Written by: Jim
Astonishing X-Mas
December 16, 2005
Alex Shelley vs Scott Lost
I really like this match choice and I’ll tell you why. Scott Lost just came off of a big loss at Chanukah Chaos. He could have easily bounced back with a match against TJ Perkins or someone else of that low stature for the easy win. Instead, they bring in the rare fly-in Alex Shelley. If Lost wins, it’s a huge win and he’s completely recovered from the Sky feud loss. Yet, if Lost loses, that’s two huge matches in a row that The Professional lost. A loss would send him in the Ronin level of stars. This match offered a fun beginning of mat work and comedy, a boring middle, but the action picked up for the indyerrific series of moves near the end. Both guys manage to kick out of each others big moves. In the end, Lost manages to make Shelley tap to the Lion Tamer version of the Sharpshooter. Despite some flaws, this ended up being a fun way to begin the show. Better yet, the result not only made sense, but it helped the PWG regular. 3 Stars.
Quicksilver and Top Gun Talwar vs Ronin and Nemesis
Man, where has Talwar been? He hasn’t wrestled since After School Special (Missed four shows). This was your typical undercard tag match. A lot of comedy early on with Nemesis being slightly funnier than Quicksilver and Talwar. By midmatch, they cut out the comedy and throw in nonstop action. It’s nothing spectacular, but it gets the job done. Ron proves to continue to be a decent talent in tag matches as he and Nemesis has some chemistry together. It’s not enough though as Quicksilver pins Ronin with the Silver Flash. Luckily, this is the end of Quicksilver’s non-push. 2 1/4 Stars.
Colt Cabana vs Scorpio Sky
The first half of this reminded me of Colt’s Final Battle 2005 match against Azriel. This time, it’s Colt who just wants to have fun while Sky is the one who’d rather just. It makes for some fun comedy, but Scorpio ends up legitimately injuring his knee before the story could reach a chapter 2. Scorpio tries to work the match, but eventually he can’t even stand, so Cabana works in some leg submissions before casually pinning Sky while he had a spinning toe hold locked in. Abrupt finish. The real injury killed this match. Pity. 1 3/4 Stars.
2 Skinny Black Guys w/Jade Chung vs Generation Next
First time 2 Skinny Black Guys are teaming since they lost the belts to SDDR at After School Special. I believe this is Roddy Strong’s PWG debut. This match was unofficially set-up by Jack Evans pinning Generico during ASW 2 weekend. Once you get past the obligatory dance off with Evans, you’re left with a match with nonstop action. Gen Next heels it up a bit, but not enough to make them into full blown heels. The final ten minutes is nothing but non-tag spots that keeps the fans interested. As long as you don’t mind tag rules being ignored, this was a lot of fun. If Strong wanted to make an impact in his first night in, he succeed. Gen Next wins after a botched Skipping a Generation (Can you say ‘Worst possible time to botch?) is followed up by a standing Phoenix Splash by Evans on Tornado. 3 3/4 Stars.
Joey Ryan (c) vs Chris Kanyon – PWG World Title
Joey’s first title defense. In a lot of ways, it really sums up what Joey’s title reign will be about. While Joey’s very over, the match doesn’t offer a lot of quality, it’s too long and there’s a BS finish to allow Ryan to retain the belt. In this case, a fake Mortis came out and distracted Kanyon after he delivered the Kanyon Cutter. This allowed Ryan to sneak up and roll-up Kanyon for the win. I hate to speak ill of the dead, but bringing in Kanyon was a waste of time. He was an average at best worker and beating him isn’t that big of a deal. Kanyon lives up to his Innovator of Offense gimmick by hitting several creative moves. The problem is that’s all Kanyon did. There wasn’t any rhyme or reason for the funky moves other than to be different. This whole post-death cult following Kanyon has is something I’ll never understand. Match sucked and the only redeemable quality was how much heat Ryan got. 1 3/4 Stars.
Samoa Joe vs Davey Richards
Since Super Dragon is busy tonight, Davey gets to try out his skills against Dragon’s toughest opponent. As expected, Davey took a huge beating. Even though it wasn’t a total squash, the only time I truly felt Davey was in control and Joe was in danger was after the lung blower spot. Joe seemed to be completely thrown off of his game instead of just standing back and letting Davey get in some moves like he did the rest of the match. Still, it didn’t matter though as Joe recovered and went back to killing Davey. I dug Davey’s brash overconfidence in locking in Joe’s STF/Crossface transition only to pay for it later when Joe did it too. In the end, Joe wins with ease after the Muscle Buster (No need for the choke). Davey looked good, but he was out of his league, just as he should be. 3 1/4 Stars.
Alex Koslov, B-Boy, Christopher Daniels and Petey Williams vs Chris Sabin, Frankie Kazarian, Rocky Romero and TJ Perkins
A lot of recent issues here. Sabin’s in the middle of a friendly series with B-Boy, but he still hates Petey. Petey’s still the foe of Team TNA (Sabin and Kazarian). Perkins and Daniels just had a match at the previous show. Koslov and Perkins just had a tag match a couple of shows ago. Meanwhile, Perkins and Rocky are buddies, so Romero will just go along with him. This was the comedic/lighthearted brother of the BOLA eight man tag. Instead of the vicious exchange between Dragon and Davey, you had a lot of comedy. Surprisingly, it’s the heel side (Daniels and company) that supplies the comedy. Early on, Petey creates a spot where he hip tosses all four babyfaces, two of his partners and even the referee. Later, all four heels takes turns hitting a dropkick on Kazarian and then dancing. It’s a bit on the long side, but it was so much fun. The best part is that in this comedy/spotfest, it served the purpose of continuing the Sabin/B-Boy feud. With Sabin getting the pin over B-Boy with the Cradle Shock, it evens the series 1-1. Awesome. BOLA eight man was better, but this was tons of fun. 3 1/2 Stars.
Before we move to the main event, I really must applaud PWG‘s match order. With the main event going to be so violent and hate filled, they smartly decided to have a fun match precede it. Not only does it help keep the show from feeling too much of one style, but it makes the violence of the main event feel more intense.
Super Dragon vs Kevin Steen – Guerrilla Warfare Match
The final match of the year is also the single biggest of the year. Just a quick refresh what Steen has put Dragon through in the past year. Countless attacks, beating Dragon in several matches, caused Disco Machine and Excalibur to turn on Dragon, got in his head to cost Dragon the PWG Title and the Joe/Dragon trilogy and caused Dragon to lose his killer mindset. Dragon’s rebound happened at BOLA where he attacked Steen after their match and the next night destroyed Davey Richards. Since then, Dragon had slowly been rebuilding his mindset with his tag title reign with Davey Richards. To get in Steen’s head, he had just cost Steen the PWG title. Now, this is the end of the feud, neither guy will accept defeat unless they’re killed. And that’s exactly what we got.
They had this heat filled brawl early on where they took one sick bump in the chairs after another. By midmatch, they’re in the ring and using chairs, tables and thumbtacks. Steen even put on the red Dragon mask to bring everything back to the beginning of the angle. By the end of the match, Dragon is fully recovered and is once again the biggest bad ass in PWG. Dragon went as far to pull Steen up in a few covers to make it clear that he won’t end the match until he kills Steen. It’s the revenge Dragon had been waiting for a full year. Handcuffing Steen, he gets the win after hitting the Psycho Driver on thumbtacks. Keep in mind this is with Steen being handcuffed, so he couldn’t protect himself. Steen is a bloody mess, thumbtacks in his head and unconscious as PWG closes out 2005. Steen came so close to ending Dragon, but in the end, he only made Dragon an even angrier bastard. It’s my second time watching this match and I still feel it’s the best match in PWG history. 4 1/2 Stars.
Overall
PWG ends the year with a huge show. After over a year, the Dragon/Steen feud ends with both guys being so much bigger stars than they were in late 2004. Could Kevin Steen have asked for a better first angle? He may have lost the feud, but he’s forever one of the bigger stars in PWG. It’s also kind of sad because Steen wouldn’t have another huge year for PWG until 2011. Thanks to being partnered with Davey Richards, already has something ready for him in 2006. With the Steen feud over, it’s time for SDDR to make a lasting impact in the tag division. The World Title match was a bust, but it was clear filler for Ryan. Thanks to Chris Bosh still being injured, they’re just delaying Ryan’s first angle as champion. Both the Gen Next/2SBG and eight man tag delivered in a big way. Scorpio’s injury resulted in one of the two duds on the show, but that’s another filler match. So I suppose it doesn’t matter much. Even with the few noticeable flaws, the positives outweigh the negatives in a big way.
Worth Checking Out
2 Skinny Black Guys vs Generation Next
Samoa Joe vs Davey Richards
Koslov, B-Boy, Daniels & Williams vs Sabin, Kaz, Romero & TJP
Super Dragon vs Kevin Steen
Avoid
Colt Cabana vs Scorpio Sky
Joey Ryan vs Chris Kanyon