Kevin Steen vs Willie Mack
Really fun fatboys match with a veteran vs upstart story. Both guys work stiff and dish out hard shots, and also do some really impressive and pretty flying and highspots. Steen in particular goes for a pretty insane pop-up moonsault attempt. It went just a little too long for an opening match, but they got the story across well and the upset finish was great. I also love that Willie has a move called the Chocolate Thunder Bomb.
Generation Me vs RockNES Monsters
Pretty standard Gen Me match, which is mediocre. Most of their matches are the same shit, they only really care about the final part of the match when they can do big spots, everything before that is just boring lazy filler crap. There was some comedy early on, with RockNES shoving Max's crotch/ass into Jeremy's face and some other incest stuff, but I wasn't digging it. Goodtime was the only guy in this who was any good, and is a really slick highflyer. They played off the finish to the KR2 tag scramble which was neat, but Yuma's John Woo tornado DDT looked really hokey and the finish with the DDT/Superkick combo was just awful as Max visibly didn't connect with the kick.
Eddie Edwards vs Alex Shelley
Standard rote indy opening exchange leading to some stuff leading to some more stuff. I laughed out loud at the crowd breaking out into a "THIS IS AWESOME" chant for Shelley doing an abdominal stretch after 10 minutes of pretty much nothing happening. Both guys took time to reply to asshole fans, including Edwards being bewildered that someone could possibly like The Big Show and mocking the Chokeslam, which is pretty much the height of indy small man syndrome/anti-mainstream douchebagery. Both guys ran through their movesets, did an RVD/Lynn roll-up exchange, did some blatant legslapping, and then Edwards no-sold some stuff for the finish. I pretty much hated this.
Kevin Steen/Akira Tozawa vs El Generico/Ricochet
Not a perfect match, as it loses steam at points and Steen walks a fine line with how obnoxious he can act, but this is still pretty great. Mostly built around Steen vs Generico, and their interactions are as good as any in the feud. Ricochet hits some pretty crazy flippy highspots and Tozawa is pretty great, especially loved him faking Ricochet out with a chop then cracking him in the jaw. Final ten minutes are just total insanity, with Steen countering the Brainbuster into a Package Piledriver, Steen taking a reverse Frankensteiner off the top and Generico dying on an apron German suplex. And the finish itself was ridiculous. I also loved that Steen and Generico didn't go for the predictable handshake after the match. Up there with the best PWG matches ever.
Claudio Castagnoli vs Chris Hero
Long match, even by PWG main event standards. The crowd was burnt out by this point, and Hero could have sold Claudio's armwork better, but still this was almost shockingly good for the length it goes. It started with some pretty sound technical stuff, solid matwork and some crazy Hero armdrags, and they built well to the strikes. Claudio botched a springboard uppercut, but it was covered well and didn't affect the match. Claudio actually did a pretty good job controlling the match for a long period of time, keeping it interesting without going to restholds or anything. Loved Hero's trash-talking, and his high-flying stuff is even more spectacular and impressive off the second rope (after the top rope broke, which made the match feel even more unpredictable). Finishing run was also really well done, with them building to a small number of big nearfalls instead of overkill or annoying 2.9 nearfall sequences. Overall I thought this was a really well paced, well built long match and good shit if you're willing to put in the time.
Kevin Steen/Akira Tozawa vs RockNES Monsters
Hot start from RockNES, but it sorta dies down quickly and becomes Steen beating up both of them. It's OK and makes sense given the booking, but they just didn't make this compelling as it should have been for two young tries trying to hang with a top star. Too much goofy shit and comedy. Even though I like the guy, I do find it really amusing that Steen's character is that he is an obnoxious douchebag loudmouth, and that he is now the top babyface in the promotion. A comment about indy fans? They kinda blew an avalanche PP attempt, but made up for it with Yuma dying from one on the apron for the finish. Tozawa was a in a total backseat role, which is a shame, but the post-match antics with the Bucks and Hero were pretty great.
El Generico vs Eddie Edwards
This was definitely better than Edwards vs Shelley, but was still mostly them "just doing stuff". Edwards worked Generico's leg, but Generico never sold it once outside one spot where he couldn't hit a dive over the rope... so he went up top and hit one, completely overiding the point. Eddie was the aggressor most of the match and tried to "bully" Generico, but as much as I DO like the guy, he is just too vanilla for that kind of role. The final part of the match did pick up bigtime though, with both guys taking a spill to the outside, fighting on the apron (leading to the thirdest sickest apron bump of the weekend), Eddie hitting his big top rope rana and sick lariats, and THEN paying off the legwork for the finish.
Chris Hero vs Akira Tozawa
This was very good and easily MOTN, though still a big step down from their first match. Hero laid in a really violent beating on Tozawa. Chops, elbows, boots and stomps all looked really vicious and Hero also acted like a total dick. At one point he almost decapitated Tozawa with a running boot. The finish was well done, and a good way to end the feud. Tozawa crying during his farewell was emotional, he has grown into one of the most exciting wrestlers around in PWG, lets hope it's not the last we see of him.
Claudio Castagnoli vs Low Ki
I am 99% sure these two have never wrestled each other before, not even in tags or scramble matches, and it kinda showed. That's not to say this was bad, because it definitely wasn't, but there were obvious moments of awkwardness (what was up with Ki's running elbows?). Both guys dished out some shots, but they really should have played up the big vs small story much more than they did. You have the biggest guy in the main indys against a guy who is 5'8, and Ki was able to hit the Ki Krusher with relative ease. The awkwardness did lead to one sick spot where Claudio kinda sat up during a double stomp and got it right in the fucking face. Highlight of the match was also Ki double stomping Claudio's arm mid-air during an attempted elevated uppercut. The finish was predictable, with both guys surviving finishers, and came off as anticlimactic. Not a bad match by any stretch, it was solid, but ultimately forgettable. I expect future matches could be better.
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