Remember kids, it’s a marketing ploy to sell magazines. Pro Wrestling Illustrated pissed off many, honored a few, and completed it’s top 500 list, we’ve got a list of SoCal Reps and where you can see them. New AWS Light Heavyweight Champion. New NWA World Champion, will we see him in SoCal? Gary Yap’s Guide to being the best worked, plus updates at UWN, I give out some kudos, and this week’s paltry offerings.
Hey kids… remember to save your work.
SoCal’s 2015 PWI 500 Notables:
16) Prince Puma / Ricochet (PWG, Lucha Underground)
32) Johnny Mundo (Lucha Underground, UIPW)
66) Matt Jackson – Young Bucks (PWG, IWL)
67) Nick Jackson – Young Bucks (PWG, IWL)
78) Brian Cage – (PWG, Lucha Underground, AWS)
103) Rocky Romero – (AWS)
132) Drew Gulak – (CWFH, PWG)
202) Rey Horus – (UIPW, OWA)
223) Joey Ryan – (CWFH, PWG,)
227) Matt Riviera – (Vendetta)
248) Brian Kendrick – (Santinos, BKWPW)
257) Scorpio Sky – (CWFH, AWS)
275) Ryan Taylor – (CWFH, EWF, AWS)
294) B-Boy – (AWS, Lucha Underground, UIPW)
300) Timothy Thatcher – (CWFH, PWG)
304) Ricky Mandel – (SoCal Pro, Lucha Underground)
314) Famous B – (Lucha Underground, AWS, Santinos)
317) YUMA – (CWFH, FCW)
318) Chavo Guerrero Jr. – (Lucha Underground, Vendetta)
329) Kevin Martenson/Johnny Goodtime – (CWFH, FCW)
333) JR Kratos – (CWFH)
346) Willie Mack – (AWS, Santinos, UIPW)
356) Ray Rosas – (AWS, IWL, Santinos)
378) Phoenix Star – (AWS, UIPW, Lucha VaVoom)
384) Zokre – (AWS, UIPW, Lucha VaVoom)
388) BC Killer – (Santinos, UEW)
396) Lil Cholo – (WPW, AWS, Lucha Underground)
414) Jeckles The Jester – (Vendetta, AWS)
415) Ric Luxury – (Vendetta)
427) Rico Dynamite – (Santinos, AWS)
432) Adam Thornstowe – (AWS)
434) Jesus Rodriguez – (Vendetta)
437) Luster The Legend – (AWS)
461) Tyler Bateman – (AWS, Vendetta, Santinos)
464) Peter Avalon – (CWFH, IWL, AWS)
468) Jervis Cottonbelly – (CWFH)
481) Billy Blade – (Vendetta, EWF)
484) Pinky – (Santinos, IWL, Alpha Omega)
488) Dexter Millhouse – (Alpha Omega)
491) Richie Slade – (EWF, Vendetta)
497) Hobo – (CWFH, BKWPW)
There is quite a bit of names that were left out that I really feel was unfortunate. It borders on negligence that guys like Tommy Wilson, Sasha Darevko, Big Duke, Mikey O’Shea, Andy Brown, and SoCal Crazy, were not ranked. And I feel some of the names on the list; Tyler Bateman, Hobo, Peter Avalon, were criminally ranked far too low. Remember the good old days with the DVDR500 pissed off everyone as much as the PWI500. Could we even do a SCU500? Are there even 500 wrestlers in the state? Who could we piss off first?
Gary Yap’s Guide to Being the Best
Last week due to time constraints I wasn’t able to properly acknowledge HIM. You know the EWF Heavyweight Champion. I was thrilled to hear about MIB winning the title in EWF. I’m a terrible poker player, I never said I was impartial, and I most definitely root while in the press box. The meteoric rise of Gary Yap’s Man In Black is something that I don’t think I’ve ever seen in SoCal, nor do I think we’ll ever see again. Virtually unknown to the world, the man behind the mask is a skilled wrestler. Seemingly versed in multiple styles of wrestling and witnessing first hand in his encounter with Andy Brown, the Man in Black has a technical prowess that is unmatched in Southern California. But with a snap of the fingers you can see the Man In Black use a high risk maneuver with the best of them. Which brings me to my point, tonight at the EWF Arena, HIM vs. Misterioso Jr. has potential to be a Match of the Year Candidate. Misterioso while splitting time in SoCal and Baja has managed to become a former UIPW Heavyweight Champion. He’s faced some of the best in the world of Lucha and is currently on a bit of a winning streak in the Empire Wrestling Federation. Needless to say that if Misterioso is on point tonight, the fan in the EWF are going to be treated to one hell of a match.
Also tonight the Pride of La Quinta, Vance Garyat defends his EWF American Championship against that no good, award stealing bully, Anthony Idol. My personal feelings aside on Idol, the dude is one of the most powerful guys in SoCal. I was there the night that Baby Bull captivated the hearts of the EWF Faithful by winning a Six Man Ladder Match to become the new champion. That night, not even Idol could stop the momentum of the raging bull (yes puns are always intended.) With two huge championship matches as well as the EWF Tag Team Titles being defended, there is no other place to be tonight except the EWF Arena, make your plans accordingly.
And your new AWS Light Heavyweight Champion
The old expression, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Saturday Night while watching the boys and girls of AWS put on another terrific show I was reminded just how true that expression is. Smack dab right in the middle of the show, AWS fans were treated with a true throwback. Scorpio Sky hasn’t worn the mask since July 9th 2005 when Chris Bosh, Joey Ryan, and Scott Lost bloodied Sky and forcefully removed it. Sky along side another former AWS Lightweight Champion Mariachi Loco challenged Famous B for a title he’s held for 189 days. The hard fought battle would end, with Scorpio Sky emerging victorious. If next months show is the end of AWS, it would only be fitting the man to be the first AWS Light Heavyweight Champion also becomes the last one. Obviously he has to get through the month of September to do that. For the rest of the results, click here
New NWA World Heavyweight Champion
Some of you who’ve been following the Jay Cal’s View for a while know my affinity for the National Wrestling Alliance. I’ve been a long time fan. I’ve been a fan since I was kid. I followed it from a far when I learned that it still existed around the time Howard Brody and Dennis Coralluzzo invade RAW is War aligning with Jim Cornette, Jeff Jarret, the Rock ‘N’ Roll Express and eventually Dan “The Beast” Severn. It was the time, seeing the NWA Worlds Champion wrestle in the WWE ring, fight in the UFC Octagon that I rekindled my love affair with the NWA. I followed the NWA to ZERO1 and it’s weird love triangle with UPW that saw talent from SoCal, compete in Japan, for NWA Titles. Anyone else remember Sakoda and Samoa Joe as the NWA International Tag Team Champions? Of course through it’s years in SoCal there have been trials and tribulations; the fiasco with Car Consumer Pro, PCW in Northern California, it wasn’t until David Marquez and company started promoting under the NWA banner did it gain stability. Since then Marquez’s CWFH has left the NWA and Vendetta Pro Wrestling has become the promotion of record in California and subsequently Las Vegas.
Alas a new Champion has been crowned by the way of Texas when Jax Dane defeated New Japan’s Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Long time New Japan fans are aware of who Tenzan is, former IWGP World and Tag Team Champion. His feud with Dane was mostly across the Pacific, were they battled in tag team matches for the IWGP Tag Titles. Now… Dane’s eventual shot at the World Title comes from teaming with his “best friend” Conway in Japan. Considering the only two guys to beat Conway for the title are the same two guys that the Iron Godz (Dane and Conway) feuded with in Japan Tenzan and Kojima. Dane was in the ring with what equates to 3 NWA World Champions in front of a New Japan crowd. Flash forward a few months (maybe a year) and Dane is literally one of the few wrestlers who was making dates in and out of Texas and Tennessee, arguable the biggest of NWA territories. I’m sure the end goal was to create a legitimate Triple Crown Champion, when Dane won both the NWA National and NWA North American Championships simultaneously. But due to injury, Dane relinquished the belts. There was quite a bit of build up to it, but again, the Revolution wasn’t really televised and you had to go out of your way to follow this Path… Pun intended. In the end, I believe that Dane has all the potential in the world to make a great world champion. Maybe better than Conway, Kahagas, or even Blue Demon Jr. You’re going to have to do a lot to supersede Pearce in my mind. Judging on Dane’s ability to get booked into rather large areas more specifically he’ll have to defend in California, the connection to Japan, the fact that he’s a Grand Slam NWA Champion… perhaps he can be the legitimate next big thing in the NWA. And in my reality, it’s the best move the new NWA has made. Vendetta fans, stay tuned.
Kudos to RAZE
In wrestling, everyone seems to talk a good game. “The Equal Opportunity Ass Kicker” ventures out and proves it. Saturday Night at Alternative Wrestling Show Raze stepped up to the plate in yet another inter-gender match against the “Bad Dude” Tito Escondido. Tito is a terrific wrestler, as I alluded to earlier. Which makes the fact that RAZE carried her own against such a tough competitor even more meaningful. And true to fashion, Tito took every short cut, every opportunity to cheat, even having the referee in his pocket allowing him to crush a Wet Floor Sign across the forehead of RAZE giving him the 1-2-3. Even in defeat RAZE proved that she can get out there with some of the baddest dudes in SoCal (pun intended). With matches against BC Killer, Ray Rosas, Willie Mack, and Tito, the question remains… who’s next?
United Wrestling Network
The Five Year Anniversary continues through September 12th when the anniversary episodes are set to air on KDOC-TV and YouToo America. They also showed a look back at the past five years in a short they put on Facebook, that you can find clicking here. However the latest uploads to the Patreon streaming service is episode 224, originally airing on August 30, 2015. The Rascal King YUMA has a Non-Title Match against Jervis Cottonbelly. The Summer Classic Quarterfinals are set with; Todd Chandler vs. “Main Event” James Morgan, Big Duke vs. Eric Watts, Bateman vs. Che Cabrera and the Hollywood Heritage Tag Team Champions: Timothy Thatcher & Drew Gulak defend against former champions Joey Ryan & Ryan Taylor of Vermin. If you’re a member of the subscription service as well as bonus matches that are these one of a kind never before seen matches that have not been aired on the weekly CWFH Television Program; RockNES Monsters defending the Hollywood Heritage Tag Titles against Natural Selection with Percy Pringle III and Los Luchas from June 26th 2010 in Yuma Arizona, Daniel Bryan vs. Sean “X-Pac” Waltman from November 11th 2007 in Peth Australia, AJ Styles vs. Trent Barretta on June 14th 2014 at Port Hueneme California, and most recently added Chase Stevens & Andy Douglas (The Naturals) taking on Romeo Roseli & Antonio Thomas (The Heart Throbs) from the Tsongas Arena in Lowell MA from July 7th 2006. Subscription rates start as low as $2. Visit UWN powered by Patreon. It’s perfect for those of us who do not have access KDOC-TV or YouToo America.
Upcoming Events in SoCal
EWF in Covina, Tonight September 4 @ 8:00 PM
UEW in East Los Angeles, Saturday September 5 @ 7:00 PM
FPW Lucha Libre in East Los Angeles, Sunday September 6 @ 5:00 PM
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The views and opinions expressed in Jay Cal’s View are those solely of the author. These views do not necessarily reflect the views of the website. As always please email Jay Cal with any questions, comments, or concern.