack up in more long-form encounters as the year wears on. They remind me a ton of 2007-2008 Motor City Machine Guns, in fact. They aren’t going to give you a psychological war of attrition, but they’re going to run 99 miles an hour and blow your mind with some fluid double teams, and they know how to pick their spots wonderfully. As always, I loved the Rick Knox run-in as he’s had some incredible moments in Reseda with the Bucks, and it was the perfect way to send the Jacksons off into the sunset while PWG wraps their weekend up. The Bucks’ presence here was much-needed in terms of crowd support, and I think them being there really made The Rascalz’ title win mean more. They stood toe-to-toe with the best tag team in PWG history and came out on the other side champions. So in terms of both booking and action, this match hit it out of the park and sent the Young Bucks out of the Legion in style.
The new champions leave and let the Bucks relish their last moment in Reseda alone. They thank Super Dragon – PWG’s head honcho for those who don’t know – and reminisce, and all that nice stuff. Matt takes the mic and calls the American Legion Post 308 home for he and Nick, and he says he wishes he could make it out to PWG more than they do. He pretty much credits PWG for building the entire Young Bucks brand, and he even points out one of the Cutler Brothers in the audience in a cool little moment. Matt basically runs down his favorite matches he’s had in PWG, including the three-way ladder match from Threemendous III (still one of the best ladder matches you’ll ever see) and the legendary match at ELEVEN against Candice & Joey. He gets a good cheap pop in by saying he talked to Candice, Adam Cole, and Kevin Steen/Owens and they said they loved this place too. Matt laments that he’s giving a farewell speech, and Nick makes sure to note that they aren’t going to NXT. The Bucks sign off there.
