Like many testosterone-driven males, the question “Who is the toughest man in the world?” intrigued me from the day I first picked up a comic book and first viewed pro wrestling. After all, as youngsters, weren’t The Green Lantern and Andre The Giant the real deals? C’mon. Weren’t they? I remain intrigued. By luck, in…
November, 1996. Extreme University, California’ first-ever true Mixed Martial Arts gym, opens its doors on Avery Parkway in Mission Viejo. December, 1996. I get longtime friend and All Japan Women’s leading foreign star, Reggie Bennett, to agree to teach Pro Wrestling classes at EU. Paying homage to UFC –who later sues me for the “Ultimate…
September, 1999, UPW at Mission Viejo High School In a fundraiser for the school’s student council and its wrestling team, we pull out all the stops. It’s the first time we’ll videotape vignettes in advance and project them onto big screens. The vignettes –or “pre-tapes” as they’re called in the industry—set-up stories, so that spectators…
After a few successful shows at Extreme U, I get ambitious. I cold-call legendary rock and roll impresario Gary Folgner, the owner of equally legendary Orange County clubs The Coach House and The Galaxy Concert Theatre. After a conversation in which we share anecdotes about everything from my days booking Motley Crue and The Dead…
The First UPW Show The first UPW “show” ever is held at my gym, Extreme University, in Mission Viejo. The first match EVER wrestled on a UPW show is Psycho Matt Hall versus world class bodybuilder Aaron Baker. There it is for the record books. They’re so green, that throughout the course of the match,…
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