At their October 5 event in Covina, Empire Wrestling Federation Deputy Commissioner Jake Alexander announced that there would be a sixteen wrestler tournament for the vacant EWF Heavyweight Championship, beginning at their November 2 event. The championship has been vacant since Ty Ray, who had previously lost a loser-leaves-EWF match, defeated Andy Brown for the title while wearing a mask and wrestling as The Decapitator. After Ty Ray removed his mask and revealed that he was The Decapitator, EWF Commissioner Frank Mott ordered all of The Decapitator’s wins to be reversed and the title to be declared vacant.
The championship tournament will be comprised of fourteen current and former EWF champions and two “wildcards.” The participants in the tournament are Anthony Idol (former EWF American Champion), Congo Crush (wildcard), Friar Juan Roman (former EWF Heavyweight Champion), Fidel Bravo (former EWF Heavyweight Champion), Rico Dynamite (current EWF American Champion), Mariachi Loco (wildcard), Hoss Hogg (current EWF Tag Team Champion), Jesse James (current EWF Tag Team Champion), Ryan Taylor (former EWF Heavyweight Champion), Andy Brown (former EWF Heavyweight Champion), Richie Slade (former EWF American Champion), Jorel Nelson (former EWF American Champion), Super Beetle (former EWF American Champion), Phoenix Star (former EWF Tag Team Champion), Zokre (former EWF Tag Team Champion), and Ty Ray (former EWF Tag Team Champion).
The tournament will be held in three parts. It will start with a battle royal featuring all the participants that will serve to form tag teams and brackets. The order of elimination will determine the teams and positioning. The first and second wrestlers eliminated will form a team and will face the third and fourth wrestlers that were eliminated. The process will repeat until all eight teams and first round matches have been determined.
The second part of the tournament will be a single elimination tag team tournament, with the winning team facing off against each other in a singles match to determine the new EWF Heavyweight Champion. Parts one and two will be taking place on November 2 and part three will be taking place on December 7, 2018. Both events will be at the EWF Arena in Covina.
The EWF Heavyweight Championship is the oldest currently active pro-wrestling championship in Southern California. It was first awarded on June 16, 1996 in San Bernardino when Bobby Bradley defeated Zuma to crown the first champion. There have been 60 total championship reigns in the title’s twenty-two year history. While this is the ninth time in the championship’s history that it has been declared vacant, this is the first time that a new champion will be decided via a tournament.
