10 Years Later...

By Kevin Hunsperger

@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

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It's hard to believe, at least for me, but 10 years ago today, the My 1-2-3 Cents brand was officially born. You can take a look at that first blog right here if you're interested. I remember sitting down at my computer on a Friday night and getting started. I had written blogs before but it was the encouragement of my friend and mentor Jeff Rose that pushed me to create a wrestling-themed blog.

So much has changed over the past decade. In December of that year, I added a YouTube channel. The spring of 2011 saw the creation of the My 1-2-3 Cents Facebook page. Then in December 2014, the podcast was created on the Jittery Monkey Podcasting Network, and with it came Mondo the Monkey. 

Not only did the brand grow, but so did my fandom. Chad Smart and I ended up attending seven more WrestleManias after going in 2006 and 2008 long before this was even a thought. I got involved in indy wrestling, first serving as a commentator for All-American Pro Wrestling in spring 2011 and eventually stepping into the ring and having my first match. 

It's been an awesome decade. Here's a look back at a few of the bigger moments and memories for me as a fan and a performer. Thank you all for the support. 

Nov. 6, 2010 - refereed for the first time for USCW.

June 10, 2011 - 'managed' Velvet Sky at a Basebrawl event for TNA Wrestling. 

July 30, 2011 - did live commentary for the first time for AAPW.

Jan. 14, 2012 - beat Mike Masters in my first match.

March 12, 2016 - debuted as ring announcer for Stride Pro Wrestling.

May 19, 2018 - beat Roger Matheus inside a steel cage.  

Nov. 10, 2018 - tried out for a ring announcing gig with Impact Wrestling. I didn't get selected... 

Aug. 3, 2019 - joined a tag team match with Heath Hatton against Tony Flood and Jay Spade. We won by disqualification. 

Aug. 29, 2019 - teamed with Hatton to beat Flood and Spade for the Stride Pro Wrestling tag team titles. Yes, that is a real sentence. 

Sept. 7, 2019 - retained the tag team titles against Flood & Spade.

Sept. 14, 2019 - retained the tag team titles in a triple-threat match against Roger Matheus and Chris Hargas (Kings of Destiny) and Bud Gallows and the Masked Assassin.

Oct. 12, 2019 - wrestled in my first battle royal and was eliminated by Ragin' Redneck. Later that night Hatton and I lost the tag team titles to the Kings of Destiny.

Dec. 7, 2019 - teamed with Spade and Hatton to beat the KOD and Savveon Ayres.

Again, I thank you and if you'd like to support My 1-2-3 Cents or Stride Pro Wrestling please head to my store on Pro Wrestling Tees. Click here.

 

Seems like old times

By Kevin Hunsperger

@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

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If you've been following the My 1-2-3 Cents podcast or the Stride Pro Wrestling social media pages, you already know this. However, if you're new here here's the low down. Many years ago there was a great indy wrestling company here in southern Illinois called All American Pro Wrestling. However, in late 2012 the company folded and spawned a new company called Pro Wrestling Collision. Unfortunately, that brand wasn't long for this world either and within six months was defunct.

Then there was a long period of time when pro wrestling was not a part of the southern Illinois scene. By March 2016 that changed with Stride Pro Wrestling. Because many of the former performers from AAPW were still in the area, it seemed like a reunion of sorts at that first show in March 2016. Now fast forward nearly four years and those players who didn't come to Stride are headed back to the area. 

On Saturday night, Dec. 7, Stride Pro Wrestling Presents AAPW Resurrection. It's a fundraiser show for legendary indy wrestler Curly. He's currently going through some very serious heart problems and the show coming up this weekend is 100% benefitting Curly (Dan Summers) and his family. Confirmed to be a part of the show from the old AAPW days; Edmund 'Livewire' McGuire, Christian Rose, Gaylord Stephens, Carnage, 'The Serial Thriller' Shane Rich, 'Playboy' Paul Rose, The All-American and ring announcer Bob Fester. I'm sure more surprises will occur too.

I'm excited about this show. We're heading back to AAPW's 'home' of Black Diamond Harley Davidson. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for kids. Bell time is 6:30 p.m. We'll see you there!

Mr. 50-0 vs. Mr. 1-0

Mayweather & Hunsperger
Courtesy: Associated Press & Jason Wilkey

By Kevin Hunsperger

@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

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By now you know that Floyd 'Money' Mayweather won his fiftieth  and final fight against Conor McGregor Saturday night. I've loosely been following the buildup to the match, mostly because of Mayweather's one-time association with WWE. Chad and I were in the crowd the night he beat the Big Show at WrestleMania 24. After hearing about the deal he brokered it inspired me to write this blog.

Floyd 'Money' Mayweather
Courtesy: Floyd Mayweather's Instagram

Now that he's retired from the boxing aspect of his life, Mayweather had already filed for five trademarks related to 50-0. It's a genius move to keep making money on an already impressive career. Five and a half years ago I started a wrestling win streak by winning my first match in All-American Pro Wrestling. That record stands to this day. So should I resume my in ring career and try branding myself like Mayweather? Would fans buy into a 1-0 line of merchandise?

Kevin 'Some Money' Hunsperger

Of course, I'm not being serious as I write this. I just wanted to recognize the efforts by Mayweather and his team. It's all about marketing and hype. Yes, skills in the ring brought the original attention, but he was able to capitalize on that and become a very, very, very rich man in the process. 

My hope one day is to grow the My 1-2-3 Cents brand as well as Kevin Hunsblogger. It's a slow process, but I'm enjoying the journey. I've also added the COLLARxELBOW brand to my efforts. Shop online for merchandise and use the promo code MY123CENTS to save money. Thanks for the support. 

Hatton & Spade: Good friends, better enemies

"This Saturday night, I plan to beat the crap out of my friend
@jchap087" - Heath Hatton's Instagram update

By Kevin Hunsperger

@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

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Yes, I am stealing the title for this blog from In Your House 7: Good Friends, Better Enemies. You know the one, it was when Shawn Michaels defended the WWF Championship against Diesel in 1996. It all ended with "Mad Dog" Vachon's prosthetic leg being used as a weapon. The show was titled such because Michaels and Diesel had been friends through their years in the WWF, but put on some pretty good matches against each other too. The same can be said about Stride Pro Wrestling's Heath Hatton and Jay Spade.

Six man tag action
Courtesy: Steve Belcher

The two have been friends for as long as I can remember. They were both good guys in All-American Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Collison. Even in Stride, they've been allies. The two have been tag team partners and opponents (in a recent fatal four-way), but not one on one since 2011. They wrestled one time in IWAU. Hatton won that encounter.

Before the fatal four-way
Courtesy: Brittany Chapman

Six years and several companies and championships have passed and both men have improved their in-ring game. They're two of the most popular wrestlers in Stride. But each is hungry for the heavyweight championship. Hatton has had a taste of the gold and Spade wants to sink his teeth in his first singles title with Stride. There's no doubt each man will pull out all the stops to win this number one contenders' match Saturday night. Each earned the right to be in the match after tumbling to the floor at the end of the Rumble match last month.

Spade kicks Hatton
Courtesy: Steve Belcher

Before that Rumble match happened though the friendship hit an iceberg (see what I did there?) as the two lost a tag team title match to Maximum Overdrive. Hatton hit Spade with a couple of spears that would have broken a lesser man in half. The boil over is the result of miscommunication during the TLC match in which Hatton lost the title to Roger Matheus. Spade kicked the champ and put him through a table. There have been other miscues and mistakes since that show in May. 

This battle will no doubt be epic. It's something I've wanted to see for a long time. But when you factor in the number one contender spot as well, there will be no stopping either man. Join us Saturday night at the Illinois Star Centre Mall in Marion for this battle. Bell time is 6:30 p.m.

Sami Zayn has a picture of me in his house

What a night
Courtesy: Brian Kelley

By Kevin Hunsperger

@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

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Despite what some may think, the title of this blog is not #FakeNews. And in telling this story I realize I sound like a huge mark, but I couldn't resist. July 12 is Sami Zayn's birthday so I'm using it as an excuse to share the details of when I met his good friends El Generico, PAC (Neville), Colt Cabana and Matt Cross.

It was January 2012 and I was doing commentary for All American Pro Wrestling. It was our "super show" Main Event and I was also making my in-ring debut that night. Generico, PAC, Colt and M-Dogg were our guests that night and helped make the evening more memorable. Calling the match between Generico and PAC was surreal and I became a fan of both men instantly. 

After the show ended, our guests wanted to take a photo with my AAPW buddies Chris Hagstrom and Adam Testa. I was still buzzing from the match I'd had about 45 minutes earlier. I didn't think much of it when Brian Kelley from Missouri Wrestling Revival snapped the photo. But after he emailed it to me, it became one of my favorite wrestling pics ever taken. Then I heard this story...

A friend of mine (who I'm not sure if I should name, so I'm not going to) was a referee that night. He now works in Orlando and met Sami Zayn during WrestleMania weekend. Main Event was brought up in the conversation and Sami talked about how much fun he had that night and told my friend he has the abovementioned photo in his home. The story got relayed to me and of course, I popped like a bag of Orville Reddenbacher.

I know some WWE Superstars and Legends have read my blog before. Here's to hoping Sami reads this. Happy birthday man and please tell Generico I said "hola." It's been a long time.

Before the show starts

Helping get ready for TLC
Photo courtesy: Tom Harness

By Kevin Hunsperger

@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

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Life in the world of independent wrestling is an interesting one. I suppose even on the big stage it's an exciting time too. But I've never worked for WWE or WCW or TNA (except for a one off as a guest manager), so I'm going to talk about my experiences.

Setting up the ring

When I was working with All American Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Collision, things were much more physical. A handful of arrived on the morning of a TV taping and set up the ring. That included the guard rails around the ring, the chairs and preparing the locker room area and "promo room." After assisting with the recording of promos and vignettes, it was showtime. 

The ring packed up

We'd do commentary for two shows and supplemental videos for YouTube. After the tapings ended and the fans cleared the building, it was time to tear down the ring, load it up in a truck and return it to storage. Same with the guardrails. This process made for a LONG day as we usually arrived for set up by 8 or 9 a.m. and wrapped things up around midnight. Then it was off to Steak 'n Shake for a burger and big ass milkshake to unwind from the night.

Running through the card
Courtesy: Tom Harness

With Stride Pro Wrestling the labor is less taxing. We're in a unique position of having a permanent home, so the ring is in place. The students and trainers at the Stride school help with setting up the chairs. The biggest thing I do before the show is talking with the wrestlers I'm about to announce and make sure I've got their weight and hometown correct. We go over any interview segments I may conduct in the ring and figure out what points we'll be driving home. When the show ends, I help pick up trash and fold chairs, but the process is quick and painless.

Starting in July, I'll add commentary duties to my schedule for the new Stride Pro Wrestling YouTube channel. I'm looking forward to this next step in the development of the independent wrestling company. Look for more big announcements here and on social media in the coming weeks. 

Foreign Object Friday: The chairmen of wrestling

Chairmen of the ring
Photos courtesy: Red Daniels (L) & Wilkey Photography (R)

By Kevin Hunsperger

@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

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All week I'll be writing blogs to countdown to the upcoming Stride Pro Wrestling show "Brave the Storm." It's a benefit (Saturday, May 6) to raise money for families in southern Illinois who recently lost their homes or suffered damage during the February 28 tornado.

Red vs. Spade
Courtesy: Red Daniels Facebook

Over the last few months, quite a rivalry has developed between Red Daniels and Jay Spade. Each man has been a co-holder of the Stride Pro Wrestling Tag Team Championships. Daniels and his now former partner Jake Capone beat Spade and Joey O'Riley for the belts a few months ago. That night, in particular, a chair came into play.

Laid out
Courtesy: Red Daniels Facebook

The action spilled to the floor of as Spade and Daniels brawled through the crowd. In a callous move, the 300 pound Daniels scooped up Spade (who is half that weight) and slammed him into a metal folding chair. While all this was going on outside the ring, Capone gained the upper hand on O'Riley and pinned him for the championship victory.

I'm about to get whacked
Courtesy: Wilkey Photography

But is famous for a chair wielding incident too. This one was in All American Pro Wrestling and involved yours truly. It was during my match at Main Event against Mike Masters. He had brought a chair in and planned to assault me with it but stopped to taunt me a little more instead. With the referee's back turned, Spade hit the ring, grabbed the chair and whacked Masters in the head so hard he split open like a watermelon and needed six staples to fix the wound.

Spade to the rescue
Courtesy: Wilkey Photography

I know that sounds just as devious as Daniels' actions, but I'll defend it saying Spade and I are both smaller than Masters and had been victim to his bullying and abuse. Fans cheered because the bad guy finally got his comeuppance. 

Spade has proven he can swing a chair and be effective with it. He may need an equalizer against the much larger Daniels this Saturday night. The two will meet one on one at Community Consolidated 204 in Pinckneyville. See you there.

Foreign Object Friday: Gaylord Stevens' umbrella

By Kevin Hunsperger

@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

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We, of course, all remember Jim Cornette's tennis racket, Jimmy Hart's megaphone and Mr. Fuji's cane. For this series, I am going to look at some lesser known objects used throughout the course of wrestling. This week takes us to the indy scene.

Gaylord circa 2009 (I think)
Courtesy: Monica Mileur

For many years indy manager, Gaylord Stevens came to the ring dressed in a suit that was out of style even in the 1970s, a Nintendo Power Glove and his trusty umbrella. He'd go so far as to keep more than one umbrella on hand and tote them around in a bag intended for golf clubs. When the time was right he'd help his guys, whether it was Ax Allwardt, Brandon Walker or "Playboy" Paul Rose get the advantage.

Look closely the umbrella is there

Once All American Pro Wrestling started doing monthly TV tapings, I got to see more and more of Gaylord and his umbrella. I remember it being used against some of the company's top good guys like champion Edmund "Livewire" McGuire, Heath Hatton and Joey O'Riley. I think there was an incident involving special guest Colt Cabana one time too.

Livewire vs. Gaylord
Courtesy: Adam Testa

The umbrella never helped bring gold to any of Gaylord's men (that I recall), but it did make an impact. But one of the most memorable impacts was when Livewire attacked Gaylord with his own weapon. He whacked the devious manager more than once. Some five years later, I'd bet Gaylord is still stinging from those hits.

Gaylord has retired from the wrestling business. It's a shame as he was entertaining and innovative with what he did. I enjoyed interviewing him, watching him do his segment "Old School" and even calling matches with him from time to time. 

My wrestling resume

AAPW Commentary team in 2012

By Kevin Hunsperger

@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter
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I'll be up front from the start. My soul purpose for this post is to catch the eyes of Jeff Jarrett as his company Global Force Wrestling makes a stop near my home in southern Illinois. I want to be a part of the show and this post will aim to convince him of that.

Meeting Jeff Jarrett

I met Jeff Jarrett a couple weeks ago when I interviewed him for the TV station I work for, promoting the event on July 1 at Rent One Park in Marion, Illinois. I've also talked to him twice on the phone for the My 1-2-3 Cents Podcast. But I'm more than just a fan with a wrestling blog, podcast and YouTube channel.

Billy Gunn & Kevin Hunsperger
April 2005

In 2005 I got my first taste of the business. Ian Rotten asked me to be the ring announcer for the IWA: Mid-South April Bloodshowers show at the Herrin Civic Center. Billy Gunn wrestled Tracy Smothers that night and prior to that faced me on News 3 This Morning in a video game contest from hell. Ian had me back a couple other times, probably because I worked for free.

In 2010 I debuted as a referee for an event in McLeansboro for USCW. It was a challenging, but fun experience. Then about six months later I was asked to be on the commentary team for All American Pro Wrestling. This was an exciting opportunity because the show aired on WSIL-TV, the ABC affiliate in southern Illinois. That summer I also "managed" Velvet Sky at the TNA Basebrawl event in Marion. I'm not saying she beat Winter because of me, but I'm not saying my presence didn't hurt.

Courtesy: Jason Wilkey Photography

A storyline in AAPW developed where I had to get in the ring and wrestle. On January 14, 2012 I wrestled and defeated Mike Masters in my one and only match. It was one of the greatest nights of my life. The AAPW commentary gig transitioned into one for Pro Wrestling Collision. I did a guest spot at the Du Quoin State Fair in 2014 for USA Championship Wrestling. Finally in 2016, I became the ring announcer for Stride Pro Wrestling.

Stride Pro Wrestling 

I'm not looking for a paying gig on Friday, July 1 at Rent One Park. I just want to be a part of the action. Mr. Jarrett, give this long time wrestling fan a chance. You won't be disappointed.

Thank you, Chris

Me & Chris Hagstrom @ his last Pro Wrestling Collision show
Photo courtesy: My 1-2-3 Cents 

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents

This blog is long overdue.  For those who have followed my adventures this past month, you know I've been dealing with poor Internet connections.  That has made blogging nearly impossible to do, but we seem to be up and running now.  So I just wanted to say "thank you" publicly to a friend of mine, Chris Hagstrom.

I first met Chris via Facebook and Twitter three years ago.  While we were both in Phoenix at the same time for Wrestlemania 26, we never had the chance to meet face to face.  Nearly a year later, Chris sent me a message, asking if I'd be interested in helping him with a project for his video students at Southern Illinois University.  That project was for his students to produce a wrestling show for television, complete with color commentary and play-by-play.  Chris and I would be filling those roles.

Since it had been my lifelong dream to work in the world of wrestling, of course I jumped at the chance.  Because that first show was recording over the weekend of Wrestlemania 27 and I was in Atlanta, Chris and I met later and did the commentary in post production.  That first day was rough, as I'll admit I didn't know many of the wrestlers on the All American Pro Wrestling roster at the time.  Like I mentioned, I thought this was just for the class project, until Chris informed me of his idea to take AAPW Collision to local TV, not just any station, but the one I was (and still am) working for.

AAPW Commentary team

I thought it would be a hard sell, as public perception of wrestling isn't the greatest.  However, things took off and AAPW Collision debuted on WSIL on September 3, 2011.  By that point we had had two live-to-tape shows under our belts and I was getting into the groove of things.  Eventually Chris was named promoter of the company and worked very, very hard to find a permanent home for AAPW.  That home would be Black Diamond Harley Davidson.

Chris also worked very, very hard to keep the program on the air.  I don't know how much he spent through the years, but I do know it was a significant amount of money.  He did it all not to become a rich wrestling promoter.  He wanted to share his passion and love for wrestling with others who had the same interest in it.  Along the way, we became friends, and others got involved in the process, including Adam Testa.  The three of us nicknamed ourselves the Brain Trust.  We eventually started a radio program on AM 1150 Monster Radio called From the Rafters Radio along with Chad and Aaron Heller.  This was another Hagstrom funded endeavour and I can't thank him enough for that too.

The Brain Trust with Cross, Generico, PAC, & Cabana
AAPW Main Event

AAPW Collision aired every other week, and more fans started supporting the product.  That also attracted more help, guys like Drew Robbins and Nathan Norman became regulars on show days, which lasted 16 hours (or more).  Chris was there the whole time, rolling up his sleeves, hauling the steel and boards for the ring, making sure the audio and video connections were hooked up right, and tearing things down at the end of the night.

Long story short, without Chris Hagstrom, I would have never had the opportunity to live my dream.  I would have never got to be a wrestling play-by-play guy for two great independent promotions.  I would have never had the chance to step into the ring and have a match (which I won, thanks to Chris and Jay Spade), and more importantly, I wouldn't have become friends with a guy who is one of the most selfless people I've ever met.

Back in May, Chris stepped away from Pro Wrestling Collision, a company he helped create and bankroll as well.  It's time for Chris to focus on his personal life and starting a family.  I wish him well and will miss him on show days, but I know that our friendship hasn't gone down for the three count.  (Cheesy, yes, but I had to tie it up with a wrestling reference)

Zero Hour on DVD

Zero Hour available on DVD

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

In my Black Friday: Wrestling Style post last week, I failed to mention the availability of AAPW's Zero Hour.  That was partly because when I wrote the blog I didn't have all the details.  Now I can say that thanks to the hard work of All American Pro Wrestling Marketing Director Adam Testa the October show is now available, and at a special price.

You can pre-order right here and just pay $8.  Click on the SHOP tab at the top of the page.  That special is only good until Sunday, December 2.  Orders will start shipping soon.  It's your chance to see AAPW's first ever steel cage match between Mike Masters and Edmund "Livewire" McGuire.  Also, the AAPW tag team titles were defended in a ladder match as Team Overkill (Matt Cage & Christian Rose) defended against Brandon Espinosa and Ace Hawkins.  Honestly, this was one of the greatest ladder matches I've ever seen.  AAPW also crowned its first No Limits Champion as Joey O'Riley battled KC Jackson in the tournament finals.  Colt Cabana, Heath Hatton, Ax Allwardt, Bull Bronson, the Great Cheyenne, the Mississippi Madman and more stars appear on the show too.

Preorder today and don't forget to like AAPW on Facebook.  Follow @aapwrestling on Twitter and subscribe on YouTube for AAPW Collision.