Minor League Baseball and Independent Wrestling Go Hand in Hand.
Tonight is Wrestling Night at San Manuel Stadium in San Bernardino California. Teaming up with the Inland Empire 66ers, the Empire Wrestling Federation, a mainstay in Southern California for over twenty years, will present live wrestling after baseball. Jeff Jarret and his Global Force Wrestling was launched on the back of Minor League Baseball affiliations in the summer of 2015 with events at minor league ballparks.
There is no wrestling promotion in Southern California that has remained as active as the Empire Wrestling Federation. Opening up in 1996 the Empire Wrestling Federation has been home to some of the best wrestling talent out of Southern California. Jesse Hernandez, owner and proprietor of the EWF has links and history to the WWE, the AWA, AAA in Mexico and in Southern California wrestled at the historic Grand Olympic Auditorium, home to the NWA in Los Angeles up until the late 80s. Some of their past EWF Heavyweight Champions include; Chavo Guerrero Sr., Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, Scorpio Sky, Ryan Taylor, Eli Drake, Joey Ryan, TJ Perkins… a veritable who’s who of Southern California Wrestling. EWF focuses more on the family oriented environment. Currently, Rico Dynamie is their American Champion, True Grit are their Tag Team Champions, and “Uptown” Andy Brown” is the EWF Heavyweight Champion. No card has officially been announced for tonight’s event, but some of the stars of Lucha Underground will be around for meet and greets.
Going back to 2008 I traveled to Yuma Arizona to attend a wrestling event at a minor league ballpark. Billed as the NWA Showcase this show had featured a showcase of talents from around the NWA. Current IWGP US Champion Juice Robinson open the card by defeating Sean Vitale. The show would also feature a NWA Worlds Heavyweight bout between Sean Waltman and Adam Pearce.
When Jeff Jarret had announced the launch of the Global Force Wrestling promotion, it was launched on the backs of Minor League Ballparks with its Grand Slam Tour which produced 14 shows at minor league ballparks across the United States.
This isn’t the first time that the EWF have invaded the San Manuel Stadium as they were part of a Lucha Libre Night in July 2014. Tickets are still available for this event. https://bit.ly/2Oq1d16