CONWAY — Scott Montgomery and Megan Murphy were just days removed from Christmas with their combined six children when a house fire destroyed everything they had in their home in Conway.
They will be the beneficiaries of the second Championship Wrestling of Arkansas Wrestle Raise event set for Saturday at the Maumelle Event Center. The CWA is sponsored by Mid States Promotions.
The independent wrestling promotion features WWE Hall of Famer and former Mid-South Wrestling superstar “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan.
On Dec. 28, a fire started in the master bedroom of Montgomery’s house, which was built in the 1960s.
“The power went out, and I lit some candles,” Montgomery said. “I was watching the baby. I took the rest of the kids to my parents next door. I was sitting there by candlelight, waiting for Megan to get home from work. The next thing I know, I smell smoke and run to the back, and the back bedroom was engulfed in flames.”
Montgomery said one of the artificial plants in the room had fallen into the fire.
“I fought it and called the fire department immediately and was actually able to save the house at that time,” he said. “It was just our master bedroom being destroyed. We went back to my parents’ house and were just planning on making it a day the next day to start cleaning out and seeing what we needed to do to rebuild the room. But the good Lord had different plans.”
Montgomery said he woke up at 2:30 a.m. Dec. 29, and the house was engulfed in flames.
“It had rekindled with something in the wall,” he said. “Somewhere in the wall, [the fire] had not been completely put out. I guess it was just something [the fire department] missed. We just don’t know what happened. We lost everything. We woke up with nothing.
“Four generations of Montgomeries have been in that home,” he continued. “We lost it in a blink of an eye. It was a very disorienting, scary time because everything is gone.”
Montgomery said his family is unorthodox. His girlfriend, Megan, has three daughters — Jadyn, 8; Jordyn, 4; and Jax Ann Love, 18 months; and he has three sons — Gavin, 10; Talan, 7; and Kason Montgomery, 4. He compares the family to the Brady Bunch.
“It’s been crazy, trying to come back from something like that,” Montgomery said of the fire. “It’s been unbelievable. I know once this year ends, we’ll learn so many more lessons from all that we’ve taken in.
“One of the things we can take away is that God is great.”
Montgomery said the outpouring of help and prayers from all over the state was overwhelming.
“It is a very hard struggle — to lose everything right after Christmas was crazy,” he said. “Now, it’s more like a bad nightmare because we’re at the point where everything is kind of settling down to a degree. We just moved into our temporary home. We are trying to get things into a routine. We’re still trying to pick things up where we left off.”
Montgomery said the organizers at CWA heard about the fire and reached out to the family.
“They heard through Facebook, and social media can explode,” Montgomery said of being contacted by Matt Riviera, one of the organizers of the Wrestle Raise event.
“This has been such an enriching experience because we’ve been in the position of losing everything and then having to dig deep,” Montgomery said. “The six little ones all have a lot of questions.”
Montgomery said Riviera and the entire CWA staff have been great to work with.
“They’ve gone above and beyond like everyone else has,” he said. “It’s proof of how strong we are as a state and a community.”
Montgomery said he is a wrestling fan and remembers watching Duggan from his days in the WWE.
“When I was a kid, I followed WCW and WWF (now WWE),” he said. “Before that, I grew up as a little boy in the 80s, and I got the very end of the 80s with Hulk Hogan and those guys. It’s been a part of my past and part of Americana. It’s just so much fun. It’s unique. We’ve loved watching it and following every big name that comes out.”
The Wrestle Raise card features a tag-team match between Duggan and Americos vs. the Genetic Perfection. Current NWA World Heavyweight Champion Tim Storm of Pine Bluff will defend the title against Matt Riviera of Russellville.
Duggan, who was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2011, was the first Royal Rumble winner in 1988. But he also got his first real exposure as a big-time wrestler while working for Bill Watts’ Mid-South Wrestling promotion, which covered Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Mississippi. Duggan wrestled frequently in Arkansas during his time there.
“People are hungry for traditional-type wrestling,” Duggan said. “So many folks see the WWE on television, and they seldom come to the smaller towns. It’s all the color and the pageantry. These smaller shows are family-friendly. The talent is the top-of-the-shelf talent. These are the kids who are the superstars of tomorrow. This is the proving grounds for them.”
Duggan said he works independent shows a few times a month.
“I’m still involved some with WWE,” he said. “I go down to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, and talk to the guys. Today, at this stage in my career, I have very few physical attributes left, but I can still entertain a crowd. Wrestling is more than just going out there and taking bumps. We’ll have the whole arena chanting ‘USA.’ It keeps me young out there doing that kind of stuff.”
Duggan said it’s great to see a community pull around a family like is happening with Montgomery and Murphy.
“It is my honor to be a part of something like that,” he said. “Like I said, that is just the spirit of America. I see it all over the country, and it’s great to see it there in Arkansas.”
Duggan spoke highly of working at Barton Coliseum in Little Rock back in the 1980s.
“Me and Junkyard Dog and Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts and Ted DiBiase, we’d have that place rocking,” Duggan said. “They are great wrestling fans, and hopefully, we’ll convert some folks who have never been before and for a great cause, also.”
Bell time for the CWA Wrestle Raise event is 7 p.m. General-admission tickets are $12. They are available by calling the box office at (479) 518-4191 or visiting www.cwatickets.com. The Maumelle Event Center is at 10910 Maumelle Blvd. in North Little Rock.
Staff writer Mark Buffalo can be reached at (501) 399-3676 or mbuffalo@arkansasonline.com.