Billy Dixon on the Cassandro Cup: ‘It’s time to prove we are athletes’

Tournaments are nothing new for professional wrestling, but the Cassandro Cup is prepared to break new ground this Sunday with the first-ever LGBTQ-focused wrestling tournament featuring some of the top talents in independent wrestling.

The show is named in honor of queer wrestling icon Cassandro, who has been a trailblazer inside the squared circle for 33 years and will celebrate his 51st birthday in a few short months. Cassandro has been putting together classics in the ring for decades, and still continued to prove what he’s capable of last year at EFFY’s Big Gay Brunch against AEW’s own Sonny Kiss.

Now, the Cassandro Cup is prepared to be yet another groundbreaking LGBTQ wrestling event, and Cassandro is once again a key part of history. The event is A Billy Dixon Joint, and Lo McGrath has also played a key role during the build to this Sunday through Butch vs Gore as they’ve handled PR, social media, and fan engagement.

The Cassandro Cup will feature a single-elimination tournament with some major names involved, as well as some top-notch non-tournament action, and Billy Dixon spoke to us about this groundbreaking event.

When I spoke with Billy Dixon back in January, it was only a few days after filming had concluded for the show which premieres this Sunday, March 28, on IWTV. We discussed the origin of the event, choosing to honor Cassandro with the name, the competitors involved, and much more.

On top of the existing significance of the event, all revenue from merch for the Cassandro Cup and streaming will go to the NEPA Rainbow Alliance. The organization in Northeastern Pennsylvania provides education, support, and advocacy for LGBTQ+ individuals and families while working to advance fairness and equality.

You can contribute by supporting the Cassandro Cup through purchasing merch at Shop IWTV or streaming this Sunday at 7pm ET on IWTV, but you can also donate to the NEPA Rainbow Alliance directly through their website. One of the first things we discussed when I spoke to Billy Dixon was how this important event came to be, and the involvement from IWTV Owner and Operator Gerry Durling.

“So, I’ve been in communications with IWTV for a while. In particular, Gerry with IWTV, and he talked to me about if I had any projects coming up following Paris is Bumping and all of that, and we kind of sat down together and were like ‘what is an idea to do to kick 2021 off right?’ And we both kind of came together and thought about doing a tournament for some content, and we had decided to do that. That’s how we came up with the idea. It was a team effort,” he continued, further emphasizing Gerry’s role in making the show a reality.

“Without him, this wouldn’t be possible. They’ve been a great partner. They’ve been a great sense of support. I felt like a real partner with him throughout this event. Always being there to answer questions, always being there to lend a helping hand, I mean Gerry really, as a real ally, kind of put his money where his mouth is and was like ‘how can I help? How can I support this community?’ And we were treated very, very well and very kindly by the IWTV staff,” Dixon said. “And we were treated like the stars and the professionals that we are, and I have to shout them out. They were phenomenal. I can’t say enough great things about the way the community was treated.”

The Namesake of the Cassandro Cup

Once the idea to do an LGBTQ-focused wrestling tournament had been decided, the next question in the process was what to name it. Billy Dixon spoke about making contact with Cassandro after deciding to name it after him, his significance in queer wrestling, and the future of this tournament.

“I reached out to Cassandro and asked for his blessing to name the tournament after him, and Cassandro graciously accepted. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get him to be there in person, and considering the fact that this is a fanless event, a legend of that nature should be with an audience to give them their flowers that they have more than earned. So, Cassandro is not there in person. However, he is going to be in some videos and is going to play a critical part throughout the show, even though he’s not there physically,” Billy Dixon said before expanding on Cassandro’s significance and why he was chosen to be honored through this event.

“He’s the original. He’s the standard to which we’re held. He took a lot of the bumps, for lack of a better term, so that there can be all of this representation that you see now. That’s a shoot. We don’t really talk about — a lot of things in wrestling are like, on to the next and about the future, but we do have a past of queer wrestling in our history, and we do owe a lot to him. Meeting him was a very emotional moment for me. We want to pay the respects and the tributes to him that he rightfully deserves.”

This Sunday will see the debut of the first-ever Cassandro Cup, but there’s always potential to keep it going in future years. When we spoke, I asked Billy Dixon if there were any plans to make the Cassandro Cup an annual event moving forward.

“A hundred and fifty percent. The LGBT community, we’re still in kind of our infancy as a movement and as a genre of wrestling. This show’s much more of an athletic, pure, even though it’s well-documented I’m not the biggest fan of pure wrestling, but much more of a pure kind of event where we’re focusing on the athletics,” he said. “We’re focusing on the bell to bell action, and I think that the LGBT community deserves their own version of Kings of Trios or the Super 8 Cup, or the Mae Young Classic, or whatever have you.”

“I think having our own serious tournament is good, because, and this is a shoot, what I told the locker room in my little meeting before the show started, is we’ve proven we can do parties like nobody else, but I think it’s also time for us to also prove that we are also athletes, and we are incredibly talented, and we can do a whole bunch of things. So that’s something that I am really interested in bringing to the table,” Billy Dixon said.

Any great tournament has great rewards, and the Cassandro Cup is no exception. Billy Dixon talked about the implications for the eventual winner, which include a shot at Independent Wrestling Champion Lee Moriarty in Tampa just days later.

“The winner of the Cassandro Cup receives the cup and a future IWTV Championship Match. Also at Butch vs Gore, we are working on bringing back the 51st State Championship that was held under the Prime Time Pro Wrestling banner, and we are going to make it the official Butch vs Gore Championship,” he said. “So the Cassandro Cup winner will more than likely have stakes at that championship as well, so there’s a lot on the line for the winner of this tournament.”

Cassandro Cup: The Competitors

The Cassandro Cup is a single-elimination tournament, and it will be the highlight of the event. It was originally scheduled to be an 8-person tournament, but one first-round match was removed from the final cut due to allegations against one participant of racism, manipulation, and stalking that came to light weeks after the event was filmed.

The remaining seven competitors fill out a truly must-see field of unique characters and top-notch in-ring competitors. When I had the chance to speak to Billy Dixon, he took a moment to talk about each of the tournament participants, starting with Erica Leigh, who has continued to rise through the scene in the last few years with recent appearances in Camp Leapfrog and at Paris is Bumping.

“To me, [Erica] had a blockbuster 2020, and she really broke out and had a really successful year. You know, we have a running joke that I’m like her mother, and that’s a little running joke that we have between us, but I’m just really proud of her. Her rise, and her killing every opportunity she’s been given. And I’ve been happy to give her a couple of those opportunities,” he said. “I really wanted her to get a stage to show that she’s a really good grappler. She’s a great character. She’s really bubbly and charismatic and people really love that about her, but she’s also been working really hard and training with some of the best wrestlers in the world to up her grappling game, and she does show that she’s no-nonsense.”

The next competitor Billy Dixon took a moment to speak about was AC Mack. The 28-year-old Mack has been continuing to build an impressive resume for several years, including a 798-day reign as Action Wrestling Champion that came to an end just last month.

“I mean, his resume kinda speaks for itself. He’s one of the best wrestlers in the world. In my opinion, he’s one of the best heels. I think he’s really, really talented, and I think that if there’s a platform for the LGBT community, it would just be ridiculous to not include him because he has so much to offer and he really is an incredible performer. I can’t say enough nice things about what he brings to a match and to a show,” Dixon said.

The next name on the docket was Jared Evans, a several-year veteran who has made his mark in the last year at events like EFFY’s Big Gay Brunch and EFFY’s Big Gay Block. He’s also fresh off a win at ACTION Wrestling’s You Can’t Do That In A Wrestling Ring last Friday when he defeated Kavron Kanyon.

“Jared Evans is one of my best friends in the business, and also somebody who has a really good work ethic and works really hard and really dazzles in the ring and really is an explosive performer. So, that’s why I wanted him involved,” Dixon said.

Another tournament participant will be Ashton Starr, who has continued to rise in recent months with an appearance on AEW Dark back in November. Starr has also competed at EFFY’s Big Gay Brunch, EFFY’s Big Gay Block, and defeated Sahara Seven in a DMV Deathmatch at Paris is Bumping.

“In my opinion, out of the entire LGBT community, whether we’re talking signed, unsigned, any continent, he’s the number one best in-ring LGBT wrestler in the world. I don’t think that that’s a disputable fact. [Ashton Starr] is so much more talented than he knows, and he has a lot to offer,” Dixon said. “He’s very, very deceptively strong, and he’s so agile. He’s also a great character performer. He has the full package. Great looks, great body, great everything, and it’s really exciting to give him an opportunity to show what he can do.”

Another big name that will be taking part in the Cassandro Cup is Edith Surreal, the in-ring artist formerly known as Still Life With Apricots and Pears. While Surreal has since changed her ring name, the Cassandro Cup was filmed prior to that change. I initially spoke to Dixon prior to the change, and he later informed me Surreal has graciously allowed them to use the former name of Still Life for this event.

“Still Life with Apricots and Pears is an enigma wrapped in a riddle. I think that she is phenomenal. I think that we’ve never seen someone captivate audiences the way she has. I think that her work is very intriguing, and I really wanted to see how she could do in a tournament. She has a really strong track record, but I really wanted to see what she could do with some new kind of opponents,” Dixon said. “I think that one of the things that I want the matches to be, and what I want from the competitors, is for fights. I don’t want necessarily art exhibitions, and that’s all Still Life has really shown is she’s a beautiful work of art, but can we get a really visceral fighter? Can she come out of her shell and really scrap? And I’m really excited to see if she does or not.”

Next in the line-up is Molly McCoy, who burst onto the scene as part of CHIKARA Pro in the last few years, usually teaming alongside Boomer Hatfield. McCoy has since broken out on their own with appearances at EFFY’s Big Gay Brunch and the GCW Fight Forever blocks Camp Leapfrog and Allie Kat’s Hot Girl S**t.

“They are really one of the most energetic charismatic performers I’ve seen. I think that they have a lot to offer. I think that they can get a crowd behind them really easily, and they have this power within their ability to get a reaction, and it’s really cool to see,” Dixon said. “I’m a big fan of Molly McCoy, and Molly McCoy was one of the picks for PWI’s Rookie of the Year, and I felt they should’ve won it, personally speaking, over Dominik Mysterio. But no one’s improved like Molly McCoy has this year, and I was very honored to give them an opportunity to shine.”

Last but certainly not least, there’s Killian McMurphy. He’s been rising through the scene for a handful of years now with early appearances at CZW and other independent companies, but most recently McMurphy has been part of Camp Leapfrog.

“Killian McMurphy is so underrated. I do think he’s so talented. I think that he’s such a character, but also his in-ring. He is, I’m telling you, I think that Killian McMurphy is probably one of the most underrated in-ring ring generals in the business. I think that he has such a control over the match, the crowd, the pacing,” Dixon said. “There’s so much that he does really, really well in the ring, and I’m impressed every time I watch him wrestle. I think that he will shine in a really athletic environment like this as well because you really don’t get to see his talent as much as you should. He’s really one of the best characters we have out there, and that lariat is literally no joke. He’s somebody to look out for.”

While the central focus of the event will surely be on the tournament itself, there are some other highly anticipated matches taking place. Billy Dixon took a moment to talk about what else fans can expect from the Cassandro Cup.

“There is some non-tournament action. So, I will be defending the F1ght Club Chocolate City Championship against Darius Carter in a 2-out-of-3 Falls Match. The Kings of the District [Jordan Blade and Eel O’Neal] are going two-on-two against Bussy, the team of Allie Kat and EFFY. Faye Jackson has got a live mic, and I can’t tell you what she said, but she went there, and it’s goin’ down. MV Young and Devon Monroe are in singles competition as well,” he continued.

“I think the thing that’s gonna make people probably the most happy, I listened to my fanbase. Something happened at the first Butch vs Gore that kinda took a life of its own, and I am happy to announce that we are doing the Britney Spears Open Invitational Challenge featuring five members of our community and allies who all had to select a Britney Spears song for their entrance theme,” Dixon said. “Also the match features a couple of iconic Britney Spears moments that I cannot discuss, but it is a fun match and tribute to one of the community’s favorite people, and I’m really excited for people to catch that one. That’s gonna be really funny.”

The Cassandro Cup airs this Sunday on IWTV at 7 pm ET. There will be a kickoff-show with Sam Leterna at 6:30 pm ET as well, which will also air on IWTV. If you aren’t currently signed up to IWTV, new subscribers can get a 5-day free trial by using promo code RAINBOW or promo code BUTCHVSGORE.

Finally, remember that all revenue from Cassandro Cup merch at Shop IWTV and from the streaming of the event will go to the NEPA Rainbow Alliance. You can also donate directly to them through their website.