LVAC wrestling smacks down on the South Side

Around lunchtime on June 29, 2018, Lehigh Valley Apparel Creations owner Chris Regec and wrestler Ultramantis Black were building a wrestling ring. 

They were finally making a long-standing idea a reality: putting on an independent wrestling event in the Lehigh Valley. 

After booking a venue, contacting wrestlers Ultramantis had worked with, getting a promoter’s license, finding a doctor to have on standby, calling in a lot of favors and finally putting the ring together, the pair sat in the empty National Sokols Lodge #93 waiting for their show to start. 

At 5 p.m. — two hours before the doors were set to open — Regec looked out into the street. 

No one was there. 

“We’re just like, ‘We’re screwed,’” Regec said. “’We’re going to lose thousands of dollars today.'”

Half an hour later, a line started to form. 

Regec said he kept peeking out of the doors to see the line getting longer. Soon enough, it reached the end of the block and started to wrap around the other side. 

Regec said they began to wonder if they were really going to be successful. 

“‘Is this actually going to work? Is this idea that seems too crazy to work, just crazy enough?”‘ Regec said. 

Six years later, around noon, on Oct. 5, 2024, Regec, Ultramantis and another partner, Junior Irizarry, were building a wrestling ring again. The construction took place at the Musikfest Cafe at the SteelStacks. 

This time, the pair weren’t worried about the turnout. 

By showtime, fans were packed shoulder to shoulder around a spotlighted ring for the third annual SteelStacks Smackdown. 

Bethlehem Mayor J. William Reynolds held a microphone in the center of the ring and announced that the day was dedicated to Lehigh Valley native Dan English, who goes by the ring name Dan Champion. English stood alongside Reynolds as the crowd cheered the announcement. 

The crowd loudly serenaded English with “Big Dan” chants. They reached a similar level of noise later in the night during his match, when he leapt from the second rope onto a group of four masked wrestlers standing on the outside of the ring. 

English posted a clip of the rope jump to his twitter with the caption ‘I’d die for Bethlehem.’

He said at 40 years old, he thought it might be unintelligent to jump off ropes onto a group of people. 

“But in that moment when you’re there (with) 800 people in your community, and you’re doing something great, (I thought) ‘Eff it, I’m doing it,”’English said.

The event was a testament to the success of LVAC wrestling and the endurance of the wrestling community in the Lehigh Valley. 

Wrestlers celebrate at LVAC Wrestling’s SteelStacks Smackdown III. Bethlehem mayor J. William Reynolds dedicated the day to “Dan Champion,” more formally know as Lehigh Valley native Dan English. (Courtesy of Zia Hiltey)

Regec started LVAC, a screen printing company, over 15 years ago and met Ultramantis through the Lehigh Valley punk rock scene. He said they both played in bands and at shows together, and soon, Regec started printing shirts for Ultramantis and other wrestlers in the area. 

“Those were initially just business relationships, but now I’ve been printing shirts for these people for 10-15 (years), sometimes longer,” Regec said. “And so the idea of doing the wrestling show really worked hand in hand with, like, ‘I like these guys. I like printing for these guys. We’re friends.’ When you’re friends with people, you do fun stuff.”

Initially, Regec was going to put on a one-off show during one of the final weeks of LVAC’s lease on their shop in East Allentown, before their move to Fountain Hill. However, he said the stress of the move and the difficulties of securing a promoter’s license and doctor on standby meant the idea had to be scrapped. 

But only temporarily. 

“For months after that, I would see Ultramantis and we would bring it up, or one of us would text the other one and just be like, ‘Hey, what about that idea?’” Regec said. “We had to do it. We had to work the idea out, or else we never would have been at peace.” 

That’s when Regec approached Sokols about holding a show at the venue. 

Even as the lines snaked around the block at that first show, they were surprised that all the tickets sold out. 

What was initially supposed to be a one-off turned into much more, with LVAC holding around six events per year. 

Since the first show, word of the shows grew, and other talent joined the cards for future shows.

Puf, a wrestler who has competed in almost every LVAC show since the beginning, said the only reason he began wrestling was to have fun. When he went to his first LVAC show, he said it was immediately one of his favorite shows he’s ever wrestled on. 

“It was just a fun environment and a venue that was literally on top of a bowling alley and with a band set up right next to the ring to perform and it was very laid back,” Puf said. “It was very easy going and it prioritized fun.”

LVAC Wrestling’s first show outside of Sokols, called Mall Madness, was held in an abandoned Foot Locker store at the now-closed Phillipsburg Mall, which drew 300 fans. 

They have since put on shows at the Mahoning Drive-in Theater and at Coca-Cola Park, before a Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs game. 

Despite local success, Regec said he doesn’t want a full-time wrestling promotion, nor does he care to make a profit off of the events.

“We don’t really make money on the wrestling shows,” Regec said. “We all have jobs…The wrestling stuff is something that we do out of passion and out of a joy, and wanting to share that joy with people.”

Regec instead said he prioritizes the community that grows around these shows, and after the first show he realized they were booking wrestling shows for people that didn’t even know they were wrestling fans yet.

“You’re sweating on each other, and the energy is electric, and (there’s) just a little bit of danger thrown in there,” Regec said. “Hopefully there’s some sort of empowerment to the audience that sees that it’s just fellow weird idiots that are doing stuff because they don’t understand their own limits.”

LVAC also partners with a local philanthropic organization, including Lehigh Valley Girls Rock, Lehigh Valley Reads and New Bethany to raise money. 

Irizarry, a wrestler and partner for LVAC shows, said during Mall Madness, they collected school supplies and backpacks for students at Philipsburg Elementary. 

“We have two hands for a reason, right?” Irizarry said. “One to help ourselves, and one to turn around and help someone else.”

By the end of the night, he said they had filled two car trunks with donations. 

This year, at the SteelStacks Smackdown, LVAC partnered with New Bethany to receive donations of personal hygiene products. 

New Bethany facilities manager Bill Lohr has been friends with Regec since they were 14. When Regec learned Lohr was working at New Bethany, he said he began donating boxes of sweatshirts from his print shop to the organization. 

“It’s really important for us to continue to stay connected and work within our DIY roots,” Lohr said. “So as we all got a little bit older it keeps it very close knit and that helps us keep things connected through the local area.”