November 21, 2025 • 11 mins
Matt Classic joins to discuss the growth and impact of the Allied International Wrestling Federation, highlighting its support for veterans and sharing his personal wrestling history. The conversation touches on the federation's expansion to True TV Plus, providing insights into the athletes involved. Future collaborations and the exciting announcement of WrestleCade are also explored, showcasing the federation's ongoing influence in the wrestling world.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
From the heart of Independent Wrestling, he'sthe executive director and co owner of the
Allied International Wrestling Federation, atrue digital creator, and our special guest and
friend of the show.
This is Matt Classic Creed.
(00:23):
This program is part of the Scene Projectspodcast network.
Scene Project features interviews withindependent musicians, comedians, and artists
from across the Midwest.
Become part of our community and support localart wherever you are.
(00:50):
Welcome in to another exciting episode of thescene.
I'm your host, Bubba Sartz.
And with me today is friend of the show, MattClassic.
Welcome to the show, brother.
Thank you.
Good to good to be back.
Good good to talk to you again, Bob.
Always a good time with you.
Yeah.
First time on video.
I forgot the first one we did was audio only.
Yeah.
It's all good.
A lot changes in six to eight months, doesn'tit?
(01:12):
Oh, yeah.
And whole world's constantly evolving.
No doubt.
And none more so than ours.
We've been working together.
You obviously have the Allied InternationalWrestling Federation, a group of over a 150
promotions worldwide.
That's an evolving animal, minute by minute, Iwould say.
(01:34):
Minute by minute, second by second.
It's the fastest growing brand in professionalwrestling today, and and we're growing.
We have, like, right at 23,000 followers onFacebook.
Our Instagram's growing.
Our TV show's growing.
We got our mutual friend.
Our TV we just put six episodes on on IGMP TV.
So, I mean, we're doing great.
(01:55):
Yeah.
It's it's incredible the amount of growth thatwe've been able to experience in a short amount
of time and to take this show.
We're gonna do a crossover show.
This will be on SPSN, the same project sportsnetwork as well.
I'm a throw the logo up there for everybody toget used to.
We're the same way.
Right?
We're we're so much of the same people thatit's not just about growing our brand.
(02:17):
It's about helping everyone that we come intocontact with, not just in the the theaters that
we are in right inside of, you know, you forwrestling me and music, but also our
communities.
I know that you're out in the community now,and you're always doing stuff to help out in
there.
Can you talk a little bit about how yourwrestling promotion impacts the community
(02:39):
around you?
Oh, yeah.
100%.
I mean, we we raise funds for everything fromveterans to schools to about anything you could
think of.
And we're always giving away free tickets tosites like vetticks.com and other local civic
organizations, like, for special needs and and,like, lodges and stuff like that.
So, I mean, we're doing a lot of good stuff.
(03:01):
It's very easy, especially in the professionalwrestling world, to get caught up in the show.
Right?
Which is great.
And when we love that fans, you know, come outto support those shows, especially all of these
independent promotions, ones like below zerowrestling in North Dakota, who I got to meet
Nick Stokey and them out at Sturgis when theyperformed at the Iron Horse Saloon.
(03:25):
But it's really about our communities and doinggood in the world.
And that's the one thing that have noticedabout not just your promotion and not just, you
know, AIWF as a whole, but all of theseindividual promotions are always doing
something to give back to the less fortunate intheir own respective locales.
(03:47):
Yeah.
100100%.
And, I mean, without your community support inany business, you're not gonna survive.
But it's also about giving back to your localcommunities about community interaction.
It's about you know, dude, when people come outto wrestling, they're they're there for a good
time and to forget about the worries of theworld.
And who wouldn't need that more than ourveteran community?
(04:07):
Obviously, you know, veterans are a big part ofwhat we do these days with operation combating
veteran suicide and so many other organizationsthat we've come into contact with.
What is the what is the main driver for you asa promoter?
What is your motivation for going out and doingthis?
(04:30):
We know it's not the money, Matt.
Well well, no.
I mean I mean, it's not the money these days.
It's, you know, you just wanna get get back andprovide for future generations and give the
knowledge of the your forefathers to the nextgeneration.
That that's really what motivates mepersonally.
And speaking of forefathers, and I don't knowthat we covered it in in our previous episode,
(04:54):
I know that you're very focused on the nextgeneration and leaving that, but is wrestling
something that ran in your family?
Was this something that you this love you'veshared with your father or grandfather or
anyone in
your Totally.
My my father, he took me to events since I was,like, four, five years old.
He actually used to watch, wrestling shows liveback in the Park Center, which the Park Center
(05:15):
doesn't even exist in Charlotte anymore.
That's Grady Cole Center now, if people aremore familiar with that.
But, they used to run weekly events at thatvenue for television back in the day.
This is back in probably, like, the sixties andfifties.
My granny, my mom's mom was raised in the hillsof Kentucky, and that's how she grew up low I
(05:35):
mean, that was their big thing in some of thesesmall towns.
You weren't necessarily getting, you know, rockand roll shows that were coming through.
You had the local guys that were gonna come andbeat the hell out of each other at the Civic
Center.
No.
No.
No.
That's true.
And like I said, I grew up, like, right outsideof Charlotte.
We didn't have a professional basketball teamtill the eighties, and the Panthers for
football didn't come till the nineties.
(05:57):
So, I mean, for years and years, they didn'thave any professional sports like that.
This was the king of the ring and the king ofprofessional sports.
Yeah.
It it truly was for him.
Like I said, the Crockets who were big in theCarolinas, they also won minor league baseball.
So, basically, all you have was minor leaguebaseball and professional wrestling for many,
(06:19):
many years down south.
And it's good to see that it's still beatingthere.
The wrestling continues to grow.
You continue to do more and more things and tobranch out as your brand.
You mentioned IGMP TV network of which thescene projects are on as well.
How thrilled are you to be able to provide thatpremium content onto Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon
(06:45):
Fire TV now?
Oh, yeah.
Mister Grass, he he's a good guy.
He knows what he's talking about over there,and they're they're truly growing, and they're
looking for variety.
And I'm thrilled to help them out to add prowrestling to that variety, and I'm thrilled to
to grow that brand and to to assist in the fafurther evolution of that brand.
Well, it's something that we're working on bothindependently and together to continue to grow
(07:09):
all of these brands and to bring awareness tothese.
And I think it's I think it's great that we getto work together on this because, one, I
believe that these athletes deserve it.
And I know can people can get caught up in thescripted nature of this.
If you're going to watch any of these live andtell me that these men and women are not the
(07:30):
upper echelon of athlete, they may not be inthe NFL, but what they are doing laying their
bodies out on the line out there is nothingsort of miraculous that all of them don't have
broken necks.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, it's it's definitely they're some ofthe most broken out there today.
Yeah.
I I had a blast, man.
Getting to watch b z w below zero wrestling outthere in Sturgis when we were there covering
(07:55):
the Sturgis motorcycle rally was absolutelythrilling.
The show was fantastic to see it in thatsetting.
One of their biggest crowds ever for one oftheir events.
We we made a 3,500 plus.
This is what the official number I got fromNick himself.
I And, mean, it was a big group
of them.
Great guys.
They got a great television show in the air.
(08:15):
It's all throughout North Dakota.
I mean, they've been working with us for aboutthree or four years now.
And, I mean, it's been it's been nothing butpositive and greater actions.
Well, those are people that we're definitelytrying to do more with.
At least they're out here in the Dakotas.
There's not many of us between the two stateseven.
Probably less than a million and a half peopleor a little bit more.
(08:37):
But, we need to stick together, and I'm sohappy to to be a part of your crew and to have
you be a part of the Scene Projects, the SceneProjects Sports Network, and to continue to
support you guys in everything you do.
I'm not getting in a ring anytime soon, Matt.
So to do what I can
You know, we we we can we can
make it happen.
We can we can get you in there.
I mean, if you wanna be the referee, the thronekeeper, the the special guest announcer, just
(09:01):
so you don't get beat up.
But I I don't know being a ref.
Some of the refs get beat up some days, but,you know, that that happens.
I would I would jump at the opportunity to beinvolved in any way that I can.
We actually just started a new show.
Our cohost, Boo Boo, just started a show calledBeyond the Bell.
So taking it outside of the ring, and we wannainterview more of your guys.
(09:22):
So we're gonna look for some more crossoverbetween Hey.
Don't do.
And the Scene Project Sports Network with that.
We're gonna be talking a lot more off camera,but I needed to take the chance to have you in
here, to have you on the show, to speak aboutour new partnership with IGMP TV, and to think
about to talk about more of, the thecollaborations that you're going to see between
(09:46):
our two brands.
And, hopefully, we can get me in some stripesmaybe first.
Let's start there, and, we'll have some fun.
Yeah.
For sure.
I mean, we're gonna do a lot.
Like I said, I know North Dakota's hopping.
They're coming in South Dakota some by you.
You know, everything's going good in wrestling.
I mean and and wrestling's hot again.
I mean, it's getting TV ratings.
(10:07):
I mean, like I said, you saw 3,500 peoplethere.
That that's an amazing crowd.
And it was an electric show.
Nick and his crew put on a great I know theyhad to set it up and tear it down in record
time as well.
So I'm glad we shattered all the records thatday, and, we got a great turnout.
It was thrilling, and it was, as real as it canget.
(10:29):
I got a ton of great shots, and I just had ablast, man.
Seeing the fans and how much they lovewrestling still to this day.
I grew up with it in my family, and and to seeit resurging now is absolutely thrilling, Matt.
So thanks for a little bit of your time today.
I know you're a busy guy.
And just one more time, tell everybody how theycan find you.
(10:52):
Make sure you mention the TV channel.
But find us tell us where they can find youonline as well.
Hey.
You can put all the social media at a n w fwrestling.
That's on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter,etcetera.
And I'm I'm gonna drop an exclusive right here.
Just just for Bubba, I'm gonna drop anexclusive.
And it'll be that's gonna be a WrestleCade thisyear.
That's in Winston Salem.
That's Thanksgiving weekend.
It's over 6,000 fans will be in attendance.
(11:14):
Hopefully, 7,000 this year.
And our exclusive guest at our table is gonnabe $5 Wrestle Star freight train.
Look them up.
Well, we're going to, and we encourageeverybody else to do the same as well.
Matt, thank you so much for being part of thiscrew, and thanks for being part of the scene,
brother.
Alright.
Thank you, brother.
From the heart of Independent Wrestling, he'sthe executive director and co owner of the
Allied International Wrestling Federation, atrue digital creator, and our special guest and
friend of the show.
This is Matt Classic Creed.
(00:23):
This program is part of the Scene Projectspodcast network.
Scene Project features interviews withindependent musicians, comedians, and artists
from across the Midwest.
Become part of our community and support localart wherever you are.
(00:50):
Welcome in to another exciting episode of thescene.
I'm your host, Bubba Sartz.
And with me today is friend of the show, MattClassic.
Welcome to the show, brother.
Thank you.
Good to good to be back.
Good good to talk to you again, Bob.
Always a good time with you.
Yeah.
First time on video.
I forgot the first one we did was audio only.
Yeah.
It's all good.
A lot changes in six to eight months, doesn'tit?
(01:12):
Oh, yeah.
And whole world's constantly evolving.
No doubt.
And none more so than ours.
We've been working together.
You obviously have the Allied InternationalWrestling Federation, a group of over a 150
promotions worldwide.
That's an evolving animal, minute by minute, Iwould say.
(01:34):
Minute by minute, second by second.
It's the fastest growing brand in professionalwrestling today, and and we're growing.
We have, like, right at 23,000 followers onFacebook.
Our Instagram's growing.
Our TV show's growing.
We got our mutual friend.
Our TV we just put six episodes on on IGMP TV.
So, I mean, we're doing great.
(01:55):
Yeah.
It's it's incredible the amount of growth thatwe've been able to experience in a short amount
of time and to take this show.
We're gonna do a crossover show.
This will be on SPSN, the same project sportsnetwork as well.
I'm a throw the logo up there for everybody toget used to.
We're the same way.
Right?
We're we're so much of the same people thatit's not just about growing our brand.
(02:17):
It's about helping everyone that we come intocontact with, not just in the the theaters that
we are in right inside of, you know, you forwrestling me and music, but also our
communities.
I know that you're out in the community now,and you're always doing stuff to help out in
there.
Can you talk a little bit about how yourwrestling promotion impacts the community
(02:39):
around you?
Oh, yeah.
100%.
I mean, we we raise funds for everything fromveterans to schools to about anything you could
think of.
And we're always giving away free tickets tosites like vetticks.com and other local civic
organizations, like, for special needs and and,like, lodges and stuff like that.
So, I mean, we're doing a lot of good stuff.
(03:01):
It's very easy, especially in the professionalwrestling world, to get caught up in the show.
Right?
Which is great.
And when we love that fans, you know, come outto support those shows, especially all of these
independent promotions, ones like below zerowrestling in North Dakota, who I got to meet
Nick Stokey and them out at Sturgis when theyperformed at the Iron Horse Saloon.
(03:25):
But it's really about our communities and doinggood in the world.
And that's the one thing that have noticedabout not just your promotion and not just, you
know, AIWF as a whole, but all of theseindividual promotions are always doing
something to give back to the less fortunate intheir own respective locales.
(03:47):
Yeah.
100100%.
And, I mean, without your community support inany business, you're not gonna survive.
But it's also about giving back to your localcommunities about community interaction.
It's about you know, dude, when people come outto wrestling, they're they're there for a good
time and to forget about the worries of theworld.
And who wouldn't need that more than ourveteran community?
(04:07):
Obviously, you know, veterans are a big part ofwhat we do these days with operation combating
veteran suicide and so many other organizationsthat we've come into contact with.
What is the what is the main driver for you asa promoter?
What is your motivation for going out and doingthis?
(04:30):
We know it's not the money, Matt.
Well well, no.
I mean I mean, it's not the money these days.
It's, you know, you just wanna get get back andprovide for future generations and give the
knowledge of the your forefathers to the nextgeneration.
That that's really what motivates mepersonally.
And speaking of forefathers, and I don't knowthat we covered it in in our previous episode,
(04:54):
I know that you're very focused on the nextgeneration and leaving that, but is wrestling
something that ran in your family?
Was this something that you this love you'veshared with your father or grandfather or
anyone in
your Totally.
My my father, he took me to events since I was,like, four, five years old.
He actually used to watch, wrestling shows liveback in the Park Center, which the Park Center
(05:15):
doesn't even exist in Charlotte anymore.
That's Grady Cole Center now, if people aremore familiar with that.
But, they used to run weekly events at thatvenue for television back in the day.
This is back in probably, like, the sixties andfifties.
My granny, my mom's mom was raised in the hillsof Kentucky, and that's how she grew up low I
(05:35):
mean, that was their big thing in some of thesesmall towns.
You weren't necessarily getting, you know, rockand roll shows that were coming through.
You had the local guys that were gonna come andbeat the hell out of each other at the Civic
Center.
No.
No.
No.
That's true.
And like I said, I grew up, like, right outsideof Charlotte.
We didn't have a professional basketball teamtill the eighties, and the Panthers for
football didn't come till the nineties.
(05:57):
So, I mean, for years and years, they didn'thave any professional sports like that.
This was the king of the ring and the king ofprofessional sports.
Yeah.
It it truly was for him.
Like I said, the Crockets who were big in theCarolinas, they also won minor league baseball.
So, basically, all you have was minor leaguebaseball and professional wrestling for many,
(06:19):
many years down south.
And it's good to see that it's still beatingthere.
The wrestling continues to grow.
You continue to do more and more things and tobranch out as your brand.
You mentioned IGMP TV network of which thescene projects are on as well.
How thrilled are you to be able to provide thatpremium content onto Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon
(06:45):
Fire TV now?
Oh, yeah.
Mister Grass, he he's a good guy.
He knows what he's talking about over there,and they're they're truly growing, and they're
looking for variety.
And I'm thrilled to help them out to add prowrestling to that variety, and I'm thrilled to
to grow that brand and to to assist in the fafurther evolution of that brand.
Well, it's something that we're working on bothindependently and together to continue to grow
(07:09):
all of these brands and to bring awareness tothese.
And I think it's I think it's great that we getto work together on this because, one, I
believe that these athletes deserve it.
And I know can people can get caught up in thescripted nature of this.
If you're going to watch any of these live andtell me that these men and women are not the
(07:30):
upper echelon of athlete, they may not be inthe NFL, but what they are doing laying their
bodies out on the line out there is nothingsort of miraculous that all of them don't have
broken necks.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, it's it's definitely they're some ofthe most broken out there today.
Yeah.
I I had a blast, man.
Getting to watch b z w below zero wrestling outthere in Sturgis when we were there covering
(07:55):
the Sturgis motorcycle rally was absolutelythrilling.
The show was fantastic to see it in thatsetting.
One of their biggest crowds ever for one oftheir events.
We we made a 3,500 plus.
This is what the official number I got fromNick himself.
I And, mean, it was a big group
of them.
Great guys.
They got a great television show in the air.
(08:15):
It's all throughout North Dakota.
I mean, they've been working with us for aboutthree or four years now.
And, I mean, it's been it's been nothing butpositive and greater actions.
Well, those are people that we're definitelytrying to do more with.
At least they're out here in the Dakotas.
There's not many of us between the two stateseven.
Probably less than a million and a half peopleor a little bit more.
(08:37):
But, we need to stick together, and I'm sohappy to to be a part of your crew and to have
you be a part of the Scene Projects, the SceneProjects Sports Network, and to continue to
support you guys in everything you do.
I'm not getting in a ring anytime soon, Matt.
So to do what I can
You know, we we we can we can
make it happen.
We can we can get you in there.
I mean, if you wanna be the referee, the thronekeeper, the the special guest announcer, just
(09:01):
so you don't get beat up.
But I I don't know being a ref.
Some of the refs get beat up some days, but,you know, that that happens.
I would I would jump at the opportunity to beinvolved in any way that I can.
We actually just started a new show.
Our cohost, Boo Boo, just started a show calledBeyond the Bell.
So taking it outside of the ring, and we wannainterview more of your guys.
(09:22):
So we're gonna look for some more crossoverbetween Hey.
Don't do.
And the Scene Project Sports Network with that.
We're gonna be talking a lot more off camera,but I needed to take the chance to have you in
here, to have you on the show, to speak aboutour new partnership with IGMP TV, and to think
about to talk about more of, the thecollaborations that you're going to see between
(09:46):
our two brands.
And, hopefully, we can get me in some stripesmaybe first.
Let's start there, and, we'll have some fun.
Yeah.
For sure.
I mean, we're gonna do a lot.
Like I said, I know North Dakota's hopping.
They're coming in South Dakota some by you.
You know, everything's going good in wrestling.
I mean and and wrestling's hot again.
I mean, it's getting TV ratings.
(10:07):
I mean, like I said, you saw 3,500 peoplethere.
That that's an amazing crowd.
And it was an electric show.
Nick and his crew put on a great I know theyhad to set it up and tear it down in record
time as well.
So I'm glad we shattered all the records thatday, and, we got a great turnout.
It was thrilling, and it was, as real as it canget.
(10:29):
I got a ton of great shots, and I just had ablast, man.
Seeing the fans and how much they lovewrestling still to this day.
I grew up with it in my family, and and to seeit resurging now is absolutely thrilling, Matt.
So thanks for a little bit of your time today.
I know you're a busy guy.
And just one more time, tell everybody how theycan find you.
(10:52):
Make sure you mention the TV channel.
But find us tell us where they can find youonline as well.
Hey.
You can put all the social media at a n w fwrestling.
That's on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter,etcetera.
And I'm I'm gonna drop an exclusive right here.
Just just for Bubba, I'm gonna drop anexclusive.
And it'll be that's gonna be a WrestleCade thisyear.
That's in Winston Salem.
That's Thanksgiving weekend.
It's over 6,000 fans will be in attendance.
(11:14):
Hopefully, 7,000 this year.
And our exclusive guest at our table is gonnabe $5 Wrestle Star freight train.
Look them up.
Well, we're going to, and we encourageeverybody else to do the same as well.
Matt, thank you so much for being part of thiscrew, and thanks for being part of the scene,
brother.
Alright.
Thank you, brother.
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