• Look Back In History
• Pmessages
• Quiz
• Stump The Staff
• Top Fifty
• Close

3 Up. 3 Down. Dexter Hardaway Suffers Hard Times Across a 3-Day Wrestling Weekend.

Posted: Aug 7th 2020 By: C. M. Burnham

To say that Dexter Hardaway went through some hard times a couple of weeks ago would be a massive understatement.

Dexter is a 24 year veteran of the sport. He was recently named as the #1 wrestler in the state of Oklahoma in the Oklafan Mid-Year Report. He seems to have found a fountain of rejuvenation for his career both here and out of state. But all that apparently meant nothing as he experienced 4 of the most savage losses of his career two weeks ago.

The weekend started with him booked in a Triple Threat Match against Luke Langley and Spyder at BPW in Tulsa. Spyder certainly had the crowd behind him as he always does at BPW shows and Langley presented the challenge of keeping up with him technically. Dexter, who has often had a love/hate relationship with the people from Tulsa (And is currently on the “hate” side of things), had promised new gear and a new approach to wrestling, declaring himself “Sexy Dexy” prior to this match. Most of this was psychological and Dexter certainly took it upon himself to cut corners and do whatever it takes to get the “W” (a common phrase in Dexter’s vocabulary). It just wasn’t enough this time, though, as Langley hit the Air Raid on Dexter and removed him from the ring, then went on to pin Spyder to get the win. This loss shouldn’t have shocked Dexter, as his record in BPW is not stellar. In FACT, you have to go back to February 8th to find a victory for Dexter at BPW (and you find two. One for the 365 Title and one with Ray Martinez to become #1 Contenders to the BPW Oklahoma Tag Team Titles). But Dexter has never been one to let loss frustrate him, so he put that aside and prepared for day #2.

The next day, WFC returned to Wagoner for the Freedom Rings Rumble. This was an event that Dexter desperately wanted to win, but couldn’t even manage to get WFC management to let him compete in it. And part of that was because WFC management was in disarray. At the beginning of the year, WFC Director of Operation Striker was removed from his position because of an alleged conflict of interest between him wanting to be a wrestler and being in charge. From that point on, a search was on to find a new Director of Operations (a position that Dexter once held) and the new appointee was revealed this night in the form of Coach Doggins. Dexter and Doggins were not particularly close, but Dexter chose to come out and explain his situation to Doggins, which gave Doggins the opportunity to exercise his power and make a match between Dexter and Dimitri Alexandrov. The winner of that match would enter the Rumble last and the loser would start the Rumble at #1. If you were not present for this, it should be pretty obvious to guess which side of the W/L column Dexter ended up on here. But that still meant he was in the Rumble and had a chance. And Dexter intended to make the most of that chance, And he almost did. On at least 6 occasions, Dexter was almost eliminated from the Rumble, only to hang on and make his way back in. Dexter’s tenacity, experience, and determination all allowed him to make to to the final four. Himself, Tim Rockwell, J. D and UWE Apex Champion Alex Royal were the last four combatants. Dexter knew that there was a chance, at least momentarily, that J. D and Alex might work together. So he thought he could turn to the man who he trained 16 years ago to pair off with, at least initially. And that was when he was reminded that there are no friends in a Battle Royal, especially when one of those friends might be Tim Rockwell. Rockwell threw Hardaway out of the ring with little hesitation and Hardaway’s dreams were over. Another day down and two more losses. But the biggest blow was yet to come.

On Sunday, Hardaway ventured down to Bethany, OK for ASP to defend his ASP 5-Star Title. He was feeling confident knowing that he certainly had the crowd on his side and he had patched up his relationship with O’Brien following their victory over Thorne the Hunter and ASP Champion Angel Camacho. So Dexter offered to give O’Brien an opportunity at the 5-Star Title as a “Thank You” for everything they had been through the previous few weeks. And the match was good. Highly competitive and evenly matched. Like with Tim, Dexter had trained O’Brien. But the teacher never teaches everything they know. O’Brien, meanwhile, had gone beyond Dexter’s teachings and had learned under Manny Fernandez. He had ventured out to the surrounding area and picked up knowledge everywhere he went. Where both of these men were now is not where they were 14 years ago. But both of them wanted to walk away with the 5-Star Title. Sadly, another individual also wanted that title, though he was not in the match, and that was Thorne the Hunter. So Thorne interjected himself into the match and disrupted what was, until that point, a mat classic. Angered by the entire situation (And probably by the events of the weekend as a whole), Dexter let his emotions overwhelm him and grabbed the microphone to issue a challenge. He said that he felt that O’Brien got robbed, so he wanted to face off again with O’Brien for the title. And, while he knew it was probably a mistake, he was going to also open the challenge for Thorne to get in that match as well. A Triple Threat Match for the 5-Star Title in the main event. Perhaps if Dexter had just calmed down a little, he might have rethought this. He might have given it time. He might have figured out some other plan. But that has never been Dexter’s style and when the main event rolled around, he had two combatants to face, not one. Still, Dexter had the experience factor on his side and could draw energy from the crowd and their support. Even O’Brien recognized that this was not the match Dexter wanted and attempted to nullify Thorne as much as he could. And it seemed like Dexter was going to pull out the victory when he most needed to as he was able to connect with the Tomikaze on O’Brien, only to have Thorne come up from behind and lock a rear naked choke on Dexter. Dexter fought it. He struggled. He desperately searched for a way out. And most importantly, he did not give up. He never tapped out. But he did pass out. And that was the point where he lost the ASP 5-Star Title to Thorne the Hunter.

Dexter took the weekend of August 1 & 2 off from wrestling, but has promised to return to ASP on August 9th. Most likely, he will be wanting to challenge Thorne in a rematch for the title. One-on-One. And after what may be one of the worst wrestling weekends in Dexter’s career, he really needs something to get his spirits back up. After all, it’s hard to have people believe you’re the best wrestler in Oklahoma if you can’t back that belief up in the ring.