Dynamo Pro Wrestling will be holding Stroke “Ain’t” No Joke, a professional wrestling fundraiser to benefit the American Stroke Association, at 7 p.m. Saturday, July 12th at the Sports Academy in Glen Carbon.

In April, former pro wrestler Kenny “Kenny G” Garrett suffered a stroke. Garrett had a career in the wrestling business that spanned more than 5 years. He began his training in California, spent some years in the independent circuit and essentially wrestled wherever he could, whenever he could. He was a man who helped advance many others’ careers and had a great impact on the lives of many in the wrestling world.

Thankfully, eight days after his stroke, Garrett was able to walk out of the hospital on his own. The only thing holding him back was a slight limp.

The incident left many of his colleagues feeling inspired. Luke Roberts, media consultant at Dynamo Pro Wrestling, was one of those affected.

“It’s one of those things that doesn’t hit you until somebody near you gets there,” Roberts said. “At that point, we all sat there and said, ‘We need to do something to promote stroke awareness.’ We needed to do something to make people aware that stroke is not just an older persons’ disease; I mean Kenny was only 53 years old.”

Originally, Garrett’s supporters had wanted to help the hospital that had helped Garrett after his stroke, but after that fell through, they came up with another plan.

“Through wrestling, we knew people at the American Stroke Association. We talked to them and put together this fundraiser with the one big thing being that a big portion of what we raise goes to them,” Roberts said. “It was one of those things where through a bad situation, another one opened up, and we can now do more on a bigger level, helping a national foundation.”

Garrett said it is very important to him as well to do something to give back.

“I want to try and enable people who are in my situation,” Garrett said. “As we’re finding out, people younger and younger are suffering from strokes. It was just something that struck me. It hit me so hard. I felt it was something I owed to give people who are suffering from this any assistance that I could.”

Dynamo Pro Wrestling does a good amount of charity work, but this is the first event they have done for a large charity.

Roberts said the reason the wrestling company picked this specific charity was he wanted to help others like Garrett.

“Kenny has been such a vital part of the company behind the scenes,” Roberts said. “There are a lot of guys in the professional wrestling business that have gained from what Kenny did. He had a lengthy career; he wrestled for 16 years. He trained his daughter, and he was one of the guys who really gave me the opportunity to step behind a microphone and get away from just being a wrestler and a referee.”

Garrett said this event has people gathering from all over the country to help support.

“We’ve got the greatest guys in the Midwest, from over in Kansas City to local guys here, to guys even coming up all the way from Florida,” Garrett said. “My daughter is even coming into town that day, taking a break from her busy schedule.”

Garrett’s daughter, Santana Garrett, Total Nonstop Action’s Brittany, will be joining the elite crew of wrestlers for this event. Garrett said he never expected his daughter to follow in his footsteps, seeing as she was more of a girly-girl. However, once she did, he was more than happy to train her.

Roberts said this event carries huge importance for not only the American Stroke Association, but for the wrestling company as well.

“I think this event has been a huge thing for our company because it’s allowing us to bring in wrestlers from other parts of the country and see if our guys match up,” Roberts said. “I would say this is one of, if not the biggest, event in my tenure with the company, and I’ve been here the better part of six years.”

Dynamo Pro was started in 2007 by two men who were previously part of Gateway Championship Wrestling, a premiere contemporary wrestling company.

In the seven years since the company was started, Roberts said it has grown by leaps and bounds.

“One of the biggest things is, in the past year, we have had a lot more as it relates to merchandising and DVD production,” Roberts said. “We’ve gone from one stationary camera at events, to running three cameras and a high-def stationary camera. Another thing that’s also grown is our talent base; when we started we’d have 20 or 30 people, and now we have 45 to 50 on our current talent roster. We’ve had wrestlers travel internationally, and several of our gentlemen have had tryout matches for the [World Wrestling Entertainment].”

Roberts said the amount of time each athlete puts into the business depends on which avenue of the wrestling business they have gone in to.

“As for the actual wrestlers, it’s unreal how much work they put in, going from city to city,” Roberts said. “But it’s not just the wrestlers; everyone who’s involved in Dynamo Pro gives 110 percent. There are a lot of long nights. For me personally, in my 24 and a half years in wrestling, I’ve been a wrestler, a referee, a time keeper, an announcer; basically, you name it in the wrestling business, I’ve done it.”

When it comes to wrestling styles, Roberts said Dynamo Pro has a little bit of everything.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who wrestle high-flying lucha libre style, who can do backflips and stuff that you would see in a Mexican wrestling style,” Roberts said. “Then we have a lot of guys in the mid-range whose wrestling style is very similar to those in the World Wrestling Entertainment and Japanese style; they go out there and they know it’s a sport. I’ve seen those guys knock each other silly with kicks and punches. Then we also have the heavyweight guys, they are at least 260 pounds, 6 feet 6 inches, and they are the ones who will go out there and do unbelievable things.”

Roberts said since Dynamo Pro Wrestling offers a variety of styles, this is the type of event that is truly family-friendly wrestling.

“It’s one of those where you can get the 5, 6, 7-year olds in the crowd who are just mesmerized by the John Cenas and the Undertakers or that kind of wrestling,” Roberts said. “But at Dynamo Pro, you can also have your grandmother come to the event and be just as much a part of the action as these little 6, 7 and 8-years olds.”

Roberts said Dynamo Pro Wrestling chose the Sports Academy as its venue for a number of reasons.

“This is where we tend to draw our biggest crowd. When we did our reunion show here, we put around 500 people in the Sports Academy,” Roberts said. “It’s also a great location for all of the organizations being a part of this because this area has the most dedicated, loyal fans. The people of the metro east, the riverbend area and this community in general, —when there’s a cause that comes out, we really rally together.”

Roberts said he hopes to be able to announce on the day of the event how much money the wrestling company raised and, shortly after, make a trip to the American Stroke Association offices to deliver the good news.

“We definitely want to make it a point in the next couple days, once everything is packed up and put away, to actually be able to go over to their offices, speak with their representative and say, ‘This is what we did, this is the money we raised and this is going to help,’” Roberts said.

Roberts said there are many reasons for people to come out to this event and support this cause.

“Everybody in this day and age knows somebody who has been affected by stroke,” Roberts said. “My biggest thing is the idea that, where else can you go to a professional sporting event, take your grandchildren and your grandparents, be within 50 feet of the competitors and at the same time raise money for a very worthy cause?”

This event, Garrett said, is for such a good cause and is shaping up to be everything they could hope for.

“There’s a lot of organizations coming together for this. It’s not a ‘me vs. you’ kind of thing,” Garrett said. “It’s everybody putting everything aside and coming together, and that right there makes me feel very proud.”

Doors to the event open at 6 p.m., with a start time of 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 if purchased in advance, $12 on the day of the event and $5 for children ages 5 to 12.

Caitlin Grove

Via alestlelive.com