It was alright. 

---

Ok. Now that we’ve covered that I need to get into something more important. Our beloved Sam recently posted a list of goals and expectations for 2026. These are things he’d like to accomplish as a wrestling fan and as a writer for this site. I love it and I think it’s a healthy and positive way to look at this hobby.

Having said that, I’d like to do something completely different. I’d like to chastise myself for not writing near enough in 2025. Rather than make promises of things I would like to do or cover for the site in 2026, less focus on the negative. Let’s focus on the ways I fell short last year. It is a special mix of laziness, procrastination, and bad luck. I have let down myself, my family, and you the reader. Let’s go through some of the things I robbed you of in 2025. This isn’t a list of goals. It’s a list of things I failed to give you.

---

I wear many hats for ViolentPeople.co. I am one of the founders, the resident historian, one of the top four most popular hosts of Violent People Radio, and the sole host of the award eligible Talking Tourneys. Despite all this, I’ve decided to branch out into another role. I have already filed many road reports, but it was time I was officially a, capital J, Journalist.

So I reached out to AEW media and bingo bango I am a credentialed member of the press. I was off to cover Ring of Honor Final Battle 2025.

I rolled into Columbus right around 2pm. First stop was the North Market, because if you’re going to spend twelve hours inside a convention center surrounded by furries, anime cleavage, and Sammy Guevara-related emotional trauma, you should at least start with a decent meal.

North Market’s always been a comfort spot for me, my nephew used to have monthly visits to Nationwide for autism services. It was a long car ride and he wasn’t always having the best time, but he loved the donuts and cheese from the North Market, so it became a frequent stop.

This time I was meeting a buddy for lunch, Kris Landis of WMAC Masters fame. I discovered a new(to me) cheesesteak restaurant, Marlowe. While far from a Philly cheesesteak purist I was trepidatious of a Columbus cheesesteak, but this thing was unreal. Twenty bucks got me a monstrous portion, fries, and a drink. Honestly it was obscene. Like the kind of obscene where you eat it and half an hour later you’re both proud and deeply ashamed. We talked nothing, but family and wrestling, which at this point in my life are my two favorite topics of discussion. Then around 4:30, we said goodbye and I headed toward the convention center for Final Battle.

AEW, in its infinite wisdom, decided to run Final Battle in conjunction with GalaxyCon this year. If you’ve never been to GalaxyCon it’s a giant comic convention. I’ve been to plenty of these things in the past, and it’s not my scene. You walk in and within minutes you’re surrounded by furries, celebrities signing things, even more “celebrities” you don’t recognize signing things, and aisles upon aisles of oversized anime boob lamps or whatever.

The first order of business was picking up my press pass. It still feels correct and right to say “press pass.” I walked up and got to say “Dan Rice with Violent People” and received a pass. The pass got me access to Final Battle and the entire convention. So I figured why not wander. And what do I discover, but cosplay wrestling

Fantasy Super Cosplay Wrestling

Skeletor vs. Sabertooth vs. Tanjiro Kamado vs. Star Lord

Skeletor was awful in a very specific, charming way. Off on every spot by at least a few seconds, but very enthusiastic. 

There wasn’t a huge turn out for this despite being in an exhibit hall packed with people. A large section of the crowd was actually Ring of Honor wrestlers including Mansoor, Lord Crewe, Bryan Keith, Willie Mack(who was hiding in a corner for some reason), Griff Garrison and his crew. 

Mansoor was a great time. He was chanting and clapping and then forced everyone to watch the main event when some of the other wrestlers got up to try and leave. 

The main event was

Spider-Man, Spider-Punk, and Black Panther vs. The Sinister Syndicate of Kingpin, Sandman and Shocker

I always call six man tags a wrestling cheat code. They’re the superior form of wrestling. The perfect way to hide the negatives and accentuate the positives. There weren’t many positives to accentuate here though. Spider-Man multiple times failing to land in the classic spidey pose was a real let down. 

There’s some real egg on my face for this one for sure. I’m the first contributor to the prestigious and illustrious Violent People dot CO to be credentialed and I get too sleepy to stay for the press conference and fail to put the road report up on the site in a timely manner. If it’s any consolation I had a good time. I’ll do better next time TK and Sam(my two bosses.)

---

The Untitled Grom Zaza Project Interview 

This one hurts. I was really enjoying diving into the silver fox’s career. I thought I was going to interview him for the next edition. I even announced it in print and audio. I want to be delicate, because maybe, possibly there is a chance it still comes together, but it seems very unlikely. A certain close relative of Grom Zaza was communicating with me. They seemed positive about the project and assured me an interview would be possible and easy to facilitate. Since then they’ve been incommunicado and unfriended me on Facebook…these things happened.

---

Long before it became shorthand for Appalachian luxury, the Greenbrier was already a monument to American ambition. It began with a sulfur spring in 1778, grew into a resort for presidents and aristocrats, survived wars, reinvented itself, and ultimately hid a Cold War era Congressional fallout shelter the size of a small town beneath its bowling alley. Few hotels can claim they doubled as an emergency Capitol. It’s an unlikely crossroads: part spa retreat, part national safeguard, part stage for the country’s most powerful visitors, all this in the middle of a West Virginian holler. Even today the property projects a level of elegance and sophistication that feels deliberately out of time, preserving a standard of grandeur rarely matched anywhere in the country. “The old white is where the old ways still matter.“

In the last several years The Greenbrier has become important to me and my family. I’ve spent time there at professional events and it’s a place my family has spent holidays and special occasions. I watched my cousin be named the president of West Virginia Accountants there. I’ve treated my nieces to white glove dinners. We’ve had family reunions over afternoon tea and taken in nighty Champagne toast and a rendition of the Greenbrier Waltz.

It’s also a place where I’ve gambled and lost a disgusting amount of money, drank for 14+ hours before throwing up on a 200 year old bed frame, a place where I’ve proposed to a 65 year old married woman with just insane cleavage, and I place where I’ve tried to fight members of a professional soccer team….its a complicated place for me. 

This resort was also the site for the 1937 National Wrestling Association/National Boxing Association annual meeting and the crowning of John Pesek as World Heavyweight Champion.

Ok this is a good one. I’ve done actual real life in person research on this one, down at the Greenbrier. On top of that I’ve spoken to Pesek’s great granddaughter and listened to a talk she gave at a local library. And yet nothing on the site to show for it. 

---

“I was born poor…I will likely die poor again.” Roland Bock

Bock was born on August 3, 1944, in Nazi Germany. He entered the world amid the ferocious Allied bombing raids of late World War II. As a small child, he and his mother sought refuge in underground bunkers while bombs shattered buildings above. The violence of war, sadly would be some of the more peaceful moments of his young life. Seemingly every adult in his life was abusive. Worst of all was his grandfather, an alcoholic, gravedigger who frequently beat the boy and locked him in a dark, icy basement as punishment. In this environment of constant abuse and fear, young Roland developed a fierce, stoic personality. The trauma of those early years surely left deep psychological scars that he would carry into adulthood.

I’ve become the self proclaimed go to Violent People Obit writer. I’m especially proud of my writings on Black Terry and Bill Mercer. Roland Bock, while lesser known than some I’ve written about in the past undoubtedly deserves to have his life chronicled. I did some research, including downloading and translating a lot of Japanese YouTube transcripts. There were two problems outside of my usual writing issues. Number one, Roland’s life was really dark at times. It just honestly brought me down. Number 2? A lot of the information I could find about him was from Patrick Reed whose publicly shit talked me a little, so I’m not looking to cite him on anything I write if I can help it. 

---

In the heart of the Pacific theater during World War II, the Battle of Leyte between Allied and Japanese naval forces, stands out amongst other clashes. From October 23 to October 26, 1944, the vast expanse of the Philippine Sea became a stage for history’s largest naval engagement. Among the many ships that participated, the USS Boston, a Baltimore-class heavy cruiser, played a crucial role in defending Essex-class aircraft carriers against the Japanese onslaught.

The USS Boston, launched on August 26, 1942, and on June 30, 1943, was under the command of Captain Marion Russell Kelley during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

Captain Kelley was a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, an experienced naval officer and would eventually retire as Rear Admiral. More importantly, Russ Kelley was my great grandfather. In a family tree full of trash, nerdowells, and evil men, Admiral Kelley stands out. A good man and a great commanding officer. 

His command of the USS Boston and his bravery during the Battle of Leyte Gulf was possibly his crowning achievement. 

Why am I discussing naval history or my great grandfather on a website, ostensibly, dedicated to professional wrestling? Because during the battle the USS Boston was protecting Essex-class aircraft carriers like the USS Essex (CV-9), USS Lexington (CV-16), and USS Intrepid (CV-11).

If you’re unfamiliar with the USS Intrepid aircraft carrier, it was commissioned by the United States Navy on August 16, 1943. It played crucial roles in major World War II battles, including Leyte Gulf and the Battle of Okinawa, and later served during the Cold War before being decommissioned in 1974. It’s now a museum ship in New York City.

More importantly than all that, it is the site of the single greatest victory in the history of the United States. 

July 4th, 1993

This was going to be a July 4th post about Lex Luger body slamming Yokozuna and my great grandpa. Sometimes it’s a good thing when I don’t post something I’ve started writing. 

---

By the early 1960s, Dory Dixon’s fame in Mexico was undeniable. He had carved out a place among the nation’s icons, a top draw in the same orbit as El Santo and Blue Demon. This success in Mexico opened the door to another arena: the United States.

For a Black wrestler in the early 1960s, America was as perilous outside the ropes as it was within them. Segregation was still the law in much of the South, and even in northern cities, prejudice shaped opportunities and fan perception. Dixon was entering a system that had historically consigned Black wrestlers to the undercard, often pigeonholed into stereotypes that diminished their dignity. In some towns, he was forced to eat in kitchens rather than dining rooms because Jim Crow ordinances forbade him from sharing public spaces with white patrons. In others, promoters required police protection at arenas to ensure his safety from hostile crowds. Even when he was the headliner, drawing thousands, he was reminded that talent alone did not erase prejudice.

Yet Dixon refused to bend to those indignities. He carried himself with the same dignity and discipline he had in Mexico, making no compromises to his faith or his principles. In interviews years later, he described how he would approach these situations not with anger, but determination.

It is difficult to overstate how extraordinary Dixon’s U.S. run was. In 1961, he headlined more shows at the Sam Houston Coliseum than anyone else. Night after night, he stood in the main event in one of the most important venues in wrestling. Fans filled the seats to see a Jamaican-born, Mexican-made Black star.

He defeated Waldo Von Erich for the NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship, he also held the Texas Tag Team Championship multiple times, most memorably with Pepper Gomez, a partnership that blended charisma and toughness in a way that electrified fans. 

Perhaps the most overlooked moment of Dixon’s U.S. career came in New York City. Madison Square Garden, the cathedral of professional wrestling, had only recently opened itself to regular pro shows under the WWWF banner. Bruno Sammartino would soon define the building. But before Bruno, there was Dixon.

In one of the biggest matches of his career, he wrestled Buddy Rogers at the Garden before more than 15,000 fans. Soon after, he defeated Rogers in Ohio for the WWWA World Heavyweight Championship, a victory that outdrew multiple Killer Kowalski defenses and suggested that Dixon could have been positioned as a long-term champion in the Northeast had the politics of race and territory aligned differently.

Tat Dixon could headline against Rogers, and win, in front of such audiences underscores both his drawing power and his credibility with fans.

I have probably close to 4,000 rambling words on Dory Dixon written, went through at least 3 drafts and never felt like it was worthy of publishing. I also wanted it out with enough time to help push votes into inducting Dixon into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of fame. Which I seem to have done without even putting it out as Dory finally went in this year, so that’s something.

---

Rotten Rewatch: Wolf Tickets

IWA Mid-South Christmas Carnage 2000

12/16/2000

Charlestown, Indiana

IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Title Four Corners Of Pain Match Ian Rotten vs. Mark Wolf

This is coming off of Wolf’s upset victory over Ian in the 2000 King of the Death Matches.

After a hard lockup, Ian pulls Mark’s shirt over his head, hockey fight style, and proceeds to beat the daylights out of him. Ian uses chairs, barbed wire, and anything he can reach to keep Mark down. Wolf makes a come back and takes the fight to the outside to make liberal use of light tubes. Ian predictably has a beautiful blade job.

They keep it festive and use a Christmas Tree and a wiffleball bat covered in Christmas ornaments to abuse each other. Mark takes a DISGUSTING chair shot to the head from Ian. There’s something wrong with me because the highlight of all the Rotten Rewatches have been these unprotected chair shots to the head.

Ian drags a board covered in barbed wire into the ring and German suplexes Mark through it. I was sure that was the finish. Which was foolish of me because I forgot Chekhov’s Bed of Christmas Tree Ornaments. Ian takes Wolf to the outside and powerbombs him into the ornaments for the win.

This is life changing, but you get a great blade job, a couple of sick shots, and Mark Wolf selling all in like 12 minutes. Definitely a WATCH

This is another obit situation. I didn’t feel qualified to cover Mark Wolf’s life in detail, so I thought it would be nice to do a Rotten Rewatch in his honor…then I didn’t finish it. So, I basically dishonored his legacy. Sorry about that. Pat has already taken over Rotten Rewatch anyway.

---

Depending on your point of view it may be a good thing I failed to publish any of these or write for the site as much as I would’ve liked. Well, I’ve got bad news for you if you feel that way 2025 Dan Rice SUCKED. He was a bum. Well New Year New Me. In 2026 I’m writing way more consistently and you can take that to the fucking bank.