February 16th, 2018
Opening Match: Adam Brooks vs. Brody King
Brooks snaps off a hurricanrana and tries a series of quick pin attempts to no avail. King runs up the ropes and snaps off an armdrag. The crowd goes wild. King trips Brooks on the apron and lands a dive to the floor. Back in, King lays in a few chops and hits a senton. Brooks responds with a flatliner into the middle turnbuckle. King anticipates a dive and just chokeslams Brooks onto the apron. He takes control until Brooks fights back with a reverse hurricanrana. Both men are down. They battle on the apron and Brooks connects with double knees. King rolls to the floor, where Brooks takes him out with a fosbury flop. Back in, Brooks hits a slingshot DDT for a nearfall. King responds with a piledriver for a two count. Brooks comes off the middle rope with a lungblower but King responds with a springboard dive. King hits a german suplex for a nearfall. Brooks blocks a springboard moonsault with knees and hits a destroyer. Brooks follows with a swantan for the win at 11:36. The crowd was amped to see King, a SoCal local who was making his PWG debut. Brooks was sloppy in the opening minutes and they had some miscommunication down the stretch. The crowd didn’t seem to care much, but the miscues certainly hurt their flow at times. It also felt like they went overboard on the nearfalls when they didn’t need to in the opener. **½
Match #2: Dalton Castle vs. Joey Janela
After an opening exchange, Janela absolutely freaks out at the sight of Castle’s signature pose. Janela feigns a handshake but takes a cheap shot. Janela lands multiple eye pokes and Castle recoups at the bar. Castle fires up with a suplex and connects with a charging knee strike. Janela lands a dive from the top rope to the floor. In the ring, Castle hits an overhead suplex but Janela answers with a german suplex. Castle anticipates a roaring forearm and hits a uranagi. Janela tries a knee strike but gets suplexed again. Janela snaps off a hurricanrana from the middle rope and applies a figure four. Castle is able to reach the bottom rope. He connects with multiple knee strikes in the corner and Janela is dazed. Castle german suplexes Janela from the apron into the ring for a nearfall. Janela fights back with a dive and a package piledriver for a two count. Castle avoids a double stomp and hits the Bang-a-Rang for the victory at 21:46. Unsurprisingly, I certainly wasn’t in love with this contest lasting twenty-two minutes. Their early comedy went over well with the crowd and set the stage for more serious action to follow. Unfortunately, the action never spiked in terms of intensity and they were left to just trade offense. This match wasn’t bad by any means, but it didn’t stand out at all. **¼
Match #3: David Starr vs. Travis Banks
Banks attacks before the opening bell and connects with a punt from the apron. He follows with a series of dives. Starr creates some space by sending Banks into the apron and lands a dive of his own. They exchange strikes around ringside. Starr misses a charge and collides with a propped chair. Banks connects with a diving knee strike from the apron. In the ring, Banks hits a corner cannonball and adds a nice double stomp. Starr responds with a brainbuster across his knee and a shining wizard. They exchange strikes. Starr hits a DDT onto the apron but eats a springboard enzuigiri. Starr fires back with a lariat and both men are down. Banks hits the Kiwi Crusher for a nearfall and transitions into a crossface. Starr backbreakers out of the hold. They battle up top and Banks hits another Kiwi Crusher for the win at 10:20. These two innovative wrestlers delivered a great showcase match. Banks was absolutely on fire here, creating some unique sequences and generally being unpredictable in the ring. They threw bombs at each other for ten minutes, which ended up being a lot of fun to watch. ***¼
Match #4: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Flip Gordon
Gordon gets cocky about his agility in order to frustrate Sabre early on. He catches Sabre with a baseball slide and lands a moonsault to the floor. Back in, Sabre is able to take the action to the mat and gain control. He specifically targets Gordon’s left leg. Gordon creates an opening with a springboard sling blade. Sabre tries for a quick sleeper but Gordon counters into a falcon arrow. They exchange forearms. Sabre anticipates a pele kick and applies an STF. Gordon fights back with a reverse samoan drop. He misses a standing shooting star press and finds himself in a triangle choke. Gordon powers out of the hold and lands a 450 splash for a nearfall. Sabre anticipates a springboard stunner and synchs in a sleeper. Sabre transitions into Orienteering With Napalm Death for the victory at 15:33. This felt like more of a showcase for Sabre’s submission game than it did any kind of showcase for the debuting Gordon. They had a reasonable gameplan in terms of telling a story, but that largely came undone due to Gordon’s complete unwillingness to sell the leg damage. Still, watching Sabre pick apart Gordon for fifteen minutes was entertaining. **¾
Match #5: Matt Riddle vs. Keith Lee
Riddle begins by attempting some submissions, but Lee fights them off. Riddle charges with forearm strikes but gets POUNCED the whole way across the ring. Lee connects with a stiff forearm and continues to lay in strikes. Riddle’s chest is bleeding. Riddle hits a fisherman buster out of nowhere, which really pops the crowd. Lee blocks a kick and hits a huge spinebuster. Riddle hulks up and hits a german suplex. Lee is on his feet! They stare each other down and exchange strikes. Lee takes down Riddle with a headbutt for a close two count. Riddle answers with the Bro 2 Sleep and a german suplex. He follows with a jumping tombstone for a nearfall. Lee lands a moonsault from the middle rope but Riddle kicks out at one! Lee hits the Spirit Bomb for a two count. Riddle powerbombs him out of the corner and connects with a knee to the face. Riddle starts reigning down punches out of frustration. Lee hits a jackhammer for a two count. They battle up top. Riddle knocks Lee to the canvas and lands a senton from the top rope. Lee quickly answers with another Spirit Bomb and hits a second jackhammer for the win at 18:27. This was excellent and likely my favorite match that they’ve ever had together. It’s not really about what they are doing in the ring, but how they present it. Aspects of the match like the strike exchanges or the ways they build to nearfalls are perfectly done to maximize crowd response. They may have lost a little steam down the stretch, but this was quite the thrill ride and required viewing if you’re a fan of either man. ****¼
Match #6: PWG World Title: Chuck Taylor © vs. Trent
They trade shoulder tackles as there seems to be some hostility between these two. They hug each other, but Trent tries a sneaky rollup to kill the mood. Taylor takes control and Trent seems to be favoring his left arm. The action goes to the floor where Taylor throws a chair at Trent’s face. Taylor sets up a pyramid of chairs in the crowd. He suplexes Trent off the stage and through the chairs. They slowly make their way to the apron, where Trent hits two consecutive piledrivers. Taylor answers with a piledriver of his own on the floor. In the ring, they exchange forearms and incidentally hug again. Trent is cut open above his eye. Taylor hits a powerbomb along with a liger bomb. Trent counters the Awful Waffle into the Dudebuster but he can’t cover quickly enough. Taylor hits Trent with the title behind Rick Knox’s back. Taylor follows with a piledriver for a nearfall. He tries a cradle piledriver to no avail. Trent will not stay down. Trent connects with a desperation lariat and hits another Dudebuster for a two count. He can’t bring himself to hit Taylor with the title. Taylor delivers a low blow and rolls up Trent to retain his title at 25:25. This was an exploration into Taylor’s character evolution, but they didn’t do enough to make the crowd truly care. A bloodied Trent doing whatever he could to fight off his former best friend should have been more powerful. At twenty-five minutes, the action dragged at a certain point and I think this being Taylor’s first defense took some of the suspense out of the contest. This main event never really came together. **
-Show Grade: C+
–You Need to See: Riddle/Lee
–You’d Enjoy Watching: Starr/Banks
–You Should Avoid:
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