Darius Lockhart’s ASÉ Wrestling Centers Mental Health, Black Culture

ASE’ Wrestling’s owner and founder Darius Lockhart (standing) wrestles in the organization’s fifth event, “Smile! ASE’ Is With You,” at Piedmont IB School near Uptown on Sept. 29. (Photo by Grant Baldwin) Anyone who’s watched even a few minutes of a wrestling match knows that the sport is a physically taxing one. The wear-and-tear that the sport puts on the bodies of athletes has to be experienced to be explained. What many don’t know is that the sport wreaks just as much havoc on the mind as it does the body. Historically, not much has been done to combat that fact. That’s something Darius Lockhart aimed to fix when he launched ASÉ Wrestling. ASÉ (pronounced ah-SHAY) Wrestling is an independent wrestling company founded in the Queen City by Lockhart, a Charlotte native. Wrestling fans likely recognize his name; Lockhart got his start as a professional wrestler with companies like NWA and AEW. As someone who took part in the wrestling industry himself for 10 years, working alongside friends and acquaintances such as Jade Cargill, Matt Hardy and Mark Henry, Lockhart knows how demanding this business can be. “I was having a lot of people in my social circles and professional...