Background: It was the finale of the 2009 “Battle of Los Angeles” tournament where Roderick Strong and Kenny Omega would not only win the tournament, but also the PWG World Heavyweight Championship
2009 Battle of Los Angeles: Night Two
Reseda, CA
November 21, 2009
Kenny Omega vs. Roderick Strong
Both men were looking for a quick submission via the initial collar & elbow tie up. A fan trying to begin a, “Lets go, Roderick!” chant that refused to start gave everyone a laugh before the opponents locked up again. The quick exchange ended with Omega landing a spinning back kick to the ribs of Strong. Roderick rolled to the floor, looking for haven that turned out to be an opportunity for Strong to catch Omega before Kenny could dive with one of those knife-edge chops. Omega fired back with chops of his own as the fans scattered to avoid getting hit. Omega was nice enough to replace the fallen chairs that were taken down by Roderick’s falling body. Omega had a running double knee strike in mind and almost knocked himself out while doing so. Strong recovered quickly, body slamming Omega on the ring’s edge. Kenny landed on his head! As if karma was truly in effect, Strong slipped on some beer while throwing those patented chops. This gave Omega a chance to connect with another spinning back kick that allowed him to execute a rocker dropper on a fan’s chair! Climbing onto the stage where the commentators’ table stood, Omega utilized a moonsault to down the rising Roderick Strong!
The action finally reentered the ring with Strong turning Omega’s attempt at a cross body block into a double knee gut-buster. The fans were split as both men got up throwing right forearms. Neither man would go down until Omega got dropped on his head again via the modified blue thunder bomb. Somehow, Omega countered a suplex to not only knock Roderick down via the dragon suplex, but also the hadouken palm strike. Strong kicked out, accidentally hitting the referee and knocking the wind out of him. Cradle German suplex was Omega’s follow up, but no pin attempt. Instead, Omega pulled Strong to his feet to throw some more chops. Strong retaliated with forearms, luring him into the gut-buster. The Gibson Driver soon followed for Roderick … but it only gave him a two count!
Omega got up kicking. Springboard dropkick came from Omega to set up a cradle northern lights bomb that, too, didn’t put Strong down. Strong tried to fight it, but couldn’t stop the cradle Michinoku driver … somehow kicking out before the three count! Looking up, Strong found Omega scaling the ropes. Roderick stopped his opponent’s ascent, executing a turnbuckle-assisted backbreaker that left both men on the mat. Throwing two enzuguri kicks, Roderick set up the backbreaker-Sick Kick combo … for a near fall!
Roderick got ahead of himself looking for another backbreaker, only to have his body tossed into the air via Kryot’s Wrath … that gave Omega a two count!
No one could believe that Strong kicked out. Omega wouldn’t be denied, hitting two more hadouken strikes. A roundhouse kick from Omega knocked Strong into the ropes to give Roderick the momentum to hit another Sick Kick … for another two count!
Hooking Omega for another backbreaker proved to be Strong’s undoing as Omega countered with the reverse hurricarana. Strong bounced to his feet, out. Before Roderick could regroup, Omega hoisted him into the air prior to executing a delayed Kryot’s Wrath to take the pin and the title!
Winner: Kenny Omega (19:46)
Is It A Classic: Fantastic outing that perfectly capped off the tournament. While it got a little indie-riffic with the finishing sequence, it didn’t take away from how good everything was.
