11/21 Pro Wrestling Guerilla "Battle of Los Angeles" tournament (night two): 2009 tournament champion crowned

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
Reseda, Calif.
Report by Dot Net reader Steve T.

1. Joey Ryan defeated Brian Kendrick in a quarter-final tournament match. Prior to the match, Ryan cuts a promo. He says that Kendrick is angry all of the time. Ryan has decided that to best prepare to face Kendrick’s anger, he must counter it with happiness. So, earlier in the day, he went to the happiest place on earth, Disneyland. He pulls out a pair of Mickey ears that he had bought for Kendrick (complete with "Brian" embroidered on the back) and puts the ears on Kendrick. Funny spot that the crowd enjoyed. Kendrick smiled for a moment before ripping off the ears and attacking Ryan. Solid match. Ryan wins with a pair of superkicks. Both men are over with the crowd.

2. Kenny Omega defeated Scott Lost in a quarter-final tournament match. Both men get large ovations and chants of "next world champ" as they enter. Omega’s pop surpasses Lost’s. Great back-and-forth action, lots of nearfalls. Crowd was very into the match. Lots of chants for Omega. Omega wins with his finisher, an electric chair drop/bridging German suplex hybrid. He put his opponent on his shoulders, tosses them straight up, then catches them on the way down straight into a bridging German suplex. Awesome spot. Omega is over HUGE by the end of the match. Not only is he a fantastic wrestler, but he has a WWE look and oozes charisma. Whatever "it' is, Kenny Omega has it in spades.

3. Brandon Gatson defeated Alex Shelley in a quarter-final tournament match. Both men get decent pops as they enter. Story of the match is that Gatson, who’s relatively new to PWG, pulls out the big upset by defeating Shelley with a rollup. One stellar spot in the match featured Gatson doing a cartwheel/backflip over the top rope onto Shelley, who was on the floor. Very impressive spot that made you briefly question the laws of physics. The crowd’s response to Gatson gradually increased throughout the match, and by the end he was mega-over.

4. Roderick Strong defeated Human Tornado in a quarter-final tournament match. Both men get solid reactions. Strong is very over. Strong wins with his gutbuster move followed by a kick.

INTERMISSION

5. Colt Cabana, Jerome Robinson, and Johnny Goodtime defeated Austin Aries and The Cutlers. A really fun, high-energy comedy match. Lots of joking between the wrestlers and the crowd, including one portion in which the crowd constantly mocked Aries for his verbal "hisses" while wrestling. Aries acknowledged the taunts then gave an over-exaggerated hiss on his next move. Very funny. Robinson got the pin for his team following an incredible reverse-tombstone pile driver. It looked like Robinson was going to be tombstoned by one of the Cutlers, but he flipped head over heels into a seated pile driver. Think of a love child between a tombstone and a Canadian Destroyer. Fun match.

5. Kenny Omega defeated Joey Ryan in a semi-final tournament match. Kenny Omega got exponentially more over as the night went on, and he was red-hot during this match. Great match that saw Omega pin Ryan with the electric chair/German suplex. Many chants of "next world champ."

6. Roderick Strong defeated Brandon Gatson in a semi-final tournament match. The hortest match of the night. Solid back-and-forth action. Strong won with a double underhook powerbomb and a kick. Gatson got a great ovation on his way out.

7. The Young Bucks retained the PWG Tag Team Titles over Kevin Steen and El Generico. An amazing match. Easily the best tag team pro wrestling match I’ve seen in years. All four performers worked hard and put together a bevy of spots that tore the house down. Match featured at least a half dozen false finishes. The Bucks finally won with a seemingly-never-ending series of superkicks to Steen, who ended up with a bloodied nose. After the bell, a prolonged "That was awesome" chant filled the building. Bravo.

8. Kenny Omega defeated Roderick Strong to win the Battle of Los Angeles Tournament and the vacant PWG Championship. A solid match that featured extensive brawling through the crowd, including a spot in which Omega punished Strong while he was seated in a chair. The highlight was Omega climbing onto the stage where the camera/announce crews were set up, climbing onto the announce table, then hitting a moonsault onto Strong, who was standing on the floor behind him. Back in the ring, the action went back-and-forth, and Strong even kicked out of Omega’s finisher. Minutes later, Omega hit it again for the win.

After the match, Omega cut a promo thanking PWG and praising them as the best wrestling company in North America and the only reason he hasn’t moved to Japan. He called out other wrestlers from the locker room, and the Young Bucks (out of heel character) hit the ring. Omega praised the Bucks and PWG’s other young talent. The Bucks jumped Omega, and Kendrick emerged to help them beat him down. El Generico and Colt Cabana made the save to end the show.

All in all, a fantastic show. This is the first time I’ve been to a PWG, and I’ll definitely be back again. The show featured a great mix of humor and awesome action. Every guy on the roster could wrestle with the best of them, and they all worked the crowd really well. Shows like this are the reason I haven’t yet lost hope for pro wrestling.