SoCal News & Notes 09/11/2018

In today’s Southern California pro-wrestling news update we have the latest from PCW Ultra, Ground Zero, Maverick Pro, EWF, Lucha Underground, Baja Stars USA, Cen Cal Pro, and more, including a listing of all of this week’s Southern California pro-wrestling events. Click for today’s News & Notes.

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PCW Ultra has began announcing talent for its next event, Possessed, on October 26, 2018 in Wilmington. So far they have announced all of the PCW Ultra champions: Penta el Zero M, Warbeast (Josef and Jacob Fatu), Tessa Blanchard, and Shane Strickland. Also announced are Abyss, Sinn Bodhi, Darby Allin, Jake Atlas, Marko Stunt, Priscilla Kelly, Brody King, Eli Everfly, Chris Bey, Daga, and Puma King. The promotion will be announcing more names for the event on September 12.

Possessed will be only the fourth time Abyss has wrestled in Southern California, having made an appearance in 2009 and 20013 as part of an Impact Wrestling tour and in October 2017 at Bar Wrestling when he teamed with Rosemary to defeat World’s Cutest Tag Team (Joey Ryan and Candice LeRae).

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Ground Zero has announced its dates and event names for 2019. They will be running Reloaded on January 19, The Blueprint on March 2, Word of Mouf on April 13, Encore on June 8, 93 Till Infinity on July 13, It Was Written on August 17, Momma Said Knock You Out on September 28, Hysteria on October 27, and Legend on December 7. All events are scheduled for the Imperial Beach Sports Complex in Imperial Beach. The promotion will also be holding wrestling matches as part of May Ride at Biggs Harley-Davidson in San Marcos on May 18, 2019. Previously Finest City Wrestling handled the wrestling matches at May Ride.

Ground Zero will be crowning its first champion on their December 8, 2018 show.

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B-Boy and Lil’ Cholo will be teaming with Miranda Alize against Tessa Blanchard, Kody Lane, and Torito Negro at the September 21 The Crash show in Tijuana. It will be The Crash debut for Lil’ Cholo, Miranda Alize, and Kody Lane. B-Boy last appeared in The Crash on July 3, 2015. Tessa Blanchard is the current The Crash Women’s Champion.

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Maverick Pro will be running on October 19 at This Warehouse in Los Angeles. Chris Bey will be defending the Maverick Pro Championship against Killer Kross and Heather Monroe, Priscilla Kelly, and Katarina Leigh will take part in a triple-threat match for the vacant Maverick Pro Women’s Championship.

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Empire Wrestling Federation has a poll on its website to decide if Ty Ray will be reinstated to face Andy Brown on October 5 in Covina. Ty Ray had lost a loser leaves EWF match in March and had been wrestling for EWF under a mask as The Decapitator since. After he defeated Andy Brown and revealed himself to be Ty Ray, all of his wins in EWF were reversed and the EWF Championship was declared vacant. True Grit will defend the EWF Tag Team Titles against Los Luchas on October 5 as well.

EWF will be taking part in a WWE Hell in a Cell watch party on September 16 at Dave & Busters in Ontario. Greg “The Hammer” Valentine will be making an appearance there from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.

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Viva Van, who will be debuting for Santino Bros. on September 20, is taking part in the Maxim Cover Girl contest. As of this writing she is in 10th place in West Group 13, with the top 30 in each group moving on to the second round. Voting in the first round ends on September 27.

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Lucha Underground had 100,000 viewers for its September 6 episode according to ShowBuzzDaily, which is up 17,000 viewers from the previous week. It was the seventh most watched episode of the season so far.

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Baja Stars USA will have a bonus match between Kid Tornado and Ruby Gardenia on its October 20 show in San Diego.

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Cen Cal Pro’s September 29 event in San Luis Obispo has been postponed to October 20.

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Quietly one of the bigger stories in Southern California wrestling this year has been the disappearance of Vendetta Pro for Santa Maria. Vendetta Pro, which was the only promotion to run regularly in Santa Barbara County, last ran in Santa Maria in March. They had run regularly in the area since 2009 as Vendetta Pro, and long before that under names such as CWA and APW CC. They had lost their venue in Santa Maria in April, and at the time they stated they were close to announcing a new venue, but no announcement has come. When I asked them about returning to Santa Maria this week, they only said they hope to know soon. Their absence leaves Santa Barbara and Kern as the only two counties in Southern California without a promotion that runs regularly there (though kern County at least gets occasional WWE events).

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Billy Blade is saying that 2019 is going to be his last year as an active wrestler.

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The weather forecast for this weekend in downtown Los Angeles is sunny with highs in the mid to low-80s. With the move to The Globe Theater this year, where the air conditioning will likely be turned on, the weather shouldn’t be as big of an issue for Pro Wrestling Guerilla’s Battle of Los Angeles tournament.

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This week’s Southern California pro-wrestling events:

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About the Author

Steve Bryant