On April 1, professional wrestling will invade Goshen for the first time ever as 72-year old wrestling legend “Action” Mike Jackson will lead All-Star Wrestling into Goshen High School for a good cause.

The “Slam Down in G-Town” will see Jackson and a group of wrestlers, including Impact Wrestling star Larry D, put on a night of wrestling action with proceeds going to the Goshen High School football team.

Jackson has been wrestling since the 1970s and continues to amaze audiences for his ability to continue to do things that typically wrestlers in their 20s can do, like diving off the top rope and to the outside.

“I’d like to say it’s all about me but it’s not, the good Lord has blessed me and you can quote me on that,” Jackson said. “I work out hard every day, seven days a week, so I don’t take a day off, but God has blessed me and given me the health to be able to keep doing it.”

Mike Jackson wrestles at an event in Elba last weekend. (Photo by Josh Boutwell)

Jackson wrestled some of the top stars of the 80s, stepping in the ring with stars like Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, Bobby Eaton, Randy Savage, Ted DiBiase, Bob Armstrong, Arn Anderson, “Superstar” Billy Graham, Bob Backlund, Nikita Koloff and many more. He worked throughout the 80s, 90s and 2000s for various national promotions like WCW, WWF (now known as WWE), AWA, the NWA and many smaller promotions.

Jackson said he wrestled in the Wiregrass area on numerous occasions in the heyday of territory wrestling – where the country was split up into various geographical regions between a number of wrestling promoters – in the 1980s and he loved it. Jackson said he spent countless nights in rings in Dothan, Enterprise, Ozark, Troy and even smaller towns like New Brockton. He said he’d love to see the Wiregrass area become a popular stop for wrestling again.

“That’s definitely something we want to do,” Jackson said. “We want to be able to bring wrestling back into this area and get wrestling back around here. The Wiregrass used to be a hotbed of wrestling back in the day when I was coming up.

“Dothan was packed every Saturday night an we were able to do shows all around the area. I love working here, there’s a lot of really good fans here even now.”

Jackson continued to work on smaller independent shows throughout the 2000s but in recent years he’s come into more national prominence due to appearing on national television for Impact Wrestling on AXS TV. He’s also recently wrestled for big independent promotions like Game Changer Wrestling against former WWE superstar Matt Cardona (formerly known as Zack Ryder).

“The way I look at it is like an artist,” Jackson said. “Van Gogh never sold a portrait until he died and then all of a sudden after that it was million dollar art.

“I think the fact that I’m old and I’m doing the stuff that the young guys can do is sort of like a novelty for the promoters and they appreciate it and the fans appreciate it. I mean how many 72-year olds are out there doing stuff like that?”

Jackson and his group held a similar fundraiser for Elba High School earlier this month that was successful in bringing money into the school’s football program. Elba head coach Marc Sieving said that the school plans to bring Jackson and his group back again next year because of how successful it was. Jackson said that he and Elba assistant coach Al Gilmore had previously discussed putting on shows in the area, which led to the Goshen show, as well.

High-flying Antonio Garza dives onto AEW wrestler Adam Priest at an event in Elba. (Photo by Josh Boutwell)

“I met (Gilmore) and we had a couple of shows booked before COVID got us and we didn’t get to do it,” Jackson recalled. “We decided we would try it again and (Goshen football coach Don Moore) is buddies with (Gilmore), so he told him about it and they decided they wanted to try it, too.

“We’d like to be able to run shows like this on a yearly basis. It’s kind of like the rodeo, if you try to run it every Friday night you’ll start off good and then it’ll drop off more and more every week. If we can run these fundraiser type events every year it won’t tax the fans too much with all the activities going on throughout the year and I think it will benefit everyone.”

Impact Wrestling’s Larry D – who can be seen every Thursday on AXS TV – will be wrestling in Goshen. (Photo courtesy of Impact Wrestling)

Joining Jackson on the card in Goshen will be Impact Wrestling’s Larry D, a 330-pound former mixed martial artist that can be seen every Thursday night on Impact Wrestling’s weekly television show on AXS TV. Larry D will face off against the Wrestling Superstar in Goshen. Jackson will defend his U.S. Junior Heavyweight Championship at the “Slam Down in G-Town” against Christian Pierce. Also, the highflying Antonio Garza will meet Damion Miles. In the Main Event, $1,000 will be given to the winner of an over-the-top-rope battle royal.

Also, on April 1 at 3 p.m. an autograph party with all of the wrestlers will be held at the Eagles Nest in Goshen. The wrestling event will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Goshen High School’s gym. Ringside tickets are $20 and general admission is $10 with proceeds going to the GHS football program. For ticket information, call (334) 672-4265.