Earlier this week on twitter, I joked that I had the easiest job in the world because for this week’s column, I would be talking about how much I loved Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. But ironically, I’ve realised that it’s not as simple as it seems. It’s one of those things that’s hard to put into words, especially since I don’t want to just sit here and list a bunch of superlatives relating to the product. Like a kid on Christmas morning trying to calmly explain exactly why his new bike is awesome, I find myself not sure where to start with PWG.
This year’s Battle of Los Angeles is a prime example of why PWG is about so much more than great wrestling matches. The excellent two night tournament showcased everything that makes the SoCal promotion so unique – the sense of humour, the variety of talent, the red hot atmosphere and an unrivaled idea of what the fans want to see. That last one is pretty important. For the last twelve months PWG has been bringing in a glut of new talent, most of which have already endeared themselves to the Reseda faithful and put on a handful of great matches, making them worthwhile additions to the show. The promoters do a great job of tapping into the indie wrestling fan zeitgeist (great, albeit pretentious word) and figuring out what’s hot and what’s not. In a recent Q&A on the company’s message board, booker Super Dragon noted that while he liked the usually dependable Amazing Red, he didn’t impress in his PWG debut, citing ring rust, and thus hasn’t been back to the company, despite being an established name in the eyes of fans. Harsh? Possibly, but you can’t knock a company for wanting to maintain the absolute highest in ring standard they can, regardless of one’s previous achievements. Talents like Sami Callihan, Michael Elgin and the Super Smash Bros have been brought in after reaching a certain level of notoriety and delivering consistently elsewhere, making it feel as though the promotion has the best of the best from around North America. Simultaneously, they still present opportunities to local California standouts like Willie Mack, RockNES Monsters and others, giving them their own sense of identity – it really is the best of both worlds.
It wouldn’t be doing the roster justice to just say they’re a great group of guys from around the country. Going back to this year’s BOLA, which I watched this past weekend, the roster felt varied and eclectic; ticking all the boxes you could want ticked as an indie wrestling fan. From Drake Younger to Ricochet, Kevin Steen to El Generico, Sami Callihan to TJ Perkins, so many of the guys have their own unique “thing” – an identifiable specialty that gives each match a unique feel. I was watching the DVDs thinking PWG could probably pull off the somewhat underrated “Style Battle” concept better than EVOLVE. Matches like Ricochet vs. Michael Elgin are the perfect illustration of what a superb styles clash can bring to a match. On top of that, a robust and exciting tag team division means that the company offers something that the jaded fan has been very vocal about for a number of years now.
Much has been made of PWG’s live crowd, who can’t be given enough credit for really pushing the company over the edge in terms of excitement. There’s a sense of genuine love for the product as you watch these shows, with wrestlers trying to outdo each other in match after match of innovative action, commentators who love what they see, and fans who are just happy to be there. To paraphrase a comment Excalibur made in a recent issue of Fighting Spirit Magazine, talking about PWG fans; they go there with the idea that they’re seeing something they love, as opposed to the more grating indie fans you see, who go to shows with the attitude that it’s up to the wrestlers to impress them.
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla is a lot more than a company that puts on some fun matches. It’s the chuckles you get from the commentary, the passionate booing when The Young Bucks play air guitar, the eruption from the crowd when El Generico finally hits the Yakuza kick, the mid-match banter of a Kevin Steen bout, and a host of other little things that make this the most fun I’ve had with pro wrestling since I was nine years old and marking out for Scotty 2 Hotty. And let’s be honest, this is better. Sorry, Scotty.
Kevin Steen, who seems to have the time of his life at the company’s monthly shows both in the ring and at the commentary desk, summed it up better than I ever could in his recent Highspots shoot:
PWG, if it was a person, it would be like your best friend. As a company, there’s nothing better, and as a company there’s nothing more comforting than PWG, it’s a little bit weird to say but it’s true.
It is a fantastic company and there are a lot of positives about it. I do enjoy the aspect of it’s kinda like a no brainer action movie. You enjoy it because you can sit down and literally watch any DVD of theirs and with a lot of ease it will give you what you want. Lots of great in ring action with a great mixture of well known and local talent. At the same time this works for the PWG product because they do not wish to expand and they do not wish to grow technologically IE do more than put out DVDs. If they were to expand to say iPPVs and grow their fanbase, they would have to provide more. Yes, there are examples of long term storylines, but as the old Kevin Dunn formula states, leave the fans with between 1-3 things they can remember and the under card will take care of itself. That is the PWG model and it works because the fans expect that. There is however a large fanbase that wants more, such as compelling story telling and matches that have significance when it comes to win/losses. You don’t really have that with PWG. Which is fine, if that is what you want then it’s great. But if you’re looking for more then it will not hold up. Great wrestling is great wrestling, but sometimes it needs more than just a great in-ring presentation.
DR. Gboco, gbocotemple@yahoo.com I wanted to inform you of something. Okay, I currently live with my ex-boyfriend’s mom because her husband and my ex moved to South Carolina. Well, you performed the love retrieval spell for me. I work 3rd shift and when I came home this morning, my ex’s truck was in the driveway. I just got up and we chatted for a few minutes and he told me that he was moving back home. I just wanted to share this good news with you.