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The pro wrestling landscape is filled with many talents looking to break through and make a name for themselves. BK Westbrook is one of those wrestlers chasing that crazy dream.
The road hasn’t been easy. Westbrook started to train at a wrestling school in North Carolina in 2018 before it eventually closed down. He started having his first matches at Carolina Wrestling Federation (CWF) Mid-Atlantic before the promotion came to an abrupt end in 2019.
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He then suffered another setback – the COVID-19 pandemic. But overcoming one obstacle after another was all a part of the journey.
“I’ve had that like multiple times within wrestling and it’s crazy when I saw my school closed down, I was getting my car’s oil changed, was waiting for it, and then next thing you know I get this message saying we’re no longer going to have shows and then I had to think, I didn’t just get into wrestling to just wrestle at this one place even though like this is awful this sucks,” he told Fox News Digital. “And then COVID happens, again, it’s like OK, well I can’t do my thing. right now and this is really, really annoying and I’m just I’m annoyed that I can’t do that and eventually led to me just continuing to put my name even more places and I felt like this can’t be the end for me. I can’t let this little this crazy time, this unprecedented happening with the pandemic,
“I couldn’t just let that get me down man. It was a little difficult because living in North Carolina, it was a little less, I mean it was still strict, but if I was going to go wrestle somewhere, I’d go somewhere where the states didn’t care as much, like Tennessee or South Carolina or something like that, even Georgia. But once things started kind of opening back up and things started to get normal, it was like, OK, we’re going to hit the ground running.”
For Westbrook, the dream was always pro wrestling.
He said he grew up watching it on TV but really grew to love the sport watching it on YouTube. The mix of athleticism and entertainment was the true draw.
“It was just falling in love with it online growing up,” Westbrook said. “Growing up being a YouTube kid, being on a computer. I discovered it on TV first, but just finding a love for independent wrestling and what I’m doing now kind of grew on me just loving what wrestling is at its core, what you see on WWE or AEW or whatever, I just kind of found even more of a deeper liking for it.
“But it’s just I don’t know. I just think it’s something that if you’re a wrestling fan, you get it, and you understand kind of why you’re drawn to it. To me, it’s easy for me. I like sports, I like entertainment, I like them both kind of together. It’s just it’s different for everybody, but for me it was super simple to like to get into just because I love the athletic blend of competition, and also, just the storytelling aspect of being able to normally tell the story of good versus evil or just even beyond that. I just think wrestling is such an amazing art or medium for art and I get a chance to do it on the weekends. Hopefully more than just the weekends. Hopefully, you know, all the time.”
Westbrook has been putting in the work. He’s wrestled at some of the top independent promotions right now, including Pandemonium Pro, Game Changer Wrestling, Limitless Wrestling, Deadlock Pro-Wrestling, TBD Wrestling and several others. He even made an appearance for All Elite Wrestling.
Recently, he battled Amira for the Pandemonium Pro Championship. Though it was a losing effort, Westbrook came away with a few bruises from the women’s wrestler.
“My first time wrestling Amira, like you said last month in Portland, and she’s been kind of running it over there for a while in the Pacific Northwest, specifically that Portland area,” he told Fox News Digital. “My first shot I think I ever even heard of Amira was in the Portland area. I was wrestling for Prestige Wrestling and that was really cool and to see her growth, she’s been doing lots of stuff.
“My fianceé, Ella Envy, she was able to hang out and get a chance to know Amira from like the Lodestone stuff that that Bayley was doing where she was putting on for women’s wrestling. And I think she’s doing really good work. I got a chance to wrestle her. She hits really hard, but other than that, she’s got lots of talent. And if I wasn’t going to be the champion, I’ll say she’s about as good as it gets for being a champion representing over there.”
Westbrook will be a part of Pandemonium: Pro Wrestling’s “JoJo” event on Aug. 2. The wrestling showcase will honor the late Jordan Saint, who died in a car crash on Long Island, New York. The proceeds of the event will go to Saint’s family.
He will be going up against Epidemius Jr. While he vowed to win the match, he said it was an honor to be a part of the show.
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“I’m excited for the match,” he said. “I’m excited for the show. It’s going to be an incredible event. It’s super sad about the passing of Jordan and I just I hate that. And I know that everybody is looking to have an awesome show in his memory.
“Outside of that, for Pandemonium to run this event with all the proceeds going to his family, it does it helps knowing that his people will be taken care of after that. It’s cool that wrestling is a way and a medium for that to be able to happen. Unfortunately, that his passing did occur, but it is nice to know that we can make a difference in that regard and I’m excited to have a kicka– match in his memory and also in the name of Pandemonium Pro.”
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