One year ago on July 1, 2011 in Helsinki, I faced Sweden’s top wrestler Killer Karlsson at an FCF Wrestling event entitled DOMination 2. It was a long-awaited showdown, as Finland and Sweden have had a blood-rivalry going back many decades. As the pioneer of Finnish pro wrestling, I was not only representing myself, I was representing the country that my parents were born in, as I clashed with Karlsson in our first meeting. To say that our duel was highly-spirited would be a grandiose understatement, as the fans packed into Helsinki’s DOM club venue roared with every blow that I dealt out to the big Swede.
During our match at DOMination 2, Karlsson got himself intentionally disqualified and proceeded to beat me senseless with his metal Swedish flagpole. It sounds almost as if he was defacing his own country by using his own flag to perpetrate his actions. Karlsson left me laying in the ring, gasping for breath, as I got choked out on top of it all before the dust settled.
Now, upcoming at DOMination 4 on June 28 in Helsinki, I get my chance at retribution in a No-Holds-Barred match against Killer Karlsson. Anything goes on June 28th, and that means I can pound a mudhole into Karlsson with his own flagpole, should be bring one, and there is nothing the official can do about it. As a matter of fact, I can use any furniture that isn’t nailed down to beat Karlsson black and blue. Hell, I can even use whatever IS nailed down!
See clips above of my first match against Karlsson on my latest DVD release, available at DOMination 4 on June 28 in Helsinki
This weekend, I will be in Stockholm, Sweden, training the STHLM Wrestling roster over a two-day seminar tomorrow and Sunday. I will also be wrestling in a special VIP-members only invite-event on Saturday night against STHLM Wrestling’s Scandinavian Shiva.
I am also proud to mention that FCF Wrestling broke the mainstream media barrier in Finland today, with a huge, feature cover story on our promotion in the nation’s leading newspaper Helsingin Sanomat in the weekend NYT-Liite attachment. Check out the scan below, and be sure to pick it up if you live in Finland!
This past Friday night at FCF Wrestling’s Jatkosota 2012 event in Helsinki I challenged “Wildman” Heimo Ukonselkä for his FCF Championship title. Had I procured the finishing pinfall, which by all accounts SHOULD have gone down following my spike piledriver to Ukonselkä, I would now be a five-time FCF Champion. The fact that I am not the new champ right now boils down to FCF General Manager Robert Holmström, my Eurosport co-commentator, who really should have known better than messing with my match, and to Robert’s “surprise”, King Kong Karhula.
Heimo and I fought a rough-and-tumble, knock-down, drag-out bout, which really deserved a clear-cut winner. Alas, Robert Holmström, with his Machiavellian imagination, spoiled the fun for everybody. Right after my well-timed piledriver, the lights of the Old Student House venue went out and everyone was left in the dark. Then, out of the corner of the room, from a side entrance, out comes the former Ibo Ten, who is now apparently calling himself King Kong Karhula, if the page that he opened on Facebook yesterday is any indication. Karhula proceeded to destroy both Heimo and I, leaving us with bruised ribs after it was all said and done.
I have to hand it to Ukonselkä though. He is often viewed as a very one-dimensional wrestler, being the burly brawler type. My plan of attack was to actually wrestle the man down to the mat and control him there, but Heimo showed surprising counter-wrestling aptitude and managed to stem the tide. It ended up being pretty much back and forth all the way through, with neither of us getting a clear upper hand throughout the match.
With the non-finish and sabotage of our title match, Robert Holmström upheld the FCF Championship, aided in part by the fact that he provoked Heimo into blasting him with a forearm with his egocentric verbal assault following Karhula’s attack on Ukonselkä and myself. Holmström is obviously over-stepping his authority and misusing his power, and I am sure that he has something up his sleeve that nobody can anticipate.
Nonetheless, props to Heimo Ukonselkä for a war well fought, and Robert … I’ll see you at Eurosport next on May 14, and then you will have some explaining to do!
I blogged a couple weeks back about the amazing experience I had wrestling in front of the Swedish fans in Malmö, Sweden at SWS Wrestling‘s Wrestlingpalatset show. Well, here is a video piece with clips of that match, plus an interview with Yours Truly (in English)…
Also a brief reminder, that this Friday night, April 20 in Helsinki, Finland, I will be challenging “Wildman” Heimo Ukonselkä for the prestigious FCF Championship at Jatkosota 2012. There is a slight possibility that a few tickets might be available at the door on the night of the event (start time 20:00), if you have not scored your tickets in advance through http://www.wrestling.fi as of yet.
You DO NOT want to miss this one!
See you at the matches and for more wrestling news go here!
Attention: I have extended the application time for my wrestling course at Amin Asikainen’s Ringside Gym in Espoo, Finland. Although the course started today (April 14), you can still apply and join up over the next two weeks. Send me an email to: starbuck (AT) fightclubfinland (DOT) com, and take hold of this unique, grappling opportunity!
I wrote an upcoming article today for The Wrestling Press (which will be out at the end of this month) about what I believe to be pro wrestling’s sacred Valhalla in Europe: Malmö, Sweden.
I wrestled in Malmö just a week back for SWS Wrestling. My opponent was Gothenburg’s Bad Buddha, one of the top wrestlers in Sweden today. To describe the 500-strong sell-out audience as electric would be a vast understatement … they were magical in response. It didn’t matter what was on the menu, be it headlock takeovers or plain old bodyslams, the Malmö audience popped for everything. My finishing piledriver received such an ear-shattering response that you’d think everyone in the building won the lottery simultaneously.
Surreal would be a fitting description of the atmosphere at Malmo’s Wrestlingpalatset venue. During my match, I thought to myself, “If only every audience were this easy, our job would be a cakewalk!”. Yeah, if only.
The SWS crew down in Malmö knows that they are spoiled. Spoiled rotten is more like it.
It’s official: I will finally get my shot at FCF Champion “Wildman” Heimo Ukonselkä at Fight Club Finland’s Jatkosota 2012 event on Friday, April 20th in Helsinki.
To say that this match has been a long time coming would be arguably the understatement of the year. Ukonselkä has been a strong champion, thwarting all challenges to date, coming out on top like the king of the kill. However, on April 20th at the Old Student House, smack-dab in the heart of the nation’s capital of Helsinki, Heimo Ukonselkä is up against one of the top professional wrestlers on the continent of Europe today.
Get your tickets early, this event WILL sell out.
To quote the legendary Four Horsemen member Arn Anderson, “I hate to toot my own horn, but TOOT, TOOT!!”. Heimo Ukonselkä, along with everybody else knows, that StarBuck is not only a 4-time FCF Champion, I am also a 3-time European Champion, a 2-time Italian Champion, the first SMASH Champion in Japanese history, along with being a German tag team champion. I have faced the best of the best worldwide in 17 countries over 17 years in the game. From legends like Japan’s Genichiro Tenryu to multi-time European Champion Bernard Vandamme of Belgium to greats like former ECW World Champion Steve Corino, they have all fallen to Yours Truly inside of that squared circle. Heimo Ukonselkä, the “Wildman” and current FCF Champion, is next on that long, elusive list.
Heimo, start counting your remaining days as champion, because they are coming to an end on April 20th.
I will be coaching an exclusive pro wrestling beginners’ course at Amin Asikainen’s Ringside Gym in Espoo, Finland, starting on Saturday, April 14, 2012.
For any and all that are seriously interested in this opportunity to step up to the plate and show their wares, I welcome you to challenge yourself and enter a demanding course that covers areas such as body control, coordination, balance, fluidity, acrobatics and stamina.
This is your chance to learn from a former 3-time European champion/SMASH champion/4-time FCF champion/2-time Italian champion/German tag team champion, who has toured 17 countries in pro wrestling and been in the ring with the top competition worldwide.
I recommend this course to anyone who is athletically-inclined and can think “outside the box”. Mainly, the beginners’ course will cover mat-based techniques, chain wrestling, holds and counter-holds and various take-downs over a 10-week period. Regardless of whatever your current fighting art is, adding effective pro wrestling techniques and attributes to your repertoire can only help you to become a more complete fighter overall.
The entry fee is 150 Eur/person and for those who are seriously interested, make an open application and send it to me by Apirl 12th, complete with a current photograph of yourself, your height, weight, age and athletic background: starbuck (AT) fightclubfinland (DOT) com
This past Wednesday night – March 14, 2012 – a somber mood set over Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, as Japan’s SMASH organization held its final show, closing its doors forever.
The capacity crowd on hand at Korakuen Hall watches the main event of SMASH.FINAL
Many people are both asking and wondering what has led to the closing down of the promotion, considering SMASH rose in its two-year run to become one of the leading puroresu organizations in Japan. SMASH started from zero in March of 2010 and rose like a phoenix amongst both fans and media alike over the next couple of years. Their events in Japan drew great houses and showcased some of the finest pro wrestling to be seen anywhere. So what exactly is at the root of the demise of SMASH?
Starting the match off against Tajiri in classic wrestling fashion
Very simply, the answer lies in the divergent visions of SMASH president Mr. Sakai and SMASH creative director Tajiri for the company and its future. As Mr. Sakai owns the SMASH name and its respective title belts, this rift and separation proved to be a fatal blow to the company. Without the creative genius of Tajiri, SMASH would simply not exist. Tajiri was truly the soul and heartbeat of SMASH, and for Sakai to continue without him would have been foolhardy and a questionable risk. Thus, at SMASH.FINAL on March 14th when all was said and done after the main event, Mr. Sakai announced publicly that there will be no SMASH v.2 post-Tajiri. SMASH is now finished.
Tajiri clamps a chinlock on Yours Truly
The video below narrates (in English) the meat of the matter rather well.
I am greatly honored to have taken part in the SMASH.FINAL main event alongside FCF Wrestling teammate Hajime Ohara against the team of Tajiri and Akira Nogami. I think it would be safe to say that SMASH was built largely on the four of us and our contributions to the promotion, so having this tag team main event headline the final SMASH show in history is truly prolific.
Double-teaming Akira Nogami, I plant the elbow into the upper back as Ohara stays the course
I really couldn’t think of a better way to go out on a high note. Being in the ring with three of my best friends in this often cold, dog-eat-dog business on a night that enveloped so much emotion and weightiness meant a lot to me. We fought tooth and nail for 25:50 of a wrestling classic before Akira was able to nail Ohara with his Musasabi Press splash off the top rope to end the epic encounter.
Akira has me in the Old Boy submission as Ohara tries to make the save
The night prior to the SMASH.FINAL, I was able to be part of Akira’s birthday party at the world- famous Ribera Steak House. Although we knew that the next night we would be facing each other in the fight of our lives, only the sense of mutual respect, admiration and friendship was present at our table.
At Ribera Steak House, toasting Akira's birthday with Josh O'Brien and Tajiri
Knowing that I have fought so many times in the same ring against esteemed opponents the calibre of Akira and Tajiri only heightens and strengthens the comraderie between us. The quality of our matches has always been top-notch, and being able to bring out the best in each other, regardless of the outcome, is definitely a key element that spawns great friendships in our trade.
Akira eats a nasty spike piledriver from Yours Truly
I can only hope that Tajiri starts up a new wrestling company in Japan following the demise of SMASH, as the man is one of the smartest minds in our business, and if anyone can do it, Tajiri most definitely can. Tajiri definitely knows what classic wrestling should be all about, and I will most certainly support him in whatever his future endeavors are.
Akira pins Ohara following a huge Musasabi Press in 25:50 of a wrestling classic
After the main event was said and done at SMASH.FINAL, SMASH Diva Champion Syuri also vacated her title, as the wrestlers came to the ring to bow out and say goodbye to all of their supporters and fans over the past two years.
A real sweetheart of a girl, Syuri was the last SMASH Diva Champion
The last SMASH Champion Dave “Fit” Finlay vacated his title last month at SMASH.25 after defeating Tajiri in a fantastic match.
The wrestlers pay their respects to the company and the audience at the end of SMASH.FINAL
I would also like to thank all of the SMASH fans personally this one, last time for allowing me to become a star in their country. As I said at the SMASH.FINAL afterparty, Japan is the #1 country in the world for pro wrestling, and it has been a dream come true for me to become a household name and celebrity in Japan through my pro wrestling adventures in the Land of the Rising Sun.
The Finnish Embassy in Japan came out to see SMASH.FINAL
FCF Wrestling just announced a huge match-up for Punishment in Porvoo 2 on Sunday, March 11 in Porvoo, Finland: StarBuck vs. Jessica Love for the #1 contendership to the FCF Championship, currently held by “Wildman” Heimo Ukonselkä.
Gender bending fan favorite Jessica Love and myself could not be further apart as polar opposites. Jessica embodies the alternative lifestyle of the modern age that is being pushed hard in the media and everywhere, whereas I represent the old school right down to the man being the head of the house and women wanting it that way. Jessica is a high-flying risk-taker, I stick to the basics to get the job done as efficiently and simply as possible.
As much as we have traveled together to Japan to wrestle on multiple occasions, Jessica and I have never really gotten along. We have more or less tolerated each other, for the sake of the business that we are in. I know Jessica Love has never really cared for StarBuck, nor have I ever really cared for Jessica Love. Perhaps you could say that in this respect, we are natural enemies.
Now, in one week’s time at Punishment in Porvoo 2, Jessica Love and myself vye for the #1 contender status as it relates to the FCF Championship. I have held that title belt four times to date. Jessica is still looking for that elusive first time to wear the FCF Championship.
Jessica Love will have to bring the damnedest fight that he/she has within him/her on Sunday, March 11th. Anything less will spell 100% sure defeat for the gender bender, because Jessica Love knows that StarBuck shows no remorse and gives no quarter.
Jessica Love has quickly risen in popularity in FCF Wrestling and in Japan with the SMASH organization over the past two years. I am sure Jessica would love to rise above StarBuck and cement a personal legacy in professional wrestling by one day becoming the FCF Champion – a title that has changed hands on two continents and has been held by five different nationalities since its inception, making it one of the most sought-after titles in the world of European professional wrestling.
There’s only one problem though. That problem is named StarBuck.
Jessica Love will need more than Lady Luck to topple this veteran in Porvoo on March 11th. Jessica is going to need a miracle.
Last night at FCF Wrestling’s flagship show of the year – Talvisota VI (Winter War VI) in Helsinki – the fans on hand witnessed a truly memorable event that will undoubtedly go down as one of the best cards in Finnish pro wrestling history.
With a capacity audience on hand at the Helsinki Sports Hall, human tank Ibo Ten and gender bending fan favorite Jessica Love fought a wicked Tables, Ladders & Chairs match, which was stellar and absolutely breathtaking on every level. In addition, it was dangerous beyond description and a very high risk affair, but the bad blood between those two finally came to ahead last night and Jessica Love walked away victorious.
In one of the most insane moments that I have ever witnessed live, Jessica leaped off of the scaffolding that was set up for the lighting around the ring onto a prone Ibo Ten lying on a table in the ring. After the crash, the three-count was merely a formality, ending the war in 23:08.
I waged my personal vendetta against Mikko “Finnhammer” Halme at Talvisota VI, a match that was a tight brawl from start to finish. Finnhammer really fought like he had a point to prove, and that very well may have been the case, but in the end it was all for nought, as I spiked Finnhammer with my trademark piledriver for the winning pinfall in 17:53.
New FCF General Manager Robert Holmström went out of his way to pour some salt into Finnhammer’s wound of loss, firing him from FCF Wrestling after the match. Me personally, I think my old friend Herr Holmström is having a hard time wielding the scepter of power, as he has gone a on a few tangents and powertrips as of late. If this continues, Robert is going to need more backup than his new bodyguard Murskaaja Mieto can afford him. Just saying…
I was also just recently approached by SWS Wrestling out of Malmö, Sweden, and I will be making my in-ring debut with their company on March 24. I hear a lot of good things about SWS drawing very good houses and rabid audiences in Malmö, so it will be very interesting to see what the wrestling business over there is like at the end of this month.
On a sadder note, I will be wrestling with SMASH for the last time on March 14 in Tokyo at Korakuen Hall in the main event alongside FCF Wrestling teammate Hajime Ohara against Yoshihiro Tajiri and Akira Nogami at SMASH.26. The company is closing down due to directional differences between SMASH President Sakai and creative director Tajiri. Having been with SMASH since its onset, I can only say that I am honored to be in this main event match with three of my good friends in the wrestling business, and we will give it our all on March 14 when the curtain closes for the final time.
Also coming up in two weeks time, FCF Wrestling’s Porvoo Punishment in the town of Porvoo, 40km east of Helsinki. This card will feature international guest star El Generico in action, so get your tickets early!
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