Johnny Romano invites Moultrie to Saturday's SWA show

MOULTRIE – Want to improve your child’s performance in school? How about this: ‘Pick those grades up, or it’s no Wrestlemanina for you this Sunday … or even worse, no seeing Johnny Romano live in action this Saturday at the Tommy Meredith Gym.’

The first part worked for one aspiring sports entertainer 15 years ago at Colquitt County High School.

When graduating from Colquitt High in 2003, the young man who would go on to become ‘The Pop Star’ had two ambitions, and this Saturday will be the fulfillment of No. 2. The Southeastern Wrestling Association is staging its first professional wrestling card in Moultrie, which hasn’t had one in more than three decades. It takes place at the Meredith gym on 11th St. SW beginning at 7 p.m. Admission is $8 with children age 6 and under free with a paid adult.

“I’ve always wanted to bring this here,” said Romano. “We’ve been searching for a building for a long time, and we finally found one to have it.

“As far as I know, there hasn’t been (pro) wrestling in this city since the NWA days with Ric Flair and Andre the Giant. It’s been a long time.”

Joining Romano on the card are the SWA Heavyweight Champion Ox Haney, SWA Cruiserweight Champion Suicydal Soulja, the Soviet Assassin, ‘Cash-n-Flash Hayden Price and others. These are names who appear in shows all over Georgia, Alabama, Florida and South Carolina. Romano himself appeared in Dothan, Ala., this past weekend, and he is also scheduled to wrestle in Ashburn at the Turner County Civic Center April 21.

“I wrestle probably 100 dates a year,” said Romano. “Not as much as the guys in WWE, but 100 days out of 365 a year is quite a lot. I’ll be in Ocala, Fla.; and Jacksonville. It’s all over, and it’s hard to keep up with what’s going on. You just get there and look at the board to see who you’re going up against for that night.

“They always say at the bottom of any flyer, ‘Card subject to change.’ You never know what’s going to happen. I have a few ideas of whom I may face.

“We’re hoping this does really well. If it does, this is something that could be a regular thing here. We’re testing the waters to see how the community feels. I work for several different organizations as an independent contractor. (SWA) in Pavo runs every third Saturday, and we have a very loyal fan base. I expect a lot of them to be (in Moultrie). But we want people in this community to come out. They may know me as a different name, because Johnny Romano is a persona, but if they search hard enough they can find out who I am.”

What about the character?

Johnny Romano received his sports entertainment moniker when he got into the business, and naturally that character went through its developing trial-and-error phases. He worked in some aspects of his own personality and came up with the nickname, ‘Pop Star.’

“I’m a big fan of pop music,” he said. “Backstreet Boys. Spice Girls. Stuff like that. I can’t sing a lick. But I found ‘The Pop Star Johnny Romano’ … do you want to be part of the Pop life? It’s more a way of thinking. It’s happy-go-lucky. I stay in the ’90s. That’s the way I look at it, a nostalgia act.”

In high school, Johnny Romano was not a student-athlete for any Packer program. He did have a reputation, however, for being the school’s No. 1 pro wrestling fan. He compared it to someone who lives and breathes the ‘Star Wars’ universe.

“I had a wrestling shirt for every day of the month,” he said.

“I was your awkward kid. I would come home and watch Monday wrestling. I grew up on TBS, 6:05, WCW Saturday Night. I would go where Video Warehouse was and rent the VHS of NWA and WWF every weekend. I was just consumed with wrestling.”

And Romano brought the moves and gestures from the television programs to school, and throwing a superkick to his friends would get him in trouble with authorities … just like the faction known as ‘Degeneration X.’

“There are places around here when I was a kid you can see where I took spray paint and painted D-X and stuff, and it’s still there 25 years later.”

But, as a public service announcement, he discourages that kind of behavior in today’s youth.

“Teachers would warn me I need to be well-behaved and have good grades,” he said. “Or they would tell my parents to not order Wrestlemania.”

When he’s not in the wrestling ring, Johnny Romano is a college graduate and a social worker by trade with numerous charitable endeavors to his credit.

“This is what I’ve always wanted to do,” he said. “I’ve won world titles. I’ve faced some of my heroes. I was trained by Dory Funk Jr. I’ve worked with The Rock’n’Roll Express, Jeff Jarrett, and just recently wrestled Marty Jannetty at Wild Adventures. I’ve worked with Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler.

“I’ve always wanted to come back here to show you can’t give up on a dream. I did it the right way. I went to college and got my degrees. I get to travel. It’s a decent second job. Hopefully one day I’ll have a taste of international waters.”

Romano’s travels in pro wrestling took him as far as Chicago and St. Louis. The 33-year-old married father of two said he’s performed in front of 10 people one night and 1,000 the next, from old carpet mills to big arenas.

Romano attended ABAC, and now he resides with his family in Thomasville, where he attended Southern Regional Technical College and earned a degree in social work.

For 3 1/2 years, Johnny Romano ran a shelter for women and children. He’s also done work during Christmas for the Salvation Army. He’s also part of anti-bullying campaigns in schools.

“At a lot of places I wrestle, we do a lot of things where we’ll wrestle during the day for the kids (at their school),” he said. “They pay a dollar or two to get out of class. All that money goes to whatever club to help them out. Then we’ll do the show. In Thomasville we did a big show with the school system. We had Ron Simmons and a lot of football players come in, Teddy Long came in.”

Foot in the door

Jumping into this world of sports entertainment isn’t something Johnny Romano did lightly. He knew what it was really about, but it didn’t deter him from going for it. The obstacle was finding a door to put his foot through.

“When I first started, there really wasn’t anything around,” he said. “Now, pretty much there’s a promotion every two hours.

“I started Googleing wrestling promotions. There happened to be – about a month after I graduated – a place running in Tifton. ‘I gotta go.’ I took every last bit of money I had – put up my car – to buy the ticket. I watched the show. I waited, and I stayed to help take down the ring, and then I asked what I had to do to be a part of this.”

His first trainers were Jarrod Michaels (Sunbelt Wrestling champion) and Rob Lee. Romano recently had a tag team match with Michaels in Macon. After a few months with these two, he earned an invitation to Funk Jr.’s Funking Conservatory in Ocala. He trained there for seven years.

“Started out as a nobody,” said Romano. “By the end I was helping train some of the guys. One is in NXT right now through WWE.”

As many names as he can drop, Johnny Romano can also talk about and even demonstrate his list of pro wrestling injuries.

“I have chips in my elbow,” he said. “I makes a popping sound. I lost part of a tooth from a ladder. I can account for about eight concussions. A broken finger to where I had to have my ring cut off. I had my nose smashed completely where I couldn’t lay down to sleep. I had to sleep in a chair or I would have choked on my own blood. I’ve had dislocated knees.”

And a ‘sunset flip’ off the top rope where he landed on his head. He said he watched the video of it and wonders how he’s not in a wheelchair.

“Overall, I’m lucky,” said Romano. “I’ve never had anything where I had to have surgery. If anyone thinks what we do is so easy … there’s no springs under that ring. It hurts. Taking one body slam is the equivalent of you getting in a mild car crash. You’re body’s not meant to do this, but I love entertaining people.

“It’s the last days of like Vaudeville and pure art form. If you see Ric Flair in the ring, you’re seeing Ric Flair one and the same. I’m asking everyone in this town come support us and have a good time. I promise you will suspend all your notions of what you think this is and have a good time.”

And it may be running off on the little Romanos. Johnny has a 7-year-old and a 2-year-old, and the oldest runs the ropes and knows the holds. The dad makes sure the son watches the ‘old-school’ stuff like he does. Even Mrs. Romano gets into the act with a match already at Wild Adventures.

“It’s really cool he gets to see his dad do something he loves and we love together,” said Romano. “It’s a good bonding experience.”