Megaslam, Grapple and some Trainee Advice!

This weekend was relatively quiet with just one show. However, still great fun and another match under the belt for 2016. It’s fantastic I’ve done 7 shows already this month and 14 coming up in February. This time last year I was doing not very much at all and working a full time job completely unrelated to wrestling. Sometimes you do just need to stick at it.

On that note, I often find wrestling trainees feeling dejected by their lack of progress or worse they work sub-par shows (often for free!) in order to make themselves feel like they are a wrestler. In my opinion you don’t need to do this and when you are ready you will find work and you will be busy. I hope my slow, but ever increasing progress over the last two years provides some evidence of that. The wrestlers who go for option one and rush into things often stay that way and never amount to anything other than working low quality shows once or twice a month. Don’t do it, you’re better than that!

Fight in North Ferriby

The show this weekend was in a small village named North Ferriby for Megaslam. I would be against Paul Malen, a talented and experienced wrestler who has managed to make this his full time living for the last 5 years or so.

Apparently I was meant to face Paul about 10 years ago on a show. I have no recollection of ever being asked to do this and do hope no one has ever accused me of no showing an event! That said this is the perfect excuse to now announce this match as ‘A Decade in the Making!!’

With no microphone for the ring announcer or I, we both found ourselves shouting very loudly in this particular village hall. I did my usual rendition of the Russian National Anthem and soon had the patriotic children of the North East chanting away for England (don’t worry they were fully on board and accepting of El Ligero later in the evening – the xenophobia only appears to be sent my way!).

Malen entered to the cheers of the crowd and soon the verbal jibes became physical strikes. This match was hard-hitting and very back and forth. It certainly didn’t feel like a cold January night as we threw each other about the place and came crashing down onto the hard wooden boards of the ring. Another match I greatly enjoyed even if once again England triumphed over mother Russia! 

Keep on Grappling

The Grapple show at Fibbers went so well the other week and we are all looking forward to the next show there on the 3^rd April. We have also booked three more shows for Grapple; we are in Morley on the 19^th March, Bradford on the 30^th April and Bradford on the 7^th May.

Our quest for new equipment at Grapple continues. You may recall the Leeds floods destroyed our last ring and mats. With no insurance payment being paid out to us (or the many other unfortunate victims of the floods on Kirkstall road) this was a massive hit to the business.

At the time of writing we currently have £617 with quite a bit more coming in soon from the raffle money we received at Fibbers. No-where near the cost of a new ring yet, but the rate funds are coming in I remain confident. If you can spare anything at all for us it would be massively appreciated (link below). Thank you for all of the ones received so far and apologies for turning my blog into a temporary charity plea – it is only because it is so important to us! 

https://crowdfunding.justgiving.com/james-carr-1

Final Thoughts

I need to be in both the gym and wrestling gym more than ever now to make sure I’m in shape for all these upcoming shows. You may recall I damaged a muscle in my back the other week during a match. However, I can still work my chest, legs, or anything else that my back will allow. I bring it up as I often see people finding excuses to not train. Unless you have a very serious injury you should be looking for excuses of how you can train even when you are hurt, tired, ill, busy etc etc. There's usually ways round it if you want it enough. 

That’s my opinion anyway and my second point to trainees this week - go the gym! Grapple is starting to look more professional than ever, but we still have loads of students whose only exercise appears to consist of the wrestling training itself once or twice a week. This is an athletic business and you need to be an athlete to do it. I have my pitfalls I will admit, my mobility and flexibility suck! However, I stay strong, stay fit and am constantly working on my weak points. If you want to improve, you should be doing the same and the results will come. And finally please do not take this personally if you fall into this category. I only say it as I want to see people do well. 

Right on that note, I should probably stop typing and get to the gym myself....

Thanks for reading!

JCT

A Nice Long Weekend of Wrestling!

This weekend was a busy one as I had four wrestling shows in three days. All very different types of matches and situations! The Megaslam tour continued of course with more sold out shows across the country. The big Grapple show took place in York and was a huge success - thanks to Dave Lewis for setting that one up and to everyone else who helped out, it was brilliant! Also, raising funds for the equipment destroyed by the flood is looking positive too, more details below.

Blue Eyed Boy

The wrestling started on Friday with a Megaslam show at the Civic Hall in Stalybridge. On this day I would be facing the 'Muscle Cat’ Saxon! As you may have suspected the Muscle Cat is a big guy and I was looking forward to having a match with another heavyweight (after those Christmas mince pies I have now put myself in that category).

The other interesting dynamic was that I would be a good guy JC Thunder today! ‘Oh no JC, you told us you are terrible at that!’ I hear you cry. Well fear not, as this actually went pretty well. I was possibly a bit aggressive as I shouted intensely in attempt to rally support, but overall I still had the majority of the crowd on my side and the match itself was really enjoyable. A good solid wrestling match to start the weekend and Saxon is definitely one to watch for the future.

Our Time is Now

Saturday and finally the Fibbers, York show is here for Grapple. We had 150 pre-sales going in and reached a total crowd of 220 in the end, which meant it was rammed in our new nightclub home in York! The show had a real professional feel about it; similar to the TGW ones I put on last year. It was the best Grapple show to date and all those involved should be immensely proud of themselves.

My match would be me (JC Thunder - the bad version!) and El Ligero (also bad!) vs. The Burial (David Graves & B.A.Rose) for the Grapple tag team championship. I very much enjoyed this and we seemed to get the rowdy Fibbers crowd firmly into the show as The Burial battered the self-proclaimed Grapple Dream Team. The only slight snag was I landed awkwardly at the end and managed to hurt my lower back, which made the rest of the weekend and gym work this week a bit difficult. A minor inconvenience however, as the match was great fun! Anyway no time to gloat as Ligero and I had another show to get to pronto….

A Mad Dash

It was a shame to leave the amazing atmosphere of Fibbers and not see the rest of the show, but we had another event 30 miles down the road at the Driffield Leisure Centre for Megaslam. CJ Banks was doing the same in the other direction and it was a mad dash for us all to make it on time.

We raced down the Yorkshire A-roads, as I transformed from an arrogant JC Thunder to a gruff Russian (I changed my tights in the back seat of the car). Now I would be facing Ligero (the very same man who I just teamed with) in the main event as Boris Koslov! Just to clarify he is now good, I am Russian and we now hate each other. Very confusing!

We arrived just in time and the match went well considering we were both hurt from earlier (through no fault of anyone in the match). Ligero had hurt his ribs and my back was making it very difficult to lift him up – wheel out the ‘plus 30 category’ for the main event! However, I’m very doubtful anyone in the audience could tell and the match went well. Also, Megaslam raised a load of cash for our replacement gym equipment via a raffle – their generosity is massively appreciated!

Set for the Stage

The final show of the weekend took place at a Lincoln Theatre Royal on Sunday afternoon. This was a different set-up as it was a theatre, the ring is placed on the stage and you obviously only have a crowd on one side. 

I would be facing Robbie McKenzie, the Megaslam champion. He is quite a bit smaller than me, so this was a real underdog David and Goliath type match (I’m frigging huge after those mince pies remember!) History repeated itself as David triumphed over this Russian Goliath, however this was a fun and entertaining match that I look forward to doing again. Another great show to cap off the weekend! 

Final Thoughts

I enjoyed all four matches and was pleased it was so varied. This was good preparation for the upcoming camps, when we will be doing up to 7 days straight on some weeks.

I am also pleased Grapple is doing so well. Not only was the show really successful, but we are starting to raise a fair bit for the replacement equipment that was destroyed by the floods. Please give our page below a look and donate anything you can to help us get back on our feet. Any amount would be hugely appreciated!

Two more Megslam shows this weekend in Accrington and North Ferriby! Looking forward to it!

Thanks for reading!

JCT

Grapple Crowd Funding page: https://crowdfunding.justgiving.com/james-carr-1

Back in Action!

New Year started off with a bang last weekend! Two shows with Megaslam wrestling. No time to ease back into it as we had a crowd of 500 on the Saturday evening and over 300 on the Sunday afternoon.

This weekend, I was back to being my Russian alter ego, whose name is now changed permanently to Boris Koslov. Easier to remember for people and Boris is actually a real name! I found out last year Radik is not even a proper name in Russia – damn you Fifa 2003 (the game I originally took my Russian name from).

A Mexican in Halifax

The first night was in Halifax and I would be against Ligero in the main event. The show kicked off with a promo (that’s me talking for those who don't know), as I came out and shouted in my broken English about how I am the best etc etc. A luke warm start, but I felt I got my point across as much as a mad shouting Russian can in a Halifax leisure centre. One huge positive - now it is freezing January, I am grateful for my Russian hat and coat entrance gear!

I was pleased with the match. It can sometimes be hard in leisure centres to obtain a good atmosphere, but I felt we had the crowd with us at the end. So much so that children were bombarding ringside trying to steal my flag to save their favourite Mexican! The swines! Well unfortunately for them I still got my hit in, but unfortunately for me I was soon on my back getting flattened by a flying Ligero!

This match did also feature my rendition (butchering) of the Russian National Anthem during the match itself (usually I do this pre-match). A cocky move! Apparently attempting to sing my opponent into submission is not a good tactic!  

An American in Altrincham

Sunday afternoon I would be against Sam Adonis. Sam is the current champion at All Star wrestling and has wrestled all over the world including a brief stint in WWE. It was great to be in there with someone with that experience and I learnt a lot from it.

However, I almost didn’t make it through the entrances! As I cowardly tried to escape the ring as my opponent entered, I tripped over the ropes and almost broke my own neck as I fell to the outside. People watching assumed it was part of the show. It wasn’t.... just me being clumsy. As an aside this is the third random fall I have taken recently. Once during a 5k race, once during paintball and now this. I seem to struggle to stay on my own two feet nowadays. Thank God I can still sing!

Despite the fall (which I think actually added to the match quite nicely), the match went without a hitch. Like with Ligero, I could tell I was in there with a real pro and it was good to wrestle two people with such experience in my first two matches back.

Grapple Update

This weekend also saw the opening of the new school for Grapple. Marty Jones headed up a huge class of 31 at our brand new training centre at Fight Science in Leeds. A great start to the year and a positive sign of things to come.

The upcoming show this weekend in York is shaping up nicely and pre-sales are looking good. It is great to see all the trainees banding together and help out with promotion. That is also the case for various fund raising schemes we have going to purchase a new ring. Thanks to Marty for pushing the raffle ideas and Mark Rolls for starting a Rumble Sweepstake too. Plenty of other ideas too, which I’m sure I will be telling you about in upcoming weeks.

Final Thoughts

Thanks once again to Megaslam for using me this weekend and all the other bookings I have lined up. I am incredibly excited about where this year will take me. A great couple of shows and opponents. I look forward to the upcoming weekend.

Thanks for reading!

JCT

Happy New Year!

Happy 2016 everyone! Last time I wrote one of these I was sat in St Maarteen airport after a brilliant summer wrestling and about to have another three months away back in the BVI.

If I’m completely honest my mind was a million miles away from wrestling during my time away and there were moments where I was questioning what I should be doing. However, at the end of November I returned and my mind was knocked a million miles back by Grapple tag team champs The Burial and some awesome news from Megaslam wrestling.

Dream Team

For one night El Ligero and JC Thunder (I know it’s wanky to speak in the third person, but given my multiple personalities it is also necessary for me sometimes) put their differences aside as we teamed up, along with Ruby Summers, against Grapple tag champs The Burial and Evee Black in Selby.

This match was so much fun! I know everyone so well in this match, which helped. Teaming with and just witnessing a heel (bad!) Ligero was hilarious and I think we managed to be comical yet stay hated effectively. The Burial are brilliant and always improving. I have spoken numerous times about how good David Graves is. This still stands and now even more so. I also got to wrestle against the other Burial member B.A Rose for the first time - who is ultra aggressive, hard-hitting and also excellent. The girls, Ruby and Evee, also did very well. Props to Evee for competing in her first match, even if she did end up getting punched by me (what a dick!).

The end of this match ended controversially, as Ruby supplied some hair spray to the eyes and Ligero picked up a pin over BA Rose. However, we still won and given my NUMEROUS victories over David Graves I’m pretty sure the Grapple Dream Team is now entitled to a tag team title match and that is exactly what is happening at Fibbers, York on 16^th January 2016! ‘Dream Team’ being the name I seemed to like referring to us as on our entrance! Full match below, not great camera quality but hopefully catches some of the essence of how fun this was.

Grapple

It is great to see how everyone continues to improve at Grapple. The show described above was good quality, but a poor house. We have decided to drop that venue. The new place in York is far superior and if current ticket sales are anything to go by should be a good draw too fingers crossed.

I certainly hope it is a good draw, as due to the terrible flooding that hit Yorkshire over Christmas Four-Sided Frank is no more! Four-Sided Frank was the name of our training ring. You might think that’s an odd name, but our previous ring had six sides and was female – Six Sided Shirley. Make sense now? No, well it doesn’t matter; the point is we need a new ring! So hopefully see you at a Grapple show soon.

Despite the set back of the flood, we have found a great new venue for training located at Fight Science in Leeds. It is amazing looking and big! We still have mats and a boxing ring, so under the tutelage of the legend that is Marty Jones and Ligero, trainees can still expect to receive some of the best training available in the UK. First class is this Sunday at noon with Marty (details below)!

Also, a big thanks to WWE trainer Dave Taylor for taking time out of his busy schedule and taking a training seminar for us last weekend. A great learning experience and look forward to having him back soon!

Megaslam

The big news of 2016 is, finally after two years of my return, I will be working a fairly full schedule thanks to Megaslam wrestling! This is great news and I am really looking forward to it. So far I have 31 shows for them in January, February and March with many more on the horizon.

I am grateful for this opportunity and feel it has come at the right time. Two years ago I wouldn’t have been ready. Now, whilst I still am no where near where I want to be, I have the best possible opportunity to continue to learn and improve and above all else actually do what I wanted to do as a kid on a regular basis and get paid for it!

Final Thoughts

If the summer with Megaslam is anything to go by then this year should be an extremely fun one. I am still not sure entirely where all this wrestling will take me, but I am enjoying the journey to wherever that is.

Grapple’s new training facility is great too and now I am back in Leeds I hope to really expand that too.

First show of the year this Saturday as I face El Ligero at Halifax North Bridge Leisure Centre for Megaslam. Hang on, wasn’t he my friend a minute ago... I’m so confused! Oh well, Happy New Year everyone!

Thanks for reading!

JCT

https://www.facebook.com/events/559287857573964/ - Marty Jones seminar this Sunday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2MVb5DlMpE - The Burial & Evee Black vs. El Ligero, JC Thunder and Ruby Summers (match starts at 7.30)