PWG Untitled II Review

Roderick Strong finally gets his shot at the PWG World Title! Can he make it count?

PWG Untitled II

Reseda, California 10/17/14

So PWG has gained some attention for having celebrity appearances over the past several shows. On this particular show, we saw the UFC’s Ronda Rousey & the rest of the Four Horsewomen, as well as Brad Maddox from WWE.

1.) Biff Busick vs. “Sicilian Psychopath” Tommaso Ciampa: ***1/2

The show kicks off with an Evolve vs. ROH matchup. Busick starts off wanting a handshake, but Ciampa wants a hug. The crowd chants “Ciampa’s gonna hug you”, which was pretty funny. This was a really good opening match. Ciampa dominated most of the match, but Busick fought back hard against The Sicilian Psychopath. There was a lot of solid action throughout this one. We even saw Ciampa let Ronda Rousey throw a chop at Biff Busick! That was pretty cool. In the end, Tommaso Ciampa gets the win over Busick after hitting Project Ciampa from the top rope! Insanity.

2.) Cedric Alexander vs. Bobby Fish: ***1/4

Up next, we have a match between two ROH regulars. I thought this was pretty solid. You had the technical skills of Bobby Fish going up against the explosiveness of Cedric Alexander. There was some solid action from both guys in this match. Eventually, Alexander would score the victory after hitting Fish with The Lumbar Check.

3.) Brian Cage vs. Uhaa Nation: ***3/4

It’s about time that we saw Uhaa Nation in PWG! I honestly don’t know what took so long, but here he is. He’s got a big task ahead of him as he’s taking on Brian Cage. This was a really entertaining match. These two just went at each other right from the opening bell and never let up. We saw Uhaa Nation showcase himself in front of the PWG faithful for the first time, as well as Brian Cage’s crazy offense (including a 619). At one point, Cage pushed his luck and went for a Lionsault, but he botched it and fell right on his head in a scary moment. Thankfully, he was able to continue, and was able to pick up the victory over Uhaa Nation. A really good match between these two.

4.) PWG World Tag Team Titles – The World’s Cutest Tag Team (Candice LeRae & Joey Ryan) vs. Chuck Taylor & Johnny Gargano: ***1/2

With Trent? still out of action, Chuck Taylor has turned to his friend Johnny Gargano for this PWG World Tag Team Title Match. The match starts off with LeRae & Gargano, which got a “this is awkward” chant from the crowd (the two had recently started dating). This was a pretty solid title match. Everyone in here got a chance to shine, and we saw some solid action throughout. Nice tandem offense from both sides. The crowd (especially The Four Horsewomen) were really into Candice, but interesting enough, the crowd booed her partner Joey Ryan. In the end, The World’s Cutest Tag Team scores the win to retain the PWG World Tag Team Titles.

5.) Adam Cole vs. Trevor Lee: ***1/2

Trevor Lee’s stock has been on the rise in PWG since his debut earlier in the year. That momentum continued when he defeated Kevin Steen at ELEVEN, and had a strong showing in the 2014 Battle of Los Angeles, where he upset Michael Elgin in the Quarter Finals. Here, Trevor Lee is taking on another former PWG & ROH World Champion in Adam Cole. As you would expect, this was a really good match. Both guys are just so good in so many ways that there was no way that this wouldn’t be an entertaining match. Lots of really solid action in this match. Eventually, Trevor Lee catches Cole with a small package for the victory, getting a big win over another former ROH World Champion.

6.) The African American Wolves (ACH & AR Fox) vs. The Young Bucks: ****

AR Fox is making his return to PWG after being out for a few months with a wrist injury. He’s teaming up with ACH to take on The Young Bucks. If you thought that this match was going to be anything but crazy, you’re insane. These four guys were just flying all over the place. The Young Bucks & ACH were their usual, charismatic selves, while AR Fox (of course) tried to kill himself multiple times throughout this match. Crazy back & forth action from both teams. The Young Bucks would eventually put away ACH & AR Fox with a Superkick/Package Piledriver combo for the victory.

7.) PWG World Title – Kyle O’Reilly vs. Roderick Strong: ***3/4

There is a lot of backstory going into this match (which can be a rarity in PWG). Strong became the #1 Contender at ELEVEN, and attacked Kyle O’Reilly after a successful title defense against Chris Hero. He then attacked O’Reilly during the 2014 Battle of Los Angeles, taking O’Reilly out of the tournament. Now he’s finally getting his title shot. This was a really good Main Event. It’s pretty hard for a match involving these two to not be good. There was a lot of very solid action between these two, as you would expect. At one point, the referee gets taken out, and Rick Knox comes out to fill in. After a really good closing stretch, O’Reilly is able to pick up the win via submission to retain the PWG World Title. It wasn’t the best match that these two have had against each other, but it was really solid.

Unfortunately, the show didn’t end on that note, as Roderick Strong attacked O’Reilly with the PWG World Title, and then attacked Rick Knox! He sets up a bunch of chairs and hits Knox with the End of Heartache through those chairs!

Overall: 8.0/10

This was a pretty solid show from PWG. Comparatively, it was probably one of the weaker PWG shows of the year, but that just shows the quality of PWG shows. Every single match on this show was good, as no match was under ***1/4. We saw the continuation of the Kyle O’Reilly/Roderick Strong feud, and some pretty entertaining matches in The Young Bucks vs. ACH & AR Fox, and the debut of Uhaa Nation against Brian Cage. The rest of the matches on the undercard were really solid, and we even got a cameo from Ronda Rousey.