In this edition of Real Talk I look at PWG not selling out a show, talk about CWFH airing on CW Plus, and give thoughts on the Santino Bros. running on Halloween night.
SCU Focus: Bumps & Brewses
I want to start off by shamelessly shilling SCU Focus: Bumps & Brewses. This video showcases some matches from the debut Bumps & Brewses event, and features highlights, promos, and some segments with Damien Arsenick and Joshua Shibata.
I’d like to thank the guys at Bumps & Brewses for letting us do this. I’d also like to thank Charles Villarubia of Verbal Wrestling for helping film this and last weekend’s FCW event.
Give it a look and a share. Help spread the word of SoCal wrestling. The goal of SCU Focus and all our other stuff on YouTube isn’t to make money, but to put the word of SoCal out there and we can’t do it without you, the reader.
PWG tickets not sold out
As of this writing, tickets for PWG’s All Star Weekend 13 Night One have yet to sell out. They’re been on sale for about a week now. Normal PWG events tend to sell out in a matter of minutes. The longest it has taken for PWG to sell out a show this year was an hour for their June event.
Most people have a hard time believing that PWG tickets haven’t sold out yet for this show but did for the other. At one point, trying to get into any PWG show seemed like a tough task.
So what changed with this show?
I was talking to Steve this past weekend about the ticket situation. We both have our theories. One thing Steve mentioned was he thought it was a mistake for PWG to run these shows after holding the Battle of Los Angeles the month before. Part of his theory was that people might not be as willing to spend money on back-to-back shows after a three day event.
On my end, I feel like it is a combination of lack of title/important matches and the names on it, and less prolific workers on the show. Night One is set to feature an insane Four Way with Rey Fenix/Flamita/Sammy Guevara/Rey Horus, and Matthew Riddle vs. Keith Lee. Both matches should be excellent. Ricochet, Jeff Cobb Joey Janela, and Trevor Lee are on the card as well. Despite this being the sorta lineup that would blow away everything else here in SoCal not named PWG, it doesn’t feel like an “All Star Weekend” card. I also don’t feel like, on paper, there is any match on the show that could be considered a credible main event attraction.
Night Two is set to feature Ricochet vs. Chuck Taylor for the PWG World Championship. That is probably the biggest match PWG could book at the moment. On the undercard there are popular performers like the Young Bucks, Zack Sabre Jr., Marty Scurll, Joey Janela, Matt Sydal, and Trent? When you compare the shows, Night Two is way more stacked with names and has the most intriguing match the promotion could put on.
Another thing to consider is that most of the matches on Night One have names a lot of fans who don’t follow the Europe or the Oceania territories aren’t familiar with. Guys like Walter, Adam Brooks, Jonah Rock and others are still pretty new to PWG audiences, and having them being the main selling point of a marquee show isn’t going to appeal to as many people as a card like Night Two will. Add the fact that tickets are $70, which might not be appealing to some people.
Then again, there really could just be a computer error making it seem like tickets are available.
Either way, I believe tickets will sell out for ASW Night One eventually. The possibility of attending a PWG event without hassle probably will end up swaying some fans who never get to go to check out a show, even if there’s a $70 price tag. If you really want to go to a PWG show, get on this.
UPDATE: Card Subject To Change
After publishing this article, PWG announced some new matches for ASW night One. Sammy Guevara vs. Flamita vs. Rey Horus will now be a three way match, and Jonah Rock now faces on Keith Lee on Night One.
The PWG World Tag Team titles will also be on the line now, as The Chosen Bros (Jeff Cobb & Matthew Riddle) face the current champions, the Lucha Brothers (Rey Fenix & Penta El Zero M).
With the changes, I can totally see the card selling out soon.
Championship Wrestling From Hollywood debuts on the CW Plus. Does it matter?
On Saturday, Championship Wrestling From Hollywood debuts in about 12 million homes on the CW Plus, which isn’t really the CW. You can still see it on KDOC here in the LA market, but you won’t see CWFH on KTLA Channel 5. the local CW affiliate. The CW Plus is more like a service for smaller market stations with less than 350,000 TV homes in its area. Think of KDOC with CW primetime programming for places smaller than areas like Long Beach, Glendale, or Santa Clarita.
While the overall household numbers aren’t very impressive, CWFH could create opportunities for itself. If they perform well, they could end up being in more homes. Still, expecting CWFH to achieve success on this platform is like expecting WWE to go back to the Attitude Era tomorrow; it ain’t gonna happen.
If you haven’t been reading my reviews of CWFH, the shows are terribly booked. The wrestling is usually dull, and the stories are poorly told. While the company is bringing in names like Alberto El Parton, Jack Swagger, and is reintroducing the NWA Championship to its programming, it isn’t going to be compelling enough to get people to wake up at 7AM every Saturday morning to watch bad wrestling shows with shitty fake crowd noise playing over matches. There are still so many changes the product needs to make in order to be appealing. I doubt those changes will be made, as David Marquez and CWFH seem pretty stuck in their ways.
The Santino Bros. running on Halloween night.
Running a wrestling show on a weeknight is a huge gamble. Sometimes it pays off, sometimes it is a bust.
Since opening up earlier this year, Bar Wrestling has been running events on weeknights. Since 2002, Lucha VaVoom has also done very well running events on weeknights. On the other hand, CWFH ran an event on a weeknight last Thursday but didn’t do very well. That’s probably because it was 21 & Over, the price, or because CWFH isn’t appealing to people.
Nonetheless, running on a weeknight can be a bad thing if a promotion doesn’t have a great product, but it could also be successful if there is something appealing, and the Santino Bros. do have something appealing for their Halloween night event.
On Tuesday, October 31st, Santino Bros. Wrestling will be running an event in Downey. On the card, Douglas James and Eli Everfly will face off in a Deathmatch, and Los Luchas will face True Grit in a Mexican Deathmatch. Along with the two deathmatches, Brody King will be defending the Santino Bros. Wrestling Championship against Willie Mack in what should be a great match.
The last Santino Bros. show drew a pretty good crowd, so hopefully this show will draw another good one. So far the three announced matches could all be really good. Like I said, Brody vs. Willie should be great, but I also think that Eli Everfly vs. Douglas James could end up being a breakout match for those two. I’m really excited to see what they can do in a Deathmatch.
Match of the Column
Going back in time for this edition of Match of the Column. From AAA “La Lucha del Honor” at the Los Angeles Sports Arena on November 12th, 1993, we have recent SoCal Wrestling Hall of Fame inductee Suoerboy & Captain Oro vs. Vandal Drummond & Louis Spicolli. Spicolli was one of the first inductees into the SoCal Wrestling Hall of Fame, which is dedicated to his memory.
