Behind Summit 1

As I continue to develop my take on Philly Wrestling, I’m always thinking of ways to get more involved with the region’s wrestling community. A few years ago, I decided to go beyond coaching in my free time. I had coached for over thirty years and I felt I could make a difference in other areas of the sport. Philadelphia has a long history of wrestling but it hasn’t been shared too much.

I reached out to the Wrestlers In Business Network, Philadelphia Chapter. They were struggling. The chapter was dormant. As of December 1st, there were seventeen members. Mike Moyer, the executive director of the National Wrestling Coaches Association, a longtime friend, and former boss, asked if I’d be interested in joining a newly formed board. He told me that my friend, Mike Medrow, was joining.

“I’m in,” I told him.

Medrow and I go way back. We wrestled against each other in junior high school. We became friends. We ended up attending Shippensburg University together. We were teammates, roommates, and fraternity brothers. We’ve been friends ever since.

What better way to spend my free time than with a life long friend? As it turns out, I’d end up making many more friends in the next month and a half. Things would ramp up real quick with WIBN and the planning of Summit 1.

WIBN Chapter Chairman Jake Hunter assigned Mike to be the Events Committee Chairman with me, Anthony Stagliano, Randall Braunfeld, and Jeff Bowyer on his crew. Our task was to come up with an event to kick off the revamped chapter and to help drive membership.

I immediately knew what would bring eyes to and interest in the Philadelphia wrestling community. I had been watching events on Rokfin involving Regional Training Centers(RTCs). I thought that we might be able to do that ourselves if we made a connection with the Pennsylvania RTC.

At our first Events Committee meeting, Josh Bailer, the Chapter Vice Chairman spoke about what we need to do to bring interest to the chapter. His idea? Host a RTC event! His buddy, Pennsylvania RTC Executive Director, Brandon Slay, was looking for help in creating an event.

The stars could not have been more aligned. I barely waited for Josh to finish talking before I told him, and the team, that I was in…all in to help create this event. That night, we got the ball rolling with ideas and task assignments. It was the beginning of a long, steep climb. As everyone was discussing the game plan for moving forward, I texted an old friend to see if he’d be interested in helping out. Bryan Hazard is a professional and one of the most talented wrestling announcers in the country. When he texted me back, “I’m in! Just tell me when and where,” I knew Summit 1 would end up being a great event.

We all had something to do. Anthony, Stags as he is affectionately known, would take care of banners and branding. Randall would take care of COVID protocols. Jeff, or Peanut, would help with a timeline and day of event duties. Mike and I would fill in the gaps, find a venue, and help create the card. Jake and Josh would push sponsorship and get the rest of the board involved.

The main purpose of having certain athletes on the card was to get them matches when most competitions had been cancelled in the last year. The RTC athletes needed to compete. Coach Slay took care of all the Senior Level match-ups. PRTC Coaches Roger Reina and Bryan Pearsall took care of all the U23 match-ups. The high school match-ups were left to me and Mike to fill in.

After identifying a handful of high school student-athletes committed to attending the University of Pennsylvania, we went to work on finding opponents for them. Some of their opponents featured several local wrestlers who happened to be nationally ranked. In an interesting turn of events, UFC fighter Deron Winn expressed interest in announcing at Summit 1. As it turns out, he is also coaching at Gilroy High School in California. He brought four highly talented athletes to Philly for the event.

With help from local coach, Mike Crowley, the high school card came together relatively quickly. Mike was instrumental in helping us fill in gaps when high school athletes had to pull out for one reason or another. The matches did not disappoint.

Erin Vandiver, the head women’s coach at Wyoming Seminary, and Chris Ayres, Princeton’s head coach, helped us put together a marquee high school women’s match. Chloe Ayres versus Ava Bayless was a highlight of the high school card. Both Ayres and Bayless are ranked among the top ten female high school wrestlers in the nation.

The U23 card development went smoothly as Coach Pearsall and Coach Reina knew exactly what their athletes needed. Reaching out to the Lehigh Valley Wrestling Club, Spartan Combat RTC, and NYC RTC, they were able to find quality opponents for their athletes.

WIBN board member, Leigh Jaynes, had a idea early in the event planning that we all fully supported. With the meteoric rise in women’s wrestling popularity, we wanted more female match-ups on the card. Leigh came through when she was able to get Skylar Grote and Enas Ahmed to compete against each other at the Senior Level. Leigh is the head women’s coach at Delaware Valley University. She was also able to secure the very first women’s wrestling match for the Aggies, Erin Thomas versus Caira Jaynes. Both of those women’s matches in addition to the high school match-up between Ayres and Bayless were high action and high paced. The women athletes seem to let it fly when things get going on the mat.

While we were working behind the scenes creating a high school card, Coach Slay was generating the Senior Card. Before he announced Mark Hall versus Nate Jackson, the WIBN Social Media/PR team was brought in to create graphics and a game plan for marketing. Mike Gadsby, one of the most energetic and creative people I’ve ever met, heads up the SM/PR committee for WIBN. Gadsby’s graphics were a highlight of the marketing for the event.

Once the posts started going out on social media, interest was generated. Senior Level athletes wanted to get on the card. Zac Bogle of Stalemates, a wrestling show that is a current sensation on several social media platforms, sent us a DM to see if we’d be interested in having Little Rock Assistant Coach Chandler Rogers compete. To me, this was a no brainer. Rogers has always been an exciting competitor. Of course we would want him on the card. Zac’s offer to help pay for his expenses made the decision an easy one. Rogers would be the first athlete to arrive at the venue. He was certainly ready to compete!

At this point, two of the Pennsylvania RTC’s top athletes had not been matched up. The team received a text from Coach Slay…”Vincenzo Joseph is in. He’ll be going against David McFadden.” This was a huge turn of events. We knew we had to put on a professional production with the level of talent headed to Philly. Now all we needed was someone to help us create a great show and a match-up for Joey McKenna, one of Philly’s finest athletes at this current time.

This would end up being the biggest challenge for everyone. Unfortunately, Joey wouldn’t get a match but we did find something for him to be involved. This would come to fruition after we found a visionary and the creative mind behind the production of Summit 1.

Micheal Vespa, the owner of MatLink, Mark Hall’s agent, and a former New York high school wrestler, was hired as our producer. Vespa is good at what he does. Really good. He knew exactly what he wanted to produce and he secured the talent to make it happen. WIBN Board Member Zac Pierce partnered with Vespa for the day of production. Although there were some technical difficulties in the beginning of the broadcast, Vespa was cool as a cucumber behind the scenes. He calmly worked through all the issues and produced a streamed wrestling event that could compete with any shown in the last year on any platform.

The idea of adding Joey McKenna to the broadcast team was a team effort. Once we realized that no one wanted to take on Joey for this competition, we decided that he could do color commentary. Admittedly, I had not heard him speak much before the day of the event. About two hours prior to the start, we had a short but in-depth conversation about his studies, his background, and his future. I was impressed as he talked and easily went from subject to subject without hesitation. At that point, I knew the broadcast would be awesome.

On the Tuesday before Summit 1, I got a phone call from Bryan Hazard. He said he was driving behind an ambulance that was carrying his wife to the hospital. He wanted to let us know that he might not be able to make it to the event! His wife had fallen and broken her arm and may or may not need surgery. I told him to hang up the phone and not to worry about us. I though to myself, “This man is incredibly professional and dedicated.” As it turns out, his wife did not need surgery and he was able to attend Summit 1.

After I hung up with Bryan, I immediately reached out to some of wrestling talented announcers. I’m a big fan of the Baschamania Podcast. When I connected with Justin Basch and he agreed to be involved, I knew this was going to be an special event. His post match interviews were great. I can only imagine how tough that job is when you have no idea who the winner will be and you need to be ready with questions for both competitors. Justin was incredible in this situation.

I could go on for another two thousand words writing about all the incredible people involved with this event. I’m just thankful for the relationships built across the board and the highlighting of the Philadelphia Wrestling Community. Photographer Justin Hoch, who’s pictures are shared in this story, was a special addition to the night. He perfectly captured the energy at the venue and among the participants.

I’m most grateful for getting to know Mike Palcko who owns the venue where Summit 1 was held. His staff at Name Your Sport and Underground Wrestling, and his generosity have been second to none. Mike’s son, Brandon, was featured in the first match of the event. With most of the people in the building pulling for him, Brandon won and avenged an earlier loss against a tough competitor. The joy and pride that his parents had that evening was palpable.

For the most part, Summit 1 was put together by a group of volunteers with a passion for the sport of wrestling. We could have set up a wrestling mat, turned on a camera, and streamed some wrestling. That’s not Philly though. We go all in. So many people put a lot of thought and energy into this production. The positive feedback is much appreciated.

I think this is just the beginning of more awesome things to come in Philly Wrestling. In this city, we believe in better. It seems as if a lot of people agree with that sentiment. When we started planning Summit 1, WIBN-Philly had just 17 active members. As I’m writing this story, that number is approaching 200. The Philadelphia Chapter is now the largest in the country.

Stay tuned…