Indie promotion cancels Joey Ryan booking following backlash
An indie promotion attempting to revive Portland Wrestling has canceled its booking of Joey Ryan after receiving backlash.
The “Portland Wrestling: Reborn” event is scheduled for August 23 in Vancouver, Washington. It was announced that Ryan — who has been out of wrestling since being accused of sexual assault and harassment during the #SpeakingOut movement of 2020 — would be making his return at the show. However, that’s no longer happening and the entire event is in jeopardy of being canceled.
“I have canceled Joey Ryan’s flight,” the promotion announced. “He will not be appearing at the August 23rd show.”
The person behind the Portland Wrestling revival said it’s highly likely the show will not take place anymore, blaming another Pacific Northwest wrestling group for threatening to blackball anyone who was going to work it.
“Prestige Wrestling’s promoter threatened to black ball every wrestler, trainer, and ring crew member who works with me, causing multiple wrestlers to drop out of the show and even the guy I was renting the ring from canceled the rental,” Portland Wrestling wrote. “We currently do not have a ring for a show taking place in less than three weeks.”
Prestige Wrestling is holding a show in Portland on August 23, which was announced as a counter to this event that was going to feature Joey Ryan. The Prestige show is billed as “a night of safe space pro-wrestling action, for the scene, by the scene that helped cultivate modern day Portland wrestling.” Fans can pay whatever price they want for tickets with all profits being donated to charity.
Explaining why he booked Ryan in the first place, the Portland Wrestling promoter wrote: “He was very reasonably priced, he hadn’t worked the area since like 2014, local guys wanted to work him, and it was an opportunity for him to move past the mustache gimmick that I never cared for anyway.”
Tickets for the Reborn show are still on sale despite the potential cancellation.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.