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Report: Bar Wrestling closed amid Joey Ryan sexual assault allegations

Posted: Jun 22nd, '20, 02:18
by Big Red Machine
https://www.f4wonline.com/indies/report ... ons-313846

By Bryan Rose | @br26 | Jun 21, 2020 11:25 pm

Bar Wrestling has reportedly shut down as a number of women have accused owner Joey Ryan of sexual assault and harassment.

SoCal Uncensored reported this evening that Bootleg Theater, which was the home base of Bar Wrestling, have ended their relationship with the company due to the allegations. Several people have also told the website that the promotion has ceased operations.

Additionally, the promotion’s video library is no longer available on the Highspots Network.

After initial accusations surfaced, Ryan posted a lengthy message on his Twitter account, apologizing for invading people’s personal space. After that message was posted, a number of women posted on Twitter allegations of sexual assault and harassment. Ryan has since deactivated his Twitter account, as well as the Bar Wrestling account.

Ryan primarily works for Impact Wrestling, who have not commented on these specific allegations.

Bar Wrestling has not run any shows since March 11 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It had been running shows in the Los Angeles area since 2017.

Re: Report: Bar Wrestling closed amid Joey Ryan sexual assault allegations

Posted: Jun 22nd, '20, 02:33
by XIV
Goodbye Bullshit Wrestling Company. If anyone is a sex offender its a guy who gets off on doing bullshit "dickflips".

Re: Report: Bar Wrestling closed amid Joey Ryan sexual assault allegations

Posted: Jun 22nd, '20, 08:43
by cero2k
XIV wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 02:33 Goodbye Bullshit Wrestling Company. If anyone is a sex offender its a guy who gets off on doing bullshit "dickflips".
unfortunately a lot of innocent people lose another place to work.

Re: Report: Bar Wrestling closed amid Joey Ryan sexual assault allegations

Posted: Jun 22nd, '20, 08:54
by XIV
cero2k wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 08:43
XIV wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 02:33 Goodbye Bullshit Wrestling Company. If anyone is a sex offender its a guy who gets off on doing bullshit "dickflips".
unfortunately a lot of innocent people lose another place to work.
Obviously, an undesirable side effect.

Re: Report: Bar Wrestling closed amid Joey Ryan sexual assault allegations

Posted: Jun 22nd, '20, 10:36
by Big Red Machine
XIV wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 08:54
cero2k wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 08:43
XIV wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 02:33 Goodbye Bullshit Wrestling Company. If anyone is a sex offender its a guy who gets off on doing bullshit "dickflips".
unfortunately a lot of innocent people lose another place to work.
Obviously, an undesirable side effect.
I think someone else will open up if the concept has been proving profitable.

Re: Report: Bar Wrestling closed amid Joey Ryan sexual assault allegations

Posted: Jun 22nd, '20, 10:41
by XIV
Big Red Machine wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 10:36
XIV wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 08:54
cero2k wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 08:43

unfortunately a lot of innocent people lose another place to work.
Obviously, an undesirable side effect.
I think someone else will open up if the concept has been proving profitable.
If Joey Ryan can run a company, someone else from the locker room can surely put on a similar concept show, with a new name and keep most of the people involved employed.

Re: Report: Bar Wrestling closed amid Joey Ryan sexual assault allegations

Posted: Jun 22nd, '20, 10:49
by Big Red Machine
XIV wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 10:41
Big Red Machine wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 10:36
XIV wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 08:54

Obviously, an undesirable side effect.
I think someone else will open up if the concept has been proving profitable.
If Joey Ryan can run a company, someone else from the locker room can surely put on a similar concept show, with a new name and keep most of the people involved employed.
Especially because the venue seems willing to work with people... just not Joey Ryan.

Re: Report: Bar Wrestling closed amid Joey Ryan sexual assault allegations

Posted: Jun 22nd, '20, 10:58
by XIV
Big Red Machine wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 10:49
XIV wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 10:41
Big Red Machine wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 10:36
I think someone else will open up if the concept has been proving profitable.
If Joey Ryan can run a company, someone else from the locker room can surely put on a similar concept show, with a new name and keep most of the people involved employed.
Especially because the venue seems willing to work with people... just not Joey Ryan.
I don't support that brand of wrestling, but there's going to be someone with a little money aside for some new logos and stuff that can take it on I'm sure.

Re: Report: Bar Wrestling closed amid Joey Ryan sexual assault allegations

Posted: Jun 22nd, '20, 11:11
by cero2k
Big Red Machine wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 10:49
Especially because the venue seems willing to work with people... just not Joey Ryan.
exactly. PROGRESS fired half of the roster and changed management, Bar Wrestling should be able to do the same

Re: Report: Bar Wrestling closed amid Joey Ryan sexual assault allegations

Posted: Jun 22nd, '20, 11:15
by XIV
It will be interesting to see what Fightclub: Pro do with all of this here in the UK, very intertwined with some individuals linked here. Especially as the Banks / McKenzie thing happened under their umbrella. Having read more on the situation, Millie McKenzie is convinced that what Travis Banks was doing was illegal, hinting that it is likely that his Fightclub: Pro position was a legitimate educational deal complete with contractual obligations and therefore he could be charged with abuse of power.

Re: Report: Bar Wrestling closed amid Joey Ryan sexual assault allegations

Posted: Jun 22nd, '20, 11:25
by Big Red Machine
XIV wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 11:15 It will be interesting to see what Fightclub: Pro do with all of this here in the UK, very intertwined with some individuals linked here. Especially as the Banks / McKenzie thing happened under their umbrella. Having read more on the situation, Millie McKenzie is convinced that what Travis Banks was doing was illegal, hinting that it is likely that his Fightclub: Pro position was a legitimate educational deal complete with contractual obligations and therefore he could be charged with abuse of power.
I think someone made some allegations about one of the other guys in charge there (Martin Zaki), so they might be in tons of trouble.

Re: Report: Bar Wrestling closed amid Joey Ryan sexual assault allegations

Posted: Jun 22nd, '20, 11:33
by XIV
They're also heavily linked to Tyler Bate as well. In the UK, they're unlikely to survive this.

Re: Report: Bar Wrestling closed amid Joey Ryan sexual assault allegations

Posted: Jun 22nd, '20, 11:37
by Big Red Machine
cero2k wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 11:11
Big Red Machine wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 10:49
Especially because the venue seems willing to work with people... just not Joey Ryan.
exactly. PROGRESS fired half of the roster and changed management, Bar Wrestling should be able to do the same
The difference is that PROGRESS has its own functional training school, and was already in the middle of something of a changing of the guard. In the past few years they've lost regular access to Zack, Ospreay, Scurll, Haskins, Jimmy Havoc, David Starr, Toni Storm, Jinny, "Flash" Morgan Webster, and often had often had only sporadic access to Pete Dunne, Trent Seven, Tyler Bate, WALTER, Thatcher, and Mark Andrews (plus not much Eddie Dennis between WWE and Eddie's various big injuries).
But PROGRESS has done a fantastic job of building up new generations to replace them, leaning more on Ilja Dragunov, Paul Robinson, and Aussie Open, while building up Cara Noir, OJMO, the NIC, and the whole DNR stable. PROGRESS will always have a steady stream of new trainees to fill in the ranks, and as long as they are competent wrestlers and the booking can use the available talent well, they'll always have something going on that will interest fans. Ditto for wXw.

Re: Report: Bar Wrestling closed amid Joey Ryan sexual assault allegations

Posted: Jun 22nd, '20, 11:51
by cero2k
Big Red Machine wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 11:37
The difference is that PROGRESS has its own functional training school, and was already in the middle of something of a changing of the guard. In the past few years they've lost regular access to Zack, Ospreay, Scurll, Haskins, Jimmy Havoc, David Starr, Toni Storm, Jinny, "Flash" Morgan Webster, and often had often had only sporadic access to Pete Dunne, Trent Seven, Tyler Bate, WALTER, Thatcher, and Mark Andrews (plus not much Eddie Dennis between WWE and Eddie's various big injuries).
But PROGRESS has done a fantastic job of building up new generations to replace them, leaning more on Ilja Dragunov, Paul Robinson, and Aussie Open, while building up Cara Noir, OJMO, the NIC, and the whole DNR stable. PROGRESS will always have a steady stream of new trainees to fill in the ranks, and as long as they are competent wrestlers and the booking can use the available talent well, they'll always have something going on that will interest fans. Ditto for wXw.
it's more about the management, stream of new wrestlers will always exists, everywhere, own dojos or not. PROGRESS this time around changed management. Jim had already left, but after last week, Glen is gone, Richards is gone. I don't know if Briley will leave.

https://progresswrestling.com/blogs/new ... t-progress

Re: Report: Bar Wrestling closed amid Joey Ryan sexual assault allegations

Posted: Jun 22nd, '20, 11:56
by XIV
There isn't many decent sized wrestling companies in the UK, you've got maybe 5 tops that can draw more than 250-300 people to a wrestling show. So each company loss is a big deal.

Re: Report: Bar Wrestling closed amid Joey Ryan sexual assault allegations

Posted: Jun 22nd, '20, 12:18
by cero2k
XIV wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 11:56 There isn't many decent sized wrestling companies in the UK, you've got maybe 5 tops that can draw more than 250-300 people to a wrestling show. So each company loss is a big deal.
I was talking about this with a friend over the weekend, assuming companies like PROGRESS ignore their WWE relationships, I wouldn't be surprised if two or three struggling companies could merge into something hopefully stronger that can tour around, or have different locations.

Re: Report: Bar Wrestling closed amid Joey Ryan sexual assault allegations

Posted: Jun 22nd, '20, 13:10
by Thelone
It's really no different than the US, except it's on a smaller scale. You can also count on one hand how many CA/US promotions can draw 1k on a consistant basis.

Re: Report: Bar Wrestling closed amid Joey Ryan sexual assault allegations

Posted: Jun 23rd, '20, 01:07
by XIV
cero2k wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 12:18
XIV wrote: Jun 22nd, '20, 11:56 There isn't many decent sized wrestling companies in the UK, you've got maybe 5 tops that can draw more than 250-300 people to a wrestling show. So each company loss is a big deal.
I was talking about this with a friend over the weekend, assuming companies like PROGRESS ignore their WWE relationships, I wouldn't be surprised if two or three struggling companies could merge into something hopefully stronger that can tour around, or have different locations.
It's so easy to run countrywide over here, that I am suprised this hasn't happened more often, but no UK based wrestling show has any TV time other than NXT UK, and that's where the issue is with running countrywide.