Arena Reports 2/21 PWG in California (second report): More details on Colt Cabana's surprise appearance, crowd reaction to Paul London, El Generico vs. Omega
Feb 22, 2009 - 9:47:21 AM
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Pro Wrestling Guerrilla's "Express Written Consent" results
February 21, 2009
Reseda, Calif.
Report by Saul Stradlin, PWTorch.com correspondent
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla ran at the American Legion Hall in Reseda on Saturday night. The show started an hour and a half late due to the crowd being bigger than expected. At least 500 or so fans were in attendance, and the venue was very packed to the point where it was hard to get around and people were standing everywhere. The atmosphere was really amazing for this show.
(1) Zokre beat Scorpio Sky. Great high flying opener with some really cool spots. The finish saw Zokre get a pinning combination on Sky. Despite Sky's feet being on the ropes, the referee ended the match which upset many of the fans in attendance.
(2) B-Boy beat T.J. Perkins. B-Boy was making his PWG return in this match, while T.J. was wrestling his final match in SoCal before moving to Florida. The match itself had some good moments, but would drag at some points. B-Boy and Perkins got the crowd back into the match when T.J. teased getting a submission with an armbar, while B-Boy kept countering. Finish saw B-Boy forcing T.J. to tap to a Rear Naked Choke. After the match both men got good ovations from the fans.
At this point in the show, Paul London came out to a huge ovation and cut a very strange promo. At some points he mentioned his comments in recent interviews, and apologized for his comments about Matt Sydal. He would go on to mention his time in the WWE and how he was happy to be back in the indy wrestling scene. Joey Ryan came out and trashed London, which lead to a quick scuffle between the two to build up the main event.
(3) El Generico beat Kenny Omega. Really solid match. Featured tons of comedy and Kenny Omega working the crowd. Referee Rick Knox ended up being involved in the match at some points, and built to him and Omega getting into a confrontation that saw Rick Knox hit a running clothesline on Omega. After that Generico hit a running Yakuza Kick and a Turnbuckle Brainbuster onto Omega to get the win. The finish to this match got a huge ovation from the crowd.
(4) Austin Aries beat Necro Butcher in a No Disqualification match. Aries did a really good job at being the heel here, teasing the fans about using weapons but not using them. The match went around the building and featured Aries wrapping a chain around his boot and hitting Necro with a running dropkick to the face with the chain on his boot. Finish saw Aries nail Necro with several hard chair shots and a brainbuster onto an open chair for the pinfall.
(5) Chris Hero beat Human Tornado and Colt Cabana to retain the PWG World Championship. The match started out with Hero and Tornado going one on one before a voice was heard over the PA system. It turned out to be Colt Cabana a/k/a Scott Goldman, who was released by WWE on Friday. Colt came out and said "released on a Friday, PWG on a Saturday" and asked to be included in the match. Pretty standard match triple threat that had the fans's attention. Hero gets the win after pinning Tornado following some stuff elbow shots.
Post-match Hero got on the mic and said that if Cabana wanted a title shot, he would give him one and finished this offer by calling him Scott. Cabana got on the mic and said he wasn't sure about Scotty Goldman, but he knew Colt Cabana would love one. The two shook hands and then were interrupted by Tornado. He got on the mic and wanted to make peace with Hero, but Hero refused his peace offering to a lot of crowd heat.
(6) Paul London & The Young Bucks beat Joey Ryan & Scott Lost & Karl Anderson. Anderson was making his PWG return in this match after an extended stay in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Great main event here. Too many spots to mention. London looked a little rusty in the middle of the match, but looked really good the rest of the time. The finish saw The Young Bucks hit their finisher, with Paul London hitting a Shooting Star Press to get a pinfall victory for his team.
Post-match: Paul London gave an emotional promo that was a lot more serious than his previous promo earlier that night. He put over the fans and said that the moment was one of the most special moments of his life and he thanked everyone for supporting him. After everyone left the ring, Paul stayed in the ring and signed autographs and took photos with everyone who stuck around after the show.
Great show. Tremendous atmosphere, fun wrestling, and cool little stories told through out the show. The crowd was an actual standing room only crowd and everyone had a good time. Hope to see more of Paul London in PWG, as he seemed to really enjoy working the show.
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