On February 20th, PWG announced the card for their March 23rd event, Time is a Flat Circle. This card is very interesting, as it has a LOT of debuts, some big time matches, a huge title match, and, the biggest story regarding this show, is that it it is NOT taking place in the infamous American Legion Hall that PWG has called home for so long.
That’s right, for the first time in at least 5 years, PWG is leaving Reseda, with this show taking place at the Globe Theater, in Los Angeles. The reason for this is that PWG oversold this show accidentally on Paypal. However, some people doubt that, with this show taking place two days before Strong Style Evolved, in Long Beach. Some people believe that PWG “oversold” the show on purpose, so they could have a reason to move to a larger venue, when wrestling fans around the world would be coming in for New Japan.
Personally? I think it really was a mixup. PWG is not the kind of promotion to change in….really any way. While it’d make sense in theory for PWG to move venues on such a weekend, you also have to remember that PWG refused to move venues for their last few Battle of Los Angeles tournaments, which had some of the best talent around the world preform, from Kenny Omega to PENTA EL ZERO M to Matt Riddle to Keith Lee to Jushin Liger. If PWG isn’t willing to go to a new venue for Kenny Omega, I’d doubt that they’d move for Strong Style Evolved. But that is my own personal thought on the matter.
Now, with that piece of info out of the way, let’s get into this card, which is a real doozy!
Match #1: Joey Janela vs. Rey Horus
When PWG announced that the venue had changed, I made a very simple request: That if the new building has a balcony, I expect Janela to either jump, or fall off of it. Why? Because he’s Joey Janela, and he’s a madman, and he really doesn’t care. Besides my aspirations for balcony shenanigans, this should be a very fun match. Rey Horus is one of my favorite Luchadors, especially with his Lucha Underground run as El Dragon Azteca Jr. His PWG debut against Sammy Guevara was really fun, and he had a very, very fun lucha style match against REY FENIX at BOLA. In that match, he tweaked his knee, and he hasn’t competed in PWG since. I’m happy to see him once again though, as he adds a very fun lucha aspect to PWG. And his opponent, Joey Janela, has been at every PWG show since his debut at BOLA, having good matches against people like Sammy Guevara and Flash Morgan Webster. As for this match? I expect it to be a really fun car crash, with Joey and Horus flinging each other around in a crazy fun match.
My pick to win: Horus is winless coming into this show, while Janela is coming off a loss to ROH World Champion Dalton Castle at Neon Knights. I think Janela picks up a win here.
Match #2: Brody King vs. Eli Everfly vs. Douglas James vs. Jake Atlas
This is the match that many PWG fans have have been begging for for a long, long time. Brody, a SoCal native, was a last minute replacement for Matt Sydal at the last show, Neon Knights against Australian star Adam Brooks. By all accounts, the match was very, very fun and Brody really impressed the PWG faithful. And apparently Brody impressed PWG management as well, as this is three other SoCal wrestlers making their PWG debuts. On the PWG forum, Eli Everfly is the name that I see the most as a SoCal guy that should debut. Everfly is a high flyer, that is very crazy and reckless, which is my kind of high flyer. Jake Atlas was named 2017’s SoCal rookie of the year, and he also made the news for coming out as homosexual. And out of the four, Douglas is the only man that I couldn’t get a lot of info on, and from what I managed to get from other people, he’s kind of mediocre, and more of an old school heel. I haven’t seen any of these men wrestle, so I am very excited to see what SoCal’s best has to offer on the biggest stage of their careers.
My pick to win: This one is basically a crapshoot, as any four of these men could win. However, since he’s already made his debut, I’ll take Brody King as the winner in this match.
Match #3: PWG Tag Team Champion Jeff Cobb vs. Jonah Rock
Now THIS is my kind of match! A good ol’ fashioned Hoss Fight. Cobb is coming off his first successful PWG Tag Team Title defense along with Matt Riddle in a FANTASTIC title defense against the team of WALTER and Timothy Thatcher, collectively known as RINGKAMPF. Jonah is making his return to PWG since his duo of matches at All Star Weekend 13, having a fun match against Adam Brooks on Nights Two, and a SPECTACULAR match with Keith Lee on Night One. I don’t know if I expect this to be on the level of that match, because even though I am a huge fan of Cobb, he isn’t as dynamic of a wrestler as Keith. However, Cobb is much stronger than Lee, and I fully expect Cobb to chuck Jonah around with relative ease, which will be as impressive as ever. On a card filled a lot of highlights, this’ll be an underrated gem.
My pick to win: As one half of the PWG Tag Team Champions, Cobb is higher on the pecking order. Cobb will pick up the win against the Australian Monster
Match #4: Dezmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz vs. Bandido and Flamita
Two debuts! Zachary Wentz is making his debut here with Dezmond Xavier, who’s making his first appearance in PWG since the third night of the 2017 Battle of Los Angeles. The two have recently come back from a tour of Dragon Gate in Japan, where they highly impressed. Dezmond and Zachary join a long list of wrestlers to benefit from a run in Dragon Gate. Another famous Dragon Gate alumni is new WWE employee Ricochet. In Dragon Gate, they showed impressive tag team moves, like this.
Funnily enough, that match was the same one we’re getting here, with Dezmond and Wentz against Flamita and Bandido. When this was announced, I had genuinely no idea who Bandido was, but luckily, @RobViper on twitter shared this excellent video by @Doradafan on twitter, and I was highly impressed.
Since this match occurred already in Dragon Gate, I expect this to be a very fun, high speed, fast paced tag match. This one will be a lot of fun.
My pick to win: Since Xavier and Wentz are an established tag team in places like AAW, I expect them to pick up the victory.
Match #5: Will Ospreay vs. Adam Brooks
THE AERIAL ASSASSIN HAS RETURNED TO PWG!!! This match has me so incredibly hyped. Ospreay hasn’t wrestled in a PWG ring since August of 2016, when he made the finals of the 2016 Battle of Los Angeles, being the first one eliminated. Since then, Ospreay’s exploded into mega-stardom, wrestling in Australia and capturing the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship twice, with his most recent victory at Wrestle Kingdom 12, defeating KUSHIDA, Hiromu Takahashi and Marty Scurll in a fantastic 4-way match. Ospreay’s actually wrestled Brooks before, once in PROGRESS, and once in Melbourne Championship Wrestling. I happened to see a four or so minute highlight video of that match, and it looked absolutely fantastic, and I’m ecstatic PWG is recreating that match here. This will be high octane, high flying, and a whole damn lot of fun.
My pick to win: Ospreay is the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion, and he will pick up the victory here.
Match #6: Zack Sabre, Jr. vs. PWG Tag Team Champion Matt Riddle
This is a match that I am stunned that PWG never did earlier. This is two of the most technically proficient wrestlers around, with Riddle having experience as a former UFC Fighter, and we all know how great Zack is at targeting limbs. In fact, I’d say that Zack is the absolute best wrestler since Bryan Danielson. (And wow, THAT would be a match that’d sell out a PWG show in a flash…...just sayin’!) As for this match, It’ll be a really fun one. These two have wrestled many times before, and their matches have all been very fun. And I guarantee that it’ll be just as good here in Reseda. Expect this one to have a lot of stiff strikes, suplexes, and grappling. It’ll be a fun one.
My pick to win: I’m not entirely sure why, but I have a hunch that Sabre will pick up the win here.
Match #7: PWG World Championship
Chuck Taylor © vs. Keith Lee
At the last PWG show, Neon Knights, Chuck seemingly turned heel against his Best Friend, Trent?, when he low blowed him to retain the title. Now, the question is whether or not that sticks. In the 2016 Battle of Los Angeles, Chris Hero brutally attacked Mark Andrews after Andrews rolled him up for a flash victory, but, at the next show, Hero went back to working as a face. However, since Chuck turned on Trent, seemingly breaking up the Best Friends in PWG, that would likely be a point of anger for the PWG crowd. Plus, the crowd absolutely adores Lee, who has been on a monstrous tear since his debut, going 10-5 up to this point, and beating stars like Zack Sabre, Jr, Matt Riddle, Jonah Rock, WALTER, REY FENIX, and more, as well as being the last man eliminated in the finals of the 2017 Battle of Los Angeles. The crowd will firmly be in Lee’s corner to see him beat the man who betrayed his best friend to keep his title. This should be a really compelling match, of Lee dominating Taylor, and Taylor needing to cheat to gain any kind of advantage against the monstrous Lee.
My pick to win: I know the rumors of Lee possibly being WWE-bound, however, I don’t believe Lee is done yet, as he is still the WWN Champion at the time of this writing. With that in mind, with how hard Lee has been pushed since his debut last March, I think that Lee wins the PWG World Title.
And that’s that! This is certainly a very interesting show for PWG. One note I’d like to add is that I have no clue if New Japan talent would have been allowed to work PWG, but if they were, PWG are very gutsy for not using anyone besides Ospreay, and he’s someone that actually worked in PWG before his debut in New Japan, as Ospreay made his PWG debut at the 2015 Battle of Los Angeles. While I would have been highly excited to see an Ishii, a KUSHIDA, an Omega, or even people like Switchblade Jay White or Hiromu Takahashi, I have to respect PWG for not just getting a bunch of New Japan Wrestlers, and doing it their own way. As for this card overall, it’s very, very good looking, with a great title match, an excellent technical battle between two of the best, a hoss battle, four SoCal guys looking to impress in their debut, a Dragon Gate style Tag featuring four great talent (another note: I’ve made it clear that I do not like Sami Callihan, and the crew of people he gets booked on shows with him, as I think they are not very good, and Sami is using his influence as a major indie draw to get his lousy friends, like The Crists and Jason Cade, booked in places they normally would not, and I’ve included Dezmond Xavier on that list. I really do not think Xavier is a bad wrestler. Watching him in the match he had with Jake Crist and Jason Cade, it was very obvious just how better than them he is. Xavier is still young, but shows a lot of promise, and I think that bringing in Wentz is a great idea, as they are an established tag team that will bring depth to PWG’s Tag Division.), a high flying battle featuring an IWGP Champion, and more. PWG laid it out all on the line for this show, and just by looking at it, I can tell this show will be a huge success.
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