Write It In The Ring

A One Of A Kind Experience

So, I’ve been a wrestling fan since I was a young boy in the 90s during the heart of the Monday Night Wars, but there’s one thing that has always eluded me in my fandom. For all of the shows I’ve seen on TV, PPV, iPPV, streaming services, PLEs, and every other method, I had never been to a wrestling show live. I’d heard a lot about those experiences, but for one reason or another, I’d just never been able to make that trip. That all changed during the Deposit Lumberjack Festival where Xcite Wrestling made a stop.

This was my seat for the event that would be my first ever live wrestling show, and with it, it was an experience I’ll never forget. It had the same energy of when I’d be learning the names and motivations of wrestlers back when I first got into TNA back in 2004, now with the anticipation of seeing a live performance. A lot of excitement was starting to boil over, and I was getting anxious, especially with being able to share this with someone who’d been to live shows before and was excited for me to have this experience.

The card was a nice balance of match-types. You had the opener built around getting the crowd hot as William Gaines faced off with Colt Allen, the “Deposit Deputy”. Was a solid opener meant to build the crowd up a bit, culminating in the ref getting tired of Gaines’ aversion to the rules and nailing him with a Stunner to allow Allen to pick up the win.

The rest of the card went on from there. What followed was a match for the Xcite Wrestling Tag Team Championship. This match had a really strong mix of characters, in-ring athleticism, and moments. PrimeTime (Carmelo Lee & Damien Saint) were the particularly flighty team and walking in as the Champions defending in a Fatal 4-Way Tag Match against CXR (Chael Connors & TJ Epixx), Edge of Hope (Mattick & Cerin Rahne), and the Silver Saints (Kairo & Maxwell Keith).

Silver Saints immediately won me over with their shtick, which was to “Embrace Second Place”, making for a fun dynamic for a team competing for the tag team titles. Edge of Hope were a bit of a “bruiser” tag team compared to the others in the ring, and eventually, this led to them managing to pick up the win and become the new Xcite Wrestling Tag Team Champions. It was an exciting match that really highlighted the differences of watching on TV vs. seeing a match live.

There’s an inherent understanding of the “larger-than-life” feeling of wrestlers performing their moves and watching it on TV. That feeling was amplified heavily seeing teams speed along the ring, landing satellite DDTs, frog splashes, tilt-a-whirls, and frankensteiners all in front of you while watching the show in the stands. It’s hard to describe, but seeing the performers moving at that speed in person was both grounding and enlightening to the reality of it. This was the moment where it truly clicked for me, and I felt the energy of the live event.

Following that was a triple threat match for the Xcite Wrestling International Championship with Ash Bennett defending against Price Purgold and “Retro” Zeke Rogers. Rogers came out with a Nintendo Power Glove, which was a hit with the crowd, and with “The Touch” as his entrance music. I was won over by Price Purgold “hailing from the Financial District” and weighing in at “a buck 75”. It’s the little details that always get me. This match ended with Ash Bennett picking up the win and retaining the title, but not before the Power Glove came into play.

We got a bit of a slower paced match to follow with the Xcite Wrestling Fighting Arts Championship bout between champion Kayda Cyn and challenger Tyler Reed. I could very well tell that Tyler Reed was a guy that Xcite gets behind. There’s a particular energy about him as a babyface that came through when he and Kayda hugged to open their bout. I myself am a fan of mat wrestling like this as someone who grew up on Dean Malenko, so a grappling contest is always welcomed. Kayda got the win in a nice back-and-forth match. Kayda’s presence as a trans woman on this card really highlights the progressive nature of the company and was something I took notice of immediately.

We had a No DQ match between Kaide Lothbrok and Michael Mistretta. I appreciated the tagline of “Nobody’s Betta than Michael Mistretta”, but Lothbrok invited him into his domain. There was brawling up and down the field outside of the ring, culminating in a dive by Lothbrok from the top of the production truck onto Mistretta. Lothbrok took him into the ring to finish him off with an RKO to end it. I couldn’t help but pop for this as I was wearing my RKO shirt. Was a fun match that had the crowd active to watch what was happening as they took advantage of the field.

The co-main event was a bout for the Xcite Wrestling Heavyweight Championship held by “The Indigenous” Pat Sawyer defending against Keenan Moore. Again, I really appreciated the characters in play and commitment to their respective personas. Sawyer commands attention by his presence, but he had the charisma to wield it. Was fun seeing him play to the crowd (of which the front rows were mostly children) and get them involved with chants and even an exchange of chops. Moore played his role as a cocky heel really well too. It made it easy to rain boos on him and get behind Sawyer. Sawyer retained in a genuinely fun match with a chokeslam. Solid presentation. Great personality. It was easy to see why he was the company’s champion.

From here, we went right into the main-event, which led to a funny spot where Keenan Moore, who had just lost, came right back out in protest of having to compete again immediately. Ring filled up with wrestlers for a battle royal. This match was hard to follow through no fault of the performers. It’s just a messier experience to keep track of everything in this sort of match in a live venue, but it was still some chaotic fun seeing everyone pile on every other person and play along with the crowd in the front row. The match didn’t get into second gear until Grizzly Olson appeared.

Entering the match late, he eliminated pretty much every other competitor, with Tyler Reed getting a few hope spots in to no avail as he was, in his own words, subject to the “symbolism of modern society”. Olson went on to cut a promo as the crowd (myself included) booed him, and this became my personal highlight of the show as Olson played to the crowd booing him before turning his attention to me. I gave him a “What?” chant as he spoke about how he was a “true superstar” that wasn’t on the poster and pelted him with boos before he dared me to come into the ring. I dared him back because, after all, I’m not the one under contract. Eventually, as we went back and forth, he turned the “What?” chant back on me. Colt Allen stepped up to the plate, and during the match, I led a “De-Pu-Ty” chant, which led to Olson’s manager Angel DuVall to (correctly) call out, “You don’t even know his name!” As this was my first time seeing Xcite Wrestling… well-played.

This led eventually to Olson provoking the ire of HC Loc, the head trainer at Xcite Wrestling. HC Loc came out along with a hometown boy in Tyler Wahl, ultimately leading to Olson’s defeat at the hands of HC Loc and a send-off promo by the company and its performers, ensuring the crowd went on to the rest of the Lumberjack Festival happy.

For my first wrestling show ever, I got to be engaged in a whole new world of wrestling with a whole new cast of characters. It’s a great experience away from the bigger shows to have a more intimate experience, and having that interaction with Grizzly Olson during the show is something that will stick with me as a fan of pro-wrestling. After the show, I was able to speak with Pat Sawyer for a few moments. The charisma in the ring carried into how personable he was outside. He came across as very happy to be there to entertain the crowd and be Xcite’s Heavyweight Champion, even offering the idea for me to hold the championship when I asked to take a picture with him. I also got to speak with Grizzly Olson after the show and talk about our banter from the show itself. I do wish I had asked for a picture with him and DuVall at that moment, but I think I was just genuinely buzzing from the show as a whole that it slipped my mind. Maybe next time?

It’s such a weird feeling to have been a fan of pro-wrestling since the 90s as a kid and only now having been to my first wrestling show. As a first show, however, it was a perfect experience. A variety of match-types from crowd-building openers to aerial acrobatics to technical grappling and everything in between along with an entertaining cast of characters on the show left an indelible impression on me as a fan…as did the giant cow that roamed the field as the ring was being torn down. Jonny Moose, Xcite’s owner, would know about that one. It was a wonderful show that was a treat to be in attendance for as part of the Deposit Lumberjack Festival. Whether it’s at the Festival next year or somewhere else down the road, I’d love to see Xcite Wrestling again.