Beer City Bruiser to make Morganton debut on March 7

Beer City Bruiser is headed to Morganton.

A professional wrestler with more than 25 years of experience who was previously a member of the Ring of Honor (ROH) roster from 2015-2021, Bruiser has made regular appearances for the North American Wrestling Alliance (NAWA) in recent years. However, the promotion’s upcoming event entitled “NAWA: In the FairGrounds 2” on March 7 will see the 47-year-old wrestle at the Burke County Fairgrounds in Morganton for the first time in his career.

With that said, it was about four decades ago when the Milwaukee native fell in love with pro wrestling while attending a show at, ironically enough, a county fair.

“When I was 7 years old, my uncle took me to a local show,” said Bruiser, who now resides in Mount Holly. “I grew up in the Midwest in Wisconsin, he took me to the county fair, and the AWA (American Wrestling Association) was there. The main event was Bruiser Brody vs. Stan Hansen, and they brawled past me as a kid, and I just remember looking up and Brody was like 20 feet tall. I looked at him up close and I was like, ‘This is amazing,’ and I was hooked ever since.”

Years later, Beer City Bruiser decided to pursue a career in pro wrestling. Someone introduced him to Jett Bennett, who remains a close friend to this day, and Bennett in turn introduced him to another wrestler, Trevor Adonis.

After training with Adonis for over a year, Bruiser met Harley Race, a legendary grappler who worked for such organizations as the AWA, the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), the World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment), and World Championship Wrestling. A nine-time world champion — including eight reigns as the NWA World Heavyweight Champion — Race is a member of numerous pro wrestling halls of fame.

“I ended up moving from Wisconsin to Missouri to train with Harley, I was there for six years,” said Bruiser. “And I always tell everybody I went to high school with Trevor, but I went to college with Harley. Harley really broke down the business side, how to make a living doing it, and all that. So, I ended up learning a lot there, and then I moved back after a couple years with Harley and started working the indies (independently owned wrestling promotions) in the Midwest.”

Bruiser eventually found his way to ROH, which he called “the best locker room I’ve ever been a part of.”

“We truly were a family,” he added. “Everyone looked out for each other, everyone cared about each other, any little spat we had was just that — a little spat — and there was no fighting, there was no politicking or backstabbing. We all were just trying to go out and put on the best product we could, and we pushed each other. … I’m thankful for the guys I got to share the car trips with, share the ring with, and learn from to really elevate me to the next level.”

Bruiser was paired with Silas Young during his early days in ROH, and they faced such tag teams as the Briscoe Brothers (Mark Briscoe and the late Jay Briscoe, the latter of whom was tragically killed in a car accident in January 2023), The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian), and the Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley), among others. He also later teamed with Brian Milonas, who he still keeps in touch with and considers to be “a brother.”

Bruiser also “learned a lot” from Jay Lethal, who at 707 days has more combined days as ROH World Champion than anyone else in history. Bruiser credits the likes of Todd Sinclair, Delirious, Steve Corino, and Kevin Kelly with influencing him as well.

These days, Bruiser wrestles on the indies, primarily for NAWA and America’s Most Liked (AML) Wrestling, where he also serves as a trainer. In fact, he is scheduled to challenge J.A.C. for the AML Wrestling Championship today (Saturday, Feb. 28) in Elkin in a Texas Death Match, with the winner defending the title against a mystery opponent on Sunday at another AML event in Winston-Salem, the promotion’s home base.

“I love working with AML and NAWA because they’re a lot like the Ring of Honor locker room,” said Bruiser, who thanked NAWA owner Michael Elliott and AML Wrestling co-owners Tracy Myers and Brian Hawks for fostering positive environments. “They want to put the best product out there, they don’t let the egos and stuff take over, they make sure that the locker room is run really well and that the fans have fun. I’m a firm believer that if the wrestlers are having fun, the fans are having fun, and they make their locker rooms a lot of fun and they fill those buildings up with some of the greatest fans.

“Before I moved to North Carolina, I had kind of fallen out of love with wrestling … and then moving out here the first two promotions that I worked for were AML and NAWA, and it reignited that passion and that love. … And that’s why I told them right away, ‘Hey, you guys are my top two promotions. Give me your dates, let me work for you, let me work with the young kids, let me teach them.’”

The aforementioned J.A.C. is actually one of Bruiser’s students, as is Bash Caliban, who he’s scheduled to go one-on-one with on March 7. And while he initially had a group of about five students, Bruiser currently trains around 25 wrestlers.

“It’s been great, and I bug Steve Corino all the time with things like, ‘Hey, what drills can I teach these kids?’” said Bruiser. “I go to different seminars and I ask different trainers, ‘What do you guys do?’ And I’m always trying to evolve so that way my training always evolves and gets these kids ready for the future.”

In addition to Bruiser’s match, NAWA’s upcoming show in Morganton will also feature six other matches: Justin Kindred-Allen defending the NAWA Heavyweight Title against Thomas Extreme, Robert Allen and Steve Allen defending the NAWA Tag Team Titles against V.S.P. (Mike Maughan and Curtis Robertson), Mila Johnson facing Emily Jaye in a women’s match, Moonshine Express (Big Nasty and Dusty Money) and Big Donnie battling Pretty Pistol (Grant Kistel and Pretty Boy Bailey) and Masked Outlaw in a six-man tag team match, Bryan Jaccobs facing Jay Cage, and Will Goodman taking on Sexy Gouda.

The opening match begins at 7 p.m., but there will also be a preshow meet-and-greet that is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. General admission tickets are $10, while children ages 5 and younger will be admitted for free with a paid adult.

Free parking will also be available, while concessions will be sold during the event. Furthermore, tickets for the show can be purchased online at tinyurl.com/3ka2e67m.

“They’re gonna have a lot of fun,” said Bruiser of what fans can expect if they choose to come watch him wrestle. “I come out to ‘Sweet Caroline’ by Neil Diamond, so I want them all to sing along with me because it doesn’t matter what age you are, you know the lyrics to ‘Sweet Caroline.’ And it’s a great feeling when I walk out and they start doing the ‘buh buh buh’ and all that.

“I always tell fans, ‘Don’t judge wrestling by what you see on TV, go to a live event.’ Because when you’re at that live event you’re gonna have fun, and if you don’t have fun come to my merch table and explain to me why you’re not having fun. I guarantee you that you will have a good time at a pro wrestling show, especially an NAWA or AML show. They’re all family-friendly, they’re all interactive with the crowd. … If you’ve had a bad week, come to the show for two hours, forget about real life, and just watch and enjoy, and I guarantee you that you’ll have a good time and want to come back.”