First Round Tournament Match
– Donovan Dijak def. Trevor Lee
First Round Tournament Match
– Sammy Guevara def. Joey Janela
First Round Tournament Match
– Travis Banks def. Mark Haskins
– Zack Sabre Jr. & Marty Scurll def. Ricochet & Matt Sydal
First Round Tournament Match
– Jeff Cobb def. Sami Callihan
First Round Tournament Match
– Matt Riddle def. Michael Elgin
First Round Tournament Match
– Keith Lee def. WALTER
– In the tag team main event, The Bullet Club’s Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks def. Pentagon, Fenix & Flamita.
After Stage 2, 12 competitors remain and will face off Sunday night in a series of singles matches leading to the finals, which is a triple threat match. The 12 remaining competitors are:
Fenix
Dez Xavier
Marty Scurll
Zack Sabre Jr.
Penta El 0M
Ricochet
Donovan Dijak
Sammy Guevara
Travis Banks
Keith Lee
Jeff Cobb
Matt Riddle
Posted September 3rd, 2017 in News. Tagged: BOLA, PWG.
PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles, a 24-man tournament held over three nights, began last night from Reseda, California. Night two will feature more first round tournament matches later tonight.
Here are the results from PWG BOLA 2017 Night 1:
– Dezmond Xavier defeated Brian Cage
– Marty Scurll defeated “Flash” Morgan Webster
– Rey Fenix defeated Rey Horus
– Penta el Zero M defeated Matt Sydal
– Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Jonah Rock
– Ricochet defeated Flamita
– In the tag team main event (not part of the tournament), the Chosen Bros (Jeff Cobb & Matt Riddle) defeated Donovan Dijak & Keith Lee.
Check back later tonight for results from Night 2 of BOLA 2017.
Posted September 2nd, 2017 in News. Tagged: BOLA, PWG.
PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles (BOLA) tournament is one of the most highly regarded in all of independent wrestling. The full lineup for this year’s iteration of the prestigious tournament has been announced and is as follows:
Flamita
Keith Lee
WALTER
Travis Banks
Rey Fenix
Dezmond Xavier
Donovan Dijak
Jeff Cobb
Trevor Lee
“Flash” Morgan Webster
Zack Sabre, Jr.
Sammy Guevara
Mark Haskins
Jonah Rock
Brian Cage
Rey Horus
Marty Scurll
Michael Elgin
TK Cooper
Matt Sydal
Sami Callihan
Matt Riddle
Ricochet
Penta el Zero M
The British/European wrestling scene will once again be a major influence on the tournament with PROGRESS favourites Travis Banks, Mark Haskins, ‘Flash’ Morgan Webster, TK Cooper and WALTER making appearances alongside tournament veterans such as Ricochet, Zack Sabre Jr and Matt Sydal.
PWG likes to give newer upcoming independent performers a starring role in the tournament so look for the likes of Morgan Webster, Travis Banks and TK Cooper to make an impact when they enter the tournament for the very first time.
Travis Banks is the fourth entrant in the 2017 Battle of Los Angeles!
Brock Lesnar is not scheduled to appear on RAW this week. However, Lesnar is scheduled to appear on the next two episodes of RAW leading up to Great Balls of Fire on July 9th. Lesnar is set to defend his Universal Championship against Samoa Joe at the PPV and is scheduled to appear the following night on RAW on July 10th.
Here is a list of Lesnar’s upcoming appearances for June and July:
RAW June 26th in Los Angeles
RAW July 3rd in Phoenix
WWE Great Balls of Fire PPV July 9th in Dallas
RAW July 10th in Houston
New Southpaw Regional Wrestling episodes on the way
According to PWInsider, WWE has recently filmed a new batch of Southpaw Regional Wrestling episodes. There is no news on when those episodes will be released at this time.
James Franco at Pro Wrestling Guerilla event
Actor James Franco was spotted at a PWG event on Friday night.
Here are the results from PWG’s latest event Nice Boys (Don’t Play Rock N’ Roll) from the world famous American Legion Post 335 in Reseda, California:
Brian Cage b. Keith Lee & Sami Callihan – Cage won the bout after hitting a Falcon Arrow on Keith Lee
Chosen Bros (Jeff Cobb and Matt Riddle) b. Jake and Dave Crist – Riddle took the win for his team after making Crist tap out to the Bromission
Lio Rush b. Trevor Lee – Rush won the match with a small package counter
Shane Strickland b. Dezmond Xavier – Strickland won the match after hitting a Cuerno Killer
Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent?) b. PWG World Champion Zack Sabre Jr. and Marty Scurll – Trent? Won the match for his team after hitting Sabre Jr with a Cradle Piledriver. After the match Sabre and Scurll powerbombed Chuck into chairs
PWG Tag Team Title Match – Rey Fenix and Penta El Zero M b. The Young Bucks and Ricochet & Matt Sydal – Fenix and Penta are the new PWG Tag Team Champions after hitting a Cradle Piledriver in to a Destroyer on Ricochet.
When it was announced that Chris Hero had re-signed with WWE and would be returning to NXT it created a chasm across the Independent wrestling scene, both in the United States and Europe.
After his original departure from WWE back in 2013, Hero toured the world performing for numerous promotions big and small and establishing himself as quite possibly the best independent wrestler on the planet. What is truly astonishing is the quality and variety of matches that Chris Hero had in 2016; from his bouts in UK based Revolution Pro against Tomohiro Ishii and Katsuyori Shibata, his show stealing PROGRESS bouts against Mark Andrews and Marty Scurll, his PWG tag bout alongside Tommy End against Fenix & Pentagon Jr through to his EVOLVE matches with Dick Togo, Timothy Thatcher, Zack Sabre Jr……and Matt Riddle.
One of Hero’s biggest draws was that he seemed just as happy performing in front of thousands of fans as he did in front of a smaller crowd, eager to help as many promotions as possible gain traction and build their fan base.
Before I started writing this I saw a tweet from a very small UK based promotion stating that Matt Riddle would be performing for them in April against Josh Bodom, himself an up and coming star on the UK scene. Counter this with Riddle’s other matches so far in 2017 in the UK for the likes of Rev Pro and PROGRESS and you can see why I drew the comparison to Hero, he appears to be working for independents big and small.
Now, Riddle has only been wrestling for around 3 years and while he is not quite at the caliber of a Chris Hero just yet, he certainly has all of the tools to get there. Ever since his departure from UFC Riddle has taken to Pro Wrestling at an astonishing rate, earning him comparisons to the likes of Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar. His natural charisma and ability to read is what established him as a star in EVOLVE.
Riddle’s temperament seems to be the same as Hero’s, he wants to work for as many companies as possible, get as much experience as he can and build his brand globally. As I mentioned before the hole that Chris Hero left in the Independent scene was substantial. Indie companies desperately need a performer that can come in and elevate both your company and the stars on your roster Matt Riddle looks set to be the man to fill those boots with his willingness to work in diverse matches against a litany of different opponents.
WWE this week announced the bracket for the first ever UK Championship Tournament set to take place this weekend at the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool, England.
The tournament features some of the best performers on the British scene and here are (in my opinion) the top four men who are likely to go all the way and become the first ever WWE UK Champion.
Pete Dunne
Pete Dunne (known affectionally to PROGRESS fans as ‘PETER’) had the biggest year of his career in 2016. His stellar year included a spot in PWG’s BOLA tournament, facing Yuji Nagata in Rev Pro, winning the PROGRESS Tag Team Titles with Trent Seven and to cap it off he secured the PROGRESS Championship by pinning Jimmy Havoc at Chapter 39.
Dunne has been in the industry around a decade and has established himself as one of the top acts in the UK scene, nicknamed the ‘Brusierweight’ he has a hard hitting style and works predominately as a heel for multiple companies across Britain, he possesses a natural ability to rile up a crowd that harks back to William Regal in his prime. I would absolutely consider Dunne to be the favourite going into the tournament in Blackpool.
Trent is one of the most experienced performers in the tournament. He too has had a breakout year in 2016, highlighted by his PROGRESS Tag Team title run with British Strong Style partners Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate (more info on Tyler below). Having worked the majority of the year as a firm crowd favourite both as a singles star in Fight Club Pro and as a tag team specialist in Moustache Mountain, his heel turn in PROGRESS set the stage for a huge tag team title win at Chapter 36. After the win a new cocky, arrogant side of his character shone through and brought out a different more focused Trent. I expect that he will work as a crowd favourite in the tournament and turn more than a few heads in the WWE fan base.
Tyler is one of the youngest performers in the UK tournament however he too had a hugely successful 2016. As one half of Moustache Mountain he performed around the country as a firm fan favourite, in the latter part of the year he finally joined forces with ‘British Strong Style’ and became one of the top heels in PROGRESS. His style and work in the ring are similar to WWE Crusierweight star Jack Gallagher and I fully expect Tyler to work as a charismatic good guy who will be extremely well liked by the fans inside the Empress Ballroom. I’m expecting Tyler to lose in the semi-final against longtime friend and tag team partner Trent Seven.
Known as ‘Mandrews’ during his stint in TNA, Mark Andrews is easily the most world renowned of all of the performers in the competition. He has been a mainstay in PROGRESS since its inception and has worked for companies such as PCW, ATTACK! Pro, wXw and Chikara.
Andrews is an extremely talented in ring worker and he easily has a shot at taking the title this weekend. He was a late addition to the tournament having recently cut ties with TNA and for that reason I am expecting that he will eventually lose to Pete Dunne in the semi-final.
WWE have announced that one of the top stars on the British independent scene will be competing in the UK Championship tournament, the highly touted Mark Andrews.
Andrews is a veteran on the British independent circuit having competed for the likes of PROGRESS, Fight Nation! ICW and PCW. More recently Andrews has seen international success after winning TNA’s Boot Camp competition and also competing for PWG and Chikara.
Although a late addition to the tournament, Andrews should be considered a favourite.
On Monday, as word leaked about the FloSlam announcement and after FloSports officially announced the launch of said new streaming service, Wrestling Observer editor Dave Meltzer was fielding questions about the story on his website’s subscribers-only message board. As sometimes happens, he broke a bit of news in the forum discussion, and these are the key takeaways:
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla refused to even talk to Flo and “turned them down flat without a conversation.” (PWG is one of the few promotions that still does strong DVD sales, and not doing streaming allows them more flexibility in matchmaking, like booking Evolve and ROH wrestlers in the same matches)
WWE is a silent partner in FloSports with “zero influence” per the deal the company agreed to when signing on as an investor.
“WWE is not happy that the price value has just skyrocketed (and that word is not exaggerated) if they want to get into the indie content game, and they obviously did based on their surveys.”
Analysis: It appears that WWE had no idea that this was coming, which is fascinating because there had been whispers about this for months. It had even come up publicly on the forum for the popular Voices of Wrestling podcast, where noted Twitter troublemaker/news breaker “rovert” brought it up a few weeks ago:
If WWE didn’t know and has no direct involvement, then that also means that the company didn’t steer WWN/Evolve towards Flo, which you might think at first glance. Until WWE put out that survey about indie wrestling on a new tier of WWE Network, it there was no real buzz about WWE doing it themselves on the Network, so Flo most likely didn’t know about those plans, either. That’s not nearly as strange as WWE not knowing, though.
It’s a very good time to be an indie promoter with buzz right now, even if the underlying politics of any potential bidding war are very strange, to say the least.
Posted October 25th, 2016 in News, WWE. Tagged: PWG.
On Night 2 one of the standout performers from this year’s PWG Battle of Los Angeles Tournament Pete Dunne will be taking on a New Japan legend: Tomohiro Ishii
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla has released a preview for the 2016 Battle of Los Angeles: Stage Two, which took place this past Saturday night from Reseda, CA. Stages One, Two and Three are now available for pre-order on Blu-Ray and DVD at ProWrestlingGuerilla.com.
Stage Two features the following first round matches:
Dalton Castle vs. Tommaso Ciampa
Mark Andrews vs. Pete Dunne
Sami Callihan vs. Cody Rhodes
Kamaitachi vs. Trevor Lee
Cedric Alexander vs. Mark Haskins
Kyle O’Reilly vs. Matthew Riddle
Plus, the big 6-man tag match with Will Ospreay, Ricochet & Matt Sydal vs. Adam Cole & The Young Bucks.
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla has released a preview for the 2016 Battle of Los Angeles: Stage One, which took place this past Friday night from Reseda, CA. Stages One, Two and Three are now available for pre-order on Blu-Ray and DVD at ProWrestlingGuerilla.com. Stage One features the following first round matches:
Pentagón Jr. vs. “The Villain” Marty Scurll
“Mr. Athletic” Jeff Cobb vs. Ricochet
John Hennigan vs. “Reborn” Matt Sydal
Fénix vs. Will Ospreay
Tommy End vs. Zack Sabre, Jr.
Chris Hero vs. Jushin Thunder Liger
Plus, a six-man tag match featuring Dalton Castle & The Boys (Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly) vs. Adam Cole & The Young Bucks. You can check out complete results from PWG BOLA 2016 here:
Here are the results from the third and final night of PWG’s annual BOLA Tournament:
BOLA Tournament Quarter Final Matches
Trevor Lee b. Dalton Castle – Trevor Lee took the win via pinfall after hitting a Canadian Destroyer
Ricochet b. John Bennigan – Ricochet hit the 630 splash to advance in the tournament
Marty Scurll b. Cody Rhodes – Scurll hit a low blow and followed with a quick roll up to secure the pinfall victory
Mark Andrews b. Chris Hero – Andrews reversed a cradle attempt to take the victory in a rematch from PROGRESS’ Super Strong Style 16 tournament
Mark Haskins b. Kyle O’Reilly – Haskins took the win via submission
Will Ospreay b. Zack Sabre Jr – Ospreay took the win after reversing a European Clutch into a pinfall
PWG Tag Team Title Match:The Young Bucks (c) b. Pentagon Jr & Fenix
BOLA Tournament Semi-Final Matches
Trevor Lee b. Mark Andrews – Lee took the win after hitting a small package driver
Marty Scurll b. Mark Haskins – Scurll took the submission win after applying the Crossface Chickenwing
Will Ospreay b. Ricochet – Ospreay hit the OsCutter to win via pinfall in this Best of the Super Juniors rematch
10 Man Tag:Jushin Thunder Liger, Chuck Taylor, Jeff Cobb, Tommy End & Cedric Alexander b. Tommaso Ciampa, Sami Callihan, Matt Riddle, Pete Dunne & Brian Kendrick – Liger hit the Brainbuster on Pete Dunne to secure the pinfall win for his team
Marty Scurll b. Will Ospreay & Trevor Lee – Ospreay is the first to be eliminated after a Chickenwing/Stomp combination from both Scurll and Lee. Scurll wins the tournament by making Lee tap to the Chickenwing.
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla announced this afternoon that PWG World Champion Zack Sabre Jr. is injured. As a result, he will be unable to compete at Friday night’s PWG: Prince show from Reseda, California. Sabre will be replaced by Kamaitchi, who will now face Michael Elgin.
Due to an injury, Zack Sabre, Jr. will not be able to wrestle at Prince this Friday.
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla has announced that PWG: Prince will take place on Friday, May 20th from Reseda, California. PWG is continuing their run of naming shows after deceased singers (Lemmy, Bowie, now Prince). The entire card is stacked but one standout is the debut of Jeff Cobb, who wrestles as Matanza in Lucha Underground.
Matches signed for Prince include:
PWG World Champion Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Michael Elgin
Andrew Everett vs. Trevor Lee
Dalton Castle vs. Adam Cole
Drew Galloway vs. Brian Cage
“Mr. Athletic” Jeff Cobb makes his PWG against Chris Hero
Mark Andrews vs. Marty Scurll
Sami Callihan vs. Roderick Strong
Tickets go on sale this Thursday at 8pm PDT.
BOWIE is now in stock and shipping on Bluray and DVD! Get your copy here: https://t.co/QlH1MBwEiM
On Sunday night Pro Wrestling Guerrilla announced the line-ups for next month’s All-Star Weekend 12 in Reseda, California.
All-Star Weekend (Night 1): 3/4
PWG Champion Roderick Strong vs. Mark Andrews (non-title match)
PWG Tag Champions The Young Bucks vs. Matt Sydal & Ricochet
Zack Sabre, Jr. vs. Adam Cole
Kyle O’Reilly vs. Tommy End
Chris Hero vs. Marty Scurll
Drew Galloway vs. Trent Baretta
Chuck Taylor vs. Trevor Lee
All-Star Weekend (Night 2): 3/5
PWG Champion Roderick Strong vs. Zack Sabre, Jr.
Young Bucks vs. ReDragon
Matt Sydal & Ricochet vs. Chris Hero & Tommy End
Adam Cole vs. Trent Baretta
Drew Galloway vs. Trevor Lee
Chuck Taylor vs. Marty Scurll
Mark Andrews vs. Evil Uno
Note: We are looking to hire somebody to cover PWG here at SEScoops. If you’re a fan of the West Coast promotion and want to help us cover them on a regular basis (paid position), drop us a line at SEScoops@gmail.com!
To get an idea of what to expect from ASW 12, check out these highlight clips from
PWG: Bowie took place on Friday night from Reseda, California. Here here are the results:
– PWG authority figure Excalibur opened the show by thanking Daniel Bryan for his contributions to the promotion.
– Chuck Taylor beat Dalton Castle.
– Chris Hero beat Trent Baretta.
– Jack Evans beat Sami Callihan.
– Adam Cole beat Andrew Everett.
– Zack Sabre, Jr. beat Trevor Lee via submission.
– “Speedball” Mike Bailey beat Player Uno (Evil version).
– PWG champion Roderick Strong beat Drew Galloway to retain the PWG Title.
Post-match, Strong and Cole beat down Galloway, then Zack Sabre, Jr. made the save. Strong vs. Sabre for the PWG Title was announced for All-Star Weekend Night 1 in March.
– William Regal was set to attend the WWE television taping in California last week to scout some talent at the PWG “Battle of Los Angeles” show, however he ended up not doing so due to health issues. Regal was having issues with his voice and other problems, however as of late last week he was said to be doing better.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Mick Foley noted via Facebook that he will be undergoing back surgery on Thursday. He wrote the following: “It’s a relatively minor procedure that I hope will produce major results – as the pain these past two weeks has just been excruciating.”
– The Motley Fool website has a new article up about top hedge fund company Citadel Advisors selling approximately 772,000 shares of WWE stock.
– WWE’s Brad Maddox was in attendance at the Pro Wrestling Guerilla “Battle of Los Angeles” event on Friday night in Reseda, California. Maddox has also been doing some stand-up comedy as of late.
– Below is another clip for the season three premiere of WWE Total Divas.