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As President of Lucha Ilimitado, I would just like to thank everyone who attended Wednesday's debut Lucha Ilimitado event. As I'm sure you are aware, there were some hiccups that occurred due to issues with the Washington State Department of Licensing (we literally were dealing with them from 8 am Wednesday morning until half way through the show), and as a result, certain things fell through the cracks (VIP gift bags for example, which we are working on and will address in just a bit). This, because several key staff members were pulled off their assigned duties to assist with the emergency at hand.
On no less than three occasions Wednesday, it appeared that the show might actually be cancelled as we attempted to retrieve blood test results that had been done at US Healthworks in Seattle the day before the event.
Doing the blood tests that close to the deadline (actually a day past the deadline as the DOL, to their credit, did provide us with an extension) was a last ditch effort to comply with the state's extremely rigid restrictions. To those saying "Well, those things should have been taken care of weeks in advance": Trust me, I know that.
We had 20 wrestlers scheduled for the card (14 of whom were flying in from other parts of the continent). We had the paperwork process in motion for each wrestler literally the day each one was individually booked. But unlike WWE (which has unlimited access to its wrestlers and a monolithic corporate structure to handle this sort of thing and make it run like clockwork), our very small team was juggling the process remotely. Believe me, we envy that aspect of WWE’s game.
Wrestlers are independent contractors...and they're moving targets. They'll be in London on Saturday, Mexico City on Monday, Pittsburgh on Friday, and L.A. on Saturday. A day off is a day to sleep, train, do contractually-obligated media appearances, or spend time with their families.
The point being (and this isn't intended as "an excuse") is that getting one professional wrestler to go to a doctor for a new physical or get blood work is difficult enough. Getting 20 of them, though, is a Herculean endeavor that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy (*especially* when there might be a language barrier, and not just with the wrestlers, the doctors as well). It is *literally* like herding cats. Rabid, frothing-at-the-mouth cats.
The Washington DOL has very specific and stringent wording in its physical examination forms. Each and every wrestler on the show was able to either a) Provide us with documentation of previous physicals and blood work from other states or b) Were willing to get those tests done.
As the process rolled along, however, we realized that the Washington DOL couldn't (or wouldn't) accept physicals done in certain places because they felt a doctor worded something wrong or that they neglected to perform one task out of a list of 20.
So we had two options: We could either cancel wrestler bookings or we could get them to Washington prior to the show and have their physicals and bloods done ourselves. We chose the second option.
Herculean Effort Part 2.
We had an initial deadline of Tuesday, October 11 (the day before the card) to get the physicals and blood work wrapped up. I personally stood in the US Healthworks clinic in Seattle (the fastest, and only option we had to get this turned around) as they drew blood from half the wrestlers on the card.
Then the technical glitches began. We were operating out of an office at the lovely Hotel Maison and their computer system was restricting the encrypted files the clinic sent over. We missed our deadline and more negotiations ensued. By that point, which was around 1 pm, I personally had not stepped foot inside the Yakima Valley SunDome yet. Our one hour meeting with the TV crew and lighting people turned into a five minute chat. Time that would’ve been better spent setting up the arena and handling last minute media interviews (NBC and Telemundo were on hand) was instead eaten up by dealing with meddling government bureaucrats (and again, nice people individually but part of a completely stupid system).
Through it all, Lucha Ilimitado CEO Sandra Rayne Garcia (the absolute best business partner a human being could hope for), matchmaker Matt Farmer (whose knowledge and poise is unparalleled), and last but certainly not least, the legendary Hall of Famer Konnan, held things together as I dealt with the DOL.
First, let us stress that the individuals we dealt with at the DOL were mostly professional, courtesy, and helpful (I’ll stress mostly as there might’ve been one guy there who thought he was a cop from “Law & Order” and Juventud Guerrera was his “perp”).
The DOL was trying to make sure the show happened (because let's be honest, they wanted their cut of the money). I don't blame any of the individuals we dealt with personally for the hiccups. They didn't write the laws. It’s just their job to enforce them and a few of them did go out of their way to be fair and uber cool about the whole thing.
At the end of the day though, I, and I alone, decided that I wasn’t gonna let them dictate terms to me. I put wrestlers who were unlicensed in the ring and I ordered the referee to ring the bell. I made the call to let the show go on as scheduled (minus Sami Callihan, who suffered an injury prior to the event; and Jessicka Havok, who stayed behind in Orlando to care for him).
The officials from the DOL essentially stood up from the table, declared that if we let unlicensed wrestlers wrestle, it was now an unsanctioned, unlicensed show. Then they got in their cars and drove home without pickpocketing us (though I’m certain they’ll try to do that later).
Post mortem: The Washington DOL as an entity is absolutely the most restrictive and overreaching athletic commission that anyone involved with this show has ever dealt with. I can understand why WWE and UFC avoided them for years and quite frankly still hate going there. The state of Washington is awesome. The people are really chill (and the marijuana is legal). But nah, their pencil pushers need to lighten up. They’re costing the state tons of money and athletic commissions in other states (who I talked with this past week while rounding up physicals and blood work) laugh at the very mention of the Washington DOL.
If we ever go back to Washington, it’ll be on an Indian reservation.
Everything else about this event though was wonderful. The wrestlers, from top to bottom, were the most laid back and helpful bunch of guys and gals I have ever met.
Legends like Rey Mysterio, Jeff Hardy, MVP, Konnan, Juventud Guerrera, Psicosis, and El Hijo del Santo are as cool and decent as they are talented.
Rising stars like El Santo Jr., Sonico, Jonathan Gresham, King Khash, Kate Carney, Jeff Cobb, Ave Rex, Ethan HD, Fenix, Sonjay Dutt, La Vispa, and Mike Santiago are the present and future of the wrestling business and I can’t say enough good things about them. Not a diva among them.
Referee Alex Robinson is the man (hijacking Jeff Hardy’s cab was gangsta, bro). And you haven’t lived until you’ve heard Jeff Hardy, MVP, and Juvi do karaoke at 3 am. Su Yung became a friend for life literally the moment I met her (I desperately want Su’s parents to adopt me). She is a star to look out for. And the fans who stuck around after the refunds and the drama were the best. Seeing the kids (and kids at heart) at the VIP session posing with the belt and interacting with Rey Mysterio, Jeff Hardy, Fenix, and others was pure magic and made all the b.s. worthwhile.
Thanks to our PR team at FWV (Jack Glasure, Charles Upchurch, and Raul Hernandez); accountant Larry Belton (bean counter to the stars); the lovely (and equally intelligent) Damara Vargas who presented Fenix with the Corazon de Oro belt; the Hotel Maison in Yakima; The Crown Plaza in Seattle; The Ramada in Seattle; US Healthworks; our sponsors Gamechat, Matrixx Power Suit, and Tigershark Athletics; Dave Millican (for actually making the Corazon de Oro belt that everyone is in love with); and anyone whose name is escaping me at the moment.
But the most beautiful part of it all though was being able to help raise awareness for the Nora Sandigo Children Foundation. Nora is the legal guardian of some 900 children separated from their parents due to immigration issues and truly one of the most wonderful human beings I’ve ever encountered. She and her husband Reymundo were on hand and we will continue to strive to get the word out about their wonderful work. In the end, we played a small part in helping someone do an incredibly selfless and world-changing thing. At the end of the day, that’s what matters.
So all is good. The event was taped and you’ll have the chance to see it in its entirety shortly. We’re calling it "Lucha Ilimitado: Unsanctioned. Unlicensed. Unlimited." And yes, there will be oodles and oodles of Joel Gertner.
Stay Ilimitado.
La lucha es (most definitely) real
Richard O'Sullivan
President, Lucha Ilimitado
