Pro wrestling and the music industry have gone hand-in-hand for decades. Whether it was Cyndi Lauper helping kick-off the famed “Rock and Wrestling Connection,” David Alan Coe performing during The Great American Bash Tour, The Freebirds recording their own theme song, or musicians like Action Bronson stepping into the ring for AEW — music and wrestling go together like peanut butter and jelly.
So it’s no surprise that two friends who spent their career in the music industry — William Quintana and Anthony Cabrera — decided to start their own wrestling promotion in the Pacific Northwest. In 2018, the duo launched Prestige Wrestling, a promotion that truly has lived up to the name “prestige.” Running shows mainly in Oregon, the promotion has become renowned for booking top notch independent and contracted talent while also showcasing local Pacific Northwest talent.
However, in recent years the promotion has hit the road, partnering with vaunted promotions like West Coast Pro out of San Francisco and Beyond Wrestling out of Massachusetts. Over the next two weeks Prestige will be running coast to coast with a show at the popular concert venue House of Independents in Asbury for “Hybrid Moments” and then five days later in Los Angeles, CA to run a show for Wrestlemania weekend.
We caught up with William Quintana of Prestige Wrestling to discuss the genesis of the promotion, running in the City that Bruce Built and the hidden gem known as the Pacific Northwest independent wrestling scene.
We’ve interviewed numerous wrestling promoters on Pop Break, but all of them have generally been former wrestlers who wanted to run their own company. Can you tell us why you and Anthony founded Prestige Wrestling?
We [Quintana and his partner Anthony Cabrera) both came up in the music industry and knew each other from there. I was running hip hop and metal shows in Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington and doing fairly well. By that point I had been in the music business in some capacity for 12 or so years and had grown tired of doing that. Around that same time I attended a wrestling show in Yakima, WA that had Rey Mysterio and Jeff Hardy in the main event and somehow drew very few fans, was extremely poorly ran, etc.
On a trip a week or so later I decided with my background in live events and knowledge on professional wrestling I could figure out how to run a halfway decent wrestling show. From there I reached out to Anthony and we found a used ring for sale in Portland and that’s kinda where it all started. We had a third partner originally who has since left the company, but since around 2018 we’ve had another partner named Mikey who also runs the company with us.
Tell us about that very first show. It featured a young Clark Connors (now of New Japan Pro Wrestling) and “Filthy” Tom Lawlor. How did you feel going into that show? Do you look back on that show and laugh at any decisions you made or fears that you had?
That first show at best was a “good” wrestling show. Nobody broke us into the business, we were using locals we had no idea what they were or weren’t capable of, so it was just figuring things out initially. Overall, it was a good enough show to keep going and is what laid the groundwork for us to be here today. I believe it was Tom Lawlor’s first match on the indies after leaving the UFC and Clark Connors first match in front of a crowd ever. He quickly signed with NJPW about two years later!
What’s the biggest lesson you learned from the early days of running shows?
The biggest initial lesson I learned from professional wrestling was having patience. Patience in waiting for replies from talent, patience in structuring a card, patience in dealing with fans/talent/venues, etc. There’s a lot of waiting and a lot of moving pieces, so you HAVE TO be patient and thorough with everything.
What show are you most proud of and why?
Any one show is tough. But we sold out the Roseland Theater in Portland, Oregon with over 1,0000 fans in February of 2022. That was a pretty big thing for us. It was without question one of the most electric and lively indie wrestling crowds I had ever seen.
Talk about the PNW independent scene? Is this America’s best kept wrestling secret (scene-wise)? And who are some talent out of the area that fans should be keeping an eye on from this area that work for Prestige Wrestling?
The Pacific Northwest has had many awesome wrestlers over the years. The fans here are also so loyal, so loud, so adoring of the promotions and talent. It’s incredible. As far as talent that people need to know from our region there’s a few that come to mind. Sonico, The Midnight Heat, JAIDEN, Ethan HD, Nick Wayne (signed to an AEW contract), Travis Williams, Judas Icarus, C4 and DREXL are the ones that come to mind immediately. They all offer something great to any show they’re on and have really been the foundation of many companies around the region.
You work with talent from Impact, New Japan, AEW and other national promotions — can you talk about how you’re able to book all this high profile talent?
The goal from day one was to offer a “premium” style of independent wrestling. The best wrestlers from all over the world. Not just the Pacific Northwest. With that in mind we began reaching out to talent via emails on the first shows and it’s grown since then. I’m very proud of the relationships we’ve built with many top independents and companies in the world and the talent we’ve been able to bring to the west coast.
How difficult is it to run a profitable wrestling promotion in a landscape saturated with national and indie shows both live and streaming?
Incredibly difficult. There is always SOMETHING that any money laying around needs to go to. Whether it’s new graphics for a show, a new ring, weapons for death matches, a new trailer, new tools for ring crew, etc. The costs are never ending. Any money made is just put back into growth and the future.
Prestige Wrestling is based in the Pacific Northwest — why make the decision to take the show on the road to the East Coast?
The idea of being a localized independent wrestling show was never the goal for me. I used to tour in bands and any band that I was in fairly quickly jumped into touring to other markets. You have to grow and get your product in front of new fans to really hit your stride. At this point our two biggest markets are Southern California and Portland, Oregon. We’d like to add somewhere on the east coast to that list and we feel New Jersey could be the perfect spot!
There’s a lot of big names on this show — what match are you excited for people in Asbury Park to check out?
Probably Robert Martyr vs. Minoru Suzuki and Josh Alexander vs Mike Bailey. Both will offer totally different stories, but should capture the audiences attention very quickly.
Any plans to return to Asbury Park in the future?
We’re actually working on that now. Figuring out if we want to come back to Asbury Park next or try another city in the area. Expect an update on that soon!
Any other out of region shows is Prestige planning on running?
We will have to wait and see. I’m always trying to connect with new venues and promoters to see what we can accomplish. 2023 will be a very exciting year.
Who is your “white whale” that one talent or talents that would be the ultimate dream for you to book?
That’s a super tough one because there isn’t any ONE talent. Ultimately it changes day to day as I’m always looking to do what is best for the current time, market, show, story, etc. A short answer would be “whoever will sell the most tickets and send the fans home happy.”
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