In today’s SoCal News & Notes we have updates on NJPW, Lucha Underground, PCW Ultra, AWS, and more. Click for today’s update.
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New Japan Pro Wrestling has officially announced Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA, Kenny Omega, and Kota Ibushi for Fighting Spirit Unleashed on September 30, 2018 in Long Beach. No matches have been announced for the recently announced wrestlers yet.
New Japan Pro Wrestling will also be doing a meet and greet on September 29 at the NJPW LA Dojo in Carson. Scheduled to appear at the meet and greet are Juice Robinson, Jyushin Thunder Liger, Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay, Zack Sabre Jr., Golden Lovers (Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi), and Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa).
Instead of just charging admission for the meet and greet, this time they will be selling tickets to meet the individual wrestlers. The cost will be $30.00 for a singles wrestler and $60.00 for a tag-team. Tickets will go on sale on September 5 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific.
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The August 29 episode of Lucha Underground had 83,000 viewers per ShowBuzzDaily. That is down 11,000 viewers from last week. This is the third straight week with a drop, but the season average rating of 111,833 is still up from season three, which averaged about 103,000.
The repeat showing numbers aren’t being reported this year, but it is worth noting over the last two seasons the repeat averaged 50,000-60,000 viewers.
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Billy Gunn will be doing a meet and greet before PCW Ultra’s Vision Quest on September 7. The meet and greet is included with the platinum ticket package, or can be purchased as an add on to general admission tickets.
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AWS has added a meet and greet with Karlee Leilani Perez (Catarina on Lucha Underground) to their September 22 show.
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On November 29 there will be a tribute show for Ricky Banderas (Mesias in AAA, Mil Muertes in Lucha Underground) at Mario Quijote Morales Coliseum in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico that will feature a few Southern california regulars. Aside from Banderas, also announced as appearing will be Taya Valkyrie, Johnny Mundo, Brian Cage, Ivelisse, Melissa Santos, Penta El Zero M, and Rey Fenix. All proceeds will be donated to the victims of Hurricane Maria.
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Pizza Prime in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo has been doing a monthly Big Trouble in Little Tokyo event where they throw a party at the restaurant and show classic wrestling matches. September’s date hasn’t been announced yet.
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Vince McMahon’s XFL has narrowed down their list of possible cities to about 14 and should announce the 8 cities to host a team in mid-September. The league had interest in the Los Angeles market but it is unknown if it made the final 14. San Diego is a possibility as well, but that became less likely with the city getting an AAF team.
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Frankie Kazarian, Scorpio Sky, and Christopher Daniels will be doing a signing at the Retro Fury booth at the Long Beach Comic Con on September 9 from 1:00-4:00 p.m.
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Friday and Saturday’s events at Expo Lucha in Las Vegas will be streaming on LuchaCentral.com. Several Southern California promotions such as Santinios, Lucha VaVoom, and OWA are taking part in the events.
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This week’s Southern California pro-wrestling shows:
8/31:
Millennium Pro Wrestling in Moorpark, CA
9/2:
Lucha Libre Alliance in Los Angeles, CA
9/5:
