A night in the "Warzone"

The crowd cheered and jeered as Squared Circle Wrestling Alliance members put on their Winter Warzone show at the National Guard Armory in Reidsville Sunday night.

The show was originally scheduled for Saturday night, but because of inclement weather conditions, the show was moved. SCWA founder Robert “The Ragin’ Rebel” Stanley said he wanted everyone to get home safely but to also enjoy the show.

Sunday’s show included appearances from Stanley, Tony “Sgt.” Long, Eric “Big Daddy” Edwards and many more SCWA wrestlers.

Highlights from the show included Stanley taking on “The Extreme Southern Outlaws,” who double-teamed him in the second fight. The crowd cheered for Stanley as he said, “I love a good fight – this ain’t my first rodeo.”

Jonathan Williams, 12, said he comes to the shows with his father to see his favorite wrestlers, Sgt. Long and Ragin’ Rebel, compete for the SCWA title.

“They are good guys who beat up the bad guys, and that’s why I like them,” said Jonathan. “I like talking to them while they are in the ring, because if you yell loud enough, they yell back.”

Long, also part of a wrestling duo “Freedom Defenders,” has only been with SCWA for a year, but he has enjoyed his time there.

“I’ve been in this business for 12 years, and even though I’ve been here for a short time, I love it,” said Long.

Long has been in the media spotlight this year with appearances on ABC’s “Nightline” and on Al-Jazeera TV.

“It’s been a media frenzy this year,” Long said. “I want people to pay attention because we have some big stuff coming up next year.”

The alliance started as a memorial show to a fallen wrestler, Jon Chilton. Stanley and his partners, Mark and Victoria Cates, have expanded to put on two shows a month in 2010. Stanley said the support from the community has been great.

“The crowd support in Wentworth has definitely been there – we draw over 200 people on any given night,” Stanley said. “The response has definitely been huge, and our shows are a lot more family-oriented so the kids can enjoy them.”

Stanley said when he ran the company by himself, the shows were probably not suitable for a young audience.

“We used to run a lot more of an edgier show than we run now,” Stanley said. “We have cut out all of the over-the-top violence and language. What we used to do was borderline late 90s ECW, which was a lot more hardcore than what we’re doing now.”

The company has been updating their look and bringing in new equipment to make shows look more professional. They now have a projector screen setup at shows to display highlights from past shows and future announcements.

Since 2006, the armory has been home to the show. They are hoping some renovations to the kitchen will almost double seating capacity.

The Jon Chilton Memorial Show is still held every year in February, and its proceeds go to benefit the Boys and Girls Clubs in Eden. They are also in talks to have a secondary benefit show for the clubs, but plans have not yet been finalized.

For more information, visit www.scwawrestling.com.