2016 in Review with B-Boy

Recently I had a chance to speak with B-Boy at the Battle U Wrestling School and take a look back at 2016. In our talk we discussed not only B-Boy’s past year, but the Southern California wrestling, where it’s been and where we think it is going. We also talked about the rise of wrestling schools in the area, the need for veterans to help elevate younger wrestlers, people role playing as B-Boy, and more in what turned out to be a really long conversation. 

Steve:   All right, I’m here with B-Boy, and we’re doing a kind of 2016 year in review. This is just going to focus on the past year, give or take. If you want to find out about how B-Boy started out, his thoughts on CZW, stuff like that, you can check out the big three hour interview Andrew did with him last year. 2016 … I would say it’s probably a pretty good year for you. How do you feel?

B-Boy:   Just overall how it went?

Steve:   Yeah.

B-Boy:   It was actually kind of interesting, because in the beginning of 2016, especially in January, I started going through like a weird professional depression. To where I thought I wasn’t good, wasn’t utilized in certain promotions, and it just kind of really messed up with my head. There was one time that I just snapped out of it, and I was just like, “I can’t let things get to me.” You know what I mean? If I do, then it’s always a downward spiral towards certain things. I started reconnecting with a lot of old promotions that always wanted to book me for years now, and I always said, “No,” because I wanted to stay in SoCal. I wanted to try to help the scene. I want try to elevate the scene. I wanted to work with all the new people and get them ready.

After that so-called depression happened, I started making a couple phone calls, everything started working. I made debuts. I made a lot of returns on the East Coast. People actually were booking me for not only wrestling, as a performer, but they were booking me as a seminar teacher. I was able to host I think it was like 10 to 12 seminars this year, that ranged from the East Coast, Midwest, Northern California, everything like that. 2016 actually kind of started off pretty rough, and I think it was at the end of January where I said, “Fuck this,” and … Sorry.

Steve:   Well it’s uncensored, so…

B-Boy:   Oh, okay. I said, “Fuck this,” and I kind of went on a … It’s weird, because I put myself on my own campaign. I don’t know if that makes any sense, but you know how everybody has their own hashtag? Mine was “#ProveThemWrong”, and it was directed at a lot of people, including myself, that really felt that I didn’t have it anymore, or anything like that. I wanted to prove everybody that was doubting me, including myself, and I used that as a motivational tool. Because of that … 2015 was a very good year for me, too. Probably one of my best. I felt that this year meant more to me, if that makes sense. I try to show it in my work, and I try to show it while teaching as well.

Steve:   Yeah. 2015, you were SoCal Wrestler of the Year again, and only the third person to win it multiple times in the 17-18 year history of the award. Then 2016, I’m sure you’ve got to be one of the top candidates I would say to-

B-Boy:   Yeah. It’s kind of weird, because when it comes down to awards, we talk about this, awards are just awards or accomplishments, and everything like that. It actually means that all your work kind of comes full circle. Especially with your peers that respect you, fans that love to watch you. Guys like yourself that’s been watching wrestling for a very long time. Especially out here in this scene. It’s been crazy. The one thing that this year … because I’ve been watching a lot. A lot of new talent. I’ve been watching a lot of shows and everything like that.

One thing that a lot of people don’t have out here, and I’ll probably get … scrutinized is the word? For saying this, but there’s no one more consistent than me out here, I believe. Maybe with the exception of maybe Bateman, that’s it. I’ve been trying to get people … to have them understand that consistency is a huge factor in wrestling. That was another motivational tool that I wanted to be consistent each and every time that I work this year.

Steve:   Yeah. Not even consistence from match to match, you’ve been consistent over the years. If you think about it, you were one of the top guys 2001, 2002, back then. Still here we are 2016, and you’re still one of the top guys. I was talking with Super Dragon not too long ago, and we kind of had the same conversation. Where I said, “You know, I don’t think there’s ever going to be, at least in this kind of atmosphere we have nowadays, another Super Dragon, another B-Boy.”

B-Boy:   There won’t be.

Steve:   If you were as good as you were in 2001 at as young an age as you were, you’d be getting signed to WWE or NXT or whatever now days.

B-Boy:   I agree.

Steve:   You’re not going to be a SoCal guy anymore. You’d get taken away.

B-Boy:   Yeah. The way that I see things is that the business is evolving. I feel that, as you said, how so-called “good” I am or whatever you want to call it, and I started now … If I wasn’t turning 38 next week … or tomorrow, fuck. If I wasn’t turning 38 tomorrow, I feel that I would get a look. I don’t know if I would ever make it to WWE, but I feel like I would get a look.

Steve:   Do you ever think, “Man, if only I started a few years later…” You see The Young Bucks and do you think, “That was us in 2002,” or whatever?

B-Boy:   Yeah. You know, what’s funny is that there’s a lot of people that say that they transcended, or progressed the scene. The Young Bucks haven’t transcended or progressed the scene. They just evolved and made their own style, you know what I mean? The funny thing about it is that guys like Frankie, myself, [Samoa] Joe, Cubanitos [Ricky Reyes and Rocky Romero], and all these guys, a lot of people tend to forget that we were the ones that started all of this. We were the generation that was after Christopher Daniels, Mike Modest, guys like that. We were the ones that brought eyes to SoCal. You were there at Best of the Best 2 in Philly. They knew who Dragon and myself were. They knew we were from Southern California. Because of that moment, that’s when I knew, I was like, “Okay, I think Dragon and myself have … we have eyes on us because of where we’re from.” I feel people forget about it, you know what I mean? It’s not necessarily negative, or anything like that. It’s not to be like, “Oh, come on, I really wish that you guys remembered.” People tend to forget, because of all the athleticism that’s happening now.

Steve:   Yeah. Something I actually think about all the time is that early 2000s time-period in Southern California. You would see wrestling here, and you knew it was Southern California wrestling, because it was a style that nobody was doing. It was yourself, Dragon, guys like Rising Son, Excalibur, the Cubanitos, Samoa Joe. It was completely different than anywhere else, and now… I remember like a lot of people at the time, “Nobody’s ever going to make money doing that style,” or whatever. Now you see it in the WWE to an extent.

B-Boy:   It’s kind of weird that … It’s kind of interesting that the style that we kind of brought to the table is what everybody’s A, doing, or B, looking for. You know what I mean? It’s kind of interesting.

Steve:   In 2017, where do you think SoCal can differentiate itself to be that trend-setting place again? Where it’s not just copying everybody else?

B-Boy:   I think one of the major things out here is that a lot of SoCal talent is being signed or being looked at. Just California talent, I should I say. I think in order to elevate the scene, certain people should follow a lead which I’ve been trying to do since like 2010, 2011, and work with these young guys. Ever since I got back from Philly – I think it was like 2010, 2011 – all I wanted to do was work the guys. I wanted them to get, ready because obviously they’re the new generation, but a lot of people out here in Southern California are very selfish. They know who they are, I don’t have to tell them. I’m sure you know who they are.

I feel that in order for our region to be successful, you have to have those guys that are willing to elevate those guys that are just on that verge. This new generation that’s out right now has more athleticism than the generation that I was in. Maybe with the exception of Dragon.

Guys like Ray Rosas, Famous B, Peter Avalon, Tyler Bateman. When I came back, these were the guys that I wanted to wrestle, because I saw it. I’ve been around a long time, so I could see shit. When I saw it, that’s who I wanted to work, and I wanted to help elevate. I don’t know if you noticed this, but me and Bateman has had close to 50 matches for the past four years. In a weird way, he’s not been my pet project I will say, but in a weird way, I’ve been grooming him for where he’s at right now.

The same thing I started with B and everybody else. It’s like, I’ve been doing this. I feel for a region to be successful, you’re always going to have your successors. Guys like Bateman, Rosas, B, even the younger guys like Eli [Everfly] and Douglas James. These guys like this, they need guys like myself to help them, you know what I mean? There’s not a lot of people that will do that. I think a lot of people are starting to see what I’m doing, and people are trying to follow, because I think they understand now.

Steve:   Kind of going on that a little bit, because you mentioned Douglas James, you had the feud with him in FCW. I guess kind of a feud, where you had a match with him that was really good, and then you later dropped the title to him. What made you decide pick Douglas James, as far as a guy that you wanted to elevate?

B-Boy:   I saw something in Doug. I think it was the match that he had with [Danny] Limelight. It was a 2-out-of-3 falls, and I saw something in Doug that reminded me so much of myself. Even though his style is a little different and everything like that. I just saw the determination, the passion, the training. The way he moves, how fluid he is. He reminded me so much of myself, a younger self. While Bateman is like a mid-age myself, you know what I mean? I saw something, and I’m a type of guy that can pinpoint certain things and characteristics, and I know how to amplify them. Especially with other people.

I just knew when we had that first match, I knew it was going to be good. I know people would enjoy it. Then when it came down to it, I was just like, “You know what? He’s on that verge,” and he just started to get that underdog role. I was just like, “I need to drop him now, because I’ve already established the title for two years, and it’s going to mean more.” People would maybe want me to drop it to Cholo or something like this, or somebody else. As I said, you have to help elevate certain people. Then at that time, and I still stand by my decision, Doug was the best decision to drop it to.

Steve:   Yeah, definitely. He’s had a great year. I know he was rookie of the year last year, but he’s really stepped up beyond that. I think a lot of it is because of the matches that you guys have had. We’re doing our awards nominations right now, though the nominees will all be announced by the time this posts. A lot of people are saying “Douglas James for most outstanding wrestler. Douglas James for wrestler of the year.” I wasn’t hearing that two months ago, so it’s definitely something that I think that all stems from those matches at FCW that you had with him.

B-Boy:   I mean, I am someone that will never take full credit of matches, because it always takes two to make magic. There could always be a lead, and I’ll be the lead, but I’m going to make you earn it and show me. Not only do you have to show the fans what you could do, but I have a very old school mentality. I said, “You got to show me what you can do. Especially in the ring.”  He still on that verge, and he can blow up… maybe even next year he’ll blow up even more. If it comes down to… If you feel that some of his success is coming from the matches that stems for me, then I’m very humbled by that. It just makes me feel like I’m doing my job. It’s a sense of accomplishment when I feel like I’m doing my job, you know? I would rather take that than anything else.

Steve:   Kind of going back a little bit, you were talking about seeing these younger wrestlers. How much do you watch to see… How do you decide, “Hey, I want to wrestle this guy”?

B-Boy:   See, a lot of young guys always ask me to watch their match. I tell them, “No, I didn’t watch it,” but I did. I watch everybody. They always come up to me and they’ll be like, “Hey, did you see my match?” I’ll be like, “Oh, I’m sorry. I was talking”, but I did watch it. The reason why is because I know they want advice and everything like that, but I want to see how they do it themselves first. I was the type of person that never had these vets to ask that. I had to adapt by myself, and I want to see if these guys can do it by themselves first. If they need that extra hand, or if they just need that extra push, then I’ll talk to them.

I watch everybody. When it comes down to certain people and who I want to work, for every promotion that wants to book me, I always mention a couple names. Normally, they give me the name that I want, and I just go out there and just do my thing, you know what I mean? Guys like Andy Brown, Adrian Quest … For Bart’s, after [Adam] Thornstowe got hurt, because it was supposed to me and Cholo against Reno Scum. I told Bart, I told him to give Cholo and myself Quest and Brown. Because of that match, they’re loved over there now. Over here, it was Doug. Back in the day, it was Bateman, it was Rosas, it was Peter. It was these guys like that. To answer your question, I watch everybody. I really do.

Steve:   You know it’s funny, because I was around when you were first coming up. Maybe I’m wrong on this, maybe I don’t know, but I don’t think there was anybody like you doing that when you were coming up. I don’t remember you getting … It seemed like it was you and the Rev Pro guys kind of paving your own way.

B-Boy:   Exactly.

Steve:   I remember going to a UPW show, and you and Funky Billy Kim are getting squashed by John Cena. Like Cena is just squashing two guys on a UPW Lite show.

B-Boy:   Yeah.

Steve:   What did that match do for you? Except for say you got to wrestle John Cena at some point.

B-Boy:   I will say at that time, John Cena was Prototype, and it didn’t do anything to make me better. [Laughs]

Steve:   Yeah, the Prototype.

B-Boy:   He was just John, and now he’s like fucking one of the top wrestlers ever. That’s another thing, too, is I’ve wrestled fucking everybody that people forget. Anyways, just like you said, nobody brought me to the side and taught me, gave me advice, anything like that. I adapted on my own. Because I have that strong mentality, and because I have that drive, and I have determination, I try to push it onto others. A lot of people aren’t doing that for them. I just think that, like I said, in order for the scene to be successful, you got to help. You got to elevate. Like I said, I feel like I’m the only … I won’t say that I am the only one, but … In your eyes you see it, but other people don’t, you know what I mean? I’m just trying to make everything better, bro.

Steve:   Have you ever thought…  you’re in your 18th year wrestling?

B-Boy:   Yeah.

Steve:   When you started, somebody who’d been around 18 years started in 1980. Does that ever make you think, “Fuck, I’m old.”?

B-Boy:   Oh, yeah. Trust me, I always tell people I’m old. Every match that I have now knocks at least five years of my life. That match I had with Doug, that 45-, 42-minute match, easy 20 years off my life. I’m dying early. The thing is, going back to originally what I said about just my own campaign and motivational tool, and proving everybody wrong, and proving myself that I was wrong, I need that. It’s weird, because a lot of people out here call me the SoCal Undertaker, and it’s kind of weird. Jorel Diaz always calls me the SoCal Undertaker, just because … because obviously my age, but I can still perform at a level that a lot of people can’t.

Steve:   Yeah. You know another thing, I’ve been putting all this old stuff on SoCal UNCENSORED. Back in 2001, we’d be happy if there was like eight shows in a month. Now, we’re doing the calendar, and there’s 50 shows in a month. Do you think that it’s gotten to a point where there’s just like too much going on?

B-Boy:   I think it comes down to a point that people and promoters are being smarter. I remember back in the day, a promoter just wanted to put on a show just because they wanted to put on a show. Nowadays, people are being smarter. There is still some that it’s over-saturating SoCal, but again, that’s the con of it. The pro is, it gives wrestlers more places to work, more experiences. That was something for myself, because … If you want to go back in the day, for four years straight, I was legit wrestling like 10 to 12 times a month. My name was … and you know this, my name was everywhere. People were getting tired of me because they saw me so damn much.

In my head, I said, “I’m not doing this for the people. I need to get better. I need to wrestle everywhere. I need to see what crowds are out there. I need to know how to adapt.” That’s why it’s a pro that it is saturated out here in Cali, because you can work everywhere.

Steve:   I’ll say back then, there was the marketplace where I think they were a little lax on who they let run there. Which kind of created some questionable promotion decisions…

B-Boy:   It’s like that UEW Arena.

Steve:   That’s what I was getting to. I think UEW Arena, there’s like seven different promotions running around there.

B-Boy: Yeah. I think … Cary’s a business man, that’s his deal. Everything that does run there is always different. As a venue, I feel like as a venue, it’s over-saturated. A lot of people, I know a lot of wrestlers when they go in that locker room, they just go there and they’re just like, (Sigh). It’s not because of the show or anything like that, it’s just because of the venue. “Oh, we’re back here again.”

Steve:   I think it’s kind of gotten the reputation now where a new promotion pops up there … A couple weeks ago, Movie City Wrestling had their show there. They had a pretty decent card. They had Chavo Guerrero and Paul London and they didn’t really draw that good. I think it’s to the point where to fans’ perspective, they don’t know what they are going to get there and maybe are starting to avoid it.

B-Boy:   I agree. Then another thing is a lot of fans’ perspective … it’s always been like this, and you know this. 50% of the fans are just fans that want to love wrestling, and they just want to watch. Then, there’s other guys that just go there, and they just fucking nitpick about this, and everything like that. It’s always there. You’re never going to change that shit.

If you ever been to the UEW Arena, there’s no parking, it’s ghetto as fuck. Mariachi Loco almost got jumped by cholos. It’s horrible, you know what I mean? Yeah, I think … At the same time, if you own a warehouse, if you own something like that, I think two or three shows companies working together is cool. When there’s like, like you said, seven or eight, or just a new promotion that wants to pay you money, it’s kind of, “Uhh … ” You know?

Steve:  Yeah. To me, I think that finding the venue is like one of the first obstacles that somebody has to go through to be… It’s kind of like that first litmus test. “Are you a promoter?” It kind of takes one of those obstacles out of the way, and maybe makes it too easy for people to run shows.

B-Boy:   No, you’re absolutely right. Absolutely.

Steve:   Kind of moving on from that. I don’t want to bash those guys too much. More power to them, if they’re making money off-

B-Boy:   It’s like I said, he’s a businessman. I’m not going to tell nobody what to do.

Steve:   I’m sure Sabotage is going to draw well there.

B-Boy:   You know all the fans of women’s wrestling are coming to that.

Steve:   Yeah. You know what, though, maybe that’s the next big thing out here. Bart’s picking it up.

B-Boy:   Yeah, Bart has his tournament every year. He always has a couple girl matches, this and that. Maybe Sabotage could be the all-girls show. Maybe Sabotage and Bart can work together. I think it could be a good deal. I know Brian [Cervantes]and Bart [Kapitzke] are buddies, along with Thunder [Rosa], so I think it would be a good joint show.

Steve:   Yeah. I’ll say, Bart, he’s really the pioneer of women’s wrestling out here.

B-Boy:   Absolutely, yeah.

Steve:   You remember, there was Cheerleader Melissa, and…

B-Boy:   And Sara Del Ray.

Steve:   Sara Del Rey. That’s it.

B-Boy:   They’d wrestle each other all the fucking time.

Steve:   It’s like we just started the women’s wrestler of the year award this year. People asked 10 years ago and we’d be like “Who’s going to win? Is it just Cheerleader Melissa every year? Just put her name down?”

B-Boy:   Yeah, it’s funny.

Steve:   Have one nominee? If there would’ve been a women’s award from the get-go, there would’ve been 10 times Cheerleader Melissa won it, 6 times Candice LeRae, and then…

B-Boy:   That’s it. You’re absolutely right.

 

Steve:   Yeah, the depth wasn’t there. Now, it’s there.

B-Boy:   There’s a lot of girls. Ruby Raze is very good. Still needs to some work in there. I think all the girls out here still need a little bit of work, but I’m very high on all the girls. There’s not a girl out here that I don’t think that doesn’t have potential. One of the major ones that I think has potential is Heather, Heather Monroe. I think she has a lot of potential. Hudson Envy is always good, and the obviously Thunder [Rosa] is good. My favorite women’s wrestler right now is Holidead. I think she’s awesome. Sage has a good gimmick. She can do either or. There’s a lot of potential. I feel, and hopefully this isn’t a bad thing, but I feel if not only if they wrestle other women, but if they wrestle guys, they’ll get better too.

Steve:   Yeah. Oh, definitely. Like I say, the pool is so much better. People are being brought in, they’re getting chances to wrestle outside talent. It’s definitely a lot better than it was.

B-Boy:   Yeah. I’ve see a lot of good Ruby Raze matches and everything like that, but I feel like … She wrestled Willie Mack on a AWS show, and it was just so much more drama towards that than just … you know what I mean? I feel like if there’s a different dynamic that people aren’t used to, especially girls getting out of their element, it makes magic.

Steve:   Yeah. She had a really good match with Ray Lyn.

B-Boy:   I’ve heard good things about Ray Lyn. Never met her, though.

Steve:   Yeah, she’s a good addition definitely to the scene out there. She’s been having some good matches.

B-Boy: I’m hoping to get some girls to come through the school here [Battle U], but nothing yet.

Steve:   Where do you rank 2016 as far as your years ago? Do you think it was one of your best years ever?

B-Boy:   I still think that 2005 was my best year in my career. For the simple fact that the quality of the matches that I was having, and the quality of opponents. That’s when I was like wrestling guys like AJ Styles, [Samoa] Joe at his prime. I was wrestling CM Punk, El Generico, Kevin Steen, I was wrestling all these guys. That’s for quality, I would say. Last year was a lot of work that I just put in. I rank this year probably right after my first one, for this simple fact of just that motivational tool. I wanted … it’s just that campaign, man. That I just wanted to prove something, and I thought I did this year.

Steve:   Now you mentioned that you started doing a lot of seminars this year and everything.

B-Boy:   Yeah.

Steve:   You also started the Battle U Pro Wrestling School as the head trainer. As far as that goes, what do you think is going to ultimately be more satisfying to you? Your wrestling career, or when you see one of your students make the WWE?

B-Boy:   Yeah, that’s a very good question. First and foremost, FCW is Gus Parson’s baby. I saw potential in it, and he was a promoter back in the day that didn’t get a lot of respect. He was one of those guys that put on shows, whatever, whatever. I talked to him one time, and I asked him, “Do you need advice? Would you be all right if I talked to you about certain things?” He started implementing some of them, and because of that and things Gus did, FCW has been growing. I’m not saying it’s me, but I’m just saying, just the combination of both of us has been going well. He mentioned the school. He knows that I’ve wanted to train people, and he offered me the position. I took it hands down.

I think when it comes down to what you asked, it’s kind of weird. We started in June, and there’s like a couple of my guys that are really good. Really good. It’s kind of weird, because I think that it would mean a lot more to me just seeing my guys have their first match, and seeing how they do, rather than my best year I’ve ever had. I think the reason why is just because it’s not a sense of accomplishment. It’s almost feeling righteous to be like, “Okay, I must’ve done something right,” and everything like that. I think that would mean more to me than any award, or any championship title, or recognition, or anything like that. Yeah.

Steve:   Is there any training that you had? I know you started at CCW, you can read about that in the prior interviews. Was there anything you kind of modeled Battle U School off of?

B-Boy:   No.

Steve:   The way you do the training is something you just came up with on your own?

B-Boy:   The way that I do the training, when you talk to my guys, they’ll tell you. The way that I do training is very … especially in the beginning, was boot camp. It was straight boot camp. It wasn’t hell week, it wasn’t Marine stuff, or anything. It was my own boot camp that I had them do, and my own reasons why I did it. They hear me say it all the time, and now they’re starting to understand why there’s always a method to my madness on certain drills, and why we do them. When we go in the ring, they instinctively know what to do. I would say there’s a couple things that I did take from certain schools here and there, but I would say that there’s a certain style, that the way that I think is very different.

Steve:   Did you have a lot of people drop out when you started?

B-Boy:   With the guys that started, I think only two people have dropped out. Everybody else has been strong. They’ll tell you. They’ll tell you how bad I pushed them, and that’s saying a lot.

Steve:   This is a question that Rick Ellis sent in. Is there anything that you know now that you wish you knew earlier in your career?

B-Boy:   I wish I had a mentor. I wish I did. I feel that I am a mentor towards all of Southern California. I’m always willing to help, and everything like that. I just wish I had a mentor. A lot of people need that in their career, to steer them from the right way and the wrong way.

Steve: You know, it’s weird. Back when you started, this scene, it definitely wasn’t mature as it is now.

B-Boy:   No.

Steve:   EWF was around since 1996. It’d only been around two years. There wasn’t anything that had really been around that long, where now you’ve got these promotions that have been around 10, 15, 20 years. It’s a lot different.

B-Boy:   Yeah. It’s different times, man. I mean, I was young. I was stupid. I had an ego when I was young, and I realized where that got me. I realized where I had a smart mouth, and this is where I wish I had a mentor. That’s why I had to learn things the hard way. Learn, and then never do it again. That’s why I was just my own person for about that many years.

Steve:   What do you want to accomplish in 2017?

B-Boy:   That’s actually a good question. I want to still be consistent. I still want to work. Obviously, I still want to perform. That’s my love and everything. Obviously, I’m teaching a lot more, and I still … The main thing that I really want in next year is to have like 20 students here. I want to have 20 students here. I want my guys to debut next year, at least three or four of them that I know are ready. I want Battle U and FCW to get to a point to where the reputation is there, and it’s just not a promotion and a school, it’s a destination. That’s my main thing.

That’s Gus’s thing, too. We’ve already talked about this, and he came up with, “We don’t want it as a promotion. We don’t want Battle U as a school. We want this to be a destination that people want to come. Fans and workers.” Professionally, I still want to wrestle. I still want to be consistent. I want each match to be better than this year. I don’t know how that one’s going to happen, but that’s my main focus. I still want to wrestle young talents.

I just want to show people, and show and prove people that I not only still have it, but I’m still … I know this sounds egotistical, but I want to be labeled as “The Guy” out here, you know what I mean? I think I’ve been labeled that for years, but it’s been very under wraps. Yeah, I just want … Another major thing is that I just want this thing to thrive, man. SoCal needs to be noticed, and the only problem is that it’s not … it’s because we don’t have a lot of media out here. SoCal needs to thrive, and-

Steve:   Hey, we got the top regional wrestling website!

B-Boy:   Yeah. Like I said, man, I just want SoCal to … it needs to thrive, man. It really does. I feel … Again, maybe this is just more confidence than anything, but I feel like I can be the guy to help it. You know?

Steve:   You know, honestly I think as far as attention goes for individual promotion, I think SoCal is actually pretty good. Obviously Ring of Honor and Evolve get a lot of attention, but they aren’t running in one area, but as far as overall attention I think SoCal is pretty good.

B-Boy:   You got PWG, you got PCW, you got EWF. You got-

Steve:   Yeah, but nobody hears about the smaller promotions on East Coast. I think, at least with SCU, smaller promotions are getting attention they wouldn’t get elsewhere.

B-Boy:   Here’s a funny story. This is when I was knew I was doing my job with Doug. I did that match with Doug James, the first one. It went online, and everything like that. When I went over to the East Coast, I did a seminar, and I did CZW and everything like that. A lot of fans, along with workers, in the locker room were asking about that match with me and Doug. They were asking how long Doug’s been doing it, and even asking Eli. When I had that thing where everybody thought it was a shoot with Eli … do you remember that?

Steve:   Yeah.

B-Boy:   Okay, so everybody thought I was shooting on Eli, and because of those things, they’re starting to get noticed. Especially East Coast, and everything like that. I feel like if anything, just as long as people strive here and they’re humble, and they have that hunger, rather than being conceited and shit like that, it’s good.

Steve:   Yeah.  I don’t want to make this about SCU, but sometimes you see people talk that these East Coast promotions get more exposure or something. Maybe the big ones. For example, just on SoCal UNCENSORED, we’ll post results on certain shows. We’ll get thousands and thousands of people checking out the results. Obviously, those people are not all coming from SoCal. I mean, people are checking into the stuff, and I don’t think a lot of areas have that. Where a show that’s getting 100 people attendance in Iowa, probably nobody knows about it outside of people there. While SoCal, at least we have that advantage.

B-Boy: No, I know what you mean. I know what you mean. This is another thing too, is that I think what you guys are doing, especially last year and this year, is what SoCal needed back in the day.

Steve:   Yeah.

B-Boy:   It’s just like I said: it’s live and learn. You seem like you want the scene to thrive too, and it’s good when a wrestler says that. A journalist says that, a fan says that, then everybody’s doing their job. Yeah. I think it’s like I said, man, I think SoCal’s in the right direction. I just think it needs a little oomph on a couple areas, but I’ll tell you now, it’s the best that it’s been, I feel.

Steve:   Yeah. I’m going to write something up about this in a couple days, but you look in England, everybody is…

B-Boy:   Their scene is ridiculous right now.

Steve:   Yeah, everybody’s crazy on their scene right now. I think what happened there is getting ready to happen here, where you got all these schools in this centralized area. All these people are coming up at the same time. You look at the young talent here, and it’s crazy compared to what it’s been since the early … You look at early 2000s and you got you, Joe, Super Dragon, Frankie [Kazarian], Rocky Romero, Ricky Reyes, all these guys coming up at the same time. Then it slowed down and there would be a few good guys every year but not like it was.

B-Boy:   Like TJ [Perkins], yeah.

Steve:   Yeah, Scorpio Sky. It wasn’t like a ton of people every year. You look at last-

B-Boy:   I do feel like maybe that generation that I came out of, something like that is happening again.

Steve:   I really feel like that.

B-Boy:   Why do you think that?

Steve:   I first thought it when I went to the FCW show back … was it February? The one where-

B-Boy:   I wrestled Cholo?

Steve:   Yeah, you and Cholo, and then you guys were the opening match on that show. Then on that show, you’d see the other match with Danny Limelight, Suede Thompson, Eli, Douglas James, and just crazy the stuff they were doing. It brings you back. You see Ju Dizz, and Mike Camden, and all these other guys that are coming out. You see guys keep coming out like Jake Atlas, Brody King. Even like some of the women like Heather Monroe. You just think, “All these guys are coming out at the same time, and they’re all going to be getting really good at the same time.”

B-Boy:   Like I said, there’s a method to my madness. I’m not going to take credit for them at all, but a lot of people will be getting noticed very shortly.

Steve:   Yeah. Even the people that are still around that came out in the last few years, like Peter Avalon, Yuma, they’re starting to get more attention. I think that’s just going to raise it up a little bit too.

B-Boy:   I think one of the most … I’ve always said that Joey Ryan is one of the best hidden geniuses I’ve ever met in my life. I’ll always tell him that, too. You know who’s actually really, really smart is Yuma. Yuma’s very smart. Yuma used to be just a troll and everything like that, but he learned from it. He’s been doing some things over in [Championship Wrestling from] Hollywood, and what he’s doing is really good.

Steve:   Yeah. I’ve enjoyed that show lately.

B-Boy:   What he wants is good, but what’s being executed from other people isn’t. Let’s just say that. He’s really good. Same thing with Peter. Peter Avalon has a very good mind. Ray Rosas has a very good mind. Famous B has a really good mind. I like to think that my generation … Then the generation after us was like Scorpio Sky, Quicksilver, those guys. Then after that was Ray Rosas, Famous B, Bateman, all these other guys.

Steve:   Yeah. That second generation after you, they’re gone for the most part.

B-Boy:   Scorpio is still around.

Steve:   Yeah, Scorpio’s around. You look, Quicksilver, Chris Bosh…

B-Boy:   Bosh.

Steve:   Bosh. They’re all gone.

B-Boy: It’s interesting, because I think when it comes down to generations, it’s just … I like to think of them as generations, because that’s basically what it is. Then after this generation and stuff like that, you got Eli, Doug. After them, that’s where Jake, Brody, all these guys come from. I’m a very detailed person, and I foresee a lot of things. I see SoCal’s in good hands. It’s just a matter of just pushing them towards the good way.

Steve:   One thing that I think is a problem with FCW to be honest too is getting stuff out there. Nobody seems to … I know AWS releases their videos, but they even seem to take a long time.

B-Boy:   I am a person that believes in old-school flyering to flier shows to get a buzz. They come here, but you’re talking about outside?

Steve:   I’m talking about outside, like getting the videos out there, and getting-

B-Boy:   I think videos is a weird concept, because before, DVDs were a point a profit. They weren’t a part of … something like that. I think nowadays, fans coming in pays everything. In order to get stuff out there.. and thankfully, we have a guy, he’s not here today, but Shawn Rafferty. He films everything, and now he’s putting everything online.

Steve:   Yeah, I think that’s the way to go.

B-Boy:   We have to.

Steve:   You put stuff on YouTube, if it gets enough hits, you’re going to make some money off of it. At least it’s a little bit of extra money.

B-Boy:   Not only that, with all of the social social media nowadays and everything, you put it on Facebook share, Twitter share. You know what I mean? It’s a very easy concept.

Steve:   Yeah. I think one thing is, and I’ve noticed it a lot here, people rely too much just on Facebook. Where they’ll just post on Facebook, and-

B-Boy:   I have had this conversation with a couple promotions. I said, “You cannot rely on just your normal 100 fans off Facebook coming.” Certain promotions do that out here, and that’s why I believe in flyers. I say you do your promotions online, you do it in-person, and then you do it handing them out. Then, you just hope for the best. Luckily for certain promotions, they already have a solid base of 100 or more. I always say that if you get 100 paid, it’s a success. Anything lower or close to it shouldn’t cut it.

Steve:   Yeah, I mean not everyone’s going to be PWG, where they tweet something out, and two minutes later tickets are gone.

B-Boy: You got to imagine that PWG has been doing that for years, and no promotion out here is going to catch up to them. No promotion is going to catch up to them. No promotion is going to say, “$100 tickets,” and people are going to buy. It’s just that PWG just has that market. They have that money. They have the talent that they could bring in.

Steve:   I asked this at PWG – I’ll just get your take on it. I asked it with the guys running PWG. I was kind of looking through their old tweets and stuff, and you see like just a couple years ago, they’d tweet something out and get like six likes, two retweets. Now they tweet something out, it’s 1,000 likes, and whatever. What do you think made PWG blow up to where they’re selling their tickets out in 1 minute?

B-Boy:   Hard work. Just hard work. The guys over there are just … they’re hustlers. They put it out. The shows speak for themselves. The talent speaks for itself. They just been doing it for years, you know what I mean? It’s always been “For the Boys, By the Boys.” That’s always been their mentality, and it just turned. It just fucking blossomed into something that’s outrageous now. You can’t hate nobody for it, you can’t do this … It’s just everybody knows now if you have a show, you do not fucking do that against PWG.

Steve:   Yeah. Before we wrap it up, I guess is there anything you want to put out there? Anything you want to-

B-Boy:   Yeah. Instagram/Twitter, @Newagepunisher, one word. I’m always fan-friendly. If you see me on Facebook, go on and hit me up. Just don’t be weird. Battle U, we’ve been around since… in June it will be a year. We’re still going strong. We got about 12 students, we’re still looking for people out here in San Diego to join. it seems like we’re going to be getting about 3 more pretty shortly. Just all the fans that have been supporting me all these fucking years, thank you. Yeah, that’s about it. That’s all I got.

Steve:   What do you think about… I came across this on Twitter the other day. There’s like somebody role-playing as you, or impersonating you on Twitter?

B-Boy:   Yes, yes. It’s really freaking nuts. I have like three or four role-players. Apparently, somebody told me that I have like 40 download of me on wrestling games, or something like that. It’s nuts.

Steve:   It’s weird. Sometimes, I’ll search somebody I want to tag in a tweet..

B-Boy:   Yeah, yeah.

Steve:   I’m like, “This isn’t the real person.” It’s kind of weird.

B-Boy:   Yeah, it’s creepy, man. In a way, it’s flattering. I guess if you look at it any way, I guess it’s a good thing. Whether it is a negative or positive. It’s just like getting trolled. You can be negative all you want, but people talking about you. You know what I mean?

Steve:   All right, well I’ll wrap this up for now on that last note here.

For more information on the Battle U Pro Wrestling School e-mail BattleU.SanDiego@gmail.com.

You can follow B-Boy on Twitter and Instagram at @newagepunisher.