The Return
Hello, everybody!
Thank you once again for reading my blog. My last entry was far from my usual chipper ones. But I can say with confidence that this one is much different.
Let’s start where I left off in February, approaching my final treatment of my chemotherapy cycle in early March. The last treatment went as smoothly as possible.
The post-treatment fatigue was as tough as it’s been, granted there were no major medical incidents, so I buckled down and hoped that I was at the end of the tunnel soon. I was ready to be done with all this, and get back to living life my own way.
April was still my target for my return. Everything was pointing toward it. Shortly after the time my body was expecting to receive its next treatment, I began feeling better quickly. My urge was to jump back into things fast but my wife helped slow me down to take a gradual approach to things.
Empire State Wrestling was originally scheduled to hold matches at the University at Buffalo’s Bullsapalooza 2026 in late April and I eyed that as my return event.
A few weeks before, I went to the Buffalo Wrestling Academy to knock off my ring rust. It went well, better than I expected.
It felt like riding a bike again after a long layoff. I returned for a seminar with The Blade and refereed some practice matches and felt even better after.
However, the original date for Bullsapalooza was postponed due to the weather. It ended up being the first Sunday in May, the same week as ESW’s Brawlfest 2026. This was fine with me. I liked the idea of doing two events in a week to test myself.
It meant a lot to return to UB. Many things changed there over the years and I don’t know as many people as I once did, but there are always a lot of good memories heading back to campus. It felt appropriate for this one to be my first show back.
That being said, I headed into Bullsapalooza with medical uncertainty over my head. My April PET scan showed a spot in the area of my lymph nodes that were infected. Based on the imaging, my doctor could not rule me in remission without requiring further testing.
It could be benign, it could be large-cell lymphoma, we did not know until receiving a sample. A biopsy was scheduled after the week of these events.
Considering the news, I still felt good, real good, the best I felt in over six months. Maybe I was not in remission but I was not letting that phase me for at least that week.
I wanted to ref again and if the results were gloomy, at least I could say I returned for a short period of time and prove to myself and everyone around me that I could still do this.
The Return
The treatment for large cell lymphoma is significantly more intense, albeit extremely effective. So if that was the case, I’d enjoy this week of wrestling before it may be taken away from me again.
Early May in Western New York can be gorgeous or flat out crummy. For Bullsapalooza, it was toward the latter. It was a cloudy, windy day with a high that broke 60 degrees if lucky.
It was not ideal weather for a fair with outdoor wrestling and was likely the coldest event I ever refereed on. The ring was set up again in front of O’Brian Hall – home to UB’s Law School – and we turned the seating area inside into a makeshift locker room which was quite pleasant.
Once the setup was complete, there was time for us to wander around North Campus. A few of us ventured to Broadview Arena (formerly known as Alumni Arena) and took some pictures. I also ate lunch with some of the BWA students and got to learn more about them.
The referees for the day were myself, Andrew Mollon and Nick Robbins. This was the first event Mollon and I did together since December 2019. Robbins is a BWA student who recently began refereeing on events.
I met him before and gave him some pointers but this was the first time we worked together on the same event and his first time refereeing at ESW.
My first assigned match was the opening bout between Mattick and Matt McCoy. The two of them used their position on the card to feel out the crowd and see what worked and didn’t and helped set the tempo for the rest of the day. McCoy took the win.
After that, I worked the match between Criterion and Groff versus Starburst and Tyrone Parker. This was a good tuneup for Criterion and Groff before they faced Tommy Dreamer and Channing Decker later in the week.
Also of note, Keenan Moore of Starburst was a graduating senior at UB for this match and this was Parker’s wrestling debut. Criterion and Groff were victorious in this one.
I then refereed a very familiar face against a student that I shared the ring with the first time on show. Former ESW Tag Team Champion Roscoe Black took on the recently debuted Michael Malachi.
Black and I go way back together. We worked many of the same promotions at the same time over the years. Our wrestling careers also grew at roughly to say time.
He was a rookie in Old School Pro Wrestling and Next Era Wrestling around the time I started working at both, then we both moved into Pier 6 Wrestling and Empire State Wrestling also about the same time. It felt good to be with him on my first show back.
The bout was a squash match. Black demolished Malachai and then asked if there was anyone else that could challenge him.
Vince Valor responded and the two engaged in a street fight that saw a variety of foreign objects used. Valor won the brutal match to the delight of all the students in attendance.
After the match, Valor took the microphone and to my surprise put me over to the audience, and put me over to the crowd and recognized the health issues I endured. I am forever grateful that he said such kind words about me that night.
Post-event, I talked with one of the Student Association organizers about the event, cleaned up and enjoyed some barbeque from one of the food trucks.
I hope this continues to be an annual event for ESW. It’s a great way to give our local roster members extra experience and also entertain the student body of the biggest university in Western New York.
I’d love to bring ESW to more local universities and high schools. If you possess a connection to do so, feel free to contact me and maybe we can work something out!
Next up was Brawlfest. I returned to my role of organizing the vendor tables along with my regular referee duties. It went smoother than I imagined.
I got to meet a few people in person that I talked to previously but could not due to me staying home. The refs were Mollon, Robbins, Richard Head and myself.
We went head-to-head against a Buffalo Sabres home playoff game for the first time in recent memory. KeyBank Center is also right around the corner from Buffalo RiverWorks.
The draw was lower than previous super shows but still held up pretty well considering the competition. Our show was a lot more entertaining than the beating the Sabres received that night at the hands of the Montreal Canadians, as well.
My first assignment was the ESW Women’s Championship match between the reigning champ Christina Marie versus Lady Frost.
The special guest ring announcer was Ubebee from the Queen City Roller Derby as part of our cross-promotional efforts.
This was my first time reffing Frost. The match started quick as Frost jumped Christina from behind after she hit her signature pre-match top rope flip.
They kept brawling around in what was a hardhitting match. Christina took home the win to continue her impressive win streak with the title. The mysterious Hellbrid also came out at the end again and handed Christina the belt for unknown reasons.
I next refereed Dreamer and Decker versus Criterion and Groff with Brian DeVille at ringside for the trio. This was a handicap match that evolved into a hardcore melee that everyone enjoyed.
Dreamer and Decker were victorious despite being outnumbered. This was my second time refereeing a Dreamer match.
After intermission, I worked the match of Spencer Slade versus Brennen The First. Still looking for his first ESW win, Brennen showed some fight but Slade’s intensity was too much for him.
Slade wouldn’t let go of his submission post-match which led to ESW Heavyweight Champion Gregory Iron to come out and confront Slade. Chaos continued to ensue which led to the return of Dick Justice who announced he was the new ESW Commissioner.
After things calmed down, Cheech came out to face Iron, finally getting his promised title shot. I stayed out there to officiate the match. Iron was successful in his defense.
My last appearance was during the tag team gauntlet match to determine the new ESW Tag Team Champions. After Valor brutally turned on his friend Gavin Glass, myself and fellow referees needed to remove Glass from ringside. He was in no condition to compete in the match let alone with a partner who just destroyed him.
That wrapped up my week of wrestling. However, the eventfulness did not end for me there. My next step in my medical process was the scheduled biopsy.
How that works is a CT scan is done of the area, and then the biopsy is conducted based on the immediate imaging.
