Date: November 8th, 2006
Commentators: Excalibur & Disco Machine
PWG World Champion - Joey Ryan (since Astonishing X-Mas: December 2005)
PWG World Tag Team Champions - Davey Richards & Roderick Strong (since All Star Weekend IV Night One)
1) Human Tornado (w/ Candice LeRae) vs. Petey Williams
It's Human Tornado so this was a lot of fun. Crazy to think Petey, a guy who was a top TNA X Division star at the time, was in the opening matches of both ASW shows on this weekend, but he did a good job with it. The crowd is hot just like on the previous night which always adds to things. Basic opener with Tornado getting the win. Petey was still unable to hit the destroyer during this match so he nails Tornado with it after the fact for a huge pop.. wha? Tornado is the most over guy at this point, why'd they do that? Just as I'm thinking this, Joey Ryan sneaks in and grabs his World Title belt back after Tornado stole it from him a few shows ago. Makes some sense now.
Match rating - **1/2
2) Christopher Daniels vs. Colt Cabana
This was pure comedy and in that regard, it was phenomenal. Easily the most entertaining Daniels match I've seen from that aspect. They do a ton of shenanigans here, many involving the referee. Foot stomps, eye pokes, three person waist locks, yeah.
Match rating - ***
3) Arrogance (Chris Bosh & Scott Lost) vs. Frankie Kazarian & M-Dogg 20
After last night's main event involving Arrogance and M-Dogg lighting the crowd afire early on, I'm excited for this. Arrogance are Arrogance and they rule. M-Dogg does some flashy stuff from the get go only to get shut down. Arrogance work him over, but he makes a come back with the SASUKE SPECIAL TO THE FLOOR! He doesn't do the dance on the bar afterwards like he did at BOLA however it was still awesome. Kazarian ends up getting the hot tag before Arrogance puts away the makeshift team of he & M-Dogg. Decent undercard tag match.
Match rating - **3/4
4) Scorpio Sky (w/ Jade Chung) vs. Homicide
Sky & Jade are dressed up as mock gangsters as a way of taking a jab at Homicide. The Notorious 187 comes out ready to clean house and the match gets going. This was similar to Homicide's match against Daniels' on the previous night as they brawled on the outside a bit although this had no where near the intensity level of that contest. It did follow suit in having a cheap, out of nowhere finish. After about 8 minutes, Jade comes in and Homicide goes for a cop killa on her only for Scorpio to roll him up for the cheap win. Fairly entertaining while it lasted.
Match rating - **1/2
5) AJ Styles vs. Rocky Romero
Thanks to Excalibur, I discovered that this is a rematch from PWG's 1st Anniversary show in 2004 where AJ Styles defeated Rocky Romero with a rolling lariat. I'd say Rocky is even better than he was then so this should be good. The fact that Rocky got arguably the two biggest matches of this particular weekend against Joe & AJ just shows his work ethic. This didn't quite reach the level that I expected, though. They delivered a solid match, it just never gained any steam until the final minute or two and the crowd was quieter than normal. The limb work from Rocky was great and they did a little callback to the previous match, whether it was intentional or unintentional as Styles hit a rolling lariat, but didn't go for the cover. Styles eventually wins with the Styles Clash.
Match rating - **3/4
6) Ronin vs. Arik Cannon
ARIK CANNON! As a big CHIKARA fan, it was cool as hell seeing him in PWG here. He was in town during this weekend thus what led to him getting this opportunity. The sad thing is that it wouldn't lead to much aside from a sporactic appearance a year or two later in 2008. I like Cannon and Ronin can deliver a solid match, but this just didn't click for me. They did stuff and that was about it. A cool move/exchange or two was about all this one had to it. Ronin wins with his signature death valley driver.
Match rating - **1/4
7) El Generico vs. PAC
These Generico/PAC matches ALWAYS hold up. Them both being in WWE now probably makes them feel even more special. This was nearly 10 years ago and it was amazing. Sure, it's a spotfest style junior heavyweight contest, but it's done flawlessly and in 2006, I'd say it was quite ahead of it's time. PAC was much smaller than he is today as Neville and this was his first big appearance in the US and Generico hadn't even broke into ROH full time yet. This is just an American Indy and PWG classic. Crazy ass match and possibly the best in PWG in 2006! Must see!
Match rating - ****1/4
8) Joey Ryan vs. Quicksilver - PWG World Title Match
Joey calls a guy in the crowd a pussy which leads him to Quicksilver. What a lead in! Before he can say anything, Quicksilver attacks him from behind. The crowd is clearly behind Quicksilver and considering how fun he is to watch, I figured this could be good and.. it was. I'd be lying if I didn't say it was a clusterfuck, though. After maybe 10 minutes, the shenanigans begin. Joey rips off Quicksilver's mask which leads to El Generico coming down. The Dynasty comes out and Chris Bosh is dressed as Quicksilver. They roll Quick under the ring and Bosh gets in. This is a nice callback to last month where Joey retained the tite this way. Joey rolls up the faux- Quicksilver and 1..2..PATRICK HERNANDEZ STOPS! He notices it's not Quicksilver and The Dynasty's plan fails. Rick Knox is down to try to get The Dynasty away from the ring and Frankie Kazarian attacks them in the entrance way. Meanwhile, Human Tornado runs in and TND ON JOEY! QUICKSILVER COVERS! 1..2..JOEY KICKS OUT! Joey & Quick go through some stuff before Joey picks up the win.
Match rating - **1/2
9) Roderick Strong & Davey Richards (c) vs. Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli vs. Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley vs. Super Dragon & B-Boy - PWG World Tag Team Title Match
Main event time and it features several of the best tag teams in the world at the time. I think this was right before Claudio was going to leave for WWE the first time so the crowd is really receptive for him. In return, he really put on a show here. From holding up Davey Richards for 100 seconds straight to the awesome exchanges with MCMG, he killed it. The stuff between Dragon & Davey was a highlight here too as they did a spot where Dragon had Shelley up and Davey came out of nowhere and hit their old double team manuever out of instict. It's really a bummer we never got a Dragon/Davey singles match out of this little angle. Anyway, this went fairly long, but was entertaining just about the whole way through thanks to the things I mentioned above. The KOW/MCMG interactions and the Dragon/Davey stuff make this one worth a look. It was unable to follow Generico/PAC, clearly however I'd say it was a satisfactory main event that delivered what I would expect from all parties involved. Dragon & B-Boy regain the gold they lost on the previous night.
Match rating - ***1/4
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