Portland Wrestling Cancels Joey Ryan Booking for Event This Month Following Backlash

Portland Wrestling recently booked disgraced and controversial wrestler Joey Ryan for their August 23rd event in Vancouver, Oregon. This quickly led to huge online backlash against the company for booking Ryan for their event and Prestige Wrestling announcing that anyone who worked that event would never be allowed to work for their company again. Prestige Wrestling also had announced that they would be holding a charity event called “FJR” on the same day and city as Portland Wrestling’s event as a counter move.

Portland Wrestling announced earlier today on Facebook that they have cancelled their booking of Ryan for their upcoming event due to the backlash they have received and blamed Prestige for their threats towards every wrestler, trainer, and ring crew who would work for the event. Portland Wrestling also announced that their event is now likely to be cancelled since they do not have a ring after the person who would have supplied one for their show also backed out.

“I have canceled Joey Ryan’s flight. He will not be appearing at the August 23rd show.

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. We currently do not have a ring for a show taking place in less than three weeks.”

In regards to the reason why they booked Ryan to begin with, Portland Wrestling stated in a follow-up post that Ryan was very reasonably priced and hadn’t worked in the area since 2014.

“Multiple other talent was unavailable, he was reasonably priced, other local guys wanted to work him, he hadn’t been here since 2014, he had soberingly repented from the man he was in the past, he was happy to leave the comedy gimmick in the past to just be a wrestler again, and it would be good for him as a person to wrestle in service of non-profits, which are what I exclusively try to work with when promoting a show. It takes about ten times the work to find a non-profit with the space to hold an event, but it is spiritually rewarding to know that a cut of the gate is going to benefit something much greater than myself and my show. Alas, other promoters have publicly threatened to blackball anyone who worked for me and explicitly stated that they would destroy my show before it even got off the ground. They were successful at that.”

Following Portland Wrestling’s announcement, Prestige provided an update stating that their charity event will still be taking place as scheduled and all proceeds generated will go towards RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network).

***FJR UPDATE – PLEASE READ & SHARE TO SPREAD AWARENESS***

(Some of this stays along the lines of the “if you know, you know” tagline, do some research and you’ll figure it out)

We have been informed that the show that our event was “counter programming” has removed the source of our inspiration from their event & is proclaiming on social media their show is at risk of being cancelled due to our interference.

I believe it is something to note that you should visit their Facebook page & read their responses in regards to this situation. Between their current status & their reaction on a previously deleted status it is clear they did not make changes to their event in any sign of good faith, but instead couldn’t handle the public backlash & are attempting to frame the situation in a “poor me, we were trying to do something good” light.

“Stand on business” is a phrase that I have heard a lot lately & is something I have practiced for years. While other promotions in the region may choose to stay silent & just let things like this pass without issue, I believe it is up to those that have helped build the scene into what it is today to make sure we don’t fall victim to the same bullshit that has plagued independent wrestling for years, to make sure our talent, fans & employees have a positive & save experience always.

We have built a reputation over the past 8+ years of being the pinnacle of professional wrestling in the Pacific Northwest & we won’t let some goof that runs a Facebook page give our scene a poor reputation. Ever.

WITH THAT SAID…

FJR will absolutely still be taking place on August 23rd in Portland. The venue is to be determined but we are working on multiple options currently. We have wrestlers from numerous promotions, from all over the United States coming in for this event to support a good cause.

100% of profit made after expenses will be donated to RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network).

If you’d like to support Prestige Wrestling, the wrestlers on this show & the cause that we are throwing this event for there are links below.

Tickets are “pay what you can”, so please get tickets.

Subscribe to our Patreon or donate on PayPal/Venmo/CashApp, every little bit will help!

Event tickets: https://eventbrite.com/o/prestige-wrestling-19864664046

Patreon: http://patreon.com/prestigewrestling

PayPal: William@prestigewrestling.net

Venmo: @PrestigeWrestling

Cashapp: $WrestlePrestige

***FJR UPDATE – PLEASE READ & SHARE TO SPREAD AWARENESS***

(Some of this stays along the lines of the “if you know, you know” tagline, do some research and you’ll figure it out)

We have been informed that the show that our event was “counter programming” has removed the source… pic.twitter.com/CMa0W7VaD9

— Prestige Wrestling (@WrestlePrestige) August 5, 2025

Ryan has been out of wrestling since 2020 after being among those named in the #SpeakingOut movement. Ryan had been accused by many female wrestlers of committing sexual abuse and harassment towards them.