BTWNCHAOSNORDER’S gives a recap of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla “World’s Finest” at American Legion Post #308, Reseda, CA on March 17th 2012. Despite the rain, the wind, & the cold, another great crowd gathered for PWG’s 2012 “Reseda Season Opener”. With Super Dragon’s injury during training, the card was redone, but most of the scheduled matches more or less were kept as is.
8 matches, 3 hours
Referees: Rick Knox & Patrick Hernandez
Excalibur’s guests at the commentary table: Rick Knox, Kevin Steen, & Joey Ryan
* Kevin Steen comes out after Excalibur’s introductory speech, mentioning Super Dragon’s injury, and then called out anyone in the back to challenge him. Running in to challenge him? PPA – Pretty Peter Avalon.
1 – Kevin Steen p. Peter Avalon w/ the Package Piledriver. Peter fought on as long as he could, as best as he could, despite taking a tremendous beating, including a series of hard chops to the chest that left their mark on his frame. Fortunately for PPA, he earned the respect of “Mr. Wrestling”.
2 – Brian Cage-Taylor p. Ray (Rrrrrrrrrr)Rosas w/ the big Lariat/Clothesline to the shoulder area in a surprisingly strong match. I wasn’t able to get out of their way quickly enough when I didn’t anticipate Rosas’ lucha-style crossbody from the top rope to the floor. Save for some sore shins, I’m fine. Such is the hazard when you’re sitting in the front row at this place for this kind of show, and I wouldn’t be the only ones that got “incidentally collected” during matches.
* Joey Ryan comes out to cut a promo about women’s grooming, then berated his opponent, Candice LeRae, who jumped him shortly afterwards.
3 – Candice LeRae rolled up & pinned Joey Ryan, countering the Boobplex attempt.
4 – Scorpio Sky made T.J. Perkins tapout to a Rear Naked Choke in a match that featured a great mix of wrestling & MMA-style action.
5 – Triple Threat Tag Team Action–essentially what’s left in the wake of Super Dragon’s injury. The Super Smash Bros. (Player Uno & Stupefied) def. The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) and The RockNES Monsters (Johnny Yuma & Johnny Goodtime) when they scored the pin on one of the Jacksons w/ the Fatality. 2nd best match of the night, and the win should give SSB a boost of confidence going into next month’s DDT4.
6 – After intermission, Kyle O’Reilly made Alex Koslov tapout to the Guillontine Choke, and it was quite the long one despite Koslov’s attempts to break out of it, complete w/ a DDT from Kyle. Nice reception from the PWG faithful.
SM – Willie Mack p. Roderick Strong w/ the Piledriver, despite eating the Death by Roderick & Sick Kick combination earlier. Looks like this regional star is getting quite the push, and a title shot should be coming his way soon.
M – As the PWG World Heavyweight Championship match between El Generico & Eddie Edwards got underway, Kevin Steen came out to exercise his rematch clause w/ the approval of the PWG Board of Directors. Crazy Triple Threat match ensued, and in the end, it was Kevin Steen who bided his time when El Generico hit the Top Turnbuckle Brainbuster on Eddie Edwards, grabbing “The Generic Luchador” by the feet, and powerslammed him to the edge of the apron. One cover on “Die Hard” later, Kevin Steen joined an elite club in PWG. The new 2-time PWG Champion now holds both the singles title & the tag team title. “What you can do,” Kevin Steen told El Generico at the end of the show, “I CAN DO BETTER, B****!”
Shot of the Night - New 2-time PWG Champion
We’ll have to wait and see what Super Dragon’s condition is between now and 4/21, when the American Legion Hall in Reseda, CA becomes the center of the 2012 PWG DDT4 Tournament. Where they go from here in regards to the singles title, is anyone’s guess, but in my opinion, neither of Kevin Steen’s PWG titles are that safe, especially when he still has to contend with El Generico, and any of the tag teams that challenge him & Super Dragon next month in the tourney. Don’t forget about Willie Mack either. He’s continuing his strong push up the singles ladder, and could be a serious threat to the singles title.