A Look at Highspots Tv- “Classic PWG”

From the double debuts of two Montreal favorites to the infamous headlock match, PWG has certainly had some oddball matches in its history with mixed results. Despite the fact that my PWG blog is dead (RIP), I can still look back at a number of interesting matches they’ve had over the years.

-Kevin Steen vs. El Generico (Free Admission- Just Kidding! 11.13.2004)

PBP: This is the debut for both men. They were supposed to wrestle Scorpio Sky and Quicksilver, but since they no showed, oh man, that slightly jarred the door open. Given what these two men have done in the ensuing years for places like PWG and ROH, you know these men kicked the door open, tore it off its hinges, and then urinated on it because they could. Steen attacks Generico right away with a series of clubbering blows. Back elbow. Chops and another forearm. Generico with a pair of armdrags. Boot blocked. Steen reverse whip. Headscissors by Generico. Boot. Springboard DDT. Steen heads to the outside of the ring and sits on a fan’s lap. Why not? Generico does a fake dive to a large ovation from the crowd. Generico misses a dropkick. Steen won’t let him back in the ring. Generico comes back in the ring. Steen hits an acecrusher. Stomp by Steen. Neckbreaker across the knee. Stiff blow to the back and leg drop. Crossface. Elbow drop to the back. Steen puts his head down. Generico boot. A second one blocked. Generico chop. Swinging DDT COUNTERED into a backbreaker by Steen. Steen with chops and another elbow drop. Chop. Steen back drops Generico. Boot to the back. Steen calls for a powerbomb. Generico boot. Steen clotheslines Generico in the back of the neck. Steen jaw jacks with the crowd. Another elbow to the back of the neck. Generico reverses a whip but misses a dropkick. Flip leg drop by Steen. Steen with some taunting kicks. Steen with a short clothesline. Swinging back suplex by Steen. Not sure I’ve seen him use that move before or since. Steen with a boot by Generico. Knee in the back and Steen holds onto the chinlock. Steen transitions into a traditional chinlock. Generico with elbows. Chops. Steen crotches Generico across the top rope. Enziguri. Sitdown powerbomb. 1-2-NO! Steen chokes Generico along the middle rope. Running charge. A second charge and Generico moves out of the way. Springboard moonsault as Steen is prone across the middle rope. Generico and Steen fire at each other. Generico dropkicks Steen and hits a leg lariat. German suplex. Steen hits a leaping knee strike into Generico’s back. Cover for two. Bodyslam turned around and Generico hits a Michinoku driver. Steen hits a stun gun and superkick. Cover for two. Steen with a chop and forearm in the corner. Whip reversed. Yakuza kick by Generico. Whip and another yakuza kick. Tope con helo. Steen sent into the apron. Steen guillotines Generico. Leaping flatliner back in the ring. Steen jumped in the ring for that. Sweet Moses. Package piledriver reversed. Steen hits it on a second attempt. 1-2-Steen lifts his opponent up. Uh oh. Generico is dead weight. Crowd chants “Ole.” Generico hits an exploder on Steen in the corner. Half nelson suplex. BRAINBUSTAH! Generico wins!

Analysis: These guys have had a lot of amazing matches. They’ve surely done better since, but this was a fantastic from two debuting guys. They did everything they could to get themselves despite never having been in Southern California before. Some very solid work from both men with Steen playing the trash talking heel and Generico the underdog babyface. I enjoyed what these two did and could see why they got future bookings.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: El Generico/13:32/***1/2

Bryan Danielson vs. James Gibson (All-Star Weekend 1, Night One, 04.01.2005)

PBP: Some mat wrestling to start as one might expect. Danielson lifts Gibson up by the arm and places him on the top rope. Clean break. Gibson works a headlock. Danielson sends him off but gets sent over into another headlock. Danielson with a spin kick to the midsection. European uppercut. Snapmare into a chinlock. Danielson with a knee placed in Gibson’s back. Gibson headlock takeover. Danielson tosses Gibson out of the ring. Dive to the outside. Danielson leaps over and hits a butterfly suplex. Gibson choked along the top rope. Danielson snaps him off. Surfboard. Snapmare and knee drop. Texas cloverleaf. European uppercut. Gibson forearm. Danielson chop. Gibson boot. Elbow to the top of the head. Danielson comes back with a series of kicks. Gibson sent back in the ring. Sitting abdominal stretch. Gibson hip toss. Danielson chinlock. Series of kicks back and forth. Backslide by Gibson for two. Danielson European uppercut. Gibson rammed head first into the top turnbuckle. Danielson with a forearm to the back. Back suplex turned into a cross body by Gibson. Swinging neckbreaker. Forearms by Gibson. Back elbows. Danielson rammed head first into the turnbuckle. Short clothesline. Leg drop off the middle rope. Vertical suplex blocked by a knee. Whip across. Danielson with a forearm. Butterfly suplex. Gibson grabs a guillotine choke. Danielson with an overhead throw. Gibson placed on the top rope. Danielson with a clubbering blow to the back. Super back suplex. Cover but Gibson puts his foot on the bottom rope. Danielson misses a headbutt off the top rope. Gibson with a running knee. Brainbuster. 1-2-NO! Texas Cloverleaf. Gibson works his way around the hold to insure Danielson can’t get to the ropes. Sunset flip by Gibson. Dragon suplex by Danielson. Into Cattle Mutilation. Gibson puts his foot on the bottom rope. Danielson calls for the Airplane Spin. Around and around he goes. Danielson is very dizzy and even dropkicks the corner. Gibson small packages Rick Knox. Small package exchange. Gibson has the Tiger Driver reversed.

Analysis: These two had a classic match five months later in Ring of Honor for the world title as Danielson claimed the world championship from Gibson. Some really good work and surprising comedy toward the end. Danielson showed a bit more of a vicious side and played more of a heel to Gibson’s underdog babyface. Then things got goofy with Danielson using an airplane spin and then dropkicking the corner. Very odd way to end the match and it took away from the match a little bit.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: James Gibson/20:46/***1/2

-PWG World Championship: AJ Styles vs. Kevin Steen (PWG Zombies Shouldn’t Run,08.06.2005)

PBP: Kevin Steen was in a feud with Super Dragon at this point, a feud that would ultimately go down as one of the greatest of all time. Steen attacks Styles right away. European uppercut and series of boots. Choking as Styles is prone in the corner. Another European uppercut and clubbering blow. Short clothesline. Double axehandle to the back. Elbow to the side of the head and knee. Another clothesline to Styles. Taunting boots. Styles with a back elbow. Diving forearm off the apron to Steen. Chop to Steen. Snapmare and boot. Never seen that before on the outside of the ring. Series of hard kicks. Styles transitions to forearms. Steen tossed back in the ring. Forearm from the champion. Backbreaker off the ropes. Steen comes back with a forearm. Off the ropes. Styles eventually connects on a dropkick. Steen sent into the top turnbuckle. Shoulder blocks by Styles. Snapmare and chinlock. Steen with elbows. Styles grabs a modified headlock. Elbows to the back of the head. Forearms. Steen with a knee to the midsection. O’Connor roll blocked. Styles turns around and applies an Indian Deathlock. Knees from Styles. Steen is taken to the apron. Forearm by Styles. Vertical suplex blocked. Steen grabs Styles and chokes him. Neckbreaker into the middle rope. Steen with clubbering blows. Elbow. Chinlock.  Boot to the back of the neck. Another running stomp. More choking along the middle rope. Back-to-back neckbreakers by Steen. Choking. Styles with a series of rights and lefts. Steen chop in the corner. Reverse whip. Steen boots Styles in the face. Styles catches Steen with a rana. Steen lifts Styles over his head into the corner. Back suplex right on Styles’s neck. Styles with forearms. Steen drop toe hold. Flipping leg drop. Boot to Styles’s head. Elbow to the neck. Steen with a  chop. Styles comes back. Uppercut by Steen. Shoulder blocks. Styles chop again. Steen boot. Another exchange of chops. Enziguri  by Styles. Charge met with a knee. Steen quiets the crowd… and begins choking the champion. European uppercut. Whip across. Styles ducks a charge and hits a chop from the apron. Springboard into a reverse DDT. Steen sent into the apron. Chop and dive attempt. Steen flapjacks Styles head first into the apron. Steen climbs to the top rope as Styles rolls back in the ring. Pumphandle bomb followed by a pumphandle backbreaker. Styles Clash teased. Steen gets knee’d in the head. Back elbow. Spin kick misses. Steen boot. Package piledriver countered. Styles headscissors blocked. Steen plants the champion down. Vertical suplex blocked. Styles neckbreaker. 1-2-NO! Steen pulls Rick Knox down as Styles heads to the top rope. Steen gives Styles a low blow. Styles rolls Steen up after something. Steen hits a gutbuster out of the firemen’s carry position. Moonsault gets two. Steen with a taunting elbow. Steen heads up to the top rope. Styles meets him up there. Steen headbutts Styles. Pele kick by Styles. Steen is in a good position for the Styles Clash. Steen grabs the ropes and ends up on top for three.

Analysis: Fairly lame finish to a blah match. Steen tried to work over Styles’s neck, but when the champion is unwilling to sell anything, it’s tough to get into the match. There was some good action throughout the match, but it seemingly went nowhere. This felt very much like a lot of AJ Styles matches in that there were good moves and action but not much else.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: NEW PWG World Champion-Kevin Steen/19:00/**3/4

Bryan Danielson vs. Claudio Castagnoli (Enchantment Under the Sea, 05.20.2006)

PBP:  This is a pretty infamous match in the history of independent wrestling. Some quick lock-ups don’t go anywhere. Test of strength. Castagnoli controls and gets a series of lateral presses. Knees to the upper body but Danielson bridges. Japanese stranglehold. Castagnoli brings him over. Danielson grabs the left arm. Stalemate. They take turns working the arm. Danielson grabs the surfboard but transitions into a chinlock. Danielson sunset flip gets two. Code of honor followed. Castagnoli hammerlock. Danielson out of the way. Danielson grabs one of his own.  Castagnoli applies a headlock. Danielson can’t counter out of it no matter how hard he tries. For whatever reason, Danielson doesn’t go to the ropes. Castagnoli stays with the hold. Danielson’s desperation, and thus the pace, picks up. Out of the hold. Danielson O’Connor roll and the victory.

Analysis: What a fascinating idea these two put forth by having that long of a hold. I don’t think it was altogether successful, but I bet people will remember this as “the headlock match” for all of time. Also, given that these two men are now in WWE, man, this is pretty crazy to think about. These two men have had a number of very good, and more traditionally great indie style matches, but this was definitely a curiosity. That finish literally came out of nowhere as Danielson went from being in a hold to winning in about a minute.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Bryan Danielson/16:48/**

-AJ Styles vs. PAC (All-Star Weekend IV Night One, 11.17.2006)

PBP: Pac looks completely different, I.e smaller than he does now. What a remarkable change in his physicality. Feeling out process as they stay basic. Styles with an armdrag. Hip toss blocked. PAC on his feet. Springboard into an armdrag of his own. Headlock takeover blocked. Styles brings down on the arm hard. Styles with a modified hammerlock. PAC brings him into the corner. Waistlock exchange. PAC headscissors out. Styles out. Another armdrag into an armbar. PAC with forearms. Whip reversed. PAC under the legs. Double takedown. PAC out. Styles nails a dropkick. PAC heads outside. Styles hits a charging forearm on PAC. Back in the ring for a two count. Styles hits a slingshot suplex. PAC with forearms. Styles hits a tilt a whirl backbreaker followed by a gutbuster. Styles applies an Indian deathlock. Whip across. PAC ducks a forearm and hits a one-legged side kick. Whip on PAC. Styles to the apron. Shoulder block. Vertical suplex blocked. PAC flapjacks Styles into the top turnbuckle and onto the floor. Asai corkscrew dive! PAC bodyslams Styles. Standing corkscrew press. Bodyslam and a cross armbreaker. Off the ropes and Styles catches him. Pair of backbreakers. Cover for two.  Styles climbs to the top rope but decides against it and kicks PAC hard instead. Into the top turnbuckle. Styles Clash blocked with a forearm from PAC. Styles headbutts him. PAC hits a beautiful top rope rana. Waistlock. Styles full nelson. PAC into one of his own. Tiger suplex gets two for PAC. Phoenix Splash misses. Clothesline misses. Pele kick from Styles. Styles Clash blocked once. Styles with clubbering blows. Piledriver. Immediately into the Styles Clash. 1-2-3.

Analysis: Styles’s indie matches in 2006 weren’t very impressive, and this was just a solid match. PAC was extraordinary at flying around the ring but didn’t yet possess the skill set to really have a full on great match with someone. If nothing else, this was a fascinating curiosity given PAC may have the potential to be a bigger star than Styles ever was in TNA. PAC’s improvement alone would make this a rematch worth having.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: AJ Styles/13:12/***1/4