Boy, did I pick a bad time to gain some momentum.

In the early portion of this year, my professional wrestling career was picking up some steam. I was performing as “The Belfast Bulldog” for Maine’s top independent promotion, Limitless Wrestling.

As one-half of the tag-team “The Classic Corps,” my mentor, “Classic” Kalvin Strange and I were moving up the ranks in Let’s Wrestle, Limitless Wrestling’s sister promotion based out of Orono. We had just earned the right to a match for the Let’s Wrestle tag team championships against “The Stigma,” the team of Eric Johnson and Brandino Davis.

Then, COVID-19 happened.

In the following months, shows would be shut down. Then, new restrictions on crowd gatherings in Maine made it nearly impossible for promoters to run shows without losing money. My championship opportunity went out the window, at least for now. Worst of all, the opportunities to perform in front of fans dwindled from, at times, two to three shows per month, to zero.

Thankfully, there’s still been a few positives along the way. With small classes and people following proper coronavirus safety protocols, the Limitless Dojo — the training center for Limitless Wrestling students — has remained open. This has allowed me to stay in relative ring shape, and has kept off an almost guaranteed 20 pounds of COVID stress weight off my 230-pound frame.

Furthermore, Limitless released its latest set of trading cards during the pandemic, including a “Belfast Bulldog” Dave Dyer rookie card (and yes, I’m well aware of the irony of being a 35-year old rookie).

And, thanks to the creativity of Limitless promoter Randy Carver, the promotion has continued to stay relevant, and has even possibly grown the fanbase. Limitless has created a weekly internet series called “The Road,” giving new content to fans by showing new matches. Tapings for “The Road” take place every few months at the American Legion hall in Orono. Over the course of two days, as many as 40 matches are taped for the series, with no fans in the arena (just wrestlers, masked and socially distanced, sitting around the ring). The series has been broadcast through Independent Wrestling Television (IWTV), an online streaming service that shows matches from 233 different wrestling promotions nationwide, including promotions from Canada and Mexico.

So far, I’ve had two different matches on “The Road.” The first was against Doug Wyzer, a member of the “Dirty Drifters,” a trio of homeless characters who are fan favorites in Let’s Wrestle. I picked up the victory over Wyzer — my first in singles action in Limitless — using my new finishing move, the “Dyer Straits,” a version of the Emerald Fusion (if you’ve never seen it, YouTube it). It’s basically a variation of a powerslam.

The year 2020 hasn’t been a complete loss for “The Belfast Bulldog” Dave Dyer. Among Limitless Wrestling’s latest trading card set is a rookie Dave Dyer card. Dave Dyer/Kennebec Journal

I wasn’t so lucky in my second match, however, losing by submission to Kennedi Copeland. Despite the loss, it was a match that, bell-to-bell, was the smoothest match I’ve had since my career began. It’s also been the most popular. As of press time, my match with Copeland has received over 10,400 views on YouTube. In comparison, my match against Wyzer has over 2,000 views.

As restrictions became lightened over the summer and fall months in Maine, some promotions started holding small shows with fans. The southern Maine based North Atlantic Wrestling Association began running monthly shows — first outdoors, then an indoor show in October — at Skip’s Lounge in Buxton. It looked like there was hope for shows to be back on a regular basis. But then, entering November, COVID-19 cases began to rise in Maine, forcing tighter restrictions for the forseeable future. The possibility for shows with a larger amount of fans, for now, are virtually gone.

So what’s next? Well, “The Road” series continues for Limitless (which is currently airing season two as we speak on IWTV), and will surely continue into 2021. This also (hopefully) means more appearances for “The Belfast Bulldog” heading into 2021. And while wrestlers are happy to have some sort of outlet to entertain instead of none at all, we’re all getting itchy to perform in front of a crowd of fans on a regular basis again.

Hopefully, 2021 brings better news.

Dave Dyer — 621-5610

ddyer@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @Dave_Dyer

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