by onlxn » Mon Feb 27, 2006 1:47 am
Yeah, the era you're referencing may be my favorite era of PWG. The run of shows from "Taste The Radness" to "The Musical" just had really perfect mixes of talent. You had the Thomasellis doing matwork, the Pitbulls striking and working submissions, Quance's crisp flying, Pearce heeling it up, and even some nice tight undercard work from Kahn and Bomberry. Those shows really gelled, because they didn't go from spotfest to spotfest to spotfest -- they had changes of pace in every match, and the crowd reacted accordingly.
But as Andy points out, the shows have also been super-strong in the last couple months. I think it's because the Guerrilla brass have gotten back to varying the roster in terms of style. Koslov brings something new to the table - he's not yet another Rev Pro-esque flyer. Ronin, though trained in Rev Pro, differs stylistically from those guys. Davey Richards has been a HUGE asset to shows, by wrestling a stiffer and simpler style than most of the roster. And perhaps most importantly, they're doing a better job of choosing pricier talent. They've got an assload of local spot guys, so there's no need to fly many guys like that in. Sabin's been consistent enough that he's stuck around, but they don't fly Petey out anymore, and they aren't booking Frankie as consistently. And when they do book big names, it's now usually guys who bring something different, either hard hitters like Roderick and Joe or mat technicians like Hero or Shelley. That's EXACTLY what they should be doing.
IMO, the company had a mini-slump in the middle of '05, and it was because their big-name talent (AJ, Sabin, Petey) wrestled the same spotty style as the mid-card talent (Generico, Scott, the Rev Pro guys). Other than Reyes, who did an incredible job of providing something different (fly him in! fly him in!), the shows got a little monotonous. But that's changing now, and all credit to PWG for recognizing the problem.
One last thing: I enjoyed the Elks Lodge more as a venue, as it was more charming and more comfortable. However, PWG is doing the right thing by running where they do. The Hollywood JCC is in a real population center that's easily reachable from the major highways, and it's a cramped, intense venue. That makes it hotter, smellier and less pleasant for those of us in attendance, but that's sort of the way wrestling should be. More importantly, the JCC shows come off as a lot hotter and more intense on DVD than the Elk's Lodge shows ever did. I'll admit that I find a lot of the "clever" JCC audience members really annoying... still, it makes for much louder, more amped-up wrestling, and that's important.