Hello, everybody! It’s been a long time since I sat down and punched out a blog. This past year was busier than I expected not just in the wrestling world but outside it, too.
With a lull in family and wrestling activities after the holiday season, I caught up with things and reached a point where I could write about my referee journey again.
The last event I blogged about was Buffalo Championship Wrestling’s February 2024 event WrestleSunday II. A full year of events occurred that I did not write about.
There is no way I can do separate blogs at this point and remember every detail about them. Things are nowhere that fresh in my mind. Instead, this blog will summarize them as much as possible. Let’s get to it. We got a ton to cover.
2024 In Review and Beyond
My next event was Pro Wrestling Rampage’s Gem City Madness at the Saga Club in Erie, Penn. This was the first PWR event in over a year.
It was revived because Empire State Wrestling purchased PWR from its ownership group. For several years, ESW looked to run smaller events to give looks to younger, up-and-coming wrestling talents and others who are not featured regularly on ESW events.
The wrestling regulations in Pennsylvania are less stringent than those in New York, which make it more feasible to hold these type of events across the state line.
My role at Gem City Madness was different from usual ESW events. For the first time ever, I ran front door operations. I checked, took and sold tickets, plus sold t-shirts honoring the late Anthony Gaines.
This freed up ESW promoter Brett Stymus to work in other areas he normally does not handle such as production. I am grateful for the help I received from Brandon Williamson and Austin Sportarico with organizing everything.
At intermission, Stymus asked me to referee a pair of matches. My first match was between Kevin Blackwood and Calvin Tankman.
This match was a last minute surprise as both of them rode in randomly with other workers on the card to hang out.
The fans at the Saga Club are used to an older style of wrestling. Considering Blackwood and Tankman are known for wrestling the “super indie” style, they did their best to adapt to the crowd in attendance.
The second match was the main event – a triple threat match between wrestlers from three different states that each competed in ESW before:
Alex Daniels, Anthony Young and Brayden Lee. I enjoyed the energy in this match and thought it was a good way to cap off the night.
My first April booking was for BCW’s Seneca-Babcock Stampede at Arlene Mychajliw Community Center in Buffalo, N.Y. I refereed a three-on-three tag team match that pitted two wrestling schools against each other.
Team Buffalo Wrestling Academy (Cal Keaton, Groff and Witch Doctor) took on Team Fighting Arts Pro Wrestling Institute (Kayda Cyn, Phinneas Sun and T.J. Kartz). FAPWI is a school located near Elmira, N.Y. that is run by former Extreme Championship Wrestling/Ring of Honor star H.C. Loc.
I refereed the main event of Loc challenging BCW-WNY Heritage Champion Robby Vegas for the title. I think the last time I refereed a match with Loc was in 2008, so I was excited to share the ring with him again.
The match was a good time. You can watch it here:
Later that month, ESW returned to Medina High School in Medina, N.Y., for Spring Smash. I refereed a five-way scramble match between Cheech, Shayne Stetson, Tommy K, Zach Nystrom, and Vegas. Cheech took the win in this one, and Nystrom and I jaw-jacked a bunch.
Later on, I worked a match between ESW Interstate Champion Spencer Slade and Colin Delaney. Slade really took it to Delaney in this one. I worked with Slade before, but his intensity in this match really stuck out.
May was one of ESW’s marquee events of the year – Brawlfest at Buffalo RiverWorks. My first match was Delaney versus Darren Crowe, in which Delaney took the win.
Next I refereed Gavin Glass versus Jeremiah Richter. The imposing Richter possessed a major size advantage, but Glass squeaked out the win to everyone’s surprise.
A memorable match that I did not work at Brawlfest was John McChesney versus Elijah (formerly known as World Wrestling Entertainment’s Elias).
The end of the match saw Elijah hit a guitar on McChesney’s head that created a major gash. It was a bloody mess in the ring to the backstage area.
It looked like a scene out of a horror movie. I alerted the EMTs that McChesney needed help and they bandaged him up along with the doctor. You can check out the clip of it here:
I then refereed a two-on-one handicap match between Randy P and Frank Feathers versus Vinnie Moon. Will Calrissian was supposed to tag with Moon but Randy and Feathers “took him out”. The duo brutalized Moon on their way to victory.
My June started with returning to the Saga Club in Erie for PWR’s Changing The Game. I worked the door again and was shaky to start but got into a rhythm.
After the opening bell, it got boring sitting by myself so I snuck down the hall and caught the action when I could. After Vince Valor beat Price Purgold, Valor announced that PWR was turning into ESW Keystone.
I refereed two matches after intermission. First was Cloudy against Zoey Skye. Skye took the win in an entertaining match.
The second was between PWR (now ESWK) Lake Erie Champion Dakoda Orion versus Dave Bentley. Several years went by since the last time I did a match with either of them.
Bentley tried some shenanigans in the match and nearly came away with the belt. But in the end, Orion retained the title.
My next June show was for BCW at Stack Burger in Lackawanna for Saturday Night Stack. The event was held outdoors behind a burger restaurant.
I was the only ref on the show and ended up doing five of the six matches – one of them had a surprise special guest referee which allowed me to rest.
The first one was between The American Avenger and T.J. Kartz. This was the first time Kartz ever wrestled a match as a heel. Watch the match here:
The second one was a battle of BWA students: Brennen The First against Groff. After this match, I heard a snap as I left the ring.
I refereed the next match between Dan Joseph and Aiden Thatcher, granted it was uncomfortable needing to constantly adjust my pants throughout it. Luckily, I borrowed one from Williamson to get me through the day. See the match here:
After the tag titles match with the guest referee spot, I did Tommy K against Crowe. View that match here:
We wrapped up with the main event of Vegas versus Matt McCoy for the BCW WNY Heritage Championship. The owner of Stack Burger is a good friend of Vegas and accompanied him at ringside.
McCoy worked as a heel for the match which was interesting because I never saw him work heel on a live event before. The match was full of heat as McCoy called out Vegas’s grandma in the audience on her birthday. Watch the main event here:
After the show ended, I sat down and ate a really good chicken parm sandwich with a few fans before heading to the after party down the street at Steel City Pub.
ESW held Everything To Gaine at Buffalo RiverWorks in July. The event was headlined by the Everything To Gaine Rumble – a traditional royal rumble match where the winner received a shot at the ESW Heavyweight Championship at WrestleBash in November.
The match and event are a tribute to Gaines. ETG was held on one of the ice rinks at RiverWorks, which allowed us to host more vendor tables than usual.
The rumble featured some familiar names like Calrissian and Jonny Puma, some surprises like “Buffalo Bad Boy” Brian Jennings and ring announcer Jimmy Hills, and higher profile stars Loc and ex-WWE star Ricardo Rodriguez.
Valor came away victorious, earning a title shot against Bill Collier in November while also paying homage to Gaines. It was an emotional day for all involved.
My other July booking was for BCW at the Donovan Post in Cheektowaga, N.Y. for Chaos in Cheektovegas. I refereed the opening bout between McCoy and Joseph which got over well. You can watch the match here.
I then worked Delsin Alekzander versus former WWE star Trevor Lee. That was an intense match between the two despite Lee experiencing a brief injury scare. View this match here:
I also did a tag match pitting Keaton and Principe against Crowe and Groff. Watch that match here:
August was the first ever ESW Keystone event at the Saga Club. I refereed Bentley versus Vegas. You could say it was a battle of progressive rock versus hair metal, but I thought Bentley’s music sounded more like yacht rock.
I also did the main event of Channing Decker challenging Spencer Slade for the ESW Interstate Championship. The match got weird, including me getting school boyed by a temporarily blinded Slade and Decker using my arm to clothesline Slade and then declaring me the winner. It was certainly out-of-the-ordinary.
September was BCW’s Big Fall Bash at the Mychajliew Community Center. My first match was One Shot (what Keaton and Principe now call themselves) against Alienated Youth – a young tag team from Ohio. Check it out here:
My second match featured Shockwave the Robot versus the evil Russian Viktor Vanko. I never saw Shockwave perform before and it was something I never saw at a wrestling event before. If you get a chance to see Shockwave wrestle, it’s an interesting experience. See it for yourself here:
My final match was the main event of Vegas defending the belt against Witch Doctor in a lumberjack match. With all the lumberjacks at ringside, there were lots of commotions.
In the end, the still newly heel Vegas retained the title. Check out the shenanigans for yourself here:
October included ESW and ESW Keystone events. The month started with Evil Empire at the Frontier Fire Hall in Niagara Falls. There were a lot of changes to the card leading up to the event, but the show was total banger.
My first match was James Sayga against National Wrestling Alliance star Rush Freeman. Before Sayga could challenge Slade for the ESW Interstate Championship, he needed to go through Slade’s old tag partner in Freeman. Sayga succeeded in winning the bout and earned the title shot in November.
I then refereed an Ilio DiPaolo Memorial Cup qualifier match between McChesney and Gavin Glass. It looked like Glass was going to defeat McChesney, until McChesney pulled up in agony because of a knee injury.
I stopped the match and got help for McChesney to exit the ring. Suddenly, McChesney hit a super kicker on Glass leading to a crafty win to earn a spot in the DiPaolo Cup match.
My next match was Moon and Calrissian versus Randy P and Keaton. The match was originally supposed to feature Randy teaming with Feathers, but the sneaky Moon and Calrissian locked him in a closet, leading to Randy scrambling to find Keaton to be his new partner.
I was yanked out of the ring toward the end, allowing Kevin Bennett to make a surprise return and help Randy and Keaton get the win. This led to Puma to run out and chase off Bennett, Randy and Keaton and set up a three-on-three tag match in November.
The main event was originally scheduled to be “Speedball” Mike Bailey versus Alec Price. A travel issue led to Price not making it to Evil Empire.
This led to Blackwood making an unannounced appearance as a replacement. The match tore the house down. After the show, multiple people, including some who attended ESW fans for many years, told me that Bailey vs. Blackwood was the best match in company history. I highly recommend catching it on IndependentWrestling.TV.
The ESW Keystone event in October saw us a little shorthanded staffwise. The only referees on the show were Referee Brody Cole and myself.
So Brody did a bulk of the first few matches while I worked the door. I worked the ESW Lake Erie Championship matchup between Orion and Alekzander to start. After that I did a tag match between Erie’s own 9PM and Ohio’s Kash Inc.
Finally, I refereed a Erie Street Fight Tag Team Match that saw Matt McCoy and Tommy K take on William Gaines and Groff.
There were lots of weapons used and even some blood. McCoy and Tommy K took home the win and left Gaines laying in the ring. He stayed there while all the fans left and as the ring crew began tearing down the ring.
November was ESW’s big year-end event WrestleBash XIV held at Buffalo RiverWorks. Shoutout to all the vendors that came out.
I am glad they did well business wise. We started the night with the Last Chance Battle Royal with the winner getting the final spot in the DiPaolo Cup match.
After losing out on a spot to McChesney in November, Glass outlasted everyone to win the Battle Royal and be the final entrant.
After that, I did Sayga versus Slade for the Interstate belt. After nearly a two-year-long chase, Sayga captured the Interstate Championship.
The next two matches I did not referee but wanted to point out. Bailey took on Gringo Loco in another banger. I think Bailey only puts on bangers.
It’s no coincidence that some people thought this was one of the best ESW matches ever. Even my family that were in attendance noted how wild it was. My daughter told me Gringo was her favorite wrestler that night and she booed Bailey.
Following that match, ESW Women’s Champion Christina Marie defended the title against Allie Katch. Referee Karen was assigned the match. To my knowledge, this was the first ever ESW match to feature all women wrestlers with a woman referee on it.
I also want to give a shoutout to Referee Dan Kreigbaum who was booked on the event. Kreigbaum is an ESW original who moved down to Florida.
He was back up in Buffalo for family reasons that night. This was the first show we reffed together since 2008. It was good to see him again.
The main event was a casket match between Bill Collier and Vince Valor for the ESW Heavyweight Championship.
This was a hard hitting bout that culminated a year-long rivalry between the two. Valor fought his way to victory, eventually slamming the casket lid shut on Collier to recapture the title he never actually lost.
I wrapped up my 2024 calendar by refereeing at Blissmas ‘24 held at RiverWorks. Do you remember hardcore band Every Time I Die’s Christmas show ‘Tid The Season? Blissmas is a continuation of this holiday season rock & wrestling event with the band Better Lover (which includes three former members of ETID).
The wrestling portion also came back and was hosted by All Elite Wrestling’s and former ETID guitarist “The Butcher” Andy Williams.
I was hyped up for this event. Initially, I was the only referee booked but Principe ended up donning the stripes to be the second referee for the day. The talent on the card included AEW stars, top local wrestlers and a few from outside the area.
My first match was between Bryan Keith and Junior Benito. Benito was instantly over when he came out and got the crowd chanting “Clap ‘Dem Cheeks!” Keith took home the win but Benito was impressive in the loss.
Next was Evil Uno versus Orange Cassidy. I believe this was the third time I refereed a Cassidy match. This was essentially an AEW match which was cut short when a slew of wrestlers randomly jumped in and interfered.
It turned into a four-on-four tag match with Cassidy, Puf, Ultramantis Black and Lucky 13 beating Uno, James Stone, Dan Champion and Dexter Doom.
I worked the main event of The Butcher and Blackwood against The Righteous. This was an awesome tag team match – the fans loved it.
We can consider this an AEW match in a way considering Blackwood made several appearances on AEW programming previously.
You can watch Blissmas ‘24 in its entirety here:
After the world’s fastest ring crew teardown, I enjoyed some great catering and music. I got to check out The Butcher’s new bad, Atomic Rule, and saw Converge and Better Lovers. During the Better Lovers set, I ran into a few friends from high school and enjoyed reconnecting with them.
The first half of the day was taping student matches. This was my first time participating in these types of recordings.
The matches are closed off to the public, with fellow wrestlers and staff acting as an audience for each bout. I got to meet and work for the first time with several newer talents from Xcite and out of the Ground Zero school in Rochester, N.Y. It was a good new experience.
Here is episode 11 of Project X which includes me refereeing Starburst against David Black and Sun: here
I also got spots on the main show which was open to the public. Along with being one of the referees for the battle royal for the Fighting Arts Pro Wrestling Institute Title won by Kayda Cyn.
I also worked two other matches. One was a 9-person tag between three teams representing each of the three schools at The X: GZ, FAPWI and BWA. The BWA took the win when Tommy K nailed a low blow with a roll up.
The whole event is viewable here:
Now we come full circle. My latest booking was for BCW’s WrestleSunday III a few weeks ago. It was the BCW’s first event held at the Renaissance Club of North Tonawanda. The venue is on a side street that I drove down many times before and did not realize was there.
When you enter the club, you go into a small dining room area, then through another door that takes you to a basketball court that seems to pop out of the blue.
The locker room is in the basement and there are a lot of old piping fixtures that indicate the building possibly was previously a speakeasy. The club is a neat little place and gave the event a homey feeling.
Many of the out-of-town guests cancelled due to a snow storm coming through our region. This led to a slimmed down card and some unannounced wrestlers appearing.
I refereed two matches. The first was Darren Crowe versus Aiden Hall. The second was 716 Tag Team Champions Drunk & Handsome (Troy Buchannan and Brian Jennings) against Local 814 (J.J. Rumham and Benett Cole).
The crowd was hot the whole night and more people showed up than I expected despite the winter storm. It was a good night, and I still made it home in time for dinner thanks to it starting in the afternoon.
I will be honest, I don’t know when I will do my next blog. I hope to be more current moving forward but cannot guarantee it.
There are a lot of things going on outside my wrestling life that make sitting down and pounding out these blog posts tough. We’ll see what occurs. At minimum, I hope to keep up with the ESW preview articles I routinely put out before.
My next two bookings are in March for ESW. The first is on March 8 for ESW Keystone in Erie and the second is for ESW in Niagara Falls on March 15.
As always, thank you for reading!
