AEW'S debut in Detroit comes full circle for lead announcer and Detroit native, Excalibur
Detroit has an illustrious history with professional wrestling. From Big Time Wrestling at Cobo Arena to promotions like NWA, AWA, WCW and WWE, the squared circle has seen some amazing moments in the city of Detroit.
On Wednesday night, more history is made in Motown as All Elite Wrestling will run their flagship shows, "AEW Dynamite" and "AEW Rampage" at Little Caesars Arena.
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Since 2019, AEW has emerged as one of the top promotions in pro wrestling, mixing established stars and also creating a new home for emerging talent.
One of the lead announcers for AEW is Excalibur, whose high-energy and trademark mask-wearing has made him a household name each and every week. AEW's debut into Detroit (8 p.m., TBS) is a special one for the man whose real name is Marc Letzmann.
The Free Press caught up with Excalibur about his Detroit roots, the rise of AEW, and how the promotion has helped revive careers, along with making new stars.
AEW’S been around since 2019, but this will be the first time they been to Detroit. What was the reaction like backstage when you guys knew you were headed out this way?
"It was a long time coming, this is something that pre-pandemic we had a lot of internal discussion about. AEW started in 2019 and "AEW: Dynamite" didn’t start till October of 2019. We were still this unproven entity. After the Cobo closed, and the Palace closed, the only place to play in the city was Little Caesars. It might’ve been ambitious at the time, but Detroit was definitely a place we wanted to go. The other tough thing is you’ve got the Pistons and the Red Wings both playing there and taking up most of the dates. So it’s tough finding a Wednesday that isn’t booked during the season, it’s almost impossible.
"The pandemic provided a buffer — we were able to succeed and shockingly grow during all of that and once we started going back on the road, we started to have these bigger Dynamites, like “Grand Slam” in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Detroit became much more realistic, our event staff saw that Detroit would be a possibility after the basketball and hockey season. We could probably get a Wednesday, and probably do something special and it was a natural fit.
"I’m excited about it, and internally, I think everybody is excited about it. Every time we go to a new market. People are excited, we’re always excited going to a new market. But going to a new market with such great wrestling history, makes it even better."
That’s really a perfect transition, into my next question. The city of Detroit has such a great wrestling history dating back to Big Time Wrestling. What its it about the city of Detroit, and its love for pro wrestling.
"Big Time Wrestling played such a huge role in the 60’s and 70’s, that was the regional promotion for Detroit back then. You had “The Sheik” who ran the promotion. There was Bobo Brazil who was his to rival, then you had so many other great names to pass through Detroit. I think what happened was it became a familial thing. The parents would take the kids to the show, then the kids would be the next generation.
"You had the monthly show at Cobo, but then you had the weekly TV show and it was easier to keep up with back then. You had a much bigger investment because these were your guys. Detroit is a long-suffering sports town but it’s a diehard sports town. That extends to wrestling — they want to cheer on their favorites and boo the bad guys and getting to do that at an arena like Cobo, that was just apart of the wrestling culture in Detroit."
It feels like every wrestler has that “moment” where they knew this is what they wanted to do. When was yours?
"When I was a kid — in about 1986, I came across wrestling on TV and I remember WrestleMania III at the Pontiac Silverdome. Everybody in my school was talking about it, that’s when my interest piqued. Then in about when I was about 12, I kinda fell out of it and other things guy my attention. When I was about 16, a friend of mine had a satellite dish and could get wrestling from around the world. The show that opened my eye was “Worlds Collide” – it was AAA Lucha Libre vs. WCW.
"Art Barr and Eddie Guerrero, Konan in a steel cage match. Things like that, it was so unlike anything I’d seen in American pro wrestling. That was the thing that really galvanized my love of pro wrestling. It made me wanna pursue pro wrestling. After a few years I pulled some money together, got into my Dodge Reliant and drive across the county to California to start training. I drove that car into the ground (laughs) but without that car, my pro wrestling career isn’t what it is today."
I want to circle back to something we talked about a few minutes ago. During the early stages of the pandemic, AEW really thrived in a space where it’s usually difficult for a thing like pro wrestling, that feeds so much off a crowd — and now you’re in a space where your crowd is eight people from the locker room sitting in the crowd. How did you guys do it?
"It was a very surreal experience. I remember I started traveling in May of 2020 — the first time I went back to Jacksonville. Everybody was wearing a mask and we weren’t sure how much longer things would go — you know, how long can we keep things going. I have to give major credit to our medical staff, for the proper testing and safety protocols. People got sick here and there, but we never had any massive breakouts and I give out medical team a ton of credit to keeping us safe. They were an important part in keeping us going each week.
"Creatively, it all starts with Tony Khan (owner of AEW) and he’s such a passionate guy. The cool thing about AEW is that everybody’s bought in and there’s a “start-up” mentality we have. Everybody’s bought into the vision of this company and making sure it succeeds. If that means double-masking up and making a cross-country flight in the middle of a pandemic, that’s what we’ll do.
"We were in Jacksonville shooting shows for 18 months. We came out better on the tail end as compared to the beginning. It’s just a testament to the drive and vision of Tony (Khan) and our entire crew. Not just the locker room, but our production staff — everybody."
It’s a young promotion, but there’s been so many impactful moments for you guys. What are some that standout?
"The first Double or Nothing at the MGM Grand, that will always be special. That was the first time I got to work with Jim Ross which — as a long-time wrestling fan, if you wanna talk about dream moments working with the most famous voice in wrestling is a dream come true. Then, working the first-ever Dynamite with Tony (Schiavone) in (Washington) D.C.. I was cool for another reason because that was the moment we realized, oh – we’re gonna be doing this every week.
"For better or for worse, I remember the Dynamite in Salt Lake City, it was March 10. When we went on the air, it was a coin flip on where we would be Rochester, NY next week or we would be in Jacksonville. By the time we got off air, Rudy Gobert announced he had Covid, Tom Hanks announced he had Covid, and the NBA had cancelled their season. After that, we couldn’t go to Rochester. We had to do it from Jacksonville on a closed set.
"I remember going to Jacksonville that next week, that was the Dynamite that Matt Hardy and Brodie Lee debuted. For the brief time that he (Lee) was in AEW, just to work with Brodie will be something that I will cherish for the rest of my life. It’s about the quality, not the quantity.
"Then, the first “Blood and Guts” match. We had just started letting fans back in limited to 1,000-maybe 1,200 fans. They were socially distanced in the arena. So, to come to Little Caesars for a completely packed house, a double-cage match. It’s going to be something unlike we’ve ever done."
Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone are two of the most iconic names in wrestling history. Tony was a guy who had been out of wrestling for nearly 20 years, and now he’s back in it and seemingly, having the time of his life. What’s that experience been like?
"First and foremost, Tony Schiavone’s a real dirtbag (laughs). Tony Schiavone is an absolute treasure, and I think anybody who gets a chance to work or spend time with him realizes that. I think a large part of that was his hiatus from wrestling and all of what he’s seeing is, new to him. There’s a lot of new people that he’s working with and their matches he’s calling. It’s rekindled this love of wrestling.
"He’s so effusive and so passionate, it’s infectious. For me, it’s a real honor to work with J.R. (Jim Ross) and Tony. During the Monday Night Wars, I gravitated towards WCW. They had the luchadores, the Japanese guys, they tended to focus on longer matches for a time. Those were the things that excited me, and Tony Schiavone was the voice of that. So for me, I think this is really the dream — I told this story a bunch of times. I remember my father-in-law asking me if this was my dream job, and I said no because I never dreamed this job would exist. Almost three years later, it still feels that way."
CM Punk and along with Tony Schiavone made their returns to wrestling over the last few years and there was a moment on commentary where it’s you, Jim Ross, and those two sitting there. Did you ever think you’d see them back in the sport, and loving it as much as they do? It’s such a special and even cool moment to see as a fan.
"It really is cliché, but absence makes the heart grow fonder. Punk and Tony had to step away from reasons completely their own, and completely reasonable and justified. When they returned, that spark was burning, maybe brighter than ever inside them.
"I was actually texting (CM) Punk earlier today to see how his recovery is going , and he’s going nuts because he just wants to be back. That spark is burning bright, he’s seeing everybody have so much fun and he wants to be apart of it."
One of the things I find fascinating about AEW is backstage. You’ve got established vets like Chris Jericho, CM Punk, and the Young Bucks. But you also have rising stars like Hook, Jade Cargill, Jungle Boy. As a wrestling fan and a commentator, do you sometimes pinch yourself that you get to see these interactions each week?
"It is completely surreal that I am co-workers with Jim Ross, Jon Moxley, Sonny Kiss — it’s such a wide breadth of people from completely separate walks of life. But they’re united in one thing, they love pro wrestling and they love AEW. Yeah, there’s friend groups — and I don’t want to say cliques because there’s a negative connotation with that. There’s people who hang out socially, but when we come to work, or at catering or whatever, everybody is super cool and everybody respects the path it took for each of us to get there.
"It’s so welcoming backstage, if you’re a young wrestler and you want to pick the brain of CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, or talk with Arn Anderson — even the Young Bucks about your match, that door is always open. Those guys are so giving of their time and want to pay it forward to the next generation of wrestlers. It’s really cool and inspiring to see."
When AEW comes to Detroit, it’ll be the first show following the Forbidden Door PPV. Where the best from New Japan Pro Wrestling face off against the best of AEW. Let’s just say there’s a Forbidden Door 2, you can pick wrestlers from any promotion, who would you wanna see in two matches?
"Without hesitation, the two matches that I want to see are the two matches that eluded us this year. CM Punk vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Bryan Danielson vs. Zack Saber Jr.
"I am personally heartbroken that it’s not gonna happen, but it’s not a situation that they aren’t gonna happen, it’s just a situation that they aren’t gonna happen right now. Those matches I can say — this is with no inside knowledge — just my intuition, those are matches are too good not to happen. If there’s a Forbidden Door Pt. 2, or something else down the road, those matches need to be apart of it."
What can fans expect from AEW’s Detroit debut for Blood and Guts 2?
"The atmosphere for an AEW show unlike any other wrestling show I’ve been to. I’ve called wrestling in the United States, in Japan and the UK and each fan base is passionate, but AEW is different. They bring something special out of the wrestlers, and having this be the debut in Detroit, I think the fans have been waiting for this for a long time.
"Something we say in AEW and it’s kinda tongue-and-cheek, but also it’s serious. This is the wrestling buffet and it’s true. There’s something for everybody. Maybe this high-flying match isn’t for you but we’re gonna have an old-school double-steel cage brawl, that’s more your thing. Coming to a show, you may want to see one thing, but seeing it live you have a newfound appreciation. The athleticism of our roster is second-to-none, and these are the to wrestlers in the world and seeing them in person, it’s unlike seeing them on TV.
"If I can speak collectively for the organization, we are just as excited to come to Detroit as the people of Detroit are excited to have us there."
Contact Andrew Hammond at aahammond@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @ahammFreePress. Check out some of the tremendous offers from the Detroit Free Press and subscribe today!
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit's Excalibur talks about AEW Blood and Guts at LCA
