The Story Tellers

The Story Tellers

When I was an active professional wrestler, I was never the best in-ring worker per say. I told a story in the ring. Sometimes an easy story. Sometimes I complicated it like a freaking LOST episode.

Today’s professional wrestling is so athletic and I love it. It’s the evolution of the industry and I’ve never been one of the old school guys to say “Back in my day…” What does that do? Everyone has an opinion and professional wrestling, like any form of entertainment, is subjective. I just love pro-wrestling. It can be WWE. It can be NXT. It can be New Japan, All Japan, AEW, Impact, GCW, or any other wrestling company. It’s pro-wrestling. Heck, I don’t know the name of it, but I watch this channel on Roku that is so old school that I love it. Is it good? It doesn’t have to be. It’s wrestling and I love it.

A few months ago, I was home on a Saturday night and I got to sit down and watch a match between CW Anderson and George South for the AML Championship. It was everything that made me fall in love with professional wrestling in 1981. It was simplistic in physicality, but had a story that grabbed me from the bell to bell. I immediately texted CW and told him how much I loved the match.

Since then we have talked about the rematch and how great it would be if somehow I could get involved. Being a part of the WWE, I have not done anything in regards to an independent show in two and a half years. I turn down 99% of the stuff that is requested because it takes away time with my youngest son. After being in Florida for two years, I don’t want to take outside bookings and miss another day with him. But this one was important.

Once I got permission from the Office to do the date, it was then up to us to come up with why I would be a part of it. Sure, CW and I have been the Extreme Horsemen for 18 years, but what does that do for him? I’m a story teller. CW is a story teller. George South is a story teller. We needed layers.

Before I left for the WWE, it was “revealed” that I was the spiritual son of Kevin Sullivan. The grandson of King Curtis Iaukea. The nephew of the Purple Haze Mark Lewin. The brother of BJ Whitmer. The chain of evil (or liv3). The heir to the Chairman of the Board. This is what I envisioned for this story. The devil on the shoulder of CW Anderson that would do anything in his power to take down George South, a good man and yet a rulebreaker, to take the AML Championship.

For a few weeks, CW, George, and I filmed little vignettes. Created layers to the story. I knew that with that groundwork, George South would take the story to another level when the bell rang.

And I couldn’t have been more right. Once we revealed that the evil surrounding CW Anderson was me, there was a different feel to the match. George South lead the story that we built and put it on a different level. He created emotion. He created drama. It was magic.

If you know CW Anderson, it’s rare when CW isn’t the leader in a match. There is a reason I call him “The General”. He always called our tag matches. I was the entertainer and he was the worker. CW just listened to George and for twenty minutes, I wasn’t the cornerman, but I was the 8 year old little boy in the front row falling in love with professional wrestling all over again, as I have so many times over the last 38 years.

The old way of professional wrestling is not dead. Not even close. There are still people out there that do it that way. You mix that with the amazing athletes and new age storytellers we have out there today and you have the greatest form of entertainment in the world.

It’s a shame that some people, especially his friends, showed their ignorance on CW Anderson’s social media in regards to my “Brother Love” look. If I would have worn a black shirt, I would have been “Naito”. But, those who aren’t amateur comics, would have realized the devil in white is something I did from 2010-2016. I wore a white suit for the famous Chicago Street Fight. I wore the white for my war with BJ Whitmer in 2016. You disrespect CW Anderson and George South. You don’t bother me because the only thing that mattered to me were the fans that watched live at AML on Sunday.

Thank you to the AML locker room and staff, George South, Brian Hawks, Tracy Myers, The Dawson Boys, and CW Anderson for letting me be a part of this story. Thanks to the WWE for letting me do the show, to be a part of two story tellers doing their thing for the business they love.

And you know why they do it? Because they love to entertain the FANS.