Last night’s second night of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla’s 2019 Battle of Los Angeles started incredible but the second half was never able to gain the energy of the first half. The show was still very good and featured the best match of the tournament so far.
Excalibur announced before the show that Mark Davis of Aussie Open would not be there and A-Kid was taking his place in the tag-team match, and the match would now be a non-title match. Davis injured his leg warming up before the show and had to be taken to the hospital. After the show, he was on crutches.
Battle of Los Angeles – Joey Janela over Mick Moretti [12’29]
Moretti got a great reaction coming out. I believe he would have made his PWG on a prior show but he already had prior bookings, but it was good to see him finally in. He had shown up to PWG shows a few times in the past just to work ring-crew and get his name out there and it’s great to see that pay off. Finn Balor did the same thing. So I guess I’m saying Mick Moretti will soon lead Bullet Club before going to WWE. The match was really good. They kept it pretty even but Moretti was able to show off a lot of what he can do. Late, Moretti threw a fireball in Janela’s face, which is the first time I recall fire being used in PWG. The ref gave Janela a towel and Janela threw it on Moretti’s head, blinding him, and then delivered a super kick for the pin. Moretti got a loud please come back chant.
Rating: *** 1/2
Battle of Los Angeles – Jake Atlas over Jungle Boy [19’05]
The crowd was incredibly hot for both wrestlers. Jake Atlas had never actually won a match in PWG up to this point but he is incredibly over with the crowd. The had an amazing opening sequence where they avoided and countered each other’s moves that were incredibly fast-paced and last a good three or four minutes. The match never really slowed down from there. Atlas went for the LGB-DDT and during his handstand on the ropes Jungle Boy super kicked him to the floor. The near falls were so believable and at one point Atlas had Jungle Boy pinned and the count was so close the ring bell was actually rung. Atlas did get the LGB-DDT on Jungle Boy from the ring apron to the floor, and then later finished him off with it. This was an incredible match, and it set the bar for the rest of the tournament.
Rating: **** 1/2
Battle of Los Angeles – Rey Fenix over Aramis [13’13]
Well, if anyone can follow that last match it is Fenix. It didn’t seem like a lot of people knew Aramis, and the crowd was definitely tired from the last match, but they managed to get the crowd back pretty early. Aramis did some amazing stuff, including a ropewalk 450. He also did a tope that had such speed he almost sent Fenix all the way to the wall on the balcony side. Fenix was great in this as always. Fenix got the win with a spinning Muscle Buster. This was great.
Rating: ****
After the match, Fenix cut a promo putting over Aramis as part of the next generation of stars from Mexico. Aramis then talked about coming to PWG has been his dream and he told his parents someday he would be there.
The Rascalz (Zachary Wentz & Dezmond Xavier) over A-Kid & Kyle Fletcher [22’27]
The first three matches were an incredible start to BOLA’s second night. This match brought it back down to Earth. I’m sure if Davis wasn’t hurt this would have been a completely different match. It also followed two incredible matches which put it in a tough place crowd heat wise. They never seemed to get on the same page and it went on much longer than it should have. The match wasn’t bad, and it had some good parts in it. I mean, everyone looked good as individuals but not as teams. The Rascalz won with the assisted moonsault.
Rating: ** 1/2
The new Battle of Los Angles trophy.
Battle of Los Angeles – Bandido over Puma King [10’40]
Puma King came out with the DDT Pro Heavymetal Ironman title. It felt like they worked a more grounded match than a normal Bandido match, with a lot lost flying and less speed. It worked though. Puma King didn’t do much in the way of comedy and matched Bandido’s style and they had a good match. Bandido won with a spike piledriver. Bandido also won the DDT title.
Rating: *** 1/4
After the match Puma King got a quick rollup to get his title back.
Battle of Los Angeles – Penta El Zero M over Tony Deppen [14’35]
Deppen matched up well with Penta El Zero M. There was one segment where they were both sitting in chairs on the outside having somewhat of a casual chop battle and ref Aubrey Edwards was out there with them judging it. There were a lot of chops in this. Penta El Zero M won with a package piledriver.
Rating: *** 1/2
Battle of Los Angeles – David Starr over Orange Cassidy [18’46]
Orange Cassidy got a huge reaction when he came out. He had the announcer read his intro off a napkin before the match. Cassidy did his comedy spots at the start, which Starr pretty much blew off and began brutalizing Cassidy. A lot of the match was Cassidy just taking a beating. This went on way too long and the crowd was dead for most everything after the comedy stuff early. Cassidy made a little bit of a comeback, but Starr retook control and finished Cassidy with a big lariat.
Rating: ** 1/2
Jonathan Gresham & Daisuke Sekimoto over Jeff Cobb & Brody King [22’47]
This was really good. Early, Gresham was trying to overpower Cobb but wasn’t able to budge him. King matched with Sekimoto and was able to take him down with a shoulder tackle, something Cobb couldn’t do early the night before. King accidentally chopped Cobb and they had a few more problems throughout the match, seemingly starting the build to a future match between the two. PWG is better at booking ROH matches than ROH is. King thought Cobb was Marty Scurll and PCO at points too. The crowd was tired at this point in the show but did come alive for some spots. Sekimoto hit his delayed German Suplex on King for the win.
Rating: *** 1/2
Normally at PWG great matches early don’t hurt the crowd much, because the quality of wrestling is so high. Last night, however there were too many long matches that weren’t great and it was hard to get the crowd back up. PWG has set the bar so high for shows, especially during BOLA, a good show like this, which almost any other promotion in the world would be thrilled with, comes as somewhat of a letdown. Still, the talent that is left in the tournament should lead to some fantastic matches on night three.
The 2019 Battle of Los Angeles should be available for pre-order soon on PWG’s website and at Highspots (I believe Highspots will also be selling the turnbuckle pads and other items from BOLA as well).
2019 Battle of Los Angeles Night 1 – review
2019 Battle of Los Angeles Night 3 – review
