15 Y.C. Part 13: One of the Best Kept Secrets in Wrestling

I’m a big indy wrestling fan, I prefer watching the smaller companies over the big time ones. One of the companies I’ve came across is a little California company called Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. PWG is a company that runs just a handful of dates throughout the year but they are always packed with fans and are great shows. PWG will be celebrating its 9^th anniversary this month but one of the best shows and the one I’m going to review is PWG Seven taking place 30^th July 2010 in Reseda. We get Excalibur on commentary and he’s joined by many different guests throughout the night.

Peter Avalon, Malachi Jackson & Ryan Taylor vs. Brandon Gatson, Johnny Goodtime & Candice LaRae: Avalon jumps Johnny to start and the action goes crazy. Gatson hits a slingshot ace crusher earlier. Candice is destroying Avalon in the corner with shoulder blocks, Avalon is about the same size of Candice. Avalon calls out Candice, I feel sorry for Candice I think PWG is the only place she works and they don’t bring in other women. Avalon basically dry humps Candice. Goodtime slings over the corner and hits a low dropkick when tagged in which looked smooth. Jackson gets tagged in a looks pretty bad in what he does, it just looked weak. Taylor hits a beautiful axe kick which of course is followed by a spinaroonie. Goodtime gets a very high top rope Asai moonsault on everyone, the fans thank him with a pitcher of beer. Goodtime is then pushed off the top rope and hits the apron and then the outside. Taylor is the best on his team by far and I’m glad he’s in the ring the most. Candice gets tagged and gets two guys fighting over her ending with them kissing in random comedy. Candice gets a Balls-plex on Jackson, tries one on Avalon and can’t find his balls. Gatson gets a Burning Hammer on Jackson, him & goodtime then do crazy dives outside and Candice gets a Moonsault for the win. Pretty fun match, hurt a bit by Candice & Avalon being there.

Brandon Bonham vs. Brian Cage: Cage gets “Who the F are you” chants to start, which is funny as on last month’s PWG show he challenged Kevin Steen for the PWG title.. A back and forth to start with no one getting a big advantage. Cage slides out and Bonham gets a tope con heelo, looked great. Bonham does a sick dragon kick off the apron onto Cage. Bonham gets a double stomp plancha. Cage powerbombs Bonham against the ring post, they’re fighting through the crowd and they’re struggling to move as it’s such a small place and is so packed with fans. Bonham comes back with several roll ups, he attempts a Sunset flip but Cage gets a Northern Lights in a very nice spot. Cage gets 2 tilt-a-whirl backbreakers without letting go. We get the Bret Hart chest bump into the corner. Bonham goes for the Canadian Destroyer but Cage reverses into a sit out Alabama Slam. Bonham gets a weird suplex, he tied up the arm from the front and then did the move. Cage gets a roaring lariat that drills Bonham. Bonham gets 2 low dropkicks in the corner, the 2^nd leading to the outside. Bonham gets an Arm trapped Angle slam for a near fall. Cage gets a German Superplex. Cage catches a kick and gets Bonham in a Gory Special then gets a flatliner out of it. Bonham gets the Canadian Destroyer for the win. A really, really good match that would of been a better fit for the opener. I like this match because no one knew who Cage was to start and by the end they loved him.

Chris Sabin vs. Akira Tozawa: The basic chain wrestling spots to start, which ends with the 2 hitting a dropkick at the same time and a stand out. Akira gets the advantage with a hip attack, he then drills Sabin with a mean bicycle kick in the corner. Sabin gets a cross body from the inside to the outside on Akira. Sabin goes for a very quick top rope crossbody but Akira somehow gets double knees up. Akira gets a shining wizard and then gets a suicide dive. Akira goes for a diving headbut, misses, tries again, misses, goes for a senton but before jumping Sabin gets his knees up but there pushed down and he gets the senton. Sabin kills him with 2 Tree of Woe dropkicks, including his beautiful jumping version. Akira gets a great German suplex, fails to float over but gets Sabin in a version of the Croyt’s Wrath for the win. A good match here and I was very happy I didn’t see Tozawa’s ass which he showed a lot at this time.

Scott Lost vs. Scorpio Sky: This was Scott’s retirement match. Streamers cover the ring before the introductions and we get “Thank You Scott”, Scott was/is (I’m not sure) one of the many owners of PWG. Scott starts with a high leg lariat and throws out 2 streamers in a pose. Sky returns the favour with a leg lariat. Sky gets a beautiful leap frog and dropkick, why is he only now being looked at he’s so smooth in the ring. Sky hits a Kitchen sink and before Scott hits the floor drops an elbow as well. Scott gets his feet up in the corner and follows through with a double stomp, just an amazing move. Scott hits 2 amazing looking suplex’s, I really can’t get over how smooth these 2 are in the ring and why no one used them. The 2 fight in the crowd and Scott hits a huge leaping clothesline through the crowd. Scott hits a quick judo throw. Sky nails Scott with a jumping high knee to the face. Scott does a suplex that goes over the ropes and to the outside, don’t really see that I only remember seeing it once with Bret Hart vs. Hakushi. Scott gets back in and hits a low flatliner and hits a great top rope elbow and then a frog splash, all gain near falls. Sky hits a belly to belly over the ropes and then hits a twisting tope. Scott gets an Ace crusher after missing the Big Fat Kill for a near fall. Scott hits a spinning round kick and then the Big Fat Kill for a near fall. Sky hits an arm trapped snapmare driver for a near fall. Sky gets a TKO and then another for a very close fall which looked like a 3. Sky then hits the Big Fat Kill for the win. Fans didn’t like the finish but it made sense and they were totally into this, just a fantastic match and I’m surprised it went on so early. After Scott does a speech explaining his decision to retire and thanking everyone. A really nice send off.

Bryan Danielson vs. Roderick Strong: This was during Bryan’s brief return to the indies, fans throw ties into the ring. This is what I loved as many would have just waited in quiet to return to WWE, which he did, but Bryan was all over the indies. Mat wrestling starts this match. We get “Cena got his F’ing head kicked in” and “You killed Justin” chants. Lots of strikes between the two. Now we get “F Michael Cole” chants, one that still has meaning today. Strong chokes Bryan with a tie to a big pop and gets “You are Fired” chants. Bryan gets a tie and does the exact same choke he did to Justin Roberts. Bryan hits a running knee of the apron and comes back in with a Missile Dropkick. Strong gets the high version of the Strong Hold aka the Liontamer. We gets a series of 1 counts as the two roll around on the mat. Bryan reverses a crucifix with his elbow stirkes and turns into Cattle Mutilation but Strong gets the ropes. A sick kick by Strong gets a near fall. He gets Death by Roderick and an Inverted version for a near fall, he goes for the Tiger Driver and Bryan gets a triangle choke and turns it into the LeBell Lock for the win. A good match here which was made even better by the fans. Bryan then does a promo making fun of PG and thanking the indy fans, he did this a lot at the time.

Davey Richards (c) vs. Chris Hero for PWG World title: Chain wrestling to start, a lot of this tonight. Davey does a Pat O’Connor roll and when Hero kicks out, he transitions to a grounded surfboard in a nice spot. Hero missed a baseball slide and while he’s out Davey does his running kick on the apron which sounded harsh. Davey does a deathlock Tequila sunrise which looked better than anything Konnan could do. Hero comes back with a mean big boot, I get the feeling we’ll get strikes here. Hero went to do a bodyslam on the apron but the place is so full he messed it up. Hero bodyslams Davey into the ropes in an odd spot. Hero nails a mean elbow strike and follows with a slingshot on the rope. Hero hits his suplex neckbreaker for a near fall. Davey finally comes back with a handspring kick. Davey runs off the rope but Hero cuts him off with a flying kick, Hero goes for a dive but lands on his feet when Davey runs in and then hits a suicide dive heelo. Davey gets a dragon screw in the ropes. Davey gets a missile dropkick, goes for a pin and when he kicks out he locks in the cloverleaf always like when guys do such things. Hero hits some strikes including an elbow, Davey powers up but is nailed with another elbow for a near fall. Hero gets a Kravate facebuster of the ropes for a near fall, he lifts his leg during the pin to continue selling the leg. Davey goes to run off the ropes but is met with an insane Bicycle kick. Davey gets the cloverleaf, the fans are up and surrounding the ring. Davey gets an ankle lock but it’s rolled through, Hero does his rope bounce roaring elbow for a near fall. Hero hits a head stomp into an elbow and then a moonsault for a near fall. Hero goes for his hanging neckbreaker into an elbow and is reversed into an ankle lock. Davey gets the DR driver for a near fall but locks in the Ankle lock for the tap out. Just an insanely good match between these two which told a great story and was full of action.

¡Peligro Abejas!(c) (Paul London & El Generico) vs. The Cutlers (Brandon & Dustin) vs. The Young Bucks (Nick & Matt Jackson)-Guerrilla Warfare match for PWG World Tag Titles: Cutlers jump the Bucks to start, Matt hits a Sliced Bread on the apron onto one of them. The champs finally come in and hit duel Tope con heelos. The Cutlers hit duel rolling shoulder blocks, don’t get why they had to roll I also can’t tell which Cutler is which. Matt gets hit with a Slingshot Spinbuster by Dustin (only know as Excalibur said it). One Cutler presses the other onto the Buck on the outside. London hits a sunset bomb on a Cutler onto the Bucks on the outside. Chairs are being thrown into everyone’s face. We get one guy chanting TNA, who the Bucks were working for at the time. One Cutler slides Nick across the ring and as he reaches the outside he’s caught by the other and is DDT’d on a chair. The champs get thrown into the bar that’s in the arena. The Bucks do a crazy double team that sees Nick dive out the outside and get caught, I didn’t catch the rest. Generico goes for his diving through the ropes DDT but Matt throws a trash can in his face. A Cutler is powerbombed into the fans chairs, I can see why this went last as the outside is being destroyed. Generico is actually bleeding through his mask that must be hardway. Matt does a handspring back rack on Dustin with an actual rake. The Cutlers Gorilla press Nick into everyone of a stage. Nick slingshots in with an X-factor and then jumps through the ropes where he’s nailed with a Yazuka kick. Matt goes up top and is Superplex through a table by London. So much action all over the place. London hits a double stomp while Nick is setting up a chair, he’s then half & half’d suplex by Generico with an added kick by London onto the chairs. We then get endless superkicks by the Bucks, they throw so many. The fans are surrounding the ring again. London gets a Tope Con Heelo, Generico gets a yazuka kick on a Cutler goes for a dive and is nailed by a chair and then gets hit by the Cutler’s Tandem Tombstone onto a chair for a near fall after London saves it. London takes a nasty spill as I think he was meant to skin the cat but failed to keep hold and nailed his back on the apron. Matt nails a Cutler with a DDT on the apron while Nick gets a 450 through a table on the other. London does Shooting star to the outside and Generico gets the BRAINBUSTAH on the turnbuckle for the win on Nick. Just an insane brawl filled with big moves but in this match it was expected, a pretty good way to end the show.

Overall: When I go back to watch show I usually find faults with a number of matches but with this one everything was good to great, even the opener was only slightly affected by Candice & Avalon but besides that the show was perfect. It built well, the fans were totally into everything and the match order was perfect. I remember writing in votes for Powerslam magazine’s Year end awards and I picked this show as the best of 2010 and while it didn’t win it was in the votes showing I was not alone in my view.