Young Texas Prospects: The One's You Should Know

Hello again folks. On this New Years Eve, I wanted to post something special that I feel passionately about. If you know me, you will know that I frequent many Texas wrestling shows (probably too many for my own good), and by doing so, I have seen a ton of great matches and an even greater amount of talented pro-wrestlers. Many people, including myself, once believed that Texas was an absolute deserted island when it comes to indie wrestling. But, the Lone Star State is finally being seen as an area where wrestling is thriving. However, many of the great talents that frequents the area are still unknown to many. So this post is all about spreading the word of the lesser known, but amazing people I have seen traverse the roads to show after show, that you need to know about. So let's start it off.

JoJo Bravo: @ISamuraiDriveU

I’ve talked with other local fans of the Texas independent scene and we all agree that JoJo Bravo needs to become the next big thing in independent wrestling. JoJo is confident both in the ring and with his character, and the only way to describe him is entertaining. It has gotten to the point that when I see him listed on a card, I can guarantee that it will be a good match. He is very slick in the ring, has an amazing decorum with the fans both at shows and on social media, and he will constantly come up with something new that will surprise you. Whether it was dressing up as Yokozuna for Halloween or finishing off a Shiranui by walking on the ceiling of a small venue, JoJo is truly something that you have to see to believe.

Bolt Brady

2012 has definitely been a great year for the career of Bolt Brady, who is a local talent that any company would be lucky enough to have. He has consistently improved in the ring, show after show, and has established himself not only in Texas, but in places like St. Louis for St. Louis Anarchy, Louisiana for NWA Wildkat, and many more. This year, Bolt has put on many phenomenal matches, especially in ACW against the likes of Robert Evans, Jerry Lynn, Davey Richards, Arik Cannon, and most recently a show-stealing contest with indie wrestling standout ACH. As I mentioned before, any company would be lucky enough to have Bolt Brady in their locker room, both for his amazing work ethic and his ability to connect with fans young and old.

Carson: @CARSON_TX

 

The biggest consensus when it comes to this local star is that Carson is the closest of anyone in both skill and in look to being on national TV. Only starting in 2009, Carson has already risen to become one of the top stars in the state of Texas, competing with Texas greats like Scot Summers, Jaykus Plisken, Mike Dell and more. Carson is the poster child for hard work and determination paying off, definitely being shown this year as he captured his biggest title to date, the NWA North American Heavyweight Championship, when he defeated the over 1 year former champion Shaun Tempers for NWA Houston. After winning the prestigious title, Carson has now had the opportunity to travel to other parts of the country, spreading his name further, as he gains more experience and knowledge every trip. One look at Carson and you can understand that this rising star truly gets it.

Barbi Hayden: @BarbiHayden

Just like many of the names mentioned before, the best adjective in which to describe Barbi Hayden is “well-rounded”. This up and comer has been showing recently that she can adapt and perform in any situation that is put in front of her. I have seen her perform as a phenomenally entertaining heel, truly encompassing the “Barbie” mentality, as well as a strong baby face who has grown a great following by not just adult males, but young girls who look up to her as a role model. But the key is to not let the blonde hair fool you. Many people look at Hayden and expect to see the type of “female wrestling” that you will see on television with those that would rather be called “Divas” than wrestlers. But then, she is able to immediately shut the nay-sayers up. She has been excelling in that aspect most recently for Anarchy Championship Wrestling, where she is the current American Joshi champion. A perfect example of this is the chain-wrestling contest she had with independent standout Portia Perez in the month of October, which made the Anarchy crowd realize that Barbi is one to be contended with. Always studying, learning and progressing, Barbi is one talent that is a plus to have on any show.

Barrett Brown: @TCO_BarrettB

I suggest anyone reading this to pop in a Barrett Brown match of recent, then after watching it, get your head wrapped around the fact that he is only 18 years of age. It baffles me at times how much talent this athlete has for his age, as he wrestles like he is in his mid 20’s. The truth is Barrett has many years of experience wrestling and he is now getting a chance to show it. The three-way Barrett Brown had at the most recent ACW Lonestar Classic with ACH and JoJo Bravo is a must watch, and I have no doubt that Barrett Brown will be having more matches like it in the near future.

Jack Jameson: @JamesonsBeard

Jack Jameson has a sweet beard. He’s also a huge fan of the local convenience store chain “Buccees” (As am I and you should all be), and you will at times see him rocking a piece of clothing with the face of the Cookie Monster on it. But not to mention, he is also a great pro wrestler, and an especially dedicated one. You may notice the Jack Jameson of a couple of years ago isn’t the same Jack you see today. That is because around a year ago, Jack decided that he wanted to improve and not just be another wrestler on a show. He wanted to be better. So he packed up and went to the far off land of Canada to train with Lance Storm at the “Storm Wrestling Academy”, and he will be the first to tell you how much he has learned from the experience. Not only is he highly entertaining and can make me crack up every time he is in the ring, but he is always striving to be better. A man who is extremely goal oriented and constantly looking to improve, Jack Jameson is one to put on your radar.

Rudy Russo: @rudyrusso

Some may say that I could be impartial to Rudy since he is a fellow Corpus Christi native (Trust me, there is very few of us), but he definitely deserves to be mentioned on this list. From the events filled with very few to the events filled with so many, Rudy consistently delivers and puts on a show. From the first match I saw of his I was able to understand how much technical skill he has, and since that time he has never once faltered as far as I’ve seen. And trust me, I’ve seen a lot. With his work with various NWA affiliates, he has started to branch out and gain more success, which is great to see for someone with such clear talent.

Ricky Starks:

This man radiates personality. Whenever Starks is either wrestling or jawing with a fan, you can tell that this comes naturally to him. Many times, it’s the little things about a wrestler that takes them from good to awesome in my book, and Ricky Starks is an example of that. He understands that you must tell a story from the minute you exit the back to the minute you enter back, and he does so with more than just the in-ring action, but his facial expressions and mannerisms throughout. He has gained a good amount of success, including getting a look on Smackdown with a spot in a handicap match against Jinder Mahal. I have a strong feeling that Starks will begin to be recognized more in 2013.

Alex Reigns: @AlexReigns

I’ve only been a fan on the Texas independent scene for about a year now, and one of the things I hear a lot is “Man, has Alex Reigns come a long way”. I have no idea where he started in his career, but if he continues the way he has been going now, Alex Reigns will soon break out and dominate the scene. He is succinct with his movements and provides a great sense of psychology in all of his matches that many people can learn from. Reigns shows that simple wrestling can be affective and entertaining. Look for more opportunities for him in the new year.

Jason Silver: @JasonSilverTX

Jason Silver is the true definition of a daredevil. He has gained a lot of opportunity this year in Anarchy Championship Wrestling, including a dog-collar match where he was literally hung from the balcony inside Mohawks, a ladder match melee where he was able to exhibit his risk-taking abilities and a hardcore war with Matthew Palmer which involved a great deal of innovative offense including the use of a television set. But that isn’t the reason Silver is on this list. In my opinion, the style of wrestling he does can either be done lazy or done correctly, and Silver performs it in the latter. He doesn’t try anything he knows he cannot do properly, and that is a small aspect that is overlooked by a lot of people. Also, I’m pretty sure he’s close to immortal as far as his encounters with stairs and concrete floors, so how can I not put him on this list?

Killah Kash: @AKillahNameKash

Many people think me as an “indie wrestling fan”, that I only enjoy smaller guys who are quick and innovative. Not true at all. Take for example one of my favorite up and coming big men on the independents Killah Kash. My first big memory of him was after a match of his in ACW, where after winning, he became pounding on the mat and letting out a primal scream the likes of which I’ve never heard before. It took me back in a way that I didn’t expect it too. Since then, Kash has continued to deliver as an extremely intimidating figure, including being part of an intense war with Scot Summers that involved them abusing each other with thick cinder blocks. Kash has also noted recently that he is looking to expand beyond Texas, which I think is great to see. If any company is looking for a giant wrecking machine that will go full force, Kash is the one to pick.

Kyle Hawk:

I remember my first exposure to Kyle Hawk involved him being in a multi-man battle royal, which doesn’t always give full perspective of how good a wrestler can be. I’ve now begun to watch his stuff more often, and he is growing into one of my favorites. He had a surprisingly phenomenal encounter with Jaykus Plisken at a San Antonio event a couple of months ago (Texas Heat Wrestling) that really opened my eyes to this young talent’s potential. With the combination of his in-ring prowess, intriguing character and obvious hard work, Kyle Hawk is a great combination of what to look for in a wrestler.

Bobby Lambert:

Another impressive big man who is more than meets the eye is Bobby “The Lumberjack” Lambert. What at first glance looks to be a performer with an over the top gimmick is actually an imposing figure with a great ton of skill. He clearly understands everything it takes to be a great heel, going beyond just his great size and power, but also with how he interacts with the crowd. Lambert has all the tools to become an even bigger star on the Texas independents, and it is just a matter of time in my opinion.

Well there you have it. That's the list of people that I feel you need to know about if you do not follow the Texas area. And if you do, be sure to spread the word about these performers and all of these performers that you love. When people say "Support Independent Wrestling", its not just because it may be better than the stuff you see on television, but because many people do not know about these guys who wrestle around your state or area every month, and it is our job as fans to spread the word. If you know of anyone you think I missed or from another area that I should know about, please inform me in the comments below and let's get a conversation going.

Until then,

The Wrestlefan

*Photos Courtesy of Texas Anarchy Photography and Kelsey Sullivan Photography

Why Am I A Wrestling Fan?

Hello people of the internet. You may know me as Eamon, that guy who 95% of his posts on Facebook and Twitter are wrestling related and you get irrationally angry about it. If that describes you… then go away. But if you follow me on the internet and don’t completely hate when I talk about people rolling around in tights and kneepads, welcome! This is the place where I will now post all of the things going on in my head in wordy paragraphs and I hope you enjoy it and have some fun. Because that is what it’s all about. I spend my Tuesday nights talking about this sport, or art, or this fake thing that’s super gay and is not as cool as MMA or whatever you believe, and I want to continue doing that and this is my vessel to do so. So lets tell some stories, share some memories and have a conversation about this multi-faceted thing that is pro wrestling.

I thought it would be good to start off by going over my journey to becoming a pro wrestling fan, something that has become a very important and long running descriptive quality of me.

I’m pretty sure a lot of fans are able to pinpoint the exact moment where they saw it for the first time and became enthralled with it. Getting to know a ton of people who became wrestling fans back in the late 80’s-early 90’s, they’ve mentioned to me that seeing guys like Hulk Hogan or Randy Savage for the WWF, or guys like Ric Flair or Sting for WCW sucked them into loving pro wrestling. In case you didn’t know, I did not grow up in that generation, and because of that I tend to get tons of crap, as young wrestling fans usually do. The reason I tend to not care too much about the downfall of the legacy of Hulk Hogan in TNA is because I never grew up as a “Hulkamaniac”. Hulk Hogan truly never mattered to me when I started watching because I was never able to understand how at his age he could still hold his own with the tough stars of the WWF/E at the time. As you could see, even at a young age I began to show my narcissistic personality at times, but let me explain the reasoning behind my immediate love for wrestling. I was flipping through channels in early August of 2002 and stumbled upon an episode of Raw in progress, where Triple H and Shawn Michaels were trying to figure out who attacked Michaels on a previous episode in the parking lot and slammed his head through a car window. I remember them showing the image of a bloody Shawn Michaels being put onto a gurney and sent to the hospital and, being barely 9 years old, thinking how gruesome it was. Then Triple H was in the ring to talk to Shawn Michaels via satellite to try to figure out who had done this to Shawn, when Shawn revealed that police officers gave him footage of the attack from one of the security cameras. After showing the grainy and unrecognizable footage, Shawn noted that due to the advancements in technology nowadays (which is immensely funny looking back at it in 2012), he was able to enhance the footage to reveal that his attacker, was none other than…wait for it… TRIPLE H! They then cut back to a stone-faced Shawn Michaels who says, “It was you, Hunter”, which Triple H rebuttals with a line that is engrained in my memory to this day, “You’re damn right it was me!”, said in his very own Triple H way.

My First Memory

Now if you listen to me today, I tend to give those two guys a lot of crap (mainly Triple H who even after losing an END OF AN ERA WAR with The Undertaker has been back and is still gonna be back to kick the diverticulitis out of Brock Lesnar, but that’s for another blog post), but that moment kept my young eyes glued to the television and captivated me in a way nothing else had before. There was drama, a line between good versus evil, gruesome imagery as I mentioned before and I became hooked. It’s funny to see how I’ve advanced from mostly only caring about the drama played out in the ring, but the thing that got me into wrestling were two guys talking to each other. However, they followed up with more drama and intrigue in an amazing street fight at Summerslam 2002, which I still believe is one of the best matches those two have had. Those images that were stuck in my head of a bloody Shawn Michaels in the parking lot, were followed by Triple H raising up his sledgehammer and striking down with vengeance across the back of Shawn like something out of Gladiator. But since that moment, I have never waned from the product or had a period where I stopped watching, whether people told me to or not.

My Inspiration

So that brings up the question of how my parents reacted to this newfound love of pro wrestling. Well, as it is the case most of the time, they reacted very differently. My father, the minute he saw that I was interested in it, jumped completely on board. While I was following the modern day guys that I was seeing on television every week, my dad was showing me videos of his favorites when he watched, guys like Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes and The Von Erich’s. He shared stories with me about how when he was working as an orthopedic cast technician, he made the cast for Sting when he tore his patella tendon at Clash Of The Champions 10. He always promoted and encouraged my love for it, whether it was sitting with me every Monday night to watch Raw, taking me to any event that was in town, or just sitting down and discussing the current storylines and where we thought they were going. He was usually right and I was usually wrong. But because he spent his time doing those things, not only did it fuel my love for pro wrestling, but also it gave the two of us a connection we probably would not have had otherwise. My father passed away over 5 years ago from pancreatic cancer and I still feel that connection I felt with him while he was still with us, due to having wrestling in my life. I honestly feel that if I didn’t spend my time engrossed in following this crazy interest, I’d end up on a completely different, and probably not well-adjusted, path.

While my father encouraged my love for professional wrestling, my mother was not as positively receptive, as should be expected with most mothers. Funny enough, she actually took me to my first live wrestling event ever, which was a Smackdown house show in 2002. The reason she took me was because the company that she worked for was sponsoring the event and she was able to obtain free, floor seat tickets, which made me a happy, young child. If you ask her to this day, she will tell you how that was the first, and the last time she will go to a show with me. Since that day, I would have to go with either my father or our old next-door neighbors who had a daughter who’s favorite wrestlers were John Cena and Randy Orton because they were so damn oily and ripped… so you can tell whom I preferred. And I feel that the reason my mother disapproved of this interest of mine wasn’t even because of the violence that was involved with it. To my parents, I always tended to be considered the promising one. I always came home from school with good to great grades, focused a great deal on my schoolwork and would at times be very hard on myself for not achieving the best. And I think that my mom felt that if I focused my time on something that she did not understand the point of, I would be losing all of that. When I was younger I got upset with her over thinking that, but now I am able to understand it. My mother never went to college and was lucky enough and worked hard enough to gain a successful job where she was able to support her family, and she did not want her children to have to struggle the way she did to gain that success. Luckily, nowadays my mother is more approving of this thing that I am passionate about because she has seen how much it has done for me, especially the stuff I do every week with the Wrestling Mayhem Show. She has understood the joy it has given me, the great people I have met because of it and the fact that it keeps me very happy. Whether she supports it or not, I still love her to death, because your family is definitely much more important than the things you like, but involving myself in following, watching and studying pro wrestling has given me something to appreciate, and it makes me happy to know people who I hold so highly, approve of the things I hold so highly as well. Now as far as getting her to another wrestling show, that may take some more work.

Well that’s it. That’s a start to this fun project I plan to contribute to once or twice every week. There are still tons to talk about and discuss and I hope you will be there to discuss it with me. Feel free to leave a comment telling me what you think, and also you can always send me pro wrestling you think I should watch for a little column I like to call “What Wrestlefan Watched”, that I will be doing on this site.

Until then,

The Wrestlefan