PWG Nice Boys (Don't Play Rock'n Roll)

PWG Nice Boys (DonPWG Nice Boys (Don

By GARZA
From March 18, 2017
Discussion

"Mr. GMSI" Brian Cage vs "Callihan Death Machine" Sami Callihan vs Keith Lee - 7.5/10


Sami Callihan's original match was cancelled so he was given the ability to interject himself into any match tonight sans tag matches, he went for the big lads match. If you wanna see a man get over with new fans in under 5 minutes, go watch the Reseda crowd bask in the glory of Keith Lee. Match had flips, hard strikes, and a deadlift suplex on Keith Lee from the apron INTO the ring. Finish was awkward with Callihan, but overall good, no one kicks out of the Falcon Arrow anyway. Awesome opener.

OI4K vs Chosen Bros - 6.5/10


A total change of pace from last match, now we're just seeing the Chosen Bros manhandle both Crist brothers, they're like 5 yr kids in the arms of Riddle and Cobb. Crists did eventually got the heat on Matt when they stopped trying to go toe-to-toe with the CBs, and instead started focusing on tag maneuvers and quick tags. This lasted about 3 minutes, because even as the babyface in peril, Riddle can manhandle OI4K. Same thing happened with Cobb. Once all 4 men went Tornado Tag, the pace of the match got faster and the spots better. Good match, but we're definitely coming down from the opener.

"Carolina Caveman" Trevor Lee vs "The Man of the Hour" Lio Rush - 7/10


This was heel 'veteran' vs babyface underdog. Similar to RIcochet vs Rush from the last show, it's about Lee not taking Rush seriously. You can tell that they're staring their Lee/Bailey underdog push on Rush, so don't be surprised to see him go far in this year's Battle of Los Angeles. Match was great, fast pace, awesome looking spots by Rush, and good heel heat stuff from Lee. At one point Lee whipped Rush to the corner, and he went flying through the middle and top rope to the outside, making you wonder if he was alive.

"King of Swerve" Shane Strickland vs "The Kardiak Kid" Dezmond Xavier - 7.5/10


Well, this s gonna get flippy, both men making their PWG debut. This was just a display of athleticism and high spots. No heel/face dynamic, just two guys out there trying to make a good first impression of the Reseda crowd. Dezmond Xavier you could say had the most upper hand during times, but overall it was all back and forward with tons of counters. The match did suffer a bit from trying to do some over-complicated spots like a reverse hurricanrana from the top rope to the ring, where both the setup and execution felt forced. Dezmond in my opinion was the best of the two, but Shane being the bigger name in the California area, took the win.

LDRS vs Best Friends - 9.5/10


Heel trash talking from Scurll before the match, calling themselves the best tag team in the world, and arguably you have two of the top wrestlers in the business right now pairing up, it's almost a power trip. Sabre Jr is in his fully cocky persona now. Match starts with the LDRS messing around with some fans, and taking off to the back, Best Friends go for the chase and the brawl around the Legion Hall begins. The heel work by the LDRS is definitely on another level, their proficiency with submission and tearing a limp apart is just perfect and seeing Sabre easily lock in a submission AND mock you as you cry in pain just makes you hate them. LDRS worked Trent?'s legs for the longest time. LDRS brought back some of their old double team maneuvers during the heat part of the match.

Once Chuck got the hot tag, all hell broke lose. LDRS still kept the upper hand for the most part, with the Best Friends just not giving up and having hope spots here and there. At the end, Chucky T and Scurll brawled to the locker rooms leaving Trent? and Sabre alone in the ring. Sabre starts decimating Trent?'s arm and he is hurting, like picking on a wounded animal, but as Sabre gets overconfident, Trent? makes an opening hitting Sabre with the Gotch Piledriver for the 1-2-3! Trent? just pinned the PWG World Champ clean in the middle of the ring. Crowd goes wild!

A CHAOS guy just defeated a Suzuki-Gun guy with Minoru Suzuki's move.

Post-match - Scurll comes back and attacks the Best Friends. Scurll brings chairs to the ring, Scurll wants Sabre to help him destroy Chuck, but Sabre doesn't want part of this. Scurll straight up pulls Sabre by the hair into the ring and slaps him into helping him. Reluctant, but Sabre helps Scurll powerbomb Chucky T into the bridge of chairs. Scurll challenges Chuck next month one-on-one, Chucky T makes it a Reseda Street Fight! Awesome angle and you can definitely see that Zack is being manipulated.

Sami Callihan is on commentary, and he is surprisingly great.

PWG Tag Team World Championship Match
Lucha Brothers vs The Young Bucks (C) vs Matt Sydal & Ricochet - 9.5/10


This is one of those matches that once you see all men inside the ring, you suddenly realize you're about to see a MOTYC. Match started with two 3-ways getting their stuff on, the Fenix trio was kinda off on timing, so they kinda made a joke about it. They did a thing where the Bucks were doing the Cero Miedo taunt, so Lucha Brothers retaliated with Suck Its, this build up to the Bucks wearing Penta and Fenix masks, Penta and Fenix wearing Bucks' jackets, and Ricochet and Sydal becoming the amalgamation of them all. Match was all over the place, tons and tons of topes to the outside, kicks of all types, doubles moves, "Fuck the Young Bucks" chants. At one point Penta and Fenix were going for the assisted moonsault where Fenix stands on Penta's shoulders, but out of nowhere, Ricochet flew in for a cutter from that height on Fenix. We also saw a package piledriver and a Canadian Destroyer ON the apron.

Finish kinda came out of nowhere, no one coming in to the match figured that tonight was the end of the 631 day reign of the Bucks, so when it happened, everyone didn't know how to react and then went ape shit.

"Matt [Sydal] wearing a mask is adorable"
"Would you say he's Lucha-dorable?"

OVERALL THOUGHTS


Awesome PWG show that started waay to goo for it's own benefit making some matches hard to get into even if they were great. Show capped off with two huge (and great) matches, and you can start to see the build up to not only the anniversary show, but the build up of some guys towards BOLA.

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