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Death match wrestling comes to Vancouver this February with the launch of No Fate Pro Wrestling. The promotion debuts on February 23rd at the Pearl Theatre, and we had the chance to chat with one of the founders of No Fate, "The Villain" Tara Zep. Don't miss out on our wide-ranging conversation, as Zep chats with Spencer Love about No Fate's impending debut, relationship with Mick Foley, work with John Wayne Murdoch, upcoming debut on the Jericho Cruise, and more!
LINKS
YouTube:
Official Website: https://lovewrestling.ca/love-wrestling-interviews-tara-zep/
HIGHLIGHTS
Founding NO FATE PRO WRESTLING:
“So, fun fact: before I started training - I moved out [to Vancouver] for Lions Gate [Dojo]. It was during the pandemic, so I wasn’t even sure when things were opening up again, or what was going on. I was living for a hot moment in New York. Pandemic happened, I moved to Toronto, where I’m from. I went back there, shit was chaos, so I came out [to Vancouver], and I planned on training eventually. But, when I was living in Toronto, I was promoting DJ nights, and shows, and drag shows. I’ve been promoting, technically, for a decade. For over a decade. I was a tattooer, but also a promoter, a DJ, and threw parties and stuff. I love doing it. I love promoting. I’m an internet whore! I love banging shit out and hustling. That’s my thing. I love keeping busy. As many tasks as possible. ADHD, baby. Bring it on! I work best under pressure.”
“Before I started training, even, when I was living out in Ontario, I wanted to start a promotion. I started training thinking maybe I’d just manage, because I wasn’t sure if I was a good enough athlete to be a wrestler. But, then, I’d also kind of think ‘if I had the money, if I had the resources and funds, I would love to run a promotion,’ or even just a couple of shows. Skip to yada yada, a couple years later, I’m wrestling, I’ve networked a whole ton - I know a lot of fucking people - I was able to fandangle with a company that was willing to put some money into my idea. Myself and my girlfriend Vanessa, we partnered up, and decided ‘let’s just do this and see how it goes.’ I’ve had so many ideas for so long just on the back burner, so it’s been really cool to actually, finally, put that to fruition.”
Earning Mick Foley’s endorsement:
“I met him at a GCW - it was a big deathmatch show. It could have been T.O.S. I think it was Tournament of Survival. I was there being a mark. I had a friend who was was working with him, doing some of his P.R stuff. He was videoing his meet-and-greet. I finally got the chance to meet him in person through my friend. We chatted for a little bit, and I told him - I actually hadn’t even started training at that point, but I told him that I was gonna. I’m like ‘I’m gonna be a deathmatch wrestler!’ I partially meant it, and I partially didn’t know if that would even happen. I was kind of like ‘this is what I’m going to do,’and he was kind of like ‘okay, lady!’ A little time went by, and then my friend, Kacey Hopkins, who was the one who introduced us, they were together somewhere, and they were FaceTiming me. I was like ‘ahhh! Oh my god, I’m talking to Mick Foley!’ Then, Mick was kind of like ‘I want to talk to you about some stuff’ and I was like ‘oh, okay, cool!’ We started texting, and he was kind of interviewing me in a sense, it felt like. He was like ‘what’s your interest in deathmatch wrestling. Why do you want to
do it, I don’t understand.’ I think he went into a mode there where he was like ‘I don’t want to really support and endorse this style of wrestling. He didn’t want people to get hurt. Deathmatch had evolved so much where people were doing crazy, crazy, crazy spots and getting badly hurt. I don’t think he wanted to be attached to that too much to that, which makes sense. Looking out for workers.”
Jericho Cruise announcement (19 mins)
“I got a little invite last minute to wrestle on the Chris Jericho AEW Cruise. I don’t honestly know how that happened. I have a lot of older friends. Like, Sabu and RVD, and Chris Jericho are my boys. I don’t know why, but I feel like they maybe see more in me than a lot of the younger promoters. They’re really supportive of me, and they constantly are putting me over, and I’m kind of [mind blown]. Woah! Legends! I don’t know what happened there, but I think Chris Jericho found me through Sabu, and he said some nice things, and he’s like ‘hey, I have a couple spaces open left on this cruise. Do you want to do it?’ And, I was like ‘uhh, yes. Duh?’ I’m doing it. There wasn’t really a lot of conversation going into it, honestly. It was just kind of like, I don’t know, people have been talking and found out about me and liked my shit, I guess!”
