September 4th, 2016
PWG World Champion - Zack Sabre Jr
PWG World Tag Team Champions - The Young Bucks
Commentators: Excalibur, Chuck Taylor, & Chris Hero
1) Trevor Lee vs. Dalton Castle
This was pretty much what you would expect from these two. Easy on the eyes, but no real substance. They both can have awesome matches when placed with the right guy however on their own they're just two very entertaining, young characters so this came off just an enjoyable exhibition and nothing more. Lee did his "I'm a TNA superstar bit", Castle was Castle. It was fun.
Match rating - ***
2) Ricochet vs. John Hennigan
Hennigan stunk up the house on Night One against Matt Sydal however he actually came out of this looking very good. These two have faced off under different gimmicks in some epic matches in Lucha Underground so it's probably no surprise that this was super fucking solid. Ricochet gets the win to advance to the semi's.
Match rating - ***1/4
3) Cody Rhodes vs. Marty Scurll
God damn if I ever thought I'd be praising a Cody Rhodes performance on a set of PWG events, but he's been one of my top three favorites of the entire weekend. He brings a different yet altered style to Reseda and it works. The crowd is receptive to him and he delivers on his end. I never thought I'd say Cody is perfect for PWG because a lot of dudes come here after WWE and it's weird/rough however Cody has transitioned the best, in my opinion. Scurll was the perfect dickhead to put him against here as the crowd really got behind Rhodes which made the back & forth action feel super important. In the end, Scurll finishes off Rhodes and the breath comes out of the Reseda crowd. Rhodes makes a joke or two before leaving to echoing "Please Come Back" chants to which he responded "I will be back."
Match rating - ***1/2
4) Chris Hero vs. Mark Andrews
HERO JUMPS ANDREWS AT THE BELL BAH GAWD. So, let's keep this short and sweet, just like the match. Hero beats the absolute fuck out of Mandrews with all sorts of piledrivers, kicks & elbows. Andrews pops back on a lucky whim and pins the Knockout Artist to advance to the semi-finals.
Match rating - ***
5) Kyle O'Reilly vs. Mark Haskins
Last night, Haskins got to show off his high flying, junior skills during his match with Mark Andrews, with some of his hard hitting style shining through. On this night, he gets to showcase more of that hybrid style against the best in the world in that class and boy, it's great. Kyle is the perfect opponents for guys like Haskins & Riddle and while this wasn't as good as the O'Reilly/Riddle match from Night Two, it still was great. Haskins knocks off the former PWG World Champion when all is said and done in probably the biggest upset of the tournament after a solid ass match.
Match rating - ***1/2
6) Zack Sabre Jr vs. Will Ospreay
Sabre & Ospreay got 11 minutes and tore Reseda down with a hellacious sprint with the time they were given. This doesn't match their WrestleMania weekend battle for Evolve by any means, but it does it's job in stride. Smooth, innovative, and entertaining as fuck to watch as the two top Brits in the legion trade their best shots in front of a hot crowd. The trend of upsets continue with Ospreay knocking off the current PWG World Champion.
Match rating - ***3/4
7) The Young Bucks vs. Fenix & Pentagon Jr
Fenix & Pentagon basically have the same outfit on this weekend so it's a bitch to tell who is who. None the less, this ruled as you would expect. I've kinda came to the conclusion that basically any YB's PWG Match is gonna be 4 stars plus not just because of the crowd and their performance, but because of it being their home promotion and so much story behind pretty much everything that they do. Whether it be the referee interference saga, the shout outs to Kevin Steen mid match, or the call backs to old moves they haven't used in years, there's always some underlying factors that get me fired up. This match in particular was wild as hell. It's hard for me to pop super hard for these type matches anymore because I've seen them so much, but they almost made me do so on a few occassions. The absolute audacity of the Bucks to do a diving plancha over the top rope into a Meltzer Driver on Pentagon was fucking bonkers, as was this entire match. Bucks come out on top because they're the best in the world.
Match rating - ****1/4
8) Trevor Lee vs. Mark Andrews
On nights like this where there are a good 12 matches planned to happen, a lot of sprints are expected through the night and this was one of them. In fact, all the semi-finals ended up being sprints, and good ones, too! Lee & Andrews put on a super fun exhibition here with some cool moments including Andrews reversing out of the twist of the fate on the apron and countering into a double foot stomp. Really fun stuff, Lee drops Andrews on his head with a small package driver for the pin and to secure his first entrance into the BOLA finals.
Match rating - ***
9) Marty Scurll vs. Mark Haskins
Scurll jumps Haskins from the bell with his umbrella which was super fucking great. Scurll has really been the 2016 MVP of PWG, aside from that mehhhhh ass match with Callihan at 13, but we can overlook that :-) anyways, this was a really back & forth match that both guys did a great job of bringing the crowd into. With this being Haskins' debut weekend, no one even expected him to make it this far, but somehow, he & Scurll made the fans bite into believing he might could win here with Haskins fighting from under for most of the match. During Haskins' biggest comeback flurry of them all, Scurll finally synches in the chicken wing out of nowhere and lays this one to rest. The Villain to the finals!
Match rating - ***1/2
10) Ricochet vs. Will Ospreay
It's Ricochet & Ospreay so you know it's lit. I'd say this was basically a toned down version of their NJPW & Evolve encounters. They had less time to work with and were working multiple matches in one night so they couldn't go out and do too much, but they certainly did more than enough in displaying why they are the two single best high flyers in professional wrestling today. Ospreay defeats his predecessor to advance to the finals.
Match rating - ***3/4
11) Chuck Taylor, Jushin Liger, Tommy End, Cedric Alexander, & Jeff Cobb vs. Tommaso Ciampa, Sami Callihan, Brian Kendrick, Pete Dunne, & Matt Riddle
This was an absolute spectacle in every sense of the word. Excalibur said it best when saying he felt like this match was put together by all of these guys popping randomly out of a portal because of how many different personalities are in this thing. Brian Kendrick is returning, Jushin Liger is having his last night in town and asking Ciampa to stick a finger in his ass, Cobb & Riddle are having an amatuer wrestling showdown, Ciampa & Callihan's entire team have cat makeup painted on their face, there's slow motion sequences and all sorts of other shenanigans. This was an all around awesome time and is PWG in a nutshell and it was showcased just like it is every year in this multi-man tag that's become BOLA tradition.
Match rating - ****
12) Marty Scurll vs. Will Ospreay vs. Trevor Lee
Fun little finals line up here. This year's BOLA was weird in that there was no real stand out to win. Lee's hype has kind of died down. 2014 should've been his year, if any. Ospreay is on fire, but we've already seen him face Sabre earlier so you know he's not winning which put Scurll as the favorite. Unfortunately, his stinker of a match with Sami Callihan at the last show put me in meh mood on him despite his killer start to the year with that epic match against Kyle O'Reilly, but he's slowly been winning me back in this tourney. He continued to do so here as he & Lee end up double teaming Ospreay after an opening 7-8 minute exhibition spotfest between all three guys. Ospreay did a hell of a job of selling his exhaustion or maybe it wasn't even selling bc he looked physically worn and I can only imagine so after the hectic, demanding weekend he had. Lee & Scurll, the clear villains in this match showcased just that in a vicious double booting that led to Ospreay visibly submitting. Lee & Scurll then squared off one on one for the trophy that eluded them both last year where they met in a first round contest. Lee ends up accidentally taking out Rick Knox which allows Scurll to beat him with his umbrella to weaken him and then lock in the chickenwing which forces Lee to tap. Marty Scurll is the 2016 PWG BOLA Champion.
Match rating - ***1/2
POST MATCH
"Cody Rhodes, a man who was in WrestleMania, and made millions of dollars, quit that company to come wrestle here for THIS company."
Scurll was totally selfless in his celebration speech despite being a villain at heart. He put over PWG, Reseda, and the fans in stride, but also talked about his desire to be a pro wrestler at a young age and how much it meant to him. The new #1 contender then targeted his fellow Englishmen and longtime friend Zack Sabre Jr.
"Zack Sabre Jr, you may be my best friend, but..."
This leads to Sabre coming down to the ring and hoisting up the PWG Title to which Scurll responds by hoisting up his BOLA trophy. They meet in December at Mystery Vortex IV for the PWG World Championship to close out 2016.
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