Archive for the ‘Professional Wrestling’ Category

In just over a week, I will be fighting for the first time in my career in a barbed wire grudge match in Japan for Wrestling New Classic.  My trio with AKIRA and Syuri will face the vengeance-hungry team of TAJIRI, Mikey Whipwreck and Kana, and there it is guaranteed that there will be blood.  It all comes down on August 30th at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.

From there, my team will do battle against TAJIRI’s trio on August 31st in Osaka and on September 1st in Toyohashi, and these encounters will also be barbed wire matches.  You can be sure that none of us will be the same after the dust settles next week across Japan!  My team is undaunted however, and we will show once again how we dominate, just as we did on our last tour of Japan.

First however, I will be gunning for my fifth FCF Championship title reign at DOMination 5 in Helsinki, Finland on August 24&25th, as over a two-day period a tournament will be held to crown a new titleholder.  It was 2010 last that I held the FCF crown, defeating TAJIRI in Tokyo on July 24 that year, before losing it back to TAJIRI on November 22, 2010 in Tokyo also.

In round one on Friday, August 24th, I will fight in the main event in a triple threat match against King Kong Karhula and “Wildman” Heimo Ukonselkä.  The winner of that match goes on the next night to advance to the semi-finals, and should they be victorious, the finals on the same night.

Last night I arrived back home in Finland after two weeks out in Japan, during which I was on tour with Wrestling New Classic in five different cities across the country.

AKIRA, StarBuck and Syuri (photo by Kazuhiko Kato)

My new team with AKIRA and Syuri rocked the houses every night, and we were a dominant trio, pulling out wins in every single one of our six-person tag matches.

TAJIRI one-upped me in Hakata, Japan (Photo: WNC)

The only loss my team suffered was my personal singles match loss to TAJIRI at Hakata Starlanes in Fukuoka on August 6th.

training with my team at American Gym in Fukuoka

In our first team encounter on August 2nd in Tokyo against TAJIRI, Hajime Ohara and Kana, Tajiri knocked my front tooth out as we brawled on the outside of the ring.

TAJIRI caught me with a knee right in the chops as I charged for him on the floor, and in the process the blow busted the bridge that I have for a prosthetic tooth up front, which I lost in a stunt-riding BMX accident when I was 9-years old.  In the picture below you can see the damage.

We traveled across Japan, from Tokyo southbound toward the southernmost tip of the country in Kagoshima, where WNC kindly offered to get my tooth fixed, saving me the expense in the process.  The friendly ladies at Calla Orthodontic Clinic in Kagoshima made my mug look like brand new, sparkling smile et al…

I was able to meet some very cool, new people in Japan on this trip, from avid wrestling fans of mine to ring legends like The Great Kabuki at his restaurant Kabuki with Family in Tokyo.  As I usually do with old timers who knew Bruiser Brody – one of my all-time favorites in the game and a legend in Japan too – I grilled Kabuki on his take as to the death of Brody in Puerto Rico in 1988 at the hands of Invader #1, where Brody got stabbed to death in the locker room.  Out of respect, the details of our conversation will remain anonymous, but I got a good understanding of the possible reasons behind the incident.

The Great Kabuki

My next tour with WNC takes place at the end of this month, starting on August 30th at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, where I again team with AKIRA and Syuri in the main event against TAJIRI, Kana and Mikey Whipwreck of ECW fame in a huge barbed-wire board match, which will not be for the faint of heart!

Our team victorious across Japan (Photo by Nobuya Iwatsubo)

For more infos go to the WNC website!

Photos by Wrestling New Classic

I will be leaving this coming Monday, July 30th for a wrestling tour with WNC (Wrestling New Classic) throughout Japan at the beginning of August.

On August 2nd at Shinjuku FACE Arena in Tokyo, I will team with AKIRA and Syuri will face TAJIRI,  Hajime Ohara and Kana in the Wrestling New Classic main event.  From there I move on with my new team to establish wrestling dominance in Osaka on August 3rd, Hiroshima on August 4th, Hakata on August 6th and Kagoshima on August 7th.

This past week, I wrestled in Rome, Italy at Rainbow Magicland, which is a huge theme park outside the city.  Every day about 10 000 people visit Magicland, and on July 24 IWS Wrestling ran a show at the establishment.  I wrestled against huge black wrestler Tiny Iron, who has been a bodyguard for bands like The Black-Eyed Peas, Beyoncé and 50 Cent.  I was disqualified in the match when Michael Kovac of Austria and Leo Cristiani of Spain interfered on my behalf.

“Half man, half amazing” Tiny Iron

This week on Saturday, July 28 I wrestle against Finnish academic standout and brash rookie Mikko Maestro in Kerava, Finland for FCF Wrestling at SummerSmash 3.

SummerSmash 3 in Kerava, Finland at 16:00 on July 28, http://www.wrestling.fi

As I wrote just a few days back, I dissolved Team FCF in Japan, the contingent I had with Hajime Ohara, after Ohara failed to produce in our last tag team match on July 15 in Tokyo.

I am proud to introduce my new teammates: AKIRA and Syuri!

Syuri, AKIRA and StarBuck

On August 2nd at Shinjuku FACE Arena in Tokyo, our trio will face TAJIRI, Ohara and female star Kana in the Wrestling New Classic main event.  From there I move on with my new team to establish wrestling dominance in Osaka on August 3rd, Hiroshima on August 4th, Hakata on August 6th and Kagoshima on August 7th.

More infos at the WNC website!

I just returned back home to Finland from a double-header with Wrestling New Classic in Tokyo and Osaka on May 15 & 16.

The big news coming out of my latest wrestling excursion the Land of the Rising Sun is that Team FCF is no more: I have disassociated myself with Hajime Ohara after our team failed to defeat TAJIRI and Naomichi Marufuji (of NOAH fame) at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo on Sunday, May 15.

Ohara was under tight scrutiny in Tokyo (photo by Yuichi Kojima)

First of all, I have to say that I was greatly honored to be in the ring opposite Marufuji, who is widely considered to be one of the greatest active pro wrestlers today out of Japan.  The man is just an amazing talent, and I would one day love to get the chance to wrestle him one-on-one.  Time will tell if that comes to fruition!

Marufuji elbow smashes StarBuck with full force (photo by Yuichi Kojima)

Ohara had been on an extended losing streak as of late, and I had forwarned Ohara that he had better bring his A-game to the matches when I arrived in Japan. After falling to Marufuji’s Sliced Bread finishing drop, Ohara pleaded with Yours Truly in an attempt to make amends for his shortcomings in that bout. I had however made up my mind that I was moving on, and in so doing I dropped my former teammate with my infamous spike piledriver, shocking the fans on hand into stunned silence.

The Tokyo crowd is hushed as I have dropped Ohara (photo by Susumu Tobari)

The next night on May 16 in Osaka, I clashed with Ohara in the main event of the card, making our separation final. Ohara fought tooth and nail for all he was worth, putting up a valiant and spirited fight, but in the end I managed to catch him out with a double-thrustkick to the abdomen, which set him up for my piledriver once again. The finishing pinfall was academic at that point, as there was no way Ohara was rising any time soon.

War of attrition! (photo by Nobuya Iwatsubo)

After the match, I took the microphone and made a public statement to my former charge, telling him “No more FCF, no more Ohara!”. This only served to incite Ohara more, so much so that he tried to attack me with his last reserves, but I quickly pummeled him into the ground, bringing out TAJIRI to pull us apart before I could inflict further damage.

The definitive pinfall as StarBuck defeats Ohara (photo by Nobuya Iwatsubo)

At this point, all I can say is that I have already amassed a new contingent, and very soon I will release the blockbuster announcement about my new team to the world!

Japanese pro wrestling will never be the same.

Get ready!

I am happy to announce my long-awaited return to the Land of the Rising Sun on July 15 in Tokyo at Korakuen Hall, where I will tag up with my FCF teammate Hajime Ohara to face the combination of TAJIRI and Naomichi Marufuji at Wrestling New Classic’s show.

Ohara has been on a bad losing streak since he and I teamed up last at SMASH.FINAL back on March 14 this year in Tokyo, losing to TAJIRI and Akira Nogami, when Nogami pinned Ohara following a top rope bodypress splash.  I only hope that my protége Ohara steps it up and delivers the goods on July 15, because FCF is a top tier team in Japan, and we must do everything to keep our position and dominance.

I am looking forward to fighting Marufuji, who is widely considered one of the top 10 wrestlers in the entire country of Japan these days.  For anyone who is unfamiliar with Marufuji, check out the following match.

On July 16 in Osaka, I will step into the ring myself against Ohara to check his fighting stock and see if he still has fighting spirit and the determination to be an FCF player.  It was back in August 2010 in Helsinki, that Ohara came to Finland to challenge me, back when I was the FCF Champion.  At the end of that match, Ohara pledged his alleigance to Yours Truly, falling in defeat to my spike piledriver, and thereby joining the ranks of FCF under my wings (see video below).

Get ready, Japanese fans!  The Lord of Northern European wrestling is coming back!!!

For all of your wrestling news needs, GO HERE!

The newest issue of Kamppailija fight magazine is now out in Finland, available at Stockmann, Akateeminen Kirjakauppa and at libraries across the country.

I am featured in a four page article regarding the legitimacy of pro wrestling submission holds and locks.  FCF Wrestling‘s head referee Marko Simonen took the photos of myself and former FCF wrestler Stark Adder demonstrating the various techniques at Espoo’s Ringside Gym a few weeks back.

Score your personal copy today and enjoy the tremendous article, which goes in-depth into the beginnings of pro wrestling as a genre worldwide, and also in Finland.

Also, here is a photogallery from my MySpace page covering my last match in Sweden a few weeks back at a STHLM Wrestling VIP-only event: www.myspace.com/canadianrebel/photos/albums/album/3298646

I write this blog following my double-countout match against the Dominican Republic’s El Dinamico last night at an IWS Wrestling event in Cavour, Italy, as we close down on FCF Wrestling’s DOMination 4 event on Thursday, June 28 in Helsinki, Finland.

A lot of people have been waiting for an awfully long time to see the next chapter in the Finland vs. Sweden wrestling rivalry that started on July 1, 2011 back at DOMination 2 in Helsinki.  It was then, that Sweden’s top gun in the wrestling game, Killer Karlsson, arrived in Finland to tangle with Yours Truly.  This coinicentally was also hot on the heels of Swedenìs crushing loss to Finland in the 2011 World Ice Hockey Championships.  The Swedes were more than bitter, whereas the Finns were more than elated to get a one-up in the sporting world over their former masters.  Karlsson had much of this same bad blood in his veins, as he landed at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport in preparation for our first match last year.

So it was at DOMination 2 on July 1, 2011, that Killer Karlsson and StarBuck waged a war for the ages.  With the rabid Helsinki crowd as hot as the summer weather that sweltering night, the fans on hand witnessed Karlsson stoop to all-time lows in his attempt to upset the “Lord of FCF”, as I have been coined in Japan.  Karlsson not only assaulted me with his metal flagpole, which he brought to the ring, waving his country’s flag, he also assaulted our female FCF timekeeper at ringside, as you can witness in the following video (off of my “Finnish Fight Collection 2” StarBuck DVD, available at all FCF Wrestling events):

Killer Karlsson went back to Sweden with his head held high –  albeit questionably high, I would say – to live to fight another day.  I am sure that Karlsson realized and knew that his actions would have repercussions, and in so saying, he would have to pay the proverbial piper somewhere down the line.  That eventual reckoning day has now come, and it is signed, sealed and soon to be delivered at DOMination 4 on June 28 in Helsinki.

Killer Karlsson sent FCF Wrestling a video message about his upcoming No-Holds-Barred match with me on June 28.  He chose to be so belligerent that out of spite, he recorded his speel in Swedish (not that I understand a single word):

In kind, I thought it would be more applicable to send my message directly to Karlsson in English, so as to not leave any stone unturned:

To wrap things up, I would be taking out health insurance if I were Killer Karlsson, because when he lands in Helsinki for his No-Holds-Barred match against me at DOMination 4, there’s a high and likely chance that he won’t be walking out of DOM Discotheque on his own when the dust settles.

For all of your wrestling news needs, GO HERE!

Part three of the video documentary our Crossfyre gigs aboard the Rock Legends Cruise 2011 was just released today.  Check it out here:

I will be heading to Torino, Italy after a three and a half year absence to wrestle this coming weekend, check out my promo regarding this event below.

I was interviewed in Finnish by Basso Radio in Finland this morning, listen to the interview here: http://soundcloud.com/bassoradio/toimistoradio-haastattelussa-3


Oskari Pastila (the director of both the current Crossfyre video documentary and the upcoming StarBuck movie out in 2013) leaves the camera mugging to me. Photo: Valtteri Pokela

Here is a link in Finnish to the printed addition to the interview: http://www.basso.fi/keskustelu/radio/maad-ylafemmat-osa-1-eero-ettala/100/#msg1856111