Note: The following was posted by Jason Bennett on the SoCalUncensored.com message board.
OK, there has been a lot of speculation and confusion regarding the future of Battle Ground Pro Wrestling (some of it my fault) so I am here today to clear it up and let everyone know what is going on with the fed.
First off, and this is the only place I am going to mention this, is that no other fed had or has anything to do with the cancellation of our May show or the following statement. I’d have said that much earlier, but I assumed that most people reading this board realized that the unnamed fed was completely, totally, and utterly full of the worst bullshit in the known world and that I didn’t need to defend against their baseless claims. Guess I was a little off on that one. Ok, no more on that stupidity.Now, on to the stuff that actually matters! I have decided to retire from the world of professional wrestling. That means that several weeks ago, I gave my notice to my partners in Battle Ground Pro Wrestling that I would be leaving the company. There are a multitude of reasons why I have decided to do this. First of all, and most importantly, I’m just not having much fun anymore. I always viewed Battle Ground as a hobby, and people spend their time and their money on their hobbies. Battle Ground certainly drained me considerably of both resources, but I never really minded as I was having quite a bit of fun and got a lot of gratification seeing our ideas come to life in the ring and seeing the crowd respond positively to our stories. Last year was quite a whirlwind for us. We ran several more shows than I anticipated we would, and by the end of the year I was pretty burnt out. Over the 7 or 8 week break from the November show until we started back up in January of this year I remarked to my girlfriend several times that I was enjoying having my time and money back to myself, and that maybe it was time to get out. She convinced me that I might feel differently once we started back up, and I found that to be a reasonable course of action. Now, three shows into the New Year I am sad to say I don’t feel any differently. The shows are starting to feel like a real hassle, and a serious source of stress for me. I was recently promoted at my job, and with that nice promotion and raise came a dramatic increase in my workload. I was used to being able to write show previews, run sheets, make flyers, etc. at work and now that is no longer a possibility. I have little free time outside of work as it is, so this too became a source of stress. Lastly, I was informed at our last show that the Legion Hall had received several letters from the town demanding a cease and desist to the posting of flyers advertising our wrestling shows. Oh, and there were also several fines adding up to over $400 to go with that cease and desist order. So, that meant we were going to need to find a new method of advertising. Considering we never drew the smark crowd (and if you think the irony of posting this letter on the boards when very few of you ever came to our shows is lost on me, guess again buster!) we would need to start taking out costly ads in the local papers which would likely come out of my pocket with little to no chance of recovering that money. Now, I make a good living but I’m certainly not a wealthy man. Losing $500+ per show would get old after say, one show. With the fun level going down, and the money loss potential going up, the writing was on the wall as they say. Living over 20 miles away from our show area (and my partners living almost 3 times that) also compounded our issues and made them tougher to solve.
So, after discussing this with my partners there was some talk about them continuing with a new general partner but in the end they decided that it just wouldn’t be quite the same. Therefore, they have decided that for now it is time to pack it in. Are we permanently dead? Well, is anything ever permanent in this business? Not really. Let’s call it an “indefinite hiatus”. The idea of doing a “last” show in July was presented to me, and I am interested in possibly making that happen. However, as it stands today Battle Ground Pro Wrestling is effectively finished.
I want to take a few moments here to acknowledge a few people who really deserve it. First off to my partners Pete Villano and Robert “Foob Dogg” Tenorio you guys are the best and I love you. I knew from back when you allowed Damage Inc. into the PCW family that you guys weren’t like the other promoters and I was right. I’ve had a blast building Battle Ground from the ground up with you guys. I don’t know many guys with as much heart or love for the business as you too. To Bo Cooper, we wouldn’t have been the fed we were without you and your efforts. Thanks bro. To Ben Tomas and Kathy, thank you so much for being as selfless and helpful as you were. Can’t wait for the wedding. To Gary Yap, you helped us change from just another local fed running in some small town to a local fed running in a small town with some kick ass DVDs of our shows to sell and asked for nothing in return. You are remarkable to say the least. Tony Cutlip, you were way more than just a ref. Thanks so much for your help with the website, and for wanting to always do more and contribute more in all possible ways. Your contributions were always appreciated. To the post show Denny’s Crew of workers and staff, you know who you are. That was always my favorite part of the night. Bro, bro, a rusty trombone to all of you, it’s cheap heat but it’ll get you over for sure (you have to say this part in the appropriate accent). Thanks to all the workers and refs for putting their hearts and souls into everything they did. Thanks to Bo, Kaos, Cholo, Markus Riot, Infernal, Brandon Nitro, Crayz, The Awesome Plague, and Extreme Loco for always holding their championship belts with pride. I wish I had more time to put them on everyone in our locker room. Each and every worker who returned to our locker room month after month did so because we felt you were the best we could offer our fans. You never, ever let me down. Thank you for that.
OK, time to move on now. I know I didn’t need to put all these details out there but I did so because I respect you the SoCal wrestling fans as being the best in the country. Thanks for being a part of one of the coolest things I ever did.
Jason Bennett
