RIP Roland Alexander

[Cheaptimes]

Roland Alexander: A key part of wrestling history
The news coming in today that Roland Alexander, the owner and promoter of All Pro Wrestling in California was a shock not only to wrestling fans and wrestlers in California but all over the world. While most people only know of him from the movie "Beyond the Mat" Alexander had a hand in making wrestling what it is today especially in the last fifteen years.

There are two things that have made Roland Alexander a legendary name in the California scene. The first one is the wrestlers that were trained at his school. While Alexander was not the trainer of the school he helped start the career of many men and women get their feet wet in the business. These students would end up being international stars going to WWE, WCW, ECW, TNA, Pro Wrestling NOAH, New Japan Pro Wrestling and more. Names most fans will know include the late Crash Holly, Spike Dudley, Great Khali and Sara Del Rey. Names that some fans might be surprised that came through the school include Brent Albright, Michael Modest, Donovan Morgan, Vic Grimes, Bison Smith and Jon "Strongman" Andersen. Most recently one of his students, Sione Finau won a tryout at Zero 1 in Japan and will be training and living in there dojo.

The other thing that made Alexander a legend is a tournament that while only happened twice, left a legacy on independent wrestling and was the inspiration for the birth of a wrestling promotion. That tournament was the King of the Indies. The first tournament took place on December 30, 2000 and featured eight of the best independent wrestlers in the United States. In the finals of the tournament it was current TNA Superstar Christopher Daniels defeating Donovan Morgan to win the first annual tournament. After winning the tournament Daniels went on to huge success all over the world wrestling in Japan, Mexico, Canada, England and more. But it was the second and final tournament that took place on the weekend of October 26-27, 2001 that made waves all over the wrestling world.

When people look at the field in the tournament now people will think of this tournament as a legendary weekend in wrestling history. Some of these wrestlers would end up going to WWE, TNA and ROH. Participants include Christopher Daniels, AJ Styles, Doug Williams, Spanky (Brian Kendrick), Frankie Kazarian, Samoa Joe, Low Ki and Adam Pearce to name a few. But it would be a future WWE Champion that made a huge impression, his name is Bryan Danielson. Danielson in the tournament defeated Spanky in the first round, Doug Williams in the quarterfinals, Donovan Morgan in the semifinals and then in the finals defeated Low Ki getting a measure of revenge from losing the finals of the ECWA Super 8 tournament earlier that year. When looking at the tournament there are two historic points to look at. The first one is that this event was the influence to the birth of Ring of Honor which would have its first show in February 2002 and continues to operate business to this day.

The second and perhaps more important fact is how successful most of the men in the tournament have had since this tournament. Thirteen of the sixteen men in the tournament wrestled in ROH, seven of them have wrestled in TNA where currently four of those seven call TNA home and three men have ended up competing in WWE where one of them Bryan Danielson ended up becoming WWE Champion. Also a lot of the men from the tournament have had many tours of Japan going to Pro Wrestling NOAH, New Japan, Zero One and more.

While Roland Alexander left us at a young age of fifty-nine year old, his influence in wrestling has left a mark not only on wrestling in California but also throughout the world. With the many men and women that ended up going onto bigger and better things in wrestling and the events that have taken place, Roland Alexander will always have his name mentioned in the history books of wrestling as one of the most influential individuals not only in the past twenty years of wrestling but also to its entire history. To that I saw thank you Roland for everything you have done for professional wrestling and you will truly be missed.

Roland Alexander: A key part of wrestling history | Sunset Flip Show - Where Pro Wrestling Meets Television

I wasnt as close as most were, but I did have the privilege of knowing him.
As of right now its unknown how he died, but it was natural causes.
I dont know what details are public knowledge and whats private.
But I am happy to say this:
He wasnt the first promoter I had worked for, but he was the only one that made me feel like I belonged there and belonged behind the scenes.
When I left to build Fog City he was still supportive and would always give me constructive criticism.
After every show he would be the first person I went to for an opinion.
After it closed he would still take time to talk personal life stuff with me.
He had the greatest stories that involved Rocky Johnson or Playboy Buddy Rose and Ann Calvello. Even The Rock.
I am happy to say that Ive learned from him.
He is already missed.
Thank you Roland.
Friday night theres going to be a tribute show at The Garage.
It should be a great celebration for him. Its going be weird without him.

 

[DVS ONE]

R.I.P. Im from Hayward and I use to watch APW a lot in the late 90's.

 

[Menace2Society]

I knew Roland for many years, really can't say too much bad about him. He was all about business, he helped me a lil with my career when I was active in the ring. When I worked shows in Florida, he would always let me use his ring in Hayward to keep in shape. He also had me come out to the king of the indies in 2001 to be apart of all the pre show stuff, as both days were 12 hours each, it was a great learning experience as me, aj styles, spanky, Samoa joe, low ki, and everyone else, as we were young talent that got to learn a lot from a lot of legends such as Nick Bockwinkle, The Destroyer and Red Bastien & others. A lot of people don't know around 2008 Roland was trying to bring me to APW, but we had creative differences for me, he also knew I was putting out "it's not a gimmick" part one DVD and it was gonna have some matches on it, he helped with the vision of the DVD cover and told me to use his ring for the cover shoot. With his death, it's gonna be a big loss to the independent wrestling scene, he had a great mind for business.. R.I.P Roland

 

[LiterACola]

used to tape matches for him at apw like 10 years ago. rip.