Dux & Wylde: Putting Wrestling Back in Professional Wrestling

I recently worked a PWA-Extreme show in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. I was on the 2nd match on the card, so, I actually got to watch the rest of the show - which I don’t get to do too often. I went out into the crowd for the main event. It featured Tyson Dux and Derek Wylde. What I ended up witnessing was a match that gave me goose-bumps.

For all you international O’sters out there that don’t get to witness Ontario talent first hand, you’ve heard these 2 guys’ names on Tha O Show a lot. If you ever get a chance to see them work, you’ll know why they are heralded on the site as 2 of Ontario elite workers.

Like I said, I rarely get to watch an indy show nowadays. To be honest, I don’t like to. There are a few guys that I really like to watch (i.e. Dux, Wylde, Crazzy Steve, Jake O’Reilly, and Otis Idol, just to name a few). But, for the most part, I’m extremely critical, and end up picking apart everything I watch. By the end of a few indy matches with local greenhorns involved, I’m pretty spent, and don’t want to watch anymore. After watching Dux and Wylde in Guelph, I was also spent ... but not from criticism ... I was spent because they took me on a 20-minute emotional roller coaster ride.

I had the unique opportunity to watch the match from the crowd. I don’t recommend workers do this. I think it cheapens wrestlers when they are seen sitting in the crowd with the marks. This is why I assumed the position behind my merchandise at the merch table. If I ever watch a match in the crowd, that’s where I do it. Anyways, I say that this opportunity was unique because the venue was quite small, and I got to listen to the reaction of the crowd to the match, rather than just watch the action from a distance behind a curtain. When I critique my own matches, I base the success of the match on crowd reaction. Well, with Dux and Wylde there was nothing to critique. It was simply awesome. The reaction was incredible.

The match had everything it was supposed to have. It had solid mat wrestling. And I do mean solid. None of the predictable one armed arm-ringer crap you see on most indy shows. This was true mat wrestling. Tyson is great at it. And Wylde stayed with him every step of the way. I’ve watched a lot of Wylde’s matches. And I’ve wrestled him numerous times myself. When he’s on, he’s really on. On this night, I sensed something extra in every movement. He was on, baby. And it showed.

After the very believable mat wrestling, the match slowly built into a brawl. Again, it was believable brawling. The timing was there. It wasn’t your stupid back-and-forth 'strong-style' forearm crap that you see every Saturday on an indy show either. There was no 'spots.' It was work. In it’s truest form. If you listened to Tyson talk about brawling and timing this past week on Tha O Show, you would have saw Tyson practicing what he preaches in this match. Both these guys had a phenomenal fight. Not one time did the fans scoff at what they saw.

On that note, the lack of 'scoffing' played a major role on this show. Because the venue was so small, the crowd was very very very close to the action. One whiffed shot and the crowd saw it. Wrestling fans seem to watch matches just waiting to see someone whiff a shot so they can say, 'See, I told you it was fake.' I watched a few other matches on the show, and every other match I saw had a whiffed shot. It only takes one phony shot to lose the crowd. Dux and Wylde didn’t lose the crowd this night.

Eventually, the climax of the match saw Dux and Wylde exchange chops, punches, kicks, and by the end of it, the crowd was drawn into the action. I caught myself getting excited as they exchanged blows and the crowd slowly got to their feet. At the height of the crowd reaction, the action unfolded into some brilliant near falls and the crowd was foaming at the mouth. So was I. I was loving it.

The match ended with a beautiful Death Valley Driver, and was a nice clean finish to end a night of great professional wrestling. No run-ins. No distractions. Just a nice wrestling match with a nice clean finish.

This match was exceptional not only because there was great work going on this the match, but because the boys were going in there with nothing. Meaning - there was no 'build-up.' There was no 'angle.' There was no obvious 'feud' in the fans’ eyes. Besides the maybe 10-12 internet marks that know both these guys’ history, the crowd didn’t know these guys. To go in with no story and have the crowd eating out of your hand by the finish, is a testament to the talent of these 2 individuals, and their ability to create magic with a slowly dying art-form.

Plain and simple - I was proud to be a wrestler after watching this match.

I was extra proud because of what both of these guys have done for my career. I was trained by Derek Wylde. He taught me everything I needed to know to get started in this business and gave me my first break in the business in FSPW in Niagara Falls. I was proud to be his student on this day.

Likewise, I have learned a lot from Tyson Dux. As I’ve said in the past, I’ve learned so much from Tyson from a psychology stand-point. I continue to learn from him to this day. I learned a tonne just watching his match on this night.

In the end, I got excited watching a wrestling match. And that doesn’t happen to me too often anymore. It made me just want to wrestle. Just get in there and giv’er. A great match will do that to me. This one did.

Anyways, I felt compelled to write this article because of how much both of these guys have done for me in my career. And, because they deserve more recognition for being such hard working wrestlers. They worked their butts off in front of 120 people. It was magic. I was so proud.

Ontario indy wrestlers are so very lucky to have these 2 veterans around. I’ve been in many other territories across the U.S. and that is one thing many locker rooms lack - a veteran who really knows what they’re talking about. As Ontario talent, we are lucky to have these 2 individuals in our midst. The sad thing is, they shouldn’t be in our midst, as they should both be on TV somewhere making a living from the pro wrestling business.

If you ever get a chance to see Wylde or Dux live ... don’t pass up the opportunity to go see them in action. You’ll be brought on a roller coaster ride. And you won’t be disappointed. These two definitely put wrestling back in professional wrestling.

Until next time O’sters ... Just Gi’ver.

Cody Deaner

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