Professional wrestling returns to Garland County Saturday when South Central Wrestling holds its first show of the year in Mountain Pine, with SCW Cruiserweight Champion Pineapple Jack defending his belt against Carter Matthews.
Antonio Reyes, owner and founder of SCW, said he has some big plans and goals for the promotion this year, which will feature 10 events, including having more title defenses.
"I got to looking at how I was doing the matches, and we had a few where we actually didn't have title matches, so I'm definitely changing that, making sure we have a title match every event," Reyes said.
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"We have two titles, we have the heavyweight title and the cruiserweight title," he said, noting Xander Gold is the heavyweight champion and Pineapple Jack is the cruiserweight champion, who both won their titles in November.
Reyes said he has already planned about half of the season.
"I book out to June, so I pretty much know what I want from February to June right now, so I already have my cards filled out for February, March, April, May and June. We try to make June a big deal. That's when our 'Freedoms Ring' event happens. Every other event is kind of just called 'Fight Night,'" he said.
November is the anniversary show, called "Wrestle-Fest," Reyes said, and June is the "culmination of everything" that happens between February and then, with events resuming from July until they culminate with November's event.
"We really want to blow everything off in November, because we're gone for two months," Reyes said, "Attention spans tend to be short, so if you don't basically tie up all the loose ends and put the storylines to bed, you can't expect the fans to remember what happened two months ago."
Reyes said the promotion has a loyal, but small, fan base, which he is hoping to build up this year.
Shows are held on the fourth Saturday of each month at 199 Third Ave. in Mountain Pine.
"I would like to see us grow to the point of outgrowing that building, honestly," Reyes said. "If I could get a regular number of people, and I know that the fan base would support us renting a building in Hot Springs, I would move it to Hot Springs, because the great thing about Mountain Pine is we're getting that building close to nothing, but that's also our determent. That building is in Mountain Pine, so you have to be going to Mountain Pine to reach it, you're not just going to pass by and see a sign that says 'Wrestling,' because that has to be your destination to go that direction."
He said they have averaged about 60 fans per show for the past couple of years, but the last show of 2021 saw an increase in ticket sales.
"In November, we actually had 100, so we're hoping that grows," he said, noting the increase was intimidating.
"It really scared me because in November all the sudden we have 100 and then we're taking two months off, so I'm not sure what to expect when we come back," Reyes said.
"It felt very good to see the crowd increase," he said, attributing it to "the way we started advertising that our events are coming. I think having Al Snow come in (for October), I believe that helped."
Snow, a wrestler known for his time in WWE and ECW, made an appearance in October, and also held a training seminar for the promotion's roster. Reyes said he is hoping to bring in another experienced wrestler this year to hold another seminar for the wrestlers.
Reyes said much of the SCW's roster at SCW are young wrestlers still learning how to wrestle and the seminars help to improve their talent, which keeps them safer, and makes them able to provide a better show for the spectators.
"Most of the independent wrestlers that you'll find on scene are younger, up-and-coming talent, but we do have older guys," he said, noting he wants to bring in veterans to teach the newcomers about how wrestling used to be.
He said Snow "broke things down that should happen in the ring that a lot of people don't think about."
Reyes said he has "reached out to a few people," and some of the wrestlers who hold seminars he is considering include former WWE Champion Mick Foley, WWE Hall of Famer The Godfather, former WWE trainer and WCW wrestler Bill DeMott, former NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Tim Storm and the current NWA Women's Champion, Kamille.
"I'm definitely always open to more seminars. Any chance to teach the talent that I bring in little things that they may not think about, I definitely want to take it," he said.
"The wrestlers that are around now have grown up in the era that we are currently in, and haven't seen the way the old territory system worked, and to impart some of that knowledge of how that territory system worked and the things that they should be doing," Reyes said.
"A lot of these guys have been trained by guys that didn't really learn what you should be doing. I hate to say it that way, but it's a fact," he said. "Whenever you have people who aren't really trained training other people, then you get things that, in my opinion, doesn't belong in a wrestling ring, so by bringing these guys in to do the seminars, I'm hoping that some of that information will transfer to get these guys a little more knowledgeable to what wrestling used to be and what it can get back to."
On the safety part, Reyes said, "a lot of the things that we do are dangerous anyways, so whenever you get somebody that hasn't been properly trained, and that's one thing I pride myself on, making sure that these guys have been trained, I look at video, I look at anything I can to see where these guys are at in their journey, and once I've deemed them safe enough to compete in the ring, then I'll bring them in ... but it is better when you can bring somebody in to show them proper ways to do things."
The SCW roster has 32 wrestlers, including 12 cruiserweights and 20 heavyweights. Of these, Reyes said a few are from Arkansas, but most travel here from Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Tennessee and Mississippi.
"We do five matches per show," Reyes said, "We do two interviews per show."
Each show lasts "roughly two hours," he said, noting, "People get tired of it, so I like to keep my shows to the two-hour mark. I'm going to try to filter it so that we're just under that two-hour mark."
Reyes said he brought in someone to be "a director of sorts to keep us flowing."
The shows are filmed and uploaded to the SCW YouTube channel twice a month, the second and fourth Friday, Reyes said, noting, "Even the months we don't have events, I still post to YouTube."
General admission is $5 and $10 for floor seating. The doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the matches start at 7 p.m.