Author: DJ Jarka

Hello everybody! Welcome to another edition of my referee experience blog. In this entry, I review my time at Empire State Wrestling’s WrestleBash XII. This was ESW and my, final event for 2022. Let’s take a gander at how it went. WrestleBash XII went down on Black Friday at Buffalo RiverWorks. This was one of my first Friday wrestling shows in a long time. I cannot even guess on the last one. However, ESW previously ran on Black Friday in 2008 (then under the NEW Niagara umbrella) at the Kenan Center in Lockport, N.Y. Although it was out of the…

A new tradition was born nine years ago that honors Buffalo’s wrestling past and connects it to independent wrestling’s modern-day stars. This trophy match links its winner to one of the Queen City’s most recognized wrestling names. This is the history of The llio DiPaolo Memorial Cup. On November 20, 2013, the first Ilio DiPaolo Memorial Cup match took place at the Kenan Center in Lockport, N.Y. at Empire State Wrestling’s WrestleBash 2013. The match featured six combatants who quested for the trophy in the inaugural bout. Along with the DiPaolo Cup itself, the winner also received an ESW title…

Hello, everybody! Welcome back for another entry in my time as an independent wrestling referee! This blog is about my experiences at Empire State Wrestling’s Overdrive event on Saturday, October 8, at Buffalo RiverWorks with Empire State Wrestlings Overdrive 2022. Let’s jump into this exciting show! With roughly a two month gap in between bookings, I went to the Buffalo Wrestling Academy in the Eastern Hills Mall in Williamsville, N.Y. (a quick drive from my house for me) to keep some ring rust off and chat it up with some trainees. ESW recently began partnering with BWA to be its…

A match nearly a year in the making will finally occur this Saturday when Empire State Wrestling presents Overdrive 2022. After “The Aesthetic Crippler” Kevin Blackwood won the Empire State Wrestling Heavyweight Championship in November 2021, his former close friend “The Remix” Kevin Bennett demanded a match against him for the title. About 11 months since issuing that initial challenge, the two Kevins will square off for the promotion’s top title at Overdrive at Buffalo RiverWorks. Blackwood originally was set to put the Heavyweight title on the line against Bennett in March at Spring Breakdown. However, Bennett suffered an injury…

When the music of Frankie Feathers hit at Empire State Wrestling’s 20 event, he approached the ring as the promotion’s longest-running ESW Interstate Champion during Frankie’s Interstate Flight. As the remix of Tom Jones’s “It’s Not Unusual” reverbed throughout Buffalo RiverWorks, Feathers anticipated extending his multi-year title reign. However, Alec Price prevented that from occurring. Price, one of the hottest wrestlers on the U.S. independent wrestling scene, captured the prize of the Interstate title and, with that, ended Feathers’s stretch with the belt. Although that match is a blemish on Feathers’ record, it marks a prestigious milestone in his career.…

Empire State Wrestling’s 20 Hello, everybody. Thank you again for coming to read my blog about my times as a referee. This entry is about my latest show that occurred on Saturday, August 13: Empire State Wrestling’s 20 at Buffalo RiverWorks. The show was aptly named 20 as it was ESW’s 20th-anniversary celebration. Let’s jump into the details: With a roughly two-month break in between bookings for me, I went to ESW’s new wrestling school in Niagara Falls, N.Y. called the ESW Training Academy. I refereed a practice match to help keep the ring rust off, met some of ESW’s…

Empire State Wrestling presents 20. When examining the course of independent wrestling over any two-decade span, many changes are abundant in various aspects. Promotions start and fold. Wrestlers’ careers rise and fall. Venues open their doors and then close down. Anything that can stay consistent within independent wrestling for that long is worth memorializing. That is why Empire State Wrestling’s event on Saturday is being considered not just another show in its ongoing history, but a celebration of its past and present successes over the last 20 years. Empire State Wrestling presents 20 Empire State Wrestling (ESW) aptly named this…

Hello, everybody! Thanks again for reading my blog on my times as a referee. This edition is about Empire State Wrestling’s “Black & Blue” their latest event in Niagara Falls, N.Y. This show felt different than the last several ESW events but it remained a good, fun time. Lets jump into the details! Unlike last month, none of my children helped with ring crew. Setup was on Saturday morning which I could not attend because my daughter’s dance recital studio rehearsal was that day. I prepped her like a normal Saturday morning dance day plus some additional things before we…

Hello, everyone; here is my blog on my time at Empire State Wrestling’s Brawlfest 2022 on Saturday, May 21, at Buffalo RiverWorks. I am proud of how well this show went off and with how many people I shared the euphoric atmosphere with.  Brawlfest was a bright spot in a span of tragedy that gripped our nation, and with one of these terrible events striking close to home. The mass shooting in Buffalo the week before the event broke my heart, and before the healing process began, the school shooting in Texas just confounded these awful feelings. Yet, wrestling is…

Empire State Wrestling presents Brawlfest 2022. When the opening bell rings for Empire State Wrestling’s second event of the year, it will do so after a significant reconfiguration of its top-billed bout. After a major change to its originally announced main event for Saturday’s Brawlfest at Buffalo RiverWorks, the already potent lineup Empire State Wrestling (ESW) planned on showcasing may end up being even stronger than first conceived while also remaining the most impressive independent wrestling card in Western New York so far this year. “We are very excited to be back at RiverWorks,” said ESW promoter Brett Mednik. “The…