05/31/2026
Every wrestler has a moment early in their career…
The one where you think you’re doing something brilliant — something straight out of old-school territory heat — and then one of the veterans looks at you like you’ve just burned the building down.
This was mine.
I was working for American Pro Wrestling, one of the places where I really cut my teeth. And I absolutely loved the old-school heel gimmicks… especially the baby-powder “salt” throw. It felt like something out of Memphis, Georgia, Crockett — that perfect mix of drama, illusion, and chaos.
And because I was young, hungry, and dumb enough to think “bigger is better,” every time I used it… I’d use more.
This particular night at the Chesnee Coliseum — a tiny little building where we ran every Friday — I decided I was going to make the illusion HUGE. The cloud of powder was going to fill the whole building. In my mind, this was going to be the moment people remembered.
Well… they remembered it for sure.
Just not how I expected.
When the match was over, I was still riding the adrenaline, still buzzing, still proud of myself for the big spot. I walked into the back — sandals on, shorts, happy as could be — and saw Chief Jay Eagle sweeping baby powder into a dustpan.
He wasn’t smiling.
He wasn’t joking.
He wasn’t impressed.
He looked up at me with that stare only a veteran can give you — the kind that makes you feel like you just set the ring on fire — and he said:
“Boy… that stuff has to be cleaned up.”
And that’s when I realized what I’d actually done.
The powder wasn’t just in the ring.
It was on the ropes.
On the turnbuckles.
On the walls.
In the seats.
In the equipment.
In the air vents.
On the ceiling.
We spent the rest of the night cleaning that building like two men who had just committed a felony. It was the last time in my entire career I ever threw baby powder.
But it’s also one of my favorite memories, because that’s what those early days were like — learning from veterans, messing up, laughing about it years later, and paying dues in ways fans never see.
That was the night I learned respect…
The night I learned humility…
And the night I learned that Chief Jay Eagle did not play around with baby powder.
—Steve Stasiak, Book Pro Wrestlers by way of American Pro Wrestling
