Archive for the ‘Professional Wrestling’ Category

Changing of the guard

Posted: November 12, 2025 in Professional Wrestling, SLAM Wrestling Finland
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It’s been nearly two weeks since Halloween night, where I lost the SLAM! Wrestling championship.

Only now, after taking a much needed respite, have I had time to let the dust settle and have things sink in.

In one of the most personal rivalries of my three-decade worldwide professional wrestling career, the culmination of my feud with “Back Breaker” Dylan Broda came to a climax on October 31, 2025 at SLAM! Wrestling’s Halloween Hell event, held in Vantaa, Finland.

StarBuck vs Dylan Broda SLAM wrestling championship Halloween Hell 2025
SLAM! Halloween Hell, Oct. 31, 2025.

It should be noted that Dylan Broda cut his teeth in the pro wrestling game under me. He was among the first students I ever had at the SLAM! Pro Wrestling Boot Camp and he was one of the first two to graduate. He showed an aptitude for the game, picking things up very quickly. Being that he was from Ontario, Canada, I propositioned to him that we ought to start a wrestling podcast for the international market together, and that we did. It was called Shootin’ the Shizzat and it ran for about four years, before Dylan ran into some major personal issues that made it impossible to continue.

Shootin’ the Shizzat was the top pro wrestling podcast out of the Nordics of Europe for its time.

It was during that time that Dylan changed as a person. He got bitter, angry and resentful. Maybe he was just mirroring what was happening in his own life onto the world around him. Regardless, he became an antagonistic man who just avoided doing anything but the bare minimum and then – BOOM! – he was out the door again. Personally, I chagrined seeing him change for the worse. Ultimately, his wayward attitude caused him to resent me as his coach and the learning tree that he grew up under in our business.

On October 31 of this year, it was a No-DQ Texas D€ath Match – the first of its kind ever in the 22-year history of professional wrestling in Finland – and it was so due to the very personal, bitter nature of this rivalry. Dylan said he would only agree to the stipulation if I – as the reigning champion and CEO of SLAM! Wrestling Entertainment – were to put any possible rematch clause, my shares in the company as well as the title on the line. And so I did, because this whole thing needed to end.

SLAM! Halloween Hell, Oct. 31, 2025.

Sometimes in life, the Russian Roulette doesn’t pay off. Such was the case here.

I originally won the SLAM! Championship back on February 10, 2024 in Helsinki at SUPERSLAM!, where I put my three-decade career on the line in my last attempt to vie for the title, then held by former WWE NXT UK superstar, Sam Gradwell. I made good on that quest and kept my career alive, going on to carry the championship for over a year and a half, defending against some of the biggest and best names in the wrestling industry both here in Europe and from around the world.

SLAM! Halloween Hell, Oct. 31, 2025.

Yet, as the book of Ecclesiastes says, there is a time and place for all things under heaven. My time came to a close, at least as champion, on October 31 of this year. I was unceremoniously choked out with a steel chain by Dylan Broda after his good of a bodyguard struck me in the back of the head with said steel chain around his fist. The officiating referee for the match, Aki Mäki, called for the bell and brought a halt to the match after I could not get any more air and fight back. And so, Dylan Broda was crowned the new SLAM! Champion.

SLAM! Halloween Hell, Oct. 31, 2025.

Now, I put up my part of the shares in SLAM! Wrestling Entertainment upon the contractual demands set forth by Broda’s shill lawyer, Urpo Myyrä, in order for his client to accept the terms of the severe beating that he was going to be dealt upon entering the No-DQ Texas D€ath Match at Halloween Hell. Broda has taken the lowest road possible leading up to this match, taking jabs at my ill father and making underhanded comments about my family, in order to get under my skin.

And that he did. I let him get under my skin because he disrespected not just me but went after my family. Any man of any integrity at all would have done the same thing in retort. Unless someone has succumbed to being a beta cuck, there is no way that a man will allow disrespect to pass unanswered.

Yet, things aren’t quite as clear as Dylan and his lawyer would have hoped for. I personally feel that Urpo Myyrä is one of those lawyers at the bottom of the totem pole, who is just looking for his lucky break. Dylan probably took another low road in hiring the cheapest shill possible in the aspirations of claiming head shareholding stakes in SLAM! Wrestling. My legal team has looked at the fine print drafted up by Myyrä & Son’s office and they’ve found some discrepancies that I am not at leisure to go into at depth at this stage. Let me just say that things are a bit… up in the air in that regard at the moment. Like they say: anything can happen in the world of pro wrestling.

SLAM! Halloween Hell, Oct. 31, 2025.

I might have lost any rematch possibility due to the nature of the match contract at Halloween Hell, but in order to defend my honor and that of my family, that was a risk I was willing to take and I have no regrets in that aspect. Dylan has a long list of hungry foes to look forward to, eager to knock him off his lofty perch, while my legal team deals with this outlandish lawsuit that Broda imposed with Myyrä over the summer on SLAM! Wrestling.

SLAM! Halloween Hell, Oct. 31, 2025.

With all that said, I’d like to thank all the fans and supporters who backed me during the epic run that I had as SLAM! Champion for year and eight months plus that I carried the torch of my company. It was one helluva ride.

SLAM! Halloween Hell, Oct. 31, 2025.

Photos: Marko Simonen / SLAM! Wrestling Entertainment Ltd.

SLAM! Wrestling expands to Sweden

Posted: April 2, 2025 in Professional Wrestling, SLAM Wrestling Finland
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This coming weekend on Saturday, April 5, my company SLAM! Wrestling debuts in Sweden with Stockholm SLAM! at Telefonfabriken.

This event will feature premiere European wrestling talents from ten different countries in action, in seven diverse and thrilling matches.

Stockholm SLAM! Telefonfabriken April 5, 2025

The question, then: Why SLAM! in Sweden?

Well, it has always been a goal of mine to expand to new markets. You only live once. And as Walt Disney once said, “If you dare to dream, dream BIG!”.

Sweden has a much larger population base than Finland and Estonia combined; markets that we now serve and have done so since our inception in 2018. Before that, COVID sabotaged any means of moving forward and cast everything into muddy waters.

Now, however, is a new day. This is carpe diem for SLAM! Wrestling here in 2025.

With the release of Dark Side of the Ring’s Ludvig Borga episode yesterday on the worldwide stage, wherein I play a key role, the timing couldn’t be any better.

The match card has been specifically booked to offer a real plethora of interesting bouts for the whole family, featuring: a SLAM! Women’s Championship match, a Triple Threat match, tag team matches and men’s singles matches.

If you want to see professional wrestling presented with a sports-based feel, with high quality talent and international flavor, then Stockholm SLAM! is for you. Ten different nationalties in action, seven diverse and thrilling matches on the card.

Tickets available in limited quantities as the capacity is quickly filling up, so I would advise acting quickly: billetto.se/en/e/stockholm-slam-biljetter-1165479

Sometimes Life…

Posted: December 12, 2023 in Professional Wrestling, SLAM Wrestling Finland
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It’s been three days since my title fight – and I do mean FIGHT – with Sam Gradwell this past weekend at Rytmikorjaamo in Seinäjoki, Finland.

I’m busted up, bruised, contused and heartbroken. No, I did not win the SLAM! championship. But neither did I concede the match.

Scenes from a personal war (photo: Marko Simonen / slamwres.com)

Sam Gradwell assaulted me mercilessly, to the point that I was unable to defensively answer back. It was the official, Teemu Kytösaari, that ultimately called a halt to the match by referee’s decision.

I had been sick for two weeks prior to this pivotal and all-important bout. At the worst possible time, I got hit with whatever virus or influenza is making the rounds in Finland at the moment. Every second person seems to be sick with it. I wasn’t spared, either.

Wrestling SLAM in Seinäjoki, Dec. 9, 2023. (photo: Marko Simonen / slamwres.com)

For two weeks, I was unable to prepare for the match. No physical training, no exercise. I was damn near bed-ridden for the first week when I caught the bug. During the second week, I went on antibiotics four days prior to the match. Quite literally, I pulled a proverbial rabbit out of the hat at less than 100%.

If there is one thing that I have learned in the day and age of social media, it is that you never let them see you bleed. If you bleed, if you suffer, you do so in silence. You do not tote cracks in your armor before the whole world to see. That is just plain stupidity and pearls before swine.

In so saying, I can’t let it end like this. Now, this has become a story of redemption, simply by proxy.

No place for disgrace (photo: Marko Simonen / slamwres.com)

I have given 30 years of my life to professional wrestling. January 7 will be the three decade watermark since my very first match back in 1994 against my coach, Lance Storm, in Calgary, Canada. The fact that after all these years, I can still be active at a main event level is a testament to longevity and something that I take personal gratification and great pride in.

The fact that, at the age of 50, I can wrestle for a half-hour still, just as I did this past weekend at Wrestling SLAM in Seinäjoki against a beast of a man in Sam Gradwell, is something that I do not take lightly. Show me who else at my age can do what I do. Show me, because I’m waiting to see that list.

You haven’t lived until you’ve fought for your life (photo: Marko Simonen / slamwres.com)

So at the end of all this, I have purposed to build myself back to not only full health following whatever this damn thing is that has ransacked my body, but also, I will redeem what I need to redeem following the brutal beating that I took this past weekend at the hands of Sam Gradwell.

SLAM! Wrestling Finland has an event entitled SUPERSLAM on February 10 in Helsinki at Mall of Tripla’s Black Box 360. I’m going to talk to the grand commissioner of European pro wrestling, Marty Jones out of England, and I’m going to lobby for the rematch. Marty resided with full jurisdiction over the title match that Gradwell and I had this past Saturday, and Marty has the power to make the rematch happen, because I rescinded all of my personal power over the ongoings and outcome of Saturday’s match to Marty in the spirit of fair play.

Heart is the one thing that you cannot teach (photo: Marko Simonen / slamwres.com)

First though, I am going to take this holiday season and time to heal up.

I’m broken.

The Holy Grail at 50?

Posted: December 6, 2023 in Professional Wrestling, SLAM Wrestling Finland
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Man, it’s been a long time.

Some weeks ago, I had a discussion with a business partner about the blogging culture being a thing of the past. They corrected me and said, no, it’s still as vibrant as ever and people read up on interesting stuff. For the longest time, I thought that the blog had gone the way of the attention span at large and had been eaten up by quick videos and the like.

Well, I figured to write after a long time of radio silence on the blog front.

StarBuck photo by Marko Simonen / SLAM! Wrestling Finland

Firstly and foremost because I’ve come to a very pivotal moment in my wrestling career and a milestone year in general. You see, 20 years back in 2003, I started coaching wrestling hopefuls here in Finland, then situated out of the city of Kerava with that first class. Now, 20 years later, I’ve coached all around Europe and even in Japan, and I run SLAM! Wrestling Finland, operating in both Finland and Estonia.

It was this year that I looked at what I’d achieved, creating an entire wrestling scene in a country where we nothing of the like, save what was shown on television since the late 1980s. I looked at two decades of hard pioneering work, the ups and the downs, the trials and tribulations, and I got a little hungry again.

Firstly, I got SLAM! Wrestling onto a Finnish television channel called Eveo this past Spring. That’s channel 17 in this country. They’ve got national exposure, so that means we’re seen in 100% of Finnish households. As a matter of fact, we got two SLAM! Wrestling shows on their channel on a weekly basis: Painin otteessa (In Wrestling’s Grip) and SLAM! Boot Camp, which are consistently in the top three most viewed programs on the station. That’s pretty admirable.

On top of that, we’ve been able to procure bigger and more notable contracts with large organizers in both Finland and Estonia, enabling us to grow the brand through relentless persistence and tireless grinding. It’s been a slow but steady build but things are paying off, finally.

Then, I looked at myself. Where I was here in 2023 at the age of 50.

StarBuck photo by Markus Mueller / WeLoveArtBuying.de

Dammit all, the age of 50. Man, time just flies and here I still am, in this crazy business called professional wrestling, doing what I love to do, regardless of the odds. Here, at the ass-end of the world, up in Finland, right next to the Arctic Circle. Hell, most people in the world don’t even know where Finland falls geographically on the world map!

But yeah. I looked at myself and all that I’ve achieved in this zany, surreal world that has been my chosen passion called professional wrestling. And then I realized… I want to become a champion again.

I’ve got that chance now, upcoming on December 9 in Seinäjoki, Finland, where I face the new face of my company, a man called Sam Gradwell. It’s going to be a match for the one title I’ve never held: the SLAM! Championship. My company’s title.

I’m a bit torn to be honest. Torn because I want this to be a fair shake, without anyone pointing fingers saying that I doctored the result afterward into my own favor. Torn because it is, after all, my company. Torn because I don’t feel that in some light it’s fair that I pursue the championship of my own company.

So I went the extra mile and I outsourced the jurisdiction of this upcoming SLAM! Championship title match at Wrestling SLAM in Seinäjoki at the legendary Rytmikorjaamo club, coming up December 9. I went and reached out to an old comrade and someone I hold in high regard, the grand commissioner of European professional wrestling: Marty Jones of England.

Now, Marty Jones is not only a seven-time world heavyweight champion and one of the most respected legends ever out of Europe. He’s also the man that trained Sam Gradwell.

The SLAM! Champion, Sam Gradwell, who is – right now – arguably one of the most dominant wrestlers of the modern era in all of Europe.

Yes, I handed over governing authority over the coming SLAM! Championship title match between myself and Sam Gradwell on December 9 to Marty Jones, cut and dry.

Marty Jones, William Regal, Johnny Saint (left to right)

Come hell or high water, I am washing my hands of any wrongdoing or coercion when it comes to the outcome of Gradwell vs. StarBuck. Marty has the pen, Marty has the final say. For this match, I’m just a wrestler, not a boss. Not the CEO Michael Majalahti, but the 30-year pro wrestling veteran, “The Rebel” StarBuck.

I don’t just want this match. I NEED this match. I need it for my own sake, for the warrior inside of me, for the competitor, for the lion king inside to rise to the occasion.

Yeah, I want to be a champion again. In the footsteps of champions like Nick Bockwinkel, Dave “Fit” Finlay and my old friend, Chris Jericho – each of them wrestling at a very high, main event level past the age of 50.

Because I’ve always believed that if you want an extraordinary life, you must be willing to do extraordinary things.

December 9 is going to be one of the most important days of my life. I can feel it.

27 years as a wrestler

Posted: January 7, 2021 in Life, Professional Wrestling
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Today marks 27 years since I started my in-ring, active professional wrestling career.

My first match was on January 7, 1994 at the Victoria Park Civic Center in Calgary, Canada. I worked against one of my coaches, Lance Storm, who went on to become a champion in ECW, WCW and WWE.

I recall how my good friend Chris Jericho, now with AEW, lent me a pair of his old tights that he wore alongside Lance in their tag team, Sudden Impact. Chris also gifted me my first pair of wrestling boots for that encounter, a pair of plain black ones, which I have somewhere in storage back in Canada to this day.

My match with Lance was seven minutes on the nose, and Lance pinned me after a competitive outing that I was afforded by hitting a jack-knife pin after a powerbomb. The guys in the dressing room clapped it up afterwards, including my other coach, Karl “Jason The Terrible” Moffat, Lenny St. Clair (AEW’s Luther), Beef Wellington, Jericho and others, claiming it was the second best match on the card that night. The top honors went to Beef Wellington vs. Chris Jericho in the main event.

So here’s to a look back at 27 years ago half a world away. Today, I run my own wrestling company, SLAM! Wrestling, in Finland and Estonia, as well as being an active wrestler at the age of 47, still able to pull 30-minute matches with ease.

Life is for living, so I embrace every day that the Good Lord gives me and I’m thankful for the 22 countries and four continents I’ve been able to ply my trade in, and thanks to all the bookers and promoters who made it possible!

(photos by Sam Leppänen, Sander Burmeister and Rob Haynes)

European Championship #4

Posted: November 2, 2020 in Entertainment, Professional Wrestling, SLAM Wrestling Finland
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This past Saturday night, on Halloween Eve, at SLAM! Wrestling’s RagnaRÖCK & Wrestling 2020 supershow in Tallinn, I captured my fourth European championship in my near-27 year in-ring pro wrestling career!

My previous European title wins came in 2006 and again in 2009 (vs. Bernard Vandamme of Belgium) for the Eurostars European Championship title; in 2011 (vs. Michael Kovac of Austria) for the TopCatch European Championship (operated by the oldest governing body in all of European pro wrestling, VDB Catch); and now, in 2020, the Mitti Del Wrestling European Union Championship, which I beat Italy’s top gun, Fabio Ferrari, for this past weekend in Tallinn, Estonia!

You can now relive and witness the entire RagnaRÖCK & Wrestling event online HERE and enjoy the awesome action from Tallinn this past Halloween night!

(Match photos by Sander Burmeister)

Stoner Kings 20th anniversary

Posted: August 10, 2020 in Entertainment, Music, Professional Wrestling
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This summer, my heavy rock band Stoner Kings sees its 20th anniversary roll around, as I founded the group in the summer of 2000, up in Jyväskylä, Finland.

Over the course of the years, through the ups and downs of trial, we went through four line-up changes, break-ups, a period of prolonged AWOL and somehow, in the midst of all that, made three full-length albums.  We toured in the Baltics and in Central Europe, garnered international praise and hatred alike for our music, and rose to become one of the most visual show bands you’ll ever witness live on stage.

This past July 25 at On The Rocks in downtown Helsinki, we played our 20th Anniversary Revolution milestone gig, complete with former members guesting from our Brimstone Blues early era (Perttu “Gonzo” Sutinen), Fuck The World era (Reeo Tiiainen) and our 2007-2008 transitional era, right before the band went AWOL (Harri “Grandy” Räsänen).  In addition, we had our friend, Finland’s top exotic dancer, Irina Tundra, join us on stage and channel Hawkwind with their dancer, Stacia, from the 1970s.

Here are a cool set of photos from that celebratory gig by top German photographer, Sander Burmeister!

In addition, here is another visually stunning gallery from top Finnish live gig photographer, Saara Planting:

Next up for Stoner Kings: PowerSLAM in Põltsamaa at the Nahh Klaffen 2020 MC festival in Esku, Estonia on August 15 this coming weekend, and in addition, I will be wrestling live at that event with SLAM! Wrestling Finland.  Come on out for a helluva great time outdoors, two hours from Tallinn!

SLAM-PowerSLA;-in-Poltsamaa-FB-event

SLAM! Pro Wrestling Boot Camp 2020

Posted: May 15, 2020 in Health and Fitness, Professional Wrestling, SLAM Wrestling Finland
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This summer, I will be hosting and coaching the very first SLAM! Pro Wrestling Boot Camp 2020, just in time for the market to free up enough from the COVID-19 restrictions that participation will be possible and legal.

We have a superb training hall reserved in the Hannus suburb of Espoo, Finland, right beside Helsinki.  The place is located beside Länsiväylä motorway and public transport by bus takes you right beside our training hall.  In addition, a huge, new Lidl food store is next to our establishment and Iso Omena shopping center, voted the top shopping mall in Finland not too long ago, is only 1km away.

This summer, under the auspices of Yours Truly, you will be able to apply yourself to learning all aspects of the grappling game inside the squared circle: from chain wrestling and submissions, to bumps and falls, to ring positioning and rope work, to throws and lifts, to character presence and mic skills, and beyond… you will be able to learn the ins and outs of the world of professional wrestling from one of the masters (even if I say so myself), and the most highly-acclaimed professional wrestler in Northern European history: “The Rebel” StarBuck.

Folks, I have taught talents now since 2003 in seven different countries: Japan, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Russia.  Many of my students have gone on to wrestle extensively abroad all around the world.  The lessons you will learn from me are lessons passed down from the old school, where fundamentals and realism are key.

fake-or-break-camp-2014-denmark1

StarBuck teaching a wrestling camp in Denmark 2014, with participants from 4 countries.

If you would like to be a part of this groundbreaking opportunity in Finland, hit me up at info@slamwres.com and tell why you would like to be involved in this intensive summer course.  Be sure to attach a recent photo full-body of yourself and prepare to train twice weekly for the next three months, every Monday and Thursday night.

This is your chance… grasp for the brass ring and make it count!!!

MAR_2565

Get ready for the real deal, this is true-grit, honest, world-class pro wrestling coaching!

 

26 years as a pro today!

Posted: January 7, 2020 in Entertainment, Life, Professional Wrestling
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26 years

Today marks 26 years since my professional debut as a wrestler.  I owe it to my coaches, Lance Storm (WWE, WCW, ECW), who is currently working for WWE as an agent, and Karl Moffat, who used to wrestle in the ’80s and ’90s as Jason the Terrible under a hockey mask (Stampede Wrestling, Capitol Sports Puerto Rico, All-Japan and New Japan Pro Wrestling), as they started me off right and gave me the mindset and tools to make it this far.

After 22 countries on four continents, coaching in seven countries worldwide since 2003 and being a champion and main event player the world over, I can only be grateful that my career is still rolling strong at the age of 46.

I’ve had setbacks and injuries, faced the challenges that age brings to the game, navigated through the shark-infested waters of wrestling politics and petty shenanigans, and steered the course so that here in 2020, I’m spearheading my own wrestling promotion, SLAM! Wrestling Finland, with operations in both Finland and Estonia, with much more to come.

I’m thankful to the Good Lord above, in whom I steadfastly trust as any credible rebel these days would, for giving me the health, longevity and blessing to extend an in-ring career and professional achievement that no one in the Nordics of Europe has yet to surpass.

Here’s to the future, and to the challenges and victories that lay ahead!

StarBuck at SLAM! Wrestling Finland Mega Launch, March 22, 2019 in Helsinki

StarBuck at SLAM! Wrestling Finland Mega Launch, 22/3/2019 Helsinki (photo: Marko Simonen)

Badstreet USA reborn!

Posted: October 6, 2019 in Entertainment, Music, Professional Wrestling
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My southern rock act Crossfyre recently covered the famous Badstreet USA classic by Michael “P.S.” Hayes of The Fabulous Freebirds fame from the world of professional wrestling.  Now, we’ve gone a step further and filmed a music video, plagiarizing the original video from 1987.

Michael Hayes originally recorded and released Badstreet USA as a single in 1983, which his tag team trio of The Fabulous Freebirds (comprised of Hayes, Buddy Jack Roberts and Terry Gordy) used as their official ring entrance theme henceforth.

Hayes is widely regarded as the first-ever rocker/wrestler, creating his own, original music before anyone else jumped on the bandwagon. The song has only once been covered by punk act Antiseen and now finally, come 2019, Crossfyre did the honors.

Now, for the first time in known history, a current rocker/wrestler pays homage to a classic rocker/wrestler in covering the most well-known wrestling rock theme in pro wrestling lore.  As arguably the most accomplished and acclaimed pro wrestler out of Northern Europe, I’m proud to be the catalyst that made this project happen.  Sit back and enjoy our Crossfyre rendition and you can catch the song otherwise in iTunes and Spotify.

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StarBuck interview on Talk is Jericho, March 2019: https://omny.fm/shows/talk-is-jericho/rebel-starbuck-the-most-famous-wrestler-youve-prob

StarBuck’s self-written autobiography released by Crowbar Press, Spring 2017: http://www.crowbarpress.com/cbp-books/28-sb.html

StarBuck on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Majalahti

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