Mount Rushmore is here, and gives PWG another necessary shot in the arm.
This is a blast, one of the most fun and manic Bucks matches of the year. It’s also a nice treat, as it’s one of the only Candice matches of the era that I can review without having to also promote the work of a serial rapist, which has been something of a detriment. There’s a certain tag in 2014 that I don’t feel I can credibly just ignore, but otherwise, that’s sort of the policy. So it’s a delight when Candice gets to have partners who aren’t so much that or gets to be on her own.
There’s no real reason this one works out quite as well as it does.
With these six at this point in time, it was almost always going to be a great match, but this is one of those times when everything goes right for them that can possibly go right. All the stars align, some light shines upon them from above, and they are pushed forward by some great wind. Four absolute maniacs go wild, buoyed by the most detestable heel on the US indies and one of the most likeable and talented underdog babyfaces to add some emotional lifeforce to the proceedings too.
In so much as any theme exists, the big deal here is that Adam Cole and The Young Bucks fit together like a glove, with virtually no effort. Same attitude, same outlook, a similar combination of a total lack of scruples and willingness to do pretty much anything. A perfect dipshit trio, up there with Bucks/Steen and Bucks/Styles as the best Bucks trios by miles and miles. They manage to trade out three different control segments, but the pace moves along so briskly that nothing ever lingers past its expiration date. One of our heroes is always a move or two away from blowing the lid off of this thing, and the villains are trying to plug a leak in a canoe trying to slow this down in any way, which is how this should be done. The sort of match that people should be looking at, in terms of how to do a match like this in the best possible way, and that also includes the people in it who have maybe forgotten about how efficient and short and intense these sorts of matches are at their best.
The fireworks show, when it happens, is one of the best of the year.
Again, the Bucks and Cole make a better team and it matters. Specifically the Young Bucks specifically as a unit are better than any two person pairing on the other side. They always cut them off in some way or do a thing, but the other person will have some ultra-explosive moment out of absolutely nowhere that puts them back to square one. Cole can do the same thing one on one, the World Champion rightfully being presented as individually better than each opponent when all things are fair.
The highlight of this comes when Adam Cole does his whole schtick to Candice, only for her to fight back and shout at him to suck her dick, and Reseda EXPLODES. Candice is suddenly the #1 hero in the company and the match seems to suddenly adjust to this new fact of life. Candice is the one making the big save at the end, and has her big moment when she dodges a double basement superkick as she’s holding Cole, resulting in Cole getting the double superkick into his shitty little hog, opening the Bucks up for the first? ever Double Ballplex. Magical stuff that’s also extremely silly and goofy. It’s fucking pro wrestling. Everyone has their own line, it’s hard to ever know where it is, but this is just on the right side for me that it works perfectly. She later pulls off one of the best hot tags in PWG history by someone not named El Generico. Flawless stuff, maybe the career Candice performance that doesn’t involve the crimson mask.
In the end, the tide shifts when Adam Cole can finally work in perfect synchronicity with the Bucks. Two people working in unison always leaves an opening for the third in a match like this. Three people in perfect harmony is a real stern thing to go up against, it should be nearly impossible to do, and they nail it here. Fox is taken out first when Cole catches the Lo Mein Pain from behind into his grossest German Suplex ever. Swann gets taken out with a three on one after that. Candice is the only one left, and gets this wonderful heroic final stand, crawling back into the ring to face it all by herself, but not backing down an inch. The difference between a good hero and a great hero usually has to do with the odds they’re up against and how possible the challenge seems. Standing up for a fight you absolutely won’t win, and going for it anyways, because someone has to is the all-time babyface hero sweet spot, and for this year or so when PWG actually gave Candice real opportunities like this, there were few better babyfaces in the world.
A triple superkick leads into a double superkick/Florida Key combination move, and the team of champions finally closes it out.
Later in the night, Kevin Steen will turn heel to join them, creating PWG’s greatest stable, Mount Rushmore. The tragedy is that they had less than a year together, and that later Cole/Bucks team ups under another banner never had quite the same sort of magic as they tapped into here.
One of the best PWG matches of the year, one of those examples of Reseda Magic you always hear about.
HANDWERK 