Battle of Los Angeles (2023) was the 17th

Battle of Los Angeles The Battle of Los Angeles, also known as the Great Los Angeles Air Raid, is the name given by contemporary sources to a rumored attack on the continental United States by Imperial Japan and the subsequent anti-aircraft artillery barrage which ...

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

produced by

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Los Angeles, California. It is owned and operated by wrestlers themselves, having been created by Disco Machine, Excalibur, Scott Lost, Joey Ryan, Super Drago ...

(PWG). It was a two-night event on January 7 and 8, 2023, at the

Globe Theatre The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, on land owned by Thomas Brend and inherited by his son, Nicholas Brend, and gra ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. The tournament marked the PWG debuts of Michael Oku,

Shun Skywalker (born 30 May 1996), better known by his ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to Dragon Gate, where he is a former one-time Open the Dream Gate Champion. He has also wrestled in promotions such as International Wres ...

El Hijo del Vikingo Emmanuel Roman Morales (born April 29, 1997), better known by the ring name El Hijo del Vikingo, is a Mexican ''luchador'' (or professional wrestler) currently working for Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide, where he is the current AAA Mega Champion in his ...

, SB Kento and Bryan Keith as well as the surprise PWG debut of

Chris Jericho Christopher Keith Irvine (born November 9, 1970), better known by the ring name Chris Jericho, is an American-Canadian professional wrestler and singer. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the leader of the Jeri ...

. Mike Bailey won the Battle of Los Angeles tournament by defeating

Konosuke Takeshita is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to both All Elite Wrestling (AEW) in the United States and DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT) in Japan. Takeshita was named the Rookie of the Year by ''Tokyo Sports'' in 2013 and is the youngest KO-D O ...

in the final. Two non-tournament matches took place on the second night. In the first match,

Black Taurus Black Taurus (born March 11, 1987) is a Mexican ''luchador enmascarado'', or masked professional wrestler, He is currently under contract with Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide, in addition to making appearances for Impact Wrestling. He is primarily kno ...

and Latigo defeated

Aramis René d'Herblay, alias Aramis, is a fictional character in the novels ''The Three Musketeers'' (1844), ''Twenty Years After'' (1845), and ''The Vicomte de Bragelonne'' (1847-1850) by Alexandre Dumas, père. He and the other two musketeers, Atho ...

and

Rey Horus Rey Horus is a Mexican ''luchador enmascarado'', or masked professional wrestler currently signed to Ring of Honor (ROH). Formerly he wrestled for Major League Wrestling (MLW). He was also known as the second El Hijo de Rey Misterio, Spanish f ...

. The second match was a

ten-man tag team match Much like the singles match, tag team professional wrestling matches can and have taken many forms. Just about any singles or melee match type can be adapted to tag teams; for example, hardcore tag team matches are commonplace. Tag team ladder ma ...

in which

Jericho Appreciation Society The Jericho Appreciation Society (JAS) is a villainous professional wrestling stable formed in American professional wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW), created and led by Chris Jericho and also appears in AEW's sister promotion, Ri ...

(Chris Jericho, Daniel Garcia,

Angelo Parker Angelo Parker and Matt Menard, also formerly known as 2.0 (stylized as 2point0) and 3.0, and later Ever-Rise in WWE, is a Canadian professional wrestling tag team currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where they are also a part of the Jer ...

, Matt Menard and

Sammy Guevara Samuel George Guevara (born July 28, 1993) is an American professional wrestler signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a member of the Jericho Appreciation Society. He is a record tying three-time former AEW TNT Champion. He also appea ...

) defeated

Jonathan Gresham Jonathan Gresham (born March 20, 1988) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to Impact Wrestling. He has previously wrestled for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and Ring of Honor (ROH), where he is a former ROH World Champion, ROH Pure ...

, Kevin Blackwood, Michael Oku,

Player Uno Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who is ...

, and SB Kento.

Background

On November 22, 2022, PWG announced via its official

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

handle that the 2023 Battle of Los Angeles tournament would take place on January 7 and January 8, 2023. The following participants were announced to participate in the tournament: Michael Oku,

Masha Slamovich Ann Khozine (russian: Анна Хозина, ''Anna Khozina''; born 18 June 1998), known by her ring name Masha Slamovich, is a Russian-American professional wrestler currently signed to Impact Wrestling. Early life Ann Khozine was born in M ...

, "Speedball" Mike Bailey,

Komander Komander (born December 15, 1998 in Reynosa, Tamaulipas) is a Mexican luchador, a masked professional wrestler, currently working with Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA). He made his debut for the promotion in Saltillo on August 10, 2019 in a winni ...

Alex Shelley Patrick Kenneth Martin (born May 23, 1983) is an American professional wrestler and physical therapy clinician, better known by the ring name, Alex Shelley, makes appearances with Impact Wrestling (formerly known as Total Nonstop Action Wrestl ...

Aramís Aramís is a Mexican '' luchador enmascarado'' (masked professional wrestler) currently working with Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA), but also as a freelancer in other Mexican promotions such as International Wrestling Revolution Group, Lucha M ...

, Titus Alexander,

Jordynne Grace Patricia Forrest Parker (born March 5, 1996) is an American professional wrestler and powerlifter currently signed to Impact Wrestling, where she performs under the ring name Jordynne Grace. She is currently the Impact Knockouts World Champion ...

Lio Rush Lionel Gerard Green (born November 11, 1994), better known by the ring name Lio Rush, is an American professional wrestler and musician currently signed to New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of the Chaos stable. He has also ap ...

, Latigo, 2022 winner and the World Champion Daniel Garcia, 2019 winner Bandido,

and

. On December 14, PWG tweeted that Bailey would be unable to compete in his first round match on the night one but committed to compete in his first round match on night two. It prompted PWG to add SB Kento as the eighteenth participant in the tournament and PWG announced that a match would be held on night one to determine Bailey's opponent on night two. On December 15, PWG revealed the list of first-round matches on night one including a three-way match between Bandido, Black Taurus, and El Hijo del Vikingo. Due to injuries sustained in a match at Wrestle Kingdom 17, Lio Rush was removed from the tournament on January 5 and replaced with the debuting Bryan Keith.

Event

Night One

The Battle of Los Angeles kicked off with a match between

and

. Slamovich countered a sit-out side powerslam attempt by Shelley into a cradle and pinned him for the win. Next, SB Kento took on Bryan Keith. Keith hit a knee strike and a powerbomb for the win. Next,

took on Latigo. Komander pinned Latigo with a cradle after a ropewalk shooting star press. Next,

took on

. Grace countered a European clutch by Gresham into a choke to win via submission. Grace advanced to compete against Mike Bailey in the first round match on the night two. Next,

took on

. Skywalker delivered a spinning powerbomb to Aramis for the win. Next,

took on Michael Oku. Takeshita delivered a jumping knee strike and a running knee strike to Oku for the win. Next, the World Champion Daniel Garcia took on Titus Alexander. Garcia was disqualified after the referee caught him hitting Alexander with the World Championship title belt. It was followed by a three-way match between Bandido,

, and

. Bandido delivered a kneeling reverse piledriver to Taurus for the win.

Night Two

The night two opened with the first round match between Mike Bailey and Jordynne Grace. Bailey delivered a '' Flamingo Driver'' to Grace for the win. ;Quarterfinals The quarterfinal round of the Battle of Los Angeles began as Konosuke Takeshita took on Titus Alexander. Takeshita delivered a jumping knee strike to Alexander for the win. Next, Bryan Keith took on Masha Slamovich. Keith delivered a running knee strike to Slamovich for the win. Chris Jericho - Forbidden Door (AEW x NJPW) (52291670982)

Chris Jericho - Forbidden Door (AEW x NJPW) (52291670982)

Next, Bandido took on Komander. Komander delivered a ropewalk shooting star press to Bandido for the win. Next, Mike Bailey took on Shun Skywalker. Bailey delivered a shooting star press with double knees to Skywalker's chest for the win. It was followed by a tag team match in which Black Taurus teamed with Latigo to take on Aramis and

. Taurus delivered a powerbomb, a backbreaker and a belly-to-back piledriver to Horus for the win. ;Semifinals In the first semifinal match, Konosuke Takeshita defeated Komander by pinning him with a backslide. Next, Mike Bailey took on Bryan Keith. Bailey delivered a

450° splash Aerial techniques, also known as "high-flying moves" are maneuvers in professional wrestling using the ring's posts and ropes as aids, in many cases to demonstrate the speed and agility of smaller, nimble and acrobatically inclined wrestlers prefer ...

with double knees to Keith's back for the win. It was followed by a ten-man tag team match featuring a surprise appearance by

(

, Daniel Garcia, Matt Menard and

), thus marking Jericho's surprise PWG debut. Parker and Menard made their surprise returns to PWG after a near fifteen-year absence, having last appeared at the 2008 DDT4 while Guevara also made his surprise PWG return after a four-year absence, having last appeared as a participant in the 2018 Battle of Los Angeles. JAS took on Jonathan Gresham, Kevin Blackwood, Michael Oku,

and SB Kento. Jericho delivered a '' Judas Effect'' to Blackwood for the win. ;Final Mike Bailey took on Konosuke Takeshita in the final of the 2023 Battle of Los Angeles. Bailey delivered a shooting star press and a ''Flamingo Driver'' to Takeshita to win the tournament.

Results

Tournament brackets

References

External links

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla official website
{{Battle of Los Angeles 2023 in professional wrestling January 2023 sports events in the United States Professional wrestling in Los Angeles Professional wrestling in California 2023 in Los Angeles Battle of Los Angeles (professional wrestling) 2023 in California