PWG 7-16
This was the final PWG show at the “sweatbox,” and it lived up to its name one final time. I’ll miss the venue in a way, and won’t miss it in a number of others. There was a strong crowd, as they had trouble getting everyone seats, probably in the 400 range. The Briscoes no showed again. This was an awesome show, save for in my opinion the finish.
1. Disco Machine beat Excalibur. They said that this was to settle who the best PWG DVD commentator is. They did a cute spot where Disco Machine was given a red card for a head butt ala Zinedine Zidane. Disco won with a choke slam into a back breaker.
2. Ronin beat Nemesis with a head over heels clothesline and DVD. There were dueling Hello Kitty/Power Ranger chants for Ronin, whose aggressive in-ring style is undermined by his absurd comedic outfits.
3. Colt Cabana beat Topgun Talwar with an upside down back breaker. This was the goofiest of comedy, reminiscent of the worst of Hustle. Definitely not my cup of tea, but people seemed to enjoy it. Joey Ryan came out after the match and gave Topgun two piledrivers on a chair to send a message to B-Boy.
4. Scorpio Sky, Chris Bosh and Scott Lost beat Human Tornado, Kevin Steen and Davey Richards. Sky gave Tornado a brain buster for the pin. This was a great, heated, wild brawl. Scorpio Sky is a revelation as a heel. He has developed major league charisma practically overnight, and he was always a very good wrestler. I can’t say enough about how good he is right now. He is going places.
5. Roderick Strong beat T.J. Perkins with the Stronghold. Perkins has been playing subtle heel in PWG for a while now (going so far as to proclaim himself the “savior of SoCal wrestling”), but it seems like the crowd is never going to pick up on it, and he was actually the favorite here. Strong turned Perkins’ chest beet red with chops.
6. Kings of Wrestling beat Cape Fear. Claudio Castagnoli and Chris Hero looked banged up from last night’s match in ROH. Claudio began bleeding from the side of the head, and it actually became rather gruesome. Kings of Wrestling won with a double team power bomb to El Generico. This was an excellent match, as these are two great teams.
7. Joey Ryan retained his PWG Title defeating B-Boy in a cage TLC match. This was a crazy, violent brawl with all sorts of dangerous spots. There were hard unprotected chair shots to the head. Both men went through tables. After Ryan took out the first referee, a second referee had to come into the cage to count a pin, and that gave them the opportunity to brawl to the outside.
Of course that led to interference from the Dynasty, but a bunch of faces came out and fought them off. Human Tornado hit a somersault senton off the top of the cage to the floor. Then B-Boy hit a double foot stomp on Ryan off the top of the cage through a table. Ryan still kicked out, and the crowd chanted “bullshit.” B-Boy hit Ryan with Go 2 Sleep and had Ryan beat, but Jade Chung interfered, and Ryan used chloroform to make B-Boy unconscious for the win. After the match fans threw tons of plastic bottles into the ring.
This match had tons of heat. The crowd was exploding for the two big B-Boy near falls at the end. Obviously PWG feels differently, but I think they have the entirely wrong type of heat with Ryan. It’s Jeff Jarrett or Paul Heyman/Big Show heat in my opinion. I can’t survey everyone watching PWG, but that certainly seemed to be apparent based on what people were muttering around me leaving the show.
Ryan isn’t the problem. He’s a good heel. The problem is the booking of the title, which means next to nothing at this point. It seems like every wrestler in the promotion has had Ryan beat, and every time there is some BS interference or screw job and he retains the title. It’s tedious, annoying and people are ready for something else. The predominant sentiment in my opinion is not “I can’t wait to see someone beat Joey Ryan” but rather “I can’t wait until they take the title off Joey Ryan.” That’s a big difference.
There have been few wrestling promotions in history that have had prolonged success without a strong title. If PWG ever wants to stop relying on fly-ins to pop crowds, they are going to need to make the title mean something. A heel champion shouldn’t win cleanly every time, but he has to prove himself every once in a while or the title is just a prop. PWG returns in early September for one of the most talent rich, if not the most talent rich, pro wrestling tournament in the world this year.
1. Disco Machine beat Excalibur. They said that this was to settle who the best PWG DVD commentator is. They did a cute spot where Disco Machine was given a red card for a head butt ala Zinedine Zidane. Disco won with a choke slam into a back breaker.
2. Ronin beat Nemesis with a head over heels clothesline and DVD. There were dueling Hello Kitty/Power Ranger chants for Ronin, whose aggressive in-ring style is undermined by his absurd comedic outfits.
3. Colt Cabana beat Topgun Talwar with an upside down back breaker. This was the goofiest of comedy, reminiscent of the worst of Hustle. Definitely not my cup of tea, but people seemed to enjoy it. Joey Ryan came out after the match and gave Topgun two piledrivers on a chair to send a message to B-Boy.
4. Scorpio Sky, Chris Bosh and Scott Lost beat Human Tornado, Kevin Steen and Davey Richards. Sky gave Tornado a brain buster for the pin. This was a great, heated, wild brawl. Scorpio Sky is a revelation as a heel. He has developed major league charisma practically overnight, and he was always a very good wrestler. I can’t say enough about how good he is right now. He is going places.
5. Roderick Strong beat T.J. Perkins with the Stronghold. Perkins has been playing subtle heel in PWG for a while now (going so far as to proclaim himself the “savior of SoCal wrestling”), but it seems like the crowd is never going to pick up on it, and he was actually the favorite here. Strong turned Perkins’ chest beet red with chops.
6. Kings of Wrestling beat Cape Fear. Claudio Castagnoli and Chris Hero looked banged up from last night’s match in ROH. Claudio began bleeding from the side of the head, and it actually became rather gruesome. Kings of Wrestling won with a double team power bomb to El Generico. This was an excellent match, as these are two great teams.
7. Joey Ryan retained his PWG Title defeating B-Boy in a cage TLC match. This was a crazy, violent brawl with all sorts of dangerous spots. There were hard unprotected chair shots to the head. Both men went through tables. After Ryan took out the first referee, a second referee had to come into the cage to count a pin, and that gave them the opportunity to brawl to the outside.
Of course that led to interference from the Dynasty, but a bunch of faces came out and fought them off. Human Tornado hit a somersault senton off the top of the cage to the floor. Then B-Boy hit a double foot stomp on Ryan off the top of the cage through a table. Ryan still kicked out, and the crowd chanted “bullshit.” B-Boy hit Ryan with Go 2 Sleep and had Ryan beat, but Jade Chung interfered, and Ryan used chloroform to make B-Boy unconscious for the win. After the match fans threw tons of plastic bottles into the ring.
This match had tons of heat. The crowd was exploding for the two big B-Boy near falls at the end. Obviously PWG feels differently, but I think they have the entirely wrong type of heat with Ryan. It’s Jeff Jarrett or Paul Heyman/Big Show heat in my opinion. I can’t survey everyone watching PWG, but that certainly seemed to be apparent based on what people were muttering around me leaving the show.
Ryan isn’t the problem. He’s a good heel. The problem is the booking of the title, which means next to nothing at this point. It seems like every wrestler in the promotion has had Ryan beat, and every time there is some BS interference or screw job and he retains the title. It’s tedious, annoying and people are ready for something else. The predominant sentiment in my opinion is not “I can’t wait to see someone beat Joey Ryan” but rather “I can’t wait until they take the title off Joey Ryan.” That’s a big difference.
There have been few wrestling promotions in history that have had prolonged success without a strong title. If PWG ever wants to stop relying on fly-ins to pop crowds, they are going to need to make the title mean something. A heel champion shouldn’t win cleanly every time, but he has to prove himself every once in a while or the title is just a prop. PWG returns in early September for one of the most talent rich, if not the most talent rich, pro wrestling tournament in the world this year.
posted by Todd Martin at 10:59 PM
2 Comments:
Hey Todd, I've been reading alot about PWG and would like to know whaere would be a good starting point to start buying shows on DVD. Also are there some shows that would be considered can't miss. One more thing where has Super Dragon been lately? Thanks
Sean
Hi Sean,
I would start with last year's Battle of Los Angeles, which was just great. After that, the first All Star Weekend has an excellent pair of shows, and this year's Hollywood Globetrotters has a MOTYC in Super Dragon & Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong & Jack Evans. Really you can't go wrong with most any show from the past few years. They almost always deliver.
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