Disc 1 - The Interview
The next topic was Kyle's training which he started at the age of 18. This led to a discussion about the wrestling scene in BC and how Kyle made the move to the United States where he began living in St Louis with Davey Richards and Tony Kozina. O'Reilly talks about how the scene in Canada is almost secluded to the point where it's hard for anyone up there to get noticed unless they move down to America like he did. Steen talked a bit about how it's like that in England and names PCW as a promotion that's just as good as ROH & PWG, but doesn't get much buzz.
Steen and O'Reilly then moved on to how Kyle got into ROH. This leads to a story about Steen refusing to face him in 2009 because he had just turned on Generico and didn't want O'Reilly to be the guy he squashed immediately after that. They talk about how Future Shock came about and it comes to fruition that Kyle didn't even know Cole very well when they were placed together in ROH. Some interesting topics here include Kyle listing some of his favorite ROH Future Shock matches, how it was working with Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas, and Jim Cornette saying Future Shock vs The Wolves was the best tag team match he had ever seen.
The discussion about Future Shock led to some talk about ROH's decision to break them up and the Hybrid Rules match they had. Apparently the blood was something they wanted to do originally however it was turned down by the office so they decided not to do it. Then as you probably know, it ended up happening anyway as Kyle punched Cole in the face thus busting his lip open. Pretty cool to know that it wasn't supposed to happen although it ended up taking place anyway. Some things are just meant to be, I guess.
The interview continues down the path of Kyle's Ring of Honor career and how his character was floundering after he was separated from Cole, but Kyle's in-ring performances are what saved him. Steen mentions how he would get little to no reaction despite having been in the company for several years however once the match got going, Kyle would bring the audience into it. Unfortunately, it didn't last and it ended up being like that at every show with Kyle having to work his ass off to get a reaction.
The formation of ReDragon with Bobby Fish is discussed. Steen notes that he did some mic work with Fish in Evolve and he was terrible, then when he got paired with Kyle, it was amazing because both guys improved so much with their characters so quickly. This is something I've noticed myself and hearing them talk about how alot of the bits Kyle & Bobby do are improvised was very interesting. Their chemistry clearly goes beyond the ring.
From what I can tell, this show was shot in early 2014 so Kyle hadn't become PWG champion yet although he was hot in PWG at the time so they discussed that a little bit. As a major PWG fan, it was one of the parts I was really interested in hearing about. They didn't go too in depth, but they did touch on Kyle's sudden rise to popularity with his amazing series of matches against Sami Callihan, Davey Richards, & TJ Perkins. Steen reveals who pushed for Kyle to go over Sami at All Star Weekend 9 and what was so unique about how the PWG fans took to him.
As usual, they closed out the interview with fan questions which touched on various intriguing topics. Some things discussed include the meaning of Kyle's tattoo, whether or not he would wrestle New Jack, why he wears a mouth guard, his collection of vinyl records, and several other things.
The interview ran just over 2 hours and covered every part of Kyle's career thus far along with most major points in it. As a fan of O'Reilly, I really enjoyed it and learned alot about him. The behind the scenes stories from ROH & PWG were extremely interesting and hearing both he & Kevin discuss their time as avid WWF fans was very cool. So if you're looking to learn more about one half of ReDragon, I'd definitely recommend checking this out. It's something that can be enjoyed by basically everyone.
Disc 2 - Bonus Matches
1) Kyle O'Reilly vs. Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano - CZW: Best of The Best X - 4/9/11
I've seen these three men have multiple outstanding singles contests recently in PWG so I was pretty pumped to see some of their lesser known work. This was a first round match in the 2011 Best of the Best Tournament so it didn't get a ton of time, but it did get just enough for all three guys to make an impression. They packed alot of action into 10 minutes.
Match rating - ***1/4
2) Kyle O'Reilly vs. Sami Callihan - CZW: International Incident - 4/10/12
What a nice gem this was! One of my first times seeing O'Reilly compete was against Sami Callihan at PWG's All Star Weekend 9 and it turned out to be one of the best matches of the entire year in 2013. With that being said, I was really interested to see how this bout from a year prior would play out. Something I will say right off the bat is that this match really showed that these two men had potential to have a classic encounter. Everything was on point and flowed extremely well. This also displayed everything that makes O'Reilly such an outstanding wrestler - vicious strikes, lethal combinations, and great selling. This was for the most part a slugfest as both men delivered a variety of kicks and uppercuts to stun their opponent however it could also just be seen as an intense wrestling exhibition because after the strikes, the men began trading german suplexes in the center of the ring. I'd imagine there were probbaly 10 all together yet neither man would go down. In the end it would be the leg of O'Reilly which Callihan targeted throughout the match that would earn him the victory. That's one of the other things I enjoyed here. Every chance Callihan got, he would hit some sort of manuever to the leg of Kyle including multiple dragon screw leg whips, including one off the top rope. This made perfect sense considering alot of O'Reilly's offense is based off kicks plus Callihan's submission finisher is the stretch muffler. This match was perfectly done, I loved it. Crazy to think it was only the opener of this particular event.
Match rating - ***3/4
3) Kyle O'Reilly vs. Cedric Alexander - PWX: A Hunt For Gold - 5/26/13
Dream match right here! This bout took place during Cedric's dream match series (which is something I HIGHLY recommend checking out). Both guys are pretty technically sound and that was put on display here as they tried to work each other over using various holds & submissions throughout the match. Striking played a big part in this match as well though. We all know O'Reilly is one of the best strikers in the world and Cedric proved he could hold his own in that realm as well during this bout. My favorite exchange was actually a striking battle near the end that resulted in a stalemate as both men fell to the mat. Awesome match all around.
Match rating - ****
4) Kyle O'Reilly vs. Drew Myers - PWX: It's All About Me - 6/29/13
After seeing Drew Myers have a great match with Caleb Konley at PWX's Live and Demand event, I was looking forward to seeing him square off with O'Reilly. This was exactly what I expected as Kyle's technical and striking abilites were put on display while Drew relied on his amateur skills. The veteranism and submission specialties of O'Reilly would end up earning him the victory after a pretty back and forth match. I'd like to see what these two could do with more time. Solid bout none the less.
Match rating - ***
5) Kyle O'Reilly vs. Kyle Matthews - PWX: Taken By Force - 1/18/14
This match really caught me off guard. It was as good as I expected O'Reilly's match with Drew Myers to be. I had no clue who Kyle Matthews was, but he definitely impressed me in this match. From what I picked up from the commentators, Matthews is more of a fast paced wrestler however he showed everyone that he had some tricks up his sleeve by pulling out an octopus stretch that actually ended up putting O'Reilly away. Before we get to that, though, I have to mention an epic exchange that took place where Matthews went for O'Reilly' signature spinning DDT out of the corner, rolled through, and went to follow it up with a brainbuster like O'Reilly does, but O'Reilly reversed it in mid-move and nailed him with one of his own. It was during exchanges like that in which I realized this was going to exceed expectations. Really good match here.
Match rating - ***1/2
6) Kyle O'Reilly vs. Michael Elgin - PWX: The Debut - 1/19/14
These two have faced off numerous times over the years. Whether it be in the 2011 Survival of the Fittest Finals or the finals of PWG's Battle of Los Angeles, they always deliver and this was no different. It was pretty much a slugfest from the opening bell with both men hitting the other with everything they had. This was just as entertaining as all their other matches, but it didn't quite have the oomf/big time feel that some of the others did which is understandable considering this was just an exhibition for the most part.
Match rating - ***
Overall thoughts: Aside from ROH's ReDragon compilation which was recently put out, there isn't any DVD's on Kyle O'Reilly which is surprising. That's why I think this would be a great purchase for any fan of his. The interview is awesome and it covers pretty much everything in O'Reilly's wrestling career up through early 2014 plus alot of other fun discussions. The bonus matches are all really good as all reached three stars or higher with one even reaching four stars. The bouts aren't from the more notable promotions he competes for like ROH & PWG, but there are still some gems on here, specifically the Callihan and Alexander matches. So, I recommend this to any fan of O'Reilly or ReDragon because it's quality viewing and even if another DVD is put out on him in the future, it likely won't feature any of the matches that are included here so I could see this being a rare item in the future. Good stuff!
Thanks for reading and be sure to follow me on Twitter @EthanPWT and this blog @ThePWTruth!
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