PWG Battle of Los Angeles tournament Night 1
November 1, 2008
Burbank, Calif.
Report by Matt Massingham, PWTorch contributor

PWG's fourth annual Battle of Los Angeles tournament took place this weekend in Burbank, Calif. Both shows followed the PWG tradition of starting late, then needing to improvise during the show. In the next-to-last match on Sunday night, the middle and bottom ropes broke, creating a main event of Low-Ki vs. Chris Hero in the finals of the tournament where they could only use the top rope. Past winners of the BOLA tournament include Chris Bosh (2005), Davey Richards (2006), and CIMA (2007).

(1) T.J. Perkins beat Chuck Taylor via reverse decision in a First Round tournament match when the ref spotted Chuck Taylor trying to use brass knuckles.

(2) "New Guy" Brandon Bonham beat Kenny Omega in a First Round tournament match with the Canadian Destroyer. Omega, who is being pushed in ROH right now, is becoming popular with PWG crowds with his comedy act.

(3) Nigel McGuinness beat Austin Aries via submission in a First Round tournament match. Aries had the Horns of Aries locked in, but Nigel countered into the London Dungeon for the submission. Really good match. They had the famous PPV spot where Nigel clotheslined Aries while he was straddling the top rope onto the ring apron. The match was different than their ROH bouts, though. Only a few lariats from Nigel, surprisingly.

(4) Low-Ki beat Roderick Strong via submission in a First Round tournament match. Hard-hitting match, as expected, with Strong controlling the first-half of the match with his trademark chops, half-nelson backbreaker, and gutbuster. Strong went for an inverted cloverleaf, but Ki countered with a Dragon Sleepr for the submission.

(5) Scott Lost beat Joey Ryan in a First Round tournament match. The So Cal special started with some nice mat wrestling early on, then Joey came back with a Triple H moveset of high knee and spinebuster. Lost eventually won with a big boot to the face for the win.

(6) Bryan Danielson beat Davey Richards via submission in a First Round tournament match. Very hard-hitting match with plenty of signature mat holds and traditional strikes from Danielson to wear down Richards. Richards tried to finish off Danielson with rapid-fire kicks, but Danielson used his elbow strikes to the head to set up the Cattle Mutilation for the submission victory.

(7) Masato Yoshino beat Nick Jackson and El Generico in a First Round tournament match. Wild three-way match with Generico seeming to have it won with corner Yakuza kicks on both men, but his pins were broken up each time. Generico was knocked to the outside at the end, allowing Yoshino to pin Nick for the win.

(8) PWG champion Chris Hero beat Necro Butcher in a First Round tournament match. In the final match of the show, Hero put Necro through a table, then he hit four or five roaring elbows before executing the Hangmen's Clutch finisher for the win. Afterward, Hero described Necro as one of his toughest opponents to-date.

***

PWG Battle of Los Angeles tournament Night 2
November 2, 2008
Burbank, Calif.
Report by Matt Massingham, PWTorch contributor

(1) Nigel McGuinness beat "New Guy" Brandon Bonham in a Second Round tournament match. Nigel won handily with the Tower of London.

(2) Low-Ki beat Masato Yoshino via submission in a Second Round tournament match. Theme of the weekend: Low-Ki forced a submission with the Dragon Sleeper.

(3) Bryan Danielson beat T.J. Perkins in a Second Round tournament match. Danielson won with a sunset flip for the pin.

(4) PWG champion Chris Hero beat Scott Lost in a Second Round tournament match. Hero won with a cravate stunner into the hangman's clutch for the win.

(5) Low-Ki beat Nigel McGuinness via DQ in a semi-final tournament match. Nigel was disqualified for hitting the Tower of London onto a chair.

(6) PWG champion Chris Hero beat Bryan Danielson in a semi-final tournament match. Hero won with the hangman's clutch again, and the fans slowly began turning on Hero, as they wanted Danielson to win here.

(7) Davey Richards & Austin Aries & Roderick Strong beat Kenny Omega & Joey Ryan & Chuck Taylor and El Generico & Nick Jackson & Necro Butcher in a nine-man, three-team traditional wild and crazy PWG BOLA tag match. During the match, the ropes snapped off while Omega was bouncing off the ropes. He took a nasty tumble to the outside and came up woozy. Omega was taken to the back, then he returned and said everyone is crazy for continuing this match. Wrestlers then chased him around the ring, to the outside of the building, and then back inside the building. Omega found himself back in the ring where Necro KO'ed him with a straight right punch. Davey Richards then snuck up behind Necro and scored a roll-up for the surprise win. Very wild scene.

(8) Low-Ki beat PWG champion Chris Hero via submission in the finals of the BOLA tournament. Not surprisingly, Low-Ki won with the Dragon Sleeper to capture the tournament. After taking a brief intermission to assess the rope damage, PWG decided to go with a one-rope main event. Since Ki and Hero only had one rope to work with, the wrestlers took the action to the floor in the middle of the match for some brawling. But, most of the match was contained inside the one-rope ring. Really, really good match under the circumstances.

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