When Joey Janela broke his leg last year, it couldn’t have come at a worse time. His Joey Janela series of events – Joey Janela’s Spring Break, Joey Janela’s Lost in New York, and Joey Janela’s LA Confidential – were becoming “must see” events that combined the best of the modern indies with a fun and exciting retro appeal, combining emerging talent with past Legends. His appearance at All In showcased him on a national level, amidst rumors he was on the verge of appearing for IMPACT Wrestling. But shortly after All In, he broke his knee and the reports in the coming weeks were even worse. He could be out until 2020. But on Tuesday night, Janela released one of his trademark retro 80s film videos, that featured Janela walking down a dark alley, reading a newspaper that proclaimed that “The Indies Are Dead”. After staring at Missing Person posters (all featuring top indie stars who have since left for the WWE), Janela turns and stats that “the indies aren’t dead, cause the King is still alive…”, with the video ending stating that “Joey Janela Returns” at Spring Break 3 this WrestleMania weekend.
https://twitter.com/JANELABABY/status/1102739757388443650
But that wasn’t all he’s had to announce this week so far. He’s also dropped the news of two huge matches for the Game Changer Wrestling (GCW) produced event, taking place over two nights in April.
LA Park vs. Masato Tanaka
The first match announcement came on Tuesday night, when it was announced that Mexican veteran LA Park (the original La Parka) would be working a singles match against former ECW World Heavyweight Champion and 4x Pro Wrestling ZERO1 World Heavyweight Champion Masato Tanaka. Two absolute legends, from two different countries, would be combining 63 years experience (37 years for LA Park and 26 for Tanaka) into one hard-hitting affair. The two will compete on the second night of Spring Break 3, on Saturday, April 6.
Nick Gage vs. Shinjiro Otani
On Wednesday night, Janela announced the second match for Spring Break 3, happening on the first night, Friday, April 5. In one corner, will be the GCW World Heavyweight Champion Nick Gage, the undisputed King of American Hardcore for 20+ years. And in the other, an absolute legend in Japanese wrestling, Shinjiro Otani. He spent nearly a decade with NJPW after making his debut in 1992, where he would win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and became a 2x IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion. During his time with New Japan, he was also a 2x J-Crown Champion (the combined championship that included the Michinoku Pro British Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight Championship, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion, CMLL/NWA World Welterweight Champion), UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Champion, WAR International Junior Heavyweight Champion), WWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Champion) and WWF Light Heavyweight Champion. In 2001, he jumped to Pro Wrestling ZERO1, where he’s remained to this day, where he’s won the ZERO1 World Heavyweight Championship and ZERO1 World Junior Heavyweight Championship, not to mention the dozens more he’s won freelancing to other promotions like Pro Wrestling NOAH, All Japan, FREEDOMS, and more.
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.
