PWG is coming off of a memorable year filled with great moments,electric crowds, the closing of their old home and an arrival at a much cooler looking venue. They have seen former champions leave after being scooped up into a signing barrage of one Hunter Hearst Helmsley and have seen the newest hottest young talent pick up the pieces in spectacular form to keep the promotion just as must see as it ever was. Every year it seems like PWG chooses to showcase their newest and brightest talents at the beginning of the year, giving us a preview of the future and this year is now different. This January card is stacked with three debuts, a return and two HUGE title matches. It feels good to be back, now lets break this down!!
1. Jungle Boy vs. Brody King
How fitting that the first match of the year in PWG would be between two rising, up and coming Californian wrestlers who are not afraid to get wild.
Brody King is coming off an incredible 2018 that saw him become a independent standout all over the world. He became the AAW World Heavyweight Champion by defeating ACH on the last day of August and has been taking the wrestling scene by storm. He has been seen on television through his affiliation with MLW putting on great matches against guys like PCO, Tommy Dreamer and Jimmy Havoc. He also has been holding it down all over the west coast defeating Hardcore Holly when Joey Janela brought his boys from GCW to the sunshine state. He also has found success in Bar Wrestling in Los Angeles with his partner, Tyler Bateman, in the team Violence Unlimited and some singles success against the likes of Ethan Page and AR Fox. Brody has also had the chance to wrestle for British super indy promotion Progress Wrestling on their U.S tour and for the popular Canadian promotion SMASH Wrestling. King is a hot commodity right now, HOSS wrestling is huge right now and king is at the forefront of that with not only his incredible striking and power but also his amazing agility. Now, with a contract signed and sealed with Ring of Honor going into 2019, King is looking to do some big things in the coming year.
GCW has been by far the most fun to watch promotion in 2018. I can recall many times throughout the year when I was scrolling on my Instagram timeline and see had to double take on the promotion’s match announcements for upcoming events. We have seen names like Minoru Suzuki, Dan Severn, Mike Quackenbush, James Ellsworth, The Great Sasuke, Sabu, Jinsei Shinzaki and many other nostalgic talents find themselves showing off their experience against interesting opponents. However, having such a outlandish promotion allows you to try your hand at promoting new never before seen talent on a big level. With the promotion getting so many eyes on its product through their fun and intriguing cards, you can showcase a ton of fresh faces to fans who otherwise would not have come across them. The promotion’s power showed through the explosion of Marko Stunt in the summer. After a fun match at their New York event, Marko found himself booked for both All In and the Battle Of Los Angeles within a month. We also saw the power of GCW through the rise of PCO in 2018 as well.
Now at GCW’s trek to LA in November saw another fresh young talent get their shot in the spotlight and left a whole lot of people impressed and awaiting the next steps in his career. Jungle Boy is easily recongnizable by his wild and crazy hair on his head, the dude is also a crazy and fearless athlete that is willing to put his body on the line at any point to entertain the masses. His match against Tony Deppen showed off his skill and wild nature in an entertaining performance. Now that Jungle Boy has gotten the rub from Janela’s madhouse, he gets his first big booking in the form of a opportunity to showoff infront of a rabid PWG crowd.
Now for the match itself this is an interesting styles clash between two of California’s young stars on the upswing of their career. This is gonna be a fun opener to kick off the year with two guys looking to set the crowd ablaze. Brody’s agility allows him to work very well against smaller opponents. I expect Jungle Boy to get tossed around and eating some nasty looking shots from the much bigger King. But, I also expect Jungle Boy to have a star making performance and the PWG crowd to fall in love with the young man’s wild nature and willingness to put his body on the line. This match booking wise is also very tough to call booking wise. We might be seeing less of Brody King due to his contract with ROH, I am not sure how that is gonna effect him being booked in the future. But also, I feel like if he is gonna be sticking around he should go over against the newcomer. Jungle Boy is gonna play the wonderful underdog against the inked up monster but is gonna be overwhelmed from the sheer mass and raw power of the more experienced Brody King. In that same vein, I expect a really fun match
Winner: Brody King
2. Puma King vs. DJ Z
The next match on the card features two newcomers to the promotion. Both who had standout debuts at the Battle of Los Angeles and are looking to get settled into their spot.
One thing I admire about DJ Z is his staying power. The dude has been counted out so many times in his career whether it was his at times cringey gimmicks or being lost on the undercard of the down days of Impact, the air horn brandishing disc jockey has seen his fair share of adversity. His health has also been a problem for him throughout the years. Whether it was rupturing his colon after a 450 splash in Mexico in 2017 or this when he ruptured four disks in his neck a week after winning the AAW Heritage Title. Despite all of this he seems to be having a bit of resurgence on the independents as of late. He is consistently being booked all over the Midwest for companies like AAW in Chicago and AIW in Cleveland. He also has been seen a ton on EVOLVE this year and he has slowly become a talent that they are looking to use more in the future as they rebuild their roster after the thrashing it took in 2018. DJ Z has also been served some pretty big plates this year as he has been in the ring with Japanese wrestling legend The Great Sasuke and WWE Cruiserweight standout Mustafa Ali. He is also now being booked on a semi regular basis for the AAA promotion in Mexico. I hope for big things for DJ Z in 2019 and he is set to solidify his spot in PWG with a win against a fellow newcomer.
What I have loved about this year in particular is the fact that we have had a lot of surprisingly awesome acts come from practically straight out of nowhere and blow their opportunities right out of the water. Marko Stunt and PCO in GCW, Teddy Hart and Brian Pillman, Jr. in MLW, Robbie Eagles and Bandido in PWG are the ones that come to my head. There is just so much good talent these days that when these guys are presented with a chance to showcase themselves they take full advantage and Puma King is no different. Early in 2018 we were seeing more and more of Puma King in the states. A match I liked especially was his match against Flip Gordon in Beyond Wrestling in April. However, what really set the world on fire seemed to be his BOLA performance against Flamita where he lost in the first round. His natural charisma and charm make him one to watch in the ring as well as being very agile for a bigger highflier. Since the match with Flamita and being apart of an awesome triple threat match which featured Flamita as well as Rey Horus, Puma King’s name has been ringing off as one of the new exciting luchadores on the scene and I expect to see more of him as we head in 2019.
This is going to be a fun high flying match featuring two guys looking to prove themselves to the PWG crowd as the future of the roster. Puma King’s personality is bright and entertaining which should make for some fun interactions against DJ Z who is one of the more consistant hands on the indpendents right now. These guys are hungry and with so much talent being snatched up as the year ends, there are open spots for anyone with the skill to take them. I expect DJ Z to impress, however I think PWG should go with the super over feline luchador. With the current state of the indies you need to build up guys quicker and feed the fans what they want and its obvious that Puma King is what the PWG faithful want.
Winner: Puma King
3. Jonathan Gresham vs. Robbie Eagles
As I said in my introduction, PWG loves to introduce new talents at the first show of the year and this year is no different. The second debut of the year goes to a guy who the fans have brought up for a long time was due for a match in the promotion. But, he faces a guy who you can argue was the 2018 MVP of PWG. So this match should be a goodie.
Jonathan Gresham was always on the brink of something big. He is a superb technical wrestler along who is very experienced for his age and has been all over the world refining his craft. It just seemed like Gresham needed a break and 2018 was the year he got it. After being booked on and off for ROH in 2017, they finally decided to give Gresham the nod and he has become of the shining lights of the roster. His matches with Jay Lethal were really good this year along with them being a team at some points. Throughout the year we even saw ROH lean on Gresham more as a solid hand in the company and he has had some of the biggest opportunities he has had in his career because of it. He has been in the ring with some pretty big names like Cody, Bully Ray and The Young Bucks and has also received a Ring of Honor World Championship Match against Lethal. Despite this Gresham has still been traveling all over the world and been super impressive everywhere has been. With Kid Lykos of the CCK being plagued with injuries we have seen Gresham more and more in Europe than ever before as he is the third member of the group. Gresham and partner Chris Brookes have been tearing it up in Progress this year, even recently maineventing against L.A.X in London. They also were a huge success on the U.S tour for Progress so I expect to see him getting a bigger role over there as time goes on. “The Octopus” has also been a stalwart of Beyond Wrestling, as we have seen him hold the Powerbomb TV Independent Wrestling Championship and has defended it mostly in the New England promotion. Plus after a fantastic showing against Zack Sabre,Jr. at Final Battle, he looks to have an even better year ahead of him. Gresham makes the most of his opportunities and I expect his debut to be no different.
I did not know who Robbie Eagles was before this year. When I first saw him, he reminded me of a create a wrestler come to life. With his bandanas and his insane moveset Eagles began to grow on me and it seems with each performance in PWG he seems to get better and better. His match with Bandido at “Bask In His Glory” was one of the craziest of the year and filled with insane spot after insane spot. Robbie has no fear and will put his body through just about anything to get the fans on their feet. The “Sniper of The Skies” even impressed New Japan officials in Feburary with great performances against L.I.J, Cody & Will Ospreay. Finally it was his surprise banger with Shingo Takagi on night 3 of BOLA that only solidified his status as Australia’s top high flyer. From there he joined the BCOGs in there version of the Bullet Club and impressed some more with his partner Taiji Ishimori in the 2018 Super Junior Tag League. Eagles seems like someone that can be classified as “next up” among the guys on the scene today. The more exposure he gets the more popular he can become. His selling is some of the best on the independents and he is a guy that the fans can really get behind. Going into 2019 I expect to see Eagles everywhere as more and more of the independent top stars and most importantly, high fliers, get plucked to join the triumvirate of H’s Performance Center for gifted youngsters.
This match is interesting from so many vantage points. This is the first time we are seeing Eagles facing off against someone with such a mat based, technical style that Jonathan Gresham has perfected. Its going to be interesting if he can keep up with “The Octopus” on the canvas. On the flip side Gresham is being trusted into a big spot, which adds a ton of pressure to his debut. He has been put in a position to face a guy people can say was in the running for PWG’s MVP in 2018. Will he be able to ground Eagles, who is known for his wild, high risk offense. Fans have been wanting Jonathan Gresham to show up for a very long time and now he is finally going to get the opportunity to prove why. These are two guys who have knocked every opportunity they have been given right outta the park. Now on one of the biggest stages in independent wrestling, I expect them to have one hell of a banger in January. This one is really tough to call for me. On one hand Gresham finally debuting and getting a win seems like the right call, but I think Eagles can be one of the main vocal points on this roster. With so many changes and signings happening and on the horizon, you need to build up guys as soon as possible. Robbie has won the crowd over with a ton of impressive performances, however, he only has one win under his belt in the promotion. I think Gresham doesnt need a win to get over, he needs to have an awesome performance and with an opponent like Eagles I expect him to do just that.
Winner: Robbie Eagles
4. L.A.X (Ortiz & Santana) vs. Laredo Kid & Rey Horus
In professional wrestling an opportunity can fall on someones lap in an instant. PWG tends to make up for a loss of a talent on a card with a surprise debut. When Chris Brookes couldn’t be in the last Battle Of Los Angeles it was Marko Stunt that stepped up to the plate and had a very memorable debut. The year before that it was Joey Janela stepping in for an injured T.K Cooper and had one of the best matches of the whole tournament against Sammy Guevara. Now with Flamita unable to compete, PWG calls upon Laredo Kid to make his debut in California against one of the best tag teams in the world.
The one major thing I loved about independent wrestling in general is the willingness for a lot of promotions to showcase some of the best in lucha libre. Since Lucha Underground made such a HUGE splash upon its debut, lucha libre has been going through a big time renaissance period in the United States which have caused for them to be booked all over the world. With guys like Penta EL 0M, Rey Fenix and a recently resigned Rey Mysterio at the forefront, lucha has been more relevant then it has ever been. These Mexican acrobats are being booked all over the world and with good reason. It seems like this years standouts have taken the mantle and have carved out a great niche for themselves on the independent scene. Bandido has seemingly captured the hearts of many fans this year with impressive performances becoming a norm for him in 2018. Flamita has been one of the most booked luchadores we have seen this year as he seems to pop up everywhere, even recently having a match against PAC. However there seems to be a tier beneath the guys I just mentioned, who are just as athletic and entertaining but are still awaiting the time in the sun that their peers are receiving. Rey Horus and Laredo Kid are in that tier and they are both salivating for the match that puts them front and center into the spotlight that these talented high fliers truly deserve.
To say I have seen a lot of Laredo Kid would be a lie. His name is familiar to me however as I have seen him being booked a lot across the Midwest for AAW in Chicago and AIW in Cleveland. He is also a member of the AAA roster and holds the AAA World Trios Championship with El Hijo Del Vikingo and Mysteziz, Jr. However after some Youtube research however I am very excited to see what he brings to the table. The dude is super talented and pulls off spectacular acrobatic offense with ease. I am very familiar with his partner however, Rey Horus. This year Horus has been all over the United States competing on some great cards and always is very visible on the scene. You can see him on television every once and while with a recurring role as Dragon Azteca, Jr. in Lucha Underground. He has made some appearances on MLW, competing for their tag titles against the Lucha Bros. Horus also landed some PROGRESS bookings on their United States shows. His home promotion seems to be PWG with the promotion putting him on every show except for two in 2018. Horus is a great talent that is hunting for that one performance that can send him into the upper echelon of luchadores that Fenix, Penta and now Bandido have inhabited. In the sea of awesome luchadores Horus seems to be the one getting lost in the shuffle amongst the others. He is super talented, super athletic and hungry. I expect for his time in the sun to come much sooner rather than later.
2018 was the year of L.A.X. They have become the breakout tag team of the year and have been putting on show stealer after show stealer everywhere they have been. Santana and Ortiz going into 2019 might be the best team in the United States. Their work in Impact has been really good, tearing down the house with Homicide and Hernandez at Slammiversary and being the pillars of the division, consistently putting on great matches with everybody they get in the ring with. That’s what makes them so intriguing, they seemingly can work against any style and put on fantastic matches. They can fly with the Lucha Brothers & The Rascalz, they can go blow for blow with Ringkampf, they can brawl with Eddie Kingston and Homicide, have entertaining matches with women like LuFisto and Mia Yim and even can turn on the comedy with Santana’s hilarious facial expressions and Ortiz’s comedic timing. These guys have been able to work with and against almost anyone which makes them super easy to put on a match card which has promoters lining up to get them on their shows. This year LAX has traveled to Germany for a tour with WXW and had an awesome series of matches with PROGRESS against the CCK which resulted in a great losing performance against Aussie Open for the tag titles. They are also one of the cornerstones of the Beyond Wrestling promotion, which has seen them take on all kinds of challengers. All of this finally led them to making their long awaited debuts in PWG at the companies last show of the year where they competed against The Rascalz for the World Tag Team Championships. Everything seems to be looking up for the Latin American Xchange and it only seems to be more good things awaiting them in 2019.
I expect all four guys to be on their A game and put on a spectacular match for all of the fans in attendance. L.A.X’s skill of adjusting to every team they face should be on full effect here with them blending their own distinct style with lucha libre against their masked foes. Laredo Kid and Horus are looking to start their year off with a huge statement. For Laredo Kid, its about solidifying his spot on the all star roster that PWG brings in on a monthly basis and for Horus its about finally getting the recognition I feel like he deserves. A win over one of the best teams in the world will do just that for them. But, I don’t see L.A.X losing twice in a row on the big PWG stage. I see Ortiz and Santana being major players in the tag division as long as they are held down by contract restrictions. On top of that their experience as a team completely dwarfs their opposition. I expect L.A.X to pick up their first win in PWG in a banger.
Winners: L.A.X (Ortiz & Santana)
5. Flip Gordon vs. Bandido
Two guys with substantial arguments for being the breakout independent stars of 2018 finally meet in a first time ever match that is sure to leave jaws on the floor of The Globe Theatre. One making his anticipated return and the other on the hunt for a title shot after exploding with nothing but spectacular performances all of this year.
Flip Gordon has taken what was a great foundation in 2017 and only built on it in 2018. After seemingly being hand picked as the Being The Elite’s crew high flying protege, Gordon has been able to transition his popularity on the show into more bookings and more exposure in the process. The Cody & Young Bucks can only cosign someone so much, before their in ring skill comes into question and this year Flip has proved that he has the potential to be on the level of those guys in the near future. Ring Of Honor has turned Gordon into one of its premiere talents heading forward and he seems to be in line for substantial role going into the new year for the company. Despite being heavily booked by ROH all year, Gordon has had some really cool opportunities to work all over the place. He won the “Sea of Honor Tournament” on the Jericho Cruise, was one of the shining lights of this years Best Of The Super Juniors, made it to the finals of the King of Indies 2018, and has been consistently booked internationally in Europe and Mexico. Gordon’s high point this year was finally getting on All In by winning the battle royal earlier in the night and received a ROH title shot in the same night. Flip also has stood across from some crazy competition as well this year. In 2018 he has stood across the ring from the Golden Lovers, Penta El 0M, Minoru Suzuki, the NWA World Champion, Nick Aldis, Zack Sabre, Jr in his PWG debut, Austin Aries and Will Ospreay. I expect big things for Flip in 2019 with his buddies in BTE seemingly heading for greener pastures and more opportunities opening up on the independents.
Where do I start with Bandido? He is the hottest luchador in the world at this point. The dude has went from being Mexico’s unsigned hidden gem to making a strong case for himself as independent wrestler of the year. Since his impressive debut for PWG in the March, Bandido has went on a tear that has made him a must see wrestler in any promotion he works for. This guy has been putting on classics and show stealers for PWG all year. The match with Taiji Ishimori at All Star Weekend, Robbie Eagles at Bask In His Glory, pretty much all of his run in BOLA which he landed in the finals of and even on his own namesake show, “Smokey & The Bandido,” he had hell of a match against Rey Fenix. On top of the run he has had in PWG this year he was able to transition his success to other companies all over the world. His partnership with Flamita has been very successful, causing the duo to be booked all over the place whether its Dragon Gate, OTT in Ireland, Fight Club Pro and PROGRESS in the UK, and in his home country of Mexico for The Crash and AAA. The duo also captured the PROGRESS World Tag Team Championships and went on to defend them in Wembley Stadium. Bandido was also in the main event for the biggest independent show of the year, All In, where he teamed with Rey Mysterio & Rey Fenix against the newly christened “Golden Elite,” The Young Bucks & Kota Ibushi. Now he is the newest star to look out for in 2019 with the ink recently being dried on a fresh ROH contract. Despite all this success already, it still feels like we have only seen the beginning of what this man is made of. And at 23 years of age, I have a feeling that we are going to see Bandido become more of a force as time goes on.
With the way Bandido has been performing as of late and this being Flip Gordon’s big return to PWG after a year long hiatus, I expect this to be match of the night. These two men are going to be flying all over The Globe and the crowd is going to be on fire. But, unfortunately for Flip I do not see him winning here. I would not have been shocked to have seen Bandido winning BOLA this year and with all of the momentum he has, in my eyes he is the next #1 Contender for the PWG World Championship. He has the crowd behind him and the talent to back it up in the ring. I think this year needs to be the year that PWG puts all the chips on Bandido and run with him as the new face of the company because the luchador has not disappointed yet. On the other end of the coin, Gordon does not lose much by getting beaten by a guy who is seemingly the next world champion and he should be booked a ton going forward.
Winner: Bandido
6. PWG World Tag Team Championship, Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent?) vs. The Rascalz (Zachary Wentz & Dezmond Xavier) (c)
This is one of those matches you did not know you wanted until it was right in front of you. This interesting clash of the hot, fresh and exciting young team against the beloved, experienced veterans should be nothing short of a great match. One duo whose immediate success by capturing gold has made them a must see supernova phenomenon putting on banger after banger. The other duo a beloved tandem that have been cursed of the championship constantly alluding them.
The Best Friends as a tandem have had quite a weird year as a team. In 2018, they have only teamed in two promotions, New Japan and Ring Of Honor, with varying success. Let us look at the positives first: Chuck Taylor on New Japan shows is dope. Finally being able to see Chuckie T get that big time exposure by the current number two promotion in wrestling has been a trip to watch. It seems like every year we expect Taylor to have finally reached his peak in terms success and every year he has proved us wrong. With Trent? being such a huge hit in Japan being one of the members of CHAOS, bringing Chuck into the group has been a no brainer that has worked for getting the team on a bigger platform. However, it seems like as a tandem they have done a whole lot of nothing in 2018. They have very much been a middle of the road tag team in both companies, not winning enough to get the big matches, but not losing enough to be considered jobbers. Now with the weird antics of Chuckie T playing out during the World Tag League this year, causing the team to fall out of contention due to Taylor’s wild persona leading to disqualifications, I have no idea what to expect from them. As singles competitors their fate has been the same. After losing the PWG World Championship to Keith Lee earlier in the year, it seems as if Chuck has been wandering around aimlessly with no real success. It also feels like Trent? has done much of the same and after being seemingly demoted in CHAOS from IWGP United States Championship Contender to being just an extra body for the groups constant multi man matches.
Right now it seems as both men are stuck in a career rut with neither of them being able to help the other climb out of it. This made me wonder why they were getting their title shot in the first place which led me down a turn I was not expecting. The Best Friends are cashing in a tag title shot from 2014!! Yes, technically this match is four years in the making. You see at PWG’s eleventh anniversary event a number one contenders match was set for the tag titles. The two teams involved being the Best Friends and the team of Brian Cage and Michael Elgin, the Unbreakale F’N Machines. But, after Brian Cage got hurt he was replaced by Johnny Gargano. Now call me crazy, but, the stipulation of the match never changed. It still technically was a number one contenders match and the Best Friends did win that match and since then have never recieved their shot. Maybe after all of these years, they finally decided it was their time to cash in at there most desperate and I would not be shocked if it pays off.
On the complete other end of the success spectrum The Rascalz seemed to have arrived in 2018. After breaking out of the grip of the Sami Callihan Ohio bubble that OI4K seem to have been stuck in, both Wentz and Xavier have showed that they have become more than the young boys of OvE. In 2017 they seemed to have just been another fun to watch high flying tag team. They were the top team of CZW and were being booked mainly in the U.S. It seemed as if Xavier was going to be the star out of the two as he started popping up on his own more and more. He was popping up on Impact television, being booked in Mexico and even was a PWG roster member. Meanwhile, Wentz seemingly held down the fort in the midwest, never really scoring any major success on his own. But, a tour of Dragon Gate in January has put them back on the same level and put them back on the map as a force to be reckoned with. After impressing in Japan, they caught the eye of the PWG Board of Directors which brought them in for the first time as a team. Since then they have been UNDEFEATED as a team in PWG. With the level of talent the west coast company brings in, that is no easy feat. The Rascalz won the PWG World Tag Team Championships in their second match, and have beaten the likes of The Young Bucks, Violence Unlimited, The Mexabloods, The Lucha Bros, The Chosen Bros and L.A.X. That is a death row of killer tag teams that could not defeat the youngbloods from Ohio.
This is a big time match for the hardcore PWG fans. The Best Friends are the most over tag team in the promotions history. Since their debut they have been loved and have won over the fans with their comdeic timing and charisma. They too have experienced what the Rascalz have been experiencing in PWG in the last year, an undefeated streak. When Trent? and Chuck came together they carried a hot streak of wins from their debut to losing the only title shot they ever recieved against The Young Bucks. As bad of a year they have been having, you can never count them out against any opponents. The Rascalz however have been on fire and I feel like they are too hot to lose against a team that seems to be on the decline of their career as a tag team. I do not see Wentz & Xavier losing the tag titles any time soon, PWG seems to have made a huge investment in them and for them to lose to Chuck & Trent? would feel like a misstep booking wise.
Winners: The Rascalz (Zachary Wentz & Dezmond Xavier)
7. PWG World Heavyweight Championship, Jeff Cobb(c) vs. Trevor Lee
One of the most hype moments of the year in PWG was a fourteen second match between both of the competitors in this main event. The champion has been one of the most dominant forces that the promotion has ever seen. The challenger is one of the longest tenured guys on the current roster and has been in the ring with almost every star the promotion has brought in. One man a beloved Samoan beast of a man. The other man a once beloved face of the company who over time has grown a disdain for the same crowd that made him an independent star.
Trevor Lee is an interesting case study. Upon his debut, Lee was shrouded as one of the hottest young stars coming out of a blooming North Carolina scene and quickly captured the hearts of the fans in Reseda. His natural and quirky caveman-like charisma, along with his amazing skills in the ring, blending a very power based grappler style with his agility is what made him a standout. Since his debut at Mystery Vortex II in 2014, he has only missed a grand total of four shows on the PWG calender. The dude is consistant, ballsy and always shows up to grind and work. He has also been in the ring with some of the best talent PWG has ever brought in within that span. Former ROH World Champions, Kevin Steen, Cody Rhodes, Roderick Strong, Dalton Castle, Michael Elgin, and Adam Cole have all been in the ring with the Carolina Caveman. He has stood across from top independent names such as The Young Bucks, Chris Hero, Joey Janela, Zack Sabre, Jr. and Super Dragon. Guys that have went on to the WWE like Tommaso Ciampa, Drew Galloway, Ricochet, Keith Lee, Lio Rush and Cedric Alexander have also traded blows with Trevor Lee. In short, Trevor Lee has seen everyone come and go on the PWG roster and has been in the ring with some of the absolute best in the entire world. However as of late Trevor has been showing a more ruthless side to himself as the fans have slowly began to turn on him. Maybe its the overexposure of Lee in the promotion or even the lack of big time wins in Reseda that have led the Reseda faithful to sour on the once beloved prospect out of Flair country. Lee’s luck has been terrible, He has made it to the BOLA finals once despite being in every iteration since 2014, he won the DDT4 tournament in 2015 and the PWG Tag Titles only to be screwed out of them at the very next event. Recently is bad luck continued as he now holds the record for having the shortest match in the history of the Battle Of Los Angeles Tournament against the very man he is challenging for the title. Now its up to Trevor to finally get that big win he has been searching for.
2018 was the year Jeff Cobb finally showed that he can be a top independent name. Cobb was never one to talk too much or cut amazing promos and in a time where talking and promoting is everything, that hurt him. Jeff was always going to be amazing in the ring, his massive size and power always made for some great clashes with other big independent names. However, despite being in the ring with some of the top talent, I personally never saw Cobb as a big time draw or a big market guy. He seemed to be a guy that promoters would bring in to toss around some of their smaller talent or have incredible HOSS matches with other giant men. It seemed like Cobb would spend his career on the indpendents as a mid tier indy star awaiting a WWE contract. This year ALL of that changed for me. Cobb has had his best year in 2018. He challenged Hirooki Goto for the NEVER Openweight Championship in a huge showcase for him at the G1 Special in San Francisco. Cobb would go on to shockingly sign a contract with ROH which led to him capturing the ROH Television Title. But, in PWG is where Cobb made that next step from mid tier to top tier. He ran through one of the deepest fields in PWG history to win the 2018 Battle Of Los Angeles, defeating 2018 MVP Bandido and a top Japanese talent in Shingo Takagi in the finals. Then at the very next show would take his title shot and win the PWG World Championship against the seemingly unstoppable WALTER. Now in 2019 I expect a whole lot more from Cobb as he is now a two company champion with more promising opportunities popping up left and right.
This is the third match these two have had in PWG with Cobb picking up the win in both of the previous matches. Cobb seems to be an unstoppable force at the moment with momentum seemingly coming from every angle. On paper this should be an easy pick, the dominant champion coming off of the best year of his career should be able to topple the tenured opponent who has yet to “win the big one.” We have seen what happened, it only took fourteen seconds for Cobb to defeat Lee the last time they were in the ring. This should be a wash for Cobb as he continues his reign of dominance in PWG. But, I am not counting out Trevor Lee just yet. On his end I can see him being more focused for this match then ever before. Hehas seen shot after shot seemingly slip away from him one too many times to see this one escape his grasp. He has seen talent after talent come and go while he stayed and grinded and fought his way to this very position. I expect all of the pro-TNA shenanigans to be thrown out of the window and see a much more serious Trevor Lee. This match should be a banger with both guys having a lot to prove. I am going with Trevor Lee winning this match in a HUGE upset, knocking off the beast Jeff Cobb.
Winner: Trevor Lee