Posted in: Indy Jeff Peterson Memorial Tournament
By SnowMan Jones
Dec 17, 2012 - 10:41:06 AM
For ten years now, the Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup has brought some of the greatest independent wrestling talent together for a fundraising event. The tournament usually takes place in October or December of the year, and it is presented in memory of independent wrestler Jeff Peterson, who lost a two-year battle with leukemia. Wrestlers have traditionally worked at the event for free, and the entry cost is a donation at the door. This year’s recipient of the donations was Nathan Dodds, and the promoters included Full Impact Pro’s Sal Hamaoui and NWA-FUW’s Dontay Brown. Nathan was recently treated with chemotherapy for brain cancer. He is a bright-eyed, intelligent young man who attended the event with his family.
Many wrestling stars have participated in the tournament in the past, and many of the winners have gone on to big-time national recognition in companies like ROH, Dragon Gate, and TNA. The first winner was Reckless Youth, Chris Sabin won in 2005, Chris Hero dominated the 2007 tournament, Erick Stevens won in 2008, Davey Richards won in 2009, and last year’s winner was a high flyer known as AR Fox.
This year’s tournament was won by an up-and-coming high flyer named Samuray del Sol. He defeated Team Lucha’s Jay Rios in the first round, Jonathan Gresham in the second round, Jon Davis in the semi-finals, and he defeated AR Fox not long after hitting and impressive moonsault off of the second floor balcony.
A wrestler by the name of Milo Beasley (AKA Naphtali), performed this year under his birth name of Charles Cardwell. Cardwell has participated in the tournament before. A close friend of Peterson, Cardwell advanced to the semi-finals in 2003. This year, on night two of the tournament, he faced Papadon’s manager Larry Dallas in a hardcore Ybor City Street fight. The performance given by both men was one of the evening’s top performances. Cardwell taught Dallas, Papadon, and their manager Trina Michaels a lesson in humility, after making disparaging comments about Jeff Peterson. The end of the match came when Cardwell leaped off of the balcony and put Dallas through a table.
Despite the violence, pain, and frustration, a lot of money was raised for Nathan Dodds that night. After Samuray’s victory, tournament participants lifted Dodds onto their shoulders in victory, and even the nefarious Trina Michaels showed her sweet side, posing for pictures with the 14 year old.
“It was my pleasure,” said Michaels. “Sorry I didn't come out there sooner. Nathan seems like an awesome kid. I hope things go well for him, and I offer him much love.”
911Wrestling.com is also proud to report that we all advertising proceeds to date from 911Wrestling webzine were donated to Nathan Dodd’s family as part of three separate donations.
