With an influx of announcements daily and separate posts, I figured it'd be more convenient to have one big thread of entrants than to have each and every big name announced one by one in solo posts. This year's BOLA will take place on August 29th/30th/31st in Reseda, CA. The number of this year's entrants has been bumped up to 24!

This thread will be continually updated as new entrants are announced:

Matt Sydal AKA Evan Bourne
Drew Gulak !!! (PWG Debut)
Trevor Lee
Chris Sabin
Johnny Gargano
Brian Myers !!! (PWG Debut) AKA Curt Hawkins
Michael Elgin
Biff Busick !!! (PWG Debut)
Kyle O'Reilly
Brian Cage
ACH
Zack Sabre, Jr. !!! (PWG Debut)
Rich Swann
Trent? (
Cedric Alexander
AJ Styles (IWGP World Heavyweight Champion)
AR Fox
Chris Hero
Chuck Taylor
Roderick Strong
Tommaso Ciampa
Adam Cole (BAYBAY)
Ricochet
Kenny Omega

IF YOU DON'T MARK OUT TO THIS LIST, WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?

list is complete, who are you going for?

I think I'm pulling for Sydal, just because, but I'm wondering how they are going to have a 24 man tournament. Are we getting three-ways in the first round? Also I don't see New Japan letting AJ Styles lose so...

Big Red Machine wrote:I think I'm pulling for Sydal, just because, but I'm wondering how they are going to have a 24 man tournament. Are we getting three-ways in the first round? Also I don't see New Japan letting AJ Styles lose so...

they've held 24 before with all singles matches, it's 3 nights.

I was thinking the same thing about AJ, but you also have the PWG champ, the CZW champ, the ROH champ, the DG/DGUSA champ, someone is gonna have to give.

my favorite at this point is Elgin, and i even think Elgin eliminates AJ to close either night 1 or night 2

I'm wondering if the Bucks align with Bullet Club Styles or Mt Rushmore Cole.

cero2k wrote:

Big Red Machine wrote:I think I'm pulling for Sydal, just because, but I'm wondering how they are going to have a 24 man tournament. Are we getting three-ways in the first round? Also I don't see New Japan letting AJ Styles lose so...

they've held 24 before with all singles matches, it's 3 nights.

How does tat work, mathematically?

cero2k wrote: I was thinking the same thing about AJ, but you also have the PWG champ, the CZW champ, the ROH champ, the DG/DGUSA champ, someone is gonna have to give.

my favorite at this point is Elgin, and i even think Elgin eliminates AJ to close either night 1 or night 2

I'm wondering if the Bucks align with Bullet Club Styles or Mt Rushmore Cole.

PWG and CZW have never been very protective of their champions, and both ROH and Gabe have certainly laid back a lot since, but NJPW is very protective of their titles and their big three.

I could see AJ losing to someone like Ricochet or Cole to set up a title match in New Japan, but with G1 also coming up, AJ is going to wind up accruing quite a number of losses in addition to this- possibly too many to have big defenses for before the January 4 Dome Show.

Big Red Machine wrote:
PWG and CZW have never been very protective of their champions, and both ROH and Gabe have certainly laid back a lot since, but NJPW is very protective of their titles and their big three.

I could see AJ losing to someone like Ricochet or Cole to set up a title match in New Japan, but with G1 also coming up, AJ is going to wind up accruing quite a number of losses in addition to this- possibly too many to have big defenses for before the January 4 Dome Show.

i'm guessing
night one: 8 1st round matches
night two: 4 1st round matches, 4 2nd round matches (with the winners from night 1)
night three: the rest

I want to think that PWG will protect their new babyface champ in their shows at least, he will only come in with one defense from ELEVEN. About AJ, question here is how much would NJPW cares about PWG, but i could also see him going to a time limit draw with Elgin and they're both disqualified from the tournament, that protects both champions and could build to Styles vs Elgin at the upcoming ROH/NJPW show. truth is, i highly doubt ROH or NJPW would ever reference PWG in their build up to a match

cero2k wrote:

Big Red Machine wrote:
PWG and CZW have never been very protective of their champions, and both ROH and Gabe have certainly laid back a lot since, but NJPW is very protective of their titles and their big three.

I could see AJ losing to someone like Ricochet or Cole to set up a title match in New Japan, but with G1 also coming up, AJ is going to wind up accruing quite a number of losses in addition to this- possibly too many to have big defenses for before the January 4 Dome Show.

i'm guessing
night one: 8 1st round matches
night two: 4 1st round matches, 4 2nd round matches (with the winners from night 1)
night three: the rest

Yeah, but how do you do that as all singles matches the whole way through?

cero2k wrote: I want to think that PWG will protect their new babyface champ in their shows at least, he will only come in with one defense from ELEVEN. About AJ, question here is how much would NJPW cares about PWG, but i could also see him going to a time limit draw with Elgin and they're both disqualified from the tournament, that protects both champions and could build to Styles vs Elgin at the upcoming ROH/NJPW show. truth is, i highly doubt ROH or NJPW would ever reference PWG in their build up to a match

I'm sure they wouldn't reference PWG, but they also don't want their champs to lose. PWG, for their part, have never really cared. I don't think ROH wants to do AJ vs. Elgin again (or at least not until Final Battle at the earliest).

Big Red Machine wrote: Yeah, but how do you do that as all singles matches the whole way through?

I'm sure they wouldn't reference PWG, but they also don't want their champs to lose. PWG, for their part, have never really cared. I don't think ROH wants to do AJ vs. Elgin again (or at least not until Final Battle at the earliest).

they could extend the show a little for some tag matches in there, Bucks are not in the tourny and i'm sure PWG will want to book them here or there.

Aren't ROH guys going to japan this or the next month? has those cards been announced?

cero2k wrote:

Big Red Machine wrote: Yeah, but how do you do that as all singles matches the whole way through?

I'm sure they wouldn't reference PWG, but they also don't want their champs to lose. PWG, for their part, have never really cared. I don't think ROH wants to do AJ vs. Elgin again (or at least not until Final Battle at the earliest).

they could extend the show a little for some tag matches in there, Bucks are not in the tourny and i'm sure PWG will want to book them here or there.

My point is that with 24 guys in a singles tournament, you cannot possibly whittle it down to one winner using a single elimination for mat and only singles matches.

[quote="cero2k"
Aren't ROH guys going to japan this or the next month? has those cards been announced?[/quote]
Yes and no. It's the last day of the G1.

Big Red Machine wrote:

My point is that with 24 guys in a singles tournament, you cannot possibly whittle it down to one winner using a single elimination for mat and only singles matches.

only the main event is a triple threat. I just looked how they did the 24 man tournaments in 06 and 07. They pretty much run a full tournament each day, where each night you end up with a finalist. that makes 7 matches + 2 filler matches. last night i think you get the tournament, filler, and the final match

First two Round 1 Matches for Night 1 Announced:

In his PWG Debut, Drew Gulak vs PWG Champ Kyle O'Reilly!
and returning to PWG, Kenny Omega takes on ACH!!

Also

Night One non tournament match:
Best Friends of Low Moral Fiber (Chuck Taylor, Kenny Omega and Trent?) vs. Mount Rushmore (Adam Cole, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)

Night Two non tournament match
Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian vs. The Young Bucks

Night 1:
Non-tournament

Mount Rushmore(The Young Bucks/Adam Cole) vs. Best Friends of Low Moral Fiber(Kenny Omega/Chuck Taylor/Trent?)
Chris Daniels/Frankie Kazarian vs. World's Cutest Tag Team vs. Inner City Machine Guns

Tournament

Drew Gulak vs. Kyle O'Reilly
AR Fox vs. Brian Cage
Biff Busick vs. Roderick Strong
Michael Elgin vs. Tommaso Ciampa
Trevor Lee vs. Cedric Alexander
AJ Styles vs. Brian Meyers

Night 2:

Non-Tournament

Christopher Daniels/Frankie Kazarian vs. The Young Bucks
Drew Gulak/Biff Busick vs. The Unbreakable F'N Machines

Tournament

ACH vs. Kenny Omega
Zack Sabre, Jr. vs. Adam Cole
Trent? vs. Rich Swann
Chuck Taylor vs. Johnny Gargano
Matt Sydal vs. Chris Hero
Ricochet vs. Chris Sabin