Notes:
-The first EVOLVE event, “EVOLVE 1: Richards vs. Ibushi”, is this Saturday, January 16th, in Rahway, NJ. Go to
www.EVOLVEwrestling.com for info.
-DGUSA is back on pay-per-view with “Freedom Fight” on January 22nd featuring the must see Shingo & Dragon Kid vs. Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino match.
-DGUSA returns to action in Chicago on January 23rd at The Congress Theater with a loaded card. Go to
www.DGUSA.tv for info.
-DGUSA debuts in Phoenix on March 26th & 27th at the first class Celebrity Theater. Visit
www.DGUSA.tv for the details.
-I’ve been getting a laugh out of some tweets by Tommy Dreamer. You can follow him at
www.Twitter.com/TheTommyDreamer now.
These walls that still surround me, still contain the same old me, but I’m not the same person I was in my teens or my 20s or even 13 months ago. Most of the changes in life are slow and gradual. The one that led to EVOLVE, wrestling’s newest brand, came abruptly. Since then it’s been a heck of a road to get where I am right at this moment.
October 25th, 2008, in about the 4th inning of game 3 in the Phillies vs. Tampa Bay World Series, I was fired and excommunicated. My creation, my life, my baby was yanked away from me in the back room of a New Jersey ice rink without even a conversation. A few hours later, I pulled off the first exit from the Walt Whitman bridge as fireworks filled the sky signaling the Phillies had won in dramatic fashion. I felt a fleeting moment of joy and then reality squashed it. I had no idea what my future was. I had no idea what I was going to do. I had no idea how I would pay my mortgage.
If you told me on October 26th, 2008 that I would be writing this now, I would have thought it impossible in the sternest meaning of the word. Now I can look back at the old office with “thanks” because being fired was the best thing to ever happen to me. I can admit it now. I was on a slippery slope over my 7 years building, nurturing and protecting those three letters. The final year or so I wasn’t healthy mentally or physically. I was tired. My head was fried from constantly trying to think of ways for people to hate each other. The never ending promotional wars, the bullshit politics, the egos, the hopelessness of the future, it all kept pulling me down. ROH was my baby. I fell asleep every night desperately trying to think of new ways for people to hurt each other in the context of professional wrestling. That was not good.
As the first ROH shows to ever happen without me at the helm took place a couple of weeks later something happened. A little clarity started to break through the darkness of my emotional state. I was now out of the “bubble.” Everything looked different. I saw what worked and what didn’t work in all aspects of the booking and business model from a new vantage point. I started reading. I rode my bike in the cold. I watched other independent wrestling. I gained fresh influences. I explored new opportunities. I began to slowly realize that while that chapter came to a painful close, it created endless opportunities I never thought possible. Sure, there was no comfort in those opportunities. It was all so uncertain. The pressure can either destroy you or drive you. I knew it was time to either give up or to get up and lick my wounds. The idea of EVOLVE was forming.
I remembered a conversation I had with Bryan Danielson about six months before that fateful, nightmarish evening in Edison, NJ. We had talked about how we had pushed the limits in this company as far as it could go. There wasn’t any new ground to cover. We had done it all. The conversation ended with Bryan saying, “I wish we could just blow it up and start from scratch.”
It only took until December of 2008 to start thinking some changes needed to be made in the presentation and actual matches in pro wrestling. I thought back to that conversation with Bryan. Now that I was out of the ”bubble” and had a new perspective, I called him up and we talked about some concepts and ideas. We realized that we could blow things up and start over. This is when the very first seed for a new brand of wrestling was planted. Now EVOLVE will be nothing like what Bryan and I had discussed, but some of these concepts have heavily influenced what EVOLVE will be.
Then in January I was approached about a pro wrestling reality TV show. This actually was right in lines with some ideas for another brand of wrestling that I was conceptualizing . Well, the TV show wasn’t picked up, but it left me with some new thoughts for how to shoot the backstage stuff on the DVD. Then I regained my love for independent wrestling and started watching some great rising talent and interesting promotions. All these things led to what will come to life this Saturday.
My mentor had told me on October 27th, 2008 to “purge” ROH out of my system. He related to my loss. He knew it. I followed his advice. I started to write this blog. I did a Guest Booker DVD. It was healing. I revealed my standard formulas, theories and philosophies. This meant that I could never go back to them. They were a part of the old me and were gone. Not only did it make me feel better, but it forced me to be creative again and think differently. After all, if I was going to stay in wrestling now I would have to come up with something new.
The winter of 2008 was almost over and baseball season was approaching. I had a meeting with some people that would blow your mind about the concept that Bryan and I had discussed. I remember leaving the meeting and standing on a windy, freezing Manhattan street calling Bryan and telling him if I wasn’t here myself I never would believe how close we were to some major backing. Unfortunately, close does not mean “done deal” and it fell through. I can’t state this as a fact, but I think this is when Bryan started looking towards the WWE.
Then as the weather began to warm up the biggest change of my life occurred when my awesome wife told me she was pregnant.
Dragon Gate USA had already fallen in my lap almost overnight. Between the uncertainty with Bryan, DGUSA starting and my rapidly changing personal life, the concepts that would become EVOLVE were put on the back burner. If nothing else, we just needed to get DGUSA off the ground first. The opportunity was there for it right at that moment.
Meanwhile, Bryan became more serious about WWE. It looked like our new promotion would have to start out too small. Bryan and I had both already agreed about bringing Davey Richards on board. He was definitely the first talent we were going to call. In fact, I think Bryan filled in Davey on some details before he went to Stamford.
I always thought Davey was a remarkable talent. He went over the established Jimmy Rave on his first night in. That was to send a message. He was actually supposed to go over Bryan on his first show in a non-title match (this was in Philly and Bryan ended up working Delirious and ripping his mask). An injury ruined this original plan. However, this just shows how highly I regarded Davey from the very start of our relationship.
The thing about Davey is that when he first worked for me in 2006 he had only been in pro wrestling for 2-3 years. He was still in his infancy and he was already that good. He had that much upside. Since then he’s traveled the world, worked a variety of opponents, learned and fine tuned his carft. Davey, like anyone, needed time to mature and develop his skills. Right before I was fired it became clear that Davey had grown in and out of the ring and was ready to be the man. He is a progressive thinker and has an unparalleled work ethic. It all came together for him in 2009. I believe he was the most outstanding wrestler of this past year. Davey Richards is ready to be the face of EVOLVE for his style, passion and ability.
Sal Hamaoui, who had worked tirelessly as ROH’s head of production and promoter of FIP, jumped on board. Everything was in place. We started the leg work, built the infrastructure and now it all comes together this Saturday, January 16th, when “Evolve 1: Richards vs. Ibushi” takes place in Rahway, NJ. The road comes full circle as that infamous ice rink is just a few miles away from the Rahway Rec Center. It’s been a road that has taken 13 months to travel. It has had some unexpected twists and tough turns. We are still moving uphill. However, we are here. We are all ready to launch wrestling’s newest brand this Saturday.
Now I’m revitalized, fresh and determined. I’ve learned from the past. I know how to handle the job better. My head feels great. I’ve skidded to a stop on that slippery slope and climbed back up. My best days are ahead of me, not behind me. My baby now is my son. I fall asleep every night thinking of him smiling and that is just pure happiness. This is so amazing.
The 13 month road might be coming to an end, but that’s only because we are speeding up and hitting the freeway. EVOLVE is here. We are at the start of it all. I hope you can join us in Rahway, NJ this Saturday and help us celebrate the beginning of wrestling’s newest brand. Change is here. We all evolve.
