FREMONT, Neb (KMTV) — Fremont natives Tanner Renkin and Ryan Carlson both grew up dreaming of stepping into the ring
“I have had an interest since I was a kid, then when I moved to Omaha I was hanging with the Magnum Pro guys and then they started their school so I joined the school and went from there,” said Carlson
“I'm a great guy outside of the ring but I’ll tell you what, when I come through that curtain it’s a whole different ball game,” said Renken.
Tanner and Ryan are both wrestlers with Next Level Wrestling a local promotion headed by Nebraska Wrestling Hall of Fame Inductee Dave Sullivan, who earned his stripes wrestling alongside WCW legends like Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair.
“It’s a family entertainment type show. You have athletes out here who are gonna wrestle and fight but it’s still about entertaining people and having a good time,” said Sullivan.
Thursday’s show was NLW’s first in Fremont and it featured everything you’d expect to see if you turned on some WWE.
On one side of every match you have a face like Ryan and his persona, Ryan Romantic, the hero of the show.
“I drew inspiration from Dude Love, Rikishi, Val Venis, all the guys who have this stupid romantic gimmick to them” said Carlson.
Then opposite the face is the heel, the bad guy who everyone loves to boo.
“If I come out, and im talking smack to every single person that I see and im really getting under their skin, it doesn’t matter who comes after me they are getting cheered,” said Renken.
But in these matches, the audience is just as important as the wrestlers in the ring.
“You’ll be more into the match than you would even expect. All the trash talk from wrestlers, the cheers the booing, the fans are just as important in the show as us wrestlers,” said Renken.
The heavy hitting show was a hit with the crowd and after a match full of takedowns and trash talk Tanner would end with his hand raised.
It was successful show and NLW already has its next match in Fremont planned for August.
“I think its amazing they are bringing it to Fremont, they will keep trying to bring it back to Fremont and the more people we get tonight the better off we are,” said Bryan Behles, another Fremont local and one of the refs at NLW’s show.
