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Professional wrestling event benefits leukemia patient

Posted: Jan 16th 2017 By: Mark Buffalo

It may not be the WWE, but professional wrestling with some big names is coming to the Maumelle Event Center on Jan. 21 as a benefit for a leukemia patient in Conway.

Championship Wrestling of Arkansas will host its first Wrestle Raise event, which will benefit Kaitlyn Ison of Conway.

The card will start at 7 p.m. and feature some of the best wrestlers outside of the WWE.

The biggest name is former World Championship Wrestling star Buff Bagwell, who will team with current National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Champion Tim Storm of Pine Bluff against Loverboy Matt Riviera

of Russellville and Golden Boy Greg Anthony. Riviera is currently one half of the NWA World Tag Team Champions, along with partner Rob Conway.

Dallas Edmunds is the vice president of live events for the CWA. He said the CWA plans to run several benefit shows a year for those in need.

“Some really good guys from Arkansas came to me with the idea of creating a home promotion for the state of Arkansas to raise money for those in need with our Wrestle Raise program,” he said. “I have a background in marketing and live events, and I couldn’t say no. I love wrestling and helping those in need.”

Ison, 21, was diagnosed with leukemia July 27 at the University of Arkansas

for Medical Sciences Medical Center in Little Rock. She spent 30 days in the hospital following her diagnosis.

“We heard that Kaitlyn was a great young lady battling leukemia,” Edmunds said. “We wanted to help out.”

Ison is appreciative of the help she is receiving. Her son, Beau, will turn 6 on Feb. 8.

“We’re very grateful,” she said. “I’ve got a 6-year old son, and it’s going to help him out and help me out with medical bills just because I haven’t been able to work. I’ve had trouble getting in contact with the disability office, so this is going to help us get through this last little bit.”

Ison said that prior to her diagnosis, she was having trouble breathing, and it felt like she had a cinder block on her chest.

“I had no energy whatsoever,” she said. “I couldn’t eat. I’d go days without eating. I couldn’t work at all. I lay in bed all day. I’d have people come over and check on me to make sure everything was all right.”

Ison said her mother, Susie Munson, and stepmother, Kim Ison, have helped with Beau during his mother’s illness.

“They will help me out when I can’t do it,” Ison said, referring to taking care of her son. “There are some days when I can’t. It’s hard not being able to do that.”

Ison said her treatments are going well. She recently finished her sixth of eight chemotherapy treatments and is expected to complete those in March.

“As of right now, everything is going well,” she said. “Every single bone-marrow scan I’ve had has come back clean, so I’m currently in remission. I just have to finish out the rounds; then I’ll be considered cured.”

Ison said she watched wrestling as a child with her family but never considered herself to be a big fan, but she is now.

“We’re hoping to be able to attend the event,” she said. “I’ve got to speak to my doctor. He wants me to start my next round of chemo during that time. I’m going to see if he’ll prolong it. I need more time to recover from the last round. I would really like to be there.”

One of the stars who will be wrestling at Wrestle Raise is Riviera, who began training to become a professional wrestler 18 years ago when he was 15.

Riviera, who is proud to be from Arkansas and the city of Russellville, is excited to participate in this fundraising event for Ison.

“It’s called CWA Wrestle Raise, and it’s something that the CWA has come up with,” he said. “The concept is to raise funds for those who are in need while, at the same time, provide a good night of action-packed pro wrestling. It’s a great concept, and to raise money for someone who needs it, to provide entertainment for fans in Arkansas for that hard-earned dollar, that night, every wrestler is going to give 110 percent. I’m going to wrestle the same as if I were in the main event in Tokyo, Japan, like I did on my last tour there. Nothing is going to be left on the table.

“This is a big night for us.”

Riviera has been successful on the independent circuit, having won the the NWA World Tag Team Titles three times with Conway, the most recent win coming Jan. 7. He also ran his own local promotion, Traditional Championship Wrestling, which had a weekly television show and was broadcast locally, as well as across the country. He has been working for the NWA for more than two years. The NWA is the oldest sanctioning professional wrestling body in the country. Its world champions include the likes of Harley Race, Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, Kerry Von Erich, Ricky Steamboat, Terry Funk, Dory Funk Jr. and Sting.

“I’m very happy with my spot in the NWA,” Riviera said. “I plan to stay there.”

When he folded TCW, Riviera said, he, Storm and Anthony, who are all close friends, were looking for a wrestling home.

“One of the owners of the NWA at that time met us and was very professional,” he said. “He booked us on a show in Houston, Texas, and one thing led to another, and the NWA has done everything it had promised to me, and then some, since I first became involved.”

Riviera is excited about wrestling in Arkansas for the first time in a while when Wrestle Raise takes place.

“Arkansas is a very loyal state, and I’m very loyal to it,” he said. “When I’m in Tokyo, they announce me as being from Russ Vegas, Arkansas. I’m always from Russ Vegas. I’m born and raised here. There is a very loyal fan base, and the CWA is Championship Wrestling of Arkansas. It’s Arkansas’ own wrestling promotion. To be able to come and have my parents there and a lot of my friends and family, it’s a great feeling. It sets the show apart from other shows.

“When you’re in another part of the country or another part of the world, you just don’t quite have that security blanket of knowing that your family is right there. It’s just really cool. My family has been very supportive.”

Riviera said he got involved with the CWA after some fans and promoters who were big fans of TCW started the ball rolling.

“In my opinion, they are using a lot of the right people, like myself and Tim Storm, the OMGs, who are Action Jackson and Mike Holly. They are from North Little Rock,” Riviera said. “There are a whole host of us who are good professional wrestlers who are on the show. I don’t really remember a show coming to Arkansas on this scale with this much talent born and raised in Arkansas.”

Tickets for the CWA Wrestle Raise are available at www.cwatickets.com or by calling (479) 518-4191. The Maumelle Event Center is at 10910 Maumelle Blvd. in North Little Rock. General-admission tickets are $12.