The minutes are counting down.
“I’m pumped. Let’s get it on!” said Marvin Ward, the president of Awesome Wrestling Entertainment, a Virginia-based professional-wrestling promotion with aspirations toward the big time.
AWE will mark its launch Saturday night with its first live event at Waynesboro High School. The main event pits former WWE superstar Jimmy Wang Yang with AWE newcomer Vasaga for the inaugural Awesome Wrestling Entertainment world heavyweight championship. The AWE United States title will also be filled in a match between another former WWE superstar, Carlito, and the rising star Micah Fletcher. Midget star Short Sleeve Sampson and women’s star Traci Brooks are among the other headliners.
The event begins with an autograph session at 6 p.m. Belltime is 8 p.m.
Tickets are $10 and are available at Crossroads music stores in Waynesboro and Staunton and at Eavers BP and Liberty BP/Liberty in Stuarts Draft – and at the door.
The AWE crew was at the WHS gym late Friday night – after the big Waynesboro-R.E. Lee basketball game that came down to the wire, with the undefeated Leemen escaping with a narrow 53-51 win over their Southern Valley District rivals.
“We need to get the ring set up tonight,” said Mike Meadows, a member of the crew helping get the gym ready for the pro-wrestling action.
Another AWE newcomer, Johnny Knockout, offered a helping hand. Knockout will be facing former TNA star Sonjay Dutt in a match to determine the #1 contender to the U.S. title.
Cutting a video promo for the match, Knockout used his time on the ring crew as his hook.
“You see this ring right here. Every rope, every nook, every cranny, I put it together myself, so I know this inside and out,” Knockout said. “And Sonjay Dutt – you have got one heckuva fight on your hands. This is my world. Welcome to it. And welcome to the Johnny Knockout Reality. I will see you on the other side. You’re going down, buddy. You’re going down.”
Earlier Friday evening, Knockout joined midget star Short Sleeve Sampson and Robotron at a pep rally at the Waynesboro YMCA. The wrestlers were a big hit with the teens out for Friday Night Basketball.
“We’ve been out there breakdancing with them, signing autographs, shooting hoops. You can’t be in a better place than this,” Sampson said after the pep rally and a quick tour of the Y with executive director Jeff Fife.
“I am so fortunate that we can be able to come out here the night before our big show at the high school – to be able to hang out with these guys. If I was going to have free time, there is no other place that I’d much rather be than where I am right here, right now, tonight, in the Waynesboro YMCA,” Sampson said.
More information on the AWE Live event is available here.
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Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at [email protected].
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