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

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 Two)

OFFICIAL RESULTS
~ Candice LeRae defeated Rich Swann in a first-round match [***¼]
~ Johnny Gargano defeated Chuck Taylor in a first-round match [***¾]
~ Ricochet defeated Chris Sabin in a first-round match [***¾]
~ reDRagon defeated Drew Gulak and Biff Busick [***]
~ Matt Sydal defeated Chris Hero in a first-round match [***¾]
~ Zack Sabre, Jr. defeated Adam Cole in a first-round match [****½]
~ Kenny Omega defeated ACH in a first-round match [***¾]
~ The Young Bucks defeated Bad Influence [****¼]

2014 Battle of Los Angeles First Round Match: Candice LeRae vs. Rich Swann: LeRae was a late addition to the tournament as an injury replacement. They actually did a good job on night one of setting up this match as LeRae pinned Swann in the tag title match with the reverse RANA. They teased that early in this match, but Swann was ready for it and was able to counter. Swann is a smaller guy, and a great highflier, so I feel that the pairing was a good idea for the first round of the tournament. In a way it was odd watching Swann work as “the big man” of the match, but he adapted well. LeRae hit the reverse RANA for a near fall in this match, and they got a great reaction due to the fact that she won with it the first night. LeRae got the knees up to counter the standing 450 and then rolled up Swann. They embraced post match. The crowd was excellent, they worked well together, LeRae plays the underdog so well, Swann sold for her great and it worked. I am a fan of intergender wrestling when done right (Sara Del Rey for example) and felt that it worked here. This was a nice way to open the show. While I would have loved Swann to advance, you have to play to your audience, and the crowd wanted LeRae to win.

2014 Battle of Los Angeles First Round Match: Johnny Gargano vs. Chuck Taylor: These guys have a ton of history together. They tagged together as FIST in CHIKARA, and then feuded in EVOLVE/DGUSA. They’ve had some really good matches together, and I was looking forward to seeing them again here. They played on their relationship early, as they constantly went for the same stuff and were using good counters. This would play out a lot during the match, which I loved. There can be a fine line in Chuck Taylor matches, where the comedy can overtake a more serious match. They did well here, as you got some of the usual Chucky T comedy you love, but it never overshadowed it. Sick spot late in the match as Taylor countered a suicide dive, and turned it into a dump suplexed on the ring apron. Jesus guys, it’s the second match. They went into a sweet counter striking, near fall, reversal session, which led to Gargano locking in the GargaNo-Escape for the win at about 13-minutes. This was damn fine stuff, we’re off to a strong start tonight.

2014 Battle of Los Angeles First Round Match: Ricochet vs. Chris Sabin: Ricochet is having an awesome 2014, and Sabin is making his PWG return following his TNA release. In a way this is similar to the tag title match as you have Sabin, a TNA mainstay for over a decade vs. the new hotness in Ricochet. The basic story of the match also played well off of this, with Sabin trying to work smarter, playing off of his experience and constantly going for the pin, while Ricochet was faster and had the vast arsenal to call upon. Sabin went Jerry Lawler late in the match and hit the Memphis style jumping piledriver and then a tiger suplex for a great near fall. They exchanged a few more near falls, the crowd was biting on them really well, but in the end Ricochet knocked Sabin off the ropes, hit the 630 and that was all at about 15-minutes. This was another damn fine match, on par with Gargano vs. Taylor, but a different style, which was appreciated.

Biff Busick & Drew Gulak vs. reDragon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly): I was looking forward to this when I saw it on the listing, stylistically, it should work out well. This was definitely a change of pace from the previous matches, lots of emphasis on the submissions and striking, which is exactly what you should expect from these four. I felt that they worked hard and that the work was clean, but never felt like Busick and Gulak had a real chance to win. The work never sold me on it, and the crowd reactions to the near falls didn’t sell me on it. It felt as if they put this on the card because they knew it would be good, and it was and I appreciate that, but again, no one bought into the near falls for Busick and Gulak (and you could tell because on other matches they were going nuts for near falls). The crowd played along because they are such a big part of the show; it’s quality wrestling, but it went too long, felt long and never once got me emotionally involved in any way. reDragon won the match with chasing the dragon at about 19–minutes.

2014 Battle of Los Angeles First Round Match: Chris Hero vs. Matt Sydal: Commentary discusses that both men recently left WWE, and have only worked two singles matches against each other. Cool fact. The story early was simple, Hero used his size advantage and technical wrestling while Sydal tried to use his speed and highflying. This transitioned into Hero bullying Sydal for a while, with the story that Sydal hasn’t worked a lot of long matches due to his severe injuries. I really appreciated commentary here and how they tried to tell that story. Some great strikes by Hero as well as counter work by both here; I get that it’s cool to make fun of Hero for being out of shape, but the guy is working hard and bumping well, so it really didn’t come across as an issue here. Another good match with a solid and easy to follow story and a great crowd. Sydal came off as a great baby face here, refusing to give up and constantly fighting back from Hero’s constant assault. In a way they worked a very similar story to LaRae vs. Swann, and with the sizing it worked here as well. Sydal won with the shooting star press in about 18–minutes.

2014 Battle of Los Angeles First Round Match: Adam Cole vs. Zack Sabre, Jr.: They did the set up for this on night one, with the six-man tag team main event. Similar to that match, Sabre took the chance to humiliate Cole on the mat. This match was filled with awesome technical wrestling, not just good, excellent technical wrestling. Sabre is so smooth and from a style standpoint, might just be the best technical wrestler in all of the business. Not to take anything away from Adam Cole, who if you didn’t know, is a pretty damn great himself. It’s also amazing that I generally don’t give a shit about Cole in ROH, but love him here. Cole is such an, asshole heel and could only gain advantages via nefarious means, because the other man was simply better. Zack Sabre Jr. has been so great to watch. He delivered in his two EVOLVE matches, and also delivered here. The kid is World of Sport 2k14, working an intensified, accelerated and updated version of a classic style. Sabre won with the Prawn Hold in about 18–minutes. I feel if you bring a guy like Sabre in, he needs to go over, and there was no better way to put him over as a tournament threat than to beat a former PWG Champion and former BOLA winner in Adam Cole. This was great booking in the aspect that we got a great match and Sabre got over huge. This was not only a pretty amazing wresting match, but also a nice follow up to last night’s main event. Quite honestly, this is the kind of stuff that makes me love wrestling. I say again, I need more Zack Sabre Jr. in my wrestling.

2014 Battle of Los Angeles First Round Match: ACH vs. Kenny Omega: Kenny Omega works almost exclusively in Japan these days, and recently signed with NJPW so this is a rare US appearance for him. Omega is also a previous BOLA winner. ACH works a ton of independents, but is signed to ROH as well. From all accounts this is a first time match. ACH is a good highflier, and Omega is best described as a Junior Wackyweight. They worked athletic spots, as well as some video game related comedy spots. At one point, they got a Stone Cold Steve Austin vest from someone in the crowd, and after some urging from the crowd, ACH put the vest on and then started doing Stone Cold spots. Omega did Rock like punches and selling of the stunner; it was amazing. There are times when I can certainly leave out the comedy from my wrestling, but this was simply fun and the crowd was about the loudest I have heard so far this weekend. ACH countered Croyt’s Wrath for a great near fall, but then Omega finally hit it to score the win at about 24-minutes. This was super fun and entertaining with the hot crowd. This has been a great show so far.

The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) vs. Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian: I have watched some very good matches between these two teams on the TNA One Night Only shows, and am looking forward to seeing them compete again here on this show. During the announcements, the Bucks superkicked the ring announcer and then all four guys laid the boots to him. Daniels and Kazarian are a great veteran team, using a lot of traditional double teams and the Bucks are the prototypical young asshole heels. This was a great tag team match, with both teams working hard, using traditional tag team formula before breaking into a great series of stuff down the stretch. Not that the other guys aren’t great, but damn, Christopher Daniels, really good professional wrestler. A couple of small, but noticeable hiccups take this down a bit, but this was a great main event to close out one of the year’s stronger events. The Bucks won with the Meltzer Driver at about 20–minutes.

Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

9.0

The final score: review Amazing

The 411

I have watched a ton of shows this year, and well over 80 “major/PPV/iPPV” shows, and from top to bottom, this was one of the most consistent, easy and enjoyable shows of 2014. Simply put, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla’s BOLA 2014 Night Two is a must see event.

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