PCW Ultra May The 4th 5/4/2018

Chelsea Green takes on Tessa Blanchard to determine the first ever PCW Women’s Champion. PCW Ultra Light Heavyweight Champion Shane Strickland defends against Douglas James in a match where Ricky Steamboat is the special referee. PCW Heavyweight Champion Penta El Zero M defends against Homicide in the main event.

PCW Ultra presents May The 4th
Date: 5/4/2018
From: Wilmington, CA

Opening Contest: ACH vs. Chris Bey: ACH fakes out Bey on a handshake and Bey acts like he’s devastated by it. ACH keeps Bey on the mat working over his left arm. They counter a few holds and the start is rather dull. ACH sweeps Bey followed by a double stomp and quick dropkick for a two count. ACH drives Bey down with a back suplex. ACH forearms Bey and chops him against the ropes. Bey comes off the ropes and is met with a clothesline for a two count. Bey counters a back suplex attempt but can’t get momentum. Bey elbows ACH after reaching the ropes but ACH hits a backbreaker and a German suplex for a two count. ACH continues to work over the left arm with a hammerlock and chin lock. ACH keeps Bey on the mat with another chop to the chest. ACH misses a splash in the corner and is met with an elbow shot. Bey clotheslines ACH followed by a dropkick. Bey tries to kip up but stumbles. Bey splashes ACH in the corner. ACH clotheslines Bey in the corner but Bey comes back with a rolling kick. Bey plants ACH with a jumping flatliner for a two count.

Bey hooks ACH for a suplex but ACH yanks down on Bey’s injured left arm. ACH attempts a brainbuster but Bey knee strikes his way free. Bey plants ACH with a cutter for a two count. Bey heads to the top rope but ACH grabs his boot. Bey avoids a flash kick attempt. ACH rolls through a top rope crossbody to hit a Death Valley Driver for a two count. ACH has Bey on his shoulders and goes to the middle rope. Bey elbows his way free and knocks ACH to the mat. ACH hits a flash kick and Bey crashes to the mat. ACH tries for a cover but can’t get a three count. They begin to trade more strikes in the middle of the ring. Bey kicks ACH a few times and hits a fisherman swinging neckbreaker for a two count. Bey heads to the top rope but ACH jumps to the top to hit a superplex and spikes Bey with a brainbuster. (***. The arm work early on wasn’t all that interesting, but once they finally worked the style of match expected from them it turned out to be a good opening match. Chris Bey is someone to keep an eye on. Guys like Myron Reed and Trey Miguel are getting a lot of attention and I think Bey is on the verge of that. Another thing to appreciate is that Bey didn’t forget to sell the left arm.)

Second Contest: Darby Allin vs. Eli Everfly: Everfly spin kicks Allin off the middle rope to the floor and takes Darby out with a moonsault to the floor! Everfly sends Allin into the guard railing. Everfly goes to the top after sending Allin back into the ring. Everly head scissors Allin to keep control of the match followed by a 619 to Allin’s back. Everfly continues with a springboard spanish fly for a two count. Everfly switches into an arm bar but Allin reaches the ropes quickly. Allin springboards off the ropes to arm drag Everfly and hits a Code Red for a two count. Allin uses the bottom rope to choke Everfly for a moment. Allin drops Everfly over the top rope and comes off the top to hit the Coffin Drop for a two count. Allin misses a running back splash hitting the post on the apron. Everfly comes off the middle rope to deliver a double knee strike for a two count. Everfly runs into the corner but gets dumped onto the apron. Everfly spikes Allin with a tornado DDT and switches to a quick DDT for a two count. Everfly has a chokehold locked in but can’t get a submission.

They begin to trade strikes with Everfly getting the better of the exchange. Allin dropkicks Everfly for a two count. Allin controls Everfly with a chin lock for a moment. Everfly hits a springboard inverted DDT for a two count. Everfly shoves the referee and gets shoved to the mat. Everfly goes to the middle rope but is stopped by Allin. Everfly is met with a few running elbow strikes by Allin followed by a monkey flip. Allin gets a leg submission on Everfly and keeps him down for a rollup managing to get a three count. (**1/2. I wasn’t expecting the finish to be so quickly, but the action was solid enough. Allin is an easy guy to watch and he’s one of the more enjoyable acts on the independents.)

Third Contest: Jeff Cobb vs. Hammerstone: They both do the suck it taunt early on. Cobb gets a drink and toss the water spitting spot to mock Hammerstone. Hammerstone grabs the same drink and dumps it on the floor. Cobb takes Hammerstone down to the mat with a slam. Cobb controls Hammmerstone on the mat for a moment as they trade some mat wrestling holds. Cobb gets a two count following another takedown to the mat. Hammerstone avoids a shoulder block by elbowing Cobb before he can come off the ropes. Cobb is worked over in the corner and Hammerstone delivers a knee strike. Hammerstone dropkicks Cobb in the corner and continues with a pumphandle suplex. Cobb stands up quickly and Hammerstone doesn’t realize it. Cobb tosses Hammerstone with a suplex across the ring. Cobb beats on Hammerstone with strikes in the corner. Cobb sends Hammerstone to the apron and is met with a kick. Cobb dropkicks Hammerstone on the top turnbuckle. Cobb hooks Hammerstone for a delayed superplex and hits the move. Cobb hits a standing moonsault for a two count. Hammerstone bails to the floor to regroup. Cobb follows delivering right forearms and chops.

Hammerstone kicks Cobb on the jaw and drops him throat first over the guard railing. Cobb is also sent into the post face first. Hammerstone goes to the top rope hitting a missile dropkick for a two count. Hammerstone dropkicks Cobb coming off the ropes. They begin to trade strikes. Cobb drops Hammerstone with a clothesline. Hammerstone quickly hits a German suiplex. Cobb hits one of his own and Hammerstone stops him with a big boot. Cobb delivers several strikes to drop Hammerstone to his knee. Cobb plants Hammerstone with a Samoan Drop for a two count. Hammerstone boots Cobb and sends Cobb into the corner with an overhead suplex. Hammerstone charges the corner to deliver a clothesline and knee drop. Cobb hits a spinning back suplex for a two count. Cobb drives Hammerstone down to the mat following a running powerslam. Cobb tosses Hammerstone over with a German suplex but is met with a boot. Cobb ducks a clothesline and is met with another boot. Hammerstone hits the Nightmare Pendulum for the win. (**1/4. The action wasn’t really grabbing my interest, but it wasn’t overly bad or anything. Hammerstone did well in there and I was quite surprised to see him win the match. He seems to be getting a lot of momentum in PCW. PCW has a good core of young wrestlers to build around.)

Don Vitalli comes out and there is a table setup in the ring. He introduces UFC Hall of Fame inductee Stephen Bonnar. Bonnar makes his way into the ring and is greeted with mostly silence and a few boos. It appears that Bonnar has made it clear that he is in PCW Ultra because he wants to be a wrestler. They have an open contract for a future match. Bonnar says that PCW is one of his favorite companies to watch. Bonnar says he is the reason that Fight of the Night was invented in UFC. He makes it clear that he’s coming for all the titles. Bonnar proceeds to sign the contract. I’m not sure how I feel about Bonnar wrestling. I’m figuring for the worse but hoping for the best.

Fourth Contest: Tessa Blanchard vs. Chelsea Green to determine the first-ever PCW Ultra Women’s Championship: There was never a tournament or anything this is just essentially picking two women and thinking they deserve the opportunity. Green offers a handshake but Blanchard is too cool for that. Early on, neither woman is able to get a clear advantage. Green head scissors Blanchard for a two count. Green controls Blanchard with a few arm drags and a dropkick to a seated Tessa sending her rolling to the floor. Blanchard blocks a suicide dive attempt with a right hand. Blanchard works over Green with a knee lift and drops her throat first over the middle rope but misses a running elbow strike. Blanchard dropkicks Green against the middle rope for a two count. Tessa keeps control on Green with a front face lock. Blanchard puts an abdominal stretch on Green but can’t get a submission. Tessa tries an overhead toss but Green lands on top for a near fall. Green fights back with a jumping backstabber, which looked like she barely hit it since she jumped really high on it. They begin to trade forearms with Green delivering a flurry of strikes. Green clotheslines Tessa a few times followed by a knee strike in the corner. Green goes to the top turnbuckle and hits a missile dropkick! Tessa bails to the floor to regroup.

Green takes Blanchard out with a suicide dive for a two count once they get back into the ring. Blanchard kicks Green onto the middle rope but Green breaks free and drives Blanchard face first onto the middle turnbuckle. Green tries for the Un-Prettier but Blanchard counters with a cutter for a two count. Blanchard heads to the top rope and misses a double stomp. Green delivers a boot to the face for a near fall. Green gets punched on the middle rope and Blanchard goes to the top rope hitting a hurricanrana! Blanchard goes for the cover but Green kicks out at two. Blanchard goes to the top rope but Green is able to kick her over the top turnbuckle and delivers a running knee strike. Green hits a Destroyer but Blanchard kicks out. Green and Blanchard trade strikes on the middle rope until Blanchard knocks Green off and hits a leaping Codebreaker for the win and title. (***. I’m normally not a fan of women’s wrestling, which if you’ve read my reviews over the years you’d know that. However, this was actually a really good match. I kind of rolled my eyes when they kicked out of some of the big moves, but it was enjoyable to watch and didn’t feel like it took forever to get through.) After the match, Blanchard celebrates her victory while Green didn’t sell the big spot all that long and did her character yelling on the floor.

Fifth Contest: La Rebelion (Bestia 666, Garza Jr. & Mecha Wolf) vs. Warbeast (Almighty Sheik, Brody King & Jacob Fatu): This is being promoted as being a six man war. They all stand in the ring and that leads to everyone brawling. Warbeast is dropkicked to the floor and they pull La Rebelion to the floor. Garza trips both King and Fatu on the other side and stomps on them. Garza sees Sheik trying to use a spike and delivers a superkick after a moment. Fatu gets stopped by a spear from Wolf and he takes King out with a suicide dive. Wolf does the same to Sheik on the floor. King catches Wolf on a second dive and slams him onto the apron. Bestia takes King out with another dive to the floor. Fatu dives over the top to take everyone out with a dive to the floor. Garza blocks a head scissors attempt from Catrina and powerbombs her over the top onto everyone else. Sheik gets back into the ring and pummels Garza with right hands. They are brawling into the crowd using chairs on each other. Fatu hits a handspring moonsault onto Bestia and bites his arm. The general brawling has been happening for several minutes at this point. Sheik and Wolf trade strikes in the middle of the ring. Bestia kicks Sheik and Garza delivers a running kick. Kevin Sullivan is at ringside as his guys are getting beaten down. King and Fatu are driven down to the mat with a doubler powerbomb.

Sheik has been handcuffed in the corner, actually. Fatu is met with a double chair shot. Garza dropkicks Fatu off the apron and into the guard railing. Sheik is by himself in the ring and is cornered by all three men. They superkick Catrina with three superkicks to knock her out. Kevin Sullivan gets on the apron and gets superkicked to the floor. Catrina gets superkicked and is met with a piledriver at the same time. Sheik is freed from the handcuffs as King enters and cleans house. King is met with a chair shot from Wolf. Wolf runs towards the corner and gets a fireball to the face from Sheik. King hits the Cradle Shock on Wolf and Fatu hits a top rope moonsault for the win. (**1/4. They got a lot of time and the brawling got a little boring. However, the ending moments was pretty good and the usage of the fireball was nicely done. I thought that Sheik would submit to save the woman, but that wasn’t the case at all.) After the match, Garza Jr. gets on the microphone and says they want to kill them all. They want an extreme rules match. Sheuik suggests wrestling in Mexico to beat their ass in their own country.

Sixth Contest: PCW Ultra Light Heavyweight Champion Shane Strickland vs. Douglas James: Ricky Steamboat is the special referee for the match. James goes right after Strickland delivering several strikes in the corner and delivers a few running uppercuts in the corner. Strickland head scissors James, but James comes back with a dropkick. James works over Strickland with chops in the corner. James continues to kick Strickland in the corner. Strickland backdrops James to the apron but James kicks Strickland and hits a top rope crossbody. James hits a Codebreaker for a two count. Douglas goes to the top rope but Strickland cuts him off. Strickland pokes James in the eyes and sits down begging off from Steamboat. Strickland kicks James off the top rope and the challenger crashes to the canvas. Strickland kicks James on the mat and taunts the crowd. James stomps away on Strickland several times. Strickland avoids James in the corner and delivers a 619 to the midsection. James avoids a cutter and is met with a knee strike. Strickland hits the cutter for a two count. Strickland keeps James on the mat locking in a body scissors and looking for a submission. They begin to slap each other in the middle of the ring. They both attempt running boots and they both go down to the mat.

They begin to trade strikes on their knees. Strickland continues to work over James with strikes. James comes off the ropes and takes Strickland down with a clothesline followed by jabs. James hits a spinning sit out slam for a two count. James locks in an STF looking for a submission but Strickland doesn’t give in. James tries for a suplex but Strickland is able to counter. Strickland kicks James from the apron and hits a German suplex. James comes back with a clothesline but Strickland hits a double stomp. James plants Strickland with a vertical suplex for a two count. James kicks Strickland into the corner but Strickland delivers a knee strike to knock James down. Strickland comes off the ropes with a double stomp for a near fall. Strickland has James on the middle rope but gets elbowed to the mat. James kicks Strickland and connects with a reverse hurricanrana. James goes to the top rope hitting a frog splash for a two count. Strickland gets James on his shoulders on the apron and hits a Death Valley Driver. Strickland puts James over the guard railing and leaps off the apron to deliver another double stomp. Strickland goes to the top rope delivering another double stomp, but James gets his boot on the bottom rope.

Strickland argues with Steamboat and gets shoved down to the mat. James nearly wins with an inside cradle a couple of times. Strickland knee strikes James but is met with a superkick. Strickland knee strikes James but James hits a stunner. Strickland counters a reverse hurricanrana hitting the JML Driver for the win. (***1/2. They told a good story and they worked hard to keep the crowd invested. I was thinking they would overdue the rope break storyline, but they only used it twice. They didn’t go over the top with insane dives or anything, either. It was a refreshing match in that regard and I really enjoyed the match.)

Mick Foley comes out to talk for a bit and sits in the front row for the main event.

Main Event: PCW Ultra Heavyweight Champion Penta El Zero M vs. Homicide: They taunt each other in the middle of the ring showing no fear for the other. Penta kicks Homicide but is met with an elbow. Penta delivers a boot to the midsection and kicks Homicide sending him to the floor. Homicide smashes Penta with a steel chair to avoid a suicide dive. Homicide tosses another chair at Penta to keep control on the floor. Homicide knocks Penta over the railing into the crowd after another chair shot. Homicide continues to beat on Penta with strikes in the crowd. Homicide chokes Penta with something until the referee stops him on the floor. Homicide sits Penta on a chair to deliver a running clothesline on the floor. Penta begins to fight back with a kick and a chair shot over the back a few times. Penta sends Homicide to the floor and continues to beat on Homicide. Penta has a hammer and rams it into Homicide’s midsection a few times. Homicide begins to climb the lighting pole but Penta tosses a chair at him and meets him up there. Penta kicks Homicide down to the floor. Penta ducks a clothesline to deliver another kick. Penta goes to the top rope but misses a double stomp. Homicide leg sweeps Penta and controls the right leg with a leg lock. Homicide is biting Penta’s foot but isn’t able to get the submission victory.

Homicide boots Penta against the ropes but Penta avoids a second one and hits a backstabber for a two count. Penta kicks Homicide on the legs and goes for a Package Piledriver. Homicide counters looking for a double underhook but Penta drives him into the corner. Penta chops Homicide in the corner but gets cutoff quickly. Penta avoids another chop and delivers a kick to the head. Penta goes to the middle rope but is stopped by Homicide with a middle rope cutter for a two count. Homicide misses a clothesline and Penta hits a couple of slingblades for a two count. Penta wrenches on Homicide’s arm but Homicide breaks free only to be met with a kick. Homicide forearms Penta off the apron and takes the champ out with a somersault suicide dive. Homicide whacks Penta over the back with a steel chair. Homicide ties Penta’s mask to the lighting pole. Homicide taunts Mick Foley in the front row. Foley stands up and gets in Homicide’s face. Foley decks Homicide and takes out Mr. Socko. Penta slides Homicide back into the ring and delivers a kick to the face. Penta goes back to the arm and yanks it backwards. Penta hits the Package Piledriver for the win. (**. It’s the second show in a row with a lackluster main event. Homicide, similar to RVD last show, probably shouldn’t be in the main event of shows. The action wasn’t offensive, and I didn’t have high hopes leading into the match anyway. Penta needs some stronger competition, though.)

It’s announced that Sami Callihan will be the next challenger to Penta’s PCW Heavyweight Championship.

Final Thoughts:
The women’s match, ACH/Bey, James/Strickland delivered this month and were able to carry the show to an overall enjoyable experience. PCW Ultra doesn’t seem to get talked about since they are in the same state as PWG, but it’s enjoyable action going on there.

Thanks for reading.