This
installment of the blog was meant to be Part 3 of ‘My Russian Summer’, however
that will have to wait. I recently heard a good friend of mine ‘The Shooting
Star’ Kris Travis has been diagnosed with stomach cancer. He has just been
through surgery and has ongoing chemotherapy. I felt this edition should be
dedicated to him.
For those of you who don’t know him, Kris Travis has been a British Professional Wrestler for over ten years. He is an amazingly talented athlete and combined with hard work and perseverance has become one of the best wrestlers in the UK today. It is fantastic to see how well he has done and it is now heart breaking to see that being taken away from him. However, it is great to see the response of the British wrestling community and all the various projects set up to assist him in this time of need.
If you get a moment to read this Trav – please know that I and a lot
of other people are thinking of you. We know how tough you are and firmly
believe you will get through this.
A Sheffield Start
Trav and I both started out at Elite Pro Wrestling in Sheffield, a
connected school to NWA Hammerlock. The trainer was a man named Alan Johnson.
Back in those days Trav was a skinny kid, who didn’t really have the look or
presence of a professional wrestler (boy how that has changed!). However, he
did have good movement and a natural athletic ability. His flexibility and
nimbleness certainly set him out from the crowd early on.
Another noticeable trait was his heart and his indestructible
attitude. Having the ability to take moves well in wrestling can sometimes be a
curse and often Trav would get more than his fair share of being thrown around
and beaten up during training (possibly by me sometimes – sorry buddy!).
However, he always came back and was a true fighter even back then.
The UK Clique
After time, a few of us wanted to expand our wrestling horizons and
started to train and appear on shows elsewhere. Myself, Trav, El Ligero,
Cameron Knight and Scotty Hexx started to travel to GPW in Wigan and were soon
appearing on their shows.
Some of the GPW trainees referred to our group as the 'UK Clique'. I’m
fairly certain this was meant as a derogatory term, but we didn’t seem to care
and our parody group of the WWF 'Clique' was born – ‘Big Sexy Trav’, ‘Double H’ (me), ‘LigeroPac’,
‘Scotty Hall’ and ‘HB Gay’ (Cameron). Much more importantly we became a tight
group who grew together as professional wrestlers, traveling from show to show
honing our craft and having a hilarious time in the process. I have fond
memories of our early matches at GPW, which often involved us ‘clique’ members
facing off against each other and stealing the show (or at least we thought
they did – I’m fairly certain they would be terrible matches looking back). I also have
very fond memories of our many nights out in Sheffield that involved a lot of
booze, very cheesy music, bad chat up lines and on one occasion an impromptu
wrestling match on the top of a car bonnet between Trav and I.
A Shooting Star
As I was living and wrestling down in London, Trav remained in
Sheffield and started to make a real impact on shows up North. He soon started
to tag with a wrestler named Martin Kirby who I’m sure some of you know well.
They started to dominate the UK tag division as ‘Project Ego’ and I think a lot
of you will agree have become the best tag team in the UK.
Alongside his work with Project Ego, Trav continued to wrestle as a
singles wrestler, perhaps most noticeably for Preston City Wrestling (“PCW”). As
I sat in the hot Caribbean far away from my wrestling past, I became
increasingly impressed with Trav. I would see his matches pop on my Facebook
News Feed. A brutal no holds barred match with Lionheart and a sensational
match with Chris Masters (of WWE fame) stand out as ones I remember. Gone was
the skinny kid getting thrown around on judo mats in some dingy Sheffield gym.
What I saw now was a polished performer who was stepping into the ring with
guys like Chris Masters and completely holding his own. I was genuinely proud
of him.
Trav is True Grit
A show I recently promoted had Trav compete three times in one
evening. He faced his tag partner Martin Kirby, Cyanide and Rampage Brown in
the TG Cup. His performances were outstanding. Not only that, but he managed to
pull them out of the bag despite only arriving at the venue ten minutes prior
to the show (due to a transport issue which was no fault of Travs). That was
quite a remarkable feat in itself, but now I find out that Trav was
experiencing medical problems at the time and would have already had the cancer
at the time he wrestled on my show.
This is truly remarkable and a sign of the true professional that he
is. Next time you are not feeling up to doing something please think about that
for a minute – Kris Travis wrestled Martin Kirby, Cyanide and Rampage in one
night with cancer! He is an inspiration and do not think the name ‘True Grit’
could be more fitting than to a man like Trav.
What makes him so good?
So we’ve already established Trav has gone from being a skinny kid
to a well polished wrestler with an abundance of confidence, talent and a body
and look that make women swoon and make men hold their girlfriend’s hand a
little tighter in his presence. To look at Trav and the character he portrays
one might think Trav is some arrogant playboy…….and that definitely is one
aspect of his personality. However, what I don’t think people give Trav credit
for and what I believe is what really separates him from other wrestlers in
this country is he is actually an extremely emotional guy. That is important in
professional wrestling. In order for people to emotionally invest in you, you
need to be able to emotionally invest in what you are doing yourself and that
shines through when Trav performs. Through any bravado that appears on the
surface there still remains a sense of vulnerability that I feel only adds to
his appeal and makes Trav one of the best.
Final Thoughts
It is terrible what has happened to Trav, but he is a fighter. I am
sure he will come back from this and once again be the ‘Shooting Star’ amongst
British Wrestling.
Please take some time to donate to the link below. Trav has
dedicated his life to pro wrestling and now it is time to give something back
to him. Even if you do not know Trav, I urge you to just donate a small amount
to help him through this difficult time. Wrestlers do not make money when they
are not wrestling and Trav will have no income until he has defeated this. Any
amount you can afford would be much appreciated.
Trav - my heart goes out to you, I love you man, please get better soon!
Thanks for reading!
JCT
#GetWellTrav #C4Lx
Please donate to Trav now
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/showing-some-love-to-kris-travis