As many of you might know I myself am a huge wrestling fan, as well as being a wrestler myself for quite a long time. I’ve avoided watching wrestling for many years since I was injured and couldn’t compete anymore.

Recently I’ve taken a keen interest in wrestling again; I’ve got drawn back in like so many other people have over the years. There’s no escaping it, there’s no denying it. Once you’re a true wrestling fan you’re one for life — even after years of absence from the sport.

With this said I bring you the first in a series of articles about wrestling in general and how I feel about certain things. I bring you;

First Person Pro Wrestling: Vol. 1.

I’ve been a wrestler since around 1997. Of course those first few years were Backyard wrestling which a lot of people say don’t count. I say they do, because we weren’t in it just for the violence or fun or “fight club” sense of things. We were in it because we ALL wanted to become real legit wrestlers but things were holding us back.

In our local area there was a rich and insane amount of wrestling history. Allentown, PA is the home of The Wild Samoan Training Center where so many of the top stars have trained including Dave Batista, Solofa Fatu Jr. (Rikishi), Eddie Fatu (Umaga), and Gene Snitsky. However Afa charged over $4000 (and its closer to $5000 now) for training, and frankly none of us wanted to be roided up freaks and fed into the WWF.

So there was nothing else to do other than to just train ourselves and have fun.

Now in the early 90’s a few friends of mine were in the JWF (Junior Wrestling Federation) and they focused a lot on fun and goofing. Half of the JWF was more into wrestling than the others so they split in half and the BWA was formed.

The BWA was then known as the Basement Wrestling Alliance. There was 2 sides of concrete and 2 sides of ropes. During this period I was doing my own basement wrestling in the UCW against other guys like “The Bum”, “Neilo”, “The Butcher”, “Dark Angel” and a few others. My friend Neil and I were fans of the BWA and went to all of their shows and dark matches and became fast friends with all of the BWA guys.

Over time the BWA got to the point of popularity that they were getting too big for their basement. The UCW arena was on a big tract of land with tons of different buildings — we had the BWA guys come down and check out the area and see if they would like to use the UWA arena instead and just merge rosters together. They seemed to like what we had to offer and they agreed.

About 2 weeks after that the UWA had our final show, a match between The Executioner and Dark Angel was the main event. Now this match was actually the first and last match to have a real live audience watching us wrestle and it was probably one of the most brutal matches to be seen in a while by these wrestling fans, which included some BWA guys. As The Executioner I put my best foot forward and tried my best to impress the BWA members in hopes of being picked up for the federation and moving closer to being legit.

Unfortunately the deal between the UWA and BWA fell through, but for the benefit of everyone.

Neil got injured and the rest of the roster decided that wrestling just really wasn’t worth it, I was left alone being the sole member of the UWA, and decided to close the doors for good. I compiled some of our matches and released a 4 match video called “The Beginning and the End”.

BWA found a ring in Ohio and went and bought it and came back to Allentown only to disappear from 1999 - 2001, or so we thought. It turned out that BWA bought a warehouse, and were secretly training themselves to become a legit wrestling organization. They came back, as the Brookside Wrestling Alliance, with “Tournament Takeoff 2001” in April of 2001 and “Thanksgiving Thunder” in November 2001. I attended “Thanksgiving Thunder” as a fan, and talked with the rest of the guys about working with them on their next event. They said they had the perfect idea, and I became the “Senior Security Officer” for BWA and will be taking part in their “Security Breakdown” match at their next match.

Around this time (2001) however was when Neil introduced me to Brian “The Bald Guy” Murphy who was host of his own Internet Wrestling show and also Color Commentator for WXW Wrestling. Brian invited Neil and me to a lot of shows including a few PCW shows over in Reading PA and Hardway Wrestling shows in Allentown PA.

This was the heyday of wrestling in our area here. There were now 2 training centers, a wrestling store, and 3-4 regular federations that put on shows often.

This was when I met “Blind Rage”; he was working Hardway Wrestling quite a bit. He introduced me to Mike Quackenbush and I started doing Security for Hardway Wrestling for a bunch of their shows in 2001/2002. I kept networking and meeting more and more wrestlers, taking bumps and everything in Hardway as one of the security guards. I also worked with 2 other guys as security who also aspired to become wrestlers.

April 2002

The BWA announced “The Final Countdown”. Their next event. Their last event. Why was this their last event? Well simply because Mike Quackenbush announced to all of us friends and fans that he was leaving Hardway Wrestling to start his very own Wrestling School behind “Wrestling World” right in our hometown of Allentown, PA. A bunch of the BWA wrestlers, Chauncey Fitch, Dragonfly Hakada, AJ Driver, and Judas Divine saved up money and decided to become legit wrestlers. The two fellows I mentioned earlier that I worked with as security signed up as well, Blind Rage was a part of it, and a few other people I never met before, and there was one spot left open which Mike said he’d like me to take. Even some of the other wrestlers came to this school as Videographers, announcers, and general help.

The Final Countdown had over 100 people crammed in this tiny little Warehouse. We brought in 2 wrestlers from CZW, and put on one hell of a show. I was introduced as “The head of security” to watch over the two security guards who have been thinking more for themselves then anything else and have been fighting often.

I was there to intimidate and to provide a good blockade for Dragonfly and Chauncey to try and get through once they were ‘banned’ from the event. They busted through the back door, and we brawled. They lit the ref on fire; I put him out and get a beating because of it. It was a great night, and a sad night all at the same time. We all were friends, crowd included, and this was the last time this type of event could ever be held as we all moved on to greener pastures.

(For a full history of the JWF and the BWA check out the embedded video which is below!)

This new promotion was called “Chikara”. Mike Quackenbush built himself a mini empire bringing a Japanese style wrestling to America.

They all, in my opinion, made it. They were legit wrestlers. I was jealous and felt left out a little.
I continued to go to Chikara shows all the time, constantly talking with all of my friends who were part of Chikara. They moved on to greatness and I was left behind cause of my own stupidity and laziness. I kind of fell past wrestling for quite a while, only thing related to wrestling I’ve considered was buying the games and playing them to my hearts content, making my past come back to life and getting lazier. Shit happens I guess.

So here I sit — 5 years later typing away on my computer wondering what it would have been like if when I was 21 if I didn’t get injured. If I decided to not go on tour with my band and fuck up my back and ankles…

Like I said its 5 years later. I’m 26 now and I let myself go even further out of shape.

My girlfriend constantly berated me for ever quitting wrestling, even as just a hobby and constantly wanted me to get back into it.

About a week ago I talked to Mike Quackenbush again. We talked about Blind Rage’s return for a match and the falling out that took place already, I mentioned wanting to get back in shape and maybe come back into the ring and Quack got a little excited. Chikara has always been like a 2nd home to me in many ways and I did say what I meant. I have a few physicals and a few appointments with my chiropractor to get medical clearance to wrestle again but — here I come. Back into the whole thick of it.

Back into the squared circle. I hope…

Bill Duane Presents: Just Your Average Hobby — a history of the BWA