The Best Friends are not only back, but they’re All In.
The event’s Twitter feed confirmed this afternoon that Baretta and Chuck Taylor will be a part of All In next month. After Chuck Taylor asked if he and Baretta were still booked, Cody Rhodes confirmed with him that they will be part of the show. It wasn’t specified what kind of match they would be in, though Nick Jackson mentioned in a Twitter thread that they were originally supposed to face them as part of a six man tag team match.
Jackson also said that they hoped to have an answer in regards to streaming/broadcasting in the next week. Cody Rhodes has said in the past that the show will have both a streaming and pay-per-view distribution service.
Other matches for the show include Kazuchika Okada vs. Marty Scurll, Joey Janela vs. Hangman Page and a six man tag match pitting Rey Mysterio, Bandido and Fenix against Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson and Kota Ibushi.
All In will be held on September 1 at the Sears Center in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.
Episode #358 of Ring of Honor television continued the run of shows that were taped in Fairfax, Virginia following Best in the World.
A recap aired of Jay Lethal’s ROH World Championship victory over Dalton Castle, Cody Rhodes, and Matt Taven from the week before.
KUSHIDA defeated Jonathan Gresham
This match was a technical classic. A million back-and-forth exchanges started it off. Gresham had the early advantage with a few really nice pinning combinations. Some very unique looking offense from both men led us into the first commercial of the show.
Back from the break, KUSHIDA took over and worked Gresham’s arm with a few different submission holds. There was a back-and-forth pin exchange that lasted seemingly forever and got the crowd going. KUSHIDA was able to snatch the arm back and get a Kimura lock on Gresham. It looked like Gresham was going to have to tap, but he got to the ropes.
A striking exchange got Gresham the advantage, but KUSHIDA seemingly out of nowhere hooked on the fisherman’s DDT and spiked Gresham on top of his head for the victory.
SoCal Uncensored cut a promo on The Briscoes and The Kingdom and reminded us that they were the greatest tag team and/or six-man tag team on the planet.
Hana Kimura & Kagetsu defeated Jenny Rose & Mayu Iwatani
Mandy Leon joined Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana on commentary as she’s nearly ready to return from injury.
A lot of fun action started this off. Rose had control until Kagetsu grabbed the referee. This allowed Kimura to grab Rose and drag her out of the ring. Kagetsu then hit a dive through the ropes and landed on the pile.
Iwatani missed a dive off the top. Kimura went for a suplex but ate a kick. She then countered Iwatani for a suplex slam. The tag was made to the two fresher competitors. Kagetsu came in and went right after the eyes of Rose. Rose landed a fisherman’s suplex on Kagetsu and hit a big dive for a two count. Kagetsu countered a move of Rose and sunk in an armbar, but Rose got to the ropes.
Rose and Kagetsu exchanged forearms. Kagetsu distracted the ref, then Kimura came in and landed some shots with a wooden sign. Kagetsu hit a fireman’s carry falcon arrow on Rose for the win.
ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions The Kingdom (Matt Taven, Vinny Marseglia & TK O’Ryan) defeated Eli Isom, Kenny King & Chuckie T to retain their titles
The makeshift team of Isom, King & Taylor had the early advantage as they landed some revolving corner smash forearms. Taylor landed Soul Food for a near fall. Next, King and Taven exchanged moves until Taven was thrown outside, which allowed King to land a dive. Back in the ring, Taylor landed a falcon arrow on O’Ryan. They all landed big kicks on each other, putting everyone down.
Taylor tagged in Isom, and Taven beat him down. Isom countered into a fallaway slam. Isom went up top, but Marseglia popped a balloon in his ear. The Kingdom went for the Rockstar Supernova on Isom, but Taylor and King pulled The Kingdom out of the ring. That allowed Isom to get an unsuccessful pin attempt on Taven.
Isom’s success didn’t last long as Taven countered his attempt at a hurricanrana back into the Rockstar Supernova for the win.
Beretta returned from injury tonight at ROH’s Honor for All house show in Nashville, Tennessee. His return stems from an angle where Chuck Taylor defeated Bully Ray by disqualification after Ray intentionally low blowed Taylor. He continued the assault, beating him with a chain. Colt Cabana tried to make the save, but couldn’t get the job done.
It was at this moment that Baretta came to the ring and chased off Bully Ray, who threw a fit outside of the ring. The two Best Friends and tag team partners embraced after the match. The announcers sold it like he had officially returned to the company.
Beretta has been out since February with a torn triceps, which likely happened during his match against Chuck Taylor at PWG’s Neon Knights event that month. After working the NJPW/ROH Honor Rising events in Japan, he took time off to heal from the injury.
Here are quick results from tonight’s WrestleCon SuperShow in New Orleans, Louisiana.
– Penta 0M defeated Joey Janela
Penta 0M picked up the win after a falcon arrow. There were a lot of piledriver teases throughout the match.
– Joey Ryan defeated Jerry Lawler by disqualification
Ryan came out wearing an outfit similar to Andy Kaufman and did a promo imitating him, challenging anyone to an intergender contest. His opponent was instead Jerry Lawler in a surprise. Lawler mentioned that it was 35 years ago today he piledrove Andy Kaufman at the Mid-South Coliseum and ripped on Ryan for imitating him. He also mentioned that Lawler could not piledrive him because it’s illegal in Louisiana.
Ryan told Lawler to touch his penis. He responded by throwing a fireball at Joey Ryan’s privates. Ryan ran from the ring as he was announced the winner.
– Tessa Blanchard, Tenille Dashwood, Nicole Savoy, Shazza McKenzie and Penelope Ford defeated MJF, Zane Riley, Caleb Konley, Jake Manning and Trevor Lee
This was a intergender match pitting five men against five women. The women picked up the win for their team by submitting the guys all at once.
– Tomohiro Ishii defeated Jeff Cobb
Ishii defeated Cobb after a brainbuster.
– Rey Horus and Rey Fenix defeated Bandido and Flamita
Fenix pinned Bandido with a muscle buster into a falcon to win the match. Match was said to be absolutely insane.
– The Mexicools (Super Crazy, Psicosis and Chico El Luchador) defeated Jason Cade & Matt Classic & Teddy Hart
Juventud Guerrera was also with the Mexicools at ringside. Mostly a comedy match. Super Crazy got the win for his team after rolling up Cade.
– Will Ospreay defeated Sammy Guevara, Shane Strickland and Adam Brooks in a fatal four way match
Ospreay scored the win with the Oscutter.
– Minoru Suzuki, Brian Cage and David Starr defeated Juice Robinson & Hiroshi Tanahashi & Sami Callihan
Suzuki scored the win for his team, submitting Callihan with an armbar. Tanahashi was a unannounced participant in tonight’s festivities.
– The Golden Lovers defeated Chuck Taylor and Flip Gordon
Taylor teased before the match who his tag partner could be, including a swamp monster, Dan Barry and Trent Baretta, who is the one actually being replaced iin the match. Gordon came out and said he didn’t come out here to team with Chuck Taylore wanted to talk to Omega about being a part of the All In show in September. Taylor eventually convinced Gordon to be his partner, though he lost the match after eating a Golden Trigger.
Eleven matches are now set for Supercard of Honor XII in New Orleans.
Chuck Taylor facing Jonathan Gresham was announced as the most recent addition to the Supercard of Honor lineup today. It will open the show at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time, with the event airing live on Ring of Honor’s HonorClub streaming service.
Gresham last wrestled for ROH in a loss to Jay Lethal in February. They’re scheduled to have a rematch at ROH’s show in Columbus, Ohio on April 15th.
Of the 11 matches that are official for Supercard of Honor, there will be five titles up for grabs: ROH World Champion Dalton Castle vs. Marty Scurll, ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions SoCal Uncensored vs. The Young Bucks & Flip Gordon in a ladder match, ROH Tag Team Champions The Briscoes vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Jay Lethal, ROH TV Champion Kenny King vs. Silas Young in a last man standing match, and the first Women of Honor Champion will be crowned.
Kenny Omega vs. Cody Rhodes and Castle vs. Scurll are being billed as a double main event.
Supercard of Honor will take place at the UNO Lakefront Arena on Saturday night and is nearing a sellout. The updated card is listed below.
Kenny Omega vs. Cody Rhodes
ROH World Champion Dalton Castle defending against Marty Scurll
ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky) defending against The Young Bucks & Flip Gordon in a ladder match
ROH Tag Team Champions The Briscoes defending against Hiroshi Tanahashi & Jay Lethal
ROH Television Champion Kenny King defending against Silas Young in a last man standing match
The finals of the Women of Honor Championship tournament
Kota Ibushi vs. Hangman Page
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Punishment Martinez
Mayu Iwatani vs. Kelly Klein in a Women of Honor Championship tournament semifinal match
Tenille Dashwood vs. Sumie Sakai in a Women of Honor Championship tournament semifinal match
Here are results from last night’s PWG show (called “Time is a Flat Circle”), which was held at the Globe Theater in Los Angeles, California.
– Joey Janela defeated Roy Horus with a package piledriver
A great opener. Janela was very over with the crowd.
– Brody King defeated Douglas James, Jake Atlas, and Eli Everfly when King pinned Everfly with a piledriver
All four men looked impressive — particularly King, who was bigger yet still did some killer dives to the outside.
– Zachary Wentz & Dezmond Xavier defeated Bandido & Flamita following an assisted Shooting Star Press
This was one of the highlights of the night. All four wrestlers looked excellent here as well, but Bandido and Flamita stood out as the slightly better team. They had excellent chemistry with one another, doing lots of crazy assisted moves and tandem work.
After the match, people threw money in the ring and chanted “please come back.”
– Will Ospreay defeated Adam Brooks after the OsCutter
Tremendous match, the best of the night. It was a wild spectacle bout with tons of dives, counters, crazy kickouts, and everything you can think of in a high-profile match. Ospreay and Brooks hugged after it was over.
– Jonah Rock defeated Jeff Cobb following a frog splash
Rock was hated and was booed. Cobb was way over. They had a stiff, hard-hitting bout with some neat suplexes and cool counters. The crowd booed the finish.
– Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Matt Riddle with a bridging pin
A really nice technical bout with some good matwork and nicely-timed spots. For just having watched Sabre dominate everyone in the New Japan Cup, it was kind of weird seeing him take moves like a German suplex, but this was more back and forth than the New Japan Cup matches.
– Keith Lee defeated Chuck Taylor with the Ground Zero to win the PWG World Championship
A good main event. The start of it had Taylor ducking Lee and making remarks on the microphone, including one line about how everyone knows Lee is going to the WWE. Lee eventually got tired of the antics and they brawled around the ring. It turned into a good match with Lee winning the title.
Lee cut a really good promo after, saying one year ago he came to PWG from the Texas area and now he’s the champion. He thanked the fans to close out the show.
After a strange first round of booking that saw two of the tournament favorites eliminated, the 2018 New Japan Cup quarterfinals are set.
The second round of the tournament will feature Juice Robinson taking on Michael Elgin, Hiroshi Tanahashi going one-on-one with Bad Luck Fale, Toru Yano vs. SANADA, and in what could make for the match of the tournament, Zack Sabre Jr. will face Kota Ibushi for a spot in the final four. Round two kicks off Wednesday in Shizuoka.
One non-tournament item worth noting from the shows on this tour is that IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada is actually defeating tag opponents with his Cobra Clutch, in an effort to establish that submission as a legitimate finisher.
Below are the results from Monday’s action in Kagawa.
Toru Yano defeated Davey Boy Smith Jr. by countout
Yano tried to tape Smith to the ropes, but he failed. There were lots of standard Yano spots, including removing the turnbuckle pad. Smith rammed Yano into the exposed buckle. They brawled outside and into the crowd, and Yano barely beat the count back in.
Smith worked over Yano, getting a near fall with a gutwrench suplex. Red Shoes took a bump, and Smith hit the turnbuckle chest-first. Red Shoes took another bump, and Yano swung a chair but missed. Smith set the chair up in the corner, whipping Yano into it and into the exposed buckle.
Smith hit a belly-to-back for a near fall, then applied a crossface, but Yano made the ropes. Yano used a slingshot, sending Smith into the buckle, then hit a low blow for a near fall. They rolled outside, Smith crotched himself on the barricade, and Yano beat the count back inside, scoring the victory.
If you like Yano comedy, check this out. If you don’t, it’s not must-see.
SANADA defeated “Chuckie T” Chuck Taylor
I think SANADA is one of the best guys in the business, because he can wrestle everyone’s style. You want to fly? He can do that. You want to brawl? Sure. You want to try something new? Okay. That was on full display here, as these guys did a little bit of everything.
They started with their state-of-the-art opening sequence, then followed with some crowd brawling, straight out of 1998 WWF. Taylor grabbed a table and teased suplexing SANADA through it, but SANADA reversed and suplexed him on the floor. He teased a suplex of his own from the apron through the table on the floor, but Taylor blocked it.
SANADA worked over Taylor’s legs, but he fired back with a dropkick, a powerslam, and a figure four. SANADA reached the ropes, hit his leapfrog dropkick spot, then a plancha to the outside. They hit the ropes, then Taylor hit a powerbomb for a near fall and followed up with a crazy tope, and an even crazier standing senton over the barricade, landing on the unpadded arena floor.
Taylor slammed SANADA on a pile of chairs, but SANADA popped right up and powerbombed him through the table. SANADA connected with a springboard dropkick and a belly-to-back for a near fall. Taylor connected with a Falcon Arrow, but he missed when going for a moonsault, allowing SANADA to hit a TKO for two.
SANADA missed a moonsault off the top. Taylor countered, hitting the Awful Waffle off the top for a close near fall. That really got the crowd into the match for the first time. SANADA used a dragon sleeper and teased the Skull End, but Taylor slipped out and rolled him up for two.
Taylor scored another near fall, but SANADA quickly applied the Skull End. SANADA released it, opting to go to the top for a moonsault. He landed it, and got the pinfall.
This felt more like a collection of spots than a psychological clinic, and the lack of heat hurt the match, but the effort from both guys was there and this is worth going out of your way to see.
Image: SoCal Uncensored. Report submitted by reader Brian Reznick. Additional thanks to Dave Doyle and Ruby Flores.
– Adam Brooks defeated Brody King
Brooks won in 11:39 with a swanton. It was a good, short match. Brooks looked better than his previous PWG matches, and King was very over with the crowd while making his debut.
They did a few rough spots on the apron, which was a theme of the night. There were three different moments where they clearly miscommunicated or something went wrong, but they didn’t lose the crowd.
– Dalton Castle defeated Joey Janela
Castle hit the Bang-a-Rang to win in 21:29. The crowd loved both guys, and there was some good comedy based around eye poke spots by Janela. The match was a few minutes too long and lost the crowd a bit.
– Travis Banks defeated David Starr
A cradle/fisherman’s suplex off the turnbuckle ended this in 10:27. They had a good, hard-hitting match. Starr was much better here than in his PWG debut against Fred Yehi.
– Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Flip Gordon
Sabre submitted him in 15:43. This was my favorite match of the night up to this point, though a few people around me liked Banks vs. Starr better. The response for Gordon in his debut was great overall.
ZSJ took most of the match, stretching Gordon with creative submissions. They got a huge pop late when Gordon went for a standing Shooting Star Press and Sabre caught him in a triangle.
– Keith Lee defeated Matt Riddle
This was a hell of a match, with Lee using his big powerslam/jackhammer to get the pin in 18:31. Riddle’s chest was a mess coming into the match and Lee opened him up early with a huge double hand chop in the corner. The blood really increased the drama right away.
Lee landed a second rope moonsault late, but Riddle kicked out at one. Later, Riddle hit a top rope senton and Lee kicked out at two. Riddle stomped Lee down and hit another top rope senton, with Lee kicking out at one. Everyone jumped out of their seats for that.
Riddle kicked out of a powerslam/jackhammer, then Lee kicked out of the Bro to Sleep. Just a crazy, great match.
– PWG World Champion Chuck Taylor defeated Trent Barreta to retain his title
Taylor pinned Barreta with a low blow and a small package in 25:38 to retain. This was a heel turn as Barreta had the opportunity to hit Taylor with the title, but he decided not to and handed the belt to referee Rick Knox. Taylor then low-blowed and pinned Barreta when Knox turned to hand the title out of the ring.
There was good drama in the match. They did an exchange early that ended in the Best Friends hug for a pop. Much later, they did a Japanese-style forearm exchange that led to them each collapsing to their knees and falling against each other, making it look like they were doing the Best Friends hug again. It was really well done.
Barreta did a great blade job at one point, cutting himself over the eyebrow right before a stiff looking kick to the face. There were tons of piledrivers in the match: Taylor got piledriven twice on the apron, Barreta got piledriven on chairs outside, and there were multiple piledrivers in the ring. Taylor kicked out of a Dudebuster and Barreta kicked out of various piledrivers before the finish.
After the match, Taylor didn’t shake Barreta’s hand or hug him and just walked out. The crowd had already booed him and it really turned up at that point. The show then ended quickly and awkwardly, which I think made the heel turn more effective.
Overall, this was a very good show based on the excellent second half. The crowd enjoyed it and was very hot for the final two matches.
Kenny Omega’s match against Cody Rhodes for Ring of Honor won’t be the only time he’ll be wrestling during WrestleMania week.
WrestleCon announced last Friday that Omega would be appearing at their SuperShow on April 5th. They didn’t reveal Omega’s match then, but it was confirmed today that Omega & Kota Ibushi would be teaming against Best Friends (Trent Barreta & Chuck Taylor) at the show.
The SuperShow falls on a Thursday and will be taking place at The Sugar Mill in New Orleans. When announcing Omega & Ibushi vs. Best Friends, the Highspots Wrestling Network tweeted that it will be “coming exclusively to HighspotsWrestlingNetwork.com.”
Omega is set to appear at the WrestleCon convention on Friday during WrestleMania week as well. His match against Cody is scheduled for that Saturday, with ROH’s Supercard of Honor XII going against NXT TakeOver: New Orleans.
Ibushi has also been announced for Supercard of Honor.
New Japan Pro Wrestling’s World Tag League is underway, and the story of the tournament so far is how the newcomers have fared.
Sami Callihan, paired with Juice Robinson, Jeff Cobb, partnered with Michael Elgin, and Chuck Taylor, teaming with Beretta, have all tasted victory in their opening matches.
In Callihan’s case, it was difficult for me to believe that he was the same performer that I saw in WWE in 2015. Particularly when in the ring with EVIL, Callihan displayed a confidence as a performer that I thought he was lacking in his NXT tenure. Robinson played well off his over-the-top intensity, and the duo held up their end of the main event spot on night one of the tournament.
Taylor might have a tougher road, as his reactions in the early going of his opening match were tepid at best. But as illustrated by the great response to some of his flying work late in the match, his stuff will play here, and he will eventually get over.
Cobb was born to wrestle in NJPW. His powerhouse frame and intensity are pluses, and to top it off, he got to work with Tomohiro Ishii, both in a six-man on night one, and in a tournament match on night three. Any time Ishii sold for Cobb it gave him instant credibility, and coupled with his ability, it is easy to predict singles stardom for Cobb here in the future.
They did lots of crowd brawling early. I am of the opinion that the next time a crowd brawl looks good in modern wrestling will be the first time. Suzuki and Iizuka used chairs as they fought all over the building, but no disqualifications were called.
This was fine, maybe even good when Goto and Suzuki were in together, but ranged from middling to poor otherwise. The finish saw YOSHI-HASHI break up a guillotine attempt by Suzuki on Goto, who recovered and nailed Suzuki with his finisher for the pin.
Juice Robinson & Sami Callihan defeated SANADA & EVIL (A Block)
Robinson and SANADA did some nice mat work early. Callihan and EVIL did some power stuff, and Callihan hit a sick dive through the middle and bottom ropes to the outside.
SANADA and EVIL worked over Robinson before it broke down into a four-way. Callihan kissed Robinson at one point to try to fire him up. He saved Robinson as EVIL went to finish him, and Robinson recovered and hit the Pulp Friction for the pin.
Night two results —
Best Friends (Beretta & Chuck Taylor) defeated Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) (B Block)
A couple of nice spots early highlighted Taylor’s agility. This was all about establishing Taylor and Beretta’s friendship and teamwork. After some flying and crowd brawling early on, this settled down into your basic tag match, with the Guerillas working over Beretta.
The match wasn’t getting over to a great degree until Taylor hit a beautiful tope. Beretta eventually hit a Dudebuster for the win.
Michael Elgin & Jeff Cobb defeated Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano (B Block)
Cobb and Ishii started off. They pounded away at each other, no-sold each other, and the crowd ate it up. When Ishii eventually left his feet and bumped for a Cobb shoulder block, the place loved it. Elgin and Yano did some comedy. Ishii and Yano double-teamed Cobb, then Elgin got a tag and ran wild.
Elgin and Ishii did some of their trademark power stuff before it broke down. Cobb saved Elgin from a near fall with rolling German suplexes on Ishii. Cobb and Elgin got a great near fall with a double team move, and Elgin hit Ishii with a buckle bomb and a sit-out powerbomb for the pin. This was good stuff.
They kept it simple and tried to milk the crowd early on. The Bullet Club got the heat on Nakanishi with a low blow while the referee was distracted. Page and Takahashi then worked over Nakanishi forever with chops, kicks, and eye gouging.
Nagata got a tag and looked pretty good in working with Page, but Takahashi ended up hitting Nakanishi with the Pimp Juice DDT for the pin.
Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima (A Block)
A battle of the Bullet Club and the Bread Club. Tenzan and Kojima worked over Owens in the early going. He recovered and all four guys brawled outside and into the crowd. Back inside, Owens worked on Kojima with punches and elbows.
Fale tagged in for the occasional power spot, but this was largely Owens doing the bulk of the work and keeping it very simple. Fale hit the Bad Luck Fall on Kojima for the pin.
Night four results —
This show took place in Yamanashi on Tuesday and was recently uploaded to NJPW World. Here are quick results from the two tournament matches:
Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer) defeated David Finlay & Katsuya Kitamura (B Block)
Smith Jr. pinned Kitamura after a double-team powerbomb.
Some familiar faces to fans in the United States will be debuting for New Japan Pro Wrestling as part of this year’s World Tag League tour.
NJPW announced that Jeff Cobb, Chuck Taylor, and Sami Callihan would all be debuting in the tournament. Cobb, who was originally scheduled to team with Matt Riddle before plans changed, will partner with Michael Elgin, Taylor will be paired with usual partner Trent Barreta, and Callihan will team with Juice Robinson.
In a change from recent years, wrestlers who already have matches announced for Wrestle Kingdom 12 (including top stars like Kazuchika Okada, Tetsuya Naito, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Kenny Omega) won’t be participating in World Tag League.
Whichever team wins will likely challenge for the IWGP Tag Team Championship at Wrestle Kingdom on January 4th. Killer Elite Squad, the team that currently holds the titles, will also be in the tournament.
World Tag League 2017 begins on November 18th in Tokyo. The finals will take place on December 11th in Fukuoka, with the winners of the A Block facing the winners of the B Block. Here’s the full list of teams for the tournament.
A Block —
Juice Robinson & Sami Callihan
Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima
Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi
Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens
Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi
Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka
EVIL & SANADA
B Block —
Togi Makabe & Henare
Michael Elgin & Jeff Cobb
David Finlay & Katsuya Kitamura
War Machine (Ray Rowe & Hanson)
Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano
Trent Barreta & Chuck Taylor
Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa)
Killer Elite Squad (Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr.)
Last night’s PWG show in Reseda, California was another strong one. It included an amazing match with WALTER vs. Zack Sabre Jr., that some were calling the best match in PWG history. I wouldn’t go that far, but if you’ve seen WALTER vs. Ilja Dragunov from wXw’s 16 Carat Gold final this year (and you should if you haven’t), this was the same type of match but only better.
– Jonah Rock defeated Adam Brooks
Both of these men are from Australia and have good chemistry together doing the big man-little man thing. Very good opener.
– The Young Bucks defeated Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Haskins
The Young Bucks won with a Meltzer Driver on Haskins and a double sharpshooter finish. They did a six boots spot (with Marty Scurll, Nick Jackson, and referee Rick Knox) that got over huge. Excellent match.
– Marty Scurll defeated Joey Janela
Scurll won by submission with the chicken wing. Very good match.
– WALTER defeated Zack Sabre Jr.
The story of this match was WALTER just blistering Sabre with ridiculously hard chops. At times it felt like a shotgun was going off. Sabre Jr’s chest was beat to death, and it was very reminiscent of a Ric Flair/Ron Garvin match.
What made it was Sabre’s selling. The match had excellent pacing and WALTER did good suplexes and won by reversing a bridging pin by Sabre into a choke.
– Trent Barreta defeated Matt Sydal and Rey Horus in a three-way match
Trent pinned Sydal after hitting a Dudebuster. Really good match, but there were a few botches from Horus that kept it from being excellent. The Trent is a heavyweight stuff from New Japan was the focus of the match with him playing more of a big man and fans chanting he’s a heavyweight. There were tons of near falls.
– Ricochet defeated Chuck Taylor to win the PWG title
Very different match than you’d think. Ricochet worked as a heel and just showed a different type of bout than he usually does. He got the pin to win the title with a low blow and a belt shot. Then the referees had a consultation and ordered the match restarted. Usually that means a quick babyface win but they went more than 13 more minutes.
Taylor undid the top rope, I guess with the story that Ricochet can’t do his best moves without a top rope. He still did a shooting star press and a 450 off the middle rope for near falls. They did a ton of big moves and near falls back and forth, including a tease of another pin after a low blow, but Ricochet then won with a Rock Bottom like move.
Nobody expected Ricochet to win after they did the restart. He said, and keep in mind this was as a heel, that everyone is wrong and he’s going nowhere and winning the belt proves it.
This match went way too long, with them trying very hard to establish Guevara as the heel and Horus as the face.
– The Unbreakable F’N Machines (Michael Elgin & Brian Cage) defeated The Young Bucks in 18:27
The pacing of this was pretty stale and there was a botch from The Young Bucks at one point.
– Keith Lee defeated Lio Rush and Trent? in 22:13
Rush ended up taking the pin here. The dynamic of this three-way match was that Trent and Rush were forced to team against the larger Lee.
– Dezmond Xavier defeated Sami Callihan, Jake Crist, and Dave Crist in 10:06
This was a total sprint. It was announced before the match that Shane Strickland and Jason Cade didn’t make the show due to travel issues, so this was changed to a four-way match instead of the six-man tag that it was originally scheduled to be.
– Ricochet defeated Trevor Lee in 14:46
– Chuck Taylor defeated Zack Sabre Jr. to win the PWG World Championship in 29:24
This had lots of storytelling and great heel work from ZSJ. He tried to get disqualified several times by using low blows and forced someone from the ring crew to disassemble the bottom rope so that Taylor couldn’t get any rope breaks. Referee Rick Knox wouldn’t let ZSJ retain in that fashion.
Taylor ended up hitting the Awful Waffle into thumbtacks (which he had already eaten plenty of) to get the pin and become the new champion. Trent came out to congratulate him and celebrate after the match.
Final Thoughts —
For the ultra high standard that PWG has set for themselves, this was a letdown. But it still would’ve been a show of the year contender for many other independent promotions.
Here are notes from PWG last night in Reseda, California:
– Lio Rush defeated Rey Fenix with a frog splash.
Rush was shaken up late in the match from a double foot stomp to the back of the head. He seemed out of it momentarily but was able to complete the match. Very difficult match to follow.
– Matt Riddle defeated Adam Cole by submission with the Bro-mission.
– Jeff Cobb defeated Keith Lee with the Tour of the Islands, and that’s a huge man to be doing such a move on.
Lee has major star qualities.
– Michael Elgin defeated Kyle O’Reilly with a powerbomb.
They had a hard-hitting match.
– The Young Bucks defeated War Machine when Nick Jackson pinned Ray Rowe with a cradle.
This was ROH tag champs vs. IWGP tag team champions. They had a long, great match, which was slightly better than their recent match in Japan.
– Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Dick Togo with a cradle.
Very good technical match.
– Chuck Taylor defeated Marty Scurll with his own chicken wing submission while both were laying in thumbtacks in a street fight.
There was one ref bump. Great finish as Taylor introduced the thumbtacks and Scurll went to throw powder but Taylor kicked Scurll’s hand and the powder went in his eyes. Scurll couldn’t see and broke the fingers of the ref, thinking it was Taylor.
Taylor hit a piledriver on Scurll while both refs were down, and the second ref’s hand couldn’t count with the broken fingers. But Taylor got the chicken wing on while both were in the thumbtacks for the submission.
Thanks Chris GST & Internet reports | American Legion in Reseda, CA, Saturday night
– Trevor Lee defeated Cody Rhodes (aka Cody R) with a fisherman buster. Apparently, Lee said “F**k Dusty” in an in-character moment and Rhodes wasn’t happy, but explained the situation on Twitter.
– Trent? defeated Rey Fénix with the reverse cradle piledriver
– The Chosen Bros (Jeff Cobb & Matt Riddle) defeated Unbreakable F’n Machines (Michael Elgin & Brian Cage) with Cobb hitting the Tour of the Islands on Cage.
– Ricochet defeated Lio Rush with the twisting reverse brainbuster.
– Marty Scurll defeated Jay White with the Chicken Wing.
– Super Clique (Young Bucks & Adam Cole) defeated OI4K (Sami Callihan, Dave Crist & Jake Crist) with about 50 superkicks in a row on all three guys.
– PWG World Champion Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Chuck Taylor to retain after Chuck passed out in the triangle choke. Post-match, ZSJ went heel and beat down Taylor with the help of Scurll. That brought out Trent for the save.
