MCW's Shamrock Cup Attracts Top Up-and-Coming Talent

Many of the top up-and-coming professional wrestlers from throughout the country will descend Saturday on Dundalk’s Green Room for what local promoters proclaim to be one of the top independent cards in the country.

The 11th annual Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup tournament will feature eight wrestlers in a tournament, an attraction, which is the biggest card of the year for Maryland Championship Wrestling.

“This is our Wrestlemania,” said MCW owner Dan McDevitt, referring to the annual event promoted by WWE, which typically attracts more than 50,000 fans. “This card is one wrestlers as far away as California contact us to be a part of because of the attention it garners.”

McDevitt, who lives in Middle River, said the Shamrock Cup typically is attended by national wrestling journalists and offers fans a chance to watch wrestlers that have the ability to perform for the WWE one day.

This year’s Shamrock Cup features wrestlers from Georgia, the Carolinas, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, Ohio and Maryland. Along with the tournament, the card will also feature several other matches, headlined by an MCW title match between champion Cobian and the Bruiser.

McDevitt said he would place the Shamrock Cup against almost any independent wrestling tournament in the country.

“The East Coast Wrestling Association’s Super 8 [usually held in Delaware] is probably the top tournament in the country, but I would rank the Shamrock Cup in the top five,” McDevitt said.

The Shamrock Cup is named in honor of the late Brian “Shane Shamrock” Howser, a popular wrestler in Maryland and MCW’s “Lifetime Light Heavyweight Champion.” He was just 23 when he was killed during an altercation with Anne Arundel County police in 1998.

The event is always a personal and emotional one for McDevitt, who for years wrestled under the moniker Cpl. Punishment and broke into the business with Howser. The pair trained together and often traveled to various promotions in the early stages of their careers.

“Brian lived for this business,” McDevitt said. “After his death we wanted to find a way to honor his memory. Often in this business when a wrestler dies, there’s a moment of silence, a 10-bell salute and then he’s forgotten. We didn’t want that to be the case with Shane Shamrock.”

MCW wrestler is not in the tournament, but is set to face Ronnie Zukko for the MCW TV title on Saturday. Tofiga said emotions are running high for those in MCW who want to give the fans their best performance of the year.

“Every year I’ve been a part of the Cup, even not knowing Shane himself, as he was gone before I found out about MCW, you still feel connected, since it’s about family in wrestling,” Tofiga said.

“The tournament itself is about laying it all on the line. Not that we don’t do that every time we step in the ring, but in the finals of the Cup, everyone comes out to see the finals. It’s a humbling and an adrenaline-filled event to watch. Even for myself, I'll be watching and wondering if it were me how much more would I have to pull out of nowhere.”

Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup XI

When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m. (Doors open at 6:30 p.m.)

Where: Green Room, 241 North Point Blvd, Dundalk

Cost: $20 for general admission