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| Banks is spurning King of Trios for Battle of Los Angeles, and I don't blame him Photo via Total Wrestling Magazine |
However, Banks was already announced for a tournament that took place during that time. Banks was originally announced for King of Trios in a team with Chris Brookes and Kid Lykos. Wrestlers working both Trios and BOLA is not unheard of, or at least it wasn't unheard of when the former was in Easton, PA. This year's offering, however, is in England, which makes the logistics of hopping on the plane after night one of Trios to get to night two of BOLA a lot more problematic. To the surprise of no one, Banks chose BOLA over Trios:
No I'm not— Travis Banks (@Travis_BanksPW) June 28, 2017
While Chikara's tourney has the advantage of taking place in his main country of employment, more WWE and New Japan Pro Wrestling eyes are going to be on PWG as a rule. Even if the pay was the same, the additional exposure makes hopping the flight the better option, at least in my opinion.
Of course, as with anytime something like this happens, the takes rolled in like angry hurricane waves on a poor Outer Banks beach. I saw one dorky Twitter wonk-wannabe blast PWG for being so unprofessional as to book wrestlers a mere ten weeks out from the show, which is asinine to think even if that was the case. I doubt Super Dragon and other PWG officials sealed Banks' booking and then switched from telephone mode to Twitter on their mobile devices to get the hot off the presses news. In fact, I doubt all the information will ever be released to the public. If you're looking to place blame for the situation, well, I don't think any should go around. PWG and Chikara run their businesses in their best ways possible, and Banks, as labor, is free to choose which option best suits him. I guarantee you if Super Dragon or Mike Quackenbush had a chance to ditch a wrestler for a better drawing one, the same people wanting to lambaste Banks would praise the companies. Of course, all of this would be avoided if Chikara didn't decide after 2011 that Labor Day weekend was a better date for Trios than March/April, but that's just me talking out of hurt.
Banks' booking switch and the confusion and bad feelings it's seemingly produced shouldn't take away from the fact that he's a great addition to BOLA, and that Chikara will no doubt be able to find a suitable replacement for him. Hell, maybe TK Cooper's visa situation will be sorted out in time for him to hit the UK again and still provide Brookes and Lykos a SPPT member in their trio.