By Nathan Kyght, PWTorch PPV Review specialist

It’s just canvas.

But, so is what you paint on.

It’s just wooden boards.

But, so is a stage.

To some folks, it’ll always be "just wrestling." But, as Diamond Dallas Page once said “to those that get it, no explanation is necessary. To those that don’t, no explanation will ever be enough." I think Alpha-1 Wrestling gets it.

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend shows from the up-and-coming independent promotion outside of Toronto, which is running a bonus card prior to Friday night's EVOLVE 11 show. And, I must say, I was impressed.

Owned by Julian Micevski, who wrestles as Ethan Page, and featuring a great roster of wrestlers you may not have heard of (including tremendous talents in Cheech, Ashley Sixx, Josh Alexander, tag champs Checkmate, Scotty O’Shea, and Psycho Mike), as well as a mix of wrestlers you certainly have (the two shows I attended featured Kevin Steen, Jimmy Jacobs, Michael Elgin, the WWE-bound Brodie Lee, and Tommy Dreamer), the company is building a name for themselves here in Canada.

“I feel like the crowd here is like the old ECW crowd used to be, just so passionate,” says commentator Jeff “Fat Jack” Goodridge, an instantly likable guy who is quick to go for a joke. “And, the boys bust their asses." He’s not wrong.

The feel inside the building the promotion runs in is tremendous; genuinely interested fans who are always ready to chant and keep the heat in the building at a top-notch as the show progresses. The comparison to ECW fans of old is not unwarranted.

The first show I attended was on the afternoon of the Super Bowl. It doesn’t take long for a chant to start that is three words long. The last two words are "Super Bowl.” The first word is not “love.”

Belltime approaches and the first wrestler makes his way to the ring, a familiar face to wrestling fans: Kevin Steen. He is an unannounced surprise and the crowd loses it, cheering uproariously and pounding their hands together. It’s like a family in there.

“I think that this promotion is really offering something different for the fans,” says Cheech, a nearby resident with a day job. “The fans are so enthusiastic and the guys work hard, and then we are lucky enough to have guys like Dreamer and Steen, guys like that come up and it makes the whole show that much more exciting.”

This from a man who a few hours earlier dove off of a balcony and put someone through a table. There’s no questioning the dedication these guys have for the company.

Later in the night, another familiar face arrives: Jimmy Jacobs wrestles a tag match and has the crowd hating him from the get-go. It’s a sight to see.

But, the crowd “gets it” that the animosity shown towards the heels (and occasionally the faces) is just a part of the show.

“Hey, Kevin! Thanks so much!” a fan calls to Kevin Steen as he heads to his car at show's end. Steen grins and shakes the guy’s hand: “No worries."

It’s that sense of camaraderie that permeates through the wrestlers. After the show, I sat back and watched that natural bond that arises between people heading for the same cause. The in-jokes, the laughs at the perceived "outsiders," something there isn’t quite a word for.

“We’ve had some great matches here and the crowd is always hot, and the whole show has an importance," says Goodridge. “We’ve never just thrown matches out there and had the guys in the ring not care. You can see the passion to it.”

Later on, a fan approaches Goodridge with an action figure made of him and he laughs out loud. “Awesome,” he grins at the fan.

Here, there are no barriers figuratively and literally keeping the fans away from the talent. At half-time, you can actually lean on the ring. During the matches, the wrestlers get launched into (and sometimes onto) the crowd. After Cheech’s balcony dive, some fans cleaned up the table so there was no debris lying around. To be fair, the fans had also been helpful enough to set the table up.

"I take a lot of photographs here and they’re cool enough to give us full access to ringside," says Ali Sear of Devil Bunny photography (you can see her Alpha-1 pictures on Facebook), “and the wrestlers are always nice about meeting the fans.”

I can attest to that. Whether the wrestlers were arriving at the building or the show was over, at the two events I attended, I didn’t see anyone turned away who wanted an autograph or a picture. Like I said, it’s a family in there.

The second event I attended was in early March, and featured a "Mortal Kombat" theme. The ringside people came dressed as various characters from the game, and a series of very well-received trailers were put on YouTube promoting the show. Santino Marella even gave his seal of approval when talking to Goodridge.

But, the fans that night appeared to be there for one man, and when he stepped through the curtains and struck that iconic arms outstretched pose, Tommy Dreamer invigorated a crowd that had an ECW feel at the first show I attended. The match, a tag with his partner Scotty O’Shea, was a perfect representation of what Alpha-1 wrestling is about: passion.

Chants of "Thank you, Tommy" echoed in the building as the three other guys in the ring did exactly what they knew they should do: make it the Tommy show. I thought Dreamer looked great for his role in the match, hitting all of his crowd-pleasing moves. Then, he stopped the the crowd from chanting “ECW” and made them chant, "Alpha-1."

Dreamer, of course, got the pin and the audience matched their pre-match approval for Dreamer's arrival. Looking genuinely happy, Dreamer asked for a microphone and summed up his thoughts succinctly: “You [expletive deleted] are insane."

The crowd roared its approval, and "Thank you, Tommy" chants came back in full. Dreamer talked up the company before heading to the back (stopping for one last pose).

“I’m looking forward to the year we have coming up, and I think that we are going to make some major leaps over the course of the next few months," says Goodridge, his eyes lighting up. “It’s exciting.”

And, it is. A very unique promotion, Alpha 1 Wrestling, is making a clear mission statement apparent: they want to be the Canadian wrestling promotion that people are talking about. The two nights I spent there were proof that it can happen.

[Torch art credit Joe Borzotta (c) PWTorch.com]

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