April 20th, 2018
Opening Match: Rey Horus vs. Trevor Lee
Lee last wrestled at PWG in October, losing to Joey Janela. Horus attacks with a hurricanrana before the opening bell. Horus connects with a leg lariat and a single-leg dropkick. He runs up the ropes and snaps off an incredible hurricanrana. Lee pushes the referee into the ropes to crotch Horus. Lee connects with a penalty kick from the apron and takes control. Horus fights back with a gamengiri and a springboard crossbody. He lands a dive to the floor and throws a chair at Lee’s face. Back in, Horus hits a standing spanish fly. Lee connects with a superman punch and his mushroom stomp for a nearfall. Horus answers with an insane DDT for a two count. The crowd has really come alive. Lee tries a rollup with his feet on the ropes to no avail. Horus takes Lee down to the canvas with a roll-through cradle for the win at 11:39. They set the right pacing and vibe from the opening bell, making this a very good opener. Horus is capable of some incredible offense and that was on full display here. Lee’s presence felt fresh after an absence from PWG and everything came together well. ***
Match #2: Bandido vs. Taiji Ishimori
They begin with some chain wrestling and find themselves at a stalemate. They then pick up the pace and Ishimori wins an exchange with a lariat. Ishimori connects with a corkscrew enzuigiri and hits a springboard seated senton. These two seem like they’re on another level. They exchange kicks and Bandido hits a DDT. He follows with a fosbury flop to the floor. In the ring, Bandido lands a flying crossbody and connects with a go 2 sleep variant for a nearfall. Ishimori fights back with a double stomp out of the corner. He adds a lungblower for a two count. Bandido hits a pop-up ace crusher. Ishimori connects with a superkick but Bandido fires back with a charging uppercut. Both men are down. They trade forearms from their knees and Bandido tries a cross armbreaker, but Ishimori is able to power out of the hold. Ishimori blocks a top-rope moonsault and hits an implant DDT for the victory at 13:41. The first eight to nine minutes of this match were an absolute joy, with both men showing how unique and fluid they are in the ring. I thought the finishing stretch dragged in spots, especially because they didn’t have a story to hold everyone’s attention. However, in terms of a pure spotfest, this delivered big time. ***½
Match #3: Ringkampf (WALTER and Timothy Thatcher) vs. Violence Unlimited (Brody King and Tyler Bateman)
Thatcher and Bateman grapple for position on the mat while throwing in some striking. WALTER and King trade chops and shoulder blocks. King tries to get too fancy by walking the ropes and WALTER punishes him for it. Thatcher hits a gutwrench suplex on Bateman and Ringkampf isolate him. He catches Thatcher with a roaring elbow and makes the tag. King runs up the ropes and snaps off a double armdrag. He follows with a dive to the floor onto Ringkampf. In the ring, Violence Unlimited connect with a knee strike-lariat combination on Thatcher. He fires back with a saito suplex on Bateman. King wins an exchange against WALTER with a lariat and all four men are down. WALTER and King start trading very audible chops. WALTER hits a german suplex followed by a butterfly suplex on King. Ringkampf apply stereo submissions but King saves both himself and his partner. Bateman hits a brainbuster on Thatcher for a nearfall. WALTER levels King with a lariat for a two count. He adds a powerbomb but King won’t stay down. WALTER applies a sleeper hold on King for the win at 19:29. I suspect that I enjoyed this match much less than most people. Bateman and Thatcher added nothing to the action and this would have been more electric as a WALTER/King singles match. That’s not to say that the action didn’t have its moments, but all of those moments involved WALTER and King. This card, however, is officially on a roll. ***
Match #4: Robbie Eagles vs. Sammy Guevara vs. Morgan Webster
Guevara attacks both of his opponents from behind, but they quickly send him to the floor. Eagles snaps off a hurricanrana on Webster and connects with a spin kick. They trade control in an exchange that feels overly choreographed. Eagles takes out Guevara with a nice dive. Webster dives onto Eagles and then Guevara ends the dive sequence with a fosbury flop. In the ring, Guevara hits a neckbreaker on Webster, causing him to DDT Eagles. Guevara lands a standing shooting star press onto Webster for a nearfall. Everyone trades strikes and Webster hits a double reverse hurricanrana that wakes the crowd up. Webster hits an inverted DDT on Guevara but falls victim to a standing sliced bread from Eagles. Eagles attempts a 450 splash but Webster catches him in a guillotine choke. Guevara breaks up the hold with a shooting star press and he pins Eagles for the victory at 13:11. Most of the exchanges between these three felt overly choreographed and often failed to capture the crowd’s attention. Everyone certainly worked hard and these three are fully capable of stealing the show on a given night, but this one fell short of what they were aiming for I would imagine. **½
Match #5: Joey Janela vs. Jonah Rock
Janela tries repeated shoulder tackles but eventually runs into a crossbody. Janela is eventually able to take him down. Rock hits a pop-up samoan drop and military presses Janela into the crowd. In the ring, Rock takes control with a senton. Janela fights back with a sunset bomb out of the corner. He connects with a bicycle kick but fails to lift Rock. Rock hits a back suplex but walks into a superkick. Rock fires back with a lariat and a brainbuster. He misses a frog splash and Janela hits a death valley driver for a nearfall. Janela lands a moonsault from the top rope to the floor. Back in, he connects with a flying double stomp for a two count. Rock connects with a gamengiri and hits a superplex. He adds a powerbomb for a nearfall. Rock is able to land a frog splash for the win at 11:18. PWG seems to be pushing Rock but the crowd is not truly getting behind him. This felt like most of Janela’s matches against much larger opponents. He didn’t really display a discernible gameplan and instead decided to just throw bombs. That became fun to watch down the stretch but this was nothing we haven’t seen before. **¾
Match #6: Keith Lee vs. Adam Page
They dodge each other’s strikes and find themselves at a stalemate. Lee snaps off a hurricanrana but Page responds with an enzuigiri. He low-bridges Lee to the floor and connects with a dropkick through the ropes. Page misses a shooting star press from the apron and Lee overhead suplexes him onto the floor. In the ring, Lee takes control until Page sends him through two chairs with a shooting star press from the apron. Page connects with a slingshot lariat and lands a dive to the floor. He follows with a moonsault from the top rope. Back in, Lee hits a german suplex and lands a crossbody. Page reverses a jackhammer attempt into a small package for a nearfall. Lee hits a powerbomb onto the apron and then pounces Page into the fourth row. Page is able to beat the twenty count. They exchange strikes and Lee hits the Spirit Bomb for a two count. Page answers with a powerbomb out of the corner and a sick piledriver for a nearfall. He misses a moonsault but is able to counter a Spirt Bomb into a reverse hurricanrana. Lee quickly responds with Ground Zero for the victory at 21:25. The match was structured to give Page a strong debut outing, as he withstood plenty of Lee’s offense and they built to believable nearfalls. The more methodical pacing put a certain ceiling on the action, but the crowd generally stayed with them for the entire duration. I think Page is fairly underrated, so I hope we see more of him in PWG. ***¼
Match #7: PWG World Tag Team Titles: The Chosen Bros (Jeff Cobb and Matt Riddle) © vs. The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) vs. The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz)
Riddle hits rolling gutwrench suplexes on Xavier. They have a fast-paced exchange before tagging out. Wentz lands a springboard crossbody onto Nick, who responds with a dropkick. Wentz fires back with a standing shooting star press. Cobb hits a double spinebuster on the Rascalz. Riddle kicks Wentz into a german suplex from Cobb. The Young Bucks take over with their double team offense. Nick superkicks Riddle’s foot in an incredibly smart moment. The Bucks apply stereo sharpshooters on the Rascalz until the Chosen Bros break up the holds with stereo german suplexes. Riddle hits the Bro 2 Sleep on Nick. Matt hits a sliced bread on Cobb. The Rascalz now showcase their tandem offense and win over the crowd. Cobb takes them over with a double saito suplex. Nick starts unloading offense onto everyone. Matt lands a dive to the floor onto the Chosen Bros. The Rascalz follow with stereo dives. In the ring, the Bucks gain an advantage with multiple superkicks. Cobb interrupts a Meltzer Driver and hits a tombstone. The Bucks accidentally superkick the referee and the crowd goes crazy. Riddle wins a strike exchange against Xavier. Cobb powerbombs Wentz and launches him into a Bro 2 Sleep. A new referee comes out but Nick immediately takes him out with a swantan. Rick Knox comes out and has his final confrontation with the Bucks in Reseda. Xavier clotheslines Riddle. Wentz knees Cobb into a rollup from Wentz and the Rascalz become the NEW PWG World Tag Team Champions at 18:26.
They completely eschewed a heat segment and just went all out for eighteen minutes. Everyone worked well together and there were enough insane exchanges to bring the action to another level. Rick Knox and the Young Bucks having their final encounter in Reseda felt special, as that interaction has caused the roof to be blown off the American Legion Post many times. Aside from a few exchanges that came off awkwardly, it’s difficult to find much fault here. The Rascalz are exciting, fresh, and this felt like the right time to pull the trigger on a title change. This was the Young Bucks’ last appearance in Reseda and I would recommend seeking this out. ****
-Show Grade: A-
–You Need to See: main event
–You’d Enjoy Watching: Bandido/Ishimori, Lee/Page, Ringkampf/Violence Unlimited, Lee/Horus
–You Should Avoid: