The history of PWG sees it as one of the most important independent wrestling promotions ever. Pro Wrestling Guerrilla has been around for eighteen years on the West Coast of the United States in California. The hit list of names to work for the promotion ended up becoming some of the biggest stars in WWE and AEW today.Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, AJ Styles, Kenny Omega, Adam Cole and countless others spent time in PWG during their formative years. Almost every talent entering the business around the past decade and a half wanted to spend some time in PWG to build up their reputation. Even a small company has noteworthy tales from behind the scenes. The following backstage stories will show a new glimpse at PWG.
8 Low Ki Refusing To Lose To Cesaro
Low Ki is a forgotten wrestler from the PWG/ROH landscape who always had great matches. The personal issues and generally selfish attitude of Low Ki prevented him from reaching the success of his peers.
One instance of this featured Low Ki refusing to lose to a match to Cesaro of all people in PWG. Kevin Owens shared the story of Low Ki flat out saying he would not get pinned by Cesaro. Wrestlers refusing to do jobs often saw realism involved in their thought process, but anyone with eyes would take Cesaro over Low Ki in a fight.
7 Fans Attempting To Talk Dave Meltzer Into Giving Five-Star Rating
Dave Meltzer started attending PWG shows in the 2010s due to the Reseda location being close to him. The fans and wrestlers often had fun during match interactions with the wrestling journalist. Meltzer’s five-star rating was used as part of a chant after a memorable PWG match.
Matt Sydal, Ricochet and Will Ospreay defeated the Young Bucks and Adam Cole in an instant classic. Fans chanting “five” at Meltzer would culminate with him giving it five stars in the next edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
6 Rey Mysterio Attending Show Unmasked
Another noteworthy figure in wrestling to attend a PWG show was the legendary Rey Mysterio. Fellow former WCW star Konnan had attended a couple of PWG events in the audience due to the AAA talent he helped book getting their United States opportunities there.
The fun shows inspired Konnan to bring Mysterio to one of the events as the two remained best friends throughout the years. Fans took pics with a mask-less Rey who seemed to enjoy the action. Many of the talents from PWG went on to face Mysterio in future WWE matches.
5 Bryan Danielson & Roderick Strong Roughing Up Young Bucks
The Young Bucks shared a surprising story in their recent book about facing Bryan Danielson and Roderick Strong. Both wrestlers are considered true professionals, which made it more shocking that the Young Bucks felt they look liberties with them in the ring.
Fans were booing the face Young Bucks during a tag team tournament for beating the more popular teams that night. Strong and Danielson felt that brutally beating Matt and Nick would cause the audience to develop sympathy before their win. The fans continued to boo the Bucks winning and the match is very uncomfortable to watch today.
4 Michael Elgin Upsetting ROH By Losing As ROH Champion
The working relationship between ROH and PWG ended when one of the former champs broke an unwritten role. Michael Elgin took a loss to upcoming wrestler Trevor Lee in PWG during his stint as the ROH World Champion.The decision bothered ROH management, who didn’t want their next champ taking losses to lesser-known talents on independent shows.
ROH stopped allowing their contracted stars to appear on PWG shows for a while until changing their minds for Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly to go back. Bigger stars like the Young Bucks made it clear they wanted PWG bookings allowed as part of their contracts to show how important it was to the talent.
3 Chris Hero & Eddie Kingston Breaking Character In Ring
The independent wrestling career of Eddie Kingston has been discussed on AEW TV during his feud with CM Punk. Kingston was a polarizing figure in the locker room who often spoke his mind and got into hot water with other top names.
Chris Hero and Eddie had a long track record of never getting along, and it played out bigger in PWG. The end of a fatal-four way match would see Kingston and Hero getting into a bit of a shoot shoving fest trying to get the better of each other. Even though the match ended, their hostility continued in a real fashion.
2 Triple H Sending William Regal To Scout Kevin Owens
William Regal has attended multiple PWG shows to scout talent for WWE. Triple H was the one to hire Regal for that role and instruct him when to attend events. One of the most memorable instances of this came when WWE offered Kevin Owens a tryout after Regal watched his PWG match with Johnny Gargano.
Owens later revealed in an interview that Triple H admitted that Owens was the main reason for him sending Regal there. The in-person scouting was part of the process for Triple H to want done before signing Owens to an NXT contract.
1 Wanting To Book Kurt Angle Vs Bryan Danielson
PWG founder and booker Super Dragon did a question and answer session on the old PWG forums to discuss the company’s moves through the years with fans. The most interesting thing to come from it was Dragon revealing one match he wanted to book.
Kurt Angle leaving WWE in 2006 saw him joining TNA about three months after his release. Super Dragon revealed he was trying to talk to Angle’s management about coming in for a one-shot against Bryan Danielson. The dream match would have been a masterpiece between two all-time great technical wrestlers, but we sadly never got to see it happen.