Battle of Los Angeles (2008)

Battle of Los Angeles (2008) was the fourth Battle of Los Angeles professional wrestling tournament produced by Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG). The event took place on November 1 and November 2, 2008 in Burbank, California.

The tournament concluded with a final match in which Low Ki defeated the PWG World Champion Chris Hero. Aside from the tournament matches, the tournament featured a three-way nine-man tag team match, in which the losers of the first round of the tournament competed. The event marked the PWG debut of Kenny Omega.

Background
The 2008 Battle of Los Angeles tournament was set to follow the 24-man format of the previous two editions of the tournament and take place on the weekend of August 30 and 31, but PWG management was unable to book the talent they wished to for the event and decided to move the event and drop the entrants down to 16. However, the field was included to add one more participant, making it a total of seventeen participants as the two PWG commissioners Excalibur and Dino Winwood couldn't come to a conclusion on who would be the final entrant. The participants were announced as: 2006 winner Davey Richards, Chuck Taylor, Masato Yoshino, El Generico, Kenny Omega, Brandon Bonham, Austin Aries, the World Champion Chris Hero, Necro Butcher, Scott Lost, the World Tag Team Champion Nick Jackson, Roderick Strong, Nigel McGuinness, Joey Ryan, T.J. Perkins, Bryan Danielson and Low Ki. PWG announced the lineup for the first round of the tournament, with one match being a three-way match between El Generico, Masato Yoshino and Nick Jackson due to the total number of seventeen participants. Chris Hero and Necro Butcher's first round match was announced to be a no disqualification match.

Night 1
The 2008 Battle of Los Angeles tournament first round kicked off with a match between T.J. Perkins and Chuck Taylor. Taylor initially won the match after hitting Perkins with brass knuckles but the referee realized that Taylor had used the foreign object and therefore reversed the decision and awarded the win to Perkins.

Next, Kenny Omega made his PWG debut against Brandon Bonham. Omega had raised Bonham on his shoulders but Bonham countered by hitting a flip piledriver for the win.

Next, Austin Aries took on Nigel McGuinness. Aries tried to apply a Last Chancery but McGuinness moved out of it and applied an armbar on Aries to force him to submit for the win.

Next, Low Ki took on Roderick Strong. Ki applied a Dragon Clutch on Strong to make him submit for the win.

Next, Joey Ryan took on Scott Lost. Lost avoided a That 70's Kick by Ryan and kicked him in the head for the win.

Next, Bryan Danielson took on Davey Richards. Danielson made Richards submit to the Cattle Mutilation for the win.

It was followed by a three-way match between Nick Jackson, El Generico and Masato Yoshino. Yoshino picked up a submission victory to advance in the tournament.

Next was the night one's main event, a no disqualification match between Chris Hero and Necro Butcher. Hero applied a Hangman's Clutch on Butcher to make him submit for the win.

Night 2
The night two began with the quarterfinals of the Battle of Los Angeles with the first quarterfinal match taking place between Nigel McGuinness and Brandon Bonham. McGuinness caught Bonham on the top rope and hit a Tower of London for the win.
 * Quarterfinals

Next, Low Ki took on Masato Yoshino. Ki avoided a neckbreaker by Yoshino and dropkicked him and then applied a Dragon Clutch on Yoshino for the win.

Next, Bryan Danielson took on T.J. Perkins. Danielson caught Perkins with a sunset flip from the apron into the ring and pinned him for the win.

Next, Chris Hero took on Scott Lost. Hero hit an elbow smash to Lost and applied a Hangman's Clutch on Lost to make him submit.

The first semifinal match took place between Nigel McGuinness and Low Ki. McGuinness was disqualified when he countered a Dragon Clutch attempt by delivering a Tower of London to Ki onto a chair. As a result, Ki advanced to the final round.
 * Semifinals

Next, Chris Hero took on Bryan Danielson. Hero put a running Danielson down with a dragon screw legswhip and applied a Hangman's Clutch on Danielson to make him submit for the win.

The penultimate match was a three-way nine-man tag team match in which the nine losers of the opening round competed. It pit the team of Austin Aries, Davey Richards and Roderick Strong against the team of Nick Jackson, El Generico and Necro Butcher and the team of Chuck Taylor, Kenny Omega and Joey Ryan. Richards pinned Butcher with a roll-up and the referee made the fast count, prompting Butcher to hit referee with a chair in the head.
 * Non-tournament match

The Battle of Los Angeles final took place between Chris Hero and Low Ki. After getting out of a Hangman's Clutch by Hero, Ki countered a running elbow smash by Hero by dropkicking him and then applied a Dragon Clutch on Hero to make him submit to the hold to win the 2008 Battle of Los Angeles tournament.
 * Final

Reception
Bob Colling of 411Mania rated the first night 7.3, considering it a "solid night one of the tournament" with five of the matches having "some kind of entertainment attached to them". He considered the second night "a better night than night one" and praised the semi-final match between Chris Hero and Bryan Danielson as "a nicely done match". The tournament final between Chris Hero and Low Ki on the night two received praise from critics, with the Southern California-based wrestling website SoCal Uncensored awarding it the 2008 Southern California Match of the Year Award.

Aftermath
After winning the Battle of Los Angeles, Low Ki signed a developmental contract with WWE and his contract prevented him from competing for PWG, therefore he could not appear at PWG and was unable to challenge for the PWG World Championship, a title shot guaranteed for the Battle of Los Angeles winner. Ki returned to PWG two years later at Kurt RussellReunion II: The Reunioning in 2011 and finally received a title shot against Claudio Castagnoli at All Star Weekend 8, where he failed to win.

Tournament brackets
* = This match was a three-way dance † = This was a No Disqualification match