Colling It In The Ring Reviews: PWG Battle of Los Angeles Stage Two 11/2/2008

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla presents Battle Of Los Angeles Stage Two
Date: 11/2/2008
From: Burbank, CA

Opening Contest: Brandon Bonham vs. Nigel McGuiness: Nigel controls Bonham in the opening moments of the contest working over Brandon’s arm. Nigel kicks Bonham on the back in the corner and follows up with a stiff shot to the chest to drop Brandon and keep control of the bout. They begin to trade forearm shots until Brandon sends Nigel to the floor and hits a somersault dive over the top on the floor! McGuiness hits a running uppercut in the corner but Bonham quickly fights back with a dropkick and a double stomp for a near fall. Nigel nails Bonham with a stiff lariat but can’t get a three count. Bonham kicks McGuiness a couple of times and dropkicks a seated Nigel in the corner for a near fall. Nigel stops Bonham on the top rope and hits the Tower of London for the win. (**1/4. A rather quick match to start night two, but it was kind of obvious that Nigel was going to win this one, as he should. Bonham provided some alright offense in this one. It was just alright, nothing too bad here.)

Second Contest: Low Ki vs. Masato Yoshino: Yoshino chops Ki and runs the ropes incredibly fast before hitting a couple of dropkicks. Ki works over Yoshino with several uppercuts to gain the advantage. They exchange overhand chops with Yoshino getting the better until Ki drops Masato gut first over the top rope. Ki delivers several kicks to Yoshino’s chest in the corner. Ki gets a near fall after a double under hook suplex. Yoshino hits a lightning spiral to regain the advantage. Yoshino gets the Jungle Lock on Ki but isn’t able to get the submission as Ki reaches the ropes. Ki has a dragon sleeper locked in but he was sitting on the top rope. Ki comes off the ropes to hit a forearm shot for another near fall. Masato delivers a running back elbow and tries for a neckbreaker but Ki avoided it and dropkicks Yoshino before locking in the dragon sleeper to win the match. (**1/2. An alright match that was even quicker than the first match. Nothing special to see here either.)

Third Contest: TJ Perkins vs. Bryan Danielson: Danielson takes Perkins down to the mat and stretches him out in the opening moments of the contest. Perkins counters a knee bar and gets a half Boston Crab locked in until Bryan gets to the ropes. There isn’t a whole lot going on that is worth mentioning as it’s a rather slow start to the contest. Danielson is working over Perkins left arm for several moments. Danielson delivers a few hard hitting uppercuts to provide some kind of physical interaction. Perkins takes Bryan down after a superkick to his midsection. Perkins wraps Bryan’s leg around the ring post and pulls on Danielson’s leg on the bottom rope. Danielson misses his jumping knee strike from the apron and hits the floor hard. Perkins slams Bryan’s right knee down into the concrete and the ring post! That’s going to be TJ’s main focus of attack. TJ taunts the fans after a spinning back elbow strike to maintain control. Danielson comes off the top to hit a missile dropkick! Danielson gets a surfboard on TJ but can’t get a submission. Perkins stops Bryan with a kick to the face as he ran the ropes. Danielson surprises Perkins with a triangle choke in the middle of the ring but Perkins gets out of the hold to lock in a modified Texas Cloverleaf. Danielson struggles but reaches the ropes! Perkins hits a 450 splash off the top for a two but Bryan nearly rolls TJ up for a near win. Danielson gets the Cattle Mutilation on TJ, but TJ reaches the bottom rope to break the hold! Bryan’s knee is bothering him big time. Perkins tosses Bryan off the top rope and Danielson falls hard to the floor. That didn’t help his knee that’s for sure. TJ is trying to get a count-out as he knocks Danielson off the apron a few times. Danielson rolls Perkins up with a sunset flip from the apron and wins the match! (***1/4. A solid match here that got going after a slow start to it. I liked the finish as it got the fans to pop and make the most noise they have so far on night two.)

Fourth Contest: PWG World Heavyweight Champion Chris Hero vs. Scott Lost: Lost quickly goes after Hero with a running high knee after Hero did a flip during his ring entrance. Scott spears Hero in the corner but can’t keep the champ down on the canvas. Hero snap powerslams Lost and quickly hits a senton splash. Hero springboards off the middle rope to drop Lost with a forearm shot. Lost gets a two count after a spinning roundhouse kick. Lost hits a vertical suplex to control the champ. Lost uses the ring post to spin around and kick Hero off the ring apron from the floor. Lost dropkicks Hero on the floor but that seemed to hurt Lost as well since he landed on the concrete floor. Hero hits a flipping neckbreaker back in the ring and appears to be getting a second wind. The champ nails Lost with an elbow shot and hits a flipping neckbreaker for a near fall. Lost stops Hero with a superkick but the champ kicks out before three. Lost spears Hero and hangs onto the champ to go for a pin but only gets a two count. Hero kicks Lost in the head bur runs into a back elbow. Hero hits a rolling elbow and a sit out powerbomb out of the corner but Lost kicks out at two. Lost blocks a rolling elbow with a back elbow and suplexs himself and Hero over the top to the floor! Scott plants Hero on the floor with an ace crusher! Lost hits an elbow drop off the top but Hero kicked out at two. Lost goes for a spin kick but Hero blocks it to nail him with a rolling elbow. Hero slams Lost to the mat and locks in the Hangman’s Clutch to win the match. (***1/4. It was a good match that featured some better spots than the previous match but I wouldn’t consider it any better, though.)

Fifth Contest: Low Ki vs. Nigel McGuiness: A slow start to the match with Ki trying to get the dragon sleeper on Nigel after McGuiness was just twisting his arm for a few moments. Nigel uppercuts Ki several times after avoiding a chop in the corner. Ki gets the advantage after kicking McGuiness a few times and slows down the contest again. Ki decides to double stomp Nigel right on the eye! Ki twists his foot on Nigel’s eye, which was injured during his match with Bonham. McGuiness drops Ki with a spinning lariat and continues to deliver uppercuts. Ki rolls through a sunset flip to double stomp McGuiness! Ki springboards off the middle rope to kick McGuiness to the floor. Ki tosses Nigel face first into several chairs. Nigel delivers an elbow shot as they fought over a chair. McGuinness uppercuts Ki in the corner and goes for the Tower of London but Ki has put the dragon sleeper on Nigel! Nigel drops to the mat and pokes the referee in the eyes on accident. Nigel gets out but Ki puts the hold back on again in the ropes. Nigel counters with the Tower of London onto the chair and the referee calls for the bell! (**3/4. It was a slow start but they ended up incorporating Nigel’s eye injury well and the action was solid enough fr me.)

Sixth Contest: PWG World Heavyweight Champion Chris Hero vs. Bryan Danielson: Remember, Bryan’s left knee was injured earlier in the tournament, so that should be Hero’s focus of attack. They start off with some nice mat wrestling and counters but neither man gets a long lasting advantage. Danielson takes Hero down to the mat and bends the champ’s hand backwards. Bryan stomps on Hero’s elbow and that pisses Hero off! Chris comes back with a DDT on Bryan’s injured knee and slams Danielson’s leg down to the canvas a few times. Bryan gets out of the surfboard attempt but Hero locks in the STF. Hero continues to stretch out Danielson’s injured knee with a leg hold, but Bryan manages to counter it and has a modified STF on the champ. Danielson slaps Hero a few times but Hero drops Bryan with an elbow shot for a two count. Bryan knocks Hero off the middle rope with a slap and dropkicks the champ into a few chairs in the crowd. Danielson springboards off the top rope to take Hero out with a crossbody on the floor! Back in the ring, Bryan hits a missile dropkick off the top and hits a yakuza kick for a near win on Hero. Hero is nearly rolled up after blocking the Cattle Mutilation. Hero giant swings Bryan with his injured leg before locking in a half Boston Crab! Bryan gets to the bottom rope to break the hold. Bryan is slammed to the canvas but manages to crotch Hero on the top rope. Danielson hits a top rope back suplex for a near fall! Bryan strikes Hero with several elbow strikes and locks in the Cattle Mutilation! Hero manages to reach the bottom rope to once again break the hold! Danielson is stopped by Hero with a rolling elbow to the face and then to the injured knee. Bryan hits Hero with a rolling elbow as he runs the ropes but Hero brings Bryan down with a dragon screw leg whip. Hero puts in the Hangman’s Clutch and Danielson is forced to tap out! (****. I really enjoyed this match. Hero was able to work over Bryan’s knee and did so in a manner that wasn’t boring but rather done very well. The best match of the tournament thus far.)

Seventh Contest: Kenny Omega/Joey Ryan/Chuck Taylor vs. El Generico/Necro Butcher/PWG World Tag Team Champion Nick Jackson vs. Austin Aries/Roderick Strong/Davey Richards: Butcher wants to punch the referee but both men are held back to start the comedy in the match. Omega and Richards start the match legally. Davey controls Omega with mat wrestling based wrestling. Kenny monkey flips Davey and dropkicks Richards to the floor. Nick Jackson tags in but Strong enters to hit a leg lariat and chops away on Jackson. Nick hits a hurricanrana but Strong counter a roll up with one his own. They are moving very fast until Taylor and Generico are tagged in. Taylor strikes Generico in the throat but Generico arm drags Taylor to turn the momentum into his favor. Generico dropkicks the back of Chuck’s head. Aries and Ryan are tagged into the bout. They are messing around with Ryan’s bandana. Aries puts it inside his trunks to taunt Ryan. Aries is teaching Ryan how to do a handstand. Aries dropkicks Ryan and arm drags Taylor and Omega. Butcher comes in and hip tosses Aries and his partners along with the other three opponents. Necro hip tosses his own partners as well! Butcher hip tosses the referee much to the delight of the fans! Generico is worked over by Omega and Taylor. Richards sends Omega into the ropes but the ropes snap and Omega crashes to the floor! That was incredibly dangerous. Richards snaps Jackson over with a suplex. Strong hits a fall away slam in Jackson. Richards hits a hammerlock back suplex on Nick. Richards works over Jackson with kicks. Generico gets the tag from Jackson and cleans house. Generico is beaten down until Butcher enters and punches everyone. Taylor and Ryan take everyone out with dives to the floor. Necro comes off the apron to hit a somersault dive of his own. Generico misses a running yakuza kicks in the corner and Aries hammers away on him. Aries misses a dropkick in the corner. Omega has gotten on the microphone and he wants everyone to stop. Kenny wants everyone to look at the ring and realize they have nothing to fight for. Omega calls them all losers and he runs away from all the wrestlers. This is actually humorous. Omega literally runs all around the arena and then runs outside. Omega gets back into the ring but is knocked out by Butcher but Necro only gets a two count. They are acting like this is a battle royal with only the top rope! Richards rolls Butcher up and the referee does a fast count to end the match. (***. It was alright, but it dragged on for a while there. The comedy that Omega provided was nice, but the match shouldn’t have gone this long.) After the match, Butcher breaks a chair over the referee’s head.

Main Event: PWG World Heavyweight Champion Chris Hero vs. Low Ki in the finals of the BOLA Tournament: Well, this match is taking place with only a top rope since the ring was broken in the previous match. Hero goes for a STF early on but Ki reverses with a headlock and goes for a headlock, but Hero is able to reach the top rope with his feet. Neither man is able to get a clear cut advantage. It’s a rather slow start to the contest. Ki works over Hero with chops and kicks. Hero is busted open on the nose following one of the kicks. Ki dropkicks the champ on the floor and simply waits back in the ring. Ki kicks Hero in the chest several times. Hero battles back with a rolling elbow to knock Ki off his feet. Hero hits a spinning neckbreaker but Ki kicks out at two. Hero delivers a running kick in the corner for a near fall. Hero hits a vertical suplex into a neckbreaker for a two count. Hero follows up with a senton splash but only gets a two on a pin attempt. Ki is fighting back with several kicks. Hero catches a kick attempt but misses an elbow strike. Ki drops the champ with a somersault kick. There is blood pouring out of Hero’s nose. Ki nails Hero with a running kick but can’t keep the champ down. Ki tries to lock in the dragon sleeper but Hero gets out of it. Hero gets out of the Ki Krusher to hit a jumping neckbreaker but Ki powers out at two. Hero senton splashes Ki and locks in the Hangman’s Clutch! Ki is biting Hero’s hand to break the grip. Hero returns the bite and drops Ki with a rolling elbow for another two count. Ki hits the Ki Krusher but the champ somehow kicks out at two! Hero rolls through the dragon sleeper for a near fall. Ki kicks out of a Hangman’s sit down slam. Ki gets out of the Hangman’s Clutch! Hero delivers another elbow shot but Ki hits a running dropkick and locks in the dragon sleeper to win the match by submission! (***1/4. A good match considering they didn’t have ropes to work with. The finish was done nicely and the crowd popped for when Hero tapped out. A good way to finish the tournament and the night.) After the match. Hero gets a microphone and is going to deliver a speech. I think Hero says he has found his number one contender. Low Ki holds up the trophy as the fans give him a standing ovation. Ki puts over the company for presenting something special each show. Ki talks about how brutal the sport is and how the guys in the back risk their lives for the fans entertainment.

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The 411: I'd consider this a better night than night one. Hero/Danielson was a nicely done match. Plus, it's kind of memorable that the ropes broke during the nine man tag match and the main event had to be contested without a middle or bottom rope. I'm giving this night a thumbs up and a recommendation to purchase BOLA 2008.
Final Score:  7.8   [ Good ]