Davey Richards, Tony Kozina, Kyle O’Reilly ambitious to get the hell out of Iowa after stretching kid, taking money
According to reports all over the Internet, including this one at The Wrestling Blog and this one from Angry Marks as well as this Wrestling Blog follow-up, well, a whole bunch of shit went down at a few independent wrestling shows in Iowa this past weekend thanks to Davey Richards, Tony Kozina, Kyle O’Reilly and a host of others. Here’s the synopsis, as best we can tell.
Friday night in Des Moines, Iowa, the 3XW promotion held its 7th anniversary show and featured Ring of Honor and indy stars Davey Richards, Tony Kozina and Kyle O’Reilly (Team Ambition) on its card. According to an account by an unnamed source who “works for” 3XW, the trio, plus a trainee they brought along, were all “totally professional.” The 3XW crew also helped these three and their buddy get booked on a couple other cards in Iowa that weekend to make their Iowa trip as worthwhile as possible. Good times all around.
Saturday night in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Magnum Pro Wrestling ran a show with the same threesome of Richards, Kozina and O’Reilly on the card. Kozina, who is known in certain circles as a bit of a hot head (which seems appropriate since he has no neck or shin bones and kinda looks like Ram Man from He-Man), was booked to wrestle 16-year-old Ryan Kidd, who probably made a fundamental mistake in posting to his Twitter account that he is the “fakest fake wrestler.” You know, some guys who make their living in pro wrestling take umbrage with that. Well, Kozina was one of those guys, and as you can see in this video, he took it out of Kidd’s hide, first verbally and then physically. (Same video as above.)
Remember when you were 16 years old, and some old meat head would start spouting off and turning beet red in your vicinity? It was a little scary, right? Imagine if his anger was directed at you. Now imagine if you were there because you were being paid to showcase your wrestling talents against a veteran of your chosen sport, and all he wanted to do was roll into town and legit kick your ass? If I were Kidd, I would have sacrificed my $10 tights and shit my pants in the middle of one of these holds.
Sentiment on the Internet is split right down the middle, if “right down the middle” means one guy no one’s ever heard of has come to Kozina’s defense, while everyone else in Creation has turned Kidd into the Gregory Iron of 2012. Says Toks Fale (I don’t know, either):
Toks Fale @KingFale
some wrestlers make a joke of wrestling. Just watched @TTKozina1 shoot on one of them. Make a mockery of this business you’ll be delt with!
And says TJ Perkins, the Young Bucks, Adam Pearce, Bob Shields, Scott Lost…
@KiddKillsCali what you’re doing, hitting the road…I can count on one hand the amount of guys from home willing to do that. Badge of honor
The Young Bucks @MattJackson13
@proudcaucasian @kiddkillscali @stlwc @jaysinstrife Nick was working when he was 14.
After seeing the footage, & regardless of why, what Tony Kozina did is reprehensible; totally classless. And I really respected Tony. #sad
Bobby Shields @RealBobShields
@JaysinStrife I also promise to not run off when paid if you book me. Lol
Reading tweets on this T.Kozina/@kiddkillscali BS. Ppl trying to justify shoot choking out a 16yo whos working is idiotic. #RingRingItsAWork
I’m not here to pass judgment, only to pass on the passing of judgment. So there’s that. Oh, but the weekend isn’t over yet!
So Sunday rolls around, and Adrenaline Pro Wrestling puts on its show in Milo, Iowa, with these same three known wrestlers and their buddy booked on the card. I’ll give you the short version of the story, but click here (https://www.facebook.com/notes/adrenaline-pro-wrestling/jeremy-jacobs-tells-his-side-of-the-story/453334748030943) for the long version, as told by the promoter. O’Reilly was claiming he was “sore” from yesterday’s workout and was hoping the promoter could shift the card around from three singles matches to an eight-man tag including their trainee. The promoter essentially said “no” at first, as he had planned to pay them a certain amount of money for certain matches to take place. He then offered to shift the card around and accommodate for the eight-man tag, but the wrestlers would need to take less money. Richards would have none of this, and he and the promoter texted back and forth, all the way up until showtime.
Team Ambition still hadn’t showed up nearly an hour into the card, so the promoter texted them to tell them not to even bother showing up. Or, as O’Reilly explains it:
After several back and forth attempts of an agreement, he simply told us we were then cancelled off his show. “You can’t just cancel us like this” Tony replied, “I just did” was his response. Let me remind you we are in the middle of a cornfield laden highway in friggen Iowa and we’re being told that we no longer have a booking for today and to just go home.
HEY, we’re not just friggen Iowa, asshole! (You can read his whole explanation here.) Oh, anyway, Richards informed the promoter that they were 20 minutes away, and when they arrived, they threatened to beat up the promoter, then demanded $375 up front, and then just before their match, Richards “realized” he “forgot” his “tape,” then high-tailed it out the door into a getaway car with Kozina at the wheel.
Since then, members of Team Ambition have Tweeted using the hashtag #TeamBandit, which of course have all been taken down, because, as O’Reilly said, there are #nocleanslates.
Oh, Adam Pearce weighed in on this one, too:
@JaysinStrife I think anyone robbing anyone is a piece of shit. In or out of wrestling.
Apparently Jaysin Strife of the Iowa independent wrestling scene agrees. Here he is, shooting on Team Ambition, following his match against Derek Cornell, a match that was supposed to be, after much shuffling, a tag team match with Strife & Cornell vs. Richards & O’Reilly.
Good lord, what is the deal with these guys when they get into Iowa? Bret Hart snaps on a poor writer, Andre the Giant beats up a cameraman, the legendary MMA-trained highly respected veteran Tony Kozina beats up a 16-year-old… I thought our slogan was that we make people smile?? Anyway, I would advise everyone to click each of these links and read up on all of the happenings, as my one post doesn’t do the whole thing justice. Needless to say, though, I wouldn’t buy a bright blue Cadillac from Team Ambition. Not even a used one. -Eric
Finally watched the video of the match. The kid should have just kicked the dumb fucker in the face as hard as he could when he was lying down at the beginning and ran for his life. (The mom acting like a UFC corner did crack me up.)