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We have a temple in Provo now. Many of you have been swept, at least slightly, by the wind that came with the dedication. We have consecrated the oil, so to speak. It’s time for us now to administer. And I would like to talk in the spirit of testimony about some of the glorious promises that have been made and some of the essential needs which those promises are designed to answer in our souls.
Let me begin with a story familiar to some of you. It goes back to the dedication of another temple, the Salt Lake Temple, which you will recall took forty years to build. President McKay tells of a man who didn’t have money enough even to buy shoes to attend a conference in the Tabernacle. During the conference Brigham Young arose and pied with the brethren that there needed to be more granite brought from the quarry about fifteen miles south. They hauled it mostly by ox team. A man came out from this conference, saw the other brother on the street with a team of oxen. “Why weren’t you there, Brother?” “Uh, my feet. I didn’t feel right about going in.” “Well, Brother Brigham pled for more people to get granite.” “All right,” said the brother, “I’ll go. Whoa, hah, Buck!” And he started.
On February 3rd, 2023, the independent wrestling promotion House of Glory held a special event titled The Beginning, live from the NYC Arena in Queens, New York This show served as both a memorial for the late, great Jay Briscoe and the kickoff to a new chapter for House of Glory after being away during the pandemic. Let’s take a look back at this memorable show that paid respect to the past while also ushering in the future
About House of Glory Wrestling
Founded in 2013 by promoter Anthony Gangone, House of Glory Wrestling (aka HOG) established itself as one of the top indie promotions in the New York area during the 2010s. Running events primarily in Queens and Brooklyn, HOG blended together veterans and up-and-coming talent to provide a unique flavor of pro wrestling. After going on hiatus in 2020 due to the pandemic, The Beginning marked HOG’s first show back and the start of a new era.
Remembering the Legacy of Jay Briscoe
The entire show was built around honoring Jay Briscoe, who tragically passed away on January 17th, 2023 at the young age of 38. Alongside his brother Mark as The Briscoe Brothers, Jay was a legendary tag team wrestler best known for his work in Ring of Honor. With 13 tag team title reigns, The Briscoes built a reputation as arguably the greatest tag team of the 21st century. HOG wanted to pay tribute to Jay’s monumental career and the immense impact he had on the wrestling world.
The Stacked Match Card
While remembering the past, The Beginning was also about showcasing the future, with HOG organizing a loaded lineup of matches featuring their unique blend of styles:
- HOG Tag Team Championship: The Mane Event retained their titles against The Bookers
- HOG Cruiserweight Championship: Mighty Mante defeated Nolo Kitano
- HOG Women’s Championship: Ultra Violette beat Viva Van
- A high-flying six-way scramble determined the new #1 contender for the Cruiserweight Championship
- Independent wrestler Low Ki battled the mysterious character Detective James
- HOG Crown Jewel Champion Charles Mason took on Bryan Keith
- Main event: HOG World Champion Jacob Fatu vs. former WWE star JTG
With nine hard-hitting bouts highlighting everything from lucha libre to strong style to high-flying The Beginning exemplified the diversity of wrestling seen in HOG.
Notable Moments
With nonstop action from start to finish, many matches stood out in memorable fashion
- The unique clash of characters between Low Ki and Detective James.
- The fast-paced cruiserweight scramble with daredevil maneuvers.
- Charles Mason continuing to dominate the competition as Crown Jewel Champion.
- Jacob Fatu displaying shocking agility for a big man against JTG in the main event.
It was a night that balanced celebrating HOG’s past legacy with showcasing its future. Fans responded loudly to the action, with dueling chants and reactions to big spots throughout the evening.
The Electric Atmosphere
The energetic NYC crowd was excited to see the return of HOG after three years away. Several fans wore Jay Briscoe shirts to pay their respects as well. The intimate setting of the NYC Arena allowed the audience to connect directly with the talent and matches. Overall, the atmosphere perfectly encapsulated the spirit of the show – joyfully welcoming back HOG while also honoring the life of Jay Briscoe.
What’s Next for House of Glory?
This memorable comeback event marked a major restart for HOG as it embarked on its second decade in business. With the success and buzz coming out of The Beginning, HOG now heads into 2023 with tremendous momentum. There are opportunities to establish new stars while also bringing in fresh indie talents like Low Ki to showcase. And with their passionate Northeast fanbase, the future remains bright for House of Glory to continue cultivating the next generation of wrestling.
The Beginning closed one chapter in HOG history while ushering in an exciting new era. It honored the past and paid respect to the late Jay Briscoe, while also providing a glimpse into the promising future of House of Glory Wrestling.
A House of Prayer
A house of prayer. “Make yourselves acquainted,” said the Prophet once, “with those men who like Daniel pray three times a day toward the House of the Lord.” (HC, Vol. 3, p. 391.) There is a true principle involved in literally facing the house of God as one prays and as one praises the Lord. The Prophet, as he led a group of faithful Saints through the Nauvoo Temple not yet finished (he did not live to see that day), said to them, “You do not know how to pray, to have your prayers answered.” But, as the sister who recorded that brief statement testifies, her husband and she received their temple blessings, and then came to understand what he meant. A modern leader in our midst, Melvin J. Ballard, said once to a group of young people about solving their problems: “Study it out in your own minds, reach a conclusion, and then go to the Lord with it and he will give you an answer by that inward burning, and if you don’t get your answer I will tell you where to go; go to the House of the Lord. Go with your hearts full of desire to do your duty. When in the sacred walls of these buildings, where you are entitled to the Spirit of the Lord, and in the silent moments, the answer will come.” (Utah Genealogical & Historical Magazine, October 1932, Vol. 23, p. 147.)
For clues to personal experiences behind that statement, you will find that in Elder Ballard’s boyhood he often looked up at the Logan Temple and its spires, and was inspired by the spires, and wanted to enter worthily regardless of the costs. That meant for one thing that he never was even tempted to break the Word of Wisdom because he knew that might prevent him from entering that building. I know that his later experiences, many having to do with his ministry, were a derivative often of what he felt, experienced, tasted within the walls of the sanctuary.
If I may be personal, I myself in a critical year away from home and at school drove at times (this was in Los Angeles) to the place they told us there would one day be a temple (it wasn’t yet built) just in the feeling that the place might be an added strength to me in prayer. And it proved to be so.
A House of Learning
“A house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of study, a house of learning.” One of the men who touched my life was the late Elder John A. Widtsoe, a man who graduated summa cum laude from Harvard after three instead of four years, who was given that last year an award for the greatest depth specializing in his field (which was chemistry); but they also gave an award that year for the student who had shown the greatest breadth of interests, which he also received. Brother Widtsoe has written perceptively about the temple and temple worship. I heard him say in sacred circumstances that the promise was given him by a patriarch when he was a mere boy in Norway: “Thou shalt have great faith, in the ordinances of the Lord’s House.” And so he did. I’ve heard him say that the temple is so freighted with depth understanding, so loaded with symbolic grasp of life and its eternal significance, that only a fool would attempt in mere prosaic restatement to give it in a comprehensive way. I’ve heard him say that the temple is a place of revelation. And he did not divorce that concept from the recognition that the problems you and. I have are often very practical, very realistic, down-to-earth problems. He often said, “I would rather take my practical problems to the house of the Lord than anywhere else.” And in his book In a Sunlit Land he describes a day when, having been frustrated for months, I assume, in trying to pull together a mass of data he had compiled to come up with a formula, he took his companion, his wife, to the Logan Temple to forget his failure. And in one of the rooms of that structure, there came, in light, the very answer he had heretofore failed to find. Two books on agrarian chemistry grew out of that single insight-a revelation in the temple of God. The temple is not just a union of heaven and earth. It is the key to our mastery of the earth. It is the Lord’s graduate course in subduing the earth, which, as only we understand, ultimately will be heaven—this earth glorified.
A house of learning? Yes, and we learn more than about the earth. We learn ourselves. We come to comprehend more deeply, in an environment that surrounds one like a cloak, our own identity, something of the roots that we can’t quite reach through memory but which nevertheless are built cumulatively into our deepest selves-an infinite memory of conditions that pre-date memory. The temple is the catalyst whereby the self is revealed to the self. There was a period when I was required as an officer in the Ensign Stake to go every Friday to the temple. It was not a burden. as I had thought it would be. It became instead my joy. Slowly, because of that regularity, I was trusted with certain assignments in the temple. This meant that I could walk into the temple annex and they would all say, “Good morning, Brother Madsen”; and I wouldn’t even have to show my recommend. Not only that, but I had the privilege to sit for hours in the chapel of the annex or elsewhere, contemplative, reading occasionally, but trying to absorb, trying to breathe the air that is heavier than air in that place. There I would meditate about my critical problems, which had to do with decisions about my life’s work, decisions about the girl I should marry, and other struggles in how to cope. There were, I testify, times when I learned something about me; there were times when peace came in a decision, and I knew that that peace was of God.
Charles Mason entrance at House Of Glory The Beginning 2023
FAQ
How to watch House of Glory?
Catch all the action from House of Glory: Isolation – live on TrillerTV+, streaming straight from NYC EventSpace! In the main event, Takeshita faces off against Santana in an explosive showdown.
What was the battle at the beginning of Glory?
Opening scenes meant to portray the Battle of Antietam show volunteer military reenactors filmed at a major engagement at the Gettysburg battlefield.