October 31st is Halloween; everyone knows that from the tiniest kid to the most grown up among us. October 31st is also the evening of multiple competing wrestling shows. All Pro Wrestling in Pensacola, Culture Shock Wrestling in Mossy Head and New Heights Wrestling in Defuniak Springs all have shows scheduled for that night. It's just another day in the life of indy pro wrestling, right? Not correct, if you answered "right."You see, in Mossy Head, FL, at the community center there, CSW is having a special event. A special little boy is being honored with a fund raiser wrestling show, billed as "A Night For James," proceeds of which will go to defray some of the expenses involved with repairing or replacing a malfunctioning pacemaker in the chest of 6 year old James Rimmer.
CSW is pulling out all stops to make the event a party to remember, and indeed it will be. That little building in Mossy Head will undoubtedly have its roof raised by wrestling fans, friends of CSW and others from as far away as Pensacola and maybe even Mobile as well.
New Heights Wrestling is having a show on the same night, 12.3 miles away at the Boys and Girls Club in Defuniak Springs. It's a "free" show in that no admission is being charged. These facts alone have set off a firestorm of criticism leveled at the NHW team.
". . . I find it hard to belive these guys would run a free show on the very night that little James needs our help," commented GAWF's Skip Skipperman.
". . . if they go ahead and run this show and try to mess it up for james, we in the bussiness should take this as a slap in the face," wrote SPW's Ron Ivey.
". . . I think it is BS that someone is running a free show right down the road." posted an anonymous wrestling fan.
Negative opinion turned upbeat when Dwaine Henderson of the Alabama Wrestling Federation wrote that he would "donate a wrestling turnbuckle pad signed by The Greatest Intercontinental Champion Of All Time The Honky Tonk Man . . . to raffle off."
This was a generous offer considering how much Dwaine loves memorabillia.
There are two sides to every story. New Heights star BTY wrote, "I know for a fact that the city of DeFuniak Springs & the Boys and Girls Club came to the New Heights promoter and asked that a show be ran that night to give the children of the town a place to be on Halloween. The decision was made and it wasn't out of spite of a James running his show 15 minutes down the road."
Actually that is a much more plausible explanation than "heat" between CSW and NHW. Defuniak Springs is a small place. It is entirely consistant with what I know about small towns and Boys and Girls Club staffer, that such an arrangement be set up. Add this to the fact that (as I remember it) the NHW show was announced prior to young James' benefit being announced as such.
BTY says, "I will be wrestling on both shows as I am loyal to both and will work my tail off for both next Saturday night. I was more than happy to be a part of the little James' first fund raising show and my mood hasn't changed for this one."
That's pretty reflective of the attitude that wrestlers have concerning benefits for sick kids and entirely consistant with BTY whose good character is well formed and firmly in place.
It's easy to see how CSW fans would have their ire raised by a free show so close by, but truth be told, Halloween is a night for just about anything but wrestling, so already the fix is in that only dedicated wrestling fans will be motoring out into the country to CSW and mostly parents with costumed kids who are members or prospective members of Boys' and Girls Club of Defuniak Springs.
Here's an idea that addresses the problem more head on.
What if promotions in our area voluntarily collected funds for little James and delivered it to CSW the night of the benefit? What if NHW for example, took up a collection for that purpose and sent it over with BTY?
All Pro Wrestling is already on board with that idea. Promoter Wayne Sellers said, " We'll work something up this weekend. Good idea," when approached.
It is easy enough to turn a negative into a positive. Simply discard the negative and embrace the positive.
My own travel is limited now by quite a bit as my health gradually declines, so I will be in Pensacola on Oct 31st and not at either Mossy Head or Defuniak. But my thoughts go with each of the groups of wrestlers in CSW and NHW. May they stay safe during their respective shows.
