Part of being family is watching the kids grow up. I’ve got a junior and senior in high school at home, so I’m right at the throes of watching such growth at the moment. Tonight I went to a wrestling show planning to give my first impressions of Juggalo Championship Wrestling, the pro wrestling arm of the Insane Clown Posse’s entertainment empire. Instead, I came away feeling wistful and happy, having seen a bunch of family – many of them kids – doing pretty darn good for themselves.
It’s hard not to think in terms of family when you’re with the Juggalos – who, by the way, are the farthest thing from a “gang” you can possibly be. Juggalos welcome everyone. They’re not just here to have a good time, but to have a good time together. That’s why they have a Gathering every summer that draws thousands to a camp in Ohio. That’s why they wear clothes and jewelry and tattoos with the Hatchet Man logo. It’s not a gang sign. It’s a sign that says, “You’re welcome here with me.”
For Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope, tonight’s stop in Jeffersonville was a visit with family. As J explained to the crows from the top, 2 Tuff Tony has been part of JCW from the very beginning – 26 years! With a major booking the following night at Louisville’s Louder Than Life music festival, there’s no other place they’d rather be than a tiny wrestling arena that seats less than 200 putting on a wrestling show.
And damn, was it a good show.
Every match was a banger, stacked with talented surprises and Internet favorites. The opener paired the infamous CoKane with Steven Flow. If you haven’t heard of these two, Google them now. CoKane famously earned the ire of Dustin Rhodes with his viral gimmick, and Steven Flow? Yeah. If a certain Pearl Jam song is in your head already, you’re gonna love how he comes to the ring.
A few matches later we got a heavyweight hoss battle between Willie Mack and Shane Mercer. I’m not used to seeing Mercer play the heel, but he had no trouble at all drawing heat from the crowd. We didn’t get his signature Moonsault and Battery in this contest, but Mercer more than made up for it later in the night.
The women’s match pitted two “kids” I’ve watched grow over the last several years. Alice Crowley had her very first match in this same building. I have a signed 8″ x 10″ she gave me as a thank you for gifting her with a book that night. She’s evolved into a phenomenal performer.
But so has Haley J! The work she put in training with Booker T in Texas has definitely paid off. Her character has always been her greatest strength, but her ring work, which was not shabby before, has truly grown. Momma Maria James was her second at ringside, cheering her on as she unseated Alice for the JCW Women’s Championship.
I slipped out of my seat after the ladies contest to grab a hot dog, thinking an intermission or a throw-away contest might follow them. I was pleasantly surprised to see David Barnabas Spector enter, cutting the promo of his life before introducing his latest tag team acquisition, The Outbreak: a pair of Walking Dead-like zombies who blend their undead character work seamlessly with their ring work.
“JCW saved my career,” Spector told me after the show. “I was ready to give up. But they saved me.”
Spector describes the locker room as one of unconditional support, a place where everyone’s on the same team and wants to see everyone else succeed. And he loves performing in front of the Juggalos.
“Most nights, JCW is the opening act for Insane Clown Posse,” he said. “We’re usually working in front of two to three thousand people. Many of them aren’t wrestling fans, but you can’t tell by the way they cheer. They love it. It’s just incredible.”
The kids I watched for a year at Grindhouse Pro Wrestling Academy had a chance to shine in the night’s Battle Royal. Hall of Famer and icon Ricky Morton was the headliner in the match, sporting the ridiculously oversized JCW Battle Royal Championship belt, and he quickly got a taste of kids like OG Ugly, Ethan Heyre, Marcellus Mack, Ram Jam, Kevo Thrives, Eli Cruze, Kash Jackson, Officer Midnight, and Robby Ketcham.
The Grindhouse wrestlers mixed it up with a number of JCW regulars. Credit the Clowns for not using the Grindhouse kids as cannon fodder. They held their own against the likes of Steven Flow, Co-Kane, and Shane Mercer. Kevo Thrives looked like bona fide Superstar. Marcellus Mack gave me goosebumps when he had a stare down with Mercer. Robby Ketcham is a rising star everyone loves, and Eli Cruze is the guy everyone instantly loves to hate.
Paige Collett, aka Black Dahlia, shocked everyone as the lone female entrant. She pranced into the ring and attempted to flirt with Shane Mercer. Mercer responded by scooping the young lady up and delivering his signature Moonsault and Battery.
The moment was even more remarkable for those who know Collett’s story. Full disclosure: she’s working on a book about her life with me. She’s in her early 30s, has never had a singles match, and for the past decade, she’s been suffering Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome – and excruciating and unrelenting condition often referred to as the suicide disease.
Despite her never-ending pain, Collett has battled to get herself into shape, resisting the use of pain meds, in the hopes that one day very soon, she will get that solo wrestling match her disease denied her. She’s a warrior. The fans love her. And she overcame a world of nerves and doubt to take that bump from Mercer.
There’s one other kid of note who took part in the Battle Royal and ultimately unseated his dad as champion. That’s Kerry Morton, Ricky’s son. I first met Kerry and his dad eleven years ago at a roller rink five minutes from the Arena. I had one book to sell at that time, and Ricky, who had never heard of me before that night, put my book over to everyone who came to the gimmick table we shared.
Kerry was just a kid then, barely a teenager. He’s all grown up now, blessed with his father’s talent and charisma. He’s also a hell of a heel.
The main event saw some great family moments as well. A video played before the introductions, showing 2 Tuff Tony in his office getting a pep talk from his son A.J. When Tony made his entrance, his daughter Ariel was right on the rail, abandoning her post at the concession stand to cheer on her Daddy. Tony’s partner Amy had her camera held high overhead, snapping photos of her man as he paraded around the ring with the JCW Heavyweight Championship.
The entire Arena had Tony’s back as he took on the Indy God, Matt Cardona. That’s right, Matt Freakin’ Cardona in the Jeffersonville Arena. The big dogs put on a hell of a fight with some incredible false finishes and high drama, including a run-in by Vampiro, Mickie Knuckles, and Mad Man Pondo. Cardona gave Tony a run for his money, but this was Tony’s night. It’s always incredible to see a man that big hit a lionsault, and the fans celebrated as one of the good guys, for once, came out on top.
The entire show lasted just a little over two hours with no intermission. Even without a break, every match felt perfectly timed without overstaying their welcome. I was actually a bit disappointed when the main event rolled around knowing we were almost to the end.
The crowd filed out of the building, but few left right away. Fans and wrestlers mingled in the back lot behind the Arena, snapping photos, swapping hugs, and catching up. Wrestling, after all, is family, and every gathering is a chance to renew those connections and celebrate the one thing we all have in common.
We freakin’ love pro wrestling.
And these kids? Yeah, they’re looking pretty darn good.