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Introducing Niles Plonk, 'the Classiest Man in Pro Wrestling'—and Missouri Winemaker by Day

Posted: Mar 11th 2019 By: WineSpectator.com

We go ringside with the man of grapes you love to hate.

Forget Hulkamania: Whatcha gonna do when the Plonkémania runs wild on you?! There's a new bad guy in wrestling: Niles Plonk, "the Connoisseur," is here to "bring a little class" in a glass to the ring—and crush his opponents like a vat of Cabernet.

By day, Kraig Keesaman is a mild-mannered Midwestern winemaker and proprietor of Windy Wine Company in Osborn, Mo. But by night (and on most weekends), the sixth-generation farmer transforms himself into his alter ego, a 6'2", 209-lb. unabashed wine snob who calls his opponents "Two Buck Chucks" and strides out to the ring with a glass in hand and classical music blasting at his back.

"Basically every negative stereotype you can think about wine is him: snob, hoity-toit, uptight, better than everybody," Keesaman told Unfiltered of his Plonk persona. "He's definitely a bad guy."

Keesaman, who's been wrestling since age 17, had the idea in 2016 to create a "wine snob" character for his career with the Midwestern wrestling league Journey Pro KC. After developing a storyline and deciding on a name ("Vic Vintage" didn't quite make the cut), Keesaman became Niles Plonk, a Napa Valley vino connoisseur who wears a smoking jacket and enunciates the silent "Ts" in Mer–lot and Caber-net.

"Niles is kind of a cliché name—no offense to anyone named Niles—for that type of snobbery, [and] obviously Plonk is a reference to the wine world," Keesman said. "He likes to correct people and tell them that it's Plonké."

Though there's no question that Plonk is a villain—or a "heel," in wrestling terms—in the league, Keesaman isn't shy to admit he sees a little bit of himself in the character, whom he based off of some of his favorite bad-guy wrestlers growing up, like Ric Flair. "In wrestling, the best characters are ones that are kind of a reflection of yourself, just amplified by 500 percent," he said. "There are times, with anybody, that you bite your tongue and you have to restrain yourself in situations, but in a wrestling ring I'm allowed to let that out."

But only a little bit: "Our personalities are completely different. I'm not a bad guy; I'm not an elitist in the least bit. To me, wine is not a social status; wine is about having fun with your peers and opening up." His "peers" in the ring, though, should be aware that his brand of fun includes signature moves like "grape stomping" his hapless opponents and dropping a "corkscrew-elbow" to the back.