PWG - Cyanide: A Loving Tribute to Poison

Your resident PWG mark here. The year of 2010 has been absolutely amazing for this company. Having seen all the releases, I can safely say that it is between PWG and CHIKARA for best indy promotion of the year in my book. This show is the finale to 2010, and I have a feeling it's going to end the year strong. Let's do this.

"Pretty" Peter Avalon vs. Willie Mack - 5

Willie Mack makes his debut tonight. He looks pretty immobile, but my fears of that were put to bed instantly as this big dude can totally hang. He was hitting all sorts of offense I would not have believed capable. Avalon stuck in there, getting beat the shit out of early on in the match. I love his bumping. He's so thin that a feather could knock him down. He started taking it to Mack harder as the match progressed. Mack stayed on defense for quite a bit of time, eating Avalon's offense like a Porterhouse. The fans obviously love this guy and hate Avalon. Willie hit this fucking amazing "Chocolate Thunder Bomb" that folded Avalon in half. Great debut for the big man. I can't wait to see more of him in the future.

Roderick Strong vs. Chuck Taylor - 4

Can't wait for this. Two really amazing indy workers having at it. Taylor grabbed a fan's jacket to cover himself from Roderick's chops. This guy has a great personality and is great at connecting with the fans. Chuck's facial expressions while eating Roderick's chops were great and really conveyed a sense of comedic pain. Roderick hit his sick offense on Chuck, who just kept eating everything Roddy dished out. It was quite sick. Roderick looked rather passionate-less throughout the match, kind of like he was running the ropes (a usual knock on him), but Chuck was just emoting all over the place. Roderick's gut buster and rack-backbreaker were taken oddly by Chuck - almost as if they didn't hardly connect at all, which was rather glaring. Overall, it was still good, but not as good as it could be.

The Cutler Bros vs Johnny Goodtime & Johnny Yuma - 6

I fucking love me some ROCKNES Monsters and Cutlers. Yuma is still new to the company, so he's the one I'm least familiar with, but the other three are awesome in my mind. Goodtime has this excellent balance of recklessness and prudence in the ring that lends to his awesomeness. Goodtime frenetic and outlandish character came across in the ring by grabbing the Christmas hat that Brandon Cutler was wearing to Irish Whip him into the ropes. Yuma struck me as a squirrel on cocaine by the way he moves in the ring and his general personality in said ring, but he connected with his offense. Goodtime smashed Brandon's face in Dustin's crotch which created an even awkward moment considering they are brothers. Cutler's were dominating Yuma in the ring, who sold everything they did well by laying limper than HHH's phallus while Steph strip teases. Sick dives, sick offense, and great performances, especially by Goodtime. PS: FUCKING AMAZING FINISH!~!~!

Brandon Gatson vs. Joey Ryan - 5

Joey started working over the arm of Gatson after hitting a nice single arm DDT of the middle rope. A couple of 80s style limb-work maneuvers later, Ryan would continue to walk on the arm harder and harder. Gatson went for his cartwheel elbow in the corner, only to have Ryan drop kick him while upside-down in the elbow. Digging this psych, man. Gatson was screaming in pain every time Ryan would pick apart his arm. Excellent work there. I wish Ryan would connect his moves, though. Instead of having no transition between, say, a Fujiwara and a Kimura, he'd simply hit the Fujiwara, walk around, then go into the Kimura. He didn't do this exact example, just trying to get my point across. A nice catch-style match that had a cool breakdown near the end. Dug that arm work, man. Really good performance by Joey.

Bryan Taylor & Ryan Taylor vs. The Young Bucks - 4

Oh joy, the Bucks are back. They seemed to be working a comedy shtick early on in the match, bumping around like a couple of brash, young Shawn Michaelseses..es. The Taylor boys would end up just stiffing the hell out of them to my enjoyment. The fans were eating up the Bucks' arrogant prick heel tactics. They looked like morons (more-so than usual). I'd rather work for the Umbrella Corporation than with these shits. Excalibur stated that Ryan Taylor was trained by Roderick Strong. You can totally see the influence - like Davey with Kyle O'Reilly. Taylor's busted out an electric chair dive (think Doomsday Device outside) which looked freaking incredible, busting the backs of the heads of the Bucks on some chairs. There was a glaring spot that just made me shake my head, though: (follow me on this) Ryan Taylor had Max in the standing fireman's carry position in an attempt to hit a GTS, but Jeremy came in for the save with a superkick. Taylor literally threw Max off of his shoulders behind him to eat the kick. What sense does that make? Why would you move your opponent to eat a piece of offense yourself? Hmmm. Bucks hit some shitty super kicks to finish off the match with More Bang for Your Buck to the pop of the fans. Yuck.

Kevin Steen vs. Akira Tozawa - 7

Tozawa has had an amazing year on the West Coast. The crowd brawl was great. Both guys were taking Christmas present shots to the head, which oddly included a pane of wrapped glass. Tozawa's screaming vocal selling is always welcome and quite amusing. Then... HOLY FUCKING SHIT... SHIT! Tozawa went for a dive, but Steen caught him and POWERBOMBED HIM ONTO THE RING APRON RIGHT ON HIS NECK!!!! AAAAHHHH!!! Sweet God that was sickening! Tozawa kept getting fired up, but Steen kept beating him down. This would continue with the bumps getting bigger and stiffer for Toz, who ate everything with gusto. Tozawa had an awesome showing in this match, just taking such sick offense. Props. But, oh my friends, Steen took some sick shit, too, mainly a German suplex on the apron~! Are you serious?~! Love this shit!

Kings of Wrestling vs. Peligro Abejas - 5

I was really looking forward to this when I saw it on the lineup. Both of these teams are just excellent and both provide something very different in the ring. KoW have this great European/Puro style, while Generico and London have this great Lucha/Puro infused style. This match had what I like to call a "controlled sprint" feel to it -- like structured insanity. Hero and Claudio forced Generico and London into their element by hitting high impact strikes and dominating them on the mat, while Generico and London busted out the dives and high impact maneuvers to gain the upper-hand. Just a very well-structured match that was very easy to watch and enjoy.

Match Average: 5
Recommended

So PWG ends the year strong. I have high hopes for 2011, and I know this company can deliver.