Spotlight on John Walters
John Stagikas' journey into the turbulent world we know as professional wrestling began in 1997. Calling Massachusetts his home, Stagikas enrolled at Assumption College in Worcester, MA after gradating high school in 1997. While at Assumption, Stagikas was a member of the college's football team. Unfortunately, Stagikas' gridiron career was cut short due to undergoing a procedure to remove a cyst in his neck.
Stagikas enrolled in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Hall of Famer Walter "Killer" Kowalski's school in Massachusetts in 1999. Kowalski has trained several of WWE's past and present superstars, such as Triple H, Chyna, A-Train, Perry Saturn, and Christopher Nowinski. Kowalski had a hand in training current Cyberspace Wrestling Federation (CSWF) champion Slyk Wagner Brown. Stagikas continued his training under Mike Hallow at the Chaotic Training Center on January 27, 2001.
Five months later, Stagikas was ready to make his debut. As a tribute to the legendary Kowalski, Stagikas began to wrestle under the name of John Walters. Walters would compete in battle royals before he moved on to wrestling singles matches.
Walters began competing in different promotions throughout the New England area, mainly Chaotic Wrestling. It didn't take long for Walters to get noticed in Chaotic Wrestling. On September 7, 2001, he defeated Slyk Wagner Brown to claim the Chaotic Wrestling Television Title in Lawrence, MA. Walters didn't stop there, as he teamed with "Good Time" Vince Vicallo to defeat One Night Stand- Edward G. Xtasy and current Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) trainee Aaron "The Idol" Stevens- to win the Chaotic Wrestling Tag Team Titles in Lawrence, MA on December 14, 2001. In his rookie year, Walters had the Midas touch.
Just as strongly as Walters finished his rookie year, his sophomore year started off on the wrong foot. On February 16, 2002, he dropped the Chaotic Wrestling TV Title to Dukes Dalton in Lowell, MA at the Elks Lodge, not to be confused with Queens, NY's Elks Lodge. Although he didn't see much success, at first, he was maintaining his status as one-half of the best tag team in Chaotic Wrestling. However, after dominating other teams in the first half of 2002, Walters & Vicallo lost the Chaotic Wrestling Tag Team Titles to "The Trend Setter" Adam Booker and "Mr. Muscles" Frankie Armadillo in Lawrence, MA on July 13, 2002.
Losing the tag titles may have been a blessing for Walters, as it opened up doors for him as a singles wrestler. On August 16, 2002, Chaotic Wrestling held their annual Summer Chaos in Methuen, MA. On that show, Walters hooked up against the Chaotic Wrestling Heavyweight champion, Aaron Stevens. The result saw Walters capture Chaotic Wrestling's Triple Crown, joining a rare list.
Another company in the New England area that John Walters began competing for was Eastern Wrestling Alliance (EWA). He ventured into the company on December 20, 2002 to unseat EWA New England champion Adam Hastey in Southbrige, MA for the title. Opportunity soon began to knock on the door of young John Walters.
The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) had relaunched in the summer of 2002 as Total Non-Stop Action (NWA:TNA) and began airing live on Wednesday nights exclusively on pay-per-view. NWA:TNA was looking to be an alternative product to that of WWE. They were trying out different wrestlers to use in the promotion. They took a liking to Slyk Wagner Brown and offered him a chance to compete in a dark match in Nashville, TN. At the same time, since it was a dark match, they allowed Slyk to choose his opponent and he choose the man he had a hand in training, John Walters. The two did battle in Nashville on January 15, 2003. It would be Walters' only journey into NWA:TNA as of press time, due to the fact that they aren't keen on flying in too many wrestlers to their weekly shows. But it wouldn't be his last dark match.
Looking to repeat championship performance, much like he did in Chaotic Wrestling, Walters challenged the EWA Heavyweight champion, Adam Booker, on January 31, 2003. The result saw Walters leave Southbridge, MA with the belt. However, during a show on February 22, 2003 in Portland, ME, Walters no-showed and was stripped of both his EWA Heavyweight and New England Titles.
That wouldn't really matter, because Walters was the reigning Chaotic Wrestling Heavyweight champion. But nothing lasts forever. On April 5, 2003 in Metheun, MA, he lost the title to Luis Ortiz, a man he would grow to have a heated rivalry with in the promotion.
During his tenure in the New England area, Walters would always be invited backstage with the opportunity of competing in a dark match. The first few times, he was backstage but he was bumped from competition. It wouldn't be the first time WWE rejected him. He went to the first Tough Enough try-outs with Christopher Nowinski, but WWE felt Walters had too much experience.
Walters remained patient and got his chance to compete in a WWE ring in April of 2003. He faced and jobbed to his old rival Aaron Stevens in a dark match. Walters was impressive and was asked to face Team Angle- Shelton Benjamin & Charile Haas- in a match that would air that Thursday night on Smackdown. Walters' future was looking much brighter than before.
Walters soon began working for Ring of Honor (RoH), where there are many athletes that could give Walters a run for his technical wrestling money. It would be in RoH where Walters would be revered for his technical prowess. He debuted for the company on May 31, 2003 in Philadelphia, PA. He jobbed to current NWA:TNA wrestler Andy Anderson. He had a strong performance that night, and was asked back by RoH to compete on their June 14, 2003 show in a four corners match against former ECW World champion Justin Credible, former NWA:TNA X Division champ Chris Sabin and former Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW) champion Homicide. Homicide came out on top in that match.
Chaotic Wrestling held a New England Invitational tournament on June 28, 2003 in Sanford, ME. This tournament was not as prestigious as the East Coast Wrestling Association's (ECWA) Super 8 Tournament, but it was a good way for Walters to further his career. In this one night tournament, Walters defeated Dylan Kage and Slyk Wagner Brown in the first two rounds respectively, before jobbing to Maverick Wild in the finals.
July 19, 2003 in Elizabeth, NJ was going to be Paul London's final night in RoH as he was headed for the greener pastures of WWE. He main evented the show, jobbing to fighting RoH champion Samoa Joe in the main event. That show also saw the first indy appearance since getting his WWE release of Jeff Hardy, as he defeated Joey Matthews and Krazy K in a 3 Way Dance. Walters competed on the "Death Before Dishonor" show, teaming with Tony Mamaluke to defeat The Outkast Killaz in Walters’s first victory in the promotion. On August 18, 2003 at RoH's "Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies" in, Fairfield, CT, Walters & Mamuluke rekindled their partnership and remained undefeated as a team when they beat The Ring Crew Express.
RoH held "Beating the Odds" on September 6, 2003 in Wakefield, MA. During the show, they held several Field of Honor matches. The first one saw Colt Cabana defeat Jimmy Rave. In the second match, Matt Stryker, not the one from USA Pro, defeated John Walters. Walters then had his first feud in RoH with the former champion, Xavier. They had their first clash on September 20, 2003 in Philadelphia, PA at "Glory By Honor II." Xavier was able to escape with the win.
WWE came calling Walters again, this time in October 2003. During a taping at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT, he teamed with another OVW trainee Chad Wicks to face the team of Danny Doring and Tony Mamaluke, both of which are former Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) Tag Team champions, in a dark match.
Walters continued to remain a fixture in RoH. On October 16, 2003, his rivalry with Xavier continued, this time in a Four Corners Match also involving Mark Briscoe and Homicide in Glen Burnie, MD at "Tradition Continues." Like their initial RoH encounter, Xavier snuck away with the victory. Later that month, on October 25, RoH made a rare appearance in New York, holding an event in Spencerport at "Empire State Showdown." He competed in two matches. He lost to "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels in his first match, then defeated Colt Cabana, Jimmy Rave and Justin Credible in a Four Corners Match. Xavier and Walters then met in a tag match on November 1, 2003 in Elizabeth, NJ at "Main Event Spectacles." Xavier paired up with Nigel McGuiness to beat Walters & Tony Mamaluke, ending their undefeated tag team streak, in a Pure Wrestling Challenge.
Stars & Stripes Championship Wrestling (SSCW) was set to stage one of their biggest shows in the company's history on November 7, 2003 in Cedar Grove, NJ. With such names as D'Lo Brown, Bam Bam Bigelow and Slyk Wagner Brown competing on the show, SSCW looked to add more to it by introducing the Tradition Cup, which was the brainchild of our very own MiC. The Tradition Cup was to be decided in a small, four-man tournament. The participants included former USA Pro United States & Tag Team champion "M-Tizzle" Mike Tobin, Josh Daniels, Tyler Payne, and Walters, who was making his only appearance to date for the promotion. Walters defeated Tobin in the first round, while Payne eliminated Daniels. The finals saw Tyler Payne pull a Eddie Guerrero and cheat to win over Walters. In both his matches, Walters once again showed why he is one of the best when it comes to technical wrestling.
November 2003 continued to be a busy month in the wrestling life of John Walters. On November 10, Walters was invited back to compete in a dark match, before the start of the live Raw taping. He teamed with Chad Wicks and jobbed to Kevin Fertig and Travis Tomko, who you currently know as Mordecai and Tyson Tomko respectively. The next night, Walters returned to work with WWE, this time at the Smackdown taping. Unlike the night before, Walters got in on the TV action. He teamed with "The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson to job to Spanky and the newest WWE Tag Team champion Paul London in a match taped for Velocity, which aired on November 15, 2003.
Raven and CM Punk had a storied and bloody rivalry in RoH. On November 28, 2003 in Fairfield, CT, appropriately named "The Conclusion," they were going to battle for the last time, this time in a Steel Cage. CM Punk came out on top of this feud. The night was also highlighted by a one on one match between John Walters and Homicide, which saw Homicide walk out with another victory over Walters.
The following night, the Walters-Xavier rivalry heated up. They met in Framingham, MA at "War of the Wire," in which the main event saw Steve Corino beat Homicide in a bloody barbed wire match. Walters finally got a victory over Xavier, but Xavier retaliated by laying him out after the match. The rematch was held on December 27, 2003 in Philadelphia at an event called "Final Battle." RoH was running a show jointly with All Japan Pro Wrestling. The main event saw All Japan Tag Team champs Great Muta and Arashi defeat members of "The Prophecy," Christopher Daniels and Dan Maff. Walters took on Xavier in a "Fight Without Honor" match, which simply states that there isn't good sportsmanship, as is shown in other RoH matches, due to the bad blood. In the bloody final battle between the two, Walters emerged victorious.
Just like RoH ended 2003 with a joint show, they rang in 2004 with another, this time with JAPW. On January 9, 2004 in Woodbridge, NJ, they staged the joint show which saw such matches as "The Franchise" Shane Douglas defeating Justin Credible, Samoa Joe retaining his RoH Title against Balls Mahoney and Dan Maff retaining his JAPW Title by defeating Slyk Wagner Brown by DQ. In this particular show, Walters got to main event his first RoH show. He competed in a Four Corners Match against CM Punk, Christopher Daniels and former NWA World and current NWA X Division champion AJ Styles. Daniels walked away with the win.
While Walters was competing on a regular basis with RoH, he rarely competed in the promotion that put him over as a major player, Chaotic Wrestling. However, he returned to their January 16 show to face Chaotic Wrestling Heavyweight champion "Lifesaver" Billy Kryptonite in a "Loser Leaves Chaotic Wrestling" match in Methuen, MA. Walters defeated Kryptonite, won his title and ran him out of town.
Looking for an opportunity to branch out into Japan, Walters appeared on one show during the three night swing of the Pro Wrestling World-1 (PWW1) promotion which, at the time, was run by Steve Corino and was an off-shoot of the Zero-One promotion in Japan. Putting on a good match during one of these shows almost guaranteed Walters a chance to show his skills to the Zero-One promoters. On February 8, 2004, he teamed with Spanky to job to Steve Corino and Jerry Lynn.
RoH introduced a Pure Wrestling Title, which was not designated to be lower than the RoH Title, but almost as equals. Their February 14, 2004 show was held in Braintree, MA and was the setting for the one-night tournament. In the first round, Doug Williams defeated Chris Sabin, Matt Stryker eliminated Josh Daniels, AJ Styles, the eventual winner, defeated Jimmy Rave, and CM Punk, who would advance to the finals, sent John Walters packing in the first round.
Connecticut Championship Wrestling (CCW) attempted to run indy shows in Connecticut, which didn't have much indy action to look forward to. On February 29, 2004, they held a one-night tournament to crown their first heavyweight champion. Walters participated, and was able to make it into the second round after defeating Damian Adams. But he ended up doing the job in the next round to Matt Striker.
On March 9, 2004, Walters once again appeared backstage at a WWE event, this time during a taping of Smackdown. He made another appearance on UPN as he teamed with Arch Kincaid to face off against the former WWE and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) champion, The Big Show. As you can guess, Walters and Kincaid got barely any offense and did the job to the 500 lbs. monster. But, it keeps Walters in the minds of the brass at WWE.
After a lackluster reign as Chaotic Wrestling Heavyweight champion, Walters dropped the title to his Smackdown partner, Arch Kincaid, on March 12, 2004 in Methuen, MA. Walters was in high demand, and appeared the next night in Elizabeth, NJ at the Rex Plex to job to Matt Stryker in a match to determine the #1 contender to the RoH Title. The fans completely booed Stryker throughout the match, and popped whenever Walters was in control.
Walters has had several strong ties to WWE for some time now. Because of that, not only did he attend WrestleMania XX at Madison Square Garden this past March, but he became part of the show. The Undertaker made his long-awaited return to the dead man gimmick, and Walters dressed the part as one of the druids holding a torch.
Every year, since 1997, Jim Kettner has held the Super 8 tournament during one of his ECWA shows. We have witnessed athletes such as Pat Kenney aka Lance Diamond, Christopher Daniels, Low Ki, and Paul London walk away as the winners. Athletes such as Scotty 2 Hotty, current OVW trainee Danny Inferno, The Hardy Boyz, Shark Boy, "The Black Nature Boy" Scoot Andrews, Elite Guard member Chad Collyer, Spanky, The American Dragon, AJ Styles, Jamie Noble, and a whole bunch of other great talents compete in this tournament that become a must-see event. This year, Walters competed in his first Super 8. He defeated former WCW Cruiserweight champion Psicosis, now known as Nicho, in the first round, before losing to Austin Aries in the next round. Aries would go on to the finals and job to Christopher Daniels, becoming the only man to repeat as Super 8 champion.
Walters continued to pile up victories that would propel him higher in status in the indy community. On April 23, 2004 in St. Paul, MN, Walters defeated former ECW World and Tag Team champion Justin Credible during a RoH show. Unfortunately, Walters returned the following night in Chicago, IL to job to Chad Collyer.
On May 1, 2004, John Walters was involved in the main event of an ECWA show, which saw him face off against ECWA champion Christopher Daniels, former ECWA champion Mike Kruel and Austin Aries. Walters added another title to his resume and walked out of Wilmington, DE with the title. Walters joined a superstar list of who's who that held that title, such as Pat Kenney, Christian, former WWE announcer Kevin Kelly, Scoot Andrews, The Amazing Red, and Xavier.
At around this time, Walters was in the early stages of his feud against Generation Next in RoH. Generation Next consists of Alex Shelley, Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, and Jack Evans. On May 22, 2004, Walters teamed with Jimmy Rave and Mark & Jay Briscoe to job to Generation Next. The rivalry would continue to grow after this.
On June 4, 2004, Walters returned to Chaotic Wrestling for the first time since losing the heavyweight title to Arch Kincaid. He teamed with Maverick Wild and they beat the makeshift team of Arch Kincaid and Mike Kruel. The following night, Walters made his JAPW debut, not to be confused with the JAPW/RoH joint show earlier in the year in which Walters represented RoH, and faced and defeated Nick Berk in Rahway, NJ. Two nights later, Walters returned to WWE for some more televised action. In Albany, NY at the Pepsi Arena, he teamed with Arch Kincaid to job to The Hurricane & Rosey in a match taped to air on international Sunday Night Heat.
June 12, 2004 saw the next chapter in the rivalry of Walters-Generation Next. This time, he teamed with Matt Stryker and Jimmy Rave and they jobbed to Alex Shelly, Roderick Strong and Austin Aries. On June 24, Walters wrestled a double shot. First, he made his first ECWA Title defense, successfully retaining against Mozart Fontaine in Newark, DE. He then made the drive to RoH and was jumped in the ring before his match by Generation Next. This prompted Josh Daniels to make the save and turn the match into a tag match. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong defeated and got the best of Walters & Daniels.
At around this time, ECWA and Chaotic Wrestling announced they would be holding a talent exchange as well as holding joint training camps. This way, Chaotic Wrestling fans will be able to check out the wrestlers from the mid-Atlantic region, and ECWA fans will be able to check out wrestlers from the New England area. On June 25, 2004, in Lowell, MA, Walters defended and successfully retained the ECWA Title against Mike Kruel in a show promoted by Chaotic Wrestling.
John Walters is making strides everywhere he goes these days. If you blink, you might miss him. Walters can be seen competing on a regular basis for RoH and ECWA. This coming Monday & Tuesday night, Walters is scheduled to be at the tapings in Manchester, NH and Providence, RI respectively. He will then return for more WWE tapings on July 26 and 27 in Washington, DC and Philadelphia respectively. For more information on "Hurricane" John Walters, check out his website at http://www.hurricanejohnwalters.com/
John Gjoni
johnftw7533@aol.com
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