Saturday, May 31, 2014

PWG: Express Written Consent DVD Review


This was the second PWG show of 2009. It featured the surprise return of Colt Cabana who ended up finding his way into the World Title picture. This show also featured TJ Perkins' farewell match along with the return of Paul London in a huge main event in which he teamed with The Young Bucks to take on Joey Ryan, Scott Lost and Karl Anderson!

1) Scorpio Sky vs. Zokre
The first thing I noticed about this show is how hot the crowd was! It had the feel of many PWG shows of today. So hype! This was a damn good opening match and the crowd made it even better. Sky and Zokre worked a great match, but unfortunately a botch by the ref at the end spoiled what was a really good match. Despite that ref bump, this was a great opener.

Match rating - ***

2) B-Boy vs. TJ Perkins
The trend of returns on this show began here as B-Boy made his return to Pro Wrestling Guerrilla to face long time rival TJ Perkins in his farewell match. Perkins was

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

PWG: The Gentle Art of Making Enemies Review

PWG: The Gentle Art Of Making Enemies DVD Review
 

1) Los Luchas vs. The Cutler Bros
This was the PWG debut of The Cutler Bros and what a challenge they had as they faced off against PWG veterans, Los Luchas. The last few PWG shows haven't had very good openers, but this broke that trend as this was an awesome tag team match! The Luchas and The Cutlers put on an oustanding display of tag team wrestling in a match that featured alot of moves that I had never seen before. Great opening match!

Match rating - ***1/2

2) Austin Aries vs. TJ Perkins
Perkins continues to be placed in matches that I'm excited about. Aries is a very well rounded wrestler including being skilled in the technical aspect of wrestling. Of course, that is what TJP's offense is based around so there were high expectations from me for this one. While this

PWG: Battle of Los Angeles 2008 - Stage Two Review

PWG Battle of Los Angeles 2008 - Stage 2 DVD Review

1) Brandon Bonham vs. Nigel McGuinness
Bonham impressed me on Night 1 with his match against Kenny Omega and he had the chance to do so again here against one of the best in the world, Nigel McGuinness. This was match was good for what it was. It only lasted 10 minutes (if that), but it was fun while it lasted. While Bonham wasn't able to pull the upset, he left a good impression and took the fight to Nigel leaving him with a bloody nose. Decent opening match.

Match rating - **3/4

2) Low Ki vs. Masata Yoshino
I had high expectations for this match, but unfortunately they weren't able to get enough to create a great match. Just like the opening match, it didn't get much time which doesn't bother me all that much since there are three rounds of the tournament being contested on this show so everything can't go long. I just think one of these opening matches should have gotten a bit more time. This was fun while it lasted though. Enjoyed it a bit more than the opening bout, hence the slight rating increase.

Match rating - ***

3) Bryan Danielson vs. TJ Perkins
Being a big fan of both guys, I expected this to be really good and it turned out to be absolutely fantastic. The first ten minutes consisted of mat wrestling and alot of technical exchanges. TJP began working over Bryan's leg and continued that as the battle spilled to the outside. Bryan got the upperhand and went for a dive off the apron, but TJ moved and Bryan landed in some chairs. TJP then slammed Bryan's leg into

Sunday, May 25, 2014

PWG: Battle of Los Angeles 2008 - Stage One Review

PWG Battle of Los Angeles 2008 - Stage 1 DVD Review

To start the show, Excalibur introduces all 17 participants in this year's BOLA tournament. The field is stacked for this tournament. Some of the competitors featured include Bryan Danielson, Low Ki, Austin Aries, Chris Hero, Nigel McGuinness, El Generico and many more. Nice way to kick the show off.

1) TJ Perkins vs. Chuck Taylor
And the first match of the evening pits TJ Perkins against a newcomer in PWG (at the time), Chuck Taylor. This was a fun match to open the show. I was interested to see how Taylor would fare against a technically gifted wrestler such as Perkins, but he held his own. Chuck even got TJ into a head scissors for several minutes where it looked like Perkins may tap out. However, TJ recovered and got out of the hold after several failed attempts. This was in the midst of TJ Perkins run as a heel so he tried to cheat and win, but it backfired on him as Chuckie T took the brass knuckles and nailed TJ with them for the win. The ref then saw them on Taylor's hands afterward and reversed the decision. Crazy finish, decent match. The most entertaining part of the whole thing was hearing Rick Knox rant on commentary about Perkins' cheating antics and the finish of the match. Enjoyable start to the show.

Match rating - **1/2

2) Kenny Omega vs. Brandon Bonham
This was Kenny Omega's debut in PWG and although I am familiar with him, this was my first time seeing Bonham wrestle. Omega is talented so let's see if Bonham can make a good impression on me. Going into this bout I expected it to be decent, but it turned out to be REALLY good. Much better than I originally expected. Although we didn't get too see Omega's amazing finishing manuever, Bonham pulled out a sick Canadian destroyer piledriver to finish off Omega! WOW!

Thursday, May 22, 2014

WWE: SummerSlam 2011 DVD Review

WWE SummerSlam 2011 DVD Review
WWE Shop recently had a big DVD sale and this is one of the several DVD's that I picked up. I wanted to relive some of the great moments of the phenomenal year that was 2011. Since I already had seen Punk & Cena's classic bout at Money In The Bank, I was eager to see their second match up. That was the main drawing factor in buying this DVD. Well, that and the fact that the cover is just awesome. Well, without any further a due let's get started as we take a look back at SummerSlam 2011.

1) Rey Mysterio, Kofi Kingston, & John Morrison vs. The Miz, R-Truth, & Alberto Del Rio
The show started with a promo from The Miz who was interrupted by R-Truth. Both were very entertaining. I was quickly reminded why I enjoyed both of them so much in 2011. Such a shame that as of this writing they are jobbers. They're both so talented. None the less, the match gets started and it was a great opener. It was fast paced, featured alot of action, and got the crowd fired up for the rest of the evening. It did exactly what a good opener should do so I have nothing to complain about here. Fun match.

Match rating - 7/10

2) Sheamus vs. Mark Henry
Well this was a drastic change in pace from the spotty, fast paced six man tag that opened the show. Despite that, it was still a fairly enjoyable big man match. It was a little slow at times, but was executed very well. This was right before Sheamus really hit his in ring peak, but he still did a good job here. The match ends in a countout after Mark Henry slams Sheamus through the

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

PWG: All Star Weekend 7 - Night Two DVD Review


1) Alex Koslov vs. Susumu Yokosuka
Very good way to start the show here with a well executed match such as this one. It was certainly much better than Night 1's opener. This was a Dragon Gate meets CMLL bout and the two styles meshed well. The match featured alot of submissions including an innovative surfboard on the ropes by Koslov. Some of each man's moves caught their opponent off guard since they had never wrestled before which made this match even better. It was interesting to see how they would respond to manuevers they had never encountered before. Solid match to start the show.

Match rating - ***

2) El Generico vs. TJ Perkins
Man, I've never seen a crowd hate TJ Perkins as much as they did here. In more recent PWG shows, the crowd is hot for him, but here they despised him as "TJ sucks" chants rang through the air. I was looking forward to this match as both men are well versed in their respective styles of technical, high flying, and submission wrestling. We saw an impressive move for move exchange to start the match which led to a stand off. Generico went for his signature kick early, but Perkins blocked it. After some back and forth action, Perkins took control and slowed the pace down to suit him. The match mainly stayed on the mat while TJ had control, but Generico rallied about half way through and brought some excitement back to the match. The ending to this match was amazing. El Generico hit a brainbuster on TJ ON THE APRON! Insane move! I bet TJ regrets

Saturday, May 17, 2014

PWG: All Star Weekend 7 - Night One DVD Review

PWG All Star Weekend 7 Night 1 Review

I recently bought PWG's Volume 10 Anthology set and it features 9 discs of PWG shows from 2008-2009. This is the first disc in the set so there are going to be alot more PWG reviews on the way so stay tuned!

1) Hook Bomberry & TJ Perkins vs. Mark Davis & Ash Riot
Going into this match, I had only seen one of these four men wrestle and that one person being TJ Perkins. So this was my first experience seeing Bomberry, Davis, & Riot compete. Chris Hero was on commentary and apparently he's worked with Davis & Riot before so that's a plus for me when it comes to them. I wasn't particularly impressed by Riot here as he had one or two minor botches, but Mark Davis stood out to me. He's a pretty big guy, but he's very agile for his size. This match wasn't anything special to start with, but the slip ups by Riot caused me to drop my rating a bit. TJ Perkins and Mark Davis were the best part of the match and unfortunately Davis didn't get that much time in. I enjoyed this one fairly well though. Fun opener.

Match rating - **1/2

2) Jimmy Jacobs vs. Vin Gerard
Just like the first match, this really wasn't anything special. I'd never seen Gerard compete and he didn't do anything to impress me. Jacobs put in a solid performance and the majority of the match was wrestled at a slow pace which he set. He sat Gerard in a chair on the outside and dove onto him which was pretty impressive, but it's become signature to Jacobs' repertoire so it's nothing I haven't seen before. These guys didn't

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

PWG: All Star Weekend X - Night 2 DVD Review

PWG All Star Weekend 10 Night 2 DVD Review

The event was held December 21, 2013. It's PWG's final show of 2013 and the final night in PWG for Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards before going to TNA.

1) Peter Avalon & Ray Rosas vs. Willie Mack & B-Boy vs. RockNES Monsters
This is one of those classic insane PWG multi-man openers. PPRay and Willie Mack & B-Boy are insanely over while the RockNES Monsters continue to be the 2nd most hated tag team in PWG. They get alot of heat. The crowd is on fire for this match though and for good reason. The action never stops. From a sick head stomp off the top rope to a dive over the top turnbuckle to the outside of the ring to a border toss on the ring apron. It was crazy! The most amazing sequence however had to be the tower of doom followed by a double frogsplash followed by a shining wizard! Just awesome, fun stuff! Don't see how anyone can't enjoy this!

Match rating - ***1/2

2) Tomasso Ciampa vs. Anthony Nese
The insanity continues here as Nese strikes Ciampa right out of the gate with a dive out of the ring during his entrance. These two put together a great match that was much better than I thought it would be. Ciampa's personality continues to come out in PWG as he yelled at Kevin Steen on commentary before doing his signature crotch into the ring post. Funny stuff. Steen had just got done putting Ciampa over on commentary then Ciampa steals his move - how ironic! Ciampa has only been in PWG for a few months, but I'm already enjoying his work here WAY more than in ROH. Nese was also very impressive here. A story that developed in the match was whether Nese could lift up Ciampa with one arm. After three separate attempts, Nese finally got him up and slammed him into the corner! Brutal stuff as Ciampa returns