Pro wrestling circuit slams into Okinawa
Lance Cpls. Daniel R. Todd
and Lance Cpl. Travis V. Easter
Jay Garland reaches to tag his partner during a tag-team match against G.Q. Gallo and Santos Hernandez. International Championship Wrestling visited Camps Foster, Shields and Kadena Air Base April 12-14 during its third annual Pacific tour. (Photo by Lance Cpl. Travis V. Easter).
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa (April 20, 2007) -- For the first time in four years, International Championship Wrestling invaded Okinawa April 12-14 beginning with a wild night at the Foster Fieldhouse featuring some of professional wrestling's most accomplished grapplers and several up-and-comers.
ICW is a Missouri-based wrestling promotion company that provides professional wrestling entertainment for the U.S. military. Armed Forces Entertainment and Marine Corps Community Services joined forces to organize the ICW show, which featured former World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment stars.
"It's an honor and a pleasure to come out here and give these service members a good show," said Henry Hubbard, president and chief executive officer of ICW. "The feelings and excitement are unexplainable."
The main event showcased two stars who have performed in Mexico, Japan, and Europe and on professional wrestling's grandest stage - Wrestlemania. Norman Smiley, former two-time World Championship Wrestling Hardcore Champion and Total Non-Stop Action star, took on Billy Kidman.
Kidman, a multiple WCW and WWE Cruiserweight Champion, World Tag Team Champion and Wrestlemania competitor, got on the bad side of the crowd immediately by taking the microphone and berating those in the audience. Smiley didn't take lightly to the comments and made Kidman eat his words by crushing him steadily into submission throughout the match.
The match was a back-and-forth contest until Kidman lost when he climbed to the top rope and went for the shooting star press. Smiley cut him off with a hard right to Kidman's midsection. From there, Smiley planted Kidman with a vicious hangman's DDT from the top rope to secure the victory.
"First of all (service members) are my role models," Smiley said. "No one else can do what the U.S. armed services do to protect our country. To perform in front of the people I consider to be my heroes and hear their responses is what it's all about. I remember wrestling Bill Goldberg in a sold-out arena, and the feeling was just electric. I get to feel that when I perform for the service members, and it is awesome."
Lil' Nate started the evening by picking up the victory in a high-octane cruiserweight bout that earned a standing ovation from the crowd.
G.Q. Gallo and Santos Hernandez defeated Peter Goodman and Jay Garland in the second match of the night.
The third match raised the heat as Erica D'Erico earned a tough win over Lexie Fyfe.
And Doink the Clown gave fans a number of smiles when he shut down the Red Dragon using his unusual and goofy tactics.
The show brought a sense of nostalgia for some avid wrestling fans.
Trevor Carlson Sr., who said he has been a fan for 26 years, said he watched his first live wrestling performance in 1991, and thanks to the ICW tour, his 9-year-old son Trevor Jr. can now share a similar memory.
"It feels like I'm eight years old all over again," the elder Carlson said. "Words can't describe how it feels to take my son to see the same guys I grew up watching."
Hubbard said he hopes to bring his promotion to Okinawa more often in the future.
"Hopefully it won't take another four years for us to come back because it would be our pleasure to entertain the service members on Okinawa again," he said.
back to main page
