On Friday, March 15, 2024, the Phoenix Theater hosted one of their most well-known events: Phoenix Pro Wrestling (PPW). With the last event being on January 20, 2024, fans have been eagerly waiting for the next show. This event was set to start at 8:00 PM on the dot, going on for 2-3 hours, much like previous shows.
On the PPW website, tickets were sold as early as March 13. At $15 per child and $20 per adult, people were able to pay easily online and get their spots secured before the show started. However, if one couldn’t get their tickets online, they were also sold at the door for the same prices, which was just as easy.
Live wrestling performances have been going on for many years at the theater, with the first event dating back to November 14th, 2014. PPW’s first show was 2+ hours long, and they held 7 matches for the 18 different wrestlers they had gotten to perform. Even at the first wrestling event of many, the building was pretty full, with residents both in and out of Petaluma coming to watch their first live wrestling event.
Besides just hosting all the PPW events, the theater itself is also home to many different bands that perform weekly. CIRKUS, X-Method, Booked by Mistake, Mugslug, Get the Wall, and Gas Money are only a few of the bands that have been featured at the Phoenix Theater. Aside from just music though, the building is also a popular indoor skate park in the daytime, and it is open to anyone who would like to skate or just hang out there.
The PPW match night started with Guapo Lupe vs. Richie Coy. The second match of the night was a tag team match, which was still very fun to watch despite it not being the championship. The Appeal came out first, followed by The Body Shop, and after a long battle, The Appeal left with the win. The third match was a PPW Title Challenge, with Duke Lawrence versus Sanders. After a back-and-forth battle, Lawrence was sabotaged by Sander’s personal announcer/coach, Pollo Del Mar, who knocked Lawrence out with the winning trophy and secured Sander’s win.
After the third match, special announcer Gary Supreme took the mic, announcing the next match to be Kenny K versus Koto Hiro. However, before the two started, another wrestler came forward, who announced himself as Torch. After some arguing, the Torch took the referee’s shirt to officiate the match. With a few controversial calls from the referee, Kenny K ended up winning the match; yet as he was walking away, Kenny was slammed by Torch. Then, the ref walked off the stage, with Kenny rolling after him and Hiro not far behind. The Tag Team Championship directly after was also controversial, being Sir Samurai and Eliza Hammer versus Money Power Re$pect and Pollo Del Mar. Del Mar, from one side of the ring, sabotaged yet another match, bringing down both Sir Samurai and Hammer and raising MPR to the top.
The final match and main event introduced both contestants of the belt with intro music. Walking out to “I Miss the Rage” was the #1 contender, the Golden Eye, Midas Kreed. Second out was Kal Jak—The Jack of All Trades—who was the defending champion of the PPW belt and walked out to “The Bear Song”. Before the match even started, the two wrestlers started bantering as they stared each other down. Midas even said, “Don’t slip. Because if you do, I’m taking this right out from under you. All I need is three seconds.” The match had a 30-minute limit, though it ended beforehand with Kal Jak taking the win.
The event ended with MPR, Sanders, and Del Mar coming back out and attacking Kal Jak, who was quickly aided by Sir Samurai and Eliza Hammer. Del Mar called off the fight, declaring they would wait until May 17th, where they could have a 4-on-4 tag team elimination round. Jak, Samurai, and Hammer all agreed, saying they “had their fourth,” and the other team must be ready by then. With one final wave and an end-of-the-match declaration from the introducer, the event was over.
The “ppwpetaluma” Instagram posted on March 21st that tickets were currently on sale, ranging from $10-$20 as of now. Many people are excited for this upcoming event, wanting to see who each team’s fourth contender is. Many of the comments on the post are outlining the excitement of the fans, such as “prince_ajkumar,” who commented, “LFG,” which stands for “Let’s freaking go,” and “giovanna_unicorn2005,” who wrote, “I will be there.” Many are anticipating May 17th’s event, and they are hoping to find out soon who will be the potential new champions. But, only time will tell how the next PPW match night will turn out.
