The views and opinions expressed below are solely those of the credited independent contributor, and do not necessarily reflect the views a...
The views and opinions expressed below are solely those of the credited independent contributor, and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of GeorgiaWrestlingHistory.com or any of its entities.
From Stephen Platinum:
Full Disclosure right off the bat: This piece is going to be about PCW’s experience at the Academy Theater where we did shows from January 15th, 2010 until September 28th, 2012. We did shows there every single week, without pause. I’m already half-finished with the next Full Disclosure, which is about the 10 Most Influential people on the Georgia wrestling scene. It’s filled with the snarky, brutal truth and educated opinion that is sure to make stomachs drop, panties bunch, and create the usual amount of obsessive, self-important ramblings and “profound,” grandiose statements from the usual suspects. Pun sort of intended.
Academy Theater is closed. Platinum Championship Wrestling did 142 shows at the Academy Theater. Robert Drake, the Artistic Director of the theater at the time, took a chance on us, plain and simple. PCW had left Sam Stone Studios in late 2009 in a secret move in order to preserve the integrity of the show itself. Sam wanted a number of things in the shows (music played constantly throughout the shows, no match to go more than 7 minutes, etc.) and was also insistent in inserting himself into the shows as a ring announcer and commentator, and showed a shocking lack of talent at both. For PCW, it was our shot at doing shows again, and weekly shows at that. I had always wanted to do a weekly show, thinking that between those and regular training sessions the guys would get better much faster. I had a notion that PCW wouldn’t be an indy that relied on outside names to draw. PCW wouldn’t be an indy at all.
When we left Sam Stone Studios (much of this and PCW’s story is captured in a documentary called “The Booker,” incidently) we moved directly to the Academy Theater. Robert and I have a mutual friend, Tommy Futch. Tommy’s a legend in the Atlanta area in the improve comedy realm, being one of the founders and owners of Laughing Matters, Atlanta’s longest running improve group. Robert ran the Academy Theater, which was Atlanta’s oldest established theater group. And there was our ring, set up with a very low ceiling next to their main stage.
We would train twice a week. The ring would be put up, we’d train one day, then the next, and the ring would come back down. Austin (then Consequences Creed for TNA, now Xavier Woods for NXT/WWE) would be there. His energy, combined with the loyal “old timers” like Mason, Shane Marx, Reverend Grimm, Casey Kincaid, Pandora, Hayden Young and Jay Fury combined with newer wrestlers like the Washington Bullets and De La Vega. Brian Blaze, Geter, The Vandal and Najasism had recently joined PCW as of the Sam Stone Studio shows. There were a couple of wrestling trainees as well who soon dropped out.
We trained very hard. We had recently had a taste of doing shows on the regular at Sam Stone Studios, and were now back to training only – grind it out sessions where I barked, drilled, and guys like Jay Fury and Austin preached and provided an air of intensity and filled in the gaps. I tend to be a guy who is as prone to fixing what I see to be “problems” through drills. I also tend to talk a great deal, trying to make the wrestlers under my charge into thinking pro wrestlers as opposed to simply guys that can do spots and work out their matches beforehand. I simply don’t think that’s wrestling, so I insist of guys learning to call things out, really know how to tell a story…know how to cut a promo. Know how to act. Austin and Jay made sure the sweat equity was being paid and Austin often gave tips.
It was a desperate atmosphere. I can’t lie about that. I was eager to do shows again, and negotiating with any number of places to make that happen. I didn’t think shows could happen at Academy Theater, because they had shows of their own happening, and the ceiling in the main stage area was simply too low. I was determined not to run shows on anyone else’s terms ever again.
Robert came to me with an idea – to do a run of PCW shows in their back space area, where they housed a dance floor. The run would be for six weeks and we would see how it went. Bonuses included the ring being able to stay up for that period. It was a no-brainer to try.
I’m glad Mike was there with his camera filming what would become “The Booker” on that first night. He captured very well the atmosphere of the evening. The mixing of wrestlers that had been around a while (the older PCW crew, Nemesis) with the newer wrestlers and a couple of outsiders looking for a different show to do (Michael Cannon and Scott Steele among them). Friends of mine were there as well jumping in and helping with the shows (Doctor Melei, Miss Quinn and Oscar Worthy).
That was the beginning, January 15th, 2010. A show done as I wanted it done, utilizing the principles of wrestling that I had been taught, learned through being part of tons of shows myself, and ideas that I myself had developed and now had a chance to implement.
We did shows there at all kinds of time. I can’t really explain it, but I was determined not to miss a week. If that meant running shows at Midnight, or 10:30 p.m. to accommodate whatever Academy Theater was doing on the mainstage, we did it. One memorable night we were running a late night show when an ice storm had hit Atlanta. Most of the wrestlers couldn’t make it. A small group of crazy fans DID make it, and we put on a show, dammit.
When you look at that number, 142, it’s really not THAT many shows. Not to me, anyway. But when you factored in that most places ran twice a month at the most, and that PCW also began to do weekly shows at the Jungle in addition to public appearance types of shows as well as the Masqurade shows…it’s easy to see why the PCW crew are wrestling everywhere that matters in the state now. They got in their reps. And they got feedback along with way through training that continued and me watching, ranting, cajoling and ranting.
I didn’t miss a show. Didn’t even occur to me to do so. The guys were there, so was I. Factor in all those shows at the Academy…now add the fact that often guys ran more than one gimmick a night. It became a point of pride to see how many times one could work a night. Jay Fury might have worked as Jay Fury, Warhorse #7, and Grotesque in a single night. Brian Blaze may have been Brian Blaze, Warhorse #88, and Grotesque. Marko Polo would be Marko, CAMPUS, Warhorse Sixth Period and one of the Contras. Pandora would rock it out as Pandora, CAMPUS Orange, and whatever crazy Warhorse I would think of. All of the guys did that. You did your time as CAMPUS Strike Force. I insisted on each wrestler having a Warhorse persona. At Academy Theater the emphasis was on the card itself and the overall appearance of the product. We didn’t have to drum loyalty and demand that the wrestlers do what was asked. They knew. And they saw.
What they saw was the quality of the shows themselves improve. I did a lot of “smoke and mirrors” booking in the beginning, covering guys that simply weren’t very good yet. I booked squash matches to cover guys while giving them ring time. The friends of mine who were actors cut the promos and showed the guys how to really perform. The veteran guys took on the lion’s share of the work. Many of the newer guys really stepped up and the shows began to gel.
Robert started working as a ring announcer, and honestly became a great one. He would sit in on training and ask questions. He would run music during training and the wrestlers would practice their entrances. Robert worked very hard to get the timing of things down. I was insistent on things running on time, and moments being hit in shows properly. I was perhaps a fanatic about that kind of thing.
Looking back at those Academy Theater shows, it’s easy to remember the huge moments…that first show going so well (main event, Shane Marx versus The Phantom – now Casey Kincaid.) The crowning of the first PCW champion, Shane Marx (who wrestled Nemesis). The emergence of the EMPIRE, who eventually took over the show in a memorable show on 11/11/11 that shocked the audience and introduced Jeff G. Bailey to PCW. A main event between Oscar Worthy (now O-Dub) and De Le Vega in a falls count anywhere that ended up in the lobby and the pin taking place on a bar top. We Are 3 ending a show prematurely by demolishing the wrestlers, the ring announcers, beating up commentators and a fan or two. Davey Richards making appearances and working Dany Only, Kyle Matthews, Fred Yehi…all in that small space at Acaedemy Theater. Future NWA World Champ Toyko Monster Kahagas working the undercard of the 11/11/11 show against Vordell Walker. Austin disguising himself so he would work our shows when he was still with TNA.
It was an amazing time. Robert endured numerous backstage incidents, clashed with me from time to time, and no doubt fought battles with the Academy Theater Board on our behalf that I am not aware of. I thank him here, publically. Put simply, PCW would have had a chance to do anything if not for him. How many wrestlers got hundreds of matches in that place? How many big moments did we acknowledge? Rachael and Marty’s engagement…birthdays galore…the Booker coming out…people finally acknowledging that PCW wasn’t a joke.
The shows at the Academy Theater ended for a simple reason – I moved to Florida. For a while I came back to Atlanta every weekend until the last Academy Theater show happened the night before Sacred Ground: Chapter Three. The last main event was a brutal brawl between The Witness and the bodyguard for The EMPIRE. It was strangely fitting that two guys who had never really gotten much of anything in wrestling closed out PCW’s run at the Academy Theater. It was a wild, unpredictable affair. In the end, a brawl happened (the locker room clearing brawls at the Academy Theater are another article unto themselves…the bills I paid for broken steel doors and other niceties are a good reminder that those PCW shows were balls to the wall) and we all ended up in the lobby. And Jeff G. and I cut promos against one another to set the table for Sacred Ground next night night, which happened at the new home base, Porterdale.
But no matter where PCW goes from here, no matter what the wrestlers become…Academy Theater is where many of them started, most really cut their teeth, and where all who did those shows can really look proudly on what was done. Academy Theater is gone from that location in Avondale Estates now. Robert Drake did right by us. In the end, that experience put PCW on the map, and the things we did there made PCW from just another promotion to THE promotion. Promotion of the year. Sacred Ground was show of the year. And I got to win booker of the year. And that’s all wonderful. But it really came down to Robert saying “yes” and fighting as hard as any of us at PCW did.
Thank you, Robert. Thank you, Academy Theater. Perhaps an unlikely thing, for Academy Theater to be a wrestling venue. But a great venue it was. And that can never be taken away.
From Stephen Platinum:
Full Disclosure right off the bat: This piece is going to be about PCW’s experience at the Academy Theater where we did shows from January 15th, 2010 until September 28th, 2012. We did shows there every single week, without pause. I’m already half-finished with the next Full Disclosure, which is about the 10 Most Influential people on the Georgia wrestling scene. It’s filled with the snarky, brutal truth and educated opinion that is sure to make stomachs drop, panties bunch, and create the usual amount of obsessive, self-important ramblings and “profound,” grandiose statements from the usual suspects. Pun sort of intended.
Academy Theater is closed. Platinum Championship Wrestling did 142 shows at the Academy Theater. Robert Drake, the Artistic Director of the theater at the time, took a chance on us, plain and simple. PCW had left Sam Stone Studios in late 2009 in a secret move in order to preserve the integrity of the show itself. Sam wanted a number of things in the shows (music played constantly throughout the shows, no match to go more than 7 minutes, etc.) and was also insistent in inserting himself into the shows as a ring announcer and commentator, and showed a shocking lack of talent at both. For PCW, it was our shot at doing shows again, and weekly shows at that. I had always wanted to do a weekly show, thinking that between those and regular training sessions the guys would get better much faster. I had a notion that PCW wouldn’t be an indy that relied on outside names to draw. PCW wouldn’t be an indy at all.
When we left Sam Stone Studios (much of this and PCW’s story is captured in a documentary called “The Booker,” incidently) we moved directly to the Academy Theater. Robert and I have a mutual friend, Tommy Futch. Tommy’s a legend in the Atlanta area in the improve comedy realm, being one of the founders and owners of Laughing Matters, Atlanta’s longest running improve group. Robert ran the Academy Theater, which was Atlanta’s oldest established theater group. And there was our ring, set up with a very low ceiling next to their main stage.
We would train twice a week. The ring would be put up, we’d train one day, then the next, and the ring would come back down. Austin (then Consequences Creed for TNA, now Xavier Woods for NXT/WWE) would be there. His energy, combined with the loyal “old timers” like Mason, Shane Marx, Reverend Grimm, Casey Kincaid, Pandora, Hayden Young and Jay Fury combined with newer wrestlers like the Washington Bullets and De La Vega. Brian Blaze, Geter, The Vandal and Najasism had recently joined PCW as of the Sam Stone Studio shows. There were a couple of wrestling trainees as well who soon dropped out.
We trained very hard. We had recently had a taste of doing shows on the regular at Sam Stone Studios, and were now back to training only – grind it out sessions where I barked, drilled, and guys like Jay Fury and Austin preached and provided an air of intensity and filled in the gaps. I tend to be a guy who is as prone to fixing what I see to be “problems” through drills. I also tend to talk a great deal, trying to make the wrestlers under my charge into thinking pro wrestlers as opposed to simply guys that can do spots and work out their matches beforehand. I simply don’t think that’s wrestling, so I insist of guys learning to call things out, really know how to tell a story…know how to cut a promo. Know how to act. Austin and Jay made sure the sweat equity was being paid and Austin often gave tips.
It was a desperate atmosphere. I can’t lie about that. I was eager to do shows again, and negotiating with any number of places to make that happen. I didn’t think shows could happen at Academy Theater, because they had shows of their own happening, and the ceiling in the main stage area was simply too low. I was determined not to run shows on anyone else’s terms ever again.
Robert came to me with an idea – to do a run of PCW shows in their back space area, where they housed a dance floor. The run would be for six weeks and we would see how it went. Bonuses included the ring being able to stay up for that period. It was a no-brainer to try.
I’m glad Mike was there with his camera filming what would become “The Booker” on that first night. He captured very well the atmosphere of the evening. The mixing of wrestlers that had been around a while (the older PCW crew, Nemesis) with the newer wrestlers and a couple of outsiders looking for a different show to do (Michael Cannon and Scott Steele among them). Friends of mine were there as well jumping in and helping with the shows (Doctor Melei, Miss Quinn and Oscar Worthy).
That was the beginning, January 15th, 2010. A show done as I wanted it done, utilizing the principles of wrestling that I had been taught, learned through being part of tons of shows myself, and ideas that I myself had developed and now had a chance to implement.
We did shows there at all kinds of time. I can’t really explain it, but I was determined not to miss a week. If that meant running shows at Midnight, or 10:30 p.m. to accommodate whatever Academy Theater was doing on the mainstage, we did it. One memorable night we were running a late night show when an ice storm had hit Atlanta. Most of the wrestlers couldn’t make it. A small group of crazy fans DID make it, and we put on a show, dammit.
When you look at that number, 142, it’s really not THAT many shows. Not to me, anyway. But when you factored in that most places ran twice a month at the most, and that PCW also began to do weekly shows at the Jungle in addition to public appearance types of shows as well as the Masqurade shows…it’s easy to see why the PCW crew are wrestling everywhere that matters in the state now. They got in their reps. And they got feedback along with way through training that continued and me watching, ranting, cajoling and ranting.
I didn’t miss a show. Didn’t even occur to me to do so. The guys were there, so was I. Factor in all those shows at the Academy…now add the fact that often guys ran more than one gimmick a night. It became a point of pride to see how many times one could work a night. Jay Fury might have worked as Jay Fury, Warhorse #7, and Grotesque in a single night. Brian Blaze may have been Brian Blaze, Warhorse #88, and Grotesque. Marko Polo would be Marko, CAMPUS, Warhorse Sixth Period and one of the Contras. Pandora would rock it out as Pandora, CAMPUS Orange, and whatever crazy Warhorse I would think of. All of the guys did that. You did your time as CAMPUS Strike Force. I insisted on each wrestler having a Warhorse persona. At Academy Theater the emphasis was on the card itself and the overall appearance of the product. We didn’t have to drum loyalty and demand that the wrestlers do what was asked. They knew. And they saw.
What they saw was the quality of the shows themselves improve. I did a lot of “smoke and mirrors” booking in the beginning, covering guys that simply weren’t very good yet. I booked squash matches to cover guys while giving them ring time. The friends of mine who were actors cut the promos and showed the guys how to really perform. The veteran guys took on the lion’s share of the work. Many of the newer guys really stepped up and the shows began to gel.
Robert started working as a ring announcer, and honestly became a great one. He would sit in on training and ask questions. He would run music during training and the wrestlers would practice their entrances. Robert worked very hard to get the timing of things down. I was insistent on things running on time, and moments being hit in shows properly. I was perhaps a fanatic about that kind of thing.
Looking back at those Academy Theater shows, it’s easy to remember the huge moments…that first show going so well (main event, Shane Marx versus The Phantom – now Casey Kincaid.) The crowning of the first PCW champion, Shane Marx (who wrestled Nemesis). The emergence of the EMPIRE, who eventually took over the show in a memorable show on 11/11/11 that shocked the audience and introduced Jeff G. Bailey to PCW. A main event between Oscar Worthy (now O-Dub) and De Le Vega in a falls count anywhere that ended up in the lobby and the pin taking place on a bar top. We Are 3 ending a show prematurely by demolishing the wrestlers, the ring announcers, beating up commentators and a fan or two. Davey Richards making appearances and working Dany Only, Kyle Matthews, Fred Yehi…all in that small space at Acaedemy Theater. Future NWA World Champ Toyko Monster Kahagas working the undercard of the 11/11/11 show against Vordell Walker. Austin disguising himself so he would work our shows when he was still with TNA.
It was an amazing time. Robert endured numerous backstage incidents, clashed with me from time to time, and no doubt fought battles with the Academy Theater Board on our behalf that I am not aware of. I thank him here, publically. Put simply, PCW would have had a chance to do anything if not for him. How many wrestlers got hundreds of matches in that place? How many big moments did we acknowledge? Rachael and Marty’s engagement…birthdays galore…the Booker coming out…people finally acknowledging that PCW wasn’t a joke.
The shows at the Academy Theater ended for a simple reason – I moved to Florida. For a while I came back to Atlanta every weekend until the last Academy Theater show happened the night before Sacred Ground: Chapter Three. The last main event was a brutal brawl between The Witness and the bodyguard for The EMPIRE. It was strangely fitting that two guys who had never really gotten much of anything in wrestling closed out PCW’s run at the Academy Theater. It was a wild, unpredictable affair. In the end, a brawl happened (the locker room clearing brawls at the Academy Theater are another article unto themselves…the bills I paid for broken steel doors and other niceties are a good reminder that those PCW shows were balls to the wall) and we all ended up in the lobby. And Jeff G. and I cut promos against one another to set the table for Sacred Ground next night night, which happened at the new home base, Porterdale.
But no matter where PCW goes from here, no matter what the wrestlers become…Academy Theater is where many of them started, most really cut their teeth, and where all who did those shows can really look proudly on what was done. Academy Theater is gone from that location in Avondale Estates now. Robert Drake did right by us. In the end, that experience put PCW on the map, and the things we did there made PCW from just another promotion to THE promotion. Promotion of the year. Sacred Ground was show of the year. And I got to win booker of the year. And that’s all wonderful. But it really came down to Robert saying “yes” and fighting as hard as any of us at PCW did.
Thank you, Robert. Thank you, Academy Theater. Perhaps an unlikely thing, for Academy Theater to be a wrestling venue. But a great venue it was. And that can never be taken away.
