May 21, 2025, should be a special time. There should be a big celebration in the works, complete with reunions, rivalries renewing, and all the pomp and circumstance one little building in Cornelia, Georgia could handle. By pomp and circumstance, I am not talking about Ace Rockwell and Shaun Tempers, although, they would need to be there. Instead, I am talking about what should be the 20th Anniversary celebration of Anarchy Wrestling.
When the calendar turned to 2005, NWA Wildside was coming to an end. Bill Behrens had taken a position to help with WWE’s new developmental territory, Deep South. While Bill and the braintrust of Wildside were planning a proper funeral for the much-celebrated promotion, another group was planning the birth of something new. Rick Michaels is without a doubt the father of Anarchy. It was through his love and passion for our business that he kept those doors open and made way for something new. I know, I was there. I was there in that country restaurant in Clarkesville (which is now a pretty awesome Mexican restaurant) when Rick, Sal Rinauro, Al Getz, and I ate some less-than-healthy fried food and talked about what Anarchy was going to be. While Rick was always big on production, he was never one to care about television. Rick cared about those asses every 18 inches. Although, the show would still be recorded and put out. Al Getz had a vision of shooting and editing the shows down like Sportscenter. Something that almost made Greg Hnter and I quit in the early days of Anarchy, but more on that later.
On May 21, 2005, Anarchy was born. The very first match under the Anarchy banner was Billy Buck vs. Brent Silver. Brent was an amazingly talented, good-looking, stud of a wrestler. He had come around in the last year or so of Wildside, mainly appearing on the Friday night events. He had the body, the skills, and the attitude to go far. He didn’t last very long after this. Rumor was he met a woman, got married, and quit the business. It is a shame. Billy Buck is still going strong and would be a big part of Anarchy Wrestling for years to come. Sal Rinauro and Seth Delay won the first-ever Anarchy Tag Team Titles at that event. Jeff Lewis defeated Brandon P, while Slim J defeated Todd Sexton to set up their TV Title tournament final at a later event. Mikal Adryan, who would later be Judas, defeated Heath Miller, who would go on to be Heath Slater in the WWE. Then former partners collided as Kory Chavis, the former Rainman, and the newly anointed Anarchy champion, successfully defended the title against Murder-1. It was not the most spectacular of events just looking at it from a distance. Definitely a solid card, with the most talented roster of the time. It was a hell of a way to kick off a roller coaster ride.
Sometime in the summer, a new investor was introduced to the fold, and Jerry Palmer came aboard as the owner. Jerry was a local firefighter, businessman, and a respected member of the Habersham County community. Anarchy had started out hot, but I think it fizzled a little because people were still hanging on to the legacy of Wildside. I remember when Jerry first came in, he told us all to give it six months. I didn’t know it then, but down the road I found out that the six months was, this better start doing good or we are closing shop. Al Getz was producing the product, and he had some hit-or-miss things going on. It just wasn’t resonating with the audience and the people were not coming. I am not saying all of Al’s ideas were bad, they just weren’t the thing at that time. Al is a brilliant man. In the early days of internet wrestling, he was the mind behind Whoo Wrestling. More recently he has a project called Charting the Territories. Al has a love for wrestling and it shows. Up until this point Al and I had never had a crossword with each other until one night at The Arena. We were shooting wraparounds for Al’s highlight show idea he had for Anarchy. He had a very specific way he wanted Greg Hunter and I to say things. He was cutting us and having us redo things over and over. This was after two-plus hours of calling action. It was getting very late and Al shot off with “Maybe I need to get Dan and Prazak back here, they are better” He was referring to Dan Wilson and Steve Prazak who had been the voices of Wildside and were an amazing commentary team. Hunter and I took offense to it and got kind of heated. We cut loose for the evening, just using what we had to make his vision work. Al would say some more out-of-the-way things over the next few shows. It got to a point where at Fright Night 2005, Hunter and I had our notices in our pockets and were prepared to hand them to Jerry Palmer. Palmer refused to accept them and informed us that Al had resigned. We stayed and boy am I glad we did because business was about to pick up.
Let’s roll back for one moment to properly set this plate. When Wildside was ending and Anarchy was going to take its place several people were not coming along for the new adventure. Two of those guys were Dan Wilson and Steve Prazak, the voices and the soundtrack to Wildside. Dan gave up his position to Greg Hunter, passing the torch. It was big shoes to fill, and knowing that many of Wildside’s fans may not take to a new voice, Dan was there to give a seal of approval. I had the task of filling Steve Prazak’s shoes which was something that blew my mind. I had always been a fan of his work, dating back to 1990 when Steven DeTruth and Scott Hudson were on Superstars of Wrestling in Atlanta and were also the voices of North Georgia Wrestling Alliance. I had become friendly with both Scott and Steve before I got into the business and both men were very influential in my career. At Anarchy’s first big event, Hostile Environment, two moments happened that unknowingly at the time would shape the next couple of years at Anarchy. Iceberg took on Scottie Wrenn with Tank as the guest referee and Dan Wilson stopped by to say hello. A few months later a sinister plot was revealed. Dan Wilson returned and enlisted the services of Azrael, Tank, and Iceberg to form The Devil’s Rejects. It sparked a boom period for Anarchy Wrestling and started a feud with Dan Wilson wanting to destroy Anarchy Wrestling. Jerry Palmer would slowly begin building his forces to combat the evil Rejects. The Rejects would gain one more member, Shaun Tempers who would turn on his longtime partner Ace Rockwell. The war continued through Hardcore Hell and culminated in Anarchy’s first War Games at the 2nd Hostile Environment. Over 300 fans squeezed into the Landmark Arena for this epic and bloody battle. While Team Anarchy was victorious, it was the aftermath that was most memorable. Per a match stipulation, Team Anarchy’s victory gave owner Jerry Palmer the right to face Dan Wilson in the cage for 5 minutes. With the crowd at a fever pitch, waiting or Palmer to obliterate the evil Reverand Wilson, they were delafted to shock and awe as the Rejects attacked Palmer in the cage. Iceberg gave him several splashes which resulted in Jerry Palmer leaving the Landmark Arena in an ambulance. Nobody left the arena as he was stretchered out. Most of the fans followed the ambulance to Habersham Medical Center and waited for word on his condition. After a couple of hours fans were sent away. This war was far from over.
Let’s get back to the fans. Anarchy has always had the most loyal fan base. In the early days of Anarchy, the crowd was made up of a lot of young female fans who would shout and scream at the top of their lungs. They were dubbed “The Poodle Attack Squad”. One year after the debut of The Devil’s Rejects, Jerry Palmer decided to take the Anarchy show on the road. Fright Night 2006 was held at The Remember When Theater in Helen, Georgia. It featured an eight-man casket match with The Rejects vs. Team Anarchy. TNA’s Abyss was on Anarchy’s team. Anarchy fans showed out filling the theater with over 600 fans. Those fans would return just a couple of months later when Season’s Beatings was in the same building this time featuring AJ Styles, and a main event of The Rejects vs. The NWA Elite with Jeff G. Bailey. The feud between Wilson’s Rejects and Bailey’s NWA Elite would go on for several months resulting in some bloody battles. It would lead to one of Anarcy’s most ambitious moments, a live event at The Georgia Mountain Center. Close to 1000 fans came to witness War Games between The Rejects and The Elite and they were not disappointed. Throughout the years Anarchy fans have followed Anarchy wherever the adventure took them. This was never more evident when, after The Landmark Arena shut its doors, fans showed up to three different venues to watch Anarchy Wrestling. The Action Building in Canton, The Boys and Girls Club in Monroe, and The Royston Dome have all hosted Anarchy events in the past 3 years, resulting in big crowds.
Over the years Anarchy switched ownership several times. It is hard to argue that Anarchy’s most successful time was under the ownership of Jerry Palmer. It was Jerry who took the show on the road three times and constantly had fans packed out in The Landmark Arena. In 2011, Palmer sold Anarchy to fan and businessman Franklin Dove. During Dove’s time as owner Anarchy saw the success continue, with some down moments, but an overall good run. Franklin, like Palmer, cared about the history of the building and the welfare of the talent. In 2014, Franklin sold the company to another promoter, the late Charles Anschutz. Charles tried very hard to give it a go, but he entered in a downtime for Anarchy and it seemed as if the engine was losing steam. Charles was a fan first and loved this business and did everything he could to preserve the legacy of wrestling in The Landmark Arena. He was also busy running Southern Fried which was gaining a lot of notoriety and was successful in its own right. It got to be a little more than Charles wanted to handle and the decision was made to end Anarchy. After 10 years, it seemed as if it was over. Until a former tag champion stepped up and purchased Anarchy.
Dany Only was a member of The Hate Junkies and had made a name for himself in Anarchy. In August 2015 he purchased Anarchy and began to make some big changes to the company and The Landmark Arena. Mostly in name. Anarchy became known as Why We Wrestle. While Dany’s heart was in the right place, some will say it was destined to fail. It was one of the darker times for Anarchy. Make no mistake, Dany cared for the talent, he cared for the business, and he cared for The Landmark. I think he cared more about those things than he did himself at times and maybe his demons were a little too much to allow him to make sound business decisions. Dany Only is a great guy. He had some amazing ideas and I think under different circumstances he could have done something long-term and different. It is one of those “what if” scenarios that the world will never know.
In 2017 new ownership came in and was ready to hit the ground running. There were several remodels done on the inside of The Landmark Arena. The production values went up and it was a new look for wrestling in The Landmark. The ownership group came in and spared no expense in upgrading the sound, the cameras, and the overall feel. It was the same old church gym but with a fresh feel. Fans were starting to come back and crowds were up. During this time, Anarchy tried something never done in The Landmark Arena, live streaming events. It was a successful run, but there were limitations due to an extremely limited internet service in the area. For the next couple of years, Anarchy was catching fire. Crowds were consistent and interest was reaching all-time highs for Anarchy. Then the world shut down.
In March 2020 things all over the world came to a screeching halt with Covid-19. We were all wearing masks, and staying home, WalMart wasn’t 24 hours anymore, and neither was Waffle House. And on the wrestling front shows were shut down. Anarchy was still creating content in the form of promos, but one thing that Covid took away, was the upcoming Hardcore Hell. With some ingenious booking and quick thinking, Anarchy was not going to let a closure and social distancing stop them. Anarchy had promised a match between Griff Garrison and Shane Marx for the Anarchy Heavyweight Championship and they were going to deliver. In a first for The Landmark Arena, Griff and Shane met one-on-one in an empty arena match. The production would be streamed live for free on YouTube. And what a production it was. There was a lot of fanfare that led up to the match and those guys delivered. Anarchy also held their first ever outdoor event during this time, and then eventually eased back into a regular schedule once the restrictions were being lifted. It was a different time for all of us, but Anarchy made it a little easier to take.
For the next couple of years, Anarchy would continue running and showcasing a blend of established stars and future talent. Eventually, the owners of the building decided not to renew the lease as the aging building just became too much and was not insurable. Without a home, Anarchy struck out on the road sharing venues with Southern Fried, Southern Honor, and SCA in Royston. While it was fun, it just wasn’t the same. There was something about that building. Maybe it was the black walls, the dirty floors, the smell of the popcorn, I don’t know but it was special.
Anarchy’s legacy will live on well after its founders and the talent who has graced its four walls have passed on. Even if The Landmark Arena meets what seems to be its inevitable fate and is reduced to rubble, the legacy lives on. Anarchy was a project to keep wrestling alive in a small North Georgia community just at the foothills of the North Georgia mountains. It turned into a launching pad for many careers. It became a bonding agent for wrestlers, fans, and anyone who was ever a part of an Anarchy event. It created marriages, gave birth to children, mourned those who passed, and made us forget about our differences even for a little while. When you came to an Anarchy event, race, gender, sexual preference, political affiliation, religious beliefs, and all the other dividers just disappeared. You were emersed in the moment, you loved the action, you loved the escape. It was a community. It was therapy. It was church. It was school. It was Anarchy. And it still is, somewhere, everywhere, there is a little bit of Anarchy in that place. It doesn’t matter what day you turn on your TV to watch wrestling, I promise there is an Anarchy influence somewhere on that show. It may be a piece of talent, it may be a piece of gear, it may even be just in the overall attitude. One thing is for certain, Anarchy will never die. And Anarchy still rules. See ya at the 25th.
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