Synergy Celebrates 3 Years In Business
Synergy owner Colin West reveals his favorite matches, storylines and events.
From 62 attendees at the Manville-Hillsborough Elks Lodge to international access via FITE TV, Synergy Pro Wrestling has come a long way since September 2017.
The New Jersey-based promotion will celebrate its third birthday this Saturday with a stacked lineup in a temporary home: the Monster Factory. Despite the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, Synergy owner Colin West continues to think outside the box to deliver for the company’s growing fanbase.
Check out this card: New Synergy Champion Brandon Kirk defends against the 2020 Garden State Invitational winner Tony Deppen. Warhorse puts the Independent Wrestling Championship on the line against former Synergy Champion Frightmare. The Cruiserweight Crown is up for grabs as Charles Mason challenges TJ Crawford. Even Impact Wrestling’s Ace Austin is coming to meet MLW’s Jordan Oliver for the first time one on one.
For the rest of the card, visit www.synergywrestling.com
In this exclusive interview, West looks back on the past three years, from starting as creative director to taking over the promotion in May 2019.
How does it feel that Synergy has been around for three years now?
Colin West: “It’s a little crazy to think about. We’ve had some really big moments and some really trying moments, such as battling through COVID and shows like the first Black Saturday where things went sideways. I couldn’t be prouder of this roster for persevering. And looking back, Black Saturday ended up being a really killer event. Since we’ve come back from COVID, everybody has put their best foot forward over our past three events. This show on Sept. 26 is not just our third anniversary, but our 20th live event and eighth live streaming event. I’m proud to be part of the FITE TV family and proud to have the privilege of running shows for people.”
How did Synergy come to be?
Colin West: “Dan and Heather Funkenstein of the Funkenstein Wrestling Superstore wanted to start a promotion and talked to me about it. Our visions aligned. It started at a Chinese restaurant in New Jersey where we talked about what we wanted our opening roster to look like and what we wanted to do. Then they trusted me to adopt and raise their baby around April/May of last year. I’m always going to be grateful to them for laying the foundation for what Synergy is now.”
What was your relationship with them before that meeting?
Colin West: “Friends and colleagues to an extent. We came together over the charity shows we used to do as part of CTW (Change The World) Wrestling. Our relationship really began at the 2016 CTW event in Sayerville, about a year and a half before Synergy launched. I look back at that event and consider it one of the more fulfilling nights in my nine or 10 years in this business.”
Your CTW shows must have impressed them.
Colin West: “They could have asked anybody, but I think they understood that I wanted it. After CTW and everything I had done, I felt like I had a lot to prove. I still feel I have a lot to prove. I jumped into the promoting end before I really had any right to. Where some of the shows I did early on may have been really fun, it had very little to do with me and everything to do with who I booked. I wasn’t competent yet. To this day, I still feel I have a chip on my shoulder to prove I belong. Getting to three years with Synergy is a great accomplishment, but there are always things out ahead of me. Let’s get to four years, five years, let’s get to 5,000 followers on Twitter instead of 4,000.”
Do you have that chip on your shoulder because you weren’t a wrestler? It’s tough to not only enter this industry, but also hold a position of power when you haven’t taken a bump.
Colin West: “There’s always that feeling of wanting to prove to the boys and the girls that you get it. I’ve always been in the business, be it commentating or managing, but it’s not the same. I tell people all the time that I’ll never tell a wrestler how to wrestle and a worker how to work because I’m not qualified to do that. I realize that the people who are really good at promoting can delegate. Hey, you’re really good at this, so can I ask you to lend me a hand? It’s controlling what I can and being good at what I’m good at, and then letting people who are better than me handle the other jobs. Realizing I don’t have to prove anything to other people has been pretty helpful. Everything I have to prove, I have to prove to myself.”
In the summer, you posted a quote from another promoter saying “you guys are too nice to succeed.” Do you think that being too nice has been the key to your success?
Colin West: “Not necessarily because most people act this way. There are people who back stab, swindle and screw people over, and they’re so much louder than the ones doing it the right way, that people get very jaded and cynical. I don’t think there’s that many out there, I just think they’re the loudest in the room. To have someone say to me Synergy isn’t going to work because you’re too nice, that’s code for please go away so you don’t out me for being a piece of shit. It’s like, ‘if he does things this way and it works, then people aren’t going to tolerate me anymore.’ There’s a lot of people out there doing business the right way.
The #SpeakingOut movement was transformational for this business. Not so much in what it was, but what it meant. It’s a culture shift. The old boys’ club doesn’t work anymore. It’s a matter of getting that entrenched mentality of ‘you need to lie, cheat, screw and swindle to get over in this business’ out the door because it’s not true. Anthony Greene and Joe Gacy just got deals with NXT and they’re two of the nicest people I’ve had the privilege of meeting over the past 10 years. If Warhorse has gotten everything he’s gotten in this business by working hard and being one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met, then why do you need to be a piece of crap?”
What has been your favorite Synergy event over the past three years?
Colin West: “A couple of shows have meant a lot to me. The first GSI was the first show with really just me out there. That was a lot of fun. I had a great time at Synergy 8 in January of 2019. (Tremont vs. Frightmare vs. Chambers for the Synergy Championship and Jazz vs. Maria Manic) Being able to host an NWA Women’s Championship match was a big deal to me. As much as things didn’t go my way, I really liked Heatseekers. In the moment, I’m very happy with where we are. I’m itching to get this third birthday show off the ground. I look at the card and think I would pay to see this.”
Synergy’s 3rd Birthday takes place at the Monster Factory in Paulsboro, NJ. Why the change from Synergy’s home of the Polish Falcons Nest in Hillsborough?
Colin West: “I was informed after the last event that because there’s a national Polish Falcons chapter and that it’s very hard for them to monitor all of their facilities, they’re closing down rentals at some of their facilities for the rest of the year. Unfortunately, our house in Hillsborough is one of them. So, I made some calls and shot some texts around and Monster Factory was very kind and amendable to holding our events for the rest of 2020.”
You already had Synergy’s 3rd Birthday on the books, so were you freaking out when you had to find a new venue with just a month’s notice?
Colin West: “Look, I say it gets easier, but it doesn’t. I have a lot of gray going on that I didn’t have a year ago. Just cool down, take a breath and relax. There are more important things to worry about in the world. The more stress I put on myself, the harder it is to get things done. If I’m exuding stress and that kind of energy, people aren’t going to have fun at these shows. The point is to make these shows a party.”
Along those same lines, what has been the biggest lesson you’ve learned as a wrestling promoter?
Colin West: “It’s not about what I want. You have this mindset that you know what you’re going to do and you’re going to build this with these wrestlers you really like. Then you get to the building and none of it happens. Things have happened at live shows that I could not have foreseen or expected in a million years. At Heatseekers, I’m forced to ring the bell and put the Synergy Championship around the waist of the worst citizen in Synergy history. The guy who has done more to make my life miserable more than anybody. Yet, the majority of people were very happy to see that happen. I was like, what?
People are never going to do exactly what you think they’re going to do. Jordan Oliver is possibly the most popular man in our company, but he’s universally hated almost everywhere else. He walked through our curtain and people were really happy to see him and we didn’t dictate what they were supposed to think or feel. We just rolled with what they wanted. Does that mean it always has to stay that way? No. But I’m not going to tell people they’re ‘fanning’ wrong. A lot of places that have been around a long time or are on television do that to people. They’re like, ‘this is what we have planned and we’re sticking with it, so screw you. You’re just going to have to deal with it.’ I have the liberty and flexibility to take things in a different direction if something isn’t working.
I just realize at 37, that I’m one of the dumbest people I know. Even if I am smart, if everyone else in the room feels differently than me, then they win.”
Listening to the fans has been a staple of Synergy since the early days when you’d give out surveys at the end of shows. Women’s wrestling was the biggest demand and you responded by booking probably the biggest women’s match Synergy could offer at the time. Even though you’ve done away with the surveys, you’re still giving fans what they want.
Colin West: “It’s not that we’ve done away with the surveys, per se, because I still reach out to people who watch on FITE TV. I still listen to the people in the crowd, too. No disrespect to anybody on my crew, but I don’t like talking to people during the show because I want to hear stuff. At the first four or five shows, the crowd is much more polite because they want to sus you out. They want to get a feel for the landscape. Now that we’re in a position where our crowd is very comfortable reacting how they want to, I really get a sense of what people are really captivated by. It isn’t exactly what I thought it would be, but again, it doesn’t matter what I wanted it to be. It has to be about what the fans want first.”
Is there something specific that didn’t turn out the way you wanted?
Colin West: “I thought there was going to be way more face/heel than it has become. I’ve learned that’s not what people really want in 2020. People want to be presented a wrestler that they can decide on their own what that wrestler is to them. Let’s take the MJF phenomenon. MJF is presented as an absolute, self-righteous, trash bag heel and has an ardent, loyal fanbase that loves him. That would have never happened 20 or 30 years ago. You can’t and shouldn’t tell that fanbase they’re wrong. It’s their show to enjoy.”
What has been your favorite match in Synergy history?
Colin West: “It’s not a match, it’s a night: What Jordan Oliver did in defeat at the GSI this year with a legitimate small tear in his shoulder. Meeting him at 16 years old when he was just a ribcage with a head, I can’t express to you the genuine, fraternal love I have for that dude. I don’t know why I’m so drawn to him and why I care so deeply about his career and success. But I was so proud of what he compiled against three of the very best – Myron Reed, Anthony Greene and Tony Deppen – in one night.
I feel very strongly about Drake vs. Frightmare, LSG vs. Jordan and even going way back to our first show when KTB fought Brandon Kirk. There’s matches all the way along that I think so highly of. It’s really flattering that guys of this caliber trust me to put these matches on and not screw with it.”
What has been your favorite storyline in Synergy history?
Colin West: “The first one that really hit for people was Drake Chambers and Frightmare. It built to a really dope ladder match, but Frightmare got the last laugh by winning the Synergy Championship. Who attacked Matt Tremont was really fun, and having be someone who wasn’t necessarily on the radar for a lot of people and getting a fresh program out of Tremont and Mike Del was very interesting. Recently, I’ve liked this journey of TJ Crawford, as much as a dirtbag as he has become. It’s the story of I need to win this crown and I need to do it at all costs because it needs to go to a Synergy guy who has paid his dues.
Overall, it’s the overarching thing with Brandon Kirk. It’s probably never going to die and it makes me so mad. He’s so irritating. It’s also interesting that Kirk is that guy and his wife (Kasey Catal) is the polar opposite here. Will that ever rear its head? I don’t know. I don’t know what people want from that yet or if they want anything. I’m not going to ask what people want to see and give them exactly that so they’re never surprised. But I want to listen and see what story we could play with.”
Synergy’s 3rd Birthday takes place Sept. 26 at the Monster Factory in Paulsboro, NJ.
For tickets and more information, visit www.synergywrestling.com
Watch at 7 p.m. EST on FITE TV.
You can watch all of Synergy’s past events on independentwrestling
Follow Synergy Pro Wrestling on Facebook and Twitter.
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