Coast 2 Coast Wrestling: The Alternative in Pro Wrestling

[Snow Mask Mark]

Coast to Coast Wrestling: The Alternative in Pro Wrestling

Founded in August 1990, Cliff Anderson’s Coast to Coast Wrestling (C2CW) began life as Coastal Zone Championship Wrestling. The alternative in professional wrestling has maintained life for 30 years by continuing to be an alternative to the big leagues in both the US and Mexico. The product that has been promoted by C2CW has been a gateway for many American fans to see luchadors from Mexico and puro stars from Japan. More recently, C2CW also became the first company to promote intergender wrestling, and has given a shine to women’s wrestlers in the states as well as joshi stars across the pacific. For 30 years, C2CW was the shining star of the indies, to the point that the Confederation of the Territories has entrusted many of it’s belts to C2CW workers.

The company’s biggest struggles however didn’t come until the pandemic of 2020. After promoting a good set of shows, including the first ever TV tapings to air on the newly launched WrestleWorld, the momentum seemed to be on C2CW to grow exponentially in 2020. On WrestleWorld, they were advertised as the marquee name. 45,000 viewers tuned in live to watch Frankie Perez defeat Pablo Rodriguez to retain the Coastal Zone championship as well as watch former AAA tag team champions Debbie Rose and Kate Lilly become the first ever team of women to hold a company’s tag team belts on the entire continent.

The first episode of Coast to Coast aired the next night live as well and nearly 40,000 viewers watched live. The next 3 episodes were taped that night, giving C2CW a total of four episodes of TV for the month of March and the march towards Spring Break Bash, but as the old saying goes, the card is subject to change.

For management, this change however was not booking plans but rather arena changes. With a year long contract with a budding start up, C2CW still had to produce shows, but with no fans this proved to be a bit harder than thought. Just in California alone, IPW and GSW saw vastly different approaches to business with GSW producing shows like music videos while IPW shut down for a year. But for C2CW, the key component of WrestleWorld, their survival might impact the idea of IPW returning, or of the Rip Chord Invitational being run on WrestleWorld. Their survival would impact the survival of WrestleWorld.

Enter Mark Murdoch. Better known as Fox Mask, Murdoch is an icon of C2CW and had been named the head booker of C2CW in 2019. For years, CZCW had prided itself on being the alternative in pro wrestling, but a month of shows on WrestleWorld saw numbers dim. That, for Murdoch, was the big eye-opener for what might be wrong for C2CW if it ever wanted to grow.

“Wrestling, for the sake of wrestling, is no different than watching two men dance in their underwear,” Murdoch said in an interview with the Athletic last month. “Yes, I made my name on being a guy in dream matches, but when I came out of retirement during the pandemic, it was because I realized there were stories to tell.”

While still promoting the style that made it famous, Murdoch brought in some veterans to help round out not just the roster, but the booking as well. Eddie Chandler, who has seen a career resurgence, is example number one of how Murdoch’s booking has added wrinkles to C2CW.

“Eddie was a guy who was known for his storytelling,” Murdoch said in defense to hiring him. Fans only hate Eddie when he is in the ring, but off-screen he has become endearing to the fanbase. “Bringing Eddie in, on that first April show with no fans? Perfect, he only got tore apart on Twitter,” stated Murdoch.

Eddie Chandler and Jack Marlowe, two guys who didn’t fit into the mold of C2CW, began running through the tag teams in C2CW but refused to challenge the champions, Rose & Lily. Instead, they continued to duck them, pursuing the COTT tag belts over the Coastal Zone tag belts until the first show with fans: Christmas Cage Chaos in December 2020. The boos reigned down on the “Old School Stretcher’s Club” as Chandler and Marlowe defeated Rose & Lily, with the help of Al Coleman, the third man in the Club. The match was the departure of Rose & Lily to CWA (a big money contract secured by their C2ZW run) but the ascension of long term stories in C2CW. For nearly 8 months, Chandler & Marlowe talked about how the belts weren’t worthy to be challenged for because women held them, and then the dastardly heels cheated to win them! The fans haven’t forgiven Eddie either and it’s led to him becoming one of the top heels in the company, bringing the Elite to C2CW to continue to cheat his way to the top.

“The storytelling has also led to one of the best reigns the title has ever seen,” says Murdoch. The Coastal Zone Championship is held currently by Jackpot Jordan, a former tag champ with Jake Idol (known as Rich and Famous), Jordan turned on his partner at CZCW Vendetta and the very next night on Coast to Coast, Jordan cut a scathing promo on Idol’s lack of loyalty, chasing only half the dream of Rich and Famous. Jake Idol had signed a big money contract with USPW at the time and many fans believe Jackpot Jordan’s promo to be more of a shoot than just a work.

This promo also happened to be the catalyst for Jordan’s singles run, which saw him form Renaissance, which has run rampant over C2CW since it’s founding in May 2021 with one purpose: Help Jackpot Jordan keep his belt. And they have, as Jordan has an incredible 280 day reign with the belt and has solidly formed himself as the top guy.

“It’s not even a dominant reign,” remarks Murdoch who is referencing Mikey James’s only title reign with the company in 2012-13, “but rather it’s the story of a dictator fighting to keep control. Jackpot Jordan constantly is seeing people cycle in and out of Renaissance because of his own paranoia. It’s quite the tail, and eventually Rome falls.”

Murdoch contends it’s easier to build up villains because pure white meat babyfaces get seen by the big leagues. “It’s hard to naturally get fans behind people. In 2021, we had built up Kip Keenan as the guy in opposition to Jordan. Jordan cheated his way to the top and surrounded himself with the best in the company, while Keenan was a lone wolf who won the first Battle of Los Angeles and made himself number 1 contender. And, I can’t blame him, but he took the chance to jump to TCW instead of cementing himself as a star.”

So who fills the top face nowadays?

Two men. For the masses and the casual, Jack Bruce.

And to understand how the top star in the wrestling business joined “the alternative” to wrestling, one needs to go back to Murdoch’s reasoning for coming out of retirement himself. There were more stories left to tell. When Eddie Chandler and Murdoch both began having modern classics at the Coastal Resort tapings (the training grounds for the company was converted to record shows and events during the pandemics), Bryan Vessey had an itch to return. He first reached out to his brother Larry Vessey, promoter of New York City Wrestling, but due to the pandemic Vessey had shuttered down NYCW (although he has recently returned to promoting). Vessey then reached out Eddie Chandler. Chandler, Vessey and Murdoch all sat down and planned Vessey’s return (as a mystery opponent of Jackpot Jordan, and then the senior member of Alexander Robinson Enterprises). And it was Vessey who convinced Jack Bruce to come out of retirement.

But to the hardcore fan, it was the returning hero Mikey James. The biggest story of 2021 wasn’t Jack Bruce’s return to wrestling or Supreme Challenge’s return to fans alongside the debut of Joshua Taylor from TCW, or even the USPW signing of Sean McFly (after the bidding war between many companies).. It was Mikey James resigning with C2CW, leaving the bright lights of SWF.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter called it a major coup. While Bruce and Vessey coming out of retirement were great, for many fans they were older and equivalent to others in the past doing retirement runs. This was a guy in the upper card, a main eventer, rejecting his spot amongst the top companies to return home.

And it leads to tonight, Battle of Los Angeles, Night Two. Night one saw the majority of the annual tournament take place. Some may argue both men had extreme challenges to the finals, as the top competitors in C2CW and from around the world took place. In the opening round, Jack Bruce faced one of the most decorated luchadors in Mexico today, the CILL and OLLIE World Champion, Hysteria. And, by the skin of his teeth, Bruce managed to win. Meanwhile, on the other side of the bracket Mikey James found himself against 2021 Super 8 winner Steven Parker. Bruce then found himself on the opposite side of the ring of another familiar foe, Skull DeBones, which led to one of the worst matches in C2CW history, one the fans absolutely hated. They were won back though when Ernest Youngman and Mikey James fought for nearly 30 minutes until Youngman’s rivalry with the Disciples of the New Church continued when they revealed the kidnapped Venus Angeletti (who had been missing for weeks). Youngman abandoned the match looking to get revenge.

Then came the semi-finals: the CWA World Champion Aaron Knight had been on a tear since announced as a competitor, undefeated in all action. Mikey James and Knight. An instant classic, James won and Knight became an instant favorite in C2CW. “It’s a damn shame it was just for the tournament,” remarked James in the post-show press conference. “Aaron might be one of my favorite opponents I have ever had the pleasure of meeting in the ring, and he could be a huge star here in the states if given the chance.”

On the other side, another controversial decision as Jack Bruce continued fighting guys 40+, this time however it wasn’t a luchador the fans couldn’t care about, and it wasn’t a guy who shouldn’t have come out of retirement - it was Eddie Chandler. Chandler, the head of the Elite and the guy Cliff Anderson trusted to run the newly renamed All California Pro Wrestling (previously All Canada, purchased by Cliff as a developmental territory), and a man who has remained relevant while putting over young talent week in and week out.

“It was tough,” Murdoch shared in the post-show press conference. “Both men deserved the win, and either match would have worked for Mikey I imagine.” For the last 2 months, Mikey James and Jack Bruce have been teasing a COTT World Title match, a belt Bruce has held for 6 months. However, Alexander Robinson Enterprises has been a thorn in both of their sides as the “Liasion to the COTT” Alexander Robinson has constantly put obstacles in the way. For fans, this might be the closest to that moment.

But for Eddie Chandler it was a chance to continue to impress the wrestling world. The 2022 Rip Chord Invitational winner had unbelievable momentum behind him and even though many had booed him out of arenas nightly on C2CW shows, there was a growing movement amongst fans desiring Chandler to get one run at the top.

“Unlike some of the older guys who have come in,” remarked one fan before the show, “Eddie Chandler has actually adapted to the style here in C2CW.” For those who haven’t seen, Eddie isn’t flying off the ropes like the Hollywood Stars. Rather, Chandler has used his ability to wrestle as a heel who controls the younger, higher fliers with stretches and brawls. And, for those who haven’t seen Eddie wrestle since CGC or TCW, he’s about 20 pounds lighter too and occasionally hits those indie favorites like the Code Red.

So, here comes two veterans in the ring and possibly a dream match for some Canadian who saw both of these men in their prime and when Nate Johnson went to interfere, Ricky Dale Johnson stopped him forcing Eddie to be alone, one-on-one with Bruce and with no shenanigans, Bruce won.

So the main event is set, the finals of the Battle of Los Angeles. Who will leave the city of angels with the chance to challenge for the Costal Zone Championship?

 

C2CW Battle of Los Angeles II
Night 2 - February 5, 2022

 

 

Battle of Los Angeles Finals
Jack Bruce vs. Mikey James

 

Title Unification Match
Coastal Zone Championship and FREEDOM Puerto Rico Championship
Champion Jackpot Jordon vs. Champion Chet Chavez

 

Mask vs. Mask

Fox Mask vs. American Flash

 

Coastal Zone Tag Team Championship Match

Champions: Alexander Robinson Enterprises (Giant Brody & Noah Nadir w/Alexander Robinson)

vs. The Elite's Hollywood Stars w/Johnny Bloodstone

 

Mentor vs. Student
Elmo Benson vs. Naoji Azumi

 

Four Stages of Hell

Ernest Youngman vs. The Disciples of the New Church (Babau, Moroi, HP Hatecroft and Hugh de Aske) w/ Venus Angeletti

If Youngman wins, the Disciples swear their loyalty to Youngman and return Venus to him. If The Disciples win, they will sacrifice Venus to the moon.

 

C2CW World Six-Man Tag Team Championship Match

Champions: Renaissance (Erin Grey, Katya Kornishkova & Davis Wayne Newton) w/ Kammy Ling

vs. The Diamond Exchange (Jonnie Perez, Kenny Callaway & Mutant) w/ Lucinda Lush

 

 

 

Edited February 21, 2023 by Snow Mask Mark