PWG Cruisin’ For A Bruisin’ 1/7/2006

Written by: Jim

Cruisin’ for a Bruisin’
January 7, 2006

Chris Hero vs Claudio Castagnoli
After having a great debut at Zombies Shouldn’t Run, Claudio finally got his ass back in PWG. The first ten minutes is nothing but friendly European wrestling. They took several breaks to shake hands, each time you knew that one of them were going to turn on the other. The greatness kicks in when Claudio turns on Hero and really heels it up. I found this five minute period was the strongest of the match. Once Hero made his comeback, things got a little wacky with some comedy that didn’t have a place in the match and some of Hero’s moves. Claudio ends the match in style by low blowing Hero, but Hero still manages to get the win after being launched in the air and he hurricanrana’s Claudio for the three count. They broke this match down to different periods nicely. A steady improvement on their end of the year Passive Hostility match. 3 1/2 Stars.

TJ Perkins vs Alex Koslov
A rematch of sorts from the eight man tag at Astonishing X-Mas. While this had some fun mat wrestling, it dragged on a little too much for me despite only being twelve minutes long. Unlike Hero/Claudio, they didn’t tell a story so the entire match is just in first gear. A great moment was seen with Perkins kicking Koslov in the head hard enough to cause Koslov’s hat to go flying off. Perkins won with a surprise cover of some sorts. Good, but it’s lacking some basic drama. 2 3/4 Stars.

Top Gun Talwar and Los Luchas vs Disco Machine, Ronin and Nemesis
My God…Los Luchas suck so much. It seemed like every other move one or both of them did was either botched or sloppily done. The only exchange sequence I dug was Talwar vs Nemesis. Nemesis continues to be such a great new asset to PWG and a perfect wrestler for the undercard. Despite being a heel, the fans have warmed up to him nicely. Of course, that means Nemesis has to be pinned by Los Luchas after their double Senton finisher. 1 3/4 Stars.

Okay, so this marks the second annual (And last) show where the PWG fans got to pick the challenger for the PWG Title. Last year, Homicide won over the likes of Bryan Danielson and others to have a complete bore with Super Dragon. This year, Human Tornado won over Rocky Romero (Second place), Chris Hero, Scorpio Sky, Chris Sabin and B-Boy. Joey Ryan believes the voting was rigged, so he refuses to put the belt on the line. This brings Dino Winwood out to order Ryan to put the belt on the line AND the title can change hands on DQ/Count-out AND the special guest enforcer will be Scorpio Sky. You gotta love the Ryan/Winwood feud.

Joey Ryan (c) vs Human Tornado w/Jade Chung – PWG World Title
A huge improvement on the terrible Ryan/Kanyon match from Astonishing X-Mas. This was all storyline with Ryan sexually taunting Jade Chung and creating tension between Ryan and Scorpio Sky. Tornado’s a great opponent for Ryan since he has the comedy (All of the nut shots), the fast pace and the big spots. The result is a really fun match that results in Tornado being sent into Scorpio Sky holding a chair (He took it away from Ryan) to allow Ryan the cheap victory. It’s more or less the Michaels/Taker/Hart angle from Summerslam 1997, but done a little differently. After the match, you have Scorpio and Tornado get in a shoving match due to Tornado blaming Sky for the loss and Scorpio only allowing himself to take so much abuse before he pushes back. It’s angle city, baby! 3 Stars.

A long promo follows, but the gist of it is that the returning Chris Bosh wants a title shot. Ryan refuses due to all of Bosh’s recent losses. Dino Winwood books Bosh in a #1 contender’s match against Scott Lost to settle that issue.

Chris Bosh vs Scott Lost
I love Arrogance. They’re among my favorite indy tag teams. Both Bosh and Lost are equally responsible for the quality of Arrogance’s matches. The problem with this match is that both guys are tag workers. They know how to put on a good tag match, but singles matches are different. That’s been the problem with Bosh’s singles push – he’s just not as good on his own. The second half is all moves…pause…cover…pause…repeat. At seventeen minutes long, it drags and I’m not entirely into the story. That’s the other problem with the match. Lost’s a heel and Bosh is a popular tweener. Yet, they’re still buddies. The fans may be on Bosh’s side, but there isn’t any real drama. It’s now been since Zombies Shouldn’t Run since we’ve last seen Arrogance in a 2-on-2 tag match. Anyways, Joey Ryan comes out at the end to distract a Sharpshooting Lost (He doesn’t want to wrestle him), but also prevents Bosh from winning (Really doesn’t want to face him). Ryan goes to super kick Bosh, but Bosh moves out of the way so Lost eats the kick. Bosh then wins with his closeline on the knee move. The angle interested me far more than the match. 2 Stars.

B-Boy vs Chris Sabin – 2 out of 3 Falls Match
This is now the third show in a row where they’ve met. B-Boy (During his peak) may be the single most irritating wrestler in PWG history. It’s as if B-Boy believes he’s the caliber of Ric Flair or Bryan Danielson. As a result, every one of his matches has to be long. Super Dragon is the same way, but he at least backs it up with some great matches now and then. I’ve never seen a great B-Boy singles match. He’s a guy who would be tolerable going 10-15 minutes max. Yet, for this match, they go thirty minutes over the course of three falls. The only times there was some good drama was after the first two falls (Sabin with a roll-up and B-Boy with the Shinning Wizard). However, that drama is ruined by going back to a slow pace for long periods of time before the next fall. However, the very most irritating thing about this match is the finish. B-Boy takes the time to set-up six chairs (2 rows of 3 facing each other) and pulls Sabin to the top rope. Everyone is expecting this crazy superplex spot that would have been a hell of a way to end the match. No, Sabin just punches out and turns it into a middle rope Cradle Shock for the win. The chairs didn’t serve any purpose. The fans hate that, I hate it and the more I think about this match, the more I dislike it. 1 1/2 Stars.

Super Dragon and Davey Richards (c) vs Cape Fear – PWG Tag Titles
The debut of El Generico and Quicksilver as Cape Fear. This is a great example of how to work a long match. In fact, it’s ten minutes longer than B-Boy vs Sabin, yet it doesn’t feel nearly as long. The reason for that is because there’s a purpose for the time length and the match has a story. The idea is that Cape Fear is fast and loves to fly. They’re faster than SDDR and they have more impressive dives. For SDDR, their best shot at retaining the belts is just to ground Cape Fear and slowly wear them down. The end result is a long match where Cape Fear barely gets a chance to fly. The story is backed up by the fact that when Cape Fear manages to pick up speed, they take over. Even the dominant Super Dragon struggles when Generico or Quick is diving from all angles. Yet, SDDR’s great strategy is almost ruined by a moment of miscommunication where Davey walks right into a forearm by Dragon. Another positive for this match is the tag rules. Rick Knox enforced the rules from beginning to end. Each team had a moment where they had the match won, but Knox refused to count because the wrong man was covering. AWESOME! Each wrestler gets a special moment where they’re able to kick out of a finisher, resulting in everyone looking great. In the end, Quicksilver kicks out of a Psycho Driver, so Dragon has to pull out the big guns and beat him with the Barry White Driver to retain the belts. This is SDDR’s first match where I felt they were justified in having a long match. Not surprisingly, it’s their best up to this point. Cape Fear may have lost, but in their debut, they came so close to beating the champs. 4 Stars.

Overall
Well, PWG has officially entered 2006. The beginning, the very middle point and the ending were all very good, but there’s a lot of crap to sit through. The biggest problem with PWG at the start of 2006 is poor match making. They’re not using some of their wrestlers to the best of their abilities. Take Chris Bosh for example. Great tag talent, but he just can’t deliver much when he’s working singles matches. B-Boy is watchable, but if you give him a long amount of time, he’s the ****s. If SDDR/Cape Fear is added to PWG Sells Out Vol. 3, there wouldn’t be a reason to buy this DVD. As good as Claudio vs Hero was, they had better matches in 2011. Tornado/Ryan was fun, but they had a legit PWG MOTYC in 2007. Angle wise, it is a good show though. The Bosh/Ryan feud has forced Scott Lost to be in the middle of it. Ryan now has a few title defenses lined up. PWG has begun the Scorpio Sky/Tornado program that would have some good twists and turns in it. Cape Fear began in a huge way. The short Sabin/B-Boy series is thankfully over. Meanwhile, after four months of successful title defenses, the SDDR dominance is becoming clear. As far as recommendations go, I’d only suggest picking this up when Highspots has it on sale for 5 dollars or spend the full amount if you’re a big Kings of Wrestling, Cape Fear or SDDR fan.

Worth Checking Out
Chris Hero vs Claudio Castagnoli
Super Dragon and Davey Richards vs Cape Fear

Avoid
Top Gun Talwar and Los Luchas vs Disco Machine, Ronin and Nemesis
Chris Bosh vs Scott Lost
B-Boy vs Chris Sabin