PWG All Star Weekend: Night One
April 1, 2005
Los Angeles, CA
Jewish Community Center

The current PWG Champs were as follows:
PWG Champion: Super Dragon (11/13/2004)
PWG Tag Team Champions: Chris Bosh & Scott Lost (10/9/2004)

Your hosts are Excalibur and Disco Machine.

• Top Gun Talwar, Ronin, Davey Richards & Hook Bomberry vs. Disco Machine, Excalibur, Zokre & Phoenix Star
  

If you follow the independents at all, you can clearly pick out the breakout star in this match. This is Davey Richards in his PWG debut. The way he resembles Chris Benoit even as a young guy is pretty creepy. While he has been successful wherever he has been, PWG is where he has excelled at the most. He’s a three-time tag champion, the 2006 BOLA winner, and became the PWG world champ at ‘As The Worm Turns’ back in February by defeating my beloved Kenny Omega. Anyways, enough about Davey Richards. The always roid-ragin’ Top Gun Talwar and Excalibur start the match. Talwar spins a wristlock with his TEETH and then sends Excalibur with an armdrag! Excalibur has some fun and games with a shoulderblock battle and once they exchange rollups, they both tag out. In comes Disco Machine and Davey Richards. Disco must dance, but Davey must dropkick. They switch out and a tag to Zokre and Bomberry occurs. Zokre gives Bomberry a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and then headscissors him into the wrong corner. Once he realizes where he is, he gets the heck out of there. Blind tag to Phoenix Star, he hits Bomberry and Talwar with a double dropkick. In comes Ronin, he gets caught with some lucha moves courtesy of Phoenix Star, but then stops one with a forearm. Ronin brings Star over to his corner for a four-man beatdown. That continues on for a few minutes. Talwar hits the DANGAH ZONE on Star for 1-2-NO! Ronin takes a PELE KICK, which allows a HOT TAG TO ZOKRE! It immediately breaks down with all the good guys getting their changes to fly to the outside. Back in, we have Davey Richards and Excalibur. Richards takes out Excalibur with a Northern Lights suplex, but Zokre breaks it up and gives Richards a Blue Thunder Driver for 1-2-NO! Now it’s Ronin’s turn. He gives Zokre a powerbomb and pulls him into a Death Valley Driver for 1-2-NO! As Ronin stands up, Phoenix Star hits him with the Springboard Hurracanrana for another nearfall. In comes Bomberry to wipe out Star with a Michinoku Driver. You can probably see where this is leading. Disco Machine trades blows with Bomberry and delivers the CHOKEBREAKER for 1-2-NO! Here comes Talwar to drop Disco with the DANGAH ZONE! Excalibur stops Talwar with a bridging German suplex, but Richards breaks up the pin with a SHOOTING STAR PRESS for the 1-2-3. (11:00) The man definitely knew how to make an impact. One of the better multi-man PWG openers I’ve seen. **¾

• Chris Hero vs. Chris Sabin
  

It’s the battle of two guys named Chris, says Excalibur. Pretty standard wristlock trading to start. Hero escapes a headlock, but Sabin is all on him like a spider monkey with a sunset flip into a jackknife cover. To prove he’s a real nice guy, Hero fist bumps Sabin for pulling that one off. Back to the headlock for Hero. He shoves Sabin off for a dropkick and then goes all Tracy Smothers on him in the corner. Nasty double stomp out of the corner gets two. Sabin comes back with a springboard dropkick and clamps on a chinlock. When Hero goes for the jawbreaker to escape, Sabin steps back and dropkicks Hero in the back of the head. Sabin stays on the neck until Hero launches Sabin overhead by his arm. Hero gives Sabin’s arm the Rolling Elbow, but then Sabin catches Hero coming off the ropes with a reverse kick and drops him with a reverse neckbreaker. Cover gets two. Sabin gives Hero a few sliding legdrops on the neck, but Hero catches him charging into the corner and delivers a flipping armbreaker from the second rope. Boy, that’ll hyperextend your elbow. Hero follows up with a Hammerlock Backbreaker. Never seen that before. Cover by Hero, that gets two. Hero grabs a Tequila Sunrise, but Sabin makes the ropes. Neither man can suplex because of their hurting body parts. Sabin settles for an enziguri and MANS UP to hit Hero with the brainbuster. The one-armed man covers for 1-2-NO! Looks like Hero wants a Hangman’s Clutch of some sort, but Sabin slips away from the cravate and hits a springboard swinging DDT! Cover, 1-2-NO! Still selling the arm, Sabin goes for the CRADLE SHOCK. Hero escapes and spins Sabin down into HANGMAN’S CLUTCH II. There’s nothing Sabin can do with his hurt arm trapped but tap out with his good arm. (14:47) Good match with Hero showing off just how creative he can be when it comes to hurting people. **½

• Jonny Storm vs. Petey Williams
  

Storm starts off in fifth gear by sending Petey out and hitting him with a spinning plancha. He wants a sunset flip powerbomb, but Williams stops that with a jumping legdrop. Back in, Storm bounces off the ropes to prevent taking a hiptoss to the floor and armdrags Williams over. They exchange armbars with Storm making some cool escapes. He places Petey on the top and brings him down with a SUPER Japanese Armdrag for two. Storm tries a Lionsault, but Williams moves and takes Storm over with a German suplex. Inverted DDT gets two. Petey hits a backbreaker and grabs a bowtie chinlock. Storm fights out and tries a wheelbarrow DDT, but Petey blocks with a Northern Lights suplex for two. Williams starts going through his series of suplexes, but Storm flips out of the back suplex and gets the Wheelbarrow DDT. Enziguri takes Petey to the floor. Are we going to see another dive? Nope. Storm follows him out only to take a hurracanrana off the apron. Back inside, Petey hits the tilt-a-whirl Russian legsweep for 1-2-NO! CANADIAN DESTROYER fails. After several back and forth nearfalls, Williams puts Storm in place for the SHARPSHOOTER. Storm makes the ropes and hits the WONDERWHIRL. Cover, 1-2-NO! They trade finisher attempts and that gets them nowhere. To the top they go, Petey wants the SUPER CANADIAN DESTROYER, but Storm counters with a hurracanrana for the 1-2-3. (13:41) Somewhat entertaining, but they started with a high spot and it could only go down from there. **¾

• The Havana Pitbulls vs. Kendo Kashin & Puma
  

Kendo Kashin made his mark in New Japan in the 1990s. I believe by this point he was working for All-Japan though. For some reason, he wants to be called Dragon Soldier B for some reason. The next day, Kashin would wrestle in ROH for their Best of the American Super Juniors tournament. The man won the whole tournament despite collecting on cheap wins and lazy matches – enraging ROH fans everywhere. Kashin fakes everybody out thinking he was going to start the match only to tag in Puma before any contact can be made with Romero. Lots of mat stuff early on here. Reyes tags in and Kashin REFUSES to stay in the ring for more than five minutes. It gets a little more fast-paced as they run the ropes. Puma tries a monkey flip, but Reyes pushes him off and drops him with a clothesline. Tag to Romero, Kashin finally tags in and foot chokes Romero in the corner while he’s relaxing on the middle rope. Back over to Puma, he hangs Romero in the tree of woe and while Kashin holds him in place, Puma looks to give him a running dropkick and decides to kick Romero in the balls instead. Once again, Kashin tags in, delivers a move, and gets out. Puma applies a Gory Special, but Romero armdrags out. The Pitbulls have had enough. Puma gets whipped into the corner. Romero slides underneath, trips him up for a sliding dropkick by Reyes, and then crotches Puma on the ringpost. The Pitbulls keep Puma under their control for a while. Running knee strike by Romero turns Puma around for a clothesline by Reyes for 1-2-NO! Puma catches Reyes with a roundhouse kick and makes a HOT TAG TO KASHIN! He goes EUROPEAN FOREARM CRAZY! It breaks down with all four men in the ring. Puma and Kashin deliver the double row boat to the Pitbulls. Romero ranas Kashin away and rolls into the tag to Reyes. Kashin low blows Reyes away and tags Puma. Spinning powerbomb by Reyes gets two. Tag to Romero, Puma avoids a dropkick and hits a Black Tiger Bomb for 1-2-NO! Oh, the irony. Romero slams Puma off the top and flies onto him for a Swandive Headbutt, but Puma catches him into a cravate. Kashin demands a tag and pulls Puma to his corner so he can tag into the match. He goes for a Spinning Palm Strike in the corner, but Romero ducks and grabs Kashin for a small package that gets 1-2-NO! Romero slips out of a hangman’s neckbreaker and dropkicks Kashin into Puma before catching Kashin in the rolling clutch pin for the 1-2-3. (16:21) Interestingly enough, Kashin and Romero met again the next night in the finals of the tournament mentioned above. If it wasn’t for Puma putting his working boots on, this would have been total crap because Kashin didn’t want to do anything. Not sure what this guy’s problem was, but I doubt if he’s been invited back to the states since this PWG-ROH double shot. **½

• American Dragon vs. James Gibson
  

Gotta love Gibson’s ‘General Lee’ tights. There’s a nice feeling out process to start. Dragon lifts Gibson off a short-arm scissors and instead of slamming him down, he simply places Gibson on the top turnbuckle. They continue with headlocks and chinlocks to wear each other down. Finally, Dragon has enough and dumps Gibson out to fly out on top of him. Back in, we see SHADES OF TIGER MASK as Dragon kick flips off the top turnbuckle over Gibson. Can Dragon get the surfboard? Yes he can. Dragon grabs a half crab and once Gibson finds the ropes, he reminds the ref that he has until the count of five. To the floor again, Gibson tries to trade strikes with Dragon and pays the heavy price. Back inside, he gets two. Dragon stretches Gibson on the mat and even claws at his face. Hey ref, he has until the count of five to stop that. Dragon goes for the Back Superplex, but Gibson lands on top for 1-2-NO! Gibson ducks a lariat and spins Dragon around for a swinging neckbreaker. Gibson clotheslines Dragon down and hits a legdrop off the second rope for two. Dragon knees out of a suplex and hits a running elbow strike in the corner. Bridging butterfly suplex gets two. He tries to maneuver that over into the CATTLE MUTILATION, but Gibson grabs a GUILLOTINE CHOKE! Dragon flips him overhead and gives him the Back Superplex he wanted earlier. Cover, 1-2-NO! Swandive Headbutt misses and Gibson hits the brainbuster for 1-2-NO! Gibson applies the Texas Cloverleaf and every time that Dragon tries to flip out of the hold, Gibson goes with the momentum and keeps Dragon down. Dragon finally escapes and gives Gibson the Dragon Suplex to set up the CATTLE MUTILATION. Lucky for Gibson, he makes the ropes. AIRPLANE SPIN~! He gets up to nearly 40 revolutions there. Dragon is so disoriented that he dropkicks the turnbuckle thinking that its Gibson. Even Gibson stumbles around and gives the ref a small package thinking that it’s Dragon! Hilarious. During a rollup sequence, they trade several nearfalls ending with Gibson getting the three count in a rare loss for Dragon. (20:53) Great match that from my vantage point is right on par with their excellent ROH world title switch five months later. ****

• Joey Ryan & Arrogance vs. Frankie Kazarian and the Aerial Xpress (w/Dino Winwood)
  

Before the match, Chris Bosh gets into an argument with a mentally challenged person and challenges him to a match. Only in PWG. The former tag champs – Bosh and Quicksilver – start the match and they are quite impressive. Crowd wants Frankie though. Next, we get Scott Lost and Scorpio Sky. After they run the ropes, Scorpio catches Lost with a great dropkick. Lost makes him pay with a Dropsault and tags in Ryan. Once he sees Frankie Kazarian is in the ring, he quickly tags in Lost again. Once Lost takes Kazarian down with a leg lariat, that’s when Ryan won’t mind coming into the match. Kazarian floats over Ryan off a whip in the corner and delivers an Edge-O-Matic for two. Lost comes in to help out as he and Ryan double hiptoss Kazarian into the LIONCOCK! Arrogance and Joey keep Kazarian on their side of town while antagonizing AXP so they can double and triple-team. At one point, Ryan has Kazarian up in the electric chair drop position and brings him over to Scott Lost for a missile dropkick. As the impact takes Kazarian over, Kazarian brings Ryan with him for a reverse hurracanrana! HOT TAG TO SCORPIO SKY! AXP runs in and cleans house on Ryan and Lost. That leaves Bosh to take a double-team wheelbarrow leapfrog legdrop. That gets two as Ryan breaks up the pin with a superkick. Next up, the TOWER OF DOOM! AXP dumps out Arrogance for STEREO SOMERSAULT PLANCHAS! Quicksilver brings Bosh back inside for 1-2-NO! Ryan tries to save Bosh, but he takes a forearm shot to send him away. SILVER BULLET on Bosh! Cover, 1-2-NO! Joey hits Quicksilver with the SWINGING PEPSI PLUNGE for 1-2-NO! Scorpio takes out Joey with a rana from the top. Lost stops Scorpio with a pumphandle driver. Kazarian tries a German suplex on Lost, but he flips out and hits Kazarian with a German suplex of his own for two. Lost sees the AXP over on the floor and decides to forget about Kazarian to fly on top of them, but Kazarian superkicks him up top and gives Lost the FLUX CAPACITOR onto everybody on the floor including Dino Winwood and the referee Patrick Hernandez. Back inside, shenanigans ensue leading to Kazarian giving both the tag team champs the WAVE OF THE FUTURE at the same time. Kazarian covers Bosh for the 1-2-3. (18:19) Enjoyable solid match with lots of cool spots. Arrogance and Joey continue to beat up Kazarian afterwards until Chris Sabin and Petey Williams make the save. TEAM TNA – ASSEMBLE! Finally, the PWG audience gets to see the Canadian Destroyer on Scott Lost. ***½

• TNA X-Division Champion Christopher Daniels vs. Alex Shelley
  

This marks the first time a non-PWG title has been defended on a PWG show. Both men show off how good they are at chain wrestling on the mat to start. Daniels hits one suplex after the other to work over Shelley’s back. Shelley comes back with the Golden Gate Swing to stop Daniels for a moment. Back to the mat, Shelley headscissors Daniels and drives his head into the mat multiple times. He ties Daniels up into a ball on the mat and runs the ropes a WHOLE bunch for a dropkick. Shelley rolls through a sunset flip and then catches Daniels with a rolling blockbuster. It’s basically the reverse of the Hennig neck snap. Shelley does a good job of selling the back in between moves. Flying Knee Strike to Daniels gets two. Daniels catches Shelley with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and drops him with a powerbomb as he comes off the ropes. Shelley moves away from the BME and superkicks Daniels. Divorce Court by Shelley sets up Daniels up for the Frog Splash for 1-2-NO! Daniels blocks It Came From Japan II and hits Shelley with an enziguri. Blue Thunder Driver gets 1-2-NO! A fancy toehold cradle gets two for Shelley. Daniels catches Shelley with the same cradle and gets the 1-2-3! (12:54) Good stuff from both men, but you never felt like the belt was in any kind of jeopardy. **¾

Afterwards, Chris Hero comes out and challenges Christopher Daniels for the next night.

• AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe
  

Winner of this match gets a PWG title shot the next night. This match was supposed to be the main event of the first-ever PWG card back in July 2003, but Samoa Joe somehow couldn’t make the show and they had AJ taking on Kazarian instead. AJ grinds on a headlock to start. Joe shoves him off and gets leveled with the dropkick. It stuns Joe to the point that AJ can SLAM him. Jumping knee drop gets two. Styles battles Joe for a suplex and finally pulls off the move. Backbreaker connects, but that’s bad for AJ’s knee. AJ goes for his dropkick again, but Joe grabs hold of the ropes to cause AJ to fall on his neck. Joe leans over to mock AJ and takes the kip-up rana out to the floor. AWESOME. AJ shoots out to the apron, but Joe kicks his feet out from under him. Back inside, Joe snapmares AJ for the chop-kick-knee drop combo for two. AJ starts to go on the move again and gets tripped up for a half crab. AJ makes the ropes. Joe delivers the running face wash for two and then boots AJ to the floor. Back inside, Joe double stomps (!!) AJ across the back! Cover, 1-2-NO! AJ tries an O’Connor Roll, but that just gets him caught in the COQUINA CLUTCH. AJ finds the ropes and hits the Asai Moonsault DDT. He delivers a corner clothesline and tries a second time, but charges into the STJOE. Cover, 1-2-NO! As AJ rolls out, Joe hits him with the suicide dive forearm that knocks AJ into the back row. Back in, Joe covers for two. AJ fires back and tries a springboard, but he slips up and clips Joe in the knee. He stops Joe’s barrage of forearm strikes with a spin kick and covers for two. Joe catches AJ for a snap powerslam and senton splashes him for 1-2-NO! Discus clothesline by AJ gets two. He tries to sunset flip into the STYLES CLASH, but Joe kicks him away and drops AJ with a lariat for 1-2-NO! Now Joe delivers the powerbomb which leads to the STF which leads to the Crippler Crossface. AJ still manages to find the bottom rope. As AJ gets to his feet, he nails Joe with the Pele Kick and lifts him up into the Torture Rack. Once he’s ready to put him down, AJ spins Joe around for a Blue Thunder Driver for 1-2-NO! They do some sparring which leads to an enziguri from AJ! Joe stops the SPIRAL TAP and goes for the MUSCLE BUSTER, but AJ slips out and rolls down Joe’s back into the STYLES CLASH for the 1-2-3! (19:58) I will probably always love the Sting-Vader dynamic of AJ-Joe matches because they always do it so well. This is the best PWG match I’ve seen since doing these show reviews. ****¼

• PWG Champion Super Dragon vs. El Generico vs. Kevin Steen
  

Generico gets dumped in favor of a Steen-Dragon brawl. Back in, Generico interrupts and gets launched into a dropkick on Super Dragon. Standing moonsault on Steen gets two, but Dragon breaks that up with a nasty kick in the back of the head. Back to Steen and Dragon, they elbow out of each other’s finisher attempts. Generico comes back inside and goes for a Running Yakuza Kick in the corner, but Dragon pushes that away and headscissors Generico over. Armdrag and a leg lariat sends Dragon to the floor. Steen runs Generico down and counters a tornado DDT with a backbreaker! Steen keeps Dragon on the floor while he brutalizes Generico. Dragon breaks up a pin and dumps out Steen as he locks in a full nelson with his legs. He makes the ropes. In comes Steen, out goes Dragon. Generico shoves off a superplex and catches Steen with a flying bodypress for 1-2-NO! Dragon makes the save. Violence Party on Generico, but then he avoids a corner charge and Dragon runs into the post and out to the floor. Steen charges Generico, but gets caught with the Tornado DDT after all. That takes him to the floor where Dragon and Steen meet to brawl. Generico sees a chance to fly and catches both men with a somersault plancha. OLE! Back in, Generico hits Steen with a flying splash for 1-2-NO! Split-legged moonsault hits knees, but Dragon flies in and dropkicks Generico as he senton splashes Steen for 1-2-NO! Dragon gives Generico a couple Curb Stomps for 1-2-NO! Steen distracts Dragon up top long enough for Generico to get up and deliver the BRAINBUSTAHHHH to Dragon! Steen runs in and tosses Generico away and jumps on top of Dragon for 1-2-NO! Generico barely makes the save. Steen gives him the Sidewinder Suplex for two. Moonsault only gets a nearfall as well. Steen delivers the Yakuza Kick in the corner. He misses a second one and takes a Yakuza Kick from Generico. Exploder suplex into the corner followed by a release German suplex gets 1-2-NO! Out of nowhere, Steen gives Generico the PACKAGE PILEDRIVER for 1-2-NO! Dragon doesn’t want the Package Piledriver and wipes Steen out with a lariat. With Steen on the floor, Dragon shoots through the ropes with a tope con hilo. Back inside, Dragon gives Generico a Flying Double Stomp to the head followed by a lariat and the PSYCHO DRIVER for 1-2-3. (18:31) To be honest, I wouldn’t have wanted to follow AJ-Joe either. Typical ‘one man out-one man in’ triple threat. Afterwards, AJ Styles comes out and says that if he didn’t lose to Joe, he ain’t losing to this faggot. HA! ***

Final Thoughts: Evidently people are getting paid for working this show because you never got the feeling that certain people like Joe or Danielson were holding back on this show. As far as I can tell, this is the best PWG show to date. EASY thumbs up for PWG All Star Weekend: Night One!