Battle of Los Angeles (2009)
The 2009 tournament winnerKenny Omega
Promotion	Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
Date	Night One: November 20, 2009[1] Night Two: November 21, 2009[2]
City	Reseda, Los Angeles,California
Venue	American Legion Post No. 308
Event chronology
← Previous Against The Grain Next → Kurt Russellreunion
Battle of Los Angeles chronology
← Previous 2008 Next → 2010

Battle of Los Angeles (2009) was the fifthBattle of Los Angelesprofessional wrestlingtournament produced byPro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG). It was a two-night event which took place on November 20 and November 21, 2009 at the American Legion Post No. 308 inReseda, Los Angeles,California.^[3][4]

The vacantPWG World Championship was decided in the tournament asKenny Omega defeatedRoderick Strong in the tournament final to win the vacant title after former championBryan Danielson vacated the title in his farewell match atGuerre Sans Frontières on September 4.^[5] Non-tournament matches included The Cutler Brothers (Brandon and Dustin) versus Malachi Jackson andRyan Taylor in a tag team match on the first night,Colt Cabana, Jerome Robinson and Johnny Goodtime versusAustin Aries and The Cutler Brothers in a six-man tag team match andThe Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) versusEl Generico and Kevin Steen for theWorld Tag Team Championship on the second night.^[6][7]

AtGuerre Sans Frontières,Bryan Danielson defeatedChris Hero in the former's farewell match in PWG to win thePWG World Championship and then immediately vacated the title due to signing a developmental contract withWWE. After vacating the title, Danielson announced that the new champion would be crowned in the 2009 Battle of Los Angeles tournament.^[8]

Qualifying matches took place for the Battle of Los Angeles tournament at theAgainst the Grain event on October 2, where local newcomersBrandon Gatson and Jerome Robinson won fatal four-way matches to qualify for the tournament.^[9]

Johnny Goodtime was given a spot in the tournament despite losing in the qualification as he replaced the originally scheduled participantChris Sabin, who was forced to pull out due to a neck injury.^[12]

The night one of the tournament kicked off with a tag team match between The Cutler Brothers (Brandon Cutler and Dustin Cutler) and the team of Malachi Jackson andRyan Taylor. Cutlers nailed Taylor with anaided spike piledriver for the win.

Next, the Battle of Los Angeles tournament began for the vacantPWG World Championship with a match betweenScott Lost and Jerome Robinson. Robinson avoided aBig Fat Kill by Lost but Lost applied alegsweep on Robinson and delivered aBig Fat Kill to Robinson for the win.

Next,Human Tornado took onMatt Jackson. Jackson and his brotherNick Jackson constantly interfered in the match leading to Rick Knox making the save and preventing Nick from interfering in the match. This allowed Tornado to hit aDND to Matt for the win.

Next,Colt Cabana took onJoey Ryan. Ryan blocked aFlying Asshole by Cabana with aThat '70s Kick for the win.

Next,Roderick Strong took on Johnny Goodtime. Strong countered a handstand move by Goodtime by kicking him and then hit abackbreaker and applied aStronghold on Goodtime to make him submit to the hold.

Next,Brandon Gatson took on Nick Jackson. Gatson blocked a450° splash by Jackson by raising up his knees and then delivered asitout side facebuster to Jackson for the win.

Next, theROH World ChampionAustin Aries took onBrian Kendrick. The match had a bizarre ending as Aries hit Kendrick with the ROH World Championship title belt while Kendrick hit Aries with a foreign object which knocked both men out but Kendrick's arm landed on Aries' body and he inadvertently pinned Aries for the win.

It was followed by the final match of the opening round betweenKenny Omega andKevin Steen. Steen countered aCroyt's Wrath attempt by Omega into apackage piledriver. Steen then attempted to pin Omega but Omega countered it with acrucifix for the win.

The second night of the Battle of Los Angeles began with the second round of the tournament. The first match took place between Brian Kendrick and Joey Ryan. After avoiding Kendrick's underhanded tactics, Ryan hit aThat 70's Kick to Kendrick knocking him out of the ring and then Ryan delivered a secondThat 70's Kick to Kendrick inside the ring for the win.

Next, Scott Lost took on Kenny Omega. Omega avoided aSuperman Spear by Lost and delivered aCroyt's Wrath to Lost for the win.

It was followed by a match between Alex Shelley and Brandon Gatson. After hitting two superkicks to Gatson, Shelley attempted a third superkick but Gatson countered with ajackknife and pinned Shelley for the win.

Next, Human Tornado took on Roderick Strong. Strong ended the match by hitting aPower-Breaker and followed it with amule kick for the win.

It was followed by a six-man tag team match featuring wrestlers who either failed to qualify for the tournament or lost in the opening round. The team of Colt Cabana, Jerome Robinson and Johnny Goodtime took on Austin Aries and The Cutler Brothers. Robinson hit atiger feint kick and areverse piledriver to Brandon Cutler for the win.

Next, the semifinal round of the Battle of Los Angeles tournament took place with Joey Ryan taking on Kenny Omega in the first semifinal match. Ryan attempted to nail aThat 70's Kick to Omega but Omega countered it with twoHadoukens and hit aCroyt's Wrath for the win.

It was followed by the second semifinal match between Roderick Strong and Brandon Gatson. Strong nailed Gatson with adouble underhook powerbomb and a mule kick for the win.

Later, the penultimate match of the event took place in which The Young Bucks defended theWorld Tag Team Championship against El Generico and Kevin Steen. The original referee was knocked out after an accidental knee strike by Nick Jackson which led to Rick Knox stepping in to officiate the match. Nick thenlow blowed Steen after Steen tried to hit a package piledriver from thetop rope and delivered aGerman suplex to Generico on the apron and then the Young Bucks hit a total of tensuperkicks to Steen to retain the titles.

It was followed by the main event match between Kenny Omega and Roderick Strong, the tournament final of the Battle of Los Angeles for the vacant PWG World Championship. Omega hit areverse headscissors takedown and aCroyt's Wrath to Strong for the win, thus winning the tournament and the vacant World Championship in the process. After the match, Omega invited the Young Bucks, who attacked him and then Brian Kendrick joined Young Bucks in triple teaming Omega until El Generico made the save forcing them to retreat.

Ryan Rozanski of411Mania rated the night one of the tournament 7.5 out of 10, considering it "a consistent show and a breeze to watch". According to him, "Half of the tournament matches clocked in at three stars or above and the PWG locals shined throughout the card." He praised a few matches of the tournament by quoting "(El) Generico and (Alex) Shelley comes awfully close. Elsewhere, (Kenny) Omega and (Kevin) Steen offer a smartly worked contest, while (Johnny) Goodtime put in his best performance to date." He recommended that there was "enough quality on this show to warrant a purchase".^[6]

He also praised the night two of the tournament, rating it 8.5 out of 10 and considered it "an extremely good show that just manages to raise the bar set by Night One". He praised the World Tag Team Championship match, which would "make you love professional wrestling". According to him, the event "barely misses equaling the best PWG shows of the year, it will illustrate for you why PWG can be considered the best pro wrestling promotion going today."^[7]

Kenny Omega held the PWG World Championship for two months before losing the title to Davey Richards atAs The Worm Turns.^[13]

El Generico continued to pursue the World Tag Team Championship and resumed his feud with The Young Bucks as he teamed withChuck Taylor to challenge the Bucks for the titles atAs The Worm Turns but failed to win.^[13] Generico then formed a tag team withPaul London called ¡Peligro Abejas! to participate in the2010 Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament. They won the tournament by defeating Young Bucks in the final for the World Tag Team Championship.^[14]

• Battle of Los Angeles 2009 official website

• 2009 in professional wrestling
• Battle of Los Angeles (professional wrestling)
• November 2009 in the United States
• Professional wrestling shows in Los Angeles
• 2009 in Los Angeles

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata