Cero Reviews PWG Mystery Vortex 7

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Cero Reviews PWG Mystery Vortex 7

Post by cero2k » Dec 2nd, '21, 11:34

PWG Mystery Vortex 7
August 1st, 2021
Globe Theater, Los Angeles, CA

Tony Deppen vs. Jack Cartwheel - 7/10
This was really fun. 100% a showcase for Cartwheel's debut, so he could show why he's name is Cartwheel. He does Cartwheels as a part of his repertoire, both in offensive and defensive positions. Deppen mostly did Deppen things, being annoying, but also being really good at wrestling and being a heel to get Cartwheel that hometown love when he did spotty stuff. Deppen won at the end with a kneedrop after countering an SSP.

Brody King vs. JD Drake - 7.5/10
Hoss fight galore. This was everything you love to see in a hoss fight, a 2021 hoss fight for that matter, that eventually escalates to these guys doing crazy shit like moonsaults. The match definitely played out to put King over big, Drake got a lot of great offense in and looked fantastic, but King was definitely the dominant guy. If you like meaty men chopping each other, this is a good match for you. King won with a lariat.

Demonic Flamita vs. Arez - 8/10
After an western spotty match, a hoss fight, now we switch to a full fledge lucha libre match, pacing and all. Pacing specifically I thought hurt the match for the live crowd, as much as US fans like to think they like lucha libre, truth is, they like the Rey rey and Fenix western style wrestling, while Flamita is more of a DG pace guy, and Arez is 100% a CMLL paced guy, meaning that a lot of spots are going to be showy, but their executed slowly for the fan to see, not just like BLAHRG spot spot spot.

Match-wise, Flamita was completely heel, even avoiding moves because he knew the fans wanted to see them. Arez did a lot of cool looking things, just not at the pace that makes US fans go crazy for, but his name is well known in the indie scene and he was definitely over with the crowd.

Jonathan Gresham vs. Lee Moriarty - 8.5/10
And now it was time for the grapplefest match. Gresham completely dominated and paced this match, it was HIS match. Moriarty played his role and did so well, but he didn't get to show off as much in terms of offense. Gresham worked the arm for the most part, to the point that Moriarty sold it throughout the whole of the match like it was a dead limb. Gresham would end up winning with a series of sliding elbows. If anything else, because of the nature of the match, this could have gone way shorter, like way way shorter, yet this was the longest match of the night with 20+ minutes.

Aramis & Rey Horus vs. Lil' Rascalz (Myron Reed & Trey Miguel) - 6/10
Arguably the worst match of the night, at least for me, I just didn't see much chemistry between these teams, if not for their individual abilities and the fact that they can all spot like crazy, this could have fallen apart. I like all guys independently from each other and for different reasons, to the point that a 4-way could had been a better match, but as a team, they found themselves mistimed on a couple of occasions.

This was really spotty. Aramis made all the efforts to work a western style and keep up with Reed and Miguel. The layout was basic momentum trading with Miguel and Horus specially getting the better showcases of the 4. Miguel especially came off like he was trying to show off a bit, but that's actually the way he wrestles, he's one of those guys who copy pasted arsenals around the world into his own, but doesn't even makes the moves his 'own', if you know what I mean. Like we can shit on Penta or Cole for their particular use of the Destroyer, but they have a different flavor to Petey's. Miguel's Meteora, Cheeky Nandos, Trey19, they all come off as copies for some reason.

Anyway, Lil' Rascalz won, but not even if we wanted to pretend that Freebird Rules applied and they had an argument to the titles, would I put them in the title contention for the vacant tag titles.

One last thing. Myron Reed gave me huge Human Tornado vibes in this match. I would ditch the bulletproof vest and go solo, he has a better chance that way.

Evil Uno vs. Orange Cassidy - 7/10
The battle of the now televised wrestlers. Obviously OC was super over, but I thought that Uno got a decent reception. I just feel that if this had been Reseda, Uno would have had a far better reception.

Match was mostly both guys doing their schtick, it was exactly what you'd expect from a Dynamite match, but the fanbase loves it. OC won with a Beach Break.

PWG World Title Match
Bandido (c) vs. Black Taurus - 8.5/10
Match of the night. Bandido is amazing and there aren't many men better than Taurus at being a base for high fliers. While it seemed impossible that Taurus would win the title, they did build a lot of drama based on Taurus being so powerful that Bandido couldn't keep him down, at one point he even kicked out if the Revolution Fly. Bandido would persevere and win with the 21Plex, but it definitely took him a while.

One thing I did notice was that this was way longer than what Taurus is accustomed to working in a singles scenario, and because his mask is not like a normal fabric mask, you could see that he was starting to gas out towards the end. At one point, he straight up pulled half of this mask up while selling, trying to catch a breath.

Post-match - Bandido and Taurus got the money reaction from the crowd and so they both kinda stood together for a while, but suddenly, Demonic Flamita ran down and attacked Bandido. Taurus hesitated, but ended up joining Flamita attacking Bandido too. Suddenly, the lights went off, and that usually means one thing in PWG. Super Dragon returned, but he ALSO attacked Bandido. He hit the Curb Stomp on him.

Brody King ran down for the save, but the numbers were too much, but when it all seemed lost, the lights went out again and now it was Malakai Black, former Tommy End, who made his return to the promotion, took out Taurus and Flamita while Dragon ran away. King and Black reunited afterwards.

Cool Super Dragon return, but let's be honest, he ain't building a program, or even a run here. Dude protects his character more than Hogan in the 90's.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
When it comes to "return from the pandemic hiatus" shows, doing a Mystery Vortex was a no brained and it just showed how PWG maintains their special place in wrestling. I don't know how many indie promotions could have sold out like PWG did for a show like this after a long hiatus.

Prior to the show happening, I think a lot of us wondered what a 2021 PWG roster would look like, they have access to the AEW roster, but they also lost a lot of their former talent to WWE, #SpeakingOut, or even travel restrictions. I also didn't know if they would go for many of the GCW wrestlers that got really over during the pandemic, but that are also not that great inside the ring, would PWG care more about schtick like Danhausen and Dan The Dad over booking Gresham grapplefuck matches. Looking at the card, they seem to have booked a roster more akin of what they were booking in 2019, with a lot of Mexican influence, a bit of indie darlings, up and comers, and a couple of available established names. Guys like Miguel and Reed made sense as a way to connect to the now departed Rascalz since they are also OG Rascalz, but surprising bookings otherwise. Cartwheel is most definitely the Trevor Lee/Speedball/Bandido of the season, that one guy that is already really good, but needs that name push to step up a notch.

At the end of the day, I can't say I was disappointed by the roster, but I wouldn't blame anyone that expected more from PWG at this point, given the nature of the show.
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