This weekend marked the 2016 edition of the annual PWG Battle of Los Angeles, the tournament where the 24 best wrestlers in the world all come together and put in three nights of A+ matches until there’s only one left. Oh, and the Young Bucks come and be the Young Bucks, which is always the highlight of the show. I had the fortune of attending BOLA this year, which is my first BOLA ever. I’ve attended every show since the last one, so it’s nice to complete a full year’s cycle of PWG. Here’s the thoughts, observations and ratings of the weekend, all from my perspective.

Night 1

I was lucky enough to see some familiar faces in line on Night 1 and hopped in line with them to make the couple hour wait go faster. Once we got in, it was more chaotic than usual. Of course, there’s the Young Bucks set up right at the entrance which causes a log jam, but the real problem this year was the legendary Jushin Liger, who never had a moment over all three nights that he wasn’t selling a shirt. His line was always long. I figured I’d wait until after the show to get a Liger shirt (maybe it would have calmed down by then) but he ended up not coming back out. Instead of waiting for Liger, I sat down with my friends in the fourth row stage-side and got ready to watch some intense wrestling.

After the usual epic Excalibur speech, we got a hot opener. My pick to win, Marty Scurll, was up against a crowd favorite in Pentagon Jr. They had a good match in what I’d consider one of the best ways to start the tournament. Ricochet and Cobb were up next, and they also did pretty well. It was a classic big man vs. flyer match, and as a big Ricochet fan I really enjoyed it. After that match came the lowest point of the weekend. John Hennigan vs. Matt Sydal. Hennigan was supposedly really wanting to work in PWG so it was nice to finally see him here, but his debut really didn’t go well. Sydal and him tried some weird comedy at the beginning, which is weird because these two are such talented wrestlers. After Hennigan won, everyone was pretty underwhelmed, but luckily he got a chance to redeem himself on night 3. My personal match of the night was next in the first main event spot, Will Ospreay vs. Fenix. The absolute highlight came when Fenix attempted an Avalance C4, but they both landed on their feet and got right in each other’s faces. Never had seen anything like it.

After intermission Tommy End was out to have his last PWG singles match against Zack Sabre, and they had what many considered to be match of the night. It’s really clear that Tommy is an amazing performer and is ready for the WWE, and Sabre showed why he’s one of the best in the world as well. Regal was seen peeking out of the curtain for this one, presumably because both of these guys have ties to NXT at the moment. Then, the hero’s welcome came for Jushin Liger, and let me tell you it was the loudest entrance pop I’ve ever heard in this building. Liger came in against perennial fan favorite Chris Hero, and was so over that Hero got booed by the majority of the crowd. In one of Liger’s best matches in years, he lost after some cool spots with Hero. The crowd was beyond excited to see Liger, I didn’t think anyone could have that level of excitement around them.

Then the main event hit: The Bullet Club vs. Dalton Castle and the Boys. Except the boys weren’t the boys… They were Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish. Kyle showed again why he’s one of the most entertaining in tthe world. When he commits to something, he can make anything great. His actions in the boys’ costume were top notch comedy, and it was the first match I’ve ever seen where I teared up from crying. After a hilarious while, the Bucks won with a double Meltzer Driver. One highlight of the match was Matt Jackson told Dave Meltzer to check out his “sweet meat” while wearing the Meltzer tights that were debuted during the Super J-Cup.

Post-show I talked with some good brothers in the Legion Hall and bought a shirt from Ricochet. Real nice dude and was moving merch like crazy this weekend.

Marty Scurll def. Pentagon Jr – ****

Ricochet def. Jeff Cobb – ***3/4

John Hennigan def. Matt Sydal – **1/2

Will Ospreay def. Fenix – ****1/2

Zack Sabre Jr. def. Tommy End – ****1/4

Chris Hero def. Jushin Liger – ****

Adam Cole, Nick Jackson and Matt Jackson def. Dalton Castle and reDRagon – ***3/4

Do I recommend? Yes, absolutely

Night 2

Night 2 started out similar to Night 1, got in line with my friends and talked a bit about Night 1 and wrestling in general. Once inside, I decided I wasn’t going to let Liger leave tonight without me buying a shirt from him, so I immediately went to get a picture and a shirt. Liger was the classiest guy in the world and really just a cool guy to be around. I enjoyed meeting a legend like him immensely. Went and got my seat in the second row near the stage-side left turnbuckle. A close seat to the action for the night.

The second-best opener in the company (after Chuckie T of course) came out and waited for his opponent because Gallagher couldn’t make it. PSYCHO KILLER! Ciampa was back for one last weekend and I marked out hard. I was commenting in line beforehand how it’s too bad we won’t get Team Chuckie vs. Team Ciampa again anymore but there went that assumpetion. Ciampa got a HUGE pop. He got busted open during the match and Castle won in a good opener. Then Mark Andrews and the debuting Pete Dunne were up next, in one of the best matches of the weekend. Andrews always tears the house down at PWG, and Dunne was my second most impressive debut of the weekend. Next up was a big time match, the debut of Cody! It started with Brandi coming out as his personal ring announcer. Sami made his entrance as normal Sami, but then Cody came out and the place came unglued. He had special tights made for BOLA and seemed so excited to be there. Cody beat Sami and everyone was really excited about it, he impressed big time. Cody needed a good weekend here after not performing to expectations at EVOLVE, so this was HUGE for him. Main event number 1 had to follow that match, and I honestly didn’t think it could, but Hero/End vs. Fenix/Pentagon was easily the match of the weekend up to that point. Hero didn’t put in much work during it, but the Lucha boys and End went hard. Pentagon fell into my lap at one point which was the highlight of the match for me.

When we got back into action, Trevor Lee went up against recent debut Kamaitachi in a killer match. I thought at one point Kamaitachi was dead. He went for a leg drop to a standing Trevor on the floor and just went straight down on what seemed to be his head but he got back up and kept going so props to him. Lee won and Kamaitachi got a big ovation. Next was a returning Cedric Alexander vs. a debuting Mark Haskins. It was clear the crowd didn’t know Haskins very well, and that hurt him. He was the worst debut over the weekend I thought, but he still did look good. On the other hand, Cedric hadn’t missed a beat since he was last here. Weakest match of the night, which isn’t saying much because it would still be one of the better matches on a card in any other promotion. The last tournament match off the night was debuting Matt Riddle against Kyle O’Reilly. These two were tailor-made for each other and both have been on fire as of late so it was really cool to see this happen. The only negative part was that one had to lose! Not as good as the earlier matches in the night but still a stellar match and Riddle came across as a star. Hopefully he comes back.

The main event… The main event needs it’s own novel written about it. This is one of the best matches I’ve ever seen live and one of the best matches in PWG history. It somehow topped the 6 man on Night 2 of last year. The Bullet Club against Ricochet/Ospreay/Sydal. Just looking at the talent you know it’s special, and then they get in the ring and it’s non-stop action from bell to bell. The finish was one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen, and I’ve never seen anything like it. Ospreay stopped a Meltzer Driver with the coolest cutter of all time, then Ricochet turned the Meltzer Drive into him and Sydal’s own move, which was a Meltzer Drive but instead of the front flip, Sydal Shooting Star Press spiked Matt. Then the three did the most in-sync Shooting Star Presses off the top I’ve ever seen for the win. The crowd afterwards was chanting “five-star match” and showing eternal appreciation for these 6 guys.

Dalton Castle def. Tommaso Ciampa ***3/4

Mark Andrews def. Pete Dunne ****1/2

Cody Rhodes def. Sami Callihan ****

Fenix, Pentagon def. Chris Hero, Tommy End ****3/4

Trevor Lee def. Kamaitachi ****1/4

Mark Haskins def. Cedric Alexander ***1/2

Kyle O’Reilly def. Matt Riddle ***3/4

Matt Sydal, Ricochet and Will Ospreay def. Adam Cole and the Young Bucks *****

Do I recommend? You’re crazy if you don’t buy this.

Night 3

After an epic first two nights, it was time for the marathon. After a long day with the good brothers and a few hours in line, the show started at 5:15. No 1:30 AM finish this year! Inside I immediately went to Excalibur to buy one of the Reseda shirts. I’ve always had my eye on it and since it was BOLA I decided to splurge. Same spot as last night, wearing my Trent? shirt because I didn’t know who to support. Since the night was so long and there was a lot of action, I’ll just hit the highlights!

Ricochet and Hennigan faced off and it went great. Hennigan was a real star this match, and was way better than his first match against Sydal. I’m glad he got his chance to show what he was made of. Marty and Cody went after it in a pretty good match, involving Brandi a bit. Marty kissed her on the lips at one point and gave Cody a shattered dreams, which led to a “she wants kids!” chant. Marty won and Cody cut a great promo about how happy he was to be here and that he would be back soon. He gave his BOLA Boot to a person in the audience.

Mark Andrews upset Chris Hero in a result that got the whole place excited. Nobody saw it coming, and I mean NOBODY! My friend is a huge Andrews mark while also being Chris Hero’s number 1 hater so he was over the moon. Post-match, Hero turned heel by annihilating Andrews.

The semifinals saw Trevor Lee beat Andrews, which could have been an easy squash after Andrews was damaged but it was somewhat back and forth. The result was never really in doubt though, Trevor Lee won. Marty Scurll beat Mark Haskins, decent match. Haskins shouldn’t have made it this far. He’s talented for sure, but he was literally the least over person of the night. Some big Progress fans were there so he got a “please come back chant” but I wouldn’t be heartbroken if he didn’t come back for a while. Ospreay and Ricochet had their first match since the Best of the Super Juniors heard ’round the world, and while it was still great it was pretty short. Absolute high quality and they proved it was not a one-off fluke the first time.

Before the finals, I’ll go over the two amazing tag matches. The Young Bucks defended the titles against Pentagon and Fenix, which nobody saw coming so the pop was huge when Angelo Trinidad announced it. The hottest match of the night outside of the 10-man, and honestly the best match of the night as well. The Bucks just always deliver, it’s unbelievable how good they are night in and night out. I hope they never, ever leave. Best spot of the match was a Meltzer Driver to the floor. Matt was holding Fenix up by the entrance and Nick sprinted and in stride flipped over the top and spiked Fenix down. The Bucks won after a Superkick onslaught. Fenix and Pentagon cut a very nice promo afterwards about how much they loved wrestling here, and the crowd threw money into the ring to show appreciation.

The 10-man tag was the most fun I’ve had watching a wrestling match, it was so much excitement. Obviously since Ciampa was here, it was Team Chuckie T vs. Team Ciampa for one final time. Ciampa’s team (Ciampa, Riddle, Callihan, Dunne and Brian Kendrick) came out with drawn-on whiskers. When the crowd saw Brian Kendrick, we FLIPPED out. We knew he was there during the weekend with Regal but there was zero indication he would wrestle. Team Taylor came out next to Liger’s music, and it consisted of Chuckie , Liger, Cedric, Cobb and Tommy End. Highlights of the match:

Ciampa acted like he was going to dive onto all of the competitors on the floor, but hyped it up like he was scared. Everybody in the match was cheering him on, and Ciampa led the whole crowd in a rendition of “I believe I can fly” before jumping in the ring and doing a small splash on Cobb

Liger pulled out a remote and put the match in slow motion, which resulted in a lot of Palm Strikes.

Cobb and Riddle had a 1 on 1 wrestling showcase and it got a huge reaction.

Obviously, the thumbs up the asses spot was the highlight of the match. Ciampa threatened to thumb Chuck Taylor but Liger hopped in and said “Put it in my asshole!” or something along those lines. That started the thumb train, and Liger led the line around the ring before flipping everyone Joey Ryan-style.

Team Taylor won with a Liger pin, and End/Cedric/Ciampa got a hero’s send off at the end.

The main event for the BOLA Title was Marty Scurll vs. Trevor Lee vs. Will Ospreay, which was commonly predicted by many people including myself. Scurll and lee are mainstays while Ospreay is the hottest wrestler in the world this year. Ospreay went out fairly early when Lee and Scurll teamed up and stole a bunch of Will’s moves. Lee stole Scurll’s finger breaker and it went over really good with the crowd. Scurll went over after a pretty good match that ended in an umbrella assault on Trevor Lee and a chicken wing. Marty Scurll is the BOLA champ! Afterwards he cut a promo about how much this means to him and all the wrestlers to wrestle in Reseda. He cited how Cody Rhodes was making a ton of money and was a former IC Champ, but he quit to come wrestle here. He told Sabre he was looking forward to the match, and Zack came out to shake his hand. The trophy survived!

Trevor Lee def. Dalton Castle ***1/4

Ricochet def. John Hennigan ***1/2

Marty Scurll def. Cody Rhodes ****1/4

Mark Andrews def. Chris Hero ***1/2

Mark Haskins def. Kyle O’Reilly ***

Will Ospreay def. Zack Sabre Jr. ***3/4

The Young Bucks def. Pentagon and Fenix ****1/2

Trevor Lee def. Mark Andrews ***1/4

Marty Scurll def. Mark Haskins ***3/4

Will Ospreay def. Ricochet ****1/4

Team Taylor def. Team Ciampa ****1/2

Marty Scurll def. Trevor Lee and Will Ospreay ****

Do I recommend? 100%

Wrap-Up

All in all, this was a great weekend, and a must-own for any fan of wrestling. To all that were there, thank you for making the weekend special. To all who weren’t there, I hope you make it out soon. A totally memorable weekend full of fun and friends. Til next time!

Top five matches

Young Bucks vs. Ricochet/Sydal/Ospreay Hero/End vs. Pentagon/Fenix 10 Man tag match Ospreay vs. Fenix Dunne vs. Andrews

MVP of tournament: Will Ospreay