🐙Octopus thoughts🤔

​ June 21st 8am. I’m at the Quest Casino Hotel in Spokane, Washington. Last night I had the chance to step into the ring with Alex Zayne. I believe it was our first singles match, though I should probably check CageMatch before I make that claim with confidence. Haha. I’ve always enjoyed being around Zayne, and getting to work with him was super easy as he’s such a pro. His communication and skill during the match with him was top notch. He was a perfect face for my heel character in Spokane. They cheered him and booed me, the way I think it’s supposed to be. I look forward to working with him again.  This weekend has been a blast. As always, spending time with the Relentless crew was a pleasure, but this trip was made even more memorable by getting to share some time with Bryan Alvarez. Bryan is one of those rare people whose knowledge of professional wrestling seems endless. Whether you’re talking about the business, the sport, or the art form itself, he brings a perspective t...

​ Is it just me, or is Veda Scott becoming the voice of independent wrestling? Lately, I find myself associating her voice with the modern independent scene the same way I once associated Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard with an earlier elite era. When I hear Veda on commentary, it immediately feels like independent wrestling in the best way.  She brings knowledge, authenticity, and a genuine passion for the craft that elevates everything she’s a part of. If Veda is this generation’s Prazak, then who is her Lenny Leonard? 🤔 That’s meant as a compliment to everyone involved. It just feels like we’re witnessing the emergence of another iconic commentary pairing for the independents.

​ There is a section of the professional wrestling community that seems determined to tear down anything that doesn’t fit neatly into its own idea of what wrestling should be. But to me, wrestling is no different than music, film, or any other form of art. It exists in many genres, styles, and interpretations. I may not personally enjoy every type of music I hear, but I can still appreciate the artistry behind it, the audience it connects with, and the influence it has had on the industry as a whole. What I don’t understand is the desire to go out of your way to diminish someone else’s work. What’s the goal? To make someone feel bad about their art? To ridicule the way they’ve chosen to express themselves? To convince others that only one version of wrestling deserves to exist? Before criticizing someone else’s path, it might be worth taking a moment to look in the mirror. Are you perfect? Have you never learned through trial and error? Have you never made a decision th...

​I’m currently sitting at EWR airport in New Jersey waiting for my flight back to Atlanta, where I’ll get to see my wife after a week and a half away from each other…. For what feels like the last week, I’ve done little else but discuss the art of professional wrestling. From my conversations with Sean Ross and Effy, to training sessions in Atlanta, to spending time at the Catch Point school in PA doing a seminar the day after TOS, the topic has followed me everywhere! After all of those discussions, observations, and moments of reflection, these are the thoughts I keep coming back to… . The art of professional wrestling… It reveals itself in many shapes and forms. There is no single right way, no universal wrong way only different expressions of the same craft. What captivates one person may leave another unmoved, and that is the beauty of it all. Wrestling is, and has always been, a matter of perspective. Subjective by nature. A living canvas where every performer paints with a diffe...

​ It’s 1:04 AM. The tournament ended yesterday, and for the first time all day, I’m finally starting to feel sleepy. Lying here thinking about everything that’s happened over the last few days, I realize I may have had one of my favorite weekends in a very long time. Not long ago, I lost someone who had become very important to me. That friendship left a hole in my life that I wasn’t sure could be filled. Then somehow, through a deathmatch tournament of all things, I found myself making a new friend who reminds me of so many of the qualities I appreciated in the person who had to leave my life. Life is funny like that. God is good. Sometimes a chapter ends, and before you’ve even finished grieving it, another one quietly begins. This tournament gave me more than a deathmatch with a living legend, It gave me perspective. For years I’ve felt there was another side of professional wrestling I hadn’t fully experienced. A different world with different values, different fans, and a differen...

​ Good morning! Today is June 4th, and I’m on my way to New Jersey to rest and prepare for my first-round match against Takada in GCW’s Tournament of Survival. Before that, though, I get to spend time at Catch Point and take a class taught by Tracy Williams. That alone has me excited. Every time I’m around Tracy, I leave inspired. I leave thinking differently. Learning differently. Seeing wrestling through a new lens. I truly believe he is one of the brightest minds in professional wrestling today, and I’m grateful that I’ll get two days to learn from someone whose passion for the craft is as deep as his understanding of it. Then comes the next chapter. After those two days, I’ll step into the ring with a deathmatch legend Takeda.  If you had told me years ago that I’d willingly enter a deathmatch tournament, I probably would have laughed. But after returning to the ring, something changed. I felt blessed simply to be here again. Blessed to compete. Blessed to learn. Blessed to exp...