This coming Saturday, August 29 in Helsinki, FCF Wrestling and the Snacky fast food franchise will hold the last installment of SNACKY SLAM – the finale in a four-show series over this past summer in the capital region of Finland – right next to Kalasatama in the Sörnäinen suburb of Helsinki. Right next door, during this final SNACKY SLAM event, the Kalasatama premises will host something called the We Love the ’90s festival. The SNACKY SLAM card takes place at 14:00 this Saturday upcoming, with a huge attendance expected flowing in from the festival.
In the main event of this grand finale SNACKY SLAM card, I will be facing Finnish ring veteran, Stark Adder. It was Adder to whom I lost the Finnish wrestling championship in May 2006 after my first reign as champion, dating back to my tournament final win over Adder in October 2005.
Just over a week and a half ago at the SNACKY SLAM event in the Niittykumpu suburb of Espoo, I faced Adder again for the first time in a long time. We had one hell of a dandy match, which was sabotaged by Ricky Vendetta, who had just recently broken up his Constrictors tag team with Adder, turning on his former mentor and going his own way. In Espoo, Ricky Vendetta attacked Adder in the middle of our match, causing me to get inadvertently disqualified for his blatant actions. Obviously, this was no way to end a phenomenal battle between two of Finland’s oldest dogs in the game.
Both Adder and I went to FCF General Manager Tuho Torvinen and asked for Vendetta to be banned from this coming weekend’s SNACKY SLAM event, as we will step into the ring one more time to settle the score. This time, we don’t want anyone with any personal agendas on site. Adder and I have an issue to lay to rest, and it will be done fair and square, in the center of the ring, with no one sticking their nose into our business.
Photographer Kari Helenius captures the classic battle between Adder and I in May 2006
It’s damn hard to get two more technically sound, catch-as-catch-can style grapplers that Adder and StarBuck in Finnish pro wresting today. Experience speaks for itself, and you would be foolhardy to miss out on this coming mat classic this coming Saturday afternoon in Helsinki, as all SNACKY SLAM events are free, outdoor shows open to the general public.
Come on out this Saturday afternoon as FCF Wrestling closes the summer season of 2015 with a bang at the last SNACKY SLAM in Helsinki’s Sörnäinen district at 14:00 in the afternoon!
starbuck.fi 
The Veteran’s League
Posted: January 9, 2016 in Entertainment, Life, Professional Wrestling, Social commentaryTags: Chris Jericho, Dave Finlay, FCF, FCF Wrestling, Finland, Helsinki, Keiji Muto, Lance Storm, Pro Wrestling, Ricky Vendetta, StarBuck, Stark Adder, The Undertaker, Triple H, Valentine, Wrestlemania, WWE
One week from today, it’ll be time to lace up the proverbial boots and step into the pro wrestling ring for the first match of 2016. Just this past week, on January 7, I passed my 22-year mark since my first live wresting match as an active competitor. Now, here in 2016, this old dog is still alive and kicking.
Hell, I’m sure there are some that would just wish an old warhorse like me would die out and fade away, but that just ain’t happening. Not yet. I will be the one to dictate when and where, barring serious injury or an Act of God.
There are days that I wonder how long I will want to keep up actively wrestling. There is a limit to all things, a bump card that keeps filling up, and every year, I just have to find a way to wrestle smarter and navigate better. It’s a challenge, but one that I embrace. After all, at heart, I am a fighter.
At 42-years of age, I look at many contemporaries in our business and size myself up against them. Old friends like Chris Jericho are a mere couple years older than me, and still in good stride, able to compete at the highest level. My old wrestling coach Lance Storm of Storm Wrestling Academy in Calgary, Canada, gets in the ring daily with his wrestling students and has actual matches against them to help them improve, and Lance is three years my senior. Heck, when I lost the SMASH championship title to Dave “Fit” Finlay in 2011 in Tokyo, the legendary Irishman was just over 50 at that point, and he ran me ragged!
Dave Finlay was an absolute beast inside of that ring past the age of 50!
Alas, here in 2016, I sit at my desktop computer, writing this blog, and I ponder my own situation. I’ve been at this grappling game for a good number of years now, putting in the miles, flying here and there, up against the best competition around the globe. I look at a guy like Keiji Muto in Japan, a man whom I look up to greatly for his legacy and longevity in our business, and see how beat up his knees are past the age of 50 now. I think of guys like Triple H, in his mid-40s now, wrestling a very limited schedule, with only a few shots a year at most. And then there is The Undertaker, who continues to hang on, also grappling a mere few times a year, as everyone asks when his last Wrestlemania moment will be.
As a veteran, it’s hard to hang it up, because at the heart of it all, we are all fans of this game. Look at Terry Funk, the legendary old NWA World champion and hardcore wrestling legend. He could never exorcise the wrestler out of his system, and the number of his announced “retirements” has been baffling. That’s because Terry Funk loves pro wrestling. Just like the other veterans out there, who refuse to die out and fade away.
I recall Bret “Hitman” Hart saying in his autobiography, that he never wanted anyone to see him wrestle as an old fart, past his due date. I can relate to that, as it becomes a matter of personal pride in your own legacy and accomplishments. You don’t want to be in a place where you are just a shell of what you used to be at your prime. As long as you can produce top-notch matches and carry your personal piece of business with your head held high, I say go. Don’t let anyone stop you.
And so it is in 2016, that 22 years into the pro wrestling game, I look at the date of January 16 at the Pressa Club in Helsinki. I look at the match I will have that night and the tag team partner that I am paired with that evening: Stark Adder.
Adder is another veteran, a year older than Yours Truly, but equally a warhorse of high fortitude and morale that keeps the flame alive. We’ve fought each other numerous times over the past decade, and we have nothing but the highest mutual respect for one another.
Now, on January 16, Adder and I will join forces to do battle with Adder’s former tag team partner and ex-protege, Ricky Vendetta, and his partner, FCF champion, Valentine. This is a huge tag match on paper, a monumental bout that will see Adder and Vendetta lock horns for the first time since Vendetta turned on his former mentor about a half-year ago.
I warmly welcome you all out to Helsinki on January 16 to see what very well may be deemed as “The Veteran’s League”, as we clash with the kind of opposition that will surely translate into a classic match at the Pressa Club in Helsinki, with a showtime start of 18:00 and doors opening at 17:30, tickets 20e/person.