“What if you could book EC3 against… Lord Crewe?”
For most wrestling lovers, dream booking only happens at home. It might be on the couch watching a (ahem) Premium Live Event, or on the back deck over a couple of beers. But there’s no power to those wishes. Wrestling fans rarely, if ever, get a say in what happens. Not on the indies, certainly not on a major televised event.
For seven years, best friends Bryan Kennison and Steven “Stevie J” Johnson, had a chance to do much more than wish. Week after week, they sat in meetings at OVW in Louisville. They pitched storylines, dream matches, and promos to the master himself, Al Snow. Some of them Al loved and made it to air. But many were rejected.
Sometimes it didn’t fit in with the company’s plans. Other ideas were met with, “That will never work!” For Bryan and Stevie J, a unique moment has arrived when they can finally say, “Well, let’s see if it will work or not!”
The announcement came out of the blue and caught Louisville fans by surprise. Powerbomb Events, a new collaboration by Bryan Kennison and Steven Johnson, will host their first pro wrestling show on June 6 at Logan Street Market. The early talent announcements featured a host of former OVW wrestlers that fans are eager to see return: Dream Girl Ellie, Orion, Big Beef, Jada Stone, Sophia Rose.
Then came EC3.
Then Lord Crewe.
“At OVW, we talked about matches that move tickets,” said Bryan Kennison over a recent lunch. “When you make an announcement, you look to see if that announcement has any impact on sales. In the years I’ve been doing this, I’ve never seen a match move tickets like EC3 and Lord Crewe.”
Kennison and Johnson learned a lot during the seven years they worked at OVW. They started as producers, filming backstage interviews and vignettes for the live broadcast before taking over the announcer’s table during Covid. They were eventually welcomed into the creative room, where Al Snow and OVW’s backstage agents pitched ideas and planned the weekly broadcasts.
It was a grind, but the dynamic duo learned a great deal from the weekly push to produce a two hour live television program.
“Al always said, ‘This place is here so you can learn from experience, and from others, what to do and what not to do in running a wrestling show,'” said Steven Johnson. “Now is our chance to apply what we learned and see what happens.”
It’s not often you see another independent promotion run in Louisville. While the Kentucky Athletic Commission is not as strict as it once was, it still takes guts to advertise and promote a show in the shadow of a legend like OVW.
Kennison and Johnson view Powerbomb differently. For one thing, it’s not all about wrestling. “On May 13, we’re hosting the last night of Mick Foley’s comedy tour at Logan Street Market,” said Kennison. “That sort of fell into our lap. It’s wrestling related, but it’s also comedy. And what we really want to do is create events to bring the community together.”
The key word in Kennison’s statement is community. Kennison and Johnson are more than just proud to be from Louisville. They’re proud residents of the Germantown neighborhood.
“There’s a five mile radius around Logan Street Market,” said Johnson. “That’s our community. That’s who we want to reach.”
The Mick Foley comedy show and Powerbomb wrestling show are only the tip of the iceberg. “We want to do more comedy shows, and also music,” said Kennison. “We want to bring people together in fun, local spaces like Logan Street Market. There are so many restaurants and places to shop there people don’t even know.”
Exploring such spaces, and making a day of it, are the real aim of Powerbomb. “We don’t just want people coming in to watch two hours of wrestling,” said Kennison. “Come watch wrestling, then stay to drink beer, and shop, and hey, there’s a band playing outside right after.”
“Come and make a day of it,” adds Johnson.
Kennison and Johnson forged many connections with local businesses during their OVW days. They’re big believers in supporting local. We even met for lunch at one of their favorite local pizza and beer sports, a place off Broadway appropriately named Locals. The connections they made, and the trust they’ve built, have helped them launch Powerbomb on a solid foundation.
“I can’t tell you how many businesses we’ve called on and asked to sponsor us who have said, ‘We’re in because it’s you,'” said Kennison.
The same can be said of the connections the pair made with wrestlers, and both Johnson and Kennison have embraced the chance to book a wrestling show their way.
“For years, we wanted to push people and were told, ‘No you can’t do that for this reason or that,'” said Johnson. “Now we can try all the things we wanted to try and were turned down.”
It’s not lost on either man the challenge in front of them. Off the record, they shared some incredibly creative ideas for matches: oddball gimmicks and stipulations that came to them while (what else?) sipping beers on the back deck at home. Powerbomb gives them the chance to at least try these ideas.
As long as the talent trusts them enough to go along with it.
“I can’t believe he agreed to do that spot,” said Kennison of one high profile wrestler and one crazy idea. “But he’s all in.”
The fans are certainly on board for the launch of Powerbomb Wrestling. Front row for the June 6 show has sold out. And with each announcement, there’s a spike in tickets. Just this morning, the company announced that Mance Warner, a regular across the river just a few years back, will appear on the debut event.
The boys are already looking ahead to future shows, future dream matches, and future gimmicks that may (or may not) be hits. But they know that any future success will depend greatly on how well things go on June 6.
They definitely picked a fun spot to launch their new endeavor. Logan Street Market is an unsung gem in Louisville, a place where new restaurant concepts, indie artisans, and shops are rotated in and out constantly. There’s a big, spacious pinball arcade and bar area perfect for throwing a pro wrestling show.
Oh yeah, bring your quarters. There’s a lot of pinball. And arcade games. Including a Burger Time machine.
For more about the Mick Foley show, the June 6 wrestling show, and Powerbomb Events, visit:
