PWG: From Out of Nowhere Review

It's PWG's first event of 2015 and also the beginning of a new era. An era without Kevin Steen, Adam Cole, or Kyle O'Reilly - three men who were mainstays in PWG over the past few years. It's an era led by 10 year PWG veteran, Roderick Strong as he capped off 2014 with a World Championship victory over Kyle O'Reilly on his way out of the door. Roddy's first opponent/title defense comes in the form of a relatively new face in PWG, Trevor Lee.

Speaking of new stars, this event features alot of them. With the aforementioned names being kept away due to contract stips & injuries plus Joey Ryan, Candice LeRae, Johnny Gargano, Chris Sabin, & Andrew Everett over in the UK, many people wondered who would fill the void. PWG soon answered that question by bringing in three of the hottest properties on the Canadian scene in the form of Mike Bailey and Monster Mafia (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander). On top of that, New England/CZW standouts, The Beaver Boys make their debut. This event also features the PWG return of Drew Gulak who brought his technical prowess to Reseda over the summer.

1) Biff Busick vs. "Speedball" Mike Bailey

PWG: Black Cole Sun Review

For the first time in forever, I've fallen slightly behind on PWG so this weekend I decided to play catch up by ordering the last event of 2014 along with the first event of 2015. This, of course, is the latter. Black Cole Sun was held on December 12th and in my opinion will be looked on as a historical show in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla history. It was the end of an era as we saw Adam Cole & Kyle O'Reilly, the two men who debuted in 2011 and went on to dominate & carry the company through the past few years, have their final match for the foreseeable future in the promotion due to the new ROH contract clause.

Cole & O'Reilly began in PWG as a team and took part in many outstanding matches including the classic Threemendous III Ladder Match in July of 2012. From that point on, Cole & O'Reilly competed primarily in singles action and came into their own respective characters. Cole would win the 2012 Battle of Los Angeles and become the PWG World Champion, a title which he held longer than anyone in PWG history, until none other than the 2013 Battle of Los Angeles Winner Kyle O'Reilly defeated him for that belt in May of 2014.

On this particular show, Adam Cole faces Cedric Alexander while Kyle O'Reilly defends his PWG World Championship against Ricochet. Going into this event, fans in attendance didn't know what to expect as it wasn't billed as the two men's final appearances in the company, so let's forget about that for a moment as we get into the happenings of this event.

1) Chuck Taylor, Johnny Gargano, & Bobby Fish vs. ACH, AR Fox, & Rich Swann

CHIKARA: Best of 2012 Review

1) Mike Quackenbush vs. Green Ant - The 13th Hat
It's the first match of the first event of the season and the funplex is PACKED. All the chair seats are normally filled, but this time there are also alot of people standing behind the seats around the walls. CHIKARA! CHIKARA! I don't think there's a better way to start the year off than with this teacher/student match up that always deliver. This match represented alot the things I've come to love about CHIKARA. They stayed on the mat and showed everyone the technical side of their offense while also displaying the fluidity that CHIKARA athletes are known for. This was an extremely well done submission contest that had several call backs to their previous encounters. In the end, Fire Ant picks up the win to finally earn himself some points in his series Quack. He's still down 2-1, but this was an awesome to start the season for a guy that Bryce Remsburg predicted would be the star of the year.

Match rating - ***1/2

2) FIST (Chuck Taylor & Icarus) vs. 3.0 (Jagged & Shane Matthews) - Campeones De Parejas - Green Ice

WXW: Burning Heart - Best of Zack Sabre Jr Review

Zack Sabre Jr vs. Claudio Castagnoli - 30 Minute Iron Man Match - WXW: 100 - ****

Zack Sabre Jr vs. Bryan Danielson - WXW: 16 Carat Gold 2009 - **1/2

Zack Sabre Jr vs. TJ Perkins - WXW: The Vision 2010 - **3/4

Zack Sabre Jr vs. Masaaki Mochizuki - WXW: Open The German Gate 2010 - ***1/4

Zack Sabre Jr vs. Jon Ryan - AMBITION 1 - ***

Zack Sabre Jr vs. Davey Richards - WXW: 16 Carat Gold 2011 - ****1/4

Zack Sabre Jr vs. Chris Hero - WXW: Kreuzugg ZXI - ***3/4

Zack Sabre Jr vs. Dick Togo - WXW: 11th Anniversary - ***3/4

Zack Sabre Jr vs. Big Van Walter - WXW: Live in Hamburg 2012 - ***

Zack Sabre Jr vs. Johnny Moss - WXW: 16 Carat Gold 2013 Day 1 - ***1/2

Zack Sabre Jr vs. Tommy End - WXW: 16 Carat Gold 2013 Day 3 - ***1/2

Overall thoughts: Pretty solid set here. Things started off in great fashion with the iron man match with Claudio. It wasn't the MOTY candidate that I expected however I really enjoyed it. That match, the Richards match and the Hero match are the reasons to look into this set. Everything else here is solid, but nothing to rave about really. The only negative is that the Danielson match is very underwhelming. If you liked Sabre's performances in PWG and Evolve last year, I'd say this is worth a look, just don't expect a set filled with matches as good as what he did during his US stay because there's only one or two that come close to that level.

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Alpha 1 Wrestling: The Ultimate Collection Review

1) Brodie Lee vs. Player Dos - Stage 1
The crowd was on Brodie's case from the get go here which immediately identified him as the heel. He played it very well as his gameplan wasn't to wow the crowd, it was simply to stop Player Dos/Stupefied from doing so. Dos hit a few high impact moves that reeled Big Rig early on however that would be it for awhile as Brodie grounded him and wore him down. The action would regain a high pace near the end though, which in turn earned Dos the victory. Pretty fun match! Also cool seeing these two lock up considering it's impossible for it to happen now with Brodie in WWE as Luke Harper.

Match rating - **3/4

2) Michael Elgin vs. Cloudy - The Next Level
Here we have another big man vs little man match up if you will. Once again, the bigger man, Elgin, is the heel. Guess the A1 fans love their underdogs! None the less, this one was formatted similar to Lee/Dos except Cloudy wasn't able to make the comeback that Dos was. Despite that, he did put in a valiant effort and the result was a decent encounter. Nothing remarkable though.

Match rating - **1/2

3) Player Uno vs. Ethan Page
The first venue change on this set happened here as we traveled to a match that took place outside. It was a nice change of pace, to say the least. That's the only thing really worth talking about here though. Aside from Page and the guy who accompanied to ringside shit talking a few fans, this was just a basic bout that didn't last too long. It was enjoyable while it lasted.

Match rating - **

4) Sonjay Dutt vs. Ethan Page - Proving Grounds 2

CHIKARA: Best of 2011 Review

1) El Generico vs. Eddie Kingston - Chaos In The Sea of Lost Souls - 1/23/11
What way to kick off this set! I was hoping they'd go with the story of Generico being the underdog and Kingston pummeling him however, they decided to just go with showcasing Generico's resiliancy right off the bat as we saw him trade shots with King early on without backing down. Eddie got control for a short period of time, but Generico would soon mount a huge comeback which consisted of a michinoku driver, a helluva kick, and a brainbuster on the ring apron. I've seen Generico do that move several times in PWG, but damn if this wasn't the best one yet. It looked like Kingston's head got clobbered. Somehow Eddie was able to make it back in the ring before the 20 count and managed to fight his way to a victory after turning Generico inside out with two lariats followed by his signature backfist. Crazy good match with alot of jawdropping action. I'd consider it your stereotypical El Generico match meshed with your stereotypical Eddie Kingston match which isn't a bad thing in my book. I could watch both guys hit their signature stuff all day.

Match rating - ***3/4

2) Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw vs. The Batiri - Caught in a Cauldron of Hate - 2/19/11
Here we have our first call back to 2010 as Quack & Jig make their first defense of the Compeones De Parejas after defeating Claudio & Ares in the season finale in December. This was also a callback to 2010 as The Batiri debuted late in the year, but this is my first time seeing them in actual action. Speaking of The Batiri, they came pretty close to pulling an upset here although it seemed the crowd never really thought it would happen which kinda held the bout down a bit because the audience didn't react to certain things like you may have expected. This was good for what it was though. Some solid limb work by The Batiri on Jig to earn them the early advantage in the form of the first fall and a pretty chaotic closing few moments that finally got the crowd going.

Match rating - ***1/4

PWG: Giant Sized Annual #4 Review

On July 29th, 2007, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla celebrated it's 4th Anniversary with "Giant Sized Annual #4". In the main event, Kevin Steen & then PWG World Champion El Generico teamed up to challenge Roderick Strong & PAC for the PWG World Tag Team Titles and afterwards, fans were treated to a bonus match that they won't soon forget. This show also featured the blow off to the Joey Ryan/Scorpio Sky feud, the surprise return of Necro Butcher to PWG, the return of Prince/Fergal Devitt as he sees his first (and what would become his only) taste of singles action in PWG, plus Austin Aries & Rocky Romero battle for a spot in the 2007 Battle of Los Angeles tournament. Also featured on the show are The Young Bucks, Karl Anderson, Candice LeRae and more. Now, let's get going as we take a look back at PWG's 4th Anniversary Celebration in 2007.

1) Ronin vs. Top Gun Talwar
                               

This was your basic 2007 PWG opener. Some comedy mixed with some good action down the stretch. It wasn't as much comedy as Top Gun's matches with Stalker Ichikawa and Don Fuji from a few months prior, but there was still a bit here as Top Gun is just naturally funny. Ronin was his usual hardhitting self and the result was a solid little opening bout.

Match rating - **1/4

2) Human Tornado (w/ Candice LeRae) vs. Tony Kozina
                              
Kozina put in one hell of an effort at the show prior to this, Roger Dorn Night, against TJ Perkins and he did the same here by once again putting his body on the line. Before I get ahead of myself though, there were some happenings before the match between Tornado & Candice as we are still in the opening stages of their feud at this point. Candice reluctantly makes up with Tornado after hitting him in the head with a chair last month and Tornado yells for her to get in his corner. Kozina hits the ring and the match is underway. As mentioned before, he once again impressed me here by his agility and how much he put into this thing by being willing to take some crazy bumps like his last match with TJP. Here we saw him take a backdrop suplex onto the ring apron in which his head clearly took the brunt, which was extremely brutal, however Kozina would return the favor later on by german suplexing Tornado into the turnbuckles. Very enjoyable match.

Match rating - ***

3) The Young Bucks & TJ Perkins vs. Karl Anderson, Scott Lost, & Bino Gambino

PWG: Roger Dorn Night Review

1) Bino Gambino vs. Top Gun Talwar
I surprisingly enjoyed the efforts these two put forward at the 2007 DDT4 tournament so I went into this with an open mind as well. It wasn't filled with as much comedy as you might expect although they did do some funny stuff. For the most part this was just a solid opening match with some decent action. Not much to talk about here, but nothing to complain about either.

Match rating - **1/4

2) TJ Perkins vs. Tony Kozina
This match really caught me off guard. TJP's recent matches haven't been anything special and I had never seen Kozina so I kinda slept on this match. Once it got going however, they garnered my full attention. There was alot of chain mat wrestling to start off which was clearly TJP's strong suit although Kozina held his own and began targeting the leg of Perkins. TJP would fire back and begin targeting the head of Kozina by nailing him with a vicious DDT on the ring apron. Kozina was literally standing up right on his head for a moment. The crazy action like this continued as we saw Kozina risk it all by piling chairs on top of Perkins outside of the ring and dive over the top rope onto him. It ended up doing more damage to Kozina than it did to Perkins and as a result, it cost him the match. Good bout here.

Match rating - ***1/4

3) Human Tornado (w/ Candice LeRae) vs. Ronin

PWG: DDT4 2007 Review (Night 1 & 2)

PWG DDT4 2007 Review

This is an event that I've been wanting to see for a long time. PAC (Adrian Neville)'s work in PWG is ALL superb so when I saw him in three matches on these two shows, I was sold immediately. On top of that, I read that there were two four star affairs at these events between Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan) & CIMA and Kevin Steen & El Generico. Those were my drawing factors to this show which I ended up picking up in a 9 disc anthology. Plus there's a ton of Dragon Gate talent here in the form of Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, CIMA, Stalker Ichikawa, & Don Fuji. I sure do miss the days where Dragon Gate & PWG had a great working relationship and I'm sure this show will only make me miss it more. The only real negative I could find going into this event is that Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley were originally scheduled to be a part of the tournament. The line up is stacked as it is, but I can only imagine how much more awesome it would've been with them involved. None the less, let's prolong it no further and get right into the first DDT4 tournament!

1) Don Fuji vs. Stalker Ichiwaka Z
These are two Dragon Gate talents facing off in the opening match of the evening. I had no knowledge of either man going in however they did a good job of keeping me entertained. It was a comedy match for the most part although there was some nice action here as well. Fun start to the show.

Match rating - **1/2

2) The Briscoes vs. Kings of Wrestling (Claudio Castagnoli & Chris Hero)
On paper, this is a quality match. Unfortunately, it didn't really live up to the expectations that some may have for it. It was a solid contest, but with the names involved, I expected a bit more than what we got. I just couldn't get into the match. Maybe it was just me. Regardless, this was a solid outing between the two teams. Briscoes pick up the win to advance to round two.

Match rating - ***

3) TJ Perkins vs. Bino Gambino
Meh. That's the best word to describe this match. I think it was just added to the card to fill time and keep TJP somewhat relevant. In the shows prior to this, he hasn't been involved in anything noteworthy and Gambino certainly hadn't either so this bout didn't have much going for it from the get go. It was a decent encounter though.

Match rating - **1/4

4) Havana Pitbulls (Rocky Romero & Ricky Reyes) vs. Trailer Park Boys (Josh Abercrombie & Nate Webb)
This match was EXACTLY what the show needed at this point. In all honesty, I didn't expect it to deliver on the level that it did. The Trailer Park Boys were added to the show last minute due to Sabin & Shelley being unable to make it and with this being their first time in PWG, I wasn't sure how they would fare. They certainly proved me wrong by delivering a really good performance. Romero & Reyes delivered the great effort which they are known for and it made for one hell of a match. I really enjoyed this one. Good tag team match.

Match rating - ***1/2

5) Bryan Danielson vs. CIMA