Event Report: WrestleForce presents AGGRESSION

I feel like I give WrestleForce a lot of coverage, to the point where I - as someone who wants to be able to put the spotlight on independent wrestling in the Carolinas as a whole - almost feel like I need to apologize for not spreading the love (for lack of a better phrase) more than I do. The fact of the matter is that promotions in this part of the world are so spread to the wind that traveling around to shows takes such an investment, financial and otherwise, that it's just not something I can do each and every month. WrestleForce is a local promotion that runs in a venue less than 45 minutes from my home, which makes it convenient. The fact that they're the best promotion in the state of South Carolina makes it ideal.

WF made their debut at a new venue for AGGRESSION, their first event of 2015. Gone are the days of them running out of a bar named for airplane storage - they've moved up to a genuine sports-oriented complex as they're now calling the Spires Recreation Center in Cayce, SC their home. It's a great move for them as I always felt having shows at a bar, while not a horrible option, does create some limitations in terms of being able to attract kids and families to events (not to mention potential sponsors or advertisers). You're not going to get little Bobby's Mom & Dad to take him to a show held in a bar when they were in church a few hours prior. You will, however, get them into a gymnasium in a decent neighborhood just outside of downtown Columbia and that was proven with this show as attendance was fantastic.

The opening match on the card was a real barn burner between the likes of Corey Hollis and former WF heavyweight champion Cedric Alexander. If you're thinking what I'm thinking it's that this match could have been much later on the card as these two are the kind of talents that could justifiably compete for a title anywhere they go. These two didn't seem to mind, though, because they put on a show that set the bar incredibly high for the rest of the night. Truth be told, this is the kind of match I could watch all day long and not get tired of it.



The unenviable task of following that went to a group of wrestlers aligned in teams for a 6-man tag team match where "The Party Man-imal" Zane Riley would join together with the Fortunate Sons (Jesse Windham & Billy Brash) to face the Equal Nation Demonstration (Avgerinos the Great, Jett Black & Kevin Phoenix) who were lead to the ring by their manager "The" Tommy Thomas. Any match involving Zane Riley has at least a chance to be entertaining, and that's exactly what this match was - entertaining!



WF shows don't always feature female competitors, which is a criticism I've seen some fans levy at them. Whether it be for the sake of diversifying a card or simply for providing some eye candy, I can't justifiably argue against the idea that having a consistent women's "division" is a good thing. Regardless, anyone wanting to see the women of WF in action were in luck as AGGRESSION featured the debut of two talented ladies - Lilly Mae and none other than Tessa Blanchard, the daughter of Tully Blanchard.



[SIDE NOTE: Before Lilly Mae and Tessa Blanchard's match, WF social media specialist and ring announcer Brett Wolverton had some issues with his microphone. The problems cropped up during Blanchard's introduction, and she was upset to the point of forcing Wolverton to shout her intro at the top of his lungs. WF's owner "The Fabulous Playboy" Bob Keller emerged from behind the scenes to seemingly save the day with a functional mic, but of course he couldn't let an opportunity to rib Wolverton go to waste...



Poor Brett...]

Next was a match for the WF tag team championship between defending champs The Flock (LODI & Sick Boy) vs. The Bravado Brothers (Harlem & Lancelot). Originally this match was to have been between The Flock and Worst Case Scenario (Ethan Case & Elijah Evans IV) but apparently there was some issue with WCS not having the proper licenses that are required for wrestlers per the South Carolina Athletic Commission. [SIDE NOTE: Ugh...] The Bravado Brothers held the WF tag team straps previously but were never granted a rematch after they lost the titles, which is why they were given the opportunity to replace WCS here. They would have to contend with the bout being contested under FLOCK RULZ, meaning there would be no rules!



After the tag team championship match and intermission there was supposed to have been a match between "The Twisted Metal Rebel" Hexx and "The Inspiration" Brady Pierce, a continuation of a feud stemming from their relationship with "The Midnight Son" Caleb Konley (Hexx was Konley's bodyguard, a role Pierce now commands). Unfortunately it seems as though Pierce had the same licensing issue as WCS as he was not allowed to compete at AGGRESSION per an official ruling by the SCAC. [SIDE NOTE: Double-ugh...] As such, the match ended in a forfeit and the win was awarded to Hexx. The state of their rivalry now sits in limbo as it's anyone's guess where things between the two will go from here.

I'm not sure how many casual fans of World Wrestling Entertainment realize the fact that Ricardo Rodriguez, who was the personal ring announcer for Alberto Del Rio for a number of years, also competed as a wrestler while he was in WWE's employ. He was seen mostly in appearances on NXT programming as the masked luchadore El Local. Rodriguez would make his debut for WF at AGGRESSION, and in an appropriate turn of events he would have his own personal ring announcer for his match against "The Modern Classic" BJ Hancock - none other than "The Party Man-imal" Zane Riley.



I know that labeling a match as a "match of the year" candidate isn't something to be taken lightly which is why I am genuine in doing so for the main event of AGGRESSION. Defending WF heavyweight champion "The Southern Savior" John Skyler would find himself locked inside a 15 foot high steel cage with "The Salem Sinner" Sixx and "The Thoroughbred" Jaxson James, two men who had each won the right to challenge the WF champion. (In order to give credit where credit is due, I applaud the crew WF had in place to install the cage; I've seen that process take an insane amount of time on independent events but they managed to get the thing assembled very quickly and securely.) I don't feel the match needs any more set up than that which is why I'm going to stop talking and let the action speak for itself.



The 2015 edition of AGGRESSION was a great event from top to bottom. I thoroughly enjoyed myself with this show and am very much looking forward to seeing what else WF has in store this year.

WrestleForce's next event will be UNLEASHED, which will feature the debut of former WWE Superstar Eugene, and it is apparently going to involve some level of fan interaction regarding how some (or possibly all) of the matches will be configured. Details and specifics on that are said to be forthcoming. I would imagine there will be a Control Center video released via YouTube in the near future that will spell out exactly what that aspect of the event will entail. UNLEASHED set to take place April 26 from the Spires Recreation Center. Check out the poster for that event and links to their social media sites below!

Facebook.com/WrestleForce
Twitter.com/WrestleForce

Event Report: Ultra Wrestle presents AWAKENS

Several weeks back I made the somewhat lengthy drive from my base of operations in Saint Matthews, South Carolina over to Abbeville, SC to witness an independent professional wrestling event promoted by a company known as Ultra Wrestle. The show - which was entitled AWAKENS, an apparent attempt at getting a rub from the fact that the next Star Wars film is being called "The Force Awakens" - would be UW's first of 2015 and looked to be something of a relaunch for the promotion heading into the new year seeing as how UW ran a handful of events in 2014 but now seems prepared to stake a claim in the western part of the state.

Abbeville is about as far west as you can go in traveling through the state of South Carolina without winding up in Georgia. It's not too far from Augusta, GA, but it is most definitely what a lot of people would consider a town in the middle of nowhere seeing as how there's not much to do there. As such, when something like professional wrestling "invades" (I have always hated seeing that word used in relation to a wrestling event; no one in wrestling politely enters, they always invade, wreck, or destroy - and people wonder why it's so difficult to get venues to rent out their facility for wrestling), people will come out to see it because it's something fresh, new, and exciting that they don't get to see very often, if ever. For this reason (along with the fact that UW's ownership did their job in actually promoting the event), AWAKENS was a tremendous success. The floor seats and bleachers were full, the gimmick tables were busy, and the concession stand had a line 10-15 people deep at times.

Starting off the show was this match between Alan Price and "The Thoroughbred" Jaxson James. Price has seen action with promotions around this part of the state and with a few entities running shows in the area of the low country. James is one of the top prospects in the Carolinas at this point in time, and he's only going to get better. That said, I will say that when I watched this match live I wasn't thrilled with it as it seemed clunky in spots. However, a second viewing told me a different story, one I didn't immediately notice the first time around.



For the second match on the card Chase "Cauliflower" Brown would meet Dean Richards. This was my first exposure to Richards; he seems to have plenty of ability but his physique is definitely a work in progress. What he lacks most, in my opinion, is a sense of charisma which is something that Brown has albeit in an odd kind of way. Chase fancies himself as an old school shooter or catch wrestler and he comes off as a kind of loveable grappler you can't help but cheer for. The match these two wound up having would prove to be a real physical test for both men as it went in a direction you don't often see on the independent scene.



Before you read further I'd like to make a comment about this next match. Yes, it involves Alan Price - yes, Alan Price was already in a match on the AWAKENS card. You see, our friends at the South Carolina Athletic Commission (SCAC being the division of LLR that oversees legitimate combat sports like boxing, mixed martial arts and...Professional wrestling?) made an appearance at this event and, as it would turn out, a few of the scheduled participants had to be removed from the card for failure to secure the proper licenses. As much as I would like to think that the SCAC isn't just a group of old fashioned Boss Hogg types disguised as government officials and that their role is a legitimate one in making sure things are being done properly (a sentiment that I detailed in a blog entry last year - Wrestlers & Promoters vs. South Carolina's Athletic Commission), there's this side of the coin where it seems like they should have better things to do than come around and tell a few people they can't put on costumes and dance with one another. It is what it is, and the show must go on!

This contest was a throwback to a different era, where wrestlers didn't have to do insane moves and all but kill themselves to elicit a response from the crowd. You don't see this kind of wrestling all that often anymore as the current generation of pro wrestlers have seemingly all been trained with the same mentality that the developers of a video game like Mortal Kombat have in mind when they're preparing a new title. By that I mean most matches seem to be nothing but a series of in-congruent moves strung together without any purpose that eventually culminate in one participant or the other succumbing to some random maneuver when their invisible health meeter has been depleted. Something that you see even less frequently than effective ring psychology is the performance of a manager like "Big Business" James McHone. The trio of him, Deon Johnson, and Boomer Payne made for a truly entertaining assemblage, one that Price and his tag team partner "Mr. Sleeze" Erik Thompson would have a hard time overcoming.



I feel obliged to tell you that Brice Anthony is one of my oldest friends from the world of independent professional wrestling - actually, he is my oldest friend from the world of independent professional wrestling. He and I were part of a promotion that ran in & around Lancaster, SC back 10-15 years ago. I say "he and I" when in reality he was a wrestler and I was something of a glorified gopher boy/photographer/web designer who did whatever was asked of me because it meant I got to be a part of a pro wrestling company. Brice's career in the ring has had a number of stops and starts but his passion for competition burns as bright now as I've ever seen it. He's a more mature hand and it is plainly evident in contrasting the kind of things I saw him do when we were younger to how he now enjoys making the fans hate him with not much more than the expression on his face.

For his match at AWAKENS, Brice would lock horns with local favorite Hoss Hagood - or Hoss Hayseed as Brice's manager, "Big Business" James McHone, referred to him. The main event of the show is still to come but, for my money, I felt like this was the best match of the evening.



Capping off the card was the main event, a tag team match featuring four of the best and brightest young professional wrestlers competing in this neck of the woods. AWAKENS would end with Avgerinos the Great and Josh Powers, better known as The Living Daylights, squaring off against TK Stark and Jett Black, a flashy, athletic duo calling themselves Chemical Z.



As I have watched talent come and go from this region over the years, I have oftentimes asked myself who will be left to continue on with things once the top tier guys & girls get opportunities in greener pastures? While I will be completely honest in saying that I feel fantastic about the fact that wrestlers who cut their teeth in the Carolinas move away because of the fact that business is better in different parts of the world, I always worry that the scene here will dry up and vanish or otherwise be left with nothing but backyard-level companies and wrestlers. That day may come but it's not here yet thanks to promotions like Ultra Wrestle and its roster.

The next Ultra Wrestle event is tentatively scheduled for March 28 in McCormick, SC. For details on that and everything else relating to UW, be sure to check out their social media sites at the following links.

Facebook.com/UltraWrestle
Twitter.com/UltraWrestle
YouTube.com/UltraWrestle

Our Road to Building a Family - Our First Visit to the ER

It's been roughly a month since the situation I'm going to recount in this blog entry took place, and to be 100% honest with you we've been on a bit of a roller coaster ever since then regarding matters relating to the Duke's health. I don't want that to alarm anyone because he's really fine, it's just that we've had an interesting few weeks and it all began the morning of Wednesday, January 28.

Our routine is such that every weekday morning my wife & I get up between 6-6:15 AM to begin our day. My wife will get her shower and get dressed whereas I'll do what's necessary to prep Duke for his day. This always involves changing his diaper into a fresh Pampers Swaddler (they come with a Sesame Street character on them; I've grown fond of talking to the character, and I end the conversation with "I'm sorry but you're about to have a very bad day..."), sometimes a fresh outfit (depending on whether or not we re-dressed him the night before), and maybe a bottle if he's feeling hungry. Pretty standard stuff in the way of infant maintenance, and his attitude is such that he's very cheerful throughout whatever processes we're involved with. He's really quite remarkable in that regard.

The morning in question, though, Duke was not his normal self. He was fussy to the point of seeming agitated. Duke is a very warm-natured lad, much like myself, but I knew as soon as I touched his forehead that he was much warmer than what he should've been. We checked his temperature (in the most invasive manner possible - sorry, son, but it had to be done) and that verified what we both feared. He had a fever in the area of 102 at that moment. We checked it again a few minutes later and it had risen to 103.

That being the case, my wife & I - being the first time parents that we are - did what first time parents are bound to do when their baby is sick, that being to completely freak out in regard to what needs to be done next.

We threw on some clothes (I think I might have been wearing jogging pants, an old t-shirt I normally do yard work in, my cold-weather vest, a baseball cap, and a pair of Crocs - hey, at least I wasn't wearing socks with the Crocs), gathered up a few supplies for Duke in one of his travel bags, bundled him up in his car seat and drove as quickly as we could to the emergency room at the Regional Medical Center in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Why? Because that's what we had been told to do if he ever had any kind of urgent need, medically speaking.

My wife is somewhat familiar with the ER at RMC seeing as how she & I had been there several years prior when she thought she'd been bitten by a particularly nasty spider - turned out she had an infected hair follicle. (I will never let her live that down, ever.) When we got to the ER on this occasion we were somewhat haphazardly checked in by the staff at the admissions desk. (FYI: Patient identification wristbands that are sized for an adult DO NOT fit an infant.) We didn't have to wait long before we were taken into the triage area where Duke's vitals were taken. We then progressed on to an examination room where Duke was given a battery of tests to try and determine what was going on with him.

This experience made me realize that even though doctors and nurses can do amazing things these days thanks to medical science, the techniques they have for harvesting data from someone like Duke are rather infuriating to witness as a parent. At one point we waited outside the examination room while two nurses tried to get a blood and urine sample from him. Suffice to say when you hear your child screaming like he was then your instinct is to run to them, but we couldn't - we'd have only been in their way. I was able to get in on the act myself later on, though, as I was tasked with holding him in place while he was given a chest x-ray. As an aside to the unpleasantness we were all a part of then, I did get a kick out of hearing the imaging technician said "We're going to need a big one..." to his nurse when they tried to put a protective vest on me.

I'm going to fast forward through some things here, mainly because of the fact most of it involves the three of us sitting in an examination room that was the size of a jail cell while people in all manner of disarray wandered by the door (that part just about made me lose my mind - you know you've had an interesting day when one of your memories from it is the sight of a guy in a hospital gown carrying what could have been either a container of his own sick or possibly some kind of sample). What it all boils down to is that after having his blood drawn, urine collected, nose swabbed (to check for RSV and flu), chest x-rayed, and probably a few other things I've put out of my mind, we were told Duke likely has "something viral" and that we should give him some Child's Tylenol to help sooth the fever.

We were there from 7:30 AM until 1:30 PM, and "something viral" is the best they could tell us. That and a prescription for an antibiotic were our only genuine takeaways from the experience. (Apparently there's someone else in Walgreen's accounting system with the same name as the one Duke's biological mother gave him; hopefully that fellow understands why his insurance has been billed for a prescription of apple-flavored amoxicillin.) In the days following our little day trip to the ER, we learned from other parents that "something viral" is a common explanation for a lot of things when it comes to diagnoses that are given to children. I believe this is why doctors are said to be medical practitioners - they're still practicing because they haven't gotten it right yet.

Even though "something viral" is the only cause that could be determined for Duke's fever his initial blood work showed a few oddities for which we've had to take him back for several more blood draws and further examination. The results of those tests have been similarly inconclusive with everyone involved (as in the people making six-figures a year, who drive Range Rovers and wear Movado watches) more or less shrugging their shoulders while saying, "Well, it's probably his body's reaction to something viral."

I think I'm going to start using that myself as an excuse in everyday life.

"Robert, why didn't you come to work today?"
"Oh, it was something viral..."

"Robert, why haven't you paid the mortgage in 5 months?"
"Oh, it was something viral..."

"Robert, you caused World War 3, why would you do that?"
"Oh, it was something viral..."

My personal opinion of these additional tests aside (I know a lot of doctors and nurses mean well but I also know some of them look at a patient like Duke as if he were a living, breathing ATM machine), it goes without saying that we'll do whatever we need to do in order to insure his health. I just wish we weren't over a barrel with these suggestions from his doctors. Almost any other parent in the world could have refused those tests but we have to go along with whatever they say because of the fact that we can't do anything to jeopardize our standing in the adoption process. It is what it is - I'm just glad he's doing better.

And now we know better as well. You have to take a few lumps in going through this rookie parenting thing.

We seem to learn something new every day because he's changing every day. Duke just turned four months old last week. He's to a point now where he's picking up on things visually more and more, and he's learning how to use his hands better. (Jill will attest to this as he's to a point where he'll reach up and grab her lovely blond hair.) One of his latest tricks is that he can raspberry rather well and he can make a very loud "smack" with his mouth. He's measuring in the area of 14-15 pounds and is a little more than 23 inches, which his pediatrician tells us puts him right in line where he should be in terms of his physical progression.

Diaper Genie Refill Hack

Back when our journey with The Duke first began we were very fortunate in that we received a tremendous outpouring of support from our family and friends. We went from having literally nothing in the way of supplies that were suitable for aiding in taking care of a baby to having everything necessary for the task in not more than a matter of hours. (We'd prepared ourselves and our home for older children seeing as how we had been lead to believe our chances of ever having an infant placed with us were about as good as our chances of winning the lottery and surviving a plane crash in the same day.) While we will always be grateful for those gifts I would be lying if said we got a few items for which we've never had that much use or otherwise felt like they weren't worth keeping because of the fact they required specific, recurring supplies that would prove to be expensive over time (odd that the description of something specific that's expensive over time more or less describes a human being - do better at choosing your words in the future, Robert). At the top of that list, for me, is none other than the Diaper Genie, a diaper pail manufactured by Playtex.

Now that I look at it, I can't get over how much it looks like a turret from the Portal video games...

Fortunately the Diaper Genie has yet to sprout legs and begin firing machine guns at anyone, at least not in our home.

If you're unfamiliar with the Diaper Genie, it is essentially the same thing as those bio-hazard containers you see mounted to the walls of almost any examination room in a given doctor's office. It's a containment vessel meant to keep yicky, smelly diapers in an isolated chamber so that the odors of pee-pee and poopie don't overtake the entirety of your home. Truth be told, it does a great job of this as it keeps the foulness at bay to a remarkable degree. Be that as it may, what bothered me from day 1 about its design is the fact that it requires the use of interchangeable rings that come pre-loaded with a measured sleeve of plastic.

This sleeve can be cut down to size and tied off by the user as needed (read, as the child goes through how many ever diapers it takes to fill the bag). I have seen the resulting baggie referred to as a "Hell sausage" in several parenting blogs and I can't say that I disagree with that description.

Don't get me wrong, I love our baby boy but this thing here will make you wish he was old enough to be able to use a toilet.

The design of the device is sound, that much is unmistakeable. My problem is the fact that a single aspect of the Diaper Genie - that being the refills - makes people feel like the only way of doing things is how the product was intended to be used, and that simply isn't the case. What follows is how I was able to take the Diaper Genie, a spent refill cartridge, and use normal tall kitchen garbage bags in place of the sleeves that you're supposed to use in the device.

For this project, you will need:

- Diaper Genie (FYI, this is not the Elite version that has a few additional features; I do not know if this process is the same for both as I've never used an Elite)

- Empty refill cartridge

- Tall kitchen garbage bag (with or without drawstring; I use ones with a drawstring but either should do fine)

To begin, we will assume that your Diaper Genie is in an empty state and has also been depleted of its supply of plastic liner.

Once your refill cartridge is empty, it will look like this - nothing more than an empty plastic ring.

Now that you have your empty ring, take your garbage bag and turn it inside out (the reason for this will be explained later).

Once you have turned the garbage bag inside out, take the refill cartridge and turn it upside down so that you may begin loading in the garbage bag.

 
Carefully spread out the ridges of the refill cartridge where the plastic liner sleeve once resided and begin pushing in the top of the garbage bag, moving along so that the bag is inserted evenly along the gap. It is unlikely that you will damage the ring to the point that it is unusable as the plastic is quite malleable, however do not handle it too aggressively - it is plastic, after all. You will want to push in approximately an inch to an inch and a half of material from the bag into the ring. The bag will bunch up in spots and this is fine, just make sure that the bag looks to be evenly dispersed along the gap so that no section is thicker than any other.

Once you have the bag fully inserted, the cartridge/bag construct should look like this.

Next, take the bottom of the bag and push it up through the ring until it is fully extended out the other side. This is why we reversed the bag in a previous step; depending on how your garbage bag is made, you may or may not obstruct access to the drawstring if you do not reverse the bag. Once the bag has been pulled through the ring, it should appear similar to the image below.

You will then need to take the lid off the Diaper Genie so that the refill cartridge compartment and the spring-loaded jaws of the device are exposed.

Flip open the body of the Diaper Genie by pressing the release button then take the bottom of the bag and begin feeding it through the spring-loaded jaws. This step takes some coordination as you want to feed the bag in without pulling it out of the refill cartridge. (This should not be too much of a concern so long as you have done a good job of securely inserting the bag into the ring.) Take care when feeding the bag through the jaws so that you do not inadvertently get your fingers into the cutting mechanism used on the plastic sleeves. (NOTE: You will not be using the cutting mechanism at any point during these instructions as it becomes a useless feature with the addition of the tall kitchen garbage bags that do not have to be modified.)

As you begin feeding the bag through you should have an assembly that resembles this.

Continue pulling the slack of the bag through the spring-loaded jaws until the refill cartridge is sitting firmly in the refill cartridge compartment. Again, take care in pulling the bag so that you do not unravel the stuffing.

Now that the bag is fully pulled through the spring-loaded jaws, close the body of the Diaper Genie and stand it upright. If you look down on the device at this point you should have a view similar to this. Note that the spring-loaded jaws still create a seal even though you are no longer using the plastic sleeve.

Re-install the lid onto the Diaper Genie. This is where you'll find out how good of a job you've done in evenly spreading out the ruffles created by stuffing the bag into the refill cartridge. If you've done it correctly the lid will snap in place as it should if you were using a new refill cartridge. On the other hand, if you've got some excessive bumps that need to be smoothed out you'll know immediately because the lid will not snap on at all.

With the lid back in place you are now ready to begin using your newly hacked Diaper Genie! When you feel as though your bag is in need of replacing, remove the lid and carefully pull the top of the bag out of the refill cartridge. If you're using a drawstring bag, pull the drawstring tight and tie it off; similarly, if you're using a flat bag simply tie up the excess. Take the empty refill cartridge out of its compartment, open up the body of the Diaper Genie, pull the tied off end out through the spring-loaded jaws, and you should have a neatly contained bag of infantile excrement! All you need to do then is follow these instructions to refill your empty cartridge and you're ready for duty (Doodie?) once again.

The only downside to this modification I have noticed is that during the extraction process of a full bag the smell coming from all those accumulated diapers can be rather overwhelming. (Not to the point that you'll black out from being near it, but it's enough that you know you're staring into something that resembles the inside of a port-a-potty.) I have not purchased another type of bag to verify this but I believe the usage of odor-blocking or scented garbage bags would eliminate this issue entirely. You could also mount a stick-on deodorizer to the underside of the Diaper Genie lid, just be mindful of the fact that the recessed area between the Diaper Genie's lid and where the bag rests is shallow and may not accommodate all deodorizers.

In using garbage bags instead of the plastic sleeve the capacity of the Diaper Genie increases by roughly 60%. We have been able to go more than a week in replacing the garbage bag in the Diaper Genie, whereas with the traditional refill cartridges we couldn't go more than a few days. When you consider this along with the fact that a box of 100 generic tall kitchen bags will run you roughly $13 compared to $7-$9 for a single Diaper Genie refill cartridge, the advantages of this modification become plainly evident.