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

Here we have The Young Bucks second ever match in PWG as they team up with TJ Perkins to take on Bino Gambino and Dynasty members, Karl Anderson & Scott Lost. OR as Excalibur dubbed them, Team Scott Gambanderson. If you can't already tell, this was an extremely fun match all around. From the in-ring action to the commentary, it was one of those bouts that reminded me of why I love PWG. You had Excalibur & Disco Machine cracking jokes on commentary like old friends and the men in the ring hitting some crazy stuff down the stretch. My favorite moment of the match came when TJ Perkins caught himself up in the ropes which led to Gambino running to try to knock him out, but he instead went flying out of the ring and splatted on the floor on the same side of the ring that Tony Kozina ate shit on at the previous show. Excalibur cracks up and proclaims "JESUS CHRIST!" as Disco Machine discusses putting a danger sign on that side of the ring because of how many people have nearly gotten killed over there. Before they can even finish laughing at that, The Bucks and TJP hit a triple dive with Nick & Matt nailing flips and TJP hitting a tope. Team Gambanderson crashes to the floor! As said earlier, this was alot of fun. Good match.

Match rating - ***1/2

4) Davey Richards vs. Fergal/Prince Devitt

This match was announced as kind of a NJPW vs NOAH/PWG match with Devitt representing NJPW and Richards repping PWG & NOAH. It was super cool seeing Devitt in PWG considering what he would go on to become. This was his second appearance in the company as he made his debut back in 2005, which is something I also find interesting. It's crazy to think how many young stars PWG had on their radar before they broke out. Devitt is the perfect example of that. None the less, this wasn't an amazing match like you may expect, but it's still a solid encounter that's cool to see as you can tell how much both guys have improved since.

Match rating - ***

5) Joey Ryan vs. Scorpio Sky - Unsanctioned Street Fight
I think that underwhelming would be the best way I could describe this. Or maybe I just had my expectations set to high. But when you build up a match over the course of several months like this one was, with Scorpio breaking back into PWG to attack Joey several times because he introduced a "new" Scorpio Sky, I feel like it should easily be a four star affair. Unfortunately this just felt like a basic No DQ match with a chair and a chain being the weapons used. Scott Lost and Karl Anderson ran down to interfere however it wasn't enought to put Sky away and he wins with a roll up. If you ignore the build to this match, you may enjoy it more than I did because it's not bad, it just felt like it should have been much more than it was.

Match rating - **3/4

6) Austin Aries vs. Rocky Romero - 2007 Battle of Los Angeles Qualifying Match

Before the match, Aries coaxed Romero into putting his spot in the 2007 BOLA tournament on the line thus the added stipulation. This match had a simple story with Romero doing what he normally does by targeting the arm in several different ways in order to set up Aries for the cross arm breaker. That combined with an exciting finishing stretch and the innovative finish of a cross arm breaker off the top rope into a roll up made for a solid encounter.

Match rating - ***

7) Bryan Danielson vs. Necro Butcher

This is a match that I never thought I'd see, but it's one that I was really looking forward to. Necro and Bryan are the most brutal men in their respective parts of the wrestling world with Bryan's form of brutality coming in the form of strikes & submissions while Necro prefers headbutts, fists, and a variety of weapons. This unique clash made for a great match with a pretty big feel to it. Necro being a surprise guest helped in that aspect as well. These two basically just beat the shit out of each other as Necro began pouring blood early on due to a headbutt from Danielson. After this, the fight went to the outside where Necro threw a ton of chairs on Bryan which led to a cut above his eye. Both men are bleeding at this point and Necro piles up some chairs only for Bryan to give him a back drop suplex onto them. In the end, Bryan would win via referee stoppage after repeated elbows to the head. This was great while it lasted and considering the fact that this was a one time match that will likely never happen again makes this even cooler to look back on.

Match rating - ***3/4

 8) Roderick Strong & PAC vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico - PWG World Tag Team Title Match

Here El Generico is the PWG World Champion and he's challenging for the tag team titles with partner Kevin Steen. This match oozes with unbelievable talent so I was hyped for it. I was just excited to see PAC & El Generico in the same ring again. On top of that, Kevin Steen and Roderick Strong are involved?! Oh man! These guys went all out here and produced an awesome tag team match. As if I expected nothing less from PWG & these four exceptional talents. Action packed, fantastic wrestling. Not much else I can say here. Generico picks up the win and becomes a double crown champion in PWG as he holds both the PWG World Championship and the PWG World Tag Team Titles. Awesome match.

Match rating - ****1/4

9) El Generico vs. Bryan Danielson - PWG World Title Match

After his exhausting tag team title victory, El Generico was met by a challenge from Bryan Danielson. The American Dragon came to the ring with a bloody bandage around his head bearing the scars of his match with Necro Butcher earlier in the evening. Danielson coaxes Generico into putting his title on the line and we've got an impromptu PWG World Title Match on our hands! This one only went about 10 minutes or so, but considering both men had already competed in physically demanding matches on this night, I was fine with it. Despite the somewhat short time, these two pulled out all the stops and produced a great match. Dragon took it to Generico and took alot to put him away. After repeated knees to the head and locking him in the Cattle Mutilation for the second time - Bryan Danielson becomes the new PWG World Champion. Generico lost, but looked super strong in defeat.

Match rating - ***3/4

Bryan thanks the fans and leads them in a PWG chant to close the show.
Twitter - @EthanPWT & @ThePWTruth