A Tale of (Two Shows in) Two Cities

Everyone loves healthy competition, especially between two (or more) hungry independent wrestling promotions. It usually serves to improve the efforts and creativity of everyone involved and - as long as everyone plays nice - can only help build interest in Indy wrestling in general. You always hear stories of the promotion that doesn't allow a worker to work "there" if he wants to work "here" or the occasional subtle, or not so subtle, rivalry between promotions and whatnot... But that's not what's going on between In Your Face Wrestling and Slam All-Star Wrestling on August 4th.

From what I've been able to gather it was a case of two promotions booking a show on the same night, independent of the other. No malice involved on either side. However, it still is impacting the events -- IYFW's "HeatStrike" in Whitehall, NY especially.

This comes as no surprise or shock to anyone reading this page, I imagine, but it needs to be said: These sister promotions tend to share a lot of the same talent. It's always interesting to me to see which promotion might win out on the talent end of things on August 4th. Don't expect to see any Bobby-Ocean-Style double-bookings or double-headers... If they are booked for one show then one show is all they'll show for - one would think. It's about a two hour drive between Whitehall and St.Albans. Can't imagine anyone appearing for both.

Not even Pierre "The Beast" Vachon -- the Heavyweight Champion of BOTH promotions. He is being advertised as competing in an Odd Couple Tag Team match at In Your Face's show. Of all the talent in question, his booking - to me - is most intriguing. Could HE show for BOTH shows? Only of he goes on first for ONE of them, which I see as unlikely.

Shared Talent Confirmed ONLY for SAW's show in St.Albans:
"The Wolf" CJ Scott
"Mighty" Fronz Roddy
"Megastar" Michael Monroe
The Rickety Rockett

Shared Talent Confirmed ONLY for IYFW's show in Whitehall:
Drake Evans
Pierre Vachon
Vigo
Scott Scarsdale
Pure Dynamite

Obviously, this isn't a huge crisis for either promotion but it bears close attention. For IYFW in particular, who is quietly trying to build some steam in a brand new venue -- they will present THIS show down a handful of performers who had been heavily featured in their first two Whitehall outings. I have heard rumors that some talent from some Western NY indy promotions would be brought in to bolster the roster for this event, and with recent IYF new-blood highlights like Elite, Punisher Van Slyck, and a renewed energy behind the once-and-former Uprising this show should be fun to see unfold.

More info about these events as it comes in! If you have any news or info, be sure to reach out to paul@wrestlefudge.com and pass it along!