If you never heard of PWG, it's probably because they don't have a TV deal. They are an indie promotion from Reseda, California that puts all their shows on DVD and video downloads. In case you were wondering, PWG stands for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. If you live near Reseda, Googled PWG, and found out they have a show tonight (which they do, but it's a coincidence that I'm posting this on the same night), don't bother trying to go. Their shows are insanely popular and they sell out in minutes. Don't expect to find full PWG matches on YouTube, but do look for their official YouTube page (here you go...click HERE) and watch their previews of each show because their five minute previews are 1000 times more enjoyable than a three hour episode of WWE RAW. If you find a show you really like after watching one of the previews and you are like, "Fuck, I really want to see that show", you can go to highspots.com and buy the show there for $15. Now I understand if you don't want to pay $15 which is why people still watch RAW because it's free. The good news is that there's a way to watch some shows for free and it's not even illegal. These two shows I'm going review are shows that I didn't pay a penny for. There's this subscription service similar to the WWE Network called the Highspots Wrestling Network and they got over 40 PWG shows on there. It's $9.99 per month, but there's a seven day free trial which is what I did and the shows All Star Weekend X Night 2 and Mystery Vortex II (two shows I thought about paying for before I found out about the Highspots Network) are included on the website. Even though I just saw these shows in the last seven days, I don't remember everything that happened and it's not like I can go back and re-watch some things because my free trial is over. Next time I'll take notes, but I did save my star ratings for each match so at least I did that. I've written a lot so far and I haven't said anything about either show yet so without any more delay, here
SPOILER WARNING: One last thing before I start, I'll probably be spoiling some stuff in these reviews. I won't put any of the winners in bold if I mention them at all. If you want to see what I thought of each match without seeing any spoilers, just quickly glance at my star ratings and from that, you'll get a good idea if I liked the match or not. Quick star rating guide: 5 stars is amazing, 4 stars is awesome, 3 stars is good, 2 stars is okay and anything lower is bad. Good thing about PWG is that I almost never go below 3 stars.
PWG All Star Weekend X Night 2
December 21, 2013
Reseda, CA
1. RockNES Monsters (Johnny Goodtime & Johnny Yuma) vs. PPRay ("Pretty" Peter Avalon & Ray Rosas) vs. B-Boy & Willie Mack
Next time I need to review these shows immediately or at least make some notes because already I'm not remembering much about this show. I do remember that I did enjoy this match a lot which is why I almost gave it four stars. I like B-Boy and Willie Mack and they did good here. Very good opening match with a lot of fun spots.
Match Rating: ***3/4
2. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Anthony Nese
Okay I'll tell you right now this is not gonna be a great review because this is another match I can't remember shit about. And again, it's not like I can go back and re-watch it because I saw this during a free trial of a subscription that has now expired. I like Ciampa a lot and as for Nese, I don't know much about him, but he has looked okay in his matches that I have seen. I gave this three and a half stars which for me means I thought it was better than good, but not quite a match of the night contender. There's good stuff in this match, but as you can see, nothing was really memorable.
Match Rating: ***1/2
3. Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent?) vs. Unbreakable F'N Machines (Brian Cage & Michael Elgin)
This is a match I actually do remember. This was an interesting match-up for me because the Unbreakable F'N Machines and Best Friends are teams I like, but don't really love. Brian Cage is cool, but I don't like Michael Elgin too much. Yeah I know Elgin is one of the best indie wrestlers, but I'm not a big fan and I don't think his style works well in PWG. I don't hate Chuck Taylor or Trent but they don't usually do anything that is really amazing or participate in Match of the Year candidates that don't include the Young Bucks. So I was thinking this match would be underwhelming, but it was actually really good. My interpretation of the story was that the Best Friends were the big underdogs in this match which is not wrong to assume because Cage and Elgin are fucking huge. The Unbreakable F'N Machines were doing really well throughout the match, but somehow the Best Friends stayed in the match and pulled off the upset at the end. Oh and Kevin "Owens" Steen is on commentary so that helps. Not quite a four star match, but I gave it a really high rating for a PWG Michael Elgin match.
Match Rating: ***3/4
4. ACH vs. Chris Hero
Another match I can't remember much, but I do remember being disappointed. If you are familiar with ACH and Hero, you would think this match would be good and it is good, but it's nothing more than a good match. I forget why it was underwhelming, but something was off in this match which is unfortunate because Hero and ACH are two wrestlers I enjoy watching.
Match Rating: ***
5. DojoBros (Eddie Edwards & Roderick Strong) vs. AR Fox & Rich Swann
I've seen some people give this match a high rating. I gave it three and a half stars and I think part of the reason for not going higher is that there is a confusing botch involving the referee towards the end. The ref counts to two it seemed like to me, but everyone in the match stops like the ref counted to three. And then Roderick Strong tells the guy to restart the match even though I don't think the ref ended it. I watched this sequence a few times and I still don't know what the fuck happened. But that's not the only reason for not going to four stars. It was a really good match, but it never really hit that "This is awesome" level for me. Definitely a match you shouldn't skip, but I didn't think it was a contender for match of the night. The DojosBros brought the chops and the team of Fox and Swann brought the high flying stuff.
Match Rating: ***1/2
6. Davey Richards vs. Ricochet
I saw one reviewer call this match underwhelming for Davey Richards' last match in PWG (At the time it was his last PWG match. Davey has returned since then), but my expectations weren't high. Davey Richards vs. Ricochet is a sexy match-up on paper, but one guy is a high flyer and the other guy is a technical wrestler. Using WWE as an example, imagine Neville vs. Daniel Bryan. That match could be great, but I can see it also being a little disappointing because those guys do have different styles. Actually, now that I think of it, I think that match would be awesome. Hopefully WWE brings back Daniel Bryan so they can do Bryan vs. Neville some day. This wasn't bad and I did enjoy it, but it's another match that fell short of being great.
Match Rating: ***1/2
7. The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) & "Mr. Wrestling" Kevin Steen vs. Candice LeRae, Joey Ryan, & Drake Younger
Here's the first awesome match of the show. PWG six-man tag team matches are the best and this match was not an exception. The Shield was awesome, but I think the Young Bucks and Kevin Steen might have been the best six-man tag team of all-time if ranking the best six-man teams is a thing. As for the rest of the people in this match, I really enjoyed Drake Younger in PWG and Candice LeRae is cool too (if you didn't know, yes Candice is a female and she is way better than most of the females in WWE). As for Joey Ryan, he's my least favorite PWG wrestler and any time he is in an awesome tag team match like this one, I always feel that the match would have been just as good if not better without him. Like most of this show, I can't remember specific spots. I just remember that this match was insane. Next time, I'll take notes and tell you what awesome shit happened. This wasn't the best PWG six-man I have ever seen, but it was really great and it got into the four star level.
Match Rating: ****1/4
8. Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Championship Title Match - Adam Cole (Champion) vs. Johnny Gargano (Challenger)
Main event time and it's two wrestlers I like a lot, Adam Cole and Johnny Gargano. By the way, both of these guys are in my top 5 nicest wrestlers I have ever met (possible future post or YouTube video) so go meet them if you ever get the chance. This is another four star match although not as great as the previous match. It's one of those matches where you're like, "Okay this is good" and then ten minutes later, you're like, "This is getting better" and towards the end of the match, you are chanting, "This is awesome" along with the crowd from the show. That's kinda what this match was except I can't remember if the crowd did a "This is awesome" chant at any point. My rating for it kept going up until I finally decided it was a four star match. If you have seen Gargano and Cole before, then you know they are awesome and it shouldn't surprise you that they delivered a great performance. I wish I could tell you more about this match. I'll take notes during the matches next time, I promise.
Match Rating: ****
Overall thoughts: I never reviewed a PWG show that I saw for free before, so it is a little bit hard for me to say if I would recommend this show or not. Looking at my match ratings, I think I wouldn't regret buying this show because nothing was bad, but unfortunately only the Young Bucks/Steen six-man tag team match stood out as being an awesome match to see and as good as that was, it's not one of the best six-man tag matches PWG has ever done. Gargano vs. Cole was great, but PWG has so many four star matches every year and this match wouldn't be anyone's PWG top 10 matches of 2013. If you have seen many PWG shows and haven't seen this one yet, it's a good show to get. It compares nicely to other great PWG shows. If you're a new fan of PWG and have only seen a few shows, I'm not saying you should skip it, but see some other PWG shows first before seeing All Star Weekend X Night 2.
This review was probably terrible, but I haven't done many written reviews of shows lately. When did Alberto Del Rio defeat Big Show for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship on SmackDown? I would Google the date, but I'm too lazy to do it at this point. Yes, I'm being very unprofessional right now, but this whole review has been unprofessional and poorly done so why stop now? I think that SmackDown episode was my last written review of a wrestling show. Hopefully, I'll do more in 2016 and get better at them.
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