November 25, 2024 • 54 mins
Blak Makk sits with MPX's "The Choice" Matt Andrews to talk all things Metroplex Wrestling!
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Episode Transcript
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Blak Makk (00:58):
Yo. Yo. Yo. What is up, people? Welcome back to the
No Chemics podcast here on theDFCN.
I am your host, bread like aking, made as Kelvin Kaley. We
have a good interview lined upfor you guys tonight. I know you
hear me talk about, MPX orMetroplex Wrestling a lot. I go
to a lot of these shows. You'vehad you've seen a lot of these
(01:20):
guys on the show.
The champion now, my guy, DemoDiamond. He he he's at Metroplex
Wrestling. Kari Jai Wright, whowe've had on the show, they were
in the main event this pastweekend. They put on a a great,
great card this past weekend.Khaimi has been on the show.
(01:41):
We've had a lot of people thathave come through MPX. Pretty
much if they've come on nogimmicks, they've I've met them
at a next MPX show. So, I wantedto dive a little bit into the
promotion. We have somebody whohas hands on the promotion. 1 of
the guys who was in thefoundation of what Metroplex
(02:02):
Wrestling is, and I wanted tobring him on the show just to
talk all things.
They have a show coming up thisSaturday, Ascension, which is
pretty much the fallout fromlast week. They are a weekly
promotion. So if you're in theBedford area of Bedford, Texas,
do yourselves a favor. If youhave Saturday night, go check
out these shows. It is it is afamily atmosphere.
(02:23):
But enough about me ramblingabout it. Let's bring the guy in
himself. He is the choice.Mister Matt Andrews, welcome to
no gimmicks, sir. How are youdoing?
Uh-oh. Don't know what happenedthere.
Matt Andrews (02:39):
Weird. I thought there was gonna be 2 of me
there. Fantastic way to startthe podcast. Obviously, the it
can only go up from here.
Blak Makk (02:49):
Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you for your
time, and thank you for comingon the show. Nice to have you. I
did wanna I wanted to I wantedto start
Matt Andrews (03:00):
Yeah.
Blak Makk (03:00):
With the atmosphere over at Metro wrestling. Yes.
Because it it definitely itgives me a family vibe when when
I go to these shows. Speak tothat and and how that crowd has
become so loyal. How did yougrow such a loyal fan base?
Matt Andrews (03:22):
I think Metroplex Wrestling and they've been in
that building for good longwhile now. Right? I think
Metroplex Wrestling started at atime when there was not a whole
lot of options for, forindependent wrestling shows. I
(03:43):
couldn't even I mean, this was15 years ago when MPX started,
and, we we took it from Steveand Kirby's backyard into, one
of the Metroflex gyms that wasin a non air conditioned garage
setting in a in a gym thatsucked, having to move gym
(04:05):
equipment, back and forth sothat we could fit in chairs,
into into a place that right nowI mean, it doesn't look like
something much on the outside.It's not a massive event arena
bar, and it doesn't have quitethe most incredible sound
system, although it's a lotbetter than some of the bigger
venues that I've heard.
(04:25):
But I think the fact that itcame from such a humble
beginning from a bunch of guys,and us original 8 or 10 people
who maybe didn't have a businessbeing in the professional
wrestling world. Right? I thinkour humble beginnings helped
(04:46):
kind of, keep the fan base thatwe've had since we started the
business, 15 years ago. And andnow to see how many options
people have that then peoplestill come to see us on a
Saturday night, it's trulyencouraging. Like I said, I I
really do feel like the factthat we are kind of or, you
know, our the us at our core arereally everyday guys.
(05:10):
We're not we are larger thanlife when we're on the stage,
but we're we're also we're alsopeople that have this dream,
have the dream of doing this.Right? We have this dream of,
like, with for long as we canget in the ring and perform in
front of people, we'll be ingreat shape. We're we'll enjoy
everything that we're doing.And, I think that I think that
(05:31):
helps lend to kind of thisfamily atmosphere where we kind
of know all of our regulars.
We have regulars, and it'sgreat. Running on a weekly basis
helps a ton. I know I mentionedthat there's a whole lot of
options in Texas, in DFW, but tomy knowledge, MPX is the only
weekly running wrestling show.And I think being able to keep
(05:53):
up with story lines as wellkinda helps people come back.
It's like tuning in every weekto Monday night raw or to,
dynamite or something.
You tune in every week becauseyou're following the story
lines. Well, you're gonna cometo this show every week because
you follow the story lines. Youwanna know what's next.
Blak Makk (06:08):
You you test on something that I was gonna go
into, and that was the thestorytelling. You guys do
phenomenal storytelling.Phenomenal. Where who who who's
doing that?
Matt Andrews (06:22):
What Wrestlers
Blak Makk (06:23):
or is it a collaborative effort?
Matt Andrews (06:25):
I think it's a huge collaborative effort. You
know, we were running under theand I don't I don't know how,
inside baseball we wanna get.You know? But, you know, we were
running under the, the bookingof Richard Hill for, a a good
long while, actually. I thinksince since we got into this
(06:45):
building, we've been runningunder, Richard Hill.
And he's got a great mind forstorytelling, great mind for
putting together feuds andputting together people that he
knows are gonna work welltogether and getting kind of the
best drama out of those. Heunderstands characters and where
they can go, where they shouldgo. He's recently passed on that
booking to other people, and,again, I don't know how inside
(07:07):
baseball we wanna get. If I ifyou you want me to tell you, I
can tell you. But, yeah.
And I think this group of peoplethat's booking the show now also
has a keen idea, and I thinkthat's because they've been with
the company for such anincredibly long time. They have
a good eye for not just not justcharacters and where the
characters go and stories andwhere storylines can go. They've
(07:31):
been huge wrestling fans, but,also, they know the crowd. And I
think one of the big things andone of the things that I think
is lost with Booker's nowadaysis, is knowing your crowd. You
know, I I attended a convention,sometime back at comic
convention sometime back, andthere was a wrestling show
(07:51):
there.
And, you gotta understand ifyou're at a convention where
there's a bunch of peoplepassing by and you are not the
first the main attraction bethere, They're not necessarily
gonna stick around for a bunchof storylines. They have no idea
what's going on. They wanna seethe flashy, the punchy. They
wanna see people diving. Theywanna see the loud, the brash,
(08:13):
the the the flashiness.
Right? They're not there.They're not gonna stick around
if you're gonna put somebody ina rest hole for 20 seconds and
talk about how the last show youguys were at a month ago that,
you know, you beat this person.Nobody in that crowd cares. They
have no idea what's going on.
You wanna attract him.Meanwhile, at MPX or at any
(08:34):
other show that runs on a fairlyregular basis where people can
whose attention spans can canzoom, zone in on that kind of
stuff, they know what's goingon. They they remember who who
they cheered for the last time.They remember, oh, that guy
stabbed that other guy in theback. I wonder what's gonna
happen.
And I think that gets lost ifyou go too long between shows.
Blak Makk (08:56):
Yeah. That that's that's a good point. Does the
crowd kinda help you determine,like, which way your characters
are gonna go?
Matt Andrews (09:03):
Yeah. Absolutely. And I think that goes true for
all of professional wrestling.Right? I mean, one of the big
things that we're taught in thering from training anyway is to
listen to the crowd.
And I don't just mean, like, youknow, whenever they say one more
time, you go one more time.Right? But it's always a fun
spot. You listen to the crowdand to hear what they're
responding to. If they arereally into you taking control
(09:27):
of a match, then you listen toit, and you maybe you call an
audible on the fly and say, hey.
They're really digging this.Let's keep going. Let's keep
pushing this. Let's keep pushingthis. Same thing.
And I think, I think PauleyPaparazzi is a prime example at
MPX of listening to the crowdand giving the crowd what they
want. You don't always have to,pull a surprise out of thin air
(09:51):
or something like that. Youknow? You don't always have to
shock people. You don't alwayshave to go with the unpopular
decision.
Sometimes, if you give thepeople what they want, the
people will like it. But as faras, listening to the crowd,
right, I think, PauleyPaparazzi, is a prime example of
that in MPX. Yep. I don't knowif you were there when he won
the attics championship, in thecrucible match. But as much as
(10:14):
that crowd wanted to see Mr.
Leggs retain that championship,I think, when you saw the weeks
weeks of bullying that Mikey Bwas doing to, Pauley. When
Pauley finally turned and andkicked Mikey, the crowd
completely erupted. And theywere hanging on every single
move that happened right afterthat turn. And the and the pop
that he got when he won thatchampionship is incredible.
Blak Makk (10:39):
Yes. Yes.
Matt Andrews (10:40):
It's absolutely incredible. So I think listening
to the crowd and, again, givingthem what they want, it's not
it's not rocket science. Yougive the people what they want,
and they'll like it.
Blak Makk (10:48):
Yeah. You just said you just said a name, Pauley. 3
guys that that really I'vewatched since since I've gotten
into MPX. Yeah. Three guys, andthat's Pauley Pauley Paparazzi,
Demodiamond, and Mr.
Legs. All 3 of the the the riseof those 3 guys have has been
(11:12):
incredible. It's been absolutelyincredible.
Matt Andrews (11:15):
Yeah. And I think it's all for different reasons
too. Right? I mean, Mr. Legs Mr.
Legs is completely the, I guess,the one that serve for the kids.
Right? Like, he he gets the kidsgoing. He's the masked guy. It's
a goofy freaking character.
Right? I think we can allacknowledge that. But
Blak Makk (11:31):
love that, Gil. I love it. I love
Matt Andrews (11:34):
It's also it's also super unique. Right?
Blak Makk (11:36):
Yeah.
Matt Andrews (11:36):
It's a guy that comes out with freaking
mannequin legs. That that'sweird as hell. And if you're
gonna stumble into that, you'regonna go, what the heck? But,
again, earlier to the point ofbeing at a comic convention,
right, and and with a bunch ofpeople who are just passing by
and not necessarily a vessel,what's going on? If you stop in
the ring and you see a guythat's making an entrance with a
jacket that has a whole lot offreaking, mannequin legs on it
(11:57):
and he's waving legs in the air,you're gonna go, you know, I
might stop and see what's goingon with that.
Blak Makk (12:01):
What is that? Because that's what I thought when I
first saw him. I was like, whatis that? And the more I paid
attention to it, the moreinteresting it got to me. It was
like I don't I can't explain it.
There was something that hookedme immediately because he was
doing that. And the
Matt Andrews (12:17):
good thing and the great thing is, like, he can go.
Right? Yes. It that's that's theother good thing. Right?
It that's no good to have a goodgimmick if you can't actually go
in the ring because then peoplestart stop losing interest. That
brings us to demo diamond, andthis is another person that I
think fans can really getbehind. And I think they can
mostly because, you know, here'sa fresh young kid, the new face
(12:40):
of, wrestling in Texas. Right?And he is, not just with Jamie
Aller next to him.
And now with that, he's got arocket strapped to his back.
But, here's a guy that got thelooks. He's got the charisma. He
knows how to interact with thecrowd. He's got the sides.
He's a believable presence inthe ring. And and and also he
(13:03):
can go. Right? We were justtalking about legs being able to
go. He can go in the ring, and Ithink people in the crowd can
respect that.
And you can see demo like he'sgotten on TV already with, I
believe in the t TNA, and, he'sdown in, ROW now in Booker's
place, and he's been on theirprogram as well. Sky's the limit
for him, and I'm I'm proud tosee what he does because I know
(13:25):
he hasn't been in the businessfor too too long, but he's also
he's he's rising, and he'sdefinitely somebody to watch out
for.
Blak Makk (13:33):
Most definitely. Most definitely. Yeah. You have a
lady on your roster. Mhmm.
By the I it's hard for me to notcall her Angel Blue because
that's how I know
Matt Andrews (13:43):
her. Right. Right.
Blak Makk (13:45):
But, Angela, talk to me about her rise. And first of
all, the MPX women'schampionship is a fairly new
talk about that and how that setthe stage for for ladies like
her.
Matt Andrews (14:00):
Yeah. Absolutely. MPX has been around for ages.
Right? 15 years, next year.
And, it's it hasn't had awomen's championship. And that
got introduced earlier thisyear. It was actually one of the
shows I was attending as a fanbefore I got back into MPX as
(14:20):
their ring announcer. And it wasa great one night tournament.
Angela Armstrong, or as she wasknown back then, Angel Blue, was
in there.
Shay Carmichael was in it, and,and Erica Torres as well. He
baby d was in that tournament aswell. I believe she kinda came
out of retirement, trying tomake history as being the, you
(14:42):
know, the the person to comeback and win that, championship.
And, Erica Torres ended upwinning it being the 1st women's
champion, which, again, all theaccolades and all the flowers to
her. Again, here's this is EricaTorres is a woman that, you
know, you see her social mediapost.
She knows how to how to talk agood game. She knows how to, you
(15:04):
know, call her opponents out,and she knows how to have that
charisma. But when she when thatmusic comes on and she comes
out, she's a silent killer. Andit's really intimidating to
stand across the ring fromsomebody even doing her
entrance. Just watching her comeinto the ring, there's no
fanfare.
There's no flash. There's onepose and that's it. But she
comes, she walks to the ring,eyes focus on the ring even if
(15:24):
there's no opponent, and it'skind of intimidating. So it's a
good presence to put somebody,to put the title on somebody
like her. And then Hilda had itfor a spell, and then Eric and
Torres got it back from her.
Again, great representatives andgiving the putting the belt on
Hilda. Again, listening to whatthe fans want to. Right? Hilda,
crowd favorite, somebody whoreally knows how to interact
(15:46):
with the with the MPX, addicts.And then putting it back on
Erica just to continue thatstory line to make a fight
between 2 top women, over thedivision's, top prize.
And then you have AngelaArmstrong who, again, as you
alluded to, you know her asAngel Blue, and that's what she
was for pretty much her wholecareer. She started back in
(16:09):
2008. She was electro blue andthen changed her name to
angelblue and kinda stayed thatway just up until this year. And
I think all of that just stemmedfrom needing to branch out,
needing to reinvent. Angela hadjust come back from, from major
neck surgery.
She was out of the game for 4years and came back as Angel
(16:29):
Blue, was able to convinceherself and everybody else that,
hey. I can do this as AngelBlue. And then as that keeps
going on, you start realizing,hey. I gotta change things up.
And sometimes you don't wannaportray somebody that you don't
feel connected to anymore.
And I think Angela lost theconnection to Angel Blue, and I
think a lot of the MPX addictslost her connection to angle
(16:49):
Angel Blue. I think they saw thesame person they'd seen for so
many years. And so byreinventing herself under her,
under under the name of AngelaArmstrong and becoming the
Alaskan assassin, somebody who'sa little bit more fun and a
little more, excitable and and,man, how do I sound like high
energy. Right? And, but butstill able to connect with the
(17:15):
fans and be herself.
And I think that's where theaddicts are really connecting
with her because Angela is ableto be herself, and she can be
one of the people. And I thinkthat's what people really love
about her, and I think it's agood choice to have her as a
champion. Absolutely. See herdefended a little bit more, but,
obviously, she's a busy woman.She's she's booked in a lot of
different places.
And so, you know, hopefully, wesee a little bit more of her
(17:36):
coming up in the next few weeks,but, I think Angela is a good
strong face. She's a veteran ofTexas women's wrestling. I'm
gonna continue on just a littlebit more about Angela. But like
me, when I started, I know wehad, you know, there was
Claudia, there was Jesse James,there were there were a handful
of other women wrestlers inTexas, and it wasn't like it is
(17:58):
now where there's so manyoptions. Morgan, Mercy, Nova,
Phoenix, Shay, Carmichael,Hilda, Eric and Torres,
Alejandro Lee.
I mean, there's so many people,so many women wrestlers in
Dallas now. But when I broke in,5th you know, 14 years ago, 15
years ago, it was Claudia, itwas Jesse James, it was Athena,
(18:21):
obviously, and it was AngelBlue. And for me watching Angel
Blue in that ring, like, that'swho I latched on to. And I
identified with her, and Iappreciated the way she could
work the crowd. I appreciatedthe way she interacted with
people.
Because that's something that Ithink is a lost art. I think
(18:41):
people do the moves to get thecrowd cheering. I think people,
you know, tell their stories inthe rain. They kind of get lost
in the moment. Right?
They kind of get lost in thefact that in the cinema of it,
but they also got to realizethat there's a live audience and
a live audience that'sinteractive. I'm a theater
graduate, and I understandworking in front of a live
(19:02):
audience. But it's differentfrom theater and the fact that,
like, they're interactive, andthey'll give you what you can do
with with certain things. And ifyou can play if you can play
around with them and then youcan you can trigger their
emotions by talking to theminstead of just working with
what you got in the ring, thatbrings your character up a whole
another dimension, and that'swhat Angela has always been able
(19:23):
to do. And so for the longesttime, Angela Armstrong, Angel
Blue was women's wrestling inTexas to me.
Blak Makk (19:31):
I you know what? I have to agree with that because
the first time I saw her like,when I go to wrestling shows, I
go to cheer, boo. You know? II'm a fan, but I try to be
invisible. You know what I mean?
Like, I don't I don't like youknow, the interacting stuff's
cool, but she's the first personthat I've ever seen just, like,
(19:52):
single me out. And I found thatfascinating. Like, how did you
look at me and notice and thenplay off me? And it's me trying
to be, like, not seen.
Matt Andrews (20:04):
Yeah.
Blak Makk (20:04):
And I'm seen, so now I have to react. And it's like,
come on. But she drew theemotion out of me, and that's
what made me a fan of hers isthat she actually got me to
react to her. And I would I wasmesmerized by that. And I I
became a fan of hers because ofthat, and you're absolutely
right.
(20:25):
The one thing that that gets melike, that's my fandom too. She
can work a room easily. Like,have people hate her from
beginning to end. Have peoplelike her from beginning to end.
She knows she knows how tomanipulate people, and it's it's
awesome to see.
It really is awesome. Because atat a certain point, it goes from
(20:48):
you being a fan attending theshow to being whatever she wants
you to be.
Matt Andrews (20:54):
Right.
Blak Makk (20:55):
Absolutely. It's awesome.
Matt Andrews (20:57):
I think you brought up a good point about
yourself here. You know, you'reyou're the fan that's trying to
be invisible. You're not tryingto be seen. And I think it's
it's low hanging fruit as awrestler to play to the audience
members that are there forthemselves. Right?
Blak Makk (21:13):
Right. Right.
Matt Andrews (21:14):
You know the fans that are in there that are
making the chance so that therest of the audience can laugh
Blak Makk (21:19):
at them. Yeah.
Matt Andrews (21:20):
And it's easy. It's easy to play to that person
because you're already giventhem what they want. And so, you
know, there's that. But it's acompletely different thing to
single somebody out who who'swho's just there to watch the
show. Right?
To enjoy the show, to just kindaenjoy the atmosphere, but then
you bring them into it when theyweren't necessarily wanting to
be, and that draws them in in acompletely different level.
Blak Makk (21:41):
Absolutely. Absolutely. And that that's one
of the it's one of the firsttimes I felt that. Like, as a
fan, I was just like, how didshe do that? Like, afterwards, I
was just like, how did how didshe do that?
Because I wasn't I wasn't reallytrying to interact with her. I
was just like I was just there,and
Matt Andrews (21:58):
it was
Blak Makk (21:59):
just like
Matt Andrews (21:59):
No. All of a sudden, when you're there?
Blak Makk (22:01):
Yeah. Now all of a sudden, I'm like, a focal point
of hers, and she's just, like,after me. And I'm like, stop.
Matt Andrews (22:11):
Stop. But also don't.
Blak Makk (22:13):
Yeah. Also don't. But
Matt Andrews (22:14):
Right.
Blak Makk (22:15):
You know? And this that's what made me a fan of
hers really, really truly. Andand she's a damn good wrestler.
Damn good.
Matt Andrews (22:22):
Very much so.
Blak Makk (22:25):
But I I wanted I wanted to shift gears. Actually,
let's go let's go about you.What what made you what made you
try out wrestling? What whatmade you say wrestling? This is
me.
Matt Andrews (22:38):
Alright. So do we wanna go, like, back to being a
wrestling fan or back to juststarting with MPX?
Blak Makk (22:43):
Actually, yeah. Let's go back to being a wrestling
fan. What what was what was themoment you were like, I'm a fan?
And then what was the moment yousaid, I wanna do this?
Matt Andrews (22:55):
So, I was 9 years old and in my, in my parents'
bedroom, channel surfing. It wasa Saturday morning, and I came
across on the USA Network, WWFSuperstars. And the main event
of that particular show thatmorning was the Heartbreak Kid
Shawn Michaels with JoseLothario in tow versus the 123
(23:20):
kid. And this was the day beforethe WWF championship match
against big daddy cool diesel atWWF in your house, good friends,
better enemies.
Blak Makk (23:30):
Yeah.
Matt Andrews (23:31):
That match, for whatever reason, and I got to
see it from beginning to end. SoI got to see Shawn Michaels
entrance. I got to see the 123kids entrance. That as a 9 year
old boy, I was like, that.That's cool.
I wanna do that. Not even Iwanna do that. I wanna be
invested in that. And, you know,as a as a as a kid, it's all
(23:52):
still real to you. Right?
And so I remember my dad and myparents were not fans of me
watching that. And my dad wouldtry to put the argument forth.
It's fake. It's fake. They'restopping when they hit.
And I remember I was 9 years, Iwas watching an own heart match
and I broke down into tears. Iwas so mad at him because I was
(24:15):
like, stop all your faith. He'sreally hitting him. He really
is. He's really in pain.
I it's such a vivid memory to methat I was I was in tears
arguing to my dad that they werereally hurting each other, and I
believed it for so long. Andit's not like it's not ballet in
there. We are actually hitting.We are actually hurting. But,
(24:35):
you know, now that you knowthings and you can peel the
curtain back a little bitnowadays with social media.
I mean, you you're a littlesmartened up into it. But for
me, I if I can go to a show andgo back to being 9 years old and
completely get lost in themoment and and forget and
understand that it's still realto me, that's what that's what
(24:57):
hooks me every time. And that'swhat I look forward to it shows.
As far as MPX goes, it was aCraigslist ad. It was a
Craigslist ad, and here I amcoming out of college, a
bachelor of arts degree intheater arts looking for an
acting job.
And, if you go into my 8th gradeyearbook, you will see that what
(25:21):
I wanna be when I grow up is apublic address announcer for the
Texas Rangers. So I wanted to bethe guy that said, you know,
playing second base, IanKinsler. I wanted to be Chuck
Morgan so bad. So bad. And soI'm scanning Craigslist looking
for the acting jobs, and I seethis post looking for a ring
(25:42):
announcer for an independentwrestling company.
It's like, you gotta be kiddingme. So so I I I answered the
email. I sent it in. There was alittle questionnaire to fill
out, and I put all that down. Isaid that, ideally, I'd like to
be a ring announcer, but I canalso be a manager, a referee.
(26:03):
I'd love to try to be an in ringtalent. And then I said, but I
definitely don't have the buildto be in the ring. But I have a
good mind for for story lines,for angles, all of that. I know
insider terms. And Stephen Kirbywrote back to me and he said,
Matt, the whole idea and thewhole purpose of MPX is that
(26:26):
none of us are necessarily theperfect fit for the wrestling
world.
We're just a bunch of guys thatwanted to do something that we
loved. We love the art ofprofessional wrestling. We wanna
learn the art of professionalwrestling, and we'd really like
to do it. So if you're on boardwith that, then come on in. I
was like, great.
That sounds wonderful. And so Igot to Kirby's house. There was
(26:50):
a ring in the backyard, and Iwas like, hey, I'm here to try
out to be the ring announcer.And I just sat there and
observed, and they got in, andthey were doing bumps, they were
running ropes. And I noticedthat the way that they were
falling, the way that they werebumping was a lot of when I took
martial arts, back when I was akid.
And, you know, you you learn toyou learn to fall. That's what
(27:11):
you do in martial arts. Youlearn to take falls and you
learn to to to get thrown. I waslike, I think I can do that. Can
I try that?
And, of course, they were like,yeah. Sure. Come on in. See what
you can do. And I I got it rightoff of the bat.
Like, I didn't didn't have anyof that, like, hesitation,
didn't have any of that, oh, yourolled instead, or oh, you
(27:33):
you're using your arms now. I Ihit that mat. I was like, oh.
Oh, I'm in trouble, and and Idid not wanna be a ring
announcer anymore at that point.I was like, I I need
Blak Makk (27:45):
I'm hooked.
Matt Andrews (27:46):
I need to be in this ring. I need to do this.
Blak Makk (27:49):
Yeah.
Matt Andrews (27:51):
And that's that's the story. And I was hooked.
Wow. Did it did it for 5 years,was able to be MPX champion, MPX
tag team champion as well. And,and then I retired 5 years after
I started because, I realizedthe wave of people was was kinda
surpassing me.
I did it for other reasons too.There were family reasons. There
(28:12):
were you know, you you wannastart a family. You realize you
probably shouldn't be doingsomething where you'd be
breaking legs, breaking armspotentially. Not saying I would,
but, you know, you wanna besafe.
And if you're gonna start afamily, you gotta be in 1 piece,
that kind of thing. And then Ialso realized that here's a
whole bunch of people that arecoming into this that their goal
is to be on TV. Their goal andthey're way better than I am.
(28:35):
Way better. I'll point to, IzzyJames, right off the bat.
And knowing that I was knowingthat I was taking, taking ring
time, not necessarily away fromIzzy because he get it booked on
the show anyway. But I thoughtof people like Izzy and people
that wanted to get booked at MPXbecause they realized that MPX
was something big. And I waslike, I shouldn't be doing this
(28:57):
anymore. My goal isn't to be onTV. My goal is to just roll
around in here and enjoy thisand do this as a hobby.
And there's other people herethat are taking this way more
seriously than I am, and theyneed the ring time more than I
do. So that's when I steppedaway from, the business.
Blak Makk (29:13):
That's a really honest that's a really honest
answer, and and look at yourselfto be to be real enough with
yourself to say that. That'sthat's admirable, actually.
Matt Andrews (29:25):
Yeah. It is hard. It was it was really hard. Still
hard. I would like to get backin there.
I think I think my goals havechanged now. But, of course, as
a ring announcer, I mean, thethe opportunities on the
national stage are way few andfar between, but I'd like to
still do that. But one of thegoals I do have, probably not
gonna happen this year, but oneof my goals for 2025 is to get
(29:48):
back in the ring, to actually dosomething. Not necessarily full
time. I'd like to have onemeaningful storyline, something
that actually matters.
I don't want just wanna go inthere as a nostalgic act or
whatever, one off, and I wannahave something that people can
sink their teeth into and givethem something to follow and
make something super memorable.
Blak Makk (30:07):
Excellent. Excellent. What what actually brought you
back?
Matt Andrews (30:12):
My son. Who's it? My son. So, I know I switched
locations from when we startedthe show and whatnot, but there
were paintings up there. And myson is huge into, art.
He's very big into reading. He'sbig into drawing, and he's big
into into comic book characters,which is a love that he and I
have. He likes Spider Man, sameas I do. Oh. And I wanted to
(30:36):
share another passion with him.
I had brought him to an AEW showwhen it came through the, the
call Caldwell Center, which it'scoming back to here in a little
bit. And I had also brought himto the WWE money in the bank
event where John Cena returned,for, Roman Reigns. That huge
(30:56):
pop. Right? I he got to seethat.
But then I brought him to MPX,And I brought him and I showed
him the, when we got there, itwas the attics championship. And
it was the one that Dexter,Hardaway had smashed with a
hammer, and it was broken, butit was displayed up at the
front.
Blak Makk (31:15):
Yeah.
Matt Andrews (31:16):
And I brought him to the 1st MPX show, and I
pointed that belt, and I said,that's the belt I held. That was
me. I was the champion. Andafter that night, all he wanted
to do is, I wanna go to MPX. Canwe go to wrestling?
When can we go to wrestlingagain? When can we go to
wrestling again? That's when Imade the decision to start
training to get back into thering. That's also the, the
(31:39):
moment that I realized, like, II have this thing to bond with
my son over, and I can't getthat. I get him on every
weekend, pretty much, just aboutevery weekend.
Mhmm. And that's our thing.That's our thing now. And, when
we got the opportunity to go toDestiny, I we we got to help set
(31:59):
up the epic. We got there earlyenough in the day.
There were chairs, and I told myson, and he was, like, asking
about wanting to to get in thereand do it. I was like, look. If
you're going to, you gotta startpaying your dues. And sure
enough, there's pictures of himgrab grabbing chairs, setting
them up where they needed to go.Right?
But it was at Destiny that, wewere setting up, and I kinda
(32:22):
turned to Matt Palmer. And I waslike, hey, Matt. What else do
you need from me tonight? Whatelse do you need? How else can I
help you out?
How else can I make the show asuccess? And he just goes, I
don't know, man. Do you do youwanna ring announce tonight? I
was like, yeah. Yeah.
I will. Absolutely ringannounce. He's like, do you have
a suit? And I said, I do nothave a suit on me right now, but
(32:44):
I will go run and get one. Andso I went and I spent $250 at
Target, got a suit coat andpants and shoes and a belt and a
shirt, and drove myself rightback to that place and, got in,
did the ring announcing, andthen I just kinda kept showing
up every Saturday with a suitand said I'm I'm here, I'll do
it.
(33:05):
And now I am.
Blak Makk (33:07):
That's awesome, dude. That's that's awesome.
Matt Andrews (33:11):
It's it's it's a ridiculously cool story to tell.
Honestly, now I think about itand stuff and
Blak Makk (33:15):
I was at that Destiny show. And Yeah. Think on the
epic, how do you guys get that?Because that's a unique spot. It
is.
But it works so well.
Matt Andrews (33:28):
Yeah. It does. As
Blak Makk (33:29):
a as a venue.
Matt Andrews (33:31):
It's great. And, the people at the epic were
fantastic. I'm not privy to thebehind the scenes talk of how to
book the, place for events andwhatnot, but I have been on an
event sales team. I used to workat a hotel and was very privy to
how you sell certain spaces andwhatnot. And I'm guessing they
kinda figured that, the Epic isa multi use recreational
(33:54):
facility with a lot of athletes,and so something like MPX is
going to be very, you know, it'sa good investment.
It's a good place to showcasethat kind of stuff. So, yeah,
great. I love the epic. I lovegoing to it.
Blak Makk (34:08):
I love it too. I I've been since since they've been
doing shows there, I've beengoing there.
Matt Andrews (34:15):
Yeah.
Blak Makk (34:15):
And another thing that you guys help out with is
Pro Wrestling Revolver. And howhow does that help your
relationship with those types ofcompanies? Because I know when
AEW comes into town, I know MPXhas, like, certain talent that
when they did this Arlingtonresidency, I saw a lot of MPX
talent in ROH and on, Dynamite.So how does that how does that
(34:41):
help your relationship with withthose companies?
Matt Andrews (34:45):
Yeah. You know, you if you if you think about
pro wrestling in the indieworld, this kinda minor league
ball, and major league ball.Right? You've you've got AEW,
TNA, ROH, WWE. That's your majorleagues.
Right? Right. Then you've gotplaces like Pro Wrestling
Revolver, ROW. I'm what else?GCW, places like that that that
(35:09):
people would know all across thenation.
That's your triple a ball.That's almost like the next step
up. Right? And then you've got,you got you got MPX, and I think
that's your double a ball. Andso when the double a team gets
to play a little with the triplea team, the major leagues start
to notice a little bit.
And, I think one of the greatthings about, partnerships with
(35:31):
Revolver is, our guys, the MPXguys, actually get to be in the
ring and do that. You know, youyou you see them on TNA or WWE,
and they're just extras. Right?There's they're the security
guards or Barrett Brown's beenposting clips of when he just
got tossed around by BraunStrowman, and that's what it is.
(35:52):
You know?
That's that's what they are.Right? Yep. But places like
Revolver, when they swingthrough town, they allow the MPX
guys to actually get in the ringand showcase their talent and
what they can do. So I think itworks as a great little, like
it's a showcase, for for them toto kinda get noticed by bigger
up and coming places.
Blak Makk (36:12):
Yeah. Absolutely. And even even in Texas as well,
with, reality of wrestling andMhmm. How how Booker's his his
presence alone just makes thatit's a good look when when you
see guys go to places like thator even with, with the Dustin
(36:33):
Rhodes Academy. It it justworks.
Question. Answer. Are we goingto see or is there a possibility
of a Dojo Wars featuring MPX?
Matt Andrews (36:51):
So I think that's I think that's an interesting
concept. Right? Because Yep. Youtake a person, you take a
wrestler, and you follow themaround to different
organizations and differentplaces. Right?
And it's like each of thesepromotions, it's like Doctor
Strange in the multiverse ofmadness. Every single one of
these promotions is their ownseparate entity. You take
(37:12):
Angela. Right? She is cheeredand beloved.
She's, she's a woman for thekids. The kids love her at MPX.
Right? They cheer her. They werecelebrating.
You take her out of that, andyou put her at SCP over in
Lubbock. And, well, actually,no. They still love her over
there, but you put her in, inhot hot pro hot pro wrestling
down in, down in Waco. Yeah.They hater.
(37:36):
They get the chance if Wacodoesn't like you. But it all
exists in its own bubble. Ithink it would be it'd be very
difficult to be able to pulloff. And I only say that from a
storyline perspective. Right?
Blak Makk (37:50):
Yeah.
Matt Andrews (37:50):
If you just if you just advertise it as a talent
versus talent, and you say thesepeople are representing their
certain places, then it's cool.ROW is doing that this weekend
too. Either this weekend or nextweekend or something where
they've put on their flyer likeExodus Prime representing MPX
versus Bryan Davidson. That'scool. That's the kind of stuff
(38:11):
that you wanna see as somebodywho attends MPX, as somebody who
wrestles for MPX.
You wanna see that the MPX guysare getting to a place where WWE
is now putting their branding onit. You know, Booker's place is
WWE ID, and now it's featuringMPX. Kyimi, what a shot for that
kid. Kaimi is a truly specialperson who I think has the look
(38:32):
and the makeup and the skill andand the presentation for TV. I
think he absolutely gets theidea of playing to the smallest
person, and and I think he'she's going places too.
Yep. He's got such apersonality, and he's gonna be
involved in that, ROW and thethe breakout thing too. So
(38:54):
really happy for him.
Blak Makk (38:56):
Me too. Me he's a he's a good guy. I I love him. I
love him. Last question beforewe get into some fun stuff.
Okay. This weekend, you haveAscension.
Matt Andrews (39:11):
Yep.
Blak Makk (39:11):
Speak on speak on the matches, man. What what we got
coming down the pipeline?
Matt Andrews (39:15):
Man, there are some crazy advertised matches
here. There's a lot of grudgematches coming up, which, I I
think this is a great one forpeople that have been following
storylines at MPX. Right? Rightoff of the bat, I think one of
the, the first matches that was,announced was, Michael Schafer,
(39:36):
the big kahuna, going up againstPauley Paparazzi for the attics
championship. And you haveMichael Schaeffer who was out of
action for a year.
Pauley Paparazzi's best friendat the time. Right? And then
Schaeffer went out. He went toHollywood. That didn't quite
work out.
So now he's come back, but thenhe turned his back on Pauley
(39:56):
Paparazzi and is now joined upwith House Sagan. And Pauley's
pissed. And so here's thisculmination of the bad blood
between these guys you've alsogot Tatum Manning and Adam Green
taking on, Tony Snow's newmonsters, Haster and, and and
(40:21):
hostage Hirsch. And I thinkthat's, you know, Tony Snow
finally can say that he's hadsome tag team success after
leading KOA to the, to the tagteam championships. And now he's
got 2 people that are, like,bigger and badder in that
regard.
And, you know, that's gonna be atough mountain to over overcome,
but, you know, you've got, I'msorry. Not Tatum. It's Adam.
(40:41):
That was at the last show. It'sAdam Green and sorry.
Hassard has had his problemswith, with Adam Green. And so,
with Tony Snow taking out AdamGreen, Green needs to find a
partner, and, of course, you gotthe brilliant one to win Cavins
there. So, that's gonna be areally dynamic and epic tag team
match. Good clash of stylesthere too.
Blak Makk (41:02):
Absolutely.
Matt Andrews (41:03):
And honestly, I think the match that I'm looking
forward to the most is Langleyversus Dalton Gray. So grimy
Dalton Gray who recently joinedthe scorn, actually trained with
Langley in the kids camps.Right? He he came up. You know,
you see Langley's mom postingthese pictures of Dalton and
(41:25):
Langley growing up.
And, of course, growing up forthem is, like, a couple of years
ago. But, you know, you you seethat, months ago, and this may
have been lost in the storyline.A couple of months ago, in a pre
show match, Dalton Gray wasgetting beaten down by Riley
Gryn in a pre show, and Langleywas the one that came out to
(41:46):
save him, which is great. That'sa good story. Right?
Two friends and all that. Nowyou've got Dalton Gray throwing
his head in with the scorn who Ihave. I I'm upset at them
because they were my kids'favorite wrestlers, the scorn.
And then for them to turn theirbacks on, his teacher, Sky, and
and put him through that, That'sa that's a really touchy subject
(42:10):
for me too because, not a bigfan of the scorn, not a big fan
of how they talk to my son whenhe's at the shows and how they
talk down to him. And, theygotta be careful to not cross
that line because I don't knowif I still got it, but I still
have the fury of a dad.
Right? Absolutely. So I got gotoff track there. But, yeah, he's
we've got Dalton Gray who'sjoined up with the scorn and,
(42:33):
and Langley going to be going atit in a grudge match. And you
saw last week where, Langleycracked the Kendo stick over
Dalton Gray's back, broke theKendo stick.
What a great moment too, andthat got a huge reaction as
well. Yeah. So, it's gonna be areally good weekend. I I I'm
excited for MPX. You oh, also,Trent Mercer is, is going to be
(42:53):
back.
And Trent Mercer, I like him alot. Good kid. Good talent.
Really love seeing him in there.He respects the business,
respects everything about him,and he's gonna be taking on
Matthew Palmer.
I haven't seen
Blak Makk (43:04):
Palmer Saturday? Yeah. Oh, wow.
Matt Andrews (43:07):
Gonna be in the ring. I haven't seen Palmer in
the ring since revolver, but,like, up close and personal in
an MPX ring, I haven't seen himsince I was a wrestler. So it
that's a that's a truly special,match for people to see. To see
Matthew Palmer in an MPX ringagain is is gonna be a fantastic
thing.
Blak Makk (43:25):
Absolutely. Absolutely. Shout out to Matt.
Matt Andrews (43:27):
Yeah. Absolutely. Awesome guy.
Blak Makk (43:29):
Awesome guy. But yeah, man. So Ascension, this
Saturday.
Matt Andrews (43:33):
Yep.
Blak Makk (43:34):
Doors open. Are you guys doing the, the early thing
again?
Matt Andrews (43:37):
Yep. Yep. Early access. And, oh, man. That
that's a beautiful thing.
I love that. For a while there,we were doing preshow matches,
which I think is great, and Ithink it's a good way to, get
people to see what, the trainingcamp is about because we do
offer training classes. And soto see the up and comers people
that are undertaking these, thislearning to get into a
(43:59):
professional wrestling ring, tosee how they've progressed and
to see what they're working on,I think this is a great
opportunity for them to do so.Plus, it gets you in front of a
live crowd. It might only be 15to 20 people to start out with,
but you gotta start somewhere.
Blak Makk (44:13):
Right. Yeah. It's I thought that was a that's a
pretty cool concept. Get inearly, and you get to see, some
up and comers, starting theirjourney. And
Matt Andrews (44:24):
Almost a little pull pulling back the curtain a
little behind the scenes.
Blak Makk (44:27):
Yeah. Yeah.
Matt Andrews (44:28):
I think that makes it special.
Blak Makk (44:29):
Yeah. That that's a really cool concept. It really
is. So, yeah, doors open at7:15. Right?
Matt Andrews (44:37):
If you buy the early access, pass, then, yes,
doors open at 7:15. Doors opento the general public at 7:30.
Show starts at 8.
Blak Makk (44:45):
Yep. So make sure go to, metroplex wrestling.com?
Matt Andrews (44:50):
Mpx wrestling.com.
Blak Makk (44:51):
Mpx wrestling. Sorry. Mpx wrestling.com, and then and
get your tickets there, man.
Matt Andrews (44:55):
So Yes, please.
Blak Makk (44:57):
Yep. So let's get into some fun stuff.
Matt Andrews (44:59):
Okay. I'm scared.
Blak Makk (45:00):
Don't be scared. So when when when I have when I
have guests on, there's a game Iplay called either or. And,
normally, I listen during theinterview, and I picked up on
one thing. And I wanna know howversed you are in congress.
Okay.
Okay. So I'm gonna say somecharacters. You say either or
(45:26):
for whatever reason, but I'mgonna start with the general.
Marvel or DC?
Matt Andrews (45:31):
Marvel. Okay. Without hesitation.
Blak Makk (45:36):
Okay.
Matt Andrews (45:37):
Cool. I, I I like that Marvel characters are
ordinary people that get putinto extraordinary situations.
Absolutely. The DC charactersare extraordinary for reasons
that you don't necessarily knowof immediately. Yep.
Their origin stories aren't asfun because they're like
(45:57):
Superman. I know that's a, youknow, that's a, almost an orphan
story. Right? Coming from aplanet, but he's already a super
powered person. Bruce Wayne wasalready rich.
And, yes, that's an unimaginabletragedy losing your parents, but
you're already rich.
Blak Makk (46:10):
You're already rich, bro.
Matt Andrews (46:12):
So that that's why I like it.
Blak Makk (46:15):
Alright. Cool. Good answer. Good answer. I like it.
It's a Marvel or DC. Alright.Now let's get into the fun
stuff. Mhmm. Thor or BlackPanther?
Matt Andrews (46:33):
Man, that's tough because that's that's almost
honestly, that's very DC like.Here's these 2 here's these 2
characters that already havetheir, their their flowers, so
to speak. Right? Thor's, Thor'sa demigod, and Black Panther was
already born into royalty. Ilike the culture and the
heritage behind Black Panther abit more.
(46:56):
I I just I follow along thestory of Black Panther a lot
better, than I do, Thor.Although, I do enjoy, the the
idea behind mythology, and Iread it a lot growing up as a
kid. But I just think, theatmosphere around Black Panther
and kind of the vibe aroundBlack Panther is just a lot more
(47:16):
modern hip and cool, and it's alot more fun to fall. Yeah.
Blak Makk (47:23):
I get that. I get that a little bit. A little bit.
Me, I probably I probablywould've said Thor.
Matt Andrews (47:32):
Yeah. I figured you would've. Just based on the
how you react to my answer.
Blak Makk (47:36):
I probably would've said Thor. Really. Really.
Alright. Jean Grey.
Mhmm. Or professor x?
Matt Andrews (47:47):
Oh, jeez. Both telepads. Both leadership
qualities. I go with Jean Grey.Jean Grey who I don't know.
(48:07):
They both endured some pretty,awful trauma, with, with family
members and stuff. But I I gowith Jean Grey just because of
the Phoenix character and thatentire storyline and how that
follows out. I'm I I like thatstoryline a lot better. I know
professor x has the, theonslaught deal and, you know,
(48:28):
losing losing his mobility inthe savage lands, which is also
a terrible thing. But I thinkthe idea of the Phoenix
character, plus Madeleine Pryor,plus, table being thrown in
there as, as kind of traumaticevents, along with mister
Sinister.
Like, I just it's it that'sthat's just a lot of beat down
for Jean Grey, and I'm always afan of somebody that can
(48:48):
overcome and persevere throughall of that.
Blak Makk (48:51):
Okay. I like it. I like it. Alright. Next one,
Elektra or Gamora?
Matt Andrews (49:00):
Elektra. And I Oh. I say yeah. I know. I know it's
controversial.
So I say Elektra, and this isthis is probably a more
controversial take than the factthat I just chose Elektra. I I I
liked, Ben Affleck Daredevil.
Blak Makk (49:17):
Really?
Matt Andrews (49:18):
I know. And and yeah. I know. I think it's
because it was cheesy for allthe wrong reasons, and it's just
one of those things where you'relike, man, this is so bad, but
it's also kinda kinda cool. Ilike the way they presented
Daredevil.
I don't necessarily like the waythey presented Matt Murdock, but
I like I like the way theypresented Daredevil in that. And
and the electric character inthat was was fun and led to led
(49:41):
to better parts for Elektra.Maybe that movie wasn't it, but,
you know, you see what happenedto Deadpool and Wolverine and
how she became a cult clad likea cult favorite just by
appearing in the movie. I'mlike, oh, man. Elektra's back.
That's cool. And it's like youonly remember the good things
about the character and not howawful everything was. You looked
at her up there and you're like,oh, man. That was a good
(50:03):
character. And then if you goback and you watch that movie,
you're like, okay.
Maybe maybe not, but cool to seeher anyways.
Blak Makk (50:12):
True. True. Alright. Last one. Last one.
Matt Andrews (50:15):
Okay.
Blak Makk (50:16):
Wolverine.
Matt Andrews (50:17):
Yeah.
Blak Makk (50:18):
Or Spider Man.
Matt Andrews (50:19):
Oh, Spider Man. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. 100% it's SpiderMan. I related and relate to
Spider Man in entirely too closeof a way. Just, the Peter Parker
thing and being bullied andbeing kind of the outcast, and
always wanting to be somethingmore and always wanting to stick
(50:41):
up for the, the guy that wasn'tthat didn't have anybody to
stick up for him.
Because I was always that guythat never had anybody stick up
for him. So I always wanted tobe the one to protect. And,
Spider Man's situation, PeterParker's situation of, like,
man, I really didn't want thesepowers, but now that I have
them, I have the ability to dosomething, and I should probably
(51:02):
do it. And that's kinda how Iview things in my life as well.
Like, I I know I have a goodvoice.
I won't say that I'm, like, thebest voice ever with a voice for
a voice over career, but, like,I know I've got a gift here, and
I know I should
Blak Makk (51:18):
do something
Matt Andrews (51:19):
with it. And if I've got something like that and
something that my son latches onto, okay, I should bring him to
that. So it's it's just a senseof obligation and duty and
knowing that the things that I'mgood at, I should probably
share. I heard on TikTok todaysomething that was really
profound to me, and it's alwaysweird how, like, the most random
(51:40):
TikToks end up being reallyprofound. Right?
Yeah. You never see you neversee an apple tree, eat an apple.
You don't see a pear tree, eat apear. You don't see a plum tree,
eat a plum. But that's becausethe fruit is not for the tree.
It's for other people. Right?And so here I am, I've got these
(52:02):
gifts and, like, maybe I don'tnecessarily believe in them,
but, like, they help otherpeople have a good time. They
help other people enjoy theirlife, escape reality. I'm the
ring announcer at MPX, and maybeI'm not the best one that has
ever existed.
We'll give that to Cody Cox,obviously. But, like, I'm having
fun. The other people are havingfun, and I'm a part of them
having fun with that. And Ithink that's a great thing, and
(52:25):
I'm happy to continue to keepdoing it.
Blak Makk (52:27):
That was deep. Sometimes deep. I like it. I
like it. I like it.
Alright, man. Let the peopleknow. Plug away. Some some
gratuitous plugging away. Goahead.
Let him Oh,
Matt Andrews (52:42):
man. Know what Alright. A whole lot of
gratuitous plugging away. So I'ma man of many many talents. I
also write about baseball for,WFAA.
You can find me on, x or Twitterat Fisher Writes MLB. That's my
shoot name. Don't tell anybody.But Fisher Writes MLB, that's
where you can find me onTwitter. You can find me on
Instagram because I used to be abeer blogger at easily bruised.
(53:06):
That's easily, e a s I l y,bruised, b r e w s e d. Because
that's punny and funny. You canfind me on Facebook at Matt
Andrews, and, you can find me onTikTok at the choice Matt
Andrews. I'll do I'll usually doshow, preshow things, like a
little 45 second snippet beforea show just to clue people in on
(53:30):
what's going on, and then I'lldo an MPX minute, either a
Monday or Tuesday after the showto let people know what
happened.
Blak Makk (53:36):
Awesome, man. Awesome. Anything else you wanna
leave with the people?
Matt Andrews (53:41):
Support the independent wrestlers, guys.
And, also, if you have if ifthose independent wrestling
companies have sponsors, supportthe sponsors. Because if you're
supporting the sponsors, you'resupporting the independent
wrestling companies. Absolutely.Wanna see them keep going, then
you need to show the supporthowever you can.
Blak Makk (54:00):
Absolutely. By the way, thank you guys for allowing
us to sponsor you. That was
Matt Andrews (54:04):
Oh, no. No. Thank you. Truly, really appreciate
having the No Givens podcastsponsor, MPX, and, this would be
week 3 for you guys, in a row,which super appreciative of it.
So, yeah, hope to see everybodyout there.
All the MPX addicts, go to mpxwrestling.com. Then come catch
Ascension presented by the NoGimmicks podcast.
Blak Makk (54:25):
Absolutely. And that'll do it for us here at No
Gimmicks. Thank you guys fortuning in. Until next time. You
guys be safe, enjoy each other,and peace.
Yo. Yo. Yo. What is up, people? Welcome back to the
No Chemics podcast here on theDFCN.
I am your host, bread like aking, made as Kelvin Kaley. We
have a good interview lined upfor you guys tonight. I know you
hear me talk about, MPX orMetroplex Wrestling a lot. I go
to a lot of these shows. You'vehad you've seen a lot of these
(01:20):
guys on the show.
The champion now, my guy, DemoDiamond. He he he's at Metroplex
Wrestling. Kari Jai Wright, whowe've had on the show, they were
in the main event this pastweekend. They put on a a great,
great card this past weekend.Khaimi has been on the show.
(01:41):
We've had a lot of people thathave come through MPX. Pretty
much if they've come on nogimmicks, they've I've met them
at a next MPX show. So, I wantedto dive a little bit into the
promotion. We have somebody whohas hands on the promotion. 1 of
the guys who was in thefoundation of what Metroplex
(02:02):
Wrestling is, and I wanted tobring him on the show just to
talk all things.
They have a show coming up thisSaturday, Ascension, which is
pretty much the fallout fromlast week. They are a weekly
promotion. So if you're in theBedford area of Bedford, Texas,
do yourselves a favor. If youhave Saturday night, go check
out these shows. It is it is afamily atmosphere.
(02:23):
But enough about me ramblingabout it. Let's bring the guy in
himself. He is the choice.Mister Matt Andrews, welcome to
no gimmicks, sir. How are youdoing?
Uh-oh. Don't know what happenedthere.
Matt Andrews (02:39):
Weird. I thought there was gonna be 2 of me
there. Fantastic way to startthe podcast. Obviously, the it
can only go up from here.
Blak Makk (02:49):
Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you for your
time, and thank you for comingon the show. Nice to have you. I
did wanna I wanted to I wantedto start
Matt Andrews (03:00):
Yeah.
Blak Makk (03:00):
With the atmosphere over at Metro wrestling. Yes.
Because it it definitely itgives me a family vibe when when
I go to these shows. Speak tothat and and how that crowd has
become so loyal. How did yougrow such a loyal fan base?
Matt Andrews (03:22):
I think Metroplex Wrestling and they've been in
that building for good longwhile now. Right? I think
Metroplex Wrestling started at atime when there was not a whole
lot of options for, forindependent wrestling shows. I
(03:43):
couldn't even I mean, this was15 years ago when MPX started,
and, we we took it from Steveand Kirby's backyard into, one
of the Metroflex gyms that wasin a non air conditioned garage
setting in a in a gym thatsucked, having to move gym
(04:05):
equipment, back and forth sothat we could fit in chairs,
into into a place that right nowI mean, it doesn't look like
something much on the outside.It's not a massive event arena
bar, and it doesn't have quitethe most incredible sound
system, although it's a lotbetter than some of the bigger
venues that I've heard.
(04:25):
But I think the fact that itcame from such a humble
beginning from a bunch of guys,and us original 8 or 10 people
who maybe didn't have a businessbeing in the professional
wrestling world. Right? I thinkour humble beginnings helped
(04:46):
kind of, keep the fan base thatwe've had since we started the
business, 15 years ago. And andnow to see how many options
people have that then peoplestill come to see us on a
Saturday night, it's trulyencouraging. Like I said, I I
really do feel like the factthat we are kind of or, you
know, our the us at our core arereally everyday guys.
(05:10):
We're not we are larger thanlife when we're on the stage,
but we're we're also we're alsopeople that have this dream,
have the dream of doing this.Right? We have this dream of,
like, with for long as we canget in the ring and perform in
front of people, we'll be ingreat shape. We're we'll enjoy
everything that we're doing.And, I think that I think that
(05:31):
helps lend to kind of thisfamily atmosphere where we kind
of know all of our regulars.
We have regulars, and it'sgreat. Running on a weekly basis
helps a ton. I know I mentionedthat there's a whole lot of
options in Texas, in DFW, but tomy knowledge, MPX is the only
weekly running wrestling show.And I think being able to keep
(05:53):
up with story lines as wellkinda helps people come back.
It's like tuning in every weekto Monday night raw or to,
dynamite or something.
You tune in every week becauseyou're following the story
lines. Well, you're gonna cometo this show every week because
you follow the story lines. Youwanna know what's next.
Blak Makk (06:08):
You you test on something that I was gonna go
into, and that was the thestorytelling. You guys do
phenomenal storytelling.Phenomenal. Where who who who's
doing that?
Matt Andrews (06:22):
What Wrestlers
Blak Makk (06:23):
or is it a collaborative effort?
Matt Andrews (06:25):
I think it's a huge collaborative effort. You
know, we were running under theand I don't I don't know how,
inside baseball we wanna get.You know? But, you know, we were
running under the, the bookingof Richard Hill for, a a good
long while, actually. I thinksince since we got into this
(06:45):
building, we've been runningunder, Richard Hill.
And he's got a great mind forstorytelling, great mind for
putting together feuds andputting together people that he
knows are gonna work welltogether and getting kind of the
best drama out of those. Heunderstands characters and where
they can go, where they shouldgo. He's recently passed on that
booking to other people, and,again, I don't know how inside
(07:07):
baseball we wanna get. If I ifyou you want me to tell you, I
can tell you. But, yeah.
And I think this group of peoplethat's booking the show now also
has a keen idea, and I thinkthat's because they've been with
the company for such anincredibly long time. They have
a good eye for not just not justcharacters and where the
characters go and stories andwhere storylines can go. They've
(07:31):
been huge wrestling fans, but,also, they know the crowd. And I
think one of the big things andone of the things that I think
is lost with Booker's nowadaysis, is knowing your crowd. You
know, I I attended a convention,sometime back at comic
convention sometime back, andthere was a wrestling show
(07:51):
there.
And, you gotta understand ifyou're at a convention where
there's a bunch of peoplepassing by and you are not the
first the main attraction bethere, They're not necessarily
gonna stick around for a bunchof storylines. They have no idea
what's going on. They wanna seethe flashy, the punchy. They
wanna see people diving. Theywanna see the loud, the brash,
(08:13):
the the the flashiness.
Right? They're not there.They're not gonna stick around
if you're gonna put somebody ina rest hole for 20 seconds and
talk about how the last show youguys were at a month ago that,
you know, you beat this person.Nobody in that crowd cares. They
have no idea what's going on.
You wanna attract him.Meanwhile, at MPX or at any
(08:34):
other show that runs on a fairlyregular basis where people can
whose attention spans can canzoom, zone in on that kind of
stuff, they know what's goingon. They they remember who who
they cheered for the last time.They remember, oh, that guy
stabbed that other guy in theback. I wonder what's gonna
happen.
And I think that gets lost ifyou go too long between shows.
Blak Makk (08:56):
Yeah. That that's that's a good point. Does the
crowd kinda help you determine,like, which way your characters
are gonna go?
Matt Andrews (09:03):
Yeah. Absolutely. And I think that goes true for
all of professional wrestling.Right? I mean, one of the big
things that we're taught in thering from training anyway is to
listen to the crowd.
And I don't just mean, like, youknow, whenever they say one more
time, you go one more time.Right? But it's always a fun
spot. You listen to the crowdand to hear what they're
responding to. If they arereally into you taking control
(09:27):
of a match, then you listen toit, and you maybe you call an
audible on the fly and say, hey.
They're really digging this.Let's keep going. Let's keep
pushing this. Let's keep pushingthis. Same thing.
And I think, I think PauleyPaparazzi is a prime example at
MPX of listening to the crowdand giving the crowd what they
want. You don't always have to,pull a surprise out of thin air
(09:51):
or something like that. Youknow? You don't always have to
shock people. You don't alwayshave to go with the unpopular
decision.
Sometimes, if you give thepeople what they want, the
people will like it. But as faras, listening to the crowd,
right, I think, PauleyPaparazzi, is a prime example of
that in MPX. Yep. I don't knowif you were there when he won
the attics championship, in thecrucible match. But as much as
(10:14):
that crowd wanted to see Mr.
Leggs retain that championship,I think, when you saw the weeks
weeks of bullying that Mikey Bwas doing to, Pauley. When
Pauley finally turned and andkicked Mikey, the crowd
completely erupted. And theywere hanging on every single
move that happened right afterthat turn. And the and the pop
that he got when he won thatchampionship is incredible.
Blak Makk (10:39):
Yes. Yes.
Matt Andrews (10:40):
It's absolutely incredible. So I think listening
to the crowd and, again, givingthem what they want, it's not
it's not rocket science. Yougive the people what they want,
and they'll like it.
Blak Makk (10:48):
Yeah. You just said you just said a name, Pauley. 3
guys that that really I'vewatched since since I've gotten
into MPX. Yeah. Three guys, andthat's Pauley Pauley Paparazzi,
Demodiamond, and Mr.
Legs. All 3 of the the the riseof those 3 guys have has been
(11:12):
incredible. It's been absolutelyincredible.
Matt Andrews (11:15):
Yeah. And I think it's all for different reasons
too. Right? I mean, Mr. Legs Mr.
Legs is completely the, I guess,the one that serve for the kids.
Right? Like, he he gets the kidsgoing. He's the masked guy. It's
a goofy freaking character.
Right? I think we can allacknowledge that. But
Blak Makk (11:31):
love that, Gil. I love it. I love
Matt Andrews (11:34):
It's also it's also super unique. Right?
Blak Makk (11:36):
Yeah.
Matt Andrews (11:36):
It's a guy that comes out with freaking
mannequin legs. That that'sweird as hell. And if you're
gonna stumble into that, you'regonna go, what the heck? But,
again, earlier to the point ofbeing at a comic convention,
right, and and with a bunch ofpeople who are just passing by
and not necessarily a vessel,what's going on? If you stop in
the ring and you see a guythat's making an entrance with a
jacket that has a whole lot offreaking, mannequin legs on it
(11:57):
and he's waving legs in the air,you're gonna go, you know, I
might stop and see what's goingon with that.
Blak Makk (12:01):
What is that? Because that's what I thought when I
first saw him. I was like, whatis that? And the more I paid
attention to it, the moreinteresting it got to me. It was
like I don't I can't explain it.
There was something that hookedme immediately because he was
doing that. And the
Matt Andrews (12:17):
good thing and the great thing is, like, he can go.
Right? Yes. It that's that's theother good thing. Right?
It that's no good to have a goodgimmick if you can't actually go
in the ring because then peoplestart stop losing interest. That
brings us to demo diamond, andthis is another person that I
think fans can really getbehind. And I think they can
mostly because, you know, here'sa fresh young kid, the new face
(12:40):
of, wrestling in Texas. Right?And he is, not just with Jamie
Aller next to him.
And now with that, he's got arocket strapped to his back.
But, here's a guy that got thelooks. He's got the charisma. He
knows how to interact with thecrowd. He's got the sides.
He's a believable presence inthe ring. And and and also he
(13:03):
can go. Right? We were justtalking about legs being able to
go. He can go in the ring, and Ithink people in the crowd can
respect that.
And you can see demo like he'sgotten on TV already with, I
believe in the t TNA, and, he'sdown in, ROW now in Booker's
place, and he's been on theirprogram as well. Sky's the limit
for him, and I'm I'm proud tosee what he does because I know
(13:25):
he hasn't been in the businessfor too too long, but he's also
he's he's rising, and he'sdefinitely somebody to watch out
for.
Blak Makk (13:33):
Most definitely. Most definitely. Yeah. You have a
lady on your roster. Mhmm.
By the I it's hard for me to notcall her Angel Blue because
that's how I know
Matt Andrews (13:43):
her. Right. Right.
Blak Makk (13:45):
But, Angela, talk to me about her rise. And first of
all, the MPX women'schampionship is a fairly new
talk about that and how that setthe stage for for ladies like
her.
Matt Andrews (14:00):
Yeah. Absolutely. MPX has been around for ages.
Right? 15 years, next year.
And, it's it hasn't had awomen's championship. And that
got introduced earlier thisyear. It was actually one of the
shows I was attending as a fanbefore I got back into MPX as
(14:20):
their ring announcer. And it wasa great one night tournament.
Angela Armstrong, or as she wasknown back then, Angel Blue, was
in there.
Shay Carmichael was in it, and,and Erica Torres as well. He
baby d was in that tournament aswell. I believe she kinda came
out of retirement, trying tomake history as being the, you
(14:42):
know, the the person to comeback and win that, championship.
And, Erica Torres ended upwinning it being the 1st women's
champion, which, again, all theaccolades and all the flowers to
her. Again, here's this is EricaTorres is a woman that, you
know, you see her social mediapost.
She knows how to how to talk agood game. She knows how to, you
(15:04):
know, call her opponents out,and she knows how to have that
charisma. But when she when thatmusic comes on and she comes
out, she's a silent killer. Andit's really intimidating to
stand across the ring fromsomebody even doing her
entrance. Just watching her comeinto the ring, there's no
fanfare.
There's no flash. There's onepose and that's it. But she
comes, she walks to the ring,eyes focus on the ring even if
(15:24):
there's no opponent, and it'skind of intimidating. So it's a
good presence to put somebody,to put the title on somebody
like her. And then Hilda had itfor a spell, and then Eric and
Torres got it back from her.
Again, great representatives andgiving the putting the belt on
Hilda. Again, listening to whatthe fans want to. Right? Hilda,
crowd favorite, somebody whoreally knows how to interact
(15:46):
with the with the MPX, addicts.And then putting it back on
Erica just to continue thatstory line to make a fight
between 2 top women, over thedivision's, top prize.
And then you have AngelaArmstrong who, again, as you
alluded to, you know her asAngel Blue, and that's what she
was for pretty much her wholecareer. She started back in
(16:09):
2008. She was electro blue andthen changed her name to
angelblue and kinda stayed thatway just up until this year. And
I think all of that just stemmedfrom needing to branch out,
needing to reinvent. Angela hadjust come back from, from major
neck surgery.
She was out of the game for 4years and came back as Angel
(16:29):
Blue, was able to convinceherself and everybody else that,
hey. I can do this as AngelBlue. And then as that keeps
going on, you start realizing,hey. I gotta change things up.
And sometimes you don't wannaportray somebody that you don't
feel connected to anymore.
And I think Angela lost theconnection to Angel Blue, and I
think a lot of the MPX addictslost her connection to angle
(16:49):
Angel Blue. I think they saw thesame person they'd seen for so
many years. And so byreinventing herself under her,
under under the name of AngelaArmstrong and becoming the
Alaskan assassin, somebody who'sa little bit more fun and a
little more, excitable and and,man, how do I sound like high
energy. Right? And, but butstill able to connect with the
(17:15):
fans and be herself.
And I think that's where theaddicts are really connecting
with her because Angela is ableto be herself, and she can be
one of the people. And I thinkthat's what people really love
about her, and I think it's agood choice to have her as a
champion. Absolutely. See herdefended a little bit more, but,
obviously, she's a busy woman.She's she's booked in a lot of
different places.
And so, you know, hopefully, wesee a little bit more of her
(17:36):
coming up in the next few weeks,but, I think Angela is a good
strong face. She's a veteran ofTexas women's wrestling. I'm
gonna continue on just a littlebit more about Angela. But like
me, when I started, I know wehad, you know, there was
Claudia, there was Jesse James,there were there were a handful
of other women wrestlers inTexas, and it wasn't like it is
(17:58):
now where there's so manyoptions. Morgan, Mercy, Nova,
Phoenix, Shay, Carmichael,Hilda, Eric and Torres,
Alejandro Lee.
I mean, there's so many people,so many women wrestlers in
Dallas now. But when I broke in,5th you know, 14 years ago, 15
years ago, it was Claudia, itwas Jesse James, it was Athena,
(18:21):
obviously, and it was AngelBlue. And for me watching Angel
Blue in that ring, like, that'swho I latched on to. And I
identified with her, and Iappreciated the way she could
work the crowd. I appreciatedthe way she interacted with
people.
Because that's something that Ithink is a lost art. I think
(18:41):
people do the moves to get thecrowd cheering. I think people,
you know, tell their stories inthe rain. They kind of get lost
in the moment. Right?
They kind of get lost in thefact that in the cinema of it,
but they also got to realizethat there's a live audience and
a live audience that'sinteractive. I'm a theater
graduate, and I understandworking in front of a live
(19:02):
audience. But it's differentfrom theater and the fact that,
like, they're interactive, andthey'll give you what you can do
with with certain things. And ifyou can play if you can play
around with them and then youcan you can trigger their
emotions by talking to theminstead of just working with
what you got in the ring, thatbrings your character up a whole
another dimension, and that'swhat Angela has always been able
(19:23):
to do. And so for the longesttime, Angela Armstrong, Angel
Blue was women's wrestling inTexas to me.
Blak Makk (19:31):
I you know what? I have to agree with that because
the first time I saw her like,when I go to wrestling shows, I
go to cheer, boo. You know? II'm a fan, but I try to be
invisible. You know what I mean?
Like, I don't I don't like youknow, the interacting stuff's
cool, but she's the first personthat I've ever seen just, like,
(19:52):
single me out. And I found thatfascinating. Like, how did you
look at me and notice and thenplay off me? And it's me trying
to be, like, not seen.
Matt Andrews (20:04):
Yeah.
Blak Makk (20:04):
And I'm seen, so now I have to react. And it's like,
come on. But she drew theemotion out of me, and that's
what made me a fan of hers isthat she actually got me to
react to her. And I would I wasmesmerized by that. And I I
became a fan of hers because ofthat, and you're absolutely
right.
(20:25):
The one thing that that gets melike, that's my fandom too. She
can work a room easily. Like,have people hate her from
beginning to end. Have peoplelike her from beginning to end.
She knows she knows how tomanipulate people, and it's it's
awesome to see.
It really is awesome. Because atat a certain point, it goes from
(20:48):
you being a fan attending theshow to being whatever she wants
you to be.
Matt Andrews (20:54):
Right.
Blak Makk (20:55):
Absolutely. It's awesome.
Matt Andrews (20:57):
I think you brought up a good point about
yourself here. You know, you'reyou're the fan that's trying to
be invisible. You're not tryingto be seen. And I think it's
it's low hanging fruit as awrestler to play to the audience
members that are there forthemselves. Right?
Blak Makk (21:13):
Right. Right.
Matt Andrews (21:14):
You know the fans that are in there that are
making the chance so that therest of the audience can laugh
Blak Makk (21:19):
at them. Yeah.
Matt Andrews (21:20):
And it's easy. It's easy to play to that person
because you're already giventhem what they want. And so, you
know, there's that. But it's acompletely different thing to
single somebody out who who'swho's just there to watch the
show. Right?
To enjoy the show, to just kindaenjoy the atmosphere, but then
you bring them into it when theyweren't necessarily wanting to
be, and that draws them in in acompletely different level.
Blak Makk (21:41):
Absolutely. Absolutely. And that that's one
of the it's one of the firsttimes I felt that. Like, as a
fan, I was just like, how didshe do that? Like, afterwards, I
was just like, how did how didshe do that?
Because I wasn't I wasn't reallytrying to interact with her. I
was just like I was just there,and
Matt Andrews (21:58):
it was
Blak Makk (21:59):
just like
Matt Andrews (21:59):
No. All of a sudden, when you're there?
Blak Makk (22:01):
Yeah. Now all of a sudden, I'm like, a focal point
of hers, and she's just, like,after me. And I'm like, stop.
Matt Andrews (22:11):
Stop. But also don't.
Blak Makk (22:13):
Yeah. Also don't. But
Matt Andrews (22:14):
Right.
Blak Makk (22:15):
You know? And this that's what made me a fan of
hers really, really truly. Andand she's a damn good wrestler.
Damn good.
Matt Andrews (22:22):
Very much so.
Blak Makk (22:25):
But I I wanted I wanted to shift gears. Actually,
let's go let's go about you.What what made you what made you
try out wrestling? What whatmade you say wrestling? This is
me.
Matt Andrews (22:38):
Alright. So do we wanna go, like, back to being a
wrestling fan or back to juststarting with MPX?
Blak Makk (22:43):
Actually, yeah. Let's go back to being a wrestling
fan. What what was what was themoment you were like, I'm a fan?
And then what was the moment yousaid, I wanna do this?
Matt Andrews (22:55):
So, I was 9 years old and in my, in my parents'
bedroom, channel surfing. It wasa Saturday morning, and I came
across on the USA Network, WWFSuperstars. And the main event
of that particular show thatmorning was the Heartbreak Kid
Shawn Michaels with JoseLothario in tow versus the 123
(23:20):
kid. And this was the day beforethe WWF championship match
against big daddy cool diesel atWWF in your house, good friends,
better enemies.
Blak Makk (23:30):
Yeah.
Matt Andrews (23:31):
That match, for whatever reason, and I got to
see it from beginning to end. SoI got to see Shawn Michaels
entrance. I got to see the 123kids entrance. That as a 9 year
old boy, I was like, that.That's cool.
I wanna do that. Not even Iwanna do that. I wanna be
invested in that. And, you know,as a as a as a kid, it's all
(23:52):
still real to you. Right?
And so I remember my dad and myparents were not fans of me
watching that. And my dad wouldtry to put the argument forth.
It's fake. It's fake. They'restopping when they hit.
And I remember I was 9 years, Iwas watching an own heart match
and I broke down into tears. Iwas so mad at him because I was
(24:15):
like, stop all your faith. He'sreally hitting him. He really
is. He's really in pain.
I it's such a vivid memory to methat I was I was in tears
arguing to my dad that they werereally hurting each other, and I
believed it for so long. Andit's not like it's not ballet in
there. We are actually hitting.We are actually hurting. But,
(24:35):
you know, now that you knowthings and you can peel the
curtain back a little bitnowadays with social media.
I mean, you you're a littlesmartened up into it. But for
me, I if I can go to a show andgo back to being 9 years old and
completely get lost in themoment and and forget and
understand that it's still realto me, that's what that's what
(24:57):
hooks me every time. And that'swhat I look forward to it shows.
As far as MPX goes, it was aCraigslist ad. It was a
Craigslist ad, and here I amcoming out of college, a
bachelor of arts degree intheater arts looking for an
acting job.
And, if you go into my 8th gradeyearbook, you will see that what
(25:21):
I wanna be when I grow up is apublic address announcer for the
Texas Rangers. So I wanted to bethe guy that said, you know,
playing second base, IanKinsler. I wanted to be Chuck
Morgan so bad. So bad. And soI'm scanning Craigslist looking
for the acting jobs, and I seethis post looking for a ring
(25:42):
announcer for an independentwrestling company.
It's like, you gotta be kiddingme. So so I I I answered the
email. I sent it in. There was alittle questionnaire to fill
out, and I put all that down. Isaid that, ideally, I'd like to
be a ring announcer, but I canalso be a manager, a referee.
(26:03):
I'd love to try to be an in ringtalent. And then I said, but I
definitely don't have the buildto be in the ring. But I have a
good mind for for story lines,for angles, all of that. I know
insider terms. And Stephen Kirbywrote back to me and he said,
Matt, the whole idea and thewhole purpose of MPX is that
(26:26):
none of us are necessarily theperfect fit for the wrestling
world.
We're just a bunch of guys thatwanted to do something that we
loved. We love the art ofprofessional wrestling. We wanna
learn the art of professionalwrestling, and we'd really like
to do it. So if you're on boardwith that, then come on in. I
was like, great.
That sounds wonderful. And so Igot to Kirby's house. There was
(26:50):
a ring in the backyard, and Iwas like, hey, I'm here to try
out to be the ring announcer.And I just sat there and
observed, and they got in, andthey were doing bumps, they were
running ropes. And I noticedthat the way that they were
falling, the way that they werebumping was a lot of when I took
martial arts, back when I was akid.
And, you know, you you learn toyou learn to fall. That's what
(27:11):
you do in martial arts. Youlearn to take falls and you
learn to to to get thrown. I waslike, I think I can do that. Can
I try that?
And, of course, they were like,yeah. Sure. Come on in. See what
you can do. And I I got it rightoff of the bat.
Like, I didn't didn't have anyof that, like, hesitation,
didn't have any of that, oh, yourolled instead, or oh, you
(27:33):
you're using your arms now. I Ihit that mat. I was like, oh.
Oh, I'm in trouble, and and Idid not wanna be a ring
announcer anymore at that point.I was like, I I need
Blak Makk (27:45):
I'm hooked.
Matt Andrews (27:46):
I need to be in this ring. I need to do this.
Blak Makk (27:49):
Yeah.
Matt Andrews (27:51):
And that's that's the story. And I was hooked.
Wow. Did it did it for 5 years,was able to be MPX champion, MPX
tag team champion as well. And,and then I retired 5 years after
I started because, I realizedthe wave of people was was kinda
surpassing me.
I did it for other reasons too.There were family reasons. There
(28:12):
were you know, you you wannastart a family. You realize you
probably shouldn't be doingsomething where you'd be
breaking legs, breaking armspotentially. Not saying I would,
but, you know, you wanna besafe.
And if you're gonna start afamily, you gotta be in 1 piece,
that kind of thing. And then Ialso realized that here's a
whole bunch of people that arecoming into this that their goal
is to be on TV. Their goal andthey're way better than I am.
(28:35):
Way better. I'll point to, IzzyJames, right off the bat.
And knowing that I was knowingthat I was taking, taking ring
time, not necessarily away fromIzzy because he get it booked on
the show anyway. But I thoughtof people like Izzy and people
that wanted to get booked at MPXbecause they realized that MPX
was something big. And I waslike, I shouldn't be doing this
(28:57):
anymore. My goal isn't to be onTV. My goal is to just roll
around in here and enjoy thisand do this as a hobby.
And there's other people herethat are taking this way more
seriously than I am, and theyneed the ring time more than I
do. So that's when I steppedaway from, the business.
Blak Makk (29:13):
That's a really honest that's a really honest
answer, and and look at yourselfto be to be real enough with
yourself to say that. That'sthat's admirable, actually.
Matt Andrews (29:25):
Yeah. It is hard. It was it was really hard. Still
hard. I would like to get backin there.
I think I think my goals havechanged now. But, of course, as
a ring announcer, I mean, thethe opportunities on the
national stage are way few andfar between, but I'd like to
still do that. But one of thegoals I do have, probably not
gonna happen this year, but oneof my goals for 2025 is to get
(29:48):
back in the ring, to actually dosomething. Not necessarily full
time. I'd like to have onemeaningful storyline, something
that actually matters.
I don't want just wanna go inthere as a nostalgic act or
whatever, one off, and I wannahave something that people can
sink their teeth into and givethem something to follow and
make something super memorable.
Blak Makk (30:07):
Excellent. Excellent. What what actually brought you
back?
Matt Andrews (30:12):
My son. Who's it? My son. So, I know I switched
locations from when we startedthe show and whatnot, but there
were paintings up there. And myson is huge into, art.
He's very big into reading. He'sbig into drawing, and he's big
into into comic book characters,which is a love that he and I
have. He likes Spider Man, sameas I do. Oh. And I wanted to
(30:36):
share another passion with him.
I had brought him to an AEW showwhen it came through the, the
call Caldwell Center, which it'scoming back to here in a little
bit. And I had also brought himto the WWE money in the bank
event where John Cena returned,for, Roman Reigns. That huge
(30:56):
pop. Right? I he got to seethat.
But then I brought him to MPX,And I brought him and I showed
him the, when we got there, itwas the attics championship. And
it was the one that Dexter,Hardaway had smashed with a
hammer, and it was broken, butit was displayed up at the
front.
Blak Makk (31:15):
Yeah.
Matt Andrews (31:16):
And I brought him to the 1st MPX show, and I
pointed that belt, and I said,that's the belt I held. That was
me. I was the champion. Andafter that night, all he wanted
to do is, I wanna go to MPX. Canwe go to wrestling?
When can we go to wrestlingagain? When can we go to
wrestling again? That's when Imade the decision to start
training to get back into thering. That's also the, the
(31:39):
moment that I realized, like, II have this thing to bond with
my son over, and I can't getthat. I get him on every
weekend, pretty much, just aboutevery weekend.
Mhmm. And that's our thing.That's our thing now. And, when
we got the opportunity to go toDestiny, I we we got to help set
(31:59):
up the epic. We got there earlyenough in the day.
There were chairs, and I told myson, and he was, like, asking
about wanting to to get in thereand do it. I was like, look. If
you're going to, you gotta startpaying your dues. And sure
enough, there's pictures of himgrab grabbing chairs, setting
them up where they needed to go.Right?
But it was at Destiny that, wewere setting up, and I kinda
(32:22):
turned to Matt Palmer. And I waslike, hey, Matt. What else do
you need from me tonight? Whatelse do you need? How else can I
help you out?
How else can I make the show asuccess? And he just goes, I
don't know, man. Do you do youwanna ring announce tonight? I
was like, yeah. Yeah.
I will. Absolutely ringannounce. He's like, do you have
a suit? And I said, I do nothave a suit on me right now, but
(32:44):
I will go run and get one. Andso I went and I spent $250 at
Target, got a suit coat andpants and shoes and a belt and a
shirt, and drove myself rightback to that place and, got in,
did the ring announcing, andthen I just kinda kept showing
up every Saturday with a suitand said I'm I'm here, I'll do
it.
(33:05):
And now I am.
Blak Makk (33:07):
That's awesome, dude. That's that's awesome.
Matt Andrews (33:11):
It's it's it's a ridiculously cool story to tell.
Honestly, now I think about itand stuff and
Blak Makk (33:15):
I was at that Destiny show. And Yeah. Think on the
epic, how do you guys get that?Because that's a unique spot. It
is.
But it works so well.
Matt Andrews (33:28):
Yeah. It does. As
Blak Makk (33:29):
a as a venue.
Matt Andrews (33:31):
It's great. And, the people at the epic were
fantastic. I'm not privy to thebehind the scenes talk of how to
book the, place for events andwhatnot, but I have been on an
event sales team. I used to workat a hotel and was very privy to
how you sell certain spaces andwhatnot. And I'm guessing they
kinda figured that, the Epic isa multi use recreational
(33:54):
facility with a lot of athletes,and so something like MPX is
going to be very, you know, it'sa good investment.
It's a good place to showcasethat kind of stuff. So, yeah,
great. I love the epic. I lovegoing to it.
Blak Makk (34:08):
I love it too. I I've been since since they've been
doing shows there, I've beengoing there.
Matt Andrews (34:15):
Yeah.
Blak Makk (34:15):
And another thing that you guys help out with is
Pro Wrestling Revolver. And howhow does that help your
relationship with those types ofcompanies? Because I know when
AEW comes into town, I know MPXhas, like, certain talent that
when they did this Arlingtonresidency, I saw a lot of MPX
talent in ROH and on, Dynamite.So how does that how does that
(34:41):
help your relationship with withthose companies?
Matt Andrews (34:45):
Yeah. You know, you if you if you think about
pro wrestling in the indieworld, this kinda minor league
ball, and major league ball.Right? You've you've got AEW,
TNA, ROH, WWE. That's your majorleagues.
Right? Right. Then you've gotplaces like Pro Wrestling
Revolver, ROW. I'm what else?GCW, places like that that that
(35:09):
people would know all across thenation.
That's your triple a ball.That's almost like the next step
up. Right? And then you've got,you got you got MPX, and I think
that's your double a ball. Andso when the double a team gets
to play a little with the triplea team, the major leagues start
to notice a little bit.
And, I think one of the greatthings about, partnerships with
(35:31):
Revolver is, our guys, the MPXguys, actually get to be in the
ring and do that. You know, youyou you see them on TNA or WWE,
and they're just extras. Right?There's they're the security
guards or Barrett Brown's beenposting clips of when he just
got tossed around by BraunStrowman, and that's what it is.
(35:52):
You know?
That's that's what they are.Right? Yep. But places like
Revolver, when they swingthrough town, they allow the MPX
guys to actually get in the ringand showcase their talent and
what they can do. So I think itworks as a great little, like
it's a showcase, for for them toto kinda get noticed by bigger
up and coming places.
Blak Makk (36:12):
Yeah. Absolutely. And even even in Texas as well,
with, reality of wrestling andMhmm. How how Booker's his his
presence alone just makes thatit's a good look when when you
see guys go to places like thator even with, with the Dustin
(36:33):
Rhodes Academy. It it justworks.
Question. Answer. Are we goingto see or is there a possibility
of a Dojo Wars featuring MPX?
Matt Andrews (36:51):
So I think that's I think that's an interesting
concept. Right? Because Yep. Youtake a person, you take a
wrestler, and you follow themaround to different
organizations and differentplaces. Right?
And it's like each of thesepromotions, it's like Doctor
Strange in the multiverse ofmadness. Every single one of
these promotions is their ownseparate entity. You take
(37:12):
Angela. Right? She is cheeredand beloved.
She's, she's a woman for thekids. The kids love her at MPX.
Right? They cheer her. They werecelebrating.
You take her out of that, andyou put her at SCP over in
Lubbock. And, well, actually,no. They still love her over
there, but you put her in, inhot hot pro hot pro wrestling
down in, down in Waco. Yeah.They hater.
(37:36):
They get the chance if Wacodoesn't like you. But it all
exists in its own bubble. Ithink it would be it'd be very
difficult to be able to pulloff. And I only say that from a
storyline perspective. Right?
Blak Makk (37:50):
Yeah.
Matt Andrews (37:50):
If you just if you just advertise it as a talent
versus talent, and you say thesepeople are representing their
certain places, then it's cool.ROW is doing that this weekend
too. Either this weekend or nextweekend or something where
they've put on their flyer likeExodus Prime representing MPX
versus Bryan Davidson. That'scool. That's the kind of stuff
(38:11):
that you wanna see as somebodywho attends MPX, as somebody who
wrestles for MPX.
You wanna see that the MPX guysare getting to a place where WWE
is now putting their branding onit. You know, Booker's place is
WWE ID, and now it's featuringMPX. Kyimi, what a shot for that
kid. Kaimi is a truly specialperson who I think has the look
(38:32):
and the makeup and the skill andand the presentation for TV. I
think he absolutely gets theidea of playing to the smallest
person, and and I think he'she's going places too.
Yep. He's got such apersonality, and he's gonna be
involved in that, ROW and thethe breakout thing too. So
(38:54):
really happy for him.
Blak Makk (38:56):
Me too. Me he's a he's a good guy. I I love him. I
love him. Last question beforewe get into some fun stuff.
Okay. This weekend, you haveAscension.
Matt Andrews (39:11):
Yep.
Blak Makk (39:11):
Speak on speak on the matches, man. What what we got
coming down the pipeline?
Matt Andrews (39:15):
Man, there are some crazy advertised matches
here. There's a lot of grudgematches coming up, which, I I
think this is a great one forpeople that have been following
storylines at MPX. Right? Rightoff of the bat, I think one of
the, the first matches that was,announced was, Michael Schafer,
(39:36):
the big kahuna, going up againstPauley Paparazzi for the attics
championship. And you haveMichael Schaeffer who was out of
action for a year.
Pauley Paparazzi's best friendat the time. Right? And then
Schaeffer went out. He went toHollywood. That didn't quite
work out.
So now he's come back, but thenhe turned his back on Pauley
(39:56):
Paparazzi and is now joined upwith House Sagan. And Pauley's
pissed. And so here's thisculmination of the bad blood
between these guys you've alsogot Tatum Manning and Adam Green
taking on, Tony Snow's newmonsters, Haster and, and and
(40:21):
hostage Hirsch. And I thinkthat's, you know, Tony Snow
finally can say that he's hadsome tag team success after
leading KOA to the, to the tagteam championships. And now he's
got 2 people that are, like,bigger and badder in that
regard.
And, you know, that's gonna be atough mountain to over overcome,
but, you know, you've got, I'msorry. Not Tatum. It's Adam.
(40:41):
That was at the last show. It'sAdam Green and sorry.
Hassard has had his problemswith, with Adam Green. And so,
with Tony Snow taking out AdamGreen, Green needs to find a
partner, and, of course, you gotthe brilliant one to win Cavins
there. So, that's gonna be areally dynamic and epic tag team
match. Good clash of stylesthere too.
Blak Makk (41:02):
Absolutely.
Matt Andrews (41:03):
And honestly, I think the match that I'm looking
forward to the most is Langleyversus Dalton Gray. So grimy
Dalton Gray who recently joinedthe scorn, actually trained with
Langley in the kids camps.Right? He he came up. You know,
you see Langley's mom postingthese pictures of Dalton and
(41:25):
Langley growing up.
And, of course, growing up forthem is, like, a couple of years
ago. But, you know, you you seethat, months ago, and this may
have been lost in the storyline.A couple of months ago, in a pre
show match, Dalton Gray wasgetting beaten down by Riley
Gryn in a pre show, and Langleywas the one that came out to
(41:46):
save him, which is great. That'sa good story. Right?
Two friends and all that. Nowyou've got Dalton Gray throwing
his head in with the scorn who Ihave. I I'm upset at them
because they were my kids'favorite wrestlers, the scorn.
And then for them to turn theirbacks on, his teacher, Sky, and
and put him through that, That'sa that's a really touchy subject
(42:10):
for me too because, not a bigfan of the scorn, not a big fan
of how they talk to my son whenhe's at the shows and how they
talk down to him. And, theygotta be careful to not cross
that line because I don't knowif I still got it, but I still
have the fury of a dad.
Right? Absolutely. So I got gotoff track there. But, yeah, he's
we've got Dalton Gray who'sjoined up with the scorn and,
(42:33):
and Langley going to be going atit in a grudge match. And you
saw last week where, Langleycracked the Kendo stick over
Dalton Gray's back, broke theKendo stick.
What a great moment too, andthat got a huge reaction as
well. Yeah. So, it's gonna be areally good weekend. I I I'm
excited for MPX. You oh, also,Trent Mercer is, is going to be
(42:53):
back.
And Trent Mercer, I like him alot. Good kid. Good talent.
Really love seeing him in there.He respects the business,
respects everything about him,and he's gonna be taking on
Matthew Palmer.
I haven't seen
Blak Makk (43:04):
Palmer Saturday? Yeah. Oh, wow.
Matt Andrews (43:07):
Gonna be in the ring. I haven't seen Palmer in
the ring since revolver, but,like, up close and personal in
an MPX ring, I haven't seen himsince I was a wrestler. So it
that's a that's a truly special,match for people to see. To see
Matthew Palmer in an MPX ringagain is is gonna be a fantastic
thing.
Blak Makk (43:25):
Absolutely. Absolutely. Shout out to Matt.
Matt Andrews (43:27):
Yeah. Absolutely. Awesome guy.
Blak Makk (43:29):
Awesome guy. But yeah, man. So Ascension, this
Saturday.
Matt Andrews (43:33):
Yep.
Blak Makk (43:34):
Doors open. Are you guys doing the, the early thing
again?
Matt Andrews (43:37):
Yep. Yep. Early access. And, oh, man. That
that's a beautiful thing.
I love that. For a while there,we were doing preshow matches,
which I think is great, and Ithink it's a good way to, get
people to see what, the trainingcamp is about because we do
offer training classes. And soto see the up and comers people
that are undertaking these, thislearning to get into a
(43:59):
professional wrestling ring, tosee how they've progressed and
to see what they're working on,I think this is a great
opportunity for them to do so.Plus, it gets you in front of a
live crowd. It might only be 15to 20 people to start out with,
but you gotta start somewhere.
Blak Makk (44:13):
Right. Yeah. It's I thought that was a that's a
pretty cool concept. Get inearly, and you get to see, some
up and comers, starting theirjourney. And
Matt Andrews (44:24):
Almost a little pull pulling back the curtain a
little behind the scenes.
Blak Makk (44:27):
Yeah. Yeah.
Matt Andrews (44:28):
I think that makes it special.
Blak Makk (44:29):
Yeah. That that's a really cool concept. It really
is. So, yeah, doors open at7:15. Right?
Matt Andrews (44:37):
If you buy the early access, pass, then, yes,
doors open at 7:15. Doors opento the general public at 7:30.
Show starts at 8.
Blak Makk (44:45):
Yep. So make sure go to, metroplex wrestling.com?
Matt Andrews (44:50):
Mpx wrestling.com.
Blak Makk (44:51):
Mpx wrestling. Sorry. Mpx wrestling.com, and then and
get your tickets there, man.
Matt Andrews (44:55):
So Yes, please.
Blak Makk (44:57):
Yep. So let's get into some fun stuff.
Matt Andrews (44:59):
Okay. I'm scared.
Blak Makk (45:00):
Don't be scared. So when when when I have when I
have guests on, there's a game Iplay called either or. And,
normally, I listen during theinterview, and I picked up on
one thing. And I wanna know howversed you are in congress.
Okay.
Okay. So I'm gonna say somecharacters. You say either or
(45:26):
for whatever reason, but I'mgonna start with the general.
Marvel or DC?
Matt Andrews (45:31):
Marvel. Okay. Without hesitation.
Blak Makk (45:36):
Okay.
Matt Andrews (45:37):
Cool. I, I I like that Marvel characters are
ordinary people that get putinto extraordinary situations.
Absolutely. The DC charactersare extraordinary for reasons
that you don't necessarily knowof immediately. Yep.
Their origin stories aren't asfun because they're like
(45:57):
Superman. I know that's a, youknow, that's a, almost an orphan
story. Right? Coming from aplanet, but he's already a super
powered person. Bruce Wayne wasalready rich.
And, yes, that's an unimaginabletragedy losing your parents, but
you're already rich.
Blak Makk (46:10):
You're already rich, bro.
Matt Andrews (46:12):
So that that's why I like it.
Blak Makk (46:15):
Alright. Cool. Good answer. Good answer. I like it.
It's a Marvel or DC. Alright.Now let's get into the fun
stuff. Mhmm. Thor or BlackPanther?
Matt Andrews (46:33):
Man, that's tough because that's that's almost
honestly, that's very DC like.Here's these 2 here's these 2
characters that already havetheir, their their flowers, so
to speak. Right? Thor's, Thor'sa demigod, and Black Panther was
already born into royalty. Ilike the culture and the
heritage behind Black Panther abit more.
(46:56):
I I just I follow along thestory of Black Panther a lot
better, than I do, Thor.Although, I do enjoy, the the
idea behind mythology, and Iread it a lot growing up as a
kid. But I just think, theatmosphere around Black Panther
and kind of the vibe aroundBlack Panther is just a lot more
(47:16):
modern hip and cool, and it's alot more fun to fall. Yeah.
Blak Makk (47:23):
I get that. I get that a little bit. A little bit.
Me, I probably I probablywould've said Thor.
Matt Andrews (47:32):
Yeah. I figured you would've. Just based on the
how you react to my answer.
Blak Makk (47:36):
I probably would've said Thor. Really. Really.
Alright. Jean Grey.
Mhmm. Or professor x?
Matt Andrews (47:47):
Oh, jeez. Both telepads. Both leadership
qualities. I go with Jean Grey.Jean Grey who I don't know.
(48:07):
They both endured some pretty,awful trauma, with, with family
members and stuff. But I I gowith Jean Grey just because of
the Phoenix character and thatentire storyline and how that
follows out. I'm I I like thatstoryline a lot better. I know
professor x has the, theonslaught deal and, you know,
(48:28):
losing losing his mobility inthe savage lands, which is also
a terrible thing. But I thinkthe idea of the Phoenix
character, plus Madeleine Pryor,plus, table being thrown in
there as, as kind of traumaticevents, along with mister
Sinister.
Like, I just it's it that'sthat's just a lot of beat down
for Jean Grey, and I'm always afan of somebody that can
(48:48):
overcome and persevere throughall of that.
Blak Makk (48:51):
Okay. I like it. I like it. Alright. Next one,
Elektra or Gamora?
Matt Andrews (49:00):
Elektra. And I Oh. I say yeah. I know. I know it's
controversial.
So I say Elektra, and this isthis is probably a more
controversial take than the factthat I just chose Elektra. I I I
liked, Ben Affleck Daredevil.
Blak Makk (49:17):
Really?
Matt Andrews (49:18):
I know. And and yeah. I know. I think it's
because it was cheesy for allthe wrong reasons, and it's just
one of those things where you'relike, man, this is so bad, but
it's also kinda kinda cool. Ilike the way they presented
Daredevil.
I don't necessarily like the waythey presented Matt Murdock, but
I like I like the way theypresented Daredevil in that. And
and the electric character inthat was was fun and led to led
(49:41):
to better parts for Elektra.Maybe that movie wasn't it, but,
you know, you see what happenedto Deadpool and Wolverine and
how she became a cult clad likea cult favorite just by
appearing in the movie. I'mlike, oh, man. Elektra's back.
That's cool. And it's like youonly remember the good things
about the character and not howawful everything was. You looked
at her up there and you're like,oh, man. That was a good
(50:03):
character. And then if you goback and you watch that movie,
you're like, okay.
Maybe maybe not, but cool to seeher anyways.
Blak Makk (50:12):
True. True. Alright. Last one. Last one.
Matt Andrews (50:15):
Okay.
Blak Makk (50:16):
Wolverine.
Matt Andrews (50:17):
Yeah.
Blak Makk (50:18):
Or Spider Man.
Matt Andrews (50:19):
Oh, Spider Man. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. 100% it's SpiderMan. I related and relate to
Spider Man in entirely too closeof a way. Just, the Peter Parker
thing and being bullied andbeing kind of the outcast, and
always wanting to be somethingmore and always wanting to stick
(50:41):
up for the, the guy that wasn'tthat didn't have anybody to
stick up for him.
Because I was always that guythat never had anybody stick up
for him. So I always wanted tobe the one to protect. And,
Spider Man's situation, PeterParker's situation of, like,
man, I really didn't want thesepowers, but now that I have
them, I have the ability to dosomething, and I should probably
(51:02):
do it. And that's kinda how Iview things in my life as well.
Like, I I know I have a goodvoice.
I won't say that I'm, like, thebest voice ever with a voice for
a voice over career, but, like,I know I've got a gift here, and
I know I should
Blak Makk (51:18):
do something
Matt Andrews (51:19):
with it. And if I've got something like that and
something that my son latches onto, okay, I should bring him to
that. So it's it's just a senseof obligation and duty and
knowing that the things that I'mgood at, I should probably
share. I heard on TikTok todaysomething that was really
profound to me, and it's alwaysweird how, like, the most random
(51:40):
TikToks end up being reallyprofound. Right?
Yeah. You never see you neversee an apple tree, eat an apple.
You don't see a pear tree, eat apear. You don't see a plum tree,
eat a plum. But that's becausethe fruit is not for the tree.
It's for other people. Right?And so here I am, I've got these
(52:02):
gifts and, like, maybe I don'tnecessarily believe in them,
but, like, they help otherpeople have a good time. They
help other people enjoy theirlife, escape reality. I'm the
ring announcer at MPX, and maybeI'm not the best one that has
ever existed.
We'll give that to Cody Cox,obviously. But, like, I'm having
fun. The other people are havingfun, and I'm a part of them
having fun with that. And Ithink that's a great thing, and
(52:25):
I'm happy to continue to keepdoing it.
Blak Makk (52:27):
That was deep. Sometimes deep. I like it. I
like it. I like it.
Alright, man. Let the peopleknow. Plug away. Some some
gratuitous plugging away. Goahead.
Let him Oh,
Matt Andrews (52:42):
man. Know what Alright. A whole lot of
gratuitous plugging away. So I'ma man of many many talents. I
also write about baseball for,WFAA.
You can find me on, x or Twitterat Fisher Writes MLB. That's my
shoot name. Don't tell anybody.But Fisher Writes MLB, that's
where you can find me onTwitter. You can find me on
Instagram because I used to be abeer blogger at easily bruised.
(53:06):
That's easily, e a s I l y,bruised, b r e w s e d. Because
that's punny and funny. You canfind me on Facebook at Matt
Andrews, and, you can find me onTikTok at the choice Matt
Andrews. I'll do I'll usually doshow, preshow things, like a
little 45 second snippet beforea show just to clue people in on
(53:30):
what's going on, and then I'lldo an MPX minute, either a
Monday or Tuesday after the showto let people know what
happened.
Blak Makk (53:36):
Awesome, man. Awesome. Anything else you wanna
leave with the people?
Matt Andrews (53:41):
Support the independent wrestlers, guys.
And, also, if you have if ifthose independent wrestling
companies have sponsors, supportthe sponsors. Because if you're
supporting the sponsors, you'resupporting the independent
wrestling companies. Absolutely.Wanna see them keep going, then
you need to show the supporthowever you can.
Blak Makk (54:00):
Absolutely. By the way, thank you guys for allowing
us to sponsor you. That was
Matt Andrews (54:04):
Oh, no. No. Thank you. Truly, really appreciate
having the No Givens podcastsponsor, MPX, and, this would be
week 3 for you guys, in a row,which super appreciative of it.
So, yeah, hope to see everybodyout there.
All the MPX addicts, go to mpxwrestling.com. Then come catch
Ascension presented by the NoGimmicks podcast.
Blak Makk (54:25):
Absolutely. And that'll do it for us here at No
Gimmicks. Thank you guys fortuning in. Until next time. You
guys be safe, enjoy each other,and peace.
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