By Name withheld

They opened the show with highlights of how Jesse Sorenson was the PPW title from the former champion, Caleb Konely.   First Sorensen had to beat Konely within 10 a ten minute time limit, but when Sorensen was going for the pin with time running out, Lisa Maria (formerly Victoria in the WWE) pulled the referee’s foot breaking up the count,  thus the time ran out.  Rematch was a lumberjack match and Sorenson pinned Konley for the title

1) Battle Royal to determine the number one contender to the PPW Title was the opening match.  They only gave a few guys entrances like Caleb Konely,  Gangrel, Joey Ryan, Alexander Hammerstone and Tyshaun Prince.  The rest did not get introduced and they came off like no name jobbers.  Early story of the match was Tyshaun playing the monster role and eliminated guys quickly. Tyshaun seems to have a lot of potential.   A surprise early was Alexander Hammerstone being eliminated first after being “knocked out” after one punch by Tyshaun.  Considering Hammerstone looks like a guy to build around, this was horrible.  Eliminations were happening fast and furious so this Battle Royal was quickly meaning nothing. Gangrel finally eliminated Tyshaun Prince which came of anti-climatic.  Final two was Caleb Konely and Ethan HD.  It only lasted 20 seconds when Caleb Konely eliminated Ethan HD.  A waste.  If Konley just lost his title, shouldn’t the he get the first rematch anyways?  

 

2) Darin Corbin pinned Crash Test Cody with a ace crusher.  The match was okay, but my biggest complaint  was that your first regular match was between two guys who look like they work on a local low rent indy. First impression is very important in pro wrestling.  You don’t have to have your first match feature huge muscle guys, but at least have wrestlers who look like athletes.   Corbin has personality, but his heel work was very cheesy and goofy.   Crash Test Cody is blind in his right eye, but the commentators paid no attention to that.  

Jesse Sorenson promo followed.  He talked about breaking his neck in 2012 and now winning this title means the world to him.  Promo was very robotic and though he has a nice baby face story, I feel he would be better as a heel. 

Joey Ryan promo followed.  He was in the locker room talking to himself in the mirror.  Basically, Joey Ryan is in love with himself.  

3) Espiritu pinned Mercurio Jr by using the ropes.  Commentators said this was a long time program between these two.  So sounds like these two worked together a lot and that explains why the match looked very canned.    Both seem talented, but I would love to see them work with others to see if they are truly any good.  During the match the sound was off, so you could hear the moves coming up and even worse, the finish before it happened.   
Seemed like PPW put this match on the first episode to get a “high flying match” on the first show. 

4) Kevin Kross w/ Lisa Marie pinned Sugar Brown with a back duplex.  The fans recognize Lisa Maria from her WWE days thus react to her like a star, but in her promo she quickly gets some heel heat.  Kevin Kross has a great look, and Sugar Brown who does a boxer gimmick and has a lot of personality.  Brown would do himself a lot of favors by shredding up because he has potential.  Kevin Kross gimmick is a psycho and he plays it off well.  Good match building up Kross as a future contender to challenge Sorenson.  This match should have been the opener because Kross looked like somebody and the match was good. 

 

Vignette of the tag team the Whirlwind Gentlemen played.  They talked about them debuting in the two weeks, yet they were two of the nameless jobbers in the Battle Royal earlier in the show.  I have not seen them work, but they come off like a fun mid-card baby face tag team. 

5) PPW Champion Jesse Sorenson defeats Graves by a reverse decision.  There was a referee bump, Graves used his wrist tape to wrap it around Sorenson’s neck while applying a rear naked choke hold.  Referee recovers and Sorenson is choked out, but second referee saw it all and the decision was reversed.   Graves is Joe Graves in Arizona and in Premier in Gilroy, CA.   He is a high level grappler, but here he wrestles like everyone else on the card.  Big mistake by PPW as his grappling is what makes him stand out from the rest of the roster.  They have him doing a Undertaker like gimmick.    Sorenson looked good, but still feel he would be much better as a heel then a baby face. 

I was disappointed in the debut of PPW.  They have a nice set up at Sam’s Town in Las Vegas, but put on another basic wrestling show we can all see on Monday, Wednesday and Thursdays.  When I tuned in, I was hoping to see something different.   The editing was poorly done and I hope that improves over the next few episodes.  PPW is an obvious time buy as there was no commercial breaks during the show.  That being said, PPV did nothing to promote future TV tapings or even merchandise.