FOR LOVE OF KING'S ROAD: BRANDON ASCARI AND THE GENESIS OF GLOBAL SYNDICATE WRESTLING

A career-ending shoulder injury, a life in filmmaking and a love of King’s Road: Brandon Ascari’s story and the genesis of Global Syndicate Wrestling

Brandon Ascari was flicking through the channels on his TV in 2005 when he discovered wrestling. Batista and Triple H were exchanging verbal barbs on WWE’s flagship Monday Night Raw show. Ironically, Ascari could not have cared less for what he saw and kept flicking.

15 years later, he is two months away from holding the first show of his very own wrestling company: Global Syndicate Wrestling.

“For me, I’ve always been a ‘keep your plate full’ kind of guy. I used to be a competitive powerlifter, I dabbled in pro wrestling when I was younger, I went into film and televison. Every venture that I do I always want it to be something I’ve never done before. I think it’s really interesting,” he says.

Ascari began wrestling training at 14 years old. However, a shoulder injury at 17 stopped his career before it even started. Instead, he pursued a life as a filmmaker and his wrestling dream was seemingly over.

It only took one drunken conversation after a comedy show to revitalize Ascari’s wrestling dream. He made an agreement with one of his oldest childhood friends; they would fulfill their lifelong wrestling dream, not by competing, but by owning their own company. Thus, GSW was born.

GSW will hold its debut Inception show in Deptford, New Jersey on February 20, 2021. While the show will be the redemption of a failed childhood dream to compete as a wrestler for Ascari, it is only the first step of his new venture as the co-founder and CEO of a wrestling company.

But Ascari is not simply leaving filmmaking behind. Rather, he is fully harnessing it.

“With my connections in the film and TV industry, developing an app? That’s easy. Nothing that I’m not used to dealing with. Creating content? I do it all the time. Managing wrestlers and contracts? It’s the same thing as directing a film. This is really just a melting pot of the all the things that I have done, just mixed in with my childhood passion of wrestling,” he explains.

GSW is currently developing its own wrestling streaming service, similar to Independent Wrestling TV, which will be available on web app, iPhone and Android. The web app is finished, the Android app is in development and all three will be released in the first quarter of 2021 after the completion of the iPhone app.

“We are working on original content like documentaries, interviews, highlights, stuff like that. I won’t divulge too many details with that,” Ascari says.

“We are trying to reach out to a bunch of different companies. For instance, IWTV would be something that’s similar to our app. Some places that I know can’t get on there or don’t want to go on there for whatever reason.

“We just want to provide an alternative home that they can go on and make a few bucks as long as we have the subscriber base and see how it goes.”

Sharing resources is a key focus for GSW, through actions such as offering free acting classes to contracted wrestlers and promoting unionization for independent contractors. Once again, it all stems from Ascari’s experience in filmmaking.

“One big thing in the film industry, at least on the independent scene, is that we’re really big on sharing resources. We think if we have something that doesn’t really cost us anything or cost a lot that we can provide, then it’s just something that’s going to help us all grow together,” he says.

“What I do want to do, and what I’ve done to an extent already, is just share the resources that I have. The Freelancers Union is a huge thing that I don’t know if a lot of wrestlers are aware about. It’s just a website that you can join for free if you’re an independent contractor.

“They have access to health insurance, they have financial resources to help you manage your money, stuff like that. It’s just sharing things like that I, as an independent contractor in the film industry, have access to and making sure everyone else is aware of it.

“Providing free acting classes, while I am paying for it out of my pocket, I have connections where it didn’t cost that much. It’s just these things we want to provide. I think it’ll help them grow.

“Whether they decide to stay with us as we grow or they decide to go on somewhere else, we just want them to be the best they can be and I think that’s one step in the right direction.

“We want to be a brand where people are happy to come work for us. They’re going to risk their necks, their lives. I’ve been injured myself before, I know what it’s like and we want them to know that at least we, at the very least, appreciate them as much as we can.”

Ascari grew up a diehard Shawn Michaels fan. Later, he was recommended by a friend to watch Kenta Kobashi’s five-star match against Jun Akiyama. It was the ninth defense of Kobashi’s legendary 735-day GHC Heavyweight Championship reign and Ascari’s introduction to Japanese wrestling. To this day, it is his favorite match ever.

“I ended up becoming more of a Misawa guy,” Ascari confesses. “It was just the Kobashi and Akiyama match which started that descendent into watching the whole Four Pillars. I became a huge Misawa mark after that. My first ever Facebook profile picture was Misawa’s homage after he passed away.”

Kobashi and Mitsuharu Misawa are two members of the quartet known as the Four Pillars of Heaven alongside Akira Taue and Toshiaki Kawada. The four men pioneered the King Road’s style of wrestling in All Japan Pro Wrestling throughout the 1980s and 90s.

Japanese wrestling will have a heavy and obvious influence on GSW. The company promises to offer fans a unique blend of the 80s and 90s by fusing King Road’s wrestling with old school, southern wrestling companies in America such as Jim Crockett Promotions and Smoky Mountain Wrestling.

Ascari takes huge inspiration from former All Japan promoter Giant Baba’s philosophies and the in-ring work of the Four Pillars of Heaven. Inception will be headlined by Alexander Hammerstone facing Joe Doering for the first time ever for the vacant GSW World Championship and it is no coincedence both men have a history competing in Japan.

Doering is best known for his two stints in All Japan throughout the 2000s and 10s, winning the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship twice. The same championship held by all of the Four Pillars of Heaven.

For Ascari, Doering ranks as one of the five greatest gaijins (the phrase for foreign wrestlers in Japan) ever. Rounding out his list; Stan Hansen, Mike Awesome, Prince Devitt and Kenny Omega. Not bad company.

Hammerstone competed in Pro Wrestling NOAH’s annual round-robin N-1 Victory tournament last year. He defeated one of the company’s biggest stars Go Shiozaki, who is also Kobashi’s protégé. The match is available to watch for free on Major League Wrestling’s channel on YouTube.

While the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic makes most international travel impossible, it has not stopped negotiations taking place. Ascari wants to see All Japan star and current Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship holder SUWAMA compete in GSW and the company teased the idea on Twitter.

The tease may soon become reality, as Ascari confirmed he has spoken to All Japan about bringing SUWAMA to America and an agreement is all but confirmed pending the lift of current travel restrictions.

“The SUWAMA idea is something that we’re toying around with. We’ve already spoken to TAJIRI, who’s the head booker for All Japan. He definitely wants to work with us. We’ve gotten all the things figured out, it really is just about having the ability to bring the talent over here,” Ascari says.

“At some point, later on, we would like to do something where we bring SUWAMA over and have him wrestle somebody on the show. Who it is? I have no idea, but it is something that we’re toying around with.”

GSW has four shows scheduled in 2021. After Inception on February 20, the next planned dates are May 22, August 21 and November 20. Pending the global situation and All Japan’s touring schedule, fans could see SUWAMA compete in an international dream match very soon.

Inception is tentatively scheduled to take place with live fans in attendance with a maximum of 25 per cent attendance in line with New Jersey’s current restrictions. The venue, which also serves as a wrestling school, will be able to hold 125 people with the restrictions.

There is a possibility GSW will be forced to hold the show without fans if the state government’s guidance changes. However, in such a scenario, the company is committed to still holding the show. Fans or not, Inception will air on FITE TV.

Other matches scheduled for Inception include Deonna Purrazzo versus Shaul Guerrero, Gio Galvano versus Ricky Reyes versus Smiley and Gabby Ortiz versus Vicious Vicki. Jake Crist and Richard Holliday have been confirmed to appear but their matches have not been announced.

A career-ending shoulder injury, a life in filmmaking and a love of King’s Road. This is the story of Brandon Ascari, and this is the genesis of Global Syndicate Wrestling.

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