Wrestling, live music, arcade games coming to The Visionary Center

RICHMOND, Ind. — Some people may know him as "The NuMetal Messiah" Michael Black. Others may know him as his wrestling persona of Dante the Black Angel.

But soon, people will know Michael Johnson by his title of owner and promoter of The Visionary Center, a new multi-purpose event space he officially opened at an open house Sunday.

The building, located at 6412 National Road E., is the former sanctuary on the former campus of New Creations Chapel and boarding school and behind where Uranus Fudge Factory & General Store will operate.

The building was not Johnson's original location, as he started two years earlier in a pole barn further up the property line before it was recently bought out by Uranus 3 Land.

"I had to start over," he said. "I had to clear this place out and start from scratch again and build up from nothing. I lost probably about $20,000 in the move because I've done so much over there already. But I'm not going to say anything bad about Uranus. He and I aren't seeing eye to eye, but we have to coexist. I would love to hang fliers in his place. I'd love him to give me a banner to put on the wall, but we just don't talk that much."

While the facility is not yet open for the public to book events yet due to needing to get the building up to fire code as well as having an architect come look at it, Johnson said the facility is currently open to students interested in learning wrestling or music.

"This place is way better," Johnson said of the new venue. "This has been a dream of mine for over 15 years that I've been working toward my whole life."

Initially, concerns about a potential Aug. 1 opening were brought up at a recent Richmond Common Council meeting , mainly regarding zoning.

Johnson said an Aug. 1 opening was never expected and that he doesn't know where the council had gotten that information from, but he admitted he may have been too excited about opening earlier than he is able to.

"I admit I jumped the gun, and that's not the city's, that's my fault," he said. "I got too hype and I'm like 'Oh my God, this is ready, let's start doing stuff,' and then the city is like I probably should wait."

Initial plans to hold a wrestling match and live music at the open house were cancelled, and instead Johnson gave attendees tours of the facility.

After finding out zoning was not the issue, Johnson said he was told he needs more fire extinguishers, smoke alarms and having a possible Chapter 32 done by the fire marshal to avoid having a sprinkler system.

Passion for pro wrestling stems from childhood

Johnson, 39, has been wrestling in Richmond for more than 20 years and founded Visionary Championship Wrestling in 2009, before he married his now ex-wife and moved away for five years. When he moved back after his divorce, another wrestling company was already operating in the city and he didn't want to step on anybody's toes, so he waited a little longer.

Johnson said he has no issues with the other wrestling company in the city and that his company's style of pro wrestling and theirs are slightly different.

Johnson's passion for pro wrestling stems from his early childhood, where he recalls his earliest memories of watching WWF Saturday mornings featuring Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior, The Bushwhackers and other competitors from the 1980s and 1990s.

"The moment I thought about what I wanted to be, it was always musician, pro wrestler, and I've worked that throughout my whole life and as you can see everything around, I've done it," he said.

He said he has several connections within the industry with wrestlers in WWE, AEW and TNA, including Trey Miguel of The Rascalz, currently in WWE NXT, and he even shook hands and was in the same locker room as Bret "The Hitman" Hart.

Alcohol-free, smoke-free, gun-free facility open to all ages

Johnson made it very clear he wants The Visionary Center to be a place for everyone to go to and have a good time, not a place to start trouble.

An all-ages venue, he said, the building will not tolerate alcohol, tobacco or firearms, and any hate or discrimination toward others would result in the removal of the aggressor.

"We are a venue of love and acceptance," Johnson said. "If someone is bigoted, racist or anything like that or show those traits here, they're gone. The LGBTQ community gets a lot of hate, political violence, all that kind of stuff, that's a part of the world, but that is not here. You come through our doors, you come with respect and love in your heart to come and enjoy entertainment."

He added that he may work out a three-strike rule under the understanding that someone may come back with a "cooler head" the next time they show up, but depending on the severity of the offense, there sometimes may not be a second chance.

Vision for The Visionary Center goes beyond wrestling and music

But Johnson's goal for The Visionary Center isn't just professional wrestling and live concerts; he wants the facility to be used to teach the next generation of wrestlers and musicians.

One of Johnson's motives for holding events at the Visionary Center and offering wrestling and music classes is for keeping youth out of trouble.

"Kids need something to do instead of like doing cocaine on the side of the motorway," he said. "Obviously I can't take anybody under 18, but once we start doing shows, they'll have somewhere to go instead of going to their friend's house and doing drugs. They come here and enjoy wrestling, and nothing brings kids out like music."

Along with himself, Johnson has another wrestling trainer, Benny Candela, and a music teacher, Tony Hawley, who has more than 10 years of teaching experience.

Johnson said both have affordable rates, with wrestling classes running at $35 a session.

Additionally, Johnson said the venue can be used for other events as well once he's open to the public.

"Anything that's entertainment can be held here," he said. "Stand-up comedy, video game tournaments, movie nights, karaoke. That recording studio is for if you want to come in and lay vocals over a beat or if you want to make an acoustic song. I have an electric set of drums in there so I probably could do a full band, you just couldn't do it all at once and you'll have to track-by-track it."

Once the facility opens for public use, Johnson said people can find out about it or get ahold of him for planning events on Facebook. Those interested in signing up for classes also may do so via Facebook.

"Outside of my kids being born, I'm finally achieving the goals I always wanted to do with the most beautiful partner in the world."

Evan Weaver is a news and sports reporter at The Palladium-Item. Contact him on X (@evan_weaver7) or email at eweaver@gannett.com .

This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: Wrestling, live music, arcade games coming to The Visionary Center