2002.04.15
He is the Alpha Male, Zach Avery
I am the Omega, Mark Mattis
Together, we put the fun back in FUNdamentals
Together, we put the fan back in FANtastic
It is us
It is we
It is The Fraternity
(that is for one special mattis-mark out there)

Saturday night in Washington Court House, Ohio the IWA visited the PAL. This was a large crowd by Court House standards. There were roughly 100 fans in attendance.

"The Alpha Male" Zach Avery battled Al B. (falling apart) Damm. The story of this match has less to do with the action in the ring and more to do with the ABD's real life struggles. Life is full of tough choices and rough breaks. I wish ABD the best.

Speaking of rough breaks, I think Fabulous Frederick of Hollywood is cursed. Frederick and I were both booked on an NWA card that was supposed to feature Steve Corino. Corino is Frederick's favorite wrestler. Sadly, Corino was not at the event. A few months later, at an IWA event, Frederick was scheduled to wrestle former NWA Champion "Wildfire" Tommy Rich. Sadly, Rich no-showed the event.

This past weekend in Washington CH, Ohio Frederick was supposed to wrestle IWA Heavyweight Champion "Too Cool" Trevor Lowe in the main event of the card. Guess what happened? If you guessed, Frederick beat Trevor in 15-minutes and 7 seconds to claim the IWA Heavyweight Title... you're an idiot. Unfortunately, there was miscommunication and Trevor was not at the event. Poor fella.

Since Trevor Lowe was not on hand to defend his title, my U.S. title defense against "the flaming dragon" Bryan Fury was the main event. The match came off fairly well. Unfortunately, some over-zealous people in the crowd started a Kurt-Angle-eske; "You suck Mark" chant. Zach Avery (who accompanied me to the ring) was threatened with death by 3 fans. After the match, roughly five 10-year-olds decided to block the ramp to prevent me from leaving. You know I am usually happy to see families with children at events. But, it was uncool to have unsupervised kids running amuck. The language they used toward Zach Avery and me would make a federal prisoner blush.

It was nice to work in the main event slot. We were handed the ball. I think we did a good job running with it. Bruce from now on simply referred to as "my ref" did an excellent job. It is amazing, in this business there are some people that "get it" and some that don't. I have seen numerous referees with years of training and experience that can't hold a candle to "my ref".

Random thought: Brad Shultz (http://www.geocities.com/iwariotsquad) tried to convince me that the fans actually liked me. He also tried to tell me a joke I first heard when I was like 6 years old.

This week features a double shot. On Friday night, members of the Yardbird Posse will reunite in Troy, Ohio for a VCW event in Troy Ohio. The posse has not been together since November 2001. We have traveled all over the state of Ohio. We have been to numerous towns and logged hundreds of miles. One thing is certain; we never have a boring trip.

On Saturday, the IWA returns to Body Fit in Columbus Ohio. I really don't know what is on tap for the evening. I do know that I am supposed defend (yeah right, that could happen) the U.S. Title against Vandal. A champion is only required to defend the title every 30-days. By my calculations, I still have a couple of weeks before I have to actually defend the title.

Anyway, that is all I have for now. Until next time, take care!