PWG:  Cyanide: A Loving Tribute to Poison

12/11/10

Opening Match:  Peter Avalon vs. Willie Mack

Avalon tries a side headlock but runs into a shoulder block.  Mack uses his agility to hit a vicious shoulder tackle.  He nearly kills Avalon with a gamenguiri and connects with a few stiff chops.  Avalon catches Mack sleeping and takes him out with a dive to the floor.  In the ring, Avalon hits a basement flatliner but misses a springboard crossbody.  He recovers with a thumb to the eye and regains control.  Mack comes back with a sit-out powerbomb but gets caught with an enzuigiri.  Rick Knox almost falls on his face but miraculously uses the ropes to recover.  The man is capable of amazing feats.  Mack ducks a leg lariat and hits a modified ace crusher.  He connects with a slingshot dropkick and follows with a standing moonsault for a nearfall.  Avalon lands a springboard crossbody and drives Mack down to the canvas.  Mack misses a corner charge.  Avalon connects with shotgun knees and impressively holds on to hit a backcracker.  Mack answers with a hellish powerbomb for the win at 8:46.  The PWG crowd will have absolutely no problem getting behind Mack and he definitely made an impression in his debut.  Avalon put in a solid performance, but this match was more about showcasing the power and agility of Mack.  **½

Match #2:  Roderick Strong vs. Chuck Taylor

Taylor is adamant about avoiding Strong’s chops.  He actually puts on a fan’s hoodie, hoping that it might soften the blow.  Strong connects with a few chops in the corner.  Taylor tries to ground him to no avail.  Strong applies a submission while simultaneously connecting with more chops.  Taylor is able to find an opening with a dropkick but falls victim to a back suplex.  Strong hits a backbreaker and just boots Taylor in the face.  They battle on the apron and neither man is able to hit a big move.  Taylor armdrags Strong into some chairs and then lands a dive to the outside.  Back in, Taylor connects with a springboard dropkick.  Strong responds with a knee strike and hits a powerslam.  Strong elevates Taylor into a gutbuster but walks into a gamenguiri.  They exchange strikes and Strong hits a backbreaker followed by a saito suplex.  He applies the Stronghold but Taylor turns it into a pin attempt for a two count.  Taylor hits a uranagi and lands a lionsault.  Strong connects with a vicious gamenguiri and adds another backbreaker.  Taylor reverses a Gibson Driver attempt into Sole Food.  Strong responds with a thunderous superkick for a nearfall.  Strong follows with the Gibson Driver for the victory at 14:30.  While the match was extremely back and forth, they managed to keep the action interesting for fourteen minutes.  Taylor tried his hardest to comically avoid chops early on but fell victim to some vicious strikes throughout the course of the match.  They were able to generate a few believable nearfalls down the stretch and this ended up being a worthwhile exhibition.  ***

Match #3:  Brandon and Dustin Cutler vs. Johnny Goodtime and Johnny Yuma

Goodtime catches Dustin with a rolling senton but walks into a boot.  Yuma makes the Cutlers look like giants.  He snaps off a hurricanrana on Brandon and Goodtime adds a slingshot crossbody.  The RockNES Monsters hit stereo sentons on Brandon.  Goodtime finds himself in the wrong corner but manages to fight off both of his opponents.  Dustin plants Yuma with a slingshot spinebuster and fishhooks him with candy canes.  The Cutlers isolate Yuma until he spikes Dustin with a tornado DDT and makes the tag.  The RockNES Monsters utilize some innovative double teams.  Dustin elevates Yuma into a low blow.  Goodtime connects with a flying double stomp on Brandon and follows with a dive to the floor onto Dustin.  In the ring, Goodtime lands a top rope splash onto Brandon but runs into a flatliner from Dustin.  Dustin military presses Yuma over the top rope and onto Goodtime.  He follows out with a dive.  Back in, Dustin lays out Goodtime with a death valley driver.  Brandon adds a guillotine leg drop and the Cutlers hit Six Second Abs for a nearfall.  Yuma hits an ace crusher on Brandon.  A high risk maneuver from the RockNES Monsters ends badly.  The Cutlers hit a springboard spike tombstone on Yuma for the win at 13:39.  These two teams had solid chemistry together and I’m sure they’ve wrestled each other outside of PWG.  The RockNES Monsters are an entertaining team to watch and I look forward to seeing them in the tag team division in 2011.  The Cutlers came out of this match looking strong and I expect to see them win the PWG World Tag Team Titles next year.  Overall, this was an innovative and fluent match between two teams with a lot of potential.  ***¼

Match #4:  Brandon Gatson vs. Joey Ryan

Ryan berates the crowd before the match for not respecting him.  He claims that the “technical wizard” returns tonight.  Gatson connects with a spin kick and hits an STO.  He comes off the middle rope with a double axe handle but falls victim to an overhead suplex.  Ryan hits an armwringer over the top rope and follows with an armbar from the middle rope.  He works over Gatson’s left arm and blocks a handspring splash with a dropkick.  Gatson fights back with a stunner.  Ryan clotheslines him on the apron but he flips through the clothesline to avoid any damage.  Ryan avoids a space flying tiger drop and connects with a superkick.  He drops Gatson arm-first onto the apron but gets sent into the ringpost.  In the ring, Ryan avoids a slingshot ace crusher and applies a kimura.  Gatson is able to reach the bottom rope.  They trade pin attempts and Ryan connects with another superkick.  Ryan hits the Mustache Ride for a nearfall.  He whiffs on a dive to the floor.  Gatson puts him on top of two propped chairs and connects with an elbow drop from the apron.  Back in, Gatson lands a 450 splash but Ryan answers with a spinebuster.  Ryan escapes a quick pin attempt and synchs in another kimura for the victory at 17:16.  Ryan’s new style doesn’t deviate much from his usual offense, but he wrestled a smart match and did a fine job of working over Gatson’s left arm.  However, the contest felt a little long at seventeen minutes and dragged at points.  I’m also concerned that Gatson may have lost some of his momentum, as the crowd seemed pretty apathetic toward him.  **¾

Ryan coins himself the “Hollywood Submission Machine” and claims that he will make Claudio Castagnoli tap out when the time comes.

Match #5:  Brian Cage-Taylor and Ryan Taylor vs. Matt and Nick Jackson

The crowd is solidly behind the Fightin’ Taylor Boys.  The Young Bucks are too concerned with performing their signature pose and Matt gets caught with some stereo offense.  Nick tries to save him but his foot gets caught in the ropes.  Cage hits a delayed vertical suplex on Matt along with a russian leg sweep.  He slams Matt across Taylor’s knees.  Nick trips Taylor from ringside, allowing Matt to connect with a dropkick.  The Young Bucks isolate Taylor until he sneaks in a few well-timed strikes and makes the tag.  Cage connects with a corner dropkick on Matt and hits an olympic slam.  Matt misses a plancha and crashes into some chairs.  Cage puts Nick on his shoulders and Taylor takes him out with a dive.  In the ring, Nick double stomps Cage’s head and dropkicks Taylor off the apron.  The Young Bucks unload a barrage of superkicks but get taken down by a clothesline from Cage.  The Young Bucks recover with a crazy string of kicks.  They hit their rope-assisted DDT on Cage but he kicks out of a pin attempt at one!  Nick superkicks Taylor but he reverses More Bang for Your Buck by hitting a crucifix bomb on Matt.  Taylor hits Go 2 Sleep on Nick and Cage adds a discus clothesline for a two count.  Matt lays out Cage on the floor with a DDT.  The Young Bucks connect with multiple kicks on Taylor and hit More Bang for Your Buck for the win at 14:58.  This reminded me of the Young Bucks’ encounters against the Cutlers in that the action was extremely innovative and you never quite knew where the match was headed.  Cage and Taylor complement each other incredibly well and put together some great exchanges with the Young Bucks.  The tag team division in PWG is looking pretty good right about now.  ***½

Match #6:  Kevin Steen vs. Akira Tozawa

Tozawa takes out Steen with a dive during a pre-match promo.  They exchange shots around ringside and into the crowd.  Tozawa hits Steen with a Christmas present from under the venue’s tree.  Steen yells “I hate Christmas” and violently returns the favor.  In the ring, Tozawa lays in multiple strikes but can’t suplex his much larger opponent.  He lures Steen to the floor and tries a dive.  However, Steen catches him and almost murders him with a powerbomb onto the apron.  Back in, Steen takes over, going after someone in the crowd with an El Generico mask at one point.  Tozawa finally comes back after hitting an impressive body slam.  He connects with a bicycle kick in the corner followed by a flying knee strike.  Steen answers with a pumphandle neckbreaker and hits a corner cannonball.  Tozawa immediately gets to his feet and connects with three more bicycle kicks.  He saito suplexes Steen.  They battle on the apron where Tozawa hits a german suplex.  Tozawa follows with multiple kicks but can’t keep Steen down.  Steen finds knees on a swantan attempt and Tozawa hits another german suplex.  Steen pops up with a clothesline and hits the package piledriver for a nearfall.  They tease finishers and Steen hits a sleeper suplex.  Steen follows with two more package piledrivers for the victory at 19:20.  Tozawa follows up a tremendous outing against Chris Hero with an equally fantastic showing here.  There were definitely a few cringe-worthy moments as Steen beat the hell out of Tozawa.  The crowd was fully behind Tozawa, so his comeback was extremely entertaining.  From bashing each other with Christmas presents to the powerbomb and german suplex onto the apron, this match was a lot of fun and something that you will only see in PWG.  Tozawa will definitely be someone to watch in 2011.  ***¾

After ¡Peligro Abejas! and the Kings of Wrestling are introduced, Chris Hero grabs a microphone.  He wants to turn the main event into a title match.  Claudio Castagnoli suggests a compromise.  If ¡Peligro Abejas! put the titles on the line tonight, then he will give one of them a shot at the PWG World Title.  The deal is accepted by both parties and here we go…

Match #7:  PWG World Tag Team Titles: El Generico and Paul London © vs. Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli

London and Hero trade control on the mat.  Claudio enters the match and calls out Generico.  They exchange uppercuts and armdrags.  Hero tags in and pastes Generico with a roaring elbow.  Claudio catches London with a knee strike and the Kings of Wrestling isolate him.  He hurricanranas Hero and makes the tag.  Generico lands a flying crossbody onto Claudio but walks into a lariat.  The Kings of Wrestling now work over Generico until he hits a blue thunder bomb on Hero and tags out.  London back drops Claudio to the floor and flapjacks Hero.  He follows with a dropsault onto Hero.  Generico low bridges Claudio and lands a split-legged moonsault to the outside.  Hero connects with a roaring mafia kick on London.  Claudio giant swings London into a basement dropkick from Hero.  Generico ducks a bicycle kick and yakuza kicks Hero off the apron.  He adds another yakuza kick to Claudio but falls victim to a popup european uppercut.  London springboard double stomps Claudio and takes out Hero with a dive to the floor.  Claudio bicycle kicks Generico.  He goes for the Ricola Bomb but Generico reverses it into a code red for a nearfall.  Claudio catches Generico with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and Hero adds a roaring elbow.  London interrupts the KRS-1 and Generico rolls up Hero to retain the titles at 15:19.  Both teams complemented each other well and had great chemistry together as expected.  They didn’t waste any time and kept the action fast-paced.  London put in a solid showing and the action down the stretch was fantastic.  I also liked how they setup Generico as the next challenger to Claudio’s title in the pre-match promo.  This might have been a little bit better with more time, but these two teams still delivered a great main event.  ***¾

Claudio and Generico stare each other down after the match.  London thanks the crowd for their support.

London cuts an incoherent promo backstage with Generico.  He formally gives Generico the title shot against Claudio.  The cameraman has to restrain himself from laughing at multiple points.  

Elsewhere, Hero says that it has been a disappointing year for him in PWG.  However, he found success in other promotions with Claudio, winning the ROH World Tag Team Titles.  Claudio is also the PWG World Champion.  Hero says that he saw something different in his partner tonight.  He knows that Claudio’s #1 priority is his world title.  Hero suggests a possible match against Claudio at some point in 2011.

The Fightin’ Taylor Boys cut an hilarious promo to end the DVD.

Overall:  Cyanide: A Loving Tribute to Poison ends the year on a high note for PWG.  The undercard features a solid exhibition between Strong and Taylor as well as two entertaining tag team matches.  The show ends with two fantastic contests, as Tozawa’s stock continues to rise and ¡Peligro Abejas! have another worthwhile title defense.  There’s also some storyline advancements as Mack makes a successful debut, Ryan reveals his new persona, and Generico is setup as a future challenger to the world title.  Fairly effortless recommendation to end another highly successful year for PWG.