MOUNT VERNON — It isn’t your typical Mount Vernon activity. In fact, it hasn’t been seen in the area in nearly 25 years.
Professional wrestling will return to Knox County when Ohio Championship Wrestling takes over the YMCA Sportcenter on Saturday.
And for it’s big return, OCW is planning a big splash with a championship tournament called The Luck of the Draw.
“The Luck of the Draw is a St. Patrick’s Day theme,” said OCW operator Jeff Lanham. “We’ve done this several different ways, from one-on-one matches to triple threat matches. … The winner of that tournament will get to choose any title in OCW that they want a shot at.”
Past winners have gone on to win titles. The current OCW champion, Kaden Assad, won his title after winning last year’s LOTD.
“We’ve used referees, the ring announcer, even the fans to draw the names for the tournament,” said Lanham.
On top of the main event, a triple-threat tag-team match (involving three tag teams) will decide the OCW Tag-Team Championship. The Noble Bloods, the reigning champs, will defend against the team of Joey Vengeance and Juice Jennings, and a team called The Rising.
OCW is an independent wrestling company based out of Coshocton. It employs about 30 wrestlers on its roster, virtually all of whom will be on hand, just in case their name is drawn for Luck of the Draw.
These wrestlers spent years preparing for events like this. It takes a unique brand of athlete to be a pro wrestler; after all, it isn’t exactly offered as a varsity sport in any Ohio high school.
Many of them train at the Big Guns Pro Wrestling Academy in Coshocton, where they undergo rigorous training.
