Battle of Los Angeles (professional wrestling)

For other uses, see Battle of Los Angeles (disambiguation).

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.

Battle of Los Angeles
Promotions	Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
First event	2005
Event gimmick	Annual single elimination tournament

The tournament setup

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.

Winners, dates, venues and main events

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]

Championship match for winner

  – Championship victory

  – Championship match loss

  – Did not receive title match

#	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.

References

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3. Arnold Furious (January 24, 2009). "The Furious Flashbacks – PWG Battle of Los Angeles 2006". 411Mania. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
4. Arnold Furious (April 14, 2011). "The Furious Flashbacks – PWG Battle of Los Angeles 2007 Night One". 411Mania. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
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6. Arnold Furious (April 16, 2011). "The Furious Flashbacks – PWG Battle of Los Angeles 2007 Night Three". 411Mania. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
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27. Meltzer, Dave (2017-09-02). "PWG BOLA night one results: Chosen Bros vs. Dijak & Lee". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 2017-09-02.
28. Meltzer, Dave (2017-09-03). "PWG BOLA night two results: The Elite vs. Penta 0M, Rey Fenix & Flamita". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 2017-09-03.
29. Meltzer, Dave (2017-09-04). "PWG BOLA night three results: The winner is crowned". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 2017-09-04.
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33. Dave Meltzer (September 21, 2019). "PWG BOLA night one results: Lucha Bros vs. Flamita & Bandido". WON / F4W. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
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External links

• The Website of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (Requires Macromedia Flash)