Not too long after UCW was successfully up and running back in 2009, I began to get so much unexpected fanmail. Keep in mind I had never before 2009 been told that I had looks and skill that could make me a popular figure in the world of internet wrestling or modeling for that matter. As such, I decided to start a fan page on MySpace (it was still relevant in 2009). A few months later around winter I got a message from gentleman who said he was starting a new wrestling company and was interested in using me on the site.
2 job offers in one year? UNHEARD OF! So I did my usual questions and research and he finally sent me a few videos of their first tapping. I watched and gave my critiques of what I liked and didn’t like. Many of you may remember the first videos were shot in a boxing ring in the middle of a 24 hour gym so there was a lot of background distraction. Thankfully they found a private ring to use by the time I got down there.
After some time to think and plan, I decided to accept their offer and fly down to Florida for the next filming. I remember making the 3 hour drive down to Milwaukee and staying the night at Bodyslam’s place. Then going to the airport for a morning departure. After saying my goodbye’s to Bodyslam I walked down the terminal and it hit me. The sweating, the shaking, I swear I almost had a panic attack. Moreso than the first time I joined UCW. With UCW I had my car and the luxury of driving back if I ever wanted to opt out of the wrestling. Here I was going to be flying by myself for the first time. Staying in a state and city that I had never been too. Not to mention, at the mercy of a guy I had only conversed with over the internet and phone doing wrestling in a ring against guys WAAAYYY bigger than me! WTF was I thinking?
Thankfully my worries were put to rest once I landed and met the owner, and checked into my AWESOME hotel room. Later that night I was able to check out the ring and get a few lessons from the owner on how to do some of the basics, like running the ropes. Up to that point I had never stepped foot in an actual wrestling ring. I had only wrestled in the basement of my friend James “The Never Give-up Kid” on a wrestling platform that was hand constructed.
The next day I was taken to the ring with the other wrestlers where we were given our gear and the match list for the day. To my surprise I was first on the list against another wrestler I had known from his days as a model and on NRW…Zack Jonathan.
Seeing Zack in person was intimidating to say the least. After seeing the list of match-ups for the next few days I knew that I was going to have to face every single guy there at least once. Just my luck they would give me their top guy as my first opponent. It was almost a “welcome to RHW bitch” moment.
However as many of you already know I certainly wasn’t the bitch in that match. (Side note, this match was released 2nd but in reality it was my first. The videos don’t always come out in the order they were shot sometimes for various reasons).
My next match was against the Czech wrestler Tyler Reeves.
This match is definitely where I came into my own as a heel. Many of you wonder why go by so many different names. Well like many other pro wrestlers we take on different names to separate ourselves from other companies or to highlight a new persona. The owner here wanted me to drop the face attitude and tap into the inner street punk to take down these big boys. And that’s exactly what I did.
Throughout my time there in that first filming, I went on to also face both of the Nelson brothers and with/against Brody Hancock. All of the matches were a learning experience whether I had won or loss. Its obvious that I enjoyed myself during that time because I keep coming back for more. Its hard to find big guys to wrestle at UCW, so its always a challenge for me whenever I go to RHW because so many of the guys are the jacked up muscle heads I see in the gym, the ones that get on my nerves, or they remind me of the ones that picked on me in high school.
Another side note, I will be visiting Wisconsin in 2 months for my high school class reunion. I can firmly say that most of those people who picked on me in school for being scrawny are no where near as in shape as they were in high school. So I like to think I played the long game and won compared to them. Lets see if they want to try and pick on me now. 😉
Back to the story. Upon my return I could not stop talking about my experience with RHW. It was a learning experience and it opened me up to a new side of me that I had largely ignored for most of my life. So rather than try to bury it and let it fester, I decided to embrace it. Hell, call it therapy. RHW is my anger management program. lol
Singlets and Stuff 