Cero Reviews PWG All Star Weekend 14 Night 1

[cero2k]

PWG All Star Weekend 14, Night 1
April 20, 2018
Reseda, CA

Rey Horus vs Trevor Lee - 7/10
Before the match, Lee cut a promo saying that he was back, and after becoming an Impact Wrestling Superstar, he was now rich. He bowed that in the last night that PWG runs a show in the Legion Hall, he would walk out PWG Champion. Great heated opener with Lee kicking Horus' ass for a large part of the match, but as the match progressed, Horus got his wind back and brought it to Lee. Because of Lee's promise, there was a feeling that Lee had to win this if he was getting a title shot at the may show, so there were tons of great near falls, from the first spot to of the match, to the last. Finish actually saw Horus get the win over Lee. Trevor Lee has really become a heat magnet.

Bandido vs Taiji Ishimori - 8/10
Bandido is coming in HOT after winning over the fans at the last show when he fought Rascalz (who I'll talk about later) along with Flamita, he's so over that he actually overshadowed the debut of the Japanese veteran Ishimori, who was over, but not Bandido levels. Match was all back and forward, Ishimori worked over Bandido's head, and Bandido was for the most part working over Ishimori's back, but overall just being lucha spotty. There were about 16 abs in this match. Ishimori won with the 450. Both guys got the money treatment at the end.

Ringkampf vs Violence Unlimited - 9/10
Tyler Bateman is doing his PWG debut, and boy did he pick a match to do it. This was a 2018 WALTER match, so you know, tons and tons of knife edge chops that make you constantly say 'Fuck', and being there in person, it was more like 'FUUCK'. Everyone was incredibly hyped for the idea of WALTER vs Brodi King, when they barely got in the ring for the first time, the crowd went wild. Match saw Ringkampf work over Bateman for a while, Brodi coming in for a quick hot tag that didn't last long, and from there on, they went back and forward, with not many near falls since everyone knew that WALTER wasn't losing on the eve of this PWG Title shot. WALTER's chops were so bad that at one point Thatcher was just joking around with the fans about it. This may as well be the match of the night.

Flash Morgan Webster vs Robbie Eagles vs Sammy Guevara - 7.5/10
The Aussie Eagle's is making his debut, cool dude, good wrestler, but his wrestling attire screams 2000 boy band to me, he was wearing 3 bandanas, two in the neck, one over the head, I don't know dude, I don't know.

This was the spotty match of the night, tons and tons of flips. Story was that Flash and Eagles were keeping the incredibly annoying Guevara away from getting himself in the match, but once he did, all hell broke loose and the flying started. Lots of 3-man spots, some great wrestling, and as the match went on, some great near falls. Sammy took the win over Eagles as he hit a SSP over Webster who had Eagles in a Guillotine.

"Bad Boy" Joey Janela vs Jonah Rock - 7.5/10
This is Janela fighting a huge guy, how do you expect it went? Rock is going for the title tomorrow, so just like WALTER, no expectations that he would lose, but Janela still gave him a hell of a fight. It was a good match, tons of Janela throwing himself over the place and a bunch of big spots. At one point, Rock dropped Janela with a SuperPlex that broke the middle of the ring and so there was a delay while the fixed it after the match.

"Limitless" Keith Lee vs "Hangman" Adam Page - 8.5/10
Well, it seems like Keith Lee may have injured his neck after he folded himself with a piledriver, but given that they did some other neck spots in the match afterwards, there is a chance that this is a work to get the title off him tomorrow.

Match saw Keith Lee dominate due to strength, but once Page started working over Lee's neck, Page started getting closer to taking him out. Overall a fun match, but personally, it got uncomfortable after Lee landed on his head over and over again.

This match also happened to be a huge rib on Page, apparently he trusted the wrong person with his tan as they left his back completely white. Fans immediately noticed and he went from being the Hangman to the Tanman Page, with 'TAN' chants, 'Bask in the Sun' chants, and a hell of a debut.

PWG World Tag Team Championship Match
Chosen Bros (C) vs The Rascalz vs The Young Bucks - 9.5/10
The Bucks return to Reseda, and quite possibly, for the last time, and tonight, we got an exhibition of what 'being over' really looks like. Matt Riddle is over, but the Bucks are in a whole other planet. Also, we need to talk about the Rascalz, who in one match against Bandido and Flamita, got themselves so over that tonight, they didn't just get to challenge for the titles, but they also crowned themselves the PWG Tag Team Champions.

Match saw the two underdog Rascalz really fight upstream, on one side you have tag team masterminds the Bucks who could easily dominate the match; on the other, you have to beasts that can easily dominate the match single handedly. The match was perfectly fought as a 3-way, with little things like Matt Jackson's back being worked over by the Bros, and instead of fighting to get the tag to his brother, he quickly sneaks a tag on Xavier who happened to be closer, and thus get himself out of the punishment. There were tons of flying and strikes and superkicks and tag moves and no one really fought that the Bros would be losing the titles. Finish saw the Bucks superkick Ref Justin (to the pop of the night), and when the second ref came down, Nick Jackson took him out to stop a count. Bucks hit the Meltzer Driver on Riddle, but since there is no ref, out comes Rick Knox, who wasn't working tonight (he was in civilian clothing), he counts 1..2.....and then stops and flips off The Bucks finally getting his revenge over years of torture. Bucks are gonna super kick him, but he dodges and his a superkick of their own, so now both Bucks are out. Cobb comes in to take out Xavier, but he counters and distracts Cobb enough for Wentz to fly from the top rope and both Rascalz pin Cobb to win the titles. It was an awesome match.

It may look shocking that the titles changed so quickly and especially to such a young new name team, but if you think about it, this makes a lot of sense. Chosen Bros hadn't really defended the titles due to their busy schedule, and at the same time, they really don't need the titles, Riddle and Cobb could be challenging for the world titles in any promotion any day, dudes are over. The other options were the Bucks (even busier schedule), Ringkapmf (WALTER is likely becoming THE champion soon), Violence Unlimited (barely debuted this show), Best Friends broke up, and the rest of the teams are not fully established, so why not put the titles on two guys that you're (and the fans) are super over with and try to start this project from scratch.

Post-match - Bucks cut a heartfelt promo about how Reseda had made them, everything about the Bucks had started in Reseda and it was thanks to the PWG fans that they were no longer two white poor single dudes from Rancho Cucamonga. They said that all their favorite matches had happened in Reseda and they ran down all their now classic matches vs Generico, Steen, Super Dragon, Scott Lost, ending with the mentions of the Threemendous III ladder match and the Joey and Candice match that got a huge pop. They said that this was likely their goodbye to Reseda, but not PWG, and they DID specify that they are not signing to NXT (God Bless!).

OVERALL THOUGHTS
A great show that happened so fast that you really need to sit down and think about it. It really felt like an old school PWG show with tons of local talent making their names instead of a Superstar Showcase. I think PWG started an interesting transition last show and it felt like a big deal tonight, we're seeing new young talent pushed and the fans are embracing it.