(dramatic whoosh)
- [Narrator] While our state
doesn't have the richest
professional wrestling
history in the world,
Wyoming does have a
handful of hidden facts
that may surprise you.
And today we'll be sharing five of them.
(whoosh)
Chris Jericho is often regarded as one
of the best wrestlers of all time.
One of the reasons is because Jericho
is always reinventing himself.
While his character is
frequently changing,
one thing that's stayed the
same is Jericho's hometown.
- [Jericho] I'm from Winnipeg you idiot.
- However, that's not where
the Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla
hailed from when he made his debut.
In October of 1990, from the Moose Hall
in Ponoka, Alberta, Canada, Jericho had
his very first match, and was
called Cowboy Chris Jericho
and hailed from none other
than Casper, Wyoming.
- [Commenatator] From
Toronto, Ontario. Jericho,
from Casper, Wyoming.
- According to Jericho, the
cowboy character was given
to him by the promoter,
but Jericho himself
absolutely hated the gimmick.
Soon after his debut match,
Chris Jericho would
drop the cowboy gimmick
and likewise his connection
to the cowboy state.
(whoosh)
July 11th, 2009 was a good
night for Brock Lesnar.
He won the Heavyweight
Championship Unification bout
in the main event of
the UFC 100 pay per view
and helped make the event
the most bought show
in UFC history to that point.
Lesnar was on top of the world
and he wasn't afraid to show it.
So how does someone celebrate
such a huge accomplishment?
Well for Lesnar, he
decided to take a vacation
to the Jackson Hole
valley in western Wyoming.
In Lesnar's autobiography,
he says he spent a week there
to get away from media
coverage and to spend time
with his newborn son, Turk.
Lesnar and his family explored Yellowstone
and he did so while
celebrating his 32nd birthday.
You may not be a Brock Lesnar fan,
but the man does have good
tastes in vacation destinations.
(whoosh)
There's almost no point
in giving an introduction
to Eric Bischoff.
One of professional wrestling's
most controversial figures,
Bischoff has left his mark on the industry
as the president of WCW
and the General Manager
of Monday Night Raw.
But did you know that
wrestling's King of Controversy
has been a resident of Cody,
Wyoming for roughly 20 years?
On top of that, he even
started his own brewing company
in the city of about 10,000 in 2011,
with the release of
Buffalo Bill Cody Beer,
of course named after the man
who helped build the city.
We recommend giving it a try
on your next visit to Cody.
(whoosh)
Ric Flair has accomplished a
lot in his over 30-year career.
He's won a record number
of world championships,
competed in a countless
amount of classic matches,
and is the only person to be inducted
into the WWE Hall of Fame twice.
But another accomplishment for Ric Flair
is being the only person
to wrestle in Wyoming
for three separate companies.
In 1974, Flair made his debut
in the state at an AWA show
in Wyoming's capital of Cheyenne.
Around two decades later,
in 1996, Flair completed
in a WCW ring in the state's
second largest city of Casper,
on an episode of Monday Night Nitro.
Then just six years later,
the Nature Boy returned
to Casper, this time at a WWE live event.
I guess you can say
that the dirtiest player
in the game knows how to get around.
(whoosh)
In its over a century long
history as one of the 50 states,
Wyoming has had almost no
wrestling organizations
based within its borders.
During the 70s, the AWA
ran a handful of shows
in the Equality State, and later on,
WCW and WWE would do the same.
In 1980, Bill Ash and
Raoul Sanchez started
Rocky Mountain Wrestling
in Riverton, Wyoming,
but by 1981 the company had closed
and not much is know about its run.
That's one of the reasons why in 2014,
we launched Big Sky Wrestling,
not only to provide professional wrestling
produced on Wyoming soil,
but to also positively
impact our community.
To join us, we encourage
you check us out on Facebook
and Twitter, and to subscribe
to our YouTube channel.
Until next time,
thanks for watching!
