Are You Ready for the Battle of Los Angeles? Joey Janela Is...

The Bad Boy Goes West
Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein

The Battle of Los Angeles, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla's yearly single elimination tournament, kicks off Friday night in Reseda, CA. Over three days, 24 wrestlers will be whittled down to one man. I've covered the entrants here extensively except for one. Fate took TK Cooper, one-half of the South Pacific Power Trip, from the tournament thanks to a nasty leg injury he suffered at the ill-fated PROGRESS show in Queens two weekends ago. Obviously, he won't be able to participate in the tournament now. Of course, Super Dragon and the rest of the crew had to scuttle to find a replacement, and well, they went and got themselves a dandy in "The Bad Boy" Joey Janela.

Janela's been on a tear for over a year now, but he made his really big break into the national consciousness with his Spring Break show during WrestleMania weekend, which featured Matt Riddle wrestling his spiritual forebear Dan Severn, the Invisible Man competing in a battle royale, and Janela finally getting to wrestle ex-Rocker and accidental incest near-miss doer Marty Jannetty. Going to PWG is not only the next logical step, it makes me wonder why the company didn't have him on the initial slate. Regardless, it doesn't matter how he got there, it only matters that he's there, right? He will go up against Sammy Guevara in the first round on Saturday, which should be bonkers to say the least. In case you were AWOL last month when all the first round matches were officially announced, the following are the rest of your pairings for Friday's and Saturday's first round action:

FRIDAY

• Brian Cage vs. Dezmond Xavier
• Rey Fénix vs. Rey Horus
• Flash Morgan Webster vs. Marty Scurll
• Matt Sydal vs. Penta El Zero M
• Zack Sabre, Jr. vs. Jonah Rock
• Ricochet vs. Flamita

SATURDAY

• Donovan Dijak vs. Trevor Lee
• Sami Callihan vs. Jeff Cobb
• Matt Riddle vs. Michael Elgin
• Mark Haskins vs. Travis Banks
• Keith Lee vs. WALTER

I count at least four matches there that could end up making sure Dave Meltzer never has to use pharmaceutical erection medication ever again, but honestly, it's BOLA weekend. If you love PWG, you're going to find a whole lot to love there. Additionally, it'll be Dijak's swan song with the company. While he's not officially signed to NXT yet like his smaller, Blacker former ROH compadre Lio Rush, he's already said farewell to Beyond Wrestling and other Northeastern promotions. Additionally, the former Champion and 2015 BOLA winner Sabre promised this on Twitter yesterday:

Aiming to win BOLA for the 2nd time & face DUSTIN for the title in a No-Rope Barbed Wire Exploding Ring Time Bomb match.

— ZSJ. (@zacksabrejr) August 29, 2017

Of course, current Champion Chuck Taylor is totally down. Personally, I can't wait for the DVDs to come out, since I can't be out there live for this. But hey, someday, before Donald Trump gets this country literally dissolved in acid, I will make it to Reseda to do the damn thing, watch all the BOLA, and eat all the In 'n Out burgers my belly can handle.