The past couple of weekends have been great wrestling extravaganzas here in Finland, featuring strong cards of internationally-flavored excitement and action.
On October 3 in the western coastal city of Rauma, I wrestled the UK’s top grappler Doug Williams (ex-TNA/ROH/NOAH star) in a truly classic, catch-as-catch can pro showdown between two vets of the game. I have to say, that I heartily enjoyed working against the ultra-talented Doug Williams, who is without question one of the premiere talents in Europe today in all of professional wrestling. Our match was technical, complex and very trying. In the end, Williams beat me fair and square, hitting his “Bombs Away” top rope kneedrop on me for the pinfall win, as I failed to kick out before the fatal three-count. I have no qualms in losing to a man the caliber of Williams, as this match could have gone either way, but on this night, Doug walked away with the victory and all my respect goes out to the man as a stellar athlete in our game. Check out these stellar pics of the match taken by FightSport magazine photographer, Marko Simonen!
This past weekend on October 9 in the city of Lahti, FCF Wrestling featured the official warm-up for the 2015 edition of the gigantic Nordic Fitness Expo, with a night of wrestling action at Ace Corner Finland. The motorcycle-themed restaurant setting was a truly special and unique, intimate place to hold the gig, as the spirit of Americana was alive and well in the confines of Ace Corner, which is part of the Finnish Motorcycle Museum (unique in the world, featuring the only Harley-Davidson ever produced in Japan, the Rikuo model from the first World War era). At this event, I was scheduled to face The Beast from Sweden, who is the reigning Swedish pro wrestling champion, a man whom I trained earlier this year. However, The Beast pulled out of our match – a true low blow – refusing to defend his title against me in our scheduled match, citing supposed restraints imposed on him by his sports supplement sponsor. In his stead, Gothenburg’s Steinbolt came to Lahti to face me in a Sweden vs. Finland encounter, which was spirited to say the least! After Steinbolt trash-talked the Finnish people and downplayed our country in a pre-match promo, I promised to make him scream for his life and tap out. And tap out is what he did, after I finally managed to lock him into a sharpshooter, after I thwarted his dropkick off the second rope, and thus I was able to pay homage to another great Canadian wrestling hero, Bret “Hitman” Hart.
StarBuck battles Steinbolt in Lahti in a battle of Finland vs. Sweden!
I have to say that I am truly excited about the next Finnish wrestling event, upcoming on Thursday evening, November 5 in Helsinki. This special weekday gig will be in conjunction with the world premiere of the Spandex Sapiens documentary drama movie, telling of my wrestling career and persona. This movie has been five years in the making, filmed on three different continents, across seven countries, and finally it is here. After much delay, the Night Visions movie festival in Helsinki will feature this slamming world premiere on the evening of November 5, after which the Spandex Sapiens Afterparty & Wrestling Show will take place at Gloria Cultural Arena in Helsinki.
By the way, the artwork on this year’s Night Visions poster was done by me!
In the Spandex Sapiens film, my main counterpart and antagonist is Finnish transsexual wrestler Jessica Love, who represents the liberal, free-thinking spirit of our modern age, while I represent the traditional role of conservative masculinity and black and white absolutes. It’s a major clash of ideals and values, in addition to personas, as Spandex Sapiens is set to really rattle a few cages and I am sure that the critics will have a field day with the powerful viewpoints expressed herein. But hey, it doesn’t matter what they say about you, as long as they get the name right! On the evening of November 5 as the wrestling action heats up at Gloria Cultural Arena, Yours Truly battles it out one more time with Jessica Love to honor the elements of the movie itself. Make plans to be there for this historical evening!
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