Highspots presents: Claudio Castagnoli - A Very European Collection 6 Disc Set
After being blown away by the in-ring abilities of Cesaro in WWE, I began looking back on his work before he signed to WWE. The first pre-WWE part of Claudio's career that I checked out was in PWG where I saw him have fantastic matches with the likes of PAC (Adrian Neville), El Generico (Sami Zayn), Doug Williams, & Chris Hero. From that point on, I was hooked on Cesaro's wrestling. This led me to purchasing this 6 disc set released by Highspots.com which highlights Claudio's time in IWA Mid-South and Combat Zone Wrestling. It features a total of 47 matches against the likes of CM Punk, Alex Shelley, Chris Hero, Jimmy Jacobs, El Generico, Sami Callihan, Drake Younger, Sara Del Rey, Michael Elgin & many more. I can't wait to get into so let's get started.
1) Swiss Money Holding (Claudio Castagnoli & Ares) vs. Chris Hero & Mark Wolf - IWA Mid South: We Are Family - 7/4/03
This DVD gets off to a great start as Claudio enters the ring wearing a badass suit while Chris Hero comes out to "Rape Me" by Nirvana. Unfortunately that was the only real highlight of this match. Claudio & Ares did some solid heel tag team work here by dominating the majority of the match and using some nice double team moves. Hero got worked over most of the bout which built towards him finally getting the hot tag to Wolf. Wolf comes in cleaning house only to recieve an inadvertant elbow to the jaw from Hero which ends up costing them the match. All in all, the match was pretty basic aside from a unique double team manuever by Claudio & Ares where Ares wheelbarrowed Claudio up and drove him shoulder first into Hero in the corner. Everything else was basically just body slams, arm drags, and rest holds. The match was your typical heel heat format early on with the babyface comeback at the end never really happening. Not a "bad" match per say, but it was pretty dull. Could have been better if they had gotten more time because the finish felt like it came out of nowhere although it was a logical way to end the bout.
Match rating - **1/4
2) Swiss Money Holding (Claudio Castagnoli & Ares) vs. Steve Stone & Beef Wellington III - IWA Mid South - 7/12/03
1) The Miz vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Sin Cara vs. Cody Rhodes - Intercontinental Championship Match
There was a vast number of styles in this match which caused for a slow start with some miscommunication however it turned into a solid opening bout. The exchanges between Cara and Mysterio were great, Rhodes held his own, and Miz played his role very well. Some nice action & nearfalls followed by a clever victory from Miz ends this fun opening match.
Match rating - **3/4
2) Daniel Bryan & Kane vs. Kofi Kingston & R-Truth - Tag Team Title Match
The first thing I noticed about this match was how over Daniel Bryan was. I remembered him being popular and the Team Hell No stuff being hilarious although I didn't realize his major popularity went back this far. The fans loved him so much that every time Kofi Kingston hit a move on him, they would boo. It was crazy. None the less, this was an enjoyable little bout that did what it set out to do which was showcase more tension between Bryan & Kane only for them to win the belts in accidental fashion.
Match rating - **1/2
3) Antonio Cesaro vs. Zack Ryder - United States Championship Match
After the 2014 Battle of Los Angeles rocked the wrestling world in August, PWG returned on October 17th with it's "Untitled II" event. At BOLA, Roderick Strong took his feud with Kyle O'Reilly to a new level by planting him through some chairs thus taking him out of the tournament. That comes to head at this event as they face off in the main event for the PWG World Championship. Can Roderick Strong finally accomplish the one thing he hasn't been able to accomplish in his 8 years in PWG?
This event also features the PWG debut of Uhaa Nation, the returns of Brian Cage & AR Fox after they missed BOLA due to injury, and a guest appearance by Ronda Rousey in the crowd. So let's not wait any longer to get into the festivities!
1) Biff Busick vs. Tomasso Ciampa
After a year in PWG, Ciampa finally had his breakout performance at BOLA in an impressive bout with Michael Elgin. In my review of those shows, I said that I felt like this would propel Ciampa to the next level in PWG and after seeing this match with Busick, I think it's safe to say I was right. I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but the show opened up with "CIAMPA'S GONNA KILL YOU!" chants ringing through my tv screen. Busick & Ciampa then proceeded to tear the house down in what was arguably one of the best opening matches in PWG history. I honestly think this ranks right up there with Steen/PAC and Bucks/Edwards & Strong. This was one of the most vicious matches I've seen recently and the crowd was super hot so it made this even more awesome. Some highlights include a brutal trading of strikes, a half & half suplex off the top turnbuckle, and Ronda Rousey chopping Busick at ringside. Busick has only been on 4 PWG shows, but he's already established himself, this match did alot for him and continued to raise the stock of Ciampa. Awesome opener!
PWG It's It (What Is It?) Review
On June 8th 2008, PWG held it's final show before the fifth anniversary event, Life During Wartime. The main event is a three way match to determine the #1 Contender to the PWG World Championship. Excalibur and Dino Winwood are on commentary for the evening.
1) Scott Lost vs. Mikey Nicholls
Here we have the debuting Mikey Nicholls taking on PWG veteran/co founder, Scott Lost. I had never heard of Nicholls prior to this, but he certainly impressed me in this match. This bout was everything an opener should be. It got the crowd hot and got the show off to an exciting start. In the end, Lost hit an ace crusher on the apron followed by a superplex to finally put away Nicholls after several near falls. Good opener!
Match rating - **3/4
2) Hook Bomberry vs. Scorpio Sky
PWG 1.21 Gigawatts Review
On March 2, 2008, PWG returned to the legion hall in Reseda for 1.21 Gigawatts. The card featured several line up changes after Eddie Kingston & Necro Butcher were unable to make it to the show. Many of these changes took place throughout the show which made for some great surprises. Excalibur and Rick Knox are on commentary to start off the evening.
1) Brandon Bonham vs. Nemesis
This was Bonham's debut match and he certainly made an impression as fans began chanting "new guy" about mid-way through the match. I've often wandered why he was called "The New Guy" and it turns out this was where it originated from, pretty cool. While this bout didn't really last long, it was a nice first match for Bonham.
Match rating - **
2) Candice LeRae vs. LuFisto
We go from one debut to another as LuFisto makes her PWG debut here against Candice LeRae. It was a decent showing for the queen of the deathmatch although she didn't really blow anyone away with this match up. In the end, Candice picked up the win with a roll up.
Match rating - **
After the match, Human Tornado and Claudio Castagnoli come out to attack Candice only for Chris Hero to follow them. Hero knocks down Tornado and begins beating on Castagnoli which leads to our next match!
3) Chris Hero vs. Claudio Castagnoli
This was PWG's second to last show of 2005. It took place on December 3rd and is headlined by a grudge match between long time rivals Scott Lost and Scorpio Sky as they face off in an "I Quit" Match. Excalibur and Disco Machine are on commentary.
1) Christopher Daniels vs. TJ Perkins
This was a pretty basic opener. I was interested simply because I'm a fan of both men however they didn't do anything to really grab my attention aside from that. They put together a nice exchange near the end though which saw TJP attempt to hit Daniels with his own move, Angel's Wings. Average match.
Match rating - **1/4
2) Chris Sabin vs. B-Boy
I had heard that these two had a good series of matches in PWG in late 2005-early 2006 so I was really looking forward to this. Unlike the opener, this one really lived up to my expectations. The action was fast paced to start and they kept it clean, but things would soon get serious and the two began throwing strikes. B-Boy came out on top and took control which wasn't surprising considering how hardhitting he is. Sabin fought back however and the match was pretty evenly matched for the remainder of the bout. The closing sequence was fantastic as we got several near falls along with some huge moves such as a running liger bomb and a spinning piledriver/canadian destoyer that has to be seen to be believed. Very good match that left me wanting to see more matches between these two. Apparently they had a 2/3 Falls match a few shows after this, so thats something I'm definitely going to seek out because I feel these two just tapped a bit into what they could create with this match.
Match rating - ***1/4
3) El Generico, Phoenix Star, & Zokre vs. Alex Koslov, Ronin, & Nemesis
