American Wrestling League: A Backyard Wrestling Dream Built off the Back of Tragedy

When driving up to the Wilford Pavilion one might feel lost, like maybe you got bad directions. If you feel like its out of place for a wrestling event, you are not alone. Jimmy Ward took it upon himself to build the Wilford Pavilion in his back yard after the devastating losses of both his mother and grandmother over the past year. “I don’t know that it would have come about if had I not suffered those two devastating losses but those were heavy losses that I did not want to deal with so I just stayed busy building.” Said as he commented about how such a spectacular venue ended up in his backyard. Then Venue was host to Ward’s Wrestling Promotion, American League Wrestling and live musical performances. Ward was excited about bringing an unforgettable experience with his unique show, “I wanted people that come to see the wrestling show they get a bonus so the Welford pavilion is very unique very different it’s a year in the making and so far it has lived up to it’s, the reason for building it I guess you could say.”.

The heat was hot and the crowd was too. The night raged on without any issue from neighbors. Inside of this southern community a truly high budget spectacle was taking place with all of the lights, sound, and staging that would be expected at a major live entertainment event. When reflecting on the beginning of the promotion and the therapeutic construction project that started it all Ward said, “I felt like when enough time had gone by and I got passed that grieving period when I look up I had this entire pavilion and the reason I guess that I kept going and built such a venue in the location that I did was to kind of raise the bar a little bit and to provide a different source of entertainment.”.