Project Reseda: My Look at the Early Days of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla

I have been aware of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, at least in the periphery, since I got online in late 2004. At the time it was just another of many small time indies in the States displaying the various talent from all across the country, mainly though showcasing the best of Southern California. I'm not even sure what my first taste of PWG even was, and in fact it could have been the highly pimped CM Punk vs Super Dragon match at the time. Either way, I didn't really pay much attention because the focus in those days was much more on Ring of Honor and the relative boom in business they were having.

Time went on as it does and PWG remained, and thrived. YouTube also became part of the world in 2005 and thus, pro wrestling of all kinds had their vehicle for exposure that had never been available before and PWG was part of that revolution of distribution. Compilation videos were the thing in those days since bandwidth was practically nothing and some of the best involved PWG footage. I recall seeing an absolutely awesome Super Dragon comp that showcased how goddamn vicious he was. Of course in doing that there were the other PWG talents that came with that. Suddenly, PWG was no longer a glorified local indy; it was becoming a national and global brand.

To say that I became obsessed immediately would be very incorrect. YouTube still didn't change how difficult finding fool shows was in those days so PWG really wasn't part of my religious wrestling fandom. Years went by and I sort of forgot about the company I suppose and focused more on Japanese stuff. Then I began to see and read interviews with the top independent stars of the country and they all kept praising what PWG was doing. That coincided with the expansion of internet video streaming and I slowly began to see more and more PWG matches. By early 2011, I was able to finally get my hands on PWG DVDs and my first was All Star Weekend of that year. THAT is when PWG bit me and I was hooked. It was the perfect blend of tongue-and-cheek comedy as well and absolutely phenomenal pro wrestling that got better and better with each match and show. I've yet to look back and this is my diary while I plunge deep into the history of what I see as the greatest promotion in all of the world today.

PWG Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (aka The Debut Show)

This show is the very definition of what you would call a diamond in the rough. There isn't a lot of necessarily crisp pro wrestling but it was the beginning of a movement. The match is littered with fairly short matches and some rather bad ones as well. The biggest thing I took away from this show was that it was absolutely meant to be a local show to give all the PWG Founding 6 somewhere to work after Revolution Pro began dying a slow death. The two best matches are Scorpio Sky and Quicksilver vs The Ballard Brothers as well as the main event match between then-NWA World Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles and Frankie Kazarian. This show gave us the proper glimmers of what would make the promotion unique; fun and downright hilarious commentary by Excalibur and various other founding members, spotty as all fuck Americanized lucha, and occasionally some damn good wrestling. Of course the last part of that equation only grew and grew along with the rest. Kazarian and AJ have a pretty solid sprint match and would become a pairing that PWG relies on heavily down the road. I would give this show an overall C rating simply because of the very green and limited roster of the show. Some of these matches didn't do it any favors but much of the last part of this show made up for it. Also, Super Dragon vs M-Dogg 20 may be the absolute worst Dragon match EVER.  

Next we have PWG's big title tournament that can be considered the father of the Battle of Los Angeles tournament that has become a signature for PWG. Things get real interesting in that tournament so stick around.