The 2022 version of the Battle of Los Angeles wrapped up Sunday night with the winner of the tournament crowned.
The finals saw Daniel Garcia prevail against Speedball Mike Bailey as the 22-year old became the fifteenth winner of the Battle of Los Angeles.
It was Garcia’s first appearance in BOLA and advanced from Saturday’s opening round defeating fellow Buffalo native Kevin Blackwood. Garcia’s road to the final on Sunday night saw the AEW star defeat Alex Shelley and Black Taurus earlier in the show.
The influential tournament includes past winners Ricochet, CIMA, El Generico, Adam Cole, Zack Sabre Jr., and Bandido.
Due to the pandemic, there was no BOLA tournament in 2021 with this year’s version moved to January as a two-day event after becoming a traditional three-day event over Labor Day weekend.
There appeared to be an injury to Lio Rush during his match with Buddy Matthews. Our live report (which can be read below) stated that Rush was shaken up by something and the referee had to check on him with the fan ending in a disqualification. Our report added that Excalibur was seen yelling at some fans for throwing something into the ring.
Rush posted the following later that night:
Just being honest with you guys here. I’m not good. But i will be good. And when I’m back, I’ll be dangerous. #ManOfTheHour.
— Lio Rush (@IamLioRush) January 31, 2022
Below are the results from Sunday’s second night of BOLA including notes from the live report sent in from our correspondent Sean (@BigShot512):
*Black Taurus over Aramis –
*Daniel Garcia over Alex Shelley
*Lio Rush over Buddy Matthews by DQ
*Speedball Mike Bailey over Wheeler Yuta
*Semi-Final: Daniel Garcia over Black Taurus
*Semi-Final: Speedball Mike Bailey over Buddy Matthews
*JONAH, Blake Christian, Kevin Blackwood & Rey Horus over Bandido, Lee Moriarty, JD Drake & Jack Cartwheel
*Final: Daniel Garcia over Speedball Mike Bailey
Aramis vs Black Taurus
Great Lucha things. CRAZY match. Tons of crazy spots. Miscommunication on a pin where it looked like a 3 count in favor of Taurus but it was supposed to be a 2 count. Match continues. Black Taurus wins a few minutes later. Great match.Daniel Garcia vs Alex Shelley
Shelley playing the heel. Crowd calling Shelley “Sabin” to mess with him. Garcia wins via submission. Good match.Buddy Matthews vs Lio Rush
Buddy cut a pre-match promo saying it was on his bucket list to compete in PWG then heeled on the crowd saying he was from the big leagues, people pay to see him and he’s a big star, etc. Fun match. Lots of action. Buddy hit a bucklebomb then curb stomp on Rush… Rush was shaken up and there was a stop in action while the ref checked on Rush. Buddy argued with the ref then pushed the ref for the DQ. Rush wins via DQ. The doctor attends to Rush after the match. Rush eventually walks off on his own power. Excalibur yelled at some idiot fans who threw shit in the ring during the match.Wheeler Yuta vs Speedball Mike Bailey
Another great match. The crowd loves both, especially Speedball. Speedball Mike Bailey wins. Please come back chants for Yuta.Semis: Black Taurus vs Daniel Garcia
Contrasting styles. A raging bull vs a grappler. Fun match. Garcia won via submission to the shock of the crowd. The crowd loves Taurus. The finish kind of came out of nowhere. Garcia advances to finals.Semis: Speedball Mike Bailey vs Buddy Matthews
Lio Rush’s music hits but Buddy comes out instead. The crowd hates Buddy. Buddy says Lio was taken to the ER so it’s Buddy vs Speedball instead. Buddy attacks Speedball before the bell and Pillmanizes Speedball’s ankle in a chair. Then the bell rings and Speedball caches Buddy for the flash pin in seconds. Speedball advances to finals.Eight-man tag: Jonah/Blake Christian/Blackwood/Horus vs Bandido/Moriarty/JD Drake/Cartwheel
Typical PWG multi-man match. Full of action and comedy. The remote control was used so there were some pausing the match-type comedy spots. Crazy balcony dive spot by Cartwheel. Jonah with a top rope splash gets the win for his team.Finals: Speedball vs Daniel Garcia
Speedball hobbled due to his leg/ankle being Pillmanized in his previous match. Garcia worked on the leg most of the match. Every time Speedball made a comeback Garcia would cut him off. Eventually, Garcia wins via submission. Very good match. Daniel Garcia wins BOLA 2022. Garcia with his post-match speech called out Bandido for a future match.
