Hello, everybody!
Thanks again for coming to read about my life as a referee on the independent wrestling scene. This blog is regarding my time at Empire State Wrestling’s All I Do Is Win event in Niagara Falls, N.Y. last month. Outside of wrestling, my life was a big whirlwind over the last few weeks. I apologize for taking longer than normal to get this one posted. That being said, let’s jump into the happenings!
This was ESW’s first event of the 2023. It was also our return to the Frontier Fire Hall after not running there since June of last year and the second consecutive ESW event held on a Friday night. The last one was on Black Friday. However, All I Do Is Win was held on a Friday to not conflict with any potential Buffalo Bills playoff game.
All I Do Is Win
It was a different feel running on a regular Friday night than the day after a holiday. My family could not make it to this one because of that and ring crew was spread out over the Wednesday and Thursday before. I was able to drive up on Wednesday night and help with my daughter and previous ESW wrestler Steve Gage. Setup may have been a little out of sync, but I think All I Do Is Win still came off real well.
Unsurprisingly, my show day was also different than normal. I went to a doctor’s appointment in the morning then needed to run several errands. Then I waited for my mom to come by to watch the kids before I was able to embark to the fire hall.
This show featured myself and Richard Head along with Referees Bruce Davis and Ryan Rice. Davis was in town from California. The two of us worked several shows together years ago before moving to the West Coast. It was good to see him again. Rice is a student of ECW alumni H.C. Loc and is getting a good amount of work with other promotions across the state. I thought he did a good job on the night and hope to work with him some more.
I was assigned three matches for the night. My first was “Invincible” Vince Valor versus JaXon Argos. This was my first time refereeing Argos in singles action and another in a long slew of Valor matches for me. I enjoyed working it overall as I felt more engaged with the match itself based on how Argos and Valor worked together, especially with the comedy spots. A more classic-style of wrestling match that works the fans rather than an athletic spotfest is more effective in getting over in this type of setting and it hit the mark.
My next match was “Your Captain” Nick Ando against “Courageous” Christina Marie. Ando was originally scheduled to be a part of a five-way match earlier on the show but decided he was too good to wrestle in it and opted out.
He came out later and called out anyone to face him and Christina Marie responded. Christina Marie is one of the most over wrestlers on the entire roster and it showed. Ando proved to be his dastardly self and pulled off the win against the crowd’s rooting interest.
After the Frank Feathers-Darren Crowe match, I needed to run out with the security guards to breakup a brawl that started between Feathers and Valor. These ex-friends’ feud is really starting to boil over. It is wild to see how much they hate each other after being so chummy for so long. This is going to come to a head soon.
My final assignment was a 3-on-3 tag team match of Edge of Hope (Cerin Rahne, Jeremiah Richter and Mattick) versus Delskin Alekzander, “Rock Star” Robby Vegas and “Filthy” Maxx Cannon. Props to Alekzander for chugging some “yak’s milk” out of his Viking horn on the ring apron and spitting it out.
That wonderful dairy drink was quite spoiled when he started consuming it. I am glad he did not throw it up in front of everyone because I probably would have in his situation. The match was real busy as one would expect with EoH taking home the win at the end.
I did not work with these wrestlers that night but still want to give some shout outs:
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- “The Scramble God” Chase Oliver from Cleveland, Ohio won the four-way scramble match and looks like a potential star in the near future.
- CXR versus Miracle Generation was a banger.
- “The Gift” Jason Kincaid returned to face ESW Interstate Champion “The Prize” Alec Price in a match my friends enjoyed immensely.
- “The Holy Hand Grenade” James Sayga beat “Hybrid” Sean Carr and I think Sayga has the makings to be Buffalo’s next breakout star.
- The main event delivered and saw “The Remix” Kevin Bennett retain the ESW Heavyweight Championship against “Big Time” Bill Collier but needed a ton of help from his crew.
Post-show ring crew went smoothly and I hung out with some of my friends that attended. We returned to Mooney’s on Main for the afterparty. It was a great time and felt fun to stay up past 1 a.m. on a Friday night (a rarity for me these days).
That wraps up my time at All I Do Is Win. All I Do Is Win is now available on IndependentWrestling.TV. My next scheduled booking is ESW’s Tough Luck at Buffalo RiverWorks on March 18. A lot of big matches were already announced including Bennett versus “Speedball” Mike Bailey, Second Gear Crew against To Infinity & Beyond, “Blue Thunder” Jay Freddie versus Cole Radrick and more to come.
As always, thanks for reading!
