A View From a DKM: What A Ride
I remember as if it was yesterday. NWA Southwest Promoter Ken Taylor announces that NWA World Heavyweight Champion would be coming to Gainesville to defend his title against former WWE star Charlie Haas. It was going to be an hour and half drive for me but I wanted to see Pearce in person.
Taylor was good putting out promos and one of the undercard matches was for the NWA Texas Junior Heavyweight title. It would feature Gabe the Babe defending the title in a four way match against Andy Dalton, a top local talent, and two guys I had never heard of- Ann Dromada (Really? We need two effeminate wrestlers in one match) and some goofy sounding, curly mop-headed guy who called himself “The Modern Day Hero” with his alter ego Kevin Douglas. For some reason Taylor kept putting this goofs videos on NWA-SW website. Well hopefully Dalton would win the title.
So fast forward to August 14, 2010 and there I am in Gainesville getting ready to watch my sixth NWA title match in person. Here comes the four way match and as I expect there was a lot of comedy as the match started. Then something I didn’t expect happened. Gabe the Babe and Ann Dromada got into a slap fest and “fought” their way to the back both getting counted out. Now Dalton and that Hero dude were left and they tore it up in the ring. They stole the show and at the end I was one of those cheering when Kevin Douglas got the pin and won the title. The rest of the card was fine and when I left that night, me and my wrestling partner talked about the World title match (which ended in a double count out) and the Douglas/Dalton match up on the way home.
As time went on Douglas would suffer a neck injury and be stripped of the title which would be won by Jasper Davis and later Cody Jones. On my birthday in 2011 Ken Taylor was putting on a free show at a local Harley Davidson dealership. The main event was Lance Hoyt defending the NWA Texas title against Scott Summers but once again on the undercard was a match for the NWA Texas Junior Heavyweight title as Cody Jones would defend against former champion “The Modern Day Hero” Kevin Douglas. Once again the Douglas match was hot and he won the title.
Now at this time Jay Cal was doing his Alliance Podcast which I had called into a few times. So I schemed to call in and push for the idea of Hoyt challenging for the NWA North American title. Now at the time I was also a big fan of the NWA World Junior Heavyweight champion, Craig Classic. So as I talked about the card I made mention that not only should Hoyt be given a shot at the North American title but Douglas should be given a shot at the World Junior Heavyweight title. In fact when I went back and listened to it I spent more time talking about Douglas than Hoyt. On the message board, in emails, on Facebook, and in person I told anyone who would listen that Douglas should get a shot at the title. I even told Classic that in response to a tweet where he asked his fans who he should wrestle. There were even rumors that a couple of the NWA Texas promoters were trying to make it happen. I just wanted it to happen somewhere close to me so I could see it.
Then it happened. In reaction to the NWA stripping the Sheik of the NWA World Heavyweight title, Classic gave up the NWA World Junior Heavyweight championship. OK, so I did what any hardcore fan would do at times like this. I started pushing for Douglas to be a part of the upcoming tournament to fill the vacant title. Now by pushing I mean talking about it as much as I could. Let’s be honest, I’m only a fan. I don’t know promoters; I don’t really know many wrestlers. Douglas and I had exchanged a couple of brief messages over Facebook but all I could to was talk. Talk on Jay’s podcast, post on Facebook and message boards and where else I could.
Finally Douglas, who by then had won the NWA Lonestar Junior title, was announced as one of the entries in to the tournament. By this point as a fan that had no inside knowledge I was going crazy. You see when this started I was simply wanting to see a title match between Classic, who I believed the NWA was going to leave as champion for some time, and my local favorite. Now who knows, he could actually win it!
On night of October 7, 2011 I scanned Twitter and Facebook for news on the tournament. Finally I found out Tony Brooklyn was tweeting from the event and was giving the results of the matches. Finally the news came, in the finals of the tournament Douglas had won. I think the only time I had been more thrilled was when Kerry Von Erich won the World title.
Over the next year I would follow Douglas reign as he defended the title coast to coast, appeared on several different NWA TV show and even went to see him live a few times. I even talked him in to posing for a picture with me where I was holding the real NWA World Heavyweight title belt. As a big belt mark, that was high I might never equal.
What happens now? I don’t know but I can tell you I’m still a big Modern Day Hero fan and it won’t surprise me one bit if that belt doesn’t end up back around his waist. First though I wouldn’t be surprised to see him go after the NWA Texas title. Summer cost Douglas his title and I bet Douglas would like to even up the score. No matter what, this ride isn’t over yet!