KOSS PWG Preview: Neon Knights (February 16)
Hello Fightful folks! It's KOSS, and I'm back once again to discuss PWG! This time, we're talking about the card for Neon Knights, which takes place on February 16th (the same day Black Panther comes out in theaters, and holy god am I excited for that movie). What kind of card did PWG produce? Well, let's take a look and find out!
Adam Brookes vs. Matt Sydal:
The Loose Edge is back!! Brookes HIGHLY impressed me in his debut for PWG at All Star Weekend 13, with two very fun matches against Mark Haskins and Jonah Rock respectively. He is very reminiscent of Sammy Guevara, as he is a high flyer with an incredibly cocky attitude. However, I think Brookes is a little more polished than Guevara. Which isn't a knock on Sammy, as I think he is fantastic. And Brooksy is facing a TNA Champion in Matt Sydal. Sydal hasn't quite impressed me in recent singles matches, having a terrible match with Sami Callihan at Man on the Silver Mountain last May, and a solid match with PENTA EL ZERO M at BOLA. I'm not sure if Brookes can get Sydal to the level of a great match, but I'm optimistic this should still be solid.
My pick to win: Brookes is still winless in PWG, and Sydal isn't really someone that needs to be protected. I think The Loose Edge picks up his first PWG victory.
ROH World Champion Dalton Castle vs. Joey Janela:
THE PARTY PEACOCK IS BACK IN PWG!!!!!! And more interestingly, The ROH World Champion is also back! The ROH World Champion hasn't appeared in a PWG ring since the 2014 BOLA, when then-champion Michael Elgin lost clean to then-newcomer Trevor Lee. ROH was pissed their champion lost to a relative unknown, and not only pulled the champion from all future PWG shows, but all ROH contracted talent as well. This is what led PWG to bring in relative unknowns like Speedball Mike Bailey, as well as talent that primarily were in Europe, and weren't well known in the US, like Mark Andrews, Tommy End, Marty Scurll, and Will Ospreay. Of course, the ROH talent not appearing ended at All Star Weekend 11, when Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly returned. And now, the ROH World Champion is now allowed back in PWG. As for Dalton himself, this is his first appearance since Night Three of the 2016 BOLA, in a second round loss to Trevor Lee. And now that the history lesson is over, what do I think of this match? These are two wrestlers with very large personalities, so I expect this to have a lot of fun and playing to the crowd. But these are also two very good wrestlers. Dalton will want to impress in his big PWG return, and Joey will want to impress against the ROH World Champion.
My pick to win: Dalton picks up the win here.
David Starr vs. Travis Banks:
OHHHHHH BOY. These two have wrestled many times before, most notably in the former WCPW, now DEFIANT. Their matches have been quite physical. Starr, by all accounts, had a lackluster debut against Fred Yehi earlier this month at Mystery Vortex V. And Banks has not been in PWG since BOLA due to VISA issues. Banks was one of my favorite wrestlers of BOLA weekend, having a fun match with Mark Haskins (until Justin fucked the finish up), a fun match with Marty Scurll (when Scurll wasn't preoccupied with stupid comedy), and a criminally underrated match with Ricochet. So with Starr wrestling a very good wrestler that he has wrestled on many occasions, this should make for a very fun match.
My pick to win: PWG bringing back Starr after a lackluster showing shows that they have faith in him. I think Starr picks up the win.
Zack Sabre, Jr. vs. Flip Gordon:
The leader of the Flip Army makes his PWG debut! Flip has been really fun in his ROH outings, including an absolutely stupendous match with Will Ospreay on one of the Global Wars show. Flip is someone I've thought would be rather fun in PWG, but I wasn't clamoring for him like, say, Jason Kincaid. But still, Flip is a great talent, and I can't wait to see against other high flyers like Sammy Guevara. But here, he faces an incredible challenge against a former PWG World Champion, and a man that's made wrestlers like Hiroshi Tanahashi tap out, Zack Sabre, Jr. Sabre is sneakily very, very good against high flyers, like Will Ospreay and REY FENIX. So I expect this will be a very fun match too.
My pick to win: ZSJ is gonna pick up the win, and make Flip tap.
Matt Riddle vs. Keith Lee:
Now THIS is a match! These two have battled across multiple promotions, whether they be RevPro or WWN. And now they can add PWG to the list of places they've fought! These two always have really good matches, and I expect that it'll be the same here.
My pick to win: I think Keith picks up another huge win in his inevitable march to the PWG Title.
PWG World Championship: Chuck Taylor (c) vs. Trent?
BEST FRIENDS EXPLODE!!!! These two actually wrestled rather recently, at the 13th Anniversary show last July. That was a great match that randomly became a Guerrilla Warfare match, but hey, I'm not complaining. This time, I hope they just keep it a straight wrestling match however. What else needs to be said, really? It's the Best Friends, this will be awesome either way.
My pick to win: Chuckie T wins here.
Overall Thoughts: This is a great, great card! We have Dalton's return, Starr's return, Flip's debut, Best Friends EXPLODE, and more! PWG does it again!
Thanks for reading! If you'd like to read anything else related to PWG that I've written here on the forums, just search PWG in the search bar, they should come right up! Also, follow me on Twitter! https://twitter.com/KingOfIndyStyle Thank you again for reading, and see you next time when PWG sends out Mystery Vortex V!
