After my video with Colt Cabana and CM Punk went viral on YouTube, I began getting more press than I ever had prior. Many notable people in the podcasting world were reaching out to interview me about my story, including my buddy Colt, and former WWE writer Dave Lagana. During many of the interviews, I sited my wrestling inspirations to be guys like Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho, and Zach Gowen. Though I don’t recall which interview it was, I was asked how my first meeting with Zach Gowen went. I was honest in saying that he didn’t live up to my expectations, and was sort of an uncaring jerk.
Soon after this interview, I got a phone call from a number I didn’t recognize. It was a 734 area code, meaning it was from Michigan. I didn’t pick it up, as I assumed it was some sort of bill collector. I listened to the voice mail, and was shocked to hear Zach’s voice, asking me to call him. Of course, I picked up the phone and called him immediately.
Zach explained to me that he just happened to listen to my recent interview, and it brought him to tears. I was taken aback. The tears weren’t just brought about by hearing of my rough upbringing. Zach Gowen had cried knowing that when I met him, he let me down. Until that moment, Zach had never taken the time to stop and realize that his story had the ability to motivate someone to follow their dreams.
He apologized profusely to me, even though I assured him he did not have to. He insisted, however. He told me that he was a different person when we met in 2006. He assured me that some way, somehow, he was going to turn a lot of wrongs in his life into rights. I was one of those wrongs he wanted to transform.
In 2012, Joe Dombrowski was booking for PRIME Wrestling, based out of Cleveland, Ohio. He pitched the idea of teaming with Zach on a regular basis. I jumped at the opportunity, telling him that I’d love to. Of course, he threw a monkey wrench into the equation:
“I want Zach to quickly get jealous of you. I want someone to get in his head and make him believe that you’re using your disabilty to steal his spotlight and his opportunities. This will lead to a one on one match at Wrestlelution.”
Quite frankly, I was terrified of the idea. Wrestlelution was PRIME’s version of Wrestlemania, done every year in the Nautica Pavillion in downtown Cleveland, usually drawing around 1,000 people. Honestly, I didn’t think Zach and I could pull off a good match. We were two guys that were used to having our opponents work around our disabilities. If we wrestled each other, we’d be extremely limited, and the room for error would increase significantly. Even with a good guy versus bad guy scenario, my biggest worry was that the crowd wouldn’t react at all— they’d just stare at the “cripple fight.”
Here to find out, Gowen was against the idea, too. For whatever reason, we both agreed to the angle. We began teaming regularly in June of 2012, and the heel turn happened almost immediately, setting up the match for August.В I trained extra hard for my match with Gowen. Legit, I didn’t have a cheat meal from June until August, and I leaned out quick, going from 148 to 139. If the match sucked.. at least I looked good.
The night before the event, the story behind the match just hit me. When I arrived to the show that day to discuss the bout, Zach seemed to have all the same ideas I had. We agreed that the story of the match wasn’t about two guys wrestling each other with disabilities. The story was two guys wrestling each other with one arm and on one leg, all the while making the fans forget that they were disabled. I’m proud to say that afternoon, we did just that. To this day, I view it as my greatest wrestling performance.
Following our match, Zach and I reunited. I earned Gowen’s respect, and so “The Handicapped Handguns” were formed for good. We began traveling outside of Ohio, quickly altering the name to the more PC name of “The Handicapped Heroes.” Over the last three years, we’ve had the pleasure of performing in front of fans all over the country. W
e’ve gotten to speak at various schools, and we even got the chance to help open the “We’re Kickin’ It” Anti-Bullying center in New Jersey, the first of it’s kind.
Through becoming The Handicapped Heroes, we’ve learned a lot about each other. Zach and I have similar senses of humor, and I think that goes a long way when forming any bond. The thing that keeps our bond so strong, however, is the fact that we both realize that the sum of our parts is greater together than they are individually.
Zach Gowen helped me become Gregory Iron, without even realizing it at the time. The strength and courage that he had to step into a ring with his disabilty gave me a reason to believe in myself and my own abilities. By the same token, I think Gregory Iron came into the life of Zach Gowen at a time when Zach needed to be shown just how important it is that he continues to share his story. Battling cancer, surviving WWE, kicking addiction, and still managing to live him dream, Zach Gowen’s story is one in a million, and one that people from all walks of life can learn from.
Together, you can’t write a story like that of “The Handicapped Heroes.” A kid from Detroit survives cancer and a leg amputation to become a wrestler in WWE, before falling from grace. Meanwhile, a kid in Cleveland with cerebral palsy sees that kid from Detroit’s story, and is inspired to follow his dream of being a wrestler. The kid with C.P trying to find the way up meets the kid with one leg on his way down, they meet in the middle and join forces to rise up as a team. Through that union, their combined stories impact the lives of all who experience it, as they let people of all colors, shapes and sizes know that if you dare to defy, you can exceed all expectations.
Endure. Inspire. Fight. We are The Handicapped Heroes.
Follow Zach on Twitter @ZachGowen. Tell him I sent you.
-Greg
