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What’s in Store this Week?

• Pro Wrestler achieves 800 Match Milestone

• The Life of an Independent Pro Wrestler

• Preach to the Choir

• Pro Wrestling Show Airs 50th Episode

• Social Media Scrum

Pro Wrestler Achieves Milestone

Independent Pro Wrestler Prince Akkanatan celebrated his 800th pro wrestling match last week at Intergender Bonanza 16 in Williams Port, New Jersey.

Prince Akkanatan who also moonlights as a burglar turned pro wrestler and sometimes a repo man Rob Chase “The Slamburger” (but we’re not really too sure if they’re the same person as Rob wears a mask). Prince as his friends affectionately call him; got his start in 2007 training at the East Coast Pro Wrestling School in Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey. Prince has gone toe to toe in ring with some legends in pro wrestling business like Iron Sheik, The Patriot, Tony Atlas and tons more.

Prince also lends his time helping pro wrestling trainees hone their fundamentals at the same East Coast Pro Wrestling school he got his his start.

You can find Prince Akkanatan and Rob Chase doing all things entertaining on Twitter at realslamburglar and on Instagram at princeakkanatan and realslamburglar. Be sure to check out his Liketree below for all his social media links.

The Life of an Independent Pro Wrestler

by Tristen Law

There are people in the world who think being a pro wrestler is easy, because what they see on TV. Keep in mind there are cooking shows on the same television that make cooking look easy and many people still can’t cook. Maybe being a pro wrestler for some is easy for some, but for some it’s a juggle of time between chasing the dream and personal responsibilities. Welcome to the life of an independent pro wrestler.

On a Friday night in July 2009 your editor had his first match ever at Garfield High School in Garfield, New Jersey. To be somewhat ready for that night, I spent about four nights per week between April and July 2009 in a wrestling ring training for my debut match. After that Friday night in July; my work still wasn’t over. I sacrificed a lot in order to chase my dream. None of this is a complaint, but behind the scenes this was a life II lived and a life many currently live.

I was a 20 something year old man working a full time job and I was a part time college student and independent pro wrestler (some would call me a weekend warrior). My week involved going to my regular job during the day (including weekend days), driving an hour to New Jersey after work to attend wrestling practice, an hour back home, frequent gym visits and I ended my week wrestling for crowds on Friday, Saturday nights and sometimes Sunday Afternoons.

I missed birthdays, dinners, hang outs and everything else socially not involving pro wrestling just to chase my dream. At the end of my tunnel was the big lights and money of the WWE (WWE was the only big paying company in town).

Many Independent pro wrestlers don’t or won’t sacrifice as much as I did. Most of them have real responsibilities like a family, a mortgage and a really good job unlike my 20 something year old self. I always respected wrestlers who were able to juggle life’s responsibilities and make it to the big stage. I honestly believe in my heart I detoured off my road which ended in big lights and WWE money, because I was afraid! My trainer and friend Little Guido (famous at the time from ECW and WWE) always told me I was good, but I was afraid of taking the next step due to the lack of stability.

Afraid of leaving my safe life of a paycheck every two weeks; I didn’t want to gamble on living in my car and not taking care of my responsibilities. Believe it or not 90% if not more of independent pro wrestlers don’t make a ton of money in one night much less a year. To supplement the lackluster money we’d sell t shirts, autographs and other merchandise to fans before, after and during the intermissions of the nights pro wrestling show.

Keep this in mind the nest time you visit an independent pro wrestling show. The people you cheer and boo are excited to be there. Many with the dream of getting to the grand stage. They probably left a whole family at home, missed a social event and probably aren’t making lots of money. If anything at the least support their dream. Buy a t shirt — you might be buying the shirt of the future headliner selling out WrestleMania or your favorite sports arena.

Pro Wrestling Show Airs 50th Episode

East Coast Pro Wrestling’s Hudson Valley Chapter out of New York recently aired their 50th episode of their ECPW “Fully Charged” show on YouTube.

The episodes features independent pro wrestlers Beautiful Buddy Tomas, Bulldog Pittman, Captain Pain, Love Jones and much more. Check out the episode at the link below.

Share Your Wrestling Photos with IPPW

Have you recently been to an independent pro wrestling show? Share your love of independent pro wrestling with by sending photos of the last independent pro wrestling show you attended to [email protected].

Include your name, date, where the event took place and the name of the promotion to be featured in a future release of IPWW.

Social Media Scrum

Find IPWW on Social Media

Follow Independent Pro Wrestling Weekly on Twitter and Instagram @IPWWNewsletter and tag IPPW in your Instagram Posts and Tweets.

Preach to the Choir Wrestling Review

by Adam Preacher

Sunday June 4th I went to Torture Chamber Pro Wrestling’s show Pandemonium at Letendre College Campus in Laval, Quebec, Canada.

Upon arrival I noticed the chairs and merchandise tables well-organized. The lighting and sound were professional done and the staging equipment including video production were professionally setup. So much so the atmosphere was reminiscent of a WWE Live Event.

The security team at Pandemonium did an outstanding job managing the crowd and I was impressed by event staff escorting fans to their seats (something I’ve never seen at an independent pro wrestling event).

The actual show itself was amazing! Torture Chamber Pro Wrestling presented videos that narrated the story of almost every match. Not only were the videos great for first time attendees, and they kept the audience engaged throughout the evening.

The seventh match of the show featured Genesis with his manager Shane Pinto vs Stephan Paulson connected to each other by the wrists in an Indian Strap Match. The end of the match saw Stephan with the upper hand as he managed to wrap the strap around Genesis’ neck to tag the turnbuckles in an attempt to win the match. However as Stephan was tagging the turnbuckles he didn’t notice Genesis tagging the turnbuckles right after him. While Stephan was trying to secure the win by tagging the fourth and final turnbuckle Genesis’ manager Shane Pinto hopped on the apron and distracted Stephan just long enough for Genesis to steal the win by tagging the last turnbuckle.

Stephan enraged by the interference of Genesis and his manager; lost his cool and took out his frustrations on Genesis and Shane Pinto after the match was over to the enjoyment of the fans in attendance.

Torture Chamber Pro Wrestling is operated by Dry Onyx who established the Torture Chamber Pro Wrestling School in 2004.

Thank You

Thank you for reading the Independent Pro Wrestling Weekly newsletter! I hope you enjoyed the content and found it informative.

If you have any questions, comments or want to submit an article to Independent Pro Wrestling Weekly please contact me, because I want to hear from you. Advertising is available with special rates for Early Bird Advertisers and special lock in rates.

Independent Pro Wrestling Weekly will be back next week with more on the independent pro wrestling scene.

Until next time,

Tristen Law

[email protected]

347-504-0026

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