Friday Morning Backlash on Mikey Zeroe

I wrote this for my local newspaper but thought it deserved a wider spotlight…

When most people say they speak a foreign language, it’s something like French, Spanish, or Italian.

However, 22-year-old Kalkaska native Mike Dombrowski speaks Kayfabe, a rare dialect of Carney spoken only by those in the Professional Wrestling business.

Dombrowski has been promoting his own wrestling shows in Kalkaska since mid-2007, but his relationship with wrestling goes back even further.

“I lived in Detroit with my dad in the early ‘90s,” Dombrowski said, “and we used to go to Cobo Hall to see guys like Hulk Hogan, Ricky ‘the Dragon’ Steamboat and ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage.

“Almost all of what I remember from those days,” he continued, “is wrestling memories.”

Dombrowski and his father later moved to Kalkaska and at the age of 15 he started training to wrestle.

“There was a wrestling company running shows called Michigan Marquee Wrestling Association,” Dombrowski said. “I started off as a job shadow for Mike Galloway, setting up the ring, chairs, working security, that sort of stuff.”

The MMWA shut down in May 2004 but hat was hardly the end for Dombrowski.

He began training in Cadillac with a wrestler named Eric Freedom in October.

“My first match was supposed to be in November and I had only been training for a month, so I was just going to be in a battle royal [a common match for rookies because there are multiple wrestlers in the ring at the same time].

“I didn’t even get to do the royal,” he laughed. “That was my first pro wrestling experience, driving all the way to Chicago and not even getting to be in the match.”

In May of 2006 Dombrowski briefly fell out of the wrestling business and turned to concert promoting.

“I did just concert promoting for a while but after a few months my friend Chase Russell and I had the idea to combine music and wrestling,” Dombrowski said.

The new joint venture was known as Mister Chainsaw Productions, and the first show to feature both music and wrestling was in January 2007.

The name is a dual reference to a song by the Alkaline Trio and the “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” films.

The first show featured four bands and two wrestling matches. “I taught a few friends how to ‘bump’ [learn how to minimize pain while falling or being slammed in the ring] but what we were doing wasn’t really wrestling,” he said.

By July, Dombrowski, who wrestles as ‘Mikey Zeroe,’ was putting on his first all-wrestling show.

He booked Michigan Independent wrestling stars Josh Abercrombie and Jimmy Jacobs, who had just come off a short run for Wrestling Society X, an ambitious but flawed project that flopped badly on MTV.

Dombrowski notes that both Abercrombie and Jacobs gave his shows credibility and shared their vast knowledge of the business with him.

“Josh and Jimmy taught me a lot about how to run a show,” he said, “and I was also learning from working with other promoters almost every weekend.”

As his shows gained momentum, other independent wrestling stars began appearing, such as Tyler Black (who now wrestles for WWE’s farm system as Seth Rollins) and Zach Gowen, who competed briefly in WWE and worked with Hulk Hogan, Vince McMahon, and “Rowdy” Roddy Piper.

“By this point I had a really solid core of guys, and Mike Zeoli (‘Mike Z’) started getting more involved with me behind the scenes,” Dombrowski said.

On occasion Dombrowski has been able to reach further and bring in even bigger stars, like former ECW stalwart the Sandman and legendary former three-time WWE Champion and New York Times Bestseller Mick Foley in May of 2009.

“Foley just has this superstar status,” Dombrowski recalled. “I was standing there talking to one of the guys about his match, and when Foley walked in everybody’s heads turned.

“I was nervous about meeting him,” he continued. “But he was so down to earth helping me with my match.”

The highlight was on his way out the door when Foley asked for directions – to G’s Pizzeria.

Unfortunately, that night also featured Dombrowski’s least favorite wrestling memory, as fellow wrestler Hardcore Harry sustained a broken leg.

“Foley had to leave early so we put his match on the first half of the show, and he told me that my tag team match should go on last,” Dombrowski said.

“I had this nervous feeling,” he continued, “and within a few minutes Harry broke his leg, and I just felt so bad.

“I will never forget that as long as I live.”

Dombrowski will run his next show at the Kalkaska Civic Center sometime in May and hopes to run a show at the Kaliseum in September before the ice takes over.

Visit www.mcpwonline.com for up to date information.