Local pro wrestling outfit to air shows on TV in 2024 on Sunday evenings
IMPERIAL COUNTY – When the lights hit the squared circle they shine bright for the local and visiting professional wrestlers of Imperial Valley-based Venue Entertainment Wrestling, yet brighter they may become in the near future as VWE begins to televise its events locally this month.
Venue Wrestling Entertainment, the sole Imperial Valley-owned wrestling company, recently recorded its Spring Break Brawl event, held at Prestige Event Center in Heber on Friday, April 5. The Spring Break Brawl will be the first VWE event to be televised on locally aired/Yuma, Arizona-based KYMA CBS 13, starting on Sunday, April 28, in the 5 o’clock to 5:30 p.m. (Pacific) time slot. VWE is currently ranked No. 7 in California in terms of popularity.
VWE will air future local wrestling events on the last Sunday of each month continuing from May until December 29, said VWE Owner and Prestige Event Center Manager Jayson Hisel.
Daniel Gonzalez, sales manager for Imagicomm Communications – the parent company for what is now KYMA CBS 13, NYMA NBC 11, and OYMA EstrellaTV – confirmed with IVP that Venue Wrestling Entertainment did indeed sign a contract to air their wrestling programs from the end of “April through the end of December” in that pre-Sunday evening news timeslot.
“They’ve been around for a few years and they’ve been growing, and now they’re wanting the community to see what they’re doing,” Gonzalez said of the local wrestling company.
VWE, which was founded in June 2016 and had a stint running wrestling shows in Orange County (20182021), has come a long way for a local wrestling promotion, Hisel told IVP in an interview on Wednesday, April 10.
“We’ve always wanted to be on TV – that was always our goal,” he said. “I ended up working a deal to where we can be on the last Sunday of every month in a very amazing spot, 5 to 5:30 for now, right in front of the news. We film, we edit, we can do all of our own sponsors and commercials inside of our timeframe. The goal is to get up to an hour (of local wrestling program).”
“For some people it may not be a big thing but for us it’s a very huge thing to be able to be on TV every month to do what we love; it’s anybody’s dream,” Hisel said, “especially to showcase the talent that we have.”
In addition to pro wrestler talent that come in from other areas of California and Mexico for VWE events, VWE also showcases at least four local wrestlers in “Victor ‘ The War Bear’ Ursus,” of Blythe, “Lucas Lair” of El Centro, ‘ Lucha legend’ ringside commentator “Exodus,” of El Centro/Calexico, and current Imperial Valley Champion “Angel Purehart,” of El Centro.
“We film here locally at Prestige and we have one of the best looking setups in indie [independent] wrestling right now,” Hisel added.
“We’re hoping to reach a whole new market and share our passion with people because that’s how we grew up – we watched it on TV,” Hisel said. “I would never have known who (popular pro wrestlers like) Hulk Hogan, George ‘ The Animal’ Steele, Rey Mysterio or Rowdy Roddy Piper were … if we didn’t see them on WWE or Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling on Saturday mornings.”
While Hisel said “it’s an exciting time” for Venue and its roster of wrestlers, he expects that as the popularity grows the production value will be able to grow for the local televised wrestling events.
“Mr. Roy Dorantes, an award winning local filmmaker and director, is helping us with a few things and we appreciate that,” Hisel said, “but we’re always eager to see if there are any kids out there that know how to do film and want to help out by donating their time to get some exposure. We’re always looking for that because this is a new venture for us.”
Outside of the World Wrestling Entertainment (formerly known as the World Wrestling Federation), which his considered the big leagues for pro wrestlers, “you don’t do wrestling to get rich ‘cause there ain’t to money…but that’s not why we do it,” Hisel said.
“We don’t sell tickets: we sell a memory for your family and kids,” Hisel said. “…You can come here and leave your bills at home, talk smack to the wrestlers, yell at them and get it out, have a great time and forget about everything else that’s going on.
“That’s what wrestling is: it’s a novela – good versus evil,” he said, “and if we do our job right we tell you that story, from start to finish.”
While pro wrestling has been seen as a mostly male-dominated sport in decades past, more and more pro wrestlers in the more recent decades are women – including more pro wrestling fans.
“I think it’s great to see our local talent and indie company VWE take their entertainment to the next level,” long-time pro wrestling fan and Calexico resident, Miriam M. Trejo, said.
“The airing will give an opportunity for folks who cannot come to the shows or who have never been to a show to get to see what they are missing out on locally,” she said.
“(VWE’s Spring Break Brawl) was also a great opener for (WWE’s) Wrestlemania weekend, which amplified it even more, seeing our local talent and then pro talent the following days,” Trejo said of pro wrestling’s biggest annual event, the WWE’s Wrestlemania 2-day, pay-per-view event, which aired April 6-7 on NBC streaming service Peacock in the U.S. and on the WWE Network elsewhere. Wrestlemania 40, held in Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field stadium, had some 145,298 pro wrestling fans in attendance across both nights, breaking wrestling event attendance records, including 78% more attendance than in 2023, according to The Economic Times.
According to BleacherReport.com, Wrestlemania 40 had event attendees from all 50 U.S. states and 64 different countries. It also had the most televised views (including streaming), with more than 660 million views over both nights, according to Bleacher Report.
“Hopefully we can share the joy of wrestling,” Hisel said.
The first VWE televised event will be the previously recorded “Spring Break Brawl,” to be aired locally on Sunday, April 28, from 5 to 5:30 p.m., on KYMA CBS Channel 13.
The next live VWE events will be “Lucha Party” on May 3, “VenueMania” on June 7, both to be held at Prestige Event Center in Heber.
For more information on Venue Wrestling Entertainment events, contact VWE by email at venuewrestlingentertainment@gmail.com, or visit their social media sites online at facebook.com/ VENUEWRESTLING or @venuewrestlingent on Instagram.