Pro Wrestling Guerrilla "All-Star Weekend Night 2"

April 2, 2005
Los Angeles, California at the Jewish Community Center
375 Fans

Elimination Match: Ricky Reyes vs. Puma vs. Davey Richards vs. Ronin

The match can best be summarized as a coherent brawl- everyone fights everyone, but nothing gets too confusing. Stiffness and highspots abound, with nothing being too over-the-top or played-out. Richards scores the first fall after a nasty lariat by Reyes takes out Ronin. After driving Puma's head into the outside mats in a brutal baseball slide reversal, Davey Richards ends up tapping to a cross-legged Boston Crab-ish submission, also by Reyes. Puma gets in a few pins that almost get the victory, but in the end, Reyes asserts his dominance by taking out all three opponents and takes the match following a brainbuster.

Analysis: A solid first match, but nothing more. Everyone got in their shots and looked good, but in the end, the four wrestled the same basic opening formula that people see in just about any beginning match of almost any current independent wrestling show: hard shots, high flying, head-dropping, crowd popping. Even though its depth was lacking, I can't detract much since I'm used to this sort of opening match by now. Still, even though it followed a basic formula, and was a basic match, that doesn't mean it was a bad one. **½

Disco Machine and Excalibur vs. Hook Bomberry and Top Gun Talwar

Talwar and Hook start out by working over Excalibur's arm for a while, leading to Disco Machine making the "hot tag" and subsequently trying to choke out Top Gun Talwar with a trashbag in a good, funny segment. Disco is soon brought down, though, when Talwar and Bomberry begin taking advantage of Disco's broken nose (which was broken during Night 1 of the All Star Weekend). In the end, Hook nails a Michinoku Driver for 2 and even locks on an arm submission, but ends up getting drilled with, and defeated by, a Tiger Driver '98 from Excalibur.

Analysis: While it was a good match, aside from Excalibur's arm and Disco's nose being worn down, the match had little psychology or flow. Then again, it had enough to get by. It really felt like a standard match- right in the middle of just about everything: emotion, flow, variety of moves, story, etc. Like the first match, it was alright, but felt a bit bland. **½

Petey Williams vs. Joey Ryan

Petey gets the early lead with some cookie-cutter offense, but Arrogance (Scott Lost and Chris Bosh) end up distracting Petey, allowing Ryan to score a surprise and decidedly sick Release German Suplex. SoCal Val brings her sexy self out to ringside and argues with Arrogance, eventually forcing them to leave, and giving Petey ample time to recover and the chance to go back on the offensive, a chance he all too glady takes. Petey is soon driven shoulder-first into an awaiting turnbuckle, though, and Ryan takes the next logical step by focusing on Petey's arm. Joey Ryan tries to synch in a Fujiwara armbar multiple times, but in his third attempt it ends up backfiring as Petey counters out of it and eventually hits the Canadian Destroyer for the win.

Analysis: Everything ranged from mediocre to surprisingly deep. Both men had great emotion and passion inside the ring, solid psychology with few detractors, and both were on their game. It was nice to see Petey as the clear face of the match, since, while I've always considered him able to have good matches when he tries and tries hard, I've always felt that his heel persona is pretty one-dimensional. Ryan also fit into his role like a glove, very nicely showing how his skill was eventually eclipsed by his arrogance and how he let one move (the Fujiwara armbar) seal his defeat since Ryan just wouldn't let it go and try something else. He had to beat Petey his way or no way, and in the end, he did just that by not beating him at all. It was a good singles match, with a meaningful finish. In fact, the finish could basically describe the whole match: entertaining and smartly-timed with a deeper sense of meaning than I expected. ***

El Generico and Los Luchas (Phoenix Star and Zokre) vs. The Oreo Express (Scorpio Sky, Quicksilver, and The Human Tornado)

The match starts out the way any classic should: with a dance-off between a black pimp and a masked "Mexican" that is clearly white. In all seriousness, though, Tornado and Generico do a funny and brief comedy segment before everyone gets down to the business of beating on each other in various hard-hitting ways. In the first blow-away spot of the match, Generico lifts up his partner Phoenix Star in a powerbomb position, allowing Star to hit a moonsault from that position, above the ropes, and into Scorpio Sky and Quicksilver, who are outside the ring. Poor Quicksilver is soon obliterated with two backbreakers, two double team moves, and a triple team move for good measure. Human Tornado comes in to save the day and hits a pimp slap on Generico, which is hilariously oversold. Phoenix Star is also obliterated with some really nasty moves before the match dips into utter chaos and insanity, with crazy crowd dives and everyone either hitting, missing, or countering into their finishing moves. Los Luchas and the Generic One pick up the win after Star hits the Olimpico Slam and Excalibur follows it up with a sick brainbuster.

Analysis: The first 75% of the match was a good multi-man tag, with the final 25% being pure, awesome insanity. All in all, the complete match was nice, but the last five minutes or so had some absolutely crazy **** going on. As one might expect, small doses of comedy plus good, well-oriented action plus a spectacular and long ending segment did indeed equal a good encounter with some great mark-out moments. Everything clicked, and all six men put on a good performance. ***¼

TNA X-Division Title Match: "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels (c) vs. Chris Hero

Both men do a lot of mat wrestling, with Hero locking on many of his signature cravate holds and other moves to wear down Daniels's neck, while Daniels focuses on Hero's leg, going as far as hitting a moonsault right onto Hero's ligament. Hero hits a flipping cravate cutter off the second rope for 2½ and applies the Hangman's Clutch, but Daniels gets a rope break. Hero misses a double stomp and Daniels hits a surprise Angel's Wings that lets him pick up the win and retain the X-Division title.

Analysis: A great match with a basic story played to perfection: both took time to find out what worked and didn't work against each other, then wrestled a very mat-heavy match to prove themselves to each other. Daniels was a very smart, savvy technical wrestler, and Hero really adapted well to Daniels's unique style. Even though the finish wasn't exactly in tune with the match itself, both men put a lot of effort into making the match entertaining while also retaining its quality, and succeeded very well, creating a match that mixed almost everything with little or no error and left me very pleased. ***½

"Wonderkid" Jonny Storm vs. "Mr. Wrestling" Kevin Steen

In reference to All Star Weekend Night 1, and Jonny's Night 1 victory over Petey Williams, I guess this would qualify as Canada versus England, Part 2! In all seriousness, though, this match had great "big man vs. little man" chemistry, uniquely honed to fit Steen and Storm's personalities. Steen started off arrogantly, making fun of Storm's height, only to get flipped off by Storm. Steen then manhandles Storm, only for Storm to hit a very nice no-hands double springboard somersault senton to the outside that sends him crashing into Steen. Storm then continuously one-ups Steen by countering plenty of his offense, making the inevitable counter and domination by Steen that much more anticipated. As expected, Steen does eventually stop Storm's streak and continues to toss Storm around. Kevin's arrogance continuously gets the better of him, but he eventually hits a killer Avalanche Release German Suplex that flung Storm literally from one corner of the ring to another. After barely kicking out of that, a big spinning backdrop, and a Michinoku Driver, Jonny responds with an absolutely brutal spot where he turns a dive through the ropes into a tornado DDT, spiking Steen's head right on the floor. Both men tease plenty of false finishes, and even an Avalanche Inverted Hurricanrana won't put Steen down. Finally, Steen hits a disgusting 360° Jumping Package Piledriver for the win.

Analysis: A match that had a plethora of awesome story elements, crazy segments, and quality wrestling galore made a fine addition to a stable and impressive event. The match built up slowly, but with backing, and the numerous false finishes were a very good addition to the uniqueness of the match. Both fit very nicely in their role of "flawed characters", and did a great job at telling a good story with some interesting elements. Aside from a small bit of sloppiness mid-match, both men tore up the ring and earn high praise. ***½

PWG Tag Team Titles Match: Arrogance (Scott Lost and Chris Bosh) (c) (with Joey Ryan) vs. "The Future" Frankie Kazarian and Chris Sabin (with Petey Williams)

Kazarian and Sabin begin in total control, yet Bosh quickly hits a backbreaker to Sabin to even out control of the match. Lost hits the Superman Spear on Sabin, then Arrogance follows it up by double teaming Sabin, only for Sabin to hit the Catatonic-into-Backbreaker on Lost. Bosh nails Kazarian with a punch to the crotch (complete with Bosh holding the pose) and Frankie responds to Bosh's underhanded tactic with a Stone Cold Stunner (complete with middle finger and kick to the gut) before hitting a twisting Stone Cold Stunner to Lost / legdrop to Bosh combination. Sabin hits the Razor's Edge into the corner onto Bosh for good measure. Joey Ryan runs in, only to get double-teamed by Sabin and Petey, ultimately leading to Sabin giving Ryan the Cradle Shock while Bosh is served up a Canadian Destroyer. Lost, however, is able to break up the subsequent pin attempt, and is even able to counter a Victory Roll into a pin of his own, which ultimately allows Arrogance to make a successful defense of their titles.

Analysis: Although the ending was slightly anti-climatic, the match had quality through and through. Everyone's (what could be best described as) "style" mixed so very well with lots of emotion and plenty of raw energy. Overall, it was just a great tag team match. Although the negatives were minimal, the selling in the match was a little off, as were a few (a very few) number of segments. Not sour spots, per se, just not as good when compared to the general quality of what was another good Arrogance title defense that extremely benefited from the level of quality brought by Sabian and Kazarian. ***¼

Post-match, since this was Frankie Kazarian's "last" match inside a PWG ring before his very brief involvement in the big 'E, World Wrestling Entertainment, the locker room empties out and several wrestlers (including Joey Ryan, Excalibur, and Christopher Daniels) thank Frankie and give reverence to his career, including his runs as PWG Champion. Frankie then takes the mic and, after cracking a joke, gives a very sincere speech about his gratitude to the fans and all the wrestlers. While this seems ironic right now, when looked at it from when it was going on, this really felt special, and pretty emotional. Even though Kazarian would soon be back lighting up the ring in PWG and indy feds around the country, this was really touching when it happened, and is still very touching right now. And of course, it leads into…

PWG Championship Title Match: Super Dragon (c) vs. "The Phenomenal" AJ Styles

Both men spend a good amount of time testing each other out with basic chain wrestling, but AJ gets the first lead of the night with some of his signature moves and segments: stiff elbows, that dropkick of his, his running somersault senton into the crowd, two knee drops, and even a sick Ganmengiri on Dragon in a corner. Dragon finally hits some decidedly stiff (even for him) shots before doing a somersault senton through the ropes, and shortly thereafter, sandwiching AJ's head with a brutal Curbstomp. Both men trade some stiff blows, but when Dragon attempts the Rolling Elbow, he's caught with a Pelè Kick. Both men then go into a segment of teasing their finishers and pseudo-finishers: Dragon begins the Violence Party and then whips AJ from one corner of the ring to the other, but AJ springs onto the second turnbuckle and tries to nail the Stylin' DDT. Super Dragon falls to his knees and carries AJ over before attempting a Psycho Driver, but AJ lands on his feet and hits a dropkick to Dragon's head. After that, Super Dragon tries a corkscrew moonsault, but AJ rolls out of the way and ends up hitting a discuss lariat for the win, crowning a new champion of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla.

Analysis: Like the previous match, a solid entry and entertaining spectacle that had a finish I wasn't feeling. That said, while I liked the match, it was nothing I hadn't seen plenty of times before, from either man. That's not to say they didn't put on a good performance, because they did, but they realistically just went through the motions both go through: stiffness, high flying, a few hard impact moves, more stiffness, a signature move or two thrown in there, a few finisher teases, and that's all. Both were great in the emotional aspect of the match, though, and demonstrated real chemistry with each other. It's just that while Super Dragon vs. AJ Styles seemed like a new and exciting match (and it kinda was), AJ didn't do anything out of his "comfort zone", and neither did Supes. It was still a worthy main event and a good match, just maybe not the best title change. Still, while I think both men could've done better, I'll never be disappointed in the least bit that I got to see a good wrestling match, which this was. ***¼

Final Thoughts: So, it ends up that Night 1 is better than Night 2. Does that mean that Night 2 isn't a good show? Of course not, it's very solid. Think of it this way: while Night 1 sparked an interest, realistically, it was my first PWG show ever, so just about any show from PWG in '05 would hook me because I had heard so many good things about the promotion and have taken a keen interest to follow a division of wrestling I've been sorely lacking in coverage on. So, in a way, Night 1 benefited from a "first time" experience. That said, if Night 1 made me interested, Night 2 held that interest. That's not really hard, though, considering that it's eight matches that were all good in various aspects and fulfilled a variety of my wrestling wants: some were good highspots, others were good mat-based technical wrestling matches, and it's always fun to see guys who know how to do it right stiff each other and have a good match. While nothing truly disappointed, nothing truly blew me away. I was impressed with what I saw, though, just not awestruck. Even with all that in mind, this is a very solid event that I found very enjoyable, and while it might not have lived up to a few of my expectations, it very much so lived up to many, and, at the end of the day, I'm still a big fan of PWG.

And as a big fan of PWG, this DVD earns a big recommendation. Those who only see Night 1 really are missing out, so buy both Nights and be happy. Even though I felt Night 1 was superior, this is still one fine show, and earns ***¼.