PWG Battle of Los Angeles Night Two Report

PWG ran the second night of its three night Battle of Los Angeles tournament Saturday night. The show was very different from night one. Night one was a balanced night of strong wrestling, highlighted by a stiff, believable match between Roderick Strong and Rocky Romero. Night two featured a weak first half, but then concluded with three straight wild, spectacular brawls. It was a very different evening, but also a lot of fun.

1. Austin Aries beat Disco Machine. Disco Machine was more serious than usual, but the crowd was decidedly behind Aries. They engaged in some mat wrestling early. Aries executed a side headlock takeover and got out of a head scissors with a drop kick. Disco came back with a flying head scissors and tope. He missed a drop kick off the top, and Aries hit a knee drop, clothesline and elbow off the top. He followed with a gut wrench suplex, kicks and a head butt.

Disco came back with a snap suplex, side suplex and drop kick. Aries cut him off with a DDT and followed with three hard shoulder blocks, a high knee and side slam. Disco responded with a power slam off the top. Aries regained the momentum shortly thereafter with a brain buster, and then applied the Rings of Saturn with his leg twisting Disco’s neck for the submission. This was nothing special.

2. Davey Richards beat Ronin. TJ Perkins was the scheduled opponent for Richards, and there were dueling chants of “we want TJ” and “fuck you Ronin.” Richards outwrestled Richards for a long stretch at the beginning of the match, including leg kicks, a crippler cross face, an arm drag, a leg drop on the arm, an arm ringer, an arm bar and a wrist lock. Richards continued with chops and kicks, a body slam, a knee drop, head scissors and kicks.

Ronin finally got on track with an exploder, and they traded forearms. Ronin hit a butterfly suplex and executed a hard kick to the back. Richards hit a superplex and they traded forearms and slaps. Richards hit a springboard drop kick, more kicks and a German suplex. Ronin hit a clothesline and grabbed the tights for two. He followed with a forearm and brain buster, but Richards hit his D.R. driver for the pin. This was okay.

3. Jack Evans beat Claudio Castagnoli. Evans was really over with the crowd. They locked up and Claudio overpowered Evans. Evans got the Fujiwara arm bar, and they did a series of spots where Evans would escape Claudio’s moves with his agility. Claudio hit an elbow, body slam, stomps, and a European uppercut for two. Evans came back with a flying head scissors, a hand spring elbow, and a springboard crossbody attempt. Claudio caught him and hit a fall away slam.

Claudio hit a European uppercut to the back and dropped Evans on the apron. Claudio hit a gut wrench into a power bomb for the two. He applied a half crab but Evans got to the ropes. Claudio pressed Evans into the air for a face first bump and hit a delayed vertical suplex. Evans made his comeback with a cartwheel into a kick, a shining wizard, and a springboard 450 plancha to the outside. He followed that up with a springboard moonsault crossbody and a standing sky twister press. However, Claudio caught him and hit a reverse DVD.

Evans quickly regained control and hit a standing corkscrew 450. Claudio threw him in the air and caught him with a European uppercut on the way down but Evans barely kicked out before the three. Evans reversed a Claudio top rope power bomb attempt into a huracanrana. He then hit the 630 splash for the pin. This was a really fun match, as Evans is a blast to watch. This was the best match of the first half of the show.

4. Genki Horiguchi beat Chris Hero. There were dueling H-A-G-E and H-E-R-O chants. They shook hands, but Hero mocked Genki with a test of strength since Genki is much shorter. Genki stomped his foot and drop kicked him in the leg. He applied the figure four, but Hero reversed so Genki went to the ropes. Hero hit a fireman carry into a slam. Hero then hit another slam and a standing senton. Hero tied up Genki’s hands and draped his hair over Genki’s balding head.

Hero hit a chop, a forearm and a power slam for a two count. Genki reversed a suplex and hit a suplex of his own. He continued with a flying head scissors, a boot to the face and a tornado DDT. Genki hit a body slam and went to the top, but Hero caught him with his knees as he attempted a moonsault. Hero hit a head over heels clothesline for a two. Hero hit a power slam, but Genki retaliated with a huracanrana, and they traded pinning attempt. The Hero’s Welcome was reversed into a rollup and Genki scored the win. This was another good match, and their styles meshed better than the other Dragon Gate wrestlers taking on PWG opponents.

5. Human Tornado won a four way match for the PWG Title over Joey Ryan, Excalibur and Petey Williams via count out over Ryan, so Ryan retained his title. Tornado didn’t come out at first, and Ryan said he wouldn’t show up. Tornado then came in. The other three men jumped Ryan, and then Williams and Tornado fought in the ring. Tornado hit a drop kick, enzuigiri, and splits low blow. He went for a somersault plancha to the outside but missed, and had to be helped to the back.

Williams hit a leg drop on the apron on Excalibur. He tied him to the tree of woe and stepped on his groin. Ryan hit a drop kick on Excalibur, and Williams hit one as well. Ryan used a body slam, but when Williams tried Excalibur fought out. Ryan and Williams hit a double elbow, but Excalibur threw Ryan into Williams’ groin and hit a double DDT on them. Excalibur gave Ryan an elbow and Williams a knee. He power bombed Ryan into the corner, but Williams gave Excalibur a side Russian leg sweep. Williams went for the Canadian destroyer, but Ryan hit a superkick on him for a two.

Excalibur used the heart bunch on Ryan, but Williams gave Excalibur a cradle DDT before he could cover. Williams hit a spinning heel kick on Ryan and went for the Canadian destroyer, but Excalibur rolled him up for the pin. Rather than leave, he gave Excalibur a pile driver and Ryan covered Excalibur for the pin. Human Tornado then ran in as Snowflake from Nacho Libre. He hit a high kick and a bunch of somersault sentons. He hit a fist off the top rope, at which point Ryan left for a count out. This was a bad match with a crappy finish, and seeing every single Ryan title match end in a screw job is more tired than DX vs. the McMahons.

6. Arrogance defeated the Briscoes and Homicide & B-Boy to retain their tag titles in a wild brawl. This was so out of control that it was hard to keep up with the action and write down what was going on. It’s a match to be seen. The Briscoes and Homicide & B-Boy went at it from the beginning and brawled on the floor. There was a back body drop and a hip toss on the floor. Jay Briscoe immediately started bleeding. The wrestlers were throwing each other into the chairs.

Homicide attacked the Briscoes with a fork. Bosh hit a fisherman suplex and slam on Homicide. Homicide applied the STF on Lost. Briscoe hit a northern lights suplex on Homicide. Homicide hit an ace crusher off the top. B-Boy gave Briscoe an enzuigiri. Homicide hit a somersault tope on Arrogance and B-Boy hit a top rope moonsault on the Briscoes. They then gave Lost an elevated top rope bulldog ala the Steiner Brothers.

Briscoes hit a double team neck breaker on B-Boy. Lost hit an elbow off the top on a Briscoe, but B-Boy saved. B-Boy hit a shining wizard on Bosh, and Briscoe hit an exploder on B-Boy. Homicide hit a top rope inverted DDT. Finally Homicide executed the cop killa on Briscoe but Bosh covered for the pin. This received a standing ovation and PWG chants. It was a very different match from Strong-Romero the first night, but attained a similar level of excellence. The Briscoes are amazing right now.

7. Frankie Kazarian defeated Scorpio Sky via disqualification. This was a major upset, as they were teasing Sky would win the entire tournament. Kazarian jumped Sky from behind with punches and then chops. He hit a springboard leg drop, but Sky came back with a top rope huracanrana. He continued with a chop, choking, a suplex and a leg drop on the apron. Kazarian fired back with punches. Sky hit a diamond cutter and applied the dragon sleeper. He then hit a pedigree, but Kazarian kicked out at one.

Sky gave him a back breaker and then took the microphone. He talked shit while beating up Kazarian. He said Kazarian will never make it in WWE, and Kazarian then attacked him with punches and a sidewalk slam. Sky used a suplex to send Kazarian to the floor and hit a beautiful somersault plancha. Kazarian ten took over. He threw Sky into the chairs, body slammed him on the floor, and sling shot him into the post.

They brawled to the stage, where Kazarian power bombed Sky off the stage onto some chairs. Back in the ring Kazarian covered but Jade Chung attacked Kazarian with scissors for the disqualification. Kazarian went to cut Jade’s hair, but the Dynasty ran out to stop him. This was a really strong match. Kazarian showed tremendous intensity and it was a heated grudge match.

8. Super Dragon defeated Necro Butcher in a really violent spectacle. They brawled all over the place, hitting each other with chairs and throwing each other through tables. Dragon smashed Necro’s hand multiple times with a chair. Necro gave Dragon a tiger driver on the stage, and hit a huracanrana off the top in the ring. He finished Necro with a curb stomp on a chair and a sick psycho driver on a chair that caused Necro to bleed from the eye. They worked hard, but this is not my idea of wrestling. It was too dangerous and unnecessarily violent. You have to admire the wrestlers’ effort, but I don’t like matches that are so over the top.

The Battle of Los Angeles concludes tomorrow with Chris Sabin vs. El Generico, CIMA vs. Kevin Steen, Dragon Kid vs. Roderick Strong, Davey Richards vs. Austin Aries, Jack Evans vs. Genki Horiguchi and Frankie Kazarian vs. Super Dragon, as well as the next round after that and the finals.