Break It Down: PWG 2010 Battle of Los Angeles – Night Two

Night Two of the 2010 Battle of Los Angeles on September 5th, 2010

Opening Match: Second Round: Austin Aries vs. Joey Ryan
Ryan’s left shoulder is heavily taped. He hits a shoulder block but hurts himself in the process. Aries snaps off a few armdrags. Ryan answers with some armdrags of his own but once again hurts his shoulder. Aries gets on the microphone and gives Ryan a chance to forfeit. Ryan says that he can “shoulder” much bigger loads than Aries. After that fantastic pun, Ryan connects with a superkick. Aries sends him shoulder-first into the turnbuckles and connects with a flying elbow to the floor. Aries takes control, working over the left shoulder. Ryan catches him coming off the middle rope with an atomic drop and hits a spinebuster. Aries blocks a superkick but Ryan reverses a back suplex attempt for a nearfall. Aries sends Ryan to the floor and follows out with the heat seeking missile. In the ring, Aries connects with a missile dropkick and the IED. He applies the Last Chancery and transitions into a hammerlock. He rolls Ryan up for a two count. Ryan tries a few quick pin attempts to no avail. Aries dodges a superkick and hits a back suplex. Ryan blocks another IED with a superkick. Ryan connects with another superkick for the win at 15:24. This was much better than I expected, as they kept the comedy to a minimum. Ryan sold his shoulder injury extremely well and Aries did a good job of focusing his offense on attacking the shoulder. Aries also convinced a split crowd to get behind Ryan, which is something that will help Ryan throughout the rest of the show. The match itself didn’t feel like fifteen minutes, resulting in an engaging opener and a successful start to the show. ***¼

Match #2: Second Round: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Roderick Strong
They start with some intense chain wrestling. They exchange strikes until Claudio rocks Strong with a forearm. Strong retreats to the floor where Claudio dumps him across the apron. Back in, Claudio takes over, kneeing Strong’s head into the ringpost at one point. Claudio wins a strike exchange on the outside by repeatedly driving Strong’s head into the apron. This man is violent. Strong finds an opening to connect with a jumping knee strike. He follows with a leg lariat but walks into a bicycle kick. Strong escapes the UFO and hits an ace crusher. Claudio finds himself in the Stronghold but reverses it into a giant swing. Strong connects with an enzuigiri and hits a gutbuster. He goes back to the Stronghold but Claudio reaches the bottom rope. Claudio connects with a clothesline and applies a stretch muffler. Strong makes it to the ropes. They trade rollups and Claudio connects with a popup european uppercut for the victory at 13:47. For a quarterfinal round match in a tournament, this contest delivered. They didn’t go all out but provided enough interesting action to make the match worthwhile. There were also some believable nearfalls down the stretch due to each man’s technical skills. I’d like these two to be given a main event spotlight at some point to see how they could improve upon this match. ***

Match #3: Second Round: Brandon Bonham vs. Brandon Gatson
Gatson connects with a spin kick but Bonham responds with a double stomp from the middle rope. Bonham adds a gamenguiri but gets caught with a slingshot ace crusher. Bonham recovers with an enzuigiri and a pumphandle slam. He dropkicks Gatson into the corner. Gatson hits a russian leg sweep and comes off the middle rope with an elbow drop. Bonham shrugs off a corner charge. Gatson reverses the Hammer of the Gods into a pin attempt for a questionable nearfall. Gatson hits an emerald frosion for the win at 6:17. I consider this match to be a huge letdown. The show started with two very solid outings and this was the time for PWG to showcase its homegrown talent. Instead, Gatson and Bonham had an extremely back and forth match with little structure that ended too abruptly. I’ve said before that the story of 2010 for PWG has been the rise of the local talent. That was not the case here. *¾

Match #4: Second Round: Chris Hero vs. Akira Tozawa
Tozawa tries to control on the mat but Hero is too powerful. Tozawa then tries to get intense but Hero just chops him. They scream at each other and Tozawa sends Hero to the floor with a dropkick. Back in, Hero shrugs off a few chops and returns the favor. He hits a senton and a rolling neckbreaker. Tozawa walks into a flash kick and Hero takes control. Tozawa finds an opening by dropkicking Hero to the floor once again and follows out with two consecutive dives. In the ring, Tozawa hits a saito suplex. Hero answers with a cravate suplex and a neckbreaker out of the corner. Tozawa hurricanranas out of a liger bomb and connects with a shining wizard. They have a great strike exchange which ends when Tozawa hits a hesitation german suplex for a huge nearfall. Tozawa follows with a series of kicks and a shining wizard for another nearfall. Hero hits an overhead suplex and a powerbomb for a two count. Hero MURDERS Tozawa with a mafia kick but TOZAWA KICKS OUT AT ONE!! Hero connects with a roaring elbow and lands a moonsault for the victory at 13:55. They had the perfect dynamic with Hero as the bully and Tozawa as the spunky underdog. Hero held nothing back in his strikes and Tozawa’s comebacks had the crowd going crazy. With each man playing his role to perfection, it’s hard not to become engrossed in the action. This truly was a star-making performance for Tozawa. ***¾

Match #5: Semifinal Round: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Joey Ryan
Claudio immediately targets the left shoulder. He even missile dropkicks the injured shoulder. Claudio attacks the body part for about seven minutes before Ryan spears him off the apron. Claudio misses a chop and his hand collides with the ringpost. Ryan lands a flying crossbody in the ring and connects with a superkick. Claudio blocks a second superkick and applies a stretch muffler. Ryan reaches the bottom rope. Claudio reverses a tornado DDT into a popup european uppercut and follows with a giant swing. Ryan connects with a superkick but runs into a powerbomb. Claudio goes back to the stretch muffler but pulls back on the left shoulder this time. Ryan escapes the Ricola Bomb and hits an exploder. Ryan catches Claudio off a springboard with a superkick and follows with another superkick for the win at 13:10. This match achieved its goal of making Ryan look resilient by fighting through the damage inflicted upon his left shoulder. However, over half of the contest was dedicated to Claudio attacking the body part, which doesn’t exactly make for the most interesting action. Nevertheless, for what they were going for, this was a decent match. **½

Match #6: Semifinal Round: Brandon Gatson vs. Chris Hero
Gatson attacks during the introductions and lands a space flying tiger drop to the outside. Back in, Gatson lands a flying crossbody. Hero sends him to the apron and then elbows him to the floor. Hero connects with another roaring elbow on the outside. Hero welcomes Gatson back into the ring with a flash kick. Gatson hits a stunner but gets caught with yet another roaring elbow. Hero takes control until Gatson wakes up with a DDT. Gatson follows with a russian leg sweep and two neckbreakers. Hero blocks a handspring elbow with an elbow of his own. Hero hits the Deathblow and applies a stretch plum for the victory at 9:02. I didn’t like their last match at Dio! as much as others and this outing was just an abridged version of it. Hero kept the action flowing and the best parts of the contest were when he would catch Gatson out of nowhere with an elbow. This tournament could have been a mechanism to make Gatson a fixture in the main event but unfortunately that didn’t happen. **¼

Match #7: Johnny Goodtime, Ricochet, and Rocky Romero vs. Brian Cage, Chuck Taylor, and Ryan Taylor
They officially make the change from “Brian Cage” to “Brian Taylor”. For play by play purposes, I’m going to use Cage. I’m also going to use Chuck for Chuck Taylor and Taylor for Ryan Taylor. Confused yet? Romero innovatively snaps off a headscissors on Taylor. Taylor falls for the “lady of the lake” strategy. Chuck from the apron: “it’s a trap!”. Goodtime connects with a slingshot dropkick and a bicycle kick on Taylor. Cage tags in and actually uppercuts Goodtime’s headband off his head. Goodtime responds with another slingshot dropkick and Ricochet adds a slingshot leg drop. Ricochet and Chuck have their usual awesome exchange and find themselves at a stalemate. Chuck fools Ricochet with a trick handshake but falls victim to deja vu. Romero lays in some kicks on Chuck and Goodtime almost kills him with a slingshot senton. Goodtime finds himself in the wrong corner and the Taylors start working him over. Chuck actually joins commentary for a minute and talks about how he needs to ice his balls. Only in PWG. Ricochet makes the blind tag and snaps off a slingshot hurricanrana on Chuck. Romero catches Cage with a flying knee. Chuck powerslams Ricochet and Cage adds a flying elbow drop. The Taylors isolate Ricochet until he hits a code red on Chuck and makes the tag. Romero lands a springboard crossbody on Taylor and tornado DDTs Cage. He lures Cage to the floor but Taylor blocks a dive. Goodtime lands a dive to the floor onto Cage while clotheslining Chuck on the apron in the process. Taylor, Romero, Chuck, and Ricochet all follow with dives of their own. In the ring, Ricochet headscissors Cage and connects with an enzuigiri. Chuck takes out Ricochet with Sole Food but gets stomped to the canvas. Taylor knockout kicks Goodtime but gets caught with a flying knee from Romero. Cage lays out Romero with a discus clothesline and hits a pumphandle suplex. He also clotheslines Ricochet off the apron. Goodtime clotheslines Chuck to the floor and hits a side slam on Cage. Taylor nails Goodtime with a lariat but misses a swantan. Ricochet comes off the top with double knees on Taylor but misses a corkscrew. Chuck hits the Awful Waffle on Ricochet for the win at 20:11. This was the true showcase of the locals and it was in a non-tournament match. Ricochet delivered another successful performance and the PWG crowd was strongly behind him. I’m really looking forward to his match against El Generico on the next show. I’m also looking forward to seeing what happens with the new “Taylor Trio”, as I see the stable greatly helping Ryan Taylor and Brian Cage. This was one of the better editions of the annual “losers’ tag team match” and everyone came out of the contest looking good. ***½

Match #8:  PWG World Tag Team Titles: El Generico and Paul London © vs. Brandon and Dustin Cutler
Dustin powers London down with a shoulder block.  London finds better success with Brandon, taking him down with a shoulder block of his own.  Generico snaps off a few armdrags on Brandon and London adds a crossbody.  Brandon elevates London into a back suplex by Dustin. London responds with a vicious spin kick to Dustin. Brandon stops Generico’s momentum and the Cutlers isolate him. Generico catches Brandon with a michinoku driver and makes the tag. London back drops Dustin to the floor and follows with a moonsault from the apron. Brandon gets sent to the floor as well and London comes off the top rope with a double stomp. In the ring, London lands a flying crossbody on Dustin and Generico adds a corner yakuza kick. London connects with a springboard double stomp. Brandon throws Generico into the ringpost and hits a lungblower on London. He catches Generico with an ace crusher. The Cutlers throw London into Generico. Brandon lands a dive to the floor onto London while Dustin takes out Generico with an F5. Generico overhead suplexes Brandon into the turnbuckles and yakuza kicks Dustin. A top rope brainbuster is blocked and the Cutlers hit their tandem tombstone on Generico for a nearfall. The Cutlers military press London but Generico saves him from a tandem tombstone. London superkicks Dustin while Generico hits a top rope brainbuster on Brandon to retain the titles at 18:22. This was a solid yet unspectacular title defense for Generico and London. The beginning portion of the match was a little slow but the action picked up down the stretch as expected. However, after their big win over the Young Bucks on night one, I feel as though the Cutlers are highly believable tag team champions at this point. There simply wasn’t much suspense towards the finish, with the Cutlers only receiving one legitimate nearfall. Don’t get me wrong – this is an enjoyable tag team match. I just feel as though more could have been done with it. ***

Match #9: 2010 Battle of Los Angeles Final Round: Joey Ryan vs. Chris Hero
The last time these two met, Ryan was trying to stop Hero from becoming the longest reigning PWG World Champion in a Guerrilla Warfare match. They start with a strike exchange, which Hero wins. He starts targeting the left shoulder but Ryan immediately retreats to the floor. Back in, Hero roaring elbows the left shoulder and begins targeting it again. Ryan finds an opening by superkicking him off the apron. Ryan connects with another superkick on the outside and takes control in the ring. Hero comes back with a springboard moonsault and a stiff punch. He lands an impressive dive to the floor. They brawl at ringside where Hero literally rams Ryan’s head into the ringpost. Ryan is busted open and Hero opens the wound further with multiple headbutts. In the ring, Hero connects with a basement dropkick. Ryan blocks the Deathblow with a pumphandle exploder. Hero avoids a spear and connects with a roaring elbow. Ryan answers with a superkick and keeps Hero down with more kicks. Hero hits an overhead suplex but walks into a superkick. He fires back with a roaring elbow and connects with the Deathblow for a nearfall. Hero locks in a stretch plum and transitions into the Hangman’s Clutch. He transitions again into a crossface but Ryan reaches the bottom rope. They trade punches and Hero connects with a roaring elbow. He follows with a liger bomb. They have an insane exchange of roaring elbows and superkicks. Hero connects with three roaring elbows for a nearfall. Ryan ducks another roaring elbow and catches Hero in a small package to win the 2010 Battle of Los Angeles at 23:11. Some people will love this match while others will hate it. They definitely tried to make this an epic conclusion to the tournament. Hero did a good job of attacking Ryan’s injured shoulder and there were some brutal spots throughout that made the action stand out. However, both men were selling their exhaustion and the match was wrestled at a slower than usual pace. People will also find a problem with the amount of roaring elbows and superkicks, calling it overkill. I can see both sides to the argument and I think you’re enjoyment of this match will depend on how interested you are in Ryan’s new push. The whole tournament seemed to be pointing towards a main event spotlight for Ryan and this contest cemented that idea. I will settle with a very “in between” rating. You really have to watch this match for yourself and decide. ***

Hero puts over Ryan after the match. He demands a title shot if Ryan wins the belt. Ryan says that this weekend belongs to him and whether the crowd likes it or not, he will be the next PWG World Champion. The crowd chants “Davey’s gonna kill you”. He claims that the “Joey Ryan Era” begins tonight.

The 411: Night Two of the 2010 Battle of Los Angeles is a consistent show with worthwhile matches throughout the card. The second round matches all came through aside from a disappointing outing from Gatson and Bonham. In particular, Tozawa delivered a star-making performance in a great contest against Hero. There’s also a fun and energetic six-man tag team match featuring the debut of the new Taylor Trio. Unfortunately, the last two matches weren’t able to top expectations. They aren’t bad contests by any means, but there was definitely room for improvement. This show is filled with quality matches and that’s the norm for PWG. The only drawback is that I can’t say anything on this release is “must see”. Still, there’s enough worthwhile action here to give a high recommendation.

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]