By Silverback, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla Staff Writer
Hollywood, CA – Normally, we’d write an amusing introductory paragraph, but you guys have been waiting long enough; Battlefield 3 unlocked a little earlier tonight and we had to get a few rounds in before posting this.
FEAR takes place on Saturday, December 10 at 8:00PM at American Legion Post #308 in Reseda, CA. Tickets for this event are on sale now at the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla Tickets Page. Scheduled to take place:
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Championship Tag Team Title Guerrilla Warfare Match
The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson – Champions) vs. Appetite for Destruction (“Mr. Wrestling” Kevin Steen & Super Dragon)
— “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” It is ironic that almost seventy years to the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) may be experiencing the same reservations and dread as Japanese Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku experienced after blindsiding the United States. While it would be easy to further launch into some sort ofjingoistic analogy, we will instead turn our focus to Super Dragon.
Returning to professional wrestling after a three-year absence, Super Dragon was once known as one of the most skilled and brutal competitors certainly in America, and perhaps even throughout the world. Evolving from a high-flyer to a ferocious powerhouse over the first eleven years of his career, Super Dragonwalked away from professional wrestling in 2008 for reasons known only to him. While many suspected that it was due to injuries sustained in his legendary battles with Kevin Steen, El Generico, Joey Ryan, and Necro Butcher, just to name a few, some said that Dragon was just biding his time, and that he would return when least expected. Well, the latter parties have cleaned up in their office pools, because absolutely no one expected Super Dragon to return at Steen Wolf, least of all former Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Champion Kevin Steen.
After being ambushed by The Young Bucks during the World Championship Ladder Match while only inches away from capturing the belt, Kevin Steen fought back to a point where both he and El Generico were simultaneouslyascending the same ladder, but the beating by The Young Bucks allowed El Generico to take advantage of a depleted Kevin Steen, and put him down for good. This allowed Generico to climb the ladder unmolested and capture the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Championship for the second time in his career. However, The Young Bucks were not through with Kevin Steen, and returned to the ring to add insult to injury. After their merciless attack during an already vicious match, the Bucks continued to taunt Steen, and challenged him to a Tag Team Guerrilla Warfare match. After all, with Akira Tozawa in Japan, who else could Steen rely on for a partner? It would be the first ever handicap Guerrilla Warfare match. Then the lights went out. And that was the night that everything changed.
It would certainly seem that with Super Dragon’s return, The Young Bucks have bitten off more than they can chew. However, the Jackson brothers are the most dominant tag team Pro Wrestling Guerrilla has ever seen, surpassing the record of Super Dragon and Davey Richards by a wide margin. Now well into their second reign as World Tag Team Champions, the Bucks have said they will not rest until they double the record set by their first title reign. Big words, especially with a pissed off Kevin Steen and a highly motivated Super Dragon standing in your path, but it is possible that maybe, just maybe, The Young Bucks really are the best tag team professional wrestling has ever seen.
Non-Title Singles Match
El Generico vs. Dick Togo
— DICKMANIA! is coming to Pro Wrestling Guerrilla! While this statement might confuse, or even frighten, a certain number of readers, it brings immeasurable happiness to the staff and management of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla.
You see, in Japan in the early 1990s, a professional wrestling revolution was taking place that reshaped professional wrestling around the world. Up until that point, professional wrestling was traditionally a large man’s sport. Sure, there were Junior Heavyweights, but rarely did those competitors or their matches receive the attention that their Heavyweight counterparts received. Shodai Tiger Mask, still regarded as one of the greatest Junior Heavyweights of all time, rarely, if at all, found himself wrestling in a main event match unless it was a tag team match with a Heavyweight wrestler. In 1990, one man, Gran Hamada, decided that the time had come for the Junior Heavyweight to become the focus of the professional wrestling world, and that began a seachange within the industry. A large portion of this revolution has roots in Hamada’s Universal Pro Wrestling, and would then become a full-blown game-changer in Michinoku Pro Wrestling. Why is this relevant, you may be asking? Because Gran Hamada’s protégé, Dick Togo, began his career right as this revolution was taking place, and played a huge part in bringing the Junior Heavyweight style to the prominence that it has today.
Dick Togo’s career of over twenty years has taken him around the world numerous times over, but American fans of professional wrestling might bemost familiar with Togo from his 1997 matches in the original ECW, or his subsequent 1998 run in the WWF. However, Togo has been a fixture of the Japanese independent professional wrestling scene for the duration of his career, and in that time he has become widely known as one of the most versatile professional wrestlers of his generation. Whether drawing from his Lucha Libre influences under Gran Hamada or the more hard-hitting style he has employed recently, Dick Togo has faced and beaten the best that Japanese professional wrestling has to offer. And now nearing the end of his retirement tour, in his final American match ever, Dick Togo will face the best that North America has to offer in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Champion El Generico.
The most obvious and direct progenitor of the Japanese Junior Heavyweightrevolution is Dragon Gate, so without the likes of Dick Togo, Dragon Gate would almost certainly not exist today. But the same could be said of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla as well. Without the third-generation VHS tapes recorded off of late-night television in Japan, Southern California’s most revered defunct promotion, Revolution Pro, would never have existed. And the direct progenitor of Revolution Pro? Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. It is for those reasons, and so many more, that we are honored to host the final match of the American leg of Dick Togo’s retirement tour. Whether you are familiar with Dick Togo or not, trust us when we say that he unknowingly played a huge role in making Pro Wrestling Guerrilla what it is today.
Tag Team Match
American Wolves (Eddie Edwards & Davey Richards) vs. Super Smash Bros. (Player Uno & Stupefied)
— While the year 2011 for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla will be remembered for many things, a case could be made that it should be remembered as the reemergence of the tag team. With the Nightmare Violence Connection, American Wolves, Super Smash Brothers, and Future Shock all making their Pro Wrestling Guerrilla debuts this year, and the returns of The Dynasty and Los Luchas, there is a new depth to the tag team division that has not been seen in quite some time. This certainly gives the champions even more reason to look over their shoulders; each of these teams wants those titles. But it has also raised the stakes for each of these teams; with so many talented wrestlers in a single division, one loss could prove devastating for a tag team’s title aspirations.
Two such teams hoping to avoid relegation to the back of the title contending pack are the American Wolves (Eddie Edwards & Davey Richards) and the Super Smash Brothers (Player Uno & Stupefied). The Wolves were hugely impressive intheir debut at DDT4, and have been chomping at the bit for another chance at The Young Bucks, who eliminated them from the tournament. The Smash Brothers have no personal score to settle with the champions, but that doesn’t mean they have any less desire than the Wolves to face the champions. The result of this match will have serious ramifications on the tag team title picture in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, no matter who walks (or limps) out of FEAR as World Tag Team Champions.
Singles Match
The Amazing Red vs. Roderick Strong
— When The Amazing Red burst onto the independent professional wrestling scene, he became one of the most talked-about wrestlers almost instantly. His fearlessness combined with his near-superhuman agility took him around the world, competing all over North America, Europe, and Japan. However, due to the physical toll of his particular style of wrestling, Red was forced to take a hiatus from professional wrestling in order to recover from years of wear and tear. While he was away, a new batch of high flyers, such as Jack Evans, “The Man That Gravity Forgot” PAC, and Ricochet, came to the forefront. When he returned to professional wrestling in 2009, Red quickly adapted to this new high-flying style, and once again made his mark all over the world. Now Red has set his sights on Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, where he plans on showing the fans of Southern California just how Brooklyn does it.
As for Roderick Strong, if there’s one thing that his history shows is that he loves to beat up high-flyers. Sure, Roderick likes to beat up everybody, but he has a special place in his heart for kicking the crap out of guys that do flips. Will Roderick be able to punish The Amazing Red like he has done to so many others, or will Red prove that he’s beaten bigger and tougher guys than Roderick Strong, and this match is merely a stepping stone?
Tag Team Match
Future Shock (Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly) vs. RockNES Monsters (Johnny Goodtime & Johnny Yuma)
— When a tag team makes their Pro Wrestling Guerrilla debut, the conventional wisdom is that after a series decisive victories, that tag team will earn a shot at the World Tag Team Championship titles. In the case of Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly, the day they walked through the doors in Reseda was the same day they found themselves challenging The Young Bucks for the titles. While things did not entirely work out for Future Shock, the closely contested match was greatly appreciated by both the fans and the Board of Directors, despite failingto take the titles from the Bucks. Now, Cole & O’Reilly find themselves faced with a difficult climb back to the top of the ranks of contenders, and the RockNES Monsters standing directly in their way.
Johnny Goodtime and Johnny Yuma have had multiple run-ins with The Young Bucks, but much like Future Shock, have been unable win the titles away from the most dominant tag team in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla history. A victory on December 10 at FEAR over Cole and O’Reilly would not only launch the Monsters up the ranks of contenders, it would also be a huge psychological boost, perhaps giving Goodtime and Yuma the edge they need to finally dethrone The Young Bucks.
Singles Match
Kenny King vs. TJ Perkins
Eight-Person Tag Team Match
“Pretty” Peter Avalon, Ray Rosas, & The Dynasty (Joey Ryan & Scorpio Sky) vs. Famous B, Chris Kadillak, Candice LeRae, & Willie Mack
Tag Team Match
Los Luchas (Phoenix Star & Zokre) vs. Fightin’ Taylor Boys (Brian Cage-Taylor & Ryan Taylor)
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla’s FEAR takes place on Saturday, December 10, 2011, at 8:00 PM at American Legion Post #308 in Reseda, CA. American Legion Post #308 is located at 7338 Canby Ave., Reseda, CA 91335. Front Row tickets are $30, and General Admission tickets are $25. Online tickets orders are subject to the PayPal Service Charge (2.9% + $0.30). Tickets purchased in advance allow for priority admittance to the venue, along with guaranteed event seating. Online tickets sales for this event will end on December 6, 2011, at 11:59PM. Any remaining tickets will be available for purchase at the door. Tickets are not refundable.
Video recording devices are not permitted. Card subject to change. Absolutely no outside alcoholic beverages are allowed on American Legion property.