It’s been just over a year of Bar Wrestling and in a few hours, everyone’s favorite wrestling promotion equipped with a full bar and standing room atmosphere, returns for its 17th show. Bar Wrestling 17: Not Bad for Tourists!, a title inspired by the Indiana Jones ride in Disneyland, features some great match ups, returns and the Bar debut of Flip Gordon.
And while the wrestlers won’t quite be in the pursuit of, in Indy’s words, “Fortune and glory, kid. Fortune and glory,” they will be looking to entertain a rabid and passionate fan base that has come out to the American Legion Hall Post #241 for a great night of drinking and wrestling.
Scorpio Sky and Watts vs RockNES Monsters
The Bar veteran of the group, the 35-year-old Scorpio Sky made his first appearance for Joey Ryan‘s promotion at the inaugural event in June 2017. Since then, Sky has wrestled on 11 of the 16 cards, including every one since Bar Wrestling 7: A Christmas Special. Known for his appearances with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, Sky, a veteran of 16 years, currently competes for Championship Wrestling from Hollywood and Ring of Honor, where he is one-third of SoCal Uncensored (Sky, Christopher Daniels, and Frankie Kazarian). With SCU, Sky is a former ROH World Six Man Tag Team Champion. He has also held titles in WrestleCircus, PWG, National Wrestling Alliance and CWFH among others. Additionally, Sky is the assistant trainer at the New Japan Los Angeles Dojo and in September, he’ll be ALL IN.
His partner, 33-year-old Eric Watts, made his Bar debut at Bar Wrestling 6: Head of Household. Since then, Watts has wrestled on three additional Bar shows including most recently at Bar Wrestling 15: Don’t Hassle Me I’m Local, where he defeated Joey Ryan. Watts has won 15 titles in his career, including the Alpha Omega Wrestling Championship, of which he is currently in his fourth reign.
Their opponents, the RockNES Monsters (Johnny Yuma and Kevin Martenson), have been teaming together since 2009, having won titles in NWA, CWFH, New Wave Pro Wrestling and SoCal Pro Wrestling. The two are known mostly for their success on the California independent scene, including 24 matches in PWG from 2011-14. They made their Bar debut at Bar Wrestling 13: Hold On To Your Butts and have wrestled four events for the promotion overall.
Tyler Bateman vs PJ Black
Wrestling since 2001, Tyler Bateman made his Bar debut at Bar Wrestling 5: This is Halloween. Since then, Bateman has worked five additional Bar events, most of which he has done alongside his Violence Unlimited partner, Brody King. In fact, this will be the first time since Bar Wrestling 10: March of the Pigs, that Bateman is working a singles match for the promotion. A 17-year veteran of the industry, Bateman has wrestled for a variety of different companies, both in his home of the Midwest and beyond, and has won 16 titles, including for Alternative Wrestling Show, where he is currently in his second reign as the heavyweight champion.
This will be a first time meeting for Tyler Bateman and PJ Black, who is making just his third appearance for Bar, after having debuted at Bar Wrestling 15. Black lost to Willie Mack but returned for Bar Wrestling 16: Some Days You Just Can’t Get Rid of a Bomb!, where alongside Worldwide Underground (Black, Johnny Mundo, Jack Evans, Ricky Mundo and Taya Valkyrie) partner Taya Valkyrie, defeated the team of Luchasaurus and Super Panda. Currently performing on Lucha Underground, Black is also known for his time in WWE, where he competed as Justin Gabriel and was part of the Nexus faction. Black has won 12 titles in his career, including the King of the Mountain Championship in TNA, the NEXGEN title in Global Force Wrestling and the Trios titles in LU. Most notably, however, he is known as a three-time WWE tag team champion, all of which were won alongside Nexus and later The Corre partner, Heath Slater.
Super Panda and LuchaSaurus vs DoomFly (Delilah Doom and Eli Everfly)
Making his Bar debut at Bar Wrestling 2: Independents Day alongside Rocky Romero in a losing effort to the team of Willie Mack and Boone the Bounty Hunter (AKA John Morrison, Johnny Mundo, et al), Super Panda has been a bit of a fixture since. Panda has performed for 10 of Bar’s 16 events, including each of the last five. At Bar Wrestling 7, Panda teamed up with Luchasaurus for the first time and since, the two have only wrestled in tag team or 6-man matches for Bar.
Luchasaurus, whose real name is Austin Matelson, has been wrestling since 2009. He is known for his time in Florida Championship Wrestling (now NXT), where he wrestled under the name Judas Devlin, and in LU where he wrestled as Vibora, a member of the Reptile Tribe. After being released by WWE in 2013, Matelson did not return to wrestling until three years later. Now donning a mask and going by Luchasaurus, the former Big Brother contestant (he placed fifth on the 17th edition) has been a Bar regular, debuting on its second show. Since then, he has been on 13 of the company’s 16 cards. Luchasaurus is a former Millenium Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Champion and has also won titles in LU, where he is a former trios champion, and in All-Star Wrestling, where is currently one-half of the tag team champions.
Their opponents, DoomFly (Delilah Doom and Eli Everfly), have been teaming up since Bar Wrestling 8: Happily Ever After, where they defeated Janelope (Joey Janela and Penelope Ford). The two have teamed up outside of Bar as well and overall, they have an 8-3 record.
Just 25, Everfly made his Bar debut at Bar Wrestling 6 and has wrestled on seven additional shows since. Beyond his tag team with Doom, Everfly is perhaps best well known as a graduate of the Santino Bros. Wrestling Academy, where he has wrestled 66 of his career 242-matches. Everfly has also wrestled for CWFH, AOW, NWA, The Crash, PCW Ultra, GameChanger Wrestling and PWG.
Wrestling since just 2014, Delilah Doom has won seven titles in her career, including most notably for RISE and SHIMMER, where she is currently one-half of the team tag champions alongside Leva Bates. Doom is also the current InspirePro Undefinable Champion, a title she won this past May. Additionally, Doom has wrestled for NWA, WrestleCircus, AAW: Professional Wrestling Redefined and WWE, where she was used in squash matches against Nia Jax in 2016 and Carmella in 2017. This will be her sixth Bar event and fifth of which will see her team with Everfly.
Ethan Page vs Brody King
The 28-year-old Ethan Page is making his return to Bar for the first time since his debut match for the company in December 2017. An 18-time champion in pro wrestling, including tag title reigns with ACH, Cody Rhodes, Josh Alexander and Michael Elgin, Page has been on the scene since 2006 and has wrestled just about everywhere in the span of those 12 years. This includes CHIKARA, ROH, NWA, Absolute Intense Wrestling, AAW, House of Hardcore, PWG, Beyond Wrestling, Combat Zone Wrestling, PCW Ultra, DEFY, PROGRESS, WrestleCircus, Dramatic Dream Team, IMPACT Wrestling and EVOLVE, where he is perhaps best known.
Another Bar regular, the 31-year-old Brody King, made his debut for the promotion at Bar Wrestling 3: Bar of Hardcore. Since then, he’s appeared on nine additional shows. Relatively new to wrestling having only wrestled his first match in 2015, King has taken to the sport incredibly and has become a rising star as a result. Another graduate of Santino Bros., King has worked for CWFH, PCW Ultra, DEFY, WrestleCircus, Major League Wrestling, SMASH, PWG, PROGRESS, The Crash, EVOLVE and more. He is the current Santino Bros. Wrestling champion, dating back to 2017, and will have a chance to win another title as he takes on Johnny Blackcraft (John Morrison, Johnny Mundo, et al) and Jimmy Havoc in Blackcraft Wrestling‘s debut card on August 24.
PPRay, Joey Ryan and James Ellsworth vs Killer Baes, Katarina and Taya Valkyrie
It’s an intergender match of epic proportions as Joey Ryan and PPRay (Peter Avalon and Ray Rosas) team with James Ellsworth to take on the Killer Baes (Laura James and Heather Monroe), Katarina and Taya Valkyrie.
The 29-year-old, Peter Avalon, like many others on this card, is a Bar veteran. Avalon, who has been wrestling since 2008, made his debut at the inaugural Bar event and has worked 12 of the promotion’s cards since. Most of these, have been alongside Ray Rosas, who has partnered with Avalon on-and-off since 2012. Together, Avalon and Rosas, who began wrestling in 2009, have won tag titles in CWFH and AWS, where they are currently in their third reign. They have wrestled 11 matches together for Bar and over 100 matches together overall.
They’ll be teaming with the owner and creator of Bar, the legendary Joey Ryan. The 38-year-old Ryan has had an extensive career where he is known for, among other things, co-founding PWG, being a huge proponent of intergender wrestling, and of course being a world-famous “dick wrestler.” While perhaps most recognized for his gimmicks, Ryan’s resume goes well beyond that. He has won 29 titles, plus a reported 44 reigns as DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Champion, which is a parody of WWE’s Hardcore Championship and follows the 24/7 rules. He’s a former winner of the Battle of Los Angeles and has wrestled for ROH, WWE, TNA, LU and in the New Japan Dojo, where he faced the American Dragon Bryan Danielson (AKA Daniel Bryan) and Karl Anderson among others. Overall, Ryan has worked just about everywhere and faced just about everyone, bringing his particular brand of sleaze with him. This includes RISE, where Ryan faced Saraya Knight.
James Ellsworth returns to Bar for the first time since defeating Ryan to retain the World Intergender Championship at Bar Wrestling 9: February Stars. Ellsworth is best known for his time in WWE, where he has three victories over AJ Styles. Additionally, Ellsworth was a focal point in Smackdown Live‘s women’s division as he helped Carmella win the first-ever women’s Money in the Bank briefcase and returned to help her win the championship.
A current IMPACT Knockout, Katarina Leigh returns to Bar Wrestling for the third time and first since Bar Wrestling 11: April O’Neil, where she faced Taya Valkyrie, one of her partners in Thursday night’s match. Katarina is a nine-time champion, including thrice in TNA. She has also wrestled for WWE, ROH, SHIMMER, Pro-Wrestling: EVE, WrestlePro, Defiant and more.
Laura James, who is best known to Being the Elite fans as “Joey’s (Ryan) hot wife,” has been wrestling since 2012. She’s appeared in GFW, IMPACT, DDT, Lucha VaVoom, Tokyo Joshi Pro, RISE, Women’s Wrestling Revolution and CZW among others. In 2016, James began teaming regularly with Heather Monroe. On the scene for just two years, Monroe, another graduate of Santino Bros., has already made a name for herself by working for SHIMMER, RISE, CWFH and WWE as a squash for Nia Jax. She is former Sabotage Champion, having held the title for 119 days. One-half of the Killer Baes, Monroe will be working her 11th Bar event, all but one of which was alongside James as her tag team partner.
Rounding out the team is Taya Valkyrie who has been wrestling for eight years. Trained by Lance Storm, Valkyrie has worked for NWA, Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling, The Crash, World Wonder Ring Stardom, WrestleCircus, AroLucha, RISE, and most notably IMPACT, LU and Lucha Libre AAA, where she has wrestled 84 matches. A former two-time AAA Reina de Reinas Champion, Valkyrie has been on 13 of the 16 Bar shows, including the first where she faced former NXT Women’s Champion, Shayna Baszler.
Flip Gordon vs Brian Cage
Of all the people on this card, only one is making his/her Bar debut and its the 26-year-old rising star, Flip Gordon. Trained by Brian Fury, Gordon is an army veteran turned professional wrestler. His career began in 2015, where he worked primarily for Chaotic Wrestling. By 2017, Gordon who was still balancing his military duties and his wrestling schedule, began working for ROH as well as hitting the indy circuit with matches in Consejo Mundial De Lucha Libre, The Crash, WrestleCircus, Over the Top Wrestling, PCW Ultra, CHIKARA, DEFY and more. Closely aligned with the Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson), Gordon is regular on BTE and in 2018, made his debut in New Japan Pro Wrestling, taking part in the Best of the Super Juniors tournament. While not ALL IN, Gordon has committed to ROH, as he recently signed an exclusive deal with the promotion that will limit his U.S. indie appearances. Meaning this very well could be Gordon’s first and last match at Bar.
If this is Gordon’s only Bar appearance, at least it will be in good company as he’ll face one of Bar’s most seasoned competitors in 34-year-old Brian Cage. The 13-year veteran has wrestled on all but two of Bar’s 16 shows, including all of the first 13. He debuted against Penta el 0M and most recently, at Bar Wrestling 16, aligned with Jeff Cobb against Violence Unlimited. Cage, who is ALL IN, has been a fixture on the independent circuit since 2006, most notably in NWA, LU, Pro Wrestling NOAH, The Crash, PWG, WrestleCircus, where he is the current Sideshow and Ringmaster Champion, and IMPACT, where he is the current X-Division Champion. Overall, Cage has won 22 titles and has a 10-4 record during his time in Bar Wrestling.
