Missouri Wrestling Revival

By Brian Hoops

Photos Brian Kelley

“Not only is Jeremy Wyatt a great athlete, he also has one of the best minds for the
business. He is SO underrated on a national level that’s its criminal!” – NWL Tag Team
champion Michael Strider.

2017 will be known as one of the greatest years for in ring performances in professional
wrestling history. 4 star, 5 star and even 6 star matches are seen from every level of
wrestling this year and one wrestler who has consistently produced some of the best
matches in 2017 is Jeremy Wyatt.

Wyatt may not be a household name nationally, but Wyatt’s talent is on par with any
professional wrestler in any promotion.

Wyatt has carved out a career mostly on the Midwest independent scene but now
wrestles exclusively for the National Wrasslin League, based in Kansas City, Missouri.
Wyatt has been the champion of the 3XWrestling promotion in Iowa, the Central States
Champion and Metro Pro Wrestling champion.

Wyatt, born June 26, 1978 in Kansas City, Missouri has lived in Kansas City his entire
life. Wyatt went to Raytown High School (suburb of Kansas City), excelled in football as
a wide receiver, making 2nd team all conference and all district his senior year and drew
some interest in football powerhouse Northwest Missouri State University, Central
Missouri State and Mid American Nazarene. Wyatt claims baseball was his best sport,
but Wyatt was bored with the sport and never played for his high school team, instead
played for summer league teams.

Raised by his father who worked mostly nights, Wyatt played sports with his friends and
discovered professional wrestling when he was 5 or 6 years old. “My all time favorite
was Sting, followed by Macho Man Randy Savage. I was always drawn to those 2
because their gear was always so colorful and they had ridiculous amounts of charisma.
I met Sting once after a show at Memorial Hall and he talked to me for a good 5 minutes
or so. I was 11 at the time and he was already my favorite and that experience sealed
the deal” Wyatt reminisced.

When Wyatt was younger, he went to every show that came to town. “My friends and I
would sit in either the 1st or 2nd row, and we would always start chants. When you’re a
kid, and everyone joins in, you think you’re the coolest kids in the building.”
“There was a show at Municipal (Municipal Auditorium) and we were in the 2nd row. My
dad’s friend took us. He got a little liquored up and ended up dumping an entire beer on
Rick Rude during a match with Roddy Piper. Security came over, but no one would point
him out since he was with ‘the kids starting all the chants’, everyone said it was ‘some
guy that went running back that way’.”

Wyatt started training in St. Joseph, Missouri in 2001 with a guy named Steve Estes.
Estes taught Wyatt how to bump and other basics, but Estes had a poor reputation in
the wrestling industry which hurt Wyatt when he tried to get bookings. “I was grateful for
the opportunity to get my foot in the door, but I should’ve done more thorough research
and went somewhere more reputable.”

“Steve had such a bad rep that I was guilty by association, and had a stigma placed on
me in the area. Once I was able to get on some shows that didn’t involve him, which
took a few years, people saw I was decent enough to get some opportunities,” Wyatt
remembered.

“Wyatt is this area’s best kept secret. I wish he had traveled more early on. He has a
really good mind for wrestling. His work right now is top notch.” – NWL Tag Team
champion Ace Steel.

Once the doors to the independent scene were opened, Wyatt started working matches
in NWA Central States. “Michael Strider (fellow Foundation member) was one of the
guys to vouch for me and push for someone to give me an opportunity. He had some
pull at NWA Central States,” Wyatt remembered fondly.

“When I met Jeremy Wyatt back in 2010, he was already a well-known wrestler in the
Midwest. Since then, he has become the best wrestler I’ve seen who has not signed a
deal with WWE or any other national/international company. When I ran Metro Pro
Wrestling for six years, he was the best champion I had, and he was the backbone of
the company. The years he was on top were the best years we ever had.” – former
WWE writer and Metro Pro Wrestling owner Chris Gough.

“I had a stretch where I went down to Florida in 2010-2011 and had a chance to wrestle
Tyler Black (Seth Rollins) to a 30 minute draw when he was ROH champion. I’ve also
had a couple of matches with Christopher Daniels that I’m really proud of. Daniels is the
guy who drew me to independent wrestling. He is the guy that really stood out to me, so
he ended up becoming my ‘dream match’ back then,” Wyatt remembers.

Wyatt blends his athleticism along with the ability to work his opponents strengths into
telling a story in his matches. It’s a old school approach that works perfectly in the NWL.
“The best thing I’ve ever done was go to a day long seminar with Nick Dinsmore in
summer of 2008. I was floundering a bit, not improving at the clip I wanted. The way he
explained things just seemed to click. Literally felt like a lightbulb coming on. From that
day on, I think my work, and the way I did things changed, very much for the better,”
Wyatt explains.

“In NWL, he’s a very respected ring general who isn’t the most vocal leader, but
definitely leads by example. He’s one of the reasons I continue to enjoy working in
wrestling. It’s the details that make him the best. Every move and decision he makes in
the ring has a purpose. Every sequence is part of a story. Wyatt can make you believe
he can take down a man twice his size because he understands psychology as well as
anyone.” – Chris Gough, NWL Executive.

When working against a giant brawler like Jack Foster, Wyatt incorporated Foster’s
ability to fight and punch into the match, leading to a spot where Foster hit his hand
against the steel ring post and “injured” his hand the rest of the match. Wyatt worked
spots against the injured hand into the match, reminiscent of the nostalgic Andersons
tag team who would injure a body part and work their entire match around the injured
body part.

“He is undoubtedly the pound-for-pound best professional wrestler I have worked with.
That goes for any level – Midwest indie, national indie names, long-time WWE stars. I
still consider him one of the top talents in the country today.” – Midnight Guthrie,
announcer.

Wyatt showed his versatility in a feud with rookie Anthony “Sharkbait” Gutierrez.
Gutierrez is a former MMA fighter who is athletic but transitioning into professional
wrestling. Wyatt worked MMA spots into the match for Gutierrez to shine when he was
on offense and made the match believable and competitive.

“Jeremy is the hardest worker I’ve ever met. He’s continuously working on improving as
a wrestler and is obsessed with having different matches for different scenarios. There’s
no such thing as a “standard Wyatt match”. – Michael Strider

Everything Wyatt does is worth purpose. Two of Wyatt’s moniker’s is the “Monarch” and
the “King of Kansas City.” Engraved on his long trunks is the head of a lion; the
“Monarch” and “King of the Jungle.” What many fans may not realize is Wyatt is a huge
baseball fan and the Monarch name is also a tribute to the old Negro baseball league
team that was based in Kansas City, the Kansas City Monarchs.

“I do put a lot of thought into things, I’m going to work a match differently if it’s just a one
off against someone than I would if it’s the 1st match of a new feud. And the same goes
with the 1st match of a feud would be worked differently than the blow off. Just like with
matches, building and telling a story, I like doing the same (probably even more so) with
a long drawn out feud. I think I’ve developed a pretty good idea what works, what
doesn’t. I think I process things pretty well as far as how to feel out the crowd.
Sometimes you have an idea, if they’re not digging it, you have to be able to adjust. I
never go into a match thinking I have to do anything for sake of doing it. If it fits into the
story, cool. If not, I don’t need to force a square peg in a round hole,” Wyatt explained.

Despite being one of the best wrestlers in the Midwest, Wyatt has never really pursued
a chance to wrestle for a national promotion. “Wrestling, as much as I love it, has never
been the be all, end all for me. I am happy with my life, and I never felt the need to
make certain sacrifices that would be needed to ‘make it’ in wrestling.”