“Merry Christmas, War is Over” – John Lennon
The classic song from John Lennon rings true for the Demand Lucha Board of Directors, as this X-Mas it was decided the war between Openweight Champion, Buck Gunderson and Director of Demand Joel Gertner would be put to bed.
Ever since joining the company and becoming Director of Demand, the Quintessential Studmuffin Joel Gertner has been surrounded by controversy…whether of his own making or embedded upon arrival, Gertner has not had the easiest time at Demand Lucha. A controversial figure himself, to say the least, his relationship with the company began when he spearheaded Demand’s involvement with the 2017 “Everything To Do With Sex” show. Becoming the official Director of Demand soon after Gertner continued to hypersexualize the company right off the bat with his patented lewd innuendo and monologuing, something management put an end to quickly. “You’d think they’d have known who they hired!” says Demand! Color Commentator Jay Moore. Gertner even placed the lascivious Sexxxy Eddy in the main event of the inaugural Luchapalooza. Now, almost a year later, one of the first problems Gertner encountered may finally be getting solved.
Commonwealth Openweight Champion Buck Gunderson was that problem. At the time, Demand! had only recently absorbed Hogtown/VCW and the Openweight Championship itself with Buck refusing to wrestle under what he called “garbage” Lucha rules. Gunderson claimed the Openweight Championship was a “traditional catch-as-catch-can” prize and had always been defended as such. Although many dispute that claim, there is no disputing that, although campy, VCW was a traditional old school wrestling company in comparison to Demand Lucha.
Gunderson has done most of his talking through lawyers, refusing most bookings and only defending the championship three times in the last year. Strong-arming the board of directors and Gertner himself, Gunderson has forced catch-as-catch-can rules in his matches, only to end up “cheating” and using moves off the ropes when it suited him.
Gunderson’s lawyers have not only gotten him out of many matches but they’ve also claimed that Demand! has no existing contract with Buck and that even though they own the rights to the championship itself, Gunderson has no obligation to fight exclusively for them. An open challenge to any promotion was levied by the champion last year and he has since defended the title twice outside the company.
Gunderson’s lawyers also claim that Demand! cannot simply strip him of the title as he previously had shares in Hogtown/VCW, which along with monetary compensation came veto powers on his initial defenses when the companies merged. The ongoing litigation has limited these powers immensely, but they continue to cause major issues. The real trouble came when Gunderson arranged an Openweight Title defense against, what he claimed was a true catch as catch can wrestler, Chikara’s Rory Gulak. But the match was almost immediately overturned by Director Gertner himself, claiming that Gunderson “was not the booker” and if Buck was not going to be co-operative, neither was he.
Gulak began appearing for the company regularly none the less; whilst Gunderson was noticeably absent from these matches and events. A furious Gunderson took continued frustrations out on his next forced opponent, the Mysterious Movado, by unmasking the luchador during their match. This was the final straw for Demand! and Gunderson was banned from all live events moving forward. Still, Gunderson’s deep ties to the Openweight Championship made stripping him next to impossible. Instead of Demand! simply deactivating the title outright, which was heavily considered, a compromise was made between the board and Gunderson’s lawyers.
An Empty Arena Match was set… if Gunderson won he would retain AND get sole rights to the title along with the VCW trademark name. But if his opponent won, they would be crowned the NEW Champion and Gunderson would vacate all rights and claims to the title.
At A Merry Lucha Christmas, the self-proclaimed Nickelback of Professional Wrestling was called in to meet with the Demand! director Joel Gertner where he was informed that since he was no longer allowed to perform on Live Events, he would be competing in the Empty Arena Match for his championship at an undisclosed location in the very near future. Gunderson was reportedly irate with more Hokey Shit but was even more incensed when he found out his chosen opponent would be Demand! stalwart Freddie Mercurio!
Rumour has it the match will be happening very soon at a secret location and will be available on YouTube quickly after. Although Gunderson has few fans in the company, he must begrudgingly be given his due. After taking the title from “Speedball” Mike Bailey, Gunderson became the only 3-time champion and although defenses have been slightly spread out in the last year, he is not only the longest reigning champion of all time, but has more successful defenses than any past champion, at 9. This, coupled with being the only man to defend the title outside of Canada; travelling to China as champion and more, none can say Buck Gunderson is not the greatest Openweight Champion of all time… so far? We’ll find out soon.
If Mercurio wins, he walks into April’s LUCHAPALOOZA as Openweight Champion and will ironically face Rory Gulak in what could become a title contest. If Gunderson wins, he will claim the title, the rights to the VCW name and the back catalogue of VCW footage. Either way… I’m sure this is the last we’ve seen of Buck Gunderson in a Demand! ring
With the possibility of losing rights to the archives, Demand! will be airing ALL VCW Showcase Episodes in chronological order all month long on Twitch.tv/DemandLucha. Click the link here to buy tickets for Demand’s 2019 Luchapalooza.
