Ring of Honor is continuing to sign new talent heading into 2019, as Bandido has signed with the promotion.
Luchablog is reporting that Bandido has signed with ROH and will start with the promotion in early 2019. They also reported that he was a part of a WWE Performance Center tryout a few months ago that was never made public, but passed on signing with them at this time.
Dave Meltzer has also confirmed the signing.
It is expected that he will finish up his remaining dates with other independent promotions. He will finish up with Dragon Gate at the end of their current tour. ROH’s deals don’t apply to Mexico, so he’ll continue to work there with his tag team partner Flamita.
Bandido, 23, has made a name for himself this year worldwide wrestling for PWG, Progress, Revolution Pro, CZW and a number of other promotions. He also wrestles regularly for The Crash in Mexico.
PWG has released the card for their next show, Hand of Doom.
In the main event, Trevor Lee will challenge Jeff Cobb for the PWG World title. The PWG tag team titles will also be on the line, as Best Friends will make their return to the promotion challenging current champions The Rascalz (Zachary Wentz and Desmond Xavier).
There will also be a couple of debuts. Jonathan Gresham, who currently wrestles for ROH, will take on Robbie Eagles. Jungle Boy, the son of Beverly Hills 90210 star Luke Perry will also be on the card, taking on Brody King.
Here is the full card for next month’s show, which will take place January 18 at the Globe Theater in Los Angeles, California:
Jeff Cobb vs. Trevor Lee for the PWG title
The Rascalz vs. Best Friends for the PWG tag team titles
New Japan Pro Wrestling is bringing in Excalibur to call the last few days of the World Tag League next month.
NJPW’s Global Twitter made the announcement this morning. He will join Kevin Kelly to call the last three nights of action, which will start on December 6, continue on the 7th and end on the 9th with the finals.
“It’s been a longtime dream of mine to commentate for @njpw1972 @njpwglobal, and I’m super excited to be joining the booth-shaped booth with @realkevinkelly for the last three nights of [the World Tag League]” Excalibur wrote on Twitter. “Thanks to everyone for the support! Unless you don’t, then you can go to hell.”
In addition, Chris Charlton, author of the recent book Eggshells that details the history of wrestling at the Tokyo Dome, announced that he will be a part of Wrestle Kingdom 13’s English commentary team.
Excalibur is one of the founders of Pro Wrestling Guerilla and continues to do commentary for all of PWG’s shows. He recently was also part of the announce team for All In.
PWG held their first show since the 2018 Battle of Los Angeles at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles last night.
– Trevor Lee defeated Darby Allin
Lee won with a double foot stomp holding the tights. He duct taped Allin’s arms behind his back. Allin did both a Braque and a tope con giro with his hands tied behind his back.
– Puma King defeated Rey Horus and Flamita in a three-way match
Puma King pinned Horus after a powerbomb off the top rope.
– Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Hechicero from CMLL
Sabre won with a bridging cradle. This was a different crowd than usual. Most of the regulars loved this match but there was a different minority of the crowd that wasn’t into the great mat wrestling. Plus, the storyline of Sabre being hated by Mexican wrestlers is something only a small percentage understood.
– Bandido defeated Rey Fenix
Bandido picked up the win with a gutwrench into a piledriver. Lots of unique stuff here. Super entertaining.
– Timothy Thatcher defeated Brody King
King busted open Thatcher’s nose with a clothesline and he was bleeding all over the place. Thatcher won via submission with a Fujiwara armbar.
– PWG Tag Team Champions The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) defeated LAX (Santana & Ortiz) to retain their titles
Wentz pinned Ortiz with a twisting senton. These guys worked hard. It was tough because Xavier & Wentz have been working with The Young Bucks and Pentagon Jr. & Fenix.
– Jeff Cobb defeated WALTER to win the PWG World Championship
Cobb pinned WALTER with a three-quarter nelson pin like you’d see in an amateur match after escaping a choke. Pretty great match. Not as many WALTER chops and not as many Cobb power moves, they seemed to save the big stuff to make it mean more. The crowd was going crazy at the end.
The first half of the show was really special but no matches of the year. The crowd threw money into the ring after Puma King vs. Horus vs. Flamita, and threw a lot after Bandido vs. Fenix. A lot of first-timers in the crowd or those who hadn’t been in the modern era. Previous shows have felt like Reseda but in a much nicer and larger building.
Coming off last weekend’s Battle of Los Angeles tournament, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla has revealed the lineup for their next show.
The event is being called “Smokey and the Bandido” (a tribute to the late Burt Reynolds and a reference to Bandido) and will take place on October 19. It will be headlined by Battle of Los Angeles 2018 winner Jeff Cobb getting his shot at WALTER’s PWG World Championship.
There will also be a couple of debuts on Smokey and the Bandido. Impact Wrestling Tag Team Champions LAX (Santana & Ortiz) will wrestle for the promotion for the first time, as will CMLL’s Hechicero. LAX will challenge The Rascalz (Zachary Wentz & Dezmond Xavier) for the PWG Tag Team titles. Hechicero is set to face Zack Sabre Jr.
The full card for Smokey and the Bandido is listed below. Tickets will go on sale at 8 p.m. Pacific time on September 27.
PWG World Champion WALTER defending against Jeff Cobb
PWG Tag Team Champions The Rascalz (Zachary Wentz & Dezmond Xavier) defending against LAX (Santana & Ortiz)
Image: Dave Doyle. Reports submitted by Scott Winter and Brian Reznick.
The 2018 Battle of Los Angeles concluded on Sunday as Pro Wrestling Guerrilla returned to the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles for the third straight night.
– Trevor Lee pinned Brody King in a Battle of Los Angeles tournament second round match
– Jeff Cobb pinned Rey Horus in a Battle of Los Angeles tournament second round match
– Shingo Takagi submitted Robbie Eagles in a Battle of Los Angeles tournament second round match
– Joey Janela pinned CIMA in a Battle of Los Angeles tournament second round match
– WALTER pinned Jonah Rock in a Battle of Los Angeles tournament second round match
– Bandido pinned Flamita in a Battle of Los Angeles tournament second round match
– PWG Tag Team Champions The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) defeated The Lucha Bros (Pentagon Jr. & Fenix) to retain their titles
This was as good as expected with these two teams.
– Jeff Cobb pinned Trevor Lee in a Battle of Los Angeles tournament semifinal match
Cobb won in about 15 seconds, but it got one of the biggest pops of the night.
– Bandido pinned Joey Janela in a Battle of Los Angeles tournament semifinal match
They had a typical crazy over-the-top Janela match.
– Shingo Takagi pinned WALTER in a Battle of Los Angeles tournament semifinal match
As stiff as expected, and WALTER may have even broken his own scale of amplitude with the most sickening chop that literally worried the crowd that Takagi might not be able to continue.
– PCO, Darby Allin, Puma King, Dan Barry & Jody Fleisch defeated Timothy Thatcher, David Starr, T-Hawk, DJZ & Adam Brooks in a 10-man tag match
– Jeff Cobb defeated Bandido and Shingo Takagi in a three-way elimination match to win the 2018 Battle of Los Angeles
Bandido eliminated Takagi before it came down to Bandido vs. Cobb. For about five to 10 minutes there, Bandido was the most passionately loved babyface of all time. Cobb hit the Tour of the Islands off the second rope and the match was obviously over, but Cobb quickly picked Bandido up, shoved him into the ropes, and hit another Tour of the Islands in the middle of the ring for the win.
As much as the crowd wanted Bandido to win, the inevitability of the finish prevented a letdown as they counted the pin.
Cobb and Bandido both gave great speeches afterwards, including Bandido bringing his dad into the ring.
Image: Jacob Cohen. Report submitted by Brian Reznick.
– Night two of the 2018 Battle of Los Angeles is in the books, and it was another excellent show. All but two of the matches were very good to great, and the other two weren’t bad.
– Trevor Lee defeated Marko Stunt in a Battle of Los Angeles tournament first round match
I was very excited for this match when I saw that it got booked, and it delivered. Lee is such a great heel and bully. The crowd was very excited for Stunt. After the introduction of his “Mr. Fun Size” nickname, fans from the balcony began throwing fun-size candy into the ring. Stunt dramatically ate a mini Snickers to a big pop.
Lee got on the mic and said disparaging remarks about the crowd, noted that BOLA officially started tonight with his appearance, and insulted Stunt’s height, age, and looks.
Stunt took the microphone and responded to Lee, leading to Lee attacking him. Stunt evaded him early and hit two dropkicks and a dive off the top. Lee caught him to cut him off. This set up the dynamic of the match: Lee beat on Stunt, Stunt did something innovative to eventually escape, and Lee cut him off with a brutal move.
Stunt reversed a powerbomb into a rana where Lee spiked himself on his head, followed by Stunt running wild for a brief time before being cut off by a vicious slap to the face. The crowd mostly rooted for Stunt and booed Lee. Stunt missed a 450 off the top and rolled through, Lee pushed the referee toward Stunt for a distraction, and Stunt avoided the ref and hit a superkick. Stunt bounced back off the ropes to hit something else, but Lee countered with a huge double stomp for the pin.
The crowd cheered loudly for Stunt afterwards and implored him to please come back.
– Jonah Rock defeated Sammy Guevara in a Battle of Los Angeles tournament first round match
Rock was actually cheered well — because people really hate Guevara. Some seemed like they had a “love to hate you” feel to their boos, but many of them felt like legit hate. Guevara was great at playing it up.
Another match with the big guy/little guy dynamic. Guevara used acrobatic offense and Rock hit power moves. At one point, Guevara had Rock down and called for the mic. Guevara said we all knew that this was the part of the match where he would put a rest hold on Rock only to have Rock eventually get out.
So, instead of doing the normal thing, Guevara requested that we all subscribe to his YouTube channel. Guevara then said “I’ll go do this spot now” and, with much overstatement, put a side headlock on. Rock immediately got out. I love Guevara but didn’t love that.
Guevara did a moonsault from the balcony to the floor. It looked cool, but it was also meaningless in the match as it didn’t lead to a pin attempt. Guevara later hit a Canadian Destroyer and a Shooting Star Press for a near fall. Later, Rock got the guillotine for the win.
This match was fine, but it wasn’t anything special. The crowd booed Guevara heartily after and told him not to come back. Guevara got on the mic and did the WWE thing where he acted like he was going to say something heartfelt and then insulted us.
– Robbie Eagles defeated DJZ in a Battle of Los Angeles tournament first round match
Eagles wears more neckerchiefs than any other high flyer. DJZ was very over with the crowd and stayed that way, though he had two botches early. There were many dives, with DJZ’s looking great.
The finish came when Eagles hit a rana with both guys standing on the top turnbuckle, a 450 onto DJZ’s leg, and used a submission to win.
The crowd very much wanted DJZ to win this and there were quite a few boos at the finish. The crowd chanted for DJZ to please come back.
– Jeff Cobb defeated Darby Allin in a Battle of Los Angeles tournament first round match
The show got great again from here on out. This was another big guy/small guy dynamic, but both guys were awesome. The crowd loved Allin from the start.
Allin called for a test of strength early, but he slapped Cobb after they locked up one hand. Allin hit a bunch of fast, innovative moves before Cobb started tossing him around. Both guys were so great. Cobb twice threw him at the corner and Allin somehow flew between the top and middle turnbuckle. Cobb also put Allin into a fireman’s carry and then airplane spun and flung him high off his shoulders so he spun around in mid-air before landing. Such a great spot.
Allin hit a Coffin Drop to the outside. He set up Cobb for a Coffin Drop onto the apron, but Cobb evaded and Allin smashed on the apron hard. Cobb rolled back in the ring and gave Allin a huge Spider German suplex for the win.
There was a huge ovation and money thrown into the ring afterwards. I think we’ll be seeing Allin again.
– Shingo Takagi defeated Ilja Dragunov in a Battle of Los Angeles tournament first round match
The second half of this show was so good that my notes are basically worthless. This was a hard-hitting affair where each guy looked like a total star. I really hope that both of them can come back beyond tomorrow.
There was an intense staredown to start. Dragunov’s chest was still a mess from the chops from night one. They grappled, with Takagi pushing Dragunov into the ropes. The referee came to break it up. Takagi said it would be a clean break, started to back away, and slapped Dragunov in the face.
The fight quickly spilled outside. Dragunov went for a tope, but he shorted it a bit because his feet hit the ropes on the way through. He continued fine and soon received a Death Valley Driver onto the apron. They had so many hard striking exchanges that no write-up will do it justice. There were two great struggles with Dragunov trying to hit a Saito suplex, with him eventually hitting it and just smashing Takagi to the mat. Later, Takagi fought for a superplex with Dragunov sitting on the top turnbuckle.
Dragunov hit some safe headbutts before Takagi hit a gross skull-to-skull headbutt. It wasn’t Shibata-Okada, but there was an audible thunk. Dragunov hit a big senton off the top for a great near fall late. Takagi hit his pumphandle half nelson slam for a two count. Everyone thought that was the finish, but Dragunov’s survival was short-lived as Takagi hit him with a huge lariat in the corner and hit the pumphandle half nelson slam again for the pin.
There were deserved cheers for both guys afterwards.
– PWG World Champion WALTER defeated Timothy Thatcher in a Battle of Los Angeles tournament first round match
This match had all of the beatings. It was the stiffest match that I’ve ever seen live. These guys just beat the hell out of each other.
At the beginning, WALTER offered a handshake but Thatcher declined. The story of the match was that Thatcher could compete when it was grappling, but WALTER would escape and wear him out with brutal strikes. Case in point: Thatcher had him down early and grabbed a single-leg crab. WALTER fought out, hit a brutal stomp to the head, got up, and kicked Thatcher in the back so goddamn hard.
There was a great sequence where WALTER had Thatcher stood up on the apron between the ropes for his signature chest clubbing. WALTER hit one huge shot to the chest, then hit another. But when he went for the third, Thatcher caught it. Thatcher held onto the arm, turned, and just started hammering on WALTER with forearms for a huge pop.
WALTER laid Thatcher chest-up across the top turnbuckle. He slapped Thatcher’s chest a few times and then climbed up and drove his boot into Thatcher’s face, bending him backwards across the buckle. Thatcher fought for a Saito suplex, but WALTER turned in mid-air for a splash and a near fall. Thatcher fought back and hit the Saito for a two count.
Thatcher grabbed the Fujiwara armbar and transitioned to a rear naked choke where he was laying on WALTER’s back as WALTER was prone on the mat. WALTER got up, struggled to the corner while wearing Thatcher as a backpack, climbed to the middle buckle, and threw himself back into the ring onto Thatcher. WALTER then picked him up and hit a huge clubbing lariat for the pin.
They made up and were friends again afterwards.
– CIMA & PWG Tag Team Champions The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) defeated Bandido, Flamita & Rey Horus in a non-tournament match
There might be people who would legitimately not like the main event of this show. Not just people who decide to hate everything new, but people who legitimately don’t like this kind of wrestling.
All of the hypothetical critiques are true — this match was clearly meticulously planned and often felt very choreographed. It didn’t matter who won and the match really followed no rules. It was a tag match, which started with two legal men, but never had a tag. And there wasn’t really a structure or story per se, but this match was completely phenomenal.
This was a total sprint that quickly involved all six guys doing continually innovative stuff. There was almost no pause from beginning to end, aside for a brief dance contest. There were handspring tornillo dives, people jumped off of each other’s backs, and someone did a modified 619 in the middle of the ring using another person as the “ropes” to swing around.
At one point, CIMA got on all fours and Wentz ran and jumped off his back for a flip dive to the outside. Then Xavier looked like he was going to do a handspring dive off of CIMA to the outside. Instead, he just jumped over him and almost didn’t clear the ropes or apron — but barely did.
Bandido, who was the most over guy on the show by a mile, did something that defied description (like this whole match, actually) — but I’ll try anyway: Xavier was bent over the middle rope with his body in the ring (almost as if set up for a 619). Bandido ran and did a handspring across Xavier’s back so that his own back hit the ropes and propelled him backwards onto his feet (like the common handspring back elbow), only Bandido held onto Xavier’s waist and pulled him back into a bridging German suplex for a near fall.
CIMA, Xavier, and Wentz all pinned Bandido after Xavier and Wentz hit their move where Wentz does the running Shooting Star Press and Xavier assists him in mid-air.
This match was a fever dream — it was a magic show where the magician forgot to show the set-ups and only showed the reveals.
Image: Rob Naylor. Report submitted by Brian Reznick.
– Night one of PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles is in the books, and it was a very good show. Without looking back to verify, I think it was a little behind night one last year and 2016, but it was in no way disappointing. The crowd was great and seemed to enjoy the show throughout.
– Rey Horus defeated Adam Brooks in a Battle of Los Angeles tournament first round match
This was a fun opener. Brooks has never grabbed me in the way that he has others, but he had a good showing here. I like Horus a lot and thought that he looked great.
Brooks played the heel throughout the match. Horus hit a big dive over the corner post that looked great, and Brooks hit a Fosbury flop to the outside. They had a nice sequence late where Brooks hit a Canadian Destroyer, only to have Horus pop up immediately and hit a standing Spanish Fly and both guys collapsed for the “This is awesome” spot (There were no “This is awesome” chants all night, but the crowd did cheer).
Brooks got a great near fall late when he reversed an attempt at a top rope rana into a powerbomb and followed with an Aoi Shoudou. Horus won with a super victory roll. Good pop for the finish and a bit of money thrown in the ring.
– Flamita defeated Puma King in a Battle of Los Angeles tournament first round match
A great showcase for lucha libre and a nice intro to PWG for Puma King. They did a great series of counters and reversals to a stalemate early. Flamita hit a series of topes to the outside. Puma King got a near fall with a reverse rana, spring board crossbody splash, and a diving double stomp. Flamita also got a near fall with a top rope 450, and it looked like he landed on Puma King hard.
The finish came when Flamita reversed a top rope rana into a powerbomb, followed up with a superkick, and then hit a Phoenix Splash.
This match was a sprint and was great. There were cheers for Puma King afterwards (the crowd might have wanted him to win more than Flamita), followed by “Please come back” chants and money thrown into the ring.
– CIMA defeated Jody Fleisch in a Battle of Los Angeles tournament first round match
Another well-worked match. There was plenty of flying, but these guys were smart to recognize that they couldn’t match the rest of the card — so they worked some comedy and other clever spots.
They had a series of reversals that led to a stalemate early. Here’s a benefit of having agents on a show, each of the first three matches had similar early sequences of reversals capped by both guys doing a dropkick and then rolling kip-ups so that they were facing each other. It’s a cool sequence, but it probably shouldn’t happen in three straight matches.
After the stalemate, Fleisch and CIMA worked some comedy when Fleisch said he could get the crowd to cheer louder for him. He went to two corners on one side in succession and got a decent response. CIMA then did the same to the other two corners and did better. Fleisch wanted to repeat, and they got the same result.
Fleisch then offered a handshake, noting that “we’re both babyfaces” to entice the reluctant CIMA. After a successful shake with the right, Fleisch said they should shake with the left. They did so, but CIMA pulled the double cross. The match spilled outside with Fleisch hitting an Asai moonsault.
They eventually ended up back in the ring and did two great sequences where they rolled around, each trying for pins, but only getting a one count each time. They ended the sequence and then went into a similar sequence with the same results before both collapsing. This was great and got a strong reaction from the crowd. Fleisch hit a step-up rana to take CIMA off the corner turnbuckle and hit a springboard tornado DDT for a near fall.
Fleisch missed a Shooting Star Splash. CIMA hit a White Noise and a great looking diving double knees off the top turnbuckle to win. Nice reaction for Fleisch after the match, though not quite as big as the one for Puma King. There was a decent amount of “Please come back” chants.
– Bandido defeated T-Hawk in a Battle of Los Angeles tournament first round match
Outstanding match. Bandido is so over as a baby face with this crowd. It sounded like WALTER and Bandido got the biggest pops of the night to me, though Brody King and PCO were close. T-Hawk was great here playing heel. Everything he did looked crisp and his facials and crowd work were top notch.
T-Hawk got the heat early with some stiff chops and worked the crowd well. The match went outside and Bandido hit a moonsault from the second turnbuckle to the floor. T-Hawk came back in the ring with hard slaps and two chops to the throat. He then flexed his pecs for the crowd as the boos rained down — really well done.
T-Hawk hit some vicious strikes into a reverse powerslam, but Bandido popped up right away and hit a big boot, then both collapsed. The crowd loved this. They had a long Hiromu Takahashi vs. Dragon Lee type sequence of chopping the hell out of each other, and the crowd went nuts for it after they had gone for awhile. They then slowed down and suddenly sped back up to a bigger pop.
The end came when Bandido hit his backflip fallaway slam off the top turnbuckle. Great move, great finish, and great match. Everyone went nuts and threw money in the ring. This was 4.5 stars for me. Great post-match reaction for T-Hawk — I really hope he is back.
– Joey Janela defeated David Starr in a Battle of Los Angeles tournament first round match
This match was an intense, brutal affair. They have great chemistry together, but this was one of those matches where, in my opinion, they had a few spots that were too dangerous that subtracted from the match. I still liked the match a lot, but I think these guys are good enough that they didn’t need to do everything that they did.
Early on, it was a stiff well-worked match. Starr worked heel well and Janela took a stiff chop and bumped over the ropes to the floor. They worked outside a bit. After coming back in, Janela hit a top rope rana and followed with a top rope elbow drop for a near fall. They brawled for a bit and Janela eventually hit a spot where he knocked Starr down while Starr was on the turnbuckle. Janela pulled Starr so he was flat on his back across the buckle and then jumped down to the floor so Starr landed on the back of his head on the apron.
This looked so brutal. I had a good line of sight and it looked like the back of Starr’s head smashed on the apron. Starr came back and hit Janela with a DDT on the apron.
Starr then hit a Canadian Destroyer, but Janela popped up right away and hit a superkick before they both collapsed. A version of this appeared in every match, and it always worked. They went back to clubbing the hell out of each other, then Starr put on a submission that looked like a half Sharpshooter and half Liontamer, with Starr wrenching Janela at a high angle and grabbing his left arm. Janela wouldn’t tap and eventually made the ropes.
They went back outside and exchanged a series of four topes: Starr hit one, Janela popped right up, slid in the ring, and hit a tope, Starr popped up and did the same — and then hit another for good measure. Janela hit a top rope Swanton Bomb to the floor and then a package piledriver back in the ring for two.
They had another brutal sequence where Starr took Janela off the top turnbuckle and dropped him on the back of his head on the ropes, then hit a crushing clothesline and a painful looking Last Shot for a near fall. Starr then landed a superkick for a near fall. Starr went for his half Sharpshooter/Liontamer submission, but Janela rolled him into a small package for a two count. As soon as Starr kicked out, Janela popped up and hit a superkick for the win. The crowd loved this.
– Brody King defeated PCO in a Battle of Los Angeles tournament first round match
This match was sort of a disaster. It had elements of a Tomohiro Ishii vs. Togi Makabe NEVER Openweight title match. It also wanted to be Keith Lee vs. Donovan Dijak from last year, but it felt like both guys almost died in the process. The crowd loved this match, but there were a few bad botches and a ton of danger — so I have no idea how to rate this.
They did good big man stuff early: a long collar-and-elbow tie up, running the ropes for shoulder tackles where no one budged, chops, etc. They ended up outside, and PCO hit a tope suicida. King then went for a tope con hilo, but he didn’t go as far as PCO expected, so King landed hard on the floor.
Back in the ring, PCO hit a rana to take Brody off the top turnbuckle. King then tried to answer with a standing rana of his own, but it was a mess. It was slow and PCO had trouble going over for it. King hit a disgusting looking cannonball onto PCO’s back while PCO was laying prone over the ropes (like he was setting up to take the 619 but instead had someone do a rolling splash onto his upper back). King hit another cannonball into the corner and a second rope moonsault for a near fall.
King then hit a springboard crossbody and a piledriver, but PCO kicked out at one for a big pop. PCO hit a pop-up powerbomb and then a stiff knee.
Now for the total madness: PCO set King up so he was laying in the ring with his upper body under the ropes on the apron. PCO then climbed to the top turnbuckle and hit a somersault senton. PCO climbed the ropes again, this time with his back to King, who was still laying in the ring with his upper body on the apron. PCO tried some sort of splash where he turned in mid-air to, presumably, land chest first on King. But PCO entirely miscalculated and landed chest first on the top rope and then fell off to the floor.
PCO somehow got up. They returned to the ring, where PCO eventually went for a top rope moonsault onto King in the center of the ring. PCO sort of made it over, but it looked like he landed on a lot of head and neck. Not as bad as the Brock Lesnar Shooting Star Press landing, but it also wasn’t a lot better.
PCO went for another moonsault, but King stopped him while he was still on the turnbuckle. He lifted PCO onto his shoulders like a reverse fireman’s carry, then turned him and piledrove him for the victory. PCO got up, eventually, to huge cheers.
I love both guys and they worked really hard, but their reach exceeded their grasp here, and it was way too dangerous for me.
– Ringkampf (PWG World Champion WALTER & Timothy Thatcher) defeated Ilja Dragunov & Shingo Takagi in a non-tournament match
This was just awesome and the best match of the night for me — 4.75 stars easily. Great chemistry between all four wrestlers and everyone got time together. Dragunov and Takagi were outstanding.
Thatcher and Dragunov started and battled to a stalemate before tagging in their respective partners. Takagi and WALTER were great together — I felt like that was the singles match that the fans wanted most for the future. WALTER built great heat by continually attacking
Takagi while he was on the apron. It was like every time WALTER was in, he’d beat up Dragunov and then explode over to the corner and hit Takagi with a running boot to the face. He did this to Dragunov as well.
Dragunov’s overall charisma and fire are unbelievable live — he should be a superstar. There were many great striking and transition sequences. Everything made sense and everyone was on. Dragunov was setting up for a top rope move on Thatcher, but WALTER broke it up by slugging Dragunov. He then picked up Takagi into a powerbomb and hurled him into Thatcher doing a European uppercut. Thatcher went for the cover, and Dragunov jumped off the top rope and over WALTER to break it up.
Thatcher was setting up a German suplex on Dragunov in the corner. Dragunov grabbed the ropes, but WALTER came over and grabbed Thatcher in the German suplex position and German’d both guys. Takagi came in to attack Thatcher, but WALTER hit him with a John Woo dropkick.
Dragunov got up and fought with WALTER out of the ring. Takagi hit some strikes on Thatcher, but Thatcher grabbed a Fujiwara armbar. As Takagi fought the armbar, Thatcher rolled him over into a pin for the win. I feel like I didn’t do this match justice, it was so great.
After it was over, Thatcher and WALTER wanted to shake hands with their opponents. Dragunov did, but Takagi would not. He wouldn’t shake anyone’s hand and walked out on Dragunov. Thatcher then wanted to shake WALTER’s hand. WALTER was reluctant, repeatedly saying something about how he was champion and talking about how they had to wrestle each other on night two. WALTER eventually shook his hand.
Marko Stunt has been added to this weekend’s PWG Battle of Los Angles tournament.
It was announced today by PWG’s Twitter account that Stunt will replace Chris Brookes, who is out of the tournament due to an undisclosed injury. Stunt will face Trevor Lee in a first round match that will take place during night two.
Stunt gained notoriety last month when he was a part of Joey Janela’s Lost In New York event that took place during SummerSlam weekend. Despite his small size, Stunt managed to impress against the much larger KTB. Following the match, Stunt was added to the All In Over Budget battle royal where he eliminated Moose early in the match. He was later eliminated by Bully Ray.
This weekend’s Battle of Los Angeles tournament will start with first round matches on September 14 and 15, with the finals taking place on the 16th. All three shows will take place at the Globe Theater in Los Angeles, California.
Travis Banks has had to pull out of this year’s Battle of Los Angeles tournament.
Pro Wrestling Guerilla announced today that Banks won’t be able to wrestle in BOLA due to an injury. He’ll be replaced by Sammy Guevara, and two of the first round matchups have been shuffled. Banks was supposed to face Shingo Takagi in the first round, but Takagi will now take on Ilja Dragunov. Jonah Rock, who had been matched up with Dragunov, will now wrestle Guevara in the opening round.
Banks suffered a dislocated shoulder in July. He provided an update on the injury this week, noting that he initially thought he would be cleared to wrestle sooner rather than later but that hasn’t been the case and he still doesn’t have a return date to give everyone.
BOLA 2018 is taking place at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles from September 14-16. Banks is the second person to drop out of the tournament, with Matt Riddle having been replaced by Trevor Lee last month due to Riddle signing with WWE.
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla has revealed the first round matchups for this year’s Battle of Los Angeles.
The opening round will take place over the first two nights before the tournament concludes on night three. There have also been a few non-tournament matches announced, with WALTER & Timothy Thatcher teaming against Ilja Dragunov & Shingo Takagi on night one, Bandido, Flamita & Rey Horus facing CIMA, Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz on night two, and Xavier & Wentz defending their PWG Tag Team titles against Pentagon Jr. & Fenix on night three.
WALTER & Thatcher are regular tag team partners as Ringkampf but will meet on night two in a first round match. On night one, 50-year-old Pierre Carl Ouellet (Quebecer Pierre and Jean-Pierre LaFitte in the WWF) will make his PWG debut against Brody King in the first round. PCO has generated a lot of buzz on the indies following his match against WALTER at Joey Janela’s Spring Break II over WrestleMania weekend.
BOLA 2018 will take place at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles from September 14-16. The full card for night three won’t be announced until after the first two shows.
Here are the matches that have been announced (all are tournament matches unless otherwise noted):
Night one (September 14) —
Non-tournament match: WALTER & Timothy Thatcher vs. Ilja Dragunov & Shingo Takagi
PCO vs. Brody King
CIMA vs. Jody Fleisch
Bandido vs. T-Hawk
Joey Janela vs. David Starr
Flamita vs. Puma King
Rey Horus vs. Adam Brooks
Night two (September 15) —
Non-tournament match: Bandido, Flamita & Rey Horus vs. CIMA, Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz
WALTER vs. Timothy Thatcher
Travis Banks vs. Shingo Takagi
Ilja Dragunov vs. Jonah Rock
Jeff Cobb vs. Darby Allin
DJ Z vs. Robbie Eagles
Chris Brookes vs. Trevor Lee
Night three (September 16) —
Non-tournament match: PWG Tag Team Champions The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) defending against The Lucha Brothers (Pentagon Jr. & Fenix)
Matt Riddle has been pulled from this year’s Battle of Los Angeles, raising speculation as to where he’ll be heading next.
Pro Wrestling Guerilla made the announcement tonight on their Twitter account. Trevor Lee will take his place in the tournament, which is set to run September 14th through the 16th.
There is speculation that Riddle may be heading somewhere, as he has also pulled out of dates with Over the Top Wrestling in Dublin, Ireland. He is still scheduled for upcoming shows with EVOLVE, which are set to take place throughout August. He also currently holds the EVOLVE title.
On last night’s Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer mentioned that current rumors indicate that both New Japan and WWE are looking into bringing in Riddle, with NJPW having interest in using him for their shows in the United States. Both companies have expressed interest in Riddle in the past, but were wary of bringing him in due to previous marijuana drug test violations in the UFC.
Here are notes from last night’s PWG Threemendous V show at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles. There were no matches of the year, but aside from the opener, every match was very good to great:
– Dalton Castle defeated David Starr with a crossface submission.
Castle is very limited in what he can do due to all his injuries. It was never boring but probably went too long. Starr did a scary tope spot. Castle was nowhere near him and the plan was to do a tope into either the chairs a few rows deep or the floor. And that’s what he did.
– Rey Horus defeated Penta 0M with a rana off the top rope.
Excellent match. Fans threw a lot of money in when it was over. This was high-level Lucha done with the modern United States indie style worked in.
– Jeff Cobb defeated Joey Janela with the Tour of the Islands.
As expected, Janela did crazy bumps and Cobb did insane power moves. Cobb did a superplex off the middle rope where he had Janela up, keeping him at a nearly 90 degree angle rather than vertical in a way where the laws of physics looked like there’s no way he could have gotten him back up. He did.
– PWG Tag Team Champions The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) defeated The Young Bucks to retain their titles
This started as total comedy. The Young Bucks started out almost doing a Drew Gulak gimmick of anti-high spots, coming out with the “How Psychology Works” book that Kenny Omega gave them on Being the Elite this week. So whenever Nick Jackson would want to do high spots early on, Matt Jackson would spot him. Xavier and Wentz did all kinds of high flying.
The Young Bucks opened up late and it turned into the best match on the show. Everyone thought it was over when they gave Xavier a Meltzer Driver on top of the psychology book, but Wentz made the save. They set up More Bang for Your Buck, but Matt got pinned with a crucifix. They all raised each others’ hands after.
– Rey Fenix defeated Trevor Lee with a Fenix Driver.
One thing very different is the perception of Impact Wrestling. Lee always comes out and says he’s from Impact and he’s making money doing that gimmick, and it usually gets a lot of heat. Here, almost nobody booed him even playing it up as a heel, so it appears the indie crowd hating Impact days are over.
Fans threw money here as well.
– Matt Riddle defeated Marty Scurll
Two great pros. The match was short but excellent. Instead of breaking Riddle’s fingers, Scurll broke his toes and then stomped on the other foot. Riddle powered out of a chicken wing and used a tombstone piledriver followed by the Twister submission.
– PWG World Champion WALTER defeated Brody King to retain his title
This was advertised as non-title, but King asked WALTER to put the belt up and he agreed. The story was that King kept ducking and escaping WALTER’s chops while chopping the hell out of WALTER. WALTER’s chest was all bruised. The chops were exploding.
Walter finally started hitting chops in the end. This was one of those matches that was probably better live because of the impact of them.
Rounding out the lineup for the tournament, 14 more wrestlers have been added to this year’s PWG Battle of Los Angles, including some big international names.
Some of the biggest names announced are CIMA, T-Hawk and Shingo Takagi. While T-Hawk has wrestled in the United States in the last year, CIMA and Takagaki haven’t wrestled in the US since 2013 and 2010, respectively. Travis Banks, just coming off of the finals of the WWE UK tournament, was also announced.
PWG regulars coming in for the tournament include PWG champion WALTER, Adam Brooks, Jeff Cobb, Flamita, Jonah Rock, Timothy Thatcher, Matt Riddle and Bandido. Impact’s DJZ and independent wrestler Darby Allin round out the 14 names announced over the last few days. Names previously announced include the likes of Ilja Dragunov of wXw, Puma King, Jody Fleisch and Pierre Carl Ouellet.
Here are the full list of participants for this year’s Battle of Los Angeles tournament, which will take place over three days from September 14-16:
The first ten participants for this year’s PWG Battle of Los Angeles have been revealed.
The most interesting name announced was the first: Pierre Carl Ouellet. The former Quebecer Pierre has had something of a career revival as of late, putting on a memorable performance at this year’s Joey Janela Spring Break event against WALTER.
Other international talent announced include longtime British indy star Jody Fleisch, WXW Unified Champion Ilja Dragunov, CMLL star Puma King and Chris Brookes, also from the UK wrestling scene who has wrestled for RPW and IPW, as well as CZW in the United States.
PWG regulars Brody King, Joey Janela, David Starr, Robbie Eagles and Rey Horus have also been confirmed.
Here are the full list of participants confirmed for the tournament so far, which takes place on September 14, 15 and 16 at the Globe Theater in Los Angeles, CA:
