THURSDAY VETERAN SPOTLIGHT 4/4/24 - Sizzling Stan Stylez
In this edition of the THURSDAY VETERAN SPOTLIGHT, I decided to talk about a gentleman who just ran the biggest show of his promoting career, as well as becoming the most underrated entertainer in the independent wrestling scene today.
He might hate my “sources in the independent wrestling pipeline”, but I think he’s incredibly talented and perfect for pro wrestling.
Today’s veteran is SIZZLING STAN STYLEZ.
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My first experience with Stan was with a small promotion called Middle Village Wrestling that ran out of the ACE Arena in Union City, NJ. Working alongside Mike Morgan as a sister promotion, MvW promoter Tony Fatu brought in Stan for an opportunity and “the Man” made it happen.
Stan stole the show in a six-man tag at ACE Crossroads VII in 2011 alongside Jamal Jackson and FNB - the Movement - and quickly got recognition as a future star in the business.
Little did we know what Stan would become.
Stan began traveling the roads, wrestling in a plethora of independent promotions. During Beyond Wrestling’s early days, Stan wrestled a match against Addy Starr, a vastly underrated women’s wrestler, in 2012 that had over thirty MILLION views on YouTube! To this day, it is one of the most viewed wrestling matches in the history of the platform.
From that moment on, Stan Stylez became an early pioneer of intergender wrestling. Not since the days of Andy Kaufman has a performer represented the “battle of the sexes” so strongly. Unlike the legendary Kaufman, however, Stylez wanted to see the growth of this style.
Stan does not discriminate. He will fight you no matter who you are. A true believer in equality in wrestling, he has had wars with everyone who wanted to fight. He has fought monsters like Vince Steele, incredibly skilled junior heavyweights like Colby Corino, comedy wrestling legends like Kikutaro, and the future of women’s wrestling like Shotzi Blackheart, Su Yung, Kennedi Copeland, and Adena Steele.
On August 3, 2018, Stylez changed the game completely, starting the Intergender Bonanza promotion. Beginning out of the McLure Hotel & Conference Center in Wheeling, West Virginia, the promotion shifted its way to the H2O Wrestling Center in Williamstown, NJ in October 2019.
A week before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, Stylez booked the first ever Intergender Rumble on March 7, 2020, where the winner would become the inaugural IGB Super Champion. Stylez truly was ahead of the curve with his innovation. But this was only a precursor of what was to come.
On November 20, 2021, Stylez, with help from his once-mortal enemy Marc Angel, defeated Marcus Mathers to become IGB Super Champion. However, after the match, Stylez and Angel started the Creamy World Order and injected their “creamy poison” into the Intergender Bonanza.
Between me and you, the reader, the CWO might have taken over the BWO as the best “parody” of the New World Order, WCW’s greatest faction.
But in the Philadelphia independent scene, the CWO is anything but a “parody”. They are revered and ruthless. Stylez, alongside Angel, Xavier Cross, Adena Steele, Everest, the one and only ABBS, and evil referee Nick Papagiorgio, have made their presence felt across the Bonanza and H2O.
And it’s all in credit to Stan and his hard work. Stylez tirelessly works on making himself as fresh and vibrant as a character, and stands out as a breath of fresh air.
Jon Harder, the founder of this website, had this to say about Stan:
“I’ve known Stan for over a decade. I can legitimately say there is no one like Stan Stylez in independent wrestling. When I ran my wrestling show Project: Diverge, he stole the whole show. When I was about to give up on independent wrestling, Stan asked me to commentate for the Bonanza, and it brought me back in. And personally, this very website doesn’t rebrand without an idea after a conversation with Stan. He is finally getting the recognition he deserved and earned. Persistence pays off, and that’s Stan Stylez in a nutshell.”
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Last night, Stan ran CREAM MANIA on IWTV and it was, in my opinion, the best show the Bonanza ever had. The event had everything, and Stan’s match with Airica Demia really took the cake. Stan’s “The Creamer” alter-ego was something to behold. It epitomizes Stan’s creativity and wrestling mind as brilliant.
Congrats Stan. You deserve your flowers here in the THURSDAY VETERAN SPOTLIGHT.
#BANKONIT. That’s right!
