PWG Mystery Vortex
Dojo Bros vs the Young Bucks -
****1/4
~ Wow, I am so on board the DojoBros bandwagon. They gel so well as a team! Strong still has the best hot tag in the business, he's so much better in a face tag team. Lots to love in this one; the rolling evades from the superkicks, Eddie's counter of Nick's springboard X-factor, the double-stomp facebuster finisher...yeah, this rocked.
Sami Callihan vs Drake Younger -
*1/2
~ Posted this earlier, but I'll post it again: Seriously...fuck this shit. I don't even know where to start. I worked out exactly why I hate Sami; he uses the same mannerisms as EUGENE, which would be fine if he was supposed to look like a retard but we're supposed to take him seriously. Eugh. Selling was non-existant, they went to ridiculous levels (trading Vertebreakers and both kicking out of them?), not to mention Drake having a superman kick out at 1 for no real reason after enduring a TON of offense. Not a fan of unprotected headbutts either which they relied upon too heavily. The only reason this doesn't get a DUD rating is because they clearly went all out and didn't hold back, so I have to appreciate their efforts. But no, this was certainly not my cup of tea, the epitome of garbage wrestling IMO. Oh joy, I'll have to sit through the rematches as well.
Cole/Steen promo - glorious. Cole's expression after Steen laid down the Guerrila Warfare challenge was perfect, what a champ.
Super Smash Bros. vs RockNES Monsters -
***1/4
~ Don't think I've ever had cause to say this before in PWG, but there was a fantastic piece of camera work that captured Yuma's sunset flip powerbomb on Stupefied. Think the camera was placed on the mat so when Stupefied landed the view shook for a moment, and the angle that was shown made it look like a pretty bad landing for him. Sold what might have looked like an average spot from another view as something pretty darn good, leading to a great nearfall. Anyway, RockNES Monsters are still trying a little too hard to get over as heels and it's just not working. SSB were great as usual; loved the simultaneous cannonball/450 splash combo from both men. Wasn't crazy about Goodtime's 'beard trim' shenanigans but I suppose it goes with his kooky persona.
Scorpio Sky vs Joey Ryan -
***
~ That was a nasty Mustache Ride!
Nice final promo from Joey Ryan. Really touched by what Excalibur said actually. "You go to Orlando, take all their money, and you don't come back." That's awesome.
B-Boy vs TJP vs Brian Cage vs Willie Mack -
***1/2
~ This was a ton of fun, enjoyed the heck out of it. Constantly action-packed, they fitted a load into the time given.
El Generico vs Rich Swann -
***3/4
~ Swann is a perfect fit for PWG, he'll go far. Great finish to this hot contest, I love Generico being the slightly douchy veteran.
Super Smash Bros. vs Dojo Bros -
****
~ THAT sequence from Stupefied...wow! Loved seeing Eddie as more of a brawler too, like his scrappy little punches and slaps to a grounded Stupefied. They went all out for this and crammed loads into the 10ish minutes. Last few minutes especially were epic. Rematch please.
Kevin Steen vs Adam Cole [Guerrilla Warfare] -
****1/4
~ Opening minutes were great with Steen just absolutely destroying Cole on the outside. Then we got the PLUNDAH~! I don't usually like the long set up to stuff like the pyramid of chairs but it worked wonders here as they split it up; Steen set up his contraption, and it was Cole who later decided to add to it in order to inflict more punishment. The actual spot with the chairs was awesome too, that totally delivered. Really nice finish, they played the tease of the tacks well and we got the payoff at just the right moment.
Such a great show. I only got done watching DDT4 last week and declared that my PWG show of the year, but this eclipses it. What with this, DDT4, DTABM, and Threemendous III, 2012 was definitely a top notch year for PWG.