Battle of Los Angeles 2009 Night 1 DVD Review

It only took three months for these DVDs to come out, so they had better be worth the wait.
Pro Wrestling Guerilla climaxed its 2009 with the annual Battle of Los Angeles tournament. This year contained a twist. Bryan Danielson gave up the PWG World Title immediately after defeating Chris Hero due to his impending departure from the indies to World Wrestling Entertainment. After over two months without a champion, this weekend saw the biggest Battle of Los Angeles ever. The only question is…. Can it be the best?
-Taped from Reseda, California
-Your hosts are Exaclibur and a cast of thousands
-Excalibur introduces all 16 competitors in the tournament. Everyone gets a FREE SHIRT! That’s reason enough to want to get booked.  Omega noticeably gets a huge pop. Hmmm.
-The Cutler Brothers (Brandon and Dustin Cutler) vs. Ryan Taylor and Malachi “CK” Jackson
Excalibur is stuck doing the ring announcing since Johnny Ian is a slacker.  Show immediately gets underway hot and heavy with the Cutlers going after Jackson and Taylor. Taylor is making his PWG debut and he looks quite good against Brandon. Double team by the faces. Malachi’s tights make him look less like a geek. Aggressive clotheslines by Jackson. Right hand by Brandon and Dustin blind tags himself in. Clothesline try by Taylor but the Cutlers take control quickly. Taylor quickly comes back, but Dustin hits a low blow and neck breaker. More double team. Swear to God. Good SoCal wrestlers are just falling out of the sky. Pace slows down a bit. Forearm exchange as Taylor gets a roaring forearm before making the hot tag. Jackson with a nice armdrag on Dustin. Suicide dive. Comes back in and hits a diving hurancanrana on Brandon. Dustin Cutler with a flatliner out of mid-air. HARD kick by Taylor. Taylor fights both Cutlers off and hits a diving elbow. Jackson back in with a stunner. Cutlers get back into it. LUNGBLOWER OFF THE TOP ROPE BY TAYLOR! SHOOTING STAR PRESS BY JACKSON ONLY GETS TWO! Big right by Dustin leaves Jackson on the outside. Big kicks by Taylor. OH NO! SPIKE PILEDRIVER BY THE CUTLERS!
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: The Cutler Brothers/8:43/***1/4
-Remember a few months ago when I said Malachi Jackson was green and not ready? Well, our little Jackson is growing up. I want to see more of Ryan Taylor for certain and the Cutlers get better and better every month. If the Cutlers weren’t on the left coast, they’d be regarded as one of the best teams going.
-2009 Battle of Los Angeles Block A First Round Match: Scott Lost vs. Jerome “LTP Robinson
Rick Knox joins Excalibur on commentary. Big enziguri immediately takes LTP down. Lost with a series of punches. Reverse elbow by LTP and a headscissors. Okana roll, and LTP comes off the ropes for a springboard moonsault. Dropkick and as LTP tries to dive, Lost grabs him by the head and rams him into the apron. Vertical suplex inside the ring. Very well-executed. Lost works over LTP some more and gets a double stomp the chest out of the corner. Sheesh. Partial camel clutch. Excalibur makes reference to the ridiculous amount of time before the PWG DVDs come out on commentary. How perfunctory that turned out to be. Lost chokes LTP in the ropes but misses a charge. Legdrop with Lost stuck between the ropes. Another huge kick by lost but he misses a spinning roundkick. Guillotine and a headscissors leaves Lost on the ropes. Diving DDT but but Lost reverses into more  yet more kicks. BIG FAT KILL! 1-2-3!
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Scott Lost/7:44/**
-Decent enough start to the tournament. Kinda expected to see more  from these two.
-2009 Battle of Los Angeles Block D First Round Match: Human Tornado vs. Matt Jackson
Excalibur messes up his ring announcing duties, and he was hopeful of that being cut off the DVD. It was not. No mercy from Highspots. Crowd passionately behind Tornado here and anti-Jackson. Kenny Omega is on commentary and talks about almost dying the previous year on night two after breaking the ropes. Tornado works the arm to start. Right hand by Matt Jackson. Couple of arm drags by Tornado. Dropkick in the corner on Jackson. Jackson rams Tornado’s face in the bottom turnbuckle and mocks his little dance. The low blow of course doesn’t work since Tornado has balls of steel. PIMP SLAP! Tornado does his own dance and a kick to the groin. Chinlock into a dropkick by Tornado. Sunset flip reversals leads to a dropkick to the head by Tornado. To the top rope, but he takes too long. Matt knocks him to the floor, and Nick beats Tornado for the hell of it. Punches in the corner and Matt even bites the face. Handspring by Matt leads to a… backrake? HEAT!!!! Bodyslam. Legdrop. Unlike Hulk Hogan, he only gets two. Spinning toehold and Matt works the knee and asserts his racism. Rights by Tornado, but Matt firs back. Off the ropes but he gets a flying boot. Dropkick into the corner where a prone Matt Jackson lays. Splash from the top only gets two from Tornado. Suplex into an acecrusher into a Dragon sleeper. Matt misses… something off the rope. Tornado DDT only gets two. Swanton by Tornado, but Matt lifts his knees. Spear. Superkick. German Suplex. Crowd chants for Tornado. Jackson hits an elbow and dives into him. Not sure what that was but it got two. Kick to the shin. Try at a superkick. Pimp slap missed and Matt finally gets the the superkick. Tornado with a messed up TKO. Matt landed right in his hand. Shit. Attempt for the TND  but it only leads to a series of reversals. Nasty move as Matt lands on the apron. Tornado tries a dive, but Nick grabs the leg. Matt goes for a diving dropkick. Jacksons try a double team move, but RICK KNOX CLOTHESLINES NICK JACKSON! TND! 1-2-3!
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Human Tornado/13:12/*3/4
-Not at all a good match. The ending raises it a quarter star just cause Knox clotheslining people is always a good for a laugh and it jives with the storyline that’s been going on for months. The problem is this match was sloppy as hell, and a number of moves went nowhere. There were also a couple scary points too with guys landing awkwardly.
-2009 Battle of Los Angeles Block B First Round Match: Colt “Boom Boom” Cabana vs. Joey Ryan
I have no interest in watching this match. I’ve seen these two wrestle in Ring of Honor and I hated that match with a passion. Speaking of hating with a passion, Austin Aries is in the booth.  He basically admits his match with Kendrick will suck. Thanks a lot for letting us all know Austin. I’ll temper my expectations accordingly. Minimum amount of shenanigans surprisingly as Cabana controls the early part of the match with a lot of wonky wrestling moves. Cabana snaps and hits some clubbing blows. Then he offers a handshake since that was totally out of character. Back and forth they go. Ryan hits a nice dropkick and works the arm. Powerslam by Ryan gets two and he applies a chinlock. Cabana sends Ryan into the corner but he gets thrown off when he tries a monkey flip. Big kick by Ryan and he continues to work on the left shoulder. Pedigree try but Cabana with a right hand and running beckbreaker. Ryan with a blind charge. That misses and Cabana gets a series of elbows. Chops now Back elbow in the corner. Atomic drop and a jackknife pin only gets two. Ryan with a spear. Piledriver but Ryan ends up on the outside. Cabana dive goes awry while a Ryan elbow suicida hits. Back inside and Ryan gets two. Neckbreaker by Cabana and a moonsault. 1-2-NO! Colt 45 try, but Ryan gets a backslide for two. Billy Goat’s Curse reversed. Series of flash pins and reversals. Powerbomb by Ryan gets two. Ryan tries the moustache ride. I say try because Cabana drops Ryan’s body on the top turnbuckle. Flying apple leads to a JOEY RYAN SUPERKICK! HOLY CRAP! 1-2-3!
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Joey Ryan/10:48/**1/2
-This actually managed to exceed my expectations. Not as many shenanigans as I would have expected from these two. They just had a decent to good wrestling match. The one positive about the show so far is the finishes have all been very good. So the show has that going for it at least. Overall, I’d call this first night a disappointment though.
-2009 Battle of Los Angeles Block D First Round Match: Johnny Goodtime vs. Roderick Strong
This should be good. This could be a main event two years down the road. Strong was originally supposed to take on Sabin. Honestly, I’m kind of glad Goodtime took his position because he’s earned it with some great efforts in recent months. Both guys go for pins early. Some basic wrestling to start early on. Chops by Roddy. Poor Goodtime. Goodtime sweeps the leg and hits a double stomp to the head. Dropkick. Exchange of strikes with the hands and feet. Goodtime is thrown three rows deep as he tries to take him outside the ring. Chop delivered on the outside. Backbreaker on a chair. Good God.  Strong throws Goodtime gut first into the apron next. Back inside. Somehow Strong only gets two. More work on the back. Chop time as Goodtime is all tied in the ropes. One more chop sends Goodtime out of the ring. Goodtime actually makes a brief comeback, but Strong quickly drops him on his knees. More clubbin’ by Roddy. Goodtime with a blind charge that misses and he collapses in a nasty way. Back suplex but Goodtime somehow gets some kicks in. Another charge into the corner. Kick from outside to inside. Back elbow. Off the ropes. Strong gets a leg lariat and a series of two counts. Camel clutch but Strong gives up. Strong brings the powerpad in and mocks Goodtime by putting his hand everywhere. Strong tosses the board. Goodtime with some forearms and a dropkick in the corner once again. Clothesline by Strong misses. Series of moves by Goodtime. Only a two count. Blind charge gets a boot to the face for Strong. He recovers into a powerslam. Kick in the corner and a falcon arrow get two for Roddy. Forearm exchange. Loud ones too. Strong starts chopping, but Goodtime gets a high kick. German suplex gets two for Goodtime. Strong tries a stronghold, but Goodtime rolls him up for a long two. Double stomp to the head by Goodtime. 1-2-NO! Goodtime tries a suplex but they battle on the apron. Enziguri by Strong. Backbreaker on the ring apron. 1-2-NO! Strong toys with Goodtime and had a half nelson backbreaker countered. Goodtime tries a headstand. He gets a kick to the face for his troubles. BACKBREAKER! STRONGHOLD! Goodtime taps.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Roderick Strong/16:54/***1/2
-Best match of the first round thus far. Goodtime took quite the beating here, and I think he earned the fan’s respect by hanging tough with Roddy for fifteen minutes. This actually reminded me of the match Strong had with Evans down in Full Impact Pro a few years ago where Strong tortured Evans for over 20 minutes. I liked this match almost as much, and I’m glad Goodtime received this opportunity, despite the unfortunate circumstances.
-2009 Battle of Los Angeles Block C First Round Match: Brandon Gatson vs. Nick Jackson
SUPERKICK TO START THE MATCH! Nick almost sets a record with that kick right in the face. Matt Jackson chokes Gatson in the corner as Nick continues to work over Gatson. Flying kick gets Gatson back in the match. He tries a handspring elbow, but Nick Jackson flees the ring. Chops by Gatson. They pale in comparison by Strong. Back and forth for a bit as this match is running at a torrid pace.  Front face kick by Nick and a facebuster. Nick in control and Matt once again chokes Gatson out with a balloon he received before the match. That’s not nice. Nick hits Gatson with the balloon. Gatson with more chops but he eat a back body drop. Matt continues cheating on behalf of his brother. Those dastardly Young Bucks. I never thought these two could play great heels, but they really have become two of the best in PWG. Matt pulls the leg of Gatson out. Nick tries another facebuster, but an atomic drop turns the tide. Handspring elbow misses, but a Nick Jackson knee doesn’t Gatson with a powerbomb. Matt goes on the apron for… a tag? In comes Matt and he gets crotched on the middle rope. Rights by Gatson but Nick gets a low blow. DDT gets two for Gatson. Jackson with chops in the corner and then he gets a gustbuster. Springboard dropkick. Running knee and a neckbreaker. Gatson is in trouble. Frog splash by Nick only gets two. Gatson tosses Jackson in the corner and hits a handspring elbow at last. He tosses Nick into his brother. Ridiculous Sasuke special on Matt as Nick heads back into the ring. Gatson elbows Nick and drives him into the apron. Over the top acecrusher. Matt puts Nick’s foot on the apron. Hard elbow and a kick by Nick. Another kick. Superkick. 450 but Gatson gets knees up. Into the backbreaker position but Gatson drives him face first. 1-2-3!
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Brandon Gatson/12:15/***
-This match almost makes me think Nick is the better singles wrestler. Despite Gatson not being all that experienced in PWG, Nick had a better match than his brother did. There was still a bit of sloppiness, but it was nowhere near as prevalent. Gatson continues to impress me with his crazy flips and moves. Not sure about that finisher though. That could use a bit of work.
-2009 Battle of Los Angeles Block B First Round Match: Austin Aries vs. Brian Kendrick
After a year of giving me dream matches and awesomeness, PWG decided to put two of my least favorite wrestlers going right now. Aries wants the microphone before the match to make it perfectly clear that both he and Kendrick don’t care about the fans. Wonderful attitude he’s got there. He says something else which the crowd boos, but I can’t decipher. Aries teases making this a Ring of Honor world title match but again says the crowd has no respect. Crowd chants PWG.  Rightfully so. Kendrick wants to know what the hostility is all about and says the match should be stopped so they can go smoke pot in the back. Considering neither man has made it clear they don’t want to wrestle, I’m just thrilled about this contest. Rick Knox tries to throw the mic back to Excalibur but falls woefully short. I’d call that the highlight of the match, but it came before the bell rang. First they stall. They engage in a boring headlock contest and pull hair. Aries controls the early part of the match in a half-assed way. Kedrick kicks and runs away. More stalling. Pace picks up a bit, but this is one of the most half-assed efforts I’ve seen from two guys in PWG all year. Crowd starts chanting “This is boring” and I don’t blame them one bit. All we need is a twinkie chant. Crowd completely has turned on this match. Do they take a hint and go home? Pah. Indy wrestlers have stories to tell. Kendrick and Aries both miss knee drops from the top. I can’t believe what a farce this is. Double clothesline exchange. Pendulum elbow misses. Announcers even start ignoring this garbage. Aries tries a dropkick into the corner, but Kendrick hits a flying boot. Crowd is so thrilled by Aries’ actions, they hiss at him. That’s a first one. Finally the dropkick is hit in the corner. Low blow by Kendrick. Low blow by Aries. Blatant cheating. Aries shoves Kendrick to the outside and hits the heat seeking missile for no good reason. Kendrick sells the knee and can’t get up. Aries does jumping jacks and sells his own knee. Are you fucking kidding me? Aries hits Kendrick with the world title. No wait. Kendrick hits Aries with brass knuckles. 1-2-3. Thank Christ.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Brian Kendrick/14:32/*
-These two treated this tournament and match like a joke. If these two are going to not give shit, then I have no earthly desire to watch this bullshit. I’m so tired of Aries’ act by this point. It’s one of the reasons I’ve completely stopped watching Ring of Honor. As far as Kendrick goes, it’s what I’ve come to expect. He’s had exactly one good effort against Bryan Danielson, and that’s about it. He was lazy in the six man tag a week later when he lost to CIMA. He’s had two barely mediocre performances when I’ve seen him live at DG USA, and he seems to wander through his matches. I expect this kind of bullshit (particularly the finish) out of Ring of Honor but not PWG. Please let this be the last time I see either of these two men in PWG.
-2009 Battle of Los Angeles Block A First Round Match: Kenny Omega vs. “Mr. Wrestling” Kevin Steen
Never been so happy to see either one of these guys after that joke of an effort I just witnessed. Steen tells a member of the crowd to choke on their own dick and die. Crowd with an appropriate follow-up chant. Steen cuts a fairly funny promo and announces both he and Omega are from Canada. They high five. Steen criticizes Omega for calling himself a man of low moral fiber because it is he who is a man of low moral fiber. Then they try to each other’s efforts to be men of low moral fiber. Steen’s story about Chris Bosh must be heard. I’m not going to spoil it. Their promo war is immediately better than anything on the show up to this point. Code of Honor is followed as the crowd once again chants PWG. Steen slaps the shit out of Omega. Omega with a boot and side headlock. Steen pulls the hair. Joey Ryan, on commentary for this match, doesn’t sound happy about what happened earlier with Aries and Kendrick. Steen clothesline and a chop. Standing senton and another chop. Punch to the back. Omega dropkicks the left knee and hits another dropkick. Try for a bodyslam but Steen is too hefty. Omega goes for the slam again, but Steen simply falls on top. Chop and an attempted back suplex. Omega with a boot and blue shadow facebuster. Steen fires back with strikes. Leaping kick by Omega and a forearm with Steen on the apron. Omega gets caught on the second rope of the outside and is then promptly powerbombed by Steen on to the ring apron. The two men brawl on the outside. Back inside and Steen works the back. Twisting legdrop, an old favorite, gets a good pop. Strike exchange. Omega wants Steen to stop, but he gets bitten instead. Backbreaker and Ryan uses the word vintage. Michael Cole ruined that word a long time ago. Omega tries to punch Steen in the belly, but that fails. Superkick by Steen. Heel kick by Omega. Dragon suplex. Omega finally gets the bodyslam and a reverse elbow . Dropkick off the top rope. Omega gets caught in the ropes. Steen DDTs him. Cannonball senton in the corner. Ole. Package piledriver try but Omega won’t go up. Omega again tries to get Steen to stop, but Steen bites the arm. Omega bites the nose. Enziguri and Uranagi gets two. Blind charge but Omega rolls through. Steen powerbombs Omega and applies a necekbreaker on his knee. 1-2-NO! Steen goes for his senton, but Omega lifts his knees. Chops to the midsection (not calling it by that other name) get two. Package piledriver by Steen. 1-2-NO! OMEGA REVERSES INTO A ROLL-UP FOR THE THREE COUNT!
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Kenny Omega/13:43/***1/4
-This was perfectly acceptable wrestling. Good stuff between these two. I’m still disappointed by what I’ve seen thus far, especially when you compare this PWG card to most of the others that have taken place in 2009.
-2009 Battle of Los Angeles Block C First Round Match: El Generico vs. Alex Shelley
These two met many a year ago in PWG. They also met in a tag team match at Death Before Dishonor VI in a tag team match. Basic start between these two as they each use various holds. Pace picks up but they end up in a stand still. Sort of. Excalibur continues plugging “Community,” a show that airs on NBC. One of the stars of the show is in the front row, hence the whoring of the show.  Shoulder tackle by Shelley and a snot rocket. Generico reciprocates. Forearm exchange before Shelley knees Generico. Generico sends Shelley to the outside and dives on top of him. Generico punches Shelley in the corner but he gets hit with an atomic drop. Shelley comes off but gets hit with a leg lariat. Chop by Generico but Shelley pulls him down by the leg. Uppercut sends Shelley to the apron. Shelley comes back with a dragon screw leg whip on the ropes. With Generico still prone in the ropes, Shelley kneedrops Generico. Shelley works the knee with a series of moves. Figure four leglock. Strike exchange but Shelley kicks Generico in the knee. Generico with more forearms. Elbow by Shelley but he puts his head down and gets kicked. Generico hooks the arm and gets a swinging DDT, thus completely ignoring all the previous five minutes of leg work. Yakuza kick blocked. Enziguri by Shelley but he eats a Michinoku driver. Half and half suplex attempt  countered. Series of counters until Shelley gets a standing sliced break #2. Frog splash. 1-2-NO! Shelley to the top rope but Generico meets him up there. Punches in the corner but Shelley works his way into a lungblower. Air raid crash gets two. Generico with an exploder in the corner. Shelley with an inside outside lariat. Both men are down. Generico with a pair of half and half suplexes for two. Superkick by Shelley. Generico responds with a slap. Shelley with two superkicks. Kick to the spine. One more superkick. 1-2-NO! Air raid crash. 1-2-NOOO! Shelley places Generico on the top rope. They battle but Shelley manages to get Sliced Bread #2 from the top. 1-2-3!
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Alex Shelley/16:44/***1/2
-A nice way to end the show. Would be nice if the leg work had gone anywhere but the ending flurry was quite good. This wasn’t enough to save the show, but it was at least a solid way to end these proceedings for night. And despite the fact that he works for TNA, it’s nice to see Shelley putting forth an effort and giving the fans what they paid for.
Final Thoughts: A disappointing night of wrestling from PWG. I’m as shocked as anyone about this. There were a few good matches, so the show is not a complete wash.  Still, if you’re looking to buy only one night of the tournament, I feel pretty safe in saying this is not the night to buy. The positive is we’ve got a tag team title match on night two and a brand new PWG world champion as well.