News on Rochester Wrestling Hall of Fame, NWF Fanfest, ACPW tonight
On Friday, August 18, 2006 at 8:53 PM EST Todd Brantley & NWA Upstate sent this in:
2nd Inductee to Rochester Wrestling Hall of Fame
NWA Upstate is proud to announce that the second ever inductee to the Rochester Wrestling Hall of Fame will be none other than one of the founding fathers of the Rochester wrestling scene, Chip Stetson. The induction will take place at the 2006 NWA Upstate 8 Tag Team Tournament Saturday, August 26th at the All Star Sports Arena in Rochester, New York. Tickets are $11 in advance, $13 at the door the day of the show, and $6 for children under 9. You can call the Upstate hotline for more information at (585) 621-4293.
With over ten years in wrestling both in the ring and behind the scenes, no one seems more deserving than Chip Stetson. First appearing in the Rochester area at the Ukrainian Home in the mid 90’s in New Millennium Wrestling, Chip formed a partnership with a fellow newcomer to the area, Hellcat, and together the two formed the foundation for local tag team wrestling in Team 4:20. No other tag team in the area even came close to igniting a crowd and putting on the show that Team 4:20 did when they reigned supreme, capturing tag team titles both in NMW and elsewhere in New York which they never officially lost. After the bitter original split from his best friend, Hellcat, Chip achieved singles success in NMW winning the TV Title, and having a solid hold on it until being beaten by then rookie, Big Cat Lemmer. Chip’s success as a singles even earned him the ranking of #389 in one of Pro Wrestling Illustrated Top 500 Wrestlers in the World.
After the closing of NMW, Chip returned home to Albany where he would begin to mold some up and coming young talent, preparing them to chase the same dream he had of breaking into professional wrestling. It would be a good number of years before Chip would return to active wrestling in Western New York. In early 2004 , after Hellcat suffered the second of his major back injuries, Chip made a return to now NWA Upstate, in an attempt to avenge his former best friends Kayfabe Dojo Title loss to Jimmy Olsen. Although Olsen squeaked out a win, Stetson remained focused on showing Western New York that he was back, and better than ever. Alongside Hellcat, Stetson again took the mentoring role of helping to develop The Osawa Syndicate and with help from his young guns like Gabe Saint and Johnny Kayfabe, chased down and won the Kayfabe Dojo Championship later that year over Marcos.
With a firm hold on the Kayfabe Dojo Championship and sitting at Hellcat’s right side, Chip rode into 2005 with higher hopes for just what more of an impact he could have. Chip even earned a shot the NWA- Illinois Heavyweight Championship when he faced "Classic" Colt Cabana in a memorable encounter that showed off Chip’s dancing ability for the first time to Upstate fans. At "Anniversary Anarchy I" Stetson was defending his championship, gaining the support of the fans with his dancing again, when Hellcat rushed to the ring and shocked everyone by turning on his best friend, launching a fireball right into the face of Chip, allowing his opponent to steal the victory. The fireball to Chip’s face re-ignited the powderkeg of hatred that still came between Stetson and Hellcat, and the Osawa Syndicate entered into a personal battle with Chip Stetson. At "A Final Farewell" things finally came to a head at the last ever show to be held in the place local wrestling was born The Ukrainian Home. Due to family reasons Chip vowed that win or lose this would be his last match, and the ending couldn’t have been sweeter. Stetson and his partner JP Black came out victorious over Hellcat and the Outcast Killaz when Chip put Hellcat out cold with the sleeper hold in the middle of the ring.
Chip again went back to being behind the scenes of NWA Upstate for another year concentrating on his family and becoming a father for the 3rd time. Chip was never far from the action, when ESW invaded Upstate in October of last year, Chip was one of the first ones storming out of the back to retaliate on Kayfabe, Puma and Team ESW and defend the NWA Upstate name when they stole the 6 Man tag Team Championship at "Monster‘s Brawl". Chip and Hellcat had once again found the common bond that originally helped form Team 4:20 and at "Anniversary Anarchy II" the two both came out of retirement together for one night to defeat his former Syndicate protégés Johnny Kayfabe and Gabe Saint in a major battle over ESW and following it up with one of his famous victory dance routines. Chip even made sure personally that the heart and soul of NWA Upstate lived on when he acted as the official at "Continuing the Tradition" in June and counted the 1-2-3 when Team Upstate won back the Six Man Tag Team Championship after an 8 month reign by Team ESW, again breaking into trademark victory dance with Big Cat, Spazz, and Triple X following the win.
Chip Stetson’s accomplishments in the ring could not begin to amount to the contributions Chip has made outside the ring helping mold the younger talent of the Upstate product you see today. Sammy Dunn, Dave Marcos, The Olsen Twins, Big Cat, Brodie Lee, and countless others have looked to Chip as a mentor and role model for a number of years, and congratulate him on his Hall of Fame induction.
Longtime best friend and tag team partner, NWA Upstate Owner Hellcat, will be doing the long overdue honors of inducting Chip Stetson in the Rochester Wrestling Hall of Fame officially closing the door on the legacy of one of the most selfless and legendary careers in New York State.
8/17/06
Todd Brantley
NWF Kids Pro Wrestling sent this in:
Hi guys, we have put together a complete photo link from this past weekends Pro Wrestling Fanfest. Thanks much.
The link to the photo page is as follows:
http://www.nwfwrestling.net/Fanfest_2006.html
The Stro of TheStro.com sent this in:
Friday August 18th
ACPW pro wrestling event
Clinton, North Carolina
ACPW arena (behind Clinton Pawn Shop)
324 Lisbon Street
Belltime: 7:45 pm est.
email: acpwarena@yahoo.com
Featuring: ACPW TV champion and former WCW star The
Stro along with many stars of ACPW.