2017 Battle of Los Angeles - Stage Two
September 3rd, 2017
PWG World Champion - Chuck Taylor (since 7/7/17)
PWG World Tag Team Champions - Fenix & Penta El Zero M (since 3/18/17)
Commentators - Excalibur & Chuck Taylor
1) Donovan Dijak vs. Trevor Lee
Dijak kicked off his first PWG weekend in an insane fashion last night and continues it here with a hot ass opener. Lee hits a fucking german on him off the second rope from the bell and that completely set the tone for this one. Just crazy, crazy stuff with a super into it crowd. Dijak gets the win, thank the lord because Trevor Lee doesn't have good matches in PWG any more unless it's with a hot newcomer like Dijak.
Match rating - ***3/4
2) Sammy Guevara vs. Joey Janela
WHAT THE FUCK. All I have to say is burning hammer ON A CHAIR for a two count. This was absolutely ignorant in the best possible way. Joey Janela is known for being reckless and he was nothing short of that here in his PWG debut showing everyone how much it really means for him to have this opportunity. Guevara was the perfect first opponent for him because even though he's only one show in, he's already developed a heel aurora about him so the crowd ate up all the belligerent, wild offense and attempts of Janela. Good stuff.
Match rating - ***3/4
3) Travis Banks vs. Mark Haskins
Super hot start to the show comes to a halt here. I've never seen Banks before and this is technically Haskins' second BOLA, but you'd never know it. He's easily been the most forgettable of the Brits to come through in the past few years and it's a shame because I've heard great things about his work elsewhere. He just hasn't defined himself in PWG so his matches hold almost no weight and with Banks being in his debut match, this came off as nothing more than a decent little exhibition. Then the finish got botched and fully tanked this one for me. Sad day.
Match rating - **1/2
4) Leader of the New School (Zack Sabre Jr & Marty Scurll) vs. Ricochet & Matt Sydal
Sabre & Scurll bumrush Ricochet & Sydal during their entrance. Aggressive heel Sabre and Scurll is still hot and it rules. Ricochet and Sydal had a MOTY candidate earlier this year with the Bucks and Penta & Fenix, but have been pretty quiet since. This was a good comeback match, I guess you could say because they looked awesome here and the crowd was feeling it heavy. Sydal got isolated early which built towards the Ricochet hot tag. Lots of great tag team work on both ends here albeit nothing that will blow your skirt completely up. They did a thing where Sydal had to hit an SSP on Ricochet to get him out of the chicken wing which was really cool. It probably would've meant more in a higher stakes match with more emotion, but it was still sick. The finish ruled with Sabre & Sydal trading different pinning combinations for close falls before Sabre finally got the victory whilst flipping off the crowd. Ricochet was like a millisecond too late to break it up. Sabre & Scurll scurry off afterwards.
Match rating - ***3/4
5) Sami Callihan vs. Jeff Cobb
Poor Jeff Cobb. Amazing night for him last night and now he has to face one of the least interesting faces in PWG right now. Never thought the crowd would have so little of a response to Callihan, but literally nothing he does gets any sort of reaction. The stretch muffler was locked in amidst a quiet crowd. It was bad. Cobb did his best here though and the finish was indeed awesome. I hate that Callihan kicked out of tour of the islands the first time, though. Anyways, Cobb catches him with a second one after a cool little exchange and gets the win.
Match rating - **1/4
6) Michael Elgin vs. Matthew Riddle
This match had to fight an uphill battle since Callihan/Cobb was pretty much a stinker. They did a good job of bringing life back to this show and this crowd, though. Plenty of make you jump out of your seat moments like Elgin hitting a hurricanrana and other crazy acrobatic moves. The final few minutes were nail biting with a tombstone piledriver switch off until Riddle was finally able to hit it for the win. Elgin has made it to the final round of BOLA twice, but this year he's out in round one! Big win for Riddle and great showing for him here.
Match rating - ***1/2
7) Keith Lee vs. WALTER
This was an absolute slugfest and very smartly worked. They gave you just enough of what you wanted to see, but left some to be desired. And since I'm writing this in retrospect, it's a good thing because they would clash again later down the line. But as said before, this was exactly what you'd expect and even though the finish abrupt, this was still a great match. Keith Lee advances.
Match rating - ***1/2
8) Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks vs. Rey Fenix, Penta El Zero M, & Flamita
This was exactly what you would expect from a dream match such as this. Omega is back for his yearly appearance in PWG and the roof blows off the place for the first ELITE match ever in Reseda. So much crazy stuff here, I can't even begin to recap it all. Not a MOTY candidate, but loads of fun and an awesome main event to finish off the night.
Match rating - ****
Final thoughts: Only thing really worth taking a look at here is the main event. There are several other solid matches like the LDRS/Rico & Sydal tag, Lee/Walter, & Guevara/Janela, but nothing absolutely must see and everything else besides those are skippable.
