8/30 PWG Battle of Los Angeles Night 1 results: The first eight matches in the opening round of the 2013 BOLA tournament, a scary moment in Tomasso Ciampa vs. Brian Cage, Kevin Steen vs. Chuck Taylor, and more

PWG Battle of Los Angeles nigh one
Report from Dot Net reader Sean.

This was my first PWG show and my expectations were high due to all the great things I've heard about them live, and I am happy to say I was not disappointed. As people were entering the building, most of the wrestlers were around the ring selling merch, signing autographs, and taking pictures. All the guys I talked to we're nice and Kevin Steen remembered me from WrestleMania weekend which I thought was cool.

Around 8:40, Excalibur came to the ring with the BOLA trophy to welcome everyone. He talked for a few minutes and made a joke about the last few shows not starting until after 9, but this one was going to get started before 9. Someone heckled him to get him to wait until 9, so he joked for another 2-3 minutes about stalling and then exited the ring to do commentary.

1. Kevin Steen (7th Battle of Los Angeles) defeated Chuck Taylor (3rd Battle of Los Angeles). Entertaining opening match. At the beginning, Taylor put on a SF Giants hat from a crowd member, which Steen ripped off, threw down, and elbow dropped. Chuck gave the hat a standing moonsault. Not to be outdone, Steen package piledrove the hat. Crowd chanted match of the year and Steen and Taylor jokingly left the ring and went backstage. They came back and had a solid match, which Steen won with a package piledriver.

Winner: Kevin Steen.

2. Brian Cage (3rd Battle of Los Angeles) defeated Tommaso Ciampa (1st Battle of Los Angeles). Scary spot near the beginning of the match where Ciampa went to powerbomb Cage on the outside on to a chair, but it looked like Ciampa didn't get Cage up all the way and dropped Cage on his head (I was on the opposite side of the ring and didn't see how he landed, but that's what I assume happened.) Cage was on the ground for a few minutes while refs checked on him. Ciampa sat in the corner looking upset, as he didn't know if Cage was hurt or not. Ref started to count Cage out, but he made it back to the ring and they continued on for about 10 minutes with Cage picking up the win. I talked to Cage for a minute after the show and he said he was out of it for part of the match.

3. Johnny Gargano (1st Battle of Los Angeles) defeated Willie Mack (3rd Battle of Los Angeles).

4. Roderick Strong (8th Battle of Los Angeles) defeated AR Fox (1st Battle of Los Angeles).

Intermission. Wrestlers were out selling their stuff again around the ring.

5. Drake Younger (2nd Battle of Los Angeles) defeated Joey Ryan (2010 Battle of Los Angeles Winner). Another entertaining match with some comedy spots thrown in. Drake went under the ring and got a burlap bag. He poured the contents out which ended up being candy. He eventually ended up in them and sold it as if it were thumbtacks. Joey went to the back to get his own bag, pouring it to reveal Legos. He ended up in them, giving Drake the win.

6. ACH (1st Battle of Los Angeles) defeated Anthony Nese (1st Battle of Los Angeles). This was another good match, but for some reason, I can't remember for sure who won. I want to say ACH won, though.

7. Kyle O'Reilly (2nd Battle of Los Angeles) defeated Trent Baretta (1st Battle of Los Angeles). Another very good match.

8. Michael Elgin (2nd Battle of Los Angeles) defeated Rich Swann (1st Battle of Los Angeles). Crowd had a lot of fun singing "All Night Long" during Swann's entrance and during the match. Good match.

9. Adam Cole & The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) defeated TJ Perkins & Forever Hooligans (Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov). A good main event that got a lot better later in to the match. Cole and the Bucks made a few jokes about TJ's Manik persona.

Show ended with Alex Koslov thanking us for coming and putting over the crowd and the locker room. As this was my first PWG show, every match was awesome to me because the atmosphere was so great. Someone else can probably give some more insight on what matches were best and what the matches of the night were. All I know is that I am looking forward to night two, as I expect it to be even better.