SoCal Pro returned to the Oceanside Boys and Girls club for “New Year’s Retribution” on January 14, 2017. As I arrived the first thing I noticed was the crowd was larger than a lot of their most recent shows. The promotion was actually setting up more chairs to try and accommodate the larger crowd, but there was still people standing throughout the show. The crowd was really hot throughout most of the show as well, which really added to the atmosphere in the building.
Dark Usagi over Snake
This was the pre-show match. Because of unexpected traffic I actually got to the venue while this was going on, so I didn’t see the first part of the match. Usagi won after a lariat.
Ryan Kidd over Ricky Mandel and Dirty Doug to win the SoCal Pro Golden State title [8’28]
This was a triple threat for Ricky Mandel’s Golden State title. The match started with Dirty Doug and mandel arguing while Kidd stood off to the side and chanted “fight.” Once Mandel and Doug noticed this they double teamed Kidd. For the most part one guy would get knocked out of the ring and the other two would face off. At one point Doug was squeezing his hair juice on Mandel. Ryan Kidd had some pretty nice offense in this including a double drop kick on the other two and a sequence where he ducked a clothesline from Doug and immediately did a tope on Mandel. Kidd won with a backslide. This was a pretty fun match and the crowd was super hot for this.
Destro over Chris Kadillak [8’19]
This was a battle of two guys who don’t get enough bookings. Destro is a pretty entertaining heel and Chris Kadillak is usually pretty solid. This was a pretty decent match overall.
SoCal Crazy over Bestia 666 [10’43]
Originally this was supposed to be SoCal Crazy versus Rey Fenix, but Fenix took a booking at Wrestle Circus in Texas instead. Bestia 666 was a pretty good replacement however. The match starts with a handshake then goes into a decent back and forth sequence with lucha arm drags and each guy trying to get the upper hand on the other. There was a little bit of sloppiness at the start, but they covered it fairly well. SoCal Crazy did a Huracanrana on Bestia that sent him to the outside then immediately went for a tope suicida but Bestia had recovered enough to kick Crazy in the head as he tried to go through the ropes. Bestia hit a muscle buster on Crazy but Crazy was able to kick out at 2. The crowd was crazy for this match. They really did a good hybrid lucha match here. SoCal Crazy won with a Huracanrana into a rollup. This was a good match and my match of the night.
After the match it was announced that SoCal Crazy will be teaming with Mariachi Loco to take on Lil’ Cholo and Psicosis on SoCal Pro’s next show on February 18th. I was told that Psicosis will actually be the original Psicosis aka Nicho El Millonario.
PBR (Ryan Walker & Hunter Freeman) over Anchors Away (Ryan Stone & David E. Jones) to retain the SoCal Pro tag-team titles. [23’18]
This match was setup at the last show with the stipulation that if Anchors Away lost, they had to retire. Since they hadn’t wrestled in like 2 years prior to the last show, I don’t think there was a lot of suspense to what the outcome was going to be. Still, it was great to see them get a final angle and a couple of final matches as they had been such an important part of the San Diego indy wrestling scene for a decade. Early on PBR was controlling the offense and Anchors Away was taking a ton of punishment. Then they switched and Anchors Away was beating down Ryan Walker before Freeman got the hot tag and cleaned house. About 18 minutes into the match Anchors Away got the pin after a low blow and celebrated as they were announced as having won the SoCal Pro tag-team titles for the 5th time.
As Anchors Away was leaving, another ref came out and informed the ref working the match of the low blow. They had a discussion and it was announced the match would restart. I’m not sure why the low blow wouldn’t have just been a DQ. The restart, especially with the time it took for the angle to play out, really hurt the crowd heat for the second part of the match. After the restart David E. Jones hit a pretty crazy looking death valley driver on Ryan Walker into the corner, but it wasn’t enough. PBR hit a leg drop from the top rope to get the pin and retain. After the match Anchors Away hugged in the ring and the crowd who had been booing them minutes before gave them an ovation and chanted “Anchors Away.” This was a pretty cool moment for maybe the top tag-team in San Diego’s indy wrestling history.
Mike Camden over Anthony Idol, Tommy Wilson, and Ju Dizz to retain the SoCal Pro Heavyweight title [27’58]
This was a four-way elimination match. At the start the two faces, Camden and Ju Dizz take Wilson and Idol out. They then faced off. Lots of good stuff between these two. Camden eliminated Ju Dizz at 11:02 into the match, which allowed the heels to double team Camden after. Camden eventually got the upper hand and eliminated Wilson with a german suplex into a pin. Idol and Camden worked really well together, and I thought this was the best part of the match. Camden won after a kick to the head. This was pretty good. Camden was booked really strong taking out everyone else.
Overall this was a pretty decent show. The crowd was super hot for most of the show and really added to the atmosphere. I wouldn’t consider any of the matches great, but nothing was bad either. Everything was between two to three stars, with SoCal Crazy versus Bestia 666 being the match of the night, followed by the main event.
SoCal Pro will be holding their next show on February 18th, once again at the Oceanside Boys and Girls Club.
