<img align=left src= "http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v428/CMFrank04/BoDreamwolf01.jpg" width="244" height="334">"I had never understood just how much work went into booking and promoting a professional wrestling event. Not until the time had come where I decided to book my own."
"I guess this might take a bit of explaining how I came about this decision. Don't get me wrong. I'm not looking to compete with Sin City Wrestling. I have absolutely no intention of promoting wrestling being the next step on my career path. This was just an idea that I had that could help provide some much needed aid to the poor souls who had suffered so much from the Hurricane Sandy tragedy. After all, many other celebrities had taken steps to raising funds for the disaster relief funds floating around. Why couldn't I do the same? (Not that I consider myself a celebrity by any meaning of the word.)"
"So here I am, laying the groundwork for what was going to perhaps be one of the most unique and satisfying experiences of my life."
"The first step was to figure out whether or not I was going to need a license to promote wrestling. I know this was to be for charity and a one-time only thing, but in situations such as these, you can't afford to skip any steps on the ladder that is the law. The last thing I would need is to be escorted out of the building in handcuffs just as soon as the opening bell had sounded. I mean, if that's what would happen. I don't know. I guess the worst that could happen would be they'd simply cancel the show."
"I wasn't taking any chances, however, so I started doing research on all avenues."
"The first thing I discovered was that I indeed did need a license for the state of Oklahoma. I suppose I could have looked elsewhere but this was going to be a personal endeavor, and not only did I want this held in my home state, but I was determined to hold it in my home town. So I set about applying and woe be to me when I discovered a year long license would cost me over a thousand dollars! That was a definite road block because I just did not have that kind of money to spend. I know many of my peers in SCW speak of big money, but the fact of the matter is, their money comes from other promotions or endeavors. SCW is an indy fed and no indy fed pays out thousands of dollars in salaries. I was ready to just pack the idea in when my sister, Abigail, pointed out something that I hadn't noticed. A simple month long license would only cost one hundred dollars. Now, as much of a tight wad as I like to consider myself, that I would be able to swing. It just turned out that I didn't have to. My sister and grandmother both wanted to help in some way with the disaster relief funds, so they each contributed half of the money I would need for a promoter's license."
"I truly do love my family for the faith they show in me, and it opened the door for me to get things started. The next thing I was going to need was a location, but that was actually the first piece of the puzzle that I had solved."
"So, Bo. What can I do for you?" The principal of the school where I taught, Mister Montoya, asked as he took a seat at his desk, opposite of where I had currently accepted a chair of my own. The teachers of the school, Mister Montoya most of all, were perhaps critical of my second profession, but also incredibly supportive. They knew well that many of my students appreciated professional wrestling as fans, and knew that I incorporated this fandom into many of my lessons to their own benefit.
It was why I immediately thought of this school.
I answered, "Well, it's going to be a bit of a surprise to you, I'm sure. But, I would like the use of the school gym to hold a wrestling show."
"A wrestling show?" Mister Montoya repeated with a knitted frown.
"Yessir." I said with a nod to confirm what he had heard. "It was an idea that came to me some time ago after the Hurricane hit the East coast. I wanted to see if I could hold a show that could raise funds to send to New York and the other states hit for disaster relief."
Mister Montoya nodded, then said, "I see. Well, it's a noble idea. Not something unexpected to anyone that knows you Bo, but you have to understand why I might be a bit hesitant. Not everyone here at the school supports that business, and some might even disagree with the use of our school for such an event."
"A regular show, perhaps." I conceded. "But I don't think anyone would object to a show being held for a charitable cause. And if there were any, I think it could be argued that the pros would far outweigh any cons on the matter. The violence factor should not be an issue, as there is far more violence in the average TV show or movie than any wrestling show."
"And the sex factor?" Mister Montoya asked. "I might not be a fan but I know much wrestling is built around glorifying the women involved, and to some extent, the men."
"True." I nodded, then added with a laugh. "I mean, I myself found myself an unwilling participant in a mud pool match! But, this isn't any promotion out to raise eyebrows or push the limits. This is just a one time show that I'd like to hold, featuring some of the men and women I've grown to know over the years. It would give the kids a nice evening out, and raise money for a worthy cause. I even have a few ideas on how to involve the students, you know, to give them a sense of accomplishment."
Mister Montoya nodded, his hands clasped on his desk. I could tell he was thinking it over and the idea, I could see, had merit in his eyes. This was my only real shot at doing this because there was no way I could rent a venue for use.
"And you're sure the school gym would be large enough for this?" He asked me.
"Oh, definitely." I nodded. "We could easily fit over a thousand people in the audience with the stands and chairs on the floor. I don't think we'll get quite that many, but one can hope."
He rubbed his chin and sighed before he said, "The minor worry would be the fact that we just had the gymnasium floors finished." He looked up at me and smiled. "But I imagine that's why the school also has insurance. Bo, you can use the gym."
I could not help but feel the smile immediately on my face as I reached over the desk and shook my boss's hand, thanking him profusely.
"Okay, those hurdles had been leapt over, so I could move on from the where to the when. One thing I knew in this sport was that timing was everything. People would not attend the show if they didn't have available funds, so the earlier in the month, the better. Also, weekends were a must. I would have preferred a Friday or a Saturday as those were the single most ideal days of the week for any wrestling show, and especially the independents."
"However, that was one luxury I would not be privy too and I had to settle for a Sunday afternoon. Reason being was the school had a few weekend events already scheduled that I could not in good conscience compete with."
"So Sunday it was. The next thing I was going to need was a ring, and I knew of only one person who had their own."
"Yer own rasslin' show?" My mentor, Mister Austin Parker, questioned over the telephone.
"Yeah." I said as I sat back in my favorite chair in my living room. "To raise money for New York. I got a date and a place to hold it. I just need a ring to use and since you're the only person I know of that owns one, and I'm on a pretty tight budget..."
"You thought you'd call the old man and see if you could use his." He finished for me.
"Well no. I had no intention of calling an old man." I smiled with genuine laughter in my voice. "I was actually thinking of you."
"Oo! Flattery!" Mister Parker said from his end of the phone. "Very smart! Alright kid, we can do this. You jest give me the time and place and ah'll get the ring there in plenty of time."
"How?" I couldn't help but blurt out. The question came to me so swiftly, I couldn't help but wonder why I didn't think of it before I made this call.
"Ah do own a truck, y'know." Mister Parker answered. "An' ah got a trailer big enough to haul the ring in. We'll jest need a few guys to help get it moved into yer gym or whatever and put it together."
"Not a problem." I said. "I can help with that and a few of the teachers said they would help too if we needed it."
"Fine."
"Oh, one more thing." I said.
"Of course." he said with a mocking tone but one that I had become accustomed to over the years. "Can't make this easy, can ya? What is it?"
I said, "Since this is a charity event, I was hoping all proceeds would go to the cause. Do you know of any workers who would be willing ....?"
"To travel to Oklahoma and work for free?" He finished.
"Yeah..." I said, hesitant, because I worried about what the answer might be. "I have a couple of guys here and there who said they'd do it, but I'm obviously going to need more."
"Ah think ah might know a few." He said, easing my tension. "Hell, maybe ah can get Derrick an' Tony to do something for it."
Derrick and Tony? Of course! Chippendale and Thunder! The fans knew them as the tag team legends, Twisted Steel and Sex Appeal. They had just stepped out of retirement for a one-time only wrestling match against Mister Ward and Jordan Williams in a Legends Tag Team Match. I knew that they and Thunder's two children called New York City home so this disaster affected them greatly. They left the state for the time being and were currently staying at Mister Parker and his wife's ranch in Atlanta.
He then said, "You get yours confirmed. Then call me back in a couple days. Ah'll start placing some calls and see what ah can do."
"Thank you." I said, and after giving my mentor my good-bye, I hung up and started to breathe just a little easier.
"Mister Parker did more than just get a few names. He called in a number of his contacts and I ended up with a plethora of who's who in this business, men and women, ready, willing and able to make the trip here to work this show for free for a worthy cause."
"I could hardly believe it!"
"Okay! I had the venue, a ring and the men and women who would be participating. I dipped into a bit of my savings to get some posters and the tickets printed. Now all I needed was help in the advertising. I knew just how to spread word around the fastest way possible. They don't call the internet the 'information highway' for nothing."
"So, here's the deal." I said as I took a seat on the edge of my desk to address my class. "Many of you already know that our school will be holding a wrestling show in the gym to raise funds for Hurricane Sandy victims."
Many of the students nodded, and a number even wore smiles and fist bumped their neighbors -- showing perhaps more enthusiasm for the show itself rather than the cause.
I went on, "And given I am the one in charge of promoting it, I am going to need some help. And I'm willing to make this an extra credit project for everybody -- even those of you who have no interest in wrestling."
Drew Anglen, a fifteen year old boy seated in the center of the class, raised his hand before speaking and asked, "What do you want us to do?"
"Simple." I smiled. "I want you all to use your hobbies to the benefit of those on the East Coast. I know many of you have both Twitter and Facebook accounts, because I have a number of you on my friends lists on those websites. I am going to pass along a sheet to everyone here with all the information on the show. The date, time, location, who will be appearing -- everything. I want you to promote this as much as possible. Post it on your Facebook walls and Twitter posts. Share it with others. I'll be posting a scan of the poster for the show. Feel free to share that as well, and encourage your friends to do the same. The more word gets spread, the bigger crowd we'll draw and the more money we'll raise."
A miss Veronica Coates asked, "I know I'm going to sound like a total dweeb asking this, but what if we're not into the whole Facebook/Twitter thing? How can we get the same extra credit?"
I turned at the waist and picked up a large stack of what were the posters made for the show. I turned and held them up for all to see and said, "If anyone finds themselves in that situation, or if they want to do a little extra to help, I'll give you some of these posters to put up around town. Store windows, telephone poles, memo boards inside of grocery stores, the YMCA, whatever you can manage. Point is, everyone can benefit from this. And, for those of you who are interested in wrestling, you do this, and I'll let you into the show for free and see to it you get to meet the wrestlers backstage."
That little announcement was met with quite a bit of excited chatter from many of the kids in the class.
"It wasn't just the kids who helped advertise this show. I sent the details too every wrestling website and newsletter with credibility. I spoke to the local news in case they'd be interested in covering any details of the show for the newscast. I also gave all the details, and a few tickets, to a couple of the radio stations around town so they would both advertise the show, while running contests for the tickets and hyping their own ratings all in one fell swoop."
"Finally the night of the show arrived, and I couldn't possibly have been more thrilled -- or nervous. I had the final list of who would be working and sat down a week in advance and took all the names and came up with what I thought would be a fun show for all involved. I then called Mister Parker and his wife to get their take on what I came up with."
"They proceeded to take it apart and switched the matches around to what I have to admit, was even better. (Yeah there is a definite reason I am not a promoter!)"
"I was the first to show up at the gym, as was only fair. A local DJ, and a fan of the sport, had agreed to use his incredible set up for our sound system. Mister Parker arrived soon after, along with his family, and Chippendale and Thunder, and they and my teaching colleagues, had the ring set up in no time at all."
"The local Coca Cola distributor also got involved, and set up no less than three of their vendor trucks outside of the school for our use to sell snacks and drinks for the show. Students and their parents took charge of those, and all proceeds from these sales also went to the cause."
"I can't tell you how thrilled I was as I stood in the back of the school and welcomed each and every man and woman who arrived to give their time and bodily welfare for this cause. I met each one with a shake of the hand, greeting them as a friend and equal. I let not one pass by me without giving them my thanks and appreciation. I watched as they went down the hall and took a look at the large blackboard with the show's rundown on it. Who they would be working with and in what order. They then moved on and separated into either the boy's lockerroom, or the girl's."
"Despite all of this, the one thing I worried about the entire time was what kind of crowd would be drawn to this event?"
"As it would turn out, I had no reason to fret at all."
"Wow." I murmured as I peeked from behind the curtains erected over the door of the gym where the wrestlers would be making their way to the ring.
The gymnasium was packed - literally! Every seat that I could see was taken, from the folding chairs around the floor, to the stands on three sides of the gym itself! I was so damned proud of my kids! They really came through!
And the enjoyment was not lost on anyone in the crowd, as there was a little something for everyone involved. They were behind the show and all of the wrestlers from the start to the end. Even my sister and Grandmother pitched in, taking the tickets at the door.
It all opened when a young Japanese wrestler named Condor Sawaii traveled down from Canada where he was working regularly to open the show against another cruiserweight in the multi-colored Heavy Metal. These two kids put on a high flying exhibition that even had the workers in the back stunned with awe. There were countless near falls until Condor put Heavy Metal down for the pin.
Then a part of me had been curious if we could pull off something a bit edgy for this show, so I spoke to Mister Parker about a man he had worked with many times in the past named Brian DeFuria. This guy was nicknamed the Ragin Cajun and with good reason; he took the term hardcore to the extreme. He started off as a 'pretty boy' wrestler, but then outgrew it and went hardcore which quickly would become his trademark. Well he agreed to travel from Louisiana for this show and his match against KORE: Python was just brutal! Considering we were in a school filled with kids, I asked both guys to avoid blood letting, if at all possible. They agreed (begrudgingly), but that didn't mean they went easy on one another! Anything they could get their hands on, they used! They fought all over the gym until Brian pinned Python while he was stuck inside of a mangled trash can. I paid particularly close attention to this match, because I would be competing in a Hardcore match soon myself. My first, and what better way to learn than by close observation? Okay, so maybe there was a bit of an ulterior motive in my booking this. So sue me.
I know a number of the people working this show were less than well-known, but I was very lucky to get some SCW stars to take part. Even the bosses took part as Mister Underwood teamed up with his 'husband' and partner in Scott Schriener aka the Big Pump and this could have easily been billed as another Legend's Tag Team match as they opposed the other half of the SCW bosses, Mister Ward and Jordan Williams. It was a big win for Hot n Sexy when Mister Ward pinned Mister Underwood right there in the middle of the ring!
I knew deep down I had to give those teenage boys I taught a bit of a treat so there wasn't any chance that I would not book the ladies. Fantasia of the Seven Sins stepped back into the ring and she went up against one-half of the Party Girls in Brandi Shotze. It's true what they say about the female of the species being deadlier than the male because these two women went at it, tooth and nail! Brawling! Wrestling! Catfighting! They did it all, right up until Brandi pinned Fantasia to end their contest.
I wanted a big match as the next to last and another tag team match I felt would be popular. I spoke to the right men and found myself booking the popular tandem of Gabriel and Despayre against one of their own teammates, Shane Boswell, and his cousin and former partner, Jason Adams. It had been years since Bad Medicine worked together as a team but the chemistry was still there, as evidenced by the fact that the dominant Sins could not defeat them and both teams went to a thrilling thirty minute draw that had everyone on the edge of their seats!
Then it came time for the last match, the main event. Yes, I was involved. I could not resist the temptation of wrestling in front of my kids and some of my colleagues. I wanted to be earlier in the show but Mister Parker and his wife pointed out that in this case, I would be the so-called 'hometown hero' and I should be on last to draw the most out of the show. I didn't agree with that, but who was I to argue against the more experienced? The thing was, who would I be working against? That answer came in surprising fashion as none other than Synn himself stepped out of retirement to be my opponent. The man had not competed in a number of years but that did not stop him from throwing everything he had at me, and in brutal fashion! How he maintained that physique is beyond me but good God! If I had any notion he might take it easy on me since it was my hometown, I was sorely mistaken! I'd like to think I gave as good as I got, but nothing I did seemed to be able to hurt him or wear him down enough to put his shoulders to the mat. Yeah, in case you haven't guessed -- I lost the match. Synn pinned me, and I hate to admit it, but he did it cleanly.
I could hear my kids boo when Synn was announced as the winner, but I hugged the man never the less and thanked him profusely for the match. I then closed the night off by thanking everyone for everything they did to help make this show a success.
It was truly a night to be remembered.
"Would I do it all over again? Most likely, if the cause was just, but now there are other avenues to take. other paths to cross, and Blaque Hart Bruce Evans is the first among them."
"This match between us has been long in coming, and there is little more that can be said between us to tell the other, and everyone else listening, our take on the other. I admire the man for what he is able to accomplish in the ring, if not his ethics in doing so. When he told me he could handle his own against me in the Scientific Rules match we competed in, I was skeptical. But I'll be damned if he didn't keep to his word and give me everything he could and then some. Still, it wasn't his arm that was raised at the end of the evening. That distinction belonged to yours truly."
"It'll be the very least that I can do when I return the favor and face him in this Hardcore Rules match that he has been so desperate to get me into. I still believe that he just wants a match with no rules, because in a fair fight, he was unable to get the job done. Trash cans. Kendo sticks. Steel chairs. Those are the tools he needs to try and put me down successfully in the ring. Not armbars, suplexes or step over toe holds."
"Well, it's all nice in theory, but there will be a very big difference in his accepting my challenge as opposed to my accepting his;"
"I won't lose."
