We’re all familiar with Mercedes Martinez’s sublime talents and skills in the ring by now, but what was she like as a young wrestler? Did she still have the ability to impose her opponent with just a look as she does now?
A select few will find out this Thursday, November 7th, when New England Championship Wrestling will be hosting a “watch party” at the Peabody Black Box in Jamaica Plains, Massachusetts, for previously unreleased matches that go as far back as 2001.
Early matches from the careers of Martinez, Matt Taven, and many others will be showcased. Following the action on the silver screen, former promoter Sheldon Goldberg (no relation to this Goldberg) and others will host a live question and answer session with fans at the event.
Not only does it allow the potential for newer fans to gain interest, it allows fans to see names they already recognize at a time before anyone really recognized them.
Joe Dombrowski and Sheldon Goldberg at the Cauliflower Alley Club reunion on Monday, August 28, 2023, at the Plaza Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Photo by Brad McFarlin
“Macho Man” wasn’t always so macho. Anyone who’s stepped foot in a ring for a major wrestling promotion has done so after proving themselves in rings where nobody knew them. Goldberg was the man behind NECW, and oversaw everything.
Among other notables, names like John Cena and Sasha Banks/Mercedes Moné (both from Massachusetts), Finn Balor/Prince Devitt (who had an aunt and uncle living in the area), Beth Phoenix, Mercedes Martinez, and Kofi Kingston tested themselves early in the NECW ring.
Goldberg told SlameWrestling.net that he has set out to do three things with this live showing Thursday: be representative of the history of NECW, have it structured like a wrestling show anyone might see on broadcast, and make a statement that the past is not irrelevant.
“We wanted to be a major player with major names.” Although NECW is in the rear-view of some of wrestling’s biggest names, origin stories are just as relevant today as ever. Wrestler promos often call on each other’s roots. And NECW signifies roots for wrestlers from all over.
Being so close to the border, Goldberg’s promotion also hosted a number of Canadian talents looking to make names for themselves, Portia Perez and the late Melissa Coates among them.
In the interest of being representative of the history of NECW, the eight selected matches represent different eras of the promotion, spanning 2001 to 2015. There were many other matches he considered putting in this first live showing, but he hasn’t closed to door on doing something like this again soon.
Having it be structured like a wrestling show not only allows for the build to the main event or starring attraction, but it also lends cohesion to the show and permits flow from one segment to the next. The only stark difference between this showing and other wrestling broadcasts is that different announcers highlight each match.
There are many ways to make a statement with an event like this. The past is not irrelevant. From the grandest of scales to even more minor events, history is where humanity learns what worked and what didn’t. It is therefore important “not to dwell on the past but stand on it.”
Throwbacks are always a welcome sight in the ring. There was the time Eddie Kingston once suited up for a match against Jon Moxley in an I Quit match wearing an outfit inspired by Misawa.
Having since authored two fiction books in his time after promoting, The Last Fall and its sequel After the Bell, Goldberg is still finding ways to both challenge himself and stay involved with wrestling. Almost 20 years helping create stars lends itself to coming away with enough stories to fill multiple books.
New England Championship Wrestling
A combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and his own health scare made Goldberg unable to continue promoting new live shows. But it is not a regret because Goldberg “got a chance to allow people to do what they wanted to do.” He saw many people overcome their fear of being in front of an audience, overcome their shyness, and become these confident, skilled individuals that they turned out to be. Without the NECW, “The Prototype” may have never transformed into John Cena.
Beyond just giving wrestlers a place to hone their craft, Goldberg wanted his promotion to do more: “NECW was the first modern promotion to have a weekly online show.” It was this consistency that gave the promotion staying power and allowed it to garner attention both locally in the New England area and all over with uploads to their website.
YouTube came around in late 2005, long after this promotion had already been hosting local shows. Goldberg can be considered a pioneer in a lot of ways. It wasn’t too long after NECW hosted match videos online that other promotions followed suit: “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”
More eyeballs can be reached with the internet because “videos open the window to the people outside the area.” But an event like this Thursday’s can bring new fans to ringside.
That imitation might rear its head again after Thursday. It wouldn’t surprise Goldberg if other indie promotions started doing something similar in the near future, as he himself stole the idea from a St. Louis promotion. But Goldberg did also mention that, although more views is never a bad thing, indie promotions are not out to be noticed by every set of eyes. It’s all for the love of the game. The passion rises above everything else.
Maybe, just maybe, there will be an aspiring wrestler in the theater Thursday whose name we might know in a few years.
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