By Sean Radican, Torch columnist

RADICAN’S PWG DVD REVIEW SERIES
“WORLD’S FINEST”
RESEDA, CALIF.
MARCH 17, 2012

Kevin Steen opened the show cutting a promo. He said he wasn’t going to defend the PWG Tag Team Titles tonight, but he wanted to fight someone. Peter Avalon ended up running down to the ring and attacking Steen to start an impromptu match.

(1) Kevin Steen beat Peter Avalon. Steen quickly fired up on Avalon and beat the crap out of him during the early stages of the match. Avalon mounted several comebacks during the course of the match and got a rollup for a 2 count at one point. Steen finally finished Avalon off with a huge package piledriver for the win. (**)

After the match Steen said it took a real man to jump him from behind. He put Avalon over before saying he was going to be coming for his rematch for the PWG World Championship soon.

(2) Brian Cage-Taylor beat Ray Rosas. Cage-Taylor is way over with the PWG crowd. Rosas managed to get in some offense using his speed and high-flying throughout the match, but Cage-Taylor kept him at bay with a series of impressive power moves. Cage finally ended the match with a huge lariat to the back of Rosas’s head. (***)

Joey Ryan came out dressed like Andy Kauffman. He ran down the fans before turning his attention to Candice LaRae. Ryan said she belongs.

(3) Candice LaRae beat Joey Ryan. This was the typical match between these two where Ryan played the part of a real sleezeball constantly groping and grinding on LaRae. I’m just not into these types of matches. LaRae ended up countered a boobplex with a ballplex to get the win. (*1/2)

(4) T.J. Perkins beat Scorpio Sky. This was a good match. Both men had some good exchanges on the mat throughout the match mixed in with some MMA style exchanges. There were also some really good back and forth strike exchanges during the match. Sky wiped out Perkins with a flip dive over the top rope and had a rough landing. Ryan ended up coming out to check on him and Sky was able to continue. Perkins ended up getting the win after hitting an ace crusher and rolling through into a dragon sleeper for the submission win. The finish took the match down a notch because there was confusion as to whether or not Sky had tapped out before the ref signaled the Perkins had won the match. (***)

(5) The Super Smash Bros. (Player Uno & Player Dos) beat the Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) and the RockNes Monsters (Johnny Yuma & Johnny Goodtime). This was easily the best match on the show and a match you’re going to want to see if you like great tag team wrestling. All three teams pulled off some spectacular sequences throughout the match, but the crowd came unglued after Dos was about to be on the wrong end of a tower of doom spot, but he pushed everyone off and walked over them before hitting a tornado DDT on Goodtime. The finish saw the SSB isolate Matt and hit him with the Gory special/neckbreaker combination for the win. (****1/4)

(6) Kyle O’Reilly beat Alex Koslov. The match started slowly, but ended very strong. Both men brawled to the outside at one point and Koslov tried to drink a beer only to have O’Reilly kick it out of his hand. He took out Koslov before drinking a beer. The match picked up from here with some good sequences down the stretch. O’Reilly eventually hit a DDT on Koslov and applied the dragon sleeper for the win. (***)

(7) Willie Mack beat Roderick Strong. Strong worked over Mack’s back and mid-section for most of the match. They built up to a big strike exchange at one point that saw Mack catch a running boot from Strong and then he turned it into a powerbomb for a 2 count. The finishing sequence was really good. Strong hit a combination of power moves and the sick kick, but Mack kicked out at the last second. After some back and forth action, Mack eventually connected with a modified piledriver for the win. (***1/2)

The main event was supposed to be El Generico vs. Eddie Edwards for the PWG World Title. Kevin Steen came out and asked to be inserted into the match. Generico and Edwards ended up agreeing to Steen being inserted into the match.

(8) PWG Champion El Generico beat Kevin Steen and Eddie Edwards in a Three Way match. This was a very good match, although it wasn’t at the level of some recent PWG main events. They did a lot of one-on-one in-ring sequences during the early stages of the match where one guy would be on the outside of the ring. There was a lot of heat for the exchanges between Generico and Steen, who have a rivalry that will seemingly never die. Down the stretch, Edwards caught Generico with the single leg crab, but he got the ropes. The finish saw Generico hit the top rope brainbuster on Edwards, but Steen dragged Generico out of the ring and powerbombed him on the apron. Steen then covered Edwards for the win.

After the match, Steen taunted Generico with the Tag and World title belts before leading the crowd in a “Yes, yes, yes” chant.

Overall thoughts: (7.5) – This was a good show. There were a number of good matches on the card. The show peaked with the Three Way Tag featuring SSB vs. The Young Bucks vs. The RockNes Monsters, which was spectacular. Steen ended up coming out with the PWG World Title at the end of the show, but it didn’t feel like a huge deal.

The undercard had some matches that gave the local talent a chance to shine. Avalon looked good against Steen in the opener, but it was the Rosas-Cage-Taylor match that had the crowd on fire at times thanks to Cage-Taylor’s power moves.

The SSB continue to be a breath of fresh air in PWG’s tag team division. In particular, Player Dos has been putting on some really good performances and pulled off some spectacular moves in the Three Way tag that stole the show.

Willie Mack continues to have good showings taking on name brand talent. His match against Strong started a little slow, but they built up to some great exchanges down the stretch and Mack kicking out of Strong’s finishing sequence set the crowd on fire.

The main event was good as well, but didn’t deliver the high quality match that has been PWG’s signature in recent months. The fans were most excited when Generico and Steen went at it in the ring. There were also some very good sequences involving all three men down the stretch before Steen got the lucky win in the end.

I give this card a solid recommendation. There are a number of very good matches up and down the card and the Three-way tag match is well-worth going out of your way to see.

You can purchase this release at Highspots.com

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