Long, long, ago. In a galaxy far, far away. Ok, so it was 5 years ago and it was in Wisconsin. It was a Friday on a cool dreary April day. I had set out with my 1990 Buick Regal GS (the one and only car I ever owned) from my college town of Stevens Point down to Milwaukee to meet with a man named Michael aka “Bodyslam” about wrestling for a new venture called UCW.
Prior to our meeting Bodyslam had contacted me via a website called allfighters (now called meetfighters), which was basically a social media website for anyone into meeting up or talking about wrestling and other combat sports. Bodyslam reached out and asked to be a part of this new website and gave me his contact info.
Needless to say I was very skeptical at first. I took his info and did as much Google/internet research as I could on him. It brought me his previous wrestling endeavors which included NSW (New Stars of Wrestling) videos on Youtube. From there I figured out that he was legit and that I would give it a shot.
The timing was critical too. I was in a bad spot in my life. I had recently dropped out of college, was working part time at a minimum wage job, and was suffering from depression and other medical issues. I was ready for something new to help get me out of this funk that I was in.
We met half-way in Oshkosh, with two other potential wrestlers, and then drove the rest of the way to the house of James “The Never Give-Up Kid”. After a few hours of talking, signing paperwork, and training from James it was go time. Prior to this I had no pro wrestling training whatsoever. I had stopped watching WWE back in my high school days because it lost the 90’s appeal that turned me into a fan. So no surprise I was a bit lost when James was training us. He was throwing out names of famous wrestlers before the 90’s and after the 90’s that I had no recollection of. Moves that were beyond my arsenal much less my vocabulary. However, after being taught the basics it was time for my first match. The only problem was the guy I was suppose to face decided this wasn’t for him. It was a sigh of relief on my part because he had actually participated in Bodyslams earlier pro wrestling feds and was more seasoned than I was. He instead would go on to ref my first match against the man named JR.
Lights up and camera on. Here I was, a 23 year old college drop out with some experience with Taekwondo, Karate, Judo, MMA, Boxing, but barely any wrestling. I was up against a guy who was much more muscular and had prior wrestling experience, in a basement of a house infront of people I had only met in person that day. To say I was scared was an understatement, I was terrified. It was time to take what I had learned in the past and what I learned that day and fuse it together. What transpired was the jolt energy I had been looking for. Never before had I had so much fun, and I was getting paid for it too.
Back and forth JR and I put each other into painful awkward holds and dishing out equally awkward kicks and punches. Looking back at it now my current self would whoop the two of them easily at once. Its actually really painful for me to watch this video now because I see so many mistakes made in each other’s game plan. However, that doesn’t diminish the feeling I had from that first match. I remember at one point JR and I were both breathing heavily and exhausted, but still eager to make the other tap or pin his shoulders to the mat. We both looked glanced and smiled at each other with this sadistic twinkle in our eyes, as if to say “this is fucking fun.”
As those of you who have watched this match know, I ended up winning this match. I had exhausted all the pro moves I could remember and decided to resort to some MMA tactics and was able to entrap JR in triangle choke. I held on for all I had and he finally gave up the fight. I almost didn’t let go until the ref stepped in and pulled me off. I was ecstatic. I come in and proven to myself that I could actually do this, I had even forgotten that there was a camera watching me the entire time.
Its fun to look back now and see how much I progressed. Bodyslam even told me a few years later that after I had left, from that first day, even with a victory and a smile on my face, James, and the other core guys who started UCW, were convinced that I wouldn’t make it far. Ironic, isn’t it?
Singlets and Stuff 