HF Reviews PWG

[Horrorfan_1986]

"A year later" even 4 years later it's still amazing! Was Sonjay really that bad back then?

Ha, I guess there's certain clues in some of these reviews that reveals when they were originally written.

I hated Sonjay in his return to the indies in 2009. His matches in PWG and ROH were dreadful. Then again, I'm not someone who particularly liked Dutt in TNA either.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

DDT4
May 22, 2009

The Hybrid Dolphins vs The Dynasty
A real solid way to start the program. The Dynasty controlled the early going due to jumping the Dolphins with a sneak attack. This was an old school sort of match up until the end with the Dynasty just controlling the pace and heeling it up. Scott Lost is just a highlight reel of great looking moves. The ending with the Dolphins making both men submit was a favorable way to end the first match and leave the fans happy. One of the better shorter matches from PWG in 2009 (Shortest tag match of the night). 3 Stars.

The Men of Low Moral Fiber vs Dark and Lovely
The booking of this match is just bizarre. This is Omega and Taylor’s debut as a team. Since PWG has some plans for them, they naturally get a lot of time to showcase what they can do. That’s fine and makes perfect sense. However, being the two newest heels in the company, their antics were mostly just getting cheers, so it didn’t feel right. Since there was so much comedy by Omega and Taylor, it made Scorpio and Tornado look weak since they were on the defensive for such a long time. Had it been a team like Los Luchas, that would have been fine. However, this was the former PWG World Champion and tag champion. Finally, the match is mostly just a comedic showcase for Omega/Taylor’s debut. Despite this, the match goes on for over fifteen minutes. Really, all you needed was about 5-8 minutes to tell debut the team. The final two or so minutes saves the match from being bad, but it’s still a very poorly booked match. Men of Low Moral Fiber are very over though. 2 Stars.

The Young Bucks (c) vs The Cutlers – PWG Tag Team Titles
Despite a rough beginning with plenty of pauses to set up moves, this turned out pretty well. I’ll give credit to the teams having so much experience together, the Cutlers knowing how to be heels and the crowd being so into it. Out of the three heel teams in the first round, The Cutlers are much more like the Dynasty in knowing they shouldn’t be trying to get pops. The match broke down into a typical Bucks match with all four men hitting their moves. Matt Jackson was the illegal man, but got the pin. It’s disappointing to see that happen, but it happens so often in these kinds of matches that I’ve grown to be numb by it. I preferred the first match a little more since it stuck to the rules more, but this was still a lot of fun. 3 Stars.

Malachi Jackson vs Phoenix Star
This is CK’s debut. If that didn’t spell out that this match would suck, the fact that one half of Los Luchas is his opponent. Several botches in this one with Phoenix actually looking like the better wrestler. That just tells you how bad Jackson is at this point. CK gets in a bunch of his flippy lucha moves that looks so contrived. Phoenix kicks out of the Shooting Star Press that just kills the credibility of the move. Phoenix wins to finally end this match. The crowd seemed to be partially into this, but that’s the only saving grace. At least it was kept short. Probably my least favorite PWG match of 2009. 1 Star.

The Young Bucks (c) vs The Men of Low Moral Fiber – PWG Tag Team Titles
The Bucks and PWG’s decision to continue to book the Bucks in the same formula match time in and time out ends up biting them in the ass with this. Having so many near falls that the Bucks somehow kick out of will end up creating some falls that are questionable. So when Omega and Taylor seem to have the belts won on a few occasions, but for their to be a kick out, the fans turn on the champions. Outside of their repeated formula, the Bucks are capable of putting on an exciting match with Omega and Taylor. I preferred their Against the Grain match a bit more, but this is still a solid tag match. The fans booing the hell out of the Bucks once the match is over is a sight to see though. 3 1/4 Stars.

The Hybrid Dolphins vs The Motor City Machine Guns
With so much of the same thing on this show, this just makes me appreciate Danielson and Strong even more. The first half is just some solid mat wrestling with the Guns mostly in control. It eventually breaks down into the typical frenzy ending that PWG is known for, but there’s enough substance to enjoy it. Danielson’s out of nowhere submission victory over Sabin earns the match bonus points for providing a non-played out finish. 3 1/2 Stars.

Chris Hero (c) w/Candice LaRae vs Joey Ryan – PWG World Title
I heard some negative things about this match, so I’ve been putting off seeing it. As it turns out, I shouldn’t have listened to those people because this match had some great action. The real quality stuff begins midway in when Hero gets hurt. With every hit, he’s reacting as if he’s either coughing up a lung or is about to puke. You’re not just thinking that Ryan could win, but that he could seriously injury the champion. Unlike most of the other matches on this show, the bout has a clear story. Hero’s just trying to hang in there long enough before his body completely gives out on him. For Ryan, while he’s in control for most of the match, he constantly needs to worry about elbows coming out of nowhere. As he finds out the hard way, one well placed surprise elbow and you can be finished. Proving that the Reseda fans are some of the worse in America, a group heckles Hero throughout most of the match. On a night when he wasn’t even supposed to defend the title, Hero ends up putting on a very well booked match. On top of that, it creates some decent build for their Guerrilla Warfare Match. While Hero may have won, the question was if he could beat Ryan when Ryan didn’t have to wrestle twice in one night. Not quite as enjoyable as their Threemendous II match, but it’s still the best Hero title defense of 2009 at that point. 3 3/4 Stars.

The Young Bucks (c) vs The Hybrid Dolphins – PWG Tag Team Titles
What do you do when we’ve already seen two formula Bucks matches? The answer is allow Danielson to beat the shit out of the champions. This felt a lot like a tag team version of Danielson’s great meeting with El Generico at Giant Sized Annual #4. Danielson’s hard hitting is forcing the Bucks to prove that they’re man enough to call themselves champions. They still ended up doing some formula near the end, but it wasn’t enough to hurt the match much. While I still need to see a few title defenses during the Bucks’ reign, this is currently my favorite defense of theirs. Hands down, tag team match of the year for PWG. Meanwhile, it’s a MOTYC for the company as well. 4 1/4 Stars.

Overall
Best PWG show of 2009? Quite possibly. If you're going to credit one person for making it happen, make it Danielson. The guy wrestled three tag matches and made each one a little different from the others. Chris Hero and Joey Ryan's PWG Title match is the other reason that this may be the best show. Being one of two singles matches of the night, it allowed the fans to enjoy something other than tag team wrestling. Still, this show really showcases how formula based the Bucks are. It's not really a surprise that the fans turning on them started on this either.

Worth Checking Out
The Dynasty vs Dolphins
Joey Ryan vs Chris Hero
The Dolphins vs The Bucks
MCMG vs The Dolphins

Avoid
Malachi Jackson vs Phoenix Star
Kenny Omega and Chuck Taylor vs The Young Bucks

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

The Secret of Guerrilla Island
June 28, 2009

Before the opening bout, Excalibur holds a ten bell salute to Mitsuharu Misawa.

Johnny Goodtime vs Charles Mercury
This is Goodtime's PWG debut. He was originally booked against Human Tornado, but due to Bryan Danielson's staph infection, several matches had to be altered. Luckily for Goodtime, he's against The Chuck. Goodtime goes all out to impress the fans. Goodtime picks up the victory following his modified DDT. I guess he calls it the JTT? It's a standard DDT, only Goodtime tucks Mercury's knee against his stomach. Not much to say about the match other than Goodtime came off as very good. The fans in attendance seemed to be pretty into him. Mercury continues to come off as the guy who is just...there. Good enough start though. 2 Stars.

Chuck Taylor vs Human Tornado
A match made thanks to Danielson's staph infection. I believe this was Taylor's first match after having his head shaven by The Colony. It's possible he worked some smaller show though. Early on, Taylor hides behind the ref before being forced to bust out some moves. Tornado busts out some even bigger moves with a huge dive on the outside, taking out several chairs. Taylor locks in an unique submission where he crisscrosses Tornado's hands, has a head scissors all while Tornado is in the seated position. Tornado hits TNG (?) which drops Taylor on his head. Chuckie T and Tornado battle it out to be hit either another TNG or the Awful Waffle. Taylor wins out and hits the Awful Waffle to score the victory. Quite the upset in my eyes. Maybe I was just underestimating Taylor, but I didn't think he had a chance in winning. Maybe Danielson's staph infection turned out good for Taylor. Nothing spectacular here, but it was entertaining nonetheless. It's more interesting to watch knowing that these two may be the next PWG tag champions than for the quality of the match. Still, the show is getting better as it goes on. 2 1/2 Stars.

Malachi Jackson and Jerome "LTP" Robinson vs The Cutler Brothers
This is LTP's PWG debut. Excalibur openly admits that he has no idea what LTP even stands for. Basic story of the match is Jackson and LTP are the underdogs using their flashy spots against the bigger Cutlers. Neither Cutler is too concerned with their smaller opponents so they're not taking the match as seriously as they should. LTP ends up stealing the show with some of his spots. He reminds me so much of 2 Cold Scorpio. Despite coming close a few times, the faces fall to the Cutler's sick spike piledriver. The match served it's purpose with debuting LTP and Cutlers get a much needed victory. All four guys are ones to keep your eyes on in this new decade. 2 Stars.

Kenny Omega vs Roderick Strong
This was originally going to be Omega and Taylor vs Strong and Bryan Danielson. But once again, the staph infection caused some change in booking. Joining Excalibur at the commentating table is Davey Richards. Acting as if he's a grizzly vet talking about wrestling Tully Blanchard, Dick the Bruiser and working in places such as Pensacola and Saskatoon while hating on everything new age. It's God damn hilarious, but at times distracts me from the quality match. First time around, I'd watch the match without the commentary just so you can concentrate on the match. However, be sure to then listen to the commentary because Davey is gold. This match starts with a lot of comedy, but builds towards an intense hard hitting match. A fun spot occurs when they're both on their back on the mat and they take turns laying one hand on the other, knocking it off and laying the hand on the other opponent. Up on the top rope, Strong superplexes Omega. Both men traps their legs together resulting in a double pin. The fans are chanting for 5 minutes and both men agrees to it. Before they can lock up, Omega just leaves for some good heat. Before Strong can leave, Omega comes back out to talk on the mic. Calling Excalibur "El Generico", Omega agrees to one extra minute, but Excalibur has to count on the mic. The match restarts with Excalibur having the single most inconsistent count around. There's a large amount of quick roll-ups. Strong hits a German Suplex on Omega, but gets the three at 61 seconds, resulting in a draw still. Omega tries to leave, but Excalibur tries to stop him by saying how everyone will think he's a coward. "He's yella!" - Davey. Omega heels it up and just leaves. This was such a bizarre match. Despite having the lame original draw, it was a draw after a pretty exciting match. With all of the weirdness after that fall, it's difficult to figure out what to make out of this thing. As far as I'm concerned, the actual match ended with the double pin and anything else was just post-match events. The combination of a quality match along with Davey Richards leaving me laughing during most of it left me very entertained. What this does accomplish is that it makes me want to see their BOLA match even more. Despite all of the wackiness, this is the best match thus far. 3 3/4 Stars.

El Generico vs Scott Lost
Human Tornado is suppose to join the commentating station, but is nowhere to be found. After awhile, LTP comes out to make not only his PWG debut, but his PWG commentating debut all on the same night. Despite typically hating Scott Lost and anything Lost does, he actually impressed me. He had several really good spots into an unique 619 variation when he was chased around the ring by El Generico, only to swing around the ring post, come back under the bottom rope and nail the kick on Generico. Who knew Lost had it in him to impress me with such a cool looking spot? Lost nails the Superman Spear and runs back to the other corner only to be surprised with a vicious Ole Kick! Damn, that was a fun spot. Lost counters a half nelson suplex into the Big Fat Kill kick to pick up the surprise win. I'm not sure what surprised me more, Generico losing or Lost impressing me. Lost has a few rather good spots. As long as he can figure out a way to make the rest of his act entertaining, I may have to cross him off of my hate list. 3 1/4 Stars.

Davey Richards vs Nick Jackson
Matt Jackson is away at a funeral, although I have to wonder why CK and Nick was here. This has some decent backstory as Nick Jackson pinned Richards back at Gentle Art of Making Enemies to retain the tag titles against Richards and Roderick Strong. Early on in the match, Davey heads to the back and returns with a shovel. I guess that's how they did it back in Pensacola in '72. Jackson botches a closeline by selling it despite not even touching Davey. DR driver. Jackson once again fucks up after Davey nails the shooting star press, but Jackson fails to kick out before the three so the ref is forced to stop it on his own. It's completely obvious that it's BS and the fans are reactions towards it. Richards locks in a Texas Cloverleaf and Jackson taps out. I'm not sure if it was supposed to happen or not, but the referee call at the end of the match was horrible if it was a botch. More than anything, this match can be a reality check for Nick Jackson. I love the Young Bucks and think that they're really getting good, but due to his lack of experience, Nick still needs a lot of work when it comes to singles matches. Take the closeline botch for example. Only Davey and Nick knows who really fucked up. However, even if Davey was the one who messed it up, if you don't get hit, don't sell. People will instantly forget about the opponent messing up when you're selling to the air. The match did have it's moments though. However for 2009, it's not one of Davey's best matches. Jackson's botches at the very end were the worst things possible for the match. Davey tried to pull something really good out of Nick, but Nick just wasn't ready for this. 2 3/4 Stars.

Joey Ryan vs Necro Butcher - No DQ Match
Ryan is wearing jeans and a shirt to the match. If Ryan wins, Chris Hero may give him a future title shot. Early on, Joey brings back the chain that Aries used on Necro at Express Written Consent. They brawl to the outside where Necro pulls out a pair of scissors. Necro nails Joey with the pair and scrapes it across Joey's forehead. At which point, Necro licks the pair of bloody scissors. Holy. Shit. Joey Ryan is pulled to the various walls of the building and has his head scraped against them, leaving bloody markings everywhere he goes. Back in the ring, Ryan concentrates on Necro's leg getting in some great leg work. Necro can barely even stand on the bad leg. Back on the outside, Necro throws Rick Knox into some chairs just for shit and giggles. Necro Butcher sunset flips Ryan and has Joey down for several seconds. By time Knox is able to get back into the ring, Ryan kicks out before three. Necro ends up upset at Rick Knox which only makes Necro seem as intelligent as Jim Duggan. While Necro goes to pick up a chair, Joey Ryan kicks it up into his face. Superkick follows it up to give Ryan the main event win. After the match, Necro knocks Ryan out with a chair. While Necro is in pain in the middle of the ring, a man (The owner of the building I believe?) yells that Necro is banned from the building. This was a weird choice for the main event, however; there's the possibility that the original main event was the Hybrid Dolphins vs Omega and Taylor. For a Necro match, I really enjoyed it. Joey Ryan is quickly becoming one of my favorite west coast wrestlers. He has the charisma, character, mic skills and can deliver in the ring. The sick nature of the blood and Ryan ensuring a good match with the leg work leaves me happy. I should really check out some of Ryan's ROH work. 3 1/2 Stars.

Overall
It wouldn't be PWG if they didn't have some issue with wrestlers not showing up for whatever reason. Losing Dragon for this show was a pretty big blow since they already wouldn't have Chris Hero (In Japan) and with Matt Jackson not here, that meant there wouldn't be any title matches. Despite all of the problems before the show even started, they ended up delivering a good C-show. We get the exciting debuts of Johnny Goodtime and LTP. Meanwhile, 3 matches ended up being 3 stars or higher. The biggest news of the event is Scott Lost finally impressing me. That alone made the show worth watching.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Scared Straight
March 7, 2008

TJ Hooker vs Scorpio Sky and Ronin - DDT4 Qualifying Series
The start of potentially the last night of the DDT4 Qualifying Series. Surprisingly, despite the fact that these are the two makeshift teams, it's also the most enjoyable match yet. Ronin and Scorpio showed a lot of solid tag team skills. After a while, Scorpio had his knee worked over by Bomberry and Perkins. The big development coming out of the match is that TJ Perkins is acting like a heel. Hook has lured him to the dark side~! This only further cements their place as the best team in the tournament. As it should be, Perkins change of attitude plays into the finish of the match. After a ref bump, Ronin nails his DVD on Bomberry. Thinking quick, Perkins grabs a chair and throws it to Ronin. Reviving the referee, TJP manages to convince the referee that Ronin used the chair to hit Bomberry. With that, TJ Hooker wins their second match together. It may have been a little clunky near the end, but there was some great limb work and a bigger story. 3 Stars.

Roderick Strong vs Claudio Castagnoli
First (And only?) time meeting in PWG. I'm sure they've wrestled loads in ROH, but nothing is springing to mind. This would be the chops vs European Uppercuts match. Early on, Claudio showed off his new heel attitude by hitting Strong with some chops and then running off. After a little chasing, the match settled into a calm, casual and uneventful bout where Strong lit Claudio up with chops and Claudio fired back with some European Uppercuts. Claudio cleanly win with one Ricola Bomb. Overall, this was an unexpectedly undercard-y match. Definitely fun, but when you have Strong vs Claudio, you expect something...bigger? Instead, we get a nine minute undercard match. 2 3/4 Stars.

The Young Bucks vs Los Luchas - DDT4 Qualifying Series
A rematch from night 1 of BOLA 2007. As you can probably guess, the match was full of SPOTZ and MOVEZ~! I can't say it interested me much as there wasn't any depth to the match. Little selling, plenty of cooperation and not much of a story. Los Luchas tried to add some sort of a story by playing tweeners to show how much the match meant, but it didn't help much. Sadly, the camera misses some of the biggest dives of the match. Still, if you're a fan of crazy spot based matches, you'll probably enjoy this more than I did. After a double 360 splash by a Los Lucha and Young Buck (Double pin~!), TJ Hooker ran out to attack both teams to cause the double DQ. Or at least I think it's a double. DQ. On commentary, Dino Winwood voices his displeasure over having to come into the office tomorrow morning to sort out all of this madness. The TJ Hooker (Especially Perkins) involvement in the match was the most appealing thing for me. 2 1/4 Stars.

Necro Butcher vs Eddie Kingston
So it's Hero's #1 buddy against Human Tornado's #2 buddy. As always, this is held under Necro Butcher rules, which means plenty of outside of the ring crowd brawling and weapon use. Listening to the commentary added some fun to the match as Excalibur and Dino Winwood went crazy in pleading to Kingston and Necro not to slam each other onto the tables with all of the expensive video equipment. During all of this chaos, you saw a Necro Tiger Driver on the stage, a Kingston suplex from the stage to the floor (Covered in chairs) and a Kingston Ace Crusher on a couple of open chairs. Sure, the action wasn't always pretty, but it was definately fun. For wrestling, you always want fun. As Necro has the match won, Human Tornado ran out to pull Rick Knox out of the ring. With Tornado distracting Necro, Kingston is able to roll Necro up for the cheap victory. After the match, Tornado continued the assault on Necro until Necro made his own save. Tornado ran off, but Kingston was laid out with a chair shot. Enjoyable hardcore match that meant something due to being yet another chapter in the Hero/Tornado feud. Good stuff. 3 1/4 Stars.

Before the next match (And off camera), it's announced that Eddie Kingston and Claudio Castagnoli will face the Dynasty at the next show in a DDT4 Qualifying Match. IF the Dynasty retain their titles tonight, that match will also be for the PWG tag team titles.

The Dynasty (c) w/Jade Chung vs The Briscoes - PWG Tag Titles
Eddie Kingston joined Excalibur at the commentary booth shaped like a table. Kingston asks one of the most logical questions ever asked in pro wrestling. "Why do you keep booking the Briscoes if they keep no showing?" This continues the Dynasty's tag title reign of facing the best teams in indy wrestling. They had already defeated the future top team in PWG (Young Bucks) and the current top team in CHIKARA (Incoherence). So now it's time for ROH's top team (And tag champions again in April 2008) in the Briscoes. The match went down as the Briscoes looked great as individuals, including a great hot tag to Mark, but the Dynasty stayed in the match due to their superior tag skills. There were a ton of super kicks for a match without the Young Bucks. Everything built up to the Briscoes having the match won with a springboard Doomsday Device to Joey. However, with the referee distracted by Claudio Castagnoli, Kingston left the commentary position and laid Jay out with a backdrop driver. Kingston would pull Joey on top of Jay to allow the Dynasty to retain the titles. It was a little sloppy at times and the referee turned around too early and saw Kingston's involvement, but it's still a fairly good tag title defense that was loaded with story for the finish. 3 Stars.

After the match, Kingston and Claudio attacks the Briscoes and The Dynasty. Kingston got on the mic and made it clear to the Briscoes that it wasn't personal. They interfered to keep the titles around the Dynasty's waists so that they could win the titles at the next show. Before leaving, Kingston mocks an "Arabian looking guy" with pleas to the fan to not blow up the building. :

In a rare backstage promo, Jack Evans talks about Human Tornado injuring him in Dragon Gate. The injury forced Evans out of action for two months and poor Jack had to work at Little Caesars to pay the bills. A serious Jack wants revenge. If you want to see the effects of Evans' broken face courtesy of Tornado, click on the spoiler below:

Spoiler

Human Tornado (c) vs Jack Evans - PWG World Title
What you have here is a rare opportunity to see a serious Jack Evans. Evans begins the match by showing a lot of aggression and targeting the face of Tornado. In fact, most of the match is built around attacks on the face by both guys. Excalibur and Dino Winwood talk about how risky it is for every shot Evans takes in the face and you somehow have this awesome story between two normally non-serious guys. Despite the initial advantage due to his intensity, Evans ends up on the defense for the majority of the match due to Tornado's shots to his face. Evans tried to make a comeback, but Tornado rolled out of the way of a 630 Splash. The ending is kind of perfect too as Tornado finally lands that perfect kick to Evans' face as a call back to how it was broken in the first place. Tornado then cleanly pins Evans following DND. So you had a story of the match, but also the sense to build Tornado up with the dominant win so that he's not a fluke champion. Pretty great stuff all around. The layers made this match even better than Jack's title shot against Bryan Danielson. 3 1/2 Stars.

After the match, Tornado attacks Evans' face again with a drop kick (Using the belt). Tornado continues the attack until Necro Butcher runs out for the save. Necro punches out Tornado, but Claudio and Kingston saves Tornado from any more punishment. Necro raises Tornado's PWG Title above his head to make the unofficial challenge for the next show. Tornado vs Necro in 2 weeks!

Overall
Clocking in at just an hour and a half, I'd be shocked if Scared Straight isn't PWG's shortest show. This fact makes the time length of Claudio vs Strong even more bizarre. Even odder is checking the announced card and learning that everyone showed up. So for whatever reason, PWG decided to maintain a really short show. One of the things I love about PWG is that they don't feel the need to stretch their shows to three hours. A two hour show of quality matches that doesn't feature matches that goes too long can be a lot more appealing than a three hour show where you'll have to endure overly long matches and some lame undercard bouts. Yet, even I feel a little ripped off with a 90 minute show. Despite this issue, PWG did a rare and amazing thing. Every match meant something in terms of storyline. Whether it's showing the new attitude of TJ Perkins or doing some B advancement for the Tornado/Hero match, there's a reason for everything. If you look at Claudio's short and clean victory over Roderick Strong as an attempt to build him up for a future tag title shot, even that had a purpose. Try and find a post 2009 show was so storyline driven. Yet, this is 2008 we're talking about. So it doesn't matter how much effort PWG puts into their storylines. Necro Butcher and Eddie Kingston would no-show the next event, thus ruining the two scheduled title matches. You almost can't blame PWG for their lack of angles in their modern days when they can't rely on anyone. Action wise, the show is on par with ¡Dia De Los Dangerous! (Plenty of good matches, but nothing great), but is below average compared to All Star Weekend 6 and Pearl Habra. At this point in time, Human Tornado has a death grip on the PWG MVP of 2008. Looking at the remaining portion of the year, the only way he could fail at being PWG's MVP of 2008 is if he gets hurt. :shifty: Due to the length of the show, I wouldn't say it's worth the regular 15 dollar price tag. Yet, you can pay $7.99 to buy a legal download of the show from Highspots, which is definitely worth it.

Worth Checking Out
TJ Hooker vs Ronin and Scorpio Sky (For Perkins' heel turn)
Necro Butcher vs Eddie Kingston
Human Tornado vs Jack Evans

Avoid
N/A

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Failure to Communicate
October 27, 2012

Joey Ryan vs Ryan Taylor
Interesting enough, it's revealed during the match by Excalibur that TNA has forbid Joey Ryan from commentating on any future PWG shows, yet he's still able to wrestle. I guess something changed in the next month or so. While normally a Ryan Taylor singles match would be death for me, he didn't look nearly as bad as he normally would. The downside is that the match suffered from a lot of noticeable choreographed spots. The ending with Taylor surprising Ryan with a counter into his wacky neckbreaker finisher for the upset win is both a bit sudden, yet also a nice surprise. 2 Stars.

Michael Elgin vs Eddie Edwards
Elgin's finally starting to win me over in PWG. His vertical suplex spot is over and always wows the audience (Tonight's was a 66 count). In addition, all of his "Grr...your superplex only pissed me off!" spot is a hell of a way to make Elgin look like a total monster. Eddie Edwards was...Eddie Edwards. He tries, but he's still suffering from his usual problems of not selling and having the same dull and lifeless facial expressions during fighting spirit sequences. The crowd loved the match though. Then again, crowds today chant "This is awesome" for every other match it seems. Elgin wins after his Buckle Bomb/Spinning Power Bomb combo. Good for an Edwards match, but it reeked of trying to recreate the overrated Richards/Elgin ROH match. 3 1/4 Stars.

RockNES Monsters vs Famous B-Boy
RockNES' descent into madness continues. In this match, they come off as the junior heavyweight tag version of The Berzerker. Loved the new attitude, but they performed as if they didn't really care and they were only out to entertain themselves. The first half of the match was entertaining (Mostly thanks to the talented Famous B), but once B-Boy was tagged in, it became a tired mess. Rather than trying to continue a story, B-Boy just goes through a million different spots that loses my interest the longer it goes on. The former Lars Only ends up stealing the win with a roll-up while holding the tights. I think it's about time RockNES takes a break from PWG and for B-Boy to go on yet another sabbatical. Famous B has some potential, but he's going to need to escape some of these dead horses. 2 1/4 Stars.

Davey Richards vs Sami Callihan
This was just as crazy as you'd imagine. It was fast pace and rarely ever slowed down. Sami's a really good eccentric underdog babyface. Especially against a guy like Davey, who didn't have many supporters in Reseda that night, it made Sami refusing to stay down even better. Had to laugh at a moment when there was a dual chant. While Sami's was loud, there was about three people chanting for Davey. : Whether it was a legit injury (Injury may be too strong of a word) or just selling, Davey hurting his leg a bit ended up telling a nice little story. So much of the match was trading leg holds. So naturally, it all built up to Sami forcing Davey to tap out to his Stretch Muffler. The downside is whether the injury was planned or not, Davey could have sold it better. Richards was hitting double stomps from the top rope without acting as if it hurt his bad leg. The most logical explanation is that it was a legit hurt leg, so Davey didn't sell it because the spot didn't hurt him much. Still, in the context of the match, he should have had the foresight to sell it more. I know people hate on Davey's fighting spirit spots, but I thought he did them well in this match. Richards' facial expressions always sells the spot. Having forgot who won the match, the final few minutes were really exciting with both guys nearly picking up wins in believable final submissions or nearfalls. Hell of a match that was greatly benefited by Sami's unique character. 3 3/4 Stars.

Roderick Strong vs Rich Swann
Swann's PWG debut. All it takes is Swann's first display of high flying spots and the crowd is steadily behind Swann. The debut reminds me a lot of Ricochet back at BOLA 2010. You instantly know that this guy has been accepted by the Reseda audience. Unfortunately, Strong was a poor first opponent for Swann. All you really had to do for Swann's debut was to allow him to show off what he could do. A short match against Ryan Taylor would have suffice. Yet, Strong controls the vast majority of the match. Why? Strong's already an established force in PWG. This was supposed to be Swann's chance to prove that he belonged in PWG. Strong continues to disappoint by making it way too obvious that everything is choreographed. I *hate* when wrestlers just wait and wait until the opponent does the dive from the ring to the outside. Strong just isn't good. Naturally, Strong gets the win in Swann's debut with a killer overhead backbreaker. Swann impressed me a lot and I think he could easily gain enough support to challenge for the title sometime in 2013. 3 Stars.

Willie Mack vs Brian Cage
A sorta grudge match based on Cage's interference in the Willie Mack/Kevin Steen match at Threemendous III. Both guys are in similar places in their PWG careers. They're capable of having good matches, but they still rely on their opponents to lead the way. Without any clear leadership, the match was mostly just a back-and-forth affair. Both managed to get their shit in with the crowd evenly behind Mack and Cage. Late in the match, Cage accidentally takes out the referee with a discus lariat. That would prevent Mack from getting the win after an impressive Chocolate Thunder Bomb. As Cage took over, it seemed obvious that Kevin Steen would run out and cost Cage the match. Instead, Steen is nowhere to be seen and Cage casually hits Weapon X. Ref wakes up and Cage wins. Finish was pretty strange, but I was getting into the nearfalls near the end. About as good as you'd expect without a superior wrestler leading the way. 3 Stars.

The Young Bucks vs 2 Skinny Black Guys of Low Moral Fiber
Kenny Omega~! Undoubtedly, the biggest attraction of the match was seeing Omega back in a PWG ring. Naturally, El Generico settles into the role of the face-in-peril to let Omega keep the spotlight for the length of the match. You get plenty of big spots and some comedy (Over the Top arm wrestling!!!). Nick Jackson really impressed me with his speed. While Jackson has always been one fast little fucker, he seemed to extra energetic for the match. It's not a perfect match though. In all of the excitement of Omega's return. they forgot to add a story to the match and at twenty-six minutes long, it really started to drag. In addition, I can't see the point in having two ref bumps in consecutive matches. The finish was pretty killer with a top rope brainbuster and a top rope Omega Croyt's Wrath. You could say the Bucks shouldn't have lost, but it's really just a special attraction type match. Hell of a fun match, despite some flaws that keeps it from being the MOTYC that some make it out to be. I wish Omega would work PWG more. 3 1/2 Stars.

Kevin Steen (c) vs Ricochet vs Michael Elgin - PWG World Title
Adam Cole is still in possession of the PWG Title, so Steen is beltless. Clocking in at just twelve minutes, it's a surprisingly short match. Elgin stood out as the beast that kept doing these unreal strength spots. Ricochet had his fair share of moments with the amazing dives and high spots. Steen found some gum on the ring mat and put it in his mouth. I would have loved to see more interaction between all three men. One of my annoyances with triple threats is that they rely too much on one-on-one action while the third guy is on the outside. The best moments of the match were all with the three wrestlers. I know Ricochet is only a part-time worker for PWG, but I found myself reacting strongly whenever Ricochet looked like he may have had the match won. Even though it was pretty clear Steen had little chance of losing the title due to not wrestling Adam Cole yet, they managed to keep the excitement near the end where everyone was hitting their big spots. I particularly liked the fact that they didn't run the cliche triple threat spot of the winner stealing the pinfall after a finisher. Steen hitting the pop-up power bomb and a Package Piledriver on Ricochet while landing on Elgin's back was a perfect finish. Pretty much on par with other triple threat PWG title matches. 3 1/4 Stars.

After the match, Kevin Steen announces that the next show will be in December. All he wants for Christmas is Adam Cole's head on a stick.

Overall
After a weak start to 2013, PWG ended up delivering with show after show around the spring and summer months of the year. Failure to Communicate falls back to where PWG was before that time period though. There's plenty of good matches, but is there truly anything that is must see? The Omega match may be for some, but I'd say no. Right now, PWG is booking some pretty uninspiring wrestlers in Ryan Taylor, RockNES Monsters (They've clearly given up and are now just entertaining themselves), Davey Richards (Sorta), Roderick Strong and even Joey Ryan, to some degree. As a result of spreading those guys out, a lot of good workers or ones with potential aren't able to live up to their...err...potential. Rich Swann is the best example of this. Still, the usual suspects (Steenerico) manage to deliver with Sami Callihan continuing to prove that he can be a major player in the company. I don't want to run down the show too much because the disappointment mostly just comes from the fact that they were on such a roll.

Worth Checking Out
Davey Richards vs Sami Callihan
The Young Bucks vs Kenny Omega and El Generico

Avoid
Joey Ryan vs Ryan Taylor