A Brief History of: Greektown Wrestling

Hello, wrestling fans! My name is Jesse and going forward here on the Pro Wrestling Post, I will be covering Greektown Wrestling! The wrestlers, the events, anything Greektown Wrestling, I am going to be your guy! But to start, I think a little brief history of what Greektown is would be essential!

A Brief History of Greektown Wrestling

Everything starts with a vision. That’s exactly what Channing Decker and Trent Gibson (The tag team known as The Fraternity) had in 2015, with that vision it has grown into one of the most overlooked and best promotions in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) Greektown Wrestling. A hard-hitting promotion that’s highly interactive with the cult following fan base, this promotion is well known with being supportive within the community as well as exposing talent all across North America.

The Beginning 2015-2016

In 2015, Channing Decker and Trent Gibson, two former trainees of Rob Fuego from squared circle gym in Toronto took their passion and love for professional wrestling and decided to run their own promotion. Their goal, to work within the community, help build talent, also show the best wrestling North America has to offer. A Danforth local, Chris Antaras, Owner of Detroit Eatery supported the east Torontonians idea even offering his Detroit Eatery as the headquarters for ticket sales, meet and greets as well as after-parties so fans can meet there Greektown heroes.

In May 2016 at the Royal Canadian Legion, 1083 Pape Ave, Greektown started off by bringing in IMPACT star Rosemary, and then NJPW (now IMPACT) Michael Elgin! Showing the Danforth wrestling fans that they will provide the best they could for anyone who would come out. This night will forever be edged in Greektown history as “BIG TIME” Bill Collier became the first-ever Greektown Cup champion! The success of this show leads to Fall Brawl in Greektown! Fall Brawl ended up donating $500 to the Michael Garron Hospital foundation proving that this promotion truly is for the community.

2017: A Year of Growth

Wrestling is a tough business. The competition and quality of talent makes it hard for small-time promotions to make it to the next level. The Fraternity (Channing Decker and Trent Gibson) grew the popularity of small crowds of 150 people or 200 people, by using social media, and putting a lot of hard work and dedication to there newly found love, there newly found passion, there promotion Greektown Wrestling. The Greektown team showed that the saying “hard work pays off” when on February 26, 2017, Revenge in Greektown show, got some press from Inside Toronto News.

Photo Credit Greektown Wrestling
Photo Credit Greektown Wrestling

Growing sponsors with Golden Pizza, East York’s Wrestling Podcast, Cameron’s Brewing, and keeping up with the community work this charity show for the John Howard Society of Toronto saw IMPACT Rosemary return and also start the year with continuing the success from the year previous.

With a growing fan base, the Danforth promotion saw themselves switching venues to the Solvenski Dom. Along with the Greektown originals, John Atlas, Jock Samson, Bill Collier, Space Monkey, Sonny Kiss; promoters Channing Decker and Trent Gibson kept pushing to bringing in exclusive talent for their audience. With names like Joey Janela, MJF,  Aiden Prince, Joey Ryan, Colt Cabana, as well as exposing some of Canada’s best, RJ City, Alexia Nicole, TDT, Josh Alexander and Ethan Page, even bringing in Aftermath host Nug Nahrang showed that they truly are one promotion in the GTA that you need to experience.

2018: An Extreme Year

Greektown fans are like no other. They’re loud, mouthy, and truly attempt to let the wrestlers know their real feelings. Some have been die-hard fans since day one, others travel from across the GTA to see these events, everyone’s friendly in a safe environment just looking for some great wrestling. The cult following stuck with Greektown promoters Decker and Gibson throughout the start-up years, so in return, On March 18, 2018, they presented their biggest show to date, Foley In Greektown!

Greektown Wrestling
Photo Credit Greektown Wrestling
Bringing in Mick Foley was by far the biggest name to ever come to Greektown and it showed when they packed the new venue, the basement of a church, with 400 plus people! They even used Mick as the special enforcer in the main event.

Riding the wave of momentum, the promoters ran into the summer presenting Greektown X: The Dragon on June 16, 2018.

Greektown Wrestling
Photo Credit Greektown Wrestling

WWE Hall Of Famer Ricky Steamboat came to Greektown helping sell out yet another show for the East York promotion. Former WWE superstar MVP faced off against Trent Gibson while Steamboat was used as the special guest referee for main event match for the Greektown Cup Channing Decker vs John Atlas.

The grungy feel of the church basement became home for Greektown Wrestling fans. Gathering together every couple month they watch great wrestling in a friendly, safe environment where the promotion accepts everyone for who they are. Promoters keep bringing in stars of the past, present, and future to help boost ticket sales and compete with all other promotions along the Greater Toronto Area. With the shows only happening every couple months, the anticipation grew and when promoters dropped the name of the event, they just couldn’t wait.

GETTING EXTREME

Photo Credit Greektown Wrestling

On September 23, 2018, for Greektown XI: Dreamers, fans watched the slow transition of this wrestling promotion into what fans now know as the hardcore promotion it is today. With Tommy Dreamer and Hacksaw Jim Duggan as guests, fans watched Hacksaw beat Greektown original Jock Samson, while Tommy Dreamer, RJ City, and Channing Decker faced off in a triple threat match for the Greektown Cup! After a long extreme battle, fans gave one of the biggest pops in Greektown history when the Innovator of Violence, Tommy Dreamer, won the Greektown Cup.

Greektown Wrestling held there final year event of 2018 on December 16th with Greektown XII Extreme. A huge event with a pure ECW theme, bringing back Greektown Cup Champion Tommy Dreamer, Mikey Whipwreck, and Jazz. The significance of this show, however, went to ECW legend and former WWE superstar Tajiri, who was making his first Canadian appearance in nearly 15 years! With shades of ECW, the show showed some great Canadian wrestling with tag teams The North (Josh Alexander and Ethan Page) taking on a Quebec tag team TDT, as well as Alexia Nicole battling Jazz in a war all over the arena for the NWA Women’s Championship. Headlining the show, Dreamer defended his Greektown Cup against Tajiri, Channing Decker, and RJ City in an extreme rules match. The fans that night welcomed a fatal four-way brawl that went all over the arena! Dreamer was green misted by Tajiri, Decker went through a table, and City won the Greektown Cup!

Photo Credit Shooting The Indies

2019 – Present 

Heartbreak in Greektown 

On February 21, the Greektown family felt their hearts break for the Detroit Eatery, the headquarters of Greektown Wrestling, which was destroyed by a fire. For years the Detroit Eatery helped promoters, Channing Decker and Trent Gibson. It was a well-known place on the Danforth and was a devastating loss. The Greektown Cup burned in the fire, causing the promotion to lose their championship. The only thing that survived was the Greektown Wrestling banner that was signed by every legend who came through the Danforth. Golden Pizza Restaurant has since stepped up and has been a proud sponsor and host of every after-party since this happened.

Greektown Unholy

Although the Greektown team was still feeling low because of the Detroit Eatery, March 24, 2018, Greektown Unholy brought back Tajiri, Mikey Whipwreck and Jazz. Sticking to the ECW theme again, promoters brought in Little Guido to add more of a nostalgic feel. Together, fans cheered on as they watched Alexia Nicole take on Jazz in a best two out of three falls match for the NWA World Women’s Championship. Little Guido went up against Greektown’s most hated man Jock Samson in a Sicilian street fight. It was one of the most vicious matches in the history of Greektown.

Photo Credit Shooting The Indies

It was only fitting to have the Fraternity (Channing Decker and Trent Gibson) headline the show against ECW legendary tag team the Unholy Alliance, Tajiri, and Mikey Whipwreck. After the fire, Decker and Gibson felt like it was their duty within the community to get the morale up. Teaming together only brought the Danforth community together as one, it was an emotional night in Greektown.

With fans now adapted to the ECW themed shows, promoters truly had to step it up big time as the fans now expect a hardcore wrestling show and look forward to ECW legends making appearances. Still bringing in great North American talent, promoters used shades of ECW to bring a great balance to their shows and not become a stereotypical deathmatch promotion. On June 23, 2019, promoters put on Greektown 2300, bringing in the first-ever ECW Heavyweight Champion Shane Douglas, Blue Meanie, and the suicidal, homicidal, genocidal, death-defying maniac, SABU! The hardcore Greektown fans jam-packed the basement of the church as they watched Shane Douglas embarrass Jock Samson and Blue Meanie entertain the classic ECW fans with a comedic match with Allysin Kay, Pretty Ricky Wildly, and PUF.

With the main event being Channing Decker versus Sabu, fans knew that this would be one you wouldn’t want to miss and was a big reason this event was a sellout. Sabu and Decker fought all over the arena with all of Sabu’s classic ECW spots, as well as barbed wire, these two completely stole and stamped Greektown Wrestling as the best hardcore wrestling promotion within the GTA. Although the matched stamped the promotion as hardcore wrestling, it was solidified when at the end of the show Shane Douglas gave an emotional speech about the Detroit Eatery fire and fans before handing Channing Decker his very own personal ECW Heavyweight Championship. However, the belt is just on a loan, so expect a future Franchise appearance to reclaim it.

 

Greektown Wrestling
Photo Credit Shooting The Indies

With the massive success and positive feedback from Greektown 2300, the same night they announced that, on August 8th, Greektown Hotwired will feature ECW legend Rhyno. Promoters surprised fans by announcing that Hotwired will be the first TV taping for RDS2 and Fight Network, as well as Quebec promotion IWS (International Wrestling Syndicate) invading Greektown!

The passion and love for professional wrestling aren’t just within the Greektown Wrestling team, but it’s with the fans! The cult-like following for this promotion has brought so much success and an alternative to what’s already in the GTA.

Only one thing is for sure…

The Future is Extreme!

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