As Silas Young, Caleb Dewall came within an eyelash of accomplishing his lifelong goal of working in the WWE. Unfortunately, it never materialized. He had the look, the hype, the name and the ability. Even wrestling veterans like Danny Davis and The Brooklyn Brawler saw some raw talent in Dewall, but he was a victim of bad timing.
Like many aspiring young wrestlers, Dewall’s journey started with a dream. He was pretty much born into wrestling. There were times where his eyes were glued to the screen and every time one of his favourites such as Shawn Michaels, Ricky Steamboat or Ric Flair was in the ring, it would almost take a fire brigade to come and pry him away from the television set.
“1996 is probably the year that did it for me,” Dewall said. “I watched all these great matches and the nWo thing was probably one of the biggest angles in history. I thought to myself, ‘I can make money this way’ and from that point on, I was interested in pursuing a career.”
The Wisconsin native started training around the age of 19 or 20 with Chris Bassett and he admits to being very green at the time.
“I wasn’t very good, but I don’t think I was learning what I should have been,” Dewall said. “I had this jobber gimmick and really was just learning some basic stuff.”
Dewall also started training with Mike Mercury at the time, who had a hand in training current WWE star Mr. Kennedy. He found himself in a bit of an awkward position at first and didn’t think his career was going anywhere, but the words “give up” were not in his vocabulary.
Eventually he started to break out of his shell and started incorporating his own style into his matches. He underwent several changes, and thus, Silas Young was born.
“I was struggling to pick a name and somehow, it just came to me. I thought the name Silas sounded pretty good,” Dewall said. “I was doing things a little differently than most of the wrestlers in my generation. I combined a bit of old school wrestling with old school storytelling and I thought that it worked very effectively. I always tried to give the fans what they wanted.”
Being a fan of Ric Flair for so long, Dewall was heavily into the old style of picking a body part, or weakness as he called it, and working on that one area the entire match, which is something that isn’t done a lot these days.
It was finally Dewall’s opportunity to shine with the lights on bright, and that he did. It didn’t take the WWE long to notice his potential. He would always do what he was told, and that’s sometimes taken for granted these days.
“I had done some backstage stuff for the company. When action spills back there, I was always one of the random dudes standing around,” Dewall said. “I worked Val Venis in a dark match one time and The Brooklyn Brawler came up to me afterwards and told me I did a really good job. I also had a spot on TV against The Miz, which was really cool.”
Dewall finally got the call from Al Snow, telling him he was about to be sent to the WWE-affiliated Ohio Vallery Wrestling promotion after the Christmas holidays of 2007.
“I was really excited. It was a dream come true,” Dewall said. “I started to practice my promos every night before shows.”
Unfortunately, the dream would have to wait, as Dewall was called back a few weeks later and informed that OVW had closed down. Needless to say, Dewall was released. But the good news is that every cloud has a silver lining and pro wrestling is often referred to as the Hotel California, because you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave. Dewall was fortunate enough to be considered by the WWE, because that’s the big time and he knew that he would be considered anywhere else after that.
“I started working the small territories here and there and I did some shows for ROH,” Dewall said. “Currently, I’m having a really good time with the NWA Midwest.”
NWA Midwest promoter Ed Chuman definitely sees something special in Dewall. He thinks there are nothing but sunny days ahead and says Dewall’s in-ring ability is second to none.
“He’s my champ, the Midwest champ,” Chuman said. “He’s bordering on being brilliant in how he puts a match together and how he can make a guy look good in the ring.”
Chuman says everybody has their bad days in life, but it takes a real strong person to pick himself up and dust himself off and try again.
“I’ve watched him struggle for a long time, and I didn’t have any faith in him at all,” Chuman admitted. “Then all of a sudden, something clicked and the kid got it. Now he just proves himself to me every time I see him work. And he doesn’t have to put it together in the locker room. He can put it together in the ring like it should be.”
Although Dewall had a WWE deal for a cup of coffee, he kept his priorities in focus and didn’t let it get him down. He is the current NWA Midwest champion and at 28 years old, he still has a long way to go in his career. Dewall is out to make sure that the wrestling world hasn’t seen the last of Silas Young. At 5-foot-11 and 200 pounds, he is still in impeccable shape and can only get better from here.
“My biggest goal right now is to definitely get back to the WWE,” Dewall said. “I think I have a good future ahead of me and the next time I get back there, I won’t be denied.”
RELATED LINKS
- Feb 5, 2017: Silas Young: Listen to a real man
- Twitter: @lastrealmanROH
