es I am given stuff to just post, so it will start crap. I would like say congrats to ASWF for pulling off a great wrestling show and raising over $9,000 for the benefit!!!There’s been a lot of finger pointing regarding who contacted who, to setup the Whitney Whelchel benefit that was held this past Saturday night in Paragould. Here’s how it all went down. I was contacted a couple months ago by a family friend of the Whelchel’s, Farrell Gibson. He had heard us on the radio talking about the Jerry Lawler show that we promoted in Walnut Ridge, and he asked me if wrestling fundraisers worked. I told him that if they were promoted properly, they would work. He then asked me what we would have to do to put one together. I told him that I worked on these shows strictly as a talent, and with the proper agreement with Clear Channel, I could help with promotion of the event. However, I told him that I didn’t “run” the shows, and that he would have to get with a local promoter to make it work.
At that point he asked me who he could speak with. I told him that Memphis Wrestling would probably love to do an event in this area. I mentioned that there was a local company in Paragould that he could use. And I mentioned Aaron Polston’s ASWF Wrestling. Farrell had heard of Aaron and his reputation, and he decided he wanted to speak with him first. I gave them each other’s contact information, and they did the rest. Once they finalized the details of the event, they booked me to wrestle. I then went to our Clear Channel management team, and they agreed to help promote the event.
When Farrell and I initially spoke, I told him that we’d probably raise between $2,000 & $3,000 for the Whelchel’s. Boy were we wrong! Saturday night we raised over $9,000 to assist in Whitney’s continued treatment and care! Whitney’s step brother was in attendance, and he was very grateful toward everyone that worked on putting the event together. We spoke with Whitney’s stepmother after the show via speakerphone, and she was nearly brought to tears as the crowd chanted, “Whitney, Whitney, Whitney.” Whitney had just undergone cranioplasty surgery, and Mrs. Whelchel put us all on speakerphone so Whitney could hear the crowd! It was a VERY special moment!
The bottom line is that there was an amazing event held in Paragould this past weekend. An event that raised a bunch of money for a family that needed the help, and an event that hopefully began to repair the tarnished image of wrestling in this area. Yet there are still people out there pointing fingers at each other. In my opinion, there is so much wasted energy on the internet these days. Why can’t the talent and the promoters focus on their own talent, and their own companies? What’s the point of “working” each other? It seems that everyone these days has their own agenda, and they’re trying to shoot their own “angles” on the internet. Why don’t we focus our energies on creating “angles” that actually draw WRESTLING FANS? Why has that become a foreign concept? You can try to work the boys and the internet audience all you want, but they’re going to be there anyway. How many of the boys buy tickets to go to the local shows? Probably not very many, so why shoot these angles? Let’s draw in the wrestling fans, and actually make some MONEY! The last two ASWF shows have drawn large crowds & big houses, and nobody has had to hop on the internet and shoot an angle. Austin Lane and I weren’t trash talking each other on message boards. We focused on drawing in the wrestling fans, and it paid off. When’s the last time that you saw Jerry Lawler, Bill Dundee, or Brian Christopher trash talking each other on a wrestling message board? It DOESN’T happen! Use the internet as a tool to promote your events, and to better your shows…not to get yourself over, and shoot your own angles!
Now I’ll hop off of my soapbox. Thank you very much!
Now I’ll hop off of my soapbox. Thank you very much!
