Pontins Superstar!

I’m currently sat in St Maarten airport back in the Caribbean reflecting on the last week I had wrestling for Megaslam. I continue to live my odd double life as I wrestle full time for a bit and then do contract work with the Accountancy. Not quite sure if this is what I expected or not when I made my initial return to wrestling, but it’s working well for me right now and I’m certainly not complaining.

After finishing my last week I was battered and bruised from the 6 days of wrestling, carrying heavy bits of wrestling rings and sitting cramped up in the back of a van for miles on end. I was physically and mentally exhausted, but elated from another week well done. To me it is worth it, but you have to love wrestling to feel this way.

Triple Threat

The first two shows were in Pontin's Southport and Pontin's Prestatyn Sands. The latter being one of the biggest shows they do in terms of the professional set up with tiered seating and special effects. The upper level management would also watch us, so it was important to put on a good show.

Both days it was a triple threat match with myself (Radik) vs. CJ Bank vs. Terry Isit. The match itself was fairly standard we all thought, but the heat was immense. Brad Taylor, the Megaslam promoter, told us after the first one it was the best match all Summer. I’m not sure it that’s true, but it was a great compliment never the less. For me personally I enjoyed the match and loved the microphone work at the beginning. Great how much animosity that can be developed for this mad singing Russian.

The second of the two shows also saw me involved in a violent altercation with one of the Bluecoats (the Pontin's MCs) after my match (he laughed at me and I beat him up). The Bluecoat interaction has to be done carefully. If done without thought the whole show can lose credibility as an untrained smaller Bluecoat beats up a trained professional. However, there is a right way to do it and I felt we managed this as the Bluecoat was then a surprise entrant into the Rumble and fluked an elimination on me to win. The Bluecoat was also an absolute star as he bravely took the beating dished out to him beforehand.

What’s happening bro?

After the weekend it was back up to Bridlington where me my new Russian tag partner Dara Diablo (see two blogs back for the start of this tale) took on James Mason and Robbie McKenzie. The match wasn’t as fluid as it could have been in places, but it was great to work with James again and the finish was hot as young McKenzie dropped from the skies with a huge frog splash on me for the win.

It was then back in the van for that long drive down to Pontins Brean. Another near 6am arrival and then up in a few hours to be facing TNA superstar Robbie E. A simple, but very enjoyable match with the Jersey Shore inspired wrestler who was a nice guy too. He even managed to put up with team joker Daniel Hudson who kept berating him with Zack Ryder quotes and asking him such questions as ‘will you be doing the Broski Boot today?’ and ‘how did it feel to be Internet champion?’. For those of you who don’t know Zack Ryder is a different wrestler from WWE with a similar gimmick.

As mentioned previously ‘Dirty’ Daniel Hudson is an absolute prat sometimes, but also very entertaining and quite honestly the tour would not have been half as fun without him. He’s a good lad really! Robbie took it all in jest and even did the Zack Ryder taunt as he came to the ring for a tag match we had later on the show. Bro’s got my respect…

Motorway Madness

Next it was onto Camber Sands. This of course means the return of Big John Thunder, one half of the greatest tag team in the world – the Motorway Men! Words can’t describe how much I enjoy doing this ridiculous gimmick inspired by our breakdown the previous week and also my supposed love for McDonalds. I was in a singles match with a Bluecoat this week, where I absolutely destroyed him in front of a packed out crowd of 2,000.  Again hats off to the guy who was an absolute champ in this match.

Later on the show I was in a four way ladder match which I had just about won, but then the room went black, Ultimate Warrior’s music hit and the ‘Ultimate Bluecoat’ I had decimated earlier ran to the ring and knocked me off the ladder, hit a Stone Cold Stunner and straight into a Super Kick from Terry Isit who climbed up and retrieved the belt.

The Pontins Champ is here!

The next day would be my last show of the Summer and I was set to be babyface JC Thunder at the request of Brad as apparently they had something planned for me. Myself and Terry Isit went up against T K Cooper and Josh Alden in a tag match, which if I’m honest I wasn’t overly keen on. I don’t think it flowed well and I was back to my old ways in being a bit of a shit babyface.

However, it didn’t seem to matter as we finished with another ladder match as I would be the one this time being crowned the Pontin’s Champ! The crowd went wild as I edged up the ladder rung by rung, reached up for the belt and then…..and then…….damn thing won’t come off……as I perched on the top of a ladder in front of 1,000 plus people frantically tried to undo the belt as it had stuck on the bit of a string it was held on (they really shouldn’t let me win these things!).

Eventually it came undone and I was crowned new Pontin's champion! Brad took the microphone and said some kind words about how much he had enjoyed having me on the team for the last few weeks. The rest of the wrestlers then broke character as they all came in the ring and hosted me on their shoulders and congratulated me. A really nice touch from Megaslam and Brad, even if the crowd probably did wonder what the hell was going on. Thank you Pontins! Thank you Mega Slam!

Final Thoughts

So another good Summer of wrestling. It has been great debuting for Mega Slam. I am looking forward to wrestling for them again when I return. They are really starting to come into their own and the shows have been excellent. Expect big things for this company over the next few years. Just make sure you guys have a Big Mac waiting for me when I’m back in the UK!

Thanks for reading!

JCT

Mega Slam!

What a crazy week I am having so far. In four days I’ve covered well over a thousand miles on the road, had two rides in motorway recovery vehicles, wrestled every day, developed yet another alter ego that is probably the most ludicrous one yet and somehow developed a reputation as a McDonald’s crazed tyrant (which I deny on all accounts your honor!). This was my first tour with Megaslam! 

Before we get into that, Grapple wrestling did also put on another show at Garforth last weekend where I got to have a rematch with Toxic Jack from our match last week. Certainly signs of improvement from before and we coped with a lower than usual crowd. Match at the end of this blog from a ‘fan cam’.

Right onto the Megaslam Madness!

Bridlington Brawl

On Monday I was back in Bridlington wrestling in the main event, as Russian me and Paul Malen took on El Ligero and Terry Isit. This match was a fun brawl that almost ended badly for me when I was thrown over a table and glasses smashed all around me. Luckily I missed out on landing in it and was victorious as my partner hit Terry with some brass knuckles (what bad asses!)

After the show it was off to the first Pontins camp down in Somerset. A 7 hour drive awaited crammed in the back of a ring van along with our cases, the merchandise and of course the ring. The team consisted of the promoter Brad Flash – who is doing great things with this company, Liam Lazarus – a young and very talented wrestler who has had a great year, Daniel Hudson – who does a country boy style gimmick but should really just act himself as he is absolutely ridiculous but very entertaining, Terry Isit – another young and talented wrestler (despite getting hit by brass knucks!) and Tasman and Olivia – a New Zealand wrestling couple who have taken the brave step to come and wrestle over in the UK.

A Somerset Dance Off

We arrived in Brean Sands, Somerset about 6am in the morning after several hours on the road and a McDonalds stop. Not usually one for going to McDonalds I reluctantly ordered 6 chicken McNuggets whilst the others gorged on McMeals and Frappes. The team then thought it would be hilarious to insist on how much I love McDonalds. This comes into play again later….

After a few hours sleep we put the ring up and I faced Liam Lazarus where I sung my Russian National Anthem as usual. However, the big change was they actually played the anthem as I sang. Given I completely make this up usually and actually have no clue as to the words, I was more than a little unsure as I wailed along to the music playing. However it still achieved the desired result of major boos that were further intensified as I challenged Liam to a dance off. (Liam comes to the ring to Venga Boys ‘We Like to Party’ and has the whole audience doing dance style hand signals as he enters. It’s infectious and massively popular with the crowds.) My dance – the traditional Russian Cossack dance as the Cheeky Girls played – what is my life!

The match itself was a lot of fun and a good start to the tour. We were both then part of a 4-way ladder match later on the show that was chaotic but also enjoyable. That finished with the Lazabus finally seeking revenge on me (I had won earlier by my usual cheating ways), climbing the ladder and becoming the new Pontins champion!! (It is unclear how many wrestlers are currently the Pontins champion, but it is a fair few!).

The Motorway Men

The next stop was Camber Sans near Hastings. However, disaster struck! At exactly 1 hour and 11 minutes left on the Sat Nav, the tyre on the van burst and Brad saved all our lives by keeping control of the vehicle, avoiding the nearby cars and mid-motorway wall. However, we were now stuck on the side of the motorway that had no layby.

Liam and I went off to use one of the emergency phones. Not as easy as you might think! Our journey involved climbing up through masses of vegetation, over a large metal fence in the dark to a bridge so we could cross to the other side and a plus mile walk along the edge of a busy motorway that had us dangerously close to passing 80mph lorries and involved mad sprints across bridges that had virtually no side area to walk in at all.

Whilst all this was happening the van was caught on CCTV and taken to the safe area by the authorities. As sod’s law would dictate phone batteries died and we had no way of contacting each other as we continued our quest. We eventually found the safe area by foot, but not before the rest of our party had been called on the emergency phone to warn them of them of ‘two strange men, running around on the motorway’ – which yes that would be us!

Once all together again we were finally rescued by an interesting character named John who was a short man with a slight hunch-back, bulging eyes and a hearing aid that he kept taking out and drying on the heater in the rescue vehicle. He also made very odd grunting and growling noises, never answered the question you asked and told us of the time he had his way with someone’s mother that he rescued on the dark roads of Scotland (possibly on the seats we were all sitting on it the back!). Despite this description he was a joy to be around and also had saved us!

Oh and of course whilst John had been trying to fix the van in a nearby service station there had of course been another McDonald’s trip, which I had succumbed to – much to the delight of the team!

So finally we arrived in Camber Sans circa 7am. A few hours sleep were had and it was ring up at midday, as Dan went off to sort the tyre issue. This show would be the debut of our new tag team influenced by the night before – the ‘Motorway Men’ Big John Thunder and my younger brother Jon Boy Lazarus. The characters were ridiculous on many levels. They were essentially styled on John the recovery vehicle guy as we shouted with deep growling voices about how we’d been travelling the roads looking for fights etc etc. Amazingly the gimmick worked well. We even did the Mo-Bot M as our hand gesture (standing for Motorway), which people copied and kids even came up to us afterwards asking us ‘if we really go on motorways?’. The Motorway Men are over! Merchandise may need to be made for the people of Camber Sands!

Also in a cruel coincidence the announcer teased me about having too many McDonalds, which I played along with and resulted in a ‘Maccy D’ chant by the 2,000 odd people watching. Everyone’s giving me shit for that eh!

The wrestling itself involved a good little match with Terry Isit and the Motorway Men vs. Terry and one of the bluecoats with Ultimate Warrior face-paint on. A little part of me died as at the end of the match Terry kicked me in the head and the Bluecoat gave me a Stone Cold Stunner and a Warrior splash for the victory.

The 111 Club!

So an eventful day so far! Oh well we have a fixed van now and have a nice easy drive to Pakefield near Norwich. Wrong! Spookily at exactly 1 hour and 11 left on the Sat Nav again, the van’s electrics went and we were stranded in a bloody McDonald's car park (which of course I love apparently!). Less than 24 hours later and we were back in another recovery vehicle heading towards our final Pontin's stop. The show must always go on!

We were soon putting the ring up again and I wrestled T K Cooper (Tasman of the New Zealand couple), as he pretended to be English and I pretended to be Russian. What an odd bundle of Nationality crisis we have here, but the match was over with the crowd and again I had a blast. A mechanic then came out and started our vehicle, which couldn’t be stopped at all on the way back home. This involved the engine still running in a petrol station (I still don’t believe the mechanic who advised this is safe, but I’m still here to tell the tale) and of course the inevitable McDonalds stop!

Final Thoughts

So a crazy but very enjoyable few days for MegaSlam with a great team who laughed a lot together and bonded through the various mishaps. It is now 2 am Friday and I will be meeting the team again in a few hours for another week of Pontins antics. For now I will say good-bye, as for some reason I suddenly have an urge for a Big Mac….

Thanks for reading!

JCT

    First of two breakdowns! Incriminating evidence in my right hand....

Grapple Match
JC Thunder vs. Toxic Jack

Back to Business.....

This is the first blog written in a while. For various reasons I have not been as active in the wrestling world as I would have liked to have been this year and didn’t feel it appropriate to continue writing this until I was.

I must admit I was annoyed at myself for a few things regarding my return to wrestling. Having taken a step back recently I kept finding myself asking the question - have I failed? I know I know, we’re not meant say failed, but had a ‘learning experience’, but that doesn’t stop the fact it can be frustrating when you don’t achieve the results you had hoped for. That said I’m still going and this journey is far from over, so let’s have a look at some of the things that have been going on.

All Star

I have recently started doing the camps for All Star again wrestling as my terrifying alter ego ‘the Russian Nightmare’ Radik Anenco, who just to confuse you all is now sometimes called Boris Koslov (for some reason announcers always struggled with the Radik name and I also recently discovered it isn’t even a real Russian name – you know because all other aspects of the gimmick are so truthful!)

I had one week up in Scotland wrestling Davey Blaze of ICW fame, which went well and was good to get back into the swing of things. I’ve also been wrestling my old nemesis El Ligero - including three brutal ladder matches on the Butlins camps that left me battered and bruised. Apart from one earlier this year I am new to ladder matches, but found these so much fun and it was great to do the main Butlins run with All Star that finishes with a show of well over 1,000 watching in Skegness.

Megaslam

I have also made my debut with a new company Megaslam who run similar style holiday camp shows. I recently ticked another box on my checklist as I got to wrestle one of the best wrestlers in the country James Mason. With over 10,000 matches under his belt and a true expert in British wrestling it was an honour to wrestle such a legend.

As well as Radik wrestling Ligero, David ‘the Grappler’ Graves and Toxic Jack I have also wrestled as good guy JC Thunder! But JC you said you hate been the good guy I hear you cry, well yes this was once true, but this actually went well and the ‘Yorkshire lad’ JC Thunder was very popular against (due to confusion on the run sheet as I swapped gimmicks) the ‘Russian Nightmare’ Dara Diablo.  This may be the closest I ever come to wrestling myself!

TGW

TGW is the wrestling promotion I started and one in which I put so much work into. I think that showed in the four shows we did have in terms of show quality. I rather excitedly booked 10 shows this year, as I was so keen on running a promotion with monthly shows with engaging story lines. However, the hours upon hours of handing out flyers and sticking up posters was not enough. The shows did not draw as well as I would have liked and then the real nail in the coffin was when we lost our venue.

I am currently not able to start TGW until the beginning of next year now. There may be a few changes, but the goal remains the same - a wrestling promotion with good wrestling and good storylines. Seems simple, but there are so many shows going on in the UK at the moment that fail to achieve this.

True Grit must live up to its name and keep fighting until it comes good!

Grapple

This one is actually a venture I had no intention of becoming involved with when I returned to wrestling, but I am really glad that I did. Grapple is a wrestling school in Leeds that I am now co-owner of with long time friend Paul Clarke. We have made some big changes over the last year or so. We now have World of Sport legend Marty Jones and one of the UK’s current top talents El Ligero as trainers. We have updated the facilities and have recently installed a new 16ft wrestling ring. Our shows have improved loads and will continue to do so. It is taking time, but I am proud of what is being done.

I have also really enjoyed taking part on the Grapple shows. The most recent ones were matches with David Graves and the ‘Ugandan Warrior’ Nsereko. Both guys have improved so much since I first met them and both these matches were great fun! Expect big things from these two in the next few years. Check them out below:

JC Thunder vs. David ‘The Grappler’ Graves

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0ZP2gcDHsE

JC Thunder vs. ‘The Ugandan Warrior’ Nsereko

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1104&v=lTZWfkkIndg

Final thoughts

So upon reflection to think I’ve failed is over the top and now I am wrestling again those thoughts have died down. TGW will be back and Grapple is heading in the right direction. Me as a wrestler - well I had a poignant moment whilst climbing that ladder dressed in Russian spandex in front of all those people (as you do!). If I’d never made that step to re-hash my childhood dream I’d never have experienced this moment and all the other cool things I’ve done in the last year or so. I will look back on these moments fondly and despite all the hard work and any set backs it makes it seem all worthwhile.

Thanks for reading!

JCT