He glares out on the crowd with a look of disdain. Half of them are on their feet. All of them are booing. Several remind him, as they do every week, that they think he sucks. Undaunted, the man with a Master’s degree in Rec and Sports administration from Western Kentucky lifts the microphone and explains, a little slower this time, what he’s already tried to tell the OVW faithful.
“When I put my hand up in the air like this, and I bring my fingers together like this, and say, ‘Hush,’ you hush.”
He can’t even finish the sentence. The fans hear, “Hush!” and they lose it.
They hate “Superior” Tony Evans. They despise him and his towering, grim-faced bodyguard Jay DeNiro. They know all the times Evans’ broken the rules or used DeNiro to do his dirty work. They can give you the list of fan favorites he’s cheated: Kal Herro; Manny Domingo; Crixus (before he turned heel); and more recently, Luke Kurtis.
He never cracks a smile, but deep down inside, there’s nothing Tony Evans loves more than being hated.
Flanked by Jay DeNiro, Tony Evans prepares to tell everyone to “Hush!”
“He gets it,” said Jebediah Blackhawk, an OVW-trained wrestler now mentoring a new generation backstage. “Though he is a very personable and likable fellow behind the curtain, he is a natural heel, who has a gift for finding the right kind of heat, the kind you rarely see anymore. Brilliant promos, in ring presence and impeccable timing make him one of my favorites to watch.”
Tony Frank was born in 1994. He grew up in Irvington, a small town in Breckenridge County, Kentucky, and he discovered wrestling just at the tail end of the Attitude Era. He liked Degeneration X, and he later got into guys like Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, John Cena, and Randy Orton, but when you listen to Tony Evans speak, it’s obvious he had a favorite.
“I was always a Steve Austin guy,” he told SlamWrestling.net. “I get compared to his Ringmaster character a lot because I still have hair.”
At the age of 18, Evans moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky, enrolling at Western Kentucky University in the fall of 2012. He worked his way through school at a local Walmart, and he found a co-worker who was also a fan. “It wasn’t super cool to be a fan at that time. it was the middle of WWE’s PG era, so it was all kids and losers. But that was me.”
Evans’ co-worker was learning to wrestle at a local indie promotion. He invited Evans to come along and offered to let Tony get in the ring to run the ropes and take a few bumps, just to see if he liked it. In October 2015, Evans went to the show with his friend, expecting to scratch an itch and nothing more.
“The promoter came out and asked me if I’ve ever been in a ring before. I said, ‘No, just been watching since I was a kid.’ He he called me a liar and said I was getting a tryout that day,” Evans said.
Evans was a bit shell-shocked, but he wasn’t about to say no. He took a few months to wrap up some things he was doing on campus before he started training and wrestling full time.
“The promotion was called World Wrestling Alliance, WWA, out of Central City, Kentucky,” he said. “They travel in a loop, but pretty centralized in that area.”
After a few years working the WWA loop, Evans accepted an offer from Kentucky wrestler Derek Neal to hop in a car. Neal took Evans to a Prime Time Wrestling show in Paris, Kentucky, a show run by Legendary Larry D.
Evans continued to branch out. He worked for AWA New South in Franklin, Kentucky, TWV in Chattanooga, IWA Mid-South in Southern Indiana, and New South Wrestling in Alabama. “There are like 800 New Souths in indie wrestling,” Evans quipped. “Derek Neal stuck his neck out for me a few times. He’s a good guy, and a great wrestler.”
Another veteran who took an interest in Evans was “Amazing Maria” James. James met Evans at WWA, but they got to know each other better while working for IWA Mid-South. “Maria looked out for me in the locker room and shared a lot of guidance.”
Indie wrestling came to a screeching halt in early 2020 thanks to COVID-19. Being located in Indiana, IWA Mid-South was able to return to action before the Kentucky promotions, but both work and study at WKU kept Evans in Bowling Green.
Just as Evans was completing his Master’s, Maria James reached out and invited him to OVW. “She’ll always claim she got me here,” said Evans, “But I kept me here. Maria kept after Al [Snow], saying, ‘Give this kid a chance. He can do it.’”
OVW owner Snow challenged Evans to deliver a five- to seven-minute promo.
“He tells me to call out the champions and says, ‘Give me something to work with,’” recalled Evans, who took full advantage. “That was the birth of ‘Hush!’ That started everything for me.”
During the summer tour in 2022, when the Netflix documentary crew was on hand filming what would become the series Wrestlers, Evans really hit his stride. He was injured, and unable to wrestle, but they kept sending him out to cut promos. He insisted on being introduced as, “Stronger than your boyfriend, prettier than your girlfriend.”
Evans puts referee Dallas Edwards in his place. Edwards would body slam Evans later in the match. Photo by Lloyd Thomas.
As a mentor, Maria James could not have been prouder. “Tony has been one of the best additions to the OVW roster, his old school in ring style along with his ability to talk on a mic and command a room is amazing,” she said. “He always has a great attitude and is always there to help the younger kids who come in. When it comes to his in-ring work, he is selfishly unselfish and can work with anyone.”
The reactions grew louder every week. The more Evans told them to “Hush!” the more the fans hated him. Snow kept sending him out, letting the heat build.
And then, along came Jay DeNiro.
“I don’t even really remember how it happened,” said Evans. “Jay came up to me in the locker room before a show and said, ‘I’m with you now.’”
The mouth now had added muscle behind him. Tall and menacing, dressed like a wise guy straight out of central casting, DeNiro added a new dynamic to the Superior Tony Evans gimmick.
“It’s fun to put that element into my matches and kind of use him as that heavy,” said Evans. “I can talk my shit before a match starts, and then when the other guy gets in there, pissed off ready to beat my ass, I’ve got my hand on the back of DeNiro’s neck, just putting them right there in between us. For the longest time, I was winning all kinds of matches, but I’d never hit my finish. I didn’t need it. I had Jay.”
Evans had some stellar feuds with Crixus, Kal Herro, Star Rider, and Manny Domingo, but things went to the next level at the Nightmare Rumble in January of 2024. That’s when Mick Foley showed up and began grading the performances of the OVW roster. Foley gave fan favorite Kal Herro an A. He took a special liking to “The Veteran” Jack Vaughn, who began wearing a T-shirt that says, “Mrs. Foley’s Baby Boy’s Favorite Wrestler.”
But Tony Evans? He got an F.
Evans was furious. While Foley was not at OVW every week, Evans was consumed by the Hardcore Legend. He put on match after match, determined to impress Foley, to boost his grade to an F, but Foley wouldn’t budge. He saw through the cowardly heel’s tactics and kept sticking him with an F.
The feud came to a finish with Mick Foley finally having enough of Tony Evans and taking him down himself. Evans is proud knowing that, as of right now, he’s the last person to take the double-arm DDT and Mr. Socko from Foley.
Pairing Evans with Foley accomplished its intended purpose. Mick put Evans over bigger than ever, and he soon earned a shot at the OVW Heavyweight Championship. The title match took place at an outdoor show OVW aired live show from the Louisville Riverfront a few days before the Kentucky Derby. His opponent was a brand new champion himself, another rising star named “Certified” Luke Kurtis.
It was a hectic evening, to say the least. It was the first time OVW had run a live broadcast outside the Davis Arena. The weather was perfect, a warm but comfortable spring day by the water, but technical difficulties pushed the start time back from 7 to 7:30 p.m.
Tony Evans set for his OVW Championship bout with “Certified” Luke Kurtis.
Evans had no idea what the finish would be when he arrived at Riverfront Park. When Snow told him the plan, he had to step away for a moment and collect his thoughts. “Superior” Tony Evans was going over. He was going to win the OVW Heavyweight Championship.
“Dude, that was surreal,” Evans confessed. “I mean, I’m in there with Luke Kurtis, who is probably one of the top two or three people in the company to work with. He’s going to push you. I mean, dude is damn good. Being able to get in there and hang, neck and neck, and not look out of place was nice. And then then having EC3, a guy I grew up watching, right in the middle?”
Yes, fans, Tony Evans won the title with some assistance. EC3 has a beef of his own with Luke Kurtis and showed up to screw the new champion. That doesn’t change the facts. “Superior” Tony Evans had the faith of the company to become an OVW Heavyweight Champion.
“I mean, you know, it wasn’t too long. But that night will always be special to me.”
Things were changing rapidly in the late spring and early fall at OVW. Crixus, Evans’ former rival and a long time fan favorite, turned heel. He aligned himself with EC3 and his cadre of masked men, one of whom turned out to be OVW great Jamin Olivencia.
This new faction, this new Revolution, turned OVW programming upside down, forcing sworn enemies to band together as Team OVW. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” said Evans, referring to the uneasy alliance he and DeNiro have accepted at times with the likes of Luke Kurtis, Kat Herro, and others.
Unfortunately for the fans and wrestlers, Davis Arena was heating up as well. A particularly brutal summer pay-per-view forced management to make a tough decision and suspend their weekly shows until a new heating and air conditioning system could be installed.
EC3, a childhood hero of Evans, raises the new champion’s hand after providing the assist in defeating Luke Kurtis.
The newly remodeled — and renamed — Hotpoint Davis Arena will host its first live show of the new era on August 29. Tony Evans cannot wait.
OVW hasn’t been inactive during the shut down. The promotion has been on the road, continuing to branch out beyond the borders of Kentucky to new venues and new fans. But for Evans and everyone at OVW, there’s nothing like that weekly reunion, shaking hands and exchanging hugs backstage, and performing for one of the country’s most passionate fan bases.
“I don’t even know what we’re doing next week. Don’t have a clue. And then we’ve got the pay-per-view.”
Evans rarely knows what he’s going to be doing week to week, but he gets high marks from his peers and producers for his willingness to do whatever he’s asked. Case in point: a match that took place in Lexington, Kentucky, over the summer against Star Rider. Evans was told to bully referee Dallas Edwards, who is a full head shorter than Evans, until the ref had enough and body slammed him.
Edwards is not an OVW regular. He trains at Grindhouse Pro Wrestling in Jeffersonville, Indiana. He’s in demand every weekend, but this was his first time working with Tony Evans. “When they told me to body slam Tony, he just said, ‘Good luck.’ I was sure he was going to sandbag me. But when it came time to body slam him, he was light as a feather. He really is easy to work with.”
Like many who call OVW their home base, Evans has high hopes for the future. He loves his work at WKU. He’s the fitness coordinator for health and wellness, which means he oversees the fitness center used by general students, faculty and staff, overseeing everything from personal training and health classes to lab services. He’s also working on a second master’s degree in business administration.
Despite all that success, pro wrestling is still Plan A.
“I’m realistic enough to know that I’ve got to pay my actual bills,” Evans said. “I’ve got to pay my rent. I’ve got this 22-pound cat that relies on me to keep a roof over his head. But I would love to not have to have a job to support my wrestling habit. I would love for wrestling to pay the bills. I would love for wrestling to be the only thing that I have to do. Whatever direction that would go, whatever that would look like, whatever dollar figure or contract that would amount to be, I would just love to fall down for the rest of my life.”
OVW announcer and producer Bryan Kennison is rooting for him, even if he doesn’t say so on the air. “Tony Evans has earned every single inch in OVW. He had an opportunity on the microphone one night and parlayed that into one of the most entertaining acts on the roster,” said Kennison. “The really special thing about ‘The King of Hush Division’ isn’t just how he has elevated himself, it’s how he elevates everyone he works with. There’s a lot of talk about ‘The New OVW’ but it would be far less ‘Superior’ without Tony Evans.”
Evans is eager to keep the new OVW story going, to get in the ring and feel the shower of boos from the OVW fans. He knows he’s got a good thing going, and he’s eager to find out what’s next.
“I shared the ring with Paul Wight, The Big Show. I shared the ring with Mick Foley. I got a run as OVW Champion. It was just my first. It’s not the last.”
Luke Kurtis may have something to say about that.“ War after war with Tony Evans, and I can admit, he wears the name Superior well,” said Kurtis, “But he will never be Certified.”
Certified or not, “Superior” Tony Evans is not going anywhere. He’s ready for the next war. And if you’re not down with that, he’s got one word for you.
“HUSH.”
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TOP PHOTO: Tony Evans with Jay Diner. Photo by Lloyd Thomas.