BRM Reviews PWG 1.21 Gigawatts

[Big Red Machine]

PWG 1.21 Gigawatts (3/21/2008)- Reseda, CA

NEMESIS vs. BRANDAN BONHAM- 4/10
This was Bonham’s PWG debut and while the fans had no idea who he was, they certainly showed that they were behind him with their chants of “NEW GUY! NEW GUY! NEW GUY!”

CANDACE LERAE vs. LUFISTO- 4.75/10
A decent match, but the finish felt like it came out of nowhere.
After the match, Human Tornado and Claudio Castagnoli come out to intimidate Candice, but Chris Hero makes the save, transitioning into…

CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI vs. CHRIS HERO- 6.5/10
After the match Tornado jumps Hero. Candice tries to make the save but LuFisto pulls her off and starts brawling with her backstage. Hero saves Candice from LuFisto then manages to chase both Tornado and Claudio off (with Tornado having to hold LuFisto back from charging at Hero).

JOEY RYAN PROMO- a good promo both explaining the card change and addressing a the disappointing state of the PWG tag belts.

PWG WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Dynasty(c) (Joey Ryan & Scott Lost) (w/Jade Chung) vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico- 6.75/10
A good surprise return for Steen. Super Dragon coming out and attacking Jade Chung in the middle of the match seemed really random. If there is some backstory behind that, the announcers should have explained it.

DDT4 2008 QUALIFIER ELIMINATION MATCH: The Young Bucks vs. Los Lucha vs. Ronin & Scorpio Sky vs. TJ Hooker (TJ Perkins & Hook Bomberry)- 7/10
I really don’t get why they didn’t put TJ Hooker over in this match. Everything that led up to this was about them (and especially TJ) turning heel… so why not have them win this match to get into the tournament?

STREET FIGHT: Chris Hero & Candice LeRae vs. Human Tornado & LuFisto- 9/10
Talk about bringing the HATE! This was a fantastic match that really made you feel how much both teams hated each other. Like the BJ Whitmer vs. Jimmy Jacobs cage match in ROH, they barely went for any pinfalls in this match, which really helped get the hatred across. One particular spot saw LuFisto just nail Candice with a dropkick into a chair, then roll her over onto her back… but rather than go for a pin, LuFisto just started punching Candice in the face and even biting her!
The one thing I think they could have done a better job of here was the story with Hero and LuFisto. At the beginning of the match, Hero would only hit LuFisto with moves like hip tosses, but as it progressed he started getting more and more violent with her, ending in a piledriver. They were trying to show that his hatred for Tornado has driven Hero to become that thing he despised in Tornado (someone willing to hit a woman), but I think they missed some important progression there. I think it would have been better to show Hero about to punch LuFisto, then deciding not to (and have that come back to bite him) before they moved on to things like biels and hip tosses.
The heat in this match is just amazing. The heels dominated for what felt like fifteen straight minutes and every second of it just builds and builds and builds your desire to see the babyfaces make a comeback. I haven’t seen Sara Del Rey’s matches against Claudio or Eddie Kingston from CHIKARA yet, but I will go out on a limb and call this the best intergender match of all time.

AFTERMATH- THOSE MOTHERF*CKING HEELS!
This was a perfect segment. I am so f*cking furious right now that I can barely type. This might be one of the best heat-getting post-match beatdowns I have ever seen. The heels beat Hero down and duct tape him to the ropes, then make him watch while they destroy Candice. Then they beat Hero down some more… then go after Candice again before Excalibur and TARO actually get up from the commentary booth and make the save. Hero then cuts an absolutely amazing promo.

CHRIS HERO BACKSTAGE PROMO- Even better than the in-ring promo. Chris Hero is one of the best talkers in wrestling history… and this might well be his best promo.

Overall, a decent show from PWG pumped up by a freakin’ amazing main event and some even more amazing promos by Chris Hero. This is a must-buy for fans of intergender wrestling and for fans of the Hero (& Candace) vs. Human Tornado feud.