UnOfficial PWG Battle Of Los Angeles 2006 preview

[TigerDriver98]

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla

[TigerDriver98]

NIGHT 2


Austin Aries

Height: 5'9"
Weight: 202 lbs.
Hometown: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
PWG Record: 1-2

Notable Tournament appearances:
Neo-Pro Wrestling: Crusierweight Title Tournament: Winner
ECWA Super 8 2004: Finalist
CZW Best Of The Best 6: Finalist
ROH Trios Tournament 2005: Finalist
NWA Upstate: Upstate 8: Finalist
NIW Impact Invitational 2006: Semi Finalist
IWA Mid South Ted Petty Invitational 2004 participant
1PW Title Tournament: participant
IWA:MS Revolution Strong Style Tournament 2004 participant


Major Titles Held: ROH World Title, ROH Tag Team Title (Current) Pro Wrestling WAR Title, NWA Midwest X-Division title, MAW Junior Heavyweight title


Background/Motivation: I'm a big fan of the show "Who Wants to be a Superhero" on the Sci-Fi Channel (Editor note: Mr. Doring speaks for himself here. If I wanted to see fat people in spandex, I'd look out my window - PN) I just really love the idea of people in funny costumes pretending they possess amazing powers. However, there are some men who really DO possess powers beyond normal men, and Austin Aries is one of them. Able to end massive title reigns with a single 450 splash, fight through a torn ACL to defeat elite opponents, and spin his elbow faster than mortal men can see, Aries has been described by many fans as a true "wrestling machine."

This bulldozer mentality has given Aries a great deal of success. The former ROH champion and a member of the most dominant ROH tag team champions in history, Aries was recently given the honor to travel to Japan as part of Dragon Gate's "Wrestle JAM" tour, and will be returning to TNA soon to once again be a national TV "Starr." A Battle of LA victory would be a fine addition to Aries' already impressive resume and cement his reputation as one of the most superhuman wrestlers in the United States

Opening Round match: Disco Machine, this has to be seen as a huge relief for Austin Aries, who was originally set to meet "The Best In The World" American Dragon in round one. It's kinda like going from the #1 seed to the 24th seed. That isn't to say Aries should totally write off Disco, one well placed Chokebreaker and Aries could find himself bumped from the BOLA in a hurry.

Later Round Outlook: The later rounds will be yet another test of Aries' superhuman abilities. A couple of drunk near-illiterate hicks from Delaware cracked his ribs over in England, which may limit Aries' abilities to unload his full arsenal on his opponents. Throw in Davey Richards as a probable second-round opponent, someone who is known for kicking people really, really hard in the chest, and Aries' reputation as wrestling's "Iron Enforcer" may be pushed to the brink.

Odds of winning: 30-1 Austin Aries may be "macho," but he's in the Battle of Los Angeles' most difficult bracket, against wrestlers who will probably target his injury and exploit it to the fullest. Couple this with the fact that Aries has had difficulty "closing the deal" in the later rounds of tournaments, and you get someone who will likely not get far, despite his reputation.


Chris Hero

Height: 6'5"
Weight: 230 pounds
Hometown: Metropolis
PWG Record: 8-9 (4-6 as a single)

Notable Tournament appearances:
CHIKARA Tag World Grand Prix 2006: Winner
IWA:MS Sweet Science Sixteen 2000: Winner
IWA:MS Revolution Strong Style Tournament 2005: Winner
CCW Heavyweight Title Tournament 2004: Winner
ACW Heavyweight Title Tournament 2000: Winner
CHIKARA Tag World Grand Prix Tournament - 2005: Finalist
IWA:MS Ted Petty Inventational Tournament 2003: Finalist
Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup 2004: Finalist
PWG Tango and Cash Inventational: Semi Finalist
CHIKARA Young Lions Cup 2004: Semi Finalist
CZW Best Of The Best 5: Semi-finalist
IWA:MS Ted Petty Inventational Tournament 2005: Semi Finalist
IWA:MS Revolution Strong Style Tournament 2003: Semi Finalist
And we while there is more... we'll stop here. I'm sure you get the point. He does well in tournament

Major Titles Held: CZW World (Current) Chikara Tag Team (Current) IWA:MS Heavyweight (4), CZW Iron Man, CZW Tag Team, IWA East-Coast Heavyweight, wXw Heavyweight,

Background/Motivation: Obsession can be a double-edged sword. It can bring you to the highest levels of fortune and glory, as the careers of men like Tiger Woods, Stanley Kubrick and Stephen Hawking have proven. However, obsession can also leave you running from a dormitory as a former girlfriend's buddies from art school run after you with baseball bats.

Anyway, Chris Hero is a man who believes obsession is the key to becoming the best wrestler on the planet. A stat freak who once wrote down the exact details of all 400+ matches he had in a calendar year (actually, he probably still does), Hero will go to dangerous extremes in order to accomplish his objectives. He has trained under roughly 9,000 different wrestlers of varying levels of experience, skill level and knowledge in order to learn new tactics and strategies in the ring. He wrestled in a junkyard in an attempt to goad CZW owner John Zandig into fighting him. His vendetta against Ring of Honor took him across the Atlantic Ocean and into a Cage of Death. He once stated in a shoot interview that whatever money he makes only goes to food, rent and wrestling tapes. Chris Hero is a man clearly willing to make any sacrifice necessary in order to silence his doubters and become a dominant force in independent wrestling.

PWG is one of the few places where Chris Hero has never gotten his just due. The CZW World Heavyweight champion and CHIKARA's "King of Wrestling" has squared off with the best competition PWG has had to offer, ranging from Super Dragon to Christopher Daniels to Austin Aries. However, he has not received one single PWG title shot during his 2+ year tenure with the company. One of the most experienced tourney veterans in the Battle of Los Angeles, a tournament victory may finally take him to the summit of Mount Guerrilla and the championship. Knowing Hero, he will apply his near insane dedication to the grappling arts to take down everyone in his path.


Opening Round match: Genki Horiguchi. Who comes into this tourney fairly blind, likely having never seen Chris Hero in action. However, through the magic of international bootlegging, Hero has probably watched hundreds of hours of footage of Horiguchi's entire career (and various stages of hair loss). Not only that, one of Hero's primary trainers was Skayde, the head trainer of the Ultimo Dragon Gym where Genki got his start, and Hero imported many recent graduates of the Gym to CHIKARA in order to familiarize himself with the Toryumon style. Combined with his major size advantage (Hero is nearly a foot taller than Genki) and the odds are on Hero's side.

Later Round Outlook: Hero's later round outlook is very favorable no matter who wins the other match in his bracket. He trained Claudio Castagnoli, and has never lost to him in singles competition. Hero is extremely familiar with wrestlers like Jack Evans due to his time in CHIKARA, and knows dozens of strategies to counter Evans' aerial attack. Hero may in fact go deep here.

Odds of winning: 12-1 Chris Hero has all the capabilities to win the Battle of Los Angeles, but there ARE some chinks in the "King's" armor. He has never gotten a major singles victory in PWG, and he has not won a singles match in PWG since January. Hero's arrogance and lack of killer instinct (a point that IWA-MS hammered home OVER AND OVER AND OVER again several years ago) has cost him titles and tournaments before, so if he loses focus for even one second, he will go down.



Claudio Castagnoli

Height - : 6'5"
Weight- 222 lbs
Hometown: The United Bank of Switzerland

PWG Record: 3-5 (0-4 as a single)

Notable Tournament appearances:
CHIKARA Tag World Grand Prix 2006: Winner
CHIKARA Tag World Grand Prix 2005: Winner
CZW Best Of The Best 6: Finalist
CZW Best Of The Best 5 Semi Finalist
IWA:MS Ted Petty Inventational Tournament 2004/2005 participant

Major Titles Held: Chikara Tag Titles (Current), CZW Tag Team Titles, CAPW Unified Heavyweight Title (current) wXw World (2), SWF TagTeam Champion, SWF PowerHouse Champion (2x) , wXw TagTeam Champion (3), GSW TagTeam Champion

A few words from Double C: "I'm going to make this short. Time is money, and despite that fact, that I have lots of it, I don't wanna waste it. At BOLA I'm going to prove that my Swiss intellect is superior and I'm going to use it to my advantage to go all the way! Jack Evans is an amazing athlete and wrestler, but I'm quite confident. You know why? Because I'm 6'5... and he's not!"

Background/Motivation: Switzerland, the Country that brought you that cheese with the holes in it, Army Knives, and James Bond girl Ursula Andress, top notch time pieces and of course Johanna Spyri

[TigerDriver98]

Scorpio Sky

Height: 5'10"
Weight: 183lbs
Hometown: The City of Angels

PWG Record: 23-19 (9-9 as a single)

Notable Tournament appearances:
Revolution Pro - Revolution J 2004 WINNER
AWS Tag Team Title Tournament 2002: Finalist
Best of the American Super Juniors 2006 participant
PWG Bad Ass Mother 3000 participant
WPW Best Of The West 2003 participant
Revolution Pro - Revolution J 2003 participant


Major Titles Held: PWG Tag Team Title, Revolution Pro Juniorheavyweight, AWS Tag team, AWS LA Junior-heavyweight title

Fun Fact: Despite being a regular since day one, Scorpio Sky has never wrestled for PWG in the month of September. Ok, I lied... that fact really wasn't fun.

Background/Motivation: They say when you dance with the devil, the devil doesn't change... the devil changes you. Submitted for your approval is the story of one, Scorpio Sky who found this out the hard way....

We join our story on July 9th 2005, Scorpio Sky and Quicksilver were in the biggest match of their lives, putting everything on the line in order to settle the score with Arrogance. The match lived up to the hype and then some, things took a turn for the worse for the AXP when Quicksilver was taken out of the match via a chairshot to the head against the ring post from Chris Bosh, leaving Scorpio Sky all alone against the tag team champions. Sky put forth a herculean effort, enduring an extended two on one assault. Bosh thought he had finished the job after planting Sky with the Steiner Screwdriver but incredibly Sky kicked out at 2! Arrogance then leveled Sky their version of the Hart Attack. Lost went for the kill with his trademark Sharpshooter while Bosh prematuraly celebrated the victory on the floor, only before Lost could apply the hold, Sky countered with a small package to score the pinfall! The AXP had at long last defeated Arrogance to win the PWG Tag team titles (ending what was a nine month quest for the titles). It should have been the crowning achievement of the career of Scorpio Sky, overcoming all the odds to defeat his rivals and win the coveted titles. However it was not to be, as after the match, Scott Lost walloped Sky with the tag title, and layed into him. Then as Chris Bosh and Joey Ryan held Sky at bay, Scott Lost paid Sky the ultimate disgrace and removed his mask, raping him of his very identity. Leaving him beaten and bloody in the ring. In a one of the most iconic images ever in PWG, Scorpio held his mask before his face with both tears and blood dripping down his face. Everything had worked for, was taken away... even in good's victory, evil had still prevailed..

This led Sky to question his place in wrestling, as he simply dissappeared from the PWG ranks, and embarked on a soul searching excursion to Africa to try to find the answers to his questions. While the PWG faithful wondered if they would ever see Scorpio Sky compete again.

At the Battle Of Los Angeles 2005, those questions were answered when Scorpio Sky returned. Running in from the crowd, and laying out a dazed Scott Lost with the Final Answer, then symbolically removing his mask and leaving it on the fallen Lost. Scorpio Sky lived! This set the stage for a series of matches between Scorpio Sky and Scott Lost. Many believed these would be easy wins for the reborn Sky. But the crafty Scott Lost cheated his way to two straight wins against Sky. Once due to the use of brass knuckles, and once via the aid of a steel chair. That was used to soften up Sky's back for Lost's trademark sharpshooter. Lost had Sky locked in the hold for what seemed like an eternity, but despite the pain Sky refused to surrender. Before any perminate damage could be done, PWG Commissoner Dino Winwood threw in the towel for his friend, Scorpio Sky ending the match..In order to give this heated issue a satisfying conclusion, Winwood booked an "I-Quit" match between the two, that way there would be no doubt. At PWG's Chanukah Chaos (The C's Are Silent) the match was on. In what was an intense brawl, Lost and Sky waged war one more time taking it all through the building. In the end, Sky used a chair assisted Sharpshooter to force Scott Lost to say "I Quit". Scorpio Sky had avenged the wrongs done on to him. But in doing so, had to sink to depths he didn't know he was capable of..

Now that the issue with Lost was behind him, a whole new world was opened for Sky. The next month, with all momentum in the world behind him, he faced off with the returning Colt Cabana. During the match, Sky suffered yet another set back as he substained a knee injury in the match up and became easy prey for Cabana. All the momentum he had build up by defeating Scott Lost, was now out the window. Again, Sky was left at a crossroads. Scorpio Sky unable to wrestle, still returned the next month as a guest enforcer referee in a PWG Title match between Joey Ryan and Sky's friend, the Human Tornado. Sky called it fair and square, grabbing a chair out of Joey's hands before he could use it on Tornado. Tornado used this opening to try an O'Connor roll... but Joey kicked out sending Tornado flying into the chair being held by Scorpio Sky. Sky had tried to do the right thing, but still ended up costing his friend the PWG title, and was bearing the brunt of the blame from both Tornado and the fans. .

This was the breaking point for Scorpio Sky- he'd always tried to do the right thing, he even rented the movie "Do The Right Thing" and still everything seemed to always turn out wrong. This act had only furthered Sky's growing feeling of disfranchisement. Sky was beginning to change his whole outlook. Over the next few months saw the emergance a yet another new Scorpio Sky. Gone was the good natured Scorpio Sky who never quite reached his potential in his place was a new arrogant, pompous jerk, who was infatuated with his own abs. Sky had enough of losing, had enough of people taking advantage of him. Being the

[JustJay]

After arduous hours of fact, spell, and grammar checking, of COURSE there is a glaring error on the un-editable PWG board (seriously, WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH THAT)?

Genki's most famous tourney participation, missing from his list (but mentioned in his background) is that he was a finalist in the 2003 Toryumon El Numero Uno Tourney, losing to fellow BOLA entry CIMA in his bid to become the first-ever UDG champion.

My OCD is kicking up something FIERCE, maaan.

[TigerDriver98]

After arduous hours of fact, spell, and grammar checking, of COURSE there is a glaring error on the un-editable PWG board (seriously, WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH THAT)?

So you notice THAT "glaring" error... but miss the biggest glaring error of all. THAT FACT THAT I LEFT MATT SYDAL OUT! Thanks a tragic cutting and pasting error.


Sorry, Matt.. here ya go:

Matt Sydal

Height: 5

[WannaB]

Nicely put together. I disagree with some of the odds as some of them seem a little exagerrated, but still very nicely done.

[onlxn]

Awesome stuff, guys. I've missed these.

[JasonDunn]

That right there is fucking dedication, kayfabe or no.

Thanks, and congrats. You just got this n00b that much more jacked for his first PWG show ever.

[Jamboree]

That right there is fucking dedication, kayfabe or no.

Thanks, and congrats. You just got this n00b that much more jacked for his first PWG show ever.

Haha, same here.