The Magnus Analysis – PWG All Star Weekend 5 Night 1

Commissioner Dino Winwood welcomes us to the event along with Commissioner Of Food (if that is what he is called now) Excalibur. They announce that Colt Cabana couldn’t make it but they have a ‘suitable replacement’.

Match 1
Disco Machine vs NOSAWA
Excalibur does commentary alone here to cover that Disco Machine is in the ring (even though we all know by now that commentary is not live). I will admit that I am not a NOSAWA fan, he has never done anything for me. So I didn’t really find all that much that entertained me about this bout, other that Disco’s constant dancing and NOSAWA’s mocking of that. Other than that it was some solid and sometimes sloppy high flying action, that didn’t really have all that much structure to it. Disco Machine won with the Chokebreaker- *1/2

Match 2
Rocky Romero vs Roderick Strong
I remember these two having an awesome match at the Battle Of Los Angeles so I have high hopes in this battle of the No Remorse Corps. This was again, a lot like their first match, a hard hitting war, with Strong chopping and striking Romero and Romero retaliating with kicks and some chops of his own. The strike exchanges were very entertaining, but there was some equally good wrestling action, with Romero employing some high flying moves while Strong put some power moves and backbreakers to use (at one point throwing Romero backfirst hard into the new guardrail, then neared murdered him with a submission on the ring post). An excellent bout overall, matching their first bout with ease, if not surpassing it. Romero would eventually win this match with the Cross Armbreaker- ***3/4

Human Tornado cuts a promo basically asking his valet Candice LeRea for forgiveness, then when she forgave him he slapped her. It just seemed to make the crowd like Tornado more.

Tornado then seemingly tries to pimp her out to Claudio just like The Godfather, but he was having none of it.

Match 3
Human Tornado vs ‘Double C’ Claudio Castagnoli
Tornado doesn’t really impress me as a heel, he so much better suited to being a fan favourite. Parts of the match were based on Tornado abusing his valet, while the rest were Castagnoli putting his mat wrestling offense to use, with some power moves and European Uppercuts in addition. When Tornado wasn’t cheating or using his valet as a distraction, he used some high flying moves. A fun little match overall, but the whole angle just makes me feel uncomfortable, as it’s more like something you’d see in WWE. Tornado eventually gets the win by pulling the trunks on a rollup for the three count- **3/4

After the match Tornado gets in the face of a fan before shoving Candice into the guardrail, then leaves alone.

Match 4
Kikutaro vs Matt Classic
This one will be anything but serious, even more so than if Colt Cabana had been wrestling as himself. So yes, this was complete comedy, with Matt Classic wrestling his old-school to the bone style perfectly while Kikutaro was his usual funny self with lots of comedy moves and deliberate lazyness. The referee gets involved a few times as part of the shenanigans. In the end this match was great comedy wise but not much else, and if you into this sort of match like I am then you will enjoy it. Kikutaro got three when the referee assisted him by pushing Classic over Kikutaro, who rolled him up for three (with a quick count by the ref)- ** (comedy rating- ****)

Match 5
Kevin Steen vs Jack Evans
Kevin Steen has his old gear on again for whatever reason. So very much a clash of styles with Steen wrestling with power moves while Evans used his usual array of high flying moves. Steen just brutalised Evans at some points with some of the moves he was using, and it was really fun to watch. So these two clicked well and they had a very entertaining match, if a bit one sided. Steen looked to have gotten three with the Package Piledriver, but pulled him up, then hat the Steenalizer for three- ***

Scorpio Sky runs out and attacks his former Dynasty team mates before the match, with someone dressed in a Scorpio Sky outfit getting killed. Scorpio drags the fake Scorpio Sky to the back

Match 6
The Dynasty (Joey Ryan, Chris Bosh, Scott Lost and Karl Anderson) vs Frankie Kazarian, TJ Perkins, Ronin and Top Gun Talwar
This is my first time seeing Karl Anderson: he does look a lot like Goldberg. This was filled with a lot of comedy, including at one point referee Rick Knox pinning Joey Ryan for three and celebrating victory over the former PWG champion. When the match was serious, then there was some decent high flying and mat based wrestling, although there were some botches (Ronin continues to suck by botching a Leapfrog. Yes a Leapfrog). Overall a very fun match that I enjoyed a lot more than I was expecting. The Dynasty won this when Lost pinned Talwar after the Northern Light Backbreaker double team finisher- **3/4 (comedy rating ***3/4)

Match 7
Kaz Hayashi vs Alex Shelley
I’ve seen Hayashi in WCW from the late 90’s but I’ve never actually seen any of his work since, but I’ve heard he’s improved immensely. This ended up being a superb match, more than living up to my expectations. The early portion of the match was fast paced, crisp technical wrestling, with the two men exchanging holds and high impact moves. Shelley then controlled the match for a short period, before Hayashi fired back began to control the action with a mixture of technical and high impact offense. Shelley fired back, and then the two exchanged near falls and their signature moves. Hayashi eventually picked up the win with the Final Cut- ***3/4

Match 8
Low-Ki vs Davey Richards
A rematch from their excellent TPI 2006 bout. I’m really surprised that Low-Ki hasn’t come into PWG sooner: a shame since he’s only had two matches here in all (although that could change now he is done with TNA). Davey had a strategy early on of baiting Low-Ki into striking him, but before he could he would take him to the mat with submissions. This strategy worked, as Richards was able to stop Low-Ki from controlling the match for long periods, but the match soon broke down into a strike fest with kicks, chops and high impact offense. Overall, it was a fantastic match, but due to the occasional sloppy spot it wasn’t quite as good as their 2006 match. Low-Ki eventually came out on top once again with the Ghetto Stomp in the corner getting three- ****