March 23rd, 2018
Opening Match: Rey Horus vs. Joey Janela
They avoid each other’s offense and roll around the ring trading small package attempts. Horus connects with a leg lariat and snaps off a springboard armdrag. Janela blocks a subsequent dive attempt with a chair shot. He lands a dive of his own. In the ring, Horus catches Janela with a flying leg drop and connects with a basement dropkick. Janela answers with a basement superkick and both men are down. Janela hits a death valley driver into the turnbuckles for a nearfall. Horus trips him up on the apron and lands a dive over the ringpost. Back in, Janela connects with a flying double stomp for a two count. Horus misses a double stomp of his own and eats a superkick. Janela hits a package piledriver for the win at 12:28. I don’t think everything that they attempted here worked, but they made the match as a whole successful through sheer tyranny of will. They worked incredibly hard and the crowd clearly picked up on that. They also established a fun energy which played off of the excitement of PWG being in a new building. ***
Match #2: Brody King vs. Eli Everfly vs. Jake Atlas vs. Douglas James
King runs wild with strikes at the opening bell. Atlas and James knock him to the floor and then have a fast-paced exchange. Atlas snaps off a series of great armdrags on James, who responds with a slingshot DDT. James lands a dive to the floor. Back in, Everfly and James have an awkward strike exchange that loses the crowd. Everfly runs up the ropes and takes down James with a headscissors. King hits a pop-up flatliner on Everfly and a corner cannonball on Atlas. Atlas hurricanranas King on the floor. He goes for a followup moonsault but King had moved away. That stunned the crowd. Everfly catches King with sliced bread on the apron. There’s a series of subsequent apron spots that don’t really go as planned. Everfly takes Atlas over with a spanish fly from the apron to the floor. James hits a brainbuster on the apron and no one cares. King lands a dive to the floor onto everyone. Back in, King lands a springboard crossbody onto James. Everfly hits a destroyer on James and then botches a reverse hurricanrana on King. King hits a psycho driver variant on Everfly for the victory at 13:09. This was a trainwreck. King was the only one who even remotely had his stuff together in any way. So much of the offense was dangerous even if done cleanly and the sloppiness just made for a nervous, disinterested crowd. More apron spots happened in this match than I would expect to see on an entire show. This is the kind of a match that can kill a crowd and there was nothing enjoyable about it. DUD
Match #3: Bandito and Flamita vs. Dezmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz
Xavier catches Bandito with a dropkick. Flamita snaps off a slingshot hurricanrana on Xavier. Wentz lands a corkscrew crossbody onto Flamita. Bandito heel kicks Wentz but Xavier prevents him from diving with a superkick. Wentz and Xavier showcase some double team offense. Flamita lands a standing shooting star press onto Xavier. Wentz lands a dive to the floor onto Flamita, who answers with a top-rope moonsault. Xavier follows with a space flying tiger drop. Bandito finishes the dive sequence with a corkscrew crossbody off the top rope. In the ring, Flamita lands a senton off of Bandito’s shoulders onto Wentz for a nearfall. Everyone trades offense. Wentz absolutely spikes Bandito with an ace crusher. Wentz follows with an assisted shooting star press onto Bandito for the win at 9:20. This was a tremendous spotfest that eschewed a heat segment altogether and did its best to get the crowd back into the show. I’m thrilled to see PWG using Wentz and Xavier, as they are criminally underrated as a team. The action never stopped and the incredible sequences built off of each other well. In terms of short, compact spotfests, this was about as good as you get. ***½
Match #4: Will Ospreay vs. Adam Brooks
Ospreay flips out of a hurricanrana and connects with a dropkick. Brooks spends some time mocking Ospreay’s mannerisms. They battle at ringside and Ospreay sends Brooks into a row of chairs. Ospreay takes control until Brooks fights back with a rope-assisted DDT. Brooks then settles in, working over Ospreay while mocking his offense. Ospreay punishes him with a handspring enzuigiri and a tiger feint kick. He catches Brooks with a corkscrew plancha to the floor. Brooks responds with a fosbury flop. Back in, Ospreay connects with a springboard lariat and lands a standing shooting star press. They have a tremendous strike exchange and Ospreay hits a stunner. He follows with a liger bomb. Brooks crotches him on the top rope and snaps off a hurricanrana. Brooks hits a tornado DDT and follows with a destroyer onto the apron. He connects with double knees to the back of the head but Ospreay won’t stay down. Ospreay finds life with an ace crusher for a nearfall. Brooks hits another destroyer and connects with a running knee strike for a two count. Brooks delivers a low blow behind the referee’s back and lands a swantan. Ospreay connects with a lariat and a backfist. Ospreay comes off the top rope with an ace crusher for the victory at 24:26. Ospreay is at his absolute best in these situations where he gets to show fire and be explosive with his offense. Brooks took command of the heel role and the tension between these two felt real. The exchanges were as innovative as they come in modern pro wrestling and the finishing stretch was thrilling to watch unfold. Perhaps the low blow was unnecessary and the match could have shaved a few minutes, but neither of those small critiques stopped this from being an awesome spectacle. ****
Match #5: Jeff Cobb vs. Jonah Rock
They have a shoulder block battle. Cobb connects with a dropkick but Rock fires back with a crossbody. Rock sends Cobb hard into the turnbuckles with an irish whip and takes over. Cobb comes back with a diving uppercut and impressively hits an overhead suplex. Rock connects with a few headbutts and hits a superplex. Both men are down. They trade strikes while standing up and then headbutt each other repeatedly. Cobb hits a german suplex but runs into a lariat. Cobb fires back with two german suplexes. Rock connects with another lariat and both men reset. Rock misses a top-rope moonsault and Cobb lands a standing moonsault. Rock answers with a senton for a nearfall. Cobb catches him and hits a running powerslam for a two count. Rock hits a brainbuster and lands a frog splash for the win at 15:57. Your mileage will vary based on how exciting you find watching two big men trade impressive offense. I’ve seen Cobb in this scenario before and they didn’t necessarily cover any new ground. If you remove the impressiveness of their offense given their size from the match, you aren’t left with much of a story at all and they didn’t really build to any nearfalls down the stretch. I imagine most will enjoy this one more than I did. **½
Match #6: Matt Riddle vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
They trade control on the mat and find themselves at a stalemate. Sabre settles in and seems to be getting the better of the mat exchanges. Riddle hits rolling gutwrench suplexes and adds a senton. Sabre anticipates a second senton and tries for a cross armbreaker. He hits a DDT and applies a submission where Riddle has to actually grab the bottom rope with his teeth to break the hold. Riddle powers out of another submission with a fisherman buster. He follows with a jumping tombstone and takes control. Sabre fights back with a pretty vicious penalty kick. Riddle catches him in a choke sleeper. Sabre rolls through the hold and catches Riddle with a bridging pin for the victory at 16:56. I wonder if I’ve just become desensitized to seeing these two wrestle each other since I’ve seen this pairing so many times. There was a lot to enjoy about this match, don’t get me wrong. I viewed a lot of what they were doing as a fun experiment as to how much of a jerk Sabre could be. However, the Observer nearly gave this match five stars and I didn’t see it that way at all. The action was unsurprisingly solid but I wasn’t blown away. ***¼
Match #7: PWG World Title: Chuck Taylor © vs. Keith Lee
Taylor gets on the microphone to inquire as to why the crowd hates him. Taylor then goes “I read on the internet this guy is going to WWE, what are you cheering him for?” Lee connects with some strikes around ringside but gets sent into the ringpost. Taylor takes control until Lee comes back with a powerslam. He biels Taylor across the ring. Taylor connects with Sole Food but runs into a spinebuster. Lee misses a moonsault off the middle rope and Taylor hits a swinging DDT. Taylor follows with a flying double stomp. Lee connects with a roaring elbow and both men are down. Lee hits the Spirt Bomb for a nearfall. Taylor crotches him on the top rope and hits the Awful Waffle for a two count. Taylor runs into another Spirit Bomb. Lee hits a jackhammer to become the new PWG World Champion at 17:28. The action was largely unexciting until they started trading finishers down the stretch. The crowd was thrilled to see Lee win the title at the very least. When you look at the excitement generated by some of the matches earlier on the show, this main event just felt unspectacular. **½
-Show Grade: B
–You Need to See: Ospreay/Brooks
–You’d Enjoy Watching: Bandito+Flamita/Xavier+Wentz, Riddle/Sabre, Horus/Janela
–You Should Avoid: King/Everfly/Atlas/James
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