By Silverback, PWG Staff Writer
Hackamore, CA – Quite a few interesting things have happened around the offices of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (http://www.prowrestlingguerrilla.com) recently. Commissioner of Wrestling Dino Winwood purchased a vintage Huffy 10-speed bicycle featured in the film Breaking Away, Commissioner of Food & Beverage Excalibur used company funds to book a trip to New Orleans for Carnival (“Research” it said in the expense report’s note column), and Judy in accounting recently signed up for NetFlix. Also of note, the management has had to strip both the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Championship and World Tag Team Championship from the men who held the titles. In the case of the World Tag Team titles, Super Dragon and Davey Richards were stripped of the titles at Pearl Habra, due to non-compliance with scheduled title defenses and all around bad attitude. Due to their flagrant disregard for not only the titles, but the staff and fans of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla as well, Excalibur intended to fire both men. However, he was later overruled by Chairman Emeritus Rickles, so Super Dragon and Davey Richards have been suspended for a period of no less than 60 (sixty) days, whereupon they will be allowed to appeal the suspension. The Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Championship, however, is a completely different story.Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Champion Low Ki defeated “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson at All Star Weekend 6, PWG’s first event of 2008. Then at the end of January, Low Ki defended the title against former champion El Generico, which appeared to be the first of hopefully many successful title defenses for Low Ki. Unfortunately, fate is a cruel mistress, and not two weeks after his first title defense, Low Ki suffered a knee injury while on tour with New Japan Pro Wrestling, an injury ruled severe enough to keep him out of action at least a week, possibly for the duration of the entire tour. No definite recovery timetable has been determined, but Low Ki contacted the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla management with this message:
“Due to injury I will be unable to compete on February 24, and because of that, the title will be vacated and a tournament will be held to determine the new champion.”
Now, there’s two very interesting things about that message: First, Low Ki asked for our FedEx account number and shipped the belt back to the PWG Offices via International Overnight Shipping. I don’t know how much International Shipping you people do, especially with parcels of 30 lbs. or more, but let’s just say we would have been happier had he sent it freight, or even waited until he got back and then shipped it Media Mail. Ironically enough, because of the great expense in shipping the belt internationally, Judy in accounting has been forced to lay herself off.
Everyone currently employed at Pro Wrestling Guerrilla wish Low Ki a speedy and full recovery, and hope to see him back in action in the near future.
The second interesting thing about Low Ki’s email was that neither Dino Winwood nor Excalibur had even thought about holding a tournament to crown a new Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Champion, but neither man wanted to go against what Low Ki had somewhat adamantly stated. This means that on February 24, by Low Ki’s orders, fans will witness the crowning of a new Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Champion!
¡Dia de los Dangerous! takes place on Sunday, February 24, 2008 at 5:00PM at American Legion Post #308 in Reseda, CA, and will feature:
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Championship Title Tournament Final
Roderick Strong vs. ??? vs. ???
— Due to securing the Number One Contendership at Pearl Habra, Roderick Strong has received an automatic bye into the second and final round of the one-night tournament. Strong’s last appearance in a match of this magnitude was in the final round of the 2007 Battle of Los Angeles, where he was defeated by CIMA. Fortunately for Strong, CIMA will not be at ¡Dia de los Dangerous!, and this will be his only match of the evening, while his opponents will have to wrestle twice. Will being the fresh man in this match benefit Roderick the most, or will it be his Three-Way Match strategy he has adapted and improved upon since the 2007 Battle of Los Angeles? Or will the long night waiting for arguably his most important match ever wreak psychological havoc on the back-breaking Floridian?
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Championship Title Tournament Round 1
Karl “Machine Gun” Anderson vs. Austin Aries
— At Pearl Habra, Karl “Machine Gun” Anderson stormed the ring after the conclusion of the Number One Contender match between Roderick Strong and Rocky “Azúcar” Romero, viciously delivering spinebusters to both men, then leveling criticism at the wrestlers and management of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. Anderson capped it all off by saying he now has his sights set on the World Championship, and that no one (and he means no one) will stand in his way. It didn’t take long for the management to answer his request, because at ¡Dia de los Dangerous! Karl Anderson will not only have a match with a top tier opponent, but he will have a chance to win the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Championship. As for the “no one will stand in way” part of it, there does seem to be some obstructions in Karl Anderson’s path toward the title, and the first obstruction appears to be in the shape of Austin Aries. After being narrowly defeated by “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson on the European Vacation II tour, Aries returns to Pro Wrestling Guerrilla intent on capturing the title that slipped through his grasp in France. The winner of this match will go on to face the winner of Human Tornado vs. Necro Butcher, and Roderick Strong, to determine the new Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Champion.
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Championship Title Tournament Round 1
Human Tornado vs. Necro Butcher
— Last month at Pearl Habra, Human Tornado met Chris Hero in a No Disqualification match that ended when Candice LeRae verbally “threw in the towel” after Tornado had attacked Hero’s injured knee and locked him in the Texas Cloverleaf. After the match ended, Tornado gloated over the defeated Chris Hero, since after all, it was Hero that demanded the No Disqualification match in the first place. With the injury and the possible inclusion on Pro Wrestling NOAH’s February tour if he is healthy, Chris Hero will not be in Southern California for ¡Dia de los Dangerous! on February 24. Because of Hero’s absence, Human Tornado has turned his attention back to the very thing that started all of his problems in the first place, the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Championship. It was a little over a year ago when Tornado defeated Joey Ryan in a Guerrilla Warfare match, ending his lengthy pursuit and finally securing the title. But just a month and a half later, Human Tornado lost the World title to former tag team partner El Generico, and has never been quite the same since. Tornado blamed Candice LeRae for the loss, citing her lack of managerial instruction as the reason for losing the title. This began a series of abusive acts which culminated at the 2007 Battle of Los Angeles, where Chris Hero, who had seen more than he had cared to, intervened on Candice LeRae’s behalf, and the rest is (very violent) history. Since Tornado was so busy smacking around Candice LeRae for the majority of 2007, he had never used the Rematch provision in his Championship contract. That is, until now. Just shy of one year since losing the title (the Rematch Clause’s expiration), Tornado has requested a rematch for the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Championship. Unfortunately for Tornado, the last day he can exercise the clause is February 24, 2008 (he lost the title at Holy Diver Down on February 24, 2007).
While this would appear to grant Human Tornado a berth in the final round of the tournament, the Rematch Clause does not supersede the Number One Contendership, and therefore Tornado must compete in the tournament to earn his shot at the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Championship. Despite his willingness to compete, Tornado was given second thoughts when he heard who his opponent would be. See, Commissioner of Food & Beverage Excalibur has felt the sting of Human Tornado’s backhand, and it was not a feeling that was easily forgotten. Because of this, and his distaste for the abuse of women (though his statements on DVD commentary would suggest, at the very least, mild amusement), Excalibur has nominated Necro Butcher to take on Human Tornado in the opening round of the title tournament. Necro Butcher was one of Chris Hero’s partners at All Star Weekend 6, and is still upset at both losing the match and being covered with garbage water at the end of the night, and would like nothing more than another shot at someone from the other team. Since Claudio Castagnoli and Eddie Kingston are unavailable, Necro must settle for a shot at Human Tornado, and a chance to win the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Championship, at ¡Dia de los Dangerous! Something tells us he’s not too broken up about either possibility.
The winner of this match will go on to face the winner of Karl “Machine Gun” Anderson vs. Austin Aries, and Roderick Strong, to determine the new Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Champion.
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Tag Team Championship Title Match
The Dynasty (Scott Lost & Joey Ryan with Jade Chung) vs. Incoherence (Delirious & Hallowicked)
— When The Dynasty hit the ring at Pearl Habra, one of Scott Lost‘s major complaints was not that the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Tag Team Champions had not defended the title for the third consecutive event, but that he had to do a lot of studying in preparation for the scheduled match with Super Dragon and Davey Richards, and that is not something Scott Lost takes lightly. You see, ever since he was a young man, Scott Lost has struggled with a unique learning disability known as “Scott Lost Syndrome,” which makes it very difficult for Scott to take in information at the same pace as his peers. Symptoms include difficulty concentrating, sleepiness, diarrhea, short attention span, and willingness to repeat the same mistakes over and over again. Thus, when Joey Ryan informed Scott that The Dynasty would be putting their titles on the like at ¡Dia de los Dangerous! against Incoherence, after looking up the definition of Incoherence, Scott hit the books to get a head start on his research. In this case, the books are his collection of wrestling videos and DVDs. However, Scott was quickly dismayed to find that Delirious and Hallowicked did not function like a normal tag team, and man of the verbal and non-verbal cues that teams normally use to communicate inside the ring were nothing more than a serious of unintelligble grunts and wild hand gestures. Despite bringing Joey Ryan and Jade Chung aboard, Scott Lost was still no closer to cracking the coded communications of Incoherence. While it has never been made clear that Delirious and Hallowicked understand one another, they do manage to function exceptionally well as a tag team, and may prove tougher to deal with in the ring than their communication is on tape. Scott Lost was last seen purchasing a copy of Windtalkers on DVD, hoping the film could inspire him, and help The Dynasty retain the titles on February 24.
DDT4 Qualifier Round Robin Series
The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) (0 pts) vs. Ronin & Scorpio Sky (2 pts)
Hook Bomberry & TJ Perkins (2 pts) vs. Los Luchas (Phoenix Star & Zokre) (0 pts)
— The road to DDT4 continues, with both underdog teams jumping out to tie for the lead. The team of TJ Perkins and the surprisingly resourceful Hook Bomberry were able to pull off their upset victory with a little help from some bent rules (which lead to a disagreement between the partners), but Ronin and Scorpio Sky were much more impressive when it came to their teamwork, with Scorpio Sky’s impeccable timing saving the day. Now the true test for leading teams is at hand at ¡Dia de los Dangerous!, when they will see if the can repeat their previous success. The opposite is true for The Young Bucks and Los Luchas, who despite the years of teaming, were both caught off guard by their opponents. With a newfound appreciation of how driven everyone else in the Qualifier Series is, you can almost guarantee that The Young Bucks and Los Luchas won’t make the same mistakes again. Will that be enough secure 2 points in the tournament standings, or will the newly formed duos prove to be too much of an unknown, and just too hard to prepare for?
Candice LeRae vs. Daffney
— At ¡Dia de los Dangerous!, for the first time ever, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla will proudly feature two female athletes in singles competition. While women have previously competed in the PWG ring (most notably Candice LeRae and Sara Del Rey), their matches have featured male wrestlers as opponents and partners. This will be the first opportunity for fans of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla to see two top female wrestlers compete on equal footing. Daffney, formerly of WCW, has been plying her trade on the independent circuit, and will make her Pro Wrestling Guerrilla debut against the top female wrestler in Southern California, Candice LeRae. Candice, who has taken great strides to escape Human Tornado’s clutches, is ready to show the PWG faithful she can hold her own inside the ring. On February 24, history will be made!
Plus Commissioner of Wrestling Dino Winwood and Commissioner of Food & Beverage Excalibur will be on hand to oversee all the action!
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla’s ¡Dia de los Dangerous! takes place at American Legion Post #308 in Reseda, CA on Sunday, February 24, 2008 at 5:00PM. American Legion Post #308 is located at 7338 Canby Ave., Reseda, CA 91335. General Admission tickets are $20 and will be available at the door. For more information, please visit http://www.prowrestlingguerrilla.com. Card subject to change.
