Wednesday Wrestling Minutes - Your Weekly Source for NXT, Lucha Underground, Ring of Honor and Independent Wrestling News

NXT 7/8

NXT opens with a recap of “Beast in the East” – nothing specific though. Mainly just Brock killing Kofi and nothing even about the NXT Title match. Oh, it’s because they’re apparently showing the NXT Title match on the show tonight?

But first, Dana Brooke and Evil Emma out to take on Sasha Banks and a mystery partner.

Sasha Banks is basically a face now. They just kept her off TV for a while and put her opposite Dana Brooke and suddenly she’s a face with literally no other change to her character.

Dana Brooke is trash talking on the mic. Says Sasha calls herself the boss of NXT (and does the Miz “Really?” thing) but that she couldn’t find a partner.

Sasha says they’re right and she couldn’t find a partner but says that Little Miss Piggy and her kangaroo friend, she’ll take both of them on.

As they square off, Charlotte’s music hits and she heads to the ring, staring down Dana Brooke. She doesn’t like Dana but she doesn’t like Sasha either. But she gets on the mic and says she’ll be her partner and holds out her hand to shake. Sasha swats it away but it seems like they are going to have to coexist.

Sasha takes on Dana first, chokes her in the corner and tags in Charlotte. They work well together despite hating each other and not working as a team since the BFFs. But Charlotte quickly tags out to get away from Charlotte. But Emma doesn’t have any more luck against Charlotte.

Charlotte chases Emma out of the ring and gets blindsided by Dana and Emma and Dane start stomping Charlotte in the corner. Dana starts to stretch Charlotte in the center but Charlotte fights out and tags in Sasha who is a house of fire.

Dana gets Sasha up for her finisher but Sasha wiggles out and hits a Bank Statement backstabber into a crossface. Emma tries to come in and help but Charlotte cuts her off and locks in the Figure 8 and both Emma and Dana tap out. Sasha and Charlotte high five and do an understated BFFs taunt and they shake hands and hug.

Charlotte gets on the mic and says “A deal is a deal though – I want a women’s title shot next week, like you promised.” Sasha says “If that’s what you want – it’s on.”

Bayley backstage at a live event talking about how Emma broke her hand and she has to watch everyone else get to wrestle but she isn’t allowed to. But like Stone Cold and Triple H, she is coming back from injury to win gold but first on her list is Emma.

They’re showing the NXT Title match from Beast in the East in its entirety. Really great match, especially on the rewatch. I totally missed the sleeper suplex from Owens the first time around. All of Sumo Hall went crazy when he won so it’s cool to see that Devitt is still so popular in Japan. And afterward, Tatsumi Fujinami comes out to congratulate Balor and raise his hand. Balor and Owens stare down after that, Balor extends his hand but Owens walks out. Also a new shot, Owens sitting by himself and cameraman asks him for his initial reaction to losing the NXT Title. Owens slowly looks up at him and attacks him.

Devin Taylor talks to Chad Gable. Asks him why Jason Jordan turned him down and Gable says hes asked and asked but Jordan doesn’t want to be a winner, he doesn’t want to dominate and wants to stay where he is on the NXT totem pole – at the bottom. But he’s going to stay ready, willing and Gable.

But then Jordan walks in and says they’re tagging next week. Gable holds out his hand to shake and has a Gable towel draped over it. They shake and Jordan walks away and Gable says see, I knew he’d come around.

Solomon Crowe says he’s back meaner, badder and nastier than ever before. And will show NXT universe why he is the resident little monster.

Marcus Louis walks out first with no entrance music. Louis looking as crazy as ever. He takes on Solomon Crowe. With his style and attitude, Callihan would’ve been way better off trying to make it in Japan. I don’t think that NXT will ever use him right.

They start off fast with Crowe getting the better of Louis. Louis gets control and abdominal stretch and claw on Crowe but he fights up and out of it.

Crowe gets the win with a stretch muffler.

Neville and Cesaro congratulate Balor on the title win backstage after his match. And then Cena comes in and shakes his hand because he’s a heat vampire and whenever someone else gets big heat, Cena needs to be near it. Balor then says dreams come true and his came true tonight.

Vaudevillains take on Enzo and Cass for tag title #1 contender. Both teams are pretty over but Enzo and Cass are on a different level of over. Vaudevillains debuting their “Wolf Pack” color scheme.

Enzo holding his own surprisingly well against English and Gotch without the help of Cass. Enzo getting the better of the two and the Vaudevillains regroup outside while Enzo and Cass sawft chant at them.

But soon, Gotch and English get Enzo locked into holds on the mat, to keep him away from his corner and away from Cass. Cass eventually gets in and starts to turn the tide.

Cass tags in Enzo and sets up launch Enzo onto Gotch. Gotch rolls over and grabs the leg of Cass to trip him up and Enzo cross body ono English who rolls through the dive and pins Enzo to make the Vaudevillains new #1 contenders.

William Regal announced at SDCC that the main event of Takeover in Brooklyn on 8/22 will be Balor defending the title against Owens in a rematch.

Ron Funches is going to be on a show on WWE Network

Lucha Underground, 7/8

Pentagon Jr opens the show, addressing his master. He talks about how Vampiro refuses to face him and how Vampiro is not the man he used to be. Pentagon says he wants to destroy him in the ring, at Ultima Lucha and his master tells him to attack his weakest point – his ego. And Pentagon finishes that Ian Hodgkinson will be his sacrifice.

The Mack is in the ring first (Striker calls him Lucha Ron Funches – is that racist?). He faces Cage.

They start fast, going at each other with everything from the opening bell. Mack can hold off Cage’s strength since he’s a bigger guy but Mack is a lot quicker than Cage and gets an advantage over Cage early on.

Mack goes for a dive off the top but Cage moves and then levels him with a discus lariat. But Mack kicks out somehow! He takes Cage off his feet with a big kick, they trade punches and Mack gets a roll up win on Cage after bouncing off the ropes.

Son of Havoc is in the locker room getting ready and Catrina sneaks up on him. She tells him soon the Disciples of Death will be after their gold but tonight, death is coming for Son of Havoc. Then Ivelisse is walks in and says “Back off bitch!” and Catrina pulls Havoc into her, the lights flicker and she’s gone. South African Dean Ambrose sees them and says “Oh god, please don’t tell me you guys are getting back together.”

Vampiro interviews Pentagon Jr, which seems like a bad idea.

Vampiro starts off by apologizing. He didn’t want to get involved in his business and he says he should never have done that.

Asks who is this master? But Pentagon ignores the question. Says that Pentagon has been violent and aggressive and reminds Vampiro of himself when he was younger. Pentagon says they are a lot alike. They both enjoy the pain of others but Pentagon asks who is he now – is he Vampiro or a coward?

Vampiro doesn’t like that and says he’ll throw down right now but he isn’t like that anymore and isn’t a wrestler anymore. His time has come and gone. He spent 33 years in the ring all over the world and lost his family so it’s just he and his daughter and he’s a different man now.

Pentagon says if he’s not a coward, face him at Ultima Lucha. Vampiro says it’s not his time anymore that it’s Pentagon’s time but Pentagon says that answer is weak and pathetic – just like Vampiro.

Next, Mil Muertes takes on Son of Havoc.

Havoc starts fast, hitting big kicks and elbows but everything he does barely staggers Mil. Havoc gets a 1 count off a cross body and Mil uses his size and strength to throw Havoc around, over the ropes and into the seats in the crowd.

Mil hammers Havoc with a chair since Cueto has told the officials to let things slide, let them fight. Mil powerbombs Havoc on the announcer table. Mil slams him into the outside of Cueto’s office as Angelico and Ivelisse watch on.

Mil throws Havoc back into the ring and Havoc tries to pull himself to his feet but Mil stays on him. Havoc hits a big dive onto Mil but showboats a little too long. He hits a double stomp to Mil’s back then a moonsault but only gets a 1 count.

Havoc keeps trying to turn the tide but Mil is too strong. Mil sets him on top but Havoc front suplex him down. Havoc sets up for a SSP on the top but Mil rolls out of the way.

Catrina starts to catch the eyes of Angelico and Ivelisse gets in her face. Catrina holds up the stone and the Disciples are behind Angelico and start to beat him down as Catrina chokes Ivelisse with one hand. She hits Ivelisse in the face with it but Havoc flips over the ropes onto the Disciples. But when he gets back in the ring, Mil hits a spear then a flatliner for the win.

Afterward, the Disciples and Catrina join Mil in the ring and Catrina gives Havoc the lick of death.

Texano in the ring. Says he hasn’t always been a nice dude but there’s one thing he’s always been – Mexicano! He loves hurting people, breaking their bones and whipping their asses. He’s a cheater and he can’t be trusted (so he’s Chavo?) but he’s never turned on his people – on his raza. He’s watching what Chavo has done to Mascarita Sagrada, to Sexy Star – to Blue Demon Jr. He doesn’t like them or care about them – but he hates Chavo.

He wants to settle this once and for all – at Ultima Lucha. He doesn’t care if Chavo broke his leg because he’ll break his other leg.

But then The Crew attacks him from the back, beating him down with a kendo stick. Blue Demon runs in to chase off the Crew. Cisco throws a chair in the ring and Demon grabs it – then hits Texano with it!

Texano busted open in the ring and Demon continues his attack. Demon on the mic says Texano isn’t Mexico – I am Mexico! Yo soy! Demon says he doesn’t need Texano fighting his battles for him so at Ultima Lucha, Texano will fight Blue Demon Jr!

8-man Atomicos tag team match (Team Alberto vs Team Johnny – ADR, Sexy, Aerostar, Drago vs Mundo, Hernandez, Evans and Super Fly)

They didn’t really explain the Atomicos rules. Unless they are just the same as any tag match instead of lucha rules like out of the ring touch the floor counts as a tag or that tags go in order (maybe that’s just a Chikara Cibernetico though).

Alberto and Mundo in the ring first. But Mundo backs up and tags in Jack Evans to stay away from Alberto. Evans shows off his kicks and flips and Alberto slaps him in the face  and brings him to his corner.

Hard to keep track of all the action, guys are going in and out quickly on both teams. The rudo team was working together briefly to beat down Alberto but it’s mostly pairings and guys working against each other and doing big spots off the top to the outside.

Mundo trips up Alberto as he goes for a dive to the outside and Alberto chases Mundo up the steps. Alberto returns and Mundo comes back a minute or so later.

The rudos work together to keep Aerostar on the mat in their corner and away from his teammates. He finally tags out and Sexy Star comes in and gets the better of Mundo and Evans. She evades Super Fly and rains down punches but Hernandez picks her up and drops her down. Drago comes in but gets overwhelmed. Alberto sneaks up on Hernandez and hits a backstabber. Alberto locks in cross arm breaker on Evans but Mundo breaks it up. Mundo picks up the win when he pins Sexy Star after rolling through a cross body with a handful of tights.

Next week, Striker says there will be a face to face confrontation between Prince Puma and Mil Muertes. As Striker talks, Pentagon sneak attacks Vampiro and super kicks him then puts him down with a few chair shots to the back.

Pentagon says he dedicates this sacrifice to his master and destroy this shell of a man. Vampiro picks himself up and his leaning on his knees and Pentagon kicks him and sends him into the crowd. Pentagon then grabs a gasoline can! He opens it and starts to pour it all over Vampiro who can’t collect himself  enough to fight back. Pentagon says he isn’t afraid of Vampiro – Vampiro is afraid of him! And if Vampiro doesn’t accept a match with Pentagon at Ultima Lucha, his family and the world will watch him burn.

Pentagon pulls out a lighter and says Vampiro has one week to decide. 

Ring of Honor

ROH DA 7/15

-Jay Lethal defends TV title gainst Mark Briscoe

-Silas Young vs. Will Ferrara

-Matt Sydal vs Adam Page

ROH DA  7/8

Opens with images from Lethal/Briscoe title for title match

Watanabe out first to take on Dalton Castle. Castle gets annoyed with Watanabe when he summons Dalton's boys to fan him.

Good match. Watanabe has been looking good in the ring, if a little uninspiring. Castle is awesome as always and picks up the win with a spinning face buster. And they shake hands.

After, Castle with the mic. Has the Boys take the form of a chair and sits on them and says it's clear after BITW, there's only one real man in ROH, which pisses off Silas Young.

Nigel introduces Jay Lethal, the new World and TV champ. Dijack and Diesel with them as well. Corino says the TV title says TV again, since Lethal took it off when he was going up against Briscoe.

Truth says fans aren't his people, the House is his people. Puts him over as best in the world and best 1st generation wrestler.

Lethal says he is best in the world since he is the undisputed champion in the best company in the world.

Lethal keeps it short and goes to leave but Nigel say wait. Asks him which title he's vacating and Lethal doesn't look happy. Lethal yells at Nigel he isn't giving up a damn thing, will defend them both. Nigel says they are separate so Lethal may have to defend them both in a night. Roddy is challenging for World at DBD and Mark Briscoe TV title match next week. Lethal says he will prove he is the greatest and defend both if he has to. Lethal says he will destroy Briscoe and it's a snowball effect to July 24 at DBD with Roddy.

Then Roddy comes out. He eggs on Lethal and says he will walk out champion at DBD.

Kingdom out next. Trouble brewing in The Kingdom and Cole seems to be the center of it. He took the pin at WOTW N2 and Maria was pissed. He doesn't seem happy in the new Kingdom leather jacket either.

Maria says it's not his fault, she calls herself the leader of the kingdom and says she takes full responsibility and she believes in him and the Kingdom and they hug it out.

Kingdom gets a few cheers but mostly indifference and the cheers are for Cole. People really don't like/care about Elgin but reDRagon is really over.

Cole and O'Reilly shake first and the rest shake surprisingly.

Elgin beating down Bennett to start but Cole and Taven soon get involved to triple team Elgin. Cole then Taven tag in and keep Elgin in their corner.

Whenever nonlegal guys attack reDRagon, Cole attacks O'Reilly. Elgin finally tags reDRagon and they clean house.

Elgin powerbomb Taven over the top onto Kingdom then reDRagon pulls Taven in, Chasing the Dragon into a super Liger Bomb from Elgin but Kingdom breaks it up.

O'Reilly and Cole finally face off. O'Reilly pins Cole after Chasing the Dragon and Maria isn't happy. Then Cole shakes O'Reilly hand and raises it while he's staring at Maria! And then he leaves without The Kingdom, who look pretty pissed at Cole.

ROH in Las Vegas, 7/17

Vegas Wild Card match

Jay Lethal, Austin Aries and Moose vs Jay Briscoe, Dalton Castle and Kyle O’Reilly

RPG Vice vs Young Bucks

ROH TV Title contender tournament

Christopher Daniels vs Mark Briscoe

Matt Taven vs Bobby Fish

Frankie Kazarian vs ACH

Triple threat featuring winners for #1 contender

Also, for 7/25 TV taping in Baltimore, Jay Lethal defends TV title against Hanson

Absolute Intense Wrestling

Tim Donst made his return to wrestling after beating cancer at Absolution X

AIW Absolution X

June 10, 2015

Cleveland, OH

-Gregory Iron and the Iron Curtain def. Joshua Singh, Kaplan, Frankie Flynn, and Brian Carson with Iron pinned Singh (Afterward, Vader came out to help Team Singh)

AIW Women’s Championship

-Athena def. Veda Scott win the title back

AIW Intense Championship

-Davey Vega def. BJ Whitmer to retain

I Quit Match

-Ethan Page def. Eddie Kingston

AIW Tag Team Championships

-To Infinity and Beyond (Colin Delaney and Cheech) def. Hot Sauce Entertainment (Tyson Dux and Tracy Williams) to retain

6 pack scramble

-Louis Lyndon def. Candice LeRae, ACH, Flip Kendrick, Cedric Alexander, and Tyler Thomas

Anything Goes Match

-Tim Donst def Nick Gage

– post match Gage shakes the hand of Donst but attacks him while Donst is delivering a promo

AIW Championship

Rickey Shane Page def Josh Alexander to win the Championship (Alexander won the match after faking an injury but Wadsworth came out and restarted the match, leading to RSP winning the title)

Team AIW (Young Bucks, Johnny Gargano, Alex Daniels, Josh Prohibition) def. Dude’s on TV (Ethan Carter, Matt Cross, Dj Z, Samoa Joe, Raymond Rowe)

Evolve

Evolve 45 results

July 10

Ybor City, FL

-Caleb Konley def. Gary Jay

-Trent Baretta def. Rich Swann

-Andrew Everett def. Anthony Nese

(Konley, Baretta and Nese are part of the Premier Athlete Brand and manager SoCal Val was on the mic before and after these matches, saying how they are unstoppable)

-Chris Hero def. Trevor Lee

-Zack Sabre Jr. def. Roderick Strong

EVOLVE World Championship and DGUSA Open the Freedom Gate

Championship

-Timothy Thatcher def. Drew Galloway to win the titles

Evolve 46

-Trevor Lee def. Anthony Nese

-Zack Sabre Jr. def. TJ Perkins

-Drew Galloway def. Trent Beretta

-Evolve Title Match: Champion Timothy Thatcher def. Chris Hero

-Zack Sabre Jr. challenged Timothy Thatcher for a title match when Evolve returns in August

Alpha-1 Wrestling

Seppuku

July 12, 2015

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

-Kobe Durst def. Tyson Dux

-Alex Daniels and The Goat Brigade (Kirk Warmack and Shane Sabre) def. Ben Ortmanns and The Ginger Gang (Josh Rogen and Rhys Greenaway)

-Dick Justice def. Danny Orlando

A1 Tag Team Title Match

-The Oppression (Justin Sane and Lionel Knight) (c) def. Brent Banks and Tarik

A1 Zero Gravity Title Match

Rickey Shane Page (c) def. Tyler Thomas to retain

Joshua Singh defeats Ashley Sixx, Davey Vega, and Steve Brown

Seleziya Sparx def. Eddie Kingston

The Gym Rats (Alessandro Del Bruno and Scotty O’Shea) def. The Monster Mafia (Ethan Page and Josh Alexander)

(This was Alexander’s final match as he is retiring due to health issues)

Combat Zone Wrestling

Allegedly, CZW has signed a deal to air live PPVs on real distributors. I say allegedly because, having been a fan of CZW for a long time, I’ve heard of deals like these in the works or being talked about as sure things, then nothing comes of it. Not to mention that while CZW usually draws a good crowd, the company doesn’t seem to have worldwide appeal that would make a PPV distribution deal seem worthwhile.

But if you want to read more about it, check out the link below:

http://pwinsider.com/article/95060/combat-zone-wrestling-signs-live-ppv-deal.html?p=1

Deal for first month of CZWStudios if you sign up in July with a promo code

#DustinChecksOut

Indy Minute - Weekly independent wrestling news round up

  Welcome back to the Delco Elbow Drop for another installment of NXT and Indy Wrestling Minute, your favorite segment on Ring Rust Radio. Lots of news to cover this week including upcoming shows like NXT Takeover, Ring of Honor’s All Star Extravaganza 6 and results from PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles so let’s get right into it!

  NXT TV, 8/28

  The Ascension squashed some jobbers that don’t get a ring announcement or named by the announcers, since they spent most of the match talking about WWE SuperCard. Alex Riley compares the Ascension to the Shield in dominance which is his opinion I guess (they aren’t near as badass as The Shield, is what I’m saying). While The Ascension seem to be very over with the Full Sail crowd, the other team did get a “Let’s go jobbers” chant, though it might’ve been sarcastic, since that crowd is so smarky. Ascension hit the Fall of Man for the win and cut a brief promo about “Will the winners of the tournament be contenders or just more victims?”

  New general manager is revealed to be William Regal. His first act as GM announces NXT Takeover main event for the NXT Title (and at this point, Adrian Neville asks Regal “Who’s next” and draws a “Gold-berg” chant) but before he can name an opponent, Tyson Kidd comes out and accepts the title match before Regal announces anyone. But he’s interrupted by Breeze who says everyone deserves a title shot before Kidd, including his wife, and he’s interrupted by Sami Zayn. Neville steps in and says everyone has an opinion and here’s his - he wants to face Tyson Kidd. And Tyler Breeze. And Sami Zayn in a fatal fourway for the title at NXT Takeover.  Regal accepts that and makes the main event for tonight, which is Tyson Kidd and Tyler Breeze versus Sami Zayn and Adrian Neville.

   Sasha Banks versus Bayley. (There’s only four ladies left in NXT it seems - Charlotte, Bayley, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch) Sasha opens the match by slapping the crap out of Bayley. Sasha seems to have a really Shinsuke Nakamura inspired offense, uses a lot of knees (backstabber, that corner thing where Bayley is resting on the second turnbuckle and Sasha drops her knees in the midsection). Belly to Bayley out of nowhere and Bayley picks up the win. Charlotte comes out after as Renee interviews Bayley to trash talk Bayley. The only thing I took away from this was that they’re calling it the “NXT Divas championship” now. It’s not Women’s championship anymore?

  Bull Dempsey versus Angelo Dawkins who has some weird...I don’t know hipster gimmick? Or like a hip hop hipster gimmick? I dunno, it’s not very clearly defined (has a sideways hat, Beatz headphones around his neck, plaid shirt, goofy glasses and a backpack). But none of his accessories matter as Bull hits the Bulldozer for the win.

  Sylvester LaFort and Marcus Louis talk to Devin about how Enzo is a greaseball and an American slob. They speak a bunch of French to each other and then leave.

  Tyson Kidd and Tyler Breeze vs Sami Zayn and Adrian Neville in a great match in the main event. Tyson Kidd pins Adrian Neville after Sami Zayn went for the Helluva Kick on Tyler Breeze but hit Neville by accident. He hits Breeze with the Blue Thunder Bomb and Kidd pushes Zayn out of the ring and pins Neville. Afterward, Zayn hits Tyson with the Helluva Kick and picks up the NXT Title and looks at it in the ring as everyone else is down. I really hope this means that Zayn will be winning the title at Takeover. Tyson Kidd is great and could win too but NXT is about building new stars and Kidd is really there to just enhance that talent. And as great as Tyler Breeze is, I don’t think he’s championship material. He’s a great heel, but I don’t see him being champ.

  Ring of Honor’s All Star Extravaganza 6 is this weekend in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ROH Champion Michael Elgin defends his title against Jay Briscoe, the man who still feels he should be rightful champion. I think it’s a good idea to move Jay and Mark Briscoe back to singles competition until War Machine is back in action. Put Jay in the World title scene for now, give Elgin another competent foe (along with Cole) and have Mark feud with Hanson until Rowe is healed up.

  reDRagon (Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish) will defend the ROH tag team championships against the Young Bucks in a 2 out of 3 falls match. This could easily be “Match of the Night.” Both teams are two of the most impressive teams in pro wrestling today and both are more than worthy of being ROH tag team champs.

  Jay Lethal defends the ROH TV Title against ACH in a no time limit match. Their match on ROH TV last week that went to a 30-minute time limit draw, which I saw live and was even better on a rewatch. With Matt Taven seemingly out of the TV Title picture after losing in the cage match at Field of Honor, it seems like ACH is poised to win the title from Lethal. He’s easily one of the most impressive athletes in ROH and his high-flying offense really gets the crowd behind him. I think he and Lethal have a lot of great chemistry together and while I hope ACH wins the title, I also hope this is only the beginning of a long feud between the two.

  “The Phenomenal One” AJ Styles will be taking on Adam Cole. I haven’t seen much of AJ Styles in his current run but, I guess he’s not a heel in ROH? Because Cole is one of the most hated heels in wrestling right now so I guess Styles really can’t play up his Bullet Club heel heat in ROH. Regardless of that, this match should be great. I don’t know if these guys have faced off against each other before but even without a stipulation or a title on the line, this match could easily steal the show.

  Bad Influence, Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian, will take on Roderick Strong and Jimmy Jacobs of the Decade in a grudge match. The Decade screwed Bad Influence out of winning the tag belts at Field of Honor and now Kaz and Daniels are looking for revenge. The Decade are looking to get into the tag team title picture and it’s about time, honestly. The tag title scene hasn’t had a top heel team in a while, since the Briscoes, Bucks and Bad Influence are so beloved and reDRagon are basically tweeners (they act like arrogant but are too good in the ring to hate).

  Silas Young will take on Cedric Alexander in a match tagged as “Battle of the Breakout Stars.” Young is one of the best up-and-coming heels in ROH right now and Cedric Alexander is only been getting more and more impressive in the ring. This match should be great.

  Mark Briscoe will take on Hanson to try and keep the Briscoes/War Machine feud going while Rowe is on the shelf. I talked about this feud earlier but I hope ROH can manage to keep the heat going between these two teams until Rowe can get back in action.

  And finally, a four-corner survival tag team match - The Decade’s Adam Page and BJ Whitmer, Ethan Gabriel Owen (known as Ethan Page elsewhere on the indies) and Josh Alexander (whose team is also known as Monster Mafia) vs. Caprice Coleman and Watanabe vs. RD Evans and Moose. It’s great to see Monster Mafia getting more work in ROH because they’re one of the better teams on the indies. Caprice Coleman and Watanabe will most likely continue their feud with the Decade, which is probably why BJ Whitmer is tagging with Page instead of Tadarius Thomas, so he can continue to try and recruit Watanabe. But in the end, RD Evans and Moose are going to pick up the win because I don’t see the New Streak ending any time soon.

  ROH All Star Extravaganza 6 will be available on iPPV and Ringside Members will receive a 25% off all iPPVS.

  There are rumors that New Japan Pro Wrestling may be offering its biggest show of the year, WrestleKingdom, on Pay-Per-View in the United States. The Meltz and the Observer report that NJPW is “seriously” looking into offering the January 4^th show from the Tokyo Dome on InDemand PPV and iPPV as well as trying to book an English-speaking announce team for the show.

  Pro Wrestling Guerrilla hosted Battle of Los Angeles this past weekend in Reseda, California over three nights of amazing action. The 24-man tournament was one of the most stacked tournaments to be booked in a long time. Ricochet won the tournament, defeating Johnny Gargano and Roderick Strong in the finals. This means that Ricochet will now be vying for Kyle O’Reilly’s PWG World title along with Roderick Strong, who defeated Adam Cole at “Eleven” in a match to decide the number one contender. I mean, I guess Ricochet could use the BOLA win to challenge World’s Cutest Tag Team for the PWG tag titles again but…that’d make no sense. Onto the results:

  Night One

  Turns out Brian Cage is still recovering from an injury and was replaced by TJ Perkins. Hopefully when he gets healthy, the Unbreakable F’n Machines get a shot at the tag titles cause watching them throw around Candice would be pretty awesome. Also, Brad Maddox was at BOLA, though I heard he wouldn’t take pictures with anyone because he wanted to keep a low profile…as he proceeded to sit front row opposite the hard cam.

  TJP def. Bobby Fish

  Roderick Strong def. Biff Busick

  Trevor Lee def. Cedric Alexander

  World’s Cutest Tag Team (Joey Ryan and Candice LeRae) retained the PWG Tag Team titles against Bad Influence (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) and the Inner City Machine Guns (Ricochet and Rich Swann)

  Michael Elgin def. Tommaso Ciampa

  AJ Styles def.Brian Myers (formerly Curt Hawkins)

  Kyle O’Reilly def. Drew Gulak

  In the main event, the Acquaintances of Low Moral Fiber (Chuck Taylor, Kenny Omega and Zack Sabre Jr) def. Mount Rushmore (Adam Cole and the Young Bucks) when Taylor pinned Cole after hitting the Awful Waffle

  Biff Busick was said to be super over to I’d expect to see him back again. Unfortunately, Drew Gulak didn’t seem to be getting the same reception so I wouldn’t be as hopeful to see him back.

 

  Night Two

  Candice LeRae def. Rich Swann

  Johnny Gargano def. Chuck Taylor

  Ricochet def. Chris Sabin

  reDRagon def. Drew Gulak and Biff Busick

  Matt Sydal def. Chris Hero

  Zack Sabre Jr. def. Adam Cole

  Kenny Omega def. ACH

  The Young Bucks def. Bad Influence

  I was really surprised to hear that Adam Cole lost another singles match, especially since most of the other guys they brought in (beside Sabre) lost in the first round, and also because before Cole lost the World title and to Roddy last show, Cole hadn’t lost a singles match in a long, long time.

  Night Three

  Johnny Gargano def. Candice LeRae

  Ricochet def. TJP

  Trevor Lee def. Michael Elgin

  (They’re really putting Lee over like crazy. He beat Kevin Steen in his final PWG match and this week beats the ROH Champ and a perennial tag team contender in the Unbreakable F’n Machines. Can’t wait to see what he does next.)

  Kenny Omega def. Matt Sydal

  Roderick Strong def. AJ Styles (by DQ allegedly, couldn’t find any details though)
  Kyle O’Reilly def. Zack Sabre Jr. (In what many said was match of the tournament. Afterward, Roderick Strong attack O’Reilly, putting him through chairs with an Orange Crush Backbreaker, hit Excalibur with a chair and held O’Reilly in the Stronghold until Bobby Fish made the save.)

Roderick Strong attacking Kyle O'Reilly following O'Reilly's quarterfinal match against Zack Sabre Jr.

  Cole and the Young Bucks def. ACH, Sabin and Myers

  O’Reilly is out of the tournament after the attack by Roddy, who was, coincidentally, his opponent in the semifinals. Roddy gets a bye into the finals.

Johnny Gargano def. Trevor Lee to advance to the finals

Ricochet def. Kenny Omega to advance to the finals.

  In a huge 10-man tag match, Chris Hero, Chuck Taylor, Rich Swann, Joey Ryan and the returning Willie Mack def. Drew Gulak, Biff Busick, Bobby Fish, Cedric (the) Alexander, and Tomato Camper (Tommaso Ciampa). Willie Mack also announced he will be joining WWE (read more after the results).

  In the finals, Ricochet pinned Johnny Gargano to win the Battle of Los Angeles but after the match, was attacked by Roderick Strong and the BOLA trophy was destroyed.

  It will be interesting to see the direction of PWG after BOLA. There are two contenders for the PWG championship and numerous contenders to the tag belts as well. On top of that, there’s a lot of new faces coming up in the company (like Trevor Lee and Biff Busick) who could shake things up. I’m still hoping that one day Gargano either wins a BOLA or wins the World title because he’s one of my favorite wrestlers on the scene today. Additionally, after Hero’s loss to O’Reilly last month and going out of BOLA in the first round, I kinda feel like he should take a Roderick heel turn and just start destroying everyone. Maybe even join Mount Rushmore, taking Steen’s place as the new bruiser?

  More on Mack joining WWE - Willie Mack officially announced that he will be heading to WWE Developmental following a 10-man tag team match on Night 3. He was rumored to have been signed several months ago but now the news is official. Willie Mack was a fan in the crowd during the first Battle of Los Angeles in 2005 and it’s great that he could announce being signed to WWE during this year’s tournament. Mack has primarily worked for West Coast promotions and is very charismatic and very agile for a bigger guy.

  Also, coming up this weekend, Absolute Intense Wrestling in Cleveland, Ohio is hosting “Wrestle Rager” on Sept. 5-7. Several big stars are slated to appear, such as TNA’s Abyss, Colt Cabana, ROH Champion Michael Elgin, PWG tag team champion Candice LeRae and more. The more I hear about AIW the more it makes me wish I lived closer to Cleveland or that they would do some shows closer to Philly because they always seem to put on great shows with some of the top indy talent in the country.