From Stephen Platinum: Brian Blaze/Brian Bush is free. He was found not guilty on 10/16, ending a five-and-a-half month long stint...
From Stephen Platinum:
Brian Blaze/Brian Bush is free.
He was found not guilty on 10/16, ending a five-and-a-half month long stint in jail for crimes that he did not commit.
A number of wrestlers were out in force to support Brian, serve as character witnesses. The Washington Bullets and De La Vega joined up to make “Free Brian Blaze” shirts that sold out at “Sacred Ground: Chapter Five,” providing money for Brian’s family to offset legal costs. Simon Sermon’s investigation work was pivotal to Brian’s case, and helped make for easy work for the jury (who deliberated barely an hour).
Interesting notes about the trial:
The CSI investigators and lead investigating officer did not show up to testify at the trial.
The various wrestlers that were there in support of Brian conducted themselves magnificently.
The Prosecutor during his closing argument tried to imply that Nina Monet wasn’t a pro wrestler…when the night before Nina worked three tryout matches in a row for WWE officials at the Smackdown! taping in Birmingham, Alabama.
At the post-trial debriefing, apparently the jurors were allowed to give their thoughts on the entire proceedings and reamed the Prosecutor out for having the case come to trial when it was so apparent from the complete lack of evidence that Brian was innocent.
Brian went on Facebook last night and asked, semi-jokingly, what he missed in wrestling while he was in jail.
I started thinking about the state of Georgia wrestling. It was fantastic to see a number of the wrestlers that had trained and worked with Brian rallying to his side. As crazy as this is to say in light of the fact that almost half a year of his life was taken away, Brian is fortunate. He’s fortunate that so many people supported him. He is aware of that as well and has been nothing but gracious, as has his family. Brian’s supervisor at his job was going to be a character witness, so Brian will get to return to a semblance of normalcy soon – have his job back, work wrestling shows if he wants to. He gets to sleep in his own bed and eat decent food again. And a number of wrestling people helped bring that about, and that’s fantastic. For every wrestler/wrestling person who was directly helping Brian, there were that many more that publically supported Brian also, and that was refreshing to see.
Certainly Brian’s cause was an easy one to support. Brian was clearly innocent. Anyone who had trained or worked with Brian was confident in his character.
There are a number of things out in the Georgia wrestling world that are being supported that, frankly, disturb me.
I tire of reading the opinions and snarky comments from wrestlers who should be in the “listening” stage and not the “opining” stage.
I can’t help but feel terribly for guys wasting their money on doomed projects with the full encouragement and endorsement of wrestlers that deep down know they are asking their “friend” to throw money away so they can be on another show.
It can be upsetting when horrible, ill-conceived wrestling groups and shows continue to pretend they are otherwise.
It’s aggravating when those that are great tend to remain silent, and those that are miles away from greatness are the loudest voices.
There’s constant talk of “brotherhood,” fake bonding, bullshit talk of families, shit shows claiming to do “God’s work,” shitbirds calling other shitbirds “shitbirds” without a hint of self awareness.
You have people who enable the worst shit out there then lament about how bad things are.
Many of those that are supposed to be the pipeline of information about wrestling in the state have failed us. Completely. And their failure, sadly, is so expected that the endless shilling, terrible interview skills and complete lack of information or entertainment value isn’t even noted anymore. We just accept that this podcast sucks. We read terribly written things about Georgia wrestling (which thankfully are put out less and less as the laziness manifests) and just accept them.
But you have moments like wrestlers that truly care rallying around a wrestling brother, and helping instead of putting themselves over.
Truly great shows still happen.
You have wrestlers that are getting a true shot at the big time that absolutely deserve it.
You have wrestling people who have true mentors, real trainers, and listen more than they talk.
You have people who take true advantage of opportunities and maximize their potential.
There are people out there for whom the work “love” is not a totally selfish thing.
There are promoters that have actually made money on a show before.
There are promotions that are telling compelling stories correctly.
There are shitty promotions that are suffering for their sins.
A number of truly awful wrestling groups have been revealed as such, and are marginalized.
There are wrestlers that recognize the true bigger, better deal.
There are wrestlers, promoters and bookers that “show” more than “tell.”
Those that would use wrestling merely for their own self-aggrandizement are coming apart at the seams.
You’re still reading this.
Brian is free.
And there are a number of us who are truly free also, who are teaching others how to be free. How to meaningfully connect. That there are people who know what they are doing, who care, and simply are better and greater than so many others. And it behooves one to be around greatness instead of those who falsely claim it.
Halloween is right around the corner. When I was a kid, what your costume was going to be was the source of much thought, attention and anxiety. When I got older I realized I could make myself into the person I wanted to be. Someone that I, myself, respected and others would respect in turn. If you’ve chosen the path of the poser, the person who continues to put on a mask, make noise, draw attention to convince both yourself and others that you are a person of merit, take off that mask, shut the fuck up, and start over. Because Brian shows us that sometimes starting over is all that you can do…and that you should be grateful that there are those that will help you get to that first square again, and then beyond it.
Welcome home, Brian, and a deep heartfelt thanks to those that are fighting on the correct side of this thing of ours.
