SoCal News & Notes 09/27/2018

In today’s Southern California pro-wrestling news update we have the latest on Blackcraft, PWG, PCW Ultra, Bar Wrestling, Lucha Underground, Vendetta Pro, New Japan, L.A. Lucha, and more. Click for today’s update.

—

Blackcraft Wrestling officially canceled their October 5, 2018 event in Anaheim yesterday. The event, titled Reapers Revenge, was scheduled to be the promotion’s second event after a well received show in Pittsburgh, PA on August 24, and was set to be broadcast live on iPPV.

I had first learned of the cancellation on September 25 when they began to notify wrestlers the show was being canceled. After confirming the cancellation with a number of talent booked for the show we broke the news on Twitter. The reason given to some of the talent was a “legal issue that came up.” They advised talent that they were not folding and future events would be going on as planned.

In the statement the promotion released publicly on September 26 they gave the reason for the cancellation simply as “unforeseen circumstances.” They also stated that all iPPV and ticket sales will be refunded, and everyone who purchased the event would be given an access code to view their debut event and a $10.00 BlackcraftCult (the clothing company behind the promotion) gift card.

—

Joey Janela injured his left knee at GCW‘s Live Fast Die Young event in Asbury Park, NJ on September 21. An MRI on the knee revealed significant damage that will require surgery and could sideline him for up to 10 months.

—

With Joey Janela’s injury, Trevor Lee will be taking his place at Pro Wrestling Guerrilla’s October 19 event in Los Angeles against Darby Allin. The match will be Lee’s 46th match in PWG and will move him past Brian Danielson (Daniel Bryan) into 25th all-time for matches in PWG.

—

PCW Ultra has announced the first four matches for its October 26 event, Possessed, in Wilmington. Shane Strickland will be defending the PCW Ultra Light Heavyweight Championship against Darby Allin, Tessa Blanchard will be defending her PCW Ultra Women’s Championship against Priscilla Kelly, Brody King will be facing Puma King in a first ever meeting, and there will be a four-way to determine the number one contender to the Light Heavyweight Championship between Eli Everfly, Jake Atlas, Chris Bey, and Marko Stunt.

Joey Janela was originally scheduled for the event but he is out due to his injury.

—

Bar Wrestling has announced three matches for its October 3 event, Ain’t My First Rodeo Drive, in Los Angeles. Eli Everfly will be facing Teddy Hart in a singles match that has been booked several times before but always switched up before it actually happens. Also announced is Douglas James versus Rocky Romero and Eli Drake and Brian Cage teaming to face Scorpio Sky and Watts.

—

Bar Wrestling has also announced an October 17 event at 1720 in Los Angeles.

—

Lucha Underground had 89,000 viewers for yesterday’s episode according to ShowBuzzDaily. That is a drop of 8,000 viewers from last week. The average viewership for the season is at slightly under 107,000, which is still up from season three’s 103,000. Season two averaged almost 121,000 viewers per episode.

—

Vendetta Pro will be returning to Santa Maria for the first time since March on October 19. The event will be at Your Orcutt Youth Organization. No lineup has been announced.

—

There is scheduled to be a dark match involving students from New Japan’s LA Dojo before NJPW’s Fighting Spirit Unleashed event in Long Beach on September 30. The dark match is scheduled to take place at 4:30 p.m.

—

New Japan Pro Wrestling will not be holding pre-show press conferences before Fighting Spirit Unleashed as they have done with their three prior United States events.

—

Championship Wrestling from Hollywood moved their television taping this week to September 29 due to Fighting Spirit Unleashed.

—

L.A. Lucha, a new promotion run by former Maverick Pro owner Anthony Pastor, will be debuting on November 3. They’ve announced Funnybone, Adrian Quest, Los Luchas, Danny Limelight, Koto Hiro, Super Beetle, Mariachi Loco, Brandon Cutler, The Bomb Squad, and Owen Travers among others for their debut show. They’ve also announced Shawn Scoville as their lead commentator for their Twitch broadcast.

—

California State University Bakersfield, one of only two NCAA division 1 wrestling programs in Southern California (the other being Cal Poly SLO), has released its 2018/2019 schedule. On October 19 the Roadrunners will hold their annual Blue-Gold Meet and will open their regular season against Life Pacific and San Francisco State on November 1. CSU Bakersfield is a member of the Pac 12 for wrestling, but this year their only home Pac 12 meet will be against Stanford on January 27. For their other Pac 12 matchups they will head to Oregon State on December 9, Cal Poly on January 11 and Arizona State on February 16.

The Pac-12 Championships are at Arizona State on March 9 and the NCAA Championships at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, PA from March 21 through 23.

—

Jake “The Snake” Roberts and several wrestlers from the original GLOW, including Noelle Rose (Major Tanya), April Hom Enriques (The Royal Hawaiian), Dawn Maestas (Godiva), Jeanne Basone (Hollywood), Cheryl Rusa (Lightning), and Annette Marroquin (Jungle Woman), will be appearing at this year’s Los Angeles Comic Con from October 26 through 28.

—

Joey Ryan and Laura James will be taking part in a tour with DDT in Japan starting October 21 until the end of the month. On October 20 they will be teaming to face Makoto Oishi and Misaki Ohata in a world’s craziest couple battle.

—

This week’s Southern California pro-wrestling and MMA events:

9/27:

9/28:

9/29:

9/30:

10/3:

10/4:

About the Author

Steve Bryant