Break It Down: PWG 2009 Battle of Los Angeles – Night Two

Opening Match: Block B Quarterfinal Round: Brian Kendrick vs. Joey Ryan
In an attempt to cheer Kendrick up, Ryan bought him Mickey Mouse ears from Disney Land. Kendrick doesn’t seem too happy and attacks before the bell. Ryan avoids a charge and connects with a dropkick. Kendrick answers with a viscous kick and takes control. He even pulls out some of Ryan’s chest hair at one point. Kendrick gets sent to the floor and Ryan follows out with a dive. Back in, Ryan lands a flying crossbody and adds a pumphandle suplex. He follows with a spear but falls victim to a leg lariat. They trade pin attempts and Kendrick almost gets the win by grabbing tights. Ryan superkicks him to the floor and hits one more superkick back in the ring for the win at 8:59. They worked pretty well together and the short duration allowed for limited lulls in the action. The crowd was immensely behind Ryan and I’m glad he got the win here. To be honest, Kendrick hasn’t shown me much at all during his PWG run thus far. Hopefully he is able to elevate his game in 2010. **½

Match #2: Block A Quarterfinal Round: Scott Lost vs. Kenny Omega
Lost wants to wrestle but Omega opts for constant water breaks. He spits water at Lost and kicks him to the floor. Omega follows out with a moonsault. In the ring, Lost catches Omega with a dropkick off a flying crossbody attempt. Lost tries to spit water at Omega, but before he can, Omega low blows him and the water goes into the referee’s face. Lost is able to return the favor with a low blow of his own. He catches Omega with his corner double stomp and takes over. Omega tries for his stop enzuigiri, but Lost yells “oh shit” and uses the distraction to connect with a kick. Omega answers immediately with an enzuigiri and both men are down. Lost gets caught with a spin kick but is able to get his knees up on a moonsault attempt. He lands a flying elbow drop but Omega blocks the Superman Spear. Omega connects with a springboard dropkick and follows with two dragon suplexes for a nearfall. Lost escapes Croyt’s Wrath and hits a spinning round kick. Omega answers with a sick uranagi and plants Lost with his leaping facebuster. Lost dodges the Hadouken and connects with a spin kick. They battle up top but no one can get the advantage. Lost misses a Superman Spear and Omega catches him with Croyt’s Wrath for the victory at 13:50. Tremendous effort from both men here, considering Omega may have to wrestle two more times tonight. The opening comedy didn’t overstay its welcome and they filled the match with unique exchanges to really make it stand out. The result surprised a lot of people at the time as many thought that Lost was going to win the whole tournament. However, he went out with a bang, putting in a great showing with Omega. I’m giving this match a pretty high rating as it did its job perfectly and is truly the quintessential quarterfinal match in a tournament such as this. ***½

Match #3: Block C Quarterfinal Round: Brandon Gatson vs. Alex Shelley
They wrestle to a stalemate. Gatson shows that he can hang with Shelley on the mat by maintaining control of a side headlock. Shelley connects with a flying knee strike. Gatson blocks a dive and Shelley follows suit by stopping a space flying tiger drop. Shelley takes over, even utilizing the skull”eff”. Just trying to keep things friendly around here. They trade strikes and Gatson hits a DDT. He tries for his handspring elbow but Shelley catches him and flatlines him into the turnbuckles. Shelley connects with some lethal kicks and lands a frog splash. Gatson gets his knees up to block a second frog splash. Shelley misses a plancha to the floor, allowing Gatson to land his space flying tiger drop. Back in, Gatson hits a slingshot ace crusher. Shelley answers with two superkicks. He goes for a third but Gatson catches him in a jackknife pin for the win at 11:50. If anything, this has to be Gatson’s breakout moment in PWG. The match went a long way in getting him more over, with his early mat work and the nice build to him hitting his space flying tiger drop. The real sign is that the crowd didn’t boo at all when he knocked Shelley out of the tournament. They reacted as if they were genuinely happy that the upset occurred. Shelley showed how much of an asset he can be in singles matches and Gaston proved that he is going to be a force in PWG this year. ***

Match #4: Block D Quarterfinal Round: Human Tornado vs. Roderick Strong
Tornado leaps over John Ian to connect with a dropkick before the bell. He follows with a flying hurricanrana but Strong answers with a gutbuster. Strong hits a backbreaker along with a dropkick of his own. Tornado locks in a dragon sleeper but Strong powers out and hits a suplex. Strong then bends his back across the ringpost. Tornado knocks him off the apron and lands a dive to the outside. In the ring, Tornado hits a springboard senton but Strong fires back with strikes in the corner. Tornado connects with a yakuza kick and follows with a TKO. He misses a swantan, allowing Strong to hit a backbreaker. Tornado catches Strong with a pounce and adds a suplex. Strong hits a lungblower and lays out Tornado with a yakuza kick for the victory at 9:40. They started off with the right idea but the match broke down too quickly. I don’t think anyone would have complained about seeing Strong decimate Tornado with chops and stretches. Instead, they moved away from that idea and the majority of the match was extremely back and forth. They just kept trading moves and it was tough for me to care much about the action taking place. I wouldn‘t mind seeing a rematch with a longer duration, as I think they are more than capable of putting on a quality match. **

Match #5: Colt Cabana, Johnny Goodtime, and Jerome Robinson vs. Austin Aries, Brandon Cutler, and Dustin Cutler
Aries takes Robinson down with some armdrags and connects with a dropkick. Robinson returns the favor by snapping off an armdrag on Aries and landing a handspring crossbody on Dustin. The match starts to breakdown. All of the heels are lured to the floor and Goodtime follows out with a dive. Back in, Goodtime hits a slingshot dropkick on Aries. The Cutlers low bridge Robinson and sneak in some shots on the outside. The heels work over Robinson until he dodges the Cutlers and makes the tag. Cabana lands a springboard moonsault on the Cutlers and follows with bionic elbows. Goodtime adds a missile dropkick. Cabana misses the flying asshole and gets caught with a corner dropkick from Aries. Goodtime hits a neckbreaker-DDT combination on the Cutlers. Aries back suplexes Goodtime but falls victim to the flying asshole. Robinson hits a 619 on Brandon and spikes him with the Owen Hart Special for the win at 12:54. I have no idea what to call Robinson’s finisher, so I went with what Excalibur said on commentary. This was a fun multi-man match to provide a break from the tournament matches. Everyone worked well together and this was a fine way to showcase the locals at arguably the biggest show of the year. **½

Match #6: Block AB Semifinal Round: Kenny Omega vs. Joey Ryan
They start with some chain wrestling. Omega snaps off a hurricanrana but gets caught with a dropkick. Ryan tries to wear him down with submissions. Omega comes back with a flying crossbody but Ryan rolls through the pin attempt and regains control. Ryan blocks a monkey flip and hits a spear. Both men connect with clotheslines and fall to the mat. Ryan hits a powerslam but Omega responds with his leaping facebuster. Ryan superkicks Omega during a springboard attempt and lands a dive to the outside. In the ring, Omega hits a dragon suplex for a two count. Ryan catches him with a pumphandle suplex. Omega ducks a superkick and connects with an enzuigiri. Ryan escapes Croyt’s Wrath and gets a close two off an o’connor roll. Omega blocks a superkick with two Hadoukens and hits Croyt’s Wrath for the victory at 15:02. I don’t understand why they needed to have a fifteen minute match. The problem with this contest is that the action didn’t start to pick up until Omega makes his comeback. Ryan’s strategy involved wearing down Omega with submission holds. While that may be a solid game plan, it’s not necessarily fun to watch. They started to get into a groove towards the finish but it was too little, too late at that point. **

Match #7: Block CD Semifinal Round: Brandon Gatson vs. Roderick Strong
Gatson tries a few quick rollups and hits his handspring elbow. He hits a DDT and a handspring splash on the floor. Strong dodges a space flying tiger drop and tosses Gatson across the ring apron. Back in, Strong hits a backbreaker and unleashes a barrage of offense. He hits a sick backbreaker and locks in the Stronghold. Gatson makes the ropes. The great thing about Gatson’s beat down is that he would find an opening every now and then to sneak in a pin attempt. Strong hits the Gibson Driver along with a yakuza kick for the win at 5:27. This was more like it. While maybe on the short side, they definitely made the most of their time. Gatson worked a smart match and I really liked his strategy of constantly going for rollups. Strong held nothing back and just relied on what brought him to the dance. Sure, this was only five minutes long. However, they achieved the same goal in five minutes that Omega/Ryan took fifteen minutes to reach. **¼

Match #8: PWG World Tag Team Titles: Matt and Nick Jackson © vs. Kevin Steen and El Generico
Steen takes Matt down and teabags him. Mind games folks, mind games. They trade control of a wristlock. Matt spits his gum at Steen, who starts chewing it. Nick and Generico exchange armdrags. Steenerico start working over Matt, with Steen hitting his flipping leg drop. Generico finds himself in the wrong corner and the Young Bucks isolate him. They do a fine job showing their cockiness, performing flips into simple attacks like a back rake or a thumb to the eye. Just as Generico looks to tag out, Matt pulls Steen off the apron. Moments later, Generico finds an opening and is able to make the hot tag. Steen connects with a double clothesline followed by a cannonball in the corner on Matt. He plants Nick with a DDT. Generico lands a dive to the floor on Matt while Steen drops Nick with a crucifix slam. Steen finds knees on a swantan attempt and falls victim to a standing sliced bread from Matt. Steen comes back with a lungblower. Matt takes out Generico with a facebuster and Nick adds one of his own. Steen powerbombs Nick on the apron but gets caught with a superkick from Matt. Generico overhead suplexes Matt into the turnbuckles and everyone is down. Generico spikes Nick with a tornado DDT and hits a half nelson suplex. Steen lands a frog splash for a close nearfall. Matt crotches Steen on the ringpost and Nick lands a dive to the outside on Generico. Steen blocks a superkick and throws Nick’s foot at Matt. The Young Bucks recover and hit More Bang for Your Buck on Steen for a two count. Steen accidentally backs the referee into the corner. Nick charges and nearly kills the referee with a knee strike. Steenerico hit their package piledriver-brainbuster combination on Nick but the referee is out. RICK KNOX RUNS OUT…TWO COUNT!!! Steen powerbombs Matt and locks in a sharpshooter. Generico synchs in a sharpshooter on Nick. Matt makes it to the ropes. Nick low blows Steen to save himself from a super package piledriver. He german suplexes Generico on the ring apron. The Young Bucks connect with four superkicks on Steen for a nearfall. The Young Bucks add six more superkicks to retain their titles at 21:46. Absolutely epic. There’s no other way to describe this match. I frequently note how well the Young Bucks have adjusted to playing heels. Their characterization improvement truly shined here, as they were working with two of the most beloved faces in PWG history. The crowd needed to see the titles change hands and the match broke down to feed that desire beautifully. I lost count of the number of times this match could realistically have been over. The Rick Knox run in was the most intense, as he had a situation with the Young Bucks on Night One. Finally, I don’t know if you can have a more legitimate finish to a match. Simply look at Steen’s nose after suffering ten superkicks. I love this match because it makes me love PWG and professional wrestling in general. This will actually surpass Danielson/Hero as my PWG MOTY for 2009. ****½

Match #9: PWG World Title: 2009 Battle of Los Angeles Final Round: Kenny Omega vs. Roderick Strong
It all comes down to this. The winner of this match will not only win the tournament, but he will also hold claim to the PWG World Title. The crowd is pretty split. They wrestle to a stalemate. Omega sends Strong to the floor with a spin kick. Strong responds by dumping him across the apron. Omega returns the favor and throws Strong into a few rows of chairs. He sits Strong on a chair and connects with a flying knee strike. Strong just slams Omega across the apron once again. They go further into the crowd and Omega hits his leaping facebuster onto a propped up chair. He lands a moonsault off the announce table. In the ring, Strong catches Omega coming off the top with a gutbuster. They exchange forearms and Strong connects with an enzuigiri. Omega responds with his stop enzuigiri. Strong comes back by just dropping him with a back suplex. Omega hits a dragon suplex and follows with the Hadouken. He adds a back suplex and they trade shots. Strong hits a gutbuster and the Gibson Driver for a nearfall. Omega connects with a springboard dropkick along with a 2k1 bomb. Strong sneaks in a small package for a close two count but falls victim to another 2k1 bomb. Strong dazes Omega up top and drops him across the top turnbuckle. He follows with a backbreaker and a yakuza kick for a nearfall. Omega hits a reverse hurricanrana and Croyt’s Wrath for a two count. He adds two more Hadoukens but Strong responds with a yakuza kick. Omega hits another reverse hurricanrana and Croyt’s Wrath to win the 2009 Battle of Los Angeles and become the new PWG World Champion at 19:35. They attempted to work a different style of match and succeeded for the most part. They spent nearly the first half of the match in the crowd. While I couldn’t get into some of the brawling aspects, they ended strong with Omega’s moonsault from the stage. Once the action was back in the ring, they turned things up a notch. Sure, some of the exchanges might not have been the most fluid. However, I can look past some of it considering this is their third match of the night. In the end, they did a fine job of delivering a match that would keep the crowd guessing and interested. Most will think I’m underrating this. I’ll put it this way: they had me interested but I wasn’t jumping out of my seat like I was with the previous match. Congratulations to Kenny Omega. It’s incredible to think about how much his stock has risen in 2009. ***½

Omega gives a solid victory speech after the match. He invites the Young Bucks into the ring, who then attack him. Brian Kendrick comes out to aid in the attack. El Generico runs in to clear the ring. Omega and Generico shake hands and end their rivalry.

The 411: Night Two of the 2009 Battle of Los Angeles is an extremely good show that just manages to raise the bar set by Night One. However, there are some intangibles that raise this show’s value. First of all, you must see the Steenerico/Young Bucks match. It will make you love professional wrestling. Secondly, this show also has some historical value. Omega obviously elevates himself greatly by winning the whole tournament, but Gatson proves to everyone that he is ready to be a real threat in PWG. Also, I’m sure a majority of viewers will enjoy the Omega/Strong finals more than me. Regardless, buy this show. While it barely misses equaling the best PWG shows of the year, it will illustrate for you why PWG can be considered the best pro wrestling promotion going today.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]