3/20/08By Timothy “Timmy” Kemp
Critic Columnist
The people that are not familiar with professional wrestling will probably associate the entire industry with World Wrestling Entertainment. Although the WWE is the major leagues of sports-entertainment, there are other alternatives that you can check out. For instance, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, (TNA), is based in Orlando, Florida and has their television shows every Thursday night on Spike TV. Another smaller promotion called Ring of Honor, (ROH), does not have a TV deal yet, but runs pay-per-views each month with extraordinary talent. If you are not really interested in mainstream wrestling, I would suggest watching smaller local independent promotions. There are thousands of them all around the world, filled with passionate individuals trying to make a name for themselves in the wrestling business. One such promotion became a club right here at LSC. This is the story of the Lyndon State Wrestling Federation, entertaining fans in the Northeast Kingdom.
Recently I had the opportunity to get the comments of Kyle Griggs, a former LSC student who was there during the heyday of the LSWF:
Kemp: Please describe what is the LSWF and how did it come about here at Lyndon State College?
Griggs: LSWF or Lyndon State Wrestling Federation was a wrestling organization that put on wrestling shows once a month at the college; it was made up primarily of LSC students, though there were some other people from the community involved. The LSWF was the brainchild of John Lacroix, a first year student at the time. He was the one who went the through the "political channels" to get LSWF instated as a club.
Kemp: Was there any trouble in getting the organization approved by the CAB committee?
Griggs: As far as I know, no, there was no issue getting it approved, however after several events, LSWF caught a lot of flak about damage to the basketball court as well as the tumbling mats, and we had to "tone down" some of the hardcore matches, for the damage done to the gym as well as ourselves.
Kemp: Did you put on shows for the rest of the school? If so, was it a popular attraction, and what types of matches were involved?
Griggs: Yes, we put on three shows total, Spanning from December 1999- March 2000, there were singles matches, 2 out of 3 fall matches, tag team matches, wrestling title tournament matches, and our fan's favorite: Hardcore. The first show had about 80 people, and by the end we had probably about 150-175.
Kemp: Did the wrestlers need any type of training to prevent serious injuries?
Griggs: Everyone knew stuff from what we saw on TV, but to be honest, we didn't know proper techniques to fall properly, to pick up and drop people properly, and a lot of the guys were limited in their abilities and what they could do. Honestly, other than one concussion and a few bumps and bruises, everyone was lucky that they got out injury-free.
Kemp: Were there any type of characters or storylines, or was it just about having good matches? Was the entertainment aspect there as well as the sporting aspect?
Griggs: There were multiple characters for some people, but the main eventers were: Test Tickle, who would come to the ring wearing a swimming cap, blue shirt, jean shorts and a jock strap on the outside of his shorts, and the only thing he said was "Wear Condoms".
The Studley Boyz, which was a total knockoff of the WWE's Dudley Boyz, used the 3D and their interviews were highlights of the show. Grave Tavern was a gothic gladiator that started as a fan at the shows, but became an in-ring performer with us shortly after, was also quite popular with the fans. Big King was a disgruntled Burger King employee whose finishing move was dubbed "The Whopper". Falcon and Harley D were a tag team called The Rebels. Falcon was a deliberate rip-off of ECW's Raven character and Harley D, as the name would suggest, was a biking baddass. One storyline that sticks out in my mind was when The Rebels broke up in the second show. Falcon "injured" his arm in the match and because of that, they lost the tag titles. After the match Harley D proceeded to attack Falcon's arm more, effectively ending their partnership. We tried to entertain people the best we knew, the matches were hard to watch, because our move sets were limited at best.
Kemp: Is the LSWF still around today, and if not, what was the downfall of the organization? Do you see it ever being resurrected in the future?
Griggs: The Lyndon State Wrestling Federation only lasted until March of 2000, due to problems amongst its members stemming from being a college club and us having a very small fan base. People had egos about what goes on behind the scenes, which is ridiculous in retrospect. Will it be resurrected? That's up to the current students, if they want to start that again, go for it!
Next Week’s Column – A continuation of the Lyndon State Wrestling Federation; I will be getting the thoughts of a few more LSWF alumni.
A New Feature: Each week I will be selecting the best match during the week, including WWE Raw, Smackdown, ECW and TNA Impact!
Match of the Week: Tuesday’s ECW on Sci-Fi saw a tremendous six-man tag team match featuring CM Punk, Jesse and Festus vs. Shelton Benjamin, John Morrison and The Miz. This was a fast-paced, high impact match.
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