PWG: Don't Sweat the Technique Review

NOTE: This review is also up on my PWG Fansite. I figured I would continue posting my PWG reviews here until everyone is used to the change. Enjoy!

On April 3rd, PWG returned with it's second event of 2015, Don't Sweat the Technique. It features the return of Zack Sabre Jr as well as the Reseda debut of Tommy End who hasn't competed under the PWG banner since 2006 when the promotion held a show in Germany. Excalibur & Rick Knox are on commentary to start the evening so let's get right into this highly anticipated event!

1) Brian Cage vs. Biff Busick
Apparently this match was supposed to go on later in the show however Cage had a flight to catch as he's been main eventing alot in Mexico recently so they are opening things. This one started off hot with Busick going for a running flip off the apron and CAGE CATCHES HIM IN MID AIR! I was marking out only moments into this thing! These two have clashed in various forms over the past few months so there wasn't anything you've never seen before here. Both men got their signature stuff in and the result was a decent opener. Not as good as past openers from Busick like he had against Mike Bailey and Tommaso Ciampa, but still a satisfactory contest.

Match rating - **3/4

2) Trevor Lee vs. Mike Bailey
WOW! These two very nearly killed each other. Lee starts off aggressive by charging Bailey. He's clearly wanting to get himself back on track after falling short in the main event last month. Bailey fights back and gets the audience all fired up with his standing kicks that he kept going for atleast 10-15 seconds straight. Speedball chants began ringing through the legion hall at this point.  One other notable moment around this time was Lee going for a german suplex and Bailey landing on his feet and nailing him with a kick to the head. After a nearfall or two in the ring, they end up outside on the apron and to quote Excalibur "SHIIIIIITTTTTT!" Lee goes for the german suplex he's been longing for, but Bailey ventures onto his shoulders. REVERSE HURRICANRANA ON THE RING APRON!!! Holy shit chants erupt. Mike Bailey isn't done though, he gets back on the ring apron and SHOOTING STAR KNEE DROP ONTO LEE ON THE FLOOR! He is officially over as hell in Reseda! Bailey goes for the shooting star press and Lee gets his knees up. Trevor Lee is up and SMALL PACKAGE DRIVERRRRRR! 1...2...3 - Trevor Lee picks up the victory over Mike Bailey in an absolute barnburner of a match.

Match rating - ***3/4

3) Candice LeRae & Joey Ryan vs. Beaver Boys (John Silver & Alex Reynolds)

"He ejaculated on the lollipop!" The Beaver Boys are fitting in quite well in PWG as they've won the fanbase over by numerous vulgar acts. After the lollipop ejaculation bit they attempted to put the lollipop into Candice's mouth only for it to end up John Silver's mouth when all was said and done. WCTT wouldn't keep the advantage for long though as the Beaver Boys would isolate Joey after taking out Candice with a suplex/dive combination on the outside. They worked over Joey for awhile and eventually Candice gets the hot tag. The closing sequence is pretty great with a mini superkick party and Candice nailing an avalanche ballsplex. Best Joey & Candice match in several months and another good showcase for Silver & Reynolds.

Match rating - ***1/4

4) Chris Hero vs. Tommy End
Excalibur was hyped about commentating this match which helped translate into me getting even more excited over it. He did an even better job than normal on commentary by giving alot of backstory on Tommy and retracing history back to when they first met during PWG's show in Germany in 2006 (MAJOR throwback). As we would learn, End is skilled in dutch kick boxing and brazilian jiu jitsu and he used that proficiently in this match up. He & Hero put together a fantastic strike fest that I'd argue can't be imitated by anyone else in the world. It wasn't a japanese strong style contest although it had shades of that. It also had shades of wrestlers like Kyle O'Reilly, Bobby Fish, & Davey Richards. Throw in a little smidgeon of Chris Hero's signature style and you've got one hell of a mix. It started off slower than I expected however it went well with the story as both men were basically testing each other out to see how much they could take. Plus, the strikes were so vicious they couldn't fire back immediately. For instance, Hero clearly got the breath knocked out of him just a few minutes in after End landed a sick kick to the chest. This one had a slow build and before I knew it, I was completely lost in this encounter which is something that doesn't happen often nowadays. On the Indies, many matches have fell into the same pattern of either nonstop spots or heat segment followed by insane closing sequence. This didn't have either of those yet it stil brought the audience to it's feet and had me on the edge of my seat. End hit a massive double stomp off the top rope for a nearfall then Hero responded with a gotch style piledriver that End somehow managed to kick out of. It was just an epic fight feel as these two slugged it out. It took a second piledriver to put End away after an awesome match. The crowd gives End a standing ovation afterwards.

Match rating - ****1/4

5) ACH vs. Tommaso Ciampa
After being vastly disappointed with the match ACH had with AR Fox at From out of Nowhere, I had mixed feelings heading into this one. Those mixed feelings were soon ceased when he & Tommaso Ciampa began playing a game of invisible basketball which made me lighten up a bit and enjoy this match. It's still not on the level of any of ACH's 2014 performances however it was a slight improvement from last month. Let's hope it's just taking ACH some time to get going in Reseda because if this were last year and he was in this slot, he likely would have produced a higher quality match just based off how many times he tore the roof off in 2014. None the less, harmless little match here. Good time to cool down after that heated match between End & Hero.

Match rating - **3/4

6) Monster Mafia vs. LOVE GUN (Chris Sabin & Matt Sydal)
Ethan Page & Josh Alexander have officially solidified themselves as heels in PWG and I love it because it seems like it's been so long since a tag team got as much heat as them. They haven't reached The Young Bucks level of heat from years ago however I believe they're the first team aside from The Bucks to get heavily booed. This made for a nice change of pace from most PWG tag matches from the past two years because while The Bucks were heels, there were only a few occassions where the audience was 80-100% against them. Here I'd say about 75-80% of the audience was against Monster Mafia and rightfully so because Ethan Page got under the skin of them right from the beginning by mocking both members of LOVE GUN. He got a rising out of four females in the front row and bared his ass in response to their wave of middle fingers pointing his way. Page & Alexander controlled the entire first portion of this then Sabin & Sydal started building their comeback although they never really completely regained the momentum as it was back & forth for the entire final 8 or 9 minutes. They did some cool callbacks to early happenings in the bout such as LOVE GUN countering Monster Mafia's rotating powerbomb/dive combo when they went for a second time. The closing sequence featured a few nearfalls, but it wasn't overkill by any means. Great tag match that really solidifed Monster Mafia's role in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla.

Match rating - ***1/2

7) Ricochet vs. Andrew Everett
OH MY FUCKING DAMN, this was absolutely NUTS. In short, it was Bailey/Lee on steroids. I thought this would be just a nice exhibition of flippy shit and while it was that, they did it flawlessly and threw in so many epic nearfalls that I have no shame in giving this the rating that I'm giving it. We saw shades of the infamous Ricochet/Del Sol exchange from All Star Weekend 9 except Ricochet & Everett kept it going for even longer, I'd say it was nearly a minute before both men got worn out and Everett whipped Ricochet down with a hurricanrana. The next big moment came when Everett ventured up top for his shooting star press off the top rope to the outside as he proceeded to nail it. Then we got to the absolutely jaw dropping stuff as Ricochet went for a reverserana on Everett off the top turnbuckle and EVERETT LANDS ON HIS FEET!! Ricochet is back up and EVERETT NAILS HIM WITH A REVERSERANA OF HIS OWN!!! Shit was just heating up though as Everett would go for a cringeworthy double moonsault and miss. Ricochet hits him with one of his driver variations but it's NOT ENOUGH!! The nearfalls and moves here were so insane. This was the definition of a highflying spotfest in 2015 and it was awesome. I'm giving it four stars because it was perfect for what it was. Like it or lump it.

Match rating - ****

8) Roderick Strong (c) vs. Zack Sabre Jr - PWG World Title Match
I had heard alot about this match which normally makes it hard for a bout to live up to expectations, but somehow it did just that. The atmosphere is the first thing I need to mention as it put this match over the top. The Reseda crowd is normally ruckus however they reached a new level in this match. The reaction wasn't quit what I expected as there WERE some Roddy fans in the house. I think most of the people who were behind Roderick were doing so simply because they were unfamiliar with Zack as "USA" chants broke out directed at the UK flag on his tights. Strong still get alot of heat though as you can clearly hear during his introduction. The second thing that I loved about this match is the backstory(ies). It all really started at the 2014 Battle of Los Angeles tournament where Roderick Strong's aggression reached new heights as he viciously attacked both Kyle O'Reilly & Zack Sabre Jr after their match. Roddy busted Sabre's nose and while that went pretty much unnoticed it would soon help fester into what we saw in this match. Aside from that attack, Zack Sabre Jr was the talk of the town after BOLA which enraged Roddy even further. Then, Roddy won the PWG Title after savagely beating Kyle O'Reilly in a Guerrilla Warfare Match. Yet still, fans were clamoring about "When is Zack coming back?" This leads to Roddy grabbing the mic after his match with Trevor Lee at From Out Of Nowhere and calling out Zack Sabre Jr for a match to see who the true best in the world really is. Excalibur detailed all this & more on commentary as he noted how obsessed Roddy has become with being IT in the world of pro wrestling. Excalibur discussed how it took him nearly 10 years to win the PWG Title and the fact that everyone is still talking about someone else instead of him just pisses him off. This insight added to the match tremendously as we got an even better look at how big this match was for both men. The third and final thing that made this match so good is pretty obvious, the in-ring action. Everything here was crisp and executed to perfection. There was never a dull moment and it was well paced. Sabre worked the arm in a number of twisted ways every chance he got and Roddy sold it until the very last second of the match. The biggest thing that stood out to me about this match though was how I got lost in it despite already reading spoilers and knowing who won. The entire crowd was on it's feet for the final 8-9 minutes of this bout and that explains how close the false finishes were as well as how invested they were in the outcome of the match. There were several instances where even I thought Sabre got the three count and was the new World Champion. This was just a phenomenal match with alot of things to rave about. Having seen a ton of PWG World title matches, I can say that this ranks right up there with Danielson/Hero & Generico/PAC in the category of best PWG World Title matches ever. It didn't have the emotion of Steen/Generico although it came close. This, in my opinion, was the best PWG World Title Match in quite some time and it's one that every fan of the promotion needs to see. I'm definitely going to go back and watch it again. I've seen some give this 4 1/4 stars and some give it as high as 4 3/4 stars. I'm going to go right in the middle and go 4 1/2 despite originally going 4 3/4.

Match rating - ****1/2

Overall thoughts: Buy this show. It features one of the best PWG Title matches in recent memory, this generation's Generico/PAC in the form of Ricochet/Everett, and a unique strike centered match between Chris Hero & Tommy End. Those three matches are worth the price alone. Bailey/Lee is one hell of a bonus too! I'm definitely going to rewatch this show. I'd honestly say it's the best PWG show since Night 2 of BOLA 2013 aside from Night 2 of BOLA 2014 that could give it a run for it's money. Awesome event.