I’m part of the rankings panel for the month of July, and I decided to post my individual match rankings. Usually, panelists don’t do this, but I just wanted to share some of my thoughts on how I saw the month of July in SoCal. I went to WPW’s Best of the West, Revolution Pro, and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla.This is NOT the official July 03 rankings. The official July 03 rankings is a panel of 5 people. Obviously I’m just one-fifth.
Super Dragon over TARO to win the Revolution Pro Junior title
This is one of my front-runners for SoCal Match of the Year 2003 right now. These two obviously have great chemistry together, and the brutality for this match was turned up several notches. At certain points it was hard to watch (i.e. footstomps to TARO’s frigging head). This match was better than their December 02 match and to me, seemed a lot more smoother and crisper as well. While the July 03 match wasn’t completely flawless, it was pretty darn close. I think it’s important to know the history between the two from their previous encounters in order to appreciate the match up to its full potential. Seeing this match alone is good, but their previous history is the perfect compliment. The actual tape of this match is a little shaky, so the tape will probably not do this match justice. SHOULDA BEEN THERE LIVE SUCKAS!
One of the other SoCal MOTY candidates being Joey Ryan vs. Super Dragon from the last GSCW show. And on a huuuuge side note: I haven’t been keeping up with a lot of the current Ring of Honor. But I did manage to catch Homicide vs. Samoa Joe from “Do or Die”. That match right there is a must see. One of my nationwide Match of the Year candidates for sure. Now, I really need to get a hold of those London/Danielson/Styles matches that everyone seems to enjoy and love.
AJ Styles over Frankie Kazarian [11’42]
While this obviously wasn’t the advertised main event, it sure was a great replacement. At first, people were bitching about the replacement, but I feel that Frankie Kazarian was the perfect choice. Frankie and AJ’s styles (really horrible pun not intended) mesh really well together. And I just might have to agree with my colleague Steve, and say that their styles might have been a better meshing than say the intended AJ Styles/Samoa Joe (I’d still love to see Samoa/Styles by the way). It helps that Frankie/AJ were some what familiar with each other from their previous battles, so maybe that’s why their PWG match came off so well. There was more intrigue behind Samoa/AJ because it has never been done yet, not even in what some may say is their “home promotion”, Ring of Honor.
Really good match from Frankie and AJ. My Match of the Night. My runner up for Match of the Month. I’d definitely want to see both of these athletes back in a SoCal ring ASAP.
Super Dragon & Scott Lost go to a ten minute draw [10’00]
This was the first ever singles match up between one of SoCal’s best and one of SoCal’s break out stars. I’ve always wanted to see this match up ever since Dragon’s opponents have been getting repetitive and ever since Scott Lost decided to take his wrestling to the next level. I was a fan of Lost’s work ever since his debut at the Galaxy with his OG partner Ryan Rufio. Back then, he was just your run of the mill spot monkey. But now, he has improved so much and has become a pretty complete wrestler. Both Lost and current tag team partner Joey Ryan have busted their asses in rings all over SoCal. They have gone from being “just another alright worker” to “one of SoCal’s best”. When someone outside of SoCal thinks of SoCal, that person would usually think of Samoa Joe, Frankie Kazarian, B-Boy, Super Dragon, etc. It’s safe to say that the nation will soon know that Scott Lost and Joey Ryan belong on that list too.
This was a really good match, even though it ended in a ridiculous time limit draw. Hey, at least it was a legit time limit draw! Really good chemistry from the two. I’d definitely want to see these two go at it again, and this time, without the time-limit draw. The fresher opponents for Dragon are definitely needed. These new fresh match-ups is just what Lost and Ryan need to get their names out there for the entire nation to see.
B-Boy over Scorpio Sky [8’16]
This was one of my favorite 1st round match-ups from Best of the West (Scott Lost/Hardkore Kidd being one of the other match-ups) This match also happened to be the longest 1st round match up. These two also have really good chemistry, and this is also a fresh new match-up. Apparently, these two had a really good match in San Diego, and now Orange County got a chance to see it as well. Scorpio Sky has definitely improved a ton since his rookie debut. Some would label him “a prodigy”. Scorpio’s definitely got the raw talent and ability. Given more time, Scorpio will become a more complete wrestler, and become one of the top tier guys in SoCal. B-Boy is just B-Boy, his usual ass-kicking self. B-Boy has been raising hell up and down the East Coast, which means less time out in SoCal, which also means very sad SoCal fans that are repeatedly bonking their heads with their fists. SOOOOOOOOO!
Lil’ Cholo over Super Dragon, B-Boy, and Scott Lost [20’57]
This was your Best of the West finals. It was a good match, even though I did not like how it was set up. Lost took one hellacious beating from all three men. The way Lost was getting beat down, I woulda sworn that Lost was gonna take the tourney. He is one crazy bastard that bumps like a madman. I thought Dragon getting eliminated first by Lost via two Vertebreker II’s was pretty cool. Cholo getting the finals win off of B-Boy had a lot of emotional and sentimental value, since B-Boy and Cholo are running buddies that go way back. Very good finals, even though the lead up to it was kinda “eh”.
My Honorable Mentions that did not make the list, because it’s only a top 5 matches of the month list:
Hardkore Inc. (Hardkore Kidd, Al Katrazz, & Adam Pearce) over X-Foundation (Joey Ryan, Scott Lost, & Funky Billy Kim) [12’20]
Really fun match with the some of the most insane heat I’ve ever seen in the Frank & Sons Arena. The place loathed Hardkore Inc. and were rallying behing everyone’s favorite super hero faction, the X-Foundation. Action spilt all over the place. Hardkore Inc. took the win, which saw PWG bookers losing in the semi-main. EGAD!
Scott Lost over Hardkore Kidd [5’23]
This was my second favorite 1st round match up at Best of the West, but didn’t make my top 5 list due to time constraints. HKK wrestled like I’ve never seen him wrestle before. Very fluid, very crisp, very intense: very good! Good to see HKK put over Lost as well.
