Kiefer Bartek of New Texas Pro Wrestling talks George Kittle, EFFY, Mike Bennett & more

On April 2, 2020, five different independent wrestling promotions were poised to come together for Texas Forever to emanate to the world live from The Cuban Club in Tampa’s historic Ybor City. New Texas Pro Wrestling was one of those five ready to showcase the best of Texas independent wrestling, but unfortunately, the global pandemic prevented the show from ever happening.

Just over one year later, New Texas Pro Wrestling headed to the Houston Premier Arena on Avenue B, which is east of Second Ward in Houston and a few short blocks from the intersection of Canal Street and Alternate US Highway 90. Avenue B is less of a street than it is a lightly paved gravel trail, and after turning onto it you would pass a few potentially unoccupied buildings and some seemingly abandoned buses before arriving at the metal building dubbed Houston Premier Arena.

After arriving at the event, I noticed someone retrieving a shopping cart that was left on the side of the gravel road and heading towards the arena with it. I didn’t think much of it until I watched a bloodied Bryan Keith powerbomb a thumbtack-laden Ruben Steel through a bright green Fiesta shopping cart a few hours later.

It was the main event of New Texas Pro Wrestling “Rodeo,” and I recently had the chance to speak to NTPW Owner & Promoter Kiefer Bartek about that show, bringing in EFFY and Mike Bennett, almost working with George Kittle, and more.

The breathtaking moment between Keith and Steel was the climax of the main event at “Rodeo,” and their No Holds Barred clash borrowed liberally from the world of deathmatch wrestling. Bartek talked about that climactic moment, and exactly how it came about.

“That was their idea. It was funny because we were kind of looking for a shopping cart earlier in the day. When I drove up on the property, it’s kind of tucked away. It looks like an old warehouse or something along those lines, and there were shopping carts down the way,” Bartek said. “So I was like ‘oh, let’s just grab one of these.’ I think we grabbed a metal one at first, and they were like ‘no, let’s do plastic.’ I’m a big safety guy, coming from Booker T’s and everything, but if they’re two grown men and they feel like they can do something, then I’m not gonna tell ‘em no.”

George Kittle and Texas Forever

Rodeo, which still required masks to be worn, was one step more step forward for New Texas Pro Wrestling and the indie scene in Texas as they continue to rebound from the impact of the global pandemic. Bartek discussed the precautions they’ve taken as each event tries to tiptoe back to normalcy.

“We’re still limiting the amount of people that we allow in the buildings and things like that as well, because there’s only a certain percentage of people that are vaccinated at this point. We’re still trying to take precautions just to make sure,” he said. “There’s been times when that building has been packed with 250 people in there, and so for us to have maybe 100 fans or something like that, it was okay. I think when we first ran in January we did like 50 people, and then the next one we did like 75 people, and then this time we’ve done 100 people. So, we’ve just slowly had more tickets available to sell. As more people get vaccinated and we start to move a little bit closer, we’ll be able to have a lot more people in the buildings, run bigger venues, things like that.”

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It’s a far cry from one year ago, when heartbreak struck and Texas Forever became one of the many independent wrestling shows in Tampa to get canceled as the severity of the pandemic became clear. Bartek discussed the anticipation heading into that event and how it felt when it didn’t happen.

“There was a lot of excitement, and we were very excited to put our best foot forward with who we felt was our best Texas talent at the time. I also had my own dealings with [Steve] Manders and George Kittle, who was just coming off the Super Bowl,” he said. “That fell through as well. It was bittersweet and sour that it all fell apart. I think it all worked out for the best eventually, but I was looking forward to it as a wrestler and I was looking forward to it as a promoter.”

“The world stopping, nobody could really envision that or see something like that coming. Like I said, I think it all worked out for the best, and everyone got a chance to reset. I feel like the wheels are starting to go into motion,” Bartek said.

Texas Forever was set to take place just two months after Super Bowl LIV, where George Kittle competed as a tight end for the San Francisco 49ers in their loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Kittle was ready to dip his toes back into the world of wrestling alongside former Iowa Buckeyes teammate Steve Manders.

It’s no secret that Kittle is a massive fan of professional wrestling, but plans to have him make a surprise appearance at Texas Forever to support Manders got scrubbed along with the event. When I spoke to Bartek, I asked him if there was a chance we could see Kittle in the mix next year when WrestleMania 38 comes to Dallas and the Texas indie scene lights up the week before the show.

“That is a possibility. We’ve brought in Manders, and brought him in again for a May show in Houston. I’ve built a good relationship with him. He’s a really good dude,” Bartek said. “George Kittle, I think he was injured last year. So I think he’s trying to really concentrate on football this year. I had a little conversation with him, and I think Kittle is definitely going to move to wrestling after his football career.”

“I guess this is something we’d have to discuss maybe after the football season and see where George is at on that, but that’s definitely a possibility. I would love to do something like that in Dallas, especially here in Texas,” he said.

Texas (When I Die) in Tampa, Florida

While it wasn’t the same as Texas Forever, Kiefer Bartek did get the opportunity to take New Texas Pro Wrestling and some of the best talent the Lone Star State’s indie scene had to offer to Tampa ahead of WrestleMania 37. New Texas Pro Wrestling presented “Texas (When I Die)” from Tampa, Florida on April 9, 2021, and Bartek discussed the pressure he felt going into that event.

“I had a lot of nerves because you’re going into a different state, flying into a different state. There’s so many things that could potentially go wrong, but man it was awesome. It was cool to hear the Tampa crowd chant for New Texas when our show was over, when two Texas guys, Mysterious Q and Gino Medina, main evented the show,” he said. “It was a challenge. We’re all going to this foreign land to do this show. I don’t have a car. Someone could miss their flight or not make the show. There’s a lot of things to deal with.”

The event was packed with amazing moments, including Bryan Keith taking on AJ Gray in the opening contest, former Impact Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace failing to defeat Raychell Rose for the New Texas Pro Women’s Championship, and Rok-C failing to take the Impact Knockouts Championship from defending champion Deonna Purazzo.

Fuego Del Sol, Izzy James, Max Heights, and Myron Reed tore the house down in a four-way match, and a chaotic Six Shooter Battle Royal featured several competitors, including Ryan Davidson, Moonshine Mantell, and eventual winner T-Ray. The main event between Mysterious Q and Gina Medina was the capper on the event, and Bartek discussed how making Texas’ presence felt that week went beyond a single show.

“Ultimately, it was another show and another shift of momentum that we needed. The reason that I really wanted to run in Tampa wasn’t more so to run a New Texas show. Once I was able to reach out to some people out that way and was like ‘hey, can Mysterious Q and Bryan Keith get on For The Culture?’ And they were both able to,” Bartek said. “Bryan Keith had one of the bigger matches with Darius Lockhart, and Mysterious Q was in the six-way that they had. Rok-C was able to get on some shows with GCW. Raychell Rose got on Title Match later that night.”

“Once I was able to figure out we can get our people on more stuff than just what we have, that’s when I was like ‘okay, I wanna run a show as a base, but you guys try to get on as many shows as you can.’ And you know, the stock of Q and Bryan Keith and Rok-C and Raychell Rose, the amount of buzz those guys got just from showing out on that weekend was incredible,” he said.

“That was truly the reason I wanted to do it was to get these guys on these other shows. We can run a million New Texas shows with those guys on it, but until more eyes are looking onto New Texas, it doesn’t really matter too much,” Bartek continued. “I think that’s what the purpose of that was for, and now I don’t know how many indie people I’ve seen saying ‘I wanna work Bryan Keith’ or ‘I wanna work Mysterious Q.’ That’s just awesome to me. I’ve known these guys for years, and it’s their time. You can feel it.”

Both the “Rodeo” and “Texas (When I Die)” events can be watched now on IWTV, and that partnership was a big step for New Texas Pro Wrestling. When we spoke, Bartek talked about what it’s been like to work with IWTV and get their product out through that platform.

“Man, IWTV has been awesome. I couldn’t ask for more from those guys. Especially Dylan Hales, who is the representative of IWTV that I speak with,” he said. “IWTV works hard, and they promote, and they do everything that they’re supposed to do. And I work hard, and I promote, and I do everything I’m supposed to do. It’s almost like, if you have somebody who wants to be as successful as you do working on their product as hard as you’re working on your product, it just makes it all worth it.”

EFFY and Mike Bennett at Rodeo

One of the advantages to that larger platform has been the ability for New Texas Pro Wrestling to bring in bigger names on the independent wrestling scene to Texas for their events. Rodeo featured outside names coming to Texas like EFFY, who was the Celebrity Grand Marshall of the 2021 Tampa Pride Parade one month later, and Mike Bennett, who has been thriving on the independent scene since his release from WWE in April of 2020.

“EFFY is more transcendent than just pro wrestling, if that makes sense. He’s got his own audience that’s bigger than pro wrestling. That’s why he’s able to make a living just selling merchandise and wrestling and things like that. He’s an enigma. He’s charismatic,” Bartek said before discussing what it was like to have Bennett at the show.

“Then you have someone like Mike Bennett who is a former WWE star, worked for every promotion, his wife’s Maria. If he comes in, you get people who are fans of Mike Bennett or WWE and they check us out as well,” he said. “It’s all on purpose. We’re always trying to bring in new people who have their own audience to try and check us out and things like that, and I think that’s why we’ve had such good momentum.”

“Bennett is the coolest dude ever, man. I’m sure him walking into the warehouse in Houston might’ve been like ‘well, where are we at?’ kinda thing,” Bartek said of the arena that hosted Rodeo. “It feels like he’s really trying his best to give back to pro wrestling the best that he can at this point. He’s worked Mysterious Q with us. He worked with Ryan Davidson with Hurricane Pro. He’s worked with Cam Cole. All these guys are really good friends of mine, but they’ve all had positive experiences and things to say about him. That he’s wanting to help them out and give advice.”

The Future of New Texas Pro Wrestling

As we wrapped up our discussion, I asked New Texas Pro Wrestling Owner & Promoter Kiefer Bartek about some of the exciting events they have planned this month. He talked about the upcoming NTPW return of former Impact X Division Champion Chris Bey and what Bartek hopes to accomplish moving forward with New Texas Pro Wrestling.

“Chris Bey came in for us in Abilene to work with Mysterious Q before he got signed. He really wanted the Gino Medina matchup [at Bomaye on May 29], but he’s also coming back in June for the June 26 date in Houston. He’s working Will Allday on that for us, so that’ll be a first time matchup as well,” Bartek said of the upcoming clash, which I mentioned would be “AEW vs. Impact” due to Will Allday having appeared on AEW Dark.

“What I was really thinking when I started to see we’re getting some momentum and some traction is there is an opportunity for us to have, I don’t wanna say dream matches, but matches that people wanna see. Impact vs. MLW. NWA vs. Impact. MLW vs AEW, or something like that if we can get people from there,” he said. “Mixed in with our Texas guys, who are just skyrocketing at this point in time, but there are some really cool cards that we can put together and I think can make some noise nationwide.”

“The last two or three cards we’ve put together have made some noise nationwide and got some attention from other companies and things like that. That’s the cool thing that I’m trying to do, and then I’m trying to put together cards of guys from different companies mixed in with a lot of our Texas guys who just, a lot of guys who have been ready,” Bartek continued. “I feel like everyone is gonna say this about their talent, but a lot of guys that I’ve known for seven-plus years who have been ready for a long time, people are finally starting to get a look. Mysterious Q, Bryan Keith, Ryan Davidson.”

Bomaye was filmed at the Houston Premier Arena on May 29, 2021, and it should be available to watch on IWTV as of tonight. New subscribers to IWTV should use the promo code “TEXASFOREVER” to support New Texas Pro Wrestling when they sign up.

Once you’re on IWTV, you’ll be able to enjoy Bomaye and see matches like Chris Bey vs. Gino Medina, Rok-C vs. Raychell Rose, Skye Blue vs. Masha Slamovich, Fuego Del Sol vs. Max Heights, and the Street Fight between Bryan Keith and Jonathan Vega. You’ll also gain access to the massive IWTV library, with events from dozens of other promotions and other New Texas Pro Wrestling shows.

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New Texas Pro Wrestling returns to Abilene, Texas for “True Colors 2” on June 20, 2021, where Bryan Keith will take on Mike Bennett and Kiefer Bartek is set to challenge Johnny Bedlam in a Street Fight with Bartek’s in-ring career on the line. Tickets are available here.

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New Texas Pro Wrestling is also coming back to Houston on June 26, 2021, for “BOESCH” with major matches already signed including Lee Moriarty vs. T-Ray, Will Allday vs. Chris Bey, Rok-C defending the New Texas Pro Women’s Championship against Masha Slamovich, and Mysterious Q defending the New Texas Pro Heavyweight Championship against Bryan Keith. Tickets are available here.