Heartland Wrestling Association
2002.07.16
This was an eventful weekend. I am on the road several weekends each month. This weekend was special.
I have been training with the Heartland Wrestling Association (http://www.HWAonline - a WWE Developmental Territory) for the past couple of months. It has been an amazing experience. I have met a lot of great wrestlers in the past couple months.
I have met: Chris Benoit, Jaime Noble, Shannon Moore, Mike Sanders, Chris Kanyon, Johnny "The Bull" Stamboli, Horace Hogan, as well as many of the other developmental talents.
On Friday evening, I made my HWA debut in front of roughly 1,000 fans at the St. Rita's Festival in Cincinnati Ohio. Matt Dillinger and I faced Charlie Haas and Jason Sugarman in a tag team match. It was a good match. We had control through out the contest. Unfortunately, Dillinger was unable to withstand punishment from Haas and Sugarman.
On Saturday evening, the HWA was in Lima Ohio in front of close to 200 fans. I had a chance to exact revenge on Dillinger for costing us the tag team match. Brother Clay, Dillinger's spiritual adviser was on hand as well. I have to give credit to Dillinger. He took all of the abuse I could dish out and then some. When it was all said and done, his hand was raised. Bottomline, Matt Dillinger is a tremendous wrestler and on Saturday night he was the better man.
I had a great time with the Heartland Wrestling Association this past weekend. They have a wonderful roster full of future superstars. It was an honor to work side-by-side with that kind of talent.
A 1wrestling.com staff member was at the HWA house show in Lima on Saturday night. His recap of the show can be found here. He spelled my name as Mark Manis.