PWG - Giant-Size Annual #4 (7/29/07)
So, I'm surprisingly *without* plans for New Year's Eve (which is the first time I've said that with a straight face in several years), so I figured I might as well post something here. If Matt has the time to bring SD back, then dammit...I can man up and actually get my lazy ass in gear for, I don't know...10 minutes or so. Anyway, after much consideration, I figured that I could do really capsulated recaps of the indy stuff I watch. It's how I post junk on other boards, so I might as well bring it here as well. We'll start off with a Pro Wrestling Guerrilla show, because that just happens to be the last show that I watched. Crazy how that works!
PWG is usually pretty hit or miss with me because I'm not all that big a fan of most of the "native" SoCal guys. I just can't get into the Quicksilver/Ronin/Excaliburs of the world. I don't know what it is, but I find myself being bored to tears by most of the PWG undercard stuff. This, however, was an outstanding show. Almost from top to bottom. Maybe the best PWG show I've ever seen, actually. I should also point out that wherever the building they're running is, it looks way better on camera than I've seen from past shows. I hope they stay here for a while.
-We open with Top Gun Talwar versus Ronin. See above about me not really liking the local SoCal crew. Both of these guys fit into that mold. There's nothing here that merits discussion. It was too short to really annoy, though, so it had that much going for it.
-I'm starting to "get" Human Tornado, I think. Actually, I think he's just improving as a worker. People always seem to have liked/talked about his shtick more than the in ring work. Now that that is starting to catch up, I like him so much more. The match with Tony Kozina here is a bit awkward at points (I'm not sure what that tornado DDT into the apron was *supposed* to be, but the end result looked gimped), but it was generally pretty okay and it did a good job furthering the angle with Candice. The postmatch stuff between the two was pretty funny, if you can ignore the vaguely creepy domestic violence part of the angle.
-This is my first look at the Young Bucks, who seem like a really fun team. I've seen them compared to the Rockers a lot and that seems apt. I really don't mind guys being spotty all that much, so long as they actually hit their spots. I didn't notice any problems here, so I'll have to track down more of their work. I continue to enjoy Karl "Machine Gun" Anderson as well. Bino Gambino, on the other hand, seemed to be, uh...not so good. First time I've seen him as well, though, so I don't have much to go on. He does take a hugely ridiculous back bump to the floor in this match, though, so at least he served a purpose.
At any rate, they worked a nice little match here, with the heels basically losing because The Dynasty (Scott Lost/Anderson) couldn't work well with Gambino. Basic story, but it worked because they stuck to it and didn't jump all over the place and try to thread five other stories in there as well.
-Davey Richards vs Fergal Devitt would have been much better had they chopped 5-10 minutes off of it. They totally burned out the crowd with the extended matwork. To be fair, though, everything was smooth and it all played into the finish. It's just not the match that these two guys needed to work at this point of the show. And that, folks, is about as much positivity as you're ever going to get from me, Re: Davey Richards.
-Scorpio Sky vs Joey Ryan is next. *yawn* This is possibly the slowest, tamest streetfight I've ever seen. Needed bucketloads of HATE to match the story. This was just...there. Really disappointing. Again, I guess this points to my general apathy towards the native PWG crew. Which is odd, since Joey Ryan is one of the guys that I do like a bunch.
-Austin Aries/Rocky Romero was decent enough, but let's face it...this match doesn't have a chance with me. I don't like either guy. Actually, I actively dislike both guys. I really, really wish someone would tell me what the world sees in Aries. I just don't get it at all. He completely ignores Romero's arm work here because it interferes with him hitting his own spots. There was so much potential with him when he returned to the indy scene. His ROH return was great. He showed amazing intensity and it looked like he was going to turn it up a notch after the Austin Starr debacle. Instead, it's the same old stale Aries. A great big meh to all of this.
-Am. Dragon/Necro has been a super dream match of mine and boy howdy, did it ever live up to standards. Too short to be considered a top tier match or anything, but these two bring the hate that Sky/Ryan should have x3. Necro is just so damn good and Dragon is perfect at playing to his strengths. I love how Necro gets really frustrated because Dragon is always a half step ahead, stuffing his striking and generally being able to cut him off from being Necro. They try to tear each others eyes/noses out and both guys get the hardway juice going. Necro even channels Terry Funk and tries to strangle Danielson with a plastic bag. Superb. I think my favorite part of the match is Danielson absolutely snapping at one point and winging chair after chair at Necro's head. Totally ties into the story of Danielson being frustrated at missing out on his title shot. Necro absolutely *eats* the MMA elbows as well.
It astounds me that there are people out there who still think this guy sucks. There's no accounting for taste, I guess.
-Stong/Pac vs. Steenerico was great. Well...great in the way that 2007 tag matches are worked, anyway. I've gotten used to the fact that this is what tag wrestling has become. If these Briscoe-nian sorts of matches annoy you, this one isn't going to change your mind. It's less nearfall happy than most of the Briscoes stuff, but it's still just four guys tearing through spots at high speed. Pac looks amazing in this one, though. He got real good, real quick. Steen makes a good surly, dickhead fat guy as always and Roderick largely stays out of the way. Can't ask for a hell of a lot more than that.
-Generico/Danielson is borderline MOTYC worthy. It's been a pretty outstanding year for high level matches, though, so it's no more than a low end contender. Just a great, great match. The crowd just eats this up, because it's full of emotion and both guys just throw bombs at one another trying to end it quickly. 2007 might be Generico's break out year. He's always been good but in 2006, I think he's turned the corner and started heading towards *great*.This is a must see show. There's a bit of a dead spot in the middle, but the last three matches are more than worth your time and money to catch. I'm totally geeked to start watching BoLA, just to see if they can continue building momentum. Seriously, if all of the recent PWG shows are like this, I think they're going to be bumped up to the "buy every show" level. Got this just because I needed to see Dragon/Necro, but I was so happy to see how the rest came out.
If you're interested...
http://www.stage6.com/user/XBooker/video/1999764/PWG---Giant-Size-Annual-4-pt1
http://www.stage6.com/user/XBooker/video/2000432/PWG---Giant-Size-Annual-4-pt2
In other news, ESPN Classic is going to start airing the old Herb Abrams UWF shows next week (@ 1AM) and I'm going to at least try to get some recaps of them up. Can't be more nonsensical than TNA these days, can it? I also want to recap every last second of the WSX DVD set that I haven't already covered. So maybe, just maybe we'll see regular content around these parts again. Until I get bored again, I guess. Maybe doing a regular update can be my resolution for 2008. Heh.
PWG is usually pretty hit or miss with me because I'm not all that big a fan of most of the "native" SoCal guys. I just can't get into the Quicksilver/Ronin/Excaliburs of the world. I don't know what it is, but I find myself being bored to tears by most of the PWG undercard stuff. This, however, was an outstanding show. Almost from top to bottom. Maybe the best PWG show I've ever seen, actually. I should also point out that wherever the building they're running is, it looks way better on camera than I've seen from past shows. I hope they stay here for a while.
-We open with Top Gun Talwar versus Ronin. See above about me not really liking the local SoCal crew. Both of these guys fit into that mold. There's nothing here that merits discussion. It was too short to really annoy, though, so it had that much going for it.
-I'm starting to "get" Human Tornado, I think. Actually, I think he's just improving as a worker. People always seem to have liked/talked about his shtick more than the in ring work. Now that that is starting to catch up, I like him so much more. The match with Tony Kozina here is a bit awkward at points (I'm not sure what that tornado DDT into the apron was *supposed* to be, but the end result looked gimped), but it was generally pretty okay and it did a good job furthering the angle with Candice. The postmatch stuff between the two was pretty funny, if you can ignore the vaguely creepy domestic violence part of the angle.
-This is my first look at the Young Bucks, who seem like a really fun team. I've seen them compared to the Rockers a lot and that seems apt. I really don't mind guys being spotty all that much, so long as they actually hit their spots. I didn't notice any problems here, so I'll have to track down more of their work. I continue to enjoy Karl "Machine Gun" Anderson as well. Bino Gambino, on the other hand, seemed to be, uh...not so good. First time I've seen him as well, though, so I don't have much to go on. He does take a hugely ridiculous back bump to the floor in this match, though, so at least he served a purpose.
At any rate, they worked a nice little match here, with the heels basically losing because The Dynasty (Scott Lost/Anderson) couldn't work well with Gambino. Basic story, but it worked because they stuck to it and didn't jump all over the place and try to thread five other stories in there as well.
-Davey Richards vs Fergal Devitt would have been much better had they chopped 5-10 minutes off of it. They totally burned out the crowd with the extended matwork. To be fair, though, everything was smooth and it all played into the finish. It's just not the match that these two guys needed to work at this point of the show. And that, folks, is about as much positivity as you're ever going to get from me, Re: Davey Richards.
-Scorpio Sky vs Joey Ryan is next. *yawn* This is possibly the slowest, tamest streetfight I've ever seen. Needed bucketloads of HATE to match the story. This was just...there. Really disappointing. Again, I guess this points to my general apathy towards the native PWG crew. Which is odd, since Joey Ryan is one of the guys that I do like a bunch.
-Austin Aries/Rocky Romero was decent enough, but let's face it...this match doesn't have a chance with me. I don't like either guy. Actually, I actively dislike both guys. I really, really wish someone would tell me what the world sees in Aries. I just don't get it at all. He completely ignores Romero's arm work here because it interferes with him hitting his own spots. There was so much potential with him when he returned to the indy scene. His ROH return was great. He showed amazing intensity and it looked like he was going to turn it up a notch after the Austin Starr debacle. Instead, it's the same old stale Aries. A great big meh to all of this.
-Am. Dragon/Necro has been a super dream match of mine and boy howdy, did it ever live up to standards. Too short to be considered a top tier match or anything, but these two bring the hate that Sky/Ryan should have x3. Necro is just so damn good and Dragon is perfect at playing to his strengths. I love how Necro gets really frustrated because Dragon is always a half step ahead, stuffing his striking and generally being able to cut him off from being Necro. They try to tear each others eyes/noses out and both guys get the hardway juice going. Necro even channels Terry Funk and tries to strangle Danielson with a plastic bag. Superb. I think my favorite part of the match is Danielson absolutely snapping at one point and winging chair after chair at Necro's head. Totally ties into the story of Danielson being frustrated at missing out on his title shot. Necro absolutely *eats* the MMA elbows as well.
It astounds me that there are people out there who still think this guy sucks. There's no accounting for taste, I guess.
-Stong/Pac vs. Steenerico was great. Well...great in the way that 2007 tag matches are worked, anyway. I've gotten used to the fact that this is what tag wrestling has become. If these Briscoe-nian sorts of matches annoy you, this one isn't going to change your mind. It's less nearfall happy than most of the Briscoes stuff, but it's still just four guys tearing through spots at high speed. Pac looks amazing in this one, though. He got real good, real quick. Steen makes a good surly, dickhead fat guy as always and Roderick largely stays out of the way. Can't ask for a hell of a lot more than that.
-Generico/Danielson is borderline MOTYC worthy. It's been a pretty outstanding year for high level matches, though, so it's no more than a low end contender. Just a great, great match. The crowd just eats this up, because it's full of emotion and both guys just throw bombs at one another trying to end it quickly. 2007 might be Generico's break out year. He's always been good but in 2006, I think he's turned the corner and started heading towards *great*.This is a must see show. There's a bit of a dead spot in the middle, but the last three matches are more than worth your time and money to catch. I'm totally geeked to start watching BoLA, just to see if they can continue building momentum. Seriously, if all of the recent PWG shows are like this, I think they're going to be bumped up to the "buy every show" level. Got this just because I needed to see Dragon/Necro, but I was so happy to see how the rest came out.
If you're interested...
http://www.stage6.com/user/XBooker/video/1999764/PWG---Giant-Size-Annual-4-pt1
http://www.stage6.com/user/XBooker/video/2000432/PWG---Giant-Size-Annual-4-pt2
In other news, ESPN Classic is going to start airing the old Herb Abrams UWF shows next week (@ 1AM) and I'm going to at least try to get some recaps of them up. Can't be more nonsensical than TNA these days, can it? I also want to recap every last second of the WSX DVD set that I haven't already covered. So maybe, just maybe we'll see regular content around these parts again. Until I get bored again, I guess. Maybe doing a regular update can be my resolution for 2008. Heh.
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