SoCal News & Notes 08/17/2018

In today’s Southern California news update we have the latest from Maverick Pro, FIST Combat, Lucha VaVoom, Championship Wrestling from Hollywood, Ground Zero, AWS, and more. Plus a listing of all of this weekend’s Southern California pro-wrestling events.

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On August 15, 2018, Maverick Pro, which held their first event since a series of cancelations on August 11, released a statement detailing ownership changes in the promotion. The statement listed Brandon Ficara as the new majority owner, with founder Brian Farmer retaining an ownership stake. Going forward Farmer is in charge of booking and talent relations, Josh Goldstein is heading the creative team, and Paul McGee is leading marketing.

The release also stated that Anthony Pastor, who acquired the promotion this past January, decided in July to sell the business due to family considerations. The announced reasons for cancelling the previous shows were due to a family emergency. I was told at the time and it was later publicly confirmed by the promotion that Pastor’s wife was diagnosed with cancer.

With the ownership change and what was a good event on August 11, based on all reports I received, this was appear to be the end of the story. Not so fast. Earlier today Pastor announced on Twitter the creation of a new promotion that would be opening in October.

In getting comment from Pastor on the new promotion he told me that the unnamed company would be opening in October or November and would be more lucha based, but with top East Coast talent. It was also made apparent the split with Maverick Pro was not 100% amicable.

To add an extra layer of mystery to the story, when I attempted to contact Pastor earlier today for additional comment he was no longer in my direct messages and his entire Twitter profile was gone.

A screen shot of the announcement on Twitter of the new promotion was saved.

No return date has been announced for Maverick Pro.

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Jeff Cobb will be back at FIST Combat in La Mesa on October 18. Colt Cabana was previously announced for the show as well. The promotion is also trying to bring in Tommy Dreamer for their November 1 show.

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FIST Combat also announced the first round matches in the A Block of its King of SoCal Tournament. The matches are: Eli Everfly versus Sammy Guevara, Darby Allin versus Matt Vandagriff, Dirty Ron McDonald versus Dirty Doug, and Danny Limelight versus Ryan Kidd. The first round of the A Block takes place on September 6.

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David Arquette will be wrestling as Infinito at Lucha VaVoom’s Halloween shows on October 24 and 25 at the Mayan in Los Angeles. Also scheduled to appear at the events are Flamita, Cavernario, and Extreme Tiger.

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David Arquette’s return to wrestling (outside of some secret lucha libre matches in Tijuana) when he wrestled RJ City at Championship Wrestling from Hollywood will be shown on the promotion’s television program the weekend of September 15.

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Buddy Royal, Levi Shapiro, Tito Escondido, and Douglas James are the first names announced for Championship Wrestling from Hollywood’s Red Carpet Rumble.

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Dave & Busters in Ontario will be having a SummerSlam viewing party on August 19. Ax from Demolition as well as Andy Brown, Super Beetle, and Rock Riddle will be in attendance.

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Ground Zero’s previous events should be on Fite TV within the next few months and they are working on a separate project that will hopefully premiere on Fite TV in September.

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Southern California Pro-Wrestling Hall of Famer Super Boy’s birthday show that was scheduled for Sunday in Los Angeles has been canceled.

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Shotzi Blackheart will be wrestling at the Sunday AWS event at the California hot Sauce Expo in Anaheim.

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This week’s Southern California pro-wrestling events:

8/17:

Millennium Pro Wrestling in Moorpark, CA

MicroMania in Bakersfield, CA (21 & Over)

8/18:

AWS at the 4th Annual California Hot Sauce Expo in Anaheim, CA

SoCal Pro in Chula Vista, CA