Anarchy Championship Wrestling

When Austin’s Anarchy Championship Wrestling loaned its ring and talent to Transmission Entertainment in 2010, wrestler-turned-promoter Darin Childs called the power slam “the most fun we had all year.”

“We treated it like a 45-minute commercial,” he enthuses. “I made sure each match was different from a booking standpoint. It would be the high fliers, then the girls, then the hardcore, just to pitch the well-roundedness of the product.”

For 2011, Childs’ homegrown roster faces national talent, including Arik Cannon from Dragon Gate USA, indie superstar Darin Corbin, “and Portia Perez, who’s probably the best woman wrestler in the business today.” Women’s wrestling in the U.S. has been reduced to cheesecake and filler matches, but for Childs the Joshi Division – inspired by the legendary All Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling – gives ACW the creative edge over bigger companies with cable deals.

“If you give people a hybrid product,” he opines, “it flows a lot better than throwing out a 45-minute promo followed by a two-minute match followed by a 90-second promo followed by a commercial break.”

This article appears in November 4 • 2011.

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The Chronicle's first Culture Desk editor, Richard has reported on Austin's growing film production and appreciation scene for over a decade. A graduate of the universities of York, Stirling, and UT-Austin, a Rotten Tomatoes certified critic, and eight-time Best of Austin winner, he's currently at work on two books and a play.