Pro Wrestling Guerrilla: Discussão Geral

El Generico as a pro wrestler was everything independent wrestling stood for. A guy you could always cheer for with a perfect gimmick that was the outstanding blend of humour, kayfabe and seriousness. Generico came into PWG in 2004 alongside long time friend Kevin Steen, and they had a match that tore the house down, enough in fact that they were asked to return. Following on from this, Generico was a PWG regular from 2004 all the way through to 2013, competing in 8 Battle of Los Angeles’ (the most in history) and winning the PWG Tag Team Championship with four different partners, as well as the PWG Championship. Generico was also the only person to hold the PWG Tag Team Championships at the same time as the PWG World Championship not once, but twice. Generico tagged with Kevin Steen as Steenerico, Paul London as !Peligro Abejas!, Quicksilver as Cape Fear and Human Tornado as 2 Skinny Black Guys, winning the belts with each partner. El Generico won the 2011 Battle of Los Angeles, defeating longtime friend and rival Kevin Steen in the final, before making his final appearance for PWG at the DDT4 tournament, losing to the Young Bucks in the final, losing the Tag Team Championships, and losing alongside his best friend, Kevin Steen. For his entire run in PWG, El Generico was beloved by all fans – he had incedible matches with PAC, Human Tornado, Kevin Steen, The Young Bucks, The Briscoe Brothers, Future Shock, Roderick Strong and Quicksilver.
If you call Kevin Steen the unabridged ‘dad’ of PWG, you’d have to call El Generico the ‘mom’. He did everything there was to do, partnered with many, wrestled against many, won all the championships and tournaments he possibly could, and in true El Generico style, informed the fans that he was to go to Mexico and take care of the orphans. He hasn’t been seen since.

This was one of the best matches in PWG history, and still stands up today. Some of the spots in the match hadn’t been done before, and haven’t been done since. The significance of this event is simply – one of the best matches in PWG history, and there’s very few that you could critically or objectively consider to be ‘better’. Super Smash Bros come into the match as champions coming up against the Young Bucks and Future Shock (Kyle O’Reilly and Adam Cole), and the finishing moment of the match come when Rick Knox finally gets his revenge on the Young Bucks, a hatred that had been building for a very long time, eventually costing them the match. The Young Bucks in the past had superkicked Rick Knox essentially for fun, and this was the moment he snapped, finishing with a tope con hilo over the top rope taking out the Bucks allowing Super Smash Bros to take the belts. The significance of this is pretty basic – it’s just a good fuckin’ match.

Being completely honest with you, there isn't much of a backstory here. The event is BOLA 2014, Kenny Omega was just starting to make waves in the independent wrestling land, this was a match from night 2, a man in the audience had a Stone Cold jacket on (as you see in the video) and this clip was born. Enjoy.

There isn't very much of a backstory here other than Adam Cole is fucking hilarious while at the same time a total asshole. One of my favourite beginnings to a match too with Cedric's running boot in the corner.

For the any people who seem to be misinformed that PWG doesn’t have any storylines, this was the culmination of a year long feud between Zack Sabre Jr and Roddy Strong. Strong had won the belt off Kyle O’Reilly, formed Mount Rushmore 2.0 (and then following that, 2.1), and held the belt in one of the best heel independent runs in the history of pro wrestling. Hated by many and loved by few, Strong continued on a tirade through the top of PWG for a significant amount of time. In the meantime however, Zack Sabre Jr, arguably the hottest indy wrestler in the world at the time, had a chance at Roddy Strong at the show titled ‘Don’t Sweat the Technique. This, at the time, was considered to be one of if not the best PWG match of all time. He then began to receive more frequent matches in PWG, beating Chris Hero and then defeating the previous years winner Ricochet in BOLA 2016, then Pentagon, then Scurll and finally defeating Mike Bailey and Chris Hero in the final. On night 2 of All Star Weekend, Zack Sabre Jr won his rematch for the PWG championship against Roddy Strong, finally dethroning the heel champion many considered to be potentially, the best run in PWG history. This match was hot, it built off the last, and Sabre finally won the belt he’d attempted to win almost a year prior.

Chuck Taylor, to an extent, was never supposed to be a successful pro wrestler. He made his way into CHIKARA early on in his career, and paved a path in which he was booked heavily as very, very solid and entertaining comedic wrestler. Coming into PWG in 2008, Chuck had a go at entering the Battle of Los Angeles, before starting a program with El Generico stemming from Taylor’s hatred of orphans. After going on one of many losing streaks in PWG, Chuck was teamed up with Kenny Omega and became a PWG sensation overnight, losing their chance at the PWG Championships but gaining the hearts of Reseda fans almost immediately. Known as the ‘two guys of low moral fiber’, Kenny Omega went on to win the Battle of Los Angeles forcing Chuck to find a new partner in Human Tornado, forming the ‘Two Skinny Black Guys of Low Moral Fiber’. Due to Tornado’s retirement, Chuck and El Generico were conveniently partnered together, maintaining the same team name. Following the creation of the ‘Fightin’ Taylor Boys’ and then the Best Friends, Chuck and Trent won the DDT4 2014 tournament, before losing their chance at the PWG Tag Team Championships. A title that has eluded Chuck his entire career, he began a winning streak in early 2015 in PWG lasting 12 matches, before he was defeated by the now heel Zack Sabre Jr in his only chance for the belt. Continuing on into a Best Friends vs LDRS feud, Chuck finally overcame the odds and defeated Zack Sabre Jr to win the belt at this event in question, Man on the Silver Mountain. Throughout the match and predominantly at the end, Zack had made attempts to get himself disqualified, even removing the bottom rope to stop Chuck getting rope breaks, but it was all in vain, as Chuck finally won the title, and was considered not only the champion, but perhaps in his own eyes, a worthy champion.

Chris Hero and Eddie Kingston have had legit heat for a long time, stemming back to their Chikara days. It was never taken over the edge and never became a significant issue until this night in PWG, when Chris Hero pinned Kingston, jumped on the mic and told the ‘piece of trash’ to get out of the ring. There’s been no real reasoning as to why the two have such a hatred for each other, some believe Kingston was always mad at Hero’s demeanour, the fact that he was sometimes hard to work with or that Hero played a part in getting one of Kingston’s friends fired. In this event however, it seemed that Hero dropped a worked boot on Kingston who was mouthing off and not selling overly well, and then the fight broke out. Excalibur leaves the announce desk to break it up, and the microphone snaps over Kingston’s back.

At this point in time, Adam Cole had signed an exclusive deal with ROH, which meant he wasn’t allowed to do PWG anymore. This left somewhat of a hole in Mount Rushmore, which was originally Adam Cole, Kevin Steen and the Young Bucks. Following one of, if not the best top to bottom PWG card of all time, Roddy Strong and the Young Bucks embraced, forming somewhat of a new faction. Attacking Candice Le Rae, Johnny Gargano and then Rick Knox, they were met with the lights out, and you guessed it, Super Dragon returning again. Super Dragon and Excalibur, at this point in time both ran PWG, so the fact that Excalibur made an appearance in the ring was significant to stand up to his partner, but not only this, Super Dragon turning heel and aligning with Roddy Strong and the Young Bucks formed Mount Rushmore 2.0, the next iteration of the world famous faction.