SCW Pro holds fundraiser for fellow wrestler battling cancer
SCW Pro has been thrilling fans in the Quad Cities for two decades. Now they’re helping one of their own at the “Fight for Austin” on Saturday, May 18 at the Blue Grass Community Center, 232 E. Orphed Street. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the action starts at 7 p.m.
Marek Brave is the owner of SCW Pro and co-owner and head trainer of the Black and Brave Wrestling Academy, alongside Seth Rollins of the WWE. He spoke with Our Quad Cities News about a fundraiser to help Austin Acree, a wrestler better known as Garrote, who’s battling cancer. Acree lives in Bettendorf and when he’s not in the ring, he works at the Rock Island Arsenal.
“His character is actually this big bad, evil, mysterious type guy, but in real life, he couldn’t be any more different from his in-ring persona,” said Brave. “He’s actually a great guy, very respectful and hardworking. And unfortunately, he’s just going through a tough time right now.”
Acree is currently battling non-Hodgkins’s lymphoma, but things aren’t going well, said Brave. “Unfortunately, he is not reacting well to the chemotherapy treatments. He’s actually back in the hospital right now, trying to fight off an infection due to the adverse reactions he’s having to the chemotherapy, so it’s just one thing after another for Austin right now and we’re hoping that this latest round of treatment will take care of the infection and help them on the road to recovery with the lymphoma as well.”
There was no doubt Acree would be helped by other SCW wrestlers during his fight. “In professional wrestling and in Black and Brave wrestling, our academy, we look at each other as family, right,” said Brave. “We’re brothers and sisters there and when one member of your family is hurting, you have to come together as a community to help that individual out. When I came up with the idea to do this benefit, and I brought it to my fellow wrestlers and my graduates and my business partner, everybody thought it was a great idea.”
Brave said wrestlers performing at the event are donating their pay to the fundraiser and there are other ways fans can help. “We’re doing some raffles at the show with some autographed merchandise from Seth Rollins, who is a global celebrity. So, we’re hoping to raise a good amount of money that way. There’ll be some of the things that we’re selling as well, in an effort to raise as much money for Austin as possible.”
Even though this is the first time the group has held a fundraiser for one of their own, it’s not the first time they’ve worked to benefit the community.
“Every year we do an event with West High School to raise money for their athletic department. You know, we’ve been in business for over 20 years, so throughout the history of our company, we’ve done different events, I believe back in 2005, we did an event to raise money for Hurricane Katrina.”
Fans can expect to see plenty of excitement in the ring. “We have an action-packed card for everybody who’s in attendance on Saturday night. This will be a full two hour plus wrestling event. I believe we have seven or eight matches on the card. We have a Battle Royale planned. We have multiple tag team matches. Our heavyweight champion, eight-year Marine veteran, the Devil Dog, Dustin Mosley, he’s going to be in action. Our Iowa wrestling champion, aptly named Corn Boi, he is going to be in action, as well as our tag team champions partners in rhyme that would be Niko Klein and Cash Kennedy.”
For more on SCW Pro and the Fight for Austin, click here.
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