Pro Wrestling Guerrilla “Battle of Los Angeles” Preview: Who Will Become PWG World Champion?

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla “Battle of Los Angeles Tournament”

Lo and behold, the independent scene continues to march on with a tournament that has become a mainstay on the scene “The Battle of Los Angeles Tournament.” This year’s tournament takes place THIS WEEKEND (Friday and Saturday nights to be precise) and what kind of hacks would we here at TWD be if we didn’t even at least give you a totally kickass breakdown of the tournament? Sure, there’s usually more to it than that, but PWG has this neat habit of actually liking to have surprises at its shows (take that you teat suckling internet “insider” hacks) and therefore only has the tournament listed on its site.

Sure, we here at TWD could go to other secondary sources who claim to know what’s going on, but they’re as reliable of sources for news as Sly Stone is reliable to actually show up to his concerts.

Anyway, the tournament is this weekend in…where else…Reseda, California!

Event

PWG Battle of Los Angeles Tournament

BONUS: Winner to be awarded the vacant PWG World Championship.

When

11/20 and 11/21

Venue

American Legion Post 308

7338 Canby Avenue, Reseda, California 91335

General Admission Tickets are still available at the door. A two night pass is 40 dollars, individual night passes are 25 dollars per.

The Competitors

Kevin Steen

Steen has just about done it all in PWG, and he’s being booked as “back to get the one thing that’s eluded him: The Battle of Los Angeles.”

While that’s nice, Steen has been on a bit of a downward trend. He and Generico’s days of ruling the RoH Tag Division seem like a zillion years ago, he’s bounced around from competitor to competitor, and in general just hasn’t had nearly the same momentum that he did even six months ago.

So where exactly does Steen stand as far as chances to win the tournament are concerned? PWG is, appropriately, playing up the fact that Steen has a lot of PWG experience, but I’d put his chances of winning at minimal. This tournament is for the PWG World Championship too, and Steen is both lacking in momentum, and in main event talent.

Jerome Robinson

Jerome Robinson is listed as a first time competitor in the PWG tournament and is listed as a “high flyer” with a little momentum.

Outside of that, Robinson doesn’t have a whole lot else to add here. He’s had a few regional titles for some more localized promotions, has apparently feuded with Alex Shelley, and recently had a tryout in Japan (no official word on how it went).

What are Robinson’s chances to win? I’d say, again, slim. He’s got some good stuff, but when you look at the talent pool he’s going against, this would be one hell of a dark horse win.

Brandon Gatson

Brandon Gatson is a primarily local competitor who is in the tournament via winning a qualifying match.

Like Jerome Robinson, Gatson is in his first PWG tournament and is fairly inexperienced when it comes to the promotion. While he did win the NWA Arizona Heavyweight Championship, he dropped it less than a week later and hasn’t really been around anything major.

Also like Robinson, his chances of winning this seem slim to nil. The PWG World Championship would be a massive upswing for Gatson, who after nine years in the business, hasn’t come close to holding anything that big yet.

Scott Lost

The first serious competitor for the tournament is Scott Lost. Lost has been beating everyone he’s faced recently, scoring huge wins over Human Tornado and Joey Ryan at the last two major PWG events.

He’s also being billed as having been on an absolute tear through the roster.

On top of that, Lost has an ability to connect with fans that far surpasses just about anyone else, and a tweener or heel is the more traditional choice to win a vacated championship.

With PWG being the clear hotbed of his momentum, Lost can and should be taken as a serious threat to win the title, especially given the fact that PWG is even playing up his recent pins of three former PWG World Champions.

Brian Kendrick

Since being released from WWE, Kendrick has been wrestling anywhere and everywhere.

Talent wise, it’s pointless to go much deeper than “Kendrick clearly has the talent to be a viable champion,” mostly because he does.

Kendrick, however, shouldn’t be looked at as a winner. At best, he’s a midrange or long shot, and it’s mostly because he’s got momentum going in lots of other places, including Dragon’s Gate USA. It’s debatable, but with PPV deals and some TV deals in a few international markets, DGUSA seems to be the better place for him to put his eggs.

Don’t be surprised to see Kendrick make it to the semi-finals though, he’s got a pretty recognizable name and in a two day tourney, that counts for something.

The Motor City Machineguns

Both Sabin and Shelley are entered in the tournament as single competitors. Talent wise, this is easily the strongest tag team in the world and as standalone competitors, neither is a slouch either. In fact,  Shelley cracking the top half of the TWD 50 (and my individual top 10).

Unfortunately for “The Guns,” neither man stands a chance to win the tourney either. Both of them are now regularly resurfacing on TNA, and with a long overdue title push seemingly in the works there, it seems pointless to put the belts on a team that probably won’t even be there that often.

The Young Bucks

Matt and Nick Jackson also enter the tournament this year, and are both essentially in the same boat as the guns. While the Young Bucks aren’t on the same talent level as MCMG, they have equal problems coming across as serious competitors.

Once their first round matches are over, they will have entered a combined three tournaments (one each this year, and a previous entry by Nick). Combine that with the fact that they’re also the PWG Tag Team Champions, and it seems unlikely that either will win. Why?

A win would either: Lead to them staying together and making whoever doesn’t win the PWG World Championship look cripplingly weaker than the winning Buck. Or, it will lead to a split of the tag team. With the Bucks heavily involved in other more prominent promotions, it seems unlikely that they will split over the PWG belt.

Kenny Omega

Omega is the next serious contender to win the tournament.

He’s got all the necessary skills to be considered a world class wrestler, and has a good track record in Japan, where he even makes a blow up doll look legitimate.

He’s officially on the PWG roster, already has a “Battle” under his belt, and most importantly: Isn’t the clear front runner for the RoH Title. Omega, like another competitor who will be mentioned later, seems to be treading water in RoH at this point, and a PWG title would be a great way to keep him occupied outside of RoH until they’re ready for him.

El Generico

Ever since dropping the RoH Tag Titles, Generico has turned into “El Jobico” but for the purposes of this tournament, that might just be what the doctor ordered.

He’s been in more of these than any other entrant. He’s getting the most build. He’s a prominent figure in PWG. And, he’s got nothing better to do.

Fighting Katsuhiko Nakajima is one thing, but unless Generico is going to get a Japanese push out of nowhere, that’s just a short term fix. Generico is long overdue for a singles title, and PWG fits him very well.

Austin Aries

Aries enters the tournament for the fourth time, and sadly for him, this will not be the “charm” time. Aries is in the middle of a white hot RoH title scene, and I don’t foresee PWG unifying their title.

On top of that, Aries has some problems with physicality every now and then, which is a problem if he were going to be a PWG Championship mainstay.

Like Kendrick, Aries has a relatively recognizable name, and their first round match-up is one of the two toughest to call.

Colt Cabana

As entertaining as Cabana is, and as good as Cabana is, he’s just not going to win this one.

On the surface, it seems that Cabana has a good chance. He’s a talented wrestler, who has been in this tournament before, and doesn’t seem to have a lot of direction anywhere.

Unfortunately, Cabana isn’t World Championship material right now, and that won’t change this weekend.

Joey Ryan

Ryan is being billed as someone with a lot of experience and a lot of momentum. Unfortunately, this tournament looks to go to a bigger name this year. Ryan isn’t exactly a slouch, but in the grand scheme of things, I wouldn’t look for him to be a serious contender.

Human Tornado

Tornado is a fairly underrated wrestler who is making his second appearance in the BOLA tourney. He dropped the PWG World Championship in 2008 and hasn’t gotten it together since.

Talent wise, Tornado is on par with the other top guys in this tournament not part of MCMG. However, Tornado is busy playing up his Dragon Gate stuff, which doesn’t seem to bode well for his PWG attention.

Roderick Strong

The last serious contender for the tournament is Roderick Strong. Strong has the same story as everyone else. He’s a really good talent, established PWG guy, several tournaments under his belt, not a lot going anywhere else.

Strong also has the added bonus of having faced several of his PWG peers in recent weeks. The downside: Steen totally dropped him on his neck a month ago. Hopefully it’s fully healed.

Predictions

First Round

Omega vs. Steen

Lost vs. Robinson

Aries vs. Kendrick

Cabana vs. Ryan

Gatson vs. N. Jackson

Generico vs. Shelley

Sabin vs. Strong

M. Jackson vs. Tornado

Omega, Lost, Cabana, N. Jackson, and Tornado should win fairly easily as there isn’t a whole lot of reason for them not to. Kendrick should edge out Aries thanks to Aries being more embroiled in his other primary promotion (Roh) in comparison to Kendrick in DGUSA. Sabin and Shelley also have better places to go for their more important push and should also both be vanquished by their opponents (Strong and Generico respectively). Why would I pick BOTH of the Guns to lose?

Generico is the tournament front runner and it would make little sense for one to lose and the other not to.

That should set up a second round as follows

Projected Second Round

Omega vs. Lost

Kendrick vs. Cabana

N. Jackson vs. Generico

Strong vs. Tornado

Kendrick and Generico seem to be the two gimmie projections here, as it would be bad to advance on tag partner (N. Jackson) that much further than another (M. Jackson) and Cabana just isn’t a serious contender.

With Lost looking to be the more “PWG Stable” talent, and with more PWG based momentum, he should overcome a probably more deserving (talent wise anyway) Omega.

Strong seems to tread water everywhere he goes, and Tornado is being built up as a comeback entrant. Look for a Human Tornado win, which would set up a third round as follows.

Projected Semi-Final Round

Kendrick vs. Lost

Generico vs. Tornado

This should be where Kendrick bows out, as his DGUSA momentum is still better than his PWG momentum and his “name factor” should have run its course by now. The real match to watch, should this all work the way TWD is projecting it, will be Generico vs. Tornado. With Generico getting a better build, he should walk away the winner, setting up the final round.

Projected Championship Round

Lost vs. Generico

Generico will probably be the fan favorite here, but with Lost’s momentum, it should be enough to carry him over, especially with his recent slew of former PWG World Champion pins. A Generico win wouldn’t be too surprising, however, and either man is a viable title holder.

Wrap Up

TWD will post results and analysis as soon as we get them. If you’re in the area, go there and share thoughts afterward on the recap. If you’re going, share your thoughts here.

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