The PopCulteer
February 27, 2026

Last Saturday your humble blogger and his lovely wife made our way to Clendenin for the IWA East Coast show, Fight For Fattawn. This was the benefit for our friend, Michael Tawney (AKA “Fattawn”), who is dealing with health issues and preparing for a kidney transplant.

Tawn (I hate to call him “Fattawn” even though he embraces the name) was at the show and looked great. He’s dealing with dialysis, and sharing his journey on Facebook, and I have to say he’s facing it with dignity, grace and humor.

And everybody at the show volunteered their time and merch proceeds to help him out. In addition to being a fantastic evening of independent wrestling, it was also an amazing outpouring of love for a beloved local icon.

I’m going to bring you photos from the event today. These are a combination of pictures I took and a few that Mel took, but we were there as friends and fans, so these are just phone photos. This is a fun throwback, because back in the day when IWA EC ran shows more often, I would often cover them with photo essays here in PopCult.

I am not going to spoil any of the results for you. This show will be available soon, streaming and on DVD, and I’ll tell you about that when it’s available. I am going out of my way to avoid photos that spoil the match endings.

But I will run down the card here:

A little mayhem from the opening match, an over the top-rope battle royal.

The show opened with an Unholy Battle Royal that featured DD Kass, Gen Z, Papa Razzi, AJ Evans, James Maxson, Victor Krause, El Drunko, Paul Kilpis, DD Vice. El Drunko’s appearance was a surprise and the crowd loved it.

We were then treated to a great tag match that saw the team of Layne Kali & Anthony Rucker face Corey Sparks & Chase Bennett.

The women got into the action with a match featuring Lexus Synn against Mika.

Longtime IWA EC fans got a treat with an epic triple-threat match featuring IWA veterans Aaron Draven, Vance Desmond and Trik Nasty,

Smokey C and Crowza in a Singapore Cane match that people will be talking about for years.

We then got to see an even more epic Singapore Cane Match with Smokey C facing Ed Crowza in what is likely Crowza’s final match.

The evening wrapped up with an incredible Table Ladders and Chairs that determined the new IWA EC Champion! The action was a mix of carnage and mayhem as Troy Parker, Elkview Adam, Colton Collins, Casey King, Shane Kryzak and Chance Prophet put their bodies on the line for the biggest prize in IWA East Coast.

At the end of the night, the crowd was both exhausted and exhilierated as they’d witnessed an evening filled with love and brothership…and broken tables, crushed chairs, flying ladders, thumbtacks, Singapore canes, low blows, bodies flying over the top rope and hugging.

Here’s just some of the action…

Brian Hatcher with Fattawn and hiding in the corner, Cindy Sarkany.

The view from our seats

Your ring announcer, Kevin Pauley!

From the opening Battle Royal. I did warn you that there’d be hugging.

El Drunko makes his entrance.

The man, the myth, the legend. People couldn’t believe he was really there!

The action gets underway in the first match.

Temporary alliances form to thin out the competition.

Sometimes the taste of competition is too great to resist.

The second match saw some great tag-team action

A headlock here…

…a dropkick there.

The hard-hitting women’s match was up next

It was a back-and-forth affair

The crowd was really into it

This match may have involved shenanigans, but…no spoilers

For the triple-threat match, Vance Desmond makes his entrance with his daughter

Then we had Omega Aaron Draven

Completing the trifect of classic IWA EC stars, Trik Nasty showed up

The calm before the storm

I need to figure out the shutter settings for the new phone camera

These guys still got it

It is a little intimidating watching this when I can throw out my back reaching for the phone

It was just like old times watching these guys tear it up

After that amazing match, Mr. Pauley returns to explain the rules of the Singapore cane match

The area’s top heel, Crowza, makes his entrance for the final time

And promptly gets in Kevin’s face

The mood lightened when local hero, Smokey C, came out and headed into the crowd

Seriously, he went all over the crowd. More hugging ensued.

When he got to the ring, he cut a heartfelt promo

The match begins with the cane in the middle of the ring. Both men retreat to opposite corners of the arena. When the bell rings, they race to the ring to grab the cane, which is legal to use in the match. Here Crowza awaits the bell

And…we’re off!

Guess who got the cane first?

The match hwent back-and-forth

Once he got the upper hand, Crowza dumped a bag of thumbtacks into the ring…and then he decided to up the ante and pour some salt on them

Pro tip: This is rarely a good idea

In case you’re wondering if those were some kind of fake thumbtacks…

…they were real.

After the match, more hugging ensued. Also, Crowza wisely decided not to remove his boots and leave them in the ring…not with all those thumbtacks around.

I have to admit to a couple of reason why I don’t have too many photos of the main event. First: I don’t want to give away the ending and the new champ. Second, I tried to put the phone away and not take so many photos.

I did get this cool panoramic shot of the six men in the match.

And this shot of the action spilling out of the ring.

I said I “tried” to keep the camera in my pocket. I didn’t say I succeeded. Look at this cool shot.

Minor spoiler: this didn’t end well for the guy with his legs in the air.

After the match, Mel got a couple of photos of the out of ring carnage

I use a table like those for my office desk. Well, mine’s not broken, but it’s the same kind.

Finally, we leave you with the boots of Woody Numbers, who has been gone for a few years now, but is not forgotten by his IWA EC family.

And that is this week’s PopCulteer, and the largest photo essay I’ve posted here in probably fifteen years. Check back for fresh content every day, all our regular features and news on when you can watch IWA East Coast’s “Fight For Fattawn” on streaming or DVD.