Csonka Reviews Pro Wrestling Guerrilla’s BOLA 2014 (Night One)

Introduction
As a reminder, this will not be another traditional recap, but instead it will be a mash up of the Rs, Instant Analysis and my usual Twitter ramblings I would do during the shows; completely uncensored and as the ideas flow unfiltered to the old keyboard. Remember, this is a review; and I am here to review the show. As always, I encourage discussion and even disagreement, just do so in a respectful manner. I will be doing the review for Raw and most PPVs and iPPVs going forward.

Note: Over the past few years, as I have covered a ton of PPV, people have always asked why I haven’t covered Pro Wrestling Guerrilla’s Battle of Los Angeles Tournament. I have watched a lot of older PWG, but eventually moved away from it. It was never anything against PWG; it usually came down to time, money and the fact that it wasn’t available via iPPV. But over the past few years, I have noticed that many consider the tournament one of the “major shows” of the wrestling year. With that being the case, I have opted to include it into my coverage of the year’s major shows. Please keep in mind, like Lucha; I watch a limited amount of PWG. I am going in knowing the performers, but not a lot of specifics on all of their histories in PWG. It is up to the commentary and the wrestlers to tell me the story and to get me invested in the product.

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla’s BOLA 2014 (Night One)

OFFICIAL RESULTS
~ TJ Perkins pinned Bobby Fish in a first-round match [**¾]
~ Roderick Strong over Biff Busick in a first-round match [****]
~ Trevor Lee beat Cedric Alexander in a first-round match [***]
~ Candice LeRae & Joey Ryan defeated Ricochet & Rich Swann and Bad Influence to retain the PWG Tag Titles [****]
~ Michael Elgin over Tommaso Ciampa in a first-round match [***¼]
~ AJ Styles beat Brian Myers in a first-round match [**½]
~ Kyle O’Reilly submitted Drew Gulak in a non-title first-round match [***¾]
~ Chuck Taylor, Kenny Omega, & Zack Sabre, Jr. defeated Adam Cole and The Young Bucks [****¼]

2014 Battle of Los Angeles First Round Match: Bobby Fish vs. TJ Perkins: On paper I felt this was a strong opener. I like both guys and I like the style that they work. They worked a technical/submission style most of the match, and I really like that when done right. Down the stretch they did a really nice series of submission counters, but with Fish working the knee so much during the match I felt as if Perkins’ selling of it became lazy. He didn’t completely abandon it, but it really could have been better considering how much work Fish put into weakening the knee. For example, Fish essentially destroyed the knee, had a knee bar at the end but Perkins was able to turn it into a pin. I get that it was a fluke/luck style win, but I didn’t feel that it was believable. Overall clean work, but the lack of commitment to selling the knee hurt it for me. I personally would have preferred Fish to move on.

2014 Battle of Los Angeles First Round Match: Biff Busick vs. Roderick Strong: Love both of these guys as well. Strong pretty much doesn’t have bad matches, and Busick needs to be booked everywhere. Busick works that Regal/Finlay technical brawler style that I dig. I absolutely loved this. Everything they did felt like it had a purpose, the work was snug as shit and clean through out and I dig the matches Busick works. He uses a great mix of hard-hitting strikes, technical wrestling and submissions and does so effortlessly. Commentary did a good job of setting up Strong’s story for the weekend, being that he is #1 contender, but also comes across as always the bridesmaid and never the bride. This was great excellent stuff.

2014 Battle of Los Angeles First Round Match: Cedric Alexander vs. Trevor Lee: I haven’t seen a lot of Trevor Lee, but have heard a lot of good things about him. With both being Carolina boys, I figure that they put this together because they have worked together a good bit. Chuck Taylor shooting on Trevor Lee for being young was fun. My guess was right as commentary mentioned that they worked together a lot, and for the fact that they worked a pretty fast pace that was filled with counters that only guys that have worked together a lot could pull off since they know each other well. There was a horrendous botch late in the match, but credit to both guys as they just kept going and never hesitated. I enjoyed the work they did, it was entertaining and very enjoyable, but as someone that watches a very limited amount of PWG, it did little to get me invested in either guy. By the end of the match it just came off as them doing stuff, overall good stuff, but it just never felt as if it told a great story that invited me in. I do want to see more of what Trevor Lee has to offer, so the next round will be interesting.

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Tag Team Championship Title Three-Way Match: World’s Cutest Tag Team (Candice LeRae & Joey Ryan – Champions) vs. Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian vs. Inner City Machine Guns (Ricochet & Rich Swann): Daniels and Kazarian are awesome, Ricochet & Rich Swann are awesome, and I hear great things about Candice LeRae in the PWG environment so I am excited for the match. I also like a break in the tournament matches to mix the vibe of the show up. The crowd had been really good up to this point, but they went insane during the pre-match for this. Candice and Joey are the hometown favorites, Daniels and Kazarian are returning (veteran) heroes and Ricochet & Rich Swann are the new hotness. It was a great combination on paper, and it worked in the ring. They went about 14-minutes, with the first 8 or so being the really well laid out tag match, as Daniels and Kaz provided the veteran leadership to keep it on pace, and they in broke down in the best way possible. Ricochet and Swann kicked up the pace; some great near falls and dives near the end was the icing on the cake. Candice LeRae pinning Swann was a nice tie in to the tournament, since they face off on night two. This was a tremendous match, on par with Strong and Busick, but in a very different way.

2014 Battle of Los Angeles First Round Match: Tommaso Ciampa vs. Michael Elgin: This was a complete slugfest. These two just beat the living hell out of each other from the bell. In the first two-minutes, they beat on each other, Elgin hit a delayed vertical suplex on the floor and then a big tumbleweed senton for a near fall. From there it broke down into who can hit the other harder, which the crowd dug, but at times it really felt like doing shit to do shit. Elgin then missed a front flip leg drop off the ropes about six-minutes in, which looked bad. I loved Strong vs. Busick because it felt as if everything they did meant something, but I didn’t get that feeling here. It certainly wasn’t bad, and I like hard-hitting matches, but I feel that Strong vs. Busick did the style better because I felt that they worked a match that pulled me in and made me care. This felt as if they kicked out of everything, and I am sure that I will hear that “that’s the PWG style.” But you have three more matches to go, and it felt as if everything was thrown out in this match, and on top of that it felt long in the bad way. I get what they were going for, and it does play into the tournament format in doing everything they could to win, but they could have done a little less and it would have meant even more. Elgin finally won after a stiff lariat in 14-minutes. Others likely loved this, which is completely understandable.

2014 Battle of Los Angeles First Round Match: Brian Myers vs. AJ Styles: This was a very interesting match. Myers is coming off of his WWE release and is looking to impress, and Styles is having a great 2014. Myers has the motivation, AJ has been amazing, so on paper I felt that this had a chance to be really good. There was a nice touch early as Myers has AJ scouted, countered and then hit the trademark AJ dropkick and pose to mock him. Overall this was a fine wrestling match, worked very differently than the previous matches, which isn’t always a bad thing. Slowing things down and trying to tell a story isn’t a bad thing in my eyes. Unfortunately the good work is quickly forgotten due to the ending, which was a cluster-fuck. They were all the way up top, they slipped and instead of moving on bumble fucked into a shitty Boston crab. It was one of the worst finishes I have seen all year. They also should have trimmed 3-5 minutes off of this bad boy. Post match AJ hit the clash two times to please the fans, but it was too late. This was disappointing, especially considering AJ’s year so far.

2014 Battle of Los Angeles First Round Match: Drew Gulak vs. Kyle O’Reilly: Drew Gulak is another guy I really enjoy watching, and much like Busick, should be booked everywhere. He and O’Reilly should work a technical, submission based match. Again, variety is the spice of life, and I appreciate the different styles. These guys worked a “grappling style brawl” I think is the best classification. Not doing traditional lockups, not lots of running ropes; instead looking for knuckle locks and takedowns to get into submission situations, and also working strikes and head butts to keep the real sports feel. O’Reilly focused his work on the arm, while Gulak worked the leg. Gulak is so locked into his slow, clean and methodical style and it works so well for him. Great spot mid-way through as O’Reilly had a hanging guillotine, but Gulak twisted on the ankle (which he had worked on) and escaped into a full ankle lock. O’Reilly relied heavily on his striking to get back into the match, and by doing so, the selling of the leg was forgotten. The things they had done were meaning so much, and then it was simply abandoned by O’Reilly, which is a shame. Also, when he switched to the striking, he also left the arm work, so the teases of the cross arm breaker didn’t mean as much. At times there was some truly exceptional work being done here, but O’Reilly’s sketchy selling really hurt things. Quite honestly if that was tightened up, this could have been the match of the night.

Six-Man Tag Team Match Adam Cole & The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) vs. Friends of Low Moral Fiber (Kenny Omega, Zack Sabre Jr., & Chuck Taylor): This is a great choice for the main event, the Bucks are GODS in PWG, and Zack Sabre Jr. & Kenny Omega are special appearances that should be showcased. Sabre was excellent during his EVOLVE appearances, and Omega has grown as a performer, so on paper this was a match I was greatly looking forward too. I expect this to be an acrobatic exhibition with some fun grappling involved. I seriously need more Zack Sabre Jr. in my wrestling. Kenny Omega, Zack Sabre Jr., & Chuck Taylor all got chanced to shine in the first eight-minutes, until the heels took over and started to cut them off and then run wild. The Bucks stopping a plancha by Omega with double superkicks was sweet. Chairs were brought in, the injured Trent Baretta tried to make a save but Adam Cole, the ultimate dick, attacked his surgically repaired leg. Things settled into more of a traditional tag match at about 13-minutes in as the heels worked over Zack Sabre Jr. Kenny Omega would get the hot tag and run wild on everyone, crowd got really hot for that. It broke down in a good way, we had the big moves, the near falls and they had the crowd A credit to their work because they had been hot all night and you eventually expect them to get tired. Being a Young Bucks match, we had a HUGE superkick party, because their ain’t no party like a superkick party. We got a ref bump after Nick pulled out the ref, and then pulled the ref into a dive spot. God I generally hate that, but the way that Nick smiled at the camera in true dick head fashion was amazing. Baretta pulled out the new ref, who then got superkicked. And since it’s PWG, Trent put on a ref shirt and counted the pinfall after Omega hit Croyt’s Wrath and Taylor hit the Awful Waffle. It’s hard to really describe what I just watched, but it was pretty amazing. I can do without the ref shit, but the way the Bucks do it, and the way it fits into their characters I get it. As long as that shit stays out of the tournament, I am fine with it. Pretty amazing main event, and pretty much exactly the style I expected. I am a huge fan of the Young Bucks, and have enjoyed them in ROH, EVOLVE/DGUSA, NJPW and even their TNA appearances, but getting to see then in PWG is something special and if you haven’t seen it make sure to do so.

Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

8.4

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

The first thing I want to say is that if you have never ventured into a PWG show, the Reseda crowd is something else. In a way it can be compared to a big time CHIKARA show, where the crowd is in on the wink and nod stuff and react to everything. Well turn that up to 11 and that is the Reseda crowd. They create such an amazing environment, an environment that 99% of Independent companies would kill for, and it really helps make the show.

As for night one (which is what the rating reflects) I felt they did a very good job. No bad matches, obviously some issues with a few, but no stinkers at all on this show. We had three great matches and another that was almost as good. The rest was all solid to good, and I feel we’re off to a very good start for BOLA 2014. The only real disappointment, especially considering his 2014 so far, was the Styles match.

legend

• 0 - 0.9 Torture
• 1 - 1.9 Extremely Horrendous
• 2 - 2.9 Very Bad
• 3 - 3.9 Bad
• 4 - 4.9 Poor
• 5 - 5.9 Not So Good
• 6 - 6.9 Average
• 7 - 7.9 Good
• 8 - 8.9 Very Good
• 9 - 9.9 Amazing
• 10 Virtually Perfect