An upcoming live professional wrestling event –
While Kansas City has plunged into something resembling a sub-arctic wasteland, it’s time to heat up the nearby city of Gardner, Kansas with some great wrestling action! Trailblazer Championship Wrestling – Trails to the Gold, held on February 3, 2024, is the first 2024 show from Trailblazer, and could perhaps be their biggest and most-important one yet. This show will once again be held in Gardner, Kansas at the site of the Johnson County Kansas fairgrounds. This will be my second time at this particular venue, and you really couldn’t find a better place to hold a wrestling show. The way the building is set up and the lighting are probably the best Trailblazer has found so far, and I hope we get a long stretch of shows there.
Going into this show, the management of Trailblazer Championship Wrestling let loose of some huge announcements. Firstly, Kansas City television personality, Marcus, has signed on with the company, and according to their website “Marcus [had] reached an agreement with Trailblazer as a Commentator & Backstage Correspondent at our upcoming live events!” This led directly into an even bigger announcement – Trailblazer Championship Wrestling was going to unveil a brand new championship, which was teased via the company’s Facebook page.
While fans have yet to see the soon-to-be sought after prize as of yet, the official unveiling is scheduled for Trailblazer Championship Wrestling – Trails to the Gold. That places some mystery on this event – are these scheduled matches going to build rankings, or are there going to be further announcements? The whole thing has me excited and I can’t wait to see who is in the title picture!
Here is the ticketing information courtesy of the TCW Facebook page:
General Admission Only $15
Kids 12 and under Only $10
Kids 5 and under are Free!
TrailblazerTix.com
For More about Trailblazer Championship Wrestling, check out their website HERE, Facebook Page HERE, their Twitter page HERE, or YouTube HERE. For a list of my Trailblazer coverage, click HERE, and HERE for all of my wrestling coverage, local and national. Don’t forget to also check them out on Cagematch, HERE. If you are a fan, make sure to drop likes, and reviews, or join their social media pages!
The Card (so far):
Things could change on here at any moment up to the show starting, so I will add/delete or update anything if I have time. Otherwise, I’m sure you all know the saying “card subject to change”, which could always happen.
This first announcement was particularly exciting for me because I have yet to see either of these ladies wrestle live before, and any longtime reader of mine can tell you, I really like seeing new people. I’m also an enthusiastic fan of women’s wrestling so that definitely helps. First up, “The Versace of Violence” Nixi XS is sometimes on Glory Pro Wrestling out of St. Louis, and wrestles in Memphis quite a bit. She’s usually not above being a bit of a menace in the ring, so it will be interesting to see what she brings to Kansas City. I’m fairly sure this is her first time wrestling in Kansas City, so I’m sure she’s prepared to make a name for herself at her opponent’s expense. She often calls herself “The Main Girl”, so we know where her head is at.
Nixi will be facing Madi Monarch, who is another competitor that wrestles in St. Louis a lot, but you couldn’t find two wrestlers more diametrically opposed to each other, based on pure disposition, than these two. Madi Monarch is a fan favorite, and in clips that I’ve seen of her from places like MMWA, any entrance is paired with a loud cacophony of children screaming because they absolutely adore her. I’m sure she will connect with the Trailblazer fans as well, because the young and old alike, in Gardner, Kansas, love them some heroes, and you won’t find a woman more cheerful and heroic than Madi. This is definitely a match to keep an eye on.
With temperatures hitting the negatives mere days ago, The Iceman will definitely be in his element as he tears up the ring at Trails to the Gold. The former International Dance Championship trophy holder loves to have fun, but with a match like one against “Madman” Max Sterling, I’m not sure fun and games are going to be a great idea. Both of these men have decades of experience, and both have been champions in the past, so in many ways this is sort of a dream match situation with two men that have gone on to become local legends on the Kansas City Wrestling scene. The question will be – will the cool and composed demeanor of The Iceman prevail over the unbridled anger and chaos that Sterling brings to the ring with him at every show?
In 2023, The Iceman’s record in Trailblazer was unfortunately 0-2, suffering losses to both Van Bam Winkle and Rocco the Barbarian. The common denominator there being that both matches were lost due to interference or cheating in some way. This might make the match a tough struggle for The Iceman, seeing that you will find no bigger cheater, no bigger rulebreaker, and no bigger pain for a referee than “Madman” Max Sterling. That said, Max Sterling has routinely not cared about the rules so much, in the past, that he has purposefully got himself disqualified. I’ve seen this in Trailblazer and companies like World League Wrestling before. If The Iceman can keep his eye on the prize and avoid being caught up outside of the referee’s eyeshot, he might just be able to outsmart Sterling and secure a win.
My final concern - Will Sterling have a handler to run interference this time around?
2023 was an excellent year for Mike Sydal. Not only did he make his triumphant return to wrestling at Trailblazer Championship Wrestling – Bunkhouse Brawl, but he secured some pretty solid wins against the likes of Rahim De La Suede and Tobias Storm. Trailblazer fans are not sure what he’s up to here – he could be in a singles match, a tag match, or even just managing somebody else, but no matter what happens it should be awesome. With the unveiling of the mysterious new title, I’ll just call “the Trailblazer Heavyweight Championship” until we hear otherwise, I hope he makes his intentions to go for the gold!
Rocco the Barbarian (with Dekin Cane of course) versus “Astonishing” Austin Mulitalo should be one of the more anticipated matchups of this whole show. Mulitalo was locked into a feud with none other than “Madman” Max Sterling for a bit of 2023, one that largely spilled into the whole roster and ended late last Summer with Austin standing tall. With that behind him, Austin seems poised to grab the bull by the horns and make his intentions known for all that gold that Trailblazer Championship Wrestling has been talking about. There’s only one problem, he’s going to be running head-first into the one-two punch of Rocco and Dekin for his troubles.
Last fall, I interviewed Dekin Cane on behalf of himself and his “man of few words” brother Rocco, and discovered exactly what his goals were for this year:
What are some of your goals for next year?
“I think it’s about time my client had some gold around his waist. To my knowledge there is not yet a champion for Trailblazer. We may have to change that.”
While I don’t plan to draw the ire of Dekin Cane anymore on this blog, I will point out that he tends to “help Rocco sometimes” when it comes to his matches. Read into that however you might see fit. In a video recently release on social media (linked above), Dekin has been going to great pains to get Rocco to focus on new challenges in life, because concentrating fully on destroying all of his wrestling opponents seems to be his goal moving forward for his brother. As a man that values glory, there can be no other trophy than some gold you can wear around your waist.
The Top Guns are Brandon Baretta and Joe Vinetti, and they normally wrestle in and around the greater St. Louis area in Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling (SICW). This is their first time wrestling in Kansas City, and as mentioned in a promo video, they are there to make names for themselves and see using The Wranglers as a vehicle to get that done as an easy task. This isn’t just idle talk though; these two teams have clashed before with The Top Guns getting a win. They are likely assuming that Bobby Joe and Johnnie Jo Black will go into this match and make all the same mistakes that put them on their backs before. In a video released to social media, The Top Guns talk down to The Wranglers brushing them off as some simple “farm hands”.
The problem they are going to have is Kansas is Wrangler country, and the Black Brothers feed off of the local crowd in such a way to where they nearly become invincible when they need to. Just ask Salum Gust what happens when you cross Bobby Joe Black when he’s on a mission. In a response to the above video, The Wranglers released their own video explaining how this version of the Wrangers isn’t the same rookie tag team they faced months ago.
The Top Guns are formidable foes, and will be ready for whatever The Wranglers throw at them at Trails to the Gold. This will definitely be Bobby Joe and Johnnie Jo Black’s time to prove themselves in these new roles, and with the crowd behind them, I have a feeling fans might just see it. I’m sure both boys have been training really hard on the farm and in the ring and will be ready to prove they are more than “just some farm hands”, they are future champions.
Another wildcard at this show will be seeing what Luke Anthony will be up to. So far, he has no known opponent, so we can only speculate as to what will happen, but no matter what, Luke Anthony is an impressive athlete. I have seen him both in Trailblazer and World League Wrestling, and he is one of the most impressive newcomers in the area. Trailblazer Fans last saw him at Star Spangled Slammer being cheered on by none other than Jared Thumb against “The Legacy” Leland Race and SBC. Even with that being a losing effort, Anthony got the last laugh and stood tall for America after the bell rang. I am definitely excited to see what 2024 brings for him!
“Miracle” Mike James apparently has beef with none other than Jared Thumb, and according to the announcement for this match, “Mike James is looking to get his payback with finally getting a victory over Trailblazer fan favorite Jared Thumb!” So why, you may ask, is he looking to get payback? At Monster’s Brawl II, the final 2023 show for Trailblazer in late October last year, James had numerous run-ins with Thumb and Rory Fox, resulting in two losses stacked up against himself. I’m sure being sent home with his tail between his legs and a few bucks shy of the payday he likely wanted has festered in his gut for months now.
Jared Thumb posted a video calling out James and announcing his intentions to go towards a shot for the new Trailblazer Heavyweight Championship, whenever that ends up happening. Thumb has not only been on quite possibly every Trailblazer show, but he is also undefeated in ANY match-type he has been in. His tag-team of himself and Rory Fox is the highest ranked team in 2023 for Trailblazer, and he is a certified fan favorite. While James is a great competitor, earning a standing ovation at one point, his anger and recklessness could be his undoing, especially with a trained hunter on his trail.
Last, but definitely not least, Trailblazer Championship Wrestling announced that SBC was planning to be at Trails to the Gold in some capacity. For the last year, I have always known SBC as one of the most-successful managers in the area, carrying clients such as “The Phoenix Princess” Aminah Belmont and “The Legacy” Leland Race to dominant wins all over Kansas. Could he be about to shock us with a return to active competition, or will he have a surprise client up his sleeve? Either way, this cunning man, trained by Lance Storm way up in Canada, is a force to be reckoned with, and I feel bad for whomever he ends up entangled with.
His past matches have put him at odds with both Jared Thumb and Luke Anthony, seemingly because their patriotism makes him sick, so a return to either of those challenges would definitely be interesting. Either way, I will be excited to see what happens and be prepared to secretly root for whoever SBC faces, because I’m sure he’ll try some shenanigans in whatever capacity he’s there in. Best hair in the biz though.
More?
Normally a Trailblazer show has around 7-8 matches, so there are likely to be some surprises here. I will keep everyone posted as to what happened after the show!
In Closing:
Trailblazer Championship Wrestling: Trails to the Gold has a solid card, and promises to be a hell of a time. With the announcement of what I am temporarily calling the Trailblazer Heavyweight Championship, I am absoluterly pumped to see when and where a new champion will get crowned! Trailblazer Championship Wrestling is always a fun and family-friendly show, and is honestly one of my preferrred companies that I cover. I hope to see everyone there, and help blow the roof off of that fairgrounds building!
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