Battle of Los Angeles 2013

PWG is easily the best wrestling company in the United States right now. I can't claim that its the best in the world, because I can't really watch a lot from Japan, Canada, and Europe, and I don't really understand Lucha Libre from Mexico. That being said, the greatest American wrestlers get together once a year in Reseda, California for the annual Battle of Los Angeles tournament. Former winners include Low Ki, Kenny Omega, El Generico and Davey Richards. All wrestlers that have gone on to big promotions and made some money.

This year held a 16 man single elimination format which included some PWG regulars and some new faces to the company. The participants were Kevin Steen, Chuck Taylor, Brian Cage, Tomasso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano, Willie Mack, Roderick Strong, AR Fox, Drake Younger, Joey Ryan, ACH, Anthony Nese, Kyle O'Reilly, Rich Swann, Trent? and Michael Elgin. If you follow independent wrestling, this is a who's who of young talent. When I saw the lineup last fall, I was foaming at the mouth with excitement. The match-ups didn't disappoint. The first night of the tournament eliminates half the guys and features a tag team match usually spotlighting the tag-team champions. Night two spotlights the rest of the tournament and the intense singles matches.

Highlights of Night One:
Kevin Steen vs Chuck Taylor - This wasn't your traditional opener. It was very comedy heavy, and was very entertaining from bell to bell.
Brian Cage vs Tomasso Ciampa - The match was very bland and slow at points, but the high point was Ciampa powerbombing Cage on his neck on the floor of the arena. After some research and listening to a podcast with Cage, he was legit injured from this spot and finished a 15 minute match and wrestled the second night.
Roderick Strong vs AR Fox - It's always cool to see Roderick wrestle high flyers, his crazy strength and ability to pull off crazy moves makes this one exciting. It also helps that AR Fox seems to have no regard to his own well being.
Michael Elgin vs Rich Swann - I'm a big fan of Rich Swann on the basis of his Chris Jericho impression. He is a truly talented wrestler and deserves a shot at the big leagues. This was a great way to cap off tournament action for night one.
Adam Cole and the Young Bucks vs The Forever Hooligans and TJ Perkins - Great action from the greatest tag-team in wrestling right now. The Young Bucks can do no wrong in my eyes. TJ Perkins is crazy good and I would like to see him wrestle more on TNA as himself instead of the character Manik.

Highlights of Night Two:
Johnny Gargano vs Kevin Steen - The unpredictability of this match was my favorite aspect. A little spoiler here, I never expected Kevin Steen to tap out to a submission move from Gargano.
Kyle O'Reilly vs ACH - These two really tore it up for a second round match. I don't know how O'Reilly was able to wrestle two more matches after this spot fest.
Adam Cole and the Young Bucks vs Candice Larae, AR Fox and Rich Swann - Candice Larae shows that she can hang with the big boys and pulls off some awesome moves.
Joey Ryan, Trent?, and Chuck Taylor vs B-Boy, Tomasso Ciampa, and Willie Mack - Is it bad that my favorite match was not a part of the tournament? This was a full blown comedy match that had everything. Great wrestling, hilarious spots and amazing chemistry. Brian Cage even came out to return a powerbomb to Ciampa on the floor. The best spot came with Chuck Taylor's imaginary grenade. Every wrestler played into it, and the crowd exploded for it.

Overall this weekend was pure wrestling euphoria. The tournament matches were great, the only one that didn't have the best chemistry was ACH vs Anthony Nese from night one. Their performances on night two more than made up for that. You can tell the crowd was tired when the final match came around, but it still held a really special moment for Kyle O'Reilly.

I give PWG: Battle of Los Angeles 2013 4.25 out of 5 Burning Lariats.

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