It's that time of year again! PWG returns with it's 11th annual Battle of Los Angeles tournament, a three night extravaganza that encompasses the greatest Independent wrestling talent from around the WORLD in one building for a weekend of action where they will all be fighting for the trophy with ever growing prestige. Over the years, names like TNA's Davey Richards, Dragon Gate Japan's CIMA, WWE's Sami Zayn (as El Generico), and NJPW's Kenny Omega have won the tournament with stars such as AJ Styles, Claudio Castagnoli (Cesaro), Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan), and Kevin Steen (Owens) all having past history in the tournament despite never winning it.
The tournament originally began as a two night event in 2005 in which AJ Styles & Chris Bosh battle in the finals. In 2006 & 2007, the tournament got even bigger and went to three nights with talent from Dragon Gate making their presence felt. In 2008, PWG went back to the two night format and eventually dropped down to one night in 2011 before building back up to two nights in 2012 & 2013. Following the success of the prior years shows, 2014 saw BOLA expand to three nights and host arguably it's most stacked line up ever which is really saying something when you look at how loaded some previous editions of the event have been. You had Ricochet, AJ Styles, Kyle O'Reilly, Adam Cole, Zack Sabre Jr, Kenny Omega, & Chris Hero, among others, all under roof fighting for the same trophy. It was an undoubted success and produced arguably the best three PWG shows of the year.
With that taken into consideration, it seems as if PWG decided to up the anty even more this year by sticking with the three night format and offering an even more diverse line up than last year. You have PWG originals, the best on the American Indies, talent from Lucha Underground & AAA fame PLUS the UK's finest. Nearly every corner of the world is represented here and every style will be showcased. Technicians & strikers like Chris Hero, Zack Sabre Jr, Tommy End, Biff Busick, Timothy Thatcher & Drew Gulak. Luchadors like Drago, Aerostar, Fenix & Angelico. Dangerous individuals like Pentagon Jr and Super Dragon, who will be in non tournament action. Highflying stars like Ricochet, Rich Swann, Matt Sydal, Andrew Everett, and the UK's own Will Ospreay. And that's just for starters!
To give the entire rundown, here's how the tournament works:
There's 24 competitors in this single elimination tournament. First round matches take place on Nights 1 & 2 with the quarter, semi & final round matches taking place on Night Three. To top all the tournament action off, there will be a number of non-tournament contests that are mindblowing simply on paper. Speaking of those, we're gonna kick this preview off running down the non-tournament bouts with predictions from our staff along with the results from the reader's vote we took via polls on here and Instagram.
Ricochet & Rich Swann vs. Jack Evans & Angelico
First up, you have the team of Ricochet & Rich Swann, the Inner City Machine Guns, taking on Jack Evans & Angelico on Night One. All four of these men are involved in the tournament itself so it's going to be interesting to see how they pace themselves in this contest considering they are all fast paced, quick individuals. ICMG may have the advantage on paper due to how long they've been teaming and competing singularly in Reseda however I'd venture to say that Jack & Angelico will be much more well rested as Ricochet is going to be coming off a HUGE match in New Japan with KUSHIDA. With Jack & Angelico looking to prove themselves as a team in the Guerrilla after losing to The Young Bucks last month, I'm thinking we may see somewhat of an upset here. Either way, this match is going to rule on so many levels.
Ethan's pick to win: Ricochet & Rich Swann
Alex's pick to win: Ricochet & Rich Swann
Big Boy's pick to win: Jack Evans & Angelico
Reader's pick: Jack Evans & Angelico (100% of the vote)
MAN! Jack & Angelico really must have won over the hearts of many at Threemendous IV because they completely shut out the Inner City Machine Guns in the reader's vote. Although not as many people voted in this as in some of the other matches due to the poll being accidentally left off the actual site thus leaving the Instagram votes to speak for themselves, it still says alot that those who did get the chance to vote all picked Jack & Angelico over two PWG veterans.
Mount Rushmore 2.0 (Roderick Strong & The Young Bucks) vs. Zack Sabre Jr, Tommy End, & Marty Scurll
In the main event, non tournament attraction of Night One, you have the evil geniuses behind Mount Rushmore 2.0, The Young Bucks & PWG World Champion Roderick Strong taking on The UK's finest, Zack Sabre Jr, Tommy End, & Marty Scurll. Boy, oh, boy. This is gonna be insane. You will have a number of first time exchanges in this one such as End/Roddy and Scurll/Roddy, but you also have the history between Zack Sabre Jr and all three members of Mount Rushmore as he has been at odds with them since the day he stepped into PWG one year ago. It was on Night One of the 2014 Battle of Los Angeles in fact, when Sabre stepped in to help Chuck Taylor & Kenny Omega battle The Young Bucks & former Mount Rushmore member Adam Cole. Sabre's team came out on top so I'm sure The Bucks will be looking for revenge here. On top of that, Sabre & Roddy developed quite the rivalry earlier this year in PWG and elsewhere as they battled for the World Title in a highly praised contest at Don't Sweat the Technique and then just as recent as a few weeks ago, tore the house down at an EVOLVE event. The next chapter of their rivalry unfolds in this contest that will also see Marty Scurll's first taste of PWG action.
Ethan's pick to win: Mount Rushmore 2.0
Alex's pick to win: Zack Sabre Jr, Tommy End, & Marty Scurll
Big Boy's pick to win: Mount Rushmore 2.0
Reader's pick to win: Mount Rushmore 2.0 (77% of the vote)
Mount Rushmore's dominance has spread like fire despite not even competing in any matches yet. They've wreaked havoc and took out virtually the entire PWG roster on TWO occassions so it comes as no surprise that they dominated the reader's vote for their first match as a team. It was the same story in our staff's vote as you can say aside from Alex who thinks the Euro squad will be able to knock Mount Rushmore on it's head for the first time since their formation. Only time will tell.
Pentagon Jr & Drago vs. Fenix & Aerostar
