I've never really viewed Disco as a major player in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla however he's really been killing it in these opening matches in 2007. That trend continued here as he faced off with the Lucha standout Nosawa. There's not much to really say here aside from the fact that it was pretty much the perfect opening match. Action packed and fun from bell to bell.
Match rating - **3/4
2) Roderick Strong vs. Rocky Romero
Speaking of guys who've been on a roll, Rocky Romero is another guy that's truly been tearing it up in PWG in the months leading up to this event. With outstanding bouts against Claudio & Alex Shelley leading up to this match, I think it's safe to say Romero had a good bit of momentum. That momentum came to a hault though when Roderick Strong made his return to PWG here to face off with Azucar. Out of all of Romero's PWG matches around this time, this was probably the best one. These two went at it full speed from the opening bell in a match that showcased alot of strong style action along with some submissions. Great stuff.
Match rating - ***3/4
3) Claudio Castagnoli vs. Human Tornado (w/ Candice LeRae)
At the show before this one, Tornado hit Candice LeRae with his finisher which made some think they were done however he apologized to her prior to his match. The apology wasn't heartfelt though because he slapped her in the face soon after. I just recently watched the heat of the Tornado/Hero & Candice feud so it's cool going back and seeing the beginning stages of it here. None the less, Claudio comes out and the match gets going. Candice was the underlying story of this match as Tornado kept trying to get her to cheat. As for the action, it was better than expected. Claudio hit some vicious uppercuts along with some moves I've never seen him do before such as a hurricanrana off the top rope. I really enjoyed everything about this one, the commentary was gold here as well. Excalibur discussed how Tornado asked if he wanted some "foot play" with Candice and how he thought that meant she would be kicking around a soccer ball. He went on to talk about calling Candice about dirty talk. It was hilarious. Good match. For those who haven't seen any of the Tornado/Candice storyline though, some of the stuff that happens here will come across as pretty heavy stuff.
Match rating - ***
4) Matt Classic vs. Kikutaro
After a match with such a controversial storyline, it was the perfect time for a comedy bout and these were the perfect two to do it. They did a perfect job of encorporating the ref into some spots here along with doing funny stuff themselves. I actually watched this twice. Once with commentary and once without because Excalibur & Disco Machine were on a roll on this night. Fun match.
Match rating - **
5) Kevin Steen vs. Jack Evans
Steen came into this weekend pissed off and after his promo at 70/30, I feared for Jack Evans in this match. Thankfully the beating wasn't too bad although we saw Jack get powerbombed on the apron and over the railing into the crowd. He took a number of brutal moves from Steen here. Jack got some of his signature offense in as well though and it made for a pretty solid match. Steen always works well with smaller guys and this was no different. Good match.
Match rating - ***1/4
6) Joey Ryan, Scott Lost, Chris Bosh, & Karl Anderson (w/ Jade Chung) vs. Frankie Kazarian, TJ Perkins, Ronin, & Top Gun Talwar
Scorpio Sky made his surprise return here before the match to attack the imposter Scorpio Sky which was crazy. He dove on him along with the other members of The Dynasty and fought him out of the arena. After that, things settled down and we got a match that perfectly showcases what makes PWG different. These eight competitors just went out and had fun. I have never enjoyed a Top Gun Talwar match, but I shockingly found him very funny here. Anderson did his machine gun schtick while Top Gun laid on the ground and began "shooting" what Joey Ryan called a "cock laser" as he chased Karl Anderson around the ring. Then Rick Knox came into play and pinned Joey Ryan then double teamed him with Kazarian. The comedy came to a hault near the end and we got an action packed sequence with several nearfalls to close out the match. It's hard to not enjoy this, super fun stuff. Best performance from alot of the guys in this match in months. PWG has always had its own unique sense of humor and with three of the founders in this match (Ryan, Lost, & Top Gun) and two on commentary (Excalibur & Disco Machine), it shined through.
Match rating - ***
7) Alex Shelley vs. Kaz Hayashi
After a few matches that were all about fun and comedy, it's back to the wrestling. Shelley's run in PWG is filled with awesome matches so I expected this to be the same and I was correct. I had never seen Hayashi before, but I was certainly impressed here. Both of these guys have similar styles which made for a fantastic match up. Hayashi worked over the leg of Shelley early on, even throwing him knee first off the apron into the railing. However it ended up coming down to a battle of oneupsmanship as both men threw everything they had at each other which resulted in alot of close falls. Great match.
Match rating - ****
8) Low Ki vs. Davey Richards
For fans of hard hitting strike filled offense this was a dream match. I'm not sure if these two had ever faced off before, but I doubt it because this was 2007 and Davey had just recently started in ROH while Low Ki hadn't been working there. None the less, this was a very good first time encounter between the two. This was on it's way to nearing four stars, but a few slight mishaps slowed down the momentum they were building on an occasion or two during the final stretch. They were minor though so they didn't hinder the enjoyment of the match, just kept it from reaching that next level. Good match regardless.
Match rating - ***1/2
9) El Generico vs. PAC - PWG World Title Match
Ah this was so fun to look back on. I first saw this match when I purchased PWG's Sells Out Volume 3 collection and was blown away. I've since seen their first encounter from All Star Weekend IV in 2006 so I think this would be the perfect place to compare the two. While both are among my favorite PWG matches of all time, I prefer this one simply because it's more well rounded. The one in 2006 was based more around spots than anything else where as these two put together a better overall match to go along with the jaw dropping spots such as a dragon suplex on the ring apron. Amazing match, must see.
Match rating - ****1/2
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