It's been a while since Kevin Steen (Kevin Owens) and Samoa Joe locked up in the ring. With Joe in TNA for most of the past decade and Steen in ROH, PWG, and other independents, their paths rarely crossed until meeting again in NXT this week.

The heavyweights had one significant meeting ten years ago at Pro Wrestling Guerrilla's "All Star Weekend 2: Electric Boogaloo" event in November 2005 in Hollywood, California.

The main event featured Steen defending the PWG Title against Joe in a similar situation to 2015 with Steen now holding the NXT Title and Joe lined up as top challenger.

That PWG show also featured Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan in WWE), El Generico (Sami Zayn in NXT), Jimmy Yang, Petey Williams, Chris Sabin, Davey Richards, Jack Evans, Christopher Daniels & Kazarian, Rocky Romero, and more SoCal wrestlers...

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla "All-Star Weekend 2" Night One
November 18, 2005
Hollywood, California at the Los Feliz JCC

The Full In-person Report by PWTorch assistant editor James Caldwell can be read HERE.

- Ring announcer Travis kicked off the show with an announcement that A.J. Styles was not in attendance because of his participation at video game awards taping (which was about five miles away from the JCC). The show started with a ten-bell salute to Eddie Guerrero.

(1) Disco Machine & Excalibur beat Rocky Romero & T.J. Perkins via DQ at 16:19.

(2) Petey Williams beat Chris Sabin at 15:31.

(3) Frankie Kazarian beat Christopher Daniels at 17:50.

(4) Davey Richards & Super Dragon beat Ronin & B-Boy at 26:17 in a non-title match.

(5) Jack Evans beat El Generico at 18:17.

(6) Jimmy Yang beat Bryan Danielson at 21:00.

(7) Aerial Express (Quicksilver & Scorpio Sky & Dino Winwood) beat Arrogance (Chris Bosh & Scott Lost & Joey Ryan) at 21:30.

(8) Kevin Steen beat Samoa Joe at 17:40 to retain the PWG Title. Joe dropped Steen on his face after the initial lock-up and delivered a simple, yet effective slap to the face. Joe went to a ground-based attack with a painful bow and arrow submission, bending Steen's body into several unnatural positions. Steen powered out then exchanged shoulder blocks with Joe before faking a third bounce to the ropes and slapping Joe across the face. Joe responded with a flurry of slaps to the head before Steen ducked out to the outside. Joe followed out and delivered several booming chops to the chest before sending Steen back into the ring. Steen instantly recovered and flew through the ropes onto Joe with a suicide dive.

Back in the ring, Steen worked on Joe in the corner before Joe fired back with an E. Honda front slam. Joe bounced off the ropes and delivered a high-impact knee drop to the throat before kicking Steen in the chest. Steen tried to fire back with a head butt, but dropped to the mat holding his head after striking Joe's stiff head. Steen came back with a drop kick then a spinning heel kick followed by a cover for a nearfall. Steen pounded on Joe then tried to fly off the middle turnbuckle with a back elbow, but Joe casually moved out of the way without a second thought.

Joe washed Steen's face with his foot then charged for a kick to the head, but Steen moved out of the ring to the outside and caught Joe's foot to wrap his leg around the ringpost. Steen worked on Joe's right leg and knee with follow-up kicks as Joe crawled around the ring to recuperate. Joe tried to answer Steen with chops, but Steen went for the knee each time he felt Joe was making a comeback. Joe escaped a half-crab and hit a charging thrust kick before making a cover for a nearfall. Joe came back with a powerbomb into an STF after Steen kicked out of the powerbomb. Steen crawled over to the ropes and broke the hold.

Steen tried to come back with another attack to the knee, but Joe caught Steen off the ropes and scored with a snap powerslam. Joe chopped Steen across the chest before Steen went back to the knee and dropped Joe with a scoop slam. Steen went up top and grazed Joe with a moonsault so he returned to the top turnbuckle for a second moonsault, this time connecting in full, but only for a nearfall.

Steen went for a suplex, but couldn't get Joe up in the air. Joe responded by setting up Steen for the Muscle Buster, but Steen slipped out just in time. Steen responded with a Package Piledriver attempt, but Joe blocked and hit a Samoan Drop into a Death Valley Driver. Both men lay on the mat as the referee applied a ten count. Joe and Steen recovered at a count of nine then exchanged forearm blows. Steen raked Joe's eyes then missed with a clothesline as Joe locked in a sleeper hold. Steen pulled the referee into the hold allowing him to deliver a mule kick.

Steen grappled Joe and went for the Package Piledriver, but Joe blocked and hit a Samoan Drop. However, Steen rolled through on the Samoan Drop and cradled Joe with a crucifix pin to score the three count and retain the PWG Title. Good work by Steen focusing on Joe's knee in an impressive match up of top heavyweights. Strong match to close a strong night of wrestling. (***1/4)

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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