Friday, October 31, 2014

Rasslin' with Redbeard - Chikara Pro's THUNDERBALL

Professional wrestling has a lot in common with pizza. (Stay with me here, I'm trying to use an analogy that hasn't been beaten to death, like how pro wrestling has a lot in common with theater for example.) You've got traditional hand-tossed crust, Chicago style deep-dish, thin crust, stuffed crust, and probably half a dozen other types of crust - and that's just the crust, we haven't even begun to scratch the surface of pizza possibilities because for every style of crust there's at least ten different toppings one might add to a given pie. Likewise, there are many different styles when it comes to professional wrestling. Lucha libre is common to Mexico whereas strong style is more or less the norm in Japan. Here in the United States we seem to be latched onto sports entertainment although that's not to say there aren't pockets of resistance, if you will, dedicated to preserving what would nowadays be considered old school, as in the style of wrestling made popular by greats such as Ric Flair, Harley Race, and others.

There are a lot of promotions out there these days that seem to strive towards doing just one thing when it comes to the style of wrestling they've chosen to display. Ring of Honor, for example, has become known for being arguably the most popular equivalent to a strong style promotion that we have here in the US. Not to say that they are doing a disservice to the wrestling world as a whole, but in my opinion when a promotion is all one style of wrestling the product can become bland. "Bland" is a term you'll never hear in regards to Chikara Pro, a company that is anything but vanilla when it comes to the variety of wrestling styles and characters they put on display at their events.

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you might remember that my wife & I were able to see Chikara's event in Porterdale, Georgia last year. The trip to GA made for a great weekend getaway (we were celebrating our anniversary - we each got our way on the trip; my wife wanted to visit the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta and, of course, I wanted to see some wrestling) and the show was a tremendously memorable part of the occasion as I feel like we both came away from it with a smile on our faces (at least I know I did). The fact that the Porterdale experience was as enjoyable as it was became the primary influence behind my decision to make the drive all the way to Burlington, North Carolina (all 200+ miles of it) as the stars of Chikara would be making an appearance there for an event entitled THUNDERBALL.

The CWF Mid-Atlantic Sportatorium served as host for this event and the arena was absolutely jam-packed with fans. Indeed, it was great to see that kind of turnout as some insist that pro wrestling is on a downward slide. I would contend that only certain pro wrestling shows are in that state - definitely not Chikara, at least by the number of fans that were on hand this night.

Matches on the card included the following.

1) The Bloc Party (Proletariat Boar, Prakash Sabar, and Mr. Azerbaijan) vs. The Spectral Envjoy (Ultramantis Black, Frightmare, and Hallowicked)
2) Aftermath (Chet Sterling & Trevor Lee) vs. 3.0 (Scott Parker & Shane Matthews)
3) "Smooth Sailing" Ashley Remington vs. Juan Francisco De Coronado
4) The Flood (Oleg the Usurper & Flex Rumblecrunch) vs. The Osirian Portal (Ophidian & Amasis)
5) The Devastation Corporation (Max Smashmaster & Blaster McMassive) vs. The Colony (Fire Ant & Worker Ant)
6) Shynron vs. Silver Ant
7) The Flood (Jimmy Jacobs, Jakob Hammermeier, Nokken & 17) vs. Icarus, Mr. Touchdown, Dasher Hatfield & Eddie Kingston

Of course, it goes without saying that I had my camera in hand! Here's episode 10 of my Rasslin' with Redbeard YouTube program.



If you enjoy the show, please subscribe to my YouTube channel. I try to keep it as freshly stocked as I can with new content include match videos, vlog entries, and others. And if you didn't enjoy the show, all I can say is I'm sorry - that's almost 49 minutes of your life you'll never get back.

In closing I'd like to point out an observation I made while typing up the credits for this episode of Rasslin' with Redbeard. There were 32 wrestlers on the card for this event - yes, you read that right, THIRTY-TWO. That is somewhat mind-boggling to me seeing as how for a typical wrestling event (indie or otherwise) you would normally see around half of that number present as representing a "full" roster. I think the volume of talent present is an indication as to how involved and how passionate Chikara is about their product in that they want to give everything they can to their loyal and dedicated fans.

Monday, October 27, 2014

Our Road to Building a Family - When You Least Expect It

Since I last made an entry to my "Our Road to Building a Family" series, my wife and I had been doing our best to remain cautiously optimistic about our prospects moving forward.

We'd more or less re-established ourselves as we were prior to the moment when the three children who were placed with us came into our lives. We got back into our own routines; work, hobbies, house work, date days/nights, work, and more work. Jill's efforts at being an advocate for us were quieted - not silenced but they definitely became more reserved. Heartbreak has a way of making you rethink what you did to get to where you are, obviously. Her candle had been burning at both ends for so long and so hot that the wicks just couldn't sustain that same fire anymore.

I feel as though we both had accepted the fact that we might have burned a bridge with the organization we'd been working with in having to relinquish custody of the sibling group that was placed with us, and that in so doing we might have put ourselves into an "undesirable" category within their filing system for potential adoptive parents. You'd hope that sort of thing doesn't exist in a program like this, and just to be clear we have no legitimate reason to believe it does. (I wanted to make sure that statement was made as the Department of Social Services in the state of South Carolina gets dragged through the mud enough as is.) Even so, paranoia will make even the silliest untruth seem feasible.

Work, for me, has been particularly busy the past few weeks. As someone who works with information technology in the public sector, the beginning of a new fiscal year tends to be on the other side of ridiculous in terms of expectations. Offices and officials have budgeted for certain items and they want to purchase those items as soon as possible so that they can enjoy the benefits of having new tech in their employ. Quite frankly I can't say as I blame them. Between new installations and service calls, I haven't spent a whole lot of time behind my desk as of late. It's tough to juggle at times, however it's been a welcome respite as it's been something I can use to take my mind off things that have been bothering me. Feeling as though we'd missed an opportunity and not understanding why we had to go through that, mostly.

Similarly, my wife's work has kept her moving as of late. I don't know that I've ever mentioned this here but she's the assistant director for the Calhoun County Council On Aging. I will tell you that I know what she does for a living although I don't know a whole lot about what she does for a living, if you catch my drift. I hate to say that because it makes me out to be an inattentive idiot of a husband but I promise you I'm not. Our occupations really are extensions of our personalities. She's thinks with emotion, I think with logic. She works with people, I work with machines - go figure, right?

There are so many aspects of this process that can, have, and continue to blow my mind. Main among them is the speed with which entire lives can change. Case in point, with the sibling group, we were on vacation in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina when we were called about having been matched with them. We didn't have to rush back home because of it but the fact of the matter was that we suddenly had a choice to make: Play the hand you've been dealt or keep rolling the dice. Likewise, our lives changed in a flash again this past Tuesday when my wife received a call from our adoption worker that a baby had come into their custody and was in need of foster care.

My wife in turn called me - she didn't know if the baby had medical needs or if the child was a boy or a girl, black, white, Hispanic, or Kryptonian. All she knew was that a baby was being offered to us. I, of course, wanted to know more details. (I can't help it; I'm the one with the logistical brain, remember?) I didn't want to say no to the opportunity but at the same time I didn't want to immediately say yes and we wind up in another situation where we'd have bitten off more than we could chew seeing as how we've been down that road already.

Jill got more details on the situation and we talked again. The baby is male, Caucasian, roughly 6 pounds and 18.25" at birth, with no signs of defects or abnormalities. He is, for all intents and purposes, a perfectly healthy baby boy. The identity of the father is unknown. He came into the state's custody as a result of his birth mother having given a verbal relinquishment of custody, however there is a statute of limitations within which she can still claim him.

That last bit wrenched at my heart. Since he is a foster child, he could be with us for days, weeks, months, or forever. A child with circumstances like this is considered a high risk placement due to the fact that any number of biological family members could emerge and pursue custody, and that, in turn, can lead to legal entanglements. The notion that we might grow to love this child only to then have him leave us was so difficult to process. Nevertheless, we couldn't say no to this risk, this chance, this opportunity, this blessing. (As a humorous aside to this I'll say that after my wife & I spoke for the second time she said I had 10 minutes to decide whether or not I was okay with accepting the baby. Yep, 10 minutes. I can't take a shower in 10 minutes and she's expecting me to make a decision of this magnitude?)

After we'd made up our minds we contacted our adoption worker and began to make arrangements to pick up the child. Since our worker is located in Charleston we both assumed the baby was there. As it turned out he was only minutes away at a local hospital.

When we got to the hospital, we first had to figure out where we were going - we had a room number but no real idea of how to get there seeing as how neither of us knew a whole lot about the layout of the facility. We encountered a friendly member of the nursing staff who saw us wandering around and she directed us to exactly where we needed to be.

We met with several members of the neonatal nursing staff, a doctor, and a caseworker from DSS. Everyone kept addressing us as "the parents" or "Mom and Dad". (I've tried not to read too much into that, mind you, but you can't help but take impressions from the way people with more information than you about a given situation talk about that situation.) When you hear those words and aren't expecting them they have something of a sizzling effect on your psyche. It forces you to realize at that moment, if it hadn't already before then, that this is happening.

The doctor, a young woman who looked to have been in our age range, was very kind in her manner and took the time to go over a lot of answers to first-time parent questions without us ever asking them. The nursing staff were also very pleasant to work with. I have to say that seeing them handle the children in their care is like watching a skilled craftsman. Not to say they were twirling babies in the air while walking a tightrope, just that they clearly know what they're doing.

As part of the discharge process we had to watch a video on shaken baby syndrome and sign a batch of paperwork. Before we knew it, a loaned car seat was installed in the back of Jill's ride and we were on our way back home. The whole process took less than an hour.

I am in no way ashamed of saying that after Jill & I got him inside our house that I cried like men aren't supposed to admit to crying. I had accepted that I just wasn't going to get to have certain things in my life - in that moment, hope for those dreams returned.

Jill's Mom and Dad came to our house that evening and they brought with them a literal smorgasbord of stuff related to maintaining a baby that family & friends had given to them to share with us. (I've said it before and I'll say it again, we wouldn't be where we are without the support of loving, generous people. We've got some of the best family, friends, and co-workers imaginable!) I know my way around the realm of information technology but baby technology is a whole new ballgame for me, personally. I was introduced to several varieties of bassinets that either swing, rock, vibrate, or some combination thereof. I had heard the term Pack and Play previously but I'd never seen one - seemed kind of like a kennel for a child, but who's to argue with that logic? Also knew to me, the boppy pillow, which is a great example of what can happen when someone takes an existing product (the travelers neck pillow, in this instance), increases its size, and gives it a cute name. In addition to this, our kitchen is now overrun with baby bottles, cans of formula, and various accessories related to feeding. From the amount of bottles alone you'd think we had 5 babies instead of 1, however I'm quickly learning that bottles are much like .22 ammo - when you think you have enough, you don't.

The baby's biological mother did give him a name. We're not especially fond of it, so if or when we have the chance to change his name we already have one picked out. It's one of the names that Jill & I had talked about a while back when we were toying with ideas for baby names. I can't publish his real name because of the fact that we have to protect his identity, and I'm going to hold off on doing the same with the name we've given him until such time that it's appropriate. Don't worry, though, he's not going to have any identity issues because my Father in-law and I already came up with a nickname (or codename, as I've said to some people) for him - The Duke.

Feel free to read into that as you would like. And no, his name is not John Wayne. If it were that easy to figure out do you think I'd bother calling it a codename?

Back when we were still working with the sibling group, we had applied for a license to be foster parents. We did this in addition to being approved as adoptive parents because of the fact that it would have served as something of a contingency for that scenario due to timing of the proceedings. In hindsight we were fortunate in that we did apply for our foster license. Since they weren't ours, permanently speaking, we were able sever the relationship due to the disruption they had caused and have things end there. Not to make those children out to be horrors but I don't know what would've happened to us - my wife & I - had we not been on a foster to adopt path with them instead of straight adoption. That having been said, it is ironic that we finally received our foster license in the mail on the same day that we brought home The Duke.

At this point we (all three of us - well, four if you count our dog, Roddy) are settling in and adjusting to our new family dynamic. The waking up at night is what's going to take the most time to get used to, I do believe, but we'll get there. Interpreting his needs is an interesting thing to tackle; he's not a particularly fussy baby so when he does cry it genuinely means he's either hungry or in need of a fresh diaper. Jill took him to his first doctor's visit and it was recommended that we put him onto a soy-based formula as it seemed traditional mixes weren't staying with him long enough to get him the nutrition he needs. He checked out fine other than that and a little redness around his bottom for which the doctor prescribed an ointment.

Many people have asked if there are things that we need. At this point, I feel as though we're on good standing thanks to what has been donated to us (it seems as though almost everyone we know has gently used baby gear tucked away in storage somewhere), but we would never say no to things like diapers, wipes, or gift cards. Jill had the idea to suggest bringing a meal - fresh or frozen - for us wouldn't be a bad idea either.

Above all else I would ask that you pray for our family. Like I said earlier in this entry, we don't know how long this ride will last but we're going to take it for all it's worth. With God's will and love, we'll endure. I believe The Duke was sent to us for a reason - we're going to love him with all the affection we have because that's what he deserves.

Thursday, October 16, 2014

A Blog About A Vlog - Medieval Times in Myrtle Beach, SC

A little more than a year ago I published an entry to my blog titled "The Medieval Times Experience - Myrtle Beach, SC Edition", which you can read for yourself by clicking the hyperlink. As you might assume, that particular entry was more or less a gushing love letter to Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament. My wife and I are huge fans of Medieval Times, you see, so much so that we visit their Myrtle Beach castle at least once a year. On top of that, we've also been to the Atlanta and Orlando castles as well but to be completely honest with you of the MT locations we've visited Myrtle Beach is the best of the three in our opinion.

All that having been said, I'd like to share with you a vlog we recorded after a recent visit to MT in Myrtle Beach. I wanted to take the time to document the entire experience, from getting into the parking lot to ticketing, and from navigating the great hall to the tournament itself. I'd like to think I did a fairly thorough job which is why the video clocks in at just under 40 minutes. You people should know me by now - brevity is not something I'm good at.

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

The Sudden Proliferation of Bad Wrestling Posters - Part 4

It's been a few weeks since I published another entry in my "Sudden Proliferation of Bad Wrestling Posters" series - I hope that you, my dear readers, didn't think I'd run out of material. Never fear! So long as there are trailer park inhabitants with dreams of being pro wrestlers and people with questionable Photoshop skills (I say Photoshop even though some of these things look like they were put together in Microsoft Paint), there will always be bad wrestling posters.

We start off this entry with a real beauty from OMEGA Championship Wrestling which was used to promote their recent LOCO IN JOCO 2 event. Something I don't feel as though I've touched on in talking about exemplary posters in the past is the concept of form or how the layout of a poster makes the eye flow from one aspect of it to another. In the case of this poster, the LOCO IN JOCO logo (Say that 10 times fast!) creates a natural center point and the talent form a ring around it. Because of this, your eye naturally floats around the perimeter and you get to appreciate the quality each stock photo of the talent appearing on the show.

I was not at this event put I've seen photos and video from it and it was a literal standing-room-only affair. I have no doubt that these posters being seen in the local area played at least a part in that success!


Premiere Wrestling Xperience is consistently at the top of each of these entries, and there's a reason for that. I don't know if they have a dedicated art department or what but their posters are indicative of their having someone behind the scenes who's remarkably talented. This poster represents their DAWN OF A NEW DAY event. The only possible criticism I could make for this poster, and it would be reaching for something just to rake them over the coals about, is that they possibly could have incorporated a background that played into the idea of the "dawn" aspect of the event title. Like I said, that's me nitpicking for the sake of nitpicking - it's a fantastic poster regardless.


Flatline Pro Wrestling is an up & coming promotion operating not far from Augusta, Georgia that has gotten a lot of attention here lately and for all the right reasons. Their shows feature young, athletic, entertaining talent and their promoter seems to be doing a fine job of using every mechanism possible to get the word out about their events, which is a recipe for success. (Truly, it's amazing what can happen when wrestlers wrestle and promoters promote - people say the business is down, I say it's only down for promoters who aren't working hard enough.) There's a lot going on in this poster, which was used to advertise their REDEMPTION event, and it's a bit text-heavy but I have to say that I love what they're doing.

The talent stock photos are fantastic - clearly someone there gets what I've been saying about having crisp, clear images of the roster available for use in promotional materials. In this regard, I want to point out the center of the poster where two matches are detailed because this area is my favorite aspect of the whole thing. If you look there, what does it remind you of? From my perspective, it looks just like the versus loading screens from older fighting video games like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter! I dig that and while I know they aren't the first to borrow the idea I think they've done it well enough to warrant taking note of it.


I don't recall that I've ever previously featured a poster from Shockwave Wrestling Entertainment in this series. They are one of several promotions (including Ring Wars Carolina and Steve Corino's Premiere Wrestling Federation) that seem to have popped up here lately in eastern North Carolina. North Carolina has never been lacking when it comes to professional wrestling, needless to say, but quantity doesn't necessarily equate with quality. That said, I feel as though this poster doesn't exactly deliver any incentives in the "I'm a wrestling fan but I've never seen these guys before" department. What I mean by that is, with the exception of Steve Corino, if I see this combination of talent on a poster I can't say that I'm going to become interested in attending the event. I see a lot of guys wearing shirts and two women who wouldn't make me turn my head if I saw them walking around in public. Harsh as though that may sound, this is a business where looks and physique matter almost more than anything else. The washed out, "antiqued" look doesn't help matters as it makes me feel as though it's there to try and hide flaws as opposed to compliment anything. As an admitted hard-to-please fan of professional wrestling, if all I ever see of SWE is this poster, unfortunately I won't have been convinced that the show is worth checking out.


I can't help but feel as though Southern Wrestling Association out of Forest City, North Carolina gets poorly represented by their posters. I genuinely hate to say that because I see photos and video from their events all the time, and hardly ever do I come away from absorbing that content feeling as though their shows aren't worthwhile. Quite the opposite, honestly - if not for the fact that it would be a 3+ hour drive for me, I'd probably attend their events. Be that as it may, this poster is what it is, which is to say more of the same from their "art department". I have no idea why you would select a photo of paint flaking off some random surface as a background image. Why? It doesn't make your product edgy, if that's what you're going for. The stock photos seem like whoever made this is doing the best they can with what they've got to work with, which is admirable in terms of effort but fruitless here because of the overall composition.


Here we have a poster from another North Carolina-based promotion, AIWF Mid Atlantic, even though you wouldn't know it from looking at this poster. Yes, the Allied Independent Wrestling Federations logo is present, but AIWF is the sanctioning body, not the name of the promotion. This is a fine example of a poster where the text on said poster overwhelms the featured talent. That's a bad thing because, as I've said before, a professional wrestling event poster isn't supposed to sell text, it's supposed to sell the wrestlers involved. Speaking of the talent involved, there are a lot of them pictured here - so many, in fact, that I think between them and the massive amount of text this may qualify as one of the most unnecessarily busy posters I've ever seen. On the plus side, the stock photos are of good quality, and there's a piggy bank piƱata. (Because, lucha libre?)


Before I get into the next poster, I want to talk about something related to the AIWF. It is my understanding that the term "independent professional wrestling" was originally a descriptor for any promotion not operating under the umbrella of the National Wrestling Alliance. In other words, if you were indie then you weren't with NWA, and if you were with NWA then you weren't indie. Obviously this is a very old term, one that pre-dates the existence of World Wrestling Entertainment. Consider that definition and apply it to AIWF, which is essentially a take on the NWA model. How can you be independent if you're part of an alliance? Likewise, if you're part of an alliance then how can you be independent? It's semantics and it very much reminds me of this scene from the Brendan Fraser classic, Airheads (skip to about the 1:50 mark).



From the "we use images of wrestlers from 20 years ago because current images would scare people away" department comes this gem from the North Carolina Wrestling Association. And no, I'm not talking about Sonjay Dutt - that's a mostly current photo of him as he's arguably in better shape now than he ever has been before. I'm talking about Justin Credible, Jim Neidhart, Ricky Morton, and Buff Bagwell. None of those guys look like that anymore, especially not Morton. (To his credit, Justin Credible had fallen on hard times but does appear to be getting back into form.) Also, who knew Sonny Onoo was still taking bookings? Here I thought he'd retired and moved back to Japan so he could run one of those fancy dance clubs where all the guys are street racers or Yakuza and all the girls are way too young to be in such an establishment.


Professional wrestling isn't an industry that has much in the way of a moral center, but I'm going to get on my moral high horse here for a moment because the poster below from the Alabama Wrestling Federation is a disgusting example of what some people will do in an attempt to draw a crowd.

For years, Matt Osborne performed in WWE rings as Doink the Clown. He would go on to continue performing as Doink on the independent circuit after he was released from the company, however the nature of the costume and gimmick allowed for many people to rip off the character. On any given night you could see "Doink" appearing in Charlotte and Dallas, or Phoenix and Columbia, or Orlando and Brooklyn because there were dozens of copycats.

Sadly, Matt Osborne died in 2013 of a drug overdose. Because there is seemingly no honor among certain people within professional wrestling, here you have a promotion advertising an appearance by Doink the Clown.

I would not go to an event promoted by a company that does this sort of thing on principle alone. They should be ashamed, and so should anyone who works for them.


Moving on from that wretched stupidity, here we have our first ever exhibit from Action Packed Wrestling in Chester, South Carolina. (Not to be confused with American Pro Wrestling just up the road from Chester in Boiling Springs, SC.) I have to tread somewhat lightly here because I used to attend APW events. Their building wasn't far from Lancaster, SC which is my hometown and where I lived for the majority of my life. APW has the distinction of having had quite a bit of very good talent coming through their doors - for example, before he was Gunner in Total Non-stop Action/Impact Wrestling he was known as Phil Shatter and he was a mainstay for APW.


That having been said, I've joked that some of these posters could've been made in Microsoft Paint but I think this one actually was. If not Paint certainly some other rudimentary graphics application where that kind of firey, glowing border/outline thingy they've done there is considered a "high-end" effect. I think if I handed a 6 year old a box of markers, a pack of construction paper, some stock photos of those wrestlers, a pair of scissors, and a glue stick they could've come up with something more respectable than this.


In the wake of Extreme Championship Wrestling's demise there were several other companies that would go on to make use of many members from ECW's roster in an attempt at recreating the same kind of frenzied, chaotic, and oddly entertaining content ECW had been able to generate. One of those was Xtreme Pro Wrestling from Los Angeles, California. XPW never really stabilized itself (for a variety of reasons, main among them being the fact that their owner, Rob Zicari - a pornographer who runs a company known as Extreme Associates - was indicted for distributing obscene pornographic material), but the fact of the matter is that they were an established company that, technically, still exists.

That said, the poster below is not for Xtreme Pro Wrestling - well, at least not that Xtreme Pro Wrestling. This is the Xtreme Pro Wrestling that is based somewhere in the coastal region of South Carolina and has shows at a brewery in North Charleston.


Seriously, guys - I know it's not easy to come up with a unique name for a promotion these days but at least try to be original! And for that matter, if you're not sure someone else might be using the name you have settled on, there's this handy website called Google that will help you find pretty much anything ever recorded in the history of mankind, so you might want to look and see if it's already been copyrighted by someone else before you do anything silly like having t-shirts made.

Speaking of promotions with poorly chosen names, here we have a poster produced by Dirty South Championship Wrestling emanating from Supply, NC. I gather that DSCW is in something of a feud with Myrtle Beach's C4W Explosive Wrestling, which (perhaps not surprisingly) is a federation I've featured here in this blog series in the past. This poster is like Frankenstein's monster in that it's a whole bunch of pieces that don't necessarily belong together assembled into the final product. The shoddy stock photos, layout, and graphics aside, I'd like to point out that they've made egregious use of a copyrighted logo, that being of the Versus TV network (which doesn't actually exist anymore as it was converted into the NBC Sports network some time ago).


Reusing clip art or graphics is one thing but ripping off something like a corporate symbol is something else entirely.


Pop quiz, folks - what's the color of key lime pie filling and loaded with 7 examples of bad talent stock photos? This poster from New Millennium Championship Wrestling!

This is another poster I hate to drag through the mud because it was apparently meant to promote a fundraiser event. Be that as it may, I can't help but throw a few jabs at the gimmicks featured herein. "Ravishing" Shane Austin - nothing says "ravishing" like prison tattoos and cheap sunglasses on a guy with a double chin. "Dreamz" - watching him wrestle will put you in a coma, it seems to say. Chris "Thunder" Anderson - because claiming to be an Anderson is never a bad idea if you're a wrestler who's a heavyset guy with a beard. "Delta Squad" - that's the one Chuck Norris was in, right? (Nope, sorry, that was Delta Force.) "Tank Sherman" - instead of a Sherman tank, get it? (See what we did there?) "Ringlord Speedy" - what the Hell is that about?


Earlier in this entry I brought you a poster from Action Packed Wrestling, which is one of two APWs operating in South Carolina. Up next is a poster from the other APW, American Pro Wrestling in Spartanburg, SC, where there's apparently "A NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN".


That, friends, is nothing short of gimmick infringement. I just wonder if he got the Brahma bull tattoo (which, of course, has been made famous by "The Rock" Dwayne Johnson) before or after he decided to become a professional wrestler.

Conveniently enough, the last poster I'll give you in this submission is from Last Rites Wrestling out of Franklin, NC where they apparently prefer their posters the color of sweet potatoes instead of key lime pie filling. Also, what did people use to dry their CLOTHES before the advent of CLOTHES dryers?

CLOSELINES, that's what...