PWG: The 2nd Annual Bicentennial Birthday Extravaganza – Night Two
July 10, 2005
Los Angeles, CA
Hollywood/Los Feliz JCC

The current PWG Champs were as follows:
PWG Champion: AJ Styles (4/2/2005)
PWG Tag Team Champions: Aerial Xpress (7/9/2005)

Your hosts are Disco Machine and TARO.

• Quicksilver (w/Dino Winwood) vs. Ronin
  

Dino Winwood wants to be Scorpio Sky’s substitute. Since he gave Joey Ryan a powerbomb last night, he’s feeling pretty good. However, Commissioner SoCal Val says NO since he’s just a manager and strips the AXP of the PWG tag titles since we don’t see any Scorpio Sky tonight. Pearl Harbor job by Ronin fails to start. Quicksilver goes after the arm with Fujiwara armbars and armbreaker DDTs. Ronin comes back by launching Quicksilver and nailing him with an elbow. He wins a chop exchange on the floor and grabs a STRETCH PLUM back inside, but Quicksilver makes the ropes. Quicksilver rallies back with a springboard clothesline. Reverse Silver Slice gets two. Now Ronin ducks the step-up enziguri and drops Quicksilver in the corner with a back suplex. Nasty standing lariat by Ronin though gets 1-2-NO! Quicksilver hits a hurracanrana for 1-2-NO! After a forearm battle, Quicksilver catches Ronin in a AA Spinebuster for two. Now Ronin hits a powerbomb for two. Quicksilver hits the enziguri after all and blasts Ronin with the SILVER FLASH for the win. (9:36) Nothing too interesting, but watchable I suppose. **

• Davey Richards vs. TJ Perkins (w/Rocky Romero)
  

Davey unmasked Puma back at Guitarmageddon, so now we get TJ Perkins in his place. Disco calls TJ Perkins as Puma the worst kept secret in professional wrestling. Needless to say, Perkins is HOT on Davey’s trail tonight. He sticks to a headlock until Richards blows him away with a backdrop driver. Richards distracted by Romero at ringside, allowing Perkins to take over with a bridging suplex, followed by a hilo for two. Richards though hangs Perkins out to dry and double-stomps the back. Beautiful snap suplex scores a nearfall. Perkins comes back with a series of kicks of all things and gets two. Falcon arrow gets another two. Davey avoids a senton bomb and gets all FIGHTING SPIRIT with a running elbow and a clothesline for 1-2-NO! Bunch of rollups gets nearfalls and leads to a Tiger Suplex by Richards for two. DR DRIVER is blocked and Perkins rolls up Davey for two. Tornado DDT and a tombstone from Perkins leads to a Tiger Mask moonsault for 1-2-NO! These two have a hard time battling up top ending with both men nearly falling to the floor. Perkins settles for a springboard body press for 1-2-NO! After another forearm exchange, Perkins rolls up Richards with a bridge for the three-count. (14:30) Decent enough, I suppose. **½

• Joey Ryan & Scott Lost vs. Petey Williams & Chris Sabin
  

THE X-FOUNDATION REUNITES! Chris Bosh took the night off. Ryan makes a crack about Petey and Sabin being TNA butt-kissers. Petey and Ryan do a bit of feeling out stuff. It peaks when Sabin gets a blind tag and flying legdrops Ryan while he’s stuck in a backslide. In comes Lost, he takes atomic drops a plenty. Petey tries to fight off a double-team, but runs into a superkick from Lost to become *your* face in peril. To come back, Petey blocks the finish and DDTs Ryan. As Lost comes off the top rope, he flies down into a boot. HOT TAG TO SABIN! He kicks off Ryan and DDTs Lost. VINTAGE SABIN! Blind tag to Petey, he FU’s Ryan into a powerbomb from Sabin for 1-2-NO! Lost and Sabin exchange mule kicks ending with Lost giving a rib buster off the shoulders. Petey tries to stop Lost with the Canadian Destroyer, but Lost counters and throws Petey off his shoulders into an X-Factor from Joey! Cover, 1-2-NO! Now we get STEREO SHARPSHOOTERS from Petey and Lost. They both come off the holds to stop the other, which results in a double-KO. Crowd REALLY wants that Canadian Destroyer, but Lost roundhouse kicks Petey away. They go for the EXTINCTION AGENDA on Williams, but Sabin tries the pop-up superplex only for them both to slip on the top rope. That’s unfortunate. Finally, Sabin takes care of Joey while Lost eats the CANADIAN DESTROYER to give the crowd what they have waited to see. That gets the win. (13:23) Didn’t really go anywhere outside of the guys just stringing their moves together and holding off on the Canadian Destroyer. **

• CM Punk vs. Ricky Reyes (w/Rocky Romero)
  

This is during the Summer of Punk over in ROH right before going over to the WWE, which also means this is his last PWG match to date. Feeling out process ensues. Reyes seems to get the better of Punk here too. Armbars and headlocks are everywhere. Punk starts working over the ribs with kicks and shoulder butts. He tries an ab stretch, but Reyes hiptosses out and comes back with kicks of his own. He wants to work the back a bit. Reyes hits a couple suplexes here and there. Punk hits a brainbuster to rally back. An overhead suplex by Reyes, but Punk fires back with a ROLLLINNG ELBOW! Michinoku Driver gets 1-2-NO! Then out of nowhere, Reyes locks in the DRAGON SLEEPER BODY SCISSORS! Petey tapped to this hold the night before, but Punk will not and reaches the bottom rope. Forearm exchange, kick exchange, now an elbow exchange ending with both men out on their feet holding each other up. Series of rollups, but Punk with the Owen Hart victory roll counter gets the 1-2-3. (17:30) Afterwards, the Havana Pitbulls put over Punk before handing over the mic to him. He tells the fans to get ready for the rest of a great show and thanks them for their support from the bottom of his heart. At a snail’s pace to start with, but picked up in the last few minutes. **½

• Super Dragon vs. Kevin Steen
  

Winner gets a PWG title shot next month. And not just that, but these two HATE each other – especially after Steen got Dragon’s two best friends to come over to his side. Staredown and forearms to start. Finisher attempts are made, but Dragon slaps and kicks Steen to the floor. By the way, TARO is gone and Excalibur is thankfully back on commentary. Steen seems to be waiting for Dragon as he runs him into the post. Steen beats up Dragon over in the chairs and goes to whip him into the wall, but Dragon goes all Jet Li on us and moonsaults off the wall into a kick on Steen. Back in, Dragon locks in a headscissors. Once that’s over, Dragon gives Steen a big chop to the face, which NEVER happens. However, Dragon misses a corner charge and falls through the ropes onto the floor. Here comes Steen with a Senton Bomb off the apron. With Dragon out of it, Steen picks him up and throws him like a lawn dart into the wall. He does it a second time! He calls for a third time, but just drops Dragon on the floor and flicks off the fans. Back inside, Steen locks in Dragon’s own full nelson on the mat using his legs. Dragon manages to escape, locks in a seated surfboard, and then counters over into the full nelson of his own. Steen counters out of *that* and applies the pendulum only to just to dump Dragon before jumping on his back. Essentially just using Dragon’s own moveset. Dragon fights out of a chinlock and tries the rolling kick in the corner, but Steen catches him in mid-air and powerbombs him down for two. Now Steen takes off his shirt and hands it to a cameraman demanding that he give it back to him later. Steen beats Dragon up top and dropkicks him to the floor. Back in, that gets two. Dragon fights off a superplex and hits the Flying Badunkadunk for 1-2-NO! After Steen rolls to the apron, he flies back in with a Flatliner variation on Dragon for two. Senton Bomb by Steen hits knees and Dragon locks in an STF, but Steen makes the ropes. Dragon can’t get the Curb Stomp, but stomps the head anyway on the apron. Dragon goes for a tope suicida, but Steen catches him on his shoulders and Fireman’s Carry Rolls THROUGH THE CHAIRS! Back in, Steen covers for 1-2-NO! German suplex followed by a tiger suplex gets two. Now Dragon gives Steen a couple Curb Stomps and one more stomp on the head for good measure. After Steen hits a desperate superkick, they both come up fighting. Steen delivers a gutbuster and calls for the Moonsault, but Dragon trips him up and clotheslines him down from the top turnbuckle to set up a Flying Double Stomp on the head for 1-2-NO! Dragon wants the Corkscrew Moonsault, but there’s nobody home. PACKAGE PILEDRIVER gets 1-2-NO! Oh, but the Moonsault and the 450 SPLASH from Steen gets the 1-2-3! (25:59) Great psychology with Steen using Dragon’s own moves against him and as violent as could be without introducing any weapons. ***½

• Disco Machine & Excalibur vs. Los Luchas vs. 2 Skinny Black Guys vs. Gunning for Hookers
  

2 Skinny Black Guys = El Generico and Human Tornado. Also, Gunning for Hookers are Hook Bomberry and Top Gun Talwar. For some reason, TARO replaces Excalibur again on commentary. I should note that the winners of this match face Arrogance to find some new PWG tag champions. To start, Tornado and Phoenix do their thing that leads to a stalemate. The problem in this match clearly stems from the New SBS and 2SBG, which gives away the finish. Now we get Talwar and Generico. Talwar bites out of a wristlock and then flips Generico over in a funny spot. Tag to Bomberry, Zokre takes over. In comes Disco, he receives a series of armdrags. Los Luchas send SBS to the floor for STEREO TOPE CON HILOS! Meanwhile, Generico gets dominated by Talwar and Bomberry. Tag to Zokre, he takes a sunset flip powerbomb by Generico to set up a HOT TAG TO TORNADO! In another funny spot, Tornado gives Phoenix Star the POUUUNNNNCEE, period. Now for a cool spot: Phoenix applies a surfboard on Tornado. Meanwhile, Talwar covers Phoenix trying to get a pin. Then, Zokre flies in with a springboard senton bomb on Tornado! Pretty cool. Excalibur tries to eliminate Zokre, but Bomberry gets rid of Excalibur for a while. Disco saves the day and Chokeslams Bomberry for two. Talwar delivers CHIPOTLE with a little help from Bomberry for 1-2-NO! Phoenix dropkicks away Excalibur’s Tiger Driver ’98 on Talwar and then dumps him out. Double powerbomb on Bomberry from Los Luchas leads to the springboard moonsault and legdrop combo to eliminate Gunning for Hookers at 11:05. Los Luchas counter powerbombs with headscissors from SBS to send them to the floor. We could see some tope action, but 2SBG cut them off. They fight back as Phoenix backdrops Zokre into a double neckbreaker on Generico and Tornado! Los Luchas look to put Generico away with their individual finishers when Tornado breaks up the pin. Phoenix gets dumped out and Zokre kicked away, which allows Tornado to tope con hilo all over Phoenix. He picked up a little too much speed and smacks his face against the wall there. Back inside, Disco hits the CHOKEBREAKER on Zokre while Excalibur delivers a flying elbow drop to eliminate Los Luchas at 13:36. And then there were two. SBS dominate Tornado, but Generico makes the save and hits a springboard moonsault on the floor to wipe them out. Back in, we get STEREO HOUSE PARTIES on SBS! Excalibur takes the rope walk DDT followed by a flying splash by Tornado for 1-2-NO! Tiger Suplex ’85 by Generico! DND by Tornado! Cover on Excalibur, 1-2-NO! Generico misses the Ole Kick on Disco, but Tornado stops Disco up top for the BRAINBUSTAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! Cover by Generico, that gets the win. (17:19) Just a fun four-way match. I did like the SBS-2SBG dynamic too. ***¼

• PWG Champion AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels vs. James Gibson
  

Although all three men wrestled the night before, James Gibson wrestled in NYC last night for ROH. So psychology and reality says jet lag might be a problem for him here. Oh, and Excalibur is back on commentary for this match. I don’t get the inconsistencies either. Daniels quick jabs Gibson to get this going. That just leads to Daniels being double-teamed. Gibson sneaks up behind AJ with a rollup for two. He makes Gibson pay with the BEST DROPKICK IN THE BIZ. Now Styles rules the ring until Daniels clotheslines him out. Then Gibson takes over in the corner until AJ walks over for a back suplex. Daniels controls now and goes for a dropkick on poor Gibson, but he’s so short, his head goes underneath the top rope. Just to show off the famous spot done at the TPI the year before, Gibson monkey flips AJ into Daniels for a headscissors. Gunnslinger on Gibson by AJ gets two. Daniels dumps out both guys for the tope con hilo, which is pretty uncharacteristic since he normally does the split-legged moonsault. Back in, AJ shoves Daniels off the top into a powerslam by Gibson for 1-2-NO! AJ nails the Springboard Forearm Smash, but Gibson fires back with a swinging neckbreaker and calls for the TIGER DRIVER. Daniels tries to stop him and takes a suplex for his troubles. Alabama Slam on AJ, but Gibson can’t get the Texas Cloverleaf. He ducks an enziguri from Daniels and does apply the Texas Cloverleaf. AJ breaks up the hold and lands the PELE KICK! He fires back on Daniels and goes for the Discus Lariat, but Daniels ducks AJ and delivers an Exploder suplex. Up top, AJ brings both men down with a back suplex. Asai DDT on Daniels gets two. Reverse DVD on Gibson by Daniels! As he’s dancing, AJ hoists him up for the torture rack into the powerbomb for 1-2-NO! Gibson lands a bridging German suplex on AJ for two. Daniels goes for the ANGEL’S WINGS on Gibson, but AJ pushes Gibson back down and sunset flips them both over. That sends Gibson flying out of the ring and Daniels stuck in the STYLES CLASH for the 1-2-3! (10:02) Some quality action from bell to bell. Nothing to write home about though. **¾

Final Thoughts: CM Punk was right. This show would only get better from the end of his match onward, because it was a downer up to that point. Steen/Dragon was really good, but they would have a better match at the end of the year. This one gets a rare thumbs down (for PWG) and likes it.