The Furious Flashbacks – PWG Battle of Los Angeles 2006

The Furious Flashbacks – PWG Battle of Los Angeles 2006

The second annual Battle of Los Angeles features some improved booking, a superb Strong-Dragon Kid match, CIMA all over the place and Super Dragon attempting homicide on Necro Butcher!

This would be the second annual Battle of Los Angeles (BOLA for short). The opening year’s tournament saw AJ Styles lose to Chris Bosh in an upset final. The booking was highly suspect during the tournament and seemed too focused on pushing minor rivalries than creating a prestigious tournament. Perhaps the booking was a little narrow minded and it hurt the credibility of the tournament. Let’s see if their sophomoric effort is any better! We gain more wrestlers this year as the tournament expands much like the format of the TPI.

We’re in Reseda, California. This show is over THREE nights. Hosts are Excalibur, Disco Machine and TARO~!

Round 1 – Colt Cabana v Chris Sabin

Colt shows his world-wide skillset in the early going drawing huge fan support. Colt does all the goofy referee stuff that he did in Japan with Corino. Like shaking hands with the ref to get out. He then busts out the British countering too. At the moment he’s kinda showing off. Showing his range. Also the comedy when he spit-shines the turnbuckle because he doesn’t like the smell of it. Sabin rides the storm and waits for an opening. His high impact offence puts Colt on the defensive but Colt on the defensive is almost as dangerous as Colt on offence! He just has so much range. Colt goes for the quebrada but Sabin has it scouted and dropkicks him on the way down. Step Kick! Sabin, while sometimes flashy, is always impactful. SHOTGUN BASEMENT DROPKICK! That gets 2. Sabin tries to follow up with a high risk move off the top but he gets caught and suplexed. Sabin escapes the Colt 45 but Colt counters back into the AIR RAID CRASH OVER THE KNEE…for 2. Colt decides it’s time to use his weight advantage and starts pounding away but Sabin gets the O’Connor Roll out of the corner for the slight upset win at 9.01. ***. Solid and entertaining opener.

Round 1 – El Generico v Delirious

Delirious is making his PWG debut and goes suitably nuts at the opening bell. Generico has a hard time figuring out what the hell Delirious is doing. They run the Delirious spot where he licks his hands to get out of the waistlock. Generico still doesn’t know what’s going on and Delirious starts wrestling bizarre circles around him. Delirious runs a full circle around the ring on an Irish whip before getting armdragged three times! Generico has gotten more of a handle on Delirious now but just as he feels in control Delirious DISAPPEARS! Ultimate Woyah that shit down! He magically appears with a baseball slide but Generico dodges it and chops him. Generico can take a great beating though so it’s more entertaining to have Delirious in front with his goofy offence. Excalibur goes off on an aside about how the Lucha Roll will get you out of any bad situation including an unwanted pregnancy. Generico’s crazy selling is keeping me amused and Delirious throws him onto the ropes. Generico finds his only defence is grabbing the tassels to slow Delirious up. Which shows you how much Generico is putting Delirious over in this one. Delirious gets thrown over the top and Generico finally creates distance enough to hit a dive. A running back flip over the top no less! It was like he doing the high jump. Off the top with a high crossbody for 2. Generico has used the ropes to his advantage. Apart from the high risk Delirious has been in control throughout. Generico pulls out a Spiralbomb for 2 but can’t follow up as Delirious is quickly back on top. PANIC ATTACK! Jumping LARIATOOOO! Delirious is again back in control with very little effort. SHADOWS OVER HELL! That gets 2. COBRA STRETCH! This should be over as Generico has nowhere to go and he’s been outclassed throughout. With Delirious starting to bust out the big moves Generico looks finished. He barely makes the ropes to survive. Generico just keeps surviving. Delirious runs into the Yakuza Kick! ANOTHER! THREE! HALF & HALF! Generico throws together a series of moves and at 15.42 he gets the pin. **1/2. Very one-sided and didn’t get good until the second half.

Round 1 – M-Dogg 20 v CIMA

Big support for CIMA and this, according to commentary, is his West Coast debut. This is between his ROH debut in April and his return there in December 2006. Matt Cross isn’t often matched for speed but CIMA can match him here. M-Dogg’s striking is quite weak so his time on offence isn’t much fun. He really only has the big flips. CIMA on the other hand is a world class dickhead and has great fun double stomping his opponent. CIMA ties M-Dogg up with a figure four/butterfly lock combo. Then he turns it over. I love Dragon Gate. Loads of weird looking submission stuff from over there. CIMA does his dropkick to the ass driving Dogg’s head into the buckle. At the moment he’s just getting his spots in because M-Dogg is no fun. He comes back with a couple of flips. People seem to enjoy them and a big Sasuke Special gets popped. Yeah, but Sasuke was entertaining because he could wrestle as well as hit spots. M-Dogg does have the Flagpole Elbow drop and he gets that spot in here. CIMA tries to make this a psychological battle by selling the knee but he’s barking up the wrong tree with Cross. So he gives up on that, hits the double knees and the CROSSFIRE gets 2. M-Dogg blocks a second one and hits a DVD over the knee. Springboard double stomp gets 2. At least M-Dogg is hitting most of his stuff clean tonight and he’s a better wrestler than he used to be. VENUS! M-Dogg tries a rana but gets caught and countered into the SCHWEIN! CIMA advances at 11.57. **. CIMA’s countering was really fun but M-Dogg is just annoying regardless of who he’s wrestling.

Round 1 – Kevin Steen v Matt Sydal

This is proclaiming to be the “Battle of the Moonsault”. They start out with some comedy before Sydal starts with the loose looking chaining. We get loud duelling chants. Steen suckers Sydal into a headlock. Sydal may be a good sportsman but he’s an idiot. Disco claims he’s a good sportsman “like Ted Nugent”. This match is having a hard time getting going. Sydal is pretty much just getting his spots in and that’s been an issue with the majority of the opening round matches so far. There’s a lack of storytelling. Steen considers diving into the fans!! When Steen is in control he’s throwing Sydal around and the match is quite fun albeit aimless. Steen is also doing a good job of blocking Sydal’s high impact moves. Especially the tornado DDT, which he has scouted. Sydal escapes the stalling superplex, Steen comes off the top and Sydal clocks him with a spinning heel kick on the way down. Sydal lays in a couple of Enzuigiris and the leg Final Cut gets 2. Standing moonsault gets knees! Steen had that scouted and the countering is starting to make this match special. Sydal counters out of the Package Piledriver and hits the standing moonsault for 2. PUMPHANDLE BRAINBUSTER OVER THE KNEE! That only gets 2. Sydal doesn’t quite get his flipping right on the next set of counters. Steen gets a measure of revenge for being made foolish by powerbombing him for 2. This is now a nice story of power v speed and Steen aiming to show he can do something off the top too. But he’s too slow going up top and Sydal stops him. Steen has freaky retard strength and hauls Sydal up from a failed super rana and SUPERBOMBS HIM for the win at 15.58. Great finish. They nearly blew it but Steen’s freakish strength allowed him to progress. In the end strength won out over speed. Good little storyline there. ***1/4.

Round 1 – Dragon Kid v Quicksilver

Quicksilver got lucky last year and had a good run. DK is more experienced and much faster. Quicksilver is fast enough though for DK to do his chaining and make it look good. DK does more flipping though. He’s the showier of the two competitors by some distance. For some reason they totally lose the pace though. I suspect it might have been a communication issue but the match just dies after a promising start. DK finally wakes it up after a series of spot, rest, spot and rest from Quicksilver. He does that counter into a Stunner and then moonsaults to the floor! Some chick at ringside got wiped out there. DK fucks up his Flair corner bump and has to throw himself through the ropes to set up the springboard Diamond Dust…for 2. They blow something else to set up the SILVER SLICE (a Snapmare Driver). That looks cool and gets 2. Quicksilver aims to finish this off with a top rope move but DK falls off. DK with a double springboard moonsault for 2. That wasn’t clean either. There’s definitely been timing issues between these guys. DK plants Quicksilver with a DDT that he doesn’t sell and Quicksilver just hauls DK up into a piledriver for 2. DK counters another attempted violent move into a Crucifix Bomb for 2. Quicksilver on the ropes and DK dropkicks him off the top. Flying rana finishes for DK at 12.08. *3/4. That had it’s moments but generally it was a mess. Issues between these guys.

Round 1 – Roderick Strong v Rocky Romero

Strong opens up quickly by going after a single leg. Romero bails after the first chop. He’ll need to control the pace more or Strong will take him apart. Strong ties Romero up and starts stretching him. But that’s not all of his game. He cartwheels out of an armbar and takes it back to the mat. Strong is increasingly becoming a complete wrestler. Shame he can’t cut a promo! Romero decides the only option he really has is to strike and then run away if Strong fights back. Romero also has a degree of lucha-libre, which he works in to surprising success and we get an Indy stand-off! Strong catches a knee to the head and that was nasty! Strong with the Surfboard and he switches to a double-arm instead and Romero has to go to the eyes because there’s no other way out. They battle onto the apron and Strong hits a backbreaker onto the apron! Strong unloads with chops SO hard that Romero is left down. Every chop from Strong gets a huge pop from the crowd. Side backbreaker and Strong not only has domination now but also focus. He’s dissecting Rocky Romero in this match. There’s a feeling it’s only a matter of time before this is over. Strong is using it as a workout and starts throwing Romero around with suplexes. Romero gets pissed off with the abuse and starts unloading with slaps but Strong just chops him back down. Romero keeps striking away and eventually gets Strong to bail allowing him to hit the TOPE SUICIDAAAA! Romero gets Strong in a choke and he’s in trouble for the first time here. Romero really has it on there but Strong dumps him back first and because he’s worked the back already (I love psychology) it breaks the hold. URINAGE BACKBREAKER! Torture Rack into another backbreaker for 2. Romero is aiming to get holds on where he can keep Strong down like armbars and anklelocks but Strong is just too powerful. Press gutbuster from Strong. TIGER DRIVER…STRONGHOLD!! Romero has to tap out after that huge impact and then the submission right afterwards. Longest match so far at 17.34. ***1/4. Good hard hitting fun but Strong should really have finished the match earlier. It felt like he was just extending the match for his own amusement rather than because he was being pushed.

Excalibur/Human Tornado/B-Boy/Homicide v Petey Williams/The Dynasty (Joey Ryan/Scott Lost/Chris Bosh)

Joey Ryan is the PWG champion and the biggest heel in the company. Kinda odd that he’s not in BOLA. Or Chris Bosh who won it last year. I’d say that’s more booking snafus if you’re looking to establish BOLA as huge. Clipping removes the announcement of the surprise choice; Petey Williams. H-Tizzle is huge over here. Lost gets his ass kicked by B-Boy to open. We’re reminded that Excalibur faced Bosh in the first ever PWG show and beat him in 5 minutes. Bosh finds himself struggling against Excalibur again here. Homicide-Petey is really very good with some smooth chaining. Ryan in with Tornado. TOOTHPICK! PIMP SLAP!! Awesome. Tornado is carrying a shoulder injury though so Ryan, being the champ, goes after that. SPLITS! HOUSE PARTY! Ryan gets punched by everyone…including referee Rick Knox! That gets 2. B-Boy washes Ryan’s face…with his boots! Excalibur in with diving double knees…for 2. B-Boy gets up a head of steam to dropkick Ryan in the face while Homicide holds him there. Disco describes B-Boy as a “prisoner of inertia”. Tornado tries to sunset bomb Petey to the floor but Petey blocks and stomps the shoulder. This leads to some heat on H-Tizzle. Chris Bosh heels it up a treat by punching out the babyfaces valet. I don’t know who she is! Jade Chung is the heel valet this evening. Ah, Candace LaRae according to commentary. THAT NIGGA DEAD!! Candace distracted and Ryan eats the finish from Tornado. Homicide gets the tag. The house is cleaned! TOPE CON HILO!!!

We get a Tower of Doom stack in the corner but Petey kills it. So everyone attacks Petey. Um. What was the point of that? So back to the Tower of Doom in the corner for a double superplex/powerbomb move. SUPERMAN SPEAR! Tornado gets caught and Lost gets the DOUBLE SHARPSHOOTER on Excalibur & Tornado. Homicide runs in to DDT Lost and Bosh has to save. Total clusterfuck here. Backbreaker from Bosh and another one. Dragon Clutch from Tornado but Ryan makes the save. How’s about some tags or something? Superkick on Tornado gets 2. Dynasty double team Excalibur. Nice urinage across the knee double. Lost suplexes Homicide over the top and that looked frighteningly nasty. Homicide escapes the Canadian Destroyer but Petey blocks the Cop Killer too. Ryan accidentally hits Petey and now there’s trouble in heel paradise. DESTROYER FOR RYAN! EVERYONE hates Joey Ryan. Petey walks out on the match. Excalibur crawls over and gets the pin after about 40 minutes. **. A total clusterfuck that turned into a bad spotfest. The long heat segment on Tornado went nowhere and it really did feel like a distracting waste of time.

POST MATCH the Briscoes run out here and attack Homicide. He fends them off with some sharp chair shots. That helps to set up a 3-way tomorrow.

NIGHT TWO!

We’re still in Reseda, California. Hosts are Excalibur & Bryce Remsberg.

Round 1 – Austin Aries v Disco Machine

Only one winner here but at least that shows how much PWG learned from last year’s show. Aries comes in with taped ribs to give Disco an opening. Disco mistakenly opens up with a headscissors and Aries uses his patented escape. Aries is aware that he’s carrying an injury and bails to buy himself time but Disco catches him with a very quick tope. He knows damn well if he’s to beat Aries he’ll need to do it quickly. Catch him cold. Aries does appear somewhat sluggish because of the rib injury. Disco spots that and dropkicks Aries in the ribcage. Disco’s shoulderblocks into the ribs look really tame though and it’s that lack of aggression towards Aries’ injury that shows why he’ll eventually come up short. That and Disco is, at best, an average worker. Aries is probably quite pissed off that Disco isn’t making his rib injury look that good. Aries is trying to sell it but Disco’s approach is just too soft. You can’t afford to look too soft in wrestling. He finally gets a big move with a powerslam off the ropes where the impact really looks to shake Aries up. Aries elbows his way out of a choke though and BRAINBUSTERS him into the RINGS OF SATURN! Disco can’t go anywhere and has to quit at 10.26. **. The psychology around the ribs was ruined by Disco Machine working way too soft. Aries never really looked in danger.

Round 1 – Davey Richards v Ronin

Ronin is subbing for the injured TJ Perkins. Crowd is harsh on Ronin as a result getting a double anti-Ronin chant going of “we want TJ” and “fuck you, Ronin”. Speaking of average workers; Ronin is about as average as you can get. No sizzle at all. Davey on the other hand is coming into this huge. I’d personally have booked him over in short order here to demonstrate how dangerous he is. Instead he systematically picks Ronin apart. He grounds him and frustrates him at every turn. However this is far more boring than the usual Davey Richards standard because he’s not challenged. Ronin finally gets something and pops off an Exploder suplex about five minutes into the match. He plods through some passable strikes while the crowd politely chant “you fat fuck” at him. Davey kicks the intensity up a notch and you’d think that’ll be the end of this. He just sort of hung around waiting for an opening. Now he goes for the kill kicking the shit out of Ronin and dumping him on his head with a German suplex. BACKDROP DRIVER! Ronin pops back up to hit a lazy lariat for 2. Davey just isn’t veteran enough to make Ronin interesting. This match should have been like 4 minutes long. There’s nothing wrong with having a shorter match yanno! D.R. Driver finishes in short order at 12.12. *1/2. Way too long. Not interesting at all. Should have been a squash.

Round 1 – Claudio Castagnoli v Jack Evans

An obvious power v speed matchup here only we all know that Claudio is capable of so much more. Evans isn’t such a predictable wrestler these days either though. His mat skills are much improved of late. The contrast of styles is producing some real pretty mat stuff. Evans finds it very hard to get much flipping in and fucks up his cartwheel back elbow before being thrown across the ring with a fallaway slam. The size contrast has thus far been very much to Claudio’s advantage. Claudio gets himself kicked through the middle rope in a lucha-esque spot. Evans sees an opening and dives out but Claudio catches him and dumps him on the apron. Claudio has been far more serious than usual today. It looks like he wants this tournament win. Winner of this gets the winner of Genki v Hero. Be interesting to see Hero v Claudio in a clash of the Heroes of Wrestling. The way Claudio is throwing Jack around he looks like a shoe-in to be in the next round. Claudio breaks out the stalling suplex for a count of about 20. Claudio starts getting a bit over confident. Evans cartwheel kicks him out of nowhere and hits a flying knee. His striking has become even less predictable since his latest run in Japan. 450 to the floor! Evans can just change the momentum in a match with one of those crazy high risk moves. Sky Twister misses though and Claudio plants him with one of those forearm uppercuts. Alpamare Waterslide gets 2. Evans comes back with more unorthodox kicks and the standing Phoenix Splash gets 2. Claudio cuts Jack off on the ropes knowing anything off there is potentially deadly. Claudio catches him, throws him in the air and clocks him with a forearm uppercut on the way down…for 2. I thought that was it. Back to the ropes and Claudio wants the Ricola Bomb off the top but gets countered into a rana and Evans finishes with the 630 SPLASH at 14.26. ***1/2. Evans was wholly unpredictable in that one to show how he’s progressed as a competitor. Claudio is a great guy to work with when you’re looking to have a break-out performance too.

Round 1 – Genki Horiguchi v Chris Hero

H-A-G-E! Hero is very confident here but he should be paying attention to what just happened to his tag partner. Claudio was confident too and got swept aside by Jack Evans’ insane high spots. Hero makes light of Genki’s height and when Genki turns it up a notch in terms of speed Hero matches him step for step. He’s looking very limber! It’s scary to see someone of Hero’s size moving that quickly. And he’s not been like that his whole career. That’s something he’s trained into his game. Genki decides it’d be for the best to slow Hero up a shade and goes after the leg. Figure Four! Hero turns it over and dumps a big senton on Genki. Hero starts mocking Genki’s lack of hair and in the process ignores the injured leg with a bunch of flipping. Hmm. Excalibur goes off on a side about tapes and how wrestling is available on the internet in cafes now. A steaming cup of internet. Genki tries for a moonsault but eats knees and Hero hits the BACKDROP DRIVER…for 2. Cravat with knees and Hero levels him with a lariat…for 2. This has all been one way traffic since Hero shrugged off the knee injury. YAKUZAAAAAAAAA KIIIIIIIICCCCCKKKKKK! Hero just KILLED Genki with that but he kicks out. Hero goes for the Hero’s Welcome but Genki counters it into the BACKSLIDE FROM HEAVEN FOR THE WIN!!! At 10.42 it’s a huge upset. Hero must have been in contention to win the entire tournament. **1/2. A little one sided and Hero didn’t bother taking the early knee stuff anywhere but the finish was fun.

PWG title – Joey Ryan (c) v Excalibur v Petey Williams v Human Tornado

Ryan guarantees Tornado isn’t here tonight because of his shoulder injury so naturally he turns up. Ryan is the longest reigning PWG champion and the record he held of an eventual 406 days is still the longest reign today. Funny how Excalibur leaves commentary to be in the match when Bryce Remsberg remains on commentary when he’s refereeing this match. Tornado is the crowd favourite. It gets better as he breaks out the House Party on Petey. Tornado is heir apparent to the PWG crown and would eventually take the belt off Ryan ending his long, long title reign. Not quite so good for him here as he misses a huge dive and eats chair at ringside. Everyone else just stops. You’d think with three other wrestlers they’d have some plan of action. Excalibur sees an opening and jumps Ryan. Ryan & Petey are getting on quite well considering that Petey cost Ryan his match last night and Excalibur got the pin! So it’s kinda bizarre to see Petey & Ryan team up. It makes no sense really. Still no Human Tornado. Bryce gets huge bonus points for referencing Dirk Benedict’s 1986 film Body Slam. Still no Tornado so Excalibur takes a beating. That injury has fucked this match up something fierce. Excalibur makes the big babyface comeback with a double DDT. Joey comes back and calls for the Moustache Ride. Excalibur kicks him off and hits the Falcon Arrow on Petey for 2. Petey is just getting treated like a bitch in this match after his big now nonexistent face turn last night. Petey calls for the Destroyer but Ryan superkicks him for 2. Excalibur comes back with that ridiculous Heart Punch. This match is a total joke. Petey plants Excalibur with a DDT for 2. Shouldn’t there be tagging in this? Just a question. Petey gets back up for the Destroyer but Excalibur rolls him up for the elimination. The pop suggests some people thought first fall takes the belt.

Petey runs back in and gives Excalibur a piledriver. BOO! So much for that face turn. Ryan gets the pin and because Tornado is injured Ryan retains.

BUT WHAT’S THIS? EL SNOWFLAKE!!! He isn’t injured at all! He flies in there and levels Ryan a few times. Diving chop! Ryan is fucked and tired and bails! Bryce counts him out and Ryan loses the match but retains the title in a horrible result. *1/4. Even worse than last night’s Joey Ryan crapfest and a shambles of a title match. Tornado would get the belt eventually but not tonight and the crowd is just totally deflated. They could have at least thrown in a few near falls.

PWG tag titles – Arrogance (Chris Bosh/Scott Lost) (c) v Briscoes v Homicide/B-Boy

Briscoes assaulted Homicide & B-Boy last night to create a bit of hate in this one. Everyone hates Arrogance because they’re part of the hated Dynasty stable. Incidentally the Dynasty have all the belts and their champions are not in the BOLA. Only Scorpio Sky represents them in it. Crowd starts ragging on the Briscoes with a “you’re from Delaware” chant that amuses Homicide. This is part of the problem in PWG. The wrestlers give in to the fans love of goofy shit so there’s no way the matches can ever get really serious. Not that the fans want that but sometimes you need a serious match. Here the war between the Briscoes & Homicide/B-Boy results in a tonne of brawling around ringside with chair shots. Jay Briscoe gets opened up big time and his brother takes revenge with an insane tope at speed. Arrogance really don’t need to be in this match. It should have been a number one contenders match (and if someone already won a number one contenders match…like the Briscoes, then this should have happened later). Homicide points out to Jay that he busted him open and breaks out the GHETTO FORK! Excalibur debates why Arrogance are so good as champions and suggests it’s because they have the same number of letters in their names. Arrogance finally gets involved and they pick off Homicide. The Briscoes take over and it seems that despite being a crowd favourite Homicide is widely disliked by the other wrestlers. Mark tries for the flying super Ace Crusher but Homicide counters into one of his own in mid-air. That was ace! Lost charges in but misses the Superman Spear and flies through the ropes. Homicide wipes him out with the TOPE CON HILO when he finally gets back up and B-Boy adds in a MOONSAULT! This one has gotten off the hook!

Doomsday Bulldog from Homicide/B-Boy gets 2 with Mark saving. Jay then comes out nowhere on a neckbreaker/powerbomb combo. Briscoes attempt a Doomsday Device but Bosh pulls Mark off the apron. Lost with the Savage Elbow on Jay for 2. This has gone beyond breaking down. SHINING WIZARD for Bosh! FACE WAAAAASSSSHHH! Mark wants the Cutthroat Driver but B-Boy escapes and Mark hits the EXPLOIDAAAAAAAA instead. Homicide flies in with an implant DDT but the Briscoes switch. Homicide wants the Cop Killer but Jay escapes into the FALCON ARROW…for 2. Lost flies in with kicks and he suplexes Jay over the top rope. Mark takes a GTS off B-Boy and lands into the COP KILLAAAAAAAAA! Bosh throws Homicide out of the ring though and steals the pin! ***1/2. Really fun and impressively insane tag match. Once it started getting nutty with the high spots it delivered.

Round 1 – Scorpio Sky v Frankie Kazarian

Jade Chung is booted from ringside because there’s no valets in the BOLA. Kaz HATES Sky and jumps him from behind. Kaz one of the guys who has a firm dislike for the Dynasty. Sky cut Kaz’s hair at the last show, which is an OUTRAGE. If you’re going to cut your hair though you might as well do it as part of an angle and create a blood feud! Kaz starts out doing the right thing by just wailing on Sky rather than flipping around. It shows the importance of the match and the feud. It gives this match a different vibe from the rest of the opening round matches too. Sky pulls out a Diamond Cutter and rolls back into a Dragon Clutch. Kaz backs up into the ropes to survive. Sky stalks the fallen Kaz and PEDIGREES HIM…FOR ONE!!! OOOOOHHHH! Kickout of WWE Disrespect. Sky gets bored and grabs the mic to cut a mid-match promo. He culminates with “you’ll never make it in the WWE” and Kaz gets his second wind to give Sky an ass kicking. Sky suplexes Kaz to the floor and hits a hilo over the top rope. I don’t like that Kaz’s revenge lasts a matter of seconds. Excalibur goes off on a tangent about how there’s no mats on the floor because the California State Athletic Commission has no jurisdiction in Reseda because it’s mentioned in a Tom Petty song. Out into the bleachers and Jade Chung runs out to beg Kaz not to kill Sky. Doesn’t work! POWERBOMB OFF THE STAGE INTO A PILE OF CHAIRS! The stage is only like 3 feet off the floor so that’s not quite as impressive as it sounds. Jade runs in with a pair of scissors and STABS Kaz drawing the DQ. **1/2. Kaz didn’t really get his revenge but it extends their feud for another pay off.

POST MATCH Kaz threatens to cut Jade’s hair off but the Dynasty runs in to make the save. Kaz clears the ring out and you can see a trickle of blood coming from Kaz’s back. She really did stab him! This is heading to a whole other level.

Round 1 – Super Dragon v Necro Butcher

This is Dragon’s first match in 4 months after being taken out by the Dynasty. This match is falls count anywhere and night two’s main event. BRAWL!!! They just start punching each other in the face to open! Excalibur suggests that Dragon losing the opening fight is down to his ring rust because he’s been “drinking lemonade in a hammock” for 4 months. Necro is all out to take this one and slams Dragon on the floor for 2. Side slam on two set up chairs gets 2. Dragon gets a chair wrapped round his neck but fights back with strikes and the chair is hitting Necro too! Chair shot for the Butcher! CHAIR SHOT TO THE HAND! Necro won’t be punching anyone anytime soon! “You sick fuck” chant the crowd. Chair on the hand – SENTON ONTO THE CHAIR! Super Dragon has just removed Necro’s biggest weapon. Duelling chants now as the crowd really get into this. Dragon with a pair of vicious chair shots. Necro was bleeding from the head pre-match but it’s getting worse now. Dragon takes it to the mat and gets in a few more shots on that injured hand. Necro gets a back mount and wails away with punches but that only hurts his own hand. KNOCK OUT RIGHT HAND! Necro might have a broken hand but he STILL knocked Dragon out with it. Necro gets a receipt with a couple of chair shots. Table across Dragon’s face and Necro sentons it! This has just been brutal. The table is set up and they brawl onto the stage. Like I said before the stage is about 3 feet high, if that. Necro is set up but he backdrops out and Dragon lands on the edge of the stage!! OUCH! “Jebus H. Christ” – Bryce. Onto the table now and the table can’t take the weight of them and it collapses. Both guys land pretty badly. Necro grabs a chunk of table and breaks it over Dragon’s back. That gets 2. TIGER DRIVER ON THE STAGE…for 2.

This is chaos but there’s too much resting between spots. Kinda like HHH-HBK when they had that three stages of hell match. Duelling chants again! Back into the ring and Necro THROWS A CHAIR at Dragon for 2. Necro goes to walk away and gets another weapon but Dragon picks the chair up and THROWS IT AT THE BACK OF NECRO’S HEAD! FUCKING HELL! They fuck up a powerbomb through the table with Dragon’s knees not holding up on it. Soft Psycho Driver into the table. That gets 2. Super Dragon looks really tired. Necro gets his head stuck in a chair and Dragon goes up top. Uh oh. Necro recovers and chair shots Dragon. Necro is wailing away with slaps because he can’t punch anymore. SUPER RANA FROM NECRO! Both guys back up. Necro winds up…LARIATOOOOO for 2. He misses another one and Necro breaks out the fuckin’ O’CONNOR ROLL!!! That gets 2. That was a shock. Bryce suggests that Pat O’Connor is giving Necro a thumbs up for using that one! Necro tries punching some more but he’s got nothing left in them. Dragon comes back…LARIATOOOOO! Both guys are shattered. Tank’s on E. But Dragon has his second wind! VIOLENCE PARTY!!! HE’S CHOPPED HIM IN THE FACE! NECRO COMES BACK WITH HIS OWN VIOLENCE PARTY! He’s KICKING HIM IN THE HEAD! Dragon sweeps the legs. DOUBLE STOMP, UNPROTECTED, TO THE FACE! FUUUUUUUUUUCCCCKKK! That was beyond sick and ONLY gets 2. Chair on Necro’s head and Dragon has another chair. CHAIR SHOT SANDWICH! How is Necro not broken his face here? Necro kicks out! Necro tries to block the Curb Stomp but Dragon punches him in the face three times. CURB STOMP ON A CHAIR!!! “ONE MORE TIME” chant the sick, sick crowd. Pinfall…gets 2! Necro is bleeding again. Dragon sets a chair up – PSYCHO DRIVER ON A SET UP CHAIR!!!! FUCK! That is about the sickest impact, ever. Naturally Necro is pinned. No one gets out of that. Match time is 25.59. Which was 26 minutes of two guys just murdering each other. ****. It got a little clumsy down the stretch with them botching the corner table spot but the level of violence deserves commendation. Literally they risked their lives in this one. Necro especially who took two of the sickest looking moves I’ve ever seen.

NIGHT THREE!

We’re still in Reseda, California. Hosts are Disco Machine & TARO!

QF – El Generico v Chris Sabin

This could have been Delirious v Colt Cabana in a primo comedy match! Slow start to this one with an extended feeling out process. Perhaps both guys are being careful so they don’t get the quick loss from an early mistake. It gets a bit fired up with some lucha. Sabin is very strong at lucha too and gets the edge on that. Then things slow up again and this match so far as been in fits and starts. Sabin turns it up a notch with a slingshot hilo but these guys don’t seem to be clicking at all. Which is very strange for Generico who seems to have great matches with everyone usually. Back to the lucha and Generico gets his flying DDT for 2. Generico wants the finish because the winner here has another two matches but Sabin blocks the Brainbustah. They counter back in the corner and Sabin blocks it again pushing them both off the top. Sabin blocks with an Ace Crusher and starts unloading with strikes. SPIRAL BOMB…gets 2. Sabin has kicked it up a notch. Sabin gets dropkicked out of the ring but slingshots back in and hits a lariat! Generico avoids the Cradleshock and hits the release Northern Lights into the buckles for 2. They’re both gunning for the big moves now. Generico wants the Yakuza Kick but Sabin plants him with a superkick coming in. Senton bomb gets 2. Not quite Dick Togo style. Generico escapes the tree of woe with Sabin setting up his basement dropkick and in an awesome spot runs across the ring to YAKUZA KICK an unsuspecting Sabin. BRAINBUSTAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH follows and Generico advances at 16.20. ***. Could have done without the slow start but some of the countering was great and the finish was gold. Sabin paid the price for not keeping his eye on the prize.

QF – CIMA v Kevin Steen

Steen does some sit-ups and then CIMA serves him by doing sit-ups off the buckles. Steen tries the same thing but he’s too heavy. 1-0 CIMA. They start slowly here too until Steen armlocks CIMA and hits him with his own elbow. QUIT HITTING YOURSELF! CIMA goes right after the permanently injured knee of Steen and almost gets a heel hook. Steen lands a big senton to CIMA’s back and then assaults the back again as CIMA comes back into the ring. Steen isn’t exactly taking this seriously though. He mocks CIMA’s injuries and jaws with the fans. Big capture suplex from Steen and CIMA is in trouble here. Steen has been throwing his weight around. He has enough size advantage that something like a bodyscissors is highly effective. CIMA tries for his own Wrestlemania 3 moment and SLAMS KEVIN STEEN! The impact knocks Bryce Remsberg over! “HOLY SHIT”. Steen wants revenge for that and sets CIMA up in the corner for double knees. MOONSAULT!!! ONE-TWO-THR…NOOO! Kickout from CIMA. Steen wants another one but CIMA catches him going up with the LUNGBLOWER. Double knees! Capture DDT! Steen blocks the Crossfire but CIMA just jacks him up there…CROSSFIRE…FOR 2! CIMA is selling the back after that move as part of the continued psychology of him struggling with Steen’s size. CIMA runs right into a lariat for 2. Steen wants the package piledriver but CIMA rolls out of it and hits a superkick. CIMA gets a cheeky roll up and progresses at 14.18. ***1/2. Great story from these two and CIMA was on form after a slow start. It was CIMA’s comeback that kicked off the best part of the match.

QF – Roderick Strong v Dragon Kid

A clear power v speed story here before we even get underway. Strong overpowers from the opening lock up to demonstrate that and then DK slides out in the corner to further demonstrate it. They bail and Strong accidentally chops the ringpost. That’ll take out a large part of his game. DK then dropkicks the hand, twice. DK is working the smart match and focusing on the arm instead of his own offence. When an opportunity presents itself; go for it. Strong catches him and plants him with a back suplex, which is his other big focus. HUGE Butterfly suplex of the release variety. He just THREW him there. Strong with his first chop and he hurts himself. You’d hope he learns from that. Strong with a release fallaway slam and DK flies across the ring again. Strong is having a GREAT time. Backbreaker! Bearhug…suplex! Strong is loving this and so am I. DK decides he has to up his game. DÉJÀ VU! Strong is confused and bails allowing DK to moonsault him off the middle buckle. Strong keeps going after DK with the bad arm allowing DK to block and hang onto it to set up the DIAMOND DUST! Strong gets clocked on the bad arm again and DK gets the hanging headscissors but Strong counters into the wheelbarrow bomb! DK lands face first and gets pinned…for 2. DK comes back again by hanging Strong’s bad arm over the ropes and the double springboard moonsault gets 2. DK wants a rana but Strong hauls him back up and looks for a backbreaker but DK counters into the Diamond Dust on the way down! SHORT ARM SCISSORS! Roderick in trouble. He rolls with it and jacks DK up. POWERBOMB INTO THE BUCKLES. LARIATOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! HOLY SHIT! DK landed on his neck and Knox counts 3 but indicates there was a kickout afterwards. Strong looks for a power move off his shoulders but DK counters into the crucifix for 2. DK flips looking for the rana and flips back up when it’s blocked to momentum Strong over for 2. Strong goes for a press slam but his arm hurts so he can’t do it properly BUT that ends up bad for DK because he ends up getting planted TKO style. Strong on the ropes and DK dropkicks him off the top. Flying rana is blocked and Strong counters right into the STRONGHOLD for the tap out at 15.14. ****1/2. A low end MOTY contender and a fantastic psychological battle. Strong had such a great time out there both selling his bad arm and throwing DK around. For his part DK was quite exceptional at his underdog role.

QF – Austin Aries v Davey Richards

Davey has become a contender in the last 12 months in PWG and won the ECWA Super 8 defeating Charlie Haas in the finals. Aries is carrying a big rib injury. It’s set for Davey to get the big win here. Aries shows some early sportsmanship by respecting the rope break. Both these guys are so fast and explosive. If Aries was 100% healthy it’d be one hell of a match. He still gets out of a headscissors. Davey bails to reconsider things and Aries wipes him with a low TOPE! That was so quick it was sudden. Slingshot hilo from Aries and a running elbow drop gets 2. Surely all of this is bad news for his ribs. TARO goes off on a tangent about Jumbo Tsuruta after Aries hits a jumping knee. Davey comes back with knees to the injured ribs. Aries looks a little rattled and off. So he takes too long getting up top and the frogsplash gets knees. And he already has bad ribs! Davey goes after the ribs and hits a snap suplex for 2. Bodyscissors and Davey is trying to just wear down Aries and take his breath away. TARO stops off to slander Rev Pro calling it a “sausage party”. Davey is tenacious on those ribs. Davey tries to handspring, which is perhaps too elaborate for his needs, and Aries dropkicks him in the back. Aries tries to survive by just picking at Davey with strikes, which cause the least amount of pain to the ribs. He’s also able to lock on the Rings of Saturn but he can’t get it on good because of the injury. Davey gets into the ropes and connects with a running powerslam. Aries in huge trouble here. He’s not really gotten a streak of moves going all match and his injury prevents him from hitting anything big. He does manage to connect on a back suplex and a corner dropkick but that won’t get it done. Davey punts him in the ribcage for 2. More kicks to the ribs but Aries fires up and kicks Davey in the face to set up the BRAINBUSTER…FOR 2. Aries has to go up top because he needs the 450 to progress but Davey moves. Aries looks troubled. Davey ties him up in a reverse Cloverleaf and the ribs hurt too much. Aries taps out at 14.13. ***1/4. Aries looked out of sorts. Perhaps he was just selling or perhaps he didn’t want to outshine Davey Richards. Regardless this was all Richards and his big win to push him as a legitimate winner of this tournament.

QF – Jack Evans v Genki Horiguchi

Genki is able to keep up with Evans, which makes for some fun exchanges. Evans comes flying at him with a springboard hurricane kick for 2. Evans is one of the few guys in this tournament who can finish a match off really quickly because he’s so used to high risk. Evans moonsaults off Genki and onto Genki! Evans then takes out Genki’s knee with a dropkick. Mat strategy from Jack Evans? Oh yeah! He even tries to get a submission! Evans does one flip too many and Genki kicks him in the spine on a cartwheel. Double stomp! Genki probably isn’t aware that Evans is very flexible and tries for a half crab. Although he’s cranking at it Evans generally won’t tap unless he’s absolutely pretzeled. The problem with this match is that Genki’s stuff looks so tame by comparison to Evans’ high spots. STANDING PHOENIX SPLASH! For example! Jack is using this match as a showcase for his skills. Genki does pull off a sweet brainbuster for 2. WRIST CLUTCH KOBASHIPLEX! That gets 2. And Jack was pretty much unprotected on the landing. Jack comes back with a rolling prawn hold and then a crucifix as he’s going for the quick win. BACKSLIDE FROM HEAVEN! That gets 2. I think we’re out of roll up’s. BEACH BREAK! That should be it but Jack kicks out. Genki falls off the ropes – 630 SPLASH!! That gets 2. BACKSLIDE FROM HEAVEN but Jack turns through it and BRIDGES A BACKSLIDE!!! That should be impossible and there ya go. Evans advances at 10.23 of sheer action. ***. A bit scrappy but lots of great innovation.

QF – Super Dragon v Frankie Kazarian

Kaz gets jumped by the Dynasty pre-match and Kaz gets thrown onto a set up chair back first. Ow! Super Dragon makes the save and grabs Jade Chung. CURB STOMP ON JADE CHUNG!!! HOLY SHIT! Frankie Kazarian hasn’t moved since the chair spot though so this match is called off. Dragon advances. Crowd doesn’t like it and chants “bullshit”. Perhaps they should have had the match and had the Dynasty run in after five minutes?

SF – El Generico v CIMA

They start out tentatively here before managing the British style double leglock into headstands with chopping! Love that spot. They can’t hold it for long. Generico demonstrates his split legged moonsault for 2. CIMA is having a bit of back trouble but he evens that up with a huge LUNGBLOWER for 2. A little kid is getting a bit excited about Generico so CIMA rakes Generico’s eyes for the kid. OOOHHH! HEEEL! CIMA has been heeling it up a bit here and boots Generico’s hand when he grabs the rope. Then he ties Generico’s mask to the bottom rope and dropkicks him in the face. Nice! CIMA does the butt dropkick in the corner. CIMA bails out on a dropkick and Generico does a huge top rope moonsault to the floor. Like Taka Michinoku! Generico’s high risk has so far paid off. Generico catches CIMA unawares with the tope tornado DDT on the floor. High risk pays off again! SUPERFLY SPLASH! That gets 2. Generico has used the ropes to maximum effect here. CIMA baits Generico in through the ropes though and baits him in. COAST TO COAST MISSILE DROPKICK! If he added the somersault it was a Mona Lisa Overdrive. Generico tries to use the ropes again but gets caught springboarding with an Ace Crusher. CIMA has figured out the rope offence now and that puts Generico in a world of trouble because that was the only place he was getting big success. CIMA tries for a standing choke but Generico powers him up into a FALCON ARROW…for 2. Yakuza Kick misses with CIMA ducking out of it. VENUS! ICONOCLASM! MAD SPLASH GETS KNEES! Generico is up…YAKUZA KICK! KOBASHIPLEX!! ONE-TWO-THR…NO!! Generico wants the Brainbustah knowing that will finish this. CIMA counters out into a tornado DDT OFF THE TOP! SCHWEIN! ONE-TWO-THRE…NO!! Generico kicks out! WRIST CLUTCH SCHWEIN!! CIMA wins and advances to the finals at 19.10. ****1/4. The match just kept getting more and more entertaining.

SF – Roderick Strong v Davey Richards

They start fast and hard before breaking and showing respect. I guess they both wanted to see how worn down the other was. As it turns out; not a lot at all. Davey gets the better of the mat wrestling and gets a Rowboat. He gives up on that and Strong is able to get a reversal on the mat and the wrestling has been very clean here. They both demonstrate some leg strength and agility in a series of legsweeps and cartwheels. Crowd is cranked! The wrestlers are intense! Strong slaps Davey in the face! Davey ducks a chop and kicks Strong in the midsection. We have the beginnings of something here. Strong with a huge CHOP~! Make that two. Davey with a missile dropkick. We’re a bit disjointed here. Davey with the running powerslam for 2. Handspring Gamengiri! Strong charges him and Davey gets the leg capture suplex. Davey seems to have an intensity edge now. Strong comes back with a backbreaker and a Falcon Arrow gets 2. To the ropes and Davey gets the SSP but Strong gets knees up. DAAAAAAMN! Strong with the Tiger Driver for 2 and he rolls through looking for the Stronghold but Davey blocks the roll and flukes a pin at 11.07. **1/2. Felt like half a match but I can deal with that at this stage of the tournament.

SF – Super Dragon v Jack Evans

Evans thinks he can compete on the mat and does an excellent job of chaining with the usually far more aggressive Dragon. Evans gets suckered with a cheeky rope break and Dragon forearms his face off! Dragon gets knocked out of the ring and Evans turns the Sasuke Special into a rana on the floor. That’s insane! Standing Sky Twister gets 2. Jack keeps going to the springboard well and gets caught in a vicious, nasty and uncalled for PILEDRIVER. “You killed Jack” – Reseda. Jack wings Dragon with a heel kick. The pace has gone out of the match thanks to that piledriver. Jack hasn’t really looked right since. Standing Phoenix Splash! That gets 2. Dragon sees Jack coming off the top but Evans turns a Sky Twister Press into a rana. Dragon pops back up and hits a German suplex leaving both men down. Dragon on his knees and Jack somehow manages to get a reverse rana out of that. That should be impossible too. But then Jack Evans seems to do the impossible with such regularity that it makes anything possible. Jack misses off the top but connects with a flying knee. Dragon plays possum and looks for the top rope Psycho Driver. Jack gets out but Dragon switches into a MURDEROUS GANZO BOMB OFF THE TOP!!! Is he dead? Jesus Christ. Match time is 9.16. **1/4. Match was a mess. Finish was beyond insane and Jack Evans is lucky his back is so flexible or he’d be in a wheelchair after that.

Quicksilver/Delirious/M-Dogg 20/Colt Cabana v Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli)/Rocky Romero/Necro Butcher

Claudio didn’t bring a change of gear because he’s wearing Hero’s spare tights. Colt wants to be on Necro’s team and tries to swap Hero onto the other side. Delirious hasn’t moved yet. The bell rings and Hero was a little close to the FREAK OUT. Delirious gets a little carried away so Hero ties him to the ringpost so he can’t jump in there again. Hero & M-Dogg start with Hero matching M-Dogg in the flip stakes. Colt wants bare-knuckle boxing with Romero who tags out to Necro immediately. Colt bails and demands he’s counted out. TARO has started doing Ultimate Woyah impressions on commentary, which is quite disturbing. Romero back in to administer some kicks and Colt gets sick of taking them. KUNG-FU COLT! Claudio-Quicksilver. They have a SUPER POSEDOWN! The wrestling that follows is kind of a mess. Quicksilver was the unfortunate guy who finally got the big injury that was inevitable with all the ridiculous high spots in this company. He ended up with a class two concussion. He’s not wrestled since early 2007. Necro tags in Delirious goes nuts. He wants in…isn’t that right Chris Jericho?

Delirious wants a fight and chops Necro. Necro doesn’t really notice. Delirious hurts his hand. Punch doesn’t work either. Delirious decides the only thing that’ll work is shouting before going for a headbutt. DELIRIOUS IS DOWN! He covers up. Necro just kicks him and Delirious rolls around the ring. Necro rolls him out of the ring so Delirious DISAPPEARS! FLYING CLOTHESLINE! Delirious actually had Necro over so Necro unloads with chops and punches. Delirious bites his leg! Necro can’t get him off and has to tag Hero. Delirious finds himself isolated as a result. Colt gets the hot tag eventually and he brings the Flip, Flop and Fly! BUTT-BUTT on Claudio. Blind tag to M-Dogg and after Colt kicks Claudio up the ass M-Dogg tags in with a moonsault. M-Dogg fucks up in the corner. Quicksilver in with an Enzuigiri and he plays the violin as Claudio slowly tumbles in an awesome spot. Kings of Wrestling straight up murder Quicksilver. Double powerbomb. Now Quicksilver gets isolated. Claudio & Colt have a Rick Rude style grind-off! Tug O’ War with Quicksilver’s body. Delirious gets the tag…NEVERENDING STORY! Delirious literally clotheslines Hero FIFTY TIMES in the corner ahead of a bulldog for 2. M-Dogg breaks out the Sasuke Special and dances across the bar! I’m sure that clip is on YouTube. I can’t find it so instead here’s a clip of M-Dogg falling groin first onto the top turnbuckle.

Romero follows out with a tope. Quicksilver dives over the top rope. Colt out with the quebrada! Necro wants to dive but Bryce stops him. So Necro powerbombs Bryce over the top onto the others. Necro up top! SENTON OFF THE TOP FROM NECRO! M-Dogg flips off the top onto Hero’s legs, which looks really painful. That gets 2. Quicksilver in to SLAP NECRO IN THE FACE. That’s just a terrible idea. Necro wails on him. LARIATOOOOO! Delirious wipes him out with a missile dropkick and this has broken down all over the place. Quicksilver breaks out this insane flying rana off Claudio’s shoulders onto Hero and that’s enough for the win. **. It was too long and a total mess. There were some nice little moments but not enough to pad it out.

2006 BOLA Finals – Davey Richards v CIMA

This is supposed to be a 3-way dance with Super Dragon involved but the Dynasty attacked him backstage so it’s a singles match instead. Handshake to start. CIMA goes right to a headlock but Davey back suplexes out quickly perhaps showing how he’s the fresher man. Remember CIMA had that war with El Generico in the semi. CIMA decides it’s best to keep Davey grounded and controlled. Davey counters into a Horse Collar and CIMA gets the ropes. Very even to open with. Davey mysteriously works the ear. Perhaps he has some inside information on that. Davey starts with the kicks but CIMA fires up! FIGHTING SPIRIT! He tricks Davey in and double stomps him. Skin the cat double stomp! That’s new. Russian legsweep into the Octopus stretch. CIMA has taken over but he looks tired and his offence is laboured. He fires up to hit the running knees but everything has gone quiet. Crowd is quiet. Wrestlers aren’t doing much. CIMA tries to liven matters up with the Coast to Coast dropkick but Davey moves having scouted it. STRAIGHTJACKET LUNGBLOWER…gets 2. CIMA swings wildly and gets caught with a back suplex and the TOMBSTONE…gets 2. To the ropes – VENUS sets up the superplex for 2. Both guys look tired now. Davey counters, punts CIMA in the chest and hits the LIGERBOMB for 2. They counter again and Davey comes up with a DDT. Up he goes – SHOOTING STAR PRESS…for 2! CIMA is running on fumes and kicking out on instinct. Double leg from CIMA into the SCHWEIN! That gets 2. He goes for another one but Davey counters into the TIGER DRIVER ’91 for the pin and the BOLA at 13.42. ***. Understandably slow paced and felt like a shortened war of attrition. Both guys had great tournaments though so I’m happy with that finish.

POST MATCH Davey gets the mic and says that winning the tournament should get him a title match with Joey Ryan. But he cares more about he and Super Dragon winning their tag titles back. That’s the shot he wants. Unlike El Snowflake he wouldn’t get his title though. Well…not right away.

The 411: Some great stuff here from PWG. Yeah, some of the booking is still suspect and they cheated the fans out of their advertised main event and another marquee match in an attempt to continue their Dynasty Vs Main Eventers storyline. Some of the multiple person filler matches are really worth skipping over (in particular Joey Ryan’s title defence) and most of the opening round of the tournament is disappointing. However when this tournament gets going it gets batshit crazy in a hurry. Super Dragon v Necro Butcher is completely insane and all of night three is pretty much gold.

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]