By Sean Radican, Torch columnist

RADICAN’S PWG REVIEW SERIES
“ALL STAR WEEKEND 9: NIGHT 1”
MARCH 22, 2013
RESEDA, CALIF.

(1) Paul London beat Kevin Steen. They started out with some comedy with London being unable to take Steen down with a running shoulder tackle. London eventually went backstage and then came back out with gloves on. He slapped
Steen across the face with the gloves after taking them off effectively challenging Steen to a duel. The match went back and forth from there with Steen working over London's back at times. The action accelerated down the stretch with London eventually picked up the win after a sunset bomb followed by a shooting star press to the back of a crawling Steen. (**3/4)

Steen and London shook hands after the match. The fans chanted welcome back at London, who hasn't appeared in PWG for a long period of time.

(2)PWG Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) beat Johnny
Gargano & Chuck Taylor in a Non-Title match. The fans took to Gargano quickly during the early stages of the match when he hit a nice flurry of offense on the Young Bucks. Gargano eventually got cut off and worked over for a long period of time by the Young Bucks. Taylor got the hot tag and the action really picked up from that point forward. Taylor wiped out the Bucks with a big running flip dive to the floor. Later in the match, they went to a fantastic sequence of counters that ended with Taylor and Gargano hitting a tandem ace crusher on Matt. The crowd got hotter and hotter and eventually exploded when Gargano speared Nick through the ropes to the floor while he was on the apron. The Young Bucks eventually served up a bevy of superkicks to Taylor. With Taylor down they nailed Gargano with double superkicks and finished him off with more bang for your buck. (***3/4)

(3)Eddie Edwards beat Jay Lethal. This was Lethal's PWG and he did not disappoint. Lethal did his Black Machismo gimmick and the crowd quickly got behind him. They had some great exchanges early particularly when they went to a series of pinning combinations before coming to a stalemate. Edwards worked over Lethal and used a fan on the outside to whip him into a dropkick on him with Lethal hung up in the corner. Lethal later asked to fans to whip him towards Edwards, but they ended up whipping Lethal back-first into the apron. The action picked up down the stretch with Edwards trying to submit Lethal with the single leg crab. Lethal mounted a good comeback, but Edwards continually countered his attempts to hit the Lethal injection. Lethal finally hit the Lethal injection for a nearfall, which got a big pop from the crowd. Edwards finally got the win after hitting a big powerbomb followed by a single leg crab and Lethal tapped out. (***1/2)

(4) The Inner City Machineguns (Rich Swann & Ricochet) beat Samuray Del Sol &
A.R. Fox. Excellent start to the match with Fox hitting a twisting brainbuster on Swann. He went for a dive the outside, but ate a springboard meteora from Ricochet. Del Sol and Ricochet had a fantastic exchange of counters. Del Sol went for a backwards walking handstand into a head scissors on Ricochet, but Ricochet landed on his feet. Fox and Del Sol got the heat on Ricochet and hit some nice double team maneuvers on him. Ricochet made the hot tag to Swann, who ran wild. Ricochet and Swann worked over Del Sol as the crowd sang "All Night Long." Fox got the hot tag and went back and forth hitting dives on opposite sides of the ring on Ricochet and Swann and the crowd exploded.

The pace picked up with both teams hitting a breathless series of double team maneuvers only for the pin to be broken up at the last possible second. Ricochet hit a huge running flip dive over the ringpost to the outside. Fox then wiped out Swann and Ricochet with a double dropkick through the ropes followed by lo mein rain and the fans went nuts as Excalibur screamed on commentary. The finish saw Swann hit a hurricanrana off the top that sent Fox onto Del Sol. Swann wiped out Del Sol with a dive and Ricochet finished off Fox with a 630 for the win. Incredible action and a great PWG debut for Fox and Del Sol. (****1/2)

(5) Roderick Strong beat Trent. This was Trent's PWG debut shortly after he was released by WWE. The crowd heeled on him early with chants of NXT. Trent heeled on the crowd throughout the match and at one point he asked the crowd if they wanted to see something cool and he did a springboard and lightly kicked Strong's head. This fired up Strong, who nailed him with some big chops. The middle portion of the match was flat, but they picked it up down the stretch with a nice sequence where Trent hit a top rope hurricanrana, but Strong rolled through and they exchanged pinning combinations. Trent ended up fighting off the Strong hold, but Strong caught him with the pop up lung blower a short time later for the win. (**1/2)

(6) The Unbreakable F'n Machines (Michael Elgin & Brian Cage) beat Future Shock (PWG Champion Adam Cole & Kyle O'Reilly). Elgin and Cage dominated early with their power. Cole teased a test of strength with Elgin, but backed away and told him to suck his d---. Elgin ran crotch first into Cole's face a short time later sending Cole flying across the ring. Elgin and Cage worked over Cole for a long period of time. Cage and Elgin took turns holding Cole in the vertical suplex position as they tagged in and out and passed him back and forth to each other. Cage finally dropped Cole down to the mat at the count of 60. O'Reilly tagged in and got cut off. Elgin eventually got him in the crossface, but Cole nailed him with a chairshot to the back as the ref tried to keep Cage out of the ring.

O'Reilly and Cole were able to work over Elgin and continued to cut off his attempts to take in Cage. Elgin ended up with O'Reilly on his back. O'Reilly grabbed a choke, but Elgin ended up hitting a dead lift German on Cole with
O'Reilly still on his back and the fans went nuts. The action broke down after Cage got the tag from Elgin. Cage managed to kick out of a brainbuster/superkicks combination with Elgin down on the mat. Cage continued to take a beating with Elgin still recovering. Cage ended up countering O'Reilly and Cole and he nailed them with a double suplex. Elgin got the tag and ran wild with chops on O'Reilly and Cole. Elgin lifted both of his opponents and tossed them over his head before getting a 2 count on O'Reilly. They went to a big exchange between both teams that ended with Cage turning Cole inside put with a big clothesline. The crowd was split and chanted for both teams, although the chants for Elgin and Cage were bigger. Elgin and Cage ended up hitting stereo dead lift superplexes a short time later for stereo nearfalls and the fans exploded again. O'Reilly and Cole nailed Elgin with a series of moves. Cole came off the top with a code red, but Elgin kicked out at the last second. Elgin and Cage finally won after nailing O'Reilly with a series of moves capped by a dead-lift Elgin bomb for the win. The match was good, but there were a few too many nearfalls that caused the crowd to die down at times down the stretch. (***1/2)

(7) Drake Younger beat Sami Callihan in a Guerrilla Warfare #1 Contender match. Younger got a shower of yellow streamers when he was introduce before the match started. Younger and Callihan traded big moves early. The action ended up on the outside. Younger got the upper hand after nailing Callihan with a trash can lid. He set up a chair structure on the outside. They ended up battling up top. Callihan cut Younger off and powerbombed onto a trash can that was set up vertically for a 2 count. Younger came up bleeding from the back of his head. Callihan set up for a running kick in the corner after placing a trash can over Younger, but he popped up and nailed Callihan with it. Younger them suplexed Callihan onto the trash can for a 2 count. Callihan fired back up top a short time later and suplexed himself and Drake off the top through a pile of chairs and the fans fired up.

Callihan took Younger down several times, but he kept getting up. Callihan then lifted Younger up and hit a razor's edge to the outside through the chair structure and the crowd gasped. The ref applied the standing 10 count, but Younger managed to get to his feet. They ended up battling over a staple gun and Younger went for a sunset flip, but Callihan stapled him. Callihan then stapled a dollar bill to Younger's face. They lost me at this point. Younger fired back and hit Callihan with a piledriver. He then got some tacks and dumped them onto the mat. Callihan threw a bunch of tacks into Younger's face and then hit a Saito suplex onto the tacks for a 2 count. Callihan got a canister of salt and dumped it onto Younger. Younger finally won with Drake's landing through a chair. This match was uncomfortable to watch given the blood, tacks, stapler gun, and huge bumps these guys took. (NR)

Both men shook hands after the match and the fans applauded. The fans pounded the mat and chanted for Younger after Callihan left the ring. Cole ran down and nailed Drake from behind with the PWG Title. The fans turned on Cole as he kicked away at Younger to keep him down. Cole said being tough would not make Drake a champion. He said tomorrow he would beat the hell out of him and still be PWG World Champion. The fans booed and Cole left after telling the fans to suck his d---.

Overall thoughts: (8.0) – This was a very strong show with the exception of the disturbingly violent main event. The show featured several PWG debuts and nearly everyone that made their debut on this event got over with the Reseda crowd with the exception of recent WWE release Trent, who the fans turned on at times during his match against Roderick Strong.

The tag team wrestling on this show was very good. If you’re a fan of tag team wrestling, you’re going to love this show. Johnny Gargano & Chuck Taylor vs. the Young Bucks kicked the show into high gear with a very good back and forth match that really picked up as it went on.

A couple of matches later, A.R. Fox & Samuray Del Sol vs. Ricochet & Rich Swann set the crowd on fire with some unbelievable fast-paced wrestling that had my jaw on the floor for the match. It wasn’t just the high-flying stuff that was exciting, but instead it was the counter wrestling that set the crowd on fire.

The tag team matches on the show finished with a really good match featuring Elgin & Cage vs. Cole & O’Reilly. The power of Elgin & Cage is unbelievable and the crowd popped huge for their offense, especially when Elgin had O’Reilly on his back and he walked over to Cole and a dead-lift German on him while at the same time driving O’Reilly down into the mat as well. The only thing that held the match back from being better was a few too many nearfalls that took away from the crowd heat down the stretch.

The other notable match on the card was Eddie Edwards vs. Jay Lethal. They had a really good wrestling match with Edwards continually countering Lethal’s signature offense. The crowd quickly got behind Lethal, who was doing his Black Machismo gimmick, but not in an over the top manner to the point where it would take the match down several notches. They built to a nice nearfall down the stretch with Lethal finally hitting the Lethal injection. Edwards finally managed to submit Lethal with a single leg crab after a powerbomb and although the match was a little slow at times, it ended up being very good.

The main event featured Drake Younger vs. Sami Callihan in the final match of their three match series to crown a new #1 contender to the PWG Title. Their last encounter at “DDT 4 2013,” was a turnoff because of all of the unprotected chairshots to the head and high-impact maneuvers. I didn’t have my hopes up that they would work a safer match given the Guerrilla Warfare stipulation. The match started off well, but they lost me when Callihan brought out a stapler and began stapling money to Younger’s face. Given what is known about concussions and the dangers of blood in the ring, this was a disturbing match to watch and I was even more concerned that the fans cheered the escalation of violence throughout the match.

Overall, there’s more than enough good wrestling on this show to justify the purchase. The show featured some really good tag team wresting and there was a nice show-closing angle to set up the Cole-Younger PWG Title match for ASE: Night 2. Thumbs up.

You can purchase “All Star Weekend 9: Night 1” by clicking HERE or by visiting Highspots.com

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