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!