It feels great to be back after a long hiatus! This is truly an honor to write about a topic such as this!
Not many people are aware of this, but my first writing gig was back when I was a teen, writing for a website called obsessedwithwrestling.com (later renamed onlineworldofwrestling.com). I was an impressionable 15-year-old, and I was pretty confident in my wrestling knowledge despite having only watched it for about a year at the time.
A few years later, I had begun a new hobby of sorts called ‘Cosplay’ (A portmanteu of Costume and Playing) where you dress as various fictional and even non-fictional individuals over the years at Geek assorted media gatherings in particular Cons. I would dress up as characters ranging from Anime to Movie Characters and somewhere down the line I discovered the Cosplay Wrestling Federation (CWF for Short.)
There are different chapters of CWF, so my exposure to the organization was primarily through the Northern California Bay Area chapter. For those who don’t know the premise of CWF, it’s pretty self-explanatory: you “costume play” your character on a makeshift stage or ring and cut a promo in a similar fashion to how a pro wrestler cuts promos in organizations like WWE or AEW.
I happen to have competed in four of these shows: twice in 2019 and twice in 2025. The first show I participated in was CWF Magnitude at the MagWest Con in San Jose. I portrayed Doctor Eggman (Robotnik). My promo was an attempt to introduce myself both as the character and, in a subtle way, as a first-time competitor. I played a “heel” (villain) and acted as the audience’s superior, even including a tongue-in-cheek reference to Sonic’s “You’re too slow!” catchphrase popularized in the Smash Bros. games. I even got “heat” for praising the original Sonic movie design. The second show was Anime Destiny in Oakland a short time after where I performed as Walter White (Heisenberg).
Admittedly, I felt this was a massive step down from Eggman; I didn’t feel the “Mad Scientist” archetype was going to meet my expectations (or the audience’s). By the time the pandemic hit, I didn’t have much incentive to return.
It wasn’t until I started a new relationship that I gained a new perspective. I finally had someone willing to align with me to experiment with new ideas. After a six-year hiatus, I made my return to CWF portraying an obscure character named Ron Nasty of The Rutles (a satire of John Lennon and The Beatles). This time, my girlfriend, Tammy, played my manager, June Fang (a parody of May Pang). This was my first attempt at playing a “babyface” (the technical term for a good guy). We performed as these characters twice—the second time being at Yuma Con—and while I have yet to win a competition, the support of Tammy and my friends has given me a new lease on life and the drive to push myself harder than ever.
Our next big plan is for Tammy, my best friend Omid, and me to compete as the Straw Hat Pirates from One Piece. The two-night event is set to take place Saturday, May 23rd, and Sunday, May 24th, in San Jose at the same convention center that usually hosts MagWest. In addition to participating both nights, Tammy and I will provide coverage and a review of the event here and on our podcast (The Jon+Tam GAM Podcast on YouTube). If you’re a fan of tabletop games, I will also be in the Game Room (Hall 3) on Saturday morning from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM. If you have a Facebook account, you can sign up to be a part of my wrestling campaign, Global Dungeons Pro Wrestling—a tabletop RPG that mixes pro wrestling with D&D-style gameplay. We’ll be doing the game there!