This isn’t good bye, it’s see you later…
When I first discovered SoCalUNCENSORED, I was already a veteran of 3-4 Independent Wrestling shows, mostly UPW. I was ready to branch out. A single man with no obligations, I spent many of weekends attending wrestling shows any where from the Anaheim Marketplace, The Norwalk Indoor Swapmeet, and beyond. Wrestling was everything. Around this time, I would write my first ever article for SCU, Overexposure: What’s Killing the SoCal Scene. I wasn’t sure I would ever write something again. I took a few journalism classes in high school. I always fancied myself a decent writer. But honestly, I was happier to read what was being written by some terrific authors in Steve, Scrub, Justin Crast, and more. It would be about six months before I would try my next assignment and Interview with Desire (Shelly Martinez). Not going to lie, Shelly and I had become friends chit-chatting at AWS and talking on AOL Instant Message. Interviewing her was easy. Kind of wished we would have stayed friends. Regardless it wasn’t long after that, I began working full time, going to school, dating, becoming a father, getting married, getting divorced, etc…
Now that I had less obligations I got right back into wrestling. I was at wrestling shows almost every weekend. At this time I started fostering positive relationships with many within the industry. I started my own wrestling website, the National Wrestling Alliance version of SCU, Alliance-Wrestling. While I was writing about the local NWA promoters in SoCal (CWFH, Mach-1, EWF, Inoki Dojo, AWS, SoCal Pro, etc.) I realized I could start contributing to SoCalUNCENSORED again. But it was when Adair and I decided we could save SCU that everything would change.
The site had become stagnate, festering in negativity and bitterness, Adair and I worked hard to regain the trust of not only the fans, but those inside the industry to show we would promote Southern California Wrestling responsibly and create a positive environment that would ultimately push the eyeballs coming to SCU to the promotions in SoCal. It was an audacious goal, to change the perception that people had of this site. But with hard work and a lot of we accomplished that. And after a few auditions, we would bring in MarkO and Mike Dravin as support for the site. News was getting posted, events were getting posted, recaps, interviews, ultimately the site had become a vehicle to spread the passion of SoCal Wrestling. 2015 became a banner year for the site. Traffic was hitting all time highs.
They say life is what happens while you are busy making other plans. I never thought when I first visited SoCalUNCENSORED that one day I would be writing for the site, let alone being the managing editor. With that job, I was recognized as one of the voices of SoCal. I had earned the respect from our wrestling community by fostering a positive relationships with talent, front office, and supporting staff in many wrestling promotions in Southern California. For six years I made Southern California Wrestling a priority in my life. I can remember posting results from the hospital, the night my second daughter was born. When I took over as Managing Editor for SCU, I was a single dad, with a sweet little girl who was only with me half the time. Now, I’m a husband again, the father of three, and a small business owner. I thought with a break from my weekly column that I might miss writing for SoCal and be exited to come back.
But actually, I didn’t. I didn’t miss it. I never truly disconnected from the site, if you found this post on Facebook there is a 50/50 chance I posted it. I still read the message boards. I still edited the guest Jay Cal Views. I still posted links for the Social Media. I still talked wrestling. I thank SoCalUNCENSORED, specifically Steve for creating this platform. So many relationships I made working for this site that I’ll enjoy forever. And I’m truly proud of the work that I put into this site. People can say that this site was this or that while I was in charge, but I never compromised myself to run this site. Its great to see everyone back and enjoying SCU again. I’m proud of the fact that more than one promoter told me that they ready Jay Cal’s View Weekly. I’m proud that I was able to get some wrestlers work in promotions they weren’t previously welcomed with my interviews.
Who knows what tomorrow may bring? Steve has been very kind and has offered to leave the door open for a return down the road. It was a fun ride SoCal. And I’m sure there will be a “Wish you the best in your future endeavors joke” somewhere, but I really enjoyed our time together.
The last thing I’d like to say…
To the wrestlers who made themselves available for interviews, for the promoters who granted me access, to those of you who contributed to our year end awards, and for the special people who always supported this site and me. Thank you. This job was at times thankless and hard and other amazing and very rewarding. Without you, this wouldn’t have worked.
Thank you SoCalUNCENSORED. This isn’t goodbye, it’s see you later.
Thank you! From a longtime lurker.