Review Fix Exclusive: Joey Ace: The ‘Salty’ Indie Star You Should Know

July 8, 2016 Patrick Hickey Jr. Professional Wrestling 0

Photo by Zane Decker

If Tully Blanchard and Marty Jannetty were able to someway, somehow produce a child, it would probably be a lot like independent pro wrestler Joey Ace.

Cool, charismatic and calculating, Ace has the type of gimmick that suits him well- inspired by the cocky performances of Al Pacino, Ace thinks he’s better than everyone else, but then shows it in the ring, thanks to more than solid cardio, and a moves that contains a beautiful leaping Blockbuster finisher and an assortment of kicks and a Top Rope Elbow.

However Ace is much more “what you see isn’t what you get.” Constantly in the gym as a personal trainer and armed with a historian’s appreciation for the business, wrestling is a huge part of his life.

“It’s constantly in my mind when I wake up,” Ace, who goes by the moniker of “The Five-Star Studd,” said. “ (It’s) The first thing I think about. Before I go to bed, I’m watching a match. All through the day, I’m thinking about it as well when I’m not working with a client.”

A former Warriors of Wrestling No Limits Champion and a Tag Team Champion, the 28-year-old’s day revolves around keeping himself in shape. Currently performing mainly in the Staten Island-based WOW promotion, Ace has also performed on cards for G1, C4, Tier-1, Pro Wrestling Syndicate, Fighting Spirit Wrestling and FWE.

Inspired by the work of Randy Savage, Shawn Michaels, AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels, Ace, who began wrestling 2009, is all about making every second of every day count.

“On a Saturday, I would wake up at 4:00 AM, get my stuff together, and go to the gym. Train a couple of clients, eat, and work out; if it’s winter, go tanning, if it’s not, I’m on the sun deck somewhere in my gym,” said Ace. “Then get clothes ready, go to the show, grab something to eat and get changed; get another workout in or around the ring. Then I’ll go to the person I’m working with, you know, tell em’ I’m a beat his ass, then wait around till’ the show happens, go in the ring, beat his ass, and then chill out’, wait till everybody leaves and go home. Then I’m not sleeping until 3:00 AM because I’m all revved up.”

Armed with his “salty” work ethic, he’s got big time goals for his future.

“Hopefully somewhere big; I wanna travel the world,” Ace, who has wrestled in Canada in the past, said. “Obviously the big goal is World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Before that I wanna travel; I wanna go to England, experience that. I want to go to Mexico and learn Lucha—you learn it here, but you go down to Mexico, you really get the culture of Lucha Libre. Go to Japan and learn that style, learn the language. Just travel and experience live on the road and then hopefully end up in the WWE.”

Photo by Zane Decker

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14316 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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