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July 30, 2025 • 13 mins
Bubba Startz introduces Nick Stokke and delves into the world of Below Zero Wrestling. They discuss the significance of wrestling at the Sturgis event, highlighting the networking opportunities it presents. Nick shares the growth and challenges faced by Below Zero Wrestling, providing insights into the unique atmosphere of Sturgis and their promotion plans. The conversation emphasizes the importance of supporting local events and offers listeners information on how to get involved. The episode paints a vivid picture of the wrestling scene and the community it fosters, wrapping up with ways to find more information about upcoming events.
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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Welcome into the Scene Project Sports Network.
I'm your host, Bubba Stearns, and with me todayis founder of Below Zero Wrestling, Nick
Stokey.
Welcome to the show, brother.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Man, we're gonna be getting together soon.
Sturgis is right around the corner.
Wrestling is back, baby.
This is great.
Yeah.
I'm I'm so excited.
I mean, first time that I've been in Sturgisever.

(00:24):
Now we get to bring wrestling back.
BZW, we're gonna be main main street, street,whatever whatever you you wanna wanna call it.
I I I can't wait.
Yeah.
Iron House Saloon's a great venue.
I'm assuming you guys will be outside in thatbeautiful patio area.
It's all surrounded.
Man, it's gonna be it's gonna be a killersetup.
Yeah.
It, it's kind of something that's always was,you know, on my checklist of things to do when

(00:47):
we started wrestling.
Like, I wanted to go to Sturgis.
I I was a WCW guy.
So, being able to get in touch with these guysand get them to, bring us in, it's it's it's
awesome.
And the venue looks amazing.
I've been there, driving through to Deadwood afew times, but, I can't imagine it when it's
gonna look with, thousands of people around thewrestling ring.

(01:08):
It's gonna be absolutely incredible, and andit's easy for us to get carried away and just
kinda get invested into the dream.
But how about we share a little bit about youand kind of the founding of Below Zero?
Let people get to know you and the promotion alittle bit, and and why it's so important for
it to be back in Sturgis after a long hiatus ofhaving any wrestling on Main Street.

(01:30):
Yeah.
So, you know, BZW, we started along four and ahalf years ago, roughly.
My business partner is Zach, who's from SouthDakota.
He's from Sioux Falls.
He actually, on this day, five years ago, put aFacebook post out just like, hey.
What if how what if someone responds?

(01:52):
And they just said, I wanna start a wrestlingcompany in North Dakota.
Reached out to him, and it was like, let's dothis.
And so we talked for a long time.
It took almost a year until we had our firstevent, and now we've grown into something that
I can be so proud of that we both can be proudof.
We've hit multiple states.
We've exceeded expectations for locally andjust having, you know, certain people at our

(02:15):
events, attendance, everything.
And then just to come back to such a historicplace that WCW ran, what, five years, I believe
they did, five pay per views, four for sure.
Just a long reach of history there with RoadWild and the original Hog Wild.
But for us to come back with Road Rage is athrowback to WCW and what they did.

(02:37):
It just means a lot, as a wrestling fan and awrestling promoter.
It's it's one heck of a time.
I know you said you haven't been, to Sturgisduring the rally.
This year is gonna be, the biggest ever.
The weather looks like it's gonna be perfectall week long, not too hot.

(02:57):
You know, percentages of rain, that's prettytypical for the rally in the Black Hills this
time of year or anywhere in South Dakota ifyou've been following the weather channel this
week.
Yeah.
It it's absolutely such a perfect match.
Right?
Like, the biker culture, and it's it's weirdthat, you know, I I guess as the as the

(03:20):
promotions at the top have gotten consolidated,right, we don't have any option.
It is the WWE, and that's pretty much it up atthe top of the heap.
But what's been interesting to me, introducedto you through Matt Classic Creed, obviously,
the networking through these independentpromotions has been really cool for me to

(03:41):
witness as not a wrestling promoter.
I'm a music promoter, and, obviously, we haveour podcast network.
But watching how a lot of the things that we'retrying to bring into the music world are
already alive and well in the wrestlingpromotion world.
And to kinda see it from the outside and nowgetting to come kind of into the group a little
bit is really fun to see.

(04:02):
There's so much happening and so many peopleout there chasing the dream of of, you know,
professional professional wrestling.
Yeah.
It it's been such a ride, you know, from dayone to now.
You know, the people that you meet, the peoplethat you network with, and just get to know in
this industry.
And, like, you mentioned music.

(04:23):
Like, there's a lot of similarities in that,you know, we're all kinda going from town to
town, spot to spot, just just trying to makeit.
And, you know, sometimes you're at venue a, andthat can have so many hundreds and thousands of
people.
And then you go to Venue B, and you're in frontof a smaller crowd, but you still do it
because, you know, the love and everything.

(04:44):
And so, you know, being able to come down herewith the group of guys that we have and girls
that we have with BZW and be able to bring itto Sturgis and then make it kind of our biggest
event ever just in terms of what it could dofor us as a company, what it can do for the
wrestlers as individuals, It's just it'sreally, really exciting and just the growth

(05:05):
that can come from this.
Well, just the amount of eyeballs physicallythat are going to be there, but then coverage.
You know?
People like me are going to be able to go therebecause it's not it's not really within your
budget as a small promotion to be able to hirea broadcast company to come and shoot it or
even to shoot it yourself and to hire someoneto edit this footage or to broadcast it live.

(05:25):
Like, you're already doing so many things.
I think that's why I love the promotion side somuch as the similarities that you talked about.
I'm living the same life in a different arena,and we're kinda dancing around each other
because we haven't, you know, we can't play thesame venue at the same time.
So a lot of us musicians are kind of followingaround, and and we're running in the same
circles, working at a lot of the same places,and that's kinda where Sturgis is so great is

(05:51):
because it brings together the biker culture,the music, the wrestling, the racing, the bike
shows.
So you have art tattoos, and that's what reallysets Sturgis apart from every every other event
of any kind, really.
And it's not just the music festival.
It's not just the bike show.

(06:12):
It is all of those things.
And the people are so damn good to each otherthat whole week that I'm just thrilled to to
see to see a small promotion local as local asit gets.
If you're from the Dakotas, Upper Midwest, Ithink
Yeah.
We definitely embrace you because there's justnot enough creative people in the state of
South Dakota alone to do all the thingsnecessary to entertain a a million people this

(06:37):
year.
Right?
I mean, the population of South Dakota is goingto double for one week.
I mean, starting now, they're already rollingin.
My friends are already camped out at theBuffalo Chip.
Yep.
I one of my buddies, he does he might even behead security now at the Buffalo chip, a guy
that I grew up with, and I know he doessecurity out there.
He's there.
He's already there.
It it's it's go time.

(06:59):
You know, I'm part of a lot of groups now inthe Sturgis groups and everything just getting
a feel for what we're gonna do, letting peopleknow that we're coming, you know, and just so
it it's such a like, it's it's gonna be crazy.
I can't wait.
That day alone, we at the Iron Horse, theystart out with a bike show, then it's us, then
it's a concert, then there's, like, a DJ.

(07:21):
Like, it's just it's never ending.
It doesn't stop.
And I can only imagine that by the time it'sready to go home, you know, aft aft not I'm not
going home after the show, but the followingday after we have the time to go home, I'm
gonna be wiped out.
Yeah.
I'm spending ten days there, brother, and theparty doesn't stop.
Yeah.
I've been resting up preshow, and I'll probablycollapse when I get home for three or four

(07:44):
days, and then I'm back on
the road.
And but this is something that, especially inSouth Dakota and for our podcast network and
what we're trying to do in the world, this yearhas been circled for, you know, two or three
years.
Right?
Yeah.
I'm a very I grew up in Deadwood.
So I'm very familiar with the rally and how howit can change the economy, what it means to me.

(08:06):
I'm a songwriter and a musician.
So for years, that was my go time.
I was booking 11 shows in, you know, seven daysand and just playing it and beating myself up
in that way.
Now that I'm kinda running around with a cameraand behind the camera, I think it's gonna be
maybe a little easier even though the scheduleis even more packed.
Well, I think it keeps the excitement levelhigh, getting to kinda go and feed off of

(08:29):
everybody else's excitement and not justrelying on myself.
Right?
Like, I'm having to bring that show.
The coverage side is much different where I'mable to just kinda tap in, and and I'm able to
jump into your event where everybody there isvibing.
Right?
I'm not having to bring all that energy.
I'm just able to go and kinda tap into it realquick, siphon off a little bit, and keep

(08:49):
moving.
You know, you get four or five hours of sleep.
I think you're pretty happy at this point and
Yeah.
And keep on rolling.
So are you guys doing any kind of promotion forthe show ahead of time?
Are you showing up few days early?
Are some of the wrestlers gonna be out andabout the during the week kind of talking about
the show and meeting people?
Yeah.
So we've got a little bit of promotion justlike online stuff going right now.

(09:12):
Myself and a handful of guys won't be thereuntil probably Thursday just with logistics and
having to get the ring and housing and alllodging, all that kind of stuff.
But we'll be out and about, especially at theIron Horse that Thursday, letting everyone know
we're gonna be doing some stuff that morning,just walking around.
I got my belt that, like, our fan championshipbelt.

(09:34):
I'll carry that with me.
That way people can see what's going on.
One of the other guys down there, will have hisbelt with them and everything.
So, I mean, yeah, we're gonna be doing somevery, you know, last couple days promotion down
there and just doing what we can.
But the iron horse has been great in doing thepromotion for them.
They've got it all up on their social media andat their location and everything.

(09:55):
So, and then once you start setting up awrestling ring, people start looking at it
going like, what the hell is that?
And, you know, it's it's gonna track somepeople in.
So we're we're ready.
We're ready.
The more promotion, the better, obviously, butwe're we're thinking a really good crowd, and
it's gonna be fun.
Well and that's why we're here.

(10:15):
That that's why I started all these networkswas to promote events just like this.
And that's why I had to start so many differentones.
I was like, well, the same projects does musicreal good, and we talk to music people.
But what about all these sports that I love?
I'm a huge sports fan.
I mean, I grew up watching the same stuff youguys did.
It's just my path didn't take me into that sidemaybe until now.

(10:37):
I can't wait to be there in person.
We're gonna grab some interviews with some ofyour wrestlers.
We're gonna be capturing a ton of content.
We're gonna be going live on our, you know,social medias while we're there and kinda
showing the party to everyone, making sure thatwe're carrying the name along with us because
we want you to succeed out here so we can keepworking together, And we can make this a staple

(10:57):
in the calendar.
I'm I'm hoping that we're back for the eightysixth, the eighty seventh, the eighty eighth.
I I wanna be back for many rallies after this,you know, and so we always appreciate, you
know, someone like yourself just helpingpromote us in any way that we can and being
part of the event because it's more than justthe wrestlers.
It's more than just the crew, but it's thefans.

(11:18):
It's the other people that have helped make ita success.
And, you know, even just your reach outsomeone.
If that means one other person or two otherpeople come out to the event and enjoy it, then
they might go, wow.
BZW.
Like, I need to check this company out.
And then they're then they're watching us onTV.
They're checking out our social medias.
You know?
And just so anytime you can get a a new face orsomeone else to watch watch the product, it's

(11:42):
really awesome.
And, you know, we have so many local talenttoo, like, from South Dakota, North Dakota,
Nebraska.
You know, we have so much Midwest talent thatwe just wanna make sure that everyone sees what
we can do, what our area can produce.
We're we're kind of a I would say we're ahotbed for wrestling, but it's an unknown
hotbed.

(12:02):
So many people think of the coast as, you know,where you're gonna get all your talent.
But we got some of the best talent in TheUnited States.
No no question about it.
Hands down.
And they're they're gonna be on on display inin Sturgis.
Nick, where can everybody find you?
Where can they find more information about theshow?
And then, yeah, plug the venue and everythingone more time and the date for Surgis.

(12:24):
Yeah.
So check out our social medias, below zerowrestling.
We're on all the main social medias.
Facebook's probably our most active.
Our website, below0wrestling.com.
And then, yeah, the Iron Horse Saloon, Friday,August 8.
We go on right about 06:00 once once we geteverything set up or whatever, but we are going

(12:44):
to party.
We are gonna make this an event.
Like, people are gonna talk about wrestling at,the Iron Horse during the eighty fifth or just
rally a 100%.
This is, this is gonna be big.
We're gonna make sure that people wantwrestling back there for many years to come.
My name is Bubba Starz.
This is the scene project sports network.
This was Nick Stokey, below zero wrestling.

(13:06):
We're gonna see you in Sturgis, brother.
I can't wait.
Can't wait.
We'll see you there.
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