Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky have been in the pro wrestling business for a combined 61 years. And thanks to three simple letters and a few appearances on a YouTube series, their popularity is at an all-time high.
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The trio known as SoCal Uncensored (SCU) originally formed in late 2017 in Ring of Honor, but their notoriety as a group didn’t skyrocket until they appeared on the May 6 episode of the The Young Bucks’ YouTube series Being the Elite.
The three were filmed getting out of a rental car in Lakeland, Florida and started cutting a promo on how much they hated being there.
“This is the worst town I’ve ever been in,” Sky said offhandedly.
“It’s definitely not SoCal,” Kazarian responded. “It’s a f—ing dump, Lakeland? There’s no lake, there’s just a bunch of s— swamps.”
From there the trio’s promos became a staple of Being The Elite episodes, as the three would tear down every town they were in from New York City to San Antonio to London.
In a recent interview with Comicbook.com, Daniels and Kazarian explained the origins behind SCU and their hatred of all things not Southern California.
“Actually it started out as sort of a joke between Matt Jackson and us,” Daniels explained. “We were offered the opportunity on Being The Elite and the first thing we were going to do is just talk about something else, but he thought it would be clever if we just sort of buried the town we were in because we were all from Southern California and we were in the northeast at that point.”
Kazarian said the promos were based off of real-life conversations the three would have while traveling for Ring of Honor shows.
“Well basically this kind of something we did anyways just in the van rides,” Kazarian said. “Whether one of us was in a particularly bad mood… or if we were stuck in traffic.”
Even though they’re heels, SCU have become fan favorites among Ring of Honor fans thanks in large part ot the Being The Elite appearances. Their popularity has grown so large in recent months they got a t-shirt with Sky’s now famous catchphrase inside Hot Topic stores alongside the Bullet Club.
Daniels and Kazarian said they were somewhat surprised by how fast the group’s popularity has grown.
“I feel like right now The Young Bucks and the Being The Elite crew have got like the golden touch,” Daniels said. “I knew that if we were sort of endorsed by those guys we were going to get a positive following and just because of the nature of their their YouTube show, more eyes are sort of paying attention to what they’re talking about than any normal pro wrestler at this point.”
“I didn’t realize that it would be the sort of the love of Southern California that was going to get everybody on our side,” he continued. “I guess you never know what’s going to catch on with people.”
“I’m surprised that by us basically having segments on BTE and burying every town we were in would be quite endearing to the fans, so they would take to that and start absolutely cheering us because of that,” Kazarian said. “That I found odd, but very rewarding.”
Kazarian, usually the most critical of the three during the segments, said one of his favorite promos to cut for the segment was in Philadelphia. The three cut channeled the famous scene from Rocky on the Philadelphia Art Museum steps before telling everyone how much they disliked the city.
“The Rocky one was cool because we were just coming off that Rocky montage we shot at the actual Philadelphia Art Museum,” Kazarian said. “And seeing the statue and being a huge Rocky fan like I am. That was certainly cool.”
Daniels and Kazarian are set to take on the Briscoes for the Ring of Honor World Tag Team Championships on Friday night at the Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view.
ROH Death Before Dishonor airs LIVE from the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas on Friday, September 28, 2018 at 9 p.m. EDT on traditional cable and satellite Pay-Per-View providers, and streaming free for HonorClub VIP, 50% off for HonorClub Standard members, and through FITE TV.
