When Casey King arrived at the 2025 ASW anniversary show in West Virginia, he reminded himself to follow everything taught to him by his mentors in the wrestling business. Be a professional. Be respectful. Whatever you do, don’t mark out over the fact that you’re about to step into the ring with your hero.
For years, King pitched the idea of wrestling Colt Cabana to promoters. “I own all the Wrestling Road Diaries DVDs. I’ve listened to every episode of the Art of Grappling podcast twice. I always wanted to wrestle Colt, and I was so excited to tag with him.”
Born and raised in Ashland, Kentucky, Casey King grew up idolizing the local heroes who would one day become his mentors: Bobby Blaze and Jillian Hall. “They were both from here, and they made it to the top. I thought Bobby was the most famous person in the world! My dad and I would go down to the Ashland Armory when Bobby was commissioner of Ohio Championship Wrestling. We’d seen guys like Chance Prophet, the Heatseekers, and Dark Shadow. A lot of guys I ended up wrestling myself.”
As a child, Casey describes himself as sneaky athletic. “I would pick up a football, and I’d do better than the other kids expected me to. Even now, I do things in the ring that no one who knew me expects I can do. But I didn’t really play sports other than basketball. I was kind of an introvert. And a wrestling kid.”
Casey went to college to become a union pipe fitter, following in the footsteps of many of his family members. But his heart wasn’t in it. Every day in class, he listened to wrestling podcasts with his headphones, especially Colt Cabana’s Art of Wrestling.
“I was listening to the Kevin [Owens] Steen episode, and I thought, I might as well give it a shot. I went to high school with Chase Armstrong, who wrestles as Psych Ward. He started training right out of high school. Another buddy and I decided to train with him in Milton, West Virginia with Shane Storm.”
While Casey’s friend found his calling outside of the ring as a tattoo artist, Casey stayed with it. He spent time working with Shane Storm and an underrated hand named Jarrett Cage. “Jarrett’s from Flatwoods, Kentucky, right near Ashland. He trained me a few others in a fourteen by fourteen ring in somebody’s yard. He taught me all the fundamentals and basics that prepared me for Bobby Blaze.”
Blaze saw the potential in Casey King early on. “I knew he had some training and had worked with Shane Storm. We hadn’t opened the Art of Grappling School just yet, but I told him, ‘There’s a ring here. If you come by when I’m there, I’ll work with you.’ And he started coming around.”
When the Art of Grappling opened its doors, Casey was there. Blaze saw a quick learner who could pick up anything, but he also saw a student who was holding back.
“Bobby knew I wasn’t giving my best effort,” says King. “He chewed me out in front of the whole class. ‘I can see you know what you’re doing,’ he said. ‘It’s obvious you want to do this, but you’re not putting out the effort you can.’”
Casey took Bobby’s words to heart. His work ethic changed, and the man he once described as his hero became his wrestling dad.
“Bobby taught me how simple wrestling can be,” says King. “Then Jillian Hall joined the staff. Jillian taught me how easy wrestling can be. They broke things down so well. They taught me that the moves matter, but hitting moves was secondary to connecting with the crowd.”
One of the challenges King had to overcome was his hearing. He is 100% deaf in his left ear, which made it hard to call things in the ring. “I have to call as much of my matches in the back as I can, but Bobby did give me the confidence to call things on the fly when they go south in the ring.”
Early in his career, Casey King put on airs as a Kentucky gentleman who played tough but was really a big coward. It was a classing pro wrestling heel character, but over time, the fans started to cheer him. “I went from having people laughing at me to laughing with me. I worked against the Boogeyman for Gary Damron at ASW, and the pop for me was so big, Gary told me he wanted to make me a babyface.”
King struggled to find himself as a babyface. Then COVID happened. Then he tore his ACL, which put him on the shelf even longer. Then the scariest set back happened in Cincinnati. He was smacked in the right ear. For a short time, he went completely deaf.
“The ear drum healed, but my doctor said if it happened again, it might not heal,” says King. “It’s scary. I can’t get my ears wet at all. I was told I was risking my hearing if I came back to wrestling.”
Casey King came to the decision to leave wrestling. “I was completely at peace with it. I had my last match. I advertised it as my last match, and I didn’t want to be that guy. Then I started getting offers. Gary Damron offered me a chance to work with Ethan Page. Tim Taylor at Spot Monkey Promotions asked me if I wanted to wrestle Hornswoggle. Of course I wanted Hornswoggle. I realized other people wanted me back more than I wanted to come back, and that made me feel so good.”
Bobby Blaze offered some advice that encouraged him even further. “I used to play basketball the same as he did. I told him you could get hit in the head playing basketball same as you can in pro wrestling. The difference is in pro wrestling, you at least have some control over the action.”
King decided if he was coming back to wrestling, he would do so on his own terms. “I was killing myself for the business, and I wasn’t getting anywhere,” says King. “When I came back, I said I was just going to have fun with it.”
Having fun with it played a big part in King’s new ring persona. Taking inspiration from another favorite, WWE’s Bayley, Casey evolved into a babyface who likes to have fun and wants to give everyone a hug. “He’s a guy who knows life sucks and knows people get grumpy. Casey King wants to spread positivity. He wants to be everybody’s friend, and that comes from Bayley, John Cena, and of course, Colt Cabana.”
For years, King pitched the idea of a match with Colt Cabana to any promoter who would listen. “As a heel, I worked a lot of the best comedy guys in wrestling like ‘Manscout’ Jake Manning and Shark Boy, but I never got to work with Colt.”
It was Gary Damron with ASW who finally made King’s dream come true. “I knew how badly Casey wanted to work with Colt,” says Damron. “When I booked him for ASW’s anniversary show, I asked Casey if he’d rather wrestle him or tag with him. Their gimmicks are just so similar, we both agreed it made more sense for them to tag together. The match turned out great.”
Working with his idol turned out to be everything Casey King hoped it would be. “They say not to meet your heroes, but I am so glad I did. I can’t overstate how much it meant for me to be in the ring with him, and hold my own.”
One of his next adventures is working with Olde Wrestling, an Ohio promotion run by Marion Fontaine. “Olde Wrestling is its own universe,” says King. “I’m playing a character named Gee Willicker.”
He’s also getting his own promotion off the ground in Ashland, Kentucky. “Our first show is coming up in May. Larry D’s coming to work for me. I’ve worked for him a few times at Generation Next in central Kentucky. He’s been so good to me.”
King has no regrets about coming back to wrestling. “I fell in love with wrestling again, and I am having fun. I know I’m on the wrong side of thirty, but I feel better than I have in years. I’m going to give it one more run. I owe it to Bobby and Jillian to go out there and make them proud.”
That’s the bottom line for King. Whether he works at a major promotion or not, he wants to make his hometown heroes proud. “My dream is to have Bobby Blaze, Jillian Hall, and Casey King all mentioned in the same breath. That would be such an honor!”
Top photo by Chris Chandler.