Due to the recent increase in COVID-19 cases in Southern California, a number of upcoming pro-wrestling events have been postponed, with three events announcing postponements today alone.
PCW Ultra, which was scheduled to hold their anniversary event A2K22 on January 28 in Wilmington, was the first promotion to announce their show would not be going on as planned. On December 30, 2021, the promotion refunded all tickets purchased for the event and posted a note on social media announcing the cancellation was due to the venue closing until June because of the spike in COVID-19.
On January 4, Raise the Bar announced that their January 13 event at the Glasshouse in Pomona would be pushed back until spring due to the rapid increase in COVID-19 cases in Los Angeles County.
Today Santino Bros., VWE, and Level Up Pro Wrestling all announced cancellations of their events that were scheduled to take place this weekend. Santino Bros. was scheduled to run in Cudahy, VWE in Orange County, and Level Up in La Mesa. All three announced they were putting the safety of their wrestlers and fans first in their postponement announcements.
Santino Bros. and PCW Ultra were the first promotions to announce postponements when the pandemic began in March 2020 as well.
Level Up has had the strictest COVID-19 protocols of any local promotion during the pandemic, running all events outdoors with temperature checks, socially distanced seating, and taking fans’ info for contact tracing. They are also the only promotion not in the greater Los Angeles area to announce any postponement so far.
This weekend’s MPW, FIST Combat, and LA Fights shows are still scheduled to run at press time.
The current spike in cases is being fueled by the more contagious omicron variant. Yesterday, Los Angeles County announced that there were 37,215 new COVID-19 cases in the county, a single-day record since the beginning of the pandemic. That record was broken today with 43,712 new cases.
There were 19,719 new COVID-19 cases reported in Los Angeles County on January 7, 2021. Hospitalizations and deaths remain well off of their peaks still, with 2,902 hospitalizations reported today in Los Angeles County compared to 8,098 on this day last year and 28 deaths compared to 218 last year.
