JC Thunder: April 2014

On April 17^th 2014, I had one my proudest moments in my return to wrestling and I didn’t even step into a wrestling ring. This was the date of True Grit Wrestling’s first show, a promotion run by Paul Clarke (of Grapple Wrestling in Leeds) and I.

This month has pretty much been dominated by ensuring that everything ran smoothly with the show and really this has been somewhat of an interlude in the comeback of Thunder. However, I am pleased to say I have still managed three more shows where I was performing and my in-ring confidence continues to rise.

Look who’s Talking

On March 23^rd was another show for Grapple wrestling and another first for me back in wrestling. I talked on the microphone again – woohoo it has been too long!

On this night I was against Josh Alden. I came to the ring and amongst other things I declared my dislike for the crowd who were then firmly behind Josh. The match itself was simple, but effective in terms of ensuring the crowd were into it and having a good time. I have found it quite natural to slip back into the role of the chatterbox bad guy who people like booing. The match itself can be viewed at the link below (minus my microphone speech unfortunately).

Survivor

Talking of talking, I also did a video promo recently against the Welsh bad man Dylan Roberts (link below) in preparation for our survivor series match at GPW. You will see that I’m furious at Mr. Roberts, but then again you can surely understand why - I’m trying to get back into wrestling and I’ve got some young upstart calling me out.

A survivor series match is when you pit four men against each other and the wrestlers are eliminated until only one team is left surviving. On this night JC Thunder…….did not survive. In fact if I was on the hit US TV program ‘Survivor’, I would have been one of the ones you forgot about that was eliminated in the second episode. Roberts was the one who eliminated me getting an upset victory on this old GPW faithful. Now I’m really angry….

What’s best for business

In January I received a neck injury at training that slowed down my progress somewhat. It also got me wondering how I would be involved in wrestling if something more serious were to ever happen. This really gave me a kick to start getting more involved behind the scenes – enter True Grit Wrestling and The Merch Stand. Despite the stress involved, I have really enjoyed this side of things and it is a role I felt very comfortable in.

A lot of time and effort went into our first show and I am pleased that the reviews have been excellent. It was great to see how much the fans got into and I can’t wait until the next one. Also, The Merch Stand has just released its first range of T-shirts designed by the excellent Dave Lewis which all look great.

A Champions Return

I had somewhat of an identity crisis at IPW:UK as I made my return on April 20^th. On one hand I was the returning champion who was meant to be the ‘people’s hero’. However, what really made me famous at IPW:UK wasn’t my championship reign at all, it was my lead up to winning the belt and my comical monologues on the microphone. To add to my confusion I was teaming with Stixx and Ross Jordan, as the ‘Southern Alliance’ which was a team from an entirely different promotion and era (you know you are getting old when you can start dividing your past into eras).

I went with the more comical edition of JC Thunder and we had a fun match. It was good to be back in the ring with my old tag team partners and quite amusing that we were facing wrestlers who watched my title win as fans when they were just teenagers! There was also a rumble on the show and I was pleased that I got to pay homage to my Caribbean days, by having a Caribbean rum party with the other wrestlers (yes I definitely went with the comedy option on this show).

Final Thoughts

Ok, it was fun setting up my own promotion and dealing with our first show. However, I must not take my eye of the ball in respect of my own return to the wrestling ring. My neck injury is almost healed now and I am raring to go again. Interlude over, Act 2 commence…

Thanks for reading