Image: @TheSamiCallihan. Report submitted by reader Brian Reznick.
This was a weaker PWG show, but it was still good and had one outstanding match (Lio Rush vs. Keith Lee). The show started around 8:05 and ended at 11:15 with the standard intermission. The crowd was not quite as hot as the best PWG shows, though it was still very good.
– Chuck Taylor defeated Trevor Lee
The crowd loved Taylor and hated Lee, but also weren’t as hot for the match as the wrestlers involved usually merit. They went about 15 minutes and Taylor won.
– Dezmond Xavier defeated Jason Cade and Jake Crist in a triple threat match
Fun match filled with high spots. Cade looked good in his PWG debut.
Early in the match, they set up a ridiculous series of continuous dives where one guy would dive onto the other two and one of the guys who took the dive would immediately get back in the ring and start another dive. They either did a run of three or four dives each and it was capped by Crist going to two corners and doing the Randy Orton pose before hitting a final dive to the outside.
Xavier pinned Cade after a variation of a top rope corkscrew splash. The crowd chanted “please come back” for Cade after the match.
– Keith Lee defeated Lio Rush
This was the match of the night. They set up an early motif where Lee would keep trying to tell Rush to “Bask in his…,” but before Lee could say glory, Rush would attack him. Lee fended off each attack, sometimes catching Rush in mid-air and one time putting his hand to Rush’s forehead and holding him at arm’s length.
Rush eventually landed a few strikes, and ended with a slap to the face. They then continued the pattern of Rush attempting a comeback, landing a little, but Lee slamming him around.
The crowd was very into the whole match with counter chants going, but a truly outstanding spot in the middle got a huge standing ovation. Both guys had ended up outside of the ring and were coming back in. As Lee came in, Rush hit him low, and laboriously picked him up for a Death Valley Driver. The crowd went nuts when Rush hit the driver and then went to the top rope for a great frog splash and cover, but Lee powered out at one, tossing Rush halfway across the ring.
Lee eventually flattened him, picked him up, flattened him, picked him up, gave him a huge Last Ride-style powerbomb and covered him for the 1-2-3.
– Unbreakable F’n Machines (Michael Elgin & Brian Cage) defeated War Machine
They had the second best match of the night. It was a great clash of the big guys. A highlight spot was Elgin holding Rowe for an extended vertical suplex, Cage tagging in, and Elgin handing Rowe off to Cage before Cage finished the suplex. The crowd counted this as 23-24 seconds.
Elgin and Cage got the heat on Rowe for a while before he made the hot tag to Hanson. Hanson did a fun hot tag, using a cartwheel and clothesline on both Cage and Elgin setting up the running clotheslines on each of them in the corners.
Rowe then picked Hanson up and scoop slammed him on each guy. War Machine were not able to hit Fallout and Elgin/Cage won after a middle rope powerbomb to Rowe from Elgin followed by Cage hitting the Weapon X. Loud chants for War Machine after the match.
– Sami Callihan defeated Matt Sydal
Quick, fun match following intermission. Sydal got the advantage early by hitting some hard leg kicks and strikes. Each guy took bumps onto chairs, but there were no chair shots to the head (which is good). Callihan won with his over-the-shoulder single leg crab. Callihan had legit heat with a good portion of the crowd throughout the match.
– Jeff Cobb defeated Trent Barreta
Another great “big guy” vs. “little guy” match. The story was Trent trying to get quick flurries of offense and Cobb repeatedly flattening him with every variation of suplex that has ever existed. Both guys looked great here and there were dueling chants throughout the match for each guy.
They fought around the ring and back into the ring. Cobb again began to take advantage with suplexes. Trent would keep trying to escape only to be grabbed and thrown again. Trent mounted a comeback by exiting the ring, surprising Cobb, and eventually piledriving him on the apron.
He got back in the ring and hit the Dudebuster for a near fall. Cobb came back with a series of suplexes before hitting the Tour of the Islands for the pin.
– The LDRS (Marty Scurll & Zack Sabre Jr.) defeated reDragon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly)
This match was very good, but it should have been shorter. They went 30-35 minutes, but should have gone 20-25 as there were points where the crowd was somewhat out of it. Scurll was the most over guy in the match, though the crowd was probably 60-40 pro-ZSJ.
The story of the early part of the match was that reDragon outwrestled the LDRS. In every combination between the four guys, they would grapple back and forth (great sequences from everyone), but reDragon would always end with a slight edge. reDragon mounted a comeback toward the end and hit Chasing the Dragon on Sabre, but he kicked out.
The finish came when Scurll hit Fish with the umbrella and Sabre got O’Reilly into his submission that looks like the Rings of Saturn and started kicking O’Reilly in the head. O’Reilly got an arm free and was trying to escape when Scurll walked in and did the finger break spot. Sabre then caught O’Reilly’s free arm and started kicking him more. I couldn’t tell if O’Reilly tapped or if referee Rick Knox decided he was out, but Knox called for the bell.
After the match, Sabre and Scurll started stomping reDragon and Chuck Taylor came in for the save (he’d been on commentary). Sabre and Scurll fled to the back. Taylor got the mic and challenged ZSJ for the title.
Taylor said that if he loses to Sabre, he’ll never get another title shot. Sabre came back out, took the mic, and said that Taylor was bad and other mean things.
