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PWG Battle of Los Angeles 2012 N1
Topic Started: Nov 24 2012, 10:55 PM (447 Views)
Big Tuna
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The Master and Ruler Of The World

PWG Battle of Los Angeles 2012 Night One
September 1st, 2012
Reseda, CA

Match #1: Joey Ryan vs. TJ Perkins [1st Round]

In the vein of Joey/Danielson in 2007, this is the wonderfully rare Cheater vs. Technician match. Joey gets stretched and embarrassed on the mat before he takes over with cheating. Joey is great as a heel as usual, great punches, awesome stalling and stooging, and his control segment is 90% cheating, which I love. TJ has some cool counters and spots, which is pretty much his job. TJ hits his cool new finish to win, which is a Go To Sleep, but with a Pele Kick instead of a knee strike. Looks great.
***

Match #2: Roderick Strong vs. Drake Younger [1st Round]

This ruuuuuled. They abandon any pretense and throw tons of nasty strikes and cool moves at each other. PWG makes me remember that Roderick Strong is capable of being a good wrestler. Drake did a Falcon Arrow, which means HE'S DONE THE DEAL. This probably went too long, but not super too long, only like two minutes. They do a totally goddamned insane spot as Roddy throws Drake from a Torture Rack position back-first into the top ring cable. Strong wins with the Gibson Driver.
***

Match #3: Eddie Edwards vs. Kyle O'Reilly [1st Round]

THIS MOSTLY RULED. WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?! Eddie now seems to be almost an objectively good pro wrestler. He had bad tendencies, but PWG seems to bring the best out of him. Decent matwork to begin, and it looked like Eddie was clearly leading it. I also liked how they didn't work it as a movefest exactly, but how Eddie was kind of being a dick and working as Kyle's superior. Kyle got in stuff a lot, but he was rarely in control, so much as countering. Davey was on commentary and actually contributed to the story, pointing out how Kyle's best shot is combinations of moves, and that was what got him lots of nearfalls. Now don't get me wrong, this is flawed. They do too much shrugging off of stuff in the finishing run, but they also end it at the right time. Eddie wins with the Killer Crab. It's a shame there aren't any true veterans on the indy scene who can really mold a guy into being great like Punk, Joe, Danielson, Gibson, or Hero, because Eddie seems at that point where a few months attached to one of those guys like Strong to Punk and Gibson in 2005 could make him into an actual great wrestler. I'm giving it to this match just for wildly exceeding expectations.
***

Match #4: Brian Cage vs. B-Boy [1st Round]

Well, they can't all be winners. Cage has come a long way in the last few years, but now that he has cool offense, he's being put in positions where he gets exposed as not having much else. B-Boy has lots of awesome strikes, but he is also B-Boy and this drags in the second half as a result. Excalibur and Joey take a huge shit on B-Boy on commentary, saying that while Cage is Mr. Get My Shit In as a joke, B-Boy was the originator as B-Boy doesn't give a shit about matches or anything in wrestling besides doing cool moves. So yeah, this goes on forever, has no real flow or story, and yeah. Cage finally ends it with Weapon X.
**1/4

Match #5: Kevin Steen vs. Ricochet [1st Round]

Well this was goddamned incredible. Excalibur makes an amazing point about how Ricochet is basically a inverted El Generico. They have a similar size and style, but Ricochet is dark skinned, cocky, unmasked, and a total dick to Steen for no reason. Steen gets mad at his antics and KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILLS him with a Powerbomb early on and commences a gigantic ass stomping. Ricochet has tons, TONS, of amazing spots, INCLUDING A FUCKING FLOSBURY FLOP CORKSCREWED AROUND INTO A FLIP DIVE JESUS FUCK. He's also the first guy besides Sydal/Bourne to break out the insane Twisting Flying Headscissors deal. You know what? Fuck it. TONS OF AMAZING SPOTS. WATCH THIS MATCH. Also, Steen's amazing comedy. He sees a kid in a RISE ABOVE HATE shirt and yells that this is how you actually deal with bullies, and bites Ricochet's ear and fingers. Brian Cage comes out to again interfere, but Steen plants him with the Package Piledriver. Ricochet hits a Reverse Rana and Phoenix Splash to win off the distraction though.
****

Match #6: Sami Callihan vs. Willie Mack [1st Round]

This was also fucking amazing. This probably shouldn't have happened because losing either man from the tournament is kind of stupid, and this should have been Willie Mack's year, but okay, whatever. Either way, it's two angry intense dudes beating the living fuck out of each other for 15 minutes. They hit hard, yell "FUCK YOU!" a lot, and everything makes sense and builds upon itself. Sami hits one disgusting Lariat for 2, another for a one count kick out, and then DESTROYS Willie Mack with a third to win.
***1/2

Match #7: El Generico vs. Adam Cole [1st Round]

Steen is on commentary to constantly yell profanities at Generico. Cole is working heel now, which suits him much better. He has lots of great taunts and mannerisms, although his offense is still a little too indytastic. Who uses that DVD Backbreaker deal in fucking 2012? Shit was lame in 2005. Generico guides Cole through an El Generico finishing run. Highlight of the match was Steen talking about how he gets an erection when El Generico is dropped on his head, so tonight, Adam Cole has turned him on more than his wife could. Cole pulls off a HUGE upset with a cradle to block the Brainbuster.
***

Match #8: Davey Richards vs. Michael Elgin [1st Round]

This happened. It got 20-25 minutes, so it was a Davey Richards match, unfortunately. That being said, it has less overkill than their ROH stuff and Davey shows so much more personality here and he's almost likeable in PWG. Him landing sitting down from a Tope Suicida and then giving some fat neckbeard in a cowboy hat and DX jersey a crotch chop was fantastic. They work a basic story where Elgin is fucking huge and strong and it takes more to knock him down. Davey does some stuff based on speed and multiple blows to take over, but goes back to his usual stuff, and pays for it. Elgin's feats of strength are amazing. Steen and Excalibur talk about how Skylar is a fucking cunt. They sort of skip the middle of the match and jump into an overlong finishing run, destroying the potential this had. They kick out of tons of ridiculous shit and it ends up looking like a parody of 2012 indy wrestling. Kickouts of SUPER AIR RAID CRASHES, SUPER GERMAN SUPLEXES, and tons of Ankle Lock reversals and Superkicks and shit. Elgin wins with the Spiral Bomb.
**1/2
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