Post by Toom E. Guci on Dec 2, 2010 22:14:48 GMT -8
For almost 7 years, Impact Zone Wrestling was the most dominate & easily recognized independent wrestling promotion in Arizona. Many future top wrestling names passed through their doors on their way where they are today. Some most notable names being John Cena, Melina, Frankie Kazarian, Justin Roberts, & current WWE Heavyweight Champion the Miz. 5 of those 7 years were spent in Tempe, Arizona at the corner of Mill Avenue & Southern, where IZW resided in The Sets. Then suddenly, without any notice, The Sets closed their doors for good, leaving IZW to scramble looking for a new home. This actually hurt IZW to the point where they only did fundraiser school shows for a short period of time.
But this isn’t a story about the rise & fall of Impact Zone Wrestling. Not at all! This is a story about the talent brought into IZW each & every show for the fans to enjoy. Then men & women who started from the bottom, learning the ropes of professional wrestling, traveling the road for the sport they loved without sometimes getting a paycheck…these men & women who were paying their dues. Some of them still work within the wrestling business, some of them retired from the wrestling business, & some of them just flat out quit the wrestling business. In the coming weeks we shall look at a different former IZW superstar to find out where exactly they are now. And the first superstar we will introduce you to was a member of the Board of Directors for IZW towards the end. He was a man who if something needed to be done, he was there, ready, willing, & able to do what it needed to be done. This man was most definitely team player, having been a wrestler, a ring announcer, & a referee for IZW. He is also the first member of IZW I had the honor of befriending, never afraid to take advice or listen to the words of a fan. That man is Nick DeMicheal.
“I started training in August of 2004 & had my first in November of ‘04 against Jack Bull,” is what DeMicheal had to say about his career.
When DeMicheal first started for IZW, he did not wrestle under his name at all. In fact, fans didn’t even recognize him outside the ring, as DeMicheal was the masked super hero, Flood. As Flood, DeMicheal would gain his only IZW Championship in the form of the Tag Team Championship with his then partner, Miracle Mike James. When Flood & James lost the tag titles, it brought a whole new attitude for Flood…turning his back on James & on the fans. Things were not looking good for DeMicheal at the time, as he lost to James on April 26th, 2006, in a Hair Versus Mask Match.
After loosing his mask, DeMicheal decided to venture on in a calling from the all might savior & don his next gimmick…Lehi David Smith aka LDS. “I was a big fan of the LDS Gimmick. Funny thing is it was actually a character that Ryan Lynch told me I should do! So I give credit to him for the idea, I just ran with it and it worked out well!” And the reason the gimmick worked so well? Because DeMicheal had the microphone skills to make it work. Think about past religious gimmicks…Brother Devon & Deacon Batista did not go over well with the fans. Dustin Rhodes, Born Again Christian did not go over with the fans. But Brother Love DID go over with the fans & that’s because Brother Love knew how to rile a crowd up to hate him. And that’s exactly what DeMicheal did with his gimmick. But what made the gimmick work even more? The addition of Sister Destiny & Father Punishment to the mix, plus add in the fact that they were feuding with the most popular tag team at the time, Bump ‘n’ Grind. And in that feud, DeMicheal speaks very highly of the girls, especially one Erica D’Erico, “ I have to say Erica D'Erico is my favorite opponent. We clicked and I feel we put on the best male/female match you can really have. And I had a blast in my feud with Bump N Grind!.”
Of course, all everyone needs room to grow & develop more of a character. So in order to do so, DeMicheal decided to drop the whole Lehi David Smith gimmick & establish himself as Nick Furry…which did not go to well with the folks over at Marvel Comics, who had created Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. for their comic books back in May, 1963...way before the birth of DeMicheal. “I wasn't given a full explanation but I was told that Marvel Comics had contacted somebody and that I wasn't allowed to use the name because of copyright issues. I was unaware of the Marvel Character,” explains DeMicheal.
So DeMicheal became Nick “the Fury” DeMicheal. Then DeMicheal was given even more space to grow & form an alliance with the man who helped him create Lehi David Smith, the great Ryan Lynch. In this gimmick, DeMicheal admired Lynch just a tad bit to much, leaving the fans to question their relationship. “It was a strictly a business relationship, I was hired to watch and oil his back and make sure he was the longest reigning Impulse Champion, period” is how DeMicheal explains his job functions, while carrying around a framed picture, that he still owns to this day, of Lynch.
And even though it was a job for DeMicheal, that bypassed Lehi David Smith as his favorite. “Towards the end, I gotta say the Designer Swim wear, the Titanic techno theme, baby oil and Ryan Lynch was Awesome. I never had more fun with a gimmick! It was never a dull moment when me and Lynch were out there together!” adds DeMicheal.
Lynch unfortunately went on to lose the Impulse Championship & leave the IZW scene to film an independent movie, leaving DeMicheal a lost soul. In that time period, Greg DeMarco came aboard & brought the historical National Wrestling Alliance with him & as the liaison to the NWA, DeMarco was making changes not everybody agreed with. In fact, in New World Order style, DeMarco was using the NWA for the wrong reasons & trying to take IZW over. That’s when DeMicheal, after sitting on the sideline for some time, decided to make another path change. “My last role in IZW was as a Member of the Board of Directors. Greg DeMarco was running IZW into the ground (much like our current President is doing to our country)...& nobody else from the locker room had the guts to say or do anything about it, so I put my wrestling on hold to try to steer the IZW ship in the right direction! But we finally really hit the iceberg when The Sets closed down. IZW wasn't the same after that,” added DeMicheal.
With the disbanding of IZW & everybody going separate paths, DeMicheal decided for a change of scenery, as well. “I left (AZ) in July of 2010, currently in Florida. There is a lot more opportunity for wrestling here. Not sure if I will make it for the next classes, but I do plan on attending the Florida Championship Wrestling training classes sometime in 2011,” added DeMicheal.
And he has been working really hard at making himself better for wrestling, including dropping a few pounds. “The last time the IZW Fans saw me in a ring, I weighed 303lbs I'm down to 255 now so 48lbs my goal is 235, as we all know its kinda hard to lose it around the holidays!” DeMicheal mentioned.
And how did DeMicheal accomplish this? Jenny Craig? Weight Watcher? DeMicheal shared his secrets, “Pretty simple, I quit drinking soda, ate whatever I wanted just slowed down on the amount I was eating and, of course, a little working out in between that!”
But DeMicheal is very happy when it comes to looking back at his past. He’s traveled to many venues thanks to wrestling & can honestly say he’s seen the world. In fact, DeMicheal’s favorite location is all the way on the other side of the world. “Japan & Korea, for the reasons that I had had probably the best 15 matches of my career there! It was my first time overseas in general! and I got to grow closer and get to know some of the guys/gals outside of the locker room. Its’ a big difference seeing someone for about four hours every two weeks, and then getting to spend 10 or 12 hours outta the day for a month straight with them! It was a fun experience and I’d love to go back!” DeMicheal mentioned.
And in that tour of Japan & Korea is where DeMicheal has worked his all time favorite match outside of IZW, in which he worked with another IZW alumni…the late, great Peter Goodman. “My fave match outside of IZW was against Peter Goodman in Japan. We went about 18 minutes the first night we wrestled! The crowd was hot! Me and Pete were chopping/beating the hell outta each other and we were cracking our inside jokes during the match. Just overall the most fun I've had in a ring and put on a decent match at the same time!” added DeMicheal.
But inside IZW, DeMicheal very rarely had a chance to work with Goodman. DeMicheal reminded everyone that he worked with both male & females in the ring & that D’Erico was his favorite female, & he added, “My fave male wrestler to work was Lucha Starr. He's a smart dude and can make anyone look good, including me! We had some really good matches. I feel my best work in IZW was with Lucha. He is very underrated!”
One thing to think about though when coming up in the business is that you started as a fan. And DeMicheal, even when booked, was often seen in the audience, watching the show progress. So who was DeMicheal’s favorite IZW superstar to watch? “Hands down, Lil Nate! Always entertaining in and out of the ring, afrotastic on the mic and never seen one bad match of his! Always wish I got to work him in a singles match! It could still happen one day!” responded DeMicheal.
One day could happen. After all, the WWE did bring the original ECW back for One Night Stand. If IZW did the same, would DeMicheal be up for a part in the show? “Of course! I’d be the first to sign up. It'd be great to have to old locker room together, see them and all the fans one more time!” was DeMicheal’s response.
And if this was to happen, maybe DeMicheal could get a shot at the IZW World Heavyweight Championship? DeMicheal did remind us of one thing regarding the titles, “Only held the IZW Tag Team titles once. But to be fair to me, I never once received a World Title shot! And only got one shot at the Impulse title and one at the Western States title!”
DeMicheal did say he plans on attending FCW in the near future. And any diehard wrestling fan knows that FCW is the developmental territory for the WWE. Who knows…maybe one day we could see DeMicheal showing up on NXT. Then DeMicheal can show up on Raw or Smackdown, in which things can get even better for him, in which he has his eyes on who he would love to work with. “I would love to have a promo battle with the Miz! But I'm gonna say I’d love to work with Chris Jericho! Because he's the best in the world at what he does!” added DeMicheal.
So what exactly does the future hold for Nick DeMicheal now that we’ve caught up with him? “No one can predict the future, especially in the wrestling business. But expect me to make it out to Arizona at the least one more time. WWE is my goal. I'm only 24, I got a little time to get there! If I don't, that's okay because I've done more then I really thought I would do, and, hell I was on WWECW with Stone Cold. Even if it was only 30 seconds, I was still there! And I’ll never forget it!”
But this isn’t a story about the rise & fall of Impact Zone Wrestling. Not at all! This is a story about the talent brought into IZW each & every show for the fans to enjoy. Then men & women who started from the bottom, learning the ropes of professional wrestling, traveling the road for the sport they loved without sometimes getting a paycheck…these men & women who were paying their dues. Some of them still work within the wrestling business, some of them retired from the wrestling business, & some of them just flat out quit the wrestling business. In the coming weeks we shall look at a different former IZW superstar to find out where exactly they are now. And the first superstar we will introduce you to was a member of the Board of Directors for IZW towards the end. He was a man who if something needed to be done, he was there, ready, willing, & able to do what it needed to be done. This man was most definitely team player, having been a wrestler, a ring announcer, & a referee for IZW. He is also the first member of IZW I had the honor of befriending, never afraid to take advice or listen to the words of a fan. That man is Nick DeMicheal.
“I started training in August of 2004 & had my first in November of ‘04 against Jack Bull,” is what DeMicheal had to say about his career.
When DeMicheal first started for IZW, he did not wrestle under his name at all. In fact, fans didn’t even recognize him outside the ring, as DeMicheal was the masked super hero, Flood. As Flood, DeMicheal would gain his only IZW Championship in the form of the Tag Team Championship with his then partner, Miracle Mike James. When Flood & James lost the tag titles, it brought a whole new attitude for Flood…turning his back on James & on the fans. Things were not looking good for DeMicheal at the time, as he lost to James on April 26th, 2006, in a Hair Versus Mask Match.
After loosing his mask, DeMicheal decided to venture on in a calling from the all might savior & don his next gimmick…Lehi David Smith aka LDS. “I was a big fan of the LDS Gimmick. Funny thing is it was actually a character that Ryan Lynch told me I should do! So I give credit to him for the idea, I just ran with it and it worked out well!” And the reason the gimmick worked so well? Because DeMicheal had the microphone skills to make it work. Think about past religious gimmicks…Brother Devon & Deacon Batista did not go over well with the fans. Dustin Rhodes, Born Again Christian did not go over with the fans. But Brother Love DID go over with the fans & that’s because Brother Love knew how to rile a crowd up to hate him. And that’s exactly what DeMicheal did with his gimmick. But what made the gimmick work even more? The addition of Sister Destiny & Father Punishment to the mix, plus add in the fact that they were feuding with the most popular tag team at the time, Bump ‘n’ Grind. And in that feud, DeMicheal speaks very highly of the girls, especially one Erica D’Erico, “ I have to say Erica D'Erico is my favorite opponent. We clicked and I feel we put on the best male/female match you can really have. And I had a blast in my feud with Bump N Grind!.”
Of course, all everyone needs room to grow & develop more of a character. So in order to do so, DeMicheal decided to drop the whole Lehi David Smith gimmick & establish himself as Nick Furry…which did not go to well with the folks over at Marvel Comics, who had created Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. for their comic books back in May, 1963...way before the birth of DeMicheal. “I wasn't given a full explanation but I was told that Marvel Comics had contacted somebody and that I wasn't allowed to use the name because of copyright issues. I was unaware of the Marvel Character,” explains DeMicheal.
So DeMicheal became Nick “the Fury” DeMicheal. Then DeMicheal was given even more space to grow & form an alliance with the man who helped him create Lehi David Smith, the great Ryan Lynch. In this gimmick, DeMicheal admired Lynch just a tad bit to much, leaving the fans to question their relationship. “It was a strictly a business relationship, I was hired to watch and oil his back and make sure he was the longest reigning Impulse Champion, period” is how DeMicheal explains his job functions, while carrying around a framed picture, that he still owns to this day, of Lynch.
And even though it was a job for DeMicheal, that bypassed Lehi David Smith as his favorite. “Towards the end, I gotta say the Designer Swim wear, the Titanic techno theme, baby oil and Ryan Lynch was Awesome. I never had more fun with a gimmick! It was never a dull moment when me and Lynch were out there together!” adds DeMicheal.
Lynch unfortunately went on to lose the Impulse Championship & leave the IZW scene to film an independent movie, leaving DeMicheal a lost soul. In that time period, Greg DeMarco came aboard & brought the historical National Wrestling Alliance with him & as the liaison to the NWA, DeMarco was making changes not everybody agreed with. In fact, in New World Order style, DeMarco was using the NWA for the wrong reasons & trying to take IZW over. That’s when DeMicheal, after sitting on the sideline for some time, decided to make another path change. “My last role in IZW was as a Member of the Board of Directors. Greg DeMarco was running IZW into the ground (much like our current President is doing to our country)...& nobody else from the locker room had the guts to say or do anything about it, so I put my wrestling on hold to try to steer the IZW ship in the right direction! But we finally really hit the iceberg when The Sets closed down. IZW wasn't the same after that,” added DeMicheal.
With the disbanding of IZW & everybody going separate paths, DeMicheal decided for a change of scenery, as well. “I left (AZ) in July of 2010, currently in Florida. There is a lot more opportunity for wrestling here. Not sure if I will make it for the next classes, but I do plan on attending the Florida Championship Wrestling training classes sometime in 2011,” added DeMicheal.
And he has been working really hard at making himself better for wrestling, including dropping a few pounds. “The last time the IZW Fans saw me in a ring, I weighed 303lbs I'm down to 255 now so 48lbs my goal is 235, as we all know its kinda hard to lose it around the holidays!” DeMicheal mentioned.
And how did DeMicheal accomplish this? Jenny Craig? Weight Watcher? DeMicheal shared his secrets, “Pretty simple, I quit drinking soda, ate whatever I wanted just slowed down on the amount I was eating and, of course, a little working out in between that!”
But DeMicheal is very happy when it comes to looking back at his past. He’s traveled to many venues thanks to wrestling & can honestly say he’s seen the world. In fact, DeMicheal’s favorite location is all the way on the other side of the world. “Japan & Korea, for the reasons that I had had probably the best 15 matches of my career there! It was my first time overseas in general! and I got to grow closer and get to know some of the guys/gals outside of the locker room. Its’ a big difference seeing someone for about four hours every two weeks, and then getting to spend 10 or 12 hours outta the day for a month straight with them! It was a fun experience and I’d love to go back!” DeMicheal mentioned.
And in that tour of Japan & Korea is where DeMicheal has worked his all time favorite match outside of IZW, in which he worked with another IZW alumni…the late, great Peter Goodman. “My fave match outside of IZW was against Peter Goodman in Japan. We went about 18 minutes the first night we wrestled! The crowd was hot! Me and Pete were chopping/beating the hell outta each other and we were cracking our inside jokes during the match. Just overall the most fun I've had in a ring and put on a decent match at the same time!” added DeMicheal.
But inside IZW, DeMicheal very rarely had a chance to work with Goodman. DeMicheal reminded everyone that he worked with both male & females in the ring & that D’Erico was his favorite female, & he added, “My fave male wrestler to work was Lucha Starr. He's a smart dude and can make anyone look good, including me! We had some really good matches. I feel my best work in IZW was with Lucha. He is very underrated!”
One thing to think about though when coming up in the business is that you started as a fan. And DeMicheal, even when booked, was often seen in the audience, watching the show progress. So who was DeMicheal’s favorite IZW superstar to watch? “Hands down, Lil Nate! Always entertaining in and out of the ring, afrotastic on the mic and never seen one bad match of his! Always wish I got to work him in a singles match! It could still happen one day!” responded DeMicheal.
One day could happen. After all, the WWE did bring the original ECW back for One Night Stand. If IZW did the same, would DeMicheal be up for a part in the show? “Of course! I’d be the first to sign up. It'd be great to have to old locker room together, see them and all the fans one more time!” was DeMicheal’s response.
And if this was to happen, maybe DeMicheal could get a shot at the IZW World Heavyweight Championship? DeMicheal did remind us of one thing regarding the titles, “Only held the IZW Tag Team titles once. But to be fair to me, I never once received a World Title shot! And only got one shot at the Impulse title and one at the Western States title!”
DeMicheal did say he plans on attending FCW in the near future. And any diehard wrestling fan knows that FCW is the developmental territory for the WWE. Who knows…maybe one day we could see DeMicheal showing up on NXT. Then DeMicheal can show up on Raw or Smackdown, in which things can get even better for him, in which he has his eyes on who he would love to work with. “I would love to have a promo battle with the Miz! But I'm gonna say I’d love to work with Chris Jericho! Because he's the best in the world at what he does!” added DeMicheal.
So what exactly does the future hold for Nick DeMicheal now that we’ve caught up with him? “No one can predict the future, especially in the wrestling business. But expect me to make it out to Arizona at the least one more time. WWE is my goal. I'm only 24, I got a little time to get there! If I don't, that's okay because I've done more then I really thought I would do, and, hell I was on WWECW with Stone Cold. Even if it was only 30 seconds, I was still there! And I’ll never forget it!”
