The San Diego Comic Con International has become a mecca for anything and everything related to pop culture, including pro-wrestling. I remember about 12 or so years ago the only wrestling related thing at the Comic Con was a panel hosted by Keith Rainville of From Parts Unknown and now Rudo Can’t Fail about lucha libre. In Mexico lucha libre and comic books have gone hand in hand for years, allowing fans to follow the further adventures of their favorite luchadors. Slowly, people started to realize that a lot of people who go to the Comic Con are part of wrestling’s target audience and have started to expand wrestling’s presence there. With more and more events moving off site for the Comic Con too, wrestling promotions caught on too and started running events in San Diego during the Comic Con. One notable event was in 2010 when Mach 1 wrestling ran just a few blocks from the Comic Con with a card that had Shelton Benjamin, Steve Corino, Brian Kendrick, and Paul London among others.
Wrestling Shows
This year Finest City Wrestling will be running two shows during Comic Con week that are loaded with stars from Lucha Underground and will even be hosted by Lucha Underground’s Melissa Santos. Both shows will be taking place in Imperial Beach which is about a 15 to 20 minute drive south of the San Diego Convention Center.
On Friday July 22nd Finest City Wrestling’s show will feature a main event with Pentagon Jr. and Fenix taking on B-Boy (Bael on Lucha Underground and the 2015 Southern California wrestler of the year) and Lil’ Cholo (Mr. Cisco on Lucha Underground). Also scheduled for the show will be Brian Cage versus Rey Horus (Lucha Underground’s Dragon Azteca Jr) plus others from Lucha Underground such as Willie Mack, Joey Ryan, Thunder Rosa (Kobra Moon), Famous B, Kevin Martenson and local standouts such Danny Limelight, Douglas James, Holidead, SoCal Crazy and more.
On Saturday July 23rd’s Finest City Wrestling show will feature a main event of Jeff Cobb (Lucha Underground’s Matanza Cueto) challenging B-Boy for his FCW heavyweight title.
Tickets for the shows are available at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/finest-city-wrestling-the-pow-boom-smack-wrestling-show-sdcc-weekend-tickets-26065670121
More information including the complete lineups is available on the SCU events page.
Wrestling Panels
At the convention itself there are a few panels that will be of interest to wrestling fans. There could be wrestlers appearing on other panels, such as the Rock, but here are the panels directly related to wrestling.
Thursday
1:00 PM Mattel & WWE Fan Panel
Room 5AB
The New Day (Kofi Kingston, Big E and Xavier Woods), along with AJ Styles and Becky Lynch, offer a fun-filled hour that definitely won’t be sour! Get your recommended daily value of positivity, unicorn magic, and action figures in this gluteus-free panel featuring never-before-seen Mattel figure reveals along with a Q&A session moderated by NXT color commentator Corey Graves.
Friday
5:30 PM Comics from the Squared Circle
Room 8
An insider’s look at the overlapping worlds of comics and professional wrestling, including a historical retrospective and predictions for the future of wrestling comics. Featuring Lucha Underground superstar Chavo Guerrero (Chavo Guerrero’s Warrior’s Creed), WWE Hall-of-Famer Andre the Giant’s daughter Robin Christensen-Roussimoff, and recordbreaking wrestling comics writer Mike Kingston (Headlocked). Hosted by Heidi MacDonald (Comics Beat).
Saturday
2:45 PM Scooby Doo and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon
Room 6BCF
5:30 PM WWE Then. Now. Forever
Room 7AB
BOOM! Studios is proud to announce a publishing partnership with WWE to bring the sports entertainment leader back to comic shops everywhere. BOOM! Studios president of publishing & marketing Filip Sablik, managing editor Bryce Carlson, editor Eric Harburn, artist Dan Mora for an inaugural power hour of special announcements and the debut of exclusive artwork, including the announcement of who will be writing the upcoming WWE: Then. Now. Forever comic coming in November. Plus, every attendee will receive an exclusive, double-sided, one-page comic for free!
Signings
Masked Republic / Headlocked Comic (Booth #1901)
Masked Republic, the leading supplier of lucha libre merchandise in the United States and Headlocked Comic will be teaming to bring a number of Lucha Underground stars to their booth for signings.
Additionally, Masked Republic will have exclusive San Diego Comic Con week merchandise that will only be available at their booth, at the FCW shows, and on LuchaShop.com during the days of SDCC.
Wednesday – Konnan 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm.
Thursday – Thunder Rosa (Kobra Moon on Lucha Underground) 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. Lisa Marie Varon (Victoria in WWE, Tara in TNA) 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm. Jeff Cobb (Matanza Cueto on Lucha Underground) 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm. Rey Horus (Dragon Azteca Jr. on Lucha Underground) 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm.
Friday – Pentagon Jr. and Fenix 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. Joey Ryan and Laura James 12:15pm to 2:00 pm. Famous B 2:15 pm to 4:00 pm.
Saturday – Brian Cage and Melissa Santos 10:00 am to 12:00 pm. John Morrison (Johnny Mundo from Lucha Underground) and Taya Valkyrie 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian 3:15 pm to 7:00 pm.
Sunday – Lisa Marie Varon 11:00 am to 2:00 pm.
Nuclear Blast (Booth #501)
Nuclear Blast Records has teamed with Hijo del Santo, the biggest name in lucha to release a San Diego Comic-Con International exclusive lithograph at this year’s event. The lithograph will only be available on sale at the Nuclear Blast booth at Comic Con with limited quantities. The lithograph was design by artist Marcelo Vasco (Slayer, Hatebreed).
Both Hijo del Santo, and making his United States debut, Santo Jr. will be in attendance for a signing session on Saturday, June 23rd at 1pm at the Nuclear Blast Records booth.
Mattel (Booth #3029)
Mattel will be holding signings with several WWE superstars during the Comic Con and will have a Comic Con exclusive Shockmaster figure for sale.
Thursday – 3:30 p.m.: The New Day (Kofi Kingston, Big E and Xavier Woods)
Friday – 12 p.m.: AJ Styles, Becky Lynch, and The Shockmaster
Entertainment Earth (Booth #2343)
Entertainment Earth will also have Lucha Underground stars appearing and will have Lucha Underground merchandise for sale. A winning ticket is required to attend the signings at the Entertainment Earth booth. Details on how to obtain a randomly distributed winning ticket will be available at the Entertainment Earth booth the first day of the show.
Thursday – Pentagon Jr. from 2:15pm – 3:15pm and Dario Cueto from 4:00pm to 5:00pm
Friday – Johnny Mundo from 10:00am – 11:00am and Melissa Santos from 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Sunday – Catrina and Mil Muertes from 11:30am – 12:30pm
Artists Alley
Former SoCal wrestlers Scott Lost and Mr. Excitement will have a table in artist’s alley, #FF-16. They work on a comic together called Second Shift.
Food
There are a couple of places to check out and grab a bite to eat if you are in San Diego and a wrestling fan. Unfortunately neither are in walking distance from the convention, but both can be reached by trolley.
Lucha Libre Taco Shop
This is the place every wrestling fan who comes to San Diego at any point has to go to at least once. There are actually two locations now, but I would recommend the original Mission Hills location. They are constantly listed as having one of the best burritos in the United States in numerous lists and the portions you get for the price is very reasonable. There is lucha memorabilia all over and the TV normally has lucha matches on. They are located at 1810 W. Washington St. in San Diego. If you can’t drive, take the trolley towards Old Town and get off at the Washington St. station. Head north east on Washington St. and it will be on your right.
El Camino
El Camino is located in Little Italy, their tie to wrestling is the classic Santo movie posters they have on their walls. The food is really good too. The downside is it will be a little more difficult to get to without a car. You will have to take the trolley to Little Italy and head north for about a mile or so. It will be on the right. Their address is 2400 India St. in San Diego.
With multiple wrestling shows, WWE and Lucha Underground wrestlers, panels, toys, and even a Scooby Doo movie there is something for almost every wrestling fan.
Stay tuned to SoCalUNCENSORED.com for updates and live reports from the Comic Con and both Finest City Wrestling Shows.
