Today, I want to introduce you to a gem of a promotion that I have gotten to experience here in the great state of North Carolina, Deadlock Pro Wrestling.
Deadlock Pro-Wrestling (DPW) is an American indie wrestling promotion, founded on November 1, 2021 by Anthony Douglas, James Darnell and John Blud. With an 8.53 Cagematch rating currently, Deadlock seems to have an extremely bright future ahead of them. DPW manages to bring in talent from all around the world and give their fans extremely high quality matches and fun evenings. With talents like Miyu Yamashita, Mizuki, Jungle Kyona and Rosemary, their womens division is diverse and giving fans of womens wrestling something for everyone. Their mens division is equally as strong, having the likes of Lucky Ali, Bojack, SB Kento, Alex Coughlin and Davey Richards all making appearances on shows.
With a clear interest in bringing high quality entertainment and the best of the best to their shows, DPW has absolutely impressed me both times that I have been able to go there. My first experience at DPW was their PPV World’s Strongest and I won’t lie, I only bought a ticket because Sumie Sakai, Jungle Kyona, Emi Sakura, Baliyan Akki and Mei Suruga were on the card.
Those 5 people sold me on the event before I even knew anything about the promotion. The second time that I went, I knew absolutely none of the special guests and went just because of how great the first show was. Going into the events blind and having no expectations, I was treated to two evenings worth of exciting wrestling matches. I won’t lie, DPW made me feel like I was watching Stardom or TJPW, they made that big of an impression on me.
I think what made the evenings even more special, for me, was getting to meet the wrestlers before and after the event. Everyone I had the chance to talk to made me feel like I was an important part of the show, that they do what they do for the fans and for the love of wrestling. Having gotten to meet and talk to the likes of Kidd Bandit, Baliyan Akki, Mei Suruga, Emi Sakura, Sumie Sakai, Bojack, SB Kento, Hyan, KZT, Raychell Rose, JD Drake, Anthony Henry, Jada Stone, Queen Aminata and Jungle Kyona.
I swear, I did not expect to meet any of those people and have a great experience but I did. I spent probably 20 minutes talking to Jungle Kyona and Sumie Sakai, both were the absolute sweetest women. Sumie remembered me from Twitter, which I was blown away by, and Kyona noticed that I wore my Hana Kimura memorial shirt so we talked a lot about Hana and Jungle herself. Jada Stone and Queen Aminata had an insane match at DPW’s first live show on their streaming service and then both women took the time to chat with me a bit. I am super excited to see where their careers go, I won’t lie.
Every match from both nights that I got to witness left me wanting more. There was no down match for me, everything was exciting and the matches absolutely blew my mind. The nights flew by seamlessly and without any hint of boredom. Honest to god, I am out of words that can express how amazing my two experiences with DPW have been. I am excited for the future of this small but mighty independent wrestling promotion and I encourage all of you to experience them for yourselves. Whether you subscribe to their streaming service, follow them on youtube or come to North Carolina to watch the shows live you will be left wanting more.