Steve & Andrew review PWG’s Bowie, which took place February 12, 2016 in Reseda, CA featuring Roderick Strong taking on Drew Galloway for the PWG World Championship, Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Trevor Lee, Chris Hero vs. Trent?, Evil Uno vs. Mike Bailey, and more. We also have GIFs!
Chuck Taylor vs. Dalton Castle
Andrew: This was a pretty good match to start off the show. I really didn’t care about Dalton Castle’s gimmick, as I’m pretty tired of flamboyant and effeminate male wrestling gimmicks.
But yeah, the match itself was solid when it came to the action. Castle did a lot of character work in this, which got old with me pretty quick. He’s got good in-ring skills though. He hit some pretty good suplexes and also displayed nice technique when he did a single leg takedown into a suplex. Chuck also had a really good stuff in this. I like his comedy work as he just comes off as an authentic character who is genuinely funny. These guys meshed really well together and pulled out some really cool spots. Chuck Taylor gets the win after an exciting finishing stretch that saw him do a dive, only to have Dalton Castle do a swinging rana as he tried to get him back in the ring, and rolling up Castle after Castle threw him back in the ring. This was a pretty good way to start the show.
Steve: I thought this was a good opener as well. I understand that Castle’s entrance was pretty spectacular and that really got the crowd behind him, but we don’t get to see that here. I didn’t mind Castle’s character work other than at times it slowed the match down a little much. Taylor is consistently pretty awesome. Joey Ryan joined Excalibur on commentary to start the show, and at one point the wrestlers kept reversing bodyslam attempts in a pretty fun sequence and Joey said “you’ll be seeing me doing that in Japan soon.” So keep an eye out for that viral video!
Chris Hero vs. Trent?
Steve: At the start they do a shoulder block contest where Hero is unable to knock Trent? down. When it is time to switch it up, Trent? Trips Hero. They then go into a chop contest with some pretty vicious chops, that is only ended when Hero delivers a punch to the face. Trent gets kicked into the crowd right into the lap of a guy holding pitcher of beer, spilling it on Trent?. Trent? really takes a beating for awhile. At one point Trent? goes for a tope con hilo and Hero catches him in the air. He then hits him with a devastating roaring elbow. Hero hits a running suplex neckbreaker that looked crazy too. Trent? makes a little comeback when he hits a avalanche German suplex and follows it up with a knee to Hero’s face. They trade piledrivers, including a crazy jumping piledriver by Hero. Hero hits a tombstone to get the pin. I thought this was a great match. I know some people who were at the show live said it was their match of the night. It even was named match of the month for February on this site’s rankings. Maybe it lost a little something on video because I didn’t think it was quite as good as Sabre and Lee, but it was certainly the second best match on the show.
Andrew: I really enjoyed this match. I can see why some people would enjoy this match more than Sabre vs. Lee, as it had tons of nutty spots in it. Trent? was great in this and did a wonderful job of taking and selling Hero’s big man offense. I’m sure there are people out there who comment on his weight, but the guy seems to be performing really well and is awesome as a Terry Gordy-esque size heavyweight that can pull off the things he does.
Sami Callihan vs. Jack Evans
Andrew: Rudo Jack Evans is my favorite thing in wrestling right now. Sami Callihan reminds me why I completely stopped watching wrestling five years ago. Jack started things off by cutting a hilarious promo on the crowd, but it all went downhill after that when Callihan said he was going to kiss Jack. Joey Ryan name dropped that ex-TMZ shithead on commentary during this, which automatically makes this the worst part oft he show. There was some kissing and shit going on, which was really stupid. Look, I know this is 2016 and everyone has to be “progressive” or “open minded” and shit, but all the comedy in this was fucking stupid and lame. Jack Evans is funny, and he did cool shit, but the match overall was terrible. I really don’t like Callihan. I can’t emphasize that enough. Honestly, I would’ve rather seen a local guy in his spot. A returning B-Boy, a debuting Tito Escondido, or NorCal’s Jeff Cobb would’ve had a better match with Jack. I mean sure, people can say Callihan is a “name” guy, but I doubt more people are buying DVDs and Blu Rays because a goof who looks like a fat scene chick (shoutout to [beej] at The MV Zone) is on the show drinking beers and making stupid faces during his shitty matches. Anyways, yeah, I hated this. I still like Rudo Jack though. His antics were funny. Really dug the martial arts movie style sequence he pulled off, even if it looked over-choreographed.
Steve: I really feel like this would have been way more entertaining live than on video. As a match it wasn’t really that good. I don’t have the problem with Callihan that Andrew does, but the comedy stuff in this match took way too much time and was too over the top. Like I said, live I bet it was a blast. On video I wasn’t into it.
Adam Cole vs. Andrew Everett
Steve: This was another really good match. Chuck Taylor joined Excalibur on commentary for this match, and they were great together. They were explaining how their feud started at the seashore 12 years ago and it was so ridiculous it was hilarious. At one point Taylor pointed out that there was some weird sexual tension in this match and that he thinks Cole wants to fuck Everett. After one sequence in the match where Cole hits a fireman’s carry into a neckbreaker, Cole says he is ready to give Everett his Valentine’s present which the crowd starts chanting “suck his dick.” Seriously. Excalibur and Taylor are cracking up discussing what the reaction would be if that actually occurred. Everett hit a really nice spring board shooting star press in the match. Later he did a frankensteiner followed by another picture perfect shooting star press. Cole hit a brainbuster for the win however.
Andrew: I thought this was a solid match. The explanation of Adam Cole kicking sand in the face of Andrew Everett when he was on a family vacation as a kid in 2004 in Panama City Beach, Florida was hilarious. To be honest, this wasn’t a match that would be considered “blow away” by PWG standards, but if this took place on another show in the area in another promotion, people would be talking about it.
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Trevor Lee
Andrew: My neighbor’s baby started a massive crying tantrum during this, so I decided to turn up the volume on this to drown out that little brats cries. I really hate that kid. Well, I hate all kids, but I hate that kid the most. Chuck Taylor on commentary had a brilliant idea for a Southern babyface like Ricky Morton, except he’s anti-Semitic. Chuck Taylor is seriously the man. The fans got annoying in this, and Excalibur took a shot at a group of people who started a chant that took away form the match.
Anyways, the match. It ruled. Zack Sabre Jr. continued to show why he’s one of the best wrestlers in the world right now by busting out tons of great techniques and displaying mind-blowing submission sequences and attempts. Trevor Lee also had a great performance in this. Some of the stuff done in this match would take forever to describe, but there was a lot of cool shit in this. One sequence saw Sabre reversing a bodyslam attempt by Trevor Lee, going for a flying armbar, transitions into a triangle choke and ends up being thrown by Lee into the middle rope throat first. Sabre also took a nasty looking hump when Trevor Lee pretty much tossed him on his head. This was a really fun and exciting match that needs to be in the running for MOTY. It’s up there with Drew Gulak vs. Timothy Thatcher from Lemmy. I highly recommend this match.
Steve: This was a fantastic match. I’d put Sabre in the top five wrestlers in the world right now. I’m in agreement with Andrew that this is a strong SoCal MOTY candidate.
Mike Bailey vs. Evil Uno
Steve: PWG shows have so many great matches it is easy for a match to get lost in the shuffle. This was an excellent match but it is going to be overshadowed by Sabre and Lee and Trent? and Hero. It says something when a legit 4 star match is the 3rd or 4th best match on a show. This match was mostly Uno destroying Bailey throughout, with Bailey getting in some offense here and there. I started taking notes, but I got so into the match I didn’t write a whole lot down. Uno was doing a good job selling his knee late and hit Bailey with a tombstone from the middle rope. Because his knee though he wasn’t able to get the pin right away allowing Bailey to kick out. He then hit a moonsault, but same issue with the knee. This gave Bailey enough time to recover and he eventually won with kicks. It’s a shame Bailey is having issues that is going to keep him out of the U.S. for awhile because he has been great in PWG.
Andrew: Donald Trump wants to keep good, hard working indy guys like Mike Bailey out of our country, denying us Americans of awesome matches. Fuck Trump! Anyways, funny that Steve mention the rumored immigration thing with Bailey, as Player Uno and his tag team partner Player Dos went through something similar a few years back I believe. Sucks if it’s true and Bailey isn’t around for a few years, but hopefully he can get gigs in Japan and Europe if that’s the case. I never got to see the Super Smart Bros run in PWG, but I heard Uno was part of crazy tag matches when they were. This was a really good match, and another that would get more attention if it happened where else in SoCal.
PWG World Championship Match: Roderick Strong (c) vs. Drew Galloway
Andrew: Things start off with Roderick Strong getting on the mic and demanding Rick Knox be replaced by Justin Borden as referee for the match. Roderick gets lots of heat from the fans in this, as usual, and he plays up to the boos and heckles throughout the match. Despite the random heat for Roderick’s character, it didn’t crossover to the match as the fans were wanting to see Zack Sabre Jr. become champion, thus sorta killing some of the vibe of the match. There were some points where the crowd seemed dead and weren’t reacting to Drew Galloway kicking out of various moves. The match itself was fine. Both guys had a pretty good performance. Roderick got thrown around a bit by Galloway, and even got thrown into a door at the American Legion in Reseda while both guys were brawling outside the ring. Honestly, there’s really not much about this match I can write about, as it was good, but at the same time, it just felt pointless since the obvious match being built up to that the fans wanted to see was Strong vs. Sabre Jr. for the title. As good as Galloway is, the fans obviously weren’t going to buy into him winning the title. Because of that, this match just felt unimportant and predictable.
After the match, Adam Cole ran in to help Roderick beat up Galloway. Sabre made the save, countered Roderick Strong’s End Of Heartache into a Kimura attempt, but ended up being superkicked by Adam Cole. Strong got on the mic and said that Sabre will get a shot at the PWG World Championship at All Star Weekend 12. Sabre tells the crowd (because the mic broke, good work atox) that he’s going to be champion to end the show.
Steve: I’m not sure if the crowd wasn’t as hot because they knew Galloway wasn’t going to win, or because they just watched five really good to great matches (and a drinking match) and just didn’t have the energy left. I know the announcers talked about how hot it was in the building a few times too, and that can really drain a crowd. I thought this match was pretty good, it just had to follow everything that came before it. PWG has done a great job of building Strong vs. Sabre.
Final Thoughts:
Andrew: This was a good show. I thought it was better than Lemmy. Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Trevor Lee was my favorite match of the show, and Chris Hero vs. Trent? was also really good. Evil Uno vs. Mike Bailey was also a fun match, and the 3rd best match of the show behind Hero vs. Trent? The opener was fun and did a good job at getting the crowd into thing, and Cole vs. Everett was good as well. Strong vs. Galloway was a solid match, but like I said, it felt unimportant and didn’t matter as the focus was on building up Zack Sabre Jr. against Roderick Strong. Callihan vs. Evans sucked, and I can’t stand Sami Callihan. He really fucking sucks. Besides that, this was another good showing from PWG.
Steve: This was a great show. I agree it was a lot better than Lemmy. Aside from the Evans and Callihan match, every match ranged from 3 1/2 stars to 4 1/4. Like I said earlier the Evans and Callihan match seemed like something you had to be there in person for to really enjoy. I’m not sure how I’d rate it. I highly recommend buying Bowie. I can say I haven’t seen any other show this year that is as good as this from top to bottom.
PWG’s Bowie is available for purchase on DVD or Blu-Ray at PWG’s website and on Highspots.com.
