411’s Buy or Sell 11.09.07: Jack Evans’ Development, The Resilience, Super Dragon & Davey Richards as PWG World Tag Team Champions, and more!

Larry Csonka : SELL. While I think that Jack Evans has improved from purely a spot monkey to a more well rounded wrestler, I don’t think that he is the most improved performer over the last 18-months. Don’t get me wrong, as I said, he has improved, but he still isn’t at the level that he could be with the natural talent that he has. When I look back over the last 18-months I see a ton of guys that have improved exponentially. Kevin Steen has turned into a more well rounded guy I feel, Larry Sweeney just keeps getting better, Chris Hero to me as come along way, as 18-months ago I was not a fan of his. I also think that Nigel McGuinness has improved leaps and bounds. So yes, while Evans has improved, I don’t think he has improved the most.

Bayani Domingo : BUY . I’m going to have to disagree with the Csonkmeister on this for purely personal reasons. While I will not claim to be an expert in all things Indy I can only speak for the wrestlers I’ve either seen live or via DVD and while I think Jack could still be better in the ring due to him relying a lot on spots still, I do believe he is the only wrestler who I have actually said out loud, “wow, he’s gotten a lot better in the ring hasn’t he?” I’ve probably seen more Steen than anyone has over the past 18 months because he’s a PWG regular and while I’m not as well versed in his RoH work, I think he’s managed to improve a bit, but not dramatically as he’s always been a good worker. I actually think he’s being booked and used better in RoH now than he was in PWG in the past year which truly is sad since he was an incredibly hot act a mere 2 years ago. Hero similarly has done very well although one could make an argument that his character and mic skills in RoH has improved, I think his in-ring ability has been good for years. I haven’t seen Sweeney except in a few CHIKARA matches and while he’s a great character it’s hard to gauge just how far he’s come since he doesn’t wrestle in PWG or in RoH and rarely in FIP. While I have seen Nigel’s work back when he was getting his big push as the Pure Title champion I think he has definitely improved, but then he regressed a bit when he was relying too much on his lariats time and time again.

I racked my brain to think of anyone else that has shown me more over the past year and a half than Jack, but since Pac would be the only guy I would consider close and we’re excluding all Brits then I’d have to go with Jack on this. I think his time in Dragon Gate has been well spent and if he continues to learn to use the mat work to highlight his aerial maneuvers rather than just rely on those to get him over I think he’ll end up being an incredible overall performer. If nothing else at least he’s managing to hit his usual spots with increased accuracy now instead of it being 50/50 most times.

0 for 1.

Larry Csonka : SELL . This was actually a hard one for me to answer, I will admit that. But when I think of the PWG audience, and the potential for the future, I think that this was the right call. Dragon is a GOD to PWG fans, he IS PWG to many fans, and that is why they made the title switch to him and Richards I feel. I think that they want to get more heat back to the tag titles, and then, then I feel that they will pull the switch to the younger team, like the Young Bucks. To me that makes sense in a fed like PWG, Dragon as mentioned IS the MAN there. I think that a properly built feud with Dragon and Richards, with the payoff of the title change will build that young team, when they choose to do that.

Bayani Domingo : SELL . But only as a technicality as I don’t believe the ‘Bucks are ready for the belt yet and no one else qualifies for “younger and fresher team” yet in PWG. Super Dragon is a PWG icon and really IS PWG in the eyes of most fans, I can’t disagree with that, but there are quickly becoming two camps in PWG, the “Super Dragon is God” camp and the “Super Dragon thinks he’s God” camp. There is a growing sentiment that Super Dragon never needs another PWG title ever again to remain permanently over with a lot of SoCal fans and I think that is true. Putting the titles back on him and Davey I think was a move done because Steen was getting ready to take a bit of time off from wrestling (or as the rumor goes) and not being prepared to put the titles on any other team Dragon felt it would be easier to just hold them with Davey rather than wait and put them on another team that could just as easily have held them. I hear that Dragon isn’t even 100% any more and that worries me, it also bothers me that now any momentum or push Davey was going to have as a singles wrestler is gone. Boy, winning BoLA last year really didn’t amount to much did it? While I don’t think SD/D are a bad choice, I think they should have looked to evolve the titles rather than just going back to the well on this one.

I wouldn’t imagine that the titles would change hands for at least 3 or 4 months, if even that and even then the Young Bucks are not the team that is going to get them. I hear that some of the “decision makers” aren’t big fans of theirs and only booked them out of desperation to fill out the card and besides they really aren’t ready for that kind of responsibility. I just saw them last weekend for like the 12th time and while they are entertaining, they aren’t ready to hang with the rest of the PWG roster just yet. I wanted to BUY on this due to the fact that there are better choices as tag champs but because of the wording “young, fresher team” I couldn’t. I think SD/D are an acceptable team to put the belts back on (plus cheaper to book) but if you wanted to put them on a better choice then you have the Havana Pitbulls who are super over in PWG, The Kings of Wrestling, or Evans/Strong (alas none of those qualify as “fresh” or “new” even in PWG). To me it just feels that now PWG has hit the reset button and put us back to a year ago. SD/D has beaten everyone and I’m not sure what else they can do with the belts that they didn’t do the last time. This just feels like a hasty decision by the “bookers” and they just decided to play it safe and go back to what they know would work rather than actually use the title to help put over guys who really could use the rub.

1 for 2.

Larry Csonka : BUY . I hate to say this, but I have to buy. Any more mystery partners and or opponents tend to be letdowns. For the life of me I can’t think of who they will use or bring in for this. I am sure they will try to do it justice and bring in people that will be fun and have a good match, but in the end I think I have just been burned so many times on the mystery partners/opponents that I am becoming jaded. I hope that I am wrong and that it will be great, because wrestling fans need good stuff to be happy about. I think that we all know that in wrestling, we take the good and the bad, and a lot of times we get more bad than good. Let’s hope that changes.

Bayani Domingo : BUY . I really only have a few guesses as to whom the mystery partners will be and my first guess is it will end up as a “mixed tag” with Candice LaRae joining Hero and someone else joining Tornado. Jade perhaps? Or maybe someone else as a surprise, I’d love to see a Cheerleader Melissa or Sara Del Rey or Lacey here but somehow I doubt it. Probably a local women’s wrestler of which there are few and far between and the ones there are aren’t particularly that impressive. The other thought is that there are a slew of regulars not booked like: Tony Kozina, Bino Gambino, TJ Perkins, Top Gun Talwar, I actually know that Luke Hawx (aka Alter Boy Luke) was in town last weekend. None of them look all that promising but I guess you go with who you can get. at this point there really isn’t anyone with a real back story in PWG for either of these men who are available and I’m not sure who they would bother flying in for this match. If they were going to book a “big name” or a “debuting star” for this show they would have advertised them and hoped to capitalize from a few more tickets sold rather than keep them a mystery and hope that people who were on the fence would buy a ticket just to see who it is. Speaking with a few fans most people assume it will be a local talent or mixed tag and aren’t all that intrigued or hopeful. I really, really, really hope I’m wrong here and they pull off a HUGE surprise like Larry Sweeney (who would make sense for Hero) or a member of BLK OUT (Tornado’s former CZW crew) but if that was the case then why not advertise them and sell a few more dozen tickets? I really hope for the best but somehow I plan on just being disappointed.

2 for 3.

SWITCH~!

Bayani Domingo : BUY . I hated when PWG would wait till a week and a half before a show to announce the card so I know where this is coming from. That being said most die-hard fans will go regardless of who is being announced, but you run the risk of the “fringe fans” not wanting to bother. When you don’t announce a card ahead of time it makes you look both amateurish for looking like you can’t even secure bookings for your wrestlers or that the show is unimportant because any “big names” would be advertised far in advance to try and get ticket sales up. RoH does this kind of thing for the Japanese wrestlers they bring over, PWG does it for the bigger names and bigger shows like BoLA or ASW, announcing a card ahead of time builds not only the hype but makes the show look more important and “set in stone”. I know that with Indy shows “card subject to change” is more of a slogan than a disclaimer, but still, not having your line-up announced makes the company look like it’s simply trying to pull whatever Indy guy they can to fill out a card. I mean, how hard could it be to find 2 or 3 unemployed ex-Special K members out there? Anyone know Elax’s number?

I just assume when a card isn’t announced at least a few weeks to a month prior that the show will be your average run of the mill card without anyone of real note on it. I won’t claim to be an expert on FIP but as a general rule of thumb, not announcing a card at least 2 weeks in advance is a major faux pas. I know FIP runs a slightly different ship than it’s sister promotion, RoH, but this just smacks of “bush league”. I don’t like it on the West Coast and I wouldn’t like it on the East either

Larry Csonka : BUY . Bayani’s final paragraph sums up my thoughts perfectly. When you don’t announce things ahead of time, it is bush league. It also says to me that the show won’t be anything special. It you don’t have the courtesy to announce a card, apparently you don’t want my money. I am a frugal bastard and my money and I are not parted easily. If you want people to take you seriously, and think that your show is important and that they should spend their cash, then you have to have the courtesy to give them a reason. I know that it sounds repetitive, but that is the fact. ROH’s regular shows, let alone their majors shows are advertised out the ass. Hell, even IWA:MS advertises shows better than this, and they are horrible at it. I thought better of FIP, I really did. They have dropped the ball for sure.

3 for 4.

Bayani Domingo : SELL . I don’t doubt Nigel is hurt. I don’t doubt he’s working through some pain at the risk of further injury because he feels he is obligated to because of both the fans and the company that helped make him a ‘star’. I don’t even doubt that Nigel probably volunteered to wrestle for no other reason than to not disappoint the fans at one of the biggest shows of the year. But I do doubt that if the injury was as serious as it sounded, that Gabe would have let Nigel work an extended match like that. I don’t think that it was necessarily a “work” by Gabe, but I think a few days prior when Nigel probably told him he could work a match if need be he went ahead and put him on the card for the sake of the fans. Having Hero cash in his title shot was a great idea, but having him lose it was really risky and says something about how Hero is going to be used from here on out in RoH.

My gut tells me that Nigel is hurt, he felt he could work a match and didn’t want to disappoint the fans and Gabe just went with it. I felt it was a bit “over exaggerated” to be honest, but I don’t think it was a “work” as much as it was preparing for the “worst case scenario” in that press release. I think if things had been any worse they would have saved Hero’s title shot for “Final Battle” in order to take the belt off Nigel if he couldn’t work, but then either Gabe REALLY doesn’t want to give Hero the belt or Nigel must be at least healthy enough to go one match at FB. Either way I think it was a legit concern that seemed to improve over the past week so Gabe went with it. I think it was a “shoot” that they used to “work” the fans, but not necessarily intentional.

Larry Csonka : SELL . At least I hope to God it is a sell. All right, so they make the announcement, a little late for the weekend shows about him not being able to perform, but that was the nature of things due to him having to wait for the MRI. And then they make the above announcement that he has worked hard and that he will be off of shows until December, when he will return from his rehab stint to defend the title, and that they have no plans to strip him of that. So thus far I am completely cool with this. I would have considered stripping him of the title, but they want to not punish his hard work due to bad luck. I get that, and I was cool with it. And then I saw this from Friday night’s show: Nigel McGuinness def. Chris Hero to retain the ROH Title. My reaction was “THA FUCK?” They did an angle in which Sweeney goaded him in to working the match, due to Hero winning the SOTF tournament. Reports are tat this wasn’t a “real match” so to speak, and that Nigel worked with one arm (no shit) and ended up winning. I highly question this decision, both on Nigel’s part AND ROH’s part. I was very complimentary of Cena getting surgery and not wrestling, when in this business guys all too often “gut it out.” I don’t think he should have worked anything resembling a match, and I will stand by that. Also, being that they did the match, Nigel being tricked into it and hurt, they just should have taken the title off of him. It would have made for a hot return program and given him more time to rehab. But in the end I call this a bad move, and I stick by that.

4 for 5.

Bayani Domingo : SELL . This has nothing to do with Aries and everything to do with Cross and Stevens. Aries would have been “over” no matter what after his ‘emancipation’ from TNA. But this now makes Cross and Stevens look like total ‘jobbers’ and ‘cast-offs’ now they they’ve effectively been “dumped” by Aries. I just don’t like the way this was done. While M-Dogg might be on his way to hitting SSP’s on to unsuspecting contestants after he eliminates them on “Hang Tough” on ‘American Gladiators’ this leaves Stevens in a lurch because now he has no back up to try to get back at the NRC as well as losing all momentum he had after getting the “rub” off of working with Aries. While this does leave Aries in a good spot, the problem isn’t getting Aries “over” the problem is building new stars and getting them “over”. I think the Resilience was really a huge waste of time when you consider what it did for the Jr. members and if anything this just seemed like a convenient bail out after they didn’t catch on so well. I have the sneaking suspicion that this will end in Stevens and eventually Cross coming back to feud with Aries or at least taking him out to stop him from winning the title at FB, I doubt that would still make up for the seemingly pointless months of them tagging along with him for all these months. I think it was a poorly constructed stable that is probably going to end with a “whimper” but could have ended with a “bang”. If you want to disband a stable you let some other stable do it, not have the leader decide he wants to go all “Timberlake” and boot the “back up singers”. They had the perfect opportunity to let the NRC look even stronger by making their last match a “Dissolution Match” but didn’t. While Cross has other ventures to keep him busy, poor “Choo Choo” Stevens is up the creek. Then again I hear a few Stables are recruiting lately. I wonder if Erick likes “My Chemical Romance” or stiffing the hell out of folks?

Larry Csonka : BUY . While I feel that Bayani has a good gripe with this, and that being that Cross and Stevens are left in the cold and looking like Jabronis. That being said, there a few things that they can do with this. They can keep the group going if they want, add a new member and try to keep going. This way they can try to reclaim credibility, prove that they answer to no one man and in the process piss off Aries, who ended things. Also, WHEN Aries wins the title, and I firmly believe that he will win the title for a second time, the NEW Resilience can be a true thorn in his side. Right now it seems like they have gone out with a whimper, but with careful booking and a proper lay out of a plan, this could turn into something good with a solid background. Add into that the fact that Aries is the face right now, and when he wins you have them come out to offer congrats and then BAM horsemen like beat down. EPIC.

4 for 6!

The thirtieth edition of BUY or SELL finishes at 4 for 6. Stay tuned for next week when two new men will go head to head with a whole new set of topics.