Battle of Los Angeles | |
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Promotions | Pro Wrestling Guerrilla |
First event | 2005 |
Event gimmick | Annual single elimination tournament |
The Battle of Los Angeles tournament (the BOLA) is an annual independent wrestling tournament in North America, run and promoted by Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG). It is the flagship event of PWG. Over the years, the tournament has featured numerous notable wrestlers such as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling stars A.J. Styles and Christopher Daniels, future WWE world champions Kevin Steen (Kevin Owens), Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan), Tyler Black (Seth Rollins) and Drew Galloway (Drew McIntyre), future AEW world champion Kenny Omega and future Impact world champions Brian Cage, Pentagón Jr., Chris Sabin, Rich Swann, Sami Callihan, John Hennigan (Johnny Impact), Austin Aries and Eddie Edwards.
The number of participants have often changed over the years. In the first year of the Battle of Los Angeles, there were sixteen participants, with eight opening round matches, four quarterfinal matches, two semifinal matches, and a final. In 2006 the tournament was expanded to 24 participants, which caused the addition of another eight person bracket and created three semifinals matches and an elimination three-way final match. In 2008 the tournament returned to its 16-man format. In 2011, the tournament was completely revamped, taking place for the first time as a one night tournament with only eight participants. In 2014, the tournament reverted to a 24-man format held over three nights. The first two nights are all first-round matches, while the third night contains the quarter-finals and semi-finals before culminating in a three-way match. In 2022, the tournament was reduced to sixteen participants.
All nights also feature non-tournament special attractions, which are usually tag-team matches involving tournament participants from other nights or eliminated wrestlers. Titles are also occasionally defended on these events.
The tournament winner is awarded a title shot for the PWG World Championship. The champion himself often participates in the tournament and if some other wrestler wins the tournament then he is entitled to a title shot. So far, no champion has won the tournament. There have been a few instances where the winner did not receive a title shot. For example, the 2006 winner Davey Richards cashed in on a PWG World Tag Team Championship opportunity instead of challenging for the World Championship. The 2007 winner CIMA did not invoke his title shot while the 2008 winner Low Ki left PWG immediately after winning the tournament due to signing with WWE. The 2009 tournament was itself contested for the vacant PWG World Championship.
Year | Tournament winner | Times won | Date | Runner-up | City | Venue | Main Event | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2005 | Chris Bosh | 1 | September 3, 2005 | AJ Styles | Los Angeles, California | Hollywood-Los Feliz Jewish Community Center | Kevin Steen vs. Super Dragon in the first round of the 2005 Battle of Los Angeles tournament | [1] [2] |
September 4, 2005 | AJ Styles vs. Chris Bosh in the 2005 Battle of Los Angeles tournament final | |||||||
2006 | Davey Richards | 1 | September 1, 2006 | CIMA | Reseda, Los Angeles, California | American Legion Post #308 | B-Boy, Excalibur, Homicide and Human Tornado vs. Petey Williams and The Dynasty (Chris Bosh, Joey Ryan and Scott Lost) | [3] |
September 2, 2006 | Necro Butcher vs. Super Dragon in a No Disqualification match in the first round of the 2006 Battle of Los Angeles tournament | |||||||
September 3, 2006 | CIMA vs. Davey Richards in the 2006 Battle of Los Angeles tournament final | |||||||
2007 | CIMA | 1 | August 31, 2007 | El Generico and Roderick Strong | Burbank, California | Burbank Armory | El Generico and Kevin Steen (c) vs. Dragon Kid and Susumu Yokosuka for the PWG World Tag Team Championship | [4] |
September 1, 2007 | Dragon Kid vs. Susumu Yokosuka in the first round of the 2007 Battle of Los Angeles tournament | [5] | ||||||
September 2, 2007 | CIMA vs. El Generico vs. Roderick Strong in a three-way elimination match in the 2007 Battle of Los Angeles tournament final | [6] | ||||||
2008 | Low Ki | 1 | November 1, 2008 | Chris Hero | Chris Hero vs. Necro Butcher in a No Disqualification match in the first round of the 2008 Battle of Los Angeles tournament | [7] | ||
November 2, 2008 | Chris Hero vs. Low Ki in the 2008 Battle of Los Angeles tournament final | [8] | ||||||
2009 | Kenny Omega | 1 | November 20, 2009 | Roderick Strong | Reseda, Los Angeles, California | American Legion Post #308 | Alex Shelley vs. El Generico in the first round of the 2009 Battle of Los Angeles tournament | [9] |
November 21, 2009 | Kenny Omega vs. Roderick Strong in the 2009 Battle of Los Angeles tournament final for the vacant PWG World Championship | [10] | ||||||
2010 | Joey Ryan | 1 | September 4, 2010 | Chris Hero | Chris Hero vs. Christopher Daniels in the first round of the 2010 Battle of Los Angeles tournament | [11] | ||
September 5, 2010 | Chris Hero vs. Joey Ryan in the 2010 Battle of Los Angeles tournament final | [12] | ||||||
2011 | El Generico | 1 | August 20, 2011 | Kevin Steen | Kevin Steen vs. El Generico in the 2011 Battle of Los Angeles tournament final | [13] | ||
2012 | Adam Cole | 1 | September 1, 2012 | Michael Elgin | Davey Richards vs. Michael Elgin in the first round of the 2012 Battle of Los Angeles tournament | [14] | ||
September 2, 2012 | Adam Cole vs. Michael Elgin in the 2012 Battle of Los Angeles tournament final | [15] | ||||||
2013 | Kyle O'Reilly | 1 | August 30, 2013 | Michael Elgin | Adam Cole and The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) vs. Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero) and T.J. Perkins | [16] | ||
August 31, 2013 | Kyle O'Reilly vs. Michael Elgin in the 2013 Battle of Los Angeles tournament final | [17] | ||||||
2014 | Ricochet | 1 | August 29, 2014 | Johnny Gargano and Roderick Strong | Men of Low Moral Fiber (Chuck Taylor and Kenny Omega) and Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Mount Rushmore (Adam Cole and The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)) | [18] | ||
August 30, 2014 | The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) vs. Bad Influence (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) | [19] | ||||||
August 31, 2014 | Johnny Gargano vs. Roderick Strong vs. Ricochet in a three-way match in the 2014 Battle of Los Angeles tournament final | [20] | ||||||
2015 | Zack Sabre Jr. | 1 | August 28, 2015 | Chris Hero and Mike Bailey | Mount Rushmore 2.0 (The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) and Roderick Strong) vs. Euro Trash (Marty Scurll, Tommy End and Zack Sabre Jr.) | [21] | ||
August 29, 2015 | Mount Rushmore 2.0 (The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) and Super Dragon) vs. Andrew Everett, Biff Busick and Trevor Lee | [22] | ||||||
August 30, 2015 | Chris Hero vs. Mike Bailey vs. Zack Sabre Jr. in a three-way elimination match in the 2015 Battle of Los Angeles tournament final | [23] | ||||||
2016 | Marty Scurll | 1 | September 2, 2016 | Trevor Lee and Will Ospreay | Mount Rushmore 2.0 (Adam Cole and The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)) vs. Bobby Fish, Dalton Castle and Kyle O'Reilly | [24] | ||
September 3, 2016 | Matt Sydal, Ricochet and Will Ospreay vs. Mount Rushmore 2.0 (Adam Cole and The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)) | [25] | ||||||
September 4, 2016 | Marty Scurll vs. Trevor Lee vs. Will Ospreay in a three-way elimination match in the 2016 Battle of Los Angeles tournament final | [26] | ||||||
2017 | Ricochet | 2 | September 1, 2017 | Jeff Cobb and Keith Lee | Ricochet vs. Flamita in the first round of the 2017 Battle of Los Angeles tournament | [27] | ||
September 2, 2017 | The Elite (Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)) vs. Flamita, Penta El Zero M and Rey Fenix | [28] | ||||||
September 3, 2017 | Jeff Cobb vs. Keith Lee vs. Ricochet in a three-way elimination match in the 2017 Battle of Los Angeles tournament final | [29] | ||||||
2018 | Jeff Cobb | 1 | September 14, 2018 | Bandido and Shingo Takagi | Los Angeles, California | Globe Theatre | Ringkampf (Timothy Thatcher and WALTER) vs. Ilja Dragunov and Shingo Takagi | [30] |
September 15, 2018 | Bandido, Flamita and Rey Horus vs. CIMA and The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz) | [31] | ||||||
September 16, 2018 | Bandido vs. Jeff Cobb vs. Shingo Takagi in a three-way elimination match in the 2018 Battle of Los Angeles tournament final | [32] | ||||||
2019 | Bandido | 1 | September 20, 2019 | David Starr and Jonathan Gresham | Lucha Brothers (PENTA EL 0M and Rey Fenix) vs. MexaBlood (Bandido and Flamita) | [33] | ||
September 21, 2019 | Daisuke Sekimoto and Jonathan Gresham vs. King's Hawaiian (Brody King and Jeff Cobb) | [34] | ||||||
September 22, 2019 | Bandido vs. David Starr vs. Jonathan Gresham in the 2019 Battle of Los Angeles tournament final | [35] | ||||||
2022 | Daniel Garcia | 1 | January 29, 2022 | Mike Bailey | Bandido vs. Mike Bailey in the first round of the 2022 Battle of Los Angeles tournament | [36] | ||
January 30, 2022 | Daniel Garcia vs. Mike Bailey in the 2022 Battle of Los Angeles tournament final | [37] | ||||||
2023 | Mike Bailey | 1 | January 7, 2023 | Konosuke Takeshita | Bandido vs. Black Taurus vs. El Hijo del Vikingo in a Three-way match in the first round of the 2023 Battle of Los Angeles tournament | [38] | ||
January 8, 2023 | Konosuke Takeshita vs. Mike Bailey in the 2023 Battle of Los Angeles tournament final | [39] |
# | Winner | Event | Year | Championship match |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Chris Bosh | After School Special | 2005 | Bosh challenged Kevin Steen for the PWG Championship but lost via disqualification. Bosh received another opportunity for the title against Steen in a Three-Way Dance, also involving AJ Styles but lost again. |
2 | Davey Richards | All Star Weekend IV - Night 1 | 2006 | Instead of challenging for the PWG World Championship, Richards opted to challenge Arrogance (Chris Bosh and Scott Lost) for the PWG World Tag Team Championship alongside Super Dragon at Self-Titled but failed to show up. Dragon instead teamed with B-Boy to defeat Arrogance. Richards got his title opportunity at All Star Weekend IV by teaming with Roderick Strong to defeat Dragon and B-Boy for the titles. |
3 | CIMA | N/A | 2007 | After winning the tournament, CIMA left PWG to compete in his home promotion Dragon Gate in Japan and returned to PWG in 2008. |
4 | Low Ki | N/A | 2008 | After winning the tournament, Low Ki left PWG due to signing a developmental contract with WWE and did not return to the promotion until 2011. |
5 | Joey Ryan | Card Subject To Change III | 2010 | Ryan successfully defended his title shot against Candice LeRae at the 2011 Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament. Ryan challenged Claudio Castagnoli for the PWG World Championship at Card Subject To Change III but lost. |
6 | El Generico | Steen Wolf | 2011 | Generico defeated Kevin Steen in a ladder match to win the PWG World Championship. |
7 | Adam Cole | Mystery Vortex | 2012 | Cole defeated Kevin Steen in a Guerrilla Warfare to win the PWG World Championship. |
8 | Kyle O'Reilly | Matt Rushmore | 2013 | O'Reilly challenged Adam Cole for the PWG World Championship but lost. |
9 | Ricochet | Black Cole Sun | 2014 | Ricochet challenged Kyle O'Reilly for the PWG World Championship but lost. |
10 | Zack Sabre Jr. | All Star Weekend 12 - Night 2 | 2015 | Sabre defeated Roderick Strong to win the PWG World Championship. |
11 | Marty Scurll | Mystery Vortex IV | 2016 | Scurll challenged Zack Sabre Jr. for the PWG World Championship but lost. |
12 | Ricochet | All Star Weekend 13 - Night 2 | 2017 | Ricochet defeated Chuck Taylor to win the PWG World Championship. |
13 | Jeff Cobb | Smokey and the Bandido | 2018 | Cobb defeated WALTER to win the PWG World Championship. |
14 | Bandido | Makings of a Varsity Athlete | 2019 | Bandido defeated Jeff Cobb to win the PWG World Championship. |
15 | Daniel Garcia | Delivering The Goods | 2022 | Garcia defeated Bandido to win the PWG World Championship. |
16 | Mike Bailey | Twenty: Mystery Vortex | 2023 | Bailey lost to Daniel Garcia in an Iron Man match for the PWG World Championship. |
The 2009 Battle of Los Angeles winner did not receive a title match as the tournament itself was for the vacant PWG World Championship. Kenny Omega defeated Roderick Strong in the tournament final to win the vacant title.
Chris Spradlin, better known by his ring name Chris Hero, is an American professional wrestler and trainer. As of July 2023, he is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a producer. Hero has worked for a number of independent wrestling promotions, including Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), Ring of Honor (ROH), Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South, Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) and Chikara, as well as Pro Wrestling Noah in Japan. Hero has had two stints in WWE, both as part of their development territory NXT, under the ring name Kassius Ohno. His second tenure with the company saw him work as a "player-coach" for the trainees in NXT and NXT UK.
Trevor Dean Mann, known by his ring name Ricochet, is an American professional wrestler. As of August 2024, he is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He is best known for his tenure in WWE from 2018 to 2024, where he is a former WWE Intercontinental Champion, WWE United States Champion, NXT North American Champion, the 2019 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic winner, and the inaugural WWE Speed Champion.
The Young Bucks are an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of brothers Matthew Massie and Nicholas Massie, who perform under the ring names Matthew Jackson and Nicholas Jackson. As of January 2019, they are signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where they are also executive vice presidents and co-founders of the company. As performers in AEW, they are three-time and current AEW World Tag Team Champions, and were the inaugural and two-time AEW World Trios Champions with Kenny Omega as The Elite.
Jeffrey Cobb is an American professional wrestler and former amateur wrestler currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of the United Empire stable and former NJPW World Television Champion in his first reign.
Flamita is a Mexican luchador enmascarado. In addition to working for promotions such as Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA) and Desastre Total Ultraviolento (DTU) in his native country, Flamita is also known for his work in Japanese promotions Dragon Gate and Gleat.
Daniel Garcia is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He also appears for AEW's sister promotion Ring of Honor (ROH), where he is a one-time ROH Pure Champion. As part of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), he is the current PWG World Champion in his first reign.
Battle of Los Angeles (2022) was the sixteenth Battle of Los Angeles professional wrestling tournament produced by Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG). It was a two-night event which took place on January 29 and January 30, 2022 at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
Battle of Los Angeles (2011) was the seventh Battle of Los Angeles professional wrestling tournament produced by Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG). The event took place on August 20, 2011, at the American Legion Post #308 in Reseda, Los Angeles, California. It marked the first time that the Battle of Los Angeles tournament was held over one night.
Battle of Los Angeles (2012) was the eighth Battle of Los Angeles professional wrestling tournament produced by Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG). It was a two-night event which took place on September 1 and September 2, 2012 at the American Legion Post #308 in Reseda, Los Angeles, California.
Battle of Los Angeles (2013) was the ninth Battle of Los Angeles professional wrestling tournament produced by Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG). It was a two-night event which took place on August 30 and August 31, 2013, at the American Legion Post #308 in Reseda, Los Angeles, California.
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.
Battle of Los Angeles (2015) was the eleventh Battle of Los Angeles professional wrestling tournament produced by Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG). It was a three-night event which took place on August 28, August 29 and August 30, 2015 at the American Legion Post #308 in Reseda, Los Angeles, California.
Battle of Los Angeles (2016) was the twelfth Battle of Los Angeles professional wrestling tournament produced by Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG). It was a three-night event which took place on September 2, September 3 and September 4, 2016, at the American Legion Post #308 in Reseda, Los Angeles, California.
Battle of Los Angeles (2017) was the fourteenth Battle of Los Angeles professional wrestling tournament produced by Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG). It was a three-night event which took place on September 1, September 2 and September 3, 2017 at the American Legion Post #308 in Reseda, Los Angeles, California.
Battle of Los Angeles (2018) was the fifteenth Battle of Los Angeles professional wrestling tournament produced by Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG). It was a three-night event which took place on September 14, September 15 and September 16, 2018 at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
Battle of Los Angeles (2019) was the fifteenth Battle of Los Angeles professional wrestling tournament produced by Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG). It was a three-night event held on September 19, September 20, and September 22, 2019, at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
The 2023 Battle of Los Angeles was the seventeenth Battle of Los Angeles professional wrestling tournament produced by Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG). It was a two-night event on January 7 and 8, 2023, at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
Mount Rushmore of Wrestling or simply Mount Rushmore was a villainous professional wrestling faction in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) from 2013 to 2016.
The Inner City Machine Guns was a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Rich Swann and Ricochet, which competed in various independent promotions, such as Dragon Gate, Evolve, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, Revolution Pro Wrestling, and Westside Xtreme Wrestling.
MexaBlood was a Mexican professional wrestling tag team consisting of Bandido and Flamita. The team wrestled for various international promotions, such as World Series Wrestling in Australia, PROGRESS Wrestling and Revolution Pro Wrestling in England, Dragon Gate in Japan, Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide and The Crash in Mexico, and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and Ring of Honor in the United States.