Thank You Karsten Beck: Lang Lebe Der König der Catcher
Today "Der König der Catcher" Karsten Beck has passed away.
I want to express my deepest condolences to his friends and family, as we all in the wrestling business try to realise that a fantastic performer and a great friend and peer is gone.
Karsten was from my hometown. In fact, he is the only wrestler who was born and grew up in Wesel.
I first heard about him by simply searching if there would be any wrestler from the place that I am from. It was Karsten Beck who popped up on genickbruch.com, internationally known as wrestlingdata.com.
Soon I found out about German Stampede Wrestling (GSW) and Westside-X-Treme Wrestling (wXw), the two companies later became one. At the time Karsten was working a program with Christian Michael Jakobi, who was one of the managing directors at wXw until February 2020.
I was hooked, because Karstens delivery as a bad guy was so compelling. Through wXw's weekly YouTube show 'Shotgun' I was constantly up to date on what Karsten was doing.
Karsten Beck became a two-time wXw Unified World Wrestling Champion during the time I was watching from afar. In 2015 I visited the Vennehof in Borken, where I saw Karsten live for the first time.
During the event a drunken fan was so mad about Karsten and is 'evil ways', he tried to jump the ring. That is how good Karsten Beck was as a wrestler.
At the same time I learned that multiple people at my workplace went to school with Karsten and that Karsten indeed visited the same school I was on. A few years later, when my former class teacher passed away from colon cancer, Karsten shared his thoughts on the passing on my private facebook page, that way I learned we were teached and then released into this crazy world by the same guy.
Also in 2015 Vince Russo visited wXw and said that Karsten Beck is THE GUY in wXw.
Karsten's greatest storyline came with Jurn Simmons, who is a former two-time wXw World Champion in his own right. After Karsten was betrayed by Jurn, who claimed that he was the new 'König Der Catcher', Karsten was slowly turned into a good guy.
Karsten was on the top of the company, when the first talent like Axel Tischer (now known as Alexander Wolfe) began turning their heads towards WWE, something that was unheard of at the time.
Sadly Karsten became diagnosed with brain cancer in 2016, which ultimatley ended his pro wrestling career. However, Karsten Beck fought back. Beckstasy was live again when Karsten returned as the Director of Sports for wXw in 2018.
Before that, in December 2017, Karsten Beck was inducted in wXw's Hall of Fame.
He thrived as the Director of Sports and Karsten was back in his element.
By his peers and friends Karsten is described as the most wholesome person you can imagine. Karsten joined wrestling after he was bullied at school for his weight. He found a passion that also allowed him to stay healthy. His passion for wrestling was undeniable, something you could see in his work, hear in his voice and feel with the pure energy, when he portrayed his character on screen.
I will forever be thankful for Karsten, who made me aware of wXw. Through him I expierenced first hand what wrestling was, when expierenced live and that arguably changed my life for the better, as I was able to meet so many great people along the way.
Karsten Beck left an impression that will last forever in wXw and beyond. Therefore I would like to suggest renaming the 'wXw Catch Grandprix' into the 'Karsten Beck Memorial Cup'.
