PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) – Virginia Championship Wrestling (VCW) is bringing its flagship event – “The Liberty Lottery” – to the Portsmouth Pavilion on Saturday, July 19.
It’s the 18th time VCW has put on “The Liberty Lottery,” which those involved call VCW’s version of “WrestleMania.”
This is the first time in VCW’s 29-year history it will put on a show at a venue as large as Portsmouth Pavillion.
“We’ve been growing by leaps and bounds,” said VCW backstage announcer and Liberty Lottery host Tim Loulies. “We have a really great product. We’ve also ran shows in Northern Virginia as well. We’re just busting out of the cage.”
The event features local wrestlers along with talent that have made names for themselves in national promotions like WWE and AEW.
“We pride ourselves in providing amazing performers,” said VCW Commissioner George Pantas, who is making a return to the promotion for one night only. “When I was active, I would travel the area and find new talent to bring in. We made sure our fans never thought something was stale because they saw the same wrestlers over and over again.”
The main event on the card is the Liberty Lottery match, a concept similar to WWE’s Royal Rumble. Twenty wrestlers will enter the match in different intervals. Fans select the order with a random draw. Elimination occurs when a wrestler is thrown over the top rope and onto the floor below. The winner of the match receives a championship match at a VCW event of their choosing.
“Once that bell rings, there are no friends,” said VCW wrestler Diamond Victor Griff, who will participate in the Liberty Lottery match. “There are no allies, there’s only opponents. There is only one winner. Quite frankly, I want to be that man that walks out victorious. I want to be the winner this year.”
The Liberty Lottery will feature several other matches, including a Legends Tag Team match with Jay Lethal and Paul London taking on Hall of Fame tag team The Rock n’ Roll Express.
The VCW Heavyweight Championship will be on the line as defending champion Devantes takes on The Boar and Rex Lawless in a 3-way match. There will also be a Fall Count Anywhere in Portsmouth match featuring Brandon Scott and The Reason.
Virginia Championship Wrestling’s “The Liberty Lottery” will take place Saturday, July 19. Doors open at 6 p.m. with bell time at 7:30 p.m. Click here for ticket information.
You can find out more about the event by watching the debut episode of “The 10 Count” hosted by WAVY producer Jeff Snyder on WAVY+ (available on Roku, FireTV and AppleTV) and on WAVY’s YouTube channel. New episodes premiere Mondays at 11:35 p.m.
