When the final bell rang after the last match in Keystone State Wrestling Alliance history, longtime fan Bree Orner felt as if an entire community had officially been disrupted.
“I have been a KSWA fan for over 12 years. I got to know a lot of the people here, and I am sad to have to say goodbye,” Orner, a Ben Avon borough resident, said.
The popular Pittsburgh wrestling entertainment organization held its last event, called Fanfest: The Final Bell, in December. For fans like Orner and Lucas Thompson, also of Ben Avon, it was a sad day.
“KSWA was absolutely incredible. It was a staple in Pittsburgh, and the memories and matches will be there for years,” Thompson said.
Orner and Thompson have been well known fans in the KSWA wrestling community. People who attend the events – who are called “the KSWA Krazies” – and even wrestlers competing in the show knew them and communicated with them in the stands.
“KSWA was a great, family-friendly wrestling community that brought in tremendous local support and talented, sincere athletes,” Orner said.
KSWA had been the longest continuously running wrestling entertainment company in Western Pennsylvania. It got its start 25 years ago with events held at Peabody High School, and it put together more than 400 events over the years, according to the wrestling website Slam.
The KSWA events in recent years have been mainly held in the Langley American Legion building in Pittsburgh’s Sheraden neighborhood, where the owner of the building sometimes joined in as a wrestler. This final event drew a sold-out crowd of about 400.
Independent wrestling companies operate all over the world, including England, Australia, and India. One common characteristic is that the pay for the wrestlers is low.
However, indie wrestling comes with one big advantage over big-time professional wrestling corporations like WWE: the connection between wrestlers and fans. Shows are usually smaller, so fans and wrestlers are able to interact with each other and connect on another level.
“There’s nothing like independent wrestling. I love being ringside booing all of the heels, and they can really hear and interact with me,” Orner said. “I can also cheer on my heroes and get great responses from them as well.”
The card for Fanfest: The Final Bell, featured current stars of KSWA alongside seasoned veterans and Hall of Famers.
“The last show was sad but captivating at the same time,” Thompson said. “You knew it was the last one, but you couldn’t stop smiling and having fun. That’s just what KSWA was.”
Terry Hackett, a wrestler who uses the name The Sniper, has been wrestling with KSWA since 2012 with his tag team partner, Nick Crane, who is called Nasty Nick. They were known as The Mercenaries.
Hackett has wrestled for 31 years and is in the KSWA Hall of Fame.
“It felt great to wrestle in the KSWA and have the opportunity to wrestle with the great wrestlers they had to offer,” Hackett said. “I have wrestled in the KSWA for 13 years, and I wouldn’t have changed one thing.”
His lengthy career has given him plenty of opportunities for interactions with fellow wrestlers and the fans.
“I hated the fans, and they hated me back. I made a lot of new brothers in the ring and outside as well, and I will always have that,” Hackett said.
He said he had strong feelings as soon as he arrived at the final show.
“It was emotional from the time I pulled up to the Legion Hall till the end. My adrenaline started to pump when I saw the fans and how big the crowd was getting,” Hackett said.
And he got even more excited as the matches started.
“Seeing all of my fellow wrestlers that I haven’t seen for a long time, seeing the crowd at intermission – and then the alumni Battle Royal got me so pumped to give it all I had for one last time,” Hackett said.
One match was a Royal Rumble, in which all of the wrestlers started inside the ring and had to dump each other over the top rope.
This match had veteran wrestlers only, and it had really good characters involved, including LaLucha, The Assassin, and a funny luchador called the Drunken Lucha. Throughout the match, the Drunken Luchadore ran around outside of the ring with the fans while everyone else fought inside the ring. He later entered the match and eliminated himself almost immediately.
The winner of the rumble was Skippy Hawk, who had won the first KSWA championship over 20 years ago.
“It was incredible to see that guy in there again – and to win a rumble? It was crazy,” Thompson said.
Other matches featured the wrestlers Jru, who became a KSWA champion, Man Child, Handsome Harley, Yinza, Officer Dan, and BROhemoth – who became a tag team champion with his partner, Mitch Napier.
The big event was for the main KSWA title, which means the ultimate champion of KSWA, and it pitted Shane Starr against the Freak Show.
The match featured some really great moments, like when Man Child came out of the back and slammed Starr through a table. But in the end, Starr was able to win the match and come out as a champion.
Kris Kash also was featured, and fans were excited to see him because he became infamous after he jumped off the balcony of a building for a stunt around 10 years ago. Though Kash did not win, he helped excite the crowd with a few big stunts.
With KSWA shutting down, wrestlers and fans in the region can go to 880 Wrestling in the Allentown neighborhood or MVP Wrestling in Charleroi, where Hackett will continue his career.
But for one last night, KSWA brought the emotion. Longtime referee Jimmy James opened the event by throwing stuffed animals to kids in the crowd. Near the end, KSWA owner Bobby O’Neill gave James the bell that had been used to start each match.
O’Neill, who started KSWA 25 years ago, spoke to the crowd several times during the final event, thanking his family, the wrestlers, and the fans. Regarding the closing of his wrestling company, he pointed out that “Father Time” eventually catches up with everyone.
“It feels like the right time to shutter everything,” O’Neil said.
