Pro Wrestling Guerrilla Pro Wrestling Guerrilla ( PWG ) is a promotion that is run by wrestlers themselves as it was created and is operated by Southern California wrestlers Disco Machine , Excalibur , Joey Ryan , Scott Lost , Super Dragon , and Top Gun Talwar . The promotion debuted on July 26 , 2003 and is known for its unique mixes of humor and professional wrestling , as well as their over the top press releases and show titles , which include : " " Kee _ The _ ee Out Of Our _ ool ! " " , " " Taste The Radness " " , and " " Free Admission ! ! ( Just Kidding ) . " " " History " . 2003 . In May 2003 , Pro Wrestling Guerrilla announced its first show that would take place on July 26 . The promotion released an online press release announcing the show ' s main event that would feature what would have been the first match to take place between A . J . Styles and Samoa Joe . PWG announced more matches in the weeks leading up to their debut event , featuring a mix of well known independent wrestlers and many local Southern California stars . Due to injuries and booking conflicts , the card ended up being changed several times . Samoa Joe was unable to compete in the promotion ' s debut show because of an injury he suffered in a match with Paul London at a Ring of Honor event a few weeks earlier . He ended up being replaced by Frankie Kazarian . Over the next few months , PWG ' s popularity began to grow among the Southern California wrestling community and was considered the top independent promotion in California . Despite only running six shows in its first year , PWG was voted " Promotion Of The Year " in the 2003 SoCalUncensored . com Year End Awards . PWG ' s DVD commentary , which features Excalibur , Disco Machine , and on occasion TARO , along with various comedy skits won over many fans along with storylines between Adam Pearce and Frankie Kazarian for the PWG World Championship , and the Super Dragon vs . Joey Ryan rivalry . Along with putting local wrestlers in many of their storylines , PWG also brought in many out of town talent that weren ' t booked on other local shows . During its first year , PWG brought in wrestlers such as A . J . Styles , Christopher Daniels , Samoa Joe , CM Punk , Homicide , Chris Hero , Brian Kendrick , Colt Cabana , and many others . 2004 – 2006 . In July 2004 , PWG moved to the Hollywood / Los Feliz Jewish Community Center in Los Angeles . The first show in the new building saw A . J . Styles take on Rocky Romero , CM Punk vs . Super Dragon , Samoa Joe & Ricky Reyes vs . Bryan Danielson & Christopher Daniels , and a loser leaves town , steel cage match between Adam Pearce and Frankie Kazarian where Adam Pearce ended up losing the match and left PWG . After this event , PWG would run at the Hollywood / Los Feliz JCC for the next two years , and was nicknamed " The Sweatbox " by its fans due to the heat that the building would generate during warm nights . PWG ' s popularity continued to grow in the Southern California area , and across the world thanks to PWG distributing their own DVDs on their website , and through various reviews posted on many popular internet wrestling message boards . As PWG went on , their normal attendance numbers would begin to grow from 150 – 200 fans a show , to 250 – 500 in a span of two years . In April 2005 , PWG ran its first All Star Weekend during the weekend of WrestleMania 21 and drew their biggest crowds at the time . PWG booked several stars such as A . J . Styles , Christopher Daniels , James Gibson , Chris Sabin , Jonny Storm , Kendo Kashin , Samoa Joe , and many other TNA and ROH stars to participate in the weekend ' s events . In September 2005 , PWG ran the first annual Battle of Los Angeles tournament , featuring A . J . Styles , Christopher Daniels , James Gibson , Super Dragon , Kevin Steen , El Generico , and several others . Chris Bosh would end up winning the tournament by defeating A . J . Styles in the finals . In February 2006 , PWG held two shows in Europe . The first event was held in Essen , Germany . The second show was held the night after the Essen event in Kent , England . Both shows featured the majority of PWG ' s regular roster , along with several European wrestlers . In July 2006 , PWG announced that they would be leaving the JCC due to the gym being turned into a gymnastics training center for young children . The final match in the building saw Joey Ryan defend the PWG World Championship against B - Boy in a steel cage match . PWG would go on to run in Reseda , California for the next few months at the local American Legion post . In February 2007 , PWG moved to the Van Nuys Armory , which is located a few minutes away from the Reseda venue . 2007 – present . In March 2007 , PWG ' s Commissioner Of Food & Beverage Excalibur stripped Cape Fear ( El Generico & Quicksilver ) of the PWG World Tag Team Championship when Quicksilver was unable to compete because of a class two concussion he suffered during a match with Davey Richards and Roderick Strong . A tournament entitled the Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament , or DDT4 , was held on May 19 and 20 at the Burbank Armory to crown new tag team champions , with Roderick Strong and PAC emerging the victors against the Briscoe Brothers in the tournament finals . On May 3 , 2007 PWG released a statement via the PWG Message Board at PWG ' s official site announcing they would no longer be working with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling after TNA presented them with a contract that would prevent contracted TNA wrestlers from appearing on DVDs sold through any third parties , including PWG ' s long - time partner Highspots . com . PWG stated that after looking at several solutions , including ending their contract with Highspots , releasing their DVD solely through their website , and removing all matches featuring TNA wrestlers from their home releases , they made the decision to end their relationship with TNA and thus were no longer able to book TNA wrestlers . This resulted in the loss of Frankie Kazarian , the first holder of the PWG World Championship , The Motor City Machine Guns of Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin , who were already booked to compete in the tournament for the vacated PWG World Tag Team Championship , and Samoa Joe , A . J . Styles , Low Ki , and Christopher Daniels , all of whom had been booked to appear on upcoming shows . PWG celebrated their fourth anniversary with a show on July 29 , 2007 at the Burbank Armory in Burbank . The event was scheduled to have the Briscoe Brothers on the card , but the team did not appear at the event which caused the card to be changed . The show ended up seeing Bryan Danielson defeat Necro Butcher in a Street Fight , Kevin Steen and El Generico defeat Roderick Strong and PAC for the PWG World Tag Team Championship , and Bryan Danielson defeat El Generico to become the new PWG World Champion after issuing a challenge to him that ended up leading to an impromptu match to close the show . The show drew 500 fans , which tied the record for the largest live crowd to witness a PWG event . The show also made Southern California wrestling history , as five matches from the event were ranked in the Top 5 of the SoCalUncensored . com ' s monthly rankings , an accomplishment no other promotion had been able to achieve . In February 2009 , PWG made some notable wrestling news when recently WWE released Colt Cabana ( Scotty Goldman ) made a surprise appearance at a PWG show and wrestled for the world title merely 24 hours after his release . On January 30 , 2010 , PWG held Kurt Russellmania , as part of WrestleReunion , in front of their biggest crowd ever and featured Jushin " Thunder " Liger , The Great Muta , Super Crazy and Rob Van Dam in his first U . S . independent wrestling appearance plus the reunited tag team of Paul London and Brian Kendrick all in action . On February 27 , 2010 , at As the Worm Turns , Kenny Omega lost the PWG World Championship to Davey Richards . Also at the event , The Young Bucks made history by tying with Richards and former partner Super Dragon for most PWG World Tag Team Championship title defenses , with twelve . On April 10 , 2010 , at Titannica , The Young Bucks defeated The Briscoe Brothers to officially set the record for most successful title defenses with thirteen . Their record setting reign ended on May 9 , 2010 , when ¡ Peligro Abejas ! ( El Generico and Paul London ) defeated them to become the new champions . On July 30 , 2010 , at PWG ' s seventh anniversary show , one of the company ' s founders , Scott Lost , wrestled his retirement match against Scorpio Sky . On September 13 , 2010 , Davey Richards vacated the title after deciding he wasn ' t going to be able to defend it due to commitments to Ring of Honor and Japan . Claudio Castagnoli won the vacant title on October 9 , 2010 , defeating Chris Hero , Joey Ryan and Brandon Gatson in a four way match On January 29 , 2011 , PWG held another show during the WrestleReunion 5 weekend , which included a special Legends Battle Royal and Jake Roberts facing Sinn Bodhi in what was billed as Roberts ' retirement match . On July 23 , PWG held their eighth anniversary show , during which Kevin Steen defeated Claudio Castagnoli in an impromptu match to win the PWG World Championship for the second time . On October 22 , 2011 , one of PWG ' s founders , Super Dragon , made his first appearance since May 2008 , saving Kevin Steen from The Young Bucks , who had just cost him the PWG World Championship in a ladder match with El Generico . On December 10 , Steen and Dragon , wrestling his return match , defeated The Young Bucks for the PWG World Tag Team Championship , starting Dragon ' s record - breaking sixth reign with the title . Also at the event , Japanese veteran Dick Togo wrestled his final match in the United States , losing to El Generico . On December 1 , 2012 , Joey Ryan , having recently signed a contract with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling , wrestled his PWG farewell match , where he was defeated by Scorpio Sky . Ryan , however , remained a part owner of PWG and eventually returned to the promotion in August 2013 , following his release from TNA . On January 12 , 2013 , another longtime PWG wrestler , El Generico , made his final appearance for the promotion , having recently agreed to a deal with WWE . 2013 saw a bunch of talented independent wrestlers debut for the promotion , with the likes of Johnny Gargano , Jay Lethal , Samuray del Sol , Trent ? , ACH , Anthony Nese and Tommaso Ciampa all debuting between All Star Weekend in March and Battle of Los Angeles in August . 2013 also saw several wrestlers depart PWG for WWE ' s developmental territory NXT . In June , Sami Callihan and Samuray del Sol , neither of whom had spent much time in PWG , wrestled their final matches for the promotion , while in December , two longtime PWG wrestlers , Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards , also made their final appearances for the promotion . Also in December , Chris Hero , who had recently been released from WWE , returned to PWG . In August 2014 , Kevin Steen , who had worked regularly for PWG since 2005 , left the promotion for WWE . In an interview on WWE ' s official website , Steen credited PWG for getting him signed , mentioning how he was invited for a tryout after William Regal had seen one of his PWG matches .