Pro Wrestling Guerrilla — “Guerre Sans Frontieres” — September 4th, 2009
DVD review by Roy Reynolds
royreynolds@4sternstaging.com
+ Taped live from the American Legion Post in Reseda, California.
â— Jerome “LTP” Robinson, Johnny Goodtime, and Shane Haste beat Dustin Cutler, Brandon Cutler [The Cutler Brothers], and Charles Mercury, as well as Phoenix Star, Zokre [Los Luchas], and Malachi “CK” Jackson (8:02) via pinfall after Goodtime pinned Dustin with a fisherman buster – As soon as the bell rings, the Cutlers toss Jackson and Los Luchas out of the ring. Goodtime, LTP, and Haste all dive to the outside to take out the Cutlers and Mercury! Los Luchas and Malachi step back inside of the ring to work up the crowd. Zokre fakes a dive to the floor, but Phoenix Star leaps over him and lands one of his own! Malachi climbs to the top rope and nails a shooting star press to the floor! This match hasn’t even lasted a minute yet and there’s already been like five dives. Zokre goes for a dive of his own, but Brandon Cutler cuts him off with a lungblower for two. Zokre and Brandon exchange chops. LTP takes it inside of the ring and throws Brandon into the top rope with a hurricarana. 818 connects! Lionsault variation by LTP gets two on Brandon. Mercury chokes LTP in the corner. Bottom rope knee from Mercury followed by a Lionsault for two. LTP rocks Dustin with an enziguri and tags in Zokre. Los Luchas double team Brandon for a two-count. Haste with a spinning side slam! Goodtime with a scissors kick! Malachi takes out Goodtime and Haste with a crossbody. Corkscrew cutter by the Youngest Buck! Mercury nails in a beautiful rolling Northern Lights suplex that gets broken up by LTP. LTP with a spike piledriver! The Cutlers pick up LTP and launch him into the crowd. Haste with the Go 2 Sleep on Dustin! Goodtime follows it up with a fisherman buster! That’s enough to get the three-count, ladies and gentlemen. Super fun opener. I love watching these local guys so much. They’re simply awesome. **¾.
â— Candice LeRae defeated Christina Von Eerie (7:40) via pinfall with a victory roll – I can’t remember the last time I watched two women competing one on one in a Pro Wrestling Guerrilla ring. Von Eerie takes out LeRae with some hard strikes before the bell. Candice and Christina exchange overhand chops on the outside. Candice tosses Von Eerie down with a body slam on the floor. Back inside of the ring, Christina lands in a snap suplex for two. Missile dropkick by Candice sends Christina to the outside. LeRae with a suicide dive to the outside! Von Eerie quickly recovers and plants LeRae down with a Pedigree on the apron! Von Eerie stomps away at the face of Candice. She lands in a few kicks to LeRae’s head and covers her for two. Von Eerie runs into a pair of knees. Crossbody by LeRae connects for a two-count. Christina works over LeRae’s legs on the ground. Kick to the face by Von Eerie connects. Prawn hold gets a two-count. LeRae locks in an octopus hold, but manages to fight out of it. Candice locks in a cloverleaf, but Von Eerie escapes to the ropes. Von Eerie misses a crossbody. Candice looks for a moonsault, but Von Eerie stops her. LeRae counters Von Eerie’s counter of her own into a victory roll for the three-count. Not a bad match at all. Von Eerie and LeRae worked pretty stiff, which was kind of nice and surprising to see. For the record, this was better than pretty much anything you would see on WWE television. **½.
â— Scott Lost defeated Human Tornado (8:33) via pinfall with the Big Fat Kill – As Tornado is posing on the ropes during his entrance, Lost takes him down with some hard strikes. Lost stomps away at Tornado in the corner, clearly with a distinct advantage. Lost with some hard right hands. Tornado blocks some more of Lost’s strikes with kung fu poses. 540 kick by Lost misses and Tornado takes Scott out of the ring with a huge spear. Swan dive connects! Human Tornado with an innovated scoop slam connects for two. Human Tornado looks for a superkick, but Lost connects with a quick enziguri to the side of the head. Spinning suplex by Lost gets a two-count. Tornado makes a comeback, but Lost judo throws him down. Back suplex by Scott connects for two. Running dropkick by Lost connects for two, as well. Lost goes for the Superman Spear into the corner, but Tornado gets his knees up at the last second. Back suplex into the turnbuckle! That looked like it hurt. Tornado connects with a huge dropkick into the corner. Human Tornado lays in a kick to Scott’s balls. Rick Knox wasn’t looking, so anything goes. Two-count only. Tornado DDT by the Human Tornado! One, two, no! Tornado signals for the DND, but Lost pushes him aside. Tornado nails the Facebreaker, but that only gives Scott momentum into the ropes. Inverted DDT connects. Big Fat Kill! Three-count is the answer. Damn, that didn’t look pretty. Solid bout, but nothing too special. If given more time, I’m sure that Tornado and Lost could have put on a better match. **¾.
◠Roderick Strong defeated Karl Anderson (17:20) via pinfall with the Sick Kick - Roderick and Anderson have a funny skit going before the bell rings, as they fight over Karl’s invisible machine gun. Strong tries working over Anderson’s arm, but Karl quickly makes the transition by locking up with Roderick’s legs. After reaching a stalemate, Anderson extends his hand out to Strong. Strong declines, though, and lands in a knee to the chest. Strong and Anderson go off on a vicious chop battle, which Roderick eventually wins. Strong uses his momentum to his advantage by dropping Anderson hard into the apron. Anderson nails a gourdbuster for two. Anderson looks to skin the cat, but Strong rocks him hard with a kick to the chest cavity! Anderson nails a beautiful leg lariat for two. Strong and Anderson exchange more chops and strikes. They both take one another out with clotheslines, which allows the referee to count both men down. Anderson rocks Strong with a powerbomb into the turnbuckle! Strong no sells again, though, and takes Karl down with an enziguri to the side of the head! Strong and Anderson battle on the apron some more. Anderson wins the encounter this time, though, and takes Strong down with a big boot. Diving elbow connects! Back inside of the ring, Strong nails a Falcon Arrow for two. Strong cinches in the Stronghold, but Andereson reaches the ropes. Anderson locks in a Boston crab, but Strong rolls through for two. Anderson comes off the top, but Strong reverses the attempt into a huge neckbreaker for two. Gutbuster by Strong. Sick Kick! One, two, no! Anderson connects with a super stiff lariat, but only gets two. Sick Kick! Strong doesn’t try covering him, but goes for yet another Sick Kick! That’s finally enough to get three. I was really looking forward to this match and it proved to meet my expectations. I’m a sucker for stiff wrestling and this definitely didn’t disappoint. Strong and Anderson should be happy with themselves for putting on such a great match. ***½.
â— Naruki Doi defeated Joey Ryan (15:19) via pinfall with the Bakatare Sliding Kick – Joey Ryan is suddenly ridiculously over, even more so than Naruki Doi. Joey and Naruki work over one another’s arms to start the match. Doi takes down Ryan with a headlock, but Joey transitions into a headscissors. Joey and Doi exchange shoulder blocks, but Ryan eventually takes him down with a dropkick. Doi runs into an armdrag and Ryan begins working over the left arm. Doi escapes Ryan’s submission attempt into a roll-up for two. Now, Doi begins working over Joey Ryan’s arm. Doi works in a figure four leglock, but that doesn’t prove to be enough to force Joey to tap. Ryan makes it to the ropes. Crowd is chanting “USA†now. Seriously, what’s up with that? Powerslam by Joey connects for two. As Naruki catches a breather on the outside, Ryan leaps onto him with a suicide dive! Doi locks up Ryan into the ropes. Doi comes crashing down with a senton from the top! That only gets two. Naruki Doi looks for the Doi 5, but Joey catches him with a huge spear! Powerbomb and spinning neckbreaker get two for Ryan. Doi escapes a Pedigree attempt from Joey, but walks right into a superkick. Flying elbow drop by Doi connects for two! Tiger suplex attempt by Doi gets reversed. Pedigree! Ryan sells a leg injury and thus, is unable to make the cover. Doi drops Ryan into the turnbuckle and connects with a cannonball! Doi 5! One, two, no! Bakatare Sliding Kick connects! Doi signals for the Doi 5 off the top. After trying to battle out of it for a bit, Ryan eventually gives up. Super Doi 5 connects! Bakatare Sliding Kick proves to be enough to get the victory. This match wasn’t too bad, but the crowd didn’t seem interested whatsoever. Quite frankly, I was hoping for a bit more from these two, myself. I’m being awfully generous by putting this bout at three stars, but here it is. Take it or leave it, my friends. ***.
◠Shingo Takagi defeated El Generico (21:42) via pinfall with the Last Falconry - Takagi controls Generico in the early going by using his size and power to his advantage. Generico briefly works a comeback, but is unable to throw the big man down with a bodyslam. Takagi sends Generico down with a body slam of his own to get in his head. Generico takes Shingo down to the outside with a leg lariat. Generico charges up for a dive to the outside, but Shingo stops him. Shingo looks to take out Generico on the outside with a lariat, but misses. Shingo connects with the steel ring post, giving Generico some time to take advantage. Generico goes for a tornado DDT on the outside, but Shingo catches him and throws him down! That was pretty awesome. Back inside of the ring, Shingo works over Generico’s back. Generico mounts a comeback and nails in some more armdrags. He hits another that sends Shingo to the outside. Beautiful dive connects on the outside! Generico nails a flying crossbody inside of the ring for two. Shingo catches Generico’s Yakuza kick attempt in the corner. Generico thinks quickly, though, and nails a Michinoku Driver for a nearfall. Shingo wastes no time to regain advantage, as he works over Generico’s leg with a Boston crab. Death Valley driver by Shingo connects! One, two, no! Generico fights back, but gets dropped on his head with a vicious brainbuster for two. Shingo rocks Generico with a lariat in the corner, but Generico no sells the manuveurs and lands his signature brainbuster! One, two, no! The crowd is on their feet. The ring bell guy actually hit the bell there, thinking that the match had ended, as well. That should give you an idea of how close this match went. Shingo blocks a super brainbuster attempt and nails a super Death Valley Driver! One, two, no! Made In Japan! One, two, no! Wow, I’m marking out in my seat right now. Shingo kills Generico with a lariat, but that just makes El Generico angry. Yakuza kick connects by Generico! Lariat from Shingo! Last Falconry! One, two, three! So that was pretty incredible. I am literally nodding my head in disbelief after watching that match. Who the hell would have expected something that amazing from this match initially? Sure, Generico and Takagi are excellent workers, but they absolutely brutalized one another here. Definitely a MOTYC for 2009. Words cannot truly express how friggan beautiful this bout was. Get the DVD to check it out on your own. ****½.
â— CIMA, Chris Sabin, and Alex Shelley [The Motor City Machine Guns] beat Brian Kendrick, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson [The Young Bucks] (24:06) via pinfall when CIMA nailed Kendrick with the Meteora - Definitely a dream match for me here, but I’m still in awe after seeing a fantastic bout like Generico versus Shingo before this one. Chris Sabin and Brian Kendrick start things off. Sabin and Kendrick exchange some armdrags. Kendrick plays the heel roll perfectly, as he hides in the corner from the majority of Sabin’s attacks. Kendrick tags in Matt Jackson and Sabin tags in Alex Shelley. Shelley controls Matt Jackson on the ground with some great-looking submission holds. Much to the fans’ approval, Shelley tags in CIMA. CIMA double stomps Matt’s head! CIMA takes control of the Bucks at once with some extremely innovative offense. Shelley and Sabin hit double dropkicks on the Bucks. CIMA, Shelley, and Sabin take out Nick with an incredible triple team maneuveur! CIMA nails a double stomp off the top rope for two. Matt tries to interfere, but CIMA tosses him back to the outside. Nick finally makes the hot tag and the heels take control of CIMA. The Young Bucks distract Rick Knox by throwing a bunch of chairs into the ring. However, CIMA capitalizes on this by suplexing Kendrick onto the pile of chairs! Matt tries preventing CIMA from making a tag, but fails. Sabin takes out the Bucks with a series of dropkicks. The Guns and Bucks exchange some sweet double team maneuvers, which leads to a bunch of nearfalls. The Guns nail a double team missile dropkick variation on Nick, but Kendrick breaks it up. The Young Bucks go for the More Bang For Your Buck, but Chris Sabin reverses the attack. Kendrick blocks CIMA’s dive attempt and cracks him in the skull with an enziguri for two! CIMA fires himself up and nails Kendrick with an Iconoclasm for two. The Young Bucks take out Shelley with a neckbreaker combination. The Bucks quickly take control of the match with their quick and innovative offense. After some miscommunication, CIMA takes control once again. Stereo dropkicks by the Guns! CIMA nails the Schwein on Kendrick! Meteora connects for three! The fat lady has just sung. Excellent match with some of the best spots you’ll ever see in an independent professional wrestling match. Not as good as Generico versus Shingo, but still pretty darn sweet. ****.
◠PWG World Championship: Bryan Danielson defeated Chris Hero (42:01) via submission with a triangle choke to win the title - I bought this DVD simply for this match. Bryan Danielson will wrestle his final match in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla by challenging “That Young Knockout Kid†Chris Hero for the PWG World Championship. Hero and Danielson wrestle on the mat for the first few minutes. Both men target one another’s arms. Hero slaps Danielson hard in the face! Bryan responds with a shot to Hero’s ear! Danielson works over Hero’s left leg some more, as the crowd watches attentively. Hero takes Dragon down with an elbow, but only gets two. Dragon lands in some forearms, but Hero stops the attack with a kick to the head. Hero lands in another kick for good measure followed up by an elbow. Seated senton gets two. Danielson works his way back into the match and slams Hero’s knees into the canvas. Flying headbutt! Two-count. Out of nowhere, Danielson locks in a triangle choke, but Hero wiggles to the ropes in time. Danielson looks to take out Hero with a dive, but Chris blocks Dragon with a chair! Danielson busts right open. Chris Hero tries opening Danielson’s gash some more, as the blood pours into his eyes. Superplex by Dragon connects! One, two, no! Running knee by Dragon! He locks in the Catlte Mutilation! MMA Elbows! Bryan goes for the cover, but only gets two. Hero and Danielson exchange Roaring Elbows for two. Hero gives Dragon yet another elbow, but Danielson no sells it and flips him off! I love you, Danielson! Hero kills Danielson with a backdrop driver, but Danielson stands right back up! Dragon takes out Hero with a running knee. Danielson stomps on Hero’s face and locks in a triangle choke. Hero lifts Danielson up into a powerbomb, but Danielson doesn’t let go of the triangle choke! How the hell is he still hanging on there? Finally, Hero is forced to tap out around the forty minute mark. Your new PWG World Champion is the “American Dragon†Bryan Danielson. The crowd cannot believe it. Just when I thought that nothing could beat Generico versus Shingo, I was proven wrong. In my eyes, Danielson versus Hero was just a bit better. The perfect story and flawless wrestling was all there. I have seen nearly all of Danielson’s “Final Countdown Tour†matches and I’d probably put this one on top as being the best. One of my favorite wrestling matches of 2009, hands down. ****½.
– Following the match, a random fan raises Danielson’s hand in the air and gives him a hug. Paul London also joins Bryan Danielson in the ring with a pink dolphin balloon, which the crowd digs up. Excalibur congratulates Danielson on the microphone and asks him how he feels. Dragon says that he’s far away from home, but the PWG crowd always treats him like family. Dragon puts over Chris Hero. Danielson vacates the PWG World Champion because he will not be able to defend the belt while he’s in PWG. The entire Pro Wrestling Guerrilla locker room enters the ring with the new PWG World Champion, Bryan Danielson. After asking the crowd which wrestler they would like to see become the next PWG World Champion, Danielson eventually reveals that the new champion will be the winner of the 2009 Battle of Los Angeles tournament.
– In the backstage area, the new PWG World Champion, Bryan Danielson, cuts a quick promo by thanking all of the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla fans for all that they have done for him over the past few years. Danielson ends the video by saying that the fans are the people that made him into the man that he is today.
– “That Young Knockout Kid” Chris Hero also has some words for the camera man in a promo. Chris Hero talks about losing the PWG World Championship. Hero says that in eight months, he only lost two matches in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. Hero wants everyone to know that he’s always training to be better than all of the rest. Chris promises everyone that he will be back soon, and when he does return, he’ll be PWG World Champion once again.
Get this DVD as soon as possible if you haven’t picked it up already. Whenever there’s one four star match on a show, I generally advise people to put money down to check out that particular event. However, “Guerre Sans Frontières” does not only have one four star match, it has a total of three.
I could go on and on about putting this event over as being one of the best independent wrestling shows of 2009, but I’m not going to bother doing so. Just buy “Guerre Sans Frontieres” and enjoy the show.
