Written by: Jim
Passive Hostility
December 2, 2006
Ronin vs Matt Sydal
The more I see of Ronin, the more I think the bookers of PWG was crazy to give him so many high profile wins. It’s one thing to have high profile indy stars put over your local talent, in fact, it’s great if they’re good. Ronin isn’t. Sydal manages to get in some good looking moves while selling the neck early on. The neck selling is particularly good since it plays into the finish of Ronin nailing in a damn painful looking lariat followed by his death valley driver. There’s a few botched moves near the end, but other than that there isn’t anything technically wrong with the match. It’s good enough for an opener, but enough of putting Ronin over the much more talented stars. 2 Stars.
Rocky Romero vs Davey Richards
A hard-hitting contest that really got the crowd into the match. They tell a good story with Davey injuring his ankle when Romero moves out of the way and Richards kicks the ring post. This played into the end when Rocky is trying to make Davey submit to the ankle lock. The only problem with that story is that the injury happened early in the match and by time the ending came, they had stopped focusing on the injury. It’s about on par with the matches Rocky had during All Star Weekend 4 though. 3 1/2 Stars.
Frankie Kazarian and MCMG vs Arrogance and Scorpio Sky w/Jade Chung
Before the match, Sky changed the rules to lucha tag rules. That little change would seem like a smart idea as they wouldn’t need to worry about tags when the chaotic end with everyone getting involved happens, but the rules never really comes into play. At one point, Scott Lost even does the hand slap to fake the tag when the referee has his back turned. Unlike some CHIKARA tags, they didn’t have the drama of someone rolling out of the ring to get a tag. Still, this is yet another story-driven match with Frankie Kazarian vs Scorpio Sky. MCMG were less impressive than in other late 2006 PWG tag matches. However, the match is good enough to keep the show on a high note. Sky getting the pin on Kazarian is yet another good angle move that PWG desperately needs to get back to doing on a regular basis. 3 Stars.
Claudio Castagnoli vs Chris Hero
Fun fact – The Kings of Wrestling fought each other on the first PWG show of the year at Cruisn’ for a Bruisin’ . Now they’re wrestling on the last show of the year. This is supposed to be Claudio’s last PWG match before going on to the WWE, but we all know how that went down. Claudio gets a good amount of streamers thrown at him for his entrance. He even wears the streamers for gloves to start out. These two have so much natural chemistry together that creates a good match, but it feels as if they hold back. It’s not bad by any mean, but it’s not as good as the expectations for it would be. The finish of Hero winning with a standing moonsault came out of nowhere. 3 1/4 Stars.
While Hero and Claudio are celebrating in the ring, The Dynasty runs in and attacks them. We’re given an unofficial teaser to the Ryan/Hero feud that would happen two and a half years later. Scorpio Sky accepts Frankie Kazarian’s challenge for December 16th in a loser’s leave town match. Meanwhile, thanks to Dino Winwood and Claudio changing his travel plans, Claudio will wrestle one last time before going to the WWE. The Kings of Wrestling vs Arrogance on December 16th. For various reasons, the show was forced to be canceled though. Sky vs Kazarian would be pushed back to the first show of 2007, Based on a True Story. Meanwhile, since Claudio didn’t get to work for the WWE, this angle would serve as buildup to his match against Chris Bosh at 2007’s Guitarmageddon II (The second show of 2007). Thanks to ROH, fans would finally get to see Kings of Wrestling vs The Dynasty this year at From the Ashes as Scott Lost and Scorpio Sky challenged KOW. It’s not quite the same as Arrogance, but it’s cool that a version of the match eventually happened. Normal PWG booking problems aside, I love that they’re trying to set-up so many different matches.
Disco Machine vs Bino Gambino
I believe this is Bino’s PWG return with a new heel attitude. I love the attitude even if Gambino is a horrible wrestler. Speaking of horrible wrestlers, Disco Machine is also in this. Joy. I believe Disco’s young son was in the crowd during the match, so it was difficult to totally hate Disco. Bino’s forearms are some of the weakest I’ve ever seen. This was about as bad as I thought it would be. Luckily, they kept it short. 1 Star.
Joey Ryan (c) vs Human Tornado w/Candice LaRae vs Kevin Steen – PWG World Title
While Ryan’s matches were often a disappointment during his title reign, I still love his character. At the start of the match, he left the ring to take a seat so that he could heckle Steen and Tornado. After several minutes of this, Torando hits a great dive on the outside to surprise Ryan. The fun continues with Steen and Tornado teaming up to just punish Ryan. Everyone from Candice, the ring announcer (Sadly, not John Ian) and the loud black girl who hates Joey gets free shots on Ryan. This was mostly just a fun revenge match that Ryan has deserved for screwing over so many challengers. After Steen ran to the back to chase The Dynasty away, Joey Ryan nails Tornado with a steel chair. Legion Larry (Who’s at ringside) yells “You’re a cheater!”. The referee badly botches the finish as he counts Tornado’s shoulder up as a two count instead of it being the actual finish. Ryan’s forced to his Tornado again with the chair. Legion Larry “You’re more of a cheater!” Click here to enlarge The referee DQ’s Ryan and gives Tornado the win. Everyone in Reseda was calling BS and it was a badly botched ending. This is what happens when you have a young inexperienced referee instead of Rick Knox. Still, I enjoyed the match even if it was mostly just a handicap match. Ryan continues to showcase his character of doing anything to retain his title while the feud between Ryan and Tornado heats up for the end at the next show with their Guerrilla Warfare match. 3 Stars.
Super Dragon and B-Boy (c) vs El Generico and Quicksilver – PWG Tag Titles
This is a good example for what PWG’s problems in tag matches that are meant to last a long time. The beginning drags on with nothing really happening. If you’re not capable of keeping up a match for nearly 30 minutes, trim the match down. I’ve noticed that this happens in Super Dragon’s matches more than anyone else in the company. It’s as if Dragon thinks he’s good in long matches. News flash – he isn’t. The normally great Cape Fear come off looking weak as Dragon controls most of the match. Quicksilver kicking out of so many moves was a big deal though. Overall, this is the weakest Dragon/B-Boy tag match of 2006. An exciting finish and the great moment of Cape Fear winning the belts does help though. 3 1/4 Stars.
Overall
PWG ends 2006 with a new pair of tag champions, some solid matches and the Dynasty helping PWG use angles on a regular basis. There’s only one really bad match which goes by pretty quickly. Davey vs Romero not surprisingly steals the show while everyone else was just gearing up for the big feud finales at Based on a True Story. Despite nothing must see, it’s slightly above the overall quality of most other B-shows from this time period.
Worth Checking Out
Davey Richards vs Rocky Romero
Cape Fear vs B-Boy and Super Dragon (For the title change)
Joey Ryan vs Human Tornado vs Kevin Steen (For Ryan’s beat down)
Claudio Castagnoli vs Chris Hero
Avoid
Disco Machine vs Bino Gambino