I’ve attended enough live wrestling shows to see more than a few things go wrong. From the night someone tried to leap off the crow’s nest in the Jeffersonville Arena and landed face first on the concrete to the time Amazing Maria and Samantha Heights had their spines bounced off a non-gimmicked folding table not once but twice in a failed attempt to power bomb them through said table. Ouch.
We were live, in person and on the air, at Davis Arena one night when one of the two men in the ring suddenly collapsed. The wrestler hid from the camera as best as he could and threw up on the mat. The show went to commercial. A few OVW staff members rushed out to assist the wrestler while others grabbed towels and cleaning supplies to mop up the mess.
Within moments, we were back live on the air.
The next match on the card was a ladies match. OVW had hyped this particular match on social media, but only one of the two women scheduled came to the ring. Why the change? Because the other lady scheduled for the contest was the real life partner of the wrestler who fell ill.
In the span of two minutes, a new match was booked on the fly. The two women called everything in the ring live on television.
Kudos to OVW for allowing someone a moment to make sure her partner was okay.
Kudos as well to two women who went out on live TV, with no safety net, to call it in the ring.
And incidentally, the lady who skipped her scheduled match to tend to her boyfriend? She went out and wrestled a different match half an hour later, with little to no pre-planning.
Accidents happen. Plans and match ups can change in a heartbeat. And while there’s certainly nothing wrong with planning a match ahead of time, calling it in the ring remains an invaluable skill for a wrestler.
All this to say, if you want to see some up and coming wrestlers test their “call it on the fly” skills, you need to be at Grindhouse Pro Wrestling in Jeffersonville on Sunday. The Lethal Lottery show is legit. Wrestler’s names will be drawn out of a hat by the fans. The booker will tell the referee the finish via ear piece, and the wrestlers will call everything in front of the fans.
It’s a gimmick, but it’s not. It’s also one of the most exciting shows of the year at Grindhouse!
