Post by ipwgreg on Sept 13, 2010 13:44:06 GMT -5
Now that we had made our way back to Indianapolis and the new building in Fountain Sq. a few things had changed. Guys like Rick Ravage and Violent Ed, TVZ, and yes E.Z. Cruz had started to drift away from IPW for one reason or another. Cruz had one last match with IPW with Brandon Prophet and to be honest, it just wasn’t there for either man. Guys like the Airborne were starting to really emerge as top level talent, and a whole new group of guys were showing up.
Believe it or not, Diehard Dustin Lee brought a group of young guys in with him from Evansville. They had been working down there every week for Colisseum Championship Wrestling . I believe the four guys he brought up were Kai , Hex Gage, Ricochet, and Chuck Taylor. I swear Ricochet was only 17 or so at the time and actually brought a notarized waiver from his mother. I really don’t remember much about Kai, so I wont even talk about him.
Hex Gage. -This guy just looked like an athlete, and when he wanted to he was as good as anyone. He was actually a founding member of the Council of Champions. He still has to my opinion the Best Shooting Star Press in the business. He was a bit quiet, which is why we put him with my group, but he had that arrogant thingyy attitude that made him perfect for us. You want to see a great match, his ladder match with I believe it was Dave Crist ( May have been Jake) It was the best Ladder match in the history of IPW if you ask me. It was Jake Crist by the way.
Ricochet- Man this kid was good. To be honest he is one of those guys who is just too nice for this business. Just a pleasant guy . But he could fly.. let me repeat myself HE COULD FLY!!! I can honestly say this, in my opinion he makes Matt Sydal look like King Kong Bundy he is that good a flyer. Dave Crist saw him in the ring and went to Mike and said “ Let me work with him, he has so much potential and I know I can help him get there” The matches were amazing, and at times stiff as hell. Point in fact. While doing a double moonsault, he ended up kneeing Dave in the nuts…. That was funny.
Chuck Taylor- What a guy, Charisma, and ability. I am so happy that Chuck has come as far as he has in this business. Not only that he has so far to go yet. I would have never thought he would get over as strong as he has. Look at it. Chuck has worked steadily for – IPW, IWA, Chickara, PWG, CZW,Evolve, DG-USA and been to Japan. Good for you Chuck !!!
Things were really picking up at this point, we had become a place people contacted looking for work. Quality talent that knew we were building a strong reputation for good strong matches.
Thinking about new faces in IPW as we made our way to Fountain Sq. I would be remiss if I did not mention Cannonball Sami Callihan . Now I have never tried to hide my opinion of him as a person, but that is not what this is about. Sami made his way into IPW through Carlton Kaz. At this time, he was 5’6” maybe, and about 300 lb. He literally was a cannonball. It was like watching Chris Farley if he were a wrestler. Very entertaining, but still very green at this point. He came in a few times , wrestled some ok matches, but it just wasn’t happening. Honestly I think he had some personal issues with someone else on the roster and we chose that guy over Sami. I may be wrong on that one, but to be completely honest, it just wasn’t his time yet.
Hillbilly Jedd and Dave Davidson were tearing it up over the Grand Championship, and Carlton Kaz and Scotty Vortekz were on fire over the Mid-American title. Who can forget their Thumbtac match. 1 thumbtac match… that may be a first in the history of wrestling. I remember being at ringside with Kaz and yelling at the ref because the d**n Tac kept falling over and making him put it tac side up again. Oh those were fun times.
That was also the time when we introduced a member of my “ Family” to wrestling. Craig Carey…. He was supposed to be my nephew, but during the interview I mistakenly said he was my little brother. My Half brother from my Fathers second marriage. The introduction came during a Ladder Match, where “ Craig” was supposed to untie the rope holding the belt up in the air, well he did his job, and the rope was let go, and the belt started coming down… and then it stopped. It Just STOPPED!! I looked around in a panic, this was the finish of the match. What do I see? Three young fans all holding the d**n rope and refusing to let go !! I grabbed that rope and tried to jerk it out of their hands, giving myself ropeburns in the process but those little bastards would not let go !! If I got a rope burn, I wonder what their hands looked like. I threatened them, I called for security, but to no avail.. I think it did take security to get that d**n rope out of their hands… but it did mess with the finish. The whole idea behind “ Craig” was to give me a bit of a break. I was involved in as many as four matches a show, most of them in the second half…. But if I had my “ Little Brother” there to help I wouldn’t have to remember so much and would not risk screwing up a finish. Trust me, it happens. The character itself was this, or the backstory if you will. “ After my parents split up, my Father remarried to a wealthy woman and they had Young Craig… having no real history with him, he sought me out when he turned 18 and we developed a bond. All he wanted was to please the older brother he never knew. All I wanted was access to the $$ his mother had. “ We had some fun with him too. He took the thumbtack bump instead of Kaz, and we also dressed him as J.C. Bailey and had him wrestle Dave Davidson… we used magic marker to put the tattoos on him… I think we had him “ Wrestle “ twice… one time getting Dave Davidson in the “ Carey Lock” during his “ Carey Lock Challenge” he was there as both a sympathetic heel because of his ties with the C.o.C. but also as a bit of comic relief. I have one more Craig Carey story here before I am done with him.
This involves a match between Chad Collyer and Dave Davidson. For some reason, both Craig and I were at ringside for this one. Dave has Chad draped over the middle rope outside the ring… I motion for Craig to get involved. Thinking he would go Choke Chad while Dave and I distract the ref… craig walks by and calmly Slaps Chad in the face!!! You had to be at ringside to see the look on Chad’s face, because the way it was done was so nonchalantly that it was disrespectful. Craig didn’t know any better. Chad calls for the same spot, and Dave lets me know to send Craig over there again… I do and Collyer Paintbrushes that poor 90lb kid so hard I though there were teeth in the front row. He then took the kid in the locker room and explained to him why it was disrespectful and what to do in that situation. Craig was very polite and respectful as well as apologetic.
These trips down memory lane are fun, and I am sure I will have more stories to tell.
Greg Carey
Believe it or not, Diehard Dustin Lee brought a group of young guys in with him from Evansville. They had been working down there every week for Colisseum Championship Wrestling . I believe the four guys he brought up were Kai , Hex Gage, Ricochet, and Chuck Taylor. I swear Ricochet was only 17 or so at the time and actually brought a notarized waiver from his mother. I really don’t remember much about Kai, so I wont even talk about him.
Hex Gage. -This guy just looked like an athlete, and when he wanted to he was as good as anyone. He was actually a founding member of the Council of Champions. He still has to my opinion the Best Shooting Star Press in the business. He was a bit quiet, which is why we put him with my group, but he had that arrogant thingyy attitude that made him perfect for us. You want to see a great match, his ladder match with I believe it was Dave Crist ( May have been Jake) It was the best Ladder match in the history of IPW if you ask me. It was Jake Crist by the way.
Ricochet- Man this kid was good. To be honest he is one of those guys who is just too nice for this business. Just a pleasant guy . But he could fly.. let me repeat myself HE COULD FLY!!! I can honestly say this, in my opinion he makes Matt Sydal look like King Kong Bundy he is that good a flyer. Dave Crist saw him in the ring and went to Mike and said “ Let me work with him, he has so much potential and I know I can help him get there” The matches were amazing, and at times stiff as hell. Point in fact. While doing a double moonsault, he ended up kneeing Dave in the nuts…. That was funny.
Chuck Taylor- What a guy, Charisma, and ability. I am so happy that Chuck has come as far as he has in this business. Not only that he has so far to go yet. I would have never thought he would get over as strong as he has. Look at it. Chuck has worked steadily for – IPW, IWA, Chickara, PWG, CZW,Evolve, DG-USA and been to Japan. Good for you Chuck !!!
Things were really picking up at this point, we had become a place people contacted looking for work. Quality talent that knew we were building a strong reputation for good strong matches.
Thinking about new faces in IPW as we made our way to Fountain Sq. I would be remiss if I did not mention Cannonball Sami Callihan . Now I have never tried to hide my opinion of him as a person, but that is not what this is about. Sami made his way into IPW through Carlton Kaz. At this time, he was 5’6” maybe, and about 300 lb. He literally was a cannonball. It was like watching Chris Farley if he were a wrestler. Very entertaining, but still very green at this point. He came in a few times , wrestled some ok matches, but it just wasn’t happening. Honestly I think he had some personal issues with someone else on the roster and we chose that guy over Sami. I may be wrong on that one, but to be completely honest, it just wasn’t his time yet.
Hillbilly Jedd and Dave Davidson were tearing it up over the Grand Championship, and Carlton Kaz and Scotty Vortekz were on fire over the Mid-American title. Who can forget their Thumbtac match. 1 thumbtac match… that may be a first in the history of wrestling. I remember being at ringside with Kaz and yelling at the ref because the d**n Tac kept falling over and making him put it tac side up again. Oh those were fun times.
That was also the time when we introduced a member of my “ Family” to wrestling. Craig Carey…. He was supposed to be my nephew, but during the interview I mistakenly said he was my little brother. My Half brother from my Fathers second marriage. The introduction came during a Ladder Match, where “ Craig” was supposed to untie the rope holding the belt up in the air, well he did his job, and the rope was let go, and the belt started coming down… and then it stopped. It Just STOPPED!! I looked around in a panic, this was the finish of the match. What do I see? Three young fans all holding the d**n rope and refusing to let go !! I grabbed that rope and tried to jerk it out of their hands, giving myself ropeburns in the process but those little bastards would not let go !! If I got a rope burn, I wonder what their hands looked like. I threatened them, I called for security, but to no avail.. I think it did take security to get that d**n rope out of their hands… but it did mess with the finish. The whole idea behind “ Craig” was to give me a bit of a break. I was involved in as many as four matches a show, most of them in the second half…. But if I had my “ Little Brother” there to help I wouldn’t have to remember so much and would not risk screwing up a finish. Trust me, it happens. The character itself was this, or the backstory if you will. “ After my parents split up, my Father remarried to a wealthy woman and they had Young Craig… having no real history with him, he sought me out when he turned 18 and we developed a bond. All he wanted was to please the older brother he never knew. All I wanted was access to the $$ his mother had. “ We had some fun with him too. He took the thumbtack bump instead of Kaz, and we also dressed him as J.C. Bailey and had him wrestle Dave Davidson… we used magic marker to put the tattoos on him… I think we had him “ Wrestle “ twice… one time getting Dave Davidson in the “ Carey Lock” during his “ Carey Lock Challenge” he was there as both a sympathetic heel because of his ties with the C.o.C. but also as a bit of comic relief. I have one more Craig Carey story here before I am done with him.
This involves a match between Chad Collyer and Dave Davidson. For some reason, both Craig and I were at ringside for this one. Dave has Chad draped over the middle rope outside the ring… I motion for Craig to get involved. Thinking he would go Choke Chad while Dave and I distract the ref… craig walks by and calmly Slaps Chad in the face!!! You had to be at ringside to see the look on Chad’s face, because the way it was done was so nonchalantly that it was disrespectful. Craig didn’t know any better. Chad calls for the same spot, and Dave lets me know to send Craig over there again… I do and Collyer Paintbrushes that poor 90lb kid so hard I though there were teeth in the front row. He then took the kid in the locker room and explained to him why it was disrespectful and what to do in that situation. Craig was very polite and respectful as well as apologetic.
These trips down memory lane are fun, and I am sure I will have more stories to tell.
Greg Carey
