But as has happened all too often in recent years, anogher death occurred this past week within wrestling

Ric Flair’s son Reid Fliehr died March 29, just after his most recent tour of All Japan had ended. There have been reports, including from Charlotte area media,that his death was the result of an overdose.

Fliehr was scheduled to join his father on a tour for the New England based Top Rope Wrestling in New England this weekend. He had been with Ric Flair at a Residence Inn in Charlotte, NC when his father found him non-responsive, called police, who (along with paramedics) pronounced him dead at the scene.

Reid Fliehr had well-known past issues with drugs, but had appeared to have straightened out his life, was working tours for All Japan Pro Wrestling, was doing well in the promotion, and had tweeted likely hours before his death on how much he was looking forward to the weekend with his father.

It goes without saying that his death adds another name to the ever-growing list of wrestlers who’ve died at a far too early age, all too many from the same reason. It seems especially sad for it to have occurred during the twin seasons of Passover and Holy Week, with their common message of deliverance and resurrection.

Condolences go out to the Fliehr family on Reid’s passing.

Now, back to this weekend.

Wrestlecon is the fan megaevent/series of wrestling shows/series of autograph events sponsored by Highspots and WWNLive taking place at the Meadowlands Expo Center on 355 Plaza Drive in Secaucus, NJ. The event convention will feature major wrestling guests, vendors, six shows of LIVE wrestling and more. It’s saef to say that the event will be the biggest weekend in indy wrestling history.

The Meadowlands Expo Center is only 3 miles from the site of Wrestlemania, five miles from Manhattan and minutes from the Newark Airport. It is easily accessible to those in New Jersey (and elsewhere) from the New Jersey Turnpike, Garden State Expressway, and is accessible by a wide variety of means of New York/New Jersey transit, including PATH, and NJ Transit.

Fair warning…bring lots of money. There are all sorts of different costs for different events. PLEASE consult the Wrestlecon site at Wrestlecon.com for a full list of costs and information. However, a VERY basic list of information follows.

If you’re going to attend the individual wrestling shows outlined below, you can pay for a individual ticket to those shows (ticket prices listed below). If you are attending the other events AT ALL…plan on buying either a single day admission ticket: $20 or a weekend admission for $30. Those get you into the Expo. Autographs and/or photo ops are additional, in some cases a decent amount. Some events have also chosen to add additional charges.

Here is the huge large WrestleCon schedule of events. Remember, check out prices BEFORE you go.

Friday, April 5

4:00 pm – 6:30 pm: EVOLVE (1st Row $50; 2nd Row $40; GA $25)
This event features a one day tournament to crown the first EVOLVE Champion. Each wrestler was given a seed based on their Record and standing on the Leader Board. Their seed is stated before their name and their Record is in parenthesis. The #1 and #2 seeds receive first round byes. The format for the tournament is:

Bracket A
* First Round Match/Four Way Freestyle: #5 Rich Swann (3-2) vs. #6 Samuray Del Sol (2-3) vs. #7 Sami Callihan (3-7) vs. #8 Jigsaw (1-3)
* Semi-Final: #1 Chuck Taylor vs. Winner Of First Round Match

Bracket B:
* First Round Match: #3 AR Fox (7-6) vs. #4 Jon Davis (5-4)
* Semi-Final #2 Ricochet vs. Winner Of First Round Match

* Tournament Finals to crown the first EVOLVE Champion with Bracket A Winner vs. Bracket B Winner

In non-Tournament action, a Tag Team Main Event: The Young Bucks vs. The Super Smash Brothers

Plus: Open The Freedom Gate Champion Johnny Gargano, Brian Kendrick, Uhaa Nation, Arik Cannon, Orange Cassidy & Drew Gulak of The Gentleman’s Club,-The Scene of Caleb Konley & Scott Reed with Larry Dallas

8:00 pm – 10:30 pm: Combat Zone Wrestling (1st Row $50; 2nd Row $40; GA $25)

* Main Event: CZW World Champion MASADA vs. the returning ‘Crazy Monkey’ Jun Kasai

* CZW World Tag champions The Catalyst (Dustin Rayz & Eric Ryan) vs. BLK OUT (Ruckus & BLK Jeez w/ Robbie Mireno)

* Sami Callihan vs. Brian Kendrick

* Drake Younger vs. Danny Havoc

* Stand-Up and Fight: – Colt Cabana vs. Greg Excellent

* Aerial Assault: Shane Hollister, Shane Strickland, Chiva Kid, Rich Swann, and AR Fox

* Ohio Is 4 Killers’ Jake & Dave Crist will face wXw’s Sumerian Death Squad, Tommy End & Michael Dante

* In an eight man tag, The Gulak Campaign will take on The Front

11:55 pm – 2:00 am : Kaiju Big Battel (All tickets GA $25)

Saturday, April 6

WrestlExpo – 9:00 am – 5:00 pm

10:00 am – 1:00 pm: Legends of the Ring “Classic” Superticket
10:00 am – Noon: Highspots.com presents Bret “Hitman” Hart
Noon – 3:00 pm: K&S Wrestlefest Superticket

Noon – 2:30 pm: SHIMMER Women’s Athletes (1st Row $50; 2nd Row $40; GA $25)

SHIMMER 53 will be one of several live pro wrestling events that weekend at the Meadowlands Exposition Center as part of WrestleCon. After the SHIMMER event on April 6th, there will also be full events promoted by both CHIKARA and Dragon Gate USA at the same location. Visit http://www.wrestlecon.com/ for more information on all of the festivities that weekend at the Meadowlands Expo Center.

***Steel Cage/SHIMMER Title Match***
(Champion) SARAYA KNIGHT vs. CHEERLEADER MELISSA

***Rematch from SHIMMER 52***
AYAKO HAMADA vs. “The Wrestling Goddess” ATHENA

***Rematch of SHIMMER 35 Main Event***
MADISON EAGLES vs. JESSIE McKAY

AMAZING KONG vs. MIA YIM

Also appearing SHIMMER Tag Team Champions THE CANADIAN NINJAS, SERENA DEEB, “Latina Sensation” MERCEDES MARTINEZ, “The World Famous” KANA
“Made In Sin” TAYLOR MADE & ALLYSIN KAY, RHIA O’REILLY, CHRISTINA VON EERIE, “Regeneration X” ALLISON DANGER & LEVA BATES, “Rate Tank” KELLIE SKATER, VEDA SCOTT & SHAZZA McKENZIE, TOMOKA NAKAGAWA, The debut of New Zealand’s EVIE, KIMBER LEE, and CHERRY BOMB

1:00 pm – 4:00 pm: Legends of the Ring & Lucky 13 “Gimmicks” Superticket

4:00 pm – 6:30 pm: CHIKARA (1st Row $50; 2nd Row $40; GA $25)

1) Who Will Be the Grand Champion of CHIKARA?

-In a recent blog by our Director of Fun, Wink Vavasseur, he made a proclamation that may change the landscape of CHIKARA for the foreseeable future. At every CHIKARA event the Grand Championship must now be defended! Current Grand Champion Eddie Kingston will make that title defense against another Gen1 CHIKARA original, Hallowicked. Will Kingston hold on to his precious championship, or will Hallowicked be the one to end Kingston’s record-breaking reign? Waiting in the wings for the winner of this match up is an anxious Green Ant, who challenges the winner in May.

2) How Do You Prepare for the Unknown?
-At “The Shoulder of Pallas,” Mike Quackenbush will try and keep his opponents guessing up until the very last second with an unknown tag-team partner. Who will Quack pick to face off against the thorns in his side, Jigsaw and The Shard? Will Quackenbush choose a former tag-team partner of his? Will he debut a new Wrestle Factor trainee? No combination has been able to defeat the self-proclaimed “dream team” of Jigsaw and The Shard…yet.

3) The Inevitable Clash!
-Ophidian has been haunted by Amasis at every turn, dating back to late in Season 11. Now, the clash that was bound to occur will happen at WrestleCon! These two former teammates (as The Osirian Portal) will tangle in Amasis’ return to a CHIKARA ring. Will Ophidian exorcise Amasis and his past, or will Amasis earn a measure of revenge against the man that tried to end his career?

4) Points In Play!
-One of CHIKARA’s most exciting matches has always been the 4-Corner Elimination Tag Team Match, and we’ll bring just that at “The Shoulder of Pallas.” Points will be in play and there is a chance that one team walks away with an automatic title shot at the prestigious Campeonatos de Parejas! One question remains, who are the four teams who will tangle for a chance for a shot to face our current Campeones?

5) An Awesome ANTomico!
-Director of Fun Wink Vavassuer named Soldier Ant the leader of a mysterious team for CHIKARA’s Florida weekend. The identity of Soldier’s teammates came in the form of The Colony: Xtreme Force. Missile Assault Ant, Arctic Rescue Ant and Orbit Adventure Ant all debuted in Florida and had their first taste of CHIKARA victory. Will Soldier Ant be able to lead his team of The Colony: Xtreme Force against his old teammates of The Colony (Fire Ant, Green Ant, and assailANT) when they join with Frightmare!

6) One on One!
-During the biggest weekend in all of wrestling, the stars will look to shine for “The Intergalactic Luchadora” Saturyne, as she takes on Kobald of the Batiri. These two met twice last season, once in tag action and once in singles action, with one victory to each competitor. Now, at “The Shoulder of Pallas” both will look to settle the score once and for all!

7) Returning at WrestleCon!
-It was early in 2013 that UltraMantis Black announced that he had undergone surgery and would be absent from action. Secaucus, NJ will now lay claim as the site for the return of the Great and Devious One! Absent from CHIKARA’s Season 12 thus far, UltraMantis will make his in-ring return at “The Shoulder of Pallas.” His opponent is yet unknown, but it may not matter as Black has deemed his return “The Re-Awakening” of UltraMantis Black.

8:00 pm – 10:30 pm: Dragon Gate USA (1st Row $75; 2nd Row $50; GA $25)

* Open The Freedom Gate Title Match: Johnny Gargano defends vs. Shingo
* Open The United Gate Title Match: CIMA & AR Fox defend vs. The Young Bucks
* Akira Tozawa vs. Ricochet
* Sami Callihan vs. Uhaa Nation
* Brian Kendrick vs. Rich Swann
* Jon Davis vs. Samuray Del Sol
* Six Way Freestyle: Chuck Taylor vs. Arik Cannon vs. Jigsaw vs. Tony Nese vs. Fire Ant vs. Shane Strickland

Plus more to be signed with: The Super Smash Brothers, EITA, The Scene

11:55 pm – 2:00 am: 5 Dollar Wrestling LIVE! (All GA $5)

Sunday, April 7

WrestlExpo – 9:00 am – 2:00 pm

9:00 am – 1:00 pm: Legends of the Ring presents the Ultimate Warrior
10:00 am – Noon: Highspots.com presents Bret “Hitman” Hart

1:00 pm – 2:30 pm: Dragon Gate USA

* Main Event #1 – The Six Man Tradition Continues: CIMA’s Team vs. Johnny Gargano’s Team (participants will be announced soon)
* Main Event #2 – Battle Of The Best: Shingo vs. Akira Tozawa
* Ladders Are Legal High-Flyers FRAY: Two competitors start. Another enters the ring every two minutes. Eliminations can take place at anytime by pinfall, submission or DQ. Ladders are legal once all participants enter. Already entered: Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson, Samuray Del Sol, Facade with more to be added!!!
* Special Challenge Match: Brian Kendrick vs. Chuck Taylor
* Tag Team Attraction: The Super Smash Brothers vs. Sami Callihan & Arik Cannon

Plus more to be signed with: Ricochet, AR Fox, Jon Davis, Rich Swann, Uhaa Nation, Christina Von Eerie, EITA,,The Scene of Caleb Konley and Scott Reed w/ Larry Dallas, Tony Nese

Then, on the evening of April 7, there’s this show you might have heard of…. called Wrestlemania.

Until next time….

If you have comments or questions, or if you’d like to add the AS I SEE IT column to your website, I can be reached by e-mail at the address above. If you’d like to add advertising on PWBTS.com (the flagship website of this column), banner ads are available for $400 for one year. These ads would appear on each newspage appearing on the newsboard. Cube ads are available for $200 for one year, which would be placed on the main newsboard page.

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