It's been a slow process over the last few years, but I'm finally "in", kind of.

It began in August of 1996. A fellow I worked with, Ryan Smith, was from a nearby town named Souris, and he went to school there with a guy who went on to be a pro-wrestler, though he couldn't remember his wrestling name (it's Vance Nevada).

One night I was at the bar when I saw Ryan, and he mentioned that the wrestlers brother was there, so he introduced us and I asked for Vance's phone number.

I was about to move from Brandon, Manitoba to my hometown of The Pas, so I waited a while before calling Vance (he was on a tour of the Southern US at the time as well). A couple of weeks later I called Vance, introduced myself and talked to him about training.

The Pas is in northern Manitoba, and about six hours away from Winnipeg, where Vance was based, so training was a problem just then. I was planning on moving back to Brandon, two hours away from Winnipeg, within the next year to attend school, and until then I would start working out and try to improve my fitness to the point where I could begin training. In the meantime I kept in touch with Vance on how things were going.

I moved back to Brandon in August of 1997 to attend college. I was taking "Media Production" at Assiniboine Community College in Brandon Manitoba at the time. This definitely worked out to my advantage, which will become obvious later on.

I started attending shows in Winnipeg to see what it was all about. One of the weekends I went out I went to three CWF shows and had my first training session with Vance in February of 1998. It was just the two of us, and he put me through a workout for about two hours; we covered bumps, lock-ups, hip-tosses, close-lines, running the ropes, suplexes, going into the corner. and alot of other basics. He said to me, "You'll know tomorrow if you still want to do this", in reference to the pain I would be in the next day.

First thing I did the next day was call him and said yes, I'm in, damn I was sore though, but I'm in. It was such an awesome feeling being in the ring, getting thrown around, taking bumps, everything.

The owner of the CWF is Ernie Todd, and he heard that I was in Media Production and he was interested in putting together some TV tapings. The first one I set up was in Neepawa Manitoba in June of 98. It was a simple set up, two camera's, a switcher and a mike under the ring, it was my first direct experience in being involved with a wrestling show. This tape is available on the tapes trading page.

I had my second training session on June 27th, 1998, the trainers were Vance Nevada & Alex Rain, and I was with about six other students. We covered more bumps, running the ropes (I'm not very good at this yet), and other basics. We bumped for nearly 45 minutes straight! That sure toughens you up. A copy of this session is available on the tapes trading page. The next day I bumped a little after a show with the trainees and some of the wrestlers, that's also on the tape.

In September Ernie asked me to come out to Selkirk (about 20 minutes north of Winnipeg) to do camera for a taping. I brought out a couple of guys with me and we did the camera for the show (I did the hand-held), and, of course, a copy of this show is available on the tapes trading page.

The real benefit from all this camera work was, besides getting shooting experience, I was getting to know a few of the wrestlers and promoters, and they were getting to know who I was and what I could do for them.

This was good, because in November of 98 the CWF was traveling to Lebret, Saskatchewan for a show, and they needed a ref. Ernie asked if I'd be interested in going out, what do you think I said? :o) So I went out with the guys (they picked me up in Brandon on the way to Lebret) and became a participant in my first wrestling show in November of 98.

I was very nervous, trying to keep finishes in my head, while looking like an official. They told me to keep a straight face, but every time I heard a chant of "ref sucks" or "kill the ref" I wanted to start laughing, but I kept a straight face. The thing I found to be the hardest about being a ref was passing signals between the guys, sometimes it was simple, but when I did a tag match between four experienced guys it got pretty complicated, and I didn't do as good as I should have, trying to pass 5 spots to guys in the ring from their partner on the ring was not easy! Quite an experience, the guys were very supportive and helpful. What a surprise, a copy of this show is available on the tapes trading page.
 

Ernie talked to me about setting up a show and TV taping in my town of Brandon, and he left it up to me. When the original venue fell though, I approached ACC (Assiniboine Community College) about doing a fund-raiser for the Students Union. They were hip to the idea and we set a couple tentative dates until Saturday, February 20th, 1999 was set as the day.

Along with the ACC Students Union (Brett Houck - Sports Director), we were the promoters for the show. We put up posters, did some TV advertising, and got the word out. In the meantime, I was setting up the crew for the technical aspects. I hired a director (Peter Flammand, who had previously done the camera in Neepawa & Selkirk) and crew, and Peter got more crew, and I left the specific set-up up to him. I had to make sure the venue was secure, that there was a dressing room, etc., etc.

In the meantime I had another training session on January 23rd. I did a six-man tag match, I was partnered with Darren Dalton and Tony McGuire (Zapetalli) against E.Z.Ryder (Curtis Rothenburger), Hysteria (Kevin Ali) & Steve Stryker (Darren Metlesar) at the CWF training centre. They showed me how to get some flow moving in a match, working with each other, and Steve had me run the ropes until I could hardly breath!

The show in Brandon was approaching closer. Being in the broadcasting business (I work at a TV station) I have a few contacts, and I got a couple TV appearances for some of the guys. Vance & Steve appeared on This Is Sports, a local half-hour sports talk show, and on the day before before the wrestling show Vance appeared with ACCSU Sports director Brett Houck on CKX Noon Hour, in a short interview plugging the upcoming show.

Ernie had previously asked me if I wanted to ref the Brandon show, and I had known that for a while. As I talked to Ernie the Thursday before the show he asked me if I wanted to wrestle! "Can you bump" he asked, I would work a squash handicap match against 500-lbs. Crusher Carlson.

So, on Saturday, February 20th, at approx. 2:45 pm I made my pro-wrestling debut as a wrestler. I was called The Black Dragon and I teamed with Mr. Majestic (James "Frenchy" Mitchell) and we lost in about five minutes to Crusher Carlson. We were carried out of the ring, and as soon as we went behind the curtain I stood up straight and just said to myself "Awesome, that was awesome". I reffed the final two hours of show and got thrown around a bit doing that as well. A tape of the entire show is available here.

So that's my story up to this point, hope you've enjoyed it!
- Scotty "The Black Dragon; The Body; Lynch" Carnegie
 

At A Glance

- first contacted Vance Nevada, Sept 1996
- first training session Feb 1998 (with Vance Nevada)
- camera for show in Neepawa, June 98
- second training session June 27, 1998 (with Vance Nevada & Alex Rain)
- camera for show in Selkirk, Sept 98
- referee for show in Lebret, Sask., Dec 12, 1998
- third training session, Jan 23, 1999 (with Hysteria, Darren Dalton, Steve Stryker, E.Z.Ryder & Tony McGuire)
- wrestling debut, Feb 20, 1999 in Brandon Mb. As The Black Dragon, teamed with Mr.Majestic in a loss to Crusher Carlson in a handicap match. Also refed on the show
- referee for show in Brandon, MB as Scott Carnegie III. NWA/CWF at the North 40 Sept 15, 1999. Got thrown around quite a bit, it was fun! Stiff slap from Spyder, ouch!
- ring announcer for Top Rope Championship Wrestling in Winnipeg, Mb., Aug 2000.
- introduced as Vice-President of Wrestling Operations for Top Rope Championship Wrestling in Winnipeg, Mb., Jan 17, 2001. Talked in the ring.