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JENA – It's OK to have unique, outside the box dreams, and whatever goals you set for yourselves, you can accomplish them. That’s the message Jake Smith and Timmy Renz want to leave with every child and teen who come to their wrestling shows.
The two wrestlers from Jena co-own Exist2Inspire Wrestling. Smith said they started the company with the idea of bringing positive family-friendly entertainment with characters and storylines fans of all ages can follow without the worry of vulgarity in the scenes or language.
“That’s been a big part of it,” Renz said. “The community roots of it. The family-friendly aspect.”
Being from Jena, they know what kind of activities the people in Jena like. And their brand of wrestling entertainment is something they want people in Jena to enjoy for years to come.
Best friends since they were 13 years old, Smith and Renz had dreamed of owning a wrestling company for a long time. Both have been big time wrestling fans since they were really young boys.
Smith’s wrestling persona is Rika Wildlee, Barker of the Bizarre. Renz is Gluttony, The Bigtop Butcher.
“It's all about pushing the unique, pushing the positive,” Smith said at Poole’s Pit Stop in Jena, one of the sponsors of their upcoming show “The Vision: The Gold Standard,” set for Saturday, Aug. 22 at 1245 Fairgrounds Dr.
Doors for that show open at 5 p.m. and the bell rings at 6 p.m. General admission tickets are $10, second- and third-row seats are $15, and VIP front row seats are $20. They also have vendor spots available for $75. Tickets will be sold at the door, or you can message Exist2Inspire Wrestling on Facebook or directly contact Smith at (318) 316-4037 or Renz at (318) 312-8908 or email [email protected] to purchase advance tickets.
A slate of contenders is set to perform including Rika Wildlee, Barker of the Bizarre, Revy Devereaux, OG Dolla Johnson, Damien Sport, Aiden Chaos, Athan Sorrow, Ashton Blake, Suenyo “The Holy Ghost Gangsta”, and LC Green. Tag teams include The Family Affliated and Sons of Plunder.
All the wrestlers in the show are ones they know and met through their travels.
“This is where we’re going to put all our championships on the line,” said Smith. “We have three championships so far. The Inspirational Heavyweight Championship. The Motivational Openweight Championship. And then the Co-Action Tag Team Championship.”
Smith wants the wrestling shows to be something that people can enjoy for years to come.
“My dad told me stories my whole life about how him and my grandpa would get up on Sundays. My grandpa would drink coffee. He’d drink a glass of milk. And they’d watch wrestling,” Smith said.
He says that’s a keen memory that can’t be replaced. And they would like other families make memories like that.
Renz said an older couple saw a flyer at his workplace advertising the show and told him that back when they were younger wrestling shows used to come to town.
“The smiles came on their faces,” Renz said about when they saw the flyer. “They just know that something like that’s coming back.”
Nothing can put a price on taking yourself out of the grind of everyday life and just enjoy being entertained and making memories with the family, Smith said.
“You can’t put a price on valued memories with your kids as they grow up,” he said.
Wrestling has given Smith everything, he said. It has been there for him in bad times, but also the good.
Wrestling has been the one constant in Smith’s life that he said has never taken from him. And it became a passion for him, one that clicked with Renz when they first met as kids.
“We’ve been friends for over 20-25 years,” Renz said. Hurricane Katrina brought Renz and his family to Jena from Chalmette.
“I know a lot of people here have dreams and things like that, especially kids,” Smith said. “Just like I was growing up.”
He was told his dreams of becoming a wrestler were “stupid and dumb” and that “there wasn’t any wrestling around here.”
There are a lot of people who are dream killers, Smith said. So, he and Renz want to show people, especially young people, that they can achieve their dreams no matter their age. Smith didn't start wrestling until he was in his early 30s. And they want to inspire kids who aren’t into sports like baseball, football or basketball that they can do other things - even if it isn’t wrestling.
‘There’s nothing that would make me happier than growing old knowing that there was a generation of dreamers and kids and everything else that got to do something out of the box based on our hard work,” said Smith.
Life is about risk, he said, and his biggest fear is dying with a bunch of “what ifs.” He would rather have tried and failed than to never have tried at all.
“Wishing you should have, could have but never did. Never taking the chance,” added Renz.
He added that one of the other reasons to have their company in Jena is that they worked a lot of shows in other states that were charity and community events. They want to bring that aspect to Jena and support to others in their hometown.
“We gave a lot to a lot of other towns in a lot of other states,” said Smith. “It’s time to give something to home.”
Renz said they’d like to get involved with the schools, churches and other non-profits to do what they can to help out their community.
“I know a lot of this stuff, back when I was little, it helped me out,” said Renz. “The gratitude and compassion I have for it — because it made such an impact for me.”
This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: 'Exist2Inspire' brings family-friendly wrestling entertainment to Jena
Continue reading...
The two wrestlers from Jena co-own Exist2Inspire Wrestling. Smith said they started the company with the idea of bringing positive family-friendly entertainment with characters and storylines fans of all ages can follow without the worry of vulgarity in the scenes or language.
“That’s been a big part of it,” Renz said. “The community roots of it. The family-friendly aspect.”
Being from Jena, they know what kind of activities the people in Jena like. And their brand of wrestling entertainment is something they want people in Jena to enjoy for years to come.
Best friends since they were 13 years old, Smith and Renz had dreamed of owning a wrestling company for a long time. Both have been big time wrestling fans since they were really young boys.
Smith’s wrestling persona is Rika Wildlee, Barker of the Bizarre. Renz is Gluttony, The Bigtop Butcher.
“It's all about pushing the unique, pushing the positive,” Smith said at Poole’s Pit Stop in Jena, one of the sponsors of their upcoming show “The Vision: The Gold Standard,” set for Saturday, Aug. 22 at 1245 Fairgrounds Dr.
You must be registered for see images attach
Doors for that show open at 5 p.m. and the bell rings at 6 p.m. General admission tickets are $10, second- and third-row seats are $15, and VIP front row seats are $20. They also have vendor spots available for $75. Tickets will be sold at the door, or you can message Exist2Inspire Wrestling on Facebook or directly contact Smith at (318) 316-4037 or Renz at (318) 312-8908 or email [email protected] to purchase advance tickets.
A slate of contenders is set to perform including Rika Wildlee, Barker of the Bizarre, Revy Devereaux, OG Dolla Johnson, Damien Sport, Aiden Chaos, Athan Sorrow, Ashton Blake, Suenyo “The Holy Ghost Gangsta”, and LC Green. Tag teams include The Family Affliated and Sons of Plunder.
All the wrestlers in the show are ones they know and met through their travels.
“This is where we’re going to put all our championships on the line,” said Smith. “We have three championships so far. The Inspirational Heavyweight Championship. The Motivational Openweight Championship. And then the Co-Action Tag Team Championship.”
Smith wants the wrestling shows to be something that people can enjoy for years to come.
“My dad told me stories my whole life about how him and my grandpa would get up on Sundays. My grandpa would drink coffee. He’d drink a glass of milk. And they’d watch wrestling,” Smith said.
He says that’s a keen memory that can’t be replaced. And they would like other families make memories like that.
Renz said an older couple saw a flyer at his workplace advertising the show and told him that back when they were younger wrestling shows used to come to town.
“The smiles came on their faces,” Renz said about when they saw the flyer. “They just know that something like that’s coming back.”
Nothing can put a price on taking yourself out of the grind of everyday life and just enjoy being entertained and making memories with the family, Smith said.
“You can’t put a price on valued memories with your kids as they grow up,” he said.
Wrestling has given Smith everything, he said. It has been there for him in bad times, but also the good.
Wrestling has been the one constant in Smith’s life that he said has never taken from him. And it became a passion for him, one that clicked with Renz when they first met as kids.
“We’ve been friends for over 20-25 years,” Renz said. Hurricane Katrina brought Renz and his family to Jena from Chalmette.
“I know a lot of people here have dreams and things like that, especially kids,” Smith said. “Just like I was growing up.”
He was told his dreams of becoming a wrestler were “stupid and dumb” and that “there wasn’t any wrestling around here.”
There are a lot of people who are dream killers, Smith said. So, he and Renz want to show people, especially young people, that they can achieve their dreams no matter their age. Smith didn't start wrestling until he was in his early 30s. And they want to inspire kids who aren’t into sports like baseball, football or basketball that they can do other things - even if it isn’t wrestling.
You must be registered for see images attach
‘There’s nothing that would make me happier than growing old knowing that there was a generation of dreamers and kids and everything else that got to do something out of the box based on our hard work,” said Smith.
Life is about risk, he said, and his biggest fear is dying with a bunch of “what ifs.” He would rather have tried and failed than to never have tried at all.
“Wishing you should have, could have but never did. Never taking the chance,” added Renz.
He added that one of the other reasons to have their company in Jena is that they worked a lot of shows in other states that were charity and community events. They want to bring that aspect to Jena and support to others in their hometown.
“We gave a lot to a lot of other towns in a lot of other states,” said Smith. “It’s time to give something to home.”
Renz said they’d like to get involved with the schools, churches and other non-profits to do what they can to help out their community.
“I know a lot of this stuff, back when I was little, it helped me out,” said Renz. “The gratitude and compassion I have for it — because it made such an impact for me.”
This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: 'Exist2Inspire' brings family-friendly wrestling entertainment to Jena
Continue reading...
