The Tale of Turn It Up | Jarkaster Journey

The Tale of Turn It Up

Hello, everybody!

Thanks for checking out my latest blog on my times as a referee. This entry is on Empire State Wrestling’s Turn It Up that went down in Niagara Falls on September 23. Let’s get going on what occurred at ESW’s first show of the fall.

My week heading into this show was super hectic. One of my best buddies from high school, known as Martin J. Prescott III of The Rich Kidz when he was an active pro wrestler, got married the day before Turn It Up.

The Tale of Turn It Up

The Thursday before was the rehearsal, and a dinner at his parent’s house afterward. In between, I stopped at my daughter’s school for her open house. The wedding day was long but a lot of fun. It was an honor to be one of his groomsmen.

The morning of Turn It Up, I took my daughter to dance class, then dropped her off at a birthday party before heading up to Frontier Fire Hall. Due to the Scotty 2 Hotty seminar that afternoon, I did not need to arrive until 3 p.m.

Since I wasn’t attending it, a significant amount of wrestlers and trainees took part in it and received an excellent learning experience.

I helped bring Crush-It Nutrition as a vendor to Turn It Up. They served some refreshing drinks that I think a lot of people enjoyed. I hope they can show up to more future events.

I also provided Yubb’s Restaurant in Wheatfield with some fliers that they handed out with their orders as the fire hall orders its pizza from there.

My family attended this one. Normally, they go to Buffalo shows instead but they took the trek to Niagara Falls. I appreciate them coming up for the event and glad they enjoyed the show.

The refs for the night were Richard Head, Ryan Rice and myself. I worked four matches on the night.

My first was a pre-show four-way match between Matt McCoy, Adrian Alvarez, Sebastian Braun, and Tommy K. This was a showcase of several younger wrestlers looking to leave their mark on ESW.

McCoy scored the win via pinfall. Braun was tangled up in the ropes at the end and hurt his knee, so I helped him to the back, and then found the doctor to check him out. Thankfully, he was OK.

My next assignment was ESW Heavyweight Champion Kevin Bennett defending the title against Vinnie Moon. This was an impromptu match as Moon interrupted a “funeral” that Bennett held memorializing the supposed end of Vince Valor and Bill Collier’s friendship.

Moon and his manager Will Calrissian were celebrating the one-year anniversary of their working relationship, with Moon bringing flowers to the ring that Calrissian gave to him. Moon eventually asked to challenge Bennett for the belt, but Bennett said that wouldn’t be happening tonight.

As Bennett and his crew were leaving the ring, he made a crude comment about Moon’s wife, leading to him smacking Bennett in the face with his flowers. Bennett then called for a referee and said Moon was getting his match right now.

So I darted out there and got everything going. They both hit some vicious moves on each other, including Moon nailing a Canadian Destroyer. While counting the pinfall, Oliver Street Express rudely pulled me out of the ring.

Thankfully, I landed all right and admonished them. While doing this, I watched Bennett hit Moon with the belt. It was an immediate disqualification. A flurry of action ensued afterward that led to Calrissian and Frank Feathers staring at each other done in the middle of the ring before exiting.

I then refereed Haley Dylan versus Taylor Rising. These two laid into one another. I had a lot of fun refereeing it, and the fans dug it. Rising nailed a pedigree on Dylan to pick up the win.

My last assignment was Kevin Blackwood versus Isaiah Broner. I anticipated this match being super hard-hitting, and it delivered much so. I was amazed by how much punishment these two unleashed on one another, and the crowd ate everything up.

During the next match, Head took a vicious kick into the turnbuckles via Cerin Rahne. I needed to help him to the back after the match. Thank goodness he was fine.

During the main event between Collier and Valor, the two competitors crashed through the timekeeper’s table. Head and I came out because it looked like the match wouldn’t continue.

However, Collier rose up and ordered Rice to count out Valor. We exited to let the match play out. Valor somehow made it into the ring to beat the 10 count, and the match went forward.

After the show wrapped up, many of us headed to Mooney’s on Main for the afterparty and to celebrate our ring announcer Chris Gullo’s birthday. It was a good time, as usual, and I enjoyed one of the newer subs that were added to the menu.

That’s it for my time at Turn It Up. My next blog will be on Buffalo Championship Wrestling’s The Big Fall Bash.

As always, thanks for reading!