Independent wrestling fans sitting at home waiting for entertainment this past Sunday evening were confused when FiteTV’s countdown for the show streaming changed to a day later. What the people sitting at home didn’t witness was all the obstacles this show faced to even happen. From venue changes, to talent dropping, to cops showing up. This is the story of VXS No Justice No Peace.
On June 29th, Violence x Suffering announced their first event back since their Matt Travis tribute show “4 Da Children” which took place on December 1, 2019. The promotion based out of New Jersey had a show slotted for March 29th, but like most events that were scheduled this year, had to be cancelled due to Covid. “The Violence of the Lambs” show scheduled for March had a stacked card including Jordan Oliver, Tony Deppen, Nick Gage, B-Boy, and many others. With the cancelled show behind them, VXS looked to blow people’s minds on August 16th with “No Justice No Peace.”
https://twitter.com/vxswrestling/status/1277770163719483392?s=20
Three hours following the announcement of the show, the first match for “No Justice No Peace” was revealed. In a video tweeted out by VXS, it was revealed that the main event for the show was set. In a rare independent wrestling appearance, Jonathan Gresham would be squaring off against one of the top independent wrestlers today, Tony Deppen. This immediately had wrestling Twitter buzzing. The talent announcements came rolling. AR Fox, Alex Zayne, Myron Reed, and Blake Christian. With all of these talent announcements there was a feeling that this show would be a hot ticket to purchase. Then a bomb was dropped.
Cryme Tyme member JTG and The King of Deathmatch Wrestling, Nick Gage would be sharing a ring together. Two dream matches the wrestling world didn’t know they wanted until they were announced. But these two dream matches became just that, a dream. After an injury sustained at a Beyond Wrestling show on July 26th, Nick Gage’s status for the show was uncertain. Before an update on that match could be made, the main event of the show was off.
https://twitter.com/TheJonGresham/status/1290274857175994369?s=20
Two weeks before the show, Jonathan Gresham tweeted that due to unforeseen obligations, he would be unable to work the August 16th show. A suitable replacement was found as Tony Deppen would now be facing Davey Boy Smith Jr. The very next day JTG’s new opponent was announced, AEW Superstar and FTW Champion, “The Machine” Brian Cage. VXS showed that they weren’t playing around.
It is now August 16, the day of the show. With my ride arriving that afternoon, the ETA for the “secret” New Jersey location was 3pm. We both were looking forward to this stacked card. Two minutes before arrival I opened up Instagram and see that the show was delayed 2 hours to 6pm. This wasn’t something we were extremely happy about but something we had to deal with. Since the tweet said due to circumstances including rain, me and my chauffeur assumed that they might’ve wanted to avoid wet grass and/or mud, since it was outdoors and it was raining earlier in the afternoon.
The address given was the location of a church. We were a little confused since no one was around. There’s a bunch of parked cars nearby so we go over there. We pull up to this field, making our ETA time of 3pm, one hour before the original scheduled start time. We are now even more confused as we do not see a ring set up. As we exit the car we are immediately met by two gentlemen. One of them says “you haven’t heard there’s been a change of location,” and obviously we hadn’t if we were there speaking with him. He says we should’ve gotten an email with the new location. I never received a new email notification but I open my app anyway and nothing.
He proceeds to tell us the new address and then says “we’re rolling with the punches.” I was immediately struck with PTSD going back to the week prior to when ICW promoter Danny Demanto said the same line at least a dozen times while stuffing everyone in a barn during a worldwide pandemic. I prayed to a God that I don’t believe in to not let it be anything close to that.
We punch in the new location into the GPS, and even though it is now in a different state, it’s 20 minutes away so not so bad. A 20 minute drive later and we reach our destination, the parking lot of an abandoned Chinese food buffet. We link up with a bunch of familiar faces who are just as confused as we are. Once again, no ring in sight. Some people start saying that it’s taking place in the parking lot, while others are saying it’s taking place inside the abandoned building.
I ask around about the email that was supposed to be sent out and no one had received it. After what was around 20 minutes of hanging out, Tony Deppen tells everyone to follow his vehicle as there’s another new location. Everyone hops in their cars, following each other to the new location, which is right up the road.
We are now at the third location, and luckily what ends up being the final location of the day. Third location is the parking lot of a strip mall. We are outside another abandoned Chinese food buffet. Remember that email we were supposed to receive. Finally received it at 3:47pm, 13 minutes before the original start time. The email contained the address of the location we were previously at, the second location. I start hoping that there’s crew members at both the original location and second location, directing fans attending the show to the newest and actual location. This might’ve not been the case as some tweeted out at 5:20pm that no one was at the location given. This person reached out to me nearly an hour later and I gave him the location. He never once received a reply to the tweet.
Going back to when we arrived to the final location, I was immediately uncomfortable when we found out that the event will now be taking place indoors. My mind eventually swayed away from that as the parking lot became almost like a tailgate party. As the partying continued we realize that Tony Deppen had left. We, as in the fans attending, were stuck wondering if he would be back or not.
As it gets closer and closer to the 6pm start time, the ring is still not fully completed. The ring canvas is larger than the actual ring and there were enough ties. The ring ropes weren’t working properly.
It’s almost 6pm and the FiteTV countdown now says the show will be taking place the next day, Monday August 17th, instead. With radio silence on VXS’s social media, the audience at home has no idea what’s going on. Is it a mistake? Everyone at home waiting for a live stream have no idea that there’s no internet inside the building. At around the same time this is happening, two cop cars show up to the venue. I start thinking that this is the end of the road of the show. The cops look around and speak to people in charge of the show. They end up leaving shortly after as we’re told the show is still on.
Cops are here. pic.twitter.com/nysPcUJ7A6
— Luis Perez (@zerepwrestling) August 16, 2020
With people waiting for a live stream at 6pm and having no idea what is going on, I start to receive an abundance of tweets and DMs asking what’s going on with the show. This is when I decided to tweet out a quick update on what’s happening.
Show updates. 3 venues. Turned from outdoor to indoor. Deppen left. Ring issues. Cops showed up. Supposedly show is still on. Won't be streamed live.
— Luis Perez (@zerepwrestling) August 16, 2020
Wrestling twitter hopped all over this. Most people not knowing that most of the issues were out of the promoter’s hands. We later find out after a tweet from Tony Deppen, that it was another wrestler that called the cops.
I did. Nothing against @vxswrestling; most prof people. I have personal and professional things happening that I felt it was in MY best interest to do so. Vxs was supportive of my decision
— Tony Deppen (@Tony_Deppen) August 16, 2020
Oh and if you’re a wrestler that calls the cops on a show, you aren’t welcomed here. https://t.co/6HsPiecHxU
As time passes, groups of people start to leave. This almost becomes a blessing as there was no way we could’ve been properly distanced with the amount of people that were originally there. The crew are still unable to get the ropes working properly so they completely give up on that. The event is now a Bloodsport type of event with no ropes for the entire card. No Justice, No Peace, No Ropes.
VXS Bloodsport pic.twitter.com/OggcqHpuBh
— Luis Perez (@zerepwrestling) August 16, 2020
At one point in all of the madness, Davey Boy Smith Jr. showed up to the venue. He was seen briefly, then I never seen him again. We later hear that the main event is completely scrapped, without any explanation.
As the wrestlers find out that they’ll be no ropes, they start re-planning all their matches. At this point everyone in attendance are playing the waiting game. The time is now about 7:45pm and they start telling everyone the event is about to start, nearly 4 hours after the original belltime. JTG and Brian Cage opened the show in what end up being a really entertaining show. Despite all the obstacles, VXS put on an enjoyable event. I couldn’t imagine how this would’ve been if everything worked in the promotion’s favor.
Note: This article is from my perspective only. I reached out to VXS management and they did not want to comment at the current time. I am hoping they reach out to me at a later date.