PLW & AMAZIN' JAY
The Return
June 18, 2004
Fairlawn Baseball Field, Pawtucket RI
vs. "Lethal" Paul Lauzon
The number of feelings I went through on the days leading up to June 18th should be too numerous to mention. But I will attempt to explain some of my thoughts here, as an obvious aftermath to the memoirs I’ve written here in the past. Where to begin?
I’ve been in the gym no less than 4 days a week since January. On the heels of my physical therapy treatment for my neck and shoulder last year, I continued with a strict workout regiment. The reason for going to physical therapy, to begin with, was to rebuild some of the muscle tissue in my shoulder region from previous dislocations. The other part of treatment consisted of treating my neck for arthritis and compounded nerves. The reason I stopped working out some years ago is that these injuries, compounded with my concussions, prevented me from doing a whole lot of heavy lifting. Or any lifting. Even with the strength in my shoulder being 10 times what it was a year ago, the hardest part of my workout (still) is changing the bar for lat pull-downs on the nautilus machine!
In any event, by the 6th month of working out, I was looking and feeling better. I lost 20 pounds and gained a lot of muscle back. Cardiovascularly, I was hitting the treadmill for longer periods than I did even before I got hurt. I figured that I was at a point where maybe working out wasn’t such a necessity for me anymore. I like being in shape, but I was getting bored. There had to be a reason to keep going. There was only one reason that kept me going before…and now that I had made so much progress coming back from injuries, there was only one place to go: down! That meant getting back in the ring.
I emailed everyone’s favorite promoter, Tom Degnan, and he booked me for the show. I felt that I would chicken out. Two days before the event, I emailed him to see who might be working with that night. If it was someone I could trust, then I’d do it. If not, I might have to say, “maybe next time.”
That opponent was better than I could have asked for: “Lethal” Paul Lauzon. The last few times I had attended shows, I didn’t see Paul. I thought he wasn’t working anymore. So, to know that I would be in the ring with someone I respect so much was a big surprise. I couldn’t turn back now. It was an honor.
I arrived at the event at 6:15pm with my wife, the Macho Kid, and his wife-to-be. I parted ways with them almost immediately and made my way to the locker room area for the first time in 5 years, which I was nervous about. I hadn’t actually mingled with the “workers” in a long time. I didn’t think I’d even know anyone!
I was greeted first by Matt West aka Matt Storm. I said “Hey, there’s the movie star!” and he looked at me in a puzzled sense. I said “I’m friends with Christian (DeRezendes) and I saw you in the movie (Getting Out of Rhode Island).” Matt had played a part in the independent film, representing, well, a local wrestler! Matt asked if I brought “Kick” soda, a generic drink that I used to guzzle on the old Amazement Park episodes. “You remember that?,” I asked. “Of course I remember that…I used to get drunk and watch the show when I was in college.”
For something that even I forgot about, it’s pretty funny to be reminded of – those are things I don’t really think about: being silly on the air. Back in those days, I was just trying to waste time on TV. But I’ll take it as a compliment that someone found me somewhat entertaining.
Gave a handshake to Vertebreaker, himself, as we exchanged email addresses. “It’s good to see you walking, Kyle” I said. “With your hardcore style, I didn’t think you’d still be in there.” He replied “Everyone works a lot slower these days…I try to put more comedy in my matches now.” Which was, of course, just what I needed to hear!
“Hey Champ,” I then said, referring to Chris. We walked to the locker area and we caught up. He’d been out of the game for awhile too, and he explained that they gave him the strap “out of nowhere.” Like me, his ‘arts’ didn’t consist of just wrestling, as he’s been doing some acting lately. Didn’t sound far-fetched to me…professional wrestling is mostly acting, so it makes sense, doesn’t it?
Took my robe out of the suitcase and sprayed it down with water to get some of the wrinkles out. I started to change up into my gear. As I started stretching out, I was thinking about how good my body felt and looked, even, as some of the other guys had put on a few pounds in five years. My ego was flattened the second that the EWA tag team champions walked in! They had physiques that would make Chippendale dancers blush! Several women in the audience (my wife included) made it a point to tell me how good those guys looked! I didn’t even see their match, but based off of physique alone, I thought they might have a spot in this business! Wouldn’t you know it, less than a year later, there they are on an edition of Monday Night Raw. The team that did the job for Dr. Heresy that night, known as Antonio Thomas & Johnny Heartbreaker, became known as the “Heart Throbs” and instead of performing at a Baseball Field with a few hundred screaming kids, they are now performing in front of thousands on a daily basis and millions on TV each week. Congrats to them, by the way.
After greeting a few more old friends, and making new ones (the workers of today are a lot more polite than they were a few years ago), I started going over the match with Paul Lauzon. We were the first opponents dressed in gear and hoped we’d be able to go out and do the opening match. Unfortunately, we were booked for 2nd-to-last.
I went outside of the dressing room and watched the first few matches. The kids seemed to be really into the action. A little too much for my taste – in order to raise money for this charitable event, the staff was selling “silly string” and Derek Molhan, as Jason the Slasher, was covered in it upon his return to the dressing room. We had a riotous bunch on our hands.
Bell time came nearly two hours later and Paul had Maniacal Mark in his corner. They made their way to ringside and I soon followed.
August 8, 2004
Cumberlandfest at Diamond Hill Park
with Shane Simons vs. Jason "the Slasher" and CJ Matthews
I had always wanted to work one of these Cumberlandfest shows. Cumberland is right next door to my hometown, and I had gone many times. Much like working the Woonsocket High School back in ’98, I wouldn’t imagine that there aren’t many performers, in any profession, that don’t like to go “home.” In fact, one of the events that got me thinking about coming back in the first place was the 2002 Cumberlandfest. It was a decent show, and had some good heat to it. The final two matches of that card saw Dr. Heresy work with Kevin “Hugo” Karisma, and Kid Krazy lock up with Vertebreaker. Heresy had just showed up in time for the main event and had no time to prepare but put on a solid match with Hugo. Verte and Krazy were practically shooting on each other during the match and it wasn’t until after the show that I found out that neither wanted to work with the other. But, no matter what, they put their differences aside and did some good work, for which I was proud and a little jealous that I wasn’t always able to do the same.
The only reason I mention this story is that Scott Thomas had shown up to watch the action for the day I was on this show, and you could see in his face that he was thinking the same thing I was thinking two years earlier, yet thought impossible…to get into that ring again.
I brought my gear and was heading to the locker room and my wife and Macho Kid bid me farewell. My wife, and someone else we were talking to, mentioned that the robe was outdated, right as I was heading to the back, and I second-guessed myself. I got my gear ready and Manaical Mark said “wheres’ the robe?” I said “I’ve been getting some feedback that maybe the robe doesn’t cut it anymore.” Mark looked surprised and angry all at once. “Who told you that?” he shouted, and started going off on who could say such a stupid thing, etc! Immediately, I reached for the suitcase and took the robe out, and sprayed it down with the water bottle.
The tag match that I was to be a part of was so up in the air, there was little time to prepare. At first, it was scheduled to be Shane & I against Paul Lauzon and Jason (Derek Molhan) the Slasher. Then, Paul pulled out because he was injured, but was still at the show and in the heels corner. So Paul brought in his student CJ Mathews to replace him. But Shane couldn’t get out of work that day, so they would have had me teaming with CJ and Mark would take CJ’s place, originally Paul’s place, on the heel team. Confused yet? I was and still am.
Not that there weren’t distractions, already. Mind you, this is a town festival, so there was a band playing behind the wall from our dressing room, not to mention what looked like 12-year old girls hanging around the locker room. Which made me feel really creepy. And old. And I already felt old, as CJ was, like, 18 years old at the time.
CJ and I talked a few spots over in the event we’d be in the ring as opponents. He was really enthusiastic, and had lots of ideas. Looked like a young Macho Kid, too, actually! The fact that he was Paul’s latest pupil intrigued me, as well. Paul has been a part of the training of half of the guys independently wrestling in Massachusetts, but takes no credit. Shane once said that Paul trained him, too, and Paul, as always in his unmistakable New Bedford accent denied it, “all I did was show you a few moves…you did the rest on your own.” Unlike Shane, myself, or many other PLW alumni, Paul’s new student CJ was fast…really fast.
When we got in the ring and started off doing an international style match, CJ was jumping around that ring in a way that I could never have done…even at his age. He was all over the place. I was afraid of getting “blown up,” but luckily, my last year of cardiovascular training was paying off.
So, where was I? Oh yeah, so Shane showed up, and it ended up being Shane & I working against CJ and Jason the Slasher, with Paul in their corner. I watched the heel entrance from our locker room and it was pretty neat. Paul and Slasher got to the ring by walking through the crowd. Jason the Slasher had his sword or something and smashed it on the aluminum bleachers, which scared the heck out of the crowd! It was funny to see that crowd reaction, because it’s one of those little things that suspends disbelief…one of the missing elements in many matches.
So after I got in there with CJ, Slasher tags in and I signal for him to push me over the top rope where Paul puts the boots to me on the outside. He throws me back in the ring and then Slasher makes me tag Shane. Shane and I start making fun of Slasher, mocking his size by extending our arms wider and wider with each turn. They work back and forth for about 6 minutes until I get to come in and take the hot tag. I start whipping CJ around but he comes back with an enzuguri kick to my head (really my shoulder, but who’s counting?). He then sets me up for this 450 front-moonsault and I just barely got out of the way. No, really!!! He tags Slasher, and starts distracting the ref. Slasher holds me from behind and motions for Paul to get in the ring. Paul attempts to do my superkick on me and I duck out of the way. Paul stiffed Derek pretty good, as Derek wasn’t supposed to go down!!! I call Shane in, and we give Slasher a double suplex and pig-pile him for the 3-count. And then the crowd goes crazy. Another satisfying match back in action!
August 22, 2004
Fairlawn Cardinals Family Fun Day, Pawtucket RI
vs. Tim Kilgore
Some guy (whose name I don’t know) mentioned that he read my memoirs on this website. Tom Degnan followed me into locker room and mentioned “I’d love to see those memoirs in book form one day.” I said “So would I. In fact, with me coming back for another run, maybe we’ll get a whole new crop of stories to tell. Except that, things have been anything but controversial since I came back, so I didn’t (and still don’t) think I’d really have anything to write about.” And if you think about it, it’s true. You don’t read autobiographical experiences of people to read about how much time they spent with their cat or how you went on vacation with your parents when you were 9 years old. People read these experiences to feel the controversy; to get a good idea of what your feelings were like when you felt angry or misused. That’s what I like to read about, anyway. So far the last few matches I’ve written about have been that good-time feel of “everything was great,” blah, blah, blah.
To say that I was angry or misused for this tale would be stretching the truth a little, and I refuse to act more angry than I really was. However, this tale is actually that of the first match that annoyed me since my return. In an effort to keep things running more professionally, they assigned “agents” to each match. I don’t know if you knew this or not, but guys like Arn Anderson, Steve Keirn, and Dean Malenko are all road “agents” in the WWE. They speak with the head agent (who usually has “advice” from Vince, for example) and inform the agents how to make the show run…where they want certain segments to go, what NOT to do in certain matches (ie: don’t use tables in match 1 on the card as there is a big table spot later in the same show).
So anyway, the agent for my match pops in the dressing room and asks, “Did Tim (my opponent) tell you how it’s working tonight?” I said “no.” He says, “Tim is going over (winning) and he’s going to cheat and plant the seeds for a big heel turn.” I said “no problem. We’ll make it work.” It seems that they started giving Tim little heel seeds at the last show, gearing up for a heel run.
So, I go over my match with Tim. He didn’t really want to plan any spots, just kinda go out there, start international style (which is an short way of saying that we’ll lock up, go for a headlock, do a running spot, drop down, come in with a hip toss, etc…). He says he’ll start heeling on me, put me in a headlock and taunt the crowd. His plan to “taunt” the crowd involved keeping the headlock running long to make for a boring match, on purpose. So, of course, the crowd starts yelling “Boring.” Like we planned. But the other agents at ringside didn’t know we were going for the “boring” angle on purpose (something I wasn’t entirely comfortable with in the first place, but rather necessary to make an angle like this actually work). So those agents signal the ref to tell us to “Take it Home” (end the match). I’m like “we just got in here!” But, as discussed, and agreed upon at the start of the show when the promoters told us about this “agents” concept, it was also agreed upon that if these agents signaled the ref to end the match, then we were to do as told within 2 – 3 minutes. So, out of nowhere, I go for my finishing superkick, hit my opponent, pick him up, throw him in the corner and give him ten punches, he takes my legs out from under me and places his feet on the ropes to get the 3-count on me.
Now, to be honest, they might have wanted our match to end earlier to “get on the ball” with the show, which started late. They cut another match after mine, much to the same dismay of those participants in the match (and they were having a great match). In any event, the “agent” idea didn’t fly as planned, and I don’t really remember PLW going that route on the next show. And I appreciate that!!!
September 24, 2004
West Warwick Civic Center
vs. Duke Maximum
While I’ve done many fundraisers during my PLW career, this one is one that hits close to home for me: Station Fire Family Fund. I’ve done more fundraising events with my band for this fund than I have with wrestling, but either way, I always feel really good doing whatever I can. As a musician, and as a musician that played the Station on occasion, it was a very real situation to realize that on any given night, it could have been me in that club losing my life that night or even worse, having to live with the physical and emotional pain of just being there.
I arrived at the building where I first met Burt Ward (yes, “Robin” from the old Batman TV series) and looked at the lineup. I was scheduled to face “Mr PLW,” Tim Kilgore in a rematch from our stinker in Pawtucket the month before. Except that Kilgore didn’t show.
Dave and I met, literally, 5 minutes before the match. Good kid. Mean that literally. It wasn’t until after the match I found at that Duke (Dave) Maximum was barely 16 years old! I told him that he was phenomenal to work with and had a great knowledge of the biz for being that young, but what I meant to say was, regardless, of his age, he was on the verge of greatness. Since my tag match where I was in the ring with CJ Matthews a few weeks prior, I realized how much I loved getting in the ring with the youngsters. This is, by no means, a knock on the older guys, but I feel better about myself when I’m in the ring with a younger guy. This could be for a number of reasons, but the kids usually aren’t nursing injuries yet, and I feel like I can contribute to them “coming up” in the business. During my matches with some of the established pros, I don’t always feel like I know enough compared to them, I second-guess myself in the ring, and my performance, and the match itself, suffers for it all.
Dave got his gear on and we talked out a 5-minute match. Basic stuff, no high-risks, but still planning out a few key spots..the way I like to get in the ring with someone I’ve never worked with before. I may have mentioned previously, that I don’t care for talking much in the ring, and Dave went right along with it. Aside from the spots, Duke Max played the crowd really well for such a short match…something that gets my juices flowing. You know, I always get in there, stomp my foot, and due my “good guy” thing, but not all of my opponents will react or try to get their own heat from the crowd. Dave did just that. In fact, I almost felt like I was in there with a young Dr. Heresy again…which is a huge compliment to this young man if he knows how much I admire Jeremy’s work. The ending was supposed to happen a little differently than what it came out to be. I was supposed to attempt a reverse roll-up, he’d hold the top rope, I fall back…then with him thinking I took the bump, he’d play the crowd saying how smart he was, and I’d hit him with the superkick. Well, that didn’t happen. When he lifted me up for the slam and I jumped over and behind him, he turned around, so we missed our spot. Nevertheless, it’s not how you bad you screw up, it’s how well you recover, that’s important in my mind. So he rocked me with a few more shots, turned his back to talk to the ref, and then I nailed him with the superkick for the 3-count. So, all-in-all, I’d say the match was a success on all levels: We got a great crowd reaction, delivered a short and concise match, and walked away without getting hurt. He put on a wonderful high spot attempting to do a legdrop from the top rope, as well…What more can you ask for?? I’m hoping that I can help some of the younger talent a little more, and have a good time in the process in the near future.
With my match being 2nd or 3rd, I got to actually just sit back and watch the rest of the show, and most of the show was pretty well-worked, I must say. Derik Destiny and Gina Marie faced Alex (Steve Langer) Payne and his friend, in a mixed tag, which was pretty cool. A little freak accident happened in the match as the girls had locked up, Gina was on the receiving end of a choke. She said to loosen up, but she didn’t hear and kept going strong with the choke. So she ended up getting a stiff elbow into her eye, blackening it in the process…I must say that I never see women get black eyes anywhere else but at my house! Just kidding!
Big-time indie workers Hallowicked and Mike Quackenbush had this lucha-type 8 man tag match for about a ½ hour. I won’t take anything away from their talent. They put on a really good show and interview at the beginning of the card. Some of the moves they did in that match were incredible. However, by doing so many high spots and for so long, it takes away from any real drama when the end of the match happens. Just my opinion. I heard recently that Mike Quackenbush may have to retire after some surgery, so I wish him all the best. Even though I might have just given him a quick handshake in the back that day, I pray for his recovery and hope the pain doesn’t ruin whatever future he has left…
"The Unionized Traffic Regulator" Shane Storm, "Lightning" Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw
To follow-up after that match, Paul Lauzon took on Sgt Ramsey in what I thought was brilliant. Paul came out and offered a truce…a box of doughnuts to the Police Officer! Heh. But the way he worked with someone who didn’t really know how to work is what impressed me the most. He wasted time faking a knee/ankle injury, but in a really entertaining way. Then, after doing a few quick moves, he did the job by tapping out to an anklelock. Again, he put on a great show, with little, to NO highspots, created some drama, and made someone who didn’t know how to work come out looking like a hero. That’s a worker in my book.
After the show, Maniacal Mark, Shane, Tom, Champ Chris, and Zac the Ref, and myself all made our way to Applebees for dinner. We talked a few old times and I informed Mark of a little story that I, myself, had recently become aware: Mark used to work with “Miss Crimson” Devan at Fleet Bank. So, I casually brought up to him…did you ever meet her husband while you were working there, and he said, “no, never.” So I told him that he had met him. That her husband was none other than “CIA” Charles Anderson, better known as Darren who used to come to our shows, and then all of a sudden was MIA almost immediately after Miss Crimson and I had broken off our relationship in ’97. The same guy that had participated in the 97 Powerhouse Brawl and never told his wife, so she wouldn’t find out that we all knew each other. Especially seeing how Darren had known me years earlier, as he attended classes at RIC with none other than the Macho Kid. What was really funny, was I forgot that Shane and Tom used to run as EMTs with Miss Crimson’s former boyfriend, Keith. So, no one could believe how much this story weaved into everyday PLW life. It made for some great conversation to end a truly wonderful afternoon helping out my favorite charity… the West Warwick Station Fire Family Fund.
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