Wrestling In The Six Summer Recap

WWE took over Toronto during the Summer of 2019. WWE Summerslam and NXT Takeover both went down in T-Dot. The tangible electricity among wrestling fans throughout early August was something that numerous promoters wanted to capitalize on. The very best Ontario indy promotions came out and showcased what they have. It seemed in line with the tradition of indy promoters running shows around Wrestlemania week and Ontario independent wrestling had a great platform to showcase the rich talent they have. This is your Wrestling in the Six summer recap.

Wrestlers Union

One of the big attractions for stalwart fans of the Ontario indy scene was the return of The Wrestlers Union. Union had not run a show in half a decade but the circumstance at play here was too perfect to not reprise Union and do a comeback show.

Union heavyweight champion/ promoter Anthony Kingdom James said, “Well, I have a partner in the promotion now. We were looking at September or October. With Summerslam approaching, I had the brilliant/ insane notion that running in Toronto during Summerslam week might be a good kickoff to it. It’s an uphill battle because as great as the idea of doing something Summerslam week is, you are obviously not alone in that thought. There are a virtual crap ton of shows being run that week. But we decided to give it a go. So yeah for the first time in five years there’s going to be a Wrestlers Union event in Toronto.”

Union’s future

The resurgence of the Union will extend to more shows. It’s not just a one-off thing to capitalize on a heavily hyped week of wrestling. There’s definitely more of a long term plan to put on for not just Wrestlers Union but the Ontario indy scene by-proxy.

Kingdom James said, “There’s already a return date booked at the Tranzac club for December. I’m thinking that in Toronto I’d like to start at three shows a year. We’re on the hunt. We’re close to agreeing on a second venue which we would probably run the same frequency. So the Union would be running every two months here in Southern Ontario. The last thing we want to do is just simply exist. We want to thrive and we want to bring really incredible shows. Really top-notch talent and fantastic action to the people that are willing to buy a ticket, come out, and see what we have to offer.” Though Wrestlers Union was excellent, Wrestling in the Six summer recap is just getting started.

Anthony Kingdom James Audio HERE

OWE in Toronto day one

Oriental Wrestling Entertainment put on its first show on Canadian soil. Toronto was the host site for this significant event and the crowd was exposed to an altogether unique form of pro wrestling. In reference to how the Chinese style of wrestling differs from other permutations of the art form, Buck Gunderson said “In terms of the OWE style in particular, I know that a lot of their talent has roots in Kung Fu and the arts of the Shaolin monks. So it’s a very unique style that has sort of never been seen before. In China, pro wrestling is relatively new in the last five to ten years. It’s a short history and there’s a lot of influences. Especially in the OWE with regards to bringing in their traditional martial arts into the pro wrestling.”

Oriental Wrestling Entertainment in Toronto

For one of the show’s featured performers Bolo Fung, it meant a tremendous amount to him as an individual but also through the scope of his culture. Fung said, “It’s a really big honor, to be honest with you. It’s quite a responsibility to represent China against what is a pretty star-studded card.”

This sentiment permeated through the locker room seemingly. Buck Gunderson also placed a tremendous amount of value on being part of OWE’s inaugural foray into the great white north. Gunderson said, “This match, this night means quite a lot to me. Yes, it’s the first Chinese branded pro wrestling show in Canada. It’s the first show in the big string of shows for this big wrestling week here in Toronto. I’m in the first match and I’m wrestling the first-ever Chinese born Canadian citizen professional wrestler. And I’m the first Canadian who ever pro wrestled in China. So it’s a lot of firsts. It’s unbelievable.”

Gunderson discussed wrestling in China when he said, “That was an amazing experience. That show I got to meet a lot of international talent. There were talents from over twenty-one countries on that show.” That same eclectic kind of feel carried itself over into OWE’s Toronto show. Which is super fitting considering how multicultural and rich Toronto is in that regard.

Chinese Pro-Wrestling psychology

The crowd psychology is noticeably different overseas as compared to what resonates with Canadian crowds. Gunderson said, “They seemed to watch it more like it was a play and just taking it in. Even more quiet than say a Japanese crowd even though they were quite interested in the goings on. A lot of the audience was ex-pats who were these sort of cheerleaders. Wrestling fans from the UK and they sort of taught the Chinese fans how to watch and engage in pro wrestling.” Fung said, “I think it’s very difficult and it’s a big market to tap into Chinese pro wrestling. Which is very strange, to be honest. Chinese opera is very similar to professional wrestling. I know America’s wrestling demographics, Japan, Mexico. I hope that our product represents a good step. That is really important to not only myself but for many other Chinese people too.”

The AEW influence

Bolo Fung wrestled AEW’s Brandon Cutler on the show and mocked the crowd a few times for their AEW chants. Even though he felt some type of way about it during the match, Bolo Fung also seemed to appreciate the All Elite presence on the card. Fung said, “Not to say anything but this is pretty much Fyter Fest. This is pretty much the exact same card, same wrestlers. There were a couple of Chinese guys slotted on here and some guys got a chance. When you have that kind of pressure, veterans like Christopher Daniels and CIMA. Up and comers like Private Party, you really want to show your best. They’re giving you an opportunity.”

That being said, there was still no love lost between Fung and Cutler after the match. Fung said, “He’s a piece of shit. I hate him. I’m glad I won. I hit him in the nuts and I would hit him in the nuts at least five more times for no extra money. That’s not what I have to do. It’s just what I want to do.” Wrestling in the Six summer recap transitions from Toronto to Mississauga as Destiny Wrestling prepared a blockbuster of a card that delivered in spades.

Destiny Wrestling: Icons 2

Another show I hit up during Summerslam/ Takeover week was Destiny Wrestling: Icons 2. An event that was so electric that it kicked off with a cage match with Decker vs Page but the action only seemed to ramp up from there. Stars from NXT UK, Impact Wrestling, and AEW bolstered this enormous card at Don Kolov Arena. The crowd heated things up both literally and figuratively as the fans shook the arena while progressively getting sweatier from the room temperature. Many were digging that but RJ City was not enjoying the warmth. City said, “Well it’s cold. I didn’t have that good of a time. I’ve had three matches in two days and I have not won one. So I’m dealing with that reality right now”

City vs Ryan

One of the featured matches on Icons 2 pitted the songbird of Ontario indy wrestling RJ City against the king of sleaze Joey Ryan. City was quick to shower his opponent with praises after they (ahem) locked horns. City said, “You’re not going to go penis to penis with a guy like Joey Ryan. That’s the Lou Thesz of Shvontsis (sp?). To put up a fight, to stand up and be counted, to give it your all, and then to have him respect your penis at the end I think is a lesson for us all.”

City’s aforementioned difficult week involved encountering some hybrid wrestlers on multiple shows during Summerslam/ Takeover week. In addition to taking on Space Monkey at the Union show, City said “and then I wrestled basically a Rhino. A full-blown Rhino, which was not a good idea. And then I wrestled this penis guy. Half man, half penis.”

Moustache Mountain vs Michael Elgin and Josh Alexander

Ryan vs City was a match many were excited for but the main event was fittingly the huge attraction. Michael Elgin teamed up with “Walking Weapon” Josh Alexander to take on the NXT UK sensations Moustache Mountain.

Alexander thrived in this match against some of the heaviest hitters internationally and arguably got the warmest reaction. Alexander said, “I’ve always been a guy like trial by fire is the best thing. Even when I was coming up before I had a lot of experience. I’ve been wrestling for 14 years I’ve probably had over two hundred matches against Michel Elgin himself. Destiny is one of the only places I can see in the world where you’d see contracted WWE talent against contracted Impact talent. On the same show, we had AEW talent against Impact talent. You had an amalgamation of all these companies. I’m just blessed to be able to be in this position”

Putting on for Canadian wrestling

This has to be a supremely validating moment for a wrestler like Alexander who has experienced a few roadblocks over the years. Alexander said, “I was stuck in Canada for a long time. I had visa issues before Impact signed me and got me a visa for the states. Before then I just made it my goal to put Canadian wrestling back on the map. Because you think back in the day to the 80’s it was like Dynamite Kid, Davey Boy Smith, Bret Hart, Owen Hart, all of these guys coming out of the Dungeon. If you wanted the best wrestlers in the world, you’d go to Alberta, you’d go to Calgary.

Josh Alexander continued, “For some reason, it fell off and then it came up a little bit more when you had the Jericho era and the Lance Storms, the Edges, Christians and all these people. Hopefully, with the work of myself and Michael Elgin, we can put Canadian wrestling back on the map”

Don Kolov Arena and the Destiny Wrestling fanbase

Alexander was receiving “Walking Weapon” chants before the bell even rang to begin the show. Josh Alexander had Don Kolov Arena rocking and he feels in his bag when performing for Destiny Wrestling. Alexander said, “I love it here. This is my home promotion, my home crowd. I came back from the neck injury I think three or four years ago now and I thought my career was over. It kind of gave me new life. I got by strictly on my talent before I didn’t try as hard or apply myself as hard in everything I could. I’m not going to try so hard so if I fail I have an excuse.”

Walking Weapon continued, “Now I came back with a new lease on my career. Mississauga was the first place, Destiny was the first place to show what I can do. I told George, the promoter for Destiny, give me the ball I won’t drop it. I never will. It’s been a two-year run now of just crazy matches. He’s put me in there with the best in the world, the crowd gets to see it, and I’m just showing I can hang with them, man”

The Mississauga crowd

Not everybody was feeling the raucous reactions the crowd was projecting. RJ City was one of those individuals. When talking about the Mississauga crowd, City said “well, sometimes they’re a little too loud. It makes me nervous. So they can make noise but at a respectable level. And as long as they stay quiet when I ask them to. I asked for silence during my singing and I got it. You can tell that it worked, the acoustics were great, and you can applaud after.”

The audience was packing the venue to capacity but Alexander gives the same quality of performance regardless of the number of fans present. Alexander said, “My philosophy has always been whether there’s 5, 50, or 500 in the crowd, you’re going to get the same Josh Alexander every single show and tonight was no different. We had a great crowd and Destiny didn’t always start with crowds this size. It’s built it’s way up and we’re fortunate enough to where now I can say I’m giving 120 percent for the best crowd in all of Ontario. With Moustache Mountain, they apply themselves the same way. We take this seriously. This is our full-time job. We want to make sure everybody gets their money’s worth.” Wrestling in the Six summer recap involved a cartoonish magnitude of events in a few days but it was also an indicator of the health of Ontario’s indy scene at large.

The state of Ontario Indy Wrestling

Beyond the scope of Wrestlers Union, James is happy about the vibrant Ontario independent wrestling scene at large. James said, “Smash, Superkick, Alpha-1, PWA. There are so many really, really good promotions running really good shows for their fans around Southern Ontario right now. Smash wrestling where I’ve been working for the past couple of years now is obviously one of the leading promotions in Ontario. TV on the Fight Network and shows in Toronto, Kitchener, London. There’s a lot of really great wrestling and that’s predicated on having both a really great fan base and just an overabundance of talent of high-quality talent in Southern Ontario. Dozens and dozens of guys who objectively could be working anywhere on the planet tomorrow.”

Both Fung and Gunderson appreciated the microcosm of OWE in Toronto but also saw the macrocosm of how vibrant the Ontario indy wrestling scene is. Gunderson said, “Since I’ve been involved with Ontario indy wrestling and this is my eleventh year involved in Ontario indy wrestling, I would say this is the healthiest it’s ever been.”. Fung said, “I think it’s very impressive to see Toronto blow up so well. When we were at Mania….It feels like Mania weekend. All these shows running back to back to back. You have an opportunity and a platform.”

Wrestling in the Six summation

To put a bow on this Wrestling in the Six summer recap, Josh Alexander spoke highly of the Ontario indy scene and still wants to put on for the province despite his growing successes outside the area. Alexander said, “I’ve been all across Canada, I think Ontario’s the hub for the best independent wrestling. There’s nothing like here. You can find a show anywhere around the GTA. Some of the best people from around the world”.

RJ City didn’t necessarily have the most glowing review of the Ontario indy wrestling scene as a whole, however. City said, “well it’s always been stupid, it continues to be stupid. These shows are too long, it’s too hot, there’s no food backstage. And that’s the common thread. That’s the tradition of indie wrestling. I’m outside the building, I’m waiting to get paid, it’s been at least two hours since I’ve wrestled and if I leave, I’ll never get the money. Yes, indie wrestling is a circus for aggressive males.”

I got a diametrically opposed sentiment from Union’s Anthony Kingdom James and he said a quote that I think dovetails this article nicely. James said, “Wrestling especially independent wrestling really is a community. It’s a community of wrestlers, support staff, and fantastic fans who come out to enjoy what we do.” This has been your Wrestling in the Six summer recap.