PCW “High Tide” 03/24/2017 review

Posted By: JR Richardson 03/28/2017

PCW ran their second show this year on Friday, March 24th at the ILWU Hall in Wilmington, CA. The early entry group was let in around 6:10, and the meet and greet started. The setup was slightly different than the first show, as the beer and concessions stand was moved just to the left of the entry. This seemed to help with foot traffic, being able to get things in one place without having to walk everywhere in the hall for what you wanted. Merch tables were on both sides of the hall from the entrance. PCW staff was still adding chairs for this all the way up to show-time, as the GA line went nearly a block down the street. This turned out to be a packed house and a lively show.

Penta El 0M vs. Flip Gordon

This match opened the card pitting the white hot Penta vs. Flip Gordon, an extremely athletic competitor from the New England area. He’s also been on some Beyond shows recently as well as Chikara. Penta at first didn’t seem to know what to do with Flip’s agility, movement and technical skills. There was a point where Flip was doing a kip up to different spots on the ring every time Penta got close to him. It was a hilarious spot, and also one that showed how crazy-athletic Flip is.

Penta also gives him a go at it, attacking his legs, trying to slow him down with extremely loud chops and kicks. This goes back and forth; Flip hits a moonsault to the floor off the turnbuckle that drew a big reaction from the crowd.

He also had a crazy flipping sequence, too.

There was a crazy package pile-driver on the apron that was one of the highlights of the match.

Penta El takes this match with a double stomp.

Rey Fenix vs. Extreme Tiger

This was a really hard fought match. Rey Fenix brought in a belt with him and showed it off. The match started off with some technical wrestling: wrist locks, some flip counters, hammerlocks etc. Extreme Tiger started it off with a crazy springboard flipping hurricanrana. Rey was throwing stiff chops and kicks onto Tiger at first. The match started moving quickly with Tiger countering into a pop up legbreaker that slowed Fenix down for a few minutes with a terrific shot to the leg.

Tiger was in control for a while, but Fenix started hitting him with stiff forearms and ends up hitting him with some stiff shoot kicks and some roundhouses. Tiger almost catches him with a crucifix submission hold, but Fenix gets out of it. A moonsault catch by Fenix turns into a sit out tombstone that looked extremely painful.

This was a good match between these two. As one person near me said, “These two in the ring is always straight fire!”  I’d love to see both competitors in the Light Heavyweight title picture in the future.

Willie Mack vs. Keith Lee 

This match was really fun for a few reasons. This was a match between two of the most athletic super heavyweights on the wrestling circuit. Keith Lee hit a wild released German that threw Willie like he was a sack of potatoes.

The rope broke early in this match. Check the video at the 20 second mark below.

Keith is one big dude. He’s one of the few people that make Willie look average sized. These two had a great match, regardless of what happened to the rope. While there wasn’t as much of Keith Lee in this match showing what he could really do, it was enough. Willie was solid as well, using more high flying techniques and also a rough house style that worked really well with Lee. Willie had a great looking Samoan drop to standing moonsault combo that looked impressive.

The match then goes into a slugfest, with both men trading blows until Keith does a standing splash on Willie, who then counters with a stunner to claim the victory. Great match.

Warbeast (Almighty Sheik, Jacob Fatu, and Brody King) vs. Los Luchas (Zokre and Phoenix Star) and Hunter P.S. Hayes (No DQ match)

After Los Luchas and Hunter PS Hayes came out, an absolute gaggle of people came out representing Warbeast: Kevin Sullivan, Karleena Gore, MK, Brody King, Sheik and Jacob Fatu. Karleena Gore looked truly terrifying in her Horns, and Kevin Sullivan looked like some evil warlord out of a comic book.  MK (sheik’s manager) started heckling the crowd right away. The intensity definitely turned up for this match.

The match started off as typically most Warbeast matches go, with everyone brawling in the ring. Kevin Sullivan was throwing chairs at everyone, the fight was taken hard to the outside. This was mostly a brawl, and also I think a show of dominance by Warbeast and crew. Los Luchas had a few nice teamwork moves on Brody King

This match never stayed in the ring, so this will have to be seen on tape to be fully assessed but there was chaos everywhere in this match, and too much for me to describe here. The action was in your face if you were anywhere near the front row.

The Sheik then throws fire into BadStreet’s face and then slaps a camel clutch on Phoenix star to take the win. Some staff comes out to help, but they are utterly destroyed by Warbeast. Karleena Gore had one of the staff members wrapped up in a Coquina clutch on the outside, choking him out.  I honestly was jealous of that staff member.

Sami Callihan vs. Jeff Cobb

This was another highly anticipated match.  These two hadn’t fought in the ring before, so it was a new experience for all. The highly Athletic Jeff Cobb and his Olympic background vs. Sami Callihan, the Death machine. Callihan is a stiff fighter, and definitely fights larger than his size. He needed that fight in him to match Cobb’s power and throwing ability. This one had some great spots, Sami hitting some dives, Cobb countering with throws and some crazy thick headbutts. There was a great spot on the outside that I was able to catch, it didn’t go the way Sami planned, I think.

https://twitter.com/JRRichards42/status/845561521128165376

The fighting continued on the inside of the ring, both men trading shots, and Cobb goes for a Tour of the Islands, but it gets turned into a crucifix by Callahan for the victory. Another really good match.

Mr. 450 vs. Douglas James vs. Alexander Hammerstone triple threat for the PCW Light Heavyweight title

This match was getting ready to start and Mr. 450’s music pops. The crowd then recognizes him and realizes that he’s here and ready to wrestle. This was one of the great surprises of the evening. Hammerstone showed his power early, but there was some good quality technical wrestling in this match as well. Hammerstone had a great looking double arm drag on both competitors and also a double Samoan drop that was impressive.

Douglas James had some impressive moves, a suicide tope over the top rope, an array of kicks, and some beautiful dropkicks. One funny part was where Hammerstone threw James onto 450, but James turned it into a pin attempt. Hammerstone broke it up when he realized his mistake. James had a wicked kick combo near the end of the match.

450 looked really good in this match as well.  He had an impressive Canadian destroyer. He brawled a bit more than usual, but he looked aggressive and fresh.

Hammerstone hit Douglas James with his finisher, but 450 then knocks Hammerstone out, does an outside dive, rushes back in and then pins James to retain his title. Good match overall, lots of action throughout with three really talented wrestlers painting the picture.

Rob Van Dam vs. MVP

This match started off with some technical wrestling, as these two wrestlers seemed to anticipate each other’s moves with counters and some hard fighting all over the ring.

At one point, the action spilled to the outside with Van Dam and MVP fighting in literally every spot of the arena, through the crowd, the concession stands, and all the way back to the entry before the action then resumed in the ring. The fans were hot for this, and the crowd followed the action like an amoeba giving the fighters room to work, a space always around the competitors that moved as the action moved. It was pretty wild to see this happen in action.

Some highlights of the match, MVP with a facewash kick on the guardrail.

Rob Van Dam with a kick of the chair in MVP’s hand into his face, a spin kick off the apron onto the guardrail was the other great move of the night.

Rob finally gets the upper hand and hits his finisher with a twist at the end:

Rotating  5 Star Frog Splash to retain the PCW Heavyweight title

Johnny Mundo came out, before the match wearing a Boone: American Bounty Hunter shirt and says, you may know me as Mundo, you may know me as John Morrison, you may even know me as the Mayor of Slamville, but what you may not know is that I grew up a short distance from here (San Pedro).  He said he talked to the PCW owner and threw his name in the mix for June 2nd show to face the winner of RVD vs. MVP.

The crowd goes nuts here, and the show closes out.

Notes and thoughts:

This was a good show, and at some points a great show. There really weren’t any throwaway matches on the card. They opened with a hot act with Penta and Flip and didn’t really slow down until they had to repair the ring. Once the matches started after intermission, the missing bottom rope played into several of the matches as there was no bottom rope to break a submission hold, or to launch you off.

This was a standing room only show after all was said and done. The attendance was a full house and had more people than their first show at the new arena.  I believe they ran out of chairs, which is a good problem to have. Their show in June looks interesting with John Morrison/Mundo added to the card to face RVD.

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1 Comment on "PCW “High Tide” 03/24/2017 review"

  1. Mary Ellen Richardson | 03/28/2017 at 11:18 PM |

    Wow another great review! Having your description and the video clips almost gives the sense of being in a seat at the event. Thanks for always naming the moves, I’m learning alot because of it! Looking forward to the next one JR!

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