Right now I am just one week shy of arguably the biggest match of my storied professional wrestling career, which dates back to 1994 as far as in-ring action goes. On Thursday, August 11 in Tokyo, Japan, I will be nose to nose with one of the greatest legends ever to grace a professional wrestling ring. That opponent is Genichiro Tenryu.
I have done everything in my power to ready myself for this monumental main match at SMASH.20, to be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo next week. Admittedly, coming back from a torn right rotator cuff has not been an easy road leading up to this huge match. It has been five weeks since my injury in Germany, and I am still not at 100% physically, but as the old saying in our business goes, “Everyone goes in hurt”.
Nonetheless, I firmly believe that the favor of my Great God in Heaven has me covered on all bases, and once I step into the ring at SMASH.20 and look Genichiro Tenryu in the eye, all the pieces will fall into place.
Austria’s Michael Kovac is scheduled to get his due rematch for my TopCatch European Wrestling Championship on September 10 at Stadthalle in Hollabrunn, Austria.
I defeated Kovac in Wismar, Germany for the honors on May 14, pinning my opponent with a surprise backslide in a very close call in the seventh round of the match (which was fought in 3 minute rounds – an old European title match tradition in pro wrestling).
As many of you have heard already, there is an extensive professional documentary movie about myself in the works. This project has been underway already for over two years, and the film crew has been with me to Japan, Sweden and Germany in addition to Finland.
filming at Ribera Steak House in Tokyo (director Oskari in the foreground)
While the general theme of the movie has to do with my wrestling career and my pioneering work in Finland in the mat game, the film will also give viewers a very comprehensive cross-section about Michael Majalahti as both a person and as a showman. It will delve into my personal life philosophy, my bands such as Crossfyre and Overnight Sensation, personal training and my artwork with projects such as children’s metal act Hevisaurus.
This film will show a very humanitarian side of Yours Truly, seen here with some kids in Japan
While many people (especially in Finland) know me as a very outspoken and controversial cult hero-like figure, few people have any grasp at all on who StarBuck really is. This documentary movie is now in the final stages of filming, and by all intents and purposes should see a broad spectrum of daylight in 2012.
Cameraman Arne filming my match against Shinya Ishikawa from Korakuen Hall, May 2011
All I can say is I believe a lot of people are going to be very impacted when they see the end result on film.
In absolutely one of the biggest match-ups in my career to date, I will be facing Japanese living puroresu legend Genichiro Tenryu at SMASH.20 on August 11 in the second round of the SMASH Championship Title Tournament at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall.
Tenryu is without question the most esteemed opponent that I have ever been billed against. His career stemming back to 1976 is one that very few mortal men could hope to equal, much less surpass.
Tenryu has also been a promoter in the wrestling industry, and my old friends Lance Storm and Chris Jericho have both wrestled extensively for Tenryu’s early 1990’s company WAR.
To say that I am anticipating this match against Tenryu would be the understatement of the decade: I am gearing up for this showdown like no other in the past, and I will do my best to make a big impression on August 11 when the bell sounds in Tokyo.
This past week I headed out to eastern Finland for a little camping out. Let me tell you: there’s nothing like pure nature to clean out your stress tanks and bring some internal harmony into your life. Well, nothing except maybe being spiritually born again, but that is another story altogether.
All things considered, nature offers the best detox to one’s emotional register that there is to be had. No traffic, no electronic buzz, no advertisements or flashing lights – the heart of the wild is where it’s at.
In a very rare look at my personal life, I offer ye all a glimpse of what my time off looks like:
Relaxing with Vince Neil’s autobiography, which is a somewhat mediocre read
I can’t survive without lots of food … here’s breakfast – army style
The mighty sand sphinx watches and ensures peace and quiet
Lunch is served … did I mention I love to eat?
You can’t beat the view out in the heart of the wild
Awaiting my next meal … what else?!
More protein over the coals to keep the motor humming
For the longest time I was meaning to take up a regular morning exercise regimen consisting of 50 free squats, 50 push-ups and 50 leg-raises. Meaning to is the key term here. Then finally this past Wednesday morning, I got serious.
The reason many of us fail to achieve or overcome is because we are stuck in a rut. Call it a comfort zone, whathaveyou. Regardless of whatever the tag you plant on it, it all boils down to willful negligence and laziness.
I finally had enough, got disgusted at my own alibis, and decided to get busy. After all, just as Tyler Durden so eloquently stated in one of my favorite movies Fight Club: “This is your life, and it’s ending one minute at a time.”
There’s not a single person out there who cannot start their mornings with a -10 minute training session. Unless you are physically handicapped, you have absolutely NO excuse.
I have to say I feel a hell of a lot better about myself after starting up what I should have initiated months ago.
The newest issue of The Wrestling Press has a 6-page full-length article where I detail my start in the pro wrestling business, with all the ups and downs of the road of trial.
Starting on page 84, find out all about how I was helped by well-known wrestlers such as Lance Storm and Chris Jericho, how I was sabotaged early on, hard training under former Stampede Wrestling great Jason The Terrible and much, much more!
On Friday, July 1 at FCF Wrestling’s DOMination II in Helsinki, Sweden’s #1 wrestler Killer Karlsson and I battled it out for Baltic supremacy in the ring.
Karlsson spited Finland with as much condescendence as he could muster before Yours Truly arrived to shut his big mouth. The match immediately degenerated into a brawl and the intensity didn’t let up for a second over the duration.
Karlsson managed to mangle my left knee as the match wore on, which left me at less than 100% as I rallied back on offence. My superkick attempts were thwarted three times over the course of the altercation, which is a first-time thing as far as my matches go.
In the end, Karlsson not only gave me a horrendous shot below the belt, but he also assaulted FCF timekeeper Sara when she refused to give him his Swedish flagpole after the referee had been incapacitated in the line of fire. Karlsson proceeded to use his flagpole to beat me with it, and as the accompanying photos show, choking me out with the prop in addition.
Needless to say, the match was thrown out and I believe the official call was a no-contest after the referee could not continue officiating the match following the hit he took.
Karlsson started a wrestling war between Sweden and Finland on July 1st and lit a fire under my keister in the process, and I’ll damn sure not let this issue rest until I have gotten my comeuppance.
For wrestling news out of Finland, go HERE for more! (Photos by Esa Kemppainen)
This coming Friday, July 1 in Helsinki, I will face Sweden’s #1 wrestler Killer Karlsson in a Finland vs. Sweden battle at DOMination 2.
I’ve heard rumblings that Karlsson has long waited to face me in the ring and now this Friday he gets his big chance to make a lasting impression. Truth be told, I vaguely recall training Karlsson as part of a group of Swedish students in Gothenburg back in 2005. I don’t remember anything about him to be honest, other than he was one tall fella with a boxing background.
Finland and Sweden have waged a long and bitter rivalry dating back hundreds of years when Sweden ruled over Finland, and the bad blood still resides to this day. I was on a flight back to Helsinki from Germany in mid-May this year when Finland defeated Sweden in the world hockey championships, and the noise on the airplane was deafening when news arrived before takeoff of Finland’s crushing 6-1 victory. This defeat was indeed a bitter pill to swallow for the Swedes and Killer Karlsson is no exception to that fact.
Karlsson better bring his A-game, because he is not only facing the pioneer and legend of Finnish professional wrestling, he is facing the Lord of FCF on his own turf.
If Karlsson wants a war, he’ll get his war on July 1. This old dog has seen nearly every battlefield there is to see out there and I have lived to tell the story…victoriously.
I just came back from spending midsummer in Finland with my girlfriend out in the heart of the wild woods. On a weekend when most Finlanders are out getting drunk out of their skulls and drowning out on the lakes, we were stone cold sober and camping out while zeroing out. In the meantime, we had a great discussion about something as simple as diet.
Point blank, people don’t know what to eat anymore. As a personal trainer, I try to give my clients the best advice I can using plain old common sense, but the fact is there are a shitload of diverse and adverse pitches out there as to what to eat in order to live right.
Ah, the elusive search for the truth, even in something as rudimentary as diet. Let’s take a look anyway, even though we are all so paranoid we don’t know who to believe anymore.
HELLOWEEN had the right idea, read the lyrics to this song.
Take the Warrior Diet for example: eating only once a day. The problem with this dietary approach is that there are no more Roman Legionnaires around who live the traveling foot soldier, marching army lifestyle. That in itself my friends speaks volumes against anyone in our western world copying the said approach. If you aren’t marching 12 hours or more a day and fighting a few bloody battles in between then the only person you are fooling following a Warrior Diet is yourself. If your lifestyle does not complement the warrior way of life for real, complete with body armour and lifelong battle scars, then move on to something more realistic. (Sorry, playing Dungeons and Dragons doesn’t count for qualification.)
The Paleo Diet cancels out all dairy, beans, legumes, grains and moderates fruit intake based on sugar content. First of all, who the hell among us were around to ever record how early man prepared his food, and what texts of the like are there to be found of the said period’s food preparation? I can well understand eliminating processed foods which are stock full of unhealthy fats and manipulated sugars in addition to gluttonously starchy carbs, but I cannot fathom the thinking behind skimming out sugars that stem from fruits that nature produces as such.
Simple reasoning says nature produces all food nutrients and elements for a said purpose, and we are idiots to screw with the universal and natural code – – and it can be argued that we are paying the price with our health and allergies nowadays for doing so, at least in part. Everything that God has put into the food that nature produces is there for a reason and none of it is bad, period.
BOTTOM LINE: behind every single dietary school of thought there is an entire industry waiting to cash in. It’s a big scam and it’s making somebody very rich. It’s time to wake up.
The entire superfood industry has boomed astronomically in the last couple of years, as people are turning out in droves to buy anything from Maca to Chia seeds to plankton and beyond. Some of this stuff is founded, some of it is clearly filled to the brim with innuendo and heresay.
Who is guaranteeing that your Goji berries are organically grown without artificial fertilizers somewhere out in China? Who is guaranteeing that your Brazilian beef products haven’t been produced using a little steroid enhancement? Do you take everything the authorties tell you as absolute truth? Whose agenda is the “truth” serving? Just look at politics and I need say no more.
Seriously, who is the all-seeing eye who can guarantee that anything that is on the label holds to be 100% true and accurate? We all (should) know that the sports supplement industry alone is full of all kinds of bullshit products that promise you the look of Lee Priest but deliver mostly just empty pockets and nervous systems brought to the edge.
You wanna become a superman? Sorry, but sports supplements won’t get you there.
To be honest, I have been an active weight-trainer for 23 years of my life and I have tried all kinds of sports supplements promising the moon. Most of the stuff I have used, I have to say that I really cannot point out any real benefits from its use. After 23 years of testing out the market I am finally starting to smarten up, and I have to admit that I am very, very disillusioned. For every serving of valid and working creatine powder there are a truckload of products that can’t pass laboratory inspection.
Hey, if I had the cash I’d test every single product bought from either a sports supplement center or a food store. I would love to know what actually IS – – or ISN’T – – in the stuff that we ingest.
When I was a kid, I ate rocks from my back yard and chowed down whatever was put on my plate, and for years upon years I was healthy and without allergies of any kind. Only once I started trying out different diets and messing with various sports supplements did my body start telling me something was wrong. Over the past 10 years I have developed lactose-intolerance and negative bodily reactions to certain grains. I am not sure how much of this is due to the overall “doctoring” of our food industry on a whole, and how much is due to just fucking with nature a tad too much.
We have been lied to, time and time again. Many God-given basic food products have been demonized to the point that we question where eating bananas will make us fat. How fucking absurd is THAT? Show me one single case study of a person who has gotten fat off of eating bananas, I dare you to produce such evidence anywhere!
The rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting foiled, over and over and over again. I guess it’s like P.T. Barnum so aptly said: “Never give a sucker and even break.”
Maybe we all need to get back to basics. Maybe we all need to break out our forgotten, dusty Bibles and find some old-school Truth.
The least we could do is start looking.
For the TRUTH, that is.
First, we could start off with me selling you the only thing I have: common sense (a good place to start).
starbuck.fi 