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| Callihan! Younger! One more time! In California! Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein |
It's Friday, and you know what that means. The weekend has arrived, and with it, a plethora of wrestling shows across the North American continent. The number of noteworthy wrestling promotions running shows this weekend is relatively large, but then again, wait until we get to WrestleCon weekend. I digress. As always, if you're somewhere in America or Canada, odds are there is probably a show within road trip distance, so check out Pro Wrestling Events for your hookup. The art of wrestling can only grow if you want it to. However, that doesn't mean there aren't shows that might just be a bit better than average.
The first order of business on the docket is Pro Wrestling Guerrilla's HYOOOOGE All-Star Weekend event, happening tonight and tomorrow night in Reseda, CA. The front row is sold out for both nights, and according to the website, if you're not quick on the draw, you'll miss the general admission tickets as well. Both shows are at American Legion Post #308 in Reseda, CA, and bell time for both events is 8 PM local. This show is notable for the weapons-grade guest star list which includes debuts by AR Fox, Johnny Gargano, Trent? (Barretta), Samuray del Sol, and Jay Lethal as well as the return of Paul London. The matches they've set up with those wrestlers as well as the A-list of regulars they usually have (Kevin Steen, the Young Bucks, Willie Mack, Eddie Edwards, Drake Younger, Sami Callihan, and Champion Adam Cole among others) is making me salivate with anticipation. The main event of tonight's card will be the conclusion of the best of three series to determine number one contendership to Cole's Championship. Callihan and Younger will do battle in a Guerrilla Warfare match (read, no holds barred). The winner of that match will get his shot at Cole the next night. If you want my read on it, well, expect one of two things: 1 - Younger wins and emerges as PWG World Champion, or 2 - someone else gets inserted into the title match on night 2 and wins the title. If you read between those lines, you'll know why. (I'm being intentionally vague here for reasons.)
Other matchups that are scheduled tonight that look really good are Fox and del Sol battling the Inner City Machine Guns (Rich Swann and Ricochet), Gargano and Chuck Taylor vs. the Young Bucks in a non-title match, and Steen vs. London. Saturday's notables have Steen going up against Fox, the Bucks defending the titles against the Dojo Bros. of Edwards and Roderick Strong, and in my sleeper pick for match of the weekend, del Sol vs. TJ Perkins. No matter what the matches look like though, PWG has a reputation for delivering on its cards, so this could very well be one titanic weekend in Southern California.
In the other big show of the weekend, SHINE 8 happens Saturday night at the Orpheum in Ybor City, FL, 7:30 PM local bell time. As always, you can order the event on iPPV. The war between the SHINE natives and nefarious invading force Valkyrie will come to a head this weekend in an atomicos match, pitting the rogue grou's Ivelisse Velez, Rain Maxson, Allysin Kay, and Taylor Made against the resistance force of Amazing Kong, Mia Yim, Christina von Eerie, and a debuting Angelina Love. As if that weren't huge enough, Leva Bates and Kimberly will engage in Pick Your Poison, and Reby Sky offers her career against Jessicka Havok's respect in a match that has been brewing for some time now.
For folks in the vicinity of Philadelphia and New York, Wrestling Is Fun! will be running out of the West End Youth Center in Allentown, PA, Saturday with doors opening at 6:30 PM. The regular cast of characters returns with Mark "Mr. Touchdown" Angelosetti defending his Banana Championship against assailANT. The former Gekido-turned-tecnico has been jawing with Angelosetti on Twitter all week in one of the most humorous social media wrestling feuds of the year so far. Has he gotten inside Touchdown's head enough to take all the potassium? Also on the card, Jaka does battle with Hallowicked, Dasher Hatfield will look to put down the overwhelming Viking fury of Oleg the Usurper, and the Devastation Corporation will look to squish the Colony's Fire and Green Ants.
That similar crew will head off to Boonton, NJ, on Sunday for Wrestling Is Respect at the Elks Lodge with doors opening at 3:30 PM. The show will feature two rematches from National Pro Wrestling Day. The headliner will be Drew Gulak going up against Francis O'Rourke. O'Rourke nearly knocked all of Gulak's teeth out of his mouth with a top rope suplex, but it wasn't enough to put him down. Will Gulak make it two in a row, or does O'Rourke have enough in him to force a rubber match? The second rematch features the Devastation Corporation going up against the Estonian Thunder Frog and the Latvian Proud Oak. Last time, it was messy, but DevCorp got the job done. Will we see a repeat? Also on the show, Delirious battles Jigsaw, Oleg the Usurper and Grizzly Redwood clash in a battle of beards, and Jervis Cottonbelly will try to let Gentlemania run in a civil manner all over Angelosetti.
Moving back in time to Saturday and across the plains to Chicagoland, AAW will be presenting EPIC: The 9 Year Anniversary at the Berwyn Eagles Club in Berwyn, IL, bell time of 7:30 PM. The main event of the evening will feature ACH going up against Davey Richards in a special challenge match. That ought to be interesting, especially if we see the Richards that appeared against Fred Yehi, Fit Finlay, or Sami Callihan and not Faux-Puroresu Main Event Giant Cock Slinger Davey "FIGHTING SPIRIT" Richards. Also on the show will feature Jimmy Jacobs against Shane Hollister and MsChif wrestling Heidi Lovelace.
Sunday, at Johnny G's Fun Zone in Warner-Robins, GA, Rampage Pro Wrestling will do another round of TV tapings starting at 3 PM. The war between the Black List and the Rampage Nation has been heating up for sure in the last few weeks, and it looks to be coming to a head. Expect some good ol' fashioned Southern brawling. Appearing at these tapings will be Vordell Walker, Bobby Moore, Kyle Matthews, and the entire cast of characters.
If you're in the Vancouver area, head on down to Elks Lounge 49 in Port Coquitlam, BC for Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling's We Will Riot, doors opening at 7:30 PM local time on Saturday. It will be headlined by two big title matches. First, Scotty Mac will look to conquer the King of the Yukon for his Canadian Heavyweight Championship. KC Spinelli will also defend her Women's Championship against cantankerous Canadian Ninja Nicole Matthews.
And of course, if you're in Northern Georgia or the Chattanooga area, head on down to 22 Austin Avenue in Rossville, GA for Empire Pro Wrestling, with a bell time of 8 PM and the ridiculously low price of $5 for admission. I'm not saying this a shill for the company or anything, but holy shit, five bucks for a wrestling ticket is unbeatable, especially when you get Kyle Matthews on the card against Jason Collins. Also, Cyrus will battle Drew Delight in an Empire Heavyweight Championship match, and I have it on good authority that Cyrus is a HOSS.
Again, there's a ton of wrestling happening around the continent. Go see some, because there's nothing like live wrestling to get the blood pumping, especially the caliber that's being offered in Southern California.
The first order of business on the docket is Pro Wrestling Guerrilla's HYOOOOGE All-Star Weekend event, happening tonight and tomorrow night in Reseda, CA. The front row is sold out for both nights, and according to the website, if you're not quick on the draw, you'll miss the general admission tickets as well. Both shows are at American Legion Post #308 in Reseda, CA, and bell time for both events is 8 PM local. This show is notable for the weapons-grade guest star list which includes debuts by AR Fox, Johnny Gargano, Trent? (Barretta), Samuray del Sol, and Jay Lethal as well as the return of Paul London. The matches they've set up with those wrestlers as well as the A-list of regulars they usually have (Kevin Steen, the Young Bucks, Willie Mack, Eddie Edwards, Drake Younger, Sami Callihan, and Champion Adam Cole among others) is making me salivate with anticipation. The main event of tonight's card will be the conclusion of the best of three series to determine number one contendership to Cole's Championship. Callihan and Younger will do battle in a Guerrilla Warfare match (read, no holds barred). The winner of that match will get his shot at Cole the next night. If you want my read on it, well, expect one of two things: 1 - Younger wins and emerges as PWG World Champion, or 2 - someone else gets inserted into the title match on night 2 and wins the title. If you read between those lines, you'll know why. (I'm being intentionally vague here for reasons.)
Other matchups that are scheduled tonight that look really good are Fox and del Sol battling the Inner City Machine Guns (Rich Swann and Ricochet), Gargano and Chuck Taylor vs. the Young Bucks in a non-title match, and Steen vs. London. Saturday's notables have Steen going up against Fox, the Bucks defending the titles against the Dojo Bros. of Edwards and Roderick Strong, and in my sleeper pick for match of the weekend, del Sol vs. TJ Perkins. No matter what the matches look like though, PWG has a reputation for delivering on its cards, so this could very well be one titanic weekend in Southern California.
In the other big show of the weekend, SHINE 8 happens Saturday night at the Orpheum in Ybor City, FL, 7:30 PM local bell time. As always, you can order the event on iPPV. The war between the SHINE natives and nefarious invading force Valkyrie will come to a head this weekend in an atomicos match, pitting the rogue grou's Ivelisse Velez, Rain Maxson, Allysin Kay, and Taylor Made against the resistance force of Amazing Kong, Mia Yim, Christina von Eerie, and a debuting Angelina Love. As if that weren't huge enough, Leva Bates and Kimberly will engage in Pick Your Poison, and Reby Sky offers her career against Jessicka Havok's respect in a match that has been brewing for some time now.
For folks in the vicinity of Philadelphia and New York, Wrestling Is Fun! will be running out of the West End Youth Center in Allentown, PA, Saturday with doors opening at 6:30 PM. The regular cast of characters returns with Mark "Mr. Touchdown" Angelosetti defending his Banana Championship against assailANT. The former Gekido-turned-tecnico has been jawing with Angelosetti on Twitter all week in one of the most humorous social media wrestling feuds of the year so far. Has he gotten inside Touchdown's head enough to take all the potassium? Also on the card, Jaka does battle with Hallowicked, Dasher Hatfield will look to put down the overwhelming Viking fury of Oleg the Usurper, and the Devastation Corporation will look to squish the Colony's Fire and Green Ants.
That similar crew will head off to Boonton, NJ, on Sunday for Wrestling Is Respect at the Elks Lodge with doors opening at 3:30 PM. The show will feature two rematches from National Pro Wrestling Day. The headliner will be Drew Gulak going up against Francis O'Rourke. O'Rourke nearly knocked all of Gulak's teeth out of his mouth with a top rope suplex, but it wasn't enough to put him down. Will Gulak make it two in a row, or does O'Rourke have enough in him to force a rubber match? The second rematch features the Devastation Corporation going up against the Estonian Thunder Frog and the Latvian Proud Oak. Last time, it was messy, but DevCorp got the job done. Will we see a repeat? Also on the show, Delirious battles Jigsaw, Oleg the Usurper and Grizzly Redwood clash in a battle of beards, and Jervis Cottonbelly will try to let Gentlemania run in a civil manner all over Angelosetti.
Moving back in time to Saturday and across the plains to Chicagoland, AAW will be presenting EPIC: The 9 Year Anniversary at the Berwyn Eagles Club in Berwyn, IL, bell time of 7:30 PM. The main event of the evening will feature ACH going up against Davey Richards in a special challenge match. That ought to be interesting, especially if we see the Richards that appeared against Fred Yehi, Fit Finlay, or Sami Callihan and not Faux-Puroresu Main Event Giant Cock Slinger Davey "FIGHTING SPIRIT" Richards. Also on the show will feature Jimmy Jacobs against Shane Hollister and MsChif wrestling Heidi Lovelace.
Sunday, at Johnny G's Fun Zone in Warner-Robins, GA, Rampage Pro Wrestling will do another round of TV tapings starting at 3 PM. The war between the Black List and the Rampage Nation has been heating up for sure in the last few weeks, and it looks to be coming to a head. Expect some good ol' fashioned Southern brawling. Appearing at these tapings will be Vordell Walker, Bobby Moore, Kyle Matthews, and the entire cast of characters.
If you're in the Vancouver area, head on down to Elks Lounge 49 in Port Coquitlam, BC for Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling's We Will Riot, doors opening at 7:30 PM local time on Saturday. It will be headlined by two big title matches. First, Scotty Mac will look to conquer the King of the Yukon for his Canadian Heavyweight Championship. KC Spinelli will also defend her Women's Championship against cantankerous Canadian Ninja Nicole Matthews.
And of course, if you're in Northern Georgia or the Chattanooga area, head on down to 22 Austin Avenue in Rossville, GA for Empire Pro Wrestling, with a bell time of 8 PM and the ridiculously low price of $5 for admission. I'm not saying this a shill for the company or anything, but holy shit, five bucks for a wrestling ticket is unbeatable, especially when you get Kyle Matthews on the card against Jason Collins. Also, Cyrus will battle Drew Delight in an Empire Heavyweight Championship match, and I have it on good authority that Cyrus is a HOSS.
Again, there's a ton of wrestling happening around the continent. Go see some, because there's nothing like live wrestling to get the blood pumping, especially the caliber that's being offered in Southern California.