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Overcoming the Losses: How Estrada Turned 3 Losses Into A Major Victory

Posted: Jul 12th 2022 By: CMBurnham

Self-Confidence can be an amazing thing. Without it, many pro wrestlers are unable to accomplish much of anything. While they can draw strength and energy from the support of the crowd, ultimately, if they don't believe in themselves, they don't have what it takes to be successful in this business.

Given Nathan Estrada's accomplishments over the first 3 years of his career, it did not seem like that would be a problem for him. But apparently it was. Despite being well-travelled around state and the region, all of his tangible success was found in ComPro. 3 Oklahoma X Division Titles, 3 Tag Team Title reigns with 3 different partners and 1 Heavyweight Title win are pretty good achievements for someone in his position. But circumstances inside and outside of wrestling caused Nathan to walk away from the business for a few years and when he returned, at first it was just as an owner for CPW. Circumstances eventually brought him back into the ring and slowly, but surely, he found himself wanting to get out there again and prove that he was as good as his fans said he was.

But in his brief time off, professional wrestlers continued to evolve and change. And Estrada found himself having to play a little catch-up. The home town crowd in Sand Springs, OK pushed him to success on many occasions there, but outside of there, things were a little different.

Estrada was one of several competitors who took part in the wrestling events at the OKC Pop Con. At the IWW event, he took on international wrestling superstar Franco Varga. Outmeasured in size, power and experience, Estrada had to rely on his speed and try to draw on support from a crowd who was not a familiar with him as he might have liked them to be. Estrada held his own for a while, getting Varga up on the 2nd rope and executing a springboard elbow drop to get a super-close 2 count from referee Brent Wall. Varga would then trap Estrada's arms and head butt Nathan to his knees. Varga then connected with a Falcon's Arrow, but Nathan kicked out. Varga then grabbed Estrada's hair pick, mocking him by "picking" at his own (mostly) non-existant hair. And then, in an act of ingenuity, Varga manipulated things so that Nathan accidentally collided with Brent Wall and while Wall was momentarily stunned, Varga threw the pick in Estrada's face and hit his finisher to put Estrada down for the 3-count.

That was not the way that Estrada wanted to start the weekend, but he vowed to make things better the next day when he took on Jake Hollister. Hollister was a newcomer to the Oklahoma ranks, with this being only his third match in the state. Both men were evenly popular with the crowd and wanted to use this chance to showcase their talents. Things were very even-handed with both men having the advantage at times but not being able to fully capitalise. In the end, Hollister connected with three superkicks and went for a pinfall, but Estrada kicked out. Estrada seemed to fire up at that point, hitting Hollister with a Full-Nelson Flatliner. Hollister didn't stay down for that and both men slowly made their way back to their feet. Estrada gave Hollister a big chop and whipped him into the ropes, but Hollister came back with a pop-up Stunner and connected with one more Superkick for the win. Again, Estrada could feel the success in his grasp, but wasn't able to bring it home for himself.

After almost 2 weeks away from Oklahoma wrestling, Estrada made his way down to Oklahoma City again for his Fenix International Wrestling debut. This time, instead of it being a one-on-one event, he found himself facing two very different opponents: the highly self-entitled Wayne Black and the ruthless Ryan the Ripper. Trying to overcome the offence of one person is hard enough, but fighting off two opponents is an even bigger challenge, but Estrada has never been one to shy away from a challenge and he brought his game face for this. From the opening, Estrada's worst fears were in place as Estrada found himself facing a 2-on-1 situation, with Black and Ryan teaming up. Nathan was able to counter this after a double irish-whip. He gave an up-and-over to Black, who held on to Estrada, thinking he was smart by doing so. But Estrada sent Ryan into Black, negating that potential offence. Estrada tried to get the pinfall on Ryan, but the Ripper kicked out and Estrada had to be content with giving him a big boot to the face instead. Black would break up another pinfall attempt after that and would head to the top rope to try for a big splash, but Nathan moved, causing Black to splash Ryan. After a spinwheel kick, Estrada found Black begging for a time out, but it was just a distraction to allow Nathan to get close enough so Black could gouge him in the eye and pull him into the bottom rope by his hair. After fighting off an attempted interference by Ryan, Nathan blocked a punch by Black and rubbed his 'fro in Black's face, then tried to execute a spear in the corner. Black countered that into a school boy, but it didn't get the 3-count. Estrada then dropkicked Black in the back, sending him outside where he attempted a tope onto both of them. But Ryan shoved Black forward and dodged to the side, causing Estrada to crash onto his head on the unpadded floor outside the ring. It seemed quite likely that Estrada had gotten a concussion at that point, but somehow, he was still upright and moving, getting back into the match. The match would continue for several more minutes until Black had Ryan set for a powerbomb when Estrada came off the top rope on Black with a crossbody. Estrada would then hit two clotheslines on Ryan and follow up with a Full Nelson Facebreaker on Black, but only get a two-count before Ryan broke that up. Ryan went for a Famouser and missed, which allowed Estrada to connect with a cutter on him, but that was broken up by Black. Black then locked in his new finisher, the Cash Grab, a version of the Million-Dollar Dream. Estrada countered that with a roll into a pinfall for two, but couldn't keep him down for three. Estrada then went for a step-up Enziguri, but missed and Black was able to hook the Cash Grab again and get the win.

Three losses in 3 matches could be very disheartening, but opportunity always shows itself at the strangest of times. And that was true later in the show. Prior to the Triple Threat/ Winner Takes All Ladies match, where all the women had championships at stake, Black decided that he was going to hijack the show. He came out and grabbed a microphone and proceeded to expound on all the reasons that he was better than the audience members, most of the tying back to the immense amount of money he has. But in a tasteless act that has become more and more common of the controversial Black, after finishing his list of superior qualities, he then mentioned how what he had just said didn't really matter because most of them probably didn't understand what he was saying anyway. The heavily Hispanic crowd, who already did not care for Black due to his arrogant attitude, had no problem understanding those words and neither did Estrada, who came out at that moment with his own microphone and proceeded to tell Black that the audience would love nothing more than for him to shut up! Black took severe exception to this, dropping his microphone and taking a swing at Estrada, but Estrada ducked that and connected with a Superkick to drive Black out of the ring. The jeers of the crowd were more than Black wanted to endure and he decided that beating a hasty retreat at this point was the better choice.

So, officially, while the record for his past 3 matches stands at 0-3, none of that mattered after Estrada gained a small level of revenge on Black. All the depression, the disappointment and the wonder about his wrestling future faded away as the crowd there showed their appreciation for Estrada doing what they couldn't. The wins will come back. They always do. But in the meantime, as long as Estrada can make the fans happy with actions like that, it will count as a win for him anyway.