Newman, who has been involved in the professional wrestling business since he was a 17-year-old student in the Altoona Area School District, promotes events in Altoona for Big Time Wrestling. He also promotes talent and manages wrestlers for Legends Pro Wrestling in Wheeling, West Virginia.

Newman can be seen in action as Big Time Wrestling returns to the Jaffa Shrine Center on Friday, May 31. He is responsible for promoting several appearances at the show, including Kurt Angle, who won an Olympic gold medal in freestyle wrestling at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.

Also appearing at the show are several former World Wrestling Entertainment superstars — Matt Riddle, Lince Dorado, D-Von Dudley, James Ellsworth and Theodore “Teddy” Long.

When he’s not working in the wrestling business, Newman works full-time at Veeder-Root in Duncansville and enjoys spending time with his wife, Haley, and his 2-year-old son, Ryker, who’s a big fan of wrestling, his father said.

Cory Newman plays with his son, Ryker, at an 814 Wrestling show May 4 at the Logan Valley Mall. Newman was there to promote Big Time Wrestling’s event at the Jaffa Shrine Center on May 31. Ryker Newman is a huge fan of “the American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes, the current undisputed WWE champion, his father said. Mirror photo by Matt Churella

On May 4, Newman took his son with him to the Logan Valley Mall to promote the upcoming event at the Jaffa.

“When I bring my little boy out to these shows, this is what it’s all about,” Newman told the crowd in the mall. “Each and every one of you that paid your hard-earned money … This is a family together.”

Breaking into the business

In 1999, Newman started training with the Allied Powers Wrestling Federation as a manager — a supporting character who accompanies the wrestler to the ring and gets the crowd interested in a match.

Newman was trained by a wrestler named T.C. Reynolds, he said.

Cory Newman poses for a photo with former WWE superstar James Ellsworth, who will be in Altoona for the upcoming Big Time Wrestling show May 31 at the Jaffa Shrine Center. Courtesy photo

At his first APWF show as a manager on Dec. 5, 1999, in Tyrone, Newman met then-owner Chris Lash and Kenneth Brewer Jr., a wrestler known as “Bad” Bubba Brewer from Indiana, Pa.

He and Newman struck up a friendship that has held up over the years, Brewer said.

“Cory would actually have me booked on some of the (Big Time Wrestling) shows,” Brewer said, adding Newman loves professional wrestling. “I think of him as a team player.”

He said Newman used to frequently travel out of state to manage wrestlers at other wrestling promotions.

“The mileage that he put into it, he probably didn’t get the dollars back in his bank account,” Brewer said.

Newman has traveled to Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio and throughout Pennsylvania to work professional wrestling shows. He acknowledged the significant number of miles he put on his vehicle when he was younger, but said he doesn’t travel as much anymore.

He still travels three hours one way from Altoona to Wheeling to work wrestling shows for Legends Pro Wrestling about twice a month, Newman said.

At Legends Pro Wrestling, Newman works closely, both behind the scenes and during shows, with Bridgeport, Ohio, resident Allan Decker, a wrestler who runs the business side of the promotion and uses the stage name “Mr. 8×10, the king of legends.”

He said Newman is always reliable and has traveled from Altoona to Bridgeport several times without ever missing an event, adding they’ve known each other since 2002.

“He’s always willing to give. That can be a double-

edged sword sometimes, but I still think the sky’s the limit with Cory Newman,” he said.

Newman was selected to attend wrestling seminars at Ohio Valley Wrestling in 2002, where he learned how to build self-confidence from Tom Pritchard, who has trained several wrestlers, including Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

“What’s good about Tom is he’ll actually sit you down and critique you and he will work with you one-on-one,” Newman said, adding Prichard taught him character development, how to cut a promo and how to engage an audience.

After the seminars were over, Newman said he pulled Prichard aside and thanked him for the experience, which helped him get additional opportunities to work as a manager.

“He gave me self-confidence,” Newman said. “If Tom (Prichard) says that you’re doing good, then you must be doing something right.”

‘Always a nice guy’

Justin Strickland, a local wrestler Newman managed and promoted at several Big Time Wrestling shows, said although they haven’t spoken in a long time, Newman “was always a nice guy” and seemed professional.

“He seemed like he was really interested in the business,” Strickland said. “He’s always been nice to me.”

Although he’s known as a nice guy by his peers, Newman plays the role of a villainous manager, who loves to be hated by the crowd. He’s had fans attack him and threaten his life at events, Newman said.

“I actually had a guy chase me with a beer bottle, and he wanted to fight me outside,” he said. “We had to have a couple of guys escort me to my car until I got out of there.”

Altoona resident Robert Kifer was the best man at Newman’s wedding. He and Newman became friends through trading WWF video tapes and action figures from the late ’80s and early ’90s.

“We got to know each other as wrestling fans, and it just grew into a good friendship,” Kifer said, adding he met his favorite wrestler, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper because of Newman, who worked the same wrestling event as Piper.

“That’s something I’ll never forget,” he said.

Kifer said he’s happy for his friend’s success with Big Time Wrestling.

“I think it’s awesome that he’s involved with getting Big Time Wrestling here. Altoona is not big enough to have the WWE or anybody at the Jaffa,” he said.

When Newman first brought Big Time Wrestling to the Jaffa Shrine Center on Dec. 7, 2012, it was the first professional wrestling event at the venue since the late ’90s, he said.

In recent years, he’s had better success promoting wrestling at the Jaffa than WWE, the largest wrestling company in the world.

WWE NXT held an event at the venue in December 2017, but the show was attended by fewer than 500 people, according to Newman. In March 2016, Newman promoted a Big Time Wrestling event that had a crowd of more than 2,200 attendees, he said.

“The only reason they (WWE) came to the Jaffa is because we had Ricky Steamboat on one of our shows, and somebody told WWE ‘Hey this guy in Altoona is drawing 2,000 people,'” he said.

Newman said Big Time Wrestling gives local fans a chance to meet “big stars” who were once on television.

“Who knows, some of these guys may be heading to WWE one day. A lot of the guys do make it,” he said.

Even though he’s in his 40s, Newman believes he still has a chance to elevate the professional wrestling industry. He doesn’t think he’ll join WWE anytime soon, but he is negotiating with other companies, like the National Wrestling Alliance, to broaden his horizons.

“I am heading the right direction,” he said. “I just don’t know where it’s going to lead me until the time comes or the phone rings. It may never ring, but I still send things out about once a month to different companies.”

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.

The Newman file

Name: Cory Newman

Age: 42

Family: Wife, Haley; son, Ryker, 2

Hometown: Altoona

Education: Altoona Area High School, Class of 2000

Progression: Allied Powers Wrestling Federation, wrestling manager, 1999-2002; Ohio Valley Wrestling seminars, 2002; various independent wrestling promotions, 2003-11; Big Time Wrestling, manager/promoter, 2012-present; Legends Pro Wrestling, manager/promoter, 2023-present

Hobbies: Working out, watching movies and spending time with his son

If you go

What: Big Time Wrestling

When: 8 p.m. May 31

Where: Jaffa Shrine Center, Altoona

Tickets: Available at https://bigtimewrestling.ticketleap.com/ and range in price from $20-$140