Post by Jguru on Aug 5, 2003 23:07:57 GMT -5
Just thought Id share the following article regarding NECW and their upcoming anniversary show. A definate good read.
Grappling for a piece of the local action
JP-based wrestlers keep their toehold
By Dave Doyle, Globe Staff, 8/3/2003
In 14 years in the ring, Scott Despres has wrestled at a zoo fund-raiser, using an empty, dirty monkey cage as a locker room. He has driven, on his own dime, as far as Nova Scotia to appear as an extra in the old World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment television).
And he has an arthritic neck at 33 – proof that even though match outcomes are predetermined, wrestling’s daily grind is by no means fake.
So when Despres, who competes under the ring name Maverick Wild, says that Jamaica Plain-based New England Championship Wrestling is one of the best local outfits he has ever worked for, he knows of what he speaks. NECW will celebrate a rare milestone in the often fly-by-night world of independent professional wrestling with its third anniversary show at the Good Time Emporium in Somerville next Sunday night. “The odds are always against you when you try to make it in the wrestling business,” said Despres, who is the New England outfit’s current heavyweight champion. “A lot of people who try to promote wrestling don’t know what they are doing and blow through a lot of money. Most of them are out of business in six months.”
“But we’ve been at it for three years. NECW has a vision for what it wants to do and a sense of direction that’s usually lacking at this level. That makes it a lot easier to go out and get your energy up.”
The brains behind NECW is lifelong Bostonian Sheldon Goldberg, 47, made his mark in the city theater scene, producing a Motown review called “Dancing in the Street!” that ran for two years and followed with a run at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C.
Goldberg is also a lifelong fan of the grappling game, having spent many childhood nights sneaking away from his parents’ home in Mattapan to catch the exploits of old-school stars such as Bruno Sammartino, Pedro Morales, and Chief Jay Strongbow at the Boston Garden.
“I certainly didn’t set out to become a wrestling promoter,” said Goldberg. “I always loved the wrestling business and one thing led to another.”
In the early 1990’s, he published a wrestling memorabilia newsletter called Mat Marketplace. By 1997, he had helped broker deals that ultimately landed Japanese wrestling standouts Taka Michinoku and The Great Sasuke full-time contracts with the WWE.
The creation of NECW came three years ago, after business associate Anthony Magliaro of Revere, a successful North Shore promoter known to wrestling fans as The Boston Bad Boy Tony Rumble, died of a heart attack.
“Tony was my best friend in wrestling,” said Goldberg. “He lived for the business… We had a shared goal of running a regional wrestling promotion… I didn’t want to let all the effort he put into building the local wrestling scene die with him.”
For decades, local promoters operated on a simple formula: A typical wrestling show would be sold for a flat fee to a local charity, which would then sell the tickets and keep the profits. Frequently, the show was main-evented by former Garden headliners, such as King Kong Bundy and Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, with local talent filling out the show.
National-name grapplers might help draw a crowd for one night, but they don’t help create new stars. Local talent can’t make names for themselves if they are positioned as unimportant to the show. So out went Bundy and the Superfly. Local mainstays Wild, Alex Arion and Brutal Bob Evans became the new headliners.
“Many thought it was a big gamble on my part,” Goldberg said. “But I had faith in the quality of these guys and their marketability.”
Then there was the problem of perception. When wrestling became starkly lewder and more profane during its late-1990’s boom period, it became harder for local groups to book shows, as charities no longer wanted to be associated with wrestling.
“Only a parent can decide what’s appropriate for their kids, “ said Goldberg, who ultimately persuaded Good Time to allow monthly shows and signed on Budweiser as the main sponsor. “Wrestling is simulated competition with an element of violence. But there’s no swearing on our shows, no nudity, no man-on-women violence, no pandering to racial stereotypes. We want parents to know that NECW is as family-friendly a product as pro wrestling can be.”
Goldberg is under no impression that he is ever going to compete with WWE kingpin Vince McMahon for the national wrestling throne. What he would like is to see NECW develop a niche in the local minor-league sports landscape, competing for the same low-priced entertainment dollar as local professional baseball, hockey and lacrosse franchises.
Reaching that level will require regular television exposure, a luxury only a handful of independent organizations around the country have. NECW will hold a pilot television taping in September. Goldberg recently hired former long-time WWE announcer and behind-the-scenes manager Kevin Kelly to help with the transition.
Wrestling has lost a degree of popularity since its peak, but Kelly thinks NECW can deliver what many fans want: hard-hitting in-ring athletics without the out-of-ring soap opera. The main event at Good Time is a four-man, 45-minute, most-falls-wins showdown, with Wild putting his title on the line against Evans, Arion and Antonio “The Promise” Thomas.
“Wrestling is the same, whether it is in a big arena or at a small club,” said Kelly. “All that differs is the scope of the presentation.”
The connection at smaller venues is what keeps the wrestlers going. “When you get the crowd behind you, it is like the feeling you get when you get off a roller coaster,” said NECW’s Randy Lockwood, 20, already a four-year veteran under the name J. Busta. “There’s a real connection to the people at these events, “ he said. “I know the injuries will probably catch up to me in the long run, but I’m traveling the country, making friends along the way, and getting to meet the people and entertain them. I wouldn’t trade that for anything.”
None of the NECW wrestlers are making big money. Lockwood, of Connecticut, works both as a landscaper and at a grocery store during the week. On a recent weekend he left work on a Friday, drove to Allentown, Pa., for a booking, then turned back and wrestled in Hamden, Conn., the next night. Despres, a Fitchburg native, works for the family roofing business, Multistate Roofing of Winchendon, during the week.
“That’s just the half of it,” said Despres. “You gotta work all week, you gotta put a couple hours in the gym every day, you try to get at least one practice session in a ring to keep from getting rusty. Then you gotta travel all over for the shows.”
“You don’t get the high of performing every night,” he said. “But when you do, and have 300 people in the palm of your hand, it is a high like you’ve never experienced.”
Grappling for a piece of the local action
JP-based wrestlers keep their toehold
By Dave Doyle, Globe Staff, 8/3/2003
In 14 years in the ring, Scott Despres has wrestled at a zoo fund-raiser, using an empty, dirty monkey cage as a locker room. He has driven, on his own dime, as far as Nova Scotia to appear as an extra in the old World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment television).
And he has an arthritic neck at 33 – proof that even though match outcomes are predetermined, wrestling’s daily grind is by no means fake.
So when Despres, who competes under the ring name Maverick Wild, says that Jamaica Plain-based New England Championship Wrestling is one of the best local outfits he has ever worked for, he knows of what he speaks. NECW will celebrate a rare milestone in the often fly-by-night world of independent professional wrestling with its third anniversary show at the Good Time Emporium in Somerville next Sunday night. “The odds are always against you when you try to make it in the wrestling business,” said Despres, who is the New England outfit’s current heavyweight champion. “A lot of people who try to promote wrestling don’t know what they are doing and blow through a lot of money. Most of them are out of business in six months.”
“But we’ve been at it for three years. NECW has a vision for what it wants to do and a sense of direction that’s usually lacking at this level. That makes it a lot easier to go out and get your energy up.”
The brains behind NECW is lifelong Bostonian Sheldon Goldberg, 47, made his mark in the city theater scene, producing a Motown review called “Dancing in the Street!” that ran for two years and followed with a run at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C.
Goldberg is also a lifelong fan of the grappling game, having spent many childhood nights sneaking away from his parents’ home in Mattapan to catch the exploits of old-school stars such as Bruno Sammartino, Pedro Morales, and Chief Jay Strongbow at the Boston Garden.
“I certainly didn’t set out to become a wrestling promoter,” said Goldberg. “I always loved the wrestling business and one thing led to another.”
In the early 1990’s, he published a wrestling memorabilia newsletter called Mat Marketplace. By 1997, he had helped broker deals that ultimately landed Japanese wrestling standouts Taka Michinoku and The Great Sasuke full-time contracts with the WWE.
The creation of NECW came three years ago, after business associate Anthony Magliaro of Revere, a successful North Shore promoter known to wrestling fans as The Boston Bad Boy Tony Rumble, died of a heart attack.
“Tony was my best friend in wrestling,” said Goldberg. “He lived for the business… We had a shared goal of running a regional wrestling promotion… I didn’t want to let all the effort he put into building the local wrestling scene die with him.”
For decades, local promoters operated on a simple formula: A typical wrestling show would be sold for a flat fee to a local charity, which would then sell the tickets and keep the profits. Frequently, the show was main-evented by former Garden headliners, such as King Kong Bundy and Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, with local talent filling out the show.
National-name grapplers might help draw a crowd for one night, but they don’t help create new stars. Local talent can’t make names for themselves if they are positioned as unimportant to the show. So out went Bundy and the Superfly. Local mainstays Wild, Alex Arion and Brutal Bob Evans became the new headliners.
“Many thought it was a big gamble on my part,” Goldberg said. “But I had faith in the quality of these guys and their marketability.”
Then there was the problem of perception. When wrestling became starkly lewder and more profane during its late-1990’s boom period, it became harder for local groups to book shows, as charities no longer wanted to be associated with wrestling.
“Only a parent can decide what’s appropriate for their kids, “ said Goldberg, who ultimately persuaded Good Time to allow monthly shows and signed on Budweiser as the main sponsor. “Wrestling is simulated competition with an element of violence. But there’s no swearing on our shows, no nudity, no man-on-women violence, no pandering to racial stereotypes. We want parents to know that NECW is as family-friendly a product as pro wrestling can be.”
Goldberg is under no impression that he is ever going to compete with WWE kingpin Vince McMahon for the national wrestling throne. What he would like is to see NECW develop a niche in the local minor-league sports landscape, competing for the same low-priced entertainment dollar as local professional baseball, hockey and lacrosse franchises.
Reaching that level will require regular television exposure, a luxury only a handful of independent organizations around the country have. NECW will hold a pilot television taping in September. Goldberg recently hired former long-time WWE announcer and behind-the-scenes manager Kevin Kelly to help with the transition.
Wrestling has lost a degree of popularity since its peak, but Kelly thinks NECW can deliver what many fans want: hard-hitting in-ring athletics without the out-of-ring soap opera. The main event at Good Time is a four-man, 45-minute, most-falls-wins showdown, with Wild putting his title on the line against Evans, Arion and Antonio “The Promise” Thomas.
“Wrestling is the same, whether it is in a big arena or at a small club,” said Kelly. “All that differs is the scope of the presentation.”
The connection at smaller venues is what keeps the wrestlers going. “When you get the crowd behind you, it is like the feeling you get when you get off a roller coaster,” said NECW’s Randy Lockwood, 20, already a four-year veteran under the name J. Busta. “There’s a real connection to the people at these events, “ he said. “I know the injuries will probably catch up to me in the long run, but I’m traveling the country, making friends along the way, and getting to meet the people and entertain them. I wouldn’t trade that for anything.”
None of the NECW wrestlers are making big money. Lockwood, of Connecticut, works both as a landscaper and at a grocery store during the week. On a recent weekend he left work on a Friday, drove to Allentown, Pa., for a booking, then turned back and wrestled in Hamden, Conn., the next night. Despres, a Fitchburg native, works for the family roofing business, Multistate Roofing of Winchendon, during the week.
“That’s just the half of it,” said Despres. “You gotta work all week, you gotta put a couple hours in the gym every day, you try to get at least one practice session in a ring to keep from getting rusty. Then you gotta travel all over for the shows.”
“You don’t get the high of performing every night,” he said. “But when you do, and have 300 people in the palm of your hand, it is a high like you’ve never experienced.”