Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on May 2, 2015 16:42:16 GMT -6
www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/daily-southtown/news/ct-sta-bridgeview-wrestling-show-st-0501-20150430-story.html
Local wrestling gets late-night TV slot
A do-it-yourself attitude has taken Nick Almendarez of Bridgeview pretty far in the last year.
The Freelance Wrestling owner presents late-night matches with local punk rock bands performing in between at Chicago's Abbey Pub, where "Freelance Wrestling vs. The World" on June 12 will mark its one-year anniversary
"It's hard to get opportunities," said Almendarez, who wrestles as Matt Knicks and often teams with Chris Castro, of Alsip, in Four Star Heroes.
"The whole idea that Freelance was founded on was helping create opportunities for people, specifically the younger guys that I know are really good, but maybe just don't have the ability to get themselves out there as much as they want."
The Freelance Wrestling (freelancewrestling.com) roster also can be seen on the debut of its weekly TV show at 2 a.m. Saturday on WCIU-TV (Channel 26.2), the U Too.
"I just hope that it adds positivity to the scene. It's something that people from the Chicagoland area can be proud of," Almendarez said.
"We have our local independent wrestling on our local independent television station, and we support the local scene by watching it and any of the local independent companies that decide to take steps like that and have their fans behind them."
Sponsored by Chicago-based One Hour Tees/Pro Wrestling Tees, where Almendarez works, the inaugural season will have 13 half-hour episodes, each airing at 2 a.m. Saturdays.
"It's not going to be your typical mom-and-pop wrestling show. You're going to see a lot of action that you wouldn't normally see on a Monday night (with WWE) or something like that. It's not just the wrestling. We try to implement a lot of comedy into the shows," said Almendarez, 24.
"Everybody has their little bit of flavor that they add. It helps with the entertainment of the show. The crowds definitely seem to like it. Hopefully it transfers over well on TV. The commentary team is fantastic at doing that as well."
The TV show is hosted by Mark Maxwell and Nick Hausman, who will bring the Rebellion Network pro wrestling podcast "TRN Wrestling" to WLPN-FM (105.5) in summer.
"Mark has been with me since day one. He's got a very strong, very good way of telling a story on commentary and stuff. He's very well-spoken and he's the voice of Freelance Wrestling basically," Almendarez said. "With Nick, he's a born entertainer. He did managing for a while. He did a lot of improv comedy, so he's very comfortable being in front of a crowd and is very energetic. I thought the two of them together would be interesting ."
Other Southlanders in Freelance Wrestling include Stevie Fierce, of Lemont; Craig Mitchell, of Oak Lawn; and Kenny Sutra, formerly of Justice and now of Plainfield.
"The whole idea was to just help people get their names out there more and help establish guys from the Midwest and hopefully get them to higher places," Almendarez said.
Jessi Virtusio is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
Local wrestling gets late-night TV slot
A do-it-yourself attitude has taken Nick Almendarez of Bridgeview pretty far in the last year.
The Freelance Wrestling owner presents late-night matches with local punk rock bands performing in between at Chicago's Abbey Pub, where "Freelance Wrestling vs. The World" on June 12 will mark its one-year anniversary
"It's hard to get opportunities," said Almendarez, who wrestles as Matt Knicks and often teams with Chris Castro, of Alsip, in Four Star Heroes.
"The whole idea that Freelance was founded on was helping create opportunities for people, specifically the younger guys that I know are really good, but maybe just don't have the ability to get themselves out there as much as they want."
The Freelance Wrestling (freelancewrestling.com) roster also can be seen on the debut of its weekly TV show at 2 a.m. Saturday on WCIU-TV (Channel 26.2), the U Too.
"I just hope that it adds positivity to the scene. It's something that people from the Chicagoland area can be proud of," Almendarez said.
"We have our local independent wrestling on our local independent television station, and we support the local scene by watching it and any of the local independent companies that decide to take steps like that and have their fans behind them."
Sponsored by Chicago-based One Hour Tees/Pro Wrestling Tees, where Almendarez works, the inaugural season will have 13 half-hour episodes, each airing at 2 a.m. Saturdays.
"It's not going to be your typical mom-and-pop wrestling show. You're going to see a lot of action that you wouldn't normally see on a Monday night (with WWE) or something like that. It's not just the wrestling. We try to implement a lot of comedy into the shows," said Almendarez, 24.
"Everybody has their little bit of flavor that they add. It helps with the entertainment of the show. The crowds definitely seem to like it. Hopefully it transfers over well on TV. The commentary team is fantastic at doing that as well."
The TV show is hosted by Mark Maxwell and Nick Hausman, who will bring the Rebellion Network pro wrestling podcast "TRN Wrestling" to WLPN-FM (105.5) in summer.
"Mark has been with me since day one. He's got a very strong, very good way of telling a story on commentary and stuff. He's very well-spoken and he's the voice of Freelance Wrestling basically," Almendarez said. "With Nick, he's a born entertainer. He did managing for a while. He did a lot of improv comedy, so he's very comfortable being in front of a crowd and is very energetic. I thought the two of them together would be interesting ."
Other Southlanders in Freelance Wrestling include Stevie Fierce, of Lemont; Craig Mitchell, of Oak Lawn; and Kenny Sutra, formerly of Justice and now of Plainfield.
"The whole idea was to just help people get their names out there more and help establish guys from the Midwest and hopefully get them to higher places," Almendarez said.
Jessi Virtusio is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.