#ProjectReseda: PWG An Inch Longer Than Average

PWG An Inch Longer Than Average

We're back in the Jewish Center for a big card! Top Gun Talwar comes out with The Ballard Brothers and I'm immediately interested. He tells us to take our pants off because he's here, good thing I'm ahead of ya buddy! Who wears pants?

Top Gun Talwar and The Ballard Brothers vs Chris Bosh, Lil Cholo, and TJ Perkins

Welp, Perkins dropped that stupid fucking Pinoy Boy name which I doubt anyone will miss. This is going to be the typical, fun PWG multi-man opener I feel like. Bosh and Shannon Ballard start us off with some good stuff. You can already see Bosh's charisma early which will only grow as we go along. In comes Perkins who does his usual crazy lucha stuff which is nice. TALWAR IS HERE THOUGH BABY. This man oozes the fluids associated with charisma, at least I hope that is what's on his tights. Either way The Ballards are still pretty solid and Cholo too. This is VERY lucha, complete with a star spot including all of them. *1/2

M-Dogg 20 vs Jardi Frantz

Little known fact, Frantz likes pot a bunch. This makes sense though because he's a Nor Cal wrestler and we all know that anyone from Northern California smokes weed constantly. In another episode of Can M-Dogg Redeem Himself, we get Frantz in on the fun. White boy lucha ensues. Frantz loves to do shitty armdrags which is evident in this match. M-Dogg is clearly better than Frantz and I'm gleeful. Jardi brings it to the FLOOR with a headscissors hold but just kinda gives up and gets out of it himself. Frantz is just not good, at all. M-Dogg is meh at best back in these days too so just imagine how this one goes. M-Dogg crushes Frantz with a twisting moonsault plancha to the floor and then does his dumb splash off the post that looks like he's holding on in a hurricane. Never really got why that's so cool to people. I can't even give this thing a star, it is just way too sloppy and the magnitude of shittiness is not saved for Frantz or M-Dogg alone.

The X Foundation(Scott Lost and Funky Billy Kim) vs Team Chismo(Disco Machine and Excalibur)

I'm pretty excited about this one because both of these teams have been pretty good so far. Disco is just ON FIRE with the dance moves and Excalibur just can not contain him! The X Foundation better be careful then. Excalibur says he forgot to assign a ref because he's just been too busy and to get a damn ref out here! Chris Bosh comes out with the zebra stripes on OMG! Excalibur is NOT happy and where did this Bosh get a ref's license? WHERE IS THE COMMISSIONER DAMMIT?! Like much of PWG, and I know you're probably annoyed with me saying it, this match is pure fun. That is honestly the appeal of these early shows because honestly aside from the TNA guys that they book, most of the local guys they have access to were not good at all so they had to manage some way to make shows good. Billy Kim is just one on the list of many guys from these early shows that just disappeared and didn't sustain a long career for some odd reason. Then Excalibur and he totally botch the shit out of something after I say that, but things HAPPEN guys. Stereo crossbody planchas by The X Foundation looks good. I get odd pleasure out of seeing Excalibur annihilate people with his Tiger Drivers. **

We get the challenge thrown out by Excalibur towards Chris Bosh for a Hair vs Hair match next show! Then Bosh gets dropped on his luscious locks with a suplex for good measure.

Joey Ryan vs Super Dragon in the first ever Guerrilla Warfare match

This match is legendary to many PWG fans that seek out this older stuff. I've seen it before but never had the context involved so this will be awesome knowing why we are getting this sickening violence in the first place. Earth People is fuckin' awesome btw. Excalibur gives us the decoy spot and Joey is suckered by Dragon from out of nowhere and this thing is ON. These guys flat bring it in this one as you'd expect and man it is crazy. We get a weird bit of wrestling in the middle of chairs being thrown around which is cool, I think. Dragon just brains the hell out of Ryan with a chair my god! Dragon eats some chairs himself of course, it is only fair. Dive through the ropes gets stunted with a chair by Ryan! That spot is ugly as hell. Double stomp into a ladder is another nasty spot. Then again, this match could be defined with that phrase nasty spot. Joey Ryan just WILL NOT DIE and Dragon is the horror movie monster of PWG forever. You can throw him in the lake full of AIDS, but he manages to sneak up behind you and drive a screwdriver into your bitch ass with a negative blood test because he is INHUMAN. Ryan continues to test that with focus on that lariat arm of Dragon's. My only downside for this match really is that it didn't happen in Reseda. I can only imagine the level of awesomeness that rabid crowd could have lent to this thing but regardless this is still solid. The finishing sequence is the definition of BRUTALITY and I'm more in love with PWG after. ****

Adam Pearce vs Colt Cabana

HOLY SHIT JUSTIN ROBERTS SIGHTING! Vader Pyle brings him out saying Jon Ian just isn't good enough to announce Adam Pearce. Man this is awesome. Roberts of course is very well known for being a huge mark so this is awesome. Pearce and Colt of course started in Chicago and Pearce helps Colt a lot in his early days so I've got some high hopes. Pearce cuts a masterful heel promo but we've come to accept that. HEEL JUSTIN ROBERTS! Why is he not managing people somewhere now? Because he has money probably but hey he's awesome. Cabana comes out and is LOVED yet I'm not going to make a joke about this being at a Jewish center. I'm above that...sorta. I'm not sure why but I definitely feel like Cabana is much improved here than he was in his last snow for PWG just a few months prior. I'm sure being in there with a familiar guy doesn't hurt but man, I liked this a lot. Pearce can't really do wrong by me at this point based on how damn awesome he is as a character. Cabana gets taken to the woodshed on the floor after Pearce took advantage of him on the top rope. This one is very strong for me. It doesn't have your typical 9393 highspots or anything but it has strong action that makes good sense. Pearce is a dick and Cabana is a plucky babyface so the dynamic is perfect. ***

Samoa Joe vs CM Punk

Paul T is back and he is THROWED people. He's got a brown bagged Budweiser like a real badass and he says that Hardkore Kidd who Joe was supposed to wrestle, couldn't get to the venue. Apparently there was a problem with his manager El Jefe involving a phone in his ass. That's so tragic. Paul T tells us instead, CM PUNK IS TAKING HIS SPOT. I legit never knew they worked together in PWG so I am STOKED people. This is the absolute pinnacle of these two guys on the indies and this was right around the time they were doing their legendary work in ROH together. Of course Joe is mega over since he's the hometown boy but Punk's got massive respect. In a really cool moment, once the bell rings the crowd goes silent like a respectful Japanese crowd which is really great. These guys do what they always do, tear the fucking HOUSE down. Punk shows some saltiness by grinding his taped wrist into the head of Joe on headlocks, little things that make big changes to the flow of a match. Joe keeps trying to kick Punk's head off but Punk's smart to it until he is FOLDED LIKE AN ACCORDION with a backdrop driver. Joe is on a roll now. This is just beautiful stuff, man. As a 14 year old punk, I absolutely adored these two and as a 27 year old man I might very well enjoy them more because I can see the little nuances that made them global superstars. The chemistry these two had is just unmatched for this generation I feel like, with a style meshing that really leads to amazing matches on such a consistent basis. What I love most about their work is that no two matches are alike, each outing brings something different to the table. Punk smartly decides that if he's going to survive Joe's kicks, he's got to fuck his legs up so he does just that. THIS is how you can bridge the gap between classic wrestling theory along with the modern workrate expectations that exist today and even of course in 2003. Some dumb fan tells Joe to “sell the injury” for the eyeroll moment of the night. This has everything you'd ever want from these two unless you're wanting an hour draw but hey, it's magic. Sure, there are fuck ups but it almost makes this better because you can tell they're putting themselves out there. They could have been like pretty much everyone else at the time and have THEIR match but they didn't do that. ****1/2 and I'm sure some will give me grief but hey, I don't care this is my project and my view ;)

Frankie Kazarian vs The American Dragon Bryan Danielson for the PWG World Title

Here we go with our PWG debut of Danielson and this is blue and white attire Danielson of course. Kazarian has been the big dog of PWG match wise so this'll be very intriguing. I love that the PWG belt at this time very clearly says RWC on it. Much like the previous match, the crowd goes silent for this one seemingly out of respect for both guys. Kazarian tries an early takedown that is of course scouted. Kazarian really puts over that Danielson is dangerous by being incredibly pensive about doing too much too fast to him. Back and forth straightjacket holds are pretty slick. I dig that this match is very grappling heavy for the early going, putting over that these two are very capable. Kazarian centers his work around a front facelock which is just so great. Things get pretty sloppy though, sadly. Kazarian hits a slingshot DDT that just looks bad and Danielson about blows his knee out on it it looks like. Danielson makes a point to work Kazarian's arm after a while which is good stuff. Danielson loses his mind at a fan after a while which is just awesome. Overall this match is really good and while it isn't the most crisp match it tells a good story. Kazarian's title run has been damn good as well. ***1/2

At the end of the match we get a mult-man ANGLE to set up our next show's main event. Pearce beats the fuck out of Kazarian because he needs the TITLE. Punk turns on his longtime mentor Adam Pearce for the good of PWG and say we're gonna have a six man tag! Joey Ryan, CM Punk, and Kazarian vs Colt Cabana, Adam Pearce, and Super Dragon BAH GOD. Also, we get more PWG promos at the end of the show. Danielson says he wanted that belt but Kazarian was only the better man tonight not forever. He's nowhere near as bad at promos here as people used to say.  

Overall Show Rating: B+. Very solid and something that a modern PWG fan might not be able to stomach as a whole show. With that said, the really good matches in this show are REALLY good and anything you can get CM Punk vs Samoa Joe riffin' in the ring back in 2003 in front of you, it is a gem. Danielson is continuing his slow build towards being quite the salty motherfucker.