Pro Wrestling Guerrilla made their downtown Los Angeles debut for Time is a Flat Circle on March 23, 2018. The show was originally scheduled for The American Legion in Reseda, but due to a PayPal error allowing extra tickets to be sold they ended up running in a different location for the first time in a decade.
The venue itself was great. Despite the larger crowd it didn’t seem over filled and you could still move around. There were bars all over the place, including one on the balcony level, so there was no long lines like Reseda either. I don’t drink so this wasn’t an issue for me, but I did hear some complaints about drink prices. A bottle of water was $4.00.
I ended up sitting on the balcony level and the view was amazing. We were right on top of the ring. I know one of the big reasons for not leaving Reseda in the past was the fear that some of the atmosphere would be lost, but I actually thought the crowd was louder here. This may be because it was a theater and designed to carry sound, but the atmosphere was great for the show.
Joey Janela over Rey Horus [12’28]
I thought this was a really good opener. Joey Janela got a huge reaction coming out. There was even a “Spring Break” chant. They really broke the venue in with lots of dives into the crowd. Janela won with a package piledriver.
Rating: *** 1/4
Brody King over Douglas James, Jake Atlas, and Eli Everfly [13’09]
Andrew may have put a hex on this match with his article on it being the most important SoCal match in years. The opening sequence between James and Atlas was good. They went at a fast pace and everything was fluid. Things kind of fell apart after that. I think everyone had good individual performances, especially Brody King, but the match as a whole just wasn’t structured well. It felt like they were just going spot to spot without trying to tell a story. They would hit their spots and get the crowd into the match, and then lose them with the a lack of action in between. There was some crazy stuff here, and as normal Eli Everfly came out there like he has a deathwish. There was some sloppiness too though. Late in the match Jake Atlas dislocated his hip catching Brody King on a dive and was unable to continue the match. King eventually hit a Gonzo Bomb on Everfly to get the win.
Rating: N/A (Site policy is to not rate a match where someone is unable to continue due to a legitimate injury.)
Zachary Wentz & Dezmond Xavier over Bandido & Flamita [9’20]
This was absolutely insane. There was a lot of innovative offense and they worked at such a fast pace. This never slowed down for a second. I know they’ve worked together in the past in Dragon Gate, but I haven’t seen any of their stuff there so I can’t compare. The ending saw Wentz stand off to the side of Flamita and do a standing shooting star press and Xavier pushed him while he was mid air to have him land on Flamita. There was a standing ovation after the match and people were tossing money in the ring. This was incredible.
Rating: **** 1/2
Will Ospreay over Adam Brooks [24’26]
It was going to be hard to top the previous match, but this one did it. It started fairly slow but they really did a great job building the match. By the end the pace was incredible despite being over 20 minutes in. They did a fantastic job telling a story with this. There was a ton of drama with believable near falls late. This is an easy SoCal match of the year contender. Ospreay hit an OsCutter to get the pinfall.
Rating: **** 3/4
Jonah Rock over Jeff Cobb [15’57]
This was two huge wrestlers just beating the hell out of each other. There was a ton of German suplexes in this and some really cool counters. This was really good. Rock won with a Frog Splash.
Rating: *** 3/4
Zack Sabre Jr. over Matthew Riddle [16’56]
There was a ton of mat work in this. The overhead view from the balcony was great. Having just watched Sabre completely dominate everyone in the New Japan Cup it was sort of weird seeing him in a more even match. This was completely different than anything else on the show and I loved it, but some other people I spoke with thought it was good, but not great. Sabre won with a bridging pin.
Rating: ****
Keith Lee over Chuck Taylor to win the PWG World Championship [17’28]
Chuck Taylor was booed a lot to start. To really turn the crowd against him he kept stopping the match and would go outside the ring and get on the mic to question why the crowd hates him. The match picked up after the stalling, and turned out good, but not great. I don’t think very many people expected Lee to win, so the ending came across as pretty big surprise. Keith Lee hits Spirit Bomb followed by a Ground Zero to get the pin and win the title.
Rating: ***
After the match Keith Lee cut a really good promo about how he was a wrestler in Texas dreaming of making it to PWG and now he’s the champion. He talked about how the fans have been behind him since day one and thanked everyone. This was a really good moment to close the show.
Three matches out of seven were four stars or better, including a possible match of the year candidate. The venue was great and I hope PWG continues to run the occasional show there. The show should have ended any fears of PWG not being PWG in another venue as well. I’m sure the cost of the Globe Theater is light years more than what they pay for the American Legion in Reseda, so I don’t expect a full time move. At the end of the day I’d rather them continue to spend money on bringing in the best talent they can over having the best venue they can. Overall the show was really good and a great experience.
The DVD and Blu Ray are available for pre-order now on PWG’s website.
