On November 1st in Stockholm, Sweden, STHLM Wrestling is holding their biggest card of the year, called There Will Be Blood III. Where we in Finland have Talvisota (Winter War) as our flagship show of the year and WWE has Wrestlemania, this November 1st showdown in Stockholm is looking to be a sizzler.
I was called up by the promotional end of STHLM Wrestling to tend to some business at their end that has the entire city up in arms. A national hero and former Olympic champion named Frank Andersson was attacked unceremoniously by a younger wrestler named Ken Malmsteen a couple of months back.
Frank Andersson is back after a 20-year absence from the ring.
Frank Andersson used to wrestle for WCW back in 1993 and has even grappled in New Japan Pro Wrestling in the early ’90s. Ken Malmsteen took the liberty of blindsiding Frank and kicking him in the head, but regardless of his actions, he also lost the STHLM Wrestling championship to Andersson on a different occasion just a short spell ago. Frank Andersson, who is now 58-years of age, made his comeback in pro wrestling on September 6th this year, where in Stockholm, in his first bout in 20 years, he became the new STHLM Wrestling titleholder.
Now, I’ve been here and there, and just about everywhere, wrestling all kinds of matches under various circumstances in my 20 years in the wrestling business. On November 1 in Stockholm, this Last Man Standing match be something that I’ll be heartily looking forward to. Young upstarts like Malmsteen, who have not yet seen the world and the realities of the pro wrestling business, need to be taught serious lessons. At There Will Be Blood III, I’m looking at beating Malmsteen from pillar to post, battering him into a crimson pulp, for what he did to a legend from his own country. Kids like this have to be taught the hard way, and I’ll be more than happy to show him the workings of the meat grinder of correction.
Ken Malmsteen should be looking into his personal insurance policy beforehand, because on November 1st, he will be subjected to a world of hurt in the main event of the evening! Frank Andersson should be smiling when all is said and done after this.
I had the honor of participating in my old tag team partner Akira Nogami’s 30th pro wrestling anniversary show in Tokyo this past Friday, October 10. I wrestled the main event of the evening, a triple threat match between myself, Akira and Masakatsu Funaki. It was memorable, let me assure you!
My former Synapse teammates — Syuri congratulates Akira on 30 years in the game.
As anyone out there worth their stock in Puroresu and MMA knowledge knows, Masa Funaki is one of the founders of Pancrase, along with Minoru Suzuki. The man is a fighting sport legend in his own lifetime, and one of the hardest, if not THE single most hardest kicker that I have been in the ring with in the last 20 years.
In our match, I found myself fighting an overwhelming 2-on-1 attack from both Akira and Funaki for the first half of the match, before things between them became strained and they turned their focus on fighting each other.
Something incredible happened during the match that I have never encountered before in all my years: I spike piledrove Funaki to cut off the 2-on-1 assault I was under, and moments later, he just popped back up and began lacing into me with knees and kicks! It was downright scary. The man is almost not human, and most definitely is one of the toughest opponents I have ever been in the ring with.
Finally, after several altercations with both opponents, I was able to capitalize on a fortunate intervention by Akira’s and my former Synapse teammate Syuri, who saved Akira from near-defeat by Funaki. As Masa Funaki’s attention was diverted at ringside on Syuri, I was able to hit my trademark spike piledriver in the ring to score the elusive win.
It was surreal, as the understanding of StarBuck defeating Akira sank in on my esteemed opponent’s 30th anniversary card. I am sure this outcome was also a shock to many in the media on hand, as well as the rabid fans on hand at Shinjuku Face arena that night. As wrestling legend Masahiro Chono got in the ring and raised my hand in victory, I realized once again, these are the grand moments that we live for in this business. Moments that live on vividly in our memories, that one day we tell our grandchildren about.
At the end of it all, everyone that wrestled on the card got into the ring to pay homage to our great brother-in-arms, Akira. All of my respect to the man, who is one of the kindest individuals and kindred warrior spirits that I have gotten to know in this tumultuous game we call professional wrestling.
In closing, I dedicate this video to my brother and friend, Akira Nogami, the Musasabi Warrior! Live long and prosper!
At the end of last month, I traveled to Vesileppis Sport & Spa Hotel in Leppävirta, Finland, where I was filmed with the Vesileppis mascot for a funny set of commercials promoting the establishment and its services. These commercials have now been released, and can be seen below:
On October 10, my good friend Akira Nogami celebrates 30 years of active competition in the wrestling business with a special card dedicated to his imprint on our grappling industry, to be held in Tokyo at Shinjuku Face Arena. A literal plethora of who’s who from the world of Japanese Puroresu will be on hand to honor our brother-in-arms, and I am stoked to be taking a part in this special evening of in-ring combat, by direct invitation of Akira himself.
Akira Nogami in 2010 (photo: SMASH)
Akira and I have a storied history together, both as adversaries and as tag team partners in our business. If I could hand-pick my opponents, Akira would easily make the top five of that list on any given day. He is smooth, flowing like water and moving like a panther inside of that ring. I have often likened him to the legendary former NWA World and WWF Intercontinental champion, Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, in terms of his fluid wrestling style.
Some of my best memories from Japan have been shared with my brother, Akira. We have fought some amazing battles. We melded like clockwork in a team called Synapse, alongside female standout, Syuri Kondou (a multi-time women’s wrestling and kickboxing champion). Upon our inception in the summer of 2012, our trio was passionately compared to the classic 1996 nWo unit with Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall in the belated World Championship Wrestling (WCW) organization. We were cool baddies. We kicked ass and took names, downing the competition all across Japan for much of 2012-2013. In February of this year, on the same card where I won the WNC (Wrestling New Classic) championship from “The Japanese Buzzsaw” Tajiri, we disbanded our Synapse team, all going our separate ways.
Akira, StarBuck, Syuri (photo: Kazuhiko Kato)
Akira started his legendary career in New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), famous for hosting and organizing the world-famous 1976 wrestler vs. boxer match-up between Antonio Inoki and Muhammed Ali. Akira was part of the same class of ’84 that saw the launch of Keiji Muto (aka The Great Muta), Shinya Hashimoto, Masahiro Chono and Masakatsu Funaki. Nowadays, Akira grapples for Keiji Muto’s Wrestle-1 office in Japan.
My first encounter against AKIRA, from SMASH.8 in September 2010 in Tokyo (photo: SMASH)
Akira first notable title win was the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight championship, defeating Jushin Liger in August 1991. Since then, he has been a journeyman wrestler, both in Europe, the USA and Japan. Akira took part in the NWA world tag team tournament in 1992, held under the Bill Watts regime as the head of WCW, teaming with Hiroshi Hase in the opening round. Akira was injured, and could not compete a month later in the second round alongside Hase, so he was replaced by Shinya Hashimoto (Hase and Hashimoto would lose to Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes in the semi-finals of the tournament). Akira is also a former IWGP Jr. Heavyweight tag team champion, alongside old foe Jushin Liger, and the first ever WNC champion from 2012, defeating Tajiri in the WNC title tournament finals.
I am proud to be taking part in this big card on October 10 in Tokyo to pay tribute to the career of Akira Nogami, a real friend and brother in this hard, dog-eat-dog business called professional wrestling. He is someone who has always had my back, whether we have been against each other, or if we have teamed together. We share a mutual respect and a bond of friendship, a warrior’s bond. This is truly rare in any walk of life.
We had a couple of fantastic gigs once again up in Lapland this past weekend, complete with driving over 3400km in total to bring our specific flavor of southern rock to the Arctic Circle.
On Friday night in Saariselkä, we played the annual Jänkhällä Jytisee biker bash at Santa’s Hotel. With about an estimated 500-plus folks on hand out of a weekend attendance of 2500, filling out the hotel nightclub, we worked the bikers into a fevered frenzy. People wore wide smiles, beamed with good vibes and danced the night away to Crossfyre’s originals and select cover songs. Our hotel suite was indeed sweet, with three rooms and a living room, complete with sauna and kitchen quarters. There’s something to be said also for northern hospitality, with several meals on the house for the band while we were there.
Arriving in Rovaniemi with our bassist Dan to get picked up for the tour
Jänhällä Jytisee saw some pretty awesome bike stunts like this one (photo: Juha Kauppinen)
This photo captures the great atmosphere of our Friday night gig (photo: Juha Kauppinen)
Our second Lapland gig in Ivalo, just 30km north of Saariselkä, offered fantastic food and excellent accommodations, also. Ravintola Kultahippu is Ivalo’s premiere pub and live music establishment and the folks up there really appreciate good, live entertainment. We had this bar and pub rocking, drawing all manner of younger and older clientelle to the dance floor to shake their blues away to Crossfyre’s music. I have to say that Ivalo reminded me a lot of Mänttä, where I used to live when I first moved to Finland. It’s pretty barren and ascetic, with little in the way of window dressing and frills.
Rämö is an old friend of the band from up North, as StarBuck clowns around
The Crossfyre Crossmobile signals the arrival of the band in Ivalo
Stopping off at the world-famous Santa’s Village in Rovaniemi
Next up: the City of Porvoo’s Moonriver 2014 summer festival on Friday, August 29, with our set starting on stage at 22:00. For this gig, our second founding member and second guitarist,Jay Jay Asikainen, will be coming in from Florida. Be sure to come out and see this great spectacular!
I just received an email from Finland’s #1 newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, yesterday, regarding my announced involvement in pro wrestling legend Antonio Inoki‘s groundbreaking IGF fight cards in North Korea at the end of this month on August 30 & 31. This information is, however, untrue.
It is true that I was in negotiations with IGF about appearing and participating at these events, but we never reached a suitable deal and contractual settlement. I am not aware of how the news of my negotiations with IGF bled through and became public, as a top western consultant out of North Korea and China had also posted infos about my involvement at these events, along with my photo and a short biography about me, which has since been removed from his website.
Japanese wrestling legend and IGF boss, Antonio Inoki (middle)
Regardless, I must inform everyone, that any and all information about my involvement and participation at the IGF events in North Korea on August 30 & 31 are false. I will not be appearing and I will not be there.
Several people have already asked me about this, and I felt a need to publicly clarify before this story spreads further.
What a heck of a weekend we’ve had with Crossfyre up in Lapland, the northern hemisphere of Finland! On tour with Crossfyre, we brought the flavor of southern rock and classic rock in general to the north, and boy, did the people up here LOVE IT!
The band gets ready for Friday night’s gig in Levi.
With a back-to-back set of gigs in Levi and Kuusamo respectively, we witnessed the good vibes catch on in droves both nights, with all manner of folk dancing the night away in front of the stage. Indeed, we play adult-oriented rock, but that said, anyone from their twenties to their sixties seems to dig our sound, regardless of where we play. That said, we really must be doing something right.
The restaurants and establishment walls at Hullu Poro were embellished with our gig adverts.
On Friday night, we pulled into Levi on the outskirts of Kittilä, after a near-20-hour drive from Helsinki. Our newly revamped Crossmobile turned heads left and right, with its snazzy tape-job, sponosored by Mad Croc Energy Drinks. It was a couple of years back that we wrote the theme song for Mad Croc’s motor racing division worldwide, and since that time, we’ve developed a great working relationship with the energy drink giant.
Crossfyre’s official tour van, The Crossmobile!
The Hullu Poro Hotel and resort in Levi has to be seen to be believed. It is honestly one of the coolest, most endearing places visually and atmosphere-wise, that there is to be seen and experienced in Finland. As a trivia note, in January 2009, I won my second Eurostars European wrestling championship title from Bernard Vandamme of Belgium at Hullu Poro Arena in Levi, so that place carries a lot of significance to me personally.
Our gig venue in Levi at Hullu Poro.
Our Friday gig at Hully Poro was a capacity biker bash entitled WILD RIDE. It’s an annual event, and this year, Crossfyre was the band of choice to play the happening. Top-of-the-line hotel rooms, wickedly good food and high-class cuisine on the house and a tremendous atmosphere capped off this outing. And I have to say: our cover of ZZ Top’s “Sharp Dressed Man” always gets every ass in the joint moving like an ant farm. There’s just something to it that works every single time out. That’s probably because the original itself is such a great song to begin with!
This chick told me “Good grief, you’ve got one foot in the grave already!”
Our second gig last night in Kuusamo at Ravintola Veijo was stellar, also. A real gritty bar in feel and vibe, Veijo is the kind of place rock bands want to play at. With a population of around 16 000 people, Kuusamo doesn’t have a lot happening, so when something notable hits town, you better believe the town folk are going to show up! And show up they did, a packed house at that! Here, we got to see how another carefully chosen cover song, Golden Earring’s “Twilight Zone”, sank into people like a hot knife through butter. Me personally, I want to see us cover that song on our next album after our current Iron Horse release, in support of which we have been touring all summer long.
Thanks to all the fine folks that came out to see us do what we do best this past Friday and Saturday in Northern Finland. And ladies, hehee…I’m sorry: as a married man, I’m no longer on the playing field! Just a good reminder, as we head out to our other northern gigs next weekend in Saariselkä at Santa’s Village and Ivalo respectively. Tomorrow, I fly back to Helsinki out of Oulu, to perform my WWE wrestling commentaries for Eurosport television in Finnish, and then on Thursday I fly back up north to continue rocking the Arctic Circle!
The atmosphere at Veijo’s pub in Kuusamo was off the charts!
I have an inspirational story, one which will both enamor and enthrall a lot of readers. As everyone knows by now, I am the pioneer of professional wrestling in Finland, dating back to 2003, when I became the first person ever in Finland to take the grappling game to a learning level. I’ve coached pretty everyone and anyone who has ever come onto the scene out of Finland. Back before we started domestic Finnish pro wrestling, it bears to be mentioned that there were a few strongmen and bodybuilders, who, being daring showmen as well, dallied in what very well may be considered as backyard wrestling to a large degree in the late 1990s.
There was a circle of four guys: strongman and former amateur champion Jouni Morsky (who wrestled as Normann the Viking), Tony Halme (who wrestled to international fame as WWF’s Ludvig Borga from 1994), bodybuilder Jyrki Savolainen (nicknamed “Indian” RIP; was trained for pro wrestling in Australia in the mid-’90s) and a guy called Boogie “Commando” Mustonen (who was a Finnish and European bodybuilding champion). Out of the four, I got to know every one of them at some stage during 1997 through their “promoter”, a shyster-kind of fellow who had a few dealings with the Russian mafia. His name was Jussi, and he was actually put down by the Russians after a deal of some sort went bad. But it was Jussi who introduced me to Mörsky and to Boogie during the spring of 1997.
Boogie Commando from around 1996-1997
When I first met him, I thought Boogie “Commando” Mustonen was a big-headed bastard, who thought he knew everything there was to know about the wrestling business. He had been trained by a bald-headed Andy-something-or-other in Australia in 1993. I have no idea what this Andy fellow taught Boogie, because he didn’t know anything about the business, period. The “matches” that the four various Finnish guys were having amongst themselves were far from professional wrestling. They pretty much consisted of three moves, done to overkill: a bodyslam, a clothesline and an elbow smash. Everything else was ramshackle brawling. I was going to the referee between Mustonen and Mörsky in a 2/3 falls match that they’d have in Äänekoski, Finland that summer. Boogie came across as proud, a real peacock, someone who just let you understand that you were beneath them. That was 17-years ago, and now, after I met the man again this past week, I am glad to say that he has changed for the better. Really, there has been a complete turn-around in the person of one Boogie Mustonen.
This past Thursday, I played a leading role in a television commercial shoot for a Sport & Spa hotel named Vesileppis, in Leppävirta, Finland. It’s really an amazing complex, complete with a 1.4 km ski-track deep underground that you can use even in the summertime, a year-round ice hockey rink, full-blown pool and spa area and tons of outside sports activities and possibilities. It’s like a nexus, a center for sports in the eastern Finnish province and area in which it is located. In the commercial, I play myself, complete in wrestling gear, alongside the Vesileppis mascot, which is a ladybug.
The Vesileppis mascot named Spa and me, as I play Sport
Well, Boogie Mustonen literally lives across the road from Vesileppis Hotel, where the wife and I were stationed during my commercial shoot. The owner of Vesileppis Hotel, a nice guy named Kimmo, wanted to organize a meeting between me and Boogie. Kimmo told me that Boogie had changed a lot, that he had an entirely new lease on life, after going through some horrendously hard times in his personal life in recent years. Mustonen has endured bowel cancer, he has had a kidney replaced, and he has gone through a blood poisoning episode, which led in turn to partial paralysis from the waist down for a period of six weeks. In addition, he has a faithful, old English Bulldog named Möykky, who is on his last legs now.
Boogie’s old, faithful buddy Möykky is on his last legs
Now at age 50, the shit hit the proverbial fan for Boogie this past year, when after going through kidney replacement surgery, he still wanted to compete in bodybuilding one more time at the upcoming annual Fitness Expo in Lahti, Finland. That is when his wife, Marjo-Nina, served him with an ultimatum, that she would file for divorce if he decided to risk his new, replacement kidney through bodybuilding competition anymore. The bottom line is, that the worst thing you can do to a kidney is to deplete it of hydration, which is exactly what happens when competitive bodybuilders diet down to the bone, draining their bodies dry to be as cut and lean as possible. Boogie saw the writing on the wall: game over.
Boogie poses with multi-time Mr. Olympia, Dorian Yates of the UK
Yesterday, as I was visiting Boogie at his home gym, he told me that he tried getting excited about discus throwing after his last bodybuilding aspirations went down the drain. Discus didn’t do it for him, Mustonen knew it wasn’t his game. Deep down, Boogie Mustonen knew who and what he was: a showman. He was an entertainer, who loved being in the spotlight. And something still ate at him, like acid on the soul. It was his last match, a July 1997 bout against Tony Halme in Joensuu, Finland. I was referee for their match, which can be seen in the three links below. It’s not a good match by any stretch of the imagination. It’s really quite terrible, a complete mess. It also happened to be, unbeknowst to Mustonen, his try-out match for Otto Wanz’s gigantic CWA (Catch Wrestling Association, in operation 1973-1999) promotion out of Austria. Had Boogie made good in the match against Halme, he very well might have gotten signed with Wanz, and he could have ended up making money in our business, but it was not to be.
Halme cursed underneath his breath to me after the outing, “Have you ever seen such a shit match?!”
He was right. It was downright drivel. Not the way a man wants his career in any field to be remembered. No, everyone out their wants their last standout memory from whatever etaph along the road of life to be a proud one. A tale that you tell excitedly about to your grandchildren one day. That is the marker that you want to leave behind.
Boogie Mustonen never got to clear the table, nor to give his soul rest in this matter. He never got to wrestle another match, a better match. A good, final memory.
Tony Halme vs. Boogie Mustonen in Joensuu 1997, with me officiating
So here we are, in the year 2014, 17-years after the fact, and Boogie tells me that he wants it now. He wants to come back and clear his name and wash clean his memory of the flop against Halme. I am astounded as I listen to him. He has passion in his voice, a determination. He really wants this. At 50, he’s not going to be denied.
So I tell him, “I will train you.” I have the track record to make him take me seriously. Boogie understands, that StarBuck IS professional wrestling here in Finland. If you want to go to the top, you have to learn from the best. And today, even at age 41, I can still say that with the knowledge that I have, I am the best here in this game. So we did a trade: being a former bodybuilding champion, Boogie coaches me in fine-tuning my body, my chassis, with which I ply my trade. In turn, I coach him in making a comeback match in Finnish professional wrestling.
Fine-tuning muscle-building techique with bent-over rows
I hope that Boogie Mustonen has the heart and drive to pull this one through. Bygones are bygones. The big-headed bastard from yesteryear has disappeared. In his place stands a humble, ambitious, grown man, who wants to do his soul and pride right. I want to support him every step of the way.
It’s like the past never happened, Boogie is a great guy!
What a week it has been! In the heat and the heart of the Scandinavian summer of 2014, I ventured out with my wife Diana to Langå, Denmark to commandeer an intensive 5-day pro wrestling training bootcamp. I had students attending from four different countries, as far away as Scotland to students from Sweden, Denmark and Germany. All in all, 21 participants showed up at the start of the week, this past Monday, when we set off. At the end of it all, about 16 were still actively participating, pulling through, right to the end.
As is the case in every single pro wrestling schooling that I have been a coach in, a certain number of folks always drop out. That is the law of nature: only the strong survive. That said, I am damn proud of the kids, ranging from age 12 to 26, who toughed it out til the bitter end. Well, the end wasn’t so bitter, because the payoff for those who pulled through was a student show in front of parents and close friends, by invitation only, this past Friday. I served as the special referee for all of the student matches, making sure everything was on the up and up.
Yours Truly donning the official’s uniform
I was particularly impressed with the natural aptitude of a few of the trainees on hand this past week. I feel compelled and even obligated to mention something about them, because they deserve props. There were a couple of young men from northern Sweden who showed up, and both of these guys had natural, innate talent. You could see the potential of greatness in them. They absorbed everything like a sponge, retaining what they had learned in quick order. It is a true pleasure to coach people like this, because it is very rewarding for the coach to see that someone just “gets it.” Then there was a young man named Duncan from Copenhagen, who attended a similar camp I coached in Denmark back in 2009, five years ago. At the time, he was a skinny, not so athletic kid. I told him what he needed to do to get himself into the kind of condition that he needed to be in, should he still want to aspire to his dream of becoming a professional wrestler. Well, five years later, this young man shows up in shape, having slaved away in the gym for the past several years, conditioning his mind to be disciplined. Someone like that deserves all my respect, and that is saying a lot, because the kid is still an unproven talent in the wrestling world. A couple of very talented young, rookie wrestlers from DPW (Danish Pro Wrestling, the parent company that organized this training camp), a pair of cousins, really showed incredible potential also. I am talking about the kind of talent that you either have, or you don’t. Given time, these kids will go far in the pro wrestling business, because they have the heart for it. A young man from Scotland showed incredible character and personality skills, with a gimmick that legitimately had spectators crapping their pants in fright. Simply based on ring presence alone, this guy, wrestling name Switch, should by all accounts have a solid chance at getting a healthy amount of bookings based on his uniqueness and character strength.
Fake or Break camp 2014 Denmark, the final line-up that pulled through to the end (with veteran ace wrestler Chaos 2nd to my right and Poul Roest 2nd to my left)
I would like to extend a big hand to the promoters of DPW, Poul Roest and Kim Tinning, a couple of great guys who do their damndest to push their talent to achieve a higher level of aptitude and professionalism. In closing, the name of this intensive training camp was Fake or Break. That is a very fitting title, although it sounds a bit misleading, because if you cannot take the pain, blues and agony that goes along with this CONTACT SPORT, then you simply do not belong in our business. Fake it is not, Break you just might.
Showing the ropes to the students with top Danish wrestler Chaos
What a blast we had this past weekend, driving out with the band to play the very first Mossala Run on the island of Mossala (or more precisely Houtskari) off of the western coast of Finland. After a dismal, cloudy and rainy June, July is looking to finally usher in summer, and the weather was fantastic!
We had to take five ferries to cross over from the mainland to our destination, and it took almost 8h to get there from the point of departure, but damn, it was worth it! “Big Chief” Danny Cross and I took our respective ladies with us on this first-ever Mossala Run, so the girls could get a chance to take in Finland at its utmost best. I got to shed my “winter coat”, as they say here in Finland, taking my first dunk and swim of the year in the sea, straight out of the sauna next to our log cabin. We had the best overall barbeque ever, courtesy of Fafa’s Smokery on the island. In short, we enjoyed the hell out of this past weekend!
Here is a music video and photo compilation from the members of Custom Bikers Finland, who organized the Mossala Run and exclusively invited us to play there for their fine club:
starbuck.fi 