Racism Can Play in Peoria. What About Your Local Wrestling?

October 30, 2020.

This blog post was originally posted in July of 2015. It was written in response to how I was told that the likelihood of being booked for the Midwest Impact Pro promotion in Peoria was doubtful. The reasoning was, after the Charlottesville Historic Black Church Mass Shooting by a white supremacist, I used social media to call on them to quit promoting babyfaces who took pride in the Confederate flag. One of these top babyfaces was Tracy Smothers. He had passed away on October 28.

I was always going to repost this blog at some point, but with his passing, I am conflicted if I should address this article now. The reason why is because I have an opinion on Tracy as a person and even to a lesser degree mentor.

My personal experience with him were from five to nine years prior. That was definitely a time when I was not as sensitive to what the meaning of the flag. I first met him at AAW in 2006 when I was training there. In the end, I think he made two appearances for the Chicagoland promotion and the only problem people had with him was that he wanted to use the mic to get himself over and play his ECW hits (dancing and mocking yanks). These actions just made the show run long. Otherwise, he was great to have in the locker room.

In 2009, I partook in a training session he hosted before a Great American Wrestling show in Maroa that I was conned into attending. It was Gavin Alexander, a backyarder from Decatur who was crashing wherever he could, who talked me into going to a show I was not booked on after working for them the prior month. Needless to say, this meant I was just hanging out (when I was not driving him to say hi to his Soy City pals), but for $20, I jumped at the opportunity to learn from him ($10 for the training, I decided to try to win favor by giving the promoters the means to purchase a folding chair to use.).

It ended up being a great experience for me because Smothers appreciated the fact that I could work and that I just wanted to better myself despite the bullshit that led me there. He was very accessible in terms of talking shop and very respectable. That is more than I can say for everyone else who gets ripped in the post below. Joey Grunge, MIPW's owner/promoter straight up said I was nothing more than a mark (the man who was emulating an over tag team gimmick 15 years removed), so that kindness shown by Smothers will be forever appreciated.

Would I have gotten that respect if from him if I was not complicit to allowing his gimmick? I believe I would. Tracy Smothers was a man who treated everyone with respect directly. He was blind to how offensive his actions and gimmick were, but he wanted everyone to thrive and have fun. I think Tracy would want to be known as a good man and that is it. However you reacted, as long as it enriched the show to the audience, he did his job. If you would not accept the man he was, that was your problem, not his.

In the end, I wish he was a little more considerate about the world around him. After the last four years, that is what we need. It takes a few extra moments, but more people will appreciate you for not being insensitive than by having a Trump supporter attitude.

This might have been a hedgehog dilemma. He was scared or ignorant to the concerns of people. Smothers would give you the shirt off his back if you asked. You just had to want to give him that chance. If you did not take that up with him because of politics and his gimmick, you are missing out.

Racism Can Play in Peoria. What About Your Local Wrestling?

I did not think the most challenging thing about this blog would be coming up with the most appropriate derogatory term to describe a white American.***

White trash pretty much covers every Caucasian who displays pride in the immoral elements of their nature. Since this is a wrestling blog, it seems to be the misconception placed on the majority of American fans (and because this blog discusses one of the best-known test markets in this country, Peoria, it may end up being a fairly accurate term). But with the issue being about the misplaced Southern pride, redneck is probably the best term when I posed the initial question (my only issue with the term is that having a sun-burnt neck from exerting themselves farming is not a shameful thing...at least till the invention of sun screen...).

Which sport is more redneck, NASCAR or wrestling? NASCAR is a sport-based in the South and founded by bootleggers while every region had its own style of wrestling at sometime. This may have already answered the question, but lets make sure I solidify the concept that wrestling is seemingly more prudish.

I am certain wrestling historians can come up with times where money-making promotions north of the Mason Dixon line celebrated Southern rebels and their flag, but I cannot recall the paramount promotion of the region (and eventually world) under its current ownership bringing anyone in with that as their gimmick. Big Boss Man's state flag happened to feature the Stars and Bars and The Fabulous Freebirds' Giant shortened stint* are the only occurrences I remember (35 years old) the Confederate Flag made it to the USA Network and Madison Square Garden. The opening scene from "Highlander" does not count.

Did Jamie Noble ever wear his "Dukes of Hazzard" trunks in WWE? If so, was it just cross promotion with The Broken Lizard film of the same name?** To them Duke boys' credit, they were inclusive of an Indian-American director. And to TV Land's credit, yanking dem boys may allow us to forget that movie as well.

If you take into account how The Monday Night Wars ended, one would wonder why anything as Southern as the battle flag of an army that fought for a racist government is a gimmick worth getting over. Eric Bischoff ridding WCW of its Southern taste allowed that promotion to at one point rule the wrestling world. The greatest star of the era was the Bionic Redneck "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, a redneck who never sported the garb of Michael "P.S" Hayes to tell the world he will not bow down to yuppie politics.

Wrestling is not necessarily a sport of higher class, but the competition between WWE and WCW made it into a form of entertainment that is easier for everyone to accept. It is a form of entertainment that does not have fans fighting to express divisive messages or banners, unlike NASCAR.

Thankfully, NASCAR is doing their best to get those fans to realize that inclusion is the only way to further the sport. Stock car racing at the highest level is bigger than wrestling, so imagine how popular it could be if it the American Swastika was not being waved, intimidating people certain people from making a weekend of their events. RV rentals would increase.

Perhaps making money is strictly a Northern value, hence the resistance of NASCAR's message board fans. They see making money as the only reason to ban hateful imagery, so oddly enough to them, waving the rebel flag shows that they have a greater value for the common people than money.

If this was science-fiction, they see themselves as the Brown Coats against the greedy Alliance from "Firefly" (and I've lost the rednecks reading this blog). Since Nathan Fillion was fighting along side the darker complexion of Gina Torres, rebellion and simpler values cannot be racist. If Captain Mal can wear his brown coat with pride, why can't people wear the Confederate Flag with pride?

That's because that side of the Civil War were the ones fighting to enslave people. It maybe more profitable to be politically correct, but that does not make it a bad thing.

It is possible that you are not racist if you support the public display of the Confederate Flag, but it shows you are comfortable with the values of the Confederate States of America. You can make the standard state rights argument was the cause of the Civil War. In eight grade (thanks Morton Jr. High), I was taught in eighth grade history that the war was about the need to keep the country together, so no state could secede. State rights allow South Carolina to fly the flag. Secession is always brought up as a course of action when the party the state voted for does not get the power in D.C. The only argument the Civil War settled was that you cannot own other people. That was settled when the general who flew the Stars and Bars surrendered to a lieutenant general of the country that abolished the concept his opposition's government stood for.

I maybe overthinking things as I finally get to the meat of my blog.**** It could be that the concept of what makes money is unimportant. This blog was inspired by small independent in Peoria, Illinois (my hometown and where I started wrestling before I found an established trainer in Davenport/Chicago), a town that never drew money. They may wrestle for the love of the sport, but it is not for the creativity this business allows to be expressed. If they are only going to draw their friends who are among the common people, it is easy just to rely on the common gimmick. It has always been that way for the locker room's true veteran, Tracy Smothers. I guess they fail to recognize the the most inclusive and over gimmick he had was the Full Blooded Italians.

My issues with Midwest Impact Pro Wrestling started over this tweet I posted:

@MainEventZombie  Jun 24Peoria Heights, IL

Hoping that Tracy Smothers has the sense to either be a Young Pistol or FBI member @Midwest_Impact shows. Confederates aren't baby face.

The response I received on Facebook was generally negative ranging from "you're overestimating the audience's intelligence" to outright denial by the promotion's booker Jeff "Ryan Phoenix/Waylon Beck" Irons, whose response featured the picture to the side.

It was my Facebook post that followed the responses, a request that lead to a direct argument with Irons.

To Midwest Impact Pro: Please do not allow any of your babyfaces to sport anything associated with the RACIST Conferate States of America. Fans may not care, but as a creative and hopefully intelligent entity, you will.

It was about Irons claiming that I was accusing them of being racist. I explained my stance, somewhat inspired from the picture above, that how are parents of children who ask "what do the Stars and Bars mean?" and suggested that no good parent was going to lie to them. Again, I suggested to wear that flag is to say that you are okay with racism. If he and Tracy are over, they do not need to wear that gear. To further his stance, he suggested that I visit a a website that debunks the Civil War, which he acknowledged was bad information when challenged, and told me that if I am upset at what he does down as Ryan Phoenix, I would be even more upset about what the Rebel Flag wearing Waylon Beck does at Dreamwave Wrestling in La Salle/Peru, Illinois. After two days of arguing with him, this tweet was my conclusion leading into their two shows that weekend.

@MainEventZombie  Jun 26Illinois, USA

If your looking for a place to cheer on the Southern Values and Principles of the 1850's, @Midwest_Impact is your wrestling promotion.

I took my stance that many commented I only got a board with because it has become a popular on. Unless you mention wrestling or names on Facebook or Twitter, no one really pays attention to you. You can get attention on commenting about how someone pro-gun, pro-death penalty, anti-welfare or anti-working class meme is ill informed, but I think the one who post the meme feels the most accomplished since they got attention from you.

When it comes to this issue, this was always my stance. Unfortunately, when one of the comments made about my earlier Facebook post, "If the fans react positively, then why should you care? Know your audience," I knew I would be considered (and still am) to be the bad guy. Only recently, with the coverage in the media opposing this flag, everyone is aware of the evils that flag represents and have no valid argument for it. Sorry that I waited till common sense was present before I went after this racist symbol. Sorry I felt it was safer for me to tweet about my distaste for C.M. Punk "Red Face" Blackhawks Memorial T-shirts. I did not know there were lesser and greater types of racism.

And I guess I should be sorry that these are my politics after my next conversation with Irons. In May, I had inquired about working for this promotion. The owner of the promotion is Joey Grunge, a man who has treated me disrespectfully and was homophobic towards me, so I figured it was better to approach the booker whom I have had a positive 12-year history with. When I contacted Irons then, he said there were no openings until July.

So on July 1, I contacted Irons about chances to work. He said he would bring it up to Joey, but said "Calling his company out on being racist isn't gonna help ya," And sent me the photo below. Thus, we got into another argument about where he went and disrespected me any chance he could. His claim is that I would not get booked because of my attitude while I said he was implying that it was my politics.

He said I would be a hypocrite anyhow if I worked for their promotion anyhow. I said you gotta work where you can to get to better places, and in wrestling, any booker could work around politics. Irons took that as an accusation that he was a bad booker and that someone who speaks truths about a promotion will be looked past for the person(s) who will promote them even if they do not work there.

Again Midwest Impact Pro Wrestling may not be racist, but they are definitely discriminating in their business practices. May as well be the same thing when the flag their top babyfaces wear denounces inclusion.

With all the heat between me and this promotion, the worst thing I found was Jeff Irons boasting about his babyface status as Waylon Beck in La Salle/Peru's Dreamwave Wrestling. At least that promotion does not advertise him on their flyers*****, but if they let him kiss babies and raise that flag, are they any better? I suppose that is why there are not a lot of indie wrestling websites that are quick to post their results.

I just do not want to see indie wrestling turn out to be the last bastion for Stars and Bars celebration. You do not need it to make money. I am pretty sure it does not make any promotion money. It is just a cheap way to get a response from an audience. If your sending the wrong kind of message, you are eventually going to get the wrong audience and you will lose the fans who will keep the industry going.

If Vince McMahon can lose fans by pushing an unproven wrestler, imagine what he would lose pushing hate messages. Is the Internet connections down south good enough to get the WWE Network? Having worked for a cable company that handled the Gulf Coast, it's a valid question.

*The Freebirds were suppose to represent Southern rock, not pride (listen to that Lynyrd Skynyrd's "That Smell" and "Saturday Night Special," and you can see that they did not embrace all of the stereotypical values from the South) and hailed from the same state as Ray Traylor, The Big Boss Man.

*****Midwest Impact Pro Wrestling's March 2015 show's flyer:

**I was working second shifts at the time to assure that I had my weekends free to train.

***As I was writing this blog, choosing the appropriate slur directed at whites was actually a fairly easy task. Getting from the history of why the flag is unimportant to the racist supporting promotion in Peoria was the challenge.

****Let me apologize to my English teachers for abandoning the traditional thesis statement, content, and conclusion format. I guess the coverage or lack there of will dictate if I should return to that in future argumentative works.