Views from the Hawke’s Nest: Super Dragon – Destruction – Disc 2

PWG The Musical
April 17, 2004

Quicksilver & Chris Bosh(c) vs. Super Dragon & Excalibur [PWG World Tag Team Championship]

This match was fairly enjoyable when Super Dragon’s team was dominating. They quickly got away from that though, and it just became super tedious to experience. If you like this match, more power to you. There was very little interesting about it and possibly even less that was entertaining. Dragon and Excalibur won the titles after a Psycho Driver from Dragon. (*)

 

CZW High Stakes
September 11, 2004

Super Dragon vs. B-Boy vs. Bobby Quance vs. Excalibur

You could tell this match was going to be dumb right away because they were working a single-fall, fatal-four-way with tags instead of all of them being in the ring at the same time. They then went a ridiculously long time for reasons that defy all logic and reason. They even did a heat segment on Quance which had no real payoff. To their credit, the match did pick up once all four guys just started doing movez. An eight-minute version of that would have been lovely. Instead, they tried to force a long match for no reason whatsoever. Dragon won after the cutthroat Psycho Driver on Excalibur. (**1/2)

 

PWG Use Your Illusion
October 23, 2004

Super Dragon vs. Joey Ryan [Sixty-Minute Iron Man]

A sixty-six-minute Iron Man match between these two sounds like one of the worst things ever conceived by humans, but they actually managed to fill it with enough meat to make it a tolerable experience. There was a great dynamic at play, in-ring stories were told, and the crowd was still into towards the end. Was there any reason for this gimmick to exist? Of course not. It is way too long and the lulls in the action are not justified by the solid stuff happening throughout the match.

Super Dragon dominated for a while, and Ryan barely got anything in. He did work a leg submission though which would come up later. Before that, Super Dragon went up three falls to zero. You know a Joey Ryan comeback is coming at that point, but they manage to do it well. First, Ryan needed a small package to steal a fall, and then he needed a big dive to lead to the second fall (using the leg submission to make Dragon tap). Ryan managed to even things up in fact.

They were also smart to save the biggest spot of the match (Mustache Ride to the floor) for the end and wisely teased it much earlier in the match. That gave the spot some extra meaning. In a stupid move though, the match came down to a sudden death segment which is beyond annoying when you have just watched a sixty-minute Iron Man match. They at least had an exclamation point finish, as Dragon needed a Psycho Driver on the floor to win. There were lots of good stuff in here, and it would have made for a great twenty-minute match (**1/2)

 

Epic War
November 12, 2004

Super Dragon vs. Jack Evans

This played out exactly how you would have expected and how it should have. Super Dragon bullied him around and used his size advantage. Evans used flips to come back. They started going back and forth until Jack won with a Phoenix 630. A fun match that deserved a better environment. (***1/4)

Watch this match here.

 

CZW Cage of Death
December 11, 2004

Super Dragon & Excalibur vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico

As you would expect, these four put forth a fantastic effort. As you would not necessarily expect, the CZW crowd was uncharacteristically alive for this match, and that combination lead to an awesome spectacle. Ideally, the heat segment on Generico would have meant more since it was rather lengthy. That is just the difference from this being good instead of great though. These guys usually work with the “if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing” mentality, and that was the case here as well. There are limits to that style, but it worked on this night for sure. It finally ended with a brutal-looking Psycho Driver on Generico. (***3/4)

Steen gave Generico a package piledriver after the match. Dragon chased him away. Excalibur then gave Generico a Jay Driller, and Super Dragon double stomped Generico’s head on a chair. Dragon then small packaged him, and Excalibur counted a pinfall. They mock celebrated that extraordinary accomplishment. Weird post-match angle.

Watch this match here.

 

PWG All Nude Review
February 12, 2005

Super Dragon(c) vs. Samoa Joe [PWG World Championship]

The big advantage this match had is that the matchup feels and is worked like it is a big fucking deal. You feel like you’re watching two huge stars do battle. That is a rare quality on the indies. It’s hard to have a presence like that when you’re working on such a small stage. These guys managed to create it for themselves though. Unfortunately, this battle of the titans ended on a countout after Dragon gave Joe the Psycho Driver. This needed a better finish and a more lively environment to elevate it, but it was still compelling without those elements. (***1/4)

Dragon was attacked by Kevin Steen in a Super Dragon outfit after the match.

 

wXw
March 20, 2005

Super Dragon vs. El Generico

This match was worked very similarly to the Jack Evans match on the set. Super Dragon used his strength/size advantage to dominate Generico. Generico needed to use his speed and big movez to eventually make it more competitive. Generico even managed to hit the turnbuckle brainbuster, but Dragon fell to the floor. That gave Dragon enough time to recover, and he came roaring back with lariats and a Psycho Driver for the win. Solid match. It would probably be better in PWG 2009-2011 though. (***)

 

Watch Super Dragon matches for free!

Super Dragon vs. Bryan Danielson

Super Dragon vs. Low Ki

Super Dragon vs. Jack Evans

Super Dragon & Excalibur vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico

Super Dragon & Samoa Joe vs. Bryan Danielson & Spanky

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

Two discs down, one to go...