So the following bits are scattered but connected. I got on a a stream of thought about a few things while working on another blog post last year.
I'm not usually not one for "name dropping" though that concept has become a bit sketchier and murkier to me over the years. Having working in the Film and TV field a bit, I get asked about people I know and people I've worked with by folks. And let's be honest, the variety of folks I have met over the years makes for some fun stories and sometimes the names involves are what makes the story. With this one though, I'm leaving a few names out either at their request, just don't want to bother mentioning them, or one due to my bad memory.
For those of you who do now know who AJ Styles is, he is one of the biggest names in professional wrestling and has been for at least the past ten years or so. The dude has worked for Ring of Honor, New Japan, NWA - TNA / Impact (whatever the heck they are called now), numerous other promotions, and currently works for the WWE. He began his wrestling career (more or less) in a little promotion called "NCW" which would quickly become NWA Wildside.
It is by no means a claim to fame on my part but I knew AJ back in high school. We're from the same area and went to rival high schools. I was not able to compete in any sports in high school due to health issues and injuries but I did manage the high school track team and help the coach out with record keeping and all that mess. As a result, I got an earful from a few people (players and a coach) who had made his acquaintance regarding him though I legit don't recall if it was related to football or wrestling though it might have been both. On top of that, a step-cousin of mine knew him and his family as they had attended the same high school.
AJ and I didn't meet in person until he had started his run in NCW / NWA Wildside. Two friends of mine had started training at the promotion around the time he was debuting for them. One of the two friends still competes in the local indie promotions under the name Azrael. The other guy, named Larry, never made it through the training school for a variety of reasons but he factors into a lot of this mess. Interestingly enough, the cousin of a friend from high school and co-worker was training there too and worked the indies under the name "Slim J" for a number of years.
When Larry and Azrael began training up there, I'd had the idea that I might be able to get my foot in the door regarding learning production stuff. I figured I might even be able to help my friends who were trying to get started in that field. There was a lot of miscommunication though of my interests and I got met with a lot of runaround and outright resistance on the idea. Looking back, it was probably for the best.
While I have mentioned over the years that I know AJ, there's a couple of fun stories regarding him.
The main one involves me trying to turn a bad situation into something potentially useful. It is something that I will have to tell the WHOLE story of another time but it loosely involves "AJ costing me a $39,000 job offer" (it was actually two jobs opportunities which were $20K a year and $19K a year respectively) and me poking fun at the incident on the NWA Wildside Yahoo groups both before and after his heel turn when he joined Jeff G. Bailey and the NWA Elite. (Again, I will tell more about that story another time if there is enough interest.) To his credit, AJ had a very good sense of humor about the whole mess. I told him what happened for real and he and I had a good laugh over it. I am pretty sure he knew that I was somewhat working the fans on the yahoo group (though one of his colleagues IMed on yahoo messenger asking me if it was a work or a shoot) and at one point played along with it at what was termed as a "Wildside house show" in some bar and grille joint in Gainesville GA that had the ring sat up on the place's dance floor.
The story that I was wanting to tell somewhat begins at that particular show.
Prior to the show, I had been asked by Larry to drive him up to Athens, GA for his birthday. Now this was not inherently a problem though honestly I didn't want to sit at a strip club with him while he was drinking and I was expected to be the responsible designated driver. (There are reasons that I will address eventually.) I had this hair brained idea to invite a few of the NWA Wildside guys to go with us. Of course, the only ones who I spoke much to that I really cared enough to invite to go with us were Azrael, Slim J, and Seth Delay (who were not old enough to drink) and AJ. Okay, I had an ulterior motive here. I had intended to leave Larry to his own devices at the strip club and go bar hopping with whoever we got from the Wildside crew to join this endeavor. Plus, it might have served as a means for Larry to better his status among "the boys" of whom many of them didn't care for him.
Well bless his heart, AJ told me straight up that he was not about to do anything of the sort. I didn't even get to the part about not staying at the club. I don't begrudge AJ a bit for not wanting to go and I actually benefited from the idea not happening.
See... I did wind up leaving Larry at the club. I wound up at a place down the road where this "goth band" was playing. I am not sure how to describe the music nor remember much of it or the band's name. I enjoyed the music and got to chatting with members of the band. There was a girl in the band who had on some "fairy wings" and described her attire as that of a "bondage fairy" which should tell you enough. The band members and I hit it off enough that we all wound up going back to the strip club after their last set for me to get Larry out of there.
Another thing that happened night was I got more acquainted with a dancer there than I ever expected to. And it is thanks to her that I would eventually become acquainted with one of my dearest friends.
And well... things probably would not have turned out as well had AJ not refused to go with us. 🤣
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