Calling J.D. Costello & Jay Joyce Out For What They Really Are...Crooks!
 
 
Allow me to apologize first to my friends for re-hashing the arguments between wrestling promoters. I can promise this is the last time you'll see anything about these two guys here. I'd long put the issue with J.D. Costello and Jay Joyce to rest, until recently...
 
For those of you that have never heard of these two, let me give you a little background. J.D. Costello is actually an alias for Bill McCown, or Bill McClown as I like to call him. He's a con man. He's a liar. He's a thief. Proven facts. His ONLY experience in the wrestling business prior to 2009 was a very brief stint as a manager of the Mod Squad in Memphis back in the days when wanna-be managers worked for almost free. He claims he also worked for Jim Crockett Promotions, which is an outright lie. There isn't a tape or printed record that exists anywhere in the world that will substantiate his claim. It never happened.
 
Costello decided a few years ago he wanted to be a wrestling promoter, probably so he can be elbow-to-elbow in the locker room with grown men in spandex. He's had more false-starts with wrestling promotions than he has chins. Most never got off the ground. The few that did crashed quickly.
 
In 2008, Costello purchased booth space at our NWA Wrestling Legends Fanfest Weekend in Charlotte using the name of his "advertising" company Ideas Squared and his new wrestling venture "Championship Wrestling Experience." But when he and Jay Joyce, his partner in more ways than one, showed up at fanfest to setup, he was "NWA Charlotte," just another example of the bait-and-switch type of guy he is.
 
They were ready to set the world on fire. Rather than try to explain what happened next, I'll ask you to read the part next in italics. This is from Costello's other half, Jay Joyce, posted on Facebook just a few days ago and really what spurred this note from me. I'll resume my story at the end...
 
 
I think that people take time at the end of each year to reflect what has happened, who has played roles in their lives, and what is going to happen in the new year. I've been thinking quite a bit about writing something as a creative outlet, but also as a way to get things out.
 
2009 started with an "uneasy" feeling because of the traumatic economic events that happend in Sept. 2008 - all of the bank woes, the stock market dropping so rapidly, the war overseas, and the stalling consumer confidence in our economy. Plus retail sales had been down for Christmas 2008....the falling value of the U.S. dollar...all added up to a big stinker going in to 2009.
 
Plus my agency business had been out of control with lack of attention, overall boredness from 15 years, and I needed something "new". The purchase of the Charlotte NWA territory was going to be the crowning jewel to rebound in 2009! So the year begins...
 
We made the announcement that NWA Charlotte was bringing back wrestling to Charlotte after a 25 year absence. The momentum of support was staggering. Everything seemed to fall in place so easily. From the acquisition of the building, to the purchasing and installation of all the equipment and staging, to the booking of the talent, to the advertising, to the creation of the actual promotion. It was going so quickly and so positively....it was almost like all of this was "meant to be!"
 
You wouldn't believe the national coverage that we were generating...and we had not even done a show yet!
 
January 24, 2009 was our first show date. That week before the show was incredible. The excitement was exponential. Fox News in Charlotte did 2 stories on us. We purchased TV advertising, made posters, advertised in the papers, and blanketed the Inernet. We were poised for "something!"
 
JD Costello and I spent the first half of January 24th finishing the script, storylines and audio/video production for the show. There were about 40 people still working at NWA Coliseum getting ready for the first show. Brady Parker spearheaded the entire build and construction of NWA Coliseum. Brady is unbelievable...that man built NWA Coliseum in 2 months!!! Brady is now a close friend and I see his talent and creativity as he launches his new business in January 2010. He will be a huge success with it!
 
So...it's show day. At 5:00pm there is a line outside of the building that is wrapping and growing around the street. Can't believe it. But we're still so busy inside completing everything. That first show was so successful and energetic. The fans loved it! I think there were right at 400 paying fans who came to the first show. Wild. Then we were off and planning for the next show on Feb. 14th. The shows just came so quickly...so much to do for each one. And each show was treated as a "premier" show so that everything was new and fresh. The growing legions of fans loved it. And there were literally HUNDREDS of workers calling and emailing to get on the shows. NWA Charlotte was the single hottest brand in independent wrestling. NWA Charlotte re-energized the NWA and Charlotte, NC. We could do no wrong! Until the April 25th show.
 
Along the way we had alot of admiration and accolades heaped on us. "Congratulations, guys. You're s smash hit! What can I do to be a part of it?" We heard that hundreds and hundreds of times from workers, fans, and anybody who heard that NWA Charlotte was a huge smashing success. We got calls from other promoters wanting to team up with us. We got calls from promoters from the 80's wanting to give us advice and counsel. It was hot.
 
And JD and I had done it by ourselves and on our own. We financed everything. We purchased everything. We took the risks by ourselves. Oh, and our agency business was quickly eroding because no attention was being paid to it. Something had to give because NWA Charlotte was more than a full-time gig. We even had Tim Dixon filming and producing an Internet show as a compilation show following each event. Tim did amazing work. He and Lodi on camera were top notch. And we were getting comments from all over the globe from NWA wrestling fans who loved watching our shows on the web. NWA Charlotte was out of control! There was so much going on around us that we did not even have a say in or were part of the decision. It happened that quickly. And I think that everybody thought we had a big "money tree" growing in some room where we would magically go and pluck money from to afford everything. Ha...the money tree.
 
Let's talk about the money tree. Even as fan attendance swelled above 700 per show, the money that was being brought in was about 1/3 of the actual cost of operating NWA Charlotte. The other expenses included the building rent, the utilities, advertising, chair rental, food purchase, equipment and technology, air travel and hotel rooms...the list goes on. We were funding all of it. We spent all of our money to all of those hundreds of "hands" waiting to get their share. But that was what we signed up for.
 
OK...so April 25th winds around. Along the way, however, we were building a list of jealous people, as you can imagine. The jealous people were wrestling people who could not imagine building something as large as NWA Charlotte as quickly as we did. Instant fame and stardom with success from the first opening night...nobody can imagine that. That is the stuff that dreams are made of. Anyway, we had developed a list of unfriendly and unsupporting people along the way. One of which is Greg Price. Most people don't know that Greg Price took me and JD out to lunch 2 separate times trying to get a job with us...he wanted to help us in anyway he could. But we knew his reputation as being dangerous and trouble. We liked Greg because he had been in our shoes years before....plus he runs the very successful NWA Legends show each year. So we appreciated a side of Greg that everybody else did not see. Greg is a businessman. Nobody likes business men because we have to say "no" to people. Anyway, we were not in a position to hire Greg. Not because we didn't like him, but because we were just too young in the process of where NWA Charlotte was going, business wise. We were only like 3 months old! Anyway, Greg turned real vicious toward us because we could not hire him. There were no feelings on our side other than, "wow, Greg is really experienced and it would be great to work with him and help him promote the NWA Legends show." That is really what we wanted to do. Matter of fact, we event promoted during one of our shows that we would be working with Greg Price in having some wrestling shows at the hotel or at NWA Coliseum. Do you remember that? This is when he turned on us, for some reason, and started screwing with us. I think it was Greg or Greg's goonies who called 911 on April 25th and reported us to the fire department for "unsafe practices".
 
So the fire dpartment in all its glory and Nazi presence shows up right after the April 25th show begins. We had a packed house. Lodi vs. Raven was our main event. My gosh!! Lodi and Raven in the same show...wrestling each other!!! I still get goose bumps thinking that Lodi was part of our management team and inside circle, along with Tim Dixon. What a team we were!! Anyway, the fire department comes in and interrupts the show. They loved fucking us. There were so many firemen and policemen there. 2 fire trucks. 9 police cars. What a crock of JD Costello. Then the fire bitch appeared, who had a Napoleon complex, and started yelling that we had to immediately shut down the show. That is how the night started.
 
So the fire bitch went through the building,as the show continued, and wrote down as many violations as she could find. I think there were 7 total...including one for having an extension cord operating a little video camera!! But there were some valid, obviously, things that were wrong. The major one was that there was no fire sprinkler system or fire alarms in the building. Oops! Didn't know about that one. But the city had given us the license to operate! It said on the business license that we could operate shows there! Obviously not. OK....so the fire bitch shut us down. We managed to stall for 2 hours while the show continued inside. Awesome show! But the fans had to leave and wind their way through the police cars and fire trucks. Total bullshit, but we do live in a society of laws and rules.
 
Come to find out, there is a policy and program called "Fire Watch" where you pay real firemen to come and babysit your event so ensure that there are no fires or hazards. It costs like $200. So my big question is , "why couldn't we have just paid for the Fire Watch program that night" and dealt with all of our building issues after the show was over?? The fire bitch didn't want anything to do with Fire Watch.
 
So, we were never allowed to do any further shows inside the original NWA Coliseum. All of our money was left in there. There was no chance to earn any money on the investment we made...much less get our money back. We were out $120,000+. No chance to get any of it back. No chance to earn ticket money to start paying back the investment. It was like standing on Billy Graham Parkway and throwing $100 bills in the air. Totally helpless. And nobody gave a f*ck!
 
Not ONE wrestler even called to see if they could help. Not ONE wrestler called to say, "I'm sorry." Not ONE wrestler had any empathy or sympathy. We had 5 people who helped us after everything fell apart. 3 were fans. 2 were Brady and his wife. I still wonder today why all of those people were in line to be a part of something when it was big and successful, but wanted nothing to do with it when it had to close. Why wouldn't the wrestlers want to help and support a re-birth? The wrestlers turn so quickly on you. They're off to the next show. No loyalty. No support. No phone calls. If we can't do something for them, they certainly won't do anything for us.
 
There is my biggest lesson learned about wrestling. It's "them" and "us". No wonder the promoters all are "hated" and the victim of abuse. No wonder. And it's so easy for everybody to turn on you.
 
Everybody forgets almost instantly what they had when the lights were bright and the stands were full. The wrestlers wanted nothing more than to perform in our luxurious staging in front of 500+ people. Plus they got paid!!!!! Normally they don't get paid at other shows. Weird. JD and I were at rock bottom...by ourselves.
 
There will never be another NWA Charlotte like it was. Never will be. Nobody can afford to run a show like that....not even us (as we like to joke!) It's sad. But it is what it is. Wrestling is a thankless business. I think it's even thankless for the wrestlers. If you see the movie, "The Wrestler", you'll know why it's thankless. And it's sad that wrestling is not more of a fraternity. It should be. I thought that is what it would be like. I thought that we would instantly have hundreds of new friends and a lifetime of friendship. But it's not like that. It's sad. It's very much a business of "what will you do for me tomorrow? Nothing? OK, I'm going somewhere else." Sad. I personally liked all of the people we worked with. I didn't know or expect that the handshakes, hugs, slaps on the back, free lunches, laughs and hyjinx were all just "part of the show." There are no friends in wrestling at this level. I wish there could be, but there aren't. That was evident immediately after the April 25th show got shut down. Everybody vanished. All of our "friends" immeidatley vanished. Never to be heard from again.
 
Until we are paying them again. Then they'll be back. Back slaps! Hugs! High fives! Woo hooooo! Right.
 
The important thing as I end 2009 is that I learned a great deal about people, the public, show business, business, and priorities. And I learned about myself. And we turned our attention back on our agency with a strong resurgence of business and new clients in the last half of this year. 2010 will be a good year for us. It will be our 16th year in business. At 46, my sites are on finishing the goals for retirement. Financial stability, smart investments, spending time with true friends. Those are my priorities. It's what I know how to do. And it's what I'm good at doing. I don't know if anybody reads these notes or not. But it's been helpful to write it down. For me, anyway. On Christmas Eve 2009.
 
If fans are reading this, I am exactly like what you saw when you laughed with me at the shows. If wrestlers are reading this, I am exactly like what you saw when you laughed with me at the shows.
 
Now...about wrestling in 2010....different rules, different landscape, different views, different results.
 
 
The comments above just go to show how far out of touch with reality Jay Joyce is. Wrestling is a business. If he wanted pats on the back and hugs, he got in the wrong business.
 
He claims "instant fame and stardom" is drawing 400-700 wrestling fans to a warehouse. Are you serious? Instant fame and stardom? Jay, what are you smoking?
 
I didn't go looking for a job from them, and didn't feel scorned after the two meetings. But what I did tell them, and Brad Cain (aka Lodi, their "booker" at the time,) was that I couldn't believe they had spent all this money on all the bells and whistles (lights, constructing a set, building a small arena from scratch,) they were spending money bringing in all kinds of talent to work their shows, yet they thought they could "promote" the shows themselves without a single bit of experience at promoting anything. And it is THIS error that was to be their ultimate downfall.
 
Sorry folks, but just because you can design a website for a non-profit agency or buy Google ads on the internet doesn't mean you can "promote" a live event like wrestling. It's apples and oranges.
 
And I didn't call the fire dept. and know of no one that did. It's easy to blame someone else for your own faults.
 
They failed because THEY made mistakes. It's very simple. I see it happen several times every year. Folks wanna run shows and think it's gonna be one big happy family. Those folks are just naive.
 
What they won't tell you is that over that four-month period earlier this year, they failed to pay many of the wrestlers/crew they had working for them. To this day, there are guys out there still waiting to get paid. Yet, J.D. and Jay ignore their calls and attempts to get the money they're due.
 
And just like all crooked wrestling promoters, they're at it again, this time under a different name. You see, that's the m.o. of a crooked wrestling promoter. Screw everybody over, go into hiding for a few months, and then pop up later under a different name hoping folks will forget.
 
Folks, it's still the same old J.D. and Jay and they'll get you again if you allow them to.
 
Mark my word. December 26, 2009

I saw the NWA Charlotte news about a month ago on the Wrestling Observer website.  I noticed they re-launched the website, and kept tabs on it once a week or so.  The first thing I noticed was that other than their grand reopening show in January, all of their shows were scheduled to run the night before the shows that Greg announced.  That was strange right there, and early on it smelled of rat.  My timeline may be incorrect, but I believe after Greg posted several of the names he was having at his shows, then suddenly, NWA Charlotte posted similar names.  At some point, NWA Charlotte removed the show dates that were scheduled the night before Greg's.  Then right before Christmas, the NWA Charlotte site announced they were combining with Bob Trobich, David Baucom, and another guy from Georgia to form a super NWA power, and film NWA tv from Charlotte.  Then on Christmas day, I saw that Greg had a new site up for NWA New Beginnings, with many of the wrestlers listed on the site.  Then, I check NWA Charlotte's site, and sure enough, there are many similar names up there.  Around this time, I also read Greg's above post and decided to wait a few days before posting any response or opinion.  Well, early today I again tried the NWA Charlotte site, and it was blank.  This evening, I tried again, and found I was directed to the CWA (Champions With Attitude) site....with nothing about NWA Charlotte on there.  So now it looks like this NWA Charlotte deal may have been a load of crap.  I could be wrong, but this whole deal just takes me back to the crap that went on earlier this year.  
 
I'll never say I won't go to an NWA Charlotte show if it happens, but I feel somewhat bamboozled by all this stuff.  

As a successful film company, I can definitely tell when I am being jerked around by a promoter that isn't paying, wants everything for nothing, etc. I am glad that Greg posted that message here because I wouldn't have seen that anywhere else since I don't read dirt sheets much. I take bookings to film professional wrestling events and am always looking for new companies to film or new events to film. I used to work for a promoter in West Virginia who promised everything and delivered practically nothing in the end. After a couple shows of driving 6 hours one way and making absolutely nothing, I smartened up. The first show had 400+ fans in the stands, but every show thereafter was less and less until there was 100 fans showing up. It is easy to blame the economy and the wrestling fans, but in the end it boils down to promoting the event. If you don't have marketing skills or know the type of audience you want to lure in, then you aren't a true promoter. Posting up a few flyers and relying on the website for your show will draw maybe 5 fans to your show. Putting flyers on 300 cars in a parking lot may gain you 1 fan to come to the show. It is a mix of everything put together that will make a show successful. I'm quite sure spending that money on the entranceway helped gain NWA Charlotte more fans as it looked professional, but spending money that you don't have is already playing with "fire" before the show. A show is only going to become successful if the money you spend on extras was made at the gate and left over after all expenses are taken care of and paid off after the show is over. If you are complaining that there wasn't enough time to get ready for the next show, well...who is to blame but yourself since you are the promoter and you are booking the show. You have the power to change it, so do that. You also have the power to limit ticket sales if you know the building you are running in is too small to hold all the fans that come to the show. Good for NWA Charlotte that they had a packed house and more were coming. That is always a great scene to see at events since most indy wrestling shows draw in around 100 or less fans.  
 
I don't know the owners, promoters, or bookers of the former NWA Charlotte, but I will say that it is very easy to blame other people when indeed you should look at your own faults and learn from them instead of blaming others. Wrestlers are independent contractors. Unless they have a stake or money in your company, don't ever expect them to bail you out or help you out. For every promotion that fails, another one pops up offering them money to work for them. So all I can say even though I have never promoted a wrestling show yet is that I have to promote everyday to the kids I teach and I have to sell lessons to them so that they stay involved in the curriculum. Wrestling isn't far from that. If something isn't working, I can't blame it on others. I have to step back, take a deep breath, and either try it again or completely move on with another completely different lesson.  
 
NWA Charlotte, if you are reading this please heed that advice as it seems you might need to step back, take a deep breath, and learn from your mistakes. Maybe now or last year wasn't meant to be. Other times may pop up for you, but now it is Greg Price's opportunity to open up the market and get this ship rolling with a new promotion.  Enjoy what you created as it was special for you, but don't be bitter. I watched the shows online and there were good and bad points to all of it. I learned from your mistakes and used some of the good stuff in my own editing. So watch as Greg puts on a show in February in a building he knows very well that can hold 700 people and you'll definitely see a decent show.
 
To Greg, good luck in the near future. If I can bumb a ride with someone from northern virginia to Charlotte, I might just head on down to your show. If you ever need a DVD company to film stuff and Highspots isn't available, you know who to ask