Posts Tagged ‘Kristian Kurki’

Six-man roughhouse

Posted: March 26, 2014 in Professional Wrestling
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This past weekend in Hannover, Germany, I was part of a six-man tag team match-up that served as a good warm-up for the six-man slobberknocker that will take place on April 12 in Helsinki at FCF Wrestling‘s Jatkosota 2014.

In Hannover, I teamed with Ecki Eckstein and Stampede Simon to face the trio of American bad boy Sam Elias, Val Verde and Johnny Rancid.  I was particularly impressed with Sam Elias, who reminded me more than a bit of early Steve Austin, circa. 1991-1193 in WCW.  Elias caught me out with a wicked knee to the gut, after which his team laid the heat on heavy.  I stayed alive, with the “Eye of the Tiger” blazing in my spirit, and rallied back to tag in Eckstein, who capitalized on the situation and scored the win for our team, pinning Rancid with a powerbomb.

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On April 12 in Helsinki, however, the stakes are even higher, after the upset win that Sly Sebastian scored over Finnish wrestling veteran Stark Adder at Talvistoa VIII this past March 8 in the tag team encounter between Sly and partner Kristian Kurki against Adder and Ricky Vendetta.  I forecast already in my FCF Year in Review 2013 blog, that Sly Sebastian was really starting to take off, after honing his skills patiently as a wrestler over the past three years.  Sly finally pulled off his biggest career win at Talvisota VIII, even if it was in tag team action, and now Stark Adder is raving mad about the upset.  Adder wants to trample out the flickers in Sly’s eyes before blaze gets out of control, and so Adder and Vendetta have recruited new FCF champion, “Wildman” Heimo Ukonselkä, to be their partner on April 12 and challenge Sly and Kurki to a six-man rumble.  That’s where I decided to take up the slack and offer myself as Sly’s and Kurki’s partner for FCF’s Jatkosota event.

Both Sly and Kurki helped Yours Truly this past January, when with Mikko Maestro as our fourth member, we overcame the team of Swedish snobs, Bättre Folk.  Therefore, now it’s my turn to help them, as they answered the call at my behest last time.

April 12 is bound to be one hell of a slobberknocker, so get your tickets NOW online: www.fightclubfinland.fi/kauppa.php

As an additional note: this spring season, both Ricky Vendetta and I were asked to be a part of “Duudsonit tuli taloon” (The Extreme Dudesons, Finland’s version of Jackass) TV-series, which will be airing on MTV in Finland.  Check program listings here: http://www.mtv.fi/duudsonit/

Ricky Vendetta and I will be featured on the Dudesons TV show this spring.

Ricky Vendetta and I will be featured on the Dudesons TV show this spring.

 

United we stand, divided we fall

Posted: January 8, 2014 in Professional Wrestling
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This weekend on Saturday night, January 11, in Helsinki, it’s Finland vs. Sweden in another chapter of an age-old rivarly between these nations.

Hot on the heels of Finland’s Junior Ice Hockey team winning the World Championships against Sweden a few scant days ago, the feelings on both sides of the fence are hot and heavy.  Only this time, the battle will be waged in a professional wrestling ring, and not an ice hockey arena.

It seems fitting, that to start off the New Year, the Bättre Folk contingent in FCF Wrestling has set out to claim this year as their own.  After my Eurosport co-commentator Robert Holmström issued the challenge for me to round up three partners for myself, right on a live WWE Vintage wrestling broadcast in late December 2013, I knew there was no backing down.  Holmström, Valentine, Conny Mejsel and Steinbolt all want to write a new chapter in the annals of Northern European wrestling, by establishing their group as the alpha males to begin the second decade of Finnish professional wrestling.  But me, I just can’t have that.

Whether people love me or hate me, the one thing that nobody can take away is the fact that I am the pioneer and founding father of professional wrestling in the country of Finland.  This is my heritage, my imprint for all times, for the history books.  I’ll be damned if I let some arrogant pack of Swedish prissies and pricks take over here in Finland, as long as I live here and call FCF Wrestling my homebase!

So I thought quick and snappy, right on the air at Eurosport, of who I could ask to be my partners at FCF’s Saturday Wrestling Slam 2 this coming Saturday night.  In reality, my choices were self-explanatory.

I thought of all of the wrestlers that Bättre Folk has sabotaged since their inception during the summer of last year.  Valentine, Steinbolt and Holmström all assaulted FCF General Manager Kristian Kurki in September.  What they didn’t realize is, that Valentine’s backstabber backbreaker to Kurki in that very attack actually set his injured spine back into place, making him able to compete again.  Now that is bad news for Bättre Folk!

It was Holmström, Valentine and team valet Barbie that struck out against both Sly Sebastian and I in our singles match back in October.  I think Sly has some bones to pick, as that match was to be his testing ground to see whether he could procure a BWA title shot against me.  The no-contest ruling following Bättre Folk’s attack in that bout certainly didn’t do Sly’s aspirations any favors.  Oh, and I certainly haven’t forgotten about Barbie striking my wife in the melee, either…

Then I thought of my young and ambitious protege, Mikko Maestro, whom Valentine gave a serious concussion to in September during a match between the two.  Maestro’s father even emailed me and asked that I beat the living daylights out of Valentine for causing that harm to his son.  So really, there you have it: my team, all of whom gladly accepted the invitation to lay the thrashing of a lifetime on Bättre Folk this coming January 11 in Helsinki at Nightclub Tähti.

The bemusing fact is that Robert Holmström, in all of his Machiavellian grandeur and high imagination, feels that he is fit to climb into the ring as an active competitor with his team on January 11.  I personally find that both absurd and hilarious!  Robert might be a former referee, dating back many years, but he was never schooled to be a wrestler.  Refereeing and wrestling are worlds apart, like comparing tomatoes to beef jerky.  I really believe that Robert Holmström’s participation in this coming four-on-four Survivor Series-style elimination tag team match at FCF’s Saturday Wrestling Slam 2 will be his team’s downfall.

The bottom line is, this coming Saturday night in Helsinki, this Swedish quartet known as Bättre Folk is in for a world of trouble.  They are the catalysts of the woe that they have themselves caused, and now they will all pay the piper … one by one … down they fall … and their fall will be great.

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Saturday Wrestling Slam 2

January 11, 2014

start time 18:00, doors open 17:30

Nightclub Tähti, Fredrikinkatu 42, Helsinki

All ages welcome.

Tickets 15 Euros at the door.

www.wrestling.fi

Young Lion Syndrome?

Posted: October 15, 2013 in Professional Wrestling
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On October 26 in Vantaa, Finland, I make my in-ring comeback after rehabbing my C6-C7 vertebrae, against fan favorite grappler Sly Sebastian. This event, entitled Lokakuun Luuvitonen (basically and loosely translated in english: An October punch in the face!), will also be FCF Wrestling‘s comeback to the city of Vantaa, where FCF last appeared in February 2009.

Back on May 11 this year, when I won the BWA Catchweight championship from Valentine in Espoo, Finland, Sly Sebastian put out his challenge for my newly-won title immediately after the match. However, at the time, FCF General Manager Kristian Kurki had other plans for FCF’s next event on June 8, where I was to defend my new gold strap against Sweden’s Conny Mejsel. Therefore, Sly Sebastian never got his wish fulfilled, but alas, here we are in the month of October and all is right in the world again, as now, the young lion gets to prove his worth against the pioneer of our sport here in Finland on October 26 at Vantaa’s Vernissa venue.

I am not putting the BWA title on the line in this match, because like I told Sly back in May, he has to earn his shot at the belt, which means either he has to score notable victories over established names in singles matches, or then he has to beat me in a non-title match. Sly has mainly been a tag team competitor alongside punker Vili Luupää over the past year, and I really don’t see reasonable grounds to just throw out and offer him a title opportunity as of yet.  Maybe in some ways, Sly is experiencing “young lion syndrome“, which bears reading up on, if you are unfamiliar with the concept.

Nonetheless, if the young man Sly Sebastian manages to get the duke on me on October 26 in my Finnish comeback match, then I will be more than happy to oblige and give him his sought-after title contention opportunity.

Sly Sebastian is ambitious, that is for sure. He has improved his game especially over the past year in leaps and bounds, and he is rising up the ladder. But wanting to bite off a chunk that is too big to chew might prove fatal for the young lion at Lokakuun Luuvitonen on October 26 in Vantaa…

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Lokakuun Luuvitonen

26.10.2013. Showtime @ 18:00, doors 17:30

Kulttuuritalo Vernissa

Tikkurilantie 36, 01300 Vantaa

The Vernissa cafeteria will be open during the event.

Tickets:

Ringside seats: 20e (Attn: limited amount available!)

Other tickets (standing room only): 12e in advance, 15e at the door.

Ticket pre-sales on till 20.10.2013

Buy your tickets here: www.fightclubfinland.fi/kauppa

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StarBuck against the “Lovable Bastard” on June 8

Posted: June 2, 2013 in Professional Wrestling
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What can you say about a man who has the gumption and guts to throw a pie into the face of his country’s king on national television?  As you would expect, this perpetrator was put on the ground by the king’s bodyguards in the bat of an eyelash and apprehended.  He was sent to the monkey house and after his release, he got beaten on several occasions by the neo-Nazi’s and skinheads in his area, for the “crime” he carried out.

Who is this man, you ask?   He is none other than Sweden’s very own Conny Mesjel, also nicknamed the “Lovable Bastard”.  I will be locking horns with him in under one week at FCF Wrestling’s DOMination 9: New Blood Rising event in Helsinki.

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Conny Mesjel first appeared in Finland back in March of this year, and he managed to get over with the fans immediately.  The man has a strange, albeit beligerent charisma, that people just latch on to.  His take-no-prisoners wrestling style and MMA background make him a hard bone to pick in the ring, too.

What was originally penned to be Yours Truly, as the brand new BWA Catchweight champion, against Sly Sebastian on June 8 in Helsinki has now been changed by FCF Wrestling General Manager, Kristian Kurki.  Now, Sly will face the man from whom I took the BWA title, Valentine, at DOMination 9: New Blood Rising.

I have to believe that it will be a rough-and-tumble match next Saturday in downtown Helsinki, when Captain ‘Buck tangles with Herr Mesjel.  This is once again the age-old Sweden-Finland rivalry … with a twist!

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A new King on the FCF throne

Posted: August 27, 2012 in Professional Wrestling
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This past weekend in Helsinki, Finland, a new FCF Champion was crowned in King Kong Karhula. After surviving a first round Triple Threat match involving myself and ”Wildman” Heimo Ukonselkä (in which Karhula managed to pin me following a World’s Strongest Slam), the 130kg behemoth would go on to defeat old rival, gender bender Jessica Love, in the semi-finals, and then upset Valentine in the finals to become the new titleholder.

King Kong Karhula got the duke over Yours Truly (Photo by Mika Kallasmaa)

Firstly, I have to say that Karhula was more aggressive than ever before in his tournament outings this weekend. His sheer relentlessness and urgency led to him capitalizing at a crucial moment in the opening round threeway match, which was sabotaged in part by FCF valet Barbie, as I am told she pushed my foot off of the ropes in the closing pinfall – a move that was unnoticed by the referee in the heat of the moment. I have no idea what Barbie’s agenda and intentions were, but I promise to get that sorted out, because she cost me dearly this past weekend, as I was looking to score my fifth FCF title to date.

FCF photographer Jarmo Katila happened to be backstage when I cornered Barbie, and he took this shot.

I have had more than my fair share of trouble in the past with Barbie when she was Valentine’s valet a couple of years back, when she would constantly interfere in my matches. Barbie has since sided with Kristian Kurki, who is now indefinitely on the sidelines with a serious back injury at the hands of Valentine earlier this year. How apropos. However, I have no idea what Barbie’s issue with me is this time around. I did however manage to corner her after the event in her dressing room, but as the video below shows, I didn’t get any answers … yet.

Karhula’s match against Jessica Love on Satuday, August 25th was one of the BEST matches I have EVER seen in all of the past nine years that professional wrestling has been promoted domestically in Finland. Words cannot describe the level of excellence here, and I dare say that the match that these two had easily wipes the mat with 85% of anything that I have seen on WWE or TNA broadcasts in the past two years. Once again, I must say that the level of aptitude and match quality in FCF Wrestling these days blows away the bulk of the competition and contemporaries in the mat game today.

Karhula’s tournament final win against 4-time FCF Champion Valentine was decisive and clean, capitalizing at the most opportune moment to claim victory. Karhula’s package piledriver was downright nasty, and with it he put away Valentine, claiming the FCF title in the process. With that win, King Kong Karhula – after the seven years he has been in professional wrestling hunting after his first championship – became the hunted in one fell swoop.

The return of both The Mighty Perkules and Stark Adder was received with open arms and much anticipation by the FCF fans in Helsinki this past weekend, although neither man advanced to the semi-finals. Perkules lost clean to Valentine and Adder lost to Jessica Love in the opening round. Whereas Perkules took his loss in stride and even congratulated his foe, Adder clearly was left with a bitter taste upon loss in the opening round of the tournament. In the semi-final round as King Kong Karhula faced Jessica Love, Adder assaulted a fallen Jessica at ringside and left Karhula to pick the bones, leading to a tainted victory for the new FCF Champion. My bet is that Adder, being a one-time FCF Champion, is somewhat disgruntled at the fanfare and support that Jessica Love has gotten from the fans, propelling the gender bender’s career like a rocket over the past couple of years in both Scandinavia and Japan.

Jessica Love managed to squeeze by the returning Stark Adder (Photo by Mika Kallasmaa)

Speaking of the Land of the Rising Sun, I leave for Japan on Tuesday this coming week to fight for Wrestling New Classic. Teaming with AKIRA and Syuri, our trio will face TAJIRI, Mikey Whipwreck and Kana in a series of barbed wire matches across Japan next week. The first will be in Tokyo at Korakuen Hall on August 30th, then on August 31st in Osaka and on September 1st in Toyohashi. I have a feeling things are going to get ugly…

StarBuck chain wrestling challenge at Ringside Fight Night

Posted: December 14, 2011 in Professional Wrestling
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This coming Saturday evening, Dec. 17 in Espoo, Finland at the brand new Ringside Gym – run by my buddy, former European Middleweight Boxing Champion, Amin Asikainen, and his manager Pekka Mäki – I will be grappling with FCF sophomore sensation Kristian Kurki in a special chain wrestling challenge match.

The event starts at 18:00 and is entitled Ringside Fight Night, featuring four pro boxing matches in addition to myself against Kurki and FCF Wrestling’s human tank Ibo Ten against former 4-time FCF Champion, Valentine, in another chain wrestling challenge match.  The event is set to be streamed via the Internet, so keep your eyes peeled if you are not able to be with us in person at the show.

In the boxing portion of the card, it will be Finland’s Jarkko Putkonen (1-0) vs. Stanislavs Leonovs of Latvia (2-2-2), Finland’s Niko Jokinen (15-0-5) vs. Sergej Drob of Lithuania (1-1), Arne Ernstsen of Norway debuting vs. Maksims Semjonovs of Latvia (0-3) and Andreas Evensen of Norway (14-2, 6 KOs) vs. Sergio Prado of Spain (5-3-1, 1 KO).

Also on the same evening of Saturday, Dec. 17th FCF Wrestling presents Kallio Rumble in Helsinki starting at 19:00 with a Royal Rumble-style battle royale topping the card, where FCF Champion “Wildman” Heimo Ukonselkä must start the match and every two minutes a new man enters, until the man left standing at the end who has not been eliminated over the top rope then walks away with the FCF Championship title.

For more infos go to www.ringsidegym.fi, www.boxingnight.fi and www.wrestling.fi

Wrestling comes to Lahti, Finland

Posted: August 29, 2011 in Professional Wrestling
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This coming Friday, September 2nd, FCF Wrestling will come to the city of Lahti, Finland at 8-Sali with a night of action entitled Lahden Löylytys (more or less Lahti Ass-Whoopin’ in English).

This occasion marks only the second time in history that pro wrestling will have been seen in Lahti, as FCF’s predecessor Pro Wrestling Finlandia (PWF) ventured there in early 2006, appearing at the same venue.  On that PWF show I was the Finnish Wrestling Champion, defending my title against a rookie Valentine.

This time around at Lahden Löyöytys on September 2nd, I face the mysterious masked villain Dr. No, as Valentine faces the hottest rookie in Finland today, Kristian Kurki, who also stole Valentine’s long-time valet Barbie from underneath his nose this past summer.  Also on the card, FCF Champ “Wildman” Heimo Ukonselkä defends his title against Russian brute Vladimir Petrov, Jessica Love faces Johnny McMetal, Ibo Ten battles Kage Manguro plus one more match will still be announced for the card.

Go to www.wrestling.fi for further details!