BRM Reviews PWG Pushin' Forward Back

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews PWG Pushin' Forward Back

Post by Big Red Machine » Aug 20th, '17, 01:41

PWG Pushin' Forward Back (7/7/2017)- Reseda, CA

REY HORUS vs. SAMMY GUEVARA- 4.5/10
They did some good babyface vs. heel stuff that got the crowd behind solid behind Horus and detesting Sammy. Then they had Sammy hit Horus with a chair, right in front of the referee. Excalibur tells us that the reason referee Justin Borden didn’t call for a DQ upon seeing one competitor blatantly violate the rules is because “he doesn’t want to spoil either man’s PWG debut.” This reasoning is SOOOOO F*CKING STUPID! Can you imagine the home plate umpire saying “well… the skid swung and missed three times, but it wouldn’t be nice to spoil his major league debut, so I’ll just have the pitcher keep pitching to him until he at least makes some good, solid contact?” Of course not. Because it’d be f*cking ridiculous! Guevara spoiled his own debut by breaking the rules that he agreed to compete under, and as for Rey Horus… what, exactly? Am I supposed to believe that he is going to be kayfabe unhappy because he didn’t get to do his flips and get his finish over? And hell… even if I could believe that he would somehow be kayfabe upset that he didn’t get to get his sh*t in, I’d think his anger and disappointment would be mollified when he goes to the back and PWG officials hand him the big bag of money he earned for his victory, and said “sorry you didn’t get to show what you can do. We’d love to bring you in again. Which of the following dates works for you?”
The reason this sort of thing irks me so much is that the solution is SOOOOOOO simple! You either make an announcement that all DQs are at the referee’s discretion and that’s all you need. Either that or you tell the wrestlers that if they do this sh*t in front of the referee the ref will call for the bell and they’re not coming back. Whichever way you want to go is fine with me. I personally think that more rules are better because having fewer rules makes it harder to get heat, but all I really need to stop me from getting annoyed at things like this are for you to just come out and tell me what the rules are and then be consistent with them!
While we’re on the subject of rules, they also did a spot where Guevara tried to take off Rey Horus’ mask. I realize that PWG isn’t a Lucha Libre promotion, but in this day and age where luchadors travel all around the world (and some aren’t even trained in Mexico to begin with), shouldn’t it be a set rule in every promotion that to intentionally remove a masked wrestler’s mask during a match should be a DQ (and especially if you’re a company like New Japan or ROH that has a strong relationship with a Lucha Libre promotion and plans on bringing their guys in decently often)?
Rey Horus went for a gigantic tope and almost completely overshot Guevara, landing on his back on the floor at what appeared to be a speed of a million miles an hour. From there they did some flips and also a strong-style exchange o strikes that felt very out of place.

THE YOUNG BUCKS vs. THE UNBREAKABLE F’N MACHINES (Brian Cage & Michael Elgin)- 7.25/10
Why are people bumping for the Bucks shouting “SUCK IT!” and doing a crotch chop? Omega’s stop sign gimmick at least made some sense based on human psychology, but this is just dumb. Once we got past the initial comedy and silliness, this got pretty great. The Young Bucks are definitely in the middle of another “trying new things” phase which is always when they are at their most exciting, and Elgin & Cage’s freakish combinations of power and athleticism means the Bucks have the opportunity to try new things that they wouldn’t be able to try with most other people.

KEITH LEE vs. LIO RUSH vs. TRENT?- 8/10
They told a great story based around the sizes of the various competitors, though it would have been slightly better if it hadn’t been interrupted for pointless antics once or twice. They also had some very close false finishes, which helped push this up to an eight.

SAMI CALLIHAN vs. DEZMOND XAVIER vs. DAVE CRIST vs. JAKE CRIST- DUD!
The referee did a tope for no reason whatsoever. Then I hit the skip button. Don’t try to defend this because there is no defense for it.

RICOCHET vs. TREVOR LEE- 7.75/10
Trevor Lee jumps Ricochet before the bell. He was an excellent heel and Ricochet was an excellent babyface. They did their fun, cool, athletic stuff with a nice babyface vs. heel twist on it.

PWG TITLE MATCH: Zack Sabre Jr.(c) vs. Chuck Taylor- 9/10
This was an AMAZING match with lots of emotion for Chuck’s big title win. Chuck worked the head while Zack worked the arm, and they told a great story of Zack getting more and more desperate. I really loved Rich Knox refusing to count the pin after the title belt shot. You might be wondering how I can possibly praise this spot despite ranting on something similar in the opener, and the reason is because the story of the match made it clear that this was a premeditated act on Zack’s part to get out of a title match he was clearly doubting he could win, combined with the fact that Knox refused to count the pin afterwards, sending Zack a message that his BS would not be tolerated.
Chuck winning the PWG World Title came off like a HUGE moment for PWG and for Chuck, and in this case I have to do something I usually don’t do, which is praise PWG’s booking. As Excalibur told us at the beginning of this match, Chuck Taylor has only lost one match in PWG since February of 2015… and that match was a PWG World Title match to Zack Sabre Jr. five months ago. Not only did they capitalize on Chuck’s popularity and build him up well, but having him lose that first match not only allowed them to get another big title match in when Chuck’s best friend Trent? challenged Zack, but it also created some doubt that Chuck might not win here and be doomed to be a perennial loser who could never capture the big one. But he’s not. He’s Chuck Taylor, and he is your new PWG World Champion.

A great show from PWG, despite the DUD in the middle. It was very easy to sit through, had great action, and contains a huge moment in PWG history. You should definitely buy this one.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

Upcoming Reviews:
FIP in 2005
ROH Validation
PWG All-Star Weekend V: Night 2
DGUSA Open the Ultimate Gate 2013
ROH/CMLL Global Wars Espectacular: Day 3

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cero2k
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Re: BRM Reviews PWG Pushing Back Forward

Post by cero2k » Aug 21st, '17, 09:16

show is actually called 'Pushin Forward Back'
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Big Red Machine
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Re: BRM Reviews PWG Pushin' Forward Back

Post by Big Red Machine » Aug 21st, '17, 10:05

Darn that PWG and their complicated names.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

Upcoming Reviews:
FIP in 2005
ROH Validation
PWG All-Star Weekend V: Night 2
DGUSA Open the Ultimate Gate 2013
ROH/CMLL Global Wars Espectacular: Day 3

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