Introducing the Professional Wrestling Awards of the Carolinas

The Carolinas have long been heralded as the origin of greatness in the realm of professional wrestling. Men, women, and promotions now considered to be legendary in their scope of influence on the future of professional wrestling began here in this, the region we call home. It is in this tradition of greatness that the Professional Wrestling Awards of the Carolinas will carry on in celebrating the achievements of talent working in the Carolinas.

For more information about the PWACs, visit the official group page on Facebook

Founded in 2014, the electorate of the Professional Wrestling Awards of the Carolinas is made up of a rotating seven-member panel of individuals who are in some way involved in the Carolinas independent wrestling scene. Categories included in the PWACs are:

Announcer of the Year

Referee of the Year

Rising Star

Feud of the Year

Female of the Year

Tag Team of the Year

Wrestler of the Year

Nominees for the PWACs are submitted by panel members; the list of nominees is narrowed to three competitors based on the highest percentage of nominations received. Winners are selected by panelist voting on the remaining contenders in each category. Whoever receives the most votes is declared the winner of a particular category.

Membership for the first panel of the PWACs will be made up of the following individuals.

Robert “Redbeard” Truesdale

Blogger/Documentarian

Robert “Redbeard” Truesdale has followed the Carolinas’ independent professional wrestling scene as a fan for nearly 15 years. Truesdale – who was a self-described “gopher boy” in his late teens for a long defunct promotion out of Lancaster, South Carolina – is well-traveled, having attended events in all corners of the Carolinas. He documents his wrestling-related road trips on his blog, Redbeard’s Rambling, as well as Rasslin’ with Redbeard, a YouTube series dedicated to depicting the experience of being an indie wrestling fan in the region.

Harrison South Worth

Photographer/Trainer

Even though his name may not be immediately recognizable, Harrison South Worth is a man who’s been a part of the independent professional wrestling scene in southern states (not just the Carolinas) for decades. Worth, who is a financial administrator as well as an athlete, has served as a trainer, promoter, and creative consultant for a number of federations at various points in his life. If you follow many of the top promotions and wrestlers in the Carolinas on social media, you’ve likely seen his photography (Worth Wrestle Photos) appear in your timeline. Indeed, he has an eye for talent and the credibility to make his thoughts count.

Chris Moister

Referee

Experienced journeyman referees are like the bass players of professional wrestling – their presence is acknowledged but their value is rarely made a point of because their role is that of support and not of star. Perhaps better known to observant fans as Ray Boring, Chris Moister is a veteran of the United States military who has grinded his way into being recognized as the head official for several promotions. Through his work ethic and commitment to consistently performing his duties as referee at a high level, he has become “the man in charge of all the action” for companies based in Georgia, both North and South Carolina, and will soon make his way into Tennessee.

Brett Wolverton

Ring Announcer

Much like referees, quality ring announcers are individuals whose contributions to professional wrestling are either underappreciated or woefully ignored altogether. That said, the fact that Brett Wolverton can be seen almost any given weekend handling the ring announcing duties (as well as providing television commentary and in some locales even serving as commissioner of the company) at events from Charleston to Cornelia and from Charlotte to Cayce means that he’s earned his place as someone who’s capable of adding an air of respect and professionalism to any given show. While Wolverton’s capacity to trade barbs with fans and unruly, villainous mouthpieces is evident, his distinctive delivery and his effort to maintain a dapper presentation distinguish him from the rest.

“The Fabulous Playboy” Bob Keller

Professional Wrestler

If it was scientifically possible to measure the amount of energy needed to convince a person that they hate someone else, “The Fabulous Playboy” Bob Keller would be as suitable a medium as any for facilitating such a study. Walking in the footsteps of infamous wrestling personalities such as “Classy” Freddie Blassie and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, Keller has the rare ability to verbally eviscerate anyone he encounters through a combination of snares and insults. Even though Keller excels in the part of a scoundrel he can play a more straight-laced role as well which is why his versatility as a performer makes him a valuable commodity for any promotion. When he isn’t riling up his competition or the fans at ringside, Keller is working behind the scenes in a number of roles to help keep an event on track. Keller’s influence on independent professional wrestling in the Carolinas will continue to be felt through the work he does as operator of the WrestleForce School of Pro Wrestling.

Abel Adams

Professional Wrestler - Retired

When the subject of respected veterans comes up in regard to talking about local independent professional wrestlers, the list of names one can legitimately speak of is short. Be that as it may, a name that is consistently and deservedly involved in those discussions is that of Abel Adams. Best known as being one-half of Team Ego with his partner Will Snap, Adams’ reputation as a locker room leader and ring general precedes him. Having had at least a hand in developing the careers of competitors such as “The Southern Savior” John Skyler, Steven Walters (Dash Wilder in World Wrestling Entertainment’s NXT division), and IMPACT Wrestling’s Gunner, Adams contribution to independent professional wrestling in the Carolinas is most evident and will continue to be on display for years to come.

Brad “Lodi” Cain

Professional Wrestler

If you were a fan of professional wrestling during the late 1990s and paid attention to World Championship Wrestling, then you more than likely encountered one or more of the in-ring personalities of Lodi. Whether it was his run as “the sign guy” in Raven’s Flock, the unforgettable pairing he had with Lenny Lane in the West Hollywood Blondes, or the follow-up thereof with Lane as Standards & Practices (the team that would introduce the world to Stacey Keibler) the man has performed in front of untold thousands of fans and been on millions of TV screens all over the world. When he’s not beating his clientele skinny as owner of the personal fitness studio Your FLEX Appeal, Lodi – a North Carolina native, graduate of East Carolina University, and former member of the United States Army Reserve – can these days be found most any weekend of the month entertaining fans with his unmistakable sense of showmanship.

For more information on the PWACs, please join the official group page on Facebook by clicking this link.

Wrestlers & Promoters vs. South Carolina's Athletic Commission

It goes without saying that these days in the United States our government - be it on the local, state, or federal level - likes to have its hands in whatever it is we, as citizens, are doing. Indeed, it seems as though there aren't many aspects of our lives that aren't in some way regulated by Uncle Sam or one of his subordinates. Even though that presents a set of issues in terms of "the land of the free" feeling more like "the land of big brother", the fact of the matter is that it's not all bad. I, for one, am happy with the fact that because I pay my taxes I'll be able to dial 911 on my telephone, should the need arise, and get assistance from someone who knows precisely what to do.

There are, however, a lot of things that government does that make me rub my furry chin and wonder "What the heck are they thinking?" And so it goes that, typically speaking, government regulations fall into one of two categories - useful or mostly pointless. It isn't often you find something that gets wedged in between the two but in my eyes that's where things stand right now in regard to a new batch of licensing requirements being imposed upon professional wrestlers, promoters, and other individuals seeking to participate in good, old fashioned rasslin' events here in the state of South Carolina.

The South Carolina Athletic Commission is a division of the state Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation. In a nutshell, the SCAC exists for the same reason as other governmental bodies having to do with providing protection for members of the workforce through a code of laws from employers who would potentially put their employees in at-risk conditions or environments. They're something of the enforcement branch when it comes to keeping things in line as far as regulations pertaining to professional sports like boxing, mixed martial arts, and pro wrestling are concerned (yes, you read that correctly - according to their logic pro wrestling is, in fact, a legitimate combat sport).

There are a couple of states that do not have an athletic commission, period, and yet there are also states with an athletic commission that does not include professional wrestling in its scope. North Carolina falls into the latter category and Georgia did as well up until around 2008 when that state enacted a sweeping set of changes that put it in line with South Carolina's operating policies in regard to pro wrestling. (Some believe their abrupt adoption of such regulations was a reaction to the murder-suicide involving Chris Benoit who happened to have been living in Georgia at the time he committed the heinous acts that have forever tarnished his legacy as a wrestler.) This would seem to be because of the fact that (*SPOILER ALERT*) professional wrestling isn't an actual sport but more akin to performance art such as theater or ballet. Yes, I just compared pro wrestling to ballet - because comparing it to clogging or the symphony would've been too silly, although now that I think about it clogging is an applicable analogy seeing as how both it and wrestling require specialized footwear.

The SCAC has been in the business of regulating such things as boxing and pro wrestling for as long as I have been following the independent professional wrestling scene in South Carolina, which I began doing back around 1999. (MMA wasn't big enough to have been worth the trouble back then, however the SCAC does now also oversee those events as well.) Wrestlers and promoters alike didn't seem to have much use for the SCAC fifteen years ago, and matters between the two sides have mostly only gotten worse.

So what does the SCAC require of boxers, MMA fighters, professional wrestlers, individuals promoting such events, and certain members of staff? Paperwork and money, naturally. What else would you expect from the government?

When it comes to professional wrestling, all wrestlers (which is kind of a blanket term for anyone who will be performing in the show as characters who are managers also fall into this category), announcers, referees, and promoters have to be individually licensed. "What good is the license?", you ask. That's an excellent question.

When we see the word "license", it more often than not is an implication that the person holding said license has qualified to act in whatever capacity the license permits. Medical technicians, truck drivers, and many other folks working in all kinds of specialized trades are licensed professionals. In each of these instances the license indicates that the holder of said document has been legally recognized as being able to perform whatever task (or tasks) to which the license applies because they have received training on how to do it and that they more than likely have passed some type of qualifications process. All a license from the SCAC insures is that the holder of the license got a physical, filled out some paperwork, and sent in a check to cover the cost of the salary of whoever it was that had to take the time to verify their information. There is no assurance that the individual has received proper training, just that they were willing to jump through a series of hoops to appease the powers that be.

Promoters must also go through the process of obtaining a license but for them it's more of a business license. In addition, promoters must submit permit applications on a per event basis to the SCAC. What this boils down to is the that the SCAC, as a regulatory body, is keeping tabs on who is running what shows, where, and when.

You might be wondering "Why is the SCAC so interested in this kind of data?" It goes back to what I said before about the SCAC being an offshoot of LLR and acting as an overseer for the sake of maintaining safe working conditions. A promoter is an employer and as such they are responsible for the safety of their employees - it just so happens that in this example an employer can justifiably ask one of their employees to jump off a 15 foot high steel cage.

Everything I've covered heretofore has been in place for quite some time. The paperwork, the physicals, all that stuff has been standard procedure for anyone who wants to legally run a show in the state of South Carolina for at least a decade (more on "legal" versus "illegal" events and how the SCAC has been used by competing companies to combat one another later). What's different now are the fees associated with these filings and as you might expect it's what's really gotten under the skin of quite a few people involved with indie pro wrestling here in South Carolina - but it's also being heralded as a long overdue move by others.

A new fee structure was put in place this year for individuals seeking licensing from the SCAC regarding being able to promote or participate in pro wrestling events. The filing fee now stands at $75 per year for all wrestlers, referees, and announcers. You would hope that they'd be able to recoup that money fairly easily - one good night at the gimmick table for a wrestler could take care of it. (Referees and announcers aren't so lucky, I'm afraid.) Fees for promoters were increased as well. A promoters license will set you back $150 per year. On top of this, promoters are expected to pay $150 per event to receive a permit plus 2% of the gate (ie, profit from ticket sales) is supposed to go directly to the SCAC within 10 days of an event. That last one is important because on the eleventh day after an event the SCAC can levy a $250 fine against the promoter as well as an additional $250 fine every ten days until the gate fee is submitted.

Hitting someone in their wallet is one of the most effective ways of making them take notice of the situation at hand. This is why fines for traffic violations are what they are - because they make a lasting impression. People who perform at these events aren't being affected nearly as much as promoters are. When you consider the fact that they're looking at $300 in expenses before they even sell their first ticket and that they'll still have to cover things like the cost of flyers & promotional materials, building rental, payroll, and more, the prospect of being a wrestling promoter in South Carolina suddenly doesn't seem like a very rewarding occupation. And no, I don't think there are any promoters out there who do what they do because they think it's a worthwhile hobby. If they have that much money to burn, they should try contributing to society in more worthwhile methods.

[SIDE NOTE: I have noticed that World Wrestling Entertainment, Total Non-stop Action/Impact Wrestling, Ring of Honor, and other companies do not hold events in South Carolina with any sense of frequency anymore. WWE, in the past, has run 4-6 shows in South Carolina in a single year, some being televised and others being house shows. I'm working off of memory here so I may be wrong but I recall only two WWE events in South Carolina during 2014. The last WWE event I attended was in November of 2013, that being a non-televised show at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, SC. Certainly there are other factors at play in their decision making scheme but I sincerely believe that this trend is at least in part due to the fact that these promotions would sooner tour in other states than have to deal with the SCAC.]

The topic at hand now becomes how these changes may affect the state of indie professional wrestling in South Carolina. There are those in the wrestling community who have made it very clear via social media that they feel like this is the SCAC's way of milking promotions for all they're worth, leaving the SCAC to count their money and promoters to count their blessings. (For their input on the matter, search "SC Wrestlers Unite" on Facebook or click this link - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100004846577863) Meanwhile there are others who take this in the opposite direction, that it will serve as something of a cleanse for indie pro wrestling in the state of South Carolina, the idea being that those who can't afford to be in business probably shouldn't be in business.

Personally, I can see things both ways.

On the one hand, there are quite a few dirt bag promoters operating in South Carolina giving our scene a bad name who could likely be shut down by this new batch of regulations. That sort of thing has happened in the past, though, as every so often a little bird would drop a message to the SCAC about a promotion running in a given town that didn't have proper approval for the event. Those "little birds" were more often than not sent out by other promoters who'd gotten wind of a rival moving in on their turf. The target of such attacks might have been an inexperienced promoter who didn't know any better, or it might have been some lifetime carny who just wanted to see how well he could do in a new part of the world. How better than to take out the competition than by having a government regulator close them down? Why expend the energy needed to beat them when you can send Johnny Law after them (so long as you yourself are up to snuff, obviously)?

Then on the other hand you have the fact that this turn of events will likely leave only the cream of the crop in terms of promoters and talent to operate in South Carolina. I don't have a problem with this because, as I have said in the past and as you can likely tell from the wrestling-related content I share via this blog and other means, I am most definitely what you would consider a wrestling snob. As a fan, I don't care to blindly "support indie wrestling" as some who exist in the community would encourage me to do. (That's like saying you should go to restaurants you know are mediocre because they're mediocre.) "Upward wrestling", if you will, where everyone gets a championship belt and everyone feels like they're on the same level as John Cena. Give me a break, for crying out loud!

The law of survival of the fittest applies in all aspects of life. Some people (wrestlers and promoters alike) need to have their egos squashed because they've been allowed to gluttonously sit at the fattening trough of absurdity for far too long. They've become accustomed to having their posterior kissed by others who believe, falsely and for whatever reason, that doing so will amount to their advancement.

The truth is that a cull, for lack of a better term, wouldn't be the worst thing to ever happen to professional wrestling in this state. Even so, my biggest problem with the status of things regarding how the state of South Carolina wants to be involved in the professional wrestling business now is the same as it has always been, that enforcement of these regulations doesn't seem to be even. Despite the fact that this is 2014 and that government likes to tout itself as being more transparent than it has ever been, in a lot of ways this is still very much a good ol' boy state. It has been my experience that some promotions would seemingly get shaken down every time they tried to have an event whereas others never seemed to ever get so much as a visit from an SCAC representative. Perhaps that's different now but it certainly wasn't in the past.

The Sudden Proliferation of Bad Pro Wrestling Posters

I've been going to independent professional wrestling events in the Carolinas since the late 1990s (I use the fully qualified version of that era as opposed to "the 90s" because you never know, someone may be reading this at or beyond the year 2090). I still remember the first show I ever attended which was at the South Middle School gymnasium in Lancaster, South Carolina. "The Boogie Woogie Man" Jimmy Valiant was there, and he more or less conned me into buying one of his autographed 8x10s. That right there is what you call a hustle.

Suffice to say that in the span of time from here to there, I've seen a lot. Some good, some not so good, some great, and some just plain awful. For the most part I've learned to accept the negative with the positive; truth be told these days the pluses do seem to outweigh the minuses, and that's absolutely fantastic. Be that as it may, there are a handful of things that occur in relation to indie wrestling that truly bother me, and unfortunately I've encountered them all too often for my own comfort. They bother me to the point that when I see them either at a show or online I literally become physically ill for a brief moment, after which I immediately develop the urge to give someone a knife-edge chop to the throat.



Why do they bother me so? Because I love professional wrestling. I'm being completely serious when I say that I wish the people who are responsible for its further ruination would realize what kind of harm they're doing by not working harder to create a better product. They got into this business, surely they must respect it and love it as much as I do? Not hardly, from the look of what I've seen from some promotions.

Trust me, I know I'm opening myself up to criticism here because I'm sure someone will read this and say to themselves, "Well if he thinks he's so smart, then why isn't he running shows?" The answer to that is simple - even if I had the kind of money it would take to run a promotion properly, I more than likely wouldn't be doing it. Promotion is a genuine money pit and these days there's very little reward in it if, in fact, you are lucky enough to create something lucrative and sustainable. Sure, I probably could do it but the risks far outweigh the rewards.

Like I said, there are a handful of issues common to indie pro wrestling that bother me. The one that gets under my skin quicker than any other is when promotions use replica championship belts from World Wrestling Entertainment, World Championship Wrestling, or TNA/Impact Wrestling to represent their outfit. (I never thought I'd see it but believe it or not there's a company in South Carolina right now that's using a slightly modified version of the current TNA belt [seen here] as their championship. Previously they'd used a WWE Championship belt [like this one] for their top prize. To make matters worse, this same company uses a replica WWE Intercontinental title [this version] as their "southern states championship" [a descriptor that makes zero sense seeing as how they only run shows in one state] and a pair of WCW World Heavyweight Championship replicas [otherwise known as the "big gold"] as their tag team championship belts.) Nevermind the fact that replica belts are cheap and typically poorly made, what I find insulting about a promotion using them is the fact that in doing so they expect their fan base to not be knowledgeable enough to realize what's going on. Wrestling may be near the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to well-respected forms of performance art, but what this boils down to is that I don't appreciate being made to feel like an idiot. Suspension of disbelief is one thing, asking your audience to choke on what amounts to a cleverly disguised lie is something else.

Investing in a custom made belt is specifically that - an investment. I wish more promotions would take the extra step of having their own belts. It adds so much to the presentation and authenticity of the experience for a fan like myself as it conveys a sense of how valuable that title is. If you'd like to see examples of what a great belt maker can produce, check out Dave Millican Belts or Top Rope Belts. I'm a bit of a "belt mark", truth be told, but the kind of work groups like DMB and TPR produce is nothing short of art in my opinion.

On the ladder of things that get my dander up about indie pro wrestling, directly below replica championship belts are poorly designed event posters. To me, the most basic form of promotion other than word of mouth is an event poster. It should be eye-catching without being too exotic in its layout (read, it shouldn't be too busy) and informative instead of vague or otherwise devoid of pertinent details. There aren't many excuses for turning in a bad poster seeing as how a better-than-average camera won't set you back too badly and editing software isn't that expensive (Paint.net, GIMP, and event Photoshop CS2 are free). Trust me when I say that it can be a bit of a juggling act in trying to find a happy medium but it can be done and there are a lot of companies that do it quite well. For example, here are a few posters that represent what a great event poster should be.

 

This poster was for OMEGA Championship Wrestling's "CHAOS IN CAMERON" event, which my wife & I were lucky enough to be able to attend. What makes this a solid poster? Three things:

1) You've got eye-grabbing graphics - what's more eye-grabbing than a logo that's on fire? Maybe a logo with boobs on it, but that wouldn't be prudent as we're going for family entertainment here.

2) The talent on display all look like a million bucks; that's as much a testament to their physical conditioning as it is to the fact that someone took the time to make sure quality stock photos of each of those athletes were available.

3) The pertinent details regarding the event (date/time/location) are plainly visible in an obvious location that is complimentary to the rest of the design.

Notice as well that the color choices made in composing this poster allow for everything to be seen without one area or another winding up looking fudged, blurry, or over-saturated. This is a fantastic poster, one that would definitely make me want to attend the event.

That kind of poster takes some real skill to pull off. I don't know who put it together but they're obviously talented when it comes to image editing. As an example of what a quality poster can be that's not as involved, I give you this poster from G.O.U.G.E. - Gimmicks Only Underground Grappling Entertainment.

I dig this poster for the fact that it is colorful and fun, which is 100% indicative of the kind of wrestling you'll see at a G.O.U.G.E. event. It's much more simplistic than the OMEGA poster, clearly, but it's just as effective in its delivery.

Finally, as a third example of a good wrestling poster, here is one from Premiere Wrestling Xperience.

I like this poster a lot as the bold graphics are neat, although I will say that this one is on the precipice of being a little too involved. There's a lot going on here between the text at the bottom and images of 11 guys in the upper half. Even so, this poster is successful in that it gets your attention, shows off the talent, and lets you know the what, where, and when.

This next poster from a recent WrestleForce show is a 'tweener. What I mean by that is that it isn't necessarily bad but it isn't necessarily good either.

There are a couple issues here. For starters, it comes off like whoever designed it is fairly new to Photoshop because they've gone a little nuts with filters and saturation. That may sound like nonsense to you but it relates to how the images of their talent look washed out and not all that clear. The background looks like a black chalkboard that hasn't been washed in quite some time. The color choices aren't terrible but the green "Spring Fling" logo on top of the green Matrix-esque pattern in the header make for a muddy combination. To its credit, the details are there and there's obviously been an effort to showing off the talent.

Now, dear readers, is when we get into the realm of bad indie wrestling posters. I feel as though I have to preface what follows by telling you that these posters are real. They represent promotions that either were or are currently running shows. I have not edited them in any way, shape, or form - what you see is what they have made available as advertising.

Hoo-boy...First up, this offering from Southern Wrestling Alliance.

This looks cheap and poorly made. I probably could have whipped this up when I was 18 using nothing but MS Paint. The most egregious failure here (other than the typo - admission to this event is 6 "doolars" - and the fact that the background gradient goes from lime Jell-O green to bile green) is that the images of the talent are just plain bad. If I ran a promotion I would have a photo area set up where everyone on the roster would have to come at least once so that I could get a set of current stock photos for use in promotional materials. (All you need is a sheet or some other background to have them stand against that's a solid color; the software will allow you to separate them from the background rather easily so that the resulting image can be used in material like this.) Lastly, I think at least 2 of the sponsor images at the bottom are, in fact, photos of business cards.

What's worse than a yucky green background on a wrestling poster? Lightning.

I'm sure there's a website somewhere that specializes in graphics like that. I wouldn't be at all bothered if the server hosting it exploded and all back-ups were lost in a fire. Again, it looks cheap, and it makes me think these guys are all hacks because if they were any better they'd be working somewhere that could afford to make a better poster. (That's harsh, I admit, but it's honest.) On the plus side, they included a picture of the venue so at the very least if you for some reason actually wanted to go to this show you shouldn't get lost.

Sometimes when a person is putting together a poster they have good intentions but the execution gets botched. That's what's going on in this next image which is a poster for Disciples of Christ Wrestling.

This is a mess, on a number of levels, and it's an example of why adhering to a consistent theme is crucial when laying out a poster. The background looks like a pool of water that's been polluted with some sort of foulness. I can only assume the wolf/lamb/ring image is a part of the DCW logo - it doesn't make much sense, period, but I'm trying my best to figure out why it's there in the context of the thing. I assume the Lions Club is sponsoring this event because they're featured quite prominently, so prominently in fact that their logo is bigger than any of the images of the DCW talent. Actually, that might be on purpose because if you get a closer look at those guys do any of them strike you as being wrestlers you'd pay to see? Do they strike you as wrestlers at all? A lot of people who buy wrestling boots should be buying wrestling tickets, and DCW might be an entire promotion where that's true.

I don't want to come off like I'm making fun of someone who's apparently suffering from a debilitating illness but this next one has the misfortune of putting an ugly face on what's hopefully a good deed.

WASP Championship Wrestling - I don't like them already based on nothing other than the name. Wasps are some of the most ornery critters in the entire animal kingdom. One got into our house not too long ago and I felt as though I would've been justified in using a shotgun to kill it, even at the expense of perforating our cabinets.

My personal feelings about wasps aside, I don't know where to begin here. A mustard-yellow background - at least it's not lightning or chain link fencing, I guess. The text regarding the benefit information is poorly written, loaded with grammatical errors (some punctuation would've been great), and there are a handful of misspellings. As for the rest of the poster, the images are all horribly grainy. They look as if they were scanned at low resolution settings, printed on an old inkjet, and then scanned again at even lower resolution settings. I would sooner mail the guy for which the benefit is being held a money order for $6 than I would go to the show, quite frankly.

I've poked fun at the way the talent is presented on several of these posters. I don't get to do that with the poster below because there is no talent presented on the poster - yes, you could take that statement a couple of different ways, all of which are valid in this instance.

When I first looked at this poster I thought I had a flyer for a hardware store, what with the ladders, table, and rope. Apparently the name of this promotion is Pro Wrestling. That's it. You were looking for pro wrestling, well guess what - here it is, Pro Wrestling. They're so new and so cutting edge that they didn't want to burden themselves by trying to adhere to a standard that might be set forth by having created a unique identity for themselves. (Oh, great - pro wrestling for hipsters!) Likewise, they wanted to be so modern and forward-thinking with their advertising that they didn't see the need to show off any of their talent. That would've been too pretentious, obviously.

Last and definitely least, I give you the poster that recently set a few threads on Facebook afire. 

To begin, the reason for it having caused such a stir is the fact that TNA/Impact Wrestling star Gunner was vocal on social media that he would not be at this show and that his likeness was being used to promote the event despite his having no involvement. He was never booked for this event but you wouldn't know that by the look of the poster. (Nikita Koloff, from what I've read, did appear as advertised.)

This doesn't happen that frequently anymore but it does happen. Scumbag promoters will do things like this in order to sell tickets then their excuse to a disappointed fan will be the "card subject to change" clause that seems to accompany ever wrestling event by default. (Or as was done by one local promoter a few years ago who advertised Samoa Joe as being on one of his events, you could claim the star no-showed [even going so far as to arrive late to your own venue, with the story being that you were at the airport waiting for "The Samoan Submission Machine" to arrive] only to have it revealed later that you never paid his appearance fee or booked his travel.) That phrase used to be in place because there were times where talent had travel issues or injuries and couldn't make it - in this situation it's there because the jerk running the show knew he wasn't going to draw a crowd unless he could get the people to believe there were known wrestlers on the card. It's pathetic and people like this should be run put of business; sadly enough, they're usually the ones who manage to hang around the longest.

One of the other talents shown on this particular poster is a guy who calls himself Rex Rumble. I mentioned in a previous paragraph how one of the posters featured talent that didn't quite look like anyone that would be worth paying to see. (Get a membership to a gym and a tanning salon, for crying out loud - maybe go to "GNC" and get some "supplements", if you know what I'm saying?) Notice that the image on the poster of Rex makes him appear to be a tough guy, as he has his fists clinched, ready to fight. If you squint real hard, you might even say he could pass for someone whose look was inspired by Kevin Nash.

Here's a more, shall we say, honest picture of him.

 

Yeah, people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones and I'm certainly not the one to be criticizing people about their physiques, but I'm also not squeezing my voluptuous beer gut into an Under Armour-style shirt and wrapping my arms in electrical tape up to my elbows so I can go play fight with my buddies.

Beyond that, I'll say that this poster looks more like a page out of a high school football program than anything. (That or one of those athletics schedule posters you find at gas stations. You know the type - the schedule gets about 2 inches of space and the rest of the poster is nothing but ads.) Sponsors are great but you can't put that many corporate logos on a poster. It detracts from the purpose of the thing, which is to promote the event. Give those businesses an opportunity to hang banners at the venue, sure, but don't saturate a poster with that nonsense.

I've written this entry with a tongue in cheek approach, and I hope that's detectable. I'm reaching a point in my life where even though I love wrestling I'm beyond being able to take any of it seriously. No matter how much people like myself would appreciate it, Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat can't go for 60 minutes anymore. Arn & Ole Anderson aren't going to come to a ring and make you believe that they're capable of crippling their opponents. Bret Hart isn't going to be having any more 5-star bouts with the likes of Mr. Perfect or Steve Austin. As much as it pains me, I've accepted these things. Similarly, I've accepted that there's no better way to handle the goofball side of pro wrestling than by treating it as such. If Mystery Science Theater 3000 taught me anything, it's that there's fun to be had in pointing out the ridiculousness of what some people would call art, so that's exactly what I'll continue to do - have fun and make the best of what's left of indie pro wrestling in the Carolinas.

Quick Results & Match Videos from WrestleForce presents AGGRESSION

The allure of a professional wrestling event being held less than an hour's drive from my home was enough to get me out of the house on a Sunday evening for WrestleForce's February 2014 show, a card that was dubbed AGGRESSION.

[SIDE NOTE: I am a stickler about certain things when it comes to professional wrestling. If you know me in real life or have been reading this blog for any length of time, that should come as no surprise. One of the biggest problems I have with how small-time wrestling federations like WrestleForce do business is prominently displayed in the poster above. I'll give you a hint - it's not the excessive graphics and color choices that make it difficult to read. What else could it be? The championship belt. That belt should be the single biggest reason why every man on your shows is there, because they want to wear gold around their waist. The belt should be an iconic, unique trophy for which competitors have an insatiable lust. How then can you legitimately put that over to your fan base as being a valued piece of hardware when it is nothing more than a nondescript, mass-produced replica belt available online for less than $200? Yes, a custom made belt is expensive, but it's a worthwhile investment that I wish more indie companies would see as such. It adds a tremendous amount of production value to the presentation and it makes me, as an onlooker, respect the company that much more because I know they're taking what they're doing seriously.]

I'm not sure why promoters of independent pro wrestling feel the need to put a label on their shows like "AGGRESSION", "HOSTILE TAKEOVER", or "ASSAULT BY INVASION ". (For that matter, why is it always that you hear of a wrestling-based event as being invasive in nature? Do wrestlers never politely knock? If you've never noticed, pay attention to TV ads for wrestling in particular; you'll hear the word "invade" or a derivative thereof used to an offensive degree.) I guess it helps somewhat in getting the attention of fans because it looks good on a poster (<sarcasm> especially when the artist who made said poster has no fonts on their PC but those designed to resemble the text in nu-metal band logos </sarcasm>). It's also a knockoff of what bigger companies do with their pay-per-view events, like World Wrestling Entertainment's Elimination Chamber or Royal Rumble. Fans know what to expect from those shows because the title implies a theme or a style of match. In the case of this WrestleForce, the title was surprisingly applicable as there were a number of developments to progress their angles that involved aggressive maneuvers by the parties involved.

Match #1 - The Fortunate Sons (Jesse Windham & Billy Brash) vs. "cK1" Caleb Konley & Hexx

After the match, Konley became irate at his bodyguard Hexx. The two exchanged words in a heated confrontation but did not come to blows. Interim WrestleForce general manager Brett Wolverton took to the ring to ask Konley about the fact that he'd been sitting on a WrestleForce championship match opportunity for more than 8 months as "cK1" had earned the contract during an event held in 2013. Caleb assertively shook off the pries of Wolverton, saying only that he would use the chance when he saw fit.

Match #2 - 2-on-1 Handicap Match: Brady Pierce vs. Kevin Phoenix & Joey Rhymer

I knew when Kevin Phoenix (an African-American competitor who wears tights that resemble the paint scheme of the General Lee from The Dukes of Hazard - I point that out because, irony) and Joey Rhymer came out that the match wasn't going to be anything other than a squash (wrestling vernacular for a match where one combatant will get in almost no offense whatsoever, often ending with them losing in the most brutal way possible; it's an old tactic, which you don't see much anymore, that's meant to make the winner look like a monster), I just wasn't certain to whom they were being fed. Brady Pierce is a young guy with height and a physique that truly makes him resemble a young Randy Orton. Problem is, Pierce's body shows all the signs of that physique having been obtained mostly through the usage of a syringe. Some people have a problem with that, some don't - I could care less but I will say that all the pustules take away from his look. Brady won after forcing Phoenix to submit to a torture wrack.

Match #3 - 5-Star-5-Minute Challenge: "Mr. Match of the Night" Anthony Henry vs. Jaxson James

Match #4 - "Big League" Eric Bradford w/"Double-D" D'Arcy Dixon vs. "The Party Man-imal" Zane Riley

Is that a superlative wrestling match? No, but if you didn't laugh you're the real loser here. Bradford, Dixon, and Riley did a great job here and their ability to play off the reactions of the audience was great.

Match #5 - No Disqualifications Match: "The Fabulous Playboy" Bob Keller vs. BJ Hancock

There was a point in the not-too-distant past where BJ Hancock and another wrestler by the name of Michael Frehley were a tag team calling themselves The House of Style and being managed by Bob Keller. Those days are gone and now Keller is at odds with one of his former charges, that being Hancock, as the two have developed a feud here lately (despite the fact that Keller was forced into retirement a while back by another WrestleForce competitor, "The Southern Savior" John Skyler). This match was simply a good, old fashioned barroom brawl that saw Hancock and Keller go all over the building, including inside the mens restroom where BJ was the unfortunate recipient of a swirlie! Keller held his own for the most part but couldn't overcome the odds when Eric Bradford & D'Arcy Dixon interfered, allowing Hancock to get the win.

Match #6 - WrestleForce Tag Team Championship Match: The Love/Hate Machine (Steven Walters & John Skyler) (C) vs. The Bravado Brothers (Harlem & Lancelot)

Match #7 - WrestleForce Championship Match: Cedric Alexander (C) vs. Anthony Henry vs. "The Juggernaut" Jon Malus

The original main event of Cedric Alexander defending the WrestleForce championship against "The Natural" Chase Stevens had to be scrapped as a result of Stevens having difficulty getting to the show because of weather-related travel issues. Earlier in the evening, Alexander was called to the ring by Brett Wolverton for an interview alongside fellow contender "Juggernaut" Jon Malus only for the segment to be interrupted by "Mr. Match of the Night" Anthony Henry. Wolverton made the best move he could have in arranging for a replacement main event that would be a 3-way-dance pitting Alexander against Malus and Henry with the winner being crowned champion.

This was the best all-around match on the card and quite possibly the best match I've ever seen at a WrestleForce event. Cedric Alexander is money any way you look at him. Jon Malus is a capable hand and Anthony Henry continues to draw attention to himself, but they aren't in the same league as Alexander. Cedric won the match after hitting a brain-buster on Henry.

Match #8 - WrestleForce Championship Match: Cedric Alexander (C) vs. "cK1" Caleb Konley w/Hexx

Immediately after the 3-way-dance main event, Hexx attacked Cedric Alexander which prompted Caleb Konley to storm the ring and cash in the championship match contract. Try as he might to defend his title, Alexander was too beaten up from the combined assaults he'd faced during the previous match, eventually succumbing to a super-kick administered by Konley. With that, "cK1" is your new WrestleForce champion.

WrestleForce will be back in action in Cayce, SC on Sunday, March 30 as they present UNLEASHED.

For more information on WrestleForce, visit them on the web via Facebook and Twitter!

Facebook.com/WrestleForce
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