Meet Kevin Lee Davidson, also known as KLD, who is one of the biggest names in St. Louis, if not the entire Midwestern professional wrestling scene. Born as Kevin Kwiatkowski, KLD grew up in the south St. Louis County suburb of Affton. Before he entered the professional wrestling business, Kevin was in the music industry for six years. His years in the music business were filled with booking some of the best bands and hip-hop artists in their respective scenes, opening up a concert venue and eventually becoming a part owner of that venue. After a year of being a part owner of that venue, Kevin decided to walk away from it all to pursue a passion that he had always had deep within him. He seeked out trainers and found Brandon Espinosa, local St. Louis wrestler, to help him begin his road to hopefully becoming a successful professional wrestler. He began his training in 2014 and made his debut in-ring in July of that year. I asked KLD what it was that made him make the push into the professional wrestling business, and he answered me with:
"I dreamed of being a wrestler for years as a kid. I grew up in a great time for wrestling. I watched WWF at one of its lowest points and got to watch it blossom into the attitude area. When I was five years old, I watched Hogan drop a leg on Macho Man and change the landscape of not only pro wrestling, but pop culture for years to come. Watching Stone Cold beat his boss up every week on TV and drink beer after was great. Everything about that era made me want to be one of them." -- Kevin Lee Davidson (AKA KLD)
KLD soon won his first title, the MMWA TV Title, in December, 2014. This was just the start of the illustrious career that was descending upon him. In April, 2015, Kevin won the MMWA Survivor Title and unified it with winning the MMWA Heavyweight Title in September, 2015. This was his first main title run. Now, with his career in the indie-wrestling scene beginning to take off, he switched his training over to the prestigious Michael Elgin in March of 2015. In November, 2015, he won the WIA Heavyweight Championship and was given the opportunity to go over to Europe to defend that title. Kevin defended the title overseas and got a lot of great international experience by wrestling in England and Italy. Kevin's professional wrestling career has taken him from coast to coast in the United States, from the beaches of Santa Monica, California, to Queens, New York. As recently as June this year, he was able to spend a weekend in Canada wrestling.
Despite the various titles and stretches of the globe that the indie-wrestling scene has brought to Kevin, his road has had a number of struggles. Being in the professional wrestling business is a full-time job, according to him, and it takes extra commitments, such as being on the road for three or up to five days straight at times. It wasn't easy for him to just walk away from the music industry and dive headfirst into the gauntlet of the professional wrestling scene.
"Being in the wrestling business is anstruggle within itself. If it's something you really want to do, and not be a once a month local worker, you have to dedicate your life to it and not think twice about looking back." --Kevin Lee Davidson (AKA KLD)
Despite the struggles and obstacles that the business throws at him, this is the dream that he has always wanted to live. Kevin says that "The feeling I get when I'm in ring" makes all the struggles so much worth it.
KLD describes his favorite matches that he has ever competed in as any match with other local wrestlers Da'Marius Jones or Brandon Aarons. Another great experience KLD had was "having his ass handed to him" in Pro Wrestler Revolver with his mentor and great friend Michael Elgin. This experience earned him some TV time with Ring of Honor.
KLD has an exciting chapter of his life coming up as he has founded a new wrestling federation named Pro Wrestling Resurgence. He describes it as having "top notch talent" and that it has nothing but "positivity surrounding it." Pro Wrestling Resurgence's debut show will be on July 23 at The Ready Room in "The Grove" district of St. Louis. Next month, Pro Wrestling Resurgence will take its talents to Metro Area Illinois at Pop's Nightclub on August 20 and then to Belleville, Illinois on August 28. KLD is very excited to be back home in St. Louis and in the MMWA scene after taking four months off to travel for shows. You can follow their Twitter page @pw_resurgence and like "Pro Wrestling Resurgence" on Facebook to keep with the latest news.
