2014 professional wrestling tournament by PWG
Battle of Los Angeles (2014) was the tenth Battle of Los Angeles professional wrestling tournament produced by Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG). It was a three-night event which took place on August 29, August 30 and August 31, 2014 at the American Legion Post #308 in Reseda, Los Angeles, California.
It was a twenty-four man tournament which concluded with a three-way match in the final, in which Ricochet defeated Johnny Gargano and Roderick Strong. Various non-tournament matches took place at the event.
On the first night, The World's Cutest Tag Team (Candice LeRae and Joey Ryan) retained the World Tag Team Championship against The Inner City Machine Guns (Rich Swann and Ricochet) and Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian in a three-way match while Men of Low Moral Fiber (Kenny Omega and Chuck Taylor) and Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Mount Rushmore (Adam Cole and The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)).
On the second night, reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) defeated Biff Busick and Drew Gulak and The Young Bucks defeated Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian.
On the third night, the Mount Rushmore defeated ACH, Brian Myers and Chris Sabin and a six-man tag team match took place in which Chris Hero, Chuck Taylor, Joey Ryan, Rich Swann and Willie Mack defeated Biff Busick, Brian Myers, Cedric Alexander, Drew Gulak and Tommaso Ciampa in a ten-man tag team match.
Background.
PWG announced the 2014 edition of the Battle of Los Angeles as a twenty-four man tournament, making it the first time since the 2007 edition that twenty-four competitors were added into the tournament. A. R. Fox and Trent? were originally announced for the tournament, but on August 6, PWG announced that they would have to pull out due to injuries. They were replaced by Bobby Fish and Candice LeRae, respectively. This made LeRae, the first female participant in the Battle of Los Angeles. On the first day of the tournament, it was announced T. J. Perkins would be replacing an injured Brian Cage.
Event.
Night One.
The 2014 Battle of Los Angeles tournament kicked off with a match between Bobby Fish and T.J. Perkins. Perkins countered a "Flying Fish Hook" by Fish into a bridge and pinned him for the win.
Next, Roderick Strong took on Biff Busick. Strong delivered an "End of Heartache" to Busick for the win.
Next, Trevor Lee took on Cedric Alexander. Lee caught a running Alexander and delivered an "Orange Crush" to Alexander for the win.
Next, The World's Cutest Tag Team (Candice LeRae and Joey Ryan) defended the World Tag Team Championship against The Inner City Machine Guns (Rich Swann and Ricochet) and Bad Influence (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) in a three-way match. LeRae delivered a reverse hurricanrana to Swann to win the match and retain the titles.
The first round of the Battle of Los Angeles continued as Michael Elgin took on Tommaso Ciampa. Elgin hit a back fist and a lariat to Ciampa for the win.
Next, AJ Styles took on Brian Myers. Styles made Myers submit to the Boston crab and delivered some "Styles Clashes" to Myers.
Next, the World Champion Kyle O'Reilly took on Drew Gulak. O'Reilly hit a brainbuster and followed it by applying an "Arm-Ageddon" to Gulak for the win.
It was followed by the main event, a six-man tag team match in which Men of Low Moral Fiber (Chuck Taylor and Kenny Omega) and Zack Sabre Jr. took on Mount Rushmore (Adam Cole and The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)). Omega initially had the match won when he delivered a "Croyt's Wrath" to Cole and covered him for the pinfall but Nick Jackson pulled the referee Rick Knox out to prevent him from counting the pinfall. Sabre attempted a suicide dive on Nick but Nick pulled Knox in front and Knox was accidentally hit with the suicide dive, getting knocked out in the process. Bucks delivered an "Early-Onset Alzheimer's" to Omega and Cole followed it by delivering a "Panama Sunrise" to Omega. Cole covered Omega for the pinfall. Patrick Hernandez stepped in Knox's place and tried to count the pinfall but Trent Beretta returned from the injury and pulled Hernandez out of the ring. Nick accidentally hit a superkick to Hernandez. Trent hit Cole and the Bucks with chairs. Sabre hit a football kick to Cole and Omega followed it with a "Croyt's Wrath" and Taylor delivered an "Awful Waffle" to Cole and pinned him. Trent counted the pinfall for the win.
Night Two.
The first round of the Battle of Los Angeles continued on the second night as Candice LeRae took on Rich Swann, thus making LeRae, the first female participant in the Battle of Los Angeles. LeRae tried to deliver a "Moustache Ride" to Swann but Swann countered and dropped her onto the mat. He followed it by attempting a "Five Star Swann Splash" but LeRae blocked it with her knees and pinned Swann with a small package for the win.
Next, Chuck Taylor took on Johnny Gargano. Gargano made Taylor submit to the "Garga-No-Escape" for the win.
Next, Chris Sabin took on Ricochet. Ricochet delivered a 630° senton to Sabin for the win.
Next, reDRagon (Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish) took on Biff Busick and Drew Gulak. reDRagon delivered a "Chasing The Dragon" (a roundhouse kick by Fish and a brainbuster by O'Reilly combination) to Gulak for the win.
The Battle of Los Angeles tournament continued as Chris Hero took on Matt Sydal. Sydal delivered a DDT to Hero and followed it by delivering a "Shooting Sydal Press" for the win.
Next, Adam Cole took on Zack Sabre Jr. Sabre pinned Cole with a bridge for the win.
Next, Kenny Omega took on ACH. Omega delivered a "Croyt's Wrath" to ACH for the win.
It was followed by the main event, in which Bad Influence took on The Young Bucks. Bucks delivered a "Meltzer Driver" (springboard somersault senton and a kneeling reverse piledriver combination) to Kazarian for the win.
Night Three.
The quarterfinal round of the Battle of Los Angeles began with a match between Candice LeRae and Johnny Gargano. Gargano delivered a "Hurts Donut" to LeRae for the win.
Next, T.J. Perkins took on Ricochet. Ricochet delivered a "Benadryller" to Perkins for the win.
Next, Michael Elgin took on Trevor Lee. Lee countered an "Elgin Bomb" attempt by Elgin into a reverse hurricanrana and pinned Elgin with a small package for the win.
Next, Kenny Omega took on Matt Sydal. Omega avoided a "Shooting Sydal Press" by Sydal and delivered a double underhook powerbomb to Sydal for the win.
Next, AJ Styles took on Roderick Strong. The referee Justin Borden got knocked out during the match, allowing Strong to get steel chairs and hit Styles with them. Styles got the chairs and hit Strong with the chairs and the referee recovered to see Styles hitting Strong with the chair, thus disqualifying him.
Next, Kyle O'Reilly took on Zack Sabre Jr. O'Reilly made Sabre submit to the triangle choke for the win. Roderick Strong attacked O'Reilly and Sabre after the match. He attacked Rick Knox and Excalibur with chairs after the two tried to prevent him from using the chairs. He injured O'Reilly by delivering an "End of Heartache" to O'Reilly onto the chairs and applied a "Stronghold" on O'Reilly. Bobby Fish made the save forcing Strong to retreat. The assault by Strong forced O'Reilly to miss the semifinal match against Strong and Strong directly advanced to the final round.
Next, ACH, Brian Myers and Chris Sabin took on Mount Rushmore. Adam Cole delivered a "Panama Sunrise" to ACH and Young Bucks followed by hitting a "More Bang For Your Buck" (a rolling fireman's carry slam followed by a moonsault and a 450° splash combination) to ACH for the win.
The semifinal round began with a match between Johnny Gargano and Trevor Lee. Gargano made Lee submit to the "Garga-No-Escape" for the win.
Next, Kenny Omega took on Ricochet. Ricochet delivered a "Benadryller" to Omega for the win.
It was followed by a ten-man tag team match, in which Chris Hero, Willie Mack, Joey Ryan, Rich Swann and Chuck Taylor took on Biff Busick, Drew Gulak, Cedric Alexander, Bobby Fish and Tommaso Ciampa. It was Mack's farewell match in PWG. Trent Beretta interfered in the match by attacking Ciampa and putting a grenade in Fish's underpants which exploded. Swann took advantage and delivered a "Five Star Swann Splash" to Fish for the win.
The final was a three-way match, in which Roderick Strong took on Johnny Gargano and Ricochet. Ricochet delivered a "Benadryller" to Gargano to win the 2014 Battle of Los Angeles tournament. Strong attacked Ricochet after the match by hitting him with an "End of Heartache" and broke the Battle of Los Angeles trophy.
Reception.
Jake St. Pierre gave overwhelmingly positive reviews to the 2014 Battle of Los Angeles, directing praise towards night two and night three while criticizing night one. He rated it 5.5, considering it "a pretty skippable show from a promotion who's made it a mission to not put skippable shows on." He said that the show was "filled with a lot of house show-esque efforts and a general lack of excitement". He criticized the match between AJ Styles and Brian Myers, stating it "useless" but appreciated the six-man tag team match in the main event, calling it "tremendous and" "pretty much worth the price of admission along with the Tag Title match".
He rated the night two 8.0 calling it "a show worthy of" PWG's catalogue. According to him, "There weren't any MOTYC's here, but everyone worked hard and provided PWG with a terrific variety of wrestling that no other promotions can give." He praised the match between ACH and Kenny Omega, considering it a "must-see for this show".
He rated the night three 8.5. He praised the overall event as "an immensely entertaining tournament with a barrage of premium indy wrestling, comedy, and storytelling". He criticized the length of night three as a very long event where "the fans had to sit through 170 minutes of in-ring wrestling in a burning-up building". There were "fantastic matches all down the card" but specific criticism was directed at the match between AJ Styles and Roderick Strong.
Aftermath.
Roderick Strong's assault on Kyle O'Reilly led to a match between the two for the PWG World Championship at "Untitled II", where O'Reilly retained. However, Strong attacked O'Reilly and the referee Rick Knox after the match. The 2014 Battle of Los Angeles winner Ricochet received his title shot for the World Championship against Kyle O'Reilly at "Black Cole Sun", but failed to win. Strong suddenly showed up after the match and attacked O'Reilly and forced him to give him an immediate World Championship title shot. O'Reilly accepted it as a Guerrilla Warfare match, which Strong won.
References.
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