Commentary: Excalibur & Disco Machine
PWG World Champion: AJ Styles
PWG World Tag Team Champions: Arrogance (Chris Bosh & Scott Lost)
Chris Bosh & Scott Lost start the show with one of their always entertaining promos. It ranged from Bosh completely insulting the audience while eating beef jerky to Scott Lost asking which girls in the audience wanted to have sex with them. This leads us to the opening match of the evening.
1) Arrogance (Chris Bosh & Scott Lost) vs. Hook Bomberry & Top Gun Talwar - PWG World Tag Team Title Match
The outcome here was pretty obvious from the get go considering Arrogance have been champions for nearly a year at this point however all the bright personalities involved made for a fun match none the less. It was formatted basically with the heels eventually isolating one guy which led to Top Gun getting the hot tag. In a way, this exceeded my expectations because there were some pretty sweet moves here such as Bosh countering out of the Chipotle and nailing Top Gun with a backbreaker. This may have went a minute or two too long, but it still wasn't a bad way to start the show.
Match rating - **1/4
2) Davey Richards vs. Human Tornado vs. Puma (TJ Perkins) - Elimination Match
This was one of those three way matches where all three guys basically just did their schtick without telling much of a story. Tornado got his chance to do his dance & kicks in the corner, Davey showed his power & serious demeanor, and Puma, well, Puma got unmasked. It was something I didn't see coming although it wasn't a total suprise because pretty much everyone knows (nowadays) that Puma is none other than TJ Perkins. As said before, this was pretty much just a showcase for the men involved with the biggest moment being Davey unmasking Puma.
Match rating - **
3) Alex Shelley vs. Joey Ryan
This match took place in the midst of Joey really establishing himself as a heel in route to his record breaking title reign. The man who deemed himself the "technical wizard" faces a true technical master in Alex Shelley here. Early on, Shelley completely outclassed Joey with a fantastic display of his abilties. From the mat to the air, Shelley put on an exhibition in the opening 5-8 minutes. While that was fun to watch, it ended up costing Shelley because Joey was waiting for his moment to strike and he did so by targeting the arm of Shelley. This assault began with a body slam to the floor with Shelley's arm tucked behind his back. From there, Joey did everything possible to injure the arm of Alex Shelley by slamming it on the apron and working it over with submissions. This would end up turning into a pretty competitive match in the closing minutes which made for several close falls. In the end, Joey's sly ways won him the match as they were trading pinning predicaments and he grabbed the ropes for leverage unbeknownst to Rick Knox. Good match here.
Match rating - ***1/4
4) Aerial Express (Quicksilver & Scorpio Sky) w/ Dino Winwood vs. Los Luchas (Phoenix Star & Zokre)
These are two of the fastest paced tag teams in PWG history therefore I couldn't wait to see this one go down. The story heading into this particular match was who would be the next opponents of tag champions, Chris Bosh & Scott Lost. The Aerial Express has already lost to them several times, but they are determined to get another shot and this match showcased that. The action here won't blow you away however it's solid fast paced tag team action. The final few minutes in particular were crazy with a dropkick into a piledriver earning Quicksilver and Scorpio Sky the victory. I marked out hard for that spot.
Match rating - ***
After the match, Chris Bosh & Scott Lost came down to protest Aerial Express getting another title shot. This brings out commissioner, So Cal Val. She cracks jokes on Bosh before getting things straight between the two teams. Aerial Express gets the title shot, but their masks will be on the line. Entertaining segment that did a good job of building towards the grand finale in this feud. Needless to say, they made me want to see the match.
5) AJ Styles vs. James Gibson - PWG & NWA World Title Match
Before the match began, Styles announced that he was not only putting his PWG World Title on the line, but also the NWA-TNA World Title. This raised the stakes for James Gibson (Jamie Noble) who was in the midst of one of the hottest runs of his career. Due to how great some of the matches Gibson had in ROH were, I was really looking forward to this first time encounter. I think AJ was determined to put in a good performance here after reportedly stinking out the joint one month prior at Jason Takes PWG where he & Daniels delivered an underwhelming 60 minute match. I haven't seen that match, but I've heard nothing but negative things about it. So with that taken into consideration, AJ didn't look like he was going easy here at all. He & Gibson delivered a fun match from start to finish that featured several awesome spots and exchanges. The most notable was Styles hitting a brainbuster on Gibson on the ring apron and a series of counters that saw Gibson go for the Tiger Driver only for Styles to reverse out into hurricanrana, but Gibson rolled him then Styles rolled him up for a nearfall. Just crisp, extremely enjoyable stuff. Very good match.
Match rating - ***1/2
Joey Ryan/Mr Excitement Confrontation
This one basically explains itself. Mr Excitement has been retired for almost a year and Joey wants a match with him. This was my first time seeing Mr Excitement despite hearing rumblings of him being in the crowd at alot of PWG shows at this time. He insulted Joey then tried to fight him however Joey refused and left.
6) Christopher Daniels vs. El Generico - TNA X Division Title Match
The encounter these two had two years after this in PWG was pretty lackluster so I was hoping this one during Daniels' hot period would be better. The crowd chants "Fallen Angel" loudly yet Daniels insults them and plays the heel for some reason. Something about PWG really must have got Daniels riled up back in the day because he jawed with fans here and there's a video on YouTube of him cussing out a guy in Reseda at All Star Weekend IV in 2006. None the less, the action here was pretty satisfying although it's not quite on the level you'd expect. Compared to their 2007 encounter, this one might have been slightly more enjoyable although I think the other bout is better overall. Sounds weird, but whatever. Daniels dominates early, Generico gets a small comeback and does all his moves only for Daniels to put him away with Angel's Wings. I feel like Daniels put in some solid effort here however I still think it could have been much better.
Match rating - **3/4
Kevin Steen & Excalibur are in the ring. At the previous show, Excalibur & Super Dragon proceeded to have a great Guerrilla Warfare Match which led to Steen revealing himself as the fake Super Dragon and aligning himself with Excalibur. Here, both men explain their actions and why they turned on Dragon and the fans. Really good promos from both guys.
7) Kevin Steen & Excalibur vs. Super Dragon & Disco Machine
What an awesome main event this was! I had heard alot of good things about this and while I figured it could be quality due to Steen & Dragon's involvement, I had no clue that Excalibur & Disco Machine would deliver on the level they did as well. While Excalibur's best PWG singles match is probably the Guerrilla Warfare one with Dragon from a month prior, I'd say this is his best PWG tag match and probably the best Disco Machine match I've seen as well. This whole storyline was just intense and intriguing to watch play out. It felt like all the guys here really hated each other and the action more than delivered. Just stiff and hard hitting from beginning to end. Steen did a stomp on Dragon on the apron then proceeded to hit a fucking moonsault off of him onto Disco Machine which made me completely lose my shit. Matches like this make me realize how PWG became what it is today considering 3 out of the 4 competitors here are founders of the promotion. This isn't a circa 2013-2014 PWG tag match though, this is more of a Rev Pro style tag if you've ever seen any of Dragon's work there. If not, just know this was action packed and pretty damn stiff. I've seen people give this one everything from ***3/4 to even ****1/2, but I'm gonna go in between and give it four. Was going to give it just under four stars however the storyline developemnt and the way it was done deserves some bonus points. They didn't just go the route of Disco turning on Dragon randomly, they built up to it during the match which ruled. Near the end, Disco clearly needed a tag, but he refused and said he could do it on his own. In return, he got his ass handed to him. Once again, Dragon is open for a tag, but Disco refuses and says he can handle it. You expect something is up until Dragon comes in and tags himself in. At this point, I expected the turn (I read spoilers so I knew it was gonna happen -_-) to happen after the match. Well, no, Dragon is cleaning house. Psycho Driver to Excalibur, cover - 1..2.. DISCO MACHINE HITS DRAGON IN THE HEAD. "FUCK YOU! ITS NOT ALL ABOUT YOU!" That was brilliant. I didn't see it coming despite knowing a turn happened somewhere in here and it was done in a way that added some legitimacy to Excalibur's claims that Dragon always wants the spotlight. All around fantastic stuff here. Steen nails Dragon with two package piledrivers for the win.
Match rating - ****
The beating on Super Dragon continues after the match. Steen grabs a chair and begins brutalizing him with it as Excalibur & Disco look on. EL GENERICO & HUMAN TORNADO HIT THE RING OUT OF NOWHERE! Steen, Excalibur & Disco flee. Steen throws the chair at the ropes. Generico starts checking on Dragon as Excalibur gets on the mic and throws racial slurs at Generico & Tornaod. Steen grabs the mic and dubs he, Excalibur & Disco Machine as the new SBS (Dragon, Excalibur & Disco's old stable). Insane, controversial way to end the show. They reaaally have me wanting to see the show that happened after this.
BACKSTAGE PASS:
Dino Winwood cuts a promo on he & Aerial Express' upcoming match with Arrogance. Pretty straight forward and to the point. They aren't gonna mess up this time and they will win the belts, he says.
Kevin Steen, Excalibur, & Disco Machine - the new SBS are backstage. More phenomenal promo work from these three. I'm absolutely loving this storyline and wish I would've discovered it sooner. All three men get their chance to talk here and it's great.
Overall thoughts: This is probably the best early PWG show, as a whole, that I've seen. That's not saying a whole lot considering I haven't seen many however I chose this one because I heard it was the 2005 show of the year and I can definitely see why. There's only one match that reaches four stars which is odd when compared to shows of today where it's normal to get anywhere from 2-3 per show. Despite that, the thing I do like about old PWG compared to the newer stuff is that there's more variety and more storyline based stuff here. So, bottom line is that I'd recommend checking this show out. As of this writing, it's only $5 on Highspots, so go pick it up! Don't expect PWG like you know it today in terms of mainly spotty matches in the Reseda venue although you can expect it to be just as entertaining and to have that PWG feel!
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