I will be returning to Germany this upcoming weekend to fight for the European Wrestling Promotion (EWP) in Hannover on Saturday, April 6 at Hangar No. 5 against new EWP Intercontinental champion, Dutchman Leon Van Gasteren.
Leon Van Gasteren in action
Gasteren was trained back in 1996 by German ring legend, Franz Schuhmann. I’ve never run into Gasteren in my prior wrestling travels to Germany, so for me this outing on April 6 in Hannover will be quite interesting. I spoke with TopCatch European wrestling champion, Michael Kovac, about Gasteren, and he spoke of the Dutchman with high praise.
Leon Van Gasteren
Here is a brief look at Leon Von Gasteren from a tag team match, alongside English ring legend Robbie Brookside, whom I met in Finland over a week ago…
Wochenblatt, a newspaper out of the Hannover region of Germany, did a piece on my upcoming match, which can be accessed in German HERE.
I will be returning to Japan this coming weekend to wrestle with my SYNAPSE team (WNC champion AKIRA, WNC women’s champion Syuri, StarBuck) vs. Holland’s Emil Sitoci, Ivan Markov of Russia and Russian female competitor Bonnie Ekaterina at the Wrestling New Classic event on March 31 at Shinjuku Face arena in Tokyo.
Emil Sitoci, Ivan Markov, Bonnie Ekaterina
There will be an afternoon and an evening show at Shinjuku Face on the same day. The six-person tag is in the afternoon, and in the evening I will have a singles encounter against either Akira Shinose or Koji Doi, both of whom are just out of their rookie year in the wrestling business. Both Shinose and Doi will have a match against each other in the afternoon to see which one of them will get the “honor” of facing Yours Truly on the evening card.
AKIRA, StarBuck, Syuri
It feels great to be returning to Japan after a half a year away! Sou desu ne!!!
Finnish professional photographer Susanna Honkasalo sent these shots to me from the highly-controversial events of this past Saturday night in Helsinki, where I faced Valentine for his BWA (British Wresting Alliance) Catchweight championship at an event entitled Domination 8, hosted by FCF Wrestling.
Valentine’s despicable actions with his assault on my wife at ringside are clearly visible. At this time, I have not gotten the video footage from this event, but when I do, I will post the material of this cowardly attack here.
In addition, Valentine assaulted WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) talent scout and guesting referee, Robbie Brookside, jeopardizing potential future WWE tryout opportunities for not only himself, but for the entire locker room on the evening of March 23.
There will be serious repercussions following this debacle, THAT I most certainly can guarantee.
There are some things in this life that one simply does not do: You never mess with another man’s ego, you never mess with another man’s money and you never mess with another man’s wife.
Last night, I wrestled what anyone could have considered a very game match against reigning BWA (British Wresting Alliance) Catchweight champion, Valentine. WWE talent scout and 30-year wrestling veteran Robbie Brookside of England was slated to wrestle Valentine at FCF Wrestling’s DOMination 8: Gods of the North event in Helsinki, but the condition of his knees was so bad that Robbie had to pull out of the bout at the last moment. Brookside has a long history of knee troubles over his wrestling career, and after several knee surgeries, his joints no longer have the needed cartiledge to make the rounds. Regardless, Robbie is a brave soul, who manages to still be able to wrestle actively on his good days, when his knees allow him to do so. Yesterday, however, was not a good day for Robbie Brookside as far as his knees were concerned, so he opted to referee, as I filled in as the challenger for Valentine’s BWA title.
Robbie Brookside holding a seminar for the wrestlers in Helsinki
What was initially a very sportive and competitive encounter turned nasty when I countered one of Valentine’s moves and the momentum sent him sailing over the top rope to the floor. Truth be told, I had the champion on the run for the better half of the 20:10 bout, and as the match went on, I was clearly taking over. When Valentine returned to the ring after his spill, he was visibly disgruntled and bent out of shape. Perhaps the frustration of not getting his hoped-for title defense against the legendary Brookside aggrevated Valentine more than he initially let on, as a potentially successful defense over the BWA Catchweight title would have put major momentum on Valentine’s title reign and resumé. Whatever the reason for his ill feelings, after stepping back into the ring, Valentine hit a suckerpunch and then proceeded to stomp the living daylights out of me. As Brookside tried to pry Valentine off of my fallen frame in the ring corner, after the champion refused to comply with the 5-count to break his assault in the corner, Valentine then cheap-shotted Brookside with a blow and stomped him also.
Following his actions, Valentine exited the ring and walked out on the match. Only he didn’t simply leave. He stopped in front of my valet and wife, Diana – known in wrestling as Miss D – and as she protested his actions, he aggressively slammed her backwards into the ring apron. Both Brookside and I were down when this happened, and we couldn’t stop the bastard’s actions. My wife took a nasty blow, the results of which you can see in the photo below, as of today.
As of last night, Valentine is a dead man walking, as far as this man is concerned. As I promised to the people on hand at Domination 8 in Helsinki after the debacle, not only will I take Valentine’s title, I will shorten his career.
This will not be forgotten, and trust me when I tell you — it’s etched in concrete in my memory.
A photo taken by a fan, posted on Facebook, of Valentine’s despicable actions to my wife
This weekend in Helsinki, the biggest card in Scandinavian pro wrestling history takes place to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of pro wrestling in Finland — DOMination 8: Gods of the North. On Friday and Saturday, March 22 & 23, wrestlers from all over Scandinavia will ascend on our nation’s capital in an attempt to claim Nordic dominance in our sport.
GBG Wrestling out of Gothenburg, Sweden sends the charismatic Conny Mejsel and the muscular Steinbolt (GBG champion); powerful Big D and rookie high-flier Ravn represent Denmark’s DPW Wrestling; The NWF from Oslo, Norway sends the largest wrestler in Scandinavia today, former Norwegian wrestling champion Björn Sem, along with his comrades Fevik, Ruslan and Hannibal. In addition, Australia’s The 69er returns to FCF at Domination 8 and WWE talent scout and veteran of the ring wars worldwide, Robbie Brookside, will also lace up his boots at the huge event! Here is a special look at Robbie Brookside from 15 years back, as he wrestles against Dean Malenko in the much-belated WCW:
I myself will be part of a huge 10-man elimination tag team match, Survivor Series-style, which happens tonight! I will be captaining my team of big and burly Tuho Torvinen, gender bender Jessica Love, brash Johnny McMetal and my protegé Mikko Maestro, as we go up against the quintet of the newly reborn Stark Adder, his protegé Ricky Vendetta, Björn Sem, Big D and FCF Champion and team leader, King Kong Karhula.
If you are in the southern area of Finland, be sure NOT TO MISS this mega-spectacle, spanning two days! Be a part of this historical milestone and come celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Finnish pro wrestling this weekend in Helsinki!
On Saturday, March 2nd, I traveled to Brugge, Belgium for the Eurostars promotion, which is based out of France. Belgium signaled my 18th country in the professional wrestling industry, since my ring debut in 1994. Below is a photo gallery of my main event outing from that event, where I took part in a Four Continents Cup elimination match, representing my homeland of Canada. You can access my column and article about the experience at The Wrestling Press online.
I was recently interviewed for GSP TV, Romania’s top sports television channel, regarding many subjects.
The interview is about 30 minutes long, so sit back and enjoy this phoner chat, where I talk everything from my own career to WWE to TNA to Japan, plus marriage and romance to boot!
It’s going to be a southern rock revolution this coming Friday night in Helsinki, as my Crossfyre band takes the stage at Bar Bäkkäri at 11:30pm! Check out the event on Facebook. Be sure to come out and enjoy a kickass show!
For a long time now, I have not bothered taking on any new protege’s in pro wrestling, as I just have not had the spark to do so. In 2007, I took on Pasi “Salama” Suominen, whose career ended prematurely, less than two years into his pro wrestling life, after he lost heart following an elbow injury that required surgery in late 2008. In 2010, I took on Japan’s Hajime Ohara, and our collaboration disintegrated over the summer of last year. After that, I just haven’t had the interest to pick up the next “project”. I have not seen the needed heart, drive and attitude in anyone … until now.
Academic standout and funny guy Mikko Maestro might fool a lot of people with his comical shtick, but underneath that exterior image is a kid whose heart burns for this business. He might not be the most talented kid out there, he might be a bit rough around the edges, and he might be a jackass for real, but this kid has the one thing that a lot of people in this business are missing: Heart.
I faced Maestro this past summer in Kerava, Finland, and tested the kid good and proper. He lost rather decisively, but he didn’t lose heart. Instead, he’d continue to ask me for advice on how to improve his personal game time and time again. When I proposed to my fiancee Diana this past January 4th in Lohja, Finland, I even decided to ask Maestro to bring the engagement ring to the wrestling ring, so I could take care of business and ditch the bachelor life. It was a big moment for Maestro, who understood that out of everyone in the FCF Wrestling locker room, I chose him to the courier in that memorable moment.
You can teach someone to wrestle, you can teach someone the psychology of mat warfare, you can teach someone proper etiquette … but the one thing that you cannot teach is the intangible element of heart. You either have it or you don’t. When push comes to shove, when injuries arise and when the business and those inside of it treat you like shit, your real passion and drive come to light. Some just wither and fade away in the heat of those negative barbs, whereas others rise to the occasion and work through the disparaging elements.
When I started out in the wrestling business as an active competitor in January 1994, I was not the most talented guy out there. In my second or third match, I recall my coach Lance Storm and my friend Chris “Y2J” Jericho sitting in the audience of an indie wrestling card in North Bay, Ontario. I took a leap off the second turnbuckle out of the corner at my opponent, attempting to hit him with a clothesline. My well-meant attempt was met with Jericho’s disparaging remark after the match, when he asked “Did you slip off the ropes?”. Yeah, that was not the message I was trying to get across. It took a long time for me to become a world-class athlete and one of the best out of Europe today. It demanded years of immersion, a humble attitude, incessant tunnel vision and TONS of heart … but I “got there”. I became a 3-time European wrestling champion, and a titleholder in many other countries. I faced the best of the best, and ultimately I was pushed to become the best at my chosen game and profession.
Now, at Talvisota VII on February 2nd in Helsinki at Sokos Hotel Presidentti, I will take on a new protege in Mikko Maestro. We are up against my old nemesis and Finnish wrestling veteran Stark Adder and his new protege, Ricky Vendetta. After all, it was Adder to whom I lost the Finnish title back on May 26, 2006 in Helsinki. Now, it’s the old dogs and the new pups on both sides of the fence. It’s a matter of mentorship, and moreso, a matter of personal pride. As Vendetta is to Adder, so Maestro is to me: They are our personal investments, and we are their impresarios.
To many, Maestro might still be a joke. It is my personal agenda to make the wrestling public take note of Mikko Maestro as a serious competitor, to push him to become more, to show the world that under the right guidance, he can become a force to be reckoned with. It might be a rocky road ahead, but dammit, I have walked the straight and narrow all my life. I am used to the hard road. Now, Mikko Maestro has the opportunity to learn through integration, and he is willing to sweat, bleed and pay the price, as 16-time world champion “Nature Boy” Ric Flair so aptly coined.
Prepare. February 2, 2o13. Talvisota VII. Helsinki.
Talvisota VII
02.02.2013 @ 18:00
Sokos Hotel Presidentti
Eteläinen Rautatiekatu 4, Helsinki
Tickets in advance: 12e, at the door: 15e (+ door charge)
After dominating the WNC (Wrestling New Classic) title tournament finals last month in Tokyo, my SYNAPSE teammate and new WNC Champion, AKIRA, has cordially invited Big Japan Wrestling standout star Shinya Ishikawa to join our ranks.
I fought against Ishikawa in a physical match, which I won with my spike piledriver, back in May 2011. I was told that my bout against the rising star was likened to a vintage Harley Race match, in terms of psychology, as noted by my good friend, Dr. Hiroaki Terasaki. The one thing I do vividly recall of the match with Ishikawa is the fact that he hit like a mule, and his “Dropkick from Hell” was aptly named, leaving me feeling like I had been hit by a baseball bat. Below are some of the pictures from that event (photos courtesy of SMASH).
Shinya Ishikawa’s SYNAPSE debut will be on January 25 at Shinjuku FACE arena in Tokyo at the next WNC event.
So now, SYNAPSE is fourfold strong: WNC Champion AKIRA, WNC Women’s Champion Syuri, StarBuck and Shinya Ishikawa.
starbuck.fi 