Black Taurus announced for PWG Battle of Los Angeles

Black Taurus is the latest entrant to be announced for the 2019 Battle of Los Angeles.

PWG announced on Tuesday that Taurus will be taking part in this year’s tournament. He’s the 17th wrestler to be confirmed for BOLA. There will be 24 entrants in total, with the winner getting a shot at the PWG World Championship.

The announcement comes after Taurus made his PWG debut at Sixteen last week. In a six-man tag match that has gotten great reviews from those in attendance, Taurus, Laredo Kid & Puma King took on Bandido, Flamita & Rey Horus.

Taurus, Texano Jr., and a mystery partner will team against Psycho Clown, Cody Rhodes & Cain Velasquez at Triplemania XXVII this Saturday.

BOLA is taking place at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles, California on Thursday, September 19, Friday, September 20, and Sunday, September 22. Here’s the updated list of entrants:

  • A-Kid
  • Jonathan Gresham
  • Artemis Spencer
  • Darby Allin
  • Mick Moretti
  • Orange Cassidy
  • Bandido
  • Caveman Ugg
  • Jake Atlas
  • Tony Deppen
  • Fenix
  • Lucky Kid
  • Joey Janela
  • Brody King
  • Barbaro Cavernario
  • Jungle Boy
  • Black Taurus

Jungle Boy set for PWG Battle of Los Angeles

Jungle Boy is set to take part in his first Battle of Los Angeles.

On Monday night, PWG announced that Jungle Boy will be an entrant in this year’s BOLA tournament. It’s taking place at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles, California on Thursday, September 19, Friday, September 20, and Sunday, September 22.

Jungle Boy made his PWG debut earlier this year and has had four matches for the promotion.

It was announced in January that Jungle Boy has signed with AEW. He debuted in the Casino Battle Royale at Double or Nothing, faced Hangman Page, MJF, and Jimmy Havoc in a four-way match at Fyter Fest, and teamed with Luchasaurus against The Dark Order and Angelico & Jack Evans in a triple threat match at Fight for the Fallen.

There will be 24 entrants in BOLA, with the winner getting a shot at the PWG World Championship. Here’s the updated list of participants:

  • A-Kid
  • Jonathan Gresham
  • Artemis Spencer
  • Darby Allin
  • Mick Moretti
  • Orange Cassidy
  • Bandido
  • Caveman Ugg
  • Jake Atlas
  • Tony Deppen
  • Fenix
  • Lucky Kid
  • Joey Janela
  • Brody King
  • Barbaro Cavernario
  • Jungle Boy

PWG Sixteen results: Incredible six-man tag match

PWG’s 16th anniversary show took place at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles, California on Friday night.

– Trey Miguel pinned Andy Brown with a meteora off the top rope

Strong opener, particularly by Miguel. Brown is local and the crowd was hot for this.

– The Dark Order (Evil Uno & Stu Grayson) defeated Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent Barreta) by DQ

This was like a practice run for their All Out match on August 31. The match was very good. Great heat and a lot of cool moves.

It was very unlike a PWG finish. There was a strong face vs. heel dynamic and the Dark Order used low blows a few times when the ref was down. Trent finally used a low blow in retaliation — but the ref saw that and disqualified him. It’s probably building a program and PWG almost never does this type of finish.

– Darby Allin pinned MJF

MJF wore plaid trunks and a scarf which was in tribute to Roddy Piper since some people compare him to Piper. He got enormous heat in a way that nobody here gets. He ran down guys doing flippy moves and ran down the fans and said he was going to win with a headlock takeover. He tried it many times, including after a low blow, but Allin always kicked out.

Allin finally gave MJF a low blow and a headlock takeover and got the three. This finish worked huge. Great bout.

– Bandido, Flamita & Rey Horus defeated Black Taurus, Laredo Kid & Puma King

Insane. People were saying this was the best PWG match since the famous Young Bucks & Adam Cole vs. Will Ospreay, Matt Sydal & Ricochet match a few years ago and I’d pretty much agree. So many dives and first time moves.

Bandido pinned Puma King with the 21-Plex. The place threw more money in the ring when it was over than I’ve seen thrown in a long time.

– Joey Janela pinned Jungle Boy with an elbow off the top rope

The crowd sees both guys as big stars now. Luchasaurus carried Jungle Boy to the ring on his shoulders. It was very difficult to follow the previous match but this was good.

– Brody King pinned David Starr with a ganso bomb

Good match but again once that six-man happened nothing was going to get the over-the-top reaction.

– PWG Tag Team Champions The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) retained their titles against LAX (Santana & Ortiz) in a ladder match

This was a great match. A lot of innovative stuff. Xavier climbed up the ladder and got both belts to win.

Tony Khan of AEW was at the show. He had been in town since midweek due to the Television Critics Association conference.

Barbaro Cavernario set for PWG Battle of Los Angeles

A CMLL star is the latest wrestler to be announced for PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles.

It was announced on Friday that Barbaro Cavernario will be taking part in this year’s tournament. He’s the 15th entrant to be announced for it.

This will be Cavernario’s PWG debut. He wrestled in the United States over WrestleMania week this April, losing a match against Dragon Lee at WrestleCon’s Mark Hitchcock Memorial Supershow.

Cavernario will also make his ROH debut at Summer Supercard in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on August 9. He’s teaming with Hechicero & Templario in a six-man tag match against Caristico, Soberano Jr. & Stuka Jr. at that event.

There will be 24 entrants in the Battle of Los Angeles, with the winner receiving a future shot at the PWG World Championship. The tournament is being held at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles, California on Thursday, September 19, Friday, September 20, and Sunday, September 22.

Here’s the updated list of participants:

  • A-Kid
  • Jonathan Gresham
  • Artemis Spencer
  • Darby Allin
  • Mick Moretti
  • Orange Cassidy
  • Bandido
  • Caveman Ugg
  • Jake Atlas
  • Tony Deppen
  • Fenix
  • Lucky Kid
  • Joey Janela
  • Brody King
  • Barbaro Cavernario

Joey Janela added to PWG Battle of Los Angeles

Joey Janela is set to take part in the 2019 Battle of Los Angeles.

On Wednesday, PWG announced Janela as the latest entrant for this year’s tournament. He’s the 13th participant to be confirmed, joining A-Kid, Jonathan Gresham, Artemis Spencer, Darby Allin, Mick Moretti, Orange Cassidy, Bandido, Caveman Ugg, Jake Atlas, Tony Deppen, Fenix, and Lucky Kid.

Janela made his PWG debut in BOLA 2017, losing to Sammy Guevara in the first round. He made it to the semifinals last year but lost to Bandido.

Janela, Allin & Jimmy Havoc teamed together and lost to Shawn Spears, MJF & Guevara in a six-man tag match at AEW Fight for the Fallen last weekend.

BOLA is taking place at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles, California on Thursday, September 19, Friday, September 20, and Sunday, September 22. There will be 24 entrants in total. The winner receives a future shot at the PWG World Championship.

Fenix added to PWG Battle of Los Angeles

One half of the Lucha Bros has been confirmed for this year’s Battle of Los Angeles.

PWG has announced Fenix as the latest entrant for this year’s tournament. He’s the 11th wrestler to be confirmed for BOLA.

Fenix made his PWG debut in the 2015 Battle of Los Angeles and was also an entrant in the 2016 and 2017 editions of the tournament. He held the PWG Tag Team titles with Pentagon Jr. from March 2017 to October of that year.

Pentagon & Fenix defeated SoCal Uncensored (Scorpio Sky & Frankie Kazarian) at AEW Fight for the Fallen this past weekend and then challenged The Young Bucks to a ladder match at All Out on August 31.

A-Kid, Jonathan Gresham, Artemis Spencer, Darby Allin, Mick Moretti, Orange Cassidy, Bandido, Caveman Ugg, Jake Atlas, Tony Deppen, and Fenix are the participants that have been confirmed for BOLA thus far. It’s a 24-wrestler tournament, and the winner will get a future shot at the PWG World Championship.

BOLA is being held at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles on Thursday, September 19, Friday, September 20, and Sunday, September 22.

Bandido confirmed for PWG Battle of Los Angeles

After making it to the finals of last year’s tournament, Bandido is officially back for this year’s Battle of Los Angeles.

PWG has announced Bandido as the latest entrant for the 2019 Battle of Los Angeles. He’s the seventh wrestler to be announced for the tournament, joining A-Kid, Jonathan Gresham, Artemis Spencer, Darby Allin, Mick Moretti, and Orange Cassidy.

Bandido defeated T-Hawk in the first round, Flamita in the second round, and Joey Janela in the semifinals of last year’s Battle of Los Angeles. He faced Jeff Cobb and Shingo Takagi in a triple threat elimination match in the finals. It came down to Cobb vs. Bandido, with Cobb getting the win. Cobb went on to win the PWG World Championship in October 2018.

Cobb retained his title against Bandido at PWG Two Hundred in March.

Bandido made his ROH debut this January after signing with the promotion.

The Globe Theatre in Los Angeles, California is hosting this year’s Battle of Los Angeles on Thursday, September 19, Friday, September 20, and Sunday, September 22. There will be 24 entrants in total, with the winner getting a future shot at the PWG World title.

Orange Cassidy announced for PWG Battle of Los Angeles

Orange Cassidy is the latest entrant to be announced for this year’s Battle of Los Angeles.

Cassidy made his debut for PWG back in May, losing to Chuck Taylor. Some of his more notable matches this year include defeating Bryan Alvarez at Black Label Pro’s Adventures in Wrestling event back in April and participating in the Double or Nothing Casino Battle Royal. He’s also wrestled for EVOLVE, losing to Velveteen Dream back in March.

Already confirmed for this year’s Battle of Los Angeles tournament include A-Kid, Jonathan Gresham, Artemis Spencer, Darby Allin and Mick Moretti. A-Kid, Moretti and Spencer will all be making their debuts for the promotion.

This year’s Battle of Los Angles will take place at the Globe Theater in Los Angeles, California on September 19, 20 and 22. There will be 24 participants in the tournament, with the winner getting a future title shot at the PWG World Heavyweight championship, which is currently held by Jeff Cobb.

A-Kid named first entrant in PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles

A-Kid is the first participant announced for this year’s PWG Battle of Los Angeles event.

The announcement was made tonight on PWG’s Twitter account. The Spanish-born wrestler has been wrestling since 2012, primarily wrestling for the WhiteWolf Wrestling promotion in Spain. In the years since his debut, he’s been making waves across Europe, wrestling for a number of top promotions including Defiant and RevoPro. A match between him and Will Ospreay from April of last year recieved critical acclaim, including a five star rating by Dave Meltzer.

He most recently appeared on NXT UK television, losing to Gallus (Mark Coffey and Wolfgang) in a tag team match pairing with tag team partner Carlos Romo.

The tournament will run starting on September 19, with the second and third nights taking place on the 20th and 22nd, respectively. 

PWG’s next event will be Sixteen, celebrating their 16th anniversary, on July 26. MJF and Black Taurus will make their debuts for the promotion while LAX will take on the Rascalz for the PWG tag team titles.

PWG reveals card for 16th anniversary show

PWG has revealed the card for their 16th anniversary show.

The event is called Sixteen and will be headlined by a ladder match for the Tag Team titles, with The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) defending against LAX (Santana & Ortiz). The Rascalz have been champions since defeating Jeff Cobb & Matt Riddle and The Young Bucks in a triple threat match in April 2018.

A couple of debuts and the return of a tag team are also set for Sixteen. MJF will make his PWG debut against Darby Allin, while Black Taurus will debut in a six-man tag match. Black Taurus is teaming with Laredo Kid & Puma King against Bandido, Flamita & Rey Horus.

The Dark Order (Evil Uno & Stu Grayson), who were formerly known as the Super Smash Bros, are returning to PWG at Sixteen. They’re facing Best Friends (Trent Barreta & Chuck Taylor).

The Dark Order attacked Barreta & Taylor and Jack Evans & Angelico at AEW Double or Nothing last month.

The Globe Theatre in Los Angeles, California is hosting Sixteen on Friday, July 26. Tickets will go on sale next Thursday (June 20) at 8 p.m. Pacific time.

Here’s the full card for Sixteen:

  • PWG Tag Team Champions The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) defending against LAX (Santana & Ortiz) in a ladder match
  • Brody King vs. David Starr
  • Jungle Boy vs. Joey Janela
  • Black Taurus, Laredo Kid & Puma King vs. Bandido, Flamita & Rey Horus
  • MJF vs. Darby Allin
  • The Dark Order (Evil Uno & Stu Grayson) vs. Best Friends (Trent Barreta & Chuck Taylor)
  • Flip Gordon vs. Trey Miguel

PWG announces dates for Battle of Los Angeles 2019

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla has announced when this year’s Battle of Los Angeles will be taking place.

On Twitter tonight, PWG revealed that the 2019 Battle of Los Angeles will be held on Thursday, September 19, Friday, September 20, and Sunday, September 22. The three-night tournament is usually held on successive days from Friday to Sunday, but there is no show on the Saturday of that weekend this year.

The reason there isn’t a show on that Saturday is because the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles, California, which will host the Battle of Los Angeles, has another event booked that night.

The Battle of Los Angeles has been a 24-wrestler tournament over the past five years. PWG has yet to announce any of this year’s participants.

The winner of the Battle of Los Angeles receives a future shot at the PWG World Championship.

PWG also announced that “Sixteen,” their 16th anniversary show, will take place on Friday, July 26.

PWG Mystery Vortex results: Guerrilla Warfare main event

Image: Marc Raimondi

This year’s PWG Mystery Vortex show took place from the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles on Friday night, featuring a card where the matches weren’t announced in advance.

– Trey Miguel pinned Tony Deppen with double knees off the top rope

Both these guys have good timing and do cool things. Very creative but it was like one long high spot. Really, for this crowd, it was almost a perfect opening match.

The fans really liked Deppen and it felt like a large percentage of the crowd knew who he was, which also speaks to fewer of the WWE fan types that had been at the last few Globe shows.

– Chuck Taylor pinned Orange Cassidy with the Awful Waffle

Another sign of this crowd being very educated towards minor wrestling groups was that Cassidy had never appeared in PWG and the place went absolutely nuts when he came out and went nuts for every spot.

This was all the comedy stuff until the last three minutes. Cassidy is clearly going to be one of the hottest indie acts around because of his uniqueness. I don’t know how effective he’ll be with repeat viewings in the same building. But unlike at the WrestleCon SuperShow, where he got a giant reaction but there were people hating his stuff, everyone was into him here. Really, he should have gone over in his debut.

– PWG World Champion Jeff Cobb defeated Jonathan Gresham to retain his title

Cobb and Gresham had flights out that night, Cobb to Michigan and Gresham to Japan, so they went on early. Cobb broke his thumb on the first spot. 

This was very good, but it had a flaw in that the size difference was such that it was hard to buy Gresham being a threat. To his credit, the crowd was very into his near falls and they were so close to three with Cobb’s kickout timing that people actually bought it.

Gresham did a crazy tope where Cobb’s back was turned on the floor and Gresham did a tope into a choke. Cobb then climbed from the floor into the ring while being choked.

– Brody King defeated Trent Barreta and Jake Atlas in a three-way match when he pinned Atlas with a Bruno backbreaker dropped into a piledriver

The amount King and Atlas have improved in the last six months is unreal. When they debuted here, which wasn’t that long ago, they were nowhere near ready for PWG caliber, and now they had one of the two best matches on this show and were top level. Both could go anywhere and be stars now.

– Jungle Boy pinned Puma King

Short match. Very good. Jungle Boy has also improved greatly. He should be pushed like a late 70s Tommy Rich in AEW. He’s just got a natural charisma about him.

Jungle Boy got a huge reaction and people just gravitate to him. He’s also good enough now to carry it where before I’d have a very different idea of getting him over based on the long haul years from now, but now I think he’s got something missing from the major groups.

– PWG Tag Team Champions The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) defeated Flamita & Rey Horus to retain their titles

Excellent match. Horus is maybe the most underrated guy in the business. Flamita has gained a lot of weight but he can go. Xavier flipped Wentz on top of Flamita for the pin.

– Darby Allin pinned Joey Janela in a Guerrilla Warfare match with a leglock into a bridging cradle

This was insane. Both guys seemed intent on ending their careers before they can start with AEW. Both fell off the balcony together through tables on the floor. There were cinderblocks used but not broken, thumbtacks with Janela bleeding all over his back and especially around one of his elbows, Allin had a garbage can put over his head and fell off the top rope to the floor where he couldn’t see when he was landing, and piledrivers through chairs.

They worked really hard. Janela did a promo talking about returning and what they had done.

PWG Two Hundred results: Jeff Cobb vs. Bandido

Image: Dave Doyle

Here are results from last night’s PWG Two Hundred show at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles.

– Jungle Boy defeated Trey Miguel and Jake Atlas in a three-way match

Really good stuff. A little too synchronized at times but creative as hell. Miguel is really good and Atlas has improved a ton in the last several months. Jungle Boy pinned Miguel.

Jungle Boy was really popular and I was surprised to see him there given his father suffering a stroke two days ago. He just has the ability to get over with a crowd.

– Puma King defeated Laredo Kid

Excellent Lucha match. There were tons of moves and dives with a lot of creativity. It’s just what this crowd wanted from this match. Laredo Kid was great here, kind of doing so much stuff because he was losing.

– Best Friends (Trent Barreta & Chuckie T) defeated Aussie Open (Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher)

Long match. Some really good stuff, a few misses. Basic tag stuff. They worked hard and went long.

While making a comeback, Davis did a spot where he went to bodyslam both at the same time and lost them. But there was a lot of good stuff in this one and it was more psychology based than the first bouts.

– Brody King defeated Darby Allin

Great for what it was. A big bruiser type and a smaller guy selling great for him.

Allin got his mouth busted open. He took some insane bumps being thrown around, and he did two backwards dives like Kofi Kingston, including one off the balcony. 

– Jonathan Gresham defeated David Starr

This was a technical match that got more wide open with big moves later. A lot of people saw this as the best match. It was different from everything else because of the level of modern technical skill and — while there was flying late — it built to it.

Gresham is one of the most underrated guys in the business and Starr was great working in that style. 

– PWG Tag Team Champions The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) defeated LAX (Santana & Ortiz) and The Lucha Bros (Penta 0M & Rey Fenix) to retain their titles

Fenix was pinned by Xavier. These guys went out like it was hell on wheels with nothing but big moves. The creativity was awesome and the execution was mostly good with a few exceptions.

But the ending came out of nowhere. It was patterned to look like a save was coming and it was too slow and the ref counted to three. It was also shorter than expected, but the first nine minutes were incredible.

– PWG World Champion Jeff Cobb defeated Bandido to retain his title

Cobb retained with the Tour of the Islands. There was a lot of really good stuff here as well, but unfortunately these two had such an incredible match at BOLA, and following the craziness of the tag match, the crowd only went nuts for it in spots.

This was excellent and on another show people would be raving about it like it was a classic. The most memorable spot was Cobb coming off the top with a crossbody and Bandido catching him and powerslamming him. I also think people badly wanted a title change and they never got them biting on that happening.

PWG announces card for Two Hundred

Matches are now set for PWG’s next show, Two Hundred.

Bandido will get a crack at the PWG title as he will face Jeff Cobb in the main event. Cobb defeated WALTER to win the championship back in October.

The tag team titles will also be on the line. Current champions The Rascalz (Zachary Wentz and Dezmond Xavier) will take on the Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero M and Rey Fenix) and LAX in a three way bout.

New talent coming in for this show include Aussie Open, which consists of Mark Davis and Kyle Fletcher. They will make their debut taking on Best Friends. Trey Miguel, who is associated with the Rascalz, will also make his debut, facing Jake Atlas and Jungle Boy in a  three way match.

Here is the full card for the show, which will take place on March 1st at the Globe Theater in Los Angeles. Tickets will go on sale Tuesday, February 5, on PWG’s website:

  • Jeff Cobb vs. Bandido for the PWG title
  • LAX vs. Lucha Brothers vs. The Rascalz for the PWG tag team titles
  • Jonathan Gresham vs. David Starr
  • Brody King vs. Darby Allin
  • Aussie Open vs. Best Friends
  • Laredo Kid vs. Puma King
  • Trey Miguel vs. Jake Atlas vs. Jungle Boy

PWG Hand of Doom results: Trevor Lee says farewell

Image: SoCal Uncensored. Report submitted by Brian Reznick.

PWG’s first show of 2019 took place at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles, California on Friday night.

Overall, it was a fun show. It wasn’t a total blowaway like the classic PWG shows, but it was a fun night and there were a few very strong matches. I saw empty seats in the back, but it was still packed. If they never got to a true sellout, they definitely got close.

The promotion did not announce their next date, but Excalibur said that they would be back soon.

– Brody King defeated Jungle Boy

Jungle Boy was making his PWG debut and got a great reception. The match had a decent enough big guy vs. little guy dynamic. This was my second time seeing Jungle Boy live. i see the potential, but he’s still pretty green. A few of his arm drags were a little rough, and he and King had some awkward transitions. Most people are better by the time they debut in PWG, but the crowd seemed into the match.

King chopped the hell out of Jungle Boy throughout, leaving him with a very marked up chest. There were strong “please come back” chants for Jungle Boy after the loss.

– Puma King defeated DJZ

This result surprised me and made me wonder how long DJZ will be a free agent. The fan appreciation of this match is determined by how much one responds to the Puma King gimmick. I really like it, so I enjoyed the match. But I have friends who don’t like it and didn’t think much of it.

They did a bunch of cool reversals, arm drags, and pinning predicaments. It was a perfectly fine second match on a wrestling card.

– LAX (Santana & Ortiz) defeated Laredo Kid & Rey Horus

They had a great, all-action tag match. The crowd loves LAX, and rightly so. Horus looked great, but he always does. Laredo Kid received a warm welcome and had some cool spots during the match.

Horus did his insane running dive from the ring over the corner post to the outside, cheating it slightly by going a little diagonal. There was a healthy “please come back” for Laredo Kid afterwards.

– Robbie Eagles defeated Jonathan Gresham

Great response for Gresham here. It was a really strong debut for him as all of his stuff looked great and he was over with the crowd. Eagles is just a guy. The crowd liked him more than me, but not a lot more.

Gresham worked the right arm the whole match, including chopping it, rather than the chest, during striking exchanges. Eagles won with his 450 onto the leg followed by his figure four variant. He didn’t even set up the leg submission throughout the match.

There was a very strong post-match “please come back” for Gresham, noticeably stronger than Jungle Boy or Laredo Kid.

– PWG Tag Team Champions The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) defeated Best Friends (Beretta & Chuck Taylor) to retain their titles

I really enjoyed the build up during this match. It had plenty of offense, but it was less of a spot fest and had a better story than other Rascalz PWG matches (though I love the Rascalz firefight and a million high spots matches as well)

 The story of the match was Best Friends working their heavyweight advantages on the smaller Rascalz. The Rascalz outran Best Friends right away, but the match turned early when Taylor told Beretta to stop acting like a junior and do heavyweight stuff. Beretta got Xavier to do the running shoulder tackle spot, and then floored him.

There was another good story moment with a fun payoff later: Xavier was demolished in a chopping exchange with Beretta. Xavier switched tactics to quicker-paced offense and gained the upper hand. But after a series of tags in and out with Wentz, Beretta made a comeback by flooring Xavier with a hard chop.

The match built to some high flying and dives to the outside by the Rascalz, but the dives felt like they meant more. The Rascalz won with the Hot Fire Flame (assisted standing Shooting Star Press), with Xavier pushing Wentz mid-Shooting Star over a bent over Taylor and onto a recently laid out Beretta. The crowd loved the match and all four guys

– Bandido defeated ACH

This was my favorite match. Bandido is great and ACH is one of the most underrated guys in the business — he can really do everything. He worked heel here and did a great job as a cocky bastard. He worked the fans when he was in the crowd. He was smarmy and cocky, and he found moments to build chants for Bandido without making it obvious that he was doing it.

Here’s my favorite part: ACH did the chopping the outside ring post by mistake spot (after really working some vocal Bandido fans into a rage) and then sold the hand for the rest of the match. No one does that. Not even WALTER, who is good about that kind of thing. And ACH didn’t overdo it or make the entire match about his hand. He just made sure to sell that it was hard to grip when attempting a German suplex — or he became reluctant to have another chopping exchange.

There were a bunch of other great heel touches, and Bandido was great as always. He won with his handspring German suplex.

– PWG World Champion Jeff Cobb defeated Trevor Lee to retain his title

This match had a lot of trouble getting off the ground, but eventually built to a great peak and finish. The energy was very weird early.

Lee came out and started to do his typical heel promo. Right away, he noted that Cobb wouldn’t get him like he got him last time (Cobb pinned Lee in about 10 seconds in round two of BOLA 2018 by grabbing Lee during his promo) — only to have Cobb grab him and suplex him. But Lee escaped and got a small package for a two count. A lot of people, myself included, thought the flash pin could happen. However, after this moment, the match went flat for awhile.

The crowd did not boo Lee at all, which they normally would. I think this was because everyone knew this was Lee’s last PWG match, so they didn’t want to boo. But Lee also didn’t work heel. He conveyed that he earnestly wanted the title and was working hard to win. So, the crowd didn’t really know how to react.

Lee worked his ass off, doing a tope to one side and later a tope suicida to the other. Even with the dives, the crowd would die down quickly. However, the match really took off for the final 5-10 minutes. They worked a spot where Lee accidentally punted Justin the referee (the biggest heel in PWG), and the crowd came to life for that.

Lee then worked heel by hitting a low blow, but now the crowd was mainly pulling for him. He hit a running flip dive from the ring over the corner post to the outside. He hit his big standing double stomp for a near fall. Cobb came back with deadlift gutwrench suplexes and a bridging
German for two.

Cobb hit a release airplane spin, flinging Lee high into the air for a near fall. Lee escaped a top rope superplex attempt by rolling over into a powerbomb set up, carrying Cobb a few feet from the corner, and hitting a sit-out power bomb. That was another two count.

Everyone was on their feet for the final few minutes. The finish came when Cobb hit the Tour of the Islands, but Lee kicked out at one. The crowd lost it. Cobb hit a huge German (landing Lee on his face) and then another Tour of the Islands for the three count.

After the match, Lee cut a great, heartfelt promo. He said that he never thought he would main event in PWG when he debuted in 2014, calling it a company that he had dreamed about working for. He thanked the fans for tweeting after that debut to get him booked again. He said he read every message they sent to PWG and made sure that he worked his ass off to deliver for them.

Lee said that PWG helped make it so he could quit his job “selling frozen yogurt to sh*tty kids” and wrestle full time. And he said that he never won BOLA or the PWG title as he said he would, but the fans made it so he could get hired by WWE. Lee finished by saying he’d probably just get fired by WWE and come back and win the PWG title

There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. At least not for me — I hope he makes a billion dollars.