Posts Tagged ‘Wrestling’

Changing of the guard

Posted: November 12, 2025 in Professional Wrestling, SLAM Wrestling Finland
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It’s been nearly two weeks since Halloween night, where I lost the SLAM! Wrestling championship.

Only now, after taking a much needed respite, have I had time to let the dust settle and have things sink in.

In one of the most personal rivalries of my three-decade worldwide professional wrestling career, the culmination of my feud with “Back Breaker” Dylan Broda came to a climax on October 31, 2025 at SLAM! Wrestling’s Halloween Hell event, held in Vantaa, Finland.

StarBuck vs Dylan Broda SLAM wrestling championship Halloween Hell 2025
SLAM! Halloween Hell, Oct. 31, 2025.

It should be noted that Dylan Broda cut his teeth in the pro wrestling game under me. He was among the first students I ever had at the SLAM! Pro Wrestling Boot Camp and he was one of the first two to graduate. He showed an aptitude for the game, picking things up very quickly. Being that he was from Ontario, Canada, I propositioned to him that we ought to start a wrestling podcast for the international market together, and that we did. It was called Shootin’ the Shizzat and it ran for about four years, before Dylan ran into some major personal issues that made it impossible to continue.

Shootin’ the Shizzat was the top pro wrestling podcast out of the Nordics of Europe for its time.

It was during that time that Dylan changed as a person. He got bitter, angry and resentful. Maybe he was just mirroring what was happening in his own life onto the world around him. Regardless, he became an antagonistic man who just avoided doing anything but the bare minimum and then – BOOM! – he was out the door again. Personally, I chagrined seeing him change for the worse. Ultimately, his wayward attitude caused him to resent me as his coach and the learning tree that he grew up under in our business.

On October 31 of this year, it was a No-DQ Texas D€ath Match – the first of its kind ever in the 22-year history of professional wrestling in Finland – and it was so due to the very personal, bitter nature of this rivalry. Dylan said he would only agree to the stipulation if I – as the reigning champion and CEO of SLAM! Wrestling Entertainment – were to put any possible rematch clause, my shares in the company as well as the title on the line. And so I did, because this whole thing needed to end.

SLAM! Halloween Hell, Oct. 31, 2025.

Sometimes in life, the Russian Roulette doesn’t pay off. Such was the case here.

I originally won the SLAM! Championship back on February 10, 2024 in Helsinki at SUPERSLAM!, where I put my three-decade career on the line in my last attempt to vie for the title, then held by former WWE NXT UK superstar, Sam Gradwell. I made good on that quest and kept my career alive, going on to carry the championship for over a year and a half, defending against some of the biggest and best names in the wrestling industry both here in Europe and from around the world.

SLAM! Halloween Hell, Oct. 31, 2025.

Yet, as the book of Ecclesiastes says, there is a time and place for all things under heaven. My time came to a close, at least as champion, on October 31 of this year. I was unceremoniously choked out with a steel chain by Dylan Broda after his good of a bodyguard struck me in the back of the head with said steel chain around his fist. The officiating referee for the match, Aki Mäki, called for the bell and brought a halt to the match after I could not get any more air and fight back. And so, Dylan Broda was crowned the new SLAM! Champion.

SLAM! Halloween Hell, Oct. 31, 2025.

Now, I put up my part of the shares in SLAM! Wrestling Entertainment upon the contractual demands set forth by Broda’s shill lawyer, Urpo Myyrä, in order for his client to accept the terms of the severe beating that he was going to be dealt upon entering the No-DQ Texas D€ath Match at Halloween Hell. Broda has taken the lowest road possible leading up to this match, taking jabs at my ill father and making underhanded comments about my family, in order to get under my skin.

And that he did. I let him get under my skin because he disrespected not just me but went after my family. Any man of any integrity at all would have done the same thing in retort. Unless someone has succumbed to being a beta cuck, there is no way that a man will allow disrespect to pass unanswered.

Yet, things aren’t quite as clear as Dylan and his lawyer would have hoped for. I personally feel that Urpo Myyrä is one of those lawyers at the bottom of the totem pole, who is just looking for his lucky break. Dylan probably took another low road in hiring the cheapest shill possible in the aspirations of claiming head shareholding stakes in SLAM! Wrestling. My legal team has looked at the fine print drafted up by Myyrä & Son’s office and they’ve found some discrepancies that I am not at leisure to go into at depth at this stage. Let me just say that things are a bit… up in the air in that regard at the moment. Like they say: anything can happen in the world of pro wrestling.

SLAM! Halloween Hell, Oct. 31, 2025.

I might have lost any rematch possibility due to the nature of the match contract at Halloween Hell, but in order to defend my honor and that of my family, that was a risk I was willing to take and I have no regrets in that aspect. Dylan has a long list of hungry foes to look forward to, eager to knock him off his lofty perch, while my legal team deals with this outlandish lawsuit that Broda imposed with Myyrä over the summer on SLAM! Wrestling.

SLAM! Halloween Hell, Oct. 31, 2025.

With all that said, I’d like to thank all the fans and supporters who backed me during the epic run that I had as SLAM! Champion for year and eight months plus that I carried the torch of my company. It was one helluva ride.

SLAM! Halloween Hell, Oct. 31, 2025.

Photos: Marko Simonen / SLAM! Wrestling Entertainment Ltd.

Back to Big in Japan

Posted: September 18, 2024 in Odds and Ends
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Over the course of my extensive and colorful career spanning three decades and change in the professional wrestling industry, I always made it my career goal to be a star in Japan.

That objective was reached in 2010, by the serendipitous grace of God Almighty and a bit of tunnel vision from Yours Truly, where I set my sights on achieving that specific goal.

I arranged to book “The Japanese Buzzsaw” Yoshihiro Tajiri in Finland, where I would wrestle him in February 2010 during a hellacious Nordic winter war in Helsinki. Tajiri was so taken by our match, that immediately afterward, he asked me, “You want to wrestle in Japan? I think the Japanese fans would like you.”

Little did I know at the time, that Tajiri was just starting up his own new company, SMASH, and they were just getting their feet off the ground. I was booked as the top foreign wrestler at the main event level for SMASH during it’s entire, albeit short-lived, run. Thereafter, I was poised as a top attraction for WNC – Wrestling New Classic – which followed where SMASH left off in 2012 through to 2014.

Now, here in September 2024, and more specifically inside of 24 hours, I am primed to leave for the Land of Rising Sun once again. This will mark my 23rd tour of the country and my long-awaited return to Japanese shores since my last excursion there for Tokyo Pro Wrestling in 2018, where I was in the main event yet again against Tajiri.

Tajiri is, without doubt, the most influential person in my entire wrestling career. He is the man that opened the doors for me to enter Japan. When propositioned by New Japan Pro Wrestling in 2012, I declined their advanced out of loyalty to Tajiri, who had just started up anew with WNC at the time.

Now, that respect and honor is paid back yet again. On September 28 in Kumamoto, Japan, Tajiri will hold his 30th Anniversary event under the Kyushu Pro Wrestling banner. I am one of the few foreign talents that has been invited to be a part of this magnanimous occasion, and I am truly honored.

My WNC title win from Tajiri in 2014:

The Holy Grail at 50?

Posted: December 6, 2023 in Professional Wrestling, SLAM Wrestling Finland
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Man, it’s been a long time.

Some weeks ago, I had a discussion with a business partner about the blogging culture being a thing of the past. They corrected me and said, no, it’s still as vibrant as ever and people read up on interesting stuff. For the longest time, I thought that the blog had gone the way of the attention span at large and had been eaten up by quick videos and the like.

Well, I figured to write after a long time of radio silence on the blog front.

StarBuck photo by Marko Simonen / SLAM! Wrestling Finland

Firstly and foremost because I’ve come to a very pivotal moment in my wrestling career and a milestone year in general. You see, 20 years back in 2003, I started coaching wrestling hopefuls here in Finland, then situated out of the city of Kerava with that first class. Now, 20 years later, I’ve coached all around Europe and even in Japan, and I run SLAM! Wrestling Finland, operating in both Finland and Estonia.

It was this year that I looked at what I’d achieved, creating an entire wrestling scene in a country where we nothing of the like, save what was shown on television since the late 1980s. I looked at two decades of hard pioneering work, the ups and the downs, the trials and tribulations, and I got a little hungry again.

Firstly, I got SLAM! Wrestling onto a Finnish television channel called Eveo this past Spring. That’s channel 17 in this country. They’ve got national exposure, so that means we’re seen in 100% of Finnish households. As a matter of fact, we got two SLAM! Wrestling shows on their channel on a weekly basis: Painin otteessa (In Wrestling’s Grip) and SLAM! Boot Camp, which are consistently in the top three most viewed programs on the station. That’s pretty admirable.

On top of that, we’ve been able to procure bigger and more notable contracts with large organizers in both Finland and Estonia, enabling us to grow the brand through relentless persistence and tireless grinding. It’s been a slow but steady build but things are paying off, finally.

Then, I looked at myself. Where I was here in 2023 at the age of 50.

StarBuck photo by Markus Mueller / WeLoveArtBuying.de

Dammit all, the age of 50. Man, time just flies and here I still am, in this crazy business called professional wrestling, doing what I love to do, regardless of the odds. Here, at the ass-end of the world, up in Finland, right next to the Arctic Circle. Hell, most people in the world don’t even know where Finland falls geographically on the world map!

But yeah. I looked at myself and all that I’ve achieved in this zany, surreal world that has been my chosen passion called professional wrestling. And then I realized… I want to become a champion again.

I’ve got that chance now, upcoming on December 9 in Seinäjoki, Finland, where I face the new face of my company, a man called Sam Gradwell. It’s going to be a match for the one title I’ve never held: the SLAM! Championship. My company’s title.

I’m a bit torn to be honest. Torn because I want this to be a fair shake, without anyone pointing fingers saying that I doctored the result afterward into my own favor. Torn because it is, after all, my company. Torn because I don’t feel that in some light it’s fair that I pursue the championship of my own company.

So I went the extra mile and I outsourced the jurisdiction of this upcoming SLAM! Championship title match at Wrestling SLAM in Seinäjoki at the legendary Rytmikorjaamo club, coming up December 9. I went and reached out to an old comrade and someone I hold in high regard, the grand commissioner of European professional wrestling: Marty Jones of England.

Now, Marty Jones is not only a seven-time world heavyweight champion and one of the most respected legends ever out of Europe. He’s also the man that trained Sam Gradwell.

The SLAM! Champion, Sam Gradwell, who is – right now – arguably one of the most dominant wrestlers of the modern era in all of Europe.

Yes, I handed over governing authority over the coming SLAM! Championship title match between myself and Sam Gradwell on December 9 to Marty Jones, cut and dry.

Marty Jones, William Regal, Johnny Saint (left to right)

Come hell or high water, I am washing my hands of any wrongdoing or coercion when it comes to the outcome of Gradwell vs. StarBuck. Marty has the pen, Marty has the final say. For this match, I’m just a wrestler, not a boss. Not the CEO Michael Majalahti, but the 30-year pro wrestling veteran, “The Rebel” StarBuck.

I don’t just want this match. I NEED this match. I need it for my own sake, for the warrior inside of me, for the competitor, for the lion king inside to rise to the occasion.

Yeah, I want to be a champion again. In the footsteps of champions like Nick Bockwinkel, Dave “Fit” Finlay and my old friend, Chris Jericho – each of them wrestling at a very high, main event level past the age of 50.

Because I’ve always believed that if you want an extraordinary life, you must be willing to do extraordinary things.

December 9 is going to be one of the most important days of my life. I can feel it.

26 years as a pro today!

Posted: January 7, 2020 in Entertainment, Life, Professional Wrestling
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26 years

Today marks 26 years since my professional debut as a wrestler.  I owe it to my coaches, Lance Storm (WWE, WCW, ECW), who is currently working for WWE as an agent, and Karl Moffat, who used to wrestle in the ’80s and ’90s as Jason the Terrible under a hockey mask (Stampede Wrestling, Capitol Sports Puerto Rico, All-Japan and New Japan Pro Wrestling), as they started me off right and gave me the mindset and tools to make it this far.

After 22 countries on four continents, coaching in seven countries worldwide since 2003 and being a champion and main event player the world over, I can only be grateful that my career is still rolling strong at the age of 46.

I’ve had setbacks and injuries, faced the challenges that age brings to the game, navigated through the shark-infested waters of wrestling politics and petty shenanigans, and steered the course so that here in 2020, I’m spearheading my own wrestling promotion, SLAM! Wrestling Finland, with operations in both Finland and Estonia, with much more to come.

I’m thankful to the Good Lord above, in whom I steadfastly trust as any credible rebel these days would, for giving me the health, longevity and blessing to extend an in-ring career and professional achievement that no one in the Nordics of Europe has yet to surpass.

Here’s to the future, and to the challenges and victories that lay ahead!

StarBuck at SLAM! Wrestling Finland Mega Launch, March 22, 2019 in Helsinki

StarBuck at SLAM! Wrestling Finland Mega Launch, 22/3/2019 Helsinki (photo: Marko Simonen)

My first SMASH Championship defense in Finland

Posted: November 1, 2011 in Professional Wrestling
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Upon winning the SMASH Championship this past Friday night, October 28th in Tokyo, the SMASH organization asked me to defend the title in my homeland of Finland also.  To honor the SMASH office’s request, I made it known upon my arrival back in Finland that I was willing to take an open challenge from anyone on the FCF Wrestling roster.  Before anyone else could even bat an eye, manager Renne Korppila issued a challenge on behalf of his charge, the Russian monster Vladimir Petrov, to face me for the SMASH Championship in Hämeenlinna, Finland this upcoming Friday night, November 4th at FCF’s Sirkus Slam event.

This will be a first-time meeting between the Russian brute and myself, and regardless of what Korppila claims, fear has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Petrov and I have not faced off before one on one.  I am absolutely certain that I will be more than ready to hand Petrov the beating of his young career at Sirkus Slam and walk out of Hämeenlinna just like I am walking in — as your SMASH Champion!

The new SMASH Champion

Posted: October 30, 2011 in Professional Wrestling
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I cannot begin to describe the kind of elation and happiness I am feeling, coming home to Finland last night as the very first SMASH Wrestling Champion in Japan, defeating one of my greatest opponents ever, “The Japanese Buzzsaw” Yoshihiro Tajiri in the finals of the SMASH title tournament on Friday night, October 28 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.

I have faced Tajiri several times in the past in both Finland and Japan, and every time our matches have been hard, physical clashes.  This final match last Friday night in the SMASH Championship tournament finals was no exception.  No, this one was WAY harder than ANY single one of our past, classic encounters.

We all know that many critics of professional wrestling vocally criticize our game as being “fake” and/or theatrical.  I find that kind of slander disparaging, and I would love to have those same critics step into a Japanese wrestling ring and feel the kind of punishment that we experience as professionals inside of that squared circle.

That said, my match against Tajiri on October 28 was one of the stiffest, most hard-hitting, SMASH-mouth affairs of my career.  Tajiri’s trademark kicks were brutal and his forearms and punches rocked my jaw.  I have to believe that “The Japanese Buzzsaw” felt the same at the other end of the equation, as the fighting spirit in our championship final bout was most definitely REAL.

Neither one of us held anything back, as we traded offense and fought a very even bout, going back and forth, neither competitor really gaining a clear-cut advantage over the match that lasted 15:12 before I dropped Tajiri with two vicious spike piledrivers after just barely kicking out of his Buzzsaw Kick.

After the match, both of us just lay on the mat, wasted from the physical toll of our bout.  Both of us took – and dealt out – one hell of a beating to one another in the quest to become the first-ever SMASH Wrestling Champion.  Both of us gave it our all, and I can only very humbly say that I am honored by my huge title win over a tremendous opponent in Yoshihiro Tajiri at SMASH.22 this past Friday.  I have the highest respect for the man that I pinned to become the new SMASH titleholder, and I will always remember the night of October 28 at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall.

A huge THANK YOU to: the tremendous Japanese SMASH Wrestling fans for believing in me; to the SMASH office for the spotlight opportunity; to Tajiri for an incredible match; and to my Great God in Heaven and Lord Jesus Christ who makes all things possible (Philippians 4:13).

Arigato gozaimasu!  Soudesune!

(Photos by Ken Suzuki)

The Lord of FCF vs. The God of Mexico

Posted: September 4, 2011 in Professional Wrestling
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This coming Thursday night September 8 in Tokyo, Japan I will be facing the very strange “God of Mexico” Veneno in the semi-final round of the SMASH Championship tournament at Korakuen Hall.

Veneno is like a cult leader, akin to Illuminati, and when he pulled the trigger and attacked me after my greatest career win to date over Japanese living wrestling legend Genichiro Tenryu last month, Veneno sealed his fate.

Make no doubt about it, I plan on piledriving Veneno all the way back to Mexico and advancing to the finals to meet whoever the winner will be between Akira Nogami and TAJIRI, once the tournament finals are held next month in Tokyo.

Soudesune!

Ragnarök revisited

Posted: August 22, 2011 in Professional Wrestling
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This past weekend in Hämeenlinna, Finland, I wrestled against FCF Champion “Wildman” Heimo Ukonselkä at what was dubbed Ragnarök as part of the Häme Medieval Fair.  Ragnarök wrestling paid homage to the Nordic heritage of our culture and past, as every match that the FCF talent took part in was tailored to recount classic battle themes of lore and legend.

Here are a few prime pics taken by photographer Marko Simonen from my bout with Ukonselkä on Saturday, August 20.  This match was a non-title showdown, which ended with Ukonselkä disqualified for blasting me with his championship belt as we brawled on the outside of the ring.

On Sunday, August 21, Ukonselkä put his FCF Championship on the line and retained his title after managing to pin me following his trademark pumphandle slam, which I kicked out of a fraction of a second too late.

http://youtu.be/UdFvWF-LdAQ