Wrestling with Success

A man steps on stage, clad in Louis Vuitton and white wrestling boots. It’s The SoundCloud Sensation, Anton Nathan. His bit: a bad rapper trying to make a name for himself on SoundCloud. His catchphrase: “Yee!” – another way of saying, “Oh, yeah!”  

Northampton Community College (NCC) marketing major, Nathaniel Barndt, lit up the stage at his wrestling shows. After high school, he took a year off to consider what he’d like to do with his life. Then, he found that he was already doing it.  

“My plan A was to make a name for myself as a professional wrestler, but I realized that I could use a degree to my advantage in making that my career,” he said. 

Barndt and his family moved to Michigan from Bethlehem for his father’s job when he was nine years old. At that age, it became a ritual for him to watch WWE SmackDown every Friday. He and his friends attended independent local wrestling shows in Michigan. In 2016, when he was 15 years old, he decided that this was not just an interest but a passion and something he wanted to pursue. 

A new promotion from Flint, MI was booking some big-name World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) wrestlers. “I was at one of the shows, and I met one of the guys, Zach Gowen, and he pushed me to try doing this.” Gowen had a short stint in the WWE but a notable one, as he became the first wrestler in WWE to wrestle with one leg after losing it to cancer at a young age. He now wrestles at independent shows, speaks at motivational gigs, and was on American Ninja Warrior a few years ago.  

With Gowen’s encouragement, Barndt started a backyard wrestling YouTube channel. "At the shows, I was handing people I used to watch on TV these links on paper to check me out. Eventually, that led me to Wrestling Society X and Ring of Honor’s, Josh Raymond, who was my first trainer,” Barndt said. 

Barndt met Raymond at a show. Then a middle school wrestling coach, Raymond offered to train Barndt and his friend, Dennis. The next thing he knew, Barndt was wearing hand-me-downs from wrestling superstars Alex Shelley and Jimmy Jacobs, both friends of Raymond. Barndt worked at Burger King so he could pay for training.  

Barndt trained with Raymond on weekends, and he wrestled throughout high school. In his senior year, he and Dennis had their first match against each other. Barndt was able to do three more shows before moving back to Bethlehem with his family. His last show was against Raymond, which was especially exciting. “It just showed how far I’d come,” said Barndt. 

In 2019, a year after graduating high school, Barndt began pursuing a marketing degree at NCC.  

“I was working at UPS just after high school, and I was miserable because it was not what I was passionate about. I liked the art of performing, but I also always had an interest in the creative process behind marketing and graphic design, so, this was a great place for me to start on the road to success.” 

Meanwhile, Barndt had good connections in the wrestling world, but they were mostly in the Midwest. He had four matches under his belt, but he wanted to continue wrestling.  

“I wasn’t ready to go out on my own, and that’s when I found the Wild Samoan Training School, a gym in Allentown started by Afa Anoaʻi and Sika Anoaʻi, two famous wrestling brothers related to The Rock.”  

The training school was a huge step in his career. While it was tough starting over, Barndt made a name for himself. “I was still the youngest at training, and I was the last one to train before the gym closed down this year,” he said. He has since had 16 matches, from New Jersey to Puerto Rico, and many places in between.   

Barndt eventually quit his job at UPS to work a screen-printing job part-time at All-American Graphics to pay his way through college. He learned many of the skills on the job, but Barndt attended vocational technical school in Michigan and gained printing and imaging technology skills while he was there.  

“The graphic designer at All-American was a travel partner, and we trained at the same wrestling school. He told me about the position.”  

Barndt says his marketing degree will help him with both his day job and professional wrestling. 

“I can learn to sell myself as a performer and entertainer. With screen printing experience and a marketing degree, I can also make my own merch (merchandise) for my shows.” He already has put his knowledge to good use, selling items like stickers, shirts with his SoundCloud ID, silicone wristbands, and more at his shows. In his printmaking class at NCC, he even designed a shirt with his wrestling logo that he sells at his shows. 

Barndt takes advantage of all the networking events through NCC. During the 1 Million Cups event held weekly at NCC’s Fowler Family Southside Center, he met Adam and Brian of Pareto Impact Consulting. They are business coaches that help startup companies with marketing. Barndt was able to land an internship with Pareto, in which he helped as a social media manager for their accounts.  

“I’ve been grateful for everything I learned through vo-tech, NCC and wrestling. Somehow, they’ve all connected.” 

Barndt looks forward to a future of possibilities, with passions he is excited to explore after his valuable time at NCC.