Another bumper edition as I’ve been away on a Megaslam tour recently
– this time up in the real high points of Scotland. Before that we had two
shows in Nailsea, Somerset and Urmston, Manchester too.
Yes!
We do go to some random places with Megaslam and Nailsea is one of
those places! We entered the leisure centre hall with florescent yellow
lighting and slightly suspicious staff members as we set up for that evening’s
show. On this night I would be against the ‘Yes Man’ JD Bryant. Yes, a blatant
rip off of Daniel Bryan, but works well and a good wrestler too. I wrestled JD
in one of my first matches back (see blog March 2014) and didn’t seem very
happy at the time re-reading it. This one was certainly better and it seems a lifetime
away those first few months when I returned back to this crazy world!
Stupid minor injury in this match, as I somehow managed to sprain my
own ankle standing in the corner as JD dropkicked me. That’s right I hurt myself
just randomly standing! Despite this I was soon up and with the aided distraction
from Cousin Jake I nailed (in Nailsea) JD with my deadly finish flagpole to the
throat! There was revenge for Bryant later in the night as he eliminated Jake
and I from the rumble to a chorus of Yes chants and another happy Megaslam
crowd.
Housemates Collide!
The next day I was off to Urmston on very little sleep to wrestle the
Dark Cloud Sebb Strife! Strife is a big mean wrestler, gimmick inspired by Game
of Thrones as he smashes his opponents about and demanding them to kneel before
him. However, what is more worrying is Sebb is also my flat mate and landlord -
so I had to make sure I was up to date with my rent before this match!
Referring to that March 2014 blog again, another thing I seemed
unhappy about was how uncomfortable I was being a babyface (good guy). This
match again shows how far I have come, as despite my limping around due to my
ankle, it was excellent. Sebb too, was on great form and has been on fire
recently as every match he is in seems to be fantastic at the moment. The
referee (another Grapple wrestler by the name of Jake Silver or Jack Johnson as
he was announced) managed to get himself squashed in the corner and allowed a
low blow and spine-buster on me for Sebb’s win. We then both continued beating
the life out of each other in the Rumble later, presumably arguing over who’s
turn it was to empty the dishwasher.
Dumfries
The following Thursday and we were off to sunny Scotland for a 4 day
tour, starting in Dumfries. After hours of sitting in traffic, we arrived with less
than an hour to put the ring up. The first match would be Boris and Saxon. This
was probably the closest I have ever been to not been ready for a match, as I
was still lacing my boots as the ref was making his way to the ring. Wow, those
bumps hurt with no warm up!
Bully Boy Carter is from Dumfries and we were expecting a huge crowd
of his friends, family and other little bully boys and bully girls to cheer on
their local hero……there were 33 people in the crowd! This led to one of the
most awkward promos and National anthems I have ever done. When you have
several hundred people booing and joining in the ridiculousness that is Boris
(and make no bones about it, it is ridiculous - but a good show) I become
completely absorbed in the character and situation. It feels awesome! With 33
silent people, it’s not fun at all!
We got through it though and went on to a 6 man tag later in the
evening with Boris, Jake and Nightshade (team ginger!) vs. Saxon, Terry Isit
and Lizzy Styles in a really funny tag match that I actually enjoyed a lot more
than the singles as we were all so relaxed and just having fun. To Bully Boy’s
credit, despite his lack of popularity in Dumfries, he had an excellent match
with CJ Banks on the card too!
Cambletown
We were then on with a nice long drive to Dalavich in the Northern
parts of Scotland where we arrive d in the wee hours of the morning. A nice cosy
double room for 10 booked in The Old School, Apartments and we had a few hours
sleep before we were off to Campbell Town for the next show. I would be a good
guy again as I faced Cousin Jake.
The match was fine apart from referee Neil showing his super human
strength by getting squashed in the corner by Jake and popping right back up as
if it had no effect. I don’t usually go into the mechanics of a wrestling match
on here, but erm yeah that wasn’t meant to happen. This led to confusion by all
and in a strange twist the referee suddenly collapsed again out of no-where and
for no reason. Jake cheated and picked up the win to a bit of a rotten finish!
Thanks Neil! You’re still a good lad though.
Chinese food followed and of course the combination of one surly
Chinese restaurant owner and the Megaslam team soon led to a massive argument
and us eating half cooked chinese food in the Megaslam van. Standard!
Fort
William
Stop number 3 on the tour we climbed the twisting turns and single
roads in our huge ring van to Ben Nevis, Fort William. A point must be made how
terrifying those small roads around Dalavich are in such a huge vehicle
(especially the previous night when it was pitch black), but driver Brad did a
great job getting us through it.
Fort William was the biggest of the shows with a whooping 350 in and
it was a brilliant show. I was facing CJ Banks in the main event for the
Megaslam title and the little Scottish tykes were chomping at the bit to see
their champ destroy the Russian challenger. Anyone who has ever seen Banks
wrestle will know just how good he is and it’s great to have him as a regular
on the Megaslam team. The only slight hitch was Juice’s music stopping just as
he made his entrance, but the crowd were so loud it didn’t matter.
It was also good to get some promo and interview practice with Euan,
who is currently doing a documentary with Ross (Saxon). Looking forward to
seeing some of the footage. Thank you Euan for coming to film Megaslam and the
wrestlers.
A few drinks to celebrate in Fort William, a bit of random chaos
best left for the autobiography and then we were off back to Dalavich!
Oban
The next day would be a smaller show in Oban. There were still about
100 or so in, but the other wrestlers were struggling to get any sort of
reaction from the crowd much to the annoyance of Brad. ‘Time for you to show
why you’re the champ’ were the words said to Banks right before our re-match
from the night before.
The match started with my usual talking to the crowd, which seemed
to work well. Strangely one party called me a beaver, I think due to my Russian
hat. Of course I reacted in my thick Russian accent, ‘I’m not a Beaver!’ much
to the hilarity of the crowd and beaver chants ensued. Banks entered, with no
music stoppage this time. As he entered the ring, he looked at me puzzled
‘Beaver??’. However, he went with it and throughout the match we had Beaver
chants, the ever popular ‘Chicken Beaver’ chant or even the ‘Hairy Beaver’ one
as he twisted my arm pit hair as he had me in an arm bar (yes that actually
happened!). Another great match and despite how silly the chants were the crowd
were into in the whole way through.
It was then onto a Steak House for our final meal of the tour. Of
course, Danny Hudson annoyed the staff, which led to one of the waitresses
uttering ‘Ginger Prick’ under her breath (she has a point). Management were
eventually involved and we were soon off back to merry England. A job well
done….the wrestling I mean we aren’t very good at having meals out (we did get
free drinks though, thanks Danny!).
Final Thoughts
What a great team we had on this tour! Everyone gelled really well,
it was so much fun and the shows were excellent too. The Scotland invasion of
Megaslam was hugely successful and I’m sure our return will be just as good.
Thank you Brad, Juice, Lizzy, Lucy, Ross, Danny, Dan, Bully and Neil. A really
enjoyable few days!
Thanks for reading!
JCT
