By Patrick Brandmeyer

There has rarely been a goal that Gary Jackson hasn’t achieved.

“The Night Train” has held championships all over the Midwest and has competed in the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling. However, the SICW Classic Wrestling Championship had eluded him since the very creation of the title. Gary was one of the favorites in the tournament to crown the inaugural champion in January of 2011, but he was eliminated in a time-limit draw with Dave Vaughn. He never got a chance to challenge Danny Boy Hawkins for the gold as his title reign was short-lived…and he only got one shot at Ron Powers when he was champion, dropping the fall in a triple threat match that also involved Chris Hargas. Gary challenged Ricky Cruz for the title on a few different occasions. One of Ricky’s first defenses as champion was against Jackson, but that match was thrown out due to the interference of the Travis Cook Organization. It would be months before Gary would get another crack at the belt…at the end of a hard-fought battle, Cruz locked on his Cruzeta Azteca submission hold. Jackson never submitted or tapped out, but he passed out in the hold and the referee called for the bell. The devastating defeat had halted Jackson’s title hopes once again.     The veteran had no problem with working his way back up the ladder…and soon he was in title contention once again. This time the titleholder was “Ironman” Ken Kasa, managed by Travis Cook. Jackson appeared to be on the verge of finally capturing the title as he had Kasa in the Texas Cloverleaf, but Cook blatantly interfered to get his man disqualified and save the title. That led to the return of Big Daddy as he was handcuffed to Cook for the following month’s rematch…but Kasa was able to counter the Cloverleaf with a small package to escape with the title. Once more, Gary found himself on the outside looking in on the title picture. Issues with Flash Flanagan and Mohamad Ali Vaez sidetracked him from his championship aspirations as the belt went from Kasa to Heath Hatton to Flanagan. Jackson defeated Vaez in a hard-fought Texas Death Match and then settled his old issue with Kasa by making him tap to the Cloverleaf in a tag match…and that finally put him in position the challenge for the title once again. However, this time around it was all or nothing for “The Great One”…it would be his last shot at SICW gold. It was the first one-on-one encounter between Flanagan and Jackson after the two had traded pinfall victories in previous tag matches. Gary had the support of Big Daddy in his corner, but Flash had a whole bag of tricks up his sleeve to potentially retain his title(some less legal than others). Of course, one can’t forget Gary’s famous “rules”…he’s not above bending or outright breaking the rules to achieve victory. It was a battle of two veterans, but “Gorgeous Gary” still had the edge in overall experience. Flanagan had the advantage in size and agility…the two were about even in terms of technical expertise and sheer toughness. Flash was no pushover, obviously…the titleholder had experience in the WWF, TNA, and Puerto Rico on his resume. He also brought his trademark kendo stick to the ring, something that had helped him score his tainted championship victory over Heath Hatton in November. The two battle-hardened competitors matched each other move for move as the momentum swung back and forth…it could have easily gone either way. For Flanagan, the championship was at stake; he enjoyed holding his title reign over the heads of SICW higher-ups who frowned on his tactics. For Jackson, any hope of acquiring the Classic Wrestling Championship was on the line…it was “now or never”. When Flanagan was unable to put Jackson away, he went for his kendo stick…perhaps to deliver a cheap shot behind the referee’s back or perhaps to blatantly get himself disqualified to save his title. However, Big Daddy was the difference-maker as he distracted the champion from whatever he had planned. That allowed Jackson to roll up Flanagan in a pinning combination…and three seconds later, he had finally reached the top of the SICW mountain! Pandemonium swept the East Carondelet Community Center…other wrestlers came out to celebrate with the new champion and Gary reminded us of The Rules: He comes out to win, he refuses to lose, he will cheat to win, and don’t forget The Rules. After four years of pursuing his goal, he had finally become the SICW Classic Wrestling Champion! Of course, the end of one story is the beginning of another and the challengers are already lining up to face “The Night Train”. However, if the long road to the top was any indication, Gary Jackson isn’t the type to quit so easily and will be a tough man to dethrone as champion.