I just arrived back home in Finland from a very successful tour of Japan, where I wrestled a heated grudge match against Michael Kovac of Austria at SMASH.12, and a brutal hardcore match against Mexico’s Super Crazy at SMASH.13 in Tokyo on January 29.  On Sunday, January 30 in Osaka, I tagged up with my star protege Hajime Ohara to defeat the stellar team of Akira Nogami and “The Japanese Buzzsaw” Tajiri.

The press was out in force, covering all of the SMASH events, and the company sent me out to promote the upcoming matches at Samurai TV on Friday night, before the double-header SMASH.12 & 13 cards.  Serena Deeb (formerly of WWE, who was part of C.M. Punk‘s Straight Edge Society) was also sent out alongside myself to do PR for the shows, and proved to be a real sweetheart of a lass.

Speaking of Kovac and SMASH.12, we had one hell of a stiff bout, where my knuckles were swollen post-match after the altercation.  Kovac is a time-tested pro, and all things considered, after he left me laying following SMASH.10 at JCB Hall in November 2010, he knew the reckoning was coming.  Kovac pinned me after a sneaky low-blow as I re-entered the ring, after battering his carcass around ringside.  We sure didn’t fail to live up to expectations, as I dare say a lot of folks began believing in pro wrestling again after that match.  Akira Nogami told me that a friend of his in the audience said our combat reminded him of the early days of Stan Hansen and Bruiser Brody in Japan, and that is mighty high praise for anyone in the know.

Planting Michael Kovac at SMASH.12 with a face-buster, photo by Aya Takada

My match against former ECW/WWE superstar Super Crazy was a wild one as well, where we literally beat the snot out of each other, gaining a whole new level of respect in the process for one another.  Crazy put me through a wall, literally breaking the wall, as I came up bleeding.  We brawled all around the Shinjuku FACE venue to the rabid applause of the fans on hand, before I dropped the Luchadore with my spike piledriver on two chairs in the ring to finish the match.  SMASH president Mr. Sakai blogged about this match online, so find yourself a translator or just enjoy the photos HERE.

In notable news from SMASH.13, Michael Kovac dethroned Tajiri to become the new FCF Finnish Wrestling Champion.  Truth be told, we should re-christen the FCF Championship as the FCF World Championship, since as of SMASH.13, our title belt has changed hands four times in the Land of the Rising Sun, with one Japanese champion and one Austrian champion in the history annals of FCF’s Championship history (plus count in Erik Isaksen of Norway as FCF Champ from 2007).  Kovac beat down Tajiri after his win, and I interjected myself, superkicking Kovac out of the ring to rapturous applause.  I then proceeded to piledrive Tajiri for taking the FCF Title away from me at JCB, and as I was about to piledrive Tajiri for a second time, Takao Omori (All-Japan, ZERO-1) made the save.  The heat was off the charts as I had a tentative stare-off with Omori following that deal, setting up Omori vs. StarBuck for SMASH.14 on February 25.

In Osaka, I wrestled THE tag team match of my career to this date in history, as I would go on to gain some measure of retribution against Tajiri for my FCF Title loss, pinning him following my signature spike piledriver.  The psychology, teamwork and execution of that tag match between Tajiri/Nogami and Ohara/myself was spot-on.  Never have I enjoyed a tag team match as thoroughly as I enjoyed that outing in Osaka on February 30, and the fans on hand made it extra special, really popping for us.

Once again, I can only thank God for the great success that I have enjoyed in the promised land of pro wrestling, Japan.  I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.  Soudesune!

I just got a message from an American wrestling trainee in Japan, that the Japanese press has voted me as one of the TOP 5 foreign wrestlers of the year!

Now how COOL is THAT?!?

Woo-hoo!  Soudesune!

It has always bothered me to hear of professional wrestling spoken of as sports entertainment. While the term ‘sports entertainment’ itself rather aptly describes our trade, its heritage and roots are in what the age-old marquee reads: pro wrestling.

Is there a difference then between sports entertainment and pro wrestling, or are they the same thing?

Sports entertainment is a term that was created by WWE mainman Vincent K. McMahon, to distinguish his product from every other product in the pro wrestling industry, period. Vince is our industry leader, and everyone else follows suit, sooner or later. Vince sets the trend, the monkeys follow, because Vince has the mother of all banana trees.

The thing is, Vince does what is successful for business. Were it not successful, he would discontinue in the said vein, because WWE has shareholders and Vince must answer to them on Wall Street at the end of the day. Therefore, whatever WWE produces under its banner must work, otherwise it ends up being cut short and Vince will try something else.

Now me personally, I come from a very true-grit background, which prides itself on the physical sporting heritage on which professional wrestling was founded on. I credit a lot of that to my first mentor in the business, Karl Moffat. Names like Lou Thesz, Farmer Burns, Ed Lewis, Ric Flair and Buddy Rogers paved the way and established the SPORT of professional wrestling, which I dare say is a distant cry from sports entertainment’s banner. I am talking about a sporting endeavor, not bells and whistles akin to what you will see on much of WWE programming these days.

StarBuck’s first wrestling coach Karl Moffat, as Jason the Terrible, wrestles the late Brian Pillman:

So what is sports entertainment, and how did it get that way?

I strongly argue that professional wrestling was forced to become sports entertainment, led by the WWE, spearheaded by the evolution of American television programming. Where glitz and hi-tech became the norm, WWE had to follow suit to remain current and viable in a highly competitive primetime market.

Then came reality TV, which changed the television landscape for good. Professional wrestling had to adapt, bringing more drama and real life emotion into the mix, thus hooking the viewers, who were being offered the same approach across a slew of channels and shows.

This in turn, meant less actual wrestling action, and more background story on why this guy is feuding with that guy. It became an era where investing in a said wrestler’s personality became a must, because people must buy into your character above all, in order to feel a connection to the person they are watching. And the way to invest in a wrestler’s personality and character is to give them a voice. Thus, the ridiculous amounts of time spent on promo and mic work versus the actual wrestling done inside of the ring (speaking mainly about WWE once again).

In this light, professional wrestlers became more than actual wrestling personalities, WWE transitioned them into what they now term ‘performers´.

Now me personally, I hate the term ‘performer’ when it applies to what we do. I am a professional wrestler, first and foremost. I do happen to incorporate performance aspects into my work, but that is a necessary part of charisma and appealing to a wider audience. However, what I do inside of that ring is serious sport and extremely physical as an endeavor. I most certainly am not ‘performing’ my matches; I actually am fighting my matches. Perhaps only a select few true-grit pros will understand my point here, speaking of those who pride themselves on being athletes and making believers out of people. Nonetheless, the fact remains.

I believe that reinventing professional wrestling as sports entertainment has had more of a detrimental effect on our game than the sunny side of the coin. I believe that too many fans at large just take everything that we do to be a show, where I can most certainly attest to the fact that the truth is far from that.

WWE sets the pace, and the rest of the industry dances along to its drumbeat in some form or another. Even the haters copy what works, because everyone wants to cash in. That’s why people in even our own nook here in Finland that diss America still buy Coke, Levis, Adidas, Nike, Hollywood and everything else that is marketed by the mighty US of A. That is also why every wrestling company out there lends and borrows from WWE, because in reality, they have little other choice.

Money talks and BS walks, and Vince McMahon’s sports entertainment is here to stay … until and if Vince decides to change his mind and bring wrestling back to its roots.

Doubtful, but then again, we are still allowed to dream.

My lifelong goal in the professional wrestling industry has been to wrestle in Japan.  On July 24, 2010 – almost 16 and a half years after I made my professional debut as a wrestler in Calgary, Alberta, Canada – I finally reached that goal.  And not only did I reach it, I was given the opportunity to eclipse it.

Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought, that once I set foot on Japanese soil – in the highly respected rings of Puroresu, which Rikidozan once pioneered in the 1950’s – that I would be skyrocketed right to the top of their wrestling scene.

Yet, this is exactly what happened in 2010.

The father of Japanese Puroresu, Rikidozan

Japan’s SMASH organization believed in me so much, that they orchestrated me to the top of their cards, as a main player in this great game in their homeland.  They gave me an opportunity which many of my contemporaries would literally kill for.

Indeed, as traditionally happens in our sport, first a wrestler is tested on the undercards to see if they have the “it” factor, after which – if they do – they climb up the ladder one rung at a time.  Only certain international superstars like Kurt Angle, Hulk Hogan, Terry Funk and their like are positioned directly at the top when they come in initially.  In the past, that top gaijin – or foreign – spot was given to World Champions, who came to defend their represented honor in the Land of the Rising Sun.

So what made me stand out my first time in during 2010?  Why did the Japanese give StarBuck the top spot, instead of climbing up the ladder the traditional way?

I can only guess that the answer lies in the match that I had against SMASH mainman “The Japanese Buzzsaw” Yoshihiro Tajiri back on February 20, 2010 in Helsinki, Finland at FCF Wrestling’s Talvisota IV event.  Having toured the world in pro wrestling, adding 16 countries under my belt to date in this great sport, I have honed my skills against all kinds and styles and competition.  When Finland’s top nightclub chain SK Ravintolat made it possible to bring a top former WWE name to Finland to appear at Talvisota IV, I quickly chose Tajiri as my opponent.

Tajiri is unquestionably the most renowned Japanese wrestler to wrestle for the WWE monolith in the Y2K era, having spent six years under Vince McMahon’s umbrella.  Tajiri is also one of the craftiest pros in Japan today, due to his extensive international experience, and I readily rank him as one of my favorite opponents during my career.

At Talvisota IV, I was able to have an excellent bout against “The Japanese Buzzsaw”, which opened the doors for my entry into Japan.  Tajiri was convinced that I was a solid professional with a lot to offer, and he spoke well of me to his company, SMASH.

SMASH asked me to appear on July 24, 2010 at their SMASH.5 and SMASH.6 events in Tokyo, where I was booked to face Tajiri for the FCF Championship.  I walked away with the title, shocking both the media and the wrestling fans at large with my dominant victory.  I would go on to form a formidable team with Hajime Ohara, who was reborn as my protege during the summer and fall of 2010, as I was able to solidify a working arrangement between Finland’s FCF organization and SMASH in Japan.  I would go on to fight one of my greatest battles to date against 25-year ring veteran Akira Nogami at SMASH.8 in September, before I ended up losing the FCF Championship to Tajiri in an incredible rematch at SMASH.10, held at JCB Hall before 1200 screaming fans in Tokyo.

StarBuck locks Tajiri in the STF at SMASH.10 on Nov. 22, 2010 in Tokyo

The rest is history, as I enjoyed one of the greatest years in my life during 2010, achieving the apex of my personal professional wrestling goals.

I highly look forward to the great things 2011 has to offer, as I venture out to Japan again at the end of this month to wrestle once again, further benchmarking my status in Japanese Puroresu – the KING of sports!