By Sir Lawrence Alegdrop
Professional wrestling has made many twists and turns over the years, especially recently. Some may argue whether the changes were for the better or worse for the sport as a whole. One thing is for certain, the changes of the last several years have certainly been away from any sort of reality or sport. But not everyone is happy about that fact, and some are trying to do something about it.
Enter Michael Modest, a veteran of wrestlingıs independent leagues, who is now getting a steady following overseas. Modest recently started a new promotion in the bay area of California that will center on in-ring story telling, rather than outlandish angles like what is seen on Raw and Smackdown every week. It's called Pro Wrestling Iron, and it takes wrestling very seriously.
"We are trying to bring respect and sport back to wrestling," Modest said. "Our product is more action and a lot less talk."
Modest formerly worked with the area's All Pro Wrestling, run by Roland Alexander. Both were also featured in the movie documentary on professional wrestling, "Beyond the Mat." Since that time, All Pro has ceased to exist as it did then. The promotionıs two biggest stars, Michael Modest and Donovan Morgan, walked out over a dispute with management. Both were also training new wrestlers for the promotion.
Now Modest and Morgan are involved with promoting this new project as well as touring Japanıs NOAH, one of the biggest promotions in that country. Modest and Morganıs Pro Wrestling Iron are trading talent with NOAH, as well as taking on a Japanese approach. Modest believes some fans in the United States are still interested in serious old-school or Japanese styles of wrestling. "There are still fans out there who hate the glitz and glam of World Wrestling Entertainment and wish they could just enjoy a good believable fight," Modest said.
If I may just briefly break in with an editorial comment here, I'd like to say, "A-FUCKING-MEN TO THAT!!!!"
Since Modest began wrestling more frequently in Japan, he decided to push a more Japanese style of wrestling in his own promotion. "Matches in Japan center around the wrestlers' history with each other, such as who has the most wins, who has the worse injuries and so on," Modest said. "In the United States, the match is of no importance."
Modest's argument is that matches in the United States are set up on such fantastic premises that the storylines become unbelievable, and this may hurt people's interest in a given match. "My god, HHH would have been arrested for hitting even one wrestler with a damn sledgehammer not to mention going on a hammering spree," he said. "It sets up a good match such as HHH vs. HBK with a completely unrealistic scenario." (Don't worry... HHH is too busy screwing Kane's dead girlfriend these days to go around sledgehammering people. So much for "believability".--Dr. Mality)
This is the kind of mind-numbing nonsense fans won't see at a Pro Wrestling Iron show, or as they say in Japanese, Pro Wrestling Tetsu. This was evidenced at the groupıs recent card, "Hot August Fights," in Fairfield, Calif., where 500 fans attended. Most independent promotions consider between 200 and 250 fans the break even point, and 500 fans is a fairly successful show. One thousand fans marks a promotions entrance into the "big leagues" of independent promotions.
"The fans loved cheering and jeering who they wanted to," Modest said of the show. "Not because the wrestlers got on the mic and said 'You people shut up!' but because they liked or disliked someone's style in the ring. Some of the meanest wrestlers end up being cheered because they liked the guyıs intensity. The heat from the crowd comes from the match, not the story line."
At "Hot August Fights" some former All Pro guys appeared like Maxx Justice and Boom Boom Comini, but it also featured some of the biggest names in NOAH today, including former two-time NOAH Heavyweight Champion and arguably the promotion's biggest star, Mitsuharu Misawa, and the current Heavyweight Champion Yoshinari Ogawa. (I've often heard Misawa described as the best wrestler in the world.--Mat Maniac Mality)
Complete results of "Hot August Fights" were Lars Dauger over Bart Blaxon in the opener, Ric Thompson and Apollo Kahn got by Jett Taylor and Hook Bomberry, Tony Jones over Doc Schultz, "Airborne" Vito Thomaselli and Solo Snuka beat Boom Boom Comini and JJ Perez, Bison Smith and Tommy Drake defeated Danny Dominion and Ace Steele, Yoshinari Ogawa and Mitsuharu Misawa beat Vinny Massaro and Doug Williams in the co-feature, and in the main event Maxx Justice and Takao Omori defeated Michael Modest and Donovan Morgan. Justice, the current ranked number one wrestler in Pro Wrestling Iron by Pro Wrestling Illustrated magazine, and Omori had a falling out following their match.
Modest believes the Japanese style can still get over with American fans. "If they give it a chance it will work," Modest said. "Most U.S. fans donıt have patience enough to watch a match develop." This is probably because of recent years' national promotions presenting shorter matches that tell no story, and fans' lack of an alternative product. But all is not lost for serious wrestling fans. Modest believes a Japanese style promotion may attempt a U.S. invasion at some point in the future, either by a U.S. company trying to mimic the Oriental style, or possibly even by one of the Japanese promotions bringing their product overseas.
"I think someone will eventually (bring a Japanese style to the U.S.) whether I'm successful or not," Modest said. "Japanese promotions know where the money is." In the meantime, Modest continues to train wrestlers at the Tetsu Academy as well as wrestle in the U.S. and overseas, and promote.
For more information from the Tetsu Academy, you can write to Pro Wrestling Iron, 20613 Mission Blvd. San Lorenzo, CA 94541 or call (707) 429-0566. Their website is www.prowrestlingiron.com, and I also wish to thank Danny Lei for the photos in this story. I would also like to give a special thanks to Seymore Snott for setting up this interview. He's having a great run.
Sir Lawrence Alegdrop is a disgraced member of the British royalty with an affinity for pro wrestling. He is assisted by Bill Camp, who writes a wrestling nostalgia column at http:www.kayfabememories.com. To contact this writer, send your email to: alegdrop@wormwoodchronicles.com