By Will Pruett

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla - Ten
August 9, 2013 at The American Legion Hall in Reseda, CA

The show, in classic PWG form, started about an hour after the advertised bell time and I have never see so many people in line and crammed into the hall. It was packed. PWG tries to never turn people away (because money is super cool) and they succeeded again with this show. It was crowded, but the atmosphere was super great. The energy is Reseda is always something else, but this was a celebration of ten years of PWG and it was even higher.

The show kicked off with Excalibur welcoming everyone and reminding the crowd to turn in pitchers to Legion Larry (who was strongly praised throughout the show), not to tailgate (apparently someone passed out while intoxicated in line to get in), and that in PWG every week is Shark Week and everyday is Earth Day because we recycle,

1. Candice LeRae, B-Boy, and Willie Mack defeated Joey Ryan, Peter Avalon, and Ryan Taylor. I wasn't too psyched to see Joey Ryan back in PWG, but this match kind of changed my mind. Ryan was very entertaining as he insisted he wrestle LeRae as the match began. This was just a fun exhibition of what Ryan and LeRae overdid in their prior feud in PWG. I guess absence has made the heart grow fonder. The worst portions of the match involved B-Boy (my personal least favorite wrestler ever) and Ryan Taylor (who always appears slightly green). It was a fun opener. It didn't overstay it's welcome.

2. Brian Cage defeated Tony Nese. Tony Nese made his PWG debut here and had quite the challenging opponent. Brian Cage has been great in his tag team with Michael Elgin, but as a singles wrestler, he is still lacking. This match had its moments, but was pretty awkward most of the time. I really can't blame Nese for this. Cage went over with his finisher in a match that went a little too long.

3. The Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero) defeated The RockNES Monsters (Johnny Goodtime and Johnny Yuma). People were excited to see The Hooligans, but this match was tonally awkward. It shifted from serious to comedy back to serious depending on the spot they were calling. RockNES is like the 3MB of PWG and they play those roles well. Hopefully The Forever Hooligans will be back again sometime soon against more serious opposition.

4. Michael Elgin defeated A.R. Fox. This was a really fun match and a great end to the first half of the show. Fox is still missing a little something in big moments (and he makes an odd sound every time he throws a strike), but as a technical wrestler, he's great. Elgin is the total package and was very impressive here. This match really heated up in the final ten minutes. Elgin beat Fox with a backwards sit-out powerbomb off the top rope.

Intermission. Brian Kendrick was outside before the show and at intermission smoking. This didn't show in his cardio, but it was a little weird. I'll bet he smelled like smoke during his match. Somehow, I find this pertinent.

5. Chuck Taylor and Johnny Gargano defeated Brian Kendrick and Paul London. This turned out to be my favorite match of the night. I was genuinely surprised by it. The PWG crowd always loves London and Kendrick. Add to this the awesomeness of Gargano and Taylor. It was a fast-paced and dynamic tag team match. The match began with a chicken fight (both teams were originally trying to get the tag title belt hung above the ring for the Ladder Match) and continued to heat up with London putting gloves on and challenging Taylor and Gargano to a duel. The silliness passed and it became a great technical/high flying effort. The Gargano and Taylor win surprised me. Both teams hugged after the match. This was great.

6. Kyle O'Reilly defeated T.J. Perkins. Perkins is current TNA X Division Champion Manik, who is occasionally T.J. Perkins on TV when he's not being a symbol of some sort. This was a really good technical match, but the stakes often seemed low. It was placed as a buffer between the crowd pleasing tag and the two main events. It was a little long, but it was built and was paced nicely. O'Reilly won via submission.

7. Adam Cole defeated Kevin Steen and Drake Younger in a Guerrilla Warfare Match to retain the PWG World Championship. When I first saw the card, this match frightened me a little bit. Younger is known to take some pretty huge bumps and Cole and Steen don't hesitate to take risks as well. This was a safer effort than I expected it to be. It was also very exciting to watch.

The wrestlers battled wall-to-wall and involved a trash can (dubbed Chekov's trash can by our section) a table, some steel chairs, and plastic chairs as well. It was violent, but not too risky. It was really fun. At one point, Younger took an unprotected steel chair to the head, which I was not in favor of. Aside from that, the match was super fun. Adam Cole, the best heel in indie wrestling right now (who encourages fans and other wrestlers to fellate him) snuck out the win by capitalizing on Steen incapacitating Drake.

8. The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) defeated Inner-City Machine Guns (Ricochet and Rich Swann) and Dojo Bros (Eddie Edwards and Roderick Strong) in a Ladder Match to retain the PWG World Tag Team Championship. This match was pretty insane. While I don't think it topped the Ladder Match from Threemendous Three (the ninth anniversary show) last year, it definitely gave it a run for its money.

There were a couple smaller ladders used and one giant one, which had broken center supports. The Young Bucks continued to be amazing heels with their taunting and selling in this match. Eddie Edwards and Roderick Strong had plenty of ho's to chop. Ricochet was the highlight of this match with some major spots. Swann took the bulk of the punishment on the match. It was a great effort from all three teams and a fitting main event.

After the match, the ring filled with wrestlers getting down to "All Night Long" which is The Inner-City Machine Guns' theme. The dancing ceased as Excalibur took the mic, thanked the fans, and discussed how PWG wouldn't exist without the fans coming to the building and buying DVDs. He thanked everyone for their support and said wrestlers look forward to coming to PWG because of how fun the crowd is. It was a very fun moment. The music started again and the dancing continued.

Pruett's Pause: There is not another live experience in wrestling like Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. It just doesn't exist. Nothing is as fun and dynamic as this crowd. PWG also provides amazing entertainment. This was a great show top to bottom and even slightly awkward parts worked. This show was extremely fun. If you're in the area and thinking of going to PWG, I cannot recommend it enough. It's like nothing else.

For some pictures and in-process thoughts from the show, along with all sorts of other wrestling and non-wrestling fun, hit me up on the Twitter machine at @itswilltime. Thanks for reading homies!

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