I purposely held off on this blog for a few days, knowing full well that there was a return event coming up. I wanted to be able to frame the last few weeks, which have been the most consecutive weekends I’ve had of wrestling since I came back. Kind of an accidental busy patch, as I wasn’t really expecting to have much time over the summer, thanks to cricket season being in full swing, and with working in that field (lol lol pun not intended), summer is super busy. But, things fell right for me for a few weeks at least.
We’ll do a quick recap, and touch on the promotion I returned to, and circle back to this past weekend. I promise that it won’t be as exhaustive as that sounds…
So yeah, I grabbed a couple of shows for House of Pain, in the middle, and the back end of June, the usual visit to Beeston (where I love performing), a good fun singles match against Tommy Taylor,who I always enjoy wrestling against, I think theres some good in ring chemistry there, which allows me to attempt to be more creative. You’ll notice the word creative pops up quite a lot in these blogs.
Anyway, a weeks break, then back to House of Pain to participate in their debut day show. The clue’s in the name as to what that show is all about. Anyway, tag team main event against Davey Thompson and Timberwolfe and teaming with debutante, George Xero. This was a decent little match, but could’ve done with finding an extra gear for my liking, having watched it back, I often find it hard to gauge how many ideas to throw at a newer person. Wasn’t unhappy with it, I just want to continue to push myself to be better whilst enjoying myself, and each match.
So…that return was to Pro Wrestling 4U, a company that played a huge part in my career up until just over a year ago. A place that gave me a lot of opportunities during a 4 1/2 year run. So, what was the return like? To me, the match was decent enough for that audience, who are a more family orientated crowd, with a touch of ‘indy’. I enjoyed the match, and working with the guys involved.
Now there were things that I’d have liked to have done differently here. I was a ‘mystery tag partner’, but my entrance was alongside the other two guys on my team. To me, the reaction was flat because it wasn’t presented as being anything out the ordinary. I don’t believe that everyone who attends a wrestling show follows what is being presented on facebook, so you have to spoon-feed people sometimes. Should’ve been a separate entrance for my liking, so I felt pretty frustrated at the presentation – a missed opportunity. I still feel the same way I did when I was last at PW4U, where I think there really isn’t much, if anything left for me to do there as a bad-guy. Not entirely sure if there are any plans for me to return, or it was a quick one-off, but, it was fun, if a little frustrating.
So, onto this past weekend. Another House of Pain appearance, and back under the blue lights of Beeston. This was a challenge, but one that we managed to pull off with wonderful results. Now, my match was a four-way match, involving Visage, LJ Heron and that man Tommy Taylor again. The challenge here was that we were the opening match of the show, and that 2 of the participants arrived to the show as the doors were opening. Between the four of us we put together a match that I feel really quite proud of. I often find it easy to tear holes in matches that I’ve been in, but here, there wasn’t much, save for a bump I could have done better. I’ve put a clip or two on my instagram page if you wanna see bits of it. Might lob the match up on Facebook in the next week or so.
I am really enjoying wrestling at the moment, I feel like changing my approach and outlook on wrestling since coming back is working wonder for me. I go to each show looking to give it my all and come up with some fun ideas for others, as well as myself. I think that pursuing other creative outlets in life, such as getting back into skateboarding has really helped me to look at things differently.
I’m starting to get a craving to get out and about on the scene again, and to start pushing for those Asian bookings again. I’ve set myself a handful of stretch goals, which I’d like to achieve in the next 18 months. I’m going to put them here, so we can revisit them, and see which ones were a hit, and which I was miles away from.
- My main goal, is to have an in-ring match with Masa Takanashi of DDT. I’ve craved this match for so long, I need to tick it off. I don’t care where this match takes place, under what banner, or what country. I have to have this match.
- Return to Japan. I think to me, this is the biggest stretch, but I’m craving the Japanese mat again.
- Another country in Asia. The SE Asian looks ready to explode and be the next hotbed of wrestling. A whole bunch of countries cross-network, talent share, and support each other To me, that is absolutely fantastic, and I want to experience that positivity and community.
- Work for 5-10 new promotions in the UK. I’m confident in my in-ring skills moreso than ever, and I’m keen to show what I can do around the country moreso. I havent started pushing for work just yet, I’ve needed to realise just who I am. I’m there now, so I’m ready to start looking for that work now. I know this is a fairly low number, but hell I want to achieve one of these goals haha.
- I’ve never really craved belts or whatever, but I don’t think I’ve ever made the most of the opportunity of holding one. I sat back and let things go however. I feel like I can have good ideas to throw forward, so I want to see exactly what I can achieve when I’m all in, and heavily invested. Properly.
So yeah, I felt like I should make myself accountable for goals now. Lets see where we stand in a year and a half…
SONG. OF. THE. MONTH
Man, its been a heavy month music wise. So, you’re having a slab of that this month. Enjoy fuckerssssss! I love this band.
Juken Pro Wrestler 