September 9th, 2007
Author: JEFFREY SAULTON,
Parkersburg News and Sentinel Staff Writer http://www.newsandsentinel.com/news/articles.asp?articleID=19996
Author: JEFFREY SAULTON,
Parkersburg News and Sentinel Staff Writer http://www.newsandsentinel.com/news/articles.asp?articleID=19996
Local Professional Wrestling Alive and Well
PARKERSBURG — While far removed from their former days of glory, regional wrestling circuits are alive and well, including one based in the Mid-Ohio Valley.A group keeping professional wrestling going locally is the Mountaineer Wrestling Association formed last year by the merger of two wrestling groups, New Breed Wrestling in Parkersburg and the West Virginia Wrestling Alliance based in St. Marys.
Mike Howerton, co-owner of new MWA with Greg Shriver, said the group is affiliated with a national group, the American Wrestling Association, which allows it to bring in wrestlers for programs along with some locally based grapplers.
Shriver, who wrestles as “The Wildcat,” has been involved in professional wrestling since 1993.
“I’ve wrestled with the USWA (United States Wrestling Association), the NWA (National Wrestling Association) and the WWE when it was the WWF,” he said.
When he started, Shriver said it was possible to make a decent living as a wrestler with the various regional circuits that dotted the land, but as one group grew to dominate the field and the smaller regional circuits began to fade he said the ability to make a living that way faded as well.“In the late 1990s that began to change — before it was possible to be in shows four to five times a week,” he said.
In his time Shriver wrestled with some of the greats of the field like Jerry “The King” Lawler, The Italian Stallion and The Undertaker when he wrestled as Brian Anthony.
Howerton, who wrestles as “The Howitzer,” is part of the tag team known as Heavy Artillery, with Johnny Hard. They were the tag team champions of the AWA-MWA until they lost in a match with the Day Brothers earlier this summer. However, they may have a chance at regaining their title in the fall.“They have been stripped of the titles and a tournament is in progress to determine who the champions will be,” Howerton said. “The new champions will be decided in a show on Oct. 13 in the City Park Pavilion.”
Howerton said one area they like to focus on with the AWA-MWA is to help non-profit organizations such as schools.
Recently a show was staged that was a fundraiser in Marion County for the North Marion High School football team.
“In those we do a 50-50 split on the proceeds with the sponsoring organization and the sponsor also gets all the money from the concessions,” he said, adding the group is looking for opportunities to do more shows closer to the Parkersburg area.
“We have been speaking with local school organizations about shows,” he said.
Howerton said they are also working on getting a weekly show on television through the local cable access channel on CAS Cable.
Howerton, who during the week is an assistant supervisor at Exel Inc. and is the chairman of the Wood County Young Republicans, said that while some shows such as those seen on television are scripted, the MWA may have a fixed result, but what comes in between the beginning and the end is not part of any script.
“Many say professional wrestling is fake, but it isn’t; when you hit that mat the pain is real,” he said. “It is fixed, but it’s not fake.”
Howerton said he may spend an entire Sunday in bed recovering from shows that took place Thursday, Friday and Saturday. He has been injured a few times when a slam is done wrong or a thrown punch manages to connect in the face.
Howerton said the training facility, known as the AWA-MWA Wrestling University, is located in a former garage near the corner of Eighth and Avery streets in Parkersburg.
“We have guys who come up to us and say they’d like to wrestle, but after one or two training sessions we may never see them again,” he said. “They are amazed at how much it can hurt and how hard they have to work.”
Contact Jeffrey Saulton at jsaulton@newsandsentinel.com
