Pro-Wrestling Guerrilla – Kurt RussellMania – 30th January 2010
So I got lots of positive feedback over a year ago when I reviewed PWG’s Mystery Vortex and DDT4 2013 shows. I got more again this year when I posted my review of PWG Sells Out 2. I get that the appetite is there for me to review more Pro-Wrestling Guerrilla stuff. Honestly I just don’t have the finances to follow the promotion on a permanent basis (on top of ROH, plus the Japanese stuff I watch, and the Retro WWE stuff which I’m having a blast doing) however, I do have a whole bunch of random shows sitting on my shelf. As I’m relatively caught up with ROH, and I’m still shopping around trying to get a decent price on DVD copies of all WWE’s 2004 pay-per-views I thought I’d try to blast through some PWG for you guys. I’m kicking off with this one, but I’ve also got Seven from 2010, Steen Wolf and Fear from 2011, Threemendous III from 2012 and the BOLA 2014 shows.
This was the second night of indy supershows that had been tagged onto the Wrestle Reunion convention in southern California. Ring Of Honor made their return to the West Coast the previous evening and tried to make a splash on PWG’s home turf using a mix of PWG mainstay talent and their own core roster. Outside of Jushin Liger, the one thing ROH didn’t do was spend big to book any of the international talent or major names that were in town for the convention. PWG, determined to one-up ROH and produce the bigger of the two shows, did not adopt the same policy. Jushin Liger is booked for them as well. But so is Great Muta, KAI, Super Crazy, Brian Kendrick, Paul London and in a rare independent booking – Rob Van Dam. As an RVD mark, he was a big reason I picked up this DVD several years ago, but I’ve still never gotten round to watching it. As well as all that stellar international talent, we also have all the top PWG stars in action too. We’re in Los Angeles, CA – in the same building ROH ran the previous night. Colt Cabana starts the show commentating with Chris Hero, but presumably Excalibur and multiple other wrestlers will pop up as the show progresses…
The Young Bucks and Brian Kendrick interrupt Excalibur and Jon Ian’s rather lengthy opening to the show. The Bucks demand to be referred to by their ‘real names’ – Max and Jeremy Buck – and want to be introduced as GenerationMe when they wrestle. They love hanging out with Vince Russo, Eric Bischoff, Hulk Hogan, Dixie Carter and the Nasty Boys in TNA. Spanky (who was also in TNA) is absolutely cracking up at this. The smile disappears from his face as they attack him for not fitting in with their ‘generation’…Paul London returns to the company to a huge pop. He makes the save for his old friend, and demands that their team reunite tonight to face the Bucks.
SIDENOTE – Paul London was hysterical during this segment.
Malachi Jackson/Johnny Goodtime/Jerome Robinson/Candice LaRae vs Cutler Brothers/Ryan Taylor/Christina Von Eerie
As ever with PWG shows of this period, we start with all the local talent piling in the ring together for an action-packed multi-person tag. Malachi Jackson is the real-life brother of the Young Bucks in case you didn’t know. I think this is pre-RockNESS Monsters Johnny Goodtime too. I’ve never seen Robinson before – and the first thing I notice is that he is miniscule.
Goodtime wants to play Dance Dance Revolution, but gets jumped by the Cutlers to get the match started. ROPE WALK FLYING HEADSCISSORS OFF THE APRON TO THE FLOOR from Candice to Taylor! Goodtime and Robinson cue up tandem somersault planchas next…then Mal Jackson climbs the ropes for an SSP TO THE FLOOR to finish off. Von Eerie isolates LaRae for her team, with the help of multiple cheap shots from the Cutlers. Candice eventually springs into a flying headscissors on Taylor, and gets a hot tag to the tiny ‘LTP’…who gets utterly murdered against the apron by Brandon and Dustin Cutler. Von Eerie and Jerome have a really ugly little exchange (totally saved by a ‘he kicked her in the pancreas’ line from Hero on commentary), until LTP drops CVE with a brainbuster. DOUBLE dropsault from Robinson to both Cutlers, finally allowing him to make a hot tag to Johnny. His momentum is short live as Von Eerie SPIKES him with a tornado DDT. Ryan Taylor tries to make out with Candice...who ducks and sends him into Christina instead. He’ll take whatever is going it seems! Von Eerie isn’t interested and slaps her own partner into the BALL-PLEX from LaRae! Graveyard Smash on Candice! Jackson drills Christina with a sit-out powerbomb…then joins Robinson for a KILLER CUTTER/CODE RED COMBO! DOUBLE ELECTRIC CHAIR DROP from Dustin Cutler to the pair of them! Goodtime drops Brandon with a frankensteiner for 2, before the Cutlers regain their focus and hit him with a double lungblower. Ball-Plex on Brandon! She goes for a moonsault but gets CAUGHT! SPIKE TOMBSTONE BY THE CUTLERS! They win at 11:31
Rating - *** - I wasn’t expecting any psychology, and I wasn’t expecting all of these guys to be very good but nevertheless this was still a riotous way to get the show started. Everyone got a chance to show what they can do (though some took advantage of it more than others). The Cutlers looked really good here in total contrast to how terrible they were at ROH’s SoCal Showdown event the night before.
Brandon Bonham vs Brandon Gatson
How do PWG have three wrestlers named ‘Brandon’ on the same roster? These are another two guys who I’ve not had much exposure to. I’ve seen a little more of Bonham and always found him very watchable though. He’s still hot from a strong showing in the 2009 BOLA tournament apparently.
Excalibur replaces Hero on commentary at this point. The two Brandon’s exchange armdrags and headlocks. Although more technically sound, the lack of action compared to the opener means they are drawing a lot more smart-ass chants from the crowd. Bonham grabs the advantage with a gamengiri kick for 2, then sprints hard into a tope atomico to the floor. Excalibur and Cabana are busying themselves racially abusing Japanese commentators as Bonham continues to pummel Gatson with an assortment of crisp strikes. Gatson hits back with a hanging Lion Tamer in the ropes into a Bubba Bomb for 2. ‘I like to play with Asians’ – Cabana. That line steals all the heat from a Gatson slingshot cutter inside the ring. Bonham attempts a ‘Pismo Beach Pulverizer’…only for it to be countered with an Alabamaslam into the turnbuckles! Crazily, that’s then no sold so he can DOUBLE STOMP Gatson’s neck for 2. Handspring moonsault to the floor by Gatson! Nobody is selling a thing in this it seems, since Bonham is the first guy up from that to deliver a huge sliding enzi kick. Gatson sells that by hitting a flipping sidewalk facebuster (does that have a name?) for the win at 09:58
Rating - * - Plenty of nice spots and hard strikes in there but it didn’t have a fraction of the excitement or entertainment value of the last match if you’re considering it a ‘spotfest’, and from a psychological perspective this was pretty terrible too. Gatson has a cool mix of athleticism and a really solid, low centre of gravity which I like but he looked like a seriously rough diamond here.
Excalibur is back in the ring to make some announcements. Firstly he informs everyone that Chuck Taylor won’t be there (and rips on a fan who isn’t happy about it) so he’s had to flip up the card. Human Tornado is facing Super Crazy, Davey Richards is working Kevin Steen and London and Kendrick get their wish to face the Young Bucks...
Human Tornado vs Super Crazy
I’m almost certain this was one of Tornado’s final matches before he announced a hasty retirement in February of 2010. If you’ve not seen Super Crazy recently, you’ll probably not know that he doesn’t look remotely like he used to in ECW…or even like he did during his WWE run. He’s gained weight, he’s older and he’s slower now – but he can still bust out some pretty wild offence and can still nail his trademark beautiful moonsault. This could be fun if they keep it short…
Crazy isn’t agile enough to do that front flip during his ring introduction sadly. Tornado tries to catch him off guard and jumps him during the introductions and gets the better of him with a flurry of strikes. Mexican surfboard by the Insane Luchador! H-Tizzle knocks him off the apron with an enzi, then dives at him with a somersault plancha to the floor. That’s four times we’ve seen that spot in the first three matches. DND blocked, so Tornado hits a tornado DDT for 2. The ref counts three anyway, which Excalibur freely admits on commentary will cost him a permanent job with PWG. Crazy Bomb gets 2, so Super absolutely spikes HT with a brainbuster instead. He tries it again only for it to be countered with a Pimp Slam…into the DND! Cancun Tornado wins for HT at 06:18
Rating - ** - Crazy wasn’t in great shape at all, but they kept it short enough to avoid him being exposed as a shadow of his former self. Still, he was visibly working extremely hard selling for Tornado and trying to put him over. It’s hard to be too disappointed or rate the match too harshly when you have a veteran clearly enjoying himself whilst doing a favour for a deserving younger talent.
Davey Richards vs Kevin Steen
These two both came to the building today expecting to work different opponents. Davey was originally scheduled to face Super Crazy, whilst Steen’s opponent was going to be Brian Kendrick. They spent most of 2009 feuding with each other in ROH (as well as other promotions) with their respective tag partners so won’t need an excuse to renew hostilities again here in California.
PWG always cuts entrances, so the scene bizarrely opens with Steen trying to kiss an angry fan in the crowd. Davey gets a kiss as well, causing him to flee the ring in case Steen wants to ‘experiment’ further. Richards storms back into the ring…then outwrestles Steen into a KISS OF HIS OWN! Excalibur asks Cabana whether he’d enjoy being ‘drugged and raped’ by Davey Richards. You don’t get wrestling like this in other promotions that’s for sure. Things get serious as Steen throws a snot rocket in Davey’s direction, which he absolutely hates and punishes him with a barrage of fierce kicks. The fight spills into the crowd….before Richards stops wrestling to perform a DRUM SOLO! Steen grabs a microphone and slates his drumming skills, causing Richards to start kicking him again. The lighting is so bad they are basically brawling in the dark – so you can’t see the action but can hear them screaming at each other on the mic. APRON BOMB by Steen! He celebrates by winding himself trying to do a push-up…and eventually gets 2 by crawling into a fatigued pinfall. Package Piledriver blocked though, with Richards spiking Steen’s shoulder into the ringpost. TOPE CON HILO TO THE FLOOR NAILED! Davey wiped out multiple fans along with his opponent on that. The shoulder is now an obvious sore point on Mr Wrestling now and the American Wolf punished it with a volley of kicks. Cross armbreaker applied only for Steen to wrap himself up in the bottom rope and refuse to come out. Pumphandle cradlebreaker blocked (most likely because Steen’s arm is messed up)…but Steen hits back with a belly to belly into the turnbuckles followed by the Cannonball! Davey punches at the arm again but ducks his head and walks into a superkick! Pumphandle cradlebreaker (with arm selling) gets 2! Steen-ton Bomb blocked into a bridging German! SHOOTING STAR PRESS MISSES! Steen’s bad arm means he can’t hit the Package Piledriver! CROSS ARMBREAKER! Steen taps at 15:45
Rating - **** - I’ve seen them have better wrestling matches, although there was still some seriously high quality stuff here. However, the added comedic element they worked in really made this feel different from a lot of the other times I’ve seen them have. Richards was still super-intense and still brought some outstanding limb work into play, but it was a surprise to see him hold his own with Steen in entertainment value too. It was definitely the first time I’ve seen a drum solo worked into a wrestling match that’s for sure. This was a blast, and significantly better than anything else on the show so far.
Great Muta/KAI vs Joey Ryan/Scott Lost
Muta was in town with rising AJPW star KAI, so PWG snapped them up to work this show as well. Despite not being the worker he once was, and being rather notorious for taking it easy on almost every show he works, Muta is normally still theatrical enough that he can be rather fun to watch in small doses. At this point KAI was a part of All Japan’s decent junior division, so he is noticeably smaller than he is today as part of the Wrestle-1 promotion. Lost and Ryan (The Dynasty) hadn’t teamed together in PWG for a long time, so this is something of a reunion for them.
No hanging around from Muta…who gets a huge pop from the crowd simply for spraying Green Mist into the air. Lost looks pumped as he tries to out-wrestle the devious Japanese legend, and doesn’t see a poke to the eyes combing. To his credit he fights back by quickening the pace, working at such a speed that Muta actually has to leave the ring to escape. Kai tags and seems fascinated by Ryan’s chest hair and pink trunks. Roles are quickly reversed as Ryan tries to work slowly whilst his Japanese foe wants to increase the pace. Scott tags his way back in and eats the Flashing Elbow for 2, and soon he is trapped in the ring being worked over by both the All Japan guys. They take turns stretching out his legs and back with an assortment of submissions, with Joey apparently afraid to get in the ring whenever Great Muta is in there. Corkscrew roundhouse kick on Kai gets 2…only for Kai to NAIL him with a springboard enzi. Running cutter on Muta! Ryan tries to hit Kai with an elbow suicida, but doesn’t see him wielding a ‘Danger! Wet Floor!’ sign…and he gets nailed! GREEN MIST ON LOST! SHINING WIZARD! Muta wins at 12:07
Rating - *** - A basic formula tag, aided by a really hot and respectful crowd which made this one feel much more special than it actually was. Considering the size of the show, Muta worked rather hard (for him) and was pretty generous letting Lost get offence in on him for a while. I loved the way he and KAI worked over Scott during the heat segment in particular. KAI looked like a decent talent as well, so it’s no wonder he’s gone on to have a credible puroresu career over in his native country.
El Generico vs Jushin Liger
This one needs no introduction. Liger is always an extremely popular special attraction for whatever company he works when he visits the United States. He is a beloved figure to fans all around the world, so it makes sense to stick him in the ring with the most beloved masked wrestler in PWG. This has a genuine ‘big match’ aura to it and is one of the reasons I bought this DVD back when it was released.
Liger sets out his stall by grappling Generico into the mat then snapping him over with a headscissors. He cranks onto a surfboard as well, making the point that he is more powerful, more experienced and better on the ground than the Generic Luchador. Quite sensibly, Generico gets back to his feet and looks to quicken the pace with lucha armdrags! Liger leaves the ring giving him respect, to which Generico responds with a token flip to large applause. He then sportingly holds the ropes open to allow the legend back into the ring. The legend does the same thing moments later…but rather than help El Generico back into the ring he BOOTS HIM IN THE FACE! Shotei blocked…Koppo Kick instead! He takes it back to the canvas where he can wear the younger, smaller man down with an assortment of stretches. Poor Generico’s back is covered in bruises and he clutches at as he manages to kick Jushin out of the ring. SPRINGBOARD MOONSAULT UP THE AISLE! He follows it with a flying crossbody for 2 and hops up again clearly aware he needs to press home his advantage. Shotei ducked again, and this time countered into a blue thunder driver. Yakuza Kick blocked with a tilta-whirl backbreaker! But Liger makes a mistake in trying to go aerial like Generico…and the luchador blocks his frog splash attempt with knees. YAKUZA KICK NAILED! BRAINBUSTER…COUNTERED WITH LIGER’S BRAINBUSTER! Liger slaps Generico in the face, and is surprised when the luchador slaps him right back! E HONDA SLAPS! GERMAN SUPLEX! SHOTEI BLOCKED WITH A YAKUZA KICK! NO SOLD! SHOTEEEEEIIIIIII! Sensing that Generico is doomed, Liger drags him up the ropes looking for the avalanche brainbuster. Generico fights out…and sprints across the ring to hit him with a SOMERSAULT VAN TERMINATOR! BRAINBUSTER! LIGER KICKS OUT! Both these two are spent now and having dumped everything he has at the legend, El Generico knows all he has left is the Turnbuckle Brainbuster. LIGER SLIPS OUT AND DUMPS HIM WITH THE LIGERBOMB! FOR 2! CRASH THUNDER BUSTER! BRAINBUSTER! Liger wins at 12:30!
Rating - **** - This absolutely rocked. They went crazy with spots at the end, but for the most part they told a fantastic little story and produced a ‘dream match’ which probably exceeded most people’s expectations. Liger is the heavier of the two, has a power lifter background and miles more experience than Generico and he set his stall out early by easily taking the Generic Luchador down and working the sh*t out of him. El Generico worked out his strategy quickly and realised he needed to increase the pace and go aerial on a regular basis if he was to be successful. In the end it broke down into a stunning battle pitting Generico’s high spots and amazing ability to endure a beating – going up against a barrage of bombs and strikes coming back at him from the veteran. Generico gave it everything but in the end couldn’t survive the Ligerbomb/CTB/Brainbuster trilogy. This may well have stolen the show.
Brian Kendrick/Paul London vs GenerationMe
As we saw earlier, the Bucks didn’t take kindly to Spanky sharing the ring with them and decided to assault him. Kendrick’s old friend and former WWE tag partner Paul London returned to PWG to make the save – and together the former WWE Tag Champions petitioned Excalibur to put them into the ring tonight. The Young Bucks have demanded to go by their TNA personas (‘real names’) tonight so I’ll go along with that. In case you’re not familiar – Max Buck is Matt Jackson, Jeremy Buck is Nick.
Kendrick is still seriously hot after being attacked earlier, even though his partner is standing around next to him in a spacesuit goofing off. He sprints straight at the Bucks to get the fight started. They manage to evade his clutches and double up on London…until super angry Spanky absolutely CLOCKS Jeremy from behind. Despite putting on a little weight Paul shows he can still be as quick as anyone as he explodes off the ropes with a springboard crossbody. The Hooliganz haven’t teamed together in a while but the chemistry is still there and they enjoy themselves parodying the classic Young Bucks rapid-fire tag/work the arm spot in the corner. Spanky follows that with a rather brutal Rings Of Saturn variant with added knees to the face on Max. Everything Brian does in this match is so intense…and is in a weird total contrast to the aloof, goofy and so laid back everything he does look half botched Paul London. It takes both Young Bucks and a gutbuster/neckbreaker combo to finally put him on the ground. They start running through their arsenal of double team moves to isolate Spanky, and since they are heels they are run down by the fans with a ‘same old sh*t’ chant. They counter that chant by ripping off Nasty Boy spots which is absolutely GENIUS. More angry striking from Kendrick enables him to tag out. Paul drills Max with a springboard double stomp…as Jeremy SUPERKICKS Spanky off the apron. MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR! London BOTCHES a springboard plancha off Max’s back…then seconds later Max attempts a pescado and accidentally wipes out his brother. Tornado DDT from Jeremy to London gets 2…only for Paul to dust off Jeremy’s slingshot X-Factor spot. Maybe it was botched, but as a counter I thought that one looked really cool. EARLY ONSET ALZHEIMER’S on London! Wheelbarrow/slingshot X-Factor combo on Kendrick! OVER THE TURNBUCKLES SOMERSAULT PLANCHA from Jeremy to London! Spanky simply refuses to lay down though, and has to be pummelled into the ground with HEADBUTTS from Max! Standing moonsault/springboard splash combo for 2! DROP-SAULT BY LONDON! He then NAILS Max with a diving knee drop off the top. SUPERKICK to the back of his head by Jeremy! MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK BLOCKED! SLICED BREAD #2! LONDON STAR PRESS! Hooliganz win at 19:02
Rating - **** - Sure it had some botches in there (most London matches during this period do), but this was heaps of fun. Before the Bucks were GenMe in TNA, and before they were legitimate global indy superstars with the ‘Superkick Party’ gimmick, they were among PWG’s biggest draws. It’s crazy to think how good they were here in 2010, and amazing to think how much they’d improve in the following years. They really held this together well as heels, exuding dick-ish confidence whilst still being able to pull off a lot of their usual crowd-pleasing spots. Whilst you can possibly criticise Paul’s performance, it has to be said that Spanky was fantastic. His anger, fire and intensity was the highlight of the match for me, and made perfect sense considering the Bucks had turned on him just hours earlier.
Chris Hero vs Rob Van Dam vs Roderick Strong
Getting Van Dam in for an indy show of this magnitude was a pretty big deal for PWG. He’d been out of the WWE system for some time by this point, but only worked a very limited schedule and seemed to spend most of his time working lucrative supershows in Europe. Certainly Pro-Wrestling Guerrilla were the highest profile American independent he’d worked for at this point. Despite PWG Champion Kenny Omega not being booked for this show, the PWG Title is very much centre stage here. Chris Hero is still sore after losing the belt to Bryan Danielson last year and is pushing to get a shot at Omega. Roderick Strong has never been PWG World Champion and knows a big win over a global superstar like RVD, and a former champ in Hero would put him at the front of the queue.
RVD gets his full, PROPER ring introduction – including being called the ‘Whole F*CKING Show’ and throwing in a spin kick along with the thumb pointing. He then hops right out of the ring to hang out with the fans whilst Hero and Strong go at it. Roddy boots Hero out into Van Dam’s lap, prompting Mr Monday Night to roll in for the first time. AWESOME near miss exchange between RVD and Roderick, channelling Rob’s classics with Jerry Lynn. Hero then hurls Strong out because he wants a chance to shine with the former WWE Champion. He slaps Van Dam in the face! MOONSAULT OFF THE APRON by RVD! He then turns his attention to Strong and pops up to the apron again…for the corkscrew leg drop into the guardrails! Unfortunately for him he barely has a chance to stand up before Hero is on him with a boot to the face for 2. Chris starts peppering him with his signature violent strikes…only for Strong to be the guy to take advantage as he sneaks in to drop RVD with a cradle backbreaker for 2. Rob is really getting a taste of the trademark styles of both his indy scene veteran opponents now as Strong starts working over his back. It has to be said, he also looks SERIOUSLY annoyed as Roddy piles in with his brutal chops. He tries a springboard kick…but now it’s Hero’s turn to pounce from behind – to shove him all the way out of the ring into the barrier. End Of Heartache countered with the release suplex from Hero for a nearfall. Brainbuster instead from Roddy, so Hero drops him again with a flipping neckbreaker. RVD marches back in with a chair…and throws it into Hero’s face! DOUBLE ROLLING THUNDER! CHAIR SURF on Strong! Hero gets the split-legged moonsault and barely makes the kick-out. Van Dam lines up the Five Star only to be prevented by a jumping enzi from Strong. POWERBOMB/SUPERPLEX TOWER OF TERROR! All three down! They wearily fight back to their feet all laying in stiff strikes to each other as they go. Death By Roderick on Van Dam! RIPCORD from Hero to Strong for 2! Hero’s Welcome blocked…INTO THE SICK KICK! Gibson Driver blocked…Hero ducks a chair thrown by RVD…THEN ELBOWS IT INTO STRONG’S FACE! FIVE STAR FROG SPLASH! RVD wins at 18:29
Rating - *** - I’ve seen Van Dam work some really poor triple threats in his time. It’s not a format which necessarily suits his style all that well, but for the most part this was a lot of fun. Of course there was a large amount of one guy standing around doing nothing whilst the other two fight – but by this point you almost expect that of triple threat matches. What this one had in abundance was exciting bursts of offence. The way Hero and Roderick adapted their styles to work RVD’s stuff in was really cool, and equally it was a really novel sight watching Van Dam take a Roderick Strong chop, or a Chris Hero elbow. Considering his age, and the fact this really wasn’t a big deal for Rob – he worked pretty hard to give the people what they wanted. Not sure he needed to go over in truth, but that’s a minor criticism.
Hero puts Van Dam over as he leaves, and points out that since he didn’t lose he should still be considered the top contender for the PWG Championship.
Tape Rating - *** - As usual, this was a consistently entertaining show from Pro-Wrestling Guerrilla. Even in 2010 you knew what to expect from this promotion. You knew not to take it too seriously, you knew to expect a bunch of local talents to toss spots around for fun in the opening match. You knew you’d get bizarre comedy moments like Steen kissing fans or Davey playing the drums. BUT, you also knew you’d get some damn good wrestling. Steen and Richards worked a completely different match to many you may have seen them have before (or since), but their blend of nerdy comedy and hard-hitting wrestling really worked. The Young Bucks and the London/Kendrick team produced a predictably fun and exciting tag team match…and if you were actually looking for sensible psychology and story-telling to go along with your PWG spot-fest fix then Liger/Generico was OUTSTANDING. Nothing was close to an MOTYC, but it’s a show that’s over in less than two hours and fifteen minutes, packs in some decent in-ring content and has the novelty value of seeing a number of recognisable superstars of the past collide with independent stars of the present (well…2010). If you can pick this up anywhere and it’s cheap enough it’s an easy recommend from me.
Top 3 Matches
3) Davey Richards vs Kevin Steen (****)
2) Brian Kendrick/Paul London vs GenerationMe (****)
1) Jushin Liger vs El Generico (****)