It’s been a while since SLAM! Wrestling checked in with “The Golden Boy” Jordan Clearwater and a lot has changed — professionally, but especially personally.
“As of March 23, 2023, I got married,” announced Clearwater for the first time. “I know Marc [Kruskol, Public Relations for the National Wrestling Alliance] … he probably didn’t realize this, but he reached out to me to schedule the interview for last week. And I was already on my honeymoon and I said, ‘Hey, I’m on my honeymoon. Let me get back to you when I get back into the States.’”
The wedding took place at the Sandals resort in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Clearly, things have been golden for The Golden Boy in the NWA since his debut at the Back for the Attack PPV in 2021. “I would say that my rise in the NWA has been…I’m hesitant to use any crazy words,” said Clearwater, “but I wanna say ‘meteoric’ in the sense that my career has really taken off over the last two years.”
Since the Back for the Attack PPV in 2021, Clearwater didn’t have much of a direction, and was featured in a couple of losing matches on the NWA Powerrr shows. “I came into the next pay-per-view, really having no direction,” Clearwater recalled. “I did a promo on Tyrus, and Austin Idol was managing him at the time, and after the promo, he [Tyrus] said to me in the back, ‘You’re pretty good. That was fantastic.’”
Clearwater was then paired up with BLK Jeez and they were involved in segments of NWA Powerrr featuring the Great American Smash. “[I was] walking out and handing Tyrus a rose on television and other ridiculous stuff,” he recalled, “but [it was] stuff that ended up making the home page of Google randomly. It was those kinds of things that really started to develop.”
It wasn’t long before he became part of the faction in the NWA known as IdolMania Sports Management (with Austin Idol at the head), in conjunction with The Church’s Money Enterprises (under BLK Jeez). “You couldn’t have asked for a more hodge-podge group,” said Clearwater, “but we all kind of bonded under the sense of unity and of competition and we all recognize the talents in each other. So that’s what really brought us together, and the rest of history.”
Since joining the faction, Clearwater has garnered more reaction as a heel in the NWA, and his highest reaction was winning one of the promotion’s signature singles titles. “The highest point so far in the NWA would be winning the NWA World Television Championship at Hard Times 3.” Clearwater was in a tournament for the vacated title Tyrus used to cash in to get a chance at the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. In the end, Clearwater faced off against AJ Cazana and managed to secure the win at the gold at the PPV at the end of 2022. “I think I had three successful defenses. I held the title up through February until I lost it to Thom [Latimer].”
But he also garnered gold through the United Wrestling Network, where he started his career. “I won what they call the Red Carpet Rumble, which is similar to the [WWE] Royal Rumble and it gives you a championship match.” The title was held at the time by Chris Dickinson, who defended the belt against Willie Mack. Then Clearwater came out for the opportunity. “I came out and almost cashed in like Money in the Bank. I said, ‘Hey, let’s fight for it.’ We had, maybe, a two- or three-minute match, and then I ended up beating him with the Midas Touch (big boot finisher).”
But that was not the only memorable moment of that night. “A little aside from what people don’t see on the cameras when I won the title,” Clearwater explained. “The whole day was very interesting for me because I was running behind getting to the show. I know David [Marquez] wanted to talk to me about the plans, but also, I learned that it was Aron Stevens’ last night in California.”
“He had come to watch me win the title,” he continued, “and he left me a card. It was a high school graduation card, which made me laugh. But on the inside, he wrote a very personal and sweet note to me that basically… I’ll sum it up for you is, you know, ‘Congratulations! This is you graduating high school now. It’s time for you to go into college.’”
“I had the chance to really hone and define my skills as the United Wrestling Network World heavyweight champion,” Clearwater mentioned. “I got to work a lot of my idols really: Chris Masters [Adonis], Frankie Kazarian, Carlito, Willie Mack; the list goes on. Not only was it like living a childhood dream for me throughout the championship run, but all of those guys taught me what it meant to be a main event player.”
Clearwater held onto the title from May until December 2022, when he dropped the belt to Danny “Limelight” Rivera. But there is another accomplishment he recently added.
“I just finished my Masters in Finance in December 2022,” he said proudly. When SLAM! first talked to Clearwater, he was just beginning that program. So how does one balance school with being on the road doing tours? “I’ll say it was one of the toughest things that I had to do. I spent a lot of late nights, a lot of red-eye flights to the NWA shows that I spent just working all throughout the entire night working on a paper, land, shower, go to the show, wrestle, get made up, get back, work on the paper, get a couple of hours sleep for 12 hours, get back at it.”
Speaking of getting back at it, Clearwater will be joined by 20 other wrestlers on NWA 312, on Friday, April 7, as part of the Bob Luce Battle Royale, vying for a chance to face off for the NWA National Championship. “I’m no stranger to battle royales or Red Carpet Rumbles, right?” asked Clearwater. “I’m ready to go. I don’t think there’s a single person that’s gonna be in that battle royal that can outlast ‘The Golden Boy.’”
NWA 312 is available on pay-per-view through Fite TV, airing live from Studio One in Highland Park, Illinois, on Friday, April 7, with a 9 pm start time.
TOP PHOTO: Jordan Clearwater makes an entrance. NWA photo
RELATED LINKS
- Mar. 19, 2021: Slice Boogie and Jordan Clearwater are ready to get Back for the Attack in the NWA
- Jordan Clearwater socials: Twitter * Facebook * Instagram
