Chasing the Dream

VIEWPOINT

By RALPH HARDIN

Evening Times Editor

My youngest son and seminal middle child has been a fan of professional wrestling since he was a little kid. He comes by it honestly, since I’ve been watching it for as long as I can remember and he just picked up the habit.

When he was 16 or so, he told me he wanted to go to wrestling school (yes, it’s a thing). I told him he needed to go to college first, which he agreed. I even told him that if he finished college I would pay for his wrestling school. I was joking and he knew that, but over the years he would remind me of our “deal” and we’d have a good laugh.

A couple of years ago, a small-time independent wrestling promotion called APW (All Pro Wrestling), sort of a very, very minor league compared to, say, WWE, started running regular shows at the Boys & Girls Club in West Memphis. If you’ve never been to an indepentdent wrestling show, even if you’re not a big fan, I highly recommend it. It’s worth it just to see the kids and the old people really get into the show.

Anyway, the promotion is run by a guy named Ricky Kennedy from Forrest City and he works with other small regional promoters, sharing talent and promoting shows. There are several

See VIEWPOINT, page A5 VIEWPOINT

From page A4

organizations in Memphis, like Bluff City Wrestling and Memphis Championship Wrestling. Over in Osceola, Mid-Southern Legacy Wrestling puts on shows every Friday night, and there’s Traditional Championship Wrestling out of Hot Springs, among others.

Anyway, we started going to these shows and my son got to talking to a few of the wrestlers about breaking into the business. And I get it. I mean, what little boy who watches wrestling doesn’t dream about being a part of the business? It’s probably the closest you can come to being a superhero in real life… scripted violence with good guys and bad guys “fighting” while the crowd cheers.

Well, anyway, last year, my son and his wife moved up to Northwest Arkansas, and he did finish college, so he fulfilled all of his requrements before pursuing a career in pro wrestling, and wouldn’t you know it, there’s a wrestling school up in Rogers, about 20 minutes from their apartment. It’s run by a guy named Kevin Nickels who is actually from Memphis and had a developmental deal with WWE several years ago but never made it big.

And although I assured him I was only kidding about paying for it, he has indeed enrolled wrestling school. He sent me a short video the other day of him just running the ropes (they take it slow, apparently… you don’t do body slams and dropkicks on day one, I guess). While he know that it probably won’t be a career path, it is cool to see him chasing the dream…