BLK Jeez representing Philadelphia at Combat Zone Wrestling's 16th anniversary show

Combat Zone Wrestling will be celebrating quite the milestone Feb. 21.

On that night, the promotion will be celebrating its 16th anniversary, which is quite the feat for an independent company, and will be returning to the 2300 Arena for the first time since 2012.

(For a full preview of CZW's 16th anniversary show, check Wrestledelphia's Mark Whited's interview with DJ Hyde here.)

CZW began in Philadelphia in 1999 and will return to the City of Brotherly Love with one of its native sons as the top man in the promotion.

Darnell Kittrell, better known to wrestling fans as BLK Jeez, is the reigning CZW World Heavyweight Champion and will carry more than a title belt on his shoulder Saturday night.

In his mind, not matter where he goes — whether it's the United States, Japan or Europe — he constantly carries the city that raised him as well.

The city that raised him is a tough, blue-collar town that is not shy about expressing its opinion. Kittrell has been around for 10 of CZW's 16 years and has been up and down the independent circuit since 2000. All of his experience — good, bad or indifferent — has made him into what Philadelphia is all about: A man that is not afraid to stand up for himself and others and fight for what he believes he deserves.

According to Kittrell, he runs Philadelphia when it comes to wrestling, thus the moniker "The King of Philly."

"Right now, as far as wrestling goes, I'm the king of Philly," he said during an interview with philly.com. "There's nobody else from Philly in wrestling that's killing it like I am. It's a lot of guys from Philly in wrestling, but as far as Philly wrestlers go, and when you think of wrestlers from Philly, people think of BLK Jeez."

He runs Philly because he embodies Philly in the ring and out. In the ring, he's a no-nonsense, straightforward grappler. In real life, he's much of the same. He doesn't take things lying down and it has sometimes gotten him into trouble, but that's just how life is when you're the BLK Jeez.

Kittrell may see himself as a king now, but like many others, he had humble beginnings. He grew up in west Philadelphia playing sports with his friends, who all shared dreams of playing in the National Basketball Association.

Hoop dreams aside, Kittrell also had his sights set on being a professional wrestler. Once he didn't grow tall enough to share the court with Kobe Bryant, the Overbrook High School grad set his sights on stepping into the same rings that Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin once graced.

"I went to school for a little while [after high school] only because my parents wanted me to go to school, but I always wanted to wrestle, man. I eventually started getting trained for wrestling," he said.

Kittrell didn't have to go far to find a wrestling school. He found one in Havertown that was run by boxing promoter Damon Feldman before shifting to a different one in the Kensington section of the city.

It didn't take long for Kittrell's natural athletic talents to show and he was quickly afforded an opportunity that the other students weren't.

"They just pulled me aside and was like, 'Yo, you can come down here and train everyday if you want. You just can't tell the other people in your class,'" he remembered.

Because of his proactive approach, his classmates began noticing that he was not only much better than they were, but the teachers relied on him for demonstrations more than any other student.

"Other people in the class started wondering, 'Why do they keep picking him, first of all, and why is this dude developing faster?' I got a little heat with the rest of the class," he said. "They were a little mad at me, but I didn't even care though. I was just trying to get better."

Kittrell got better. Quickly. And within three months of stepping into the ring for the first time, he had his first singles match as a professional.

Since then, Kittrell has enjoyed a steady career on the independent circuit in the United States and overseas. Although he's been successful, and has created a name for himself, he hasn't been able to get a real chance with the major promotions other than a handful of matches.

According to him, it's not for a lack of talent.

"Honestly, I know I proved I belonged in either company," he said. "I guess its just timing and I guess not impressing the right person. Not having the right person to speak up for me."

"Everyone in wrestling has the talent, but these days it's more about who's going to vouch for you," he added. "I don't have stronger connections than other people have that vouched for them, but my goal is to into a company that has television.

"I've been on the indies a long time. There's nothing left for me to prove on the indies. I naturally stay motivated, but there's not really any challenges left for me on the indies. My goal is to get in a company that has television — whether that's WWE, TNA, Lucha Underground — that's what I'm shooting for right now."

Until he achieves his dream of landing permanent work for a major promotion, Kittrell has to continue to beat up and down the roads of the independent circuit to make ends meet.

As with being independent in almost any field, being an independent wrestler presents its share of problems — none of which Kittrell is shy about expressing his thoughts and feelings about.

"These days, it's real easy for anybody to become a wrestler," he said. "When I started, you really had to pay your dues and you had to earn everything. These days, you can just walk right in and be a wrestler."

"A lot of the guys on the indies got a horrible mindset," he added. "They think they're entitled to things before they've even proven anything. They think that just because they can do a cool move here and a cool move there, that they own the world, that they deserve more than they actually do deserve. A lot of guys don't have any integrity. They don't work hard. They don't work hard enough.

"Another problem I see is guys won't speak up for themselves," he continued. "They'll allow promoters to treat them however they want and I won't stand for that. A lot of times, that's why I get a lot of heat with people because I speak up. In this game, a lot of times, if you speak up, you're looked as unprofessional. You're looked at as a hothead. Not only do I speak up for myself I speak up for the boys. A lot of the younger cats haven't accomplished enough to be able feel confident enough about speaking up for themselves. I look out for myself and I look out for others.

"A lot of times it's messed up because you look out for other people and you see that they're not doing that in return," he added. "They're not looking out for you. They're just looking out for themselves and it makes you feel like, 'Man, why am I even caring about other people?' but that's just how I am."

On top of the financial issues that already exist with being an independent wrestler is the growing trend of wrestlers who will willingly work for cheap and even work sometimes for free. According to Kittrell, promoters will get used to guys working at a reduced rate and will balk at a veteran like himself asking for more.

"What happens with that is these promoters will have guys that don't have the experience," he said. "They don't know what they're doing and it affects their shows. People don't want to come to their shows. It makes their shows horrible."

Another financial woe is the growing trend of wrestlers that will pay for their own transportation, especially airfare overseas. According to Kittrell, promoters get used to that, too, and will be reluctant in paying for anyone's transportation, even those who deserve it.

"These people are lowering their value," he said. "A promoter's job is to spend the least amount of money as possible to do a show. A promoter is going to go for the guy that's going to work for free. It just hurts the game overall. I think if people had more integrity and understand that if we put our egos aside and work together, it's enough money out here, even on the indie scene, for all of us to eat."

"You're trying to establish yourself," he added. "You're trying to establish value. If you're confident in what you do, why are you going to fly yourself anywhere? It's one thing if you're new to the game and you're just trying to get experience anywhere. I can understand that, but if you've been in the game long enough to where you shouldn't be flying yourself to this place or that place, you shouldn't do that because that gets around and it makes these promoters feel like they just going to use guys who will fly themselves and will work for cheap or for free."

Not even the company of the world title he carries is exempt from Kittrell's opinion and point of view. Although he's CZW's world champion, he made it clear that there are definitely areas where the promotion could improve so that it could enjoy another 16 years in business.

"With CZW there's good times and bad times," he said. "Firstly, I think that CZW should concentrate on CZW and not concentrate on making the product look like other products that's out there. There's a reason why CZW has been around for so many years and it needs to stick to that."

"A lot of it over the years has been the death matches," he added." I'm not saying that CZW should be in excess with the death matches. That's not a good thing, but just stay positive as far as having different things in the product that's for everybody.

"Some of the shows are too predictable. There's questionable decisions made by management. I think that there could be better decisions as far as who to give the ball to run with and who is really slacking and need to step their game up. It's just ups and downs, man and I'm hoping that this year will be nothing but good things."

His mouth may get him into trouble again, but that's BLK Jeez, and that's Philadelphia. The perspective of the outside world may not be all that rosy, but such is life.

People that know what Philadelphia is all about, get it. They understand the passion. The same could be said for Kittrell, who after 15 years in wrestling, has no intentions on slowing down any time soon.