Shitty Tats - A Nation story!

Shitty Tats…a Nation Story!

Where to begin? I guess the beginning is as good a place as any as I weave you a story full of triumph, tears, heart break, and dirty pieces of trash stabbing you in the back. So sit back, grab a drink, and read the abbreviated story of The Wrestling Nation!

It all started in a rat-hole in Manassas and a promotion called KYDA (Keep Your Dreams Alive). I received a phone call one afternoon from Frank asking if I wanted to go check out this place and watch some wrestling. They hadn’t done a show in a while and this was going to be there return. Figuring I had nothing better going on I took Frank up on his offer and we met up one evening in the lovely town of Manassas, VA to watch some wrestling. Going in I had no expectations. I truly hadn’t seen an INDY show in a long time and since I personally never heard of KYDA before didn’t think we would see much more then some kids hoping to one day make a name for themselves.

Upon putting the address into my GPS and finding the location I got my first bad news. Can anyone say fire hazard? KYDA had a little whole in the wall located directly behind a porn shop that from the outside looked to be about the size of my living room. We waited in line, tickets in hand, actually looking forward to seeing what would happen. The doors opened and everyone in line filed in, grabbing seats on the way. I do believe for that first show we were in the second row. It might have been at that point where I decided to NEVER sit anyplace other then front row. Anyway, we sat with a packed house…now when I say packed house, this place could not hold more then 60 people inside. I turned to the guy next to me, who come to find out was actually training at KYDA, and asked who we should cheer for. He started to run down names of guys that were wrestling and I had to stop him…maybe make myself a little more clear. Who is the biggest asshole in this place! He said Christian York! Now this was a name that I knew of during his time in ECW. Holy shit, Christian York is wrestling here at KYDA? The show just got a million times better. So we watched and booed, and made people mad, all of the great things you want to see when we are around. Then as Christian York made his way out everyone started to boo…except us. This would be a trend that would carry over show after show after show.

Our group grew bigger during this time. Now Todd was sitting center front row with us as we let everyone know how we felt. If you tried in the ring we would give you props…if you sucked we would let you know about it. Our little group had become the York Nation! We were the most hated guys at every show. Hell, the guy that ran the promotion hated us. Sad thing, we made that show what it was. You can go ask the guys that wrestled there…they will tell you! And that too made the owner upset. We were marks…we were the guys everyone hated…we had turned KYDA into a show you wanted to go see, even if you thought your life was in danger. That was when the York Nation started taking our show on the road. We would go to other shows and people knew who we were. Hell, at KYDA shows we would leave and people would ask us for pictures and autographs…yes hard to believe but we did sign stuff. It started getting out of hand.

Then came that fateful night when KYDA was shut down. Anyone that was at the show will tell you how funny and sad it was at the same time. To be watching a show and turn to see the police and athletic committee walk in and shut them down. Remember the fire hazard comment…that is why it was shut down. Too many people in the building…fire code! About half way through the show we were all told we had to leave. KYDA was finished until it made its, half-assed, return to the fair grounds a few months later. From there the product fell off. KYDA became the stomping ground for its kids training. No talent on the shows anymore, fans dwindling to nothing…dead! That is how KYDA is going to end! End of story!

That might have been when we decided to take this thing to the next level. We started seeing how much promotion we were doing for KYDA…how many people were now coming to the shows, and it made us think. If we can do this for KYDA we can do this for anyone. And that is exactly what we started to do. We were promoting every show that was in the area. And I would like to think we were making a difference. Around this time Jon joined the group. Now Jon was nothing more then one of the bathroom boys, a real piece of shit. We took this kid and molded him, turning him into something respectable. Hell, we promoted his stuff more then he did. There was a point where I looked at this guy as my little brother. Things I had been through in my life he was going through now. I had a chance to pass along whatever little knowledge I have to someone who actually cared to hear about it.

That would be when The Wrestling Nation started. We were going to shows…we were getting interviews…getting videos of the events and pushing them like they had never been pushed before. I made a ton of contacts during this time with people who are heavy hitters in the INDY wrestling scene. People I now consider friends. They helped us and we helped them.

There was a point where it looked like we were going to start getting paid for this hard work. We were bringing INDY wrestling to the fans, to the people who maybe didn’t get a chance to go to the shows. And not only the wrestling, but behind the scenes stuff that you would never have seen. We were doing that! First the myspace page was started…facebook was next…then the real deal. A real website dedicated to what we were doing. www.thewrestlingnation.com was born and took off. Hits were coming in fast and we were cranking out stuff for everyone. I was in Indiana on business when I got a call from Jon saying we were going to start doing the video work for MCW. The dream had come true. We were going to have a chance to show the world that we were legit. The Wrestling Nation and Fallangel Productions were about to take off like a rocket. We also were told about a show in New Jersey where the guy was going to pay us. BAM! It was now on. We had made it. First the great news about MCW then this? Not to mention the stuff we had been doing for Velocity Pro? It was like some crazy dream. But that was when it all came back to reality.

We film MCW for the first time. Frank was running the hard cam. Jon was at ringside. I was roaming around the arena getting some good shots, all three of us from different locations. We get home that night…upload all the videos. The next morning we are going over everything and I hear Jon telling me he can’t use our footage. He can only use his. That was when it all started. This piece of shit didn’t want to use our stuff. And I never saw it before, but looking back at any films we all did together he never used our footage. After I would get him into shows, get him into interviews with stars, hell, get him into shows for fucking free…this is how I get treated. That went on for a short time before it had to come to an end! The show we were going to be paid for…Jon called me one day and said he wanted to do the show by himself. This little un-grateful piece of trash wanted to cut us right out. Now people had seen his stuff before us, but it doubled when he was with us because of the promotion I would give it. And again, this is my thanks for helping him. But, still had the nerve to say we were still doing MCW as a team right? A Team? You have to be kidding me. There was no team! We cut ties with Jon and Fallangel Productions. Probably the best thing to ever happen to us as a TEAM! The Wrestling Nation kept MCW as our own project. We are the only ones that can film at Velocity Pro. Hell, we now have a stake in MCW. And to think the last words that piece of garbage ever said to me was “You’re going to need me!” I need him like I need another asshole to be honest. And tell me you piece of trash, how did that paid show turn out for you? Oh that’s right, about 30 people were there watching. So you can keep shit like that. And tell your friend Curt to suck my dick too. You see, this guy runs video off a digital camera, though now it looks like he finally got a camcorder. All of his videos look shaky and shitty. Give you a headache watching them. So Jon, good luck my friend. Keep running shows that have 30 people at them. You keep putting out shit after shit. You are worthless and if you ever are near me I will beat those shitty tats right off your body! Film that!

Anyway, The Wrestling Nation has become your number 1 source for INDY wrestling. Maryland Championship Wrestling…Velocity Pro Wrestling…two heavy hitters on the INDY scene trust there videos to us! I’m not going to sit here and say we are the best, but we are pretty damn close to it.

So there you have it…a quick and brief history of The Wrestling Nation! This blog is going to be used to try and keep you up to date as much as humanly possible with what’s going on with us. You want the inside scoop of some of the shows we have been too…You will read it here first. So thank you all. Please make sure you check out www.thewrestlingnation.com for everything INDY wrestling. Hit up our youtube and blip.tv pages for all our videos. Myspace is always a great way to keep up with the latest updates on everything we are doing, so if your on myspace look us up at myspace.com/wrestlingnation1.

Stay tuned…this is only the beginning!

-Lee