PWG ELEVEN
Reseda, California 7/26/14
1.) "Sicilian Psychopath" Tommaso Ciampa vs. Rocky Romero: ***1/4
These two would actually go on to have a match against each in Ring of Honor a few weeks after this show. As far as this match goes, it was a pretty fun opener. I feel like Ciampa & Romero have good chemistry, as evidence by this match and their match in ROH. Lots of solid action in this one. Ciampa would eventually score the win.
2.) ACH vs. Cedric Alexander: ***1/2
It seems like these guys have been matched up almost everywhere as of late. After this match, they would go on to have two other singles matches with each other in Ring of Honor. In this case, these two had a really good match. Lots of back & forth action with a lot of great aerial offense from these two (as you would expect). ACH would end up getting the win with a 450 Splash.
3.) The Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent?) vs. Johnny Gargano & "Unbreakable" Michael Elgin: ***1/2
This was originally supposed to be Best Friends vs. The Unbreakable F'N Machines, but Brian Cage was hurt, and Johnny Gargano took his place. I think this might have been a #1 Contender's Match, but I'm not sure. It did start off a little slow, but when it picked up, it turned into a really fun tag team match. Taylor & Trent? are really entertaining as a tag team. Elgin & Gargano have been great opponents in the past, and I think they worked well together. After an intense flurry towards the end, The Best Friends would score the victory.
4.) Trevor Lee vs. Kevin Steen: ***1/2
This would be Kevin Steen's last match in PWG before he left for WWE. He was showered with streamers beforehand. Some might have mixed feeling on this match, but I thought it was entertaining. Steen just kept beating up Trevor Lee, but Lee kept fighting back. Eventually, Steen hit the Package Piledriver, but Lee kicked out! In the end, Lee would end up getting a shocking upset over Steen with a Small Package.
After the match, Steen cut an emotional speech afterwords, putting over PWG and saying that he's going to Mexico to help El Generico take care of his orphans.
5.) Frankie Kazarian vs. Brian Kendrick: **3/4
Here we have two guys who are veterans on the independent scene. In particular, Kazarian hasn't appeared in PWG since 2008. I also find it odd that Kazarian would be booked, but Christopher Daniels (his tag team partner) wouldn't be. Still, as far as the match goes, it was solid, but it wasn't anything spectacular. It did go a bit overboard with both guys hitting a bunch of big moves and kicking out of them, but it was still a fine match. Kazarian would pick up the win.
6.) #1 Contender's Match - Adam Cole vs. Roderick Strong: ***3/4
This was originally scheduled to be a Triple Threat #1 Contender's Match involving Johnny Gargano, but with Brian Cage injured, Gargano took his place in the earlier tag team match, and this became a singles #1 Contender's Match. This was actually really good. I'd say it was probably the second best match on the show. Cole & Strong seem to have good chemistry, as they always seem to have great matches against each other. Lots of great action throughout this one. In the end, Strong would score the victory, and he is the new #1 Contender to the PWG World Title.
7.) PWG World Title - Kyle O'Reilly vs. Chris Hero: ***1/4
Now this was a....really interesting match. I was actually looking forward to it, but then I watched the match. The action was good, but it was soooo long. It was ungodly long. The match went 35 Minutes. There was absolutely no need for this match to go that long. I'm not sure what it is, but Chris Hero has been having a number of these really long technical matches that just drag and aren't in any way interesting. Then we get to Chris Hero's physique. He's gotten fat. There's no other way around it. I don't know what happened, but he's packed on a lot of pounds, and he doesn't look good at all. Hopefully he trims down (and based on photos I've seen of him recently, it looks like he's trimmed down a little bit). O'Reilly eventually wins this long, hard, slog after making Hero tap out.
After the match, Roderick Strong comes out, seemingly to congratulate O'Reilly, but turns on him, and lays him out! He sends a clear statement that he's coming for the PWG World Title.
8.) PWG World Tag Team Titles - Guerrilla Warfare - The Young Bucks vs. The World's Cutest Tag Team (Candice LeRae & Joey Ryan): ****1/2
Candice LeRae & Joey Ryan have been feuding with The Young Bucks, and Mount Rushmore in general, for almost a year now. This is seemingly the culmination of that feud. Guerrilla Warfare Matches have a reputation of being crazy and out of control, and this match was no different. It was amazing! These two teams just went out there and beat the crap out of each other. The Young Bucks were The Young Bucks, being their usual awesome selves, and The World's Cutest Tag Team held their own as well. Candice LeRae in particular was really great in this match. She showed a lot of heart, taking a lot of punishment, but not staying down. There were the usual hardcore spots involving chairs, tables, and so on. We even saw Candice LeRae wearing a pink Super Dragon mask for a short while. At the same time, there were a ton of really brutal spots. This included The Young Bucks putting thumbtacks in Joey Ryan's mouth and superkicking him in the face with the tacks in his mouth, and using a shoe with thumbtacks glued to the bottom of it, to superkick LeRae in the face. At one point, LeRae got busted open, and was bleeding buckets. In the end, she was able to fight back, and gave one of The Young Bucks a Ballsplex onto Thumbtacks to score the win and the PWG World Tag Team Titles!!
After the match, Kevin Steen & Adam Cole come out to attend to their fallen Mount Rushmore brethren, and they shared a hug. Then, as Steen was looking at the Super Dragon mask Candice LeRae uses earlier, Cole takes the mic and says "We're sorry. We love you." Even though it looked like Steen knew what was coming, he turned around anyway, and ate a Triple Superkick from Cole & The Young Bucks! Steen recovers after they leave and says a few words before exiting.
Overall: 8.0/10
I would say that this was definitely one of the weaker PWG shows of 2014, but that just speaks to the quality of the PWG shows. As far as the matches on this show are concerned, only the Main Event really stood out, and that match was fantastic, ending on a high note with Joey Ryan & a bloodied Candice LeRae capturing the PWG World Tag Team Titles. Outside of that, and probably Adam Cole vs. Roderick Strong, none of the other matches really stood out. The PWG World Title Match was just a chore to get through, and none of the other undercard matches, while good, are forgettable in the long run. Despite that, this show still had some great moments, most notably, Kevin Steen's farewell from PWG. That moment/match, and the Main Event are reasons enough to see this show, but other than that, there's good stuff, but not much else.
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