PWG- The Perils of Rock n Roll Decadence DVD Review

-Taped from Reseda, CA

-It doesn’t matter who the hosts are because with the release of this show coming just one month after it took place, PWG HAS COMPLETELY CAUGHT UP ON DVDS! I never thought this day would come, but congrats and props to PWG.

-Brian Cage-Taylor vs. Peter Avalon

Match in Five Words or Less: Cage-Taylor Is A Beast

Match Summary/Analysis: Avalon and Marion Fontaine look like brothers. Cage-Taylor looks bigger than ever. We get a three way test of strength to start. Three you say? Rick Knox becomes involved in these shenanigans. He actually sells. Brandon Bonham (better known to long-time fans as Kermit the Frog) is on commentary. After controlling with basic stuff early, Avalon breaks out some high-flying, climaxing with a leg lariat that sends Cage-Taylor outside. Tope con helo. Alabama slam into a cover for two by Cage-Taylor. Series of whips and a European uppercut. Fallaway slam and posing. Jawbreaker and spriongboard crossbody by Avalon. Nearly killed himself on that one. Hard elbow by Avalon. Pair of tilt a whirl backbreakers get two. Dropkick sends Cage into the corner. Swinging DDT and both men are down. Up and over in the corner. Crossbody off the top gets two. Avalon goes for another springboard but gets hit with another board. Avalon out of the suplex and a boot to the face. Running flatliner on the apron. Back into the ring for two. Angle slam by Cage-Taylor. Outside/inside suplex. Avalon reverses and hits a series of kicks. Swinging neckbreaker gets two. He stares at his hand and goes for a suplex. Flip over. DISCUS LARIAT BY CAGE-TAYLOR! Texas cloverleaf while standing on top of Avalon. Quick tap and a solid win for Cage-Taylor. I think Avalon has a much better chance in PWG as a high flying babyface than a more subtle wuss heel. I also liked the definitive match this ending had instead of the seeming parade of roll-ups we had in the first half of BOLA. Solid opener with a good ending.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Brian Cage-Taylor/12:30/**3/4

-Willie Mack vs. Ryan Taylor

Match in Five Words or Less: Poor Willie

Match Summary/Analysis: Willie Mack goes from wrestling Chris Hero and El Generico to being back on the undercard. Hopefully, this is a chance for him to simply reestablish himself.  Taylor throws water at the fans. Chants of “RECYCLE!” Going to be a fun night. I can tell already. We surprisingly start off with some technical wrestling. Taylor goes heel and knees Willie in the gut instead of shaking his hand. Mack hits a sweet dropkick and knee drop. Mack really gets up on the dropkick. He wins a chop exchange and hits a quick lariat. Springboard dropkick and vicious punt by Taylor. More strikes. Crowd does not appreciate Taylor’s failed attempts at a surfboard. He drops him on his knees. Pair of kicks to the gut send Mack to the apron. Forearm exchange on the apron. High kick sends Mack to the floor. Mack sweeps Taylor. His head hits the apron hard. Into the apron goes Taylor’s head. Dive misses. A boot doesn’t by Taylor. Top suicida nearly sends Mack into the merch table. Slaps back in the ring. Mack hits a pimp slap. POUNCE! Mack dances around. Rana by Taylor gets two. Roundhouse kick. Mack catches Taylor and hits an acecrusher. LARIAT! 1-2-NO! Taylor comes from behind. Roundhouse kick. Elbow strike. Spinning kick to the back of Mack’s head. Two count. Up and over on a suplex. Boot and another chop. Spinning enziguri. Back drop driver.  Kick right to Mack’s head. 1-2-NO! Spinebuster by Mack. FROG SPLASH! 1-2-done. Great showcase for both guys. Taylor looks ready to break out at any time given the right circumstance. Mack… he could be the PWG champion by the end of 2012. I’m practically begging for him to be pushed hard next year.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating:  Willie Mack/16:19/***

–RockNES Monsters (Johnny Yuma and Johnny Goodtime) vs. Super Smash Brothers (Player Uno and Stupefied)

Match in Five Words or Less: Stupefied

Match Summary/Analysis: This would of course be the long anticipated PWG debut of the Super Smash Brothers. I’m appalled at how little I’ve seen of these two in 2011. No CHIKARA. No ROH. NO DG USA. Hopefully, this match shows why they deserve more bookings. Uno has lost weight. Dos is now permanently known as Stupefied and is in a little better shape.  Uno establishes his power early before some wacky team work with Stupefied. Yuma finally fires back with chops. And then a double chop appears to kill him. Vertical suplex. Blind tag. RockNES go to work.  Series of chops by Goodtime. Boot IN THE FACE!  More double teaming by the Monsters. Nice comeback from Stupefied. Uno with a powerful suplex followed by some spitting directed at Goodtime. Back suplex by Stupefied for two. Dropkick off the Irish whip. Double axe in the corner by Uno. Bodyslam, but not on his partner. Uno pulls a Captain Morgan and they pose. My God these two are awesome. Chinbreaker by Yuma. Uno grabs his leg. Back to work. Yuma kicks Uno and DDTs Stupefied. Monkey flip? Goodtime comes in as a house of fire. Boot from Uno. Whip messes. Flying kick by Goodtime. Stupefied sent into his own partner. Rana. Falcon arrow by Goodtime. 1-2-NOOOOOOOOOO! He did do the deal. Uno and Yuma tag. Foot stomp/neckbreaker combo from the Monsters. Stupefied holds on to his partner. Double neckbreaker gets two. Yuma sweeps Stupefied’s leg. And then chaos. What an incredible series of moves that follows. Everyone slowly gets up. Enziguri into an acecrusher by RockNES. Clubbering on Stupefied. Double kicks. Double forearms. They switch places. Exploder into the corner! This…is…amazing! Two count for Stupefied. Smash Brothers call for the finish. Yuma sends Uno into Stupefied. Tope suicida. Rocker dropper on the middle rope by Yuma. Hard punch by Uno. Alabama slam into a the knees. 1-2-GOODTIME BREAKS THE COUNT! Uno tosses Goodtime over. Remember when ROH had these guys and then stopped using them? Yuma pushes Unto off. Yakuza kick by Goodtime on Stupefied. DVD of Yuma right on top of Uno. This finally gets RockNES Monsters the victory. This has to be one of the best debuts for a major indy company, excluding international talent, in many years. The Smash Brothers hit a tape measure grand slam in their first PWG match. RockNES Monsters asserted their own improvement in the match as well. A fantastic showcase of two young duos. I’d go as far as to say that this is my favorite Smash Brothers match ever.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating:  RockNES Monsters/17:17/****

-Crowd politely asks for Super Smash Brothers to come back. Then everyone hugs it out. More chants. PWG should absolutely bring these guys back, but more importantly these east coast companies need to get their rears in gear and start booking these guys. This match illustrated just how much Stupefied and Uno have improved and the fact that they have actual personalities. They're like a junior version of Steenerico.

–Eddie Edwards vs. TJ Perkins

Match in Five Words or Less: Davey By God Richards

Match Summary/Analysis: This will most likely be completely different than the previous match. Perkins is making his return to the promotion. Even more importantly, DAVEY RICHARDS IS ON COMMENTARY! Put it this way. You all need to listen to the commentary to get any sense of its greatness. I’ll have to do my best to actually watch the contest. Some mat work to start. Quick dropkick sends Edwards down. Pace picks up. Leg lariat by Edwards. Running knee sends Perkins into a chair. Springboard over into a neckbreaker. Tree of Joey Lawrence. Hesitation dropkick. Kick by Perkins. Lungblower back in the ring. Pancake takes him down. Running kick.  Edwards hangs Perkins up and dropkicks him. Edwards with a nipple punch. Perkins responds with one of his own. Edwards again. Chop to the nipple. SHENANIGANS IN THIS MATCH! MY GOD, WHAT’S GOING ON!? Back suplex by Edwards. Strikes by Perkins. Hard chop by Edwards. Perkins gets out of the way and Edwards ends up the floor. Tope suicida. Perkins hits a dropkick to Edwards’ head. Excalibur is gone. Kicks and a standing twisting splash by Perkins.  Whip into the corner. Edwards gets his boot up. High round house by Perkins. Running knee from Edwards. Forearm exchange. Chops by Edwards. Perkins wants him to bring it. Kick to the gut. Chop by Edwards. Superkick showdown. LARIAT! Both men are down. Running knees blocked. Edwards twists Perkins’ knee hard. Back elbow as Edwards charges. Step-up enziguri. Backpack slam by Edwards. Cover right into a single leg crab. Perkins grabs the bottom rope. Charge misses. Perkins dives over. Sit down powerbomb. Death valley kick. Edwards roll-up for two. Double boots. Edwards rolls through into the crab. Perkins kicks away and applies a triangle choke. Edwards lifts  him, rolls him up, and gets a three count. If this was any longer, I’d probably hate it. I liked Edwards using Perkins own move against him to get the victory. This was just a solid exhibition that didn’t wear out its welcome. And Davey Richards probably helped with his sheer commentating presence.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating:  Eddie Edwards/13:52/***1/2

-They shake hands afterward. Code of honor?

-El Generico vs. Rocky Romero

Match in Five Words or Less: Old School PWG

Match Summary/Analysis: Between the returns of Romero and Perkins, it feels like an old school show. Romero’s jacket is a site to behold. Romero mocks the chants for Generico. Kick to the midsection sends Generico down.  Armdrag and Romero powders. OLE! Romero puts a cowboy hat on. Yee haw. Three armdrags. There goes Romero again.  Kick blocked. Chops by Generico. Into the buckle followed by ten punches. Backbreaker. Swinging DDT. Romero twists around and eventually nails a kick with his heel.  A little sugar for the fans. Hard exchange. Romero’s kicks focus on Generico’s shoulders. Continued work on the left shoulder. Based on his commentary, I’m convinced Brandon Bonham is high. After not getting a three count, Romero shouts at Knox in Spanish. Romero tries unmasking Generico. Crowd doesn’t like that. He honors Alex Koslov before dropkicking Generico. Irish whip but Generico fires back with clotheslines. Kick by Romero. A final clothesline by Generico. Roll over and a kick. Low bridge by Generico. Tope con helo. Generico climbs to the top and hits a beautiful crossbody. Uno-Dos-NOO!!! Kick by Romero misses. Blue thunder powerbomb gets two. Yakuza kicks whiffs. Romero hits a swinging DDT. Kick misses. Victory roll gets 2.9. Shining wizard! 1-2-NO! Romero insults Generico with slaps. Slap by Generico. Romero with paintbrushes. After a kick, Generico hits a yakuza. Jumping knee by Romero. Exploder into the corner. YAKUZA KICK! Romero into the flying cross armbreaker. Generico just gets his foot on the bottom rope. Kick to Generico’s head. Up to the top. Generico goes for the top rope brainbuster. Romero elbows his shoulder and tries the flying cross armbreaker again. TOP ROPE BRAINBUSTER! Match over. Very good match as you might expect from these two. Romero  is a highly underrated talent in the United States, so he was the perfect foil for Generico. This was almost like a placeholder until Generico could officially lay down a challenge for Kevin Steen’s PWG world title. Hopefully, that DVD will be in my possession soon. If not, someone gets curb stomped and flipped off.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating:  El Generico/17:41/***1/2

–PWG World Tag Team Championship: The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson)(champions) vs. The Dynasty (Joey Ryan and Scorpio Sky)

Match in Five Words or Less: Young Bucks Are A Dynasty

Match Summary/Analysis: There’s  been a decent amount of build-up to this match with these four taking turns attacking each other.  Bucks attack before the bell rings of course. Immediate heat segment on Sky. He comes back with a dive. Ryan quickly spears Matt Jackson before hitting an elbow on Nick. Legally in, he goes to town on both Bucks. Running kick and a pumphandle exploder. Right hand by Matt. Ryan sends the brothers into each other before hitting a release German suplex on Matt. Nick flips over. Swinging DDT. Ref blocks Sky from becoming involved as Matt works Ryan over with a chair on the outside. Heat segment on Ryan. Matt breaks out the springboard backrake to be a jerk. Rick Knox has to literally roll around with Sky to keep him from interfering. Nick Jackson does a crappy spinaroonie and gets superkicked. Sky takes Matt off the apron. He kicks Nick and springboard ranas him. Overhead belly-to-belly suplex to the outside. Kick by Nick. Bicycle knee by Sky. Back elbow by Nick. Rolling thunder blocked by Ryan. Double team maneuver leads to a two count. Whip and kick by Nick. Spinebuster by Ryan and it’s machine gun time. Butterfly kick by Matt. Sky taken off the apron. Double team facebuster leads to a two count. Ryan out of the Bucks’ finisher. Here comes Sky. Leaping rana. Matt meets him with a boot. Ryan accidentally superkicks his partner. Superkicks for everyone! Sky hits a bicycle knee on Nick. Leaping acecrusher into a dragon clutch on Matt. Superkick by Nick. This…is…ridiculous. Punch exchange between Ryan and Nick. Ryan SPEARS NICK TO THE FLOOR! SWEET JEBUS! Sky and Matt face off. Ryan superkicks Matt. Acercrusher but Nick pulls Knox away so as not to count three. Monkey flip takes Ryan to the outside. Sky takes Nick down. Matt takes Sky to the corner. Step-up knee by Nick. Tandem tombstone. 1-2-Ryan pulls the referee out. Wow. Series of counters. Nick hits a disgusting reverse rana. Quesadora by Matt. Sky small packages nearly gets three. Matt tosses Knox and low blows Sky. MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK! Bucks retain. Everyone really brought it in this match. I guess they saw what the two teams did earlier in the night, and they knew they had their work cut out for them. Not sure if this was better than the previous tag team match, but this was very enjoyable and had an incredible pace for 17 minutes. While the match did get a little superkick happy, this was very exciting and everything you could ask for in a PWG tag team title match.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: STILL PWG World Tag Team Champions- The Young Bucks/17:10/****

-Steen hits the ring and lays the Bucks out with chairs. Brawl between the Dynasty and Bucks continues to the back. Steen tells Knox to get the belts and chairs out of the ring. He says to get “Jim Cornette’s walking wet dream out here.” His words. Not mine.

-PWG World Championship: Kevin Steen (champion) vs. Davey Richards

Match in Five Words or Less: Battle Of The Champions

Match Summary/Analysis: Very noticeable that Richards does not have the ROH world title with him. This is also a rare chance to see the PWG world champion against the ROH world champion. Feeling out process as some fans decide to embarrass themselves. Series of kicks along all of Steen’s body. Dropkick sends Richards down. Drop toehold and somersault leg drop. Springboard kick as Steen is distracted by some morons in the crowd. Trailer hitch. Steen grabs the bottom rope. Richards continues working over Steen’s left knee. Strike and kick exchange. Richards with a kick. Lungblower from Steen. Cannonball! Discus elbow on the outside. Steen tosses a Generico shirt across the ring. Man, he really doesn’t like him. Steen walks all the way across and chokes Richards with the shirt. Whip in the corner. Richards sends him up and over. Enizguri and Steen is on the floor. Running kick. Back in the ring. Tope suicida. Dropkick to the side of Steen’s head. Exploder blocked. Another forearm exchange. Richards comes out the winner. Charging elbow and an exploder. Steen hits a DDT. To the floor and Richards is powerbombed on the apron. Pumphandle neckbreaker. Crowd wants Steen to kill. Swanton met with knees. Off the ropes with a running kick. Steen no sells. Elbows. Kick by Richards. Machine gun kicks as Steen is prone on the ropes.  Steen lifts him up and powerbombs him. Right into the sharpshooter. Dragon screw leg whip on the middle rope by Richards. Double stomp as Steen is stuck in the ropes. 1-2-no. Right into the ankle lock. Steen reverses into one of his own. Richards lifts up and applies a sharpshooter. Very cool reversal there. Running forearm. He places Steen on the top rope. Headbutts on the top rope. Superplex and he rolls over into a falcon arrow. 1-2-NO! Ankle lock. Into a German suplex. 1-2-NO! Richards sets up for the DR driver. More kicks. Steen spits in his face. Well, that’s gross. Richards kicks away. Steen slaps him. Kick to the gut by Richards. Superkick by Steen. Kick to the head by Richards. Two more and we have 1-2-NOOO! DR DRIVER! 1-2-NOOOO! To the apron. Steen kicks him. Oh God. PACKAGE PILEDRIVER ON THE APRON! Back in the ring for a two count. Superkick by Steen. A second to Richards head. To the back of the head. Overhead sleeper slam. 1-2-NO! Package piledriver into a rear naked choke. Richards is out. Knox calls for the bell. An excellent match from these two. Glad Richards lost clean and out Steen over.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: STILL PWG World Champion- Kevin Steen/20:13/****

-The Bucks attack Steen after the bout. El Generico seemingly makes the save for his former partner. They stare each other down. Generico points at Steen, points at the title, points at himself, and wants a title match. Fans want the bell rung. Steen kicks Generico in the groin. Steen cuts a promo and talks about kicking the Generico kid. He accepts a challenge for Steen Wolf but says there’s one condition.  It’s going to be a ladder match!

Line of the Night:  Davey Richards for using the following phrases: “Goddamn hippies,” “1970s style abortionaters,” and “Three drops of pee pee just came out.”

Finish of the Night: I enjoyed the counter in the Edwards/Perkins match. Really, every finish on this show was solid. No roll-up syndrome here.

MVP:  One of the rare times I won’t give it to a wrestler. Rick Knox officiated every match on the card. Even if he is “only” wearing a striped shirt and isn’t taking bumps, this is quite the feat. Props to Knox for taking care of business on this show.

The Verdict: Some might consider this blasphemy, but I thought this was better than BOLA and on the level of Eight. The two tag matches were some of the best you'll see anywhere in the world. The main event was excellent without being ridiculous. Even the opening matches were well-executed and set up some future events.

For more information on PWG and their upcoming shows, check out PWG’s website. To buy this and many other PWG DVDs, check out Highspots. Below is a list of contact information for both the website and me.

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