Darwin Finch and The Resistance

When Jacques and Gabe Baron announced the debut of The Resistance, one of their stated goals was to bring in new talent from all over. One of those new wrestlers was Darwin Finch.

I was "On the Beat" and getting interviews at The Resistance's debut Chapter One: Creation. Finch was one of my first and that can be found at On the Beat With Darwin Finch.

Finch's gimmick of a science guy was interesting. Although not necessarily unique, Finch somehow made it feel fresh. In all honesty, that's all you can really want from a wrestler. Pretty much every gimmick has been done, but the key is to make it your own and somehow breathe life into it. Finch accomplished all of that.

Finch doesn't look all that imposing, although he is in good shape. His scheduled opponent was Barrington Hughes, a huge man who had to outweigh Finch by at least 200 pounds. The challenge in that match is to make it look believable and competitive.

I was very impressed with Finch's work. Of course, there were some predictable moments of the little man trying to match strength with the big man. That's a classic, but Finch added a few twists. He also included a few excellent athletic moves on offense. Finch had the fans believing he could win.

In the end, Hughes beat Finch, but both men deserve praise for putting on a great match. The Baron brothers deserve praise for bringing in both men and setting up this match.

Good things are happening at The Resistance. The next show is Friday, May 4. Chapter Two: Revelations is a "Star Wars" theme night. Several new names have been announced and more will be coming. Check The Resistance Facebook page for all of the info and check here for recurring coverage.

Darwin Finch and me in Summit, IL-February 2018.

On the Beat at The Resistance Chapter One: Creation

The Resistance debuted last Saturday and it was a great start for the new wrestling company.  I was optimistic about Chapter One: Creation, but I didn't really know what to expect.

I did know that co-owners Jacques and Gabe Baron were working hard to make The Resistance unique and really fan-interactive.  I saw a lot of online polls and voting for wrestlers, matchups, stipulations and other fun stuff.  I saw a lot of social media hype from the incoming wrestlers, most of whom I had never previously seen in person.  Still, it remained to be seen how it would all come together on show night.

I am happy to report that Chapter One: Creation surpassed my expectations.  The show was exciting from start to finish and the fans were really into it.

Aside from being the debut, this show presented other challenges.  The Baron brothers introduced a wheel, which selected fans would spin to determine match stipulations.  With 24 options on the wheel, there really was no way for wrestlers to prepare for their match.  They had to deal with whatever the wheel spin produced.  As exciting as this was for fans, it was a challenge for the wrestlers, but they all did great.

I have to applaud all of the wrestlers a bit more.  They were all very polite and fan-friendly.  They seemed very happy to be there.  It was a lively, positive group.

The crowd was a bit bigger than I expected.  They were all hoping to win one of the raffles to actually be part of the action.  Longtime wrestling fans Eric Joseph Larkin and Jim Strong got to be a manager and a ring announcer, respectively.  I talked to them afterwards and they were legitimately giddy about the experience.

Another interesting thing about the fans was how they cheered.  As my broadcast partner Tommy Else and I talked about in our interview below, there were a lot of times when the fans seemed to be cheering for everyone.  I think that speaks to the wrestling talent and how hard they were working.  Nobody took the night off one bit.  The fans just cheered for it all.

Despite the frenzy of the first show,. I was able to get some great interviews.  We lead off with John Skyler, the Heavyweight champ  of The Resistance.  We also got co-owner Jacques Baron to give us his thoughts.  The very unique Darwin Finch gave us a few minutes of his time to discuss his style in and out of the ring.  Last (and not least), I got Tommy's thoughts on the night as we wrapped up the show.

It was an excellent first event, but of course, The Resistance has a lot of work to do to keep the momentum going.  Fortunately, I truly believe they will.  There was a real buzz in the air Saturday.  I have a lot of faith in the Baron brothers and everyone else involved.  I think they have created something unique and I am excited to see this all develop.