I just got back home from the WrestleReunion show, the second of two consecutive dates of wrestling live from the Hilton Hotel near LAX in Los Angeles California. Yesterday saw RoH take center stage, tonight it's local California darling's Pro Wrestling Guerilla's turn to wow the crowds.Mind you, I wanted to be more detailed, but my phone died very early in the night. I'm amazed I made it home using Los Angeles Public Transit at this hour.
After the jump...Show started off with the Young Bucks & Brian Kendrick in the ring together. The Bucks said they were sick of going by fake names, and as of tonight, they're Max and Jeremy. They're Generation Me. They praise TNA, and get quite a bit of heel heat for it. They turn to Kendrick and point him out like the sour thumb he is, saying he doesn't belong here. Commence the beatdown, until Paul London hit the ring to make the save. An elongated mic sequence later, and we had a new match booked for tonight, Paul London & Brian Kendrick vs. Generation Me. I've always been a fan of Paul London, more for his 2002 RoH slogan "Please Don't Die" than anything else. Reunited with Kendrick on the independent scene? Hello tag team revitalization. Hopefully this motivates the two of them. Cause both Paul and Kendrick seem to be smoking themselves stupid.
Tombstone Eight-Person Tag Team Match
The Cutler Brothers (Brandon & Dustin Cutler), Ryan Taylor, & Christina Von Eerie vs. Johnny Goodtime, Malachi “CK” Jackson, Candice LeRae, & Jerome “LTP” Robinson
My criticsm of Independent Wrestling is based around the fact that these athletes are still learning their craft. Most wrestlers, when they're first starting out, worry too much about hitting the moves correctly and safely that they forget to bring story and character to a match. This is one of those matches. Granted, it's not the worst offender, and it did have quite a few insane spots. In fact, after the match broke down to start, Candice LeRae hit a running hurraconrada off the top flinging Ryan Taylor to the outside onto the Culter Brothers. Johnny Goodtime and Jerome Robinson then hit running planchas, as Malachi Jackson then hit a shooting star press onto the recovering crowd.
There was no down time during this match. Most of it involved the heels focusing on quadruple teaming the lone female of the face team, Candice. It's pretty easy to draw heat when you're slapping a girl in the middle of the ring.
It was a fun match, a great opener or breather in the middle of your show, but it wasn't a classi by any stretch.
Spot of the match: Candice, while sometimes awkward, hit that hurraconrada which sent Taylor to the outside in the first high spot of the night which set the tone, not just for that match, but the entire night.
Finish: The Culter Brothers hit a spiked tombstone piledriver on Candice LeRae for the three count.
Stargate Singles Match
Brandon Bonham vs. Brandon Gatson
Hadn't seen or heard either of these guys before. Bonham got a nice "Welcome Back" chant at the start. There's also a great crowd bit where the crowd chants "Let's go Brandon" for each Brandon in what would be a dueling crowd chant. Gatson looks Seamus pale, which is insane for a supposed Texan.
Match was unspectacular. I feel they were kind of out of their element. They wanted to be showboating and high flying, but they should have focused more on the mat and submissions. I dunno, Gatson has a Danielson vibe to me, but that could just be the pale texanness.
Good. Servicable. Ultimately a forgettable match.
Gatson over Bonham by pinfall. Of course. Give it to the guy with upside. Remember when I said it was forgettable? I forget how it finished.
-They were out to announce changes to the card due to London/Kendrick being re-booked. Human Tornado takes on Super Crazy and Davey Richards takes on Kevin Steen. Shame about Chuck Taylor. I wanted to see him in action. Always gotta root for the Chikar-ites.
Super Crazy vs. Human Tornado
My Lord. Is Super Crazy still a luchador? Can we legally call him that under oath or would that be perjury?
Tornado's got such an eerie build for a wrestler. Tall and lanky, his kicks looked wicked. Super Crazy moved around the ring well but you could tell he was getting up there in age. He didn't even try to hit the Asai Moonsault. Still, if Crazy goes back to school and gets a bit of a better tutelage in chain wrestling, he could do this for another decade. He wasn't gassed, but you could tell he couldn't stretch himself as he did, say, back in the Crazy/Tajiri days).
Match was fun, but probably could have had a full two minutes cut out of it. Being that it was 14 or less in length, that's not a glowing review. Right man went over. I'd say it's good. Definitely not a classic, but a solid match.
SPOT OF THE MATCH: Crazy locks Tornado in a bow & arrow, smacking his ribs to draw in one free hand and lock the hold in.
FINISH: Tornado d. Crazy w/ DND and twisting senton.
Crazy left quite quickly. He was up on his feet moments after being "knocked unconscious." He put his Mexican Flag over his face and left ringside in a hurry. Seemed noticeable and out of place, almost as if he broke character.
Davey Richards vs. Mr. Wrestling Kevin Steen
Davey Richards kissed Kevin Steen at the beginning of this matchup. The fans in attendance shouted "This is wrestling." They weren't exactly wrong. Very appropo, especially when you consider what followed. By no means a perfect match, but fluid, and the only match so far in the night to tell any kind of a story.
Steen mocks Richards, Richards kisses his in a spot to make him uncomfortable. Steen retaliates by snotting all over a prone Richards. Davey spits in his face. This all breaks down into a brawl that takes them over to that god forsaken band set. At this point, I couldn't see what happened but Davey clearly played the drums, Steen said he sucked at it, and Davey called him gay cause he kissed him.
Couple that with Davey working over the arm on Steen throughout the match, Steen catching the steel turnbuckle on a missed spear in the corner, and Steen shouting "You have no power!" as Richards tried to lift him two times for a german suplex before succeeding on the third.
This match had everything. If it were airing tomorrow on PPV before that 30 man clusterfuck? I wouldn't have been surprised.
SPOT: Going over to the band set is the most original. The most telling was Steen missing Richards in the corner with the spear.
FINISH: Richards d. Steen via armbreaker submission.
Intermission
I got to see Steen outside taking pictures. Took two of them and told him he had a great match riffed of storytelling with Davey Richards. I saw Chris Hero and Christina Von Eerie at the merchandise table. Hero was autographing hats and t-shirts and being nice to people. I also saw who I later confirmed to be KAI walked into the building, dressed in ring attire and surrounded by an interpreter and an entourage.
Great Muta & KAI vs. Scott Lost & Joey Ryan
First time I'm seeing ANY of these guys. And to say that about Great Muta is a travesty. Don't even know KAI. I've at least heard of Lost and Ryan from reading up on PWG before hand. They're a former tag team that is on the splits, but came back together for tonight to face Muta, because it's like facing a Japanese Hogan.
Muta sprays the mist in the air at the beginning of his entrance to a big pop.
Muta FELT huge. He commanded a presence in the ring. You could tell he's had years of experience. Basic tag match. Muta hit a few signature spots but KAI played most of the role. But whenever Muta hit the ring you could just feel this weight and this sort of "Wow sensation" fill the air. Or at least I did. He was like a 250 lb Yokozuna.
Spot: Muta sprays mist into the eyes of his opponent, after teasing it moments earlier.
Finish: Muta sprays mist, Kai hits a standing yakuza, and Muta finishes with a shinning wizard.
El Generico vs. Jushin Liger
Liger is a wrestler I've always wanted to see live. If I were to create the perfect wrestler, and I've tried, it would be equal parts Liger and Mysterio, plus equal(yet greater than the first pair) parts Jericho/Heel Michaels. So to see Lyger, or Liger in person was a real treat.
SPOT: To see him hit his Lyger Bomb? Monumentous. Although the execution wasn't as crisp as I've always seen it before, it's just seeing it in person that elevates the effect. Like seeing Muta spray mist into a man's face on video is nothing to in real life, and that's what the Lyger Bomb felt to me.
FINISH: Lyger, after losing to Aries the night before, d. El Generico with a Brainbuster. At least three were hit in this match throughout, with Lyger getting the last laugh.
Londrick(London/Kendrick) vs. Generation Me
I came to this show because I wanted to see Muta, I wanted to see Lyger, but I also wanted to see the Young Bucks one last time before they were snatched away by that incestuous black hole one calls TNA. I saw them at Dragon Gate in Philly and they blew the roof off the place. In fact, they're currently transplanting the roof of the ECW Arena/Viking Hall from Broad/Market back to Ritter and Swanson.
When this match was booked, I over hyped it in my head. I don't know if I can legitimately give this a fair grade. To be honest, like Richards/Steen, I could see this being on a major pay per view. They worked slow, crisp, clean. But they weren't was solid on their story telling. Kendrick just was angry and kept jumping the gun throughout the match. The Young Bucks tried to work methodically, and they weren't the spot monkeys the IWC sometimes make them out to be. Still, all four men could use a refresher course in psychology.
I hoped this'd be a title match, but it wasn't. Which meant Londrick were definitely going to win. I expected GenMe to drop the tag titles, cause doesn't their TNA career start up soon? So none title? of course they're gonna put over their future.
SPOT: The finish is probably more memorable, but I love the spot where, after having done this to Kendrick earlier in the match, Generation Me hip tosses London, back flips, and goes for a stereo dropkick, only London has rolled out of the way. Simple things.
FINISH: Kendrick hits sliced bread, and London nails the shooting star for the three count.
Main Event: RVD vs. Chris Hero vs. Roderick Strong
I've never seen Hero or Strong live. A few people in attendance say they could be seeing RVD's last match ever. I expect him to be in the rumble tonight but you never know. Still, RVD has the same traits he had when he was in ECW/WWE. You can tell his body isn't as fresh but he hit every one of his signature moves. The corkscrew leg drop, the splitlegged moonsault, rolling thunder. Only thing he didn't do was a van terminator, and that's because he threw the chair at Hero only to have him duck and Strong grab it. So, Hero punched the chair into Strong's face.
Very fun match, but before it began you KNEW Strong was gonna lose. And you expected, if this could be RVD's last match ever, for him to win. Still, the crowd popped huge for RVD and chanted for Hero throughout this match. Unlike a normal triple threat, most of this match was one on one, with a third individual on the outside. RVD started with playing to the crowd as Hero/Strong went at it. For the first ten to fifteen minutes, this could effectively be called a one on one match. In fact, only in the last few minutes were all three wrestlers in the ring at the same time brawling with one another.
SPOT: It's that steel chair toss where Hero strikes the chair with his fist and takes out Roderick Strong. That or when Strong gets the best of RVD and plants him off the top rope with a slam.
FINISH: RVD hit the five star frogsplahs on Strong for the three.
I left, trying to catch the bus, but apparently Hero got on the mic and said he didn't win, but didn't get beat. He also wants Kenny Omega at the next show.
Overall, good show. I'd say it was better than the Chikara show I went to(Never Kneel at the Alter of Conformity 7/31/09), and worse than the Dragon Gate USA show last July by LOADS. I traveled four hours total for a three hour show and I wasn't disappointed. I was hopeful for something more than I got, but I still enjoyed every minute of it.
Most Overused Maneuver: The Bow and Arrow - Three matches? Really? Only once did the maneuver work, with the victim fighting and the smack against the ribs to draw it in drew a reaction(Crazy/Tornado).
Spot of the night: Muta mist to the eyes. We were ALL waiting for it.
Most Under-appreciated Wrestler: Roderick Strong. There's lots of RVD love, enough Hero love, but I barely heard a chant for the guy and he's the defacto jobber in the main event? Maybe that's why, everyone knew he'd be taking the fall.
Worst Decision: That (Curse word) (Go ask your parents) band. I wanted to stab myself in the face with a drumstick when they played. Granted, they did facilitate humor in Steen/Richards when Richards started playing drums for whatever reason[couldn't see] but they just drug down the entire production value of the show with their garbled bloated sound system and they're hoarse almost unhuman like "music." and I LIKE Metal.
Best Match: Davey Richards ve. Kevin Steen
The "Colt Cabana" award(Aka make me laugh my ass off): Kevin Steen. Easily. His barbs as he was brawling with Richards? Hysterical!
Good to read a live perspective on this show!
ReplyDeleteAhh.. It is really bad that your phone died that night because more information here would be very good.
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