Promoter:
Norm Connors
The International Wrestling Cartel has been western-Pennsylvania's largest and most exciting wrestling promotion for almost 8 years and 100+ live events. Using a healthy dose of established talent like Delirious, Daizee Haze, Davey Richards, Irish Airborne, and Sami Callihan, along with an impressive array of fast-rising local talent such as Shiima Xion, Jimmy Demarco, Johnny Gargano, The Gambino Brothers, Jason Gory, Ray Rowe, and "Fabulous" John McChesney, a mix of guest superstars such as Ric Flair, Mick Foley, Bret Hart, Jerry Lawler, Sgt. Slaughter, Shane Douglas, and more, IWC has grown to become one of the most successful indy promotions today. The promoter behind this... Norm Connors
On the weekend of December 11 and 12, 2009 a 16-year era came to a close as Norm Connors retired from promoting pro wrestling.
The easiest way for us to let you know how things started for Norm is to let him tell you. Below are some of the blogs he posted in the weeks leading up to his final show.
"Unfortunately, time has blurred some of the details surrounding the creation of Steel City Wrestling and its first event. At the time, the great Andy Stowell and I were good friends, and wrestling was of course the most talked about topic (music and movies were a close second and third- Andy Stowell was known for getting free movie passes to every single Premiere in Pittsburgh- saw many of good features with the man). Of course Zoltan was in the picture to, as we continued to travel from show to show all over the place.
I mentioned in a previous blog, but I really started to pay attention to what I thought was the creme of the crop in the wrestling business in the local and surrounding area. My idea was to promote events using this great talent, and needed a local name to really wow the wrestling fans and bring them in immediately. Hence, Steel City Wrestling was born. There were no close seconds. This was it. If it was up to me, IWC would be called Steel City Wrestling today. To me, it brings out a sense of Pittsburgh pride that portrays a hard nosed, no nonsense form of professional wrestling. It was a battle that I allowed myself to lose, and reminds me daily more recently how often I allowed others to influence my decisions rather than doing what was best for business.
I had befriended the promoter of the Mt. Pleasant Glass Festival, Jeff Landy, and he advised me that the Connellsville Little League was looking to raise some money. This was 10 months removed from the September 1993 wrestling event where I broke in as a ring announcer. I met with a very gruff fire chief named Charlie Matthews, and his assistant, the fighting fireman, Bill Mickey. They were both huge wrestling fans. Charlie could best be described as a cross between Artie Lange and a Slim Jim, with a typical Pittsburghese voice/accent. Bill Mickey was quite a character, and another typical Western Pennsylvania type. I met with them at their office, and put together my first wrestling pitch.
Let's back up a bit here. The first thing I needed to do when I wanted to start my own business was to learn what the hell I was doing.
I didn't want to do the usual "renting of license" that I heard so much about, even though it would have been easier. I wanted to do things my way, and without feeling a need to pay others back (HA!). I had some money in the bank at the time, so I applied for a surety bond, and went out and applied for my license with the State of Pennsyvlania and my Liability Insurance. I figured if i could work off of the initial investment of $10,000, which was the cost of my bond, I was in good shape. If I lost that amount, I would stop promoting.
So during the Spring and Summer of 1994, I put together a business plan, formed standard contracts that I still use today for my wrestling events, and also put together a brochure- "How to Successfully Promote a Professional Wrestling Event". This 20 page pamphlet walked sponsors through step by step starting 60 days out of how to promote a fundraiser with Steel City Wrestling.
Okay lets go back to mid summer 1994, and the borough offices in Connellsville. After putting my best foot forward, and presenting my contract and brochure, the Little League agreed to an event. The total sold show price- $3,600.00
To explain my theory on promoting at the time, I wanted to take all of the risk off of myself, and put it squarely on the shoulders of the sponsor. If they worked hard to promote the event, it would do very well. If they didn't, they had no one to blame but themselves, and the show was still paid for. Hence, a "sold show" is sold for a certain figure that must be paid regardless of ticket sales. Anything above and beyond the sold show price is profit for the sponsor.
So we were off and running, and it was time to secure talent. Zoltan and I shared the same theory- we wanted to put the best foot forward for the new company, so wanted great wrestling up and down the card. For the most part, we accomplished just that. But I also had someone pulling at my sleeve telling me I had to also give work to those that gave me work, regardless of how good or bad their wrestling was. Grrrr.......yet another wrestling rule that I would grow to hate, and would cost me friends through the years. Remember folks, friendship before business, regardless of how much money it takes out of your pocket.
The lineup for the very first Steel City Wrestling show looked like this:
1. Lou Marconi vs Frank Stalleto- to me, this was a no brainer for an opener. Two guys who were up and comers from Ohio, and could really go.
2. The Italian Shiek vs The Patriot Shawn Wilson. The payback match for the guy who started me. To continue our white out angle from the Shiek's promotion, this was a STRAP MATCH!!
3. Lord Zoltan vs Chris Hamrick. This was another natural to me, as it was the single best match that I had the pleasure of being a part of up to that point.
4. Johnny Gunn vs Future Shock. Tom Brandi reprising his WCW role as Johnny Gunn. To me, the single best babyface on the independent scene ever. I also wanted to feature Neil Haley, the said Future Shock, who was a giant heel (as in 6 foot 8) and later wrestled as Big Neil the Real Deal in the 1998 version of Steel City Wrestling. At the time, I was obsessed with the soundtrack to the movie Natural Born Killers, and wanted to give someone the entrance music "Shit List". He was perfect.
5. Shane Douglas vs T.Rantula. Needed some star power here, and who better than the Pittsburgh native who was a rising star in the wrestling. T.Rantula was the perfect heel foil to the up and coming babyface.
Things get a little tricky at this point. I wanted to really make my first card special, so I overbooked the damn thing. No shocker, we all live and learn. The first thing I did was add a battle royale to the event. OVERKILL.
6. Battle Royal
I also needed another big name for the show. I worked a lot of local shows with Matt Borne, who had recently been released from his WWF contract, where he wrestled as Doink the Clown. While Matt was fired, the character of Doink continued. Matt also began to wrestle as Doink on independent shows, so as to make some money off of the character he felt he took to another level (He was right- he made that character). Promoters had no problem using him as Doink, but I wasn't comfortable with that. I spoke to him on the phone a few times in order to try to work around the trademark. He didn't really care, and just wanted to forge ahead as Doink (of course- he could make the most money on gimmicks). But I wasn't going for it. After a few phone calls, we agreed that he would wrestle as The Original Clown. The next day, I made the drive to Ellwood City with $300 in hand, and gave Matt half of his payday for the event. I distinctly remember hearing Sheryl Crow- All I Wanna Do more than 10 times on the way up and back. I was still a big time mark, so handing out my first payoff was a pretty big deal. i still remember Matt being dressed in Blue shorts and a white wife beater, and being just entertaining enough to the promoter that was handing him cash.
7. The Original Clown vs Sheriff Steele. Steele was Preston Steele, and was a character he could not portray in Ohio because of his real life work as a police officer. This was another payback for work given to me, however I had no issue with that whatsoever. Preston was great in the ring.
As the summer came to an end and fall started, we moved closer to my first event. Tickets were moving at a brisk pace, but the Little League itself was not supporting the fundraiser. I explained each player should be required to sell a certain number of tickets, with incentives for those that sold more than others. This fell on deaf ears, but I was not that concerned, as tickets were doing well.
A few weeks before the show, my first experience with the other side of promoting professional wrestling came to a head.
Situation #1- Chris Hamrick. I called a few weeks before the show, and Chris's dad couldnt find him anywhere. In fact, in his great Southern Drawl, each time I spoke to his father, his response would be "I ain't seen Chris since Mid August". This was daily leading up to the event. Chris ended up no showing my first event ever promoted without contact. Im sure there was a reason for it, and later everything was worked out, but damn I should have learned something that day and let the first show be my last!!! I probably would have more hair! A few days out, I contacted another great young babyface we worked with, Scotty McKeever, and he replaced Hamrick.
Situation #2- Matt Borne. Ten days before the show, I received a call from Frank Szabo, who promoted those Phone bank shows that I mentioned in previous blogs. Matt was stuck in Alaska, as a tour he went on with several big stars had been cancelled mid stream, and there was no way home for any of them. I admit, at that point, I went into full panic mode. Today, I would shrug my shoulders, look to the sky, and say, "only in wrestling", and then work to fix it. Back then, I went off of the deep end. Tom Brandi had an idea, as his best friend in wrestling, Mike Kahlua, had portrayed a Clown (ya know- THE clown) on a few independent shows to try to capitalize on the draw of the character. In a panic, I booked Mike, even though I had already given Matt half of his payday. A few days before the show, Matt did make it back to the area, and I had to break the news that I had booked Kahlua in his place. This did not sit well with Matt, and he was very upset yelling at yours truly. After a few hours of figuring out a way around it, I came up with a solution. I told Matt that I would still use him on the show, but he had to promise not to bring it up to Kahlua at all (Matt felt Kahlua was taking Clown work away from him- I know, only in wrestling). Matt agreed (as if). I also told Kahlua I would add him to the show since I had booked him.
So the final card looked like this for October 8, 1994:
1. Lou Marconi vs Frank Stalleto (now with a Future Shock post match
run in since I didn't have a spot for him)
2. The Italian Shiek vs The Patriot in a strap match
3. Lord Zoltan vs Scotty Mckeever for the created SCW Jr. Heavyweight
title
4. Tom Brandi vs King Kahlua
INTERMISSION
5. Over the Top Rope Battle Royale
6. Shane Douglass vs T.Rantula
7. The Original Clown vs Sheriff Steele."
Some info from Norm's blog.
