PWG Failure to Communicate DVD
Taped Oct. 27, 2012
Reseda, California at American Legion Post 308

This is the first in my series of PWG DVD reviews. DVDs are available at prowrestlingguerrilla.com/merch.

As usual, the play-by-play was handled by PWG liaison to the board of directors, Excalibur. PWG champion Kevin Steen would join on color for the first three matches.

1. Joey Ryan vs. Ryan Taylor. Excalibur noted at one point that Joey Ryan, who is a regular commentary partner when not competing, is allowed by TNA to wrestle for PWG, but not do commentary. Go figure. Rather safe and relatively short TV-style match. Not bad, but the work rate fell below the PWG standard. The finish came when Ryan went to lock in the Tazmission, but Taylor countered into the Perfect Circle (flipping snapmare) for the pinfall.

Ryan Taylor defeated Joey Ryan in eight minutes.

2. Eddie Edwards vs. Michael Elgin. Very good match with Elgin continuing to be the most impressive workhorse on the independent circuit, pulling double duty on this show. He faced Edwards here as well as competed in the 3-way main event for the PWG Championship. Stiff physical action in this match. At one point, Elgin hit his stalling vertical suplex for a very impressive 65 seconds and Edwards looked like he was about to puke. 

Late in the match, Elgin landed a really nice rolling Chaos Theory suplex for a near fall. But Eddie came back and the two exchanged intense lariats and high impact offense before Elgin finally hit the bucklebomb and spinning Elgin Bomb for the win.

Michael Elgin defeated Eddie Edwards in 15 minutes.

3. B-Boy & Famous B vs. RockNES Monsters (Johnny Goodtime & Johnny Yuma). A fun 12 minute tag team match. Despite what the names may lead you to believe, this was the first time B-Boy and Famous B have teamed up. Excalibur and Steen quickly and logically labeled them Famous B-Boy. Yuma had a not-so-impressive run with TNA around Destination X, but is impressive in PWG. Goodtime is such a wacky, fun wrestler and his beard was full of cocktail swords on this particular evening. A few minutes into the match, Goodtime tagged in but refused to wrestle B-Boy, instead demanding "I want the black one!" which drew a "racist" chant from the crowd.

 Later in the match, the veteran B-Boy utilized some mesmerizingly unique one-on-two maneuvers, performing moves which would cause the Monsters to hurt each other. The Monsters came back with a short impactful series of offense before things began to fall apart as most tag matches do. After Goodtime and Famous B were wiped out at ringside, Yuma got the roll up victory on B-Boy with a handful of tights.

RockNES Monsters defeated B-Boy and Famous B in 16 minutes.

4. Sami Callihan vs. Davey Richards. Absolutely fantastic match from two of the very best on the circuit. The bout went just under 20 minutes but is well worth buying the DVD to see. It was every bit the match you would expect from these two, with both men working their very stiff and believable styles to perfection. It featured brawling, striking, and intricate technical mat work. Sami worked the legs which set up the Stretch Muffler as well as hindered Davey's kicks. 

Just under 10 minutes into the match, Davey drilled Sami with Bryan Danielson's wrist clutch stomps and exclaimed "I'm better then Danielson!" Which drew "No!" chants from the hot crowd. They seemed to be more behind Sami all match. Intense, hard-hitting exchanges throughout with no real lulls or down points. The finish came when Davey kicked out of Sami's 64 Lariat, but couldn't overcome when Sami immediately applied the Stretch Muffler and Davey was forced to submit.

Sami Callihan defeated Davey Richards in 17 minutes.

Eddie Edwards was out to join Excalibur on commentary for the next match.

5.  Rich Swann vs. Roderick Strong. Roderick has been labeled the gatekeeper by Excalibur. Thus, he was chosen to compete in the PWG debut of the 21 year-old Dragon Gate and Evolve standout Rich Swann, who certainly showed up to impress on this night. Crowd solidly behind Strong as the bell rang and some of the PWG fans seemed unfamiliar with Swann. However in the opening minutes, Swann hit a standing front flip over Strong, rebounded into the ropes with a seemingly gravity defying flip into an arm drag, and followed up with a picture perfect dropkick. It absolutely erupted the fans in attendance into a standing ovation. Beautiful offensive series that visually legitimized Swann in PWG and single handedly sold the crowed on him. Look for him to become a regular on future PWG releases.

The story of the match saw Strong maintain control, with short, exciting, and impressive bursts of offense from Swann before being overpowered again. One of the highlights of the match saw Swann hit his trademark standing 450 splash. Just astonishing. His vertical leap and athletic abilities are off the charts, but he's still very green. After Swann missed a frog splash, Strong hit a high knee strike and a huge End of Heartache backbreaker for the win.

Roderick Strong defeated Rich Swann in 16 minutes.

Sami Callihan came out to join Excalibur on commentary for the next match.

6. Willie Mack vs. Brian Cage. This was a grudge match set up when Cage interfered during Willie's championship match and attacked Kevin Steen, causing the DQ/no-contest. Willie has impressive strength and moves like a cruiserweight for someone near 300lbs. His conditioning is certainly his biggest drawback. Cage had a stint in FCW as Kris Logan and most recently appeared on TNA's Gut Check. His PWG character is the cocky, badass "Mr. GMSI" (Get My Sh*t In), which is over big with the crowd despite being a heel act. Very impressive meeting of styles in this match. Both men had their vocal supporters despite the storyline. 

At one point Cage held Willie up for a 25 second vertical suplex, and later hit a superplex after dead lifting Willie up from the apron. Rather freakish displays of strength. Willie got the visual pinfall after a Chocolate Thunder Bomb but the ref had been bumped. By the time the ref came to, Cage had taken control and hit Weapon X for the pinfall.

Brian Cage defeated Willie Mack in 17 minutes.

Senior referee Rick Knox was out to join Excalibur on commentary for the next match. He explained that after all the issues between himself and the Bucks, he had removed himself as the referee of the next match.

7. El Generico and Kenny Omega vs. The Young Bucks ( Matt and Nick Jackson). "This is awesome!" Chants started as soon as the bell rang and the crowd was vocally thrilled to have Omega back. Several minutes into the match with Generico and Nick on the outside, Omega took a fan's hat and proceeded to reenact the ending of Over the Top in the ring with Matt, but Nick frog splashed him just as he hooked the wrist. Extremely entertaining sequence.

Great back and forth action, both in one-on-one sequences as well as tag team combinations. Kenny Omega is an absolute treat to watch in the ring. He is so unique and original with his style. I would recommend the DVD for the rare opportunity to see Kenny work stateside alone. Aside from Omega, this was Generico's second to last match in PWG and he showcased himself like the star he is. Certainly worth watching to see what a stellar talent WWE signed up, especially for anyone unfamiliar.

The finish came after Generico hit the Brainbustahhh! and Omega hit a top rope Croyt's Wrath. The ref was bumped, so Rick Knox left the announce table and counted the double pinfall.

El Generico and Kenny Omega defeated The Young Bucks in 25 minutes.

Post match, Omega had the mic as "please come back!" chants rang out passionately. He said that he is contracted ten months a year in Japan, but the first chance he had to come back, he took. He said PWG has the best talent in the world, his best friends in the world, and the best fans in the world. He said its the only place he can grab a mic and say John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmitt and closed by promising that he'd be back the very next chance he had.

8. Kevin Steen vs. Ricochet vs. Michael Elgin in a three-way match for the PWG World Championship. Ricochet did an awesome standing flip when the ref announced his name. Steen smiled and followed up with a backward summersault of his own when he was introduced. Hilarious. The match opened up with Ricochet taking control using his dazzling arial maneuvers before the power of the other two men brought the match into pace.

The wrestlers involved all had their moments to shine. In a freakishly impressive spot, Elgin had Steen up for a Samoan drop and held Ricochet for a fallaway suplex for over ten seconds before executing the moves simultaneously. A short time later, Ricochet was on the top rope and decided to change directions, hitting a sick SSP to the outside on Elgin before returning to the top and hitting a second on Steen in the ring for a near fall. 

The finish came after Ricochet wiped out Elgin with an inverted frankensteiner. Steen flattened Ricochet with a flapjack powerbomb, turned him over, and hit him with the package piledriver on top of Elgin for the clean win.

Kevin Steen defeated Ricochet and Michael Elgin to retain the PWG World Championship in 13 minutes.

This was a great three way main event, albeit one of the shorter matches of the night. I'm not a fan of the style where a guy is constantly taking a powder on the outside, but this match featured very little of that. All three men worked spots together, had respective times to shine, and put together an action-packed main event.

Overall thoughts: In as long as I've been watching PWG, I can't recall seeing a disappointing show, and this certainly isn't the first. I found it hard not to say "this DVD is worth ordering for this match" but the fact is that each match had something uniquely entertaining to it worth watching. I cant say enough about the wrestling you get for your dollar with PWG shows. Everything contributed and made for a great few hours of wrestling and a highly recommended DVD purchase.

Throw any comments, criticisms, questions, or corrections @zzimm22. Thanks for reading!

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