October 10, 2013

PWG 2003-2006 Brief Review...and some blathering about rock music....

I lay in bed at 12:43 in the morning of  October 10th.  I’m watching NJPW Destruction 2013. This is what I’ve decided is the “best day ever.” I think I wrote about how my positivity (the computer says that positivity isn’t a word) brought about my “best day ever” comments. So this should be old hat to the SCW crowd.

Tonight, The Lowmen will open for Orange Goblin. Little background. Orange Goblin I first heard around 1998. They started a few years earlier, but the guy who owned the record store/head shop in Albany introduced me and a friend to them on their album “Time Traveling Blues” in 1998. I keep saying that this is my dream from when I was 16, opening for Orange Goblin. The lead singer is about 6 foot 4 with long hair and a beard. He’s almost like a mix of Luke Harper and Ozzy Osbourne. They play what I can only describe as psychedelic biker metal. To me…this is basically rock and roll.

Rock and Roll and Wrestling….sounds like a formula Vince McMahon realized worked well in the 80s.

ANYWAY…I’m super stoked and thought I would share.

So to continue with my “best day ever,” I thought I’d write a little review of Pro Wrestling Guerilla 2003-2006, because one of the best things ever is talking about wrestling…

Now I know Rusty has never watched PWG, but I know the Marshall and I talk about it sometimes and he mentioned to me earlier today that he wanted a write up….so here I go!!!!

PWG is a promotion based out of LA started by a group of wrestlers that include Quiksilver, Disco Machine, Super Dragon, and Excalibur. None of these guys are very famous outside of PWG except maybe Super Dragon who had a long run in CZW and was involved in the CZW/ROH feud (which I’ve recommended before). Their shows are around 2 to 3 hours, and I think are mostly known on the internets for having very irreverent commentary. The commentary is taped after events and is  completely random and hilarious. It’s mostly Excalibur and Disco Machine and sometimes retired wrestler Taro doing the commentary (Taro was a masked Bull character that would press a button on his belly/outfit that would basically make him super powerful). These guys make tons of obscure and not obscure wrestling references and maybe my favorite part is that Taro is a big drunk who created the drinking game of every time there is an arm drag, you drink. I follow this rule no matter what I’m drinking during whatever wrestling I’m watching.

I think PWG has quite cut down on the amount of shows they have every year. It’s taken me a little over a year to get through probably 55 shows, and that’s fast forwarding through a lot of stuff I didn’t care about. I think they do more like 10 to 12 events a year now compared to the 20 they did in the early days (I wonder if this has to do with a lot of talent being eaten up by WWE or that TNA talent can’t work for indies anymore).

The Good: PWG is like a who’s who of independent wrestlers of the 2000s. DBD, Samoa Joe, Colt Cabana, Petey Williams, Sabin and Shelley, Matt Sydal (Evan Bourne), Jack Evans, Claudio Castignoli, Chris Hero, CM Punk (on some early shows), AJ Styles, Frankie Kazarian (the first champ), Chris Daniels, Necro Butcher, Cima, Pac (Adrian Neville), Homicide, Tyler Black (Seth Rollins), Jimmy Jacobs, Davey Richards, Roderick Strong, El Generico, and Kevin Steen are all either major players or make cameos in the first three years.

El Generico and Kevin Steen are massive stand outs. Mostly because a lot of the other guys were already in TNA at the time and having killer matches on national tv. The commentators always talk about how Generico is the “Tito Santana of PWG.” The guy that always has awesome matches with whoever.

The homegrown talent that I like is Quicksilver (who teams with El Generico as “Cape Fear”) and Human Tornado (who teamed with El Generico as “Two Skinny Black Guys). Both are just solid indie guys who you love to love. Human Tornado is a skinny “black pimp” that would fit right in at Chikara events…and might be more loveable than Sugar Dunkerton. Yes, I said it.

It’s just really really awesome to see tons and tons of matches of guys, that you know are incredible wrestlers, on a stage where there are storylines, but the shows are once or twice a month instead of weekly. Just imagine if WWE was able to tell compelling stories only based on their PPVS and maybe 5 or 6 Clash Of The Champions every year…that’s PWG.

The Battle Of Los Angeles Tournaments are badass. It’s a who’s who of indie wrestlers, in a tournament. I know The Marshall loves tournaments.

The Bad: PWG really gets going when “The Dynasty” forms in 2006. Joey Ryan, Scorpio Sky, Chris Bosh (not the Miami Heat guy), and Scott Lost form a group that runs roughshod over PWG for all of 2006. Joey Ryan (who you may or may not know from TNA fame) holds the championship of PWG through all of 2006 and cheats, pussies out, or just throws on the headlock through all his matches. This is fantastic booking, and interesting story…..but I don’t really like any of these guys wrestling style. Scorpio Sky is a passable independent high flyer. Joey Ryan is a pretty good character/talker…I’m just not THAT impressed, and Bosh and Lost are terrible. But, other than hating Kevin Steen for awhile…these are the only truly EVIL people PWG has. Needless to say…I watch a lot of their promos, and fast forward through the matches…

The Ugly: Super Dragon. He’s the most “hard core” wrestler on the roster (he is involved in a few “Guerilla Warfare matches…which are just Hardcore matches with a cool name). He doesn’t talk. He’s in an all black costume and he’s kinda pudgy. He tags with Kevin Steen, Davey Richards, and B-Boy and wins the tag championships each time…..and he’s boring. I don’t buy into Super Dragon at all. Yes….he could kick my ass…Yes…he’s intimidating…but I feel nothing when I see him. The internet mark always says Triple H booked himself into the main event for years, and I wonder if that is Super Dragon (who as I said, owns part of the company). He’s a top guy, who can take quite the beating, but his character is completely based on the fact that he’s booked as a main event badass.

Home Grown Talent: Ronin, Disco Machine, Top Gun Talwar, Bosh and Lost, B-Boy, etc. Holy crap do I get bored. I think I told Marshall once that I tried watching a more recent PWG event and B-Boy came on and I wanted to slit my wrists. So basically what I’m saying is that I don’t like any of the people that were trained to be PWG wrestlers.

So I wrote most of this last night and can’t really think of much else to say….ask me questions if you want to know more. I think some of my favorite matches are DBD vs. Claudio Castignoli where there is a 10 minute headlock. Cabana has great matches with just about everybody (because they’re funny). This might also be the only place you can see AJ Styles vs. DBD.

Anyways….that’s all I can think of to say….hope all is well and I’m sure you’ll get random wrestling texts soon.

Poncho Out.

2 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your best day of all time. Orange Goblin popped up on Songza when I asked it to play me a Doom Metal playlist, and they was pretty wicked. Also, I like your description of them. Today was a pretty good day for me as well, because I played air guitar to Red Fang's entire first album, then went to an interview and got hired in 10 minutes. I thought about driving out to see your show, but I would want to get drunk, and then Alice wouldn't have the car tomorrow. It's a decent excuse.

    Thanks for covering PWG, I am now an educated sumbitch. That was a lot of info to add to what I know about them, and I'm now a better person and a snobbier smark. I've only seen their shows from 2012, this year, and one Steen-Joe match from 2005.

    I think they cut down their show schedule so much because they weren't making any money. Doing just a few shows a years draws a bigger crowd, so they actually make more money with less shows. I think. That's what I heard.

    There are a few things unique to PWG that make me love it. Excalibur's commentary (which is now recorded live) is great for all the reasons you already said. Steen's done a lot of color commentary on the shows I've seen which you can look forward to because he's also really funny. I also love the way it looks. It's always in the same place, and it's very well lit, so it looks a million times better than any EVOLVE or DGUSA show, which are always dim and grainy. I also appreciate that I've heard a lot of indie guys cite PWG as their favorite place to work because the booker (Super Dragon) lets them do whatever they want (besides who wins). Also, they usually don't find out who they're wrestling until they show up, and that air of levity runs through the programs; the guys seem to be having a lot of fun.

    There is one homegrown dude I really like, maybe you haven't seen him yet, but keep your eye out for Willie Mack. He absolutely rules. Imagine if JYD could do a kip-up.

    Styles and Dragon also met in ROH circa 2003. Check out "Main Event Spectacles". I think it was a really good match, I watched it a few years ago.

    Have a rad night! Alice is calling me I have to go eat dinner now

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  2. edit: it was a stoner metal playlist, not doom metal. my mistake.

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