Pro-Wrestling Guerrilla – Steen Wolf – 22nd October 2011
By the end of 2011 there were two classic matches on the independent scene that divided the hardcore fanbase alike. You could almost tell who was a ‘PWG guy’ and who was an ‘ROH guy’ by which they preferred. They featured the same two guys, blowing off the same feud, in two separate promotions which have meant so much to their careers both individually and collectively. Of course, I’m talking about the legendary Kevin Steen/El Generico feud. In ROH it raged all of 2010, went all round the country, dragged guys like Colt Cabana and Steve Corino into it and culminated in their Mask vs Career Fight Without Honor at Final Battle 2010 – which to this day remains one of my favourite ever Ring Of Honor matches (it’s top 3 for sure). Yet as we passed October of the following year, you had a significant portion of the fanbase saying ‘PWG’s was better’, or that they ‘preferred the PWG ladder match’. I’ve still never seen PWG’s conclusion to the Steen/Generico feud, so couldn’t be more excited about reviewing their PWG World Title Ladder Match that main events this show. The rest of the card looks a bit patchy for a Pro-Wrestling Guerrilla event but with Willie Mack facing Davey Richards, Chuck Taylor squaring off with Ricochet and Future Shock challenging for PWG’s Tag Titles in their debut we should still get some good action. Excalibur is in Reseda, CA.
Peter Avalon/Freddy Bravo/Ray Rosas vs Candice LeRae/Chris Kadillak/Famous B
This is my first time seeing four of the competitors in this match. At the last PWG show I reviewed (Seven) Avalon and Candice had some hysterical exchanges so I’m looking forward to seeing those two lock up again. As for the rest, in any other promotion I’d be a little sceptical about so many new guys I’d not been exposed to before in one match – but very few promotions are as good about picking, nurturing and promoting new local talent as PWG so I’ll keep an open mind.
Avalon is super over in Reseda, and has definitely packaged on a little muscle since Seven. Rosas starts with Famous (who can’t tie his boots properly) – and there’s nothing wrong with anything they do. Kevin Steen is on commentary and points out the significant Lucha Libre influence on their stuff. Bravo slides in next, decked all in American flag themed gear despite being Mexican. Kadillak steams into him with some impressive striking which really gets the crowd going for the first time. Avalon refuses to give the crowd a Spin-aroonie and demands that he gets his hands on Candice again. She breaks out her own version of the Violence Party on him in the corner for 2. The PWG crowd win me over once again by chanting ‘Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go’ at Candice as she wears TMNT-themed gear. Bravo and Rosas start working her over for their team captain – seemingly focused on making it hard for her to breathe. B comes to her aid…then pumps her up as she dives into a TOPE TORNADO DDT TO THE FLOOR ON AVALON! CORKSCREW TOPE BY KADILLAK! ROPE RUN SUICIDE DIVE BY ROSAS! Famous B rounds out the dives with a running moonsault onto everyone! They pile into the ring next, with Rosas and Peter joining forces to get the better of B…until LeRae drop toeholds one into the other in the corner. SHOOTING STAR CANNONBALL by Kadillak! Bravo (just about) headscissors his own partner into a spear on Chris. Ball-Plexes for all three opponents by Candice! SWANTON/FROG SPLASH COMBO by Kadillak and Famous! Their team wins at 11:40
Rating - *** - This was actually a little slower than some other PWG multi-man curtain jerkers I’ve seen, and it really benefited from it. Of course we still got plenty of crazy spots, but reigning things in a little allowed everyone to show a little more personality and really connect with the crowd first. Candice remains a wonderful, beautiful and thoroughly entertaining performer of course and continues to be the heart of these tags…and Peter Avalon is a riot as the over-excited little heel dweeb worker. But credit should go to the four debutants, who didn’t hit everything cleanly but didn’t show too many nerves and busted out some tremendously exciting moves.
Rocky Romero vs TJ Perkins
I mentioned a lucha influence in the last match and we’ll definitely have more of that here. Both of these guys have experience in Mexico…and more to the point are well-travelled, vastly experienced performers all over the world. Both of them live in this area I believe, so this is something of a treat to get them in their own local region showing off skills they’ve learned and honed all around the globe.
Apparently these guys have been rivals since they trained together in the LATE 90’s! Rocky comically drags referee Rick Knox into the action, and he finds himself on the receiving end of plenty offence from Perkins. The Forever Hooligan tries to leave the ring to escape…only to be sent crashing into multiple fans off an elbow suicida. He uses his strikes to try to negate TJP’s speed, then solidifies that approach by targeting his leg. Soon the younger man is struggling to stand and trapped on the ground subjected to a barrage of chokes, stretches and strikes from his cunning adversary. Finally they break from that and do that hang in the ropes spot in tandem! TJ emerges from the ropes first and benefits from it to land a springboard dropkick. Detonation Kick blocked…so he drops Rocky with an anklelock instead. After a full minute where he sprinted around the ring using the leg for all kinds of offence, Perkins then randomly starts selling the leg again which is weird. Detonation Kick semi-botched…into a pinfall which is totally botched. I think that was supposed to be the finish – Rocky definitely didn’t kick out. 450 Splash missed, allowing Romero to hit a running knee strike. More random leg selling from Perkins…before he uses the leg again trying to apply a cross armbreaker. He wins with the Figure 4 Deathlock at 13:32
Rating - * - I’ve been harsh on my rating in this, because when you factor in how experienced these two are this was a shambles. Perkins’ selling was a disaster, and the whole match was littered with noticeable slips, communication errors and instances where they were well off their game – even before they got to that horrible botched Detonation Kick/pinfall spot. I like both guys but they were miles away from their best here. This match isn’t even listed on the DVD cover, perhaps with good reason.
Fightin’ Taylor Boys vs RockNES Monsters
I like both of these duos so hopefully this would should be fun. Johnny Goodtime’s partnership with Johnny Yuma in the RockNES Monsters is always a blast to watch, whilst the amusing ‘Fightin’ Taylor Boys’ posse have entertained me in the limited amount of time I’ve seen them. Tonight they are represented by Ryan Taylor and Brian Cage-Taylor, with Chucky T at ringside.
Both Ryan and Brian have both packed on significant muscle mass since Seven. Goodtime looks to use his pace to get the better of the heavier Cage from the opening bell. He hits an awesome combination leg drop/backbreaker to drop both the Taylors before tagging the feisty Yuma in. Chuck Taylor standing on the apron and trying to get into the ring like he’s working a 6-man is inherently very funny for some reason. He stomps in and admonishes the official after the Monsters use a flurry of double teams to pick Ryan apart. PRESS SLAM ON THE APRON from Ryan to Yuma! Goodtime then eats a swinging pancake/gutbuster combo to cement the Taylor Boys’ offensive advantage. It’s followed by Cage-Taylor’s powerbomb backbreaker for 2. Goodtime retaliates with a slick high angle, slow motion sunset flip driver on Ryan before getting the crucial tag to Yuma…who clears the ring of both opponents. STAGE DIVE TO THE FLOOR! POWERBOMB INTO A ROW OF CHAIRS BY BRIAN! Tumbling elbow suicida by Goodtime…flowing straight into a running somersault plancha on the other side too! He even manages a headscissors into the apron on Cage. Unfortunately for him BCT is right back up for a GERMAN SUPLEX INTO A PILE OF CHAIRS! Pumphandle facebuster gets 2 for Cage. RUNNING BOOT/TARANTULA COMBO by the Monsters! LAUNCHPAD KENTUCKY DESTROYER BY THE TAYLORS! Yuma saves…which is just as well because Goodtime is totally dead after that. He hits the Sex Factor on Cage only to get his face kicked in by Ryan. Goodtime sprints at Ryan and flash pins him for a huge win at 12:05!
Rating - *** - This is the kind of match people love PWG for. The spots were great, the comedy was on point and the whole match featured a unique dichotomy of opponents – all of whom have worked their way up the card in this promotion and therefore all of whom have organically earned the respect of the vocal Reseda crowd. Brian Cage is such a unique worker on the indies, and he produced a lot of the highlights of this one, especially when tossing around little Johnny Yuma.
Willie Mack vs Davey Richards
Mack hadn’t even been in PWG for a year at this point, but his remarkable combination of size, speed and power moves had already made him a popular act in the promotion. Davey hasn’t had the best of times since we saw him spectacularly retain the PWG Title at Seven. He was forced to vacate the belt because PWG simply couldn’t book him enough – and this is his first match since losing his big title rematch to Kevin Steen in September 2011. His goal here is a big win so he can’t start moving back into the title picture one presumes.
Excalibur talks about Willie being a fan of PWG before he trained to be a wrestler. His comparative lack of experience shows early as Richards easily drops him for an anklelock. Mack misses a pescado attempt, but lands on his feet and catches Davey’s soccer punt from the apron and drives him face-first into the apron. REBOUND LARIAT on the floor by Willie! His significant weight seems to have busted the bottom rope during that spot. Richards recovers by driving a knee to the stomach then peppering him with kicks all around ringside. Mack beckons Richards on, but inevitably drops to the ground again as the former champ continues to pepper him with his heavy-duty strikes. With the bigger man now down and knocked loopy, Davey is finally able to keep him grounded and start picking him apart with submissions (largely focusing on the arm at this stage). Super-slick Russian legsweep by Willie, although it hurts his arm delivering the move so he takes a while recovering. Richards slaps him in the face…and Mack SLAPS BACK! One-arm Michinoku Driver gets 2! Fatigue has to be playing a factor now though, and Willie struggles to capitalise. It allows Richards to once again tear into him with kicks and palm strikes. Slingshot basement dropkick by Mack (with arm selling again!), but he takes too long lifting his significant weight up the ropes. HEADBUTTS TO THE NECK! AVALANCHE BRAINBUSTER BY DAVEY! MACK F*CKING NO SELLS IT! He fights back up, bad arm dangling by his side, and begs Davey to go strike for strike with him. EXPLODER BY DAVEY! NO SOLD! EXPLODER BY WILLIE! NO SOLD! LARIATOOOOOO! ANKLELOCK! Mack struggles to reach the ropes thanks to his bad arm…but kicks his way free into a STANDING MOONSAULT FOR 2! Mack goes for a flash pin he used to defeat Chris Hero over the summer, but this time it fails and he gets dumped on his neck with a German suplex. Invader double stomp nailed! Richards stands coiled over Willie…and rocks him with a Buzzsaw kick as he fights to his knees! TWO COUNT! HALF NELSON SUPLEX NAILED! Mack is dead now, and his gum shield lies on the ground next to him. SLIDING ENZIGURIIIIIIII! Richards wins at 16:18
Rating - **** - Mack was in the middle of an angle whereby he continually wrestled the top guys in PWG and pushed them to the absolute limit (and actually won several matches). As part of that gimmick, this was a hell of a fight. Davey looked like he was trying to test Willie at all times. He had the edge in speed, submissions and wrestling experience…but Mack’s fighting spirit meant he refused to stay down, and his obvious power continually made him a real threat during his comebacks. The crowd really bought into it too, providing a genuine ‘big fight’ atmosphere throughout the match. In the context of the story they were telling I actually quite liked the overkill ‘no sell’ spots, and the finish which saw Richards decimating his courageous opponent was pitch perfect.
Davey puts Mack over, and says it’s harder to earn the respect of wrestlers when they know you were a visible fan of the company first. He says Willie earned his respect with that performance, then hypes up Future Shock’s debut later as well.
Joey Ryan/Scorpio Sky vs Los Luchas
Apparently this is the first time Los Luchas (Phoenix Star and Zokre) have been in PWG for quite a while. They have their work cut out against the last two remaining members of The Dynasty left in PWG tonight.
Zokre starts with Sky in an elongated mat battle. When the tags come Phoenix is far too quick for Ryan…so Joey opts to start knocking him around with strikes instead. Excalibur and Rick Knox talking about the differences between Joey and Scorpio without mentioning obvious racial one makes for hilarious commentary too. Zokre dives off the apron at Joey with a body press, knocking him out of the ring where he hides amongst the fans to take advantage of lucha rules. Body splash/moonsault combo on his partner instead though! Quite sensibly Joey opts to slow the place, trying to wind up the fans as he snares Zokre in a chinlock. Sky hits him with an awesome gutwrench, dead-lift slingshot suplex variant as finally The Dynasty start drawing some actual heel heat. Excalibur says some of the heat is because he deliberately announced to the crowd that the show had started late because Joey didn’t arrive at the building until late. Sky mows down Phoenix with a running somersault plancha…before Zokre wipes him out with some form of headscissors into the crowd. PEDIGREE ON THE APRON BY JOEY! SPRINGBOARD SOMERSAULT INTO THE CROWD BY STAR! Los Luchas nail a pop-up SPEAR double team for 2 on Sky. Ryan saves with a pumphandle suplex on Zokre…who soon retaliates with a reverse rana! Blockbuster over Star’s knees nailed! Sky knees him in the face and wins it with the Ace Of Spades at 13:21
Rating - *** - I really enjoyed this. The clash of styles between Ryan and the Los Luchas played out really well. There were some sloppy moments but mostly they held it together well, and worked a neat little hybrid of lucha rules alongside classic American tag formula. They probably peaked a good couple of minutes before the finish though, and the crowd barely reacted to Sky’s win at all. I think this was the first match back after intermission though, so as far as popcorn matches go this was GREAT.
Ricochet vs Chuck Taylor
Apparently these guys have a feud going back years across several indies, although as I don’t watch many promotions within which they compete on a regular basis I’ve had no exposure to their rivalry. That said, these two are always supremely entertaining and are sure to be going all out looking to produce something spectacular for the PWG audience.
Both men go for the PWG Title belt, which is suspended from the ceiling for the main event. Even when they start wrestling each other they keep sneaking glances and jumping at the title. More comedy as Chucky informs the crowd that this is a ‘feeling out process’. Most of the wrestling in the early going doesn’t actually go anywhere, but thankfully these two are both so charismatic and entertaining that time just flies by. The general theme they are going for is that Taylor is a devious mind, bending rules and generally working more of a marauding style…but every time some distance opens between them and Ricochet is able to increase the pace his opponent simply can’t live with him. Chuck thinks a grounded strategy is in his best interests…so is thoroughly annoyed when Rico counters his leg grapevine into a submission of his own. He sells aforementioned annoyance by kicking the bottom turnbuckle…then recoiling in pain to sell the leg – a lovely little touch. As he recovers from that the Dragon Gate star absolutely NAILS him with the handspring reverse hurricanrana. Ricochet’s annoyance at the crowd cheering Taylor and booing him is pretty funny too. Taylor misses a moonsault press…and eats a somewhat sloppy rebound cutter. Sole Food nailed, but no sold by Rico so he can hit a standing moonsault. He tries a springboard move next…only for Taylor to counter with a ROPE RUN HIPTOSS! Lawn Dart…into a Black superkick for 2! Both men fight over the ropes – and it’s Chucky that comes off best as he hits an inverted DDT on the apron. RUNNING CORKSCREW PESCADO by Ricochet! Nobody is selling anything in this match though and Taylor pretty much gets right back up, walks into the ring and wipes him out right back with a somersault plancha. Now Ricochet is back up…HANDSPRING MOONSAULT PRESS TO THE FLOOR! Chocolate Rain COUNTERED to the Cross Crab! When his opponent refuses to tap, Taylor decides it’s time to show him up with a ‘triple moonsault’. That turns out to be a regulation moonsault…which misses. Ricochet then totally sells him up with a BACK FLIP TORNADO DDT! Shooting star press gets 2! Taylor thinks fast to block another top rope move…and drags him down into the AWFUL WAFFLE! Ricochet kicks out though, to the delight of the crowd. Up the ropes we go with Ricochet kicking Chuck in the face, then polishing him off with the 630 Senton at 20:08
Rating - *** - It’s a testament to the charisma and talents of both guys that this was as enjoyable as it was, despite being a pretty f*cking terrible wrestling match. By this point both guys were emerging as pretty big names on the independent scene. Ricochet was starting to get serious exposure in Dragon Gate, whilst in DGUSA Gabe was high on Chuck. Premier indy talents like these two should be better than a juvenile spot match, whereby nobody sells anything (even by PWG standards) and the match is basically just an excuse to show how many flips and dives you can cram in. Ricochet was starting to LOOK like a star by this point. But it was the improvements on his fundamentals and in-ring story-telling which took him from perfectly entertaining but ultimately shallow and meaningless spotfest junk food matches like this to one of the best junior heavyweights on the planet. Plenty of fun moves, but absolutely zero substance to go with them here, so it’s hard to go higher than 3* on the rating.
Young Bucks vs Future Shock – PWG Tag Title Match
Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly make their Pro-Wrestling Guerrilla debuts here, having made a big splash in Ring Of Honor and the east coast indies throughout 2010 and 2011. They were clearly extremely talented kids even at this stage, and this one takes on greater historical significance when you consider that both of them would go on to become PWG Champions in the future. Tonight, though, they are a young team being brought in to challenge the utter dominance of PWG’s tag division by the Bucks.
Davey Richards is on commentary to watch his protégé/room-mate O’Reilly. Kyle sets his stall out early and decimates Nick with a flurry of MMA strikes, much to Davey’s delight. STEREO Fujiwara armbars by Future Shock! Cole then tope’s O’Reilly into the Jacksons as Davey and Excalibur belittle ROH on commentary, despite Davey being ROH’s f*cking World Champion. ASSISTED SHIRANUI ON THE APRON takes out Cole! The Bucks start going into their bag of dirty tricks to get the better of the youngster, keeping him away from his partner in the opposite corner. Just in case you missed that they were cheating, Nick starts blatantly stealing Eddie Guerrero spots which I like. Kyle comes to his partner’s aid with the double dragon screw…but is fighting on his own against the champs and soon gets punished with the handspring back rake. Seamlessly the Bucks have switched targets and now isolate O’Reilly instead. They do an even better job on him than they did on Cole and take great pride in pointing it out to Richards at the announce table. Finally Kyle gets knees up to block a springboard frog splash and opens the window to a hot tag. OCEAN CYCLONE SUPLEX INTO THE APRON from Cole to Nick! That move gives the challengers several minutes to work Matt over whilst Nick recuperates on the floor, and O’Reilly nearly wins the whole thing with a Regalplex at this juncture. Nick comes to the rescue with a dropkick off the apron…and hops off the top rope into a double stomp on Cole’s exposed ribs. DOUBLE slingshot facebuster…into Nick’s moonsault to the floor…whilst Matt HALF NELSON BACKBREAKERS Cole for 2! Rolling butterfly suplexes by O’Reilly, before a recovered Adam joins him for an ELEVATED DDT/GERMAN SUPLEX COMBO! MATT BACK FLIPS AWAY FROM TOTAL ELIMINATION! SUPERKICK ON COLE! SUPERKICK FROM O’REILLY TO MATT! FOUR WAY SUPERKICK DUEL! DISCUS LARIAT BY KYLE! ALL FOUR DOWN! The crowd are buzzing now, and solidly behind the debuting ROH guys. EARLY ONSET ALZHEIMER’S ON O’REILLY! ROLLING POWERBOMBS…INTO A BUCKLE BOMB on Cole. SPIKE TOMBSTONE PILEDRIVER! O’REILLY SAVES! Cole BLOCKS More Bang For Your Buck. SUPERKICK CHASING THE DRAGON ON MATT! FRONT CHOKE! Nick tries to break it but O’Reilly NO SELLS! FRONT CHOKE FROM COLE TO NICK! Crowd are right on the ring now thinking we’re seeing new champs! Nick escapes…and SUPERKICKS O’REILLY IN THE FACE! MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK! Bucks retain at 20:54
Rating - **** - Cole and O’Reilly debut in spectacular fashion, and have been booked pretty much permanently by PWG ever since. The Young Bucks deserve plenty of credit for their generosity here. They are legends in this company, so to let a couple pf (still relatively inexperienced) guys from another promotion come in and look this good against them isn’t something you necessarily see all that often in professional wrestling. What I really liked about this, particularly when compared to Ricochet/Chucky, is how much logic there was behind all the spots. Of course it was a spot-heavy match, and down the stretch it became completely insane. But they were definitely telling a story here too. Future Shock flew out of the blocks, fired up for their PWG debut and capitalising on the lack of familiarity their opponents had with their style. That didn’t last long though, and for the next ten minutes we saw the experience and slickness of the champs shine as they dominated. Only courage and heart saw Cole and O’Reilly survive that, and with both teams fatiguing it became about who could inflict enough damage with enough high impact moves first. Could the Bucks reel off their patented flurry of double teams spots to win, or could Future Shock force a submission. A well done to all four guys, and you can’t help but wonder how good this would be in 2014 given the improvements they’ve all made since this.
Davey Richards gets into the ring after the match and leads the crowd in a standing ovation for Future Shock. There is no way they weren’t getting booked again after this…
Kevin Steen vs El Generico – PWG World Title Ladder Match
In 2008 Kevin Steen quit PWG. It wasn’t because he didn’t love the promotion, it was simply that they didn’t pay as well, or run as often as Ring Of Honor and he didn’t feel that his body or his schedule could cope with working both. He only made a handful of appearances over the next couple of years. That was until he lost his ROH job at Final Battle 2010 – after a legendary Fight Without Honor against his former friend, and now hated rival El Generico. No longer with ROH, Steen marched back into PWG at the start of 2011 and went on a rampage which led him all the way to the PWG World Championship. Pro-Wrestling Guerrilla doesn’t have TV or the sheer number of live events to develop this feud as deeply as ROH could, but these two men have been working this company for far longer. The love they have for this place, and the bond they have with it’s fans isn’t replicated in Ring Of Honor. Tonight their bitter war comes to an end in PWG in this company’s second ever Ladder Match. Can Generico win back the belt he first held in 2007, or will Steen finally finish the job he started in another company in 2009 – and end the career of the Generic Luchador in the company that made them in the United States?
Most of the crowd doesn’t sit down, indicating how pumped they are for this. Generico is ready too, and spits right in Steen’s face to get the party started. Steen can’t get out of the blocks and is taken out with a tope atomico as he tries to run away. Watching the two men wield a ladder outside the ring, in a building with almost no room around ringside is a rather frightening prospect for the crowd. Steen is the first to go for the belt…and as Generico looks to stop him with the rope-run tornado DDT Kevin counters him with a backbreaker! He then sarcastically tips a ladder over into his stomach like an absolute prick. Generico is brutalised with the ladder now and welts quickly start to form all over his body. The ladder they are using starts to look really misshapen, particularly after the luchador tosses it into Steen’s HEAD. BACK BODY DROP THROUGH A LADDER BY STEEN! With Generico’s back now screaming in pain Steen doesn’t hold anything back as he starts kicking it. Steen is delivering a masterful heel performance so far. He’s done everything from pretending to help Generico up, stomping his hands as he tries to get up, to biting him…to some of the STIFFEST ladder shots you’ll ever see in your life. YAKUZA KICK THROUGH A LADDER! Out of nowhere the challenger comes to life, but his back is so mangled he can barely stand to follow it up. He hobbles around the ring, right into a LADDER-ENFORCED LUNGBLOWER! Amusingly, Steen’s weight causes the ladder he is climbing to BREAK under his weight…causing him to stumble backwards into a Michinoku Driver. SUPERKICK to block another Yakuza Kick to once again cut short a Generico comeback attempt. MICHINOKU DRIVER INTO AN OPEN LADDER! HALF NELSON SUPLEX ON A F*CKING LADDER!
El Generico goes for the belt…but his back is so messed up Mr Wrestling has time to recover – and shove him off into the top rope. Fans are actually digging around under the ring looking for more ladders now! GENERICO POWERBOMBED OFF ONE LADDER THROUGH ANOTHER! ‘He is f*cked’ – Chuck Taylor on commentary. Chucky has a point as blood is now visibly coming from his back. It doesn’t stop him hitting an EXPLODER SUPLEX into the turnbuckles. But even with his bell rung Steen frantically grabs at Generico’s boot to stop him going for the belt…and uses it to haul him outside for an APRON BOMB! Generico is an absolute mess, but still somehow he jumps OVER A LADDER INTO A TORNADO DDT ON THE FLOOR! This time he reaches the belt, before Steen drags him down and kicks him in the balls. GENERICO BACK BODY DROPS HIM THROUGH A LADDER ON THE DAMN FLOOR! And the crowd are so with this they groan and gasp in disappointment as El Generico collapses before he can climb the ladder. Just as he looks set to win the figure of Kevin Steen emerges from the bottom of the screen again…and tosses a ladder right into the injured back. With blood splattered all over his mask the challenger may well be finished. TURNBUCKLE BRAINBUSTAAAAAAAAAAH ON GENERICO! Everyone in the building is devastated as Steen has a clear path to the belt. But the Young Bucks run in! They destroy his legs with chairs…which the crowd absolutely sh*t on. After they’re done both champion and challenger are left crawling around on the canvas with very little left. Steen can barely climb a ladder with his knees now, but somehow he and Generico both clamber towards the gold. GENERICO WITH A SUNSET FLIP BOMB OFF ONE LADDER THROUGH A STACK OF THEM BELOW! GENERICO WINS! He rips some of the ceiling down, but he has the belt as well and is the new champ at 26:58
Rating - ****1/2 - One of the greatest, and most under-rated feuds in professional wrestling history adds another stunning and unbelievably violent chapter with this one. Kevin Steen was an absolute genius here, conveying hatred, disdain and disrespect for his opponent with every movement of his body. Generico is always amazing as a plucky underdog babyface, but Steen smoked him for character work here. The story they told was perfect, with Steen using his size to beat his former partner senseless – and Generico showing such heart and determination that he simply refused to lose. The fans were outstanding too. When it looked like Generico would win they would be jumping around, willing him to climb and so forth…and when Steen looked like he was going to win they groaned, sighed, and looked almost desperate for the masked man to stop him. Having said all that, I really didn’t like the Young Bucks run-in, and that’s the main reason why I didn’t go 5* on this as I did for the Final Battle 2010 Fight Without Honor. I know the ROH match had interference too – but that was from Cabana and Corino, who had been an integral part of the year-long feud. When the Young Bucks interfered, the response from the crowd wasn’t cheering or booing vested parties in a feud, their response was ‘why the f*ck are the Young Bucks here?’. The Bucks were attacking Steen, who had been a heel all match, and helping Generico who the crowd loved. Yet the audience roundly boo’d the Bucks. The fans left you in no doubt that they felt the contest had been spoilt somewhat by Matt and Nick’s presence. Despite that the match before it (and the awesome finish with Generico ripping the ceiling out in his desire to beat Steen) were absolutely brilliant and something you really should check out.
SIDENOTE – To provide some context to this match by comparing it with their famous ROH battles. Obviously I preferred Final Battle 2010. In fact, I felt that the Fight Without Honor was significantly better than this, and remains the best Steen/Generico encounter I’ve seen. However, this almost certainly takes it’s place at #2 on the list thanks to the awesome heel performance from Steen – putting it above the Last Man Standing Match from Showdown In The Sun Day 1 and the Ladder War from Final Battle 2012.
Generico is so beaten up he needs referee Rick Knox to separate the belt from the ceiling grate he’d pulled down…and as he sinks to his knees in celebration the Young Bucks come back to attack him as well. Their main focus is Steen though, and they brag about costing Mr Wrestling the title. Matt Jackson lays down a challenge for the next show – the Bucks want Steen in Guerrilla Warfare, and laugh that he doesn’t have a partner. The lights then go out…SUPER F*CKING DRAGON IS IN THE RING! CURB STOMP ON MATT! PSYCHO DRIVER ON NICK! The place goes insane for Super Dragon’s first PWG appearance in three years…as he helps his old enemy Kevin Steen to his feet. Steen says he has a partner – so it will be Steen and Dragon against the Bucks at the next show…
Tape Rating - *** - The fans chants of ‘show of the year’ are actually a little off the money for me. I loved the three matches I went 4* or higher on, and the main event is an absolutely fantastic watch. But actually, the rest of the card is pretty average as far as PWG goes. A bunch of low-end 3* matches, plenty of botches and a horrible Romero/TJP match make this far from the best Pro-Wrestling Guerrilla undercard I’ve seen. Having said all that, one can’t help but continue to admire this promotion for the dedication and desire everyone displays. From the fans, to the wrestlers – everyone leaves the arena after a PWG show having given everything they have. Workers toss themselves around the ring taking ridiculous bumps all night, whilst the fans sweat, drink, cheer, chant and occasionally take some pretty big hits themselves. This may not have been the best PWG show ever, or even the ‘show of the year’, but you can’t help but applaud a company that delivers such customer satisfaction on a show-by-show basis. The Steen/Generico Ladder Match, followed by the return of Super Dragon is amongst the most insane half an hour of professional wrestling you’re ever likely to see
Top 3 Matches
3) Davey Richards vs Willie Mack (****)
2) Young Bucks vs Future Shock (****)
1) Kevin Steen vs El Generico (****1/2)