McGinnis: Pro Wrestling Ohio rocks a ‘Wrestlelution’
Written by Jeff McGinnis | | jmcginnis@toledofreepress.comPro Wrestling Ohio (PWO) may be a small, regional wrestling promotion out of Cleveland, but it is rapidly becoming the little company that could.
Founded in 2007, PWO has a weekly television show broadcast throughout the state on SportsTime Ohio. And now, its wrestlers and producers are preparing for its biggest show of the year. “Wrestlelution” will take place Aug. 1 at the Nautica Pavilion in Cleveland.
Gargano
For Joe Dombrowski, PWO producer and lead commentator, “Wrestlelution was a given. Every wrestling promotion has their ‘signature event,’ the show you know is going to be bigger than all the others. Of course, WWE has ‘WrestleMania,’ and before that WCW had ‘Starrcade.’ ‘Wrestlelution’ is our version of that, it’s our Super Bowl.”
“‘Wrestlelution’ is always that show that you look forward to at the beginning of the season; that’s going to be the final chapter for a lot of stories,” said Johnny Gargano, PWO’s current champion. “Everything that we do in Pro Wrestling Ohio pretty much builds to ‘Wrestlelution’.” The annual event has grown in popularity and importance with each passing year. The first ‘Wrestlelution’ in 2008 drew more than 1,000 fans, a record for the company at that time. Last year’s installment drew more than 1,400. Not bad for a small promotion which started less than three years ago.
“In 2007, there was another regional wrestling organization that many of us worked for that was making some decent waves, but as time went on, many of us became concerned over some of the business practices there and realized it could only go so far. In the fall of that year, a number of individuals broke away to form Pro Wrestling Ohio, pretty much literally from scratch,” Dombrowski said. “It’s been a very grassroots effort, and it has grown very slowly and steadily, but we’re very proud of the progress we’ve made in just a short time and the passion and heart of everyone involved.”
Through its weekly timeslot on SportsTime Ohio, PWO has garnered exposure not just on a regional level, but worldwide.
“It’s amazing how many people actually see the show. We get e-mails from Britain, from Mexico, from anywhere,” Gargano said. “It’s crazy an organization in Ohio is beamed all over the world like that.”
The main event for this year’s show features two local stars on the cusp of breaking out onto the national stage. Matt Cross, a remarkable high flyer, will wrestle champion Gargano, a name fans the world over are learning about very quickly. The 22-year-old is one of the fastest-rising stars in the game.
Gargano has made his mark on the national scene with a growing role in promotions like CHIKARA, Dragon Gate USA and EVOLVE. But for PWO fans, Gargano has been a mainstay since day one, and has stolen the show with memorable matches at both previous ‘Wrestlelution’ events.
“I’ve wanted to be a wrestler since I was 8 years old, and I started training at 14,” Gargano, who trained in Cleveland, said. “It’s pretty much what I wanted to be my whole life. I wanted to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, then I wanted to be a Power Ranger, then I wanted to be a pro wrestler. The first two things didn‘t work out well for me. I’m glad the wrestling thing caught on!”
Seeing stars like Gargano blossom is one of the things producer Dombrowski is most proud of. “When that happens, I think that is a testament to how hard all of our wrestlers work to better themselves and create opportunities to be able to compete on a grand scale,” he said.
It is that drive for excellence that Dombrowski feels will make the show on Aug. 1 a memorable one, for fans and wrestlers alike.
“These aren’t men and women earning millions of dollars a year under guaranteed cushy contracts — these are men and women who will do anything to prove they deserve to be in that same category,” he said. “PWO ‘Wrestlelution 3’s’ tagline this year is ‘A Defining Moment,’ and I believe it rings true. It’s a defining moment for our wrestlers to show what they really have to offer, and a defining moment as a company for us to hit the next level of our growth.”
E-mail Jeff at PopGoesJeff@gmail.com.
Tags: Jeff McGinnis, Johnny Gargano, Pop Goes the Culture, Pro Wrestling Ohio
