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April 10, 2013
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April 10, 2013
Millions of wrestling fans were dialed into their television sets on Sunday night as Wrestlemania 29 rocked New York City.
No one was watching the events unfold more closely than Houma teenager Austin Porche.
The 16-year-old Vandebilt Catholic freshman said he is in love with the sport and spends countless hours a week keeping tabs on all of the professional circuits across the globe.
Porche’s hobby has made him well known among the wrestling community. He is the co-host of Internet radio show “PipeBomb Radio,” which hosts thousands of listeners each week and has also had a who’s who of wrestling guest, including WWE Hall of Famers BlackJack Mulligan and Bruno Sammartino.
He also does work for local federations like Elite Championship Wrestling and Gulf Coast Wrestling – all with the goal of becoming a competitor himself when he turns 18.
“I never miss any episodes – I just love it,” Porche said. “I’m not really interested too much in other sports. Football is sort of boring and uninteresting to me. But wrestling is just what I love. That’s my passion.”
Porche said he first got bitten by the wrestling bug during the infamous hurricane season of 2005.
During that time, Porche said his residence suffered minor flooding.
Because of the damage, legendary wrestler Michael Hayes sent wrestling t-shirts to Porche. Hayes is married to a relative of Porche’s mother.
Austin said he was never exposed to the sport until the shirts arrived.
Once he saw the characters on the fabric – he became intrigued and Googled the sport in an attempt to get more information.
He was immediately hooked.
He’s never stopped watching ever since.
“I’ve been bitten by the bug as they say,” Porche said. “It’s just what I love. I enjoy watching the shows and keeping up with everything. That’s just what I like to do. That’s what’s fun to me.”
Porche said as his love for the sport grew, he wanted to get more involved in the sport.
He said he created a wrestling news page on Facebook that gradually got a following from fans who shared his love for the sport.
Because of his page, Porche connected with Felix Olmedo, who was the host of PipeBomb Radio – an Internet radio show based on wrestling.
After becoming acquainted, Olmedo asked Porche to co-host the show with him.
“Felix started the show and he was doing it initially with the Honky Tonk Man,” Porche said. “But he eventually brought me on, we became really good friends and he invited me to do the show.”
With no experience in radio, Porche admits it wasn’t a smooth transition.
“I sucked at first,” he said with a laugh.
But Porche has polished his craft and has become “much better.”
The show has garnered a following and thousands of people tune in each week to the stream, which features weekly guests from the wrestling world.
“We have a lot of people – a lot more than people expect for an Internet radio show,” Porche said. “One week, we had more than 8,000 listeners. I thought this would be a little tiny radio show thing where a couple of our friends would listen. But it’s turning into a bigger thing.”
All of Porche’s efforts are leading up to his major goal – stepping into the ring as an adult.
Porche said he plans to enroll in a wrestling academy when he turns 18 to learn the ins and outs of the craft.
He said he wants to model himself after Chris Benoit – whom he believes is the best technical wrestler of all-time.
“Chris Benoit just showed up and wrestled,” Porche said. “He didn’t say any words. He didn’t have to. He just wrestled. That’s what I want to be known as. I want to be the guy who doesn’t say a lot to make my point. I want to be a good, sound technical wrestler. I want my work to do the talking for me. If you’re good enough in the ring, that’s the way that it works.
Porche said he already has a plan for his character – he would like to call himself Austin James.
When asked whether he would want to be a face (good guy) or a heel (bad guy), he had a quick answer.
“Definitely a heel,” Porche said. “Faces are good and everything and I think that I could be good in that role because I have a good amount of charisma. But it’s so much more fun to be disliked by everyone and to be booed by the fans.”
Porche admits that because of his love for wrestling, he draws some weird looks from classmates and friends who “don’t understand the sport.”
For those who call the sport “fake,” he has a challenge to issue.
“It’s anything but fake,” Porche said. “Sure, it’s predetermined, but the bumps and bruises you take accumulate and wear on your body. People think the ring is a big trampoline. It’s not. It’s wood with a pad about six-to-eight inches thick. I challenge anyone to run around in the ring a few times and to fall a couple of times – they’ll see it’s not fake then.
“I just love the sport. People might not understand it or they might not see it the same way that I do, but it’s just awesome to me. It’s what I love to do and it’s what I love to be a part of.”
Vandebilt Catholic freshman Austin Porche poses on the school’s campus in his WWE Daniel Bryan T-shirt. Porche is an avid wrestling fan who considers himself fully in love with the sport. Porche hosts an Internet radio called PipeBomb Radio – a show that draws thousands of listeners each week. PipeBomb Radio recently hosted interviews with wrestling greats like Bruno Sammartino and BlackJack Mulligan.
