This coming weekend on Saturday, June 29 in Rauma, Finland, I’m one of the main organizers behind the biggest, international pro wrestling supershow in the Nordics of Europe this summer: Wrestle Aid 2019!
With top professional wrestlers from nine different countries worldwide, this event is arguably – even on paper alone – the most significant show of its kind on a continental level.
“The Japanese Buzzsaw” Yoshihiro Tajiri and Meiko Satomura from Japan, Matt Cross from the USA, Ivelisse Veléz from Puerto Rico, Scotty Davis from Ireland, Jurn Simmons from Holland, Sadie Gibbs from England, Mikk Vainula from Estonia and Carlos Zamora from Spain join a host of Finnish professionals to bring you Wrestle Aid. Oh, and in case you are wondering, Yours Truly represents my home country of Canada at this big event.
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With seven matches on the card and two gigantic, intercontinental main events on the menu, Wrestle Aid offers something for everyone, and especially action and thrills for the whole family.
Part of ticket proceeds will be going to the Finnish Muscular Dystrophy Association, Lihastautiliitto, to help patients with ALS and Duschenne muscular dystrophy to take part in wheelchair sports while their condition still warrants it. This is a great cause and you really can make a difference by being an active part of it live!
The event will be held outdoors under the Finnish blue sky at Potkur shopping center on the rooftop of the establishment in the western coastal city of Rauma, Finland this coming Saturday, June 29. Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster in Finland so get yours now and come out to see the greatest live action spectacle in Earth!
This coming Friday in Helsinki, I’ll be personally promoting the biggest, international pro wrestling event ever to be held in the Nordics of Europe.
It’s called SLAM! Wrestling Finland Mega Launch, and it’ll feature top talents from 10 different countries in seven dynamic, differently-themed matches on a two-and-a-half hour live show to be streamed live across Finland on ISTV.
The entire function of this Mega Launch show is to give people in Finland a clear-cut look at what all SLAM! Wrestling Finland has to offer. From Triple Threat three-way matches to tag team matches to singles matches featuring big men vs. big men, big men vs. small men and damn good technical wrestlers against one another, to Hardcore matches to women’s matches to title matches, Mega Launch has it all!
It’s like legendary wrestling promoter Eddie Graham from Florida said back in the day (paraphrasing): “I believe a wrestling card has to offer something for everyone.” Well, that’s exactly what Mega Launch is offering.
In the first match, it’ll be the Estonian contingent of Big Mikk Vainula and Kert Kukk – the Estonian Boyz – against the Finnish duo of Jami Aalto and Polar Pekko. Methinks this is going to be a fast and furious opener at Mega Launch, with both young teams full of piss and vinegar, hungry to prove that they have what it takes to make it in the dog-eat-dog world of pro wrestling. Expect some quality bang for your buck in this one!
“The Stockholm Playboy” Ken Malmsteen arrives in Helsinki on March 22 to take on “Metal Warrior” Stark Adder in a battle of polar opposites. This one is a re-visitation of the age-old hatred between the Swedes and the Finns. Both men have been in the wrestling game for well over a decade and are grizzled veterans. Expect the proverbial fur to fly in this one!
In a super-intriguing match-up, “The Russian Ass-Kicker” Ivan Markov takes on “Wildman” Heimo Ukonselkä in a Hardcore match at Mega Launch! I foresee this one breaking down into a complete donnybrook and the weapons are going to be out en masse before long! Both of these guys are known for their nasty brawling strikes and dirty tricks, so it’ll be a true battle between Russia and Finland – another age-old grudge that refuses to die – on March 22 in Helsinki.
It’s a battle of David vs. Goliath at SLAM! Wrestling Finland Mega Launch on March 22 in Helsinki as Finnish luchadore, the 1.7m “Ghost of Karelia” Shemeikka, takes on the 1.9m “Renegade” David Turger of Hungary. This is literally a story of speed and agility versus power and brute force in a match that is easy for anyone to comprehend and appreciate. I’m really looking forward to this one, and the polarizing dynamic between these two combatants’ styles.
It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t put myself in the mix at an event of this magnitude as an event organizer, so I accepted the offer made to me by Germany’s IPW organization for something they are calling the Circle of Champions tournament, taking part in the latter half of this year in Lübeck, Germany. It’s a tournament that brings together the best pro wrestlers in all of Europe who have been champions in their own right. The qualification match for myself and my opponent, Fabio Ferrari of Italy, will take place for the Circle of Champions at Mega Launch. To make things even more interesting, former two-time European welterweight boxing champion Juho Haapoja will be serving as our special guest referee. This one is anyone’s ballgame on March 22.
Talk about beauty, skill and charisma all in one package! This women’s Triple Threat match-up will be for the Queen of Southside women’s championship out of the UK, held by Shanna of Portugal, who puts her title on the line against “Russian Crush” Natalia Markova and “The Pin-Up Punisher” Betty Rose of Sweden. This is arguably the biggest challenge so far in Betty’s young wrestling career and she will have two of the toughest female veterans of the game against her at Mega Launch as the first girl to score a submission or pinfall wins the match… and the championship!
In the huge, colossal main event of SLAM! Wrestling Finland Mega Launch, the 1.91m/190kg Demolition Davies of Germany puts his WAW European Heavyweight Championship title on the line against the challenge of the 1.92m/127kg Tiny Iron of England. This is literally King Kong vs. Godzilla, a match that could be a main event anywhere in the world, and it’s taking place for all the marbles on March 22 in Helsinki. There will be over 400kg of humanity in the ring at the same time (counting in the referee also) in this gigantic main event monster mash, which alone is already worth the price of admission! Who is taking home the gold leaving Helsinki? Be on hand to find out as it doesn’t get any bigger than this!
All that said, even my old buddy, former WWE world champion, Chris Jericho, is excited about Mega Launch! Take a look at what Y2J has to say about my huge show in Helsinki this week:
Get your tickets now while you still can for March 22 through Ticketmaster Finland via this LINK! Normal tickets are 25€, Silver upper balcony tickets (with small condiments served) are 45€ and Golden ringside seats with catering included are 65€ a piece.
Be a part of pro wrestling history in the Nordics of Europe this week on Friday, March 22 in Helsinki as SLAM! Wrestling Finland Mega Launch blows the roof off of Helsinki!!!
Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m stoked and super-excited about the huge, international showcase event that I’ll be organizing on March 22, 2019 in downtown Helsinki at The Circus nightclub and live music venue, called SLAM! Wrestling Finland Mega Launch!
After over 25 years in the professional wrestling industry, I’ve decided to take the next step and enter the event organizing field, offering custom-tailored, internationally-flavored pro wrestling shows to clients, companies, event organizers, clubs and festivals. SLAM! Wrestling Finland is on on-demand service that gives the client the freedom to choose the kinds of wrestlers and talents from a wide, international talent pool of top stars for their event. It’s really quite revolutionary and innovative as an approach, and this big, media Mega Launch event upcoming on March 22 will be my showcase to the movers and shakers as well as the public at large as to what SLAM! Wrestling Finland truly has to offer!
On March 22, 2019 at The Circus, there will be a three-way Triple Threat international women’s championship title match, an international Hardcore match that sees the rule book thrown out the window, a battle of colossal behemoths, a “David vs. Goliath” big man vs. smaller man match-up, an international tag team match and a bevy of exciting, dynamic singles matches between top wrestlers from different countries!
Already confirmed for the card: the bodyguard of the stars, Tiny Iron from Great Britain, is coming to SLAM! Wrestling Finland Mega Launch! Tiny is 2m tall and weighs in at 120kg plus, with biceps that have to be seen to be believed: 24 inches of python power, brother! Even Hulk Hogan would be jealous! Tiny has been the bodyguard for Beyoncé, The Black-Eyed Peas, Rhianna and 50 Cent. Tiny Iron is a true, international superstar and we’re excited to have him in Helsinki at this big event on March 22!
Shanna (PT), Natalia Markova (RU) and Betty Rose (SE) are ready to rumble on March 22!
Also confirmed for the show: one of the top female stars in all of Europe, “Portugal’s Perfect Athlete” Shanna, the massive 1.91m/190kg behemoth Demolition Davies of Germany, the top pro wrestler out of the red-hot territory of Hungary “Renegade” David Turger, Finland’s own “Wildman” Heimo Ukonselkä as well as “Metal Warrior” Stark Adder, Russia’s premiere female wrestling export #The Woman of Mass Destruction” Natalia Markova, “Pin-Up Punisher” Betty Rose of Sweden and many, many more!
It’s all coming down at the biggest, multi-cultural pro wrestling extravaganza ever to be held in the Nordics of Europe to date!
I’d also like to share this superb, inspiring piece about SLAM! Wrestling Finland’s co-operation with metal industry manufacturer Power Tech Group here in Finland regarding the construction of our top-notch SLAM! Wrestling ring. This is something that will put a smile on your face and leave you feeling good, guaranteed:
This upcoming Friday night, July 27 in the dead heart of Finnish summer, I will be taking on the challenge of not just one, but two opponents, at the same time in an FCF Championship Triple Threat match at Ropecon 2018 in Helsinki.
For those of you who don’t know, Ropecon is Finland’s largest annual role-playing and gaming convention, held at Helsinki’s Messukeskus Expo and Convention Centre. It’s attended by tens of thousands of folks over the weekend in question. For the third time, FCF Wrestling will be a part of Ropecon once again this year.
In the main event of FCF Sideshow: Ropecon Edition, I will be putting my prestigious FCF Championship title on the line against both #1 contender Stark Adder and #2 contender Salomon Strid in a Triple Threat bout. That, of course, means that it’s every man for themselves, everyone against everyone simultaneously, and whoever gets the pin or submission walks out of Ropecon with the FCF title.
Now, I’ve faced Salomon Strid and Stark Adder many times in the past. They are no strangers to this time-tested dog of war. But regardless, I have never faced both veterans at the same time. This is the key factor in this match. Both guys are hungry, both are former FCF champions and both want that title back again around their own waists. If ever, now is the time that I’ll have to be slick and sly as I attempt to navigate successfully through these shark-infested waters on July 27.
What you have in this match are three of the very best wrestlers in all of Finland today. You have the cream of the crop. It could be anyone’s ballgame.
Be there, July 27, next Friday, with a start time of 20:00.
After a very fruitful weekend of wrestling, I am feeling better than ever right now!
It was just this past Saturday night on May 26 in Helsinki at Gloria cultural arena where I faced the feisty and ambitious challenge of a man nearly half my age in Mikko Maestro. And not only did I face him and defend my FCF Wrestling championship title, I defeated my challenger in nearly 26 hard-fought minutes at FCF Wrestling‘s Wrestling Show Live! Omega event. Some may question the way I won, but the bottom line is that I won.
Maestro was full of piss and vinegar. He had prepared long and hard. He’d gotten himself into prime ring shape. He’d gotten his head in gear. But still, after all was said and done, he couldn’t unseat the reigning champion, and therefore, you’re still looking at him! And not only did I beat Mikko Maestro, I also took the liberty of firing his audacious ass after he immediately demanded a rematch following my win, considering that I am the FCF General Manager at this time. You simply don’t cross the boss, and Mikko Maestro should have honestly known better. And before the match ever took place, I told him this was his one and only shot… and it would be the shot that was going to miss.
Then on Sunday, May 27, I faced the challenge of my old rival Stark Adder at the Power Expo in the city of Lahti, Finland. Adder had won a 12-man battle royal match earlier at the Power Expo that day to qualify as the challenger for my Valhalla Nordic wrestling championship and I was more than happy to face him again. Truth be told, Adder and I always have hard, quality matches that can go either way. It’s like a flip the coin, heads or tails. This time, Adder ate a superkick in the ring corner that rocked his world to the core and allowed me to capitalize on the fact that he wasn’t all there anymore for the rest of the bout. In the end, I put him away with a sleeper hold that I held onto like a pitbull, refusing to let go. After a valiant struggle, Adder’s lights went out. No one would have believed the match would finish on that note, but dammit all, when a veteran applies a sleeper, it’s not some useless, throw-away hold like it’s become for so many young pups these days. Kids, you have got to master your craft and learn to apply your holds correctly, and that said, this sleeper was a finisher!
Right now, I simply can’t see anyone on the horizon who has what it takes to wrestle away my championship titles from me. Like fine wine, I just keep getting better with age. Next up, Germany in mid-June!
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.
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!
This coming weekend, there will be a couple of back-to-back wrestling cards in Espoo and Vantaa, here in the capital region of Helsinki. These are part of FCF Wrestling’s cooperation with fast food restaurant Snacky, as the first installment of what has come to be known as Snacky Slam, was held on July 23 in Helsinki a few weeks back.
Now, on August 14 & 15 in Espoo’s Niittykumpu suburb and Vantaa’s Korso suburb respectively, the next Snacky Slam events will take place. For folks in the Espoo area, the Niittykumpu Snacky show will start at 20:00 in the evening this coming Friday, and for fans in the Vantaa area, the Korso Snacky show will take place at 18:30 this coming Saturday.
I’m personally very excited about these Snacky Slam events, as at the first one this past July 23 in Helsinki, I had a classic battle against Russia’s #1 wrestler, Ivan Markov. My victory in that match sets me up on the right foot to enter this weekend’s Snacky Slam shows, as in Espoo on Friday, I will step into the ring for the first time since 2011 against Finnish wrestling veteran and former Finnish champion, Stark Adder. It was back in May 2006, that I lost the Finnish wrestling championship to Adder in Helsinki in one of the all-time greatest matches ever contested in the annals of pro wrestling in the Nordics. It was a 30-minute Iron Man match back then, in which Adder finally made good after failing to defeat me three times previously for the title. I still fondly remember the quality of that outing, and the amazing chemistry that we had in the ring. I expect this coming Friday’s Snacky Slam encounter to be another mat classic, and fans should definitely show up to see us lock horns, because rarely has our country seen such pure wrestling – in the very essence of the term – as Adder and I produce when we grapple.
Back on May 26, 2006, I lost the Finnish wrestling championship to Stark Adder in one of the greatest matches ever in the Nordics (photo: Kari Helenius)
In Vantaa on Saturday, I will team up with my former protégé Mikko Maestro to take on the Musta Aukko (Black Hole) contingent of King Kong Karhula and Pyöveli Petrov. It was Maestro who I asked to be the ring bearer back on January 4, 2013 in Lohja, Finland, when I proposed after a wrestling match in center ring to my now-wife, Diana. Maestro is someone that I have taken a personal, vested interest in coaching and helping along in his pro wrestling career. He has shown the same spark for the wrestling business that I had back in 1992-1993 when I got into the wrestling business, and that is why I believe he is going to make it. My coach-to-be Lance Storm and I were weight training at a gym in Calgary, Canada, when one day Lance told me “I see the passion that you have for this business, and if you want, I will train you.” In many ways, Maestro is my old shoes in this respect now, whereas I am in Lance Storm’s shoes. On August 15 in Vantaa’s Korso at Snacky Slam, Maestro and I are going to show Karhula and Petrov that the “Burning Heart” that rock band Survivor sang about is going to be hard to beat once “Eye of the Tiger” starts blaring in the PA and we make our way to the ring to kick some ass!
Back on January 4, 2013, Mikko Maestro was the sentinel of the engagement ring that I had asked him to bring to the ring when I proposed to my wife-to-be, Diana, sitting in the audience that night.
Be sure to come out and enjoy these coming Snacky Slam events this coming weekend, as they are free to the public, held outdoors in the parking lots of the respective Niittykumpu and Korso Snacky restaurants. This is a rare treat to all of the fans in Finland and to the general public this summer, and you’d have to be crazy to miss out on this special treat! And hey, you can’t go wrong with the best hamburgers in town, either!
Today marks my 42nd birthday. I don’t feel so young anymore, nor do I feel very old. I’m somewhere in between.
Like most folks out there, I don’t fancy the limitations and slowing down process that age brings with it. I’ve strived to reach the upper echelon in all things that my heart has burned after, and I have held nothing back. I’ve been all around the world, reached pinnacles that many only dream of, becoming a star player in my chosen sport far and wide. I’ve toured many lands with my various rock bands, been here, there and a little bit of everywhere.
So here at 42, on April 24, I look back on what has been and ahead to what lies in wait. As a lone wolf, not part of any clique out there, I’ve done a hell of a lot in my 42 years. Everything I’ve achieved, I’ve earned with hard work, honesty and reputation. Not by kissing ass, playing politics or stabbing other people in the back. For that, I am proud.
I achieved my dream of superstardom in Japan as a wrestler in 2010-2011, which was my career goal, and everything from here on out is a bonus. I garnered three European wresting championships during my career so far, and I am happy with that number. It’s a magical number; three. Anything above that is also just a bonus. I’ve wrestled in 19 countries over the past 21 years, and I’d like to add a few more before I hang the boots up one day, so that is something to still strive towards.
I have no idea how long my saga on this Earth will be, but I can honestly say, that I have lived the life of a journeyman, the life of a wayfarer, the life of legend. If all of this were to end tomorrow, I would have to be happy, content that I went out there and actualized my dreams. I didn’t just talk the talk, I walked the walk.
Me personally, I’m really waiting for this coming September 13th in Helsinki, when I finally get my hands on one Ricky Vendetta, mano y mano.
Since April of this year, young, brash Vendetta has been boasting about gaining a couple of tainted victories over Yours Truly. Victories that were afforded him by third parties. Firstly, his initial pinfall team win over me came at the assist of Heimo Ukonselkä back in April in a six-man main event at FCF Wrestling’s Jatkosota 2014. Then, at Snacky Slam! this past July in another six-man encounter, Vendetta scored another pin on my via the timely interference of his partner, Stark Adder.
Now, were I Ricky Vendetta, I would probably be pretty stoked after gaining the biggest pinfall wins of my three-year career so far. I’d also be an excited young pup, reveling in the feeling of getting the upper hand on a time-tested veteran and multi-time pro wrestling champion around the world. Yeah, it would be a big ego boost.
But were I Ricky Vendetta, I would also consider the truth that I never actually defeated my esteemed opponent by my own merits. No, I’d consider that I had a huge helping hand, one that saved my hide at the most critical moment of the match, just as I was about to go down. Someone else afforded me a break. I’d be thankful, were I Ricky Vendetta. I’d also be very concerned.
Ricky Vendetta would like to believe he’s going to have the upper hand again come September 13.
At FCF Wrestling’s Syyskuun Selkäsauna on September 13th at Hotel Presidentti in downtown Helsinki, Ricky Vendetta is going be in for a reality check. He is going to hurt. Oh yes, Ricky Vendetta will be facing the grim face of reality, the cold hand of truth. This will be his reckoning day, when the bells will toll. Plus, this time, to ensure that Ricky Vendetta doesn’t have any of his pals like Stark Adder messing with our match, I will have former Finnish and European bodybuilding champion and legend, Boogie Mustonen, in my corner. Oh yes, Ricky Vendetta, prepare to pay the piper on September 13th!
Bodybuilding legend Boogie Mustonen will be my cornerman at Syyskuun Selkäsauna
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