You can’t blame Mick Foley for thinking Neil Brewer was a liar.
Sitting in the Davis Arena, the legendary home of OVW, the last thing Foley expected was a fan to tell him they had a mutual connection: Barry Blaustein, former SNL writer, co-writer of Eddie Murphy’s Coming to America, and director of the fabled wrestling documentary Beyond the Mat.
The name definitely caught Mick’s ear when Neil dropped it, but Mick wasn’t buying. “You know I’m really good friends with Barry,” he said, giving Neil a chance to recant his story.
Neil explained that he, too, was in a documentary directed by Barry Blaustein. “Mick took out his personal cell phone, took a selfie with me, and sent a text to Barry saying, ‘I met this guy who says he knows you.’ Later that same night, after doing a live TV segment with Tony Evans, Mick stopped to talk to me on his way up the ramp. ‘I talked to Barry. He says you’re not full of crap. He knows who you are, and he wants to know how you’re doing!’”
Neil Brewer grew up in Lanesville, Indiana, where he first discovered pro wrestling watching with the neighbor kids. This was the Attitude Era, and one of Neil’s earliest memories was the mystery storyline surrounding who tried to run Stone Cold Steve Austin over with a car. Being a theater kid, Neil didn’t need anyone to “smarten him up” to the business. He got it, and he loved it, especially the characters and the drama.
Lanesville High School did not offer much in the way of theater, so Neil’s parents made arrangements for him to attend Floyd Central. It was there, because of theater, that Neil met Barry Blaustein.
“Barry had a huge passion for theater,” says Neil. “He came to town to film a documentary about three high schools known internationally known for their theater arts programs: New Albany, Jeffersonville, and Floyd Central.”
Floyd Central was working on a show called Zombie Prom. Neil wasn’t one of the leads, but Barry took a liking to him when he found they had two loves in common: comedy and wrestling. “This was the man who helped launch Eddie Murphy’s career. He wrote the Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood sketch!”
During the filming of Blaustein’s documentary Guys N Divas: Battle of the High School Musicals, one of Neil’s best friends passed away in a tragic accident involving a snake. “It made national news for a second. He was giving a medical treatment a python named Samara, and best as we can tell, she snapped at him. He fell, hit his head, and asphyxiated.”
Blaustein worked Neil’s story of loss into the documentary. “I wasn’t popular on school at all. I was not only a theater kid, but a wrestling fan, which was just not cool. Needless to say, some of my classmates weren’t happy their stories got cut because of mine, but we’re all cool now.”
Neil’s family life was also tumultuous, and his parents’ relationship was starting to fracture during the filming of the documentary. By the time the film was released, his father had moved out. Neil’s mom kicked him out of the house shortly after. Neil moved in with the older brother of his friend who had passed away, giving him some sense of stability.
Neil found a second start with theater at Clarksville Little Theater, thanks in part to the urging of Floyd Central’s theater teacher Chris Bundy. His work at CLT opened a few more doors, including some paid jobs. Not enough to live on, but enough to give him some sense of validation. He met and started dating his now wife Rebecca at CLT, and he found a new community with others in the local theater community.
He would need it. His mother’s situation deteriorated. She was in an out of half way houses, living on the streets and homeless shelters for a time. She passed away in late 2015.
Neil had no audio or video footage of his mother. He was crushed. He broke down to Rebecca one night wishing he had something that would allow him to hear his mother’s voice just one more time.
“You have something,” said Rebecca. “The documentary!”
Neil immediately started reaching out to anyone he could think of regarding the film. “I finally got my hands on a copy. Barry doesn’t even know this, but it’s the only thing I have to remember my mother by.”
In the last few years, Neil and Rebecca became a part of the revitalization of Clarksville Little Theatre. Founded in 1947, the theater had fallen into disrepair from his hey day decades ago. “A number of pop up theater groups got started in the Louisville community just because CLT was in such bad shape and wasn’t well managed. It made us so sad to see how far the place had fallen, so we decided to run for the Board.”
The Brewers and other young theater artists brought new life into the theater. “Many people don’t realize how close CLT was to closing. They had the paperwork filled out to auction off the building. Rebecca and I knew it was not going to be easy, but we’ve seen many great and talented people join us. We got the ball rolling, but we didn’t do it alone. Cindy Smith, Katie Bechtler, Brad Lambert, Cathy Ryan, and the township of Clarksville all played a part.”
A recent addition to the CLT family is Jason Lindsey, aka OVW’s Crybaby Chris Alexander, who fulfilled a dream of his in the fall of 2024 by doing a production of Steven Banks’ Home Entertainment Center.
Which brings this story back to the subject of this blog: wrestling.
Like many people who watched wrestling as a kid, Neil fell away from it through his tumultuous growing up period. As he connected with the Southern Indiana theater community, he got back into wrestling. He came back to watching wrestling with fresh eyes. He shared it with his theatrical colleagues, some of whom got into it as well. He got hooked on WWE television and started watching the indies in Southern Indiana.
Then he got the itch to do something more.
My first opportunity came in 2017. There was a promotion called UWA that had guys like Showtime Apollo Garvin, Big Zo, and James Kendrick, and I heard they needed an announcer. I walked in with my wrestling resume and headshot and was like, ‘Look, I know this is unorthodox, but I genuinely think I have something I can give to this.’”
Neil knew enough to shake everyone’s hand, to introduce himself, to get to know the wrestlers and learn things that would help him put them over on commentary. UWA only lasted a few years, but he made some great connections while it lasted.
A few years later, as Neil and Rebecca were getting a crash course in running a non-profit theater, the Wrestlers documentary aired on Netflix. “Rebecca and I watched it. We’re listening to Al Snow talk about budgeting and politics, and we realized, we’re going through the exact same shit that they are!”
Neil was one of many fans to start attending OVW on a regular basis. In fact he was one of the first to buy a season ticket subscription when they went on sale. “I’m in the credits for OVW Rise now. Me and Gracie, we’re the only two fans you see in the credits!”
With CLT on the rise, the itch to work in wrestling flared up once more. Neil started saving money to train at OVW or Grindhouse, but he was hesitant to commit with his first child on the way. Then another opportunity came along thanks to Neil’s deep roots in high school theater.
Neil met Gabe Petri in a production of Seussical: The Musical when Petri was just a kid. Petri went on to do theater at Clarksville High School under director Dan Bullington, who made Barry Blaustein’s high school documentary required viewing for his classes. Neil had worked with Dan a few times himself in the community, and Gabe had become a fan of Neil’s thanks to repeated viewings of the documentary.
When Dan Bullington passed away, Gabe and some friends started raising money to do a play in honor of their mentor, and Neil came on board as well. “They raised a couple thousand dollars. They had all these sponsors lined up. Then the people who owned the rights to the play pulled them. We asked ourselves, ‘What do we do now?’ Gabe’s a wrestling fan too, and someone said, ‘You wanna try a wrestling promotion?’”
Long story short: Bullpen Pro Wrestling was born. Named after Dan Bullington, Bullpen has become the de facto way of honoring the former Clarksville High School theater director.
“Next thing I know, they’ve booked Xia Brookside and Donovan Dijak. Then Dijak was the first person to post about it on Facebook. I’m like holy crap, Donovan Dijak is coming here to work for a wrestling promotion started by three theater nerds who came together because of a Barry Blaustein documentary. Not about wrestling, but high school theater!”
Bullpen Pro Wrestling’s first show will take place November 2 at Our Lady of Perpetual Hops in New Albany, Indiana. In addition to Brookside and Dijak, the card is loaded with great indie wrestling talent including Ethan Heyre, Tyler Lee Deputy, The Lovely Miss Larkan, Vanessa Holiday, Omega De, Gema, Lexxi Green, Mickie Knuckles, Arie Alexander, Berto and Hippo, and James Kendrick.
And Neil Brewer will be there, as your MC and host for the evening.
“I joked for 10 years that I was going to take over the world of theater and wrestling and never leave the Ohio Valley. And now, it’s like holy crap, is this really happening?”
If Bullpen’s first show is a success, you can bet there will be more. Regardless, it’s clear Neil is only getting started with pro wrestling. He’s loving the thrill and the stress of starting his own company, and he’s excited to be a part of something that’s meant so much to him for decades.
Bullpen Pro Wrestling’s first show takes place November 2 at Our Lady of Perpetual Hops in New Albany, Indiana. For more information on Bullpen Pro Wrestling, visit their Facebook page.