Since I haven’t had the time to do a Steve’s View lately, I thought I’d do a quick news update to catch people up with what’s been going on in the SoCal scene. —
In case you haven’t heard, Revolution Pro is reporting that Mr. Excitement will be out for a year with a torn ACL.
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Pro Wrestling Guerrilla will be running in December on the 13th. I’m not sure if it will be at the Western Jewish Community Center or not. Colt Cabana is already booked for the show.
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Sara del Ray is due back from her tour with Japan’s Pro Wrestling A to Z Thanksgiving week.
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UPW made the following announcement on the SCU message board:
Unfortunately, Tony Stradlin will be unable to perform due to injury. Shawn Riddick, Tommy Wilson, and Mikey Henderson will face off in a triple threat match. The winner will go on to face either Frankie Kazarian or Andrew Hellman for the UPW Lightweight Title at UPW’s 5th Anniversary Show on 12/17 at The Grove. This match will also be a triple threat match. Who will the third participant be you ask?! Rest assured, he will help to make this triple threat in December a match that fans will never forget. Here is a hint: Although he holds a UPW Championship, 12/17 will be his SoCal UPW debut. The official announcement will be made in 2 days at The Galaxy Theatre as part of “POSSESSION.”
Though the announcement hints that it will be current Zero One/UPW/NWA Junior champion Wataru Sakata added to the December 17th show, it will actually be a former Zero One/UPW/NWA Junior champion.
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WPW is set to return to the Anaheim Indoor Marketplace after a several month hiatus on November 2nd.
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The second XPW pay-per-view will begin airing in December. Rather than just showing random clips like the first pay-per-view did, the second one will feature full matches. Mexico’s Most Wanted versus The New Panthers from XPW’s Philadelphia debut is the only match that I’ve been advised is on the show so far. No matches featuring Messiah or Super Dragon will be a part of the second pay-per-view.
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The main man from Japan, Paul T. says that Hardkore Kidd is really over in Zero One. I’d expect him to head over to Japan more often from this point on.
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Elite Pro Wrestling, that has been running in Bakersfield seems to have fallen apart after canceling their October 19th show with no notice. All of their upcoming shows have been removed from “upcoming events” section until their future is a little more certain.
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Sonicfish and Smart Mark Video worked out a deal that will have PCW videos for sale at smartmarkvideo.com. The first couple are already on sale now. The videos are cheaper at sonicfish.com however.
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B-Boy is in the Wrestle America Annual as one of the top 30 independent wrestlers to be on the look out for.
Credit: Brandon Shearer
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If you haven’t voted in part 1 of the 2003 Southern California Match of the Year poll there is only a few days left so hurry and vote.
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Next weekend I should have a full blown column with a look back at how MPW changed the SoCal scene, hopefully a PCW review, and of course news and more.
-Steve
