Chaos Column: Recap of PWS’ “Live In LA” Jan. 28th

PWS Finley vs. Cabana 01-29-12

BTWNCHAOSNORDER’S gives a recap of 1/28/12 Pro Wrestling Superstar’s  from WRESTLEREUNION 6.  Reasonably larger crowd on hand for the show that showcased today’s wrestling stars as well as the legends on hand, taking advantage of the lighting and stage setup that had been set for the DGUSA “Open the Golden Gate” iPPV the previous night. Excalibur handled most of the commentary duty for the 10-match card.

Saturday Convention
This was the only day where everyone–VIP’s and General Admission guests–got a chance to meet who they wanted to meet, from the legends in attendance, to today’s stars. Although it took well over 2 hours–of the 3 allowed hours–for all 100+ VIP’s to do the photo-op/autograph rounds w/ the lineup of wrestling stars scheduled for that day, everyone eventually got their chance before the end of the convention. As for me, I took the paid opportunity to meet & greet five of the wrestling stars & legends, which made every dollar spent worth it:

  1. TNA Knockout Miss Tessmacher
  2. The Steiner Brothers in a deluxe photo op
  3. ECW Legend Tommy Dreamer
  4. Former 2-time WWE Divas Champion Maryse
  5. Mexican mini Mascarita Dorada, which came with paid front 3-rows admission to the night’s Pro Wrestling Superstars show

Pro Wrestling Superstars

Opening segment featured a good promo by Mick Foley & Iron Mike Tyson. Mick Foley certainly had quite the beef towards The Steiner Brothers going into his duty as the special guest referee for the New Age Outlaws/Steiner Brothers match, before catching a red-eye flight to St. Louis for the WWE Royal Rumble.

1 – Arik Royal v. Adam Page ended in a No-Contest when Big Van Vader ran in and eventually took both of them out w/ his signature moves.

2 – Mick Foley refereed the tag team match between the New Age Outlaws (“Road Dogg” Jesse James & Billy Gunn) & The Steiner Brothers. Great action mixed in with the classic gimmicks, and ended when Billy Gunn p. Scott Steiner w/ his signature…legdrop? Or was it a…butt-drop? Either way, Mick Foley did a quick-3 to end the match, then immediately went to the back.

3 – 3-Round, 5-Minute World of Sport European Rules match between Fit Finlay & Colt Cabana. Both men split the first 2 rounds, showing off their technical abilities, then turned it up a few notches in the final round. Finlay got the win when he pinned Colt w/ the Celtic Cross.

PWS Finley vs. Cabana 01-29-12

4 – Unholy Alliance (Mikey Whipwreck & Yoshihiro Taijiri) def. 7OH!4 (Cedric Alexander & Caleb Konley). Great, even match that saw Taijiri spit a poison mist onto Caleb Konley, allowing Mikey Whipwreck to hit his finishing Middle-Rope Stunner, then scored the winning pin.

5 – Mexican Minis in Lucha Libre action. Mascarita Dorada p. Demus 316 w/ a rollup off his speedy lucha moves. Best part was before the winning lucha move, where he spun around his opponent really fast for a Huracanrana or a Quesadora.

6 – L.A. Streetfight. Kevin Steen p. Tommy Dreamer w/ the Swanton Bomb to press Dreamer onto a steel barricade. No blood was drawn here, but the two men did fight all over the ballroom, and used plenty of weapons, including a kendo stick, & a “Stop” sign. Steen initially went to cut a promo, but Raven interrupted things to hit a DDT on Tommy Dreamer, then run off. Despite that, “The Antichrist of Wrestling” stated that Dreamer “is one tough m****f*****”.

7 – After intermission, Roderick Strong p. “Man Scout” Jake Manning w/ the “Death by Roderick” Gutbuster, followed by the Sick Kick.

8 – Davey Richards p. Harry Smith (f.k.a. David Hart Smith) w/ a reversal cover. Great, see-saw action by the two that saw plenty of counter-submission moves. Harry Smith was able to keep things pretty even despite getting his left knee picked apart by the current ROH Champion.

SM – El Generico & The Great Sasuke def. The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson). Plenty of great spots in this match, which ended when El Generico hit his Top Turnbuckle Brainbuster on Nick Jackson for the winning pin. !Ole!

M – 20-man Legends Wrestleroyal. Lanny Poffo & Matt Classic opened it up, and were later joined by legends like Rock Riddle, Konnan, Gangrel, Virgil, Raven, & EWF Promoter & former wrestler Jesse Hernandez. At one point, TNA TV Champion Robbie E came out for the Wrestleroyal, stating that he planned to be the youngest wrestler to win it……..only to get thrown out immediately by Tommy Dreamer. Later in the match, one lucky fan who had won an auction to be in the match, went in, and was immediately unloaded on. Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake went on to cut his shoulder-length hair, then threw him out en route to being in the Final Four w/ Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, Dan “The Beast” Severn, & The Godfather, who brought out some of the Arenachicks (including Amber O’Neal & Angel Orsini) on his “Ho Train”. Dan Severn was thrown out by Greg Valentine, only for Dan to throw Greg out himself. The Godfather then had quite the brawl w/ Brutus Beefcake, then threw him out to win the match, and did his classic gimmick with the “Ho Train”, capping it by cutting a classic promo. “Pimpin’ aint easy!”

It may not have been as strong–top to bottom–as the DGUSA show, but the crowd were really hot for the legends in action. The Legends Wrestleroyal may not have been as strong as last year’s edition when legends like Rowdy Roddy Piper, Terry Funk, Shane Douglas, & Tanaka were in it, but the legends in this year’s match still put up a great showing. Match of the night, IMHO, has to be the Davey Richards/Harry Smith match, followed by the Semi-Main event.

For more photos of the show, please visit my gallery.