The Cloverleaf: Baltimore Makes Splash in National Pro Wrestling Scene

I want to first take a minute and thank Ron Snyder and Patch for asking me to write this blog about my true passion in life, professional wrestling.

I make my living in the real estate industry and I write a column about it here on Patch, which you can take a look at by clicking here. However my passion in life since I was 9 years old has always been professional wrestling.

Patch approached me about writing a blog about pro wrestling because they felt my experience could offer a unique view on the sport and the industry. In the last 20 years I have been involved in wrestling as a wrestler, booker, promoter and many other areas. Besides all of that I guess being a Middle River resident kind of helped also.

I decided that I wanted to call my wrestling blog "The Cloverleaf" as a tribute to a friend, Shane Shamrock that passed away in 1998. We trained together for wrestling in the early 1990's and became good friends. Every year my promotion Maryland Championship Wrestling honors him with a memorial tournament.

This was one more way I figured that I could honor him. Please offer comments below and let me know your thoughts and questions that you may have. I will do my best to answer all of them. For my first blog with Essex-Middle River Patch there are two big things in the wrestling business to talk about, especially in the Baltimore area.

Between Ring Of Honor moving to Baltimore and hosting a news conference at Fox 45 this past Friday and many Baltimore area residents involved in a national pay-per-view tonight it’s a great time to be a wrestling fan in the Baltimore area.

For those of you that don't know Sinclair Broadcast group, a Baltimore-based company that also owns Fox 45 purchased the (ROH) Ring Of Honor Wrestling franchise in March 2011. ROH is undoubtedly the third largest wrestling promotion in the country.

The news conference was highlighted by several things, one of which was the debut of the new ROH logo. The press conference was hosted by the voice of Ring Of Honor and former WWE announcer Kevin Kelly. You may remember Kelly from commentating on WWE programming or some of the memorable promos that he did with the Rock during the Attitude era.

On a personal level, it was great to see Kevin again as I have known him for several years and he is a great guy. On a professional level he is one of the people in the business that I always wondered why the WWE let him go. He has all of the tools and attributes that are necessary for a great on air commentator/ interviewer and honestly is far and above many of the people that WWE has brought in since then including many of the current roster as well.

However, like the saying goes “every loss is someone else’s gain and nothing could be more true in the case of Kevin Kelly. Considering now that ROH is Baltimore based I am glad that the home team has a guy like Kevin Kelly as the face of the television show. The news conference also featured comments by the Executive Producer of ROH Wrestling Jim Cornette. Many people may most remember Jim as the loud-mouthed tennis racket swing manager of the Midnight Express in NWA/WCW from 1986-1990 and then the likes of Yokozuna, Vader and Owen Hart in WWE from 1996-2004.

More importantly than that, Jim Cornette is arguably one of the more influential men in the wrestling business. Cornetts was the founder and owner of the last wrestling territory in the United States, (SMW) Smokey Mountain Wrestling and also helped develop the template for (OVW) Ohio Valley Wrestling, the former WWE developmental territory. Cornette has also help many other positions in different wrestling promotions throughout the country and is another HUGE asset to ROH.

The news conference also featured comments from Ring of Honor COO Joe Koff and interviews with ROH World Champion Eddie Edwards and the No. 1 contender to the title Davie Richards, world tag team champions Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin, the Briscoe Brothers and more. In all as a wrestling fan I am very excited about the re-launch so to speak of the new ROH as a Baltimore entity.

Many wrestling fans in the Baltimore area are familiar with the name Gary Juster also. Juster was the longtime promoter for the NWA and WCW for two decades and promoted some of the biggest professional wrestling events ever in Baltimore. Juster will also be working with Ring Of Honor as they are currently looking at different arenas and facilities to house Ring Of Honor.

One of the things that was announced at the press conference was a list of stations and times that the ROH television show will be available on, this includes airing at 10 p.m. Saturday and midnight on Sunday on WNUV, channel 54, beginning on Sept. 24.

Here is the complete set of affiliates set to air ROH:

• Baltimore – WNUV (CW), Saturday at 10 p.m., Sunday at midnight
• Birmingham – WABM (MYTV), Saturday at 9 p.m., Sunday at 11 p.m.
• Buffalo – WNYO (MYTV), Saturday at 9 p.m.; WUTV (Fox), Sunday at 11 p.m.
• Cedar Rapids – KFXZ (Fox), Saturday at 11:30 p.m.; KGAN (CBS), Saturday at 3:30 a.m.
• Champaign-Springfield – WICS/WICD (ABC), Saturday at midnight
• Charleston, S.C. – WMMP (MYTV), Saturday at 10 p.m.; WTAT (Fox), Sunday at 1 a.m.
• Charleston-Huntington, W.Va. – WVAH (Fox), Sunday at 11 p.m.; WCHS (ABC), Sunday at 1:30 a.m.
• Cincinnati – WSTR (MYTV), Saturday at 10 p.m., Sunday at midnight
• Columbus, Ohio – WTTE (Fox), Sunday at midnight
• Dayton – WRGT (Fox), Sunday at 10:30 p.m., Sunday at 3 a.m.
• Des Moines – KDSM (Fox), Sunday at 11 p.m., Saturday at 2 a.m.
• Flint – WSMH (Fox), Sunday at 11 p.m.
• Greensboro – WMYV (MYTV), Saturday at 8 p.m., Saturday at midnight
• Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville – WMYA (CW), Saturday at 10 p.m.; WLOS (ABC), Saturday at 1:30 a.m.
• Las Vegas – KVCW (CW), Saturday at 10 p.m., Saturday at 1 a.m.
• Lexington – WDKY (Fox), Sunday at midnight
• Madison – WMSN (Fox), Saturday at 12:30 a.m., Saturday at 3:30 a.m.
• Milwaukee – WVTV (CW), Saturday at 9 p.m., Sunday at midnight
Minneapolis-St. Paul – WUCW (CW), Saturday at 9 p.m., Sunday at 1 a.m.
• Mobile-Pensacola – WFGX (MYTV), Saturday at 9 p.m., Sunday at midnight
• Nashville – WUXP (MYTV), Saturday at 9 p.m., Sunday at 1 a.m.
• Norfolk – WTVZ (MYTV), Saturday at 10 p.m., Sunday at midnight
• Oklahoma City – KOCB (CW), Saturday at 9 p.m., Saturday at 2 a.m.
• Paducah-Cape Girardeau – WDKA (MYTV), Saturday at 9 p.m., Sunday at 2 a.m.
• Peoria – WYZZ (Fox), Sunday at 11 p.m., Saturday at 3 a.m.
• Pittsburgh – WPMY (MYTV), Saturday at 10 p.m., Sunday at 11:30 p.m.
• Portland-Auburn – WGME (CBS), Saturday at 1 a.m.
• Raleigh-Durham – WRDC (MYTV), Saturday at 10 p.m., Sunday at midnight
• Richmond – WRLH (Fox), Sunday at 11:30 p.m.
• Rochester, N.Y. – WUHF (Fox), Sunday at 1:30 a.m.
• San Antonio – KMYS (CW), Saturday at 9 p.m., Sunday at 1 a.m.
• St. Louis – KDNL (ABC), Saturday at 1:30 a.m.
• Syracuse – WNYS (MYTV), Saturday at 10 p.m., Sunday at 1 a.m.
• Tallahassee – WTWC (NBC), Saturday at 1 a.m.
• Tampa-St. Petersburg – WTTA (MYTV), Saturday at 9 p.m., Sunday at 9 p.m.

Urban Wrestling Federation Launches Tonight

While ROH is already up and running there is also a new kid on the block, or should I say “The Ring is The New Block."

That is the catchphrase of The Urban Wrestling Federation (UWF), which is debuting tonight nationally on pay-per-view. I am very happy to say that I was a part of this as I was hired as an agent/ associate producer for the pay-per-view.

Leading the charge of this company is owner Steve Karel who is the former general manager of (ECW) Extreme Championship Wrestling. Steve O’Niel and Kevin Kleinrock captained the ship and did an incredible job writing and producing what turned out to be three very long days of shooting in New York City.

UWF will be bringing an entirely new vision to professional wrestling tonight. A vision that is far removed from the G rated “Sports Entertainment” that you are used to seeing on television now. It is raw, gritty and very much in your face professional wrestling.

From the local standpoint it is not just me that was involved with the promotion but also Shawn Credle, another Baltimore resident and member of the play-by-play team, Dope and Creed The Ghetto Mafia a Baltimore born and bred tag team that are multiple time (MCW) Maryland Championship Wrestling tag team champions, Ruckus, UWF official D. Edwards and the voice of the UWF Larry Legend are all Baltimore area residents.

The best way that I can describe the UWF product is The attitude era of pro wrestling, The Hip Hop Industry and the Grand Theft Auto video game all get put into a blender and that is what you have when it is all said and done. It is so much different than anything else on TV and I think many wrestling fans will find it extremely refreshing.

I could sit here and talk about it all day but honestly time is running out because the countdown is on to the pay per view debut of the UWF. Take a look at some of the trailers for the show and then go to your local cable provider and find out how you can see the UWF live on pay per view tonight!!

 http://youtu.be/TEplhb9TNAA

 http://youtu.be/JID28f5om4M