Jacob Dimond / jake@yelmonline.com
For the first time in nearly 50 years, professional wrestling returned to Tenino as Inclusion Pro Wrestling (IPW) held “Clash in Tenino” on Saturday, Aug. 2, marking the promotion’s first show in Thurston County and the small town.
The last time pro wrestling came to Tenino was on Aug. 30, 1977, according to WrestlingData.com. Several legends of the industry were included on the card, as the iconic “Playboy” Buddy Rose wrestled Jay Youngblood, and Dutch Savage wrestled Sam Oliver Bass. Also included in that show was Ed Wiskowski vs. Rick Youngblood and John Anson vs. Lonnie Mayne, also known as “Moondog Mayne.”
Forty-eight years later, professional wrestling finally returned to the Stone City as IPW made its debut in Tenino in strong fashion, according to co-owners Nathan Noss and Anthony Wagner. One of the highlights from the show was the main event debut of Tenino’s own Wil Speight, better known as SP8.
“It was amazing,” Noss told the Nisqually Valley News following IPW’s show in Tenino. “When you start something, you wonder if it’s even gonna catch on where you live and if the people are even gonna like it. To know that the people where I live come out and support IPW, but (Thurston County has) one of our wrestlers in SP8 and see that potential. To know that his hometown would like it the same was something that I truly never saw coming, at least not this soon.”
Wagner added, “our first in Tenino was honestly as well as I was expecting it would be. It’s always a little bit of nerves coming into a new area, and there was a lot of that not knowing the town, not knowing what to expect, but once you got there and the crowd got inside, the feeling was amazing. We had a great host In the Stone City Event Center and would like to thank the staff for hosting us.”
Some of the event’s highlights, according to Wagner, spanned from being the first ever pro wrestling show at that specific venue, to SP8 competing in the main event and receiving the loudest pop, or crowd reaction, of the evening.
He added that the show went better than expected and featured a strong crowd that fed off the “exceptional matches” included on the card. According to Noss, the crowd in Tenino was “amazing” and “hands down the loudest crowd” he’s ever performed in front of as a commentator.
“At multiple points during the show, I’ve literally had to scream into the microphone. One to make sure I was able to be heard and, two, because my genuine excitement took over and it was amazing to feed off the energy and the electricity in that building,” Noss said. “IPW is going to continue to grow and continue to show other areas what we can bring to put out compelling entertainment and most of all to prove that anyone can accomplish anything and hopefully run more areas in Thurston County.”
With a strong crowd in place and strong wrestling throughout the night, the only thing that made the evening better, according to Wagner, was the hometown hero getting his big moment in the sun.
“The icing on the cake was SP8 winning his very first main event in front of his friends and family to cap off such an epic night of professional wrestling in Tenino,” Wagner said. “I want to give a shout out to SP8 for a wonderful job in getting us this venue. This man deserves so much in the wrestling world, and a lot of times he’s very underappreciated as are most independent wrestlers who give their blood, sweat and tears for this great sport to entertain you. Thank you again to everybody who came to the show, for everybody who performed at the show, and for Thurston County and the city of Tenino for hosting us. Hopefully this won’t be the last time IPW appears in Thurston County.”
