The BOLA (Battle of Los Angeles) is without a doubt PWG’s biggest and best set of shows of the year. The tournament consists of 24 of the best Indy wrestlers around the world battling it out to see who the best wrestler in Los Angeles is. The tournament takes place over 3 nights, with Night 1 and 2 having the first round matches and Night 3 having the quarter, semi and finals of the tournament. I’m only reviewing Night 3 here because it’s more of a standalone show, unlike the TPI or other tournaments one doesn’t really need to see the first round to get the most out of the rest of the tournament.
This week, be sure to read Pulse Glazer’s massive ROH Year in Review; part 1, part 2, and John’s Indy column, featuring some interesting responses to the question ‘What is Wrestling?’.
Tournament Competitors (who made it past the first round):
Block A
Joey Ryan
Roderick Strong
Matt Sydal
Alex Shelley
Block B
Claudio Castagnoli
PAC
CIMA
SHINGO
Block C
Necro Butcher
Nigel McGuiness
El Generico
Dragon Kid
Onto the matches!
1. Roderick Strong vs. Joey Ryan (Block A Quarterfinal): Good opener. The story goes how it does in most Ryan matches; how Ryan tries to get around his opponent being a better wrestler than him. Joey uses his dirty tactics to control early (he can’t outwrestle Strong), but gets too cocky and Strong comes back (Strong’s comeback offence is fucking wicked, too). With Strong’s comeback Ryan is pretty much forced to start wrestling with him, but simply can’t keep up and Roderick submits him to the Stronghold after a Tiger Driver.
Never too slow, strong heel/face dynamic and lots of high impact stuff. Great way to open the show.
Winner: Roderick Strong. ***1/4.
2. Alex Shelley vs. Matt Sydal (Block A Quarterfinal): This was fucking awesome, MOTN. What’s so great about this is that it’s a first time meeting, but the chemistry between these 2 is so amazing. They tell a really good speed vs counter wrestling story, Sydal uses his speed while Shelley relies on countering Sydal’s speed; most of Shelley’s offence came from reversing Sydal’s moves. Everything is executed incredibly crisply, again, I don’t know what it is with these 2 but something just REALLY clicks. We’re treated to a ton of awesome nearfalls and cool sequences until Shelley catches Sydal’s SSP into an ACE CRUSHER, then Tiger Suplexes and Brainbusters him for the 3. When Sydal went for his biggest speed attack Shelley got the counter in, and that’s what made the difference.
Excellent match, gets MOTN honors from me.
Winner: Alex Shelley. ****.
3. PAC vs. Claudio Castagnoli (Block B Quarterfinal): We all know how awesome Claudio vs a high flyer is, and this match is no exception. Power vs Speed all the way here. PAC runs wild to start before CC cuts him off and works him over, Claudio’s power combined with PAC’s bumping ability gives us one beautiful, yet technical beating. Highlights including CC launching PAC at least 15 feet up into the air (and letting him fall) and CC swinging PAC round 25 times in the Giant Swing. PAC makes his comeback and we get an awesome finishing sequence, tons of wild stuff like you’d expect. The finish comes when PAC hits this wacky Moonsault DDT followed by his top rope Twisting SSP.
Excellent big man vs little man match from these 2.
Winner: PAC. ***3/4.
4. CIMA vs. SHINGO (Block B Quarterfinal): Both of these men are from different stables in Dragon Gate, in Japan. CIMA captains Typhoon, while Shingo captains New Hazard. Good match here. The story is built around how CIMA tries to avoid Shingo’s power. Shingo controls to start, so CIMA attacks his (bandaged) arm. As Shingo makes his comeback, he focuses on overcoming the pain in his arm and hitting his power moves. He does this successfully, but because of this he’s paying no attention to CIMA’s offence CIMA catches him with a rollup out of nowhere for 3.
I would have liked to see things a bit more intense considering both men’s positions in Dragon Gate, but it’s a minor complaint to a really fun match.
Winner: CIMA. ***1/4.
5. Nigel McGuiness vs. Necro Butcher (Block C Quarterfinal): Considering the different styles of both men, this worked out really well. The story sees Nigel not being able to match Necro in fighting skill, but his superior strategy lead him to victory. They brawl in the crowd early, Nigel knows he can’t brawl with Necro, so attacks his leg with a chair. Back in the ring Nigel works Necro’s leg more (great selling by Necro, too), until he fights through and comes back. They go back to brawling and striking (lots of sick lariats), Necro dominates but can’t put Nigel down. He tries to suplex Nigel on a chair, but his leg gives out and Nigel suplexes him onto the chair. JAWBREAKER lariat from Nigel gives him the win.
Easy to watch and super-stiff, very fun match.
Winner: Nigel McGuiness. ***.
6. El Generico vs. Dragon Kid (Block C Quarterfinal): Disappointing. After watching these 2’s interactions in the tag title main event on Night 1 (Steenerico vs Susumu/Kid) I was really looking forward to this, but Dragon Kid’s relative suckiness in singles matches really brought this down. Similar structure to CC/PAC, and same story in Power vs Speed. When the fans are really ready to get into it, after Kid makes his comeback he pretty much kills everything by botching lots of his stuff. The finishing sequence is good, but the botches really hurt it. The finish comes when Kid goes up top, Generico cuts him off with the Helluva Kick and BRAINBUSTAAAHS his ass on the turnbuckle.
Good match, but not great like expected to be though.
Winner: El Generico. ***.
7. Roderick Strong vs. Alex Shelley (Block A Semifinal): Continuing the night’s trend, this match was good. The story sees how both men’s strategies affect them later on in the match. They start out even, as both men go for finishers but avoid them all. Shelley decides to work Strong’s arm, but as he does starts to stray away for it and work Roderick down with other offence. This costs him, as Roderick comes back he’s nearly fresh and is able to hit all of his stuff. Shelley gives it his all with a trio of superkicks and the Sliced Bread #2, but can’t keep Roddy down. He’s soon put down as Roddy destroys him with 2 straight Tiger Drivers for the 3.
Good match, though seemed to lack the energy to take it to the next level.
Winner: Roderick Strong. ***1/4.
8. CIMA vs. PAC (Block B Semifinal): This was above average, nothing great really. We see CIMA use the wise strategy of trying to ground PAC, but PAC is too resilient and soon comes back, but CIMA’s experience proves too much for him as he reverses PAC and kills him with a Super Schwein for the 3. For the most part this was pretty slow, which is weird for both these guys. Things pick up in the finishing sequence and we get some cool stuff, then all the momentum is KILLED when CIMA takes the most DISTURBING and STUPID bump I’ve ever seen. Basically, PAC does a standard headscissors, and CIMA dives forward and instead of flipping over onto his back lands RIGHT on top of his head. The fans go silent. Seriously, that was completely unnecessary, looked really fake (not that stuff looking fake usually bugs me, but this went too far) and took the fans right out of the match. They go home soon after that, as CIMA nails the Super Schwein to advance to the finals.
Good stuff, but was too slow for the most part and that headscissors bump was utterly retarded.
Winner:CIMA . **3/4.
9. El Generico vs. Nigel McGuiness (Block C Semifinal): Another contrast of styles for Nigel which comes out really well. The story fits perfect, as both men are really tired (and know they need to save some gas for finals) they throw everything at each other and try to pick up the win as quickly as possible. Nigel dominates most of it, so we also get Generico as the awesome underdog he is too. The action here is pretty much nonstop, and both men look really good. Nigel goes for the JAWBREAKER Lariat, but Generico ducks, schoolboys him and gets the 3! Ole!
Super fun, near nonstop match.
Winner: El Generico. ***1/2.
10. Chris Hero, Kevin Steen, Tyler Black, Doug Williams, Susumu Yokosuka & Jack Evans vs. Austin Aries, Jimmy Rave, Human Tornado, Scott Lost, Davey Richards & Karl Anderson: Good pre-final match. Seeing as it’s 12 men in here, we really don’t see anything out of the ordinary from normal multi man matches. Normal structure, as Jack is face in peril for the tecnico team. We get the usual multi man finishing sequence with ‘tag in, do spots, tag next guy in’ stuff. Machine Gun botches his flippy lariat thing, and people laugh at him. We get some Tornado/Hero interaction (that being like, the only feud currently in PWG), which is cool. After a dive sequence, Hero pins Tornado with a rollup in the ring.
Formula multi-man, did its job well.
Winners: Chris Hero, Kevin Steen, Tyler Black, Doug Williams, Susumu Yokosuka & Jack Evans. ***.
11. CIMA vs. Roderick Strong vs. El Generico (Finals – Triple Threat Elimination): Now this wasn’t the best match ever, but considering how tired these 3 were (already working 2 matches before this, the intense heat in the Burbank Arena) it was pretty damn good. Like the Nigel/Generico match, all 3 men are really tired so they just throw all they can at each other to win. We get lots of cool 3 way spots and sequences, including one where Strong backdrops CIMA on the apron, Generico Brainbusters Strong on the apron then CIMA Schweins Generico on the apron! Generico is the first to be eliminated, as CIMA hits him with a brainbuster then the Schwein. The fans are disappointed Generico was out, but soon get back into things when Strong comes back in. They battle it out until CIMA hits Strong with the Schwein and the Schwein REDLINE, but Strong kicks out (in all fairness he shouldn’t have kicked out of the redline)! Strong hits his Tiger Driver for 2, but is soon puts away by the CROSSFIRE Bomb from CIMA!
I didn’t like how that match was pretty much all CIMA and how no one really got very close to eliminating him, but we still got an incredibly fun sprint here.
Winner, and 2007 Battle of Los Angeles champion: CIMA. ***3/4.
The Inside Pulse
Overall Thoughts: This show was excellent. Nothing was like, super MOTY, but every match was good, with the average match being about the ***1/2 mark. So basically, it’s 11 good – great matches back to back. If you like Indy wrestling this is a must, and if you’ve only started or never tried before this is a great sampler.
If you’re interested in picking this up (as well as Nights 1 and 2, which are both good) head on down to www.highspots.com.
