LWA Kingpin KC Karrington
Years Wrestling:5
Trained by: Dingo
First match: Vs. El Uno Loco, Mid America Xtreme (MAX) Wrestling
Finishing maneuver: The Cunning Stunt
Date, place and who you beat to become LWA Champ: June 20,2009 O’Fallon IL Knights of Columbus, Jeremy Wyatt
Brian Kelley:I am joined today with the current LWA Champion KC Karrington. In less than a year KC has transformed himself from one half of the top tag team in St Louis, The Ego Express with his tag team partner Steven Kennedy to reigning LWA Champion.
KC thank you for joining us today.
KC Karrington Any time, thanks for having me.
1) How did you get into the sport?
KC Karrington: I’ve got to admit, I got into the business through sheer dumb luck. More or less, being in the right place at the right time. I was attending a Gateway Championship Wrestling show, merely as a fan. During intermission, I got to talking to the woman sitting next to me, and she started telling me that her son was a year younger than I was, sixteen at the time, and that he was training at a new promotion called Mid America Xtreme in Alton, IL. I was living in Edwardsville at the time, which is about thirty minutes from Alton. My main issues that kept me from really pursuing training were my age and the fact that to train with Gateway I would have to drive to Missouri every week. Not having a job and being in school five days of the week, it really wasn’t an option. So, even though my main goal was to get to GCW, I decided that getting trained at MAX would have to do for the time being. She talked to me for a while, introduced me to the trainer, and I started attending regularly. I would say that I learned the bare basics at MAX. I wrestled under a different name, copied my idol, Ric Flair, verbatim, and really stunk up the place. On a brighter note, MAX was where I first teamed with Steven Kennedy, and we really became good friends. Long story short, the company folded, and after a lot of prodding and nudging, Kennedy got me to come to the GCW school. I basically had to be re-programmed, because I was put in the ring WAY too early at MAX. I may have learned my basics from the MAX trainer, but Dingo taught me how to be a professional wrestler.
2) In a very young age you have been able top make an impact, what have been the keys to your success?
KC Karrington: I credit the success I do have to the people that have trained me, and have helped me become confident in my wrestling. I honestly owe everything I’ve done professionally to Dingo, SSK, Sadie Blaze, Evil Jim, Shorty Biggs. They have all helped me, encouraged me, and told me when something flat out sucked. I respect everyone of them more than they’ll ever know. On a personal note, I have a younger brother and sister who are everything to me. The feeling I get when they come to the shows and I see them sitting in the crowd cheering me on……that’s what it’s all about. They are my biggest fans, and they are what keep me going.
3) Lets start out with your time with tag team partner and good friend Steven Kennedy, collectively the two of you are the Ego Express. I have to say that you are one of the most exciting and entertaining tag teams that I have seen in the MWR coverage area. How did that tag team come to be?
KC Karrington: “He’s making a peak hour call!!!”……..Sorry, kind of an inside joke. It all started at MAX. As I mentioned, I was nowhere near ready to be in the ring, and they more or less told me to go to the ring and be Ric Flair. I didn’t know how to be me when I was in the ring. Then, I was put into a faction with SSK and the rest is history. Through working with him, I really got comfortable in front of a crowd, and we just really went out and did what we wanted to do. The best part was, it was fun and it got over. After MAX went under, I really had no interest in wrestling anywhere else, because I knew that I didn’t know what I was doing. God, it seemed like at least once a week SSK would call me and say, “So, are you gonna come train at Gateway or what?”. I put it off for a while, but, as anybody that knows him can attest to, Kennedy can be very persuasive. When they really felt I was properly trained, I made my GCW debut and SSK and I tagged with each other regularly. We won the GCW Tag Team Championships together twice, and that is one of my top achievements. We were the bad guys at the time, and we just went to the ring and did as much as we possibly could to piss everybody off. The crowd hated us….but they loved to hate us. That’s why it was so easy for us to be more fan friendly. Something that The Ego Express has in it’s favor that not a lot of tag teams in the area have, is that we interact with each other the exact same way inside the ring as we do outside the ring. We play off of each other and make each other crack up constantly. Not many tag teams on the indy scene that I know of go get “wingy” and then catch a movie. I think of the guy like the big brother I never had, and I really do look up to him.
4) The Ego Express have went up with some of the top tag teams in the Midwest, if MWR were to put out a BEST OF THE EGO EXPRESS. What would some of the match listing look like?
KC Karrington: Very first match on that list would be the TLC match we had in LWA with Dingo and Davey Vega for the LWA Tag Titles. Being out there with two men that I hold in the highest regard, and absolutely tearing the house down is something that I really enjoyed. Our soap opera saga that we went through with Vega and Johnny Vinyl would be right behind that. Our two matches in NWA : Dynamo Pro with The LONR’s (Mark Sterling & Darrien Sanders) as well. I learn more wrestling with Sterling than just about anybody else that I’ve ever stepped into the ring with. When we first started in Gateway, we had some really good matches with Sean Vincent and Rebecca Raze that I enjoyed very much. Of course, working with the North Star Express was a feather in our collective cap. Those two have been all over, and are one of the best teams in the country. I feel like we were able to hang well with them. Recently, we had a match with Mark Sterling and Jeremy Wyatt that I was very proud of. Like Sterling, I feel like I grow as a wrestler everytime I get to step into the ring with Wyatt. Of course, I can’t chew for a few days, but I enjoy it for some reason.
KC Karrington and his tag team partner and good friend Steven Kennedy gives respect to Darin Corbin and Ryan Cruz of the Northstar Express after a hard fought battle that the LWA Fans loved. (Photo Credit Michael R Van Hoogstraat)
5) I have to admit that I am a big fan of good tag team wrestling. I would love to see the Ego Express travel to 3XW to take on the tag team The Gentleman’s Club of Mark Sterling and Gage Octane or go head to head Barrio Boys Domino Rivera and Angel Medina in Kansas. Is there any tag team that you would like to test your skills against?
KC Karrington: The Bario Boys are definitely on that list. I’ve only gotten to see them a few times, but I’ve got to say that I was impressed. The Hooligans are another tag team that I have seen a few times, and I’d like to see how Kennedy and I would do against them. Plus, they seem to enjoy beating the snot out of the Submission Squad, which I am always a fan of.
6) When one talks about the history of the Ego Express and KC Karrington we can not have a conversation without talking about your former manager, as conniving as she is beautiful Tiffany LeFane. In one of the most shocking moments that I can recall she turned on you at the 2008 Circus Maximus, by throwing a fireball and taking the side of the Submission Squad. I feel that she is one of the top managers in the Midwest but one could argue that you have found more success without her in your corner. Would you say it would be fair to say that you were able to use her turn on you as motivation?
KC Karrington: Her turning on me is something that made me step up my game. After eveything that she and Vega did to me at Circus Maximus, (the blood, the fire, the betrayal), I feel like I had to evolve. But at the same time, I feel like the fans began to take me a lot more seriously. They recognized that I wasn’t the young kid that I started out as. I had grown, and I had been through a damn war and made it out alive. As far as Tiffany goes…….let’s face it, there is not a person that she has managed that hasn’t been successful. Let’s look at the list here. Ego Express : Multi-time GCW Tag Champs, LWA Tag Champs, SSK is the Medallion of Whatchimacallit (I can never remember) holder, and I currently hold the LWA Championship. Davey Vega : Medallion of Bandanas holder, somebody whom I have NEVER beaten in an LWA ring, and soon faces Dingo for the NWA Missouri State Championship. Gary the Nightowl has a shot at my LWA Championship soon. Tiffany knows what she is doing out there. As much as she has put me through, I believe she IS the top manager in the mid-west.
Don’t let Tiffany Lefane great legs distract you, because she is one the great manipulators in the sport. She now leads former fan favorite Gary the Barn Owl into action. (Photo Credit Brian “Flair” Kelley)
7) Lets turn our focus to singles action. Looking back, Jeremy Wyatt had been the Kingpin and the 2008 MWR Wrestler of the year throughout the Midwest by beating top notch talent in Tyler Black, “The Future” Donovan Ruddick, Abu Colussus, Davey Richards and Jordan Lacey. How were you able to overcome the intensity of Wyatt where so many others have failed?
KC Karrington: You know, I’ve asked myself the same question. I don’t think that I would be holding the LWA Championship without the fans on my side. The night I won the title, the thing I remember most was the reaction that the fans gave me when I stepped through the curtain. That still gives me goosebumps. When Wyatt gave me repeated forearms to the jaw, chops to the chest, and those stiff kicks he can throw, hearing the fans rallying behind me gave me that will to fight on. I would love to say that I won that belt because I am better than Wyatt, but I’m not going to say that. Jeremy Wyatt may not be a fan favorite to put it lightly, but he is probably the best in the mid-west. I respect him more than almost anybody else in the locker room.
Karrington threw caution to the wind to become the LWA Champion by beating the man very few have had wins against in the past two years “The Rebel” Jeremy Wyatt. (Photo Credit Brian “Flair” Kelley)
8) On June 20th, 2009 you shocked wrestling fans by becoming the man to end Wyatt’ title reign. Your good friend Steven Kennedy came into the ring to congratulate you while the LWA locker room came ringside for a standing ovation. Explain to the fans in words what that moment was like.
KC Karrington: Accomplished. I felt like I had really proved all the doubters wrong. All the people when I first started telling me that I could never be anything because of my size…..I had always let that sit in the back of my head. I’ve been trying to prove them wrong for the last five years. Hearing the LWA fans in O’Fallon, seeing my family in the crowd, and having Kennedy, Shorty Biggs, Adam Rich, people I think of like brothers, in the ring with me to share that moment. I don’t think that that moment could have been any better.
The LWA locker room salutes the New Champ (Photo Credit Brian “Flair” Kelley)
9) One competitor who has quietly making waves is your former partner Kennedy. He is the current LWA Medallion of Brutality holder by defeating Gary J who was accompanied by Tiffany Lefane the same night that you won the LWA Title and has been impressive in the past few months including a big match Jeremy Wyatt, Brandon Espinosa & Dash Rando in a four-way no-DQ match. It may not be soon but how would you feel if Kennedy was granted a shot?
Kc Karringotn proved that he was for real when he defeated Wyatt in a rematch for the LWA title on July 25 in House Springs. . Karrington had to display a lot of heart and guts as the Rebel was even more nastier than ever. (Photo Credit Brian “Flair” Kelley)
KC Karrington: You know, that’s something that’s crossed my mind quite a bit. Kennedy and I joke all the time about who is the Shawn Michaels of our tag team and who is the Marty Jannetty. Luckily, we’ve never been inside of a barber shop. Seriously, though, I would give SSK a title shot any time and any where. He is ridiculously talented, and he and I think so much alike, it would probably be as close as I could get to wrestling myself.
Steven Kennedy quietly has been red hot this past summer including a big win against Brandon Espinosa. (Photo Credit Brian “Flair” Kelley)
10) Who do you feel in the coming months present your biggest challenge for the LWA title going forward?
KC Karrington: As far as people who have yet to make that big splash, Davey Vega is somebody that everybody in the mid-west should keep their eyes on. I have known him since he first started, and he is an all around great wrestler. Personality, psychology, general ring presence….he has it all. We’ve wrestled more times than I can remember. He and I have been in some wars, and have tried to literally destroy each other. Hell, he tried to set me on fire! Personal feelings aside though, getting in the ring with him always brings out the best in me, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him come after my LWA Title in the near future. Mike Sydal is somebody that has come a long way in a short time. I’ve gotten to step into the ring with him in tag and singles matches, and he’s beyond talented. Brandon Aarons is another guy I’m very impressed with, and another guy that I have known since he first started training. Another person that takes pride in what he does, and I think he can make some major waves soon. Of course, the guys that have been in the game for a while are a threat and ready to strike. Kennedy, Dingo, Sterling. Any one of them coming after the championship would not surprise me. Unfortunately for me, they’re some of the best at what they do. I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t looking forward to it.
KC Once again thank you for your being a part of the MWR exclusive 10 questions with the Champ. Good luck on defending your title in the future.
KC Karrington: Again, thank you very much for having me on MWR, and for your constant support
KC Karrington defends his LWA Title in House Springs Missouri against Gary the Barn Owl
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