Last night, I had one of the best nights ever: my two daughters (Zoe, 5; and Tegan, 2) and I spent several hours playing dress-up with seven-plus years of wrestling gear I have accumulated, along with four wrestling masks my mother just sent to me from Mexico last week: I turn 35 tomorrow (February 20). We had so much fun, goofing off and carrying on, that my two creative masterminds went to bed nearly two hours later than normal. I woke up this morning pretty exhausted (I usually go to sleep right after the kids do, now that Kim is working Graveyard Shifts three nights a week), but I was in such good spirits that I finally found the energy to sit down and write another column for the website.
And believe me, I needed the energy.
So let's get caught up, shall we? When we last left off, I was set to attend my first wrestling show of the year in Barriere, B.C. Barriere is a small town about three hours north of Kelowna; it used to have a population of nearly 4000, but after a massive forest fire in 2003, the population is barely a quarter of that now. I believe one of the locals told me it isn't officially a "town" anymore, due to the forced exodus of so many residents...but it is a quaint little community, regardless. The show was very well attended, and had a different mix of wrestlers than can be found at other Okanagan shows: along with the usual suspects of myself, Slave, Mike More, Friar MacBeth and Minion, there was Steven Styles from Alberta, Ronnie Angel and Scorpio Knightmare from Washington State, The Mighty Iton (who made a name for himself in the 80s with Al Tomko's All-Star Wrestling and came out of retirement last year), J.J. Jetson (Barriere's hometown hero, who feuded with Iton back in the day and also came out of retirement last year), as well as two former Vancouver Island running buddies of mine: B.J. Laredo (formerly known as my old pal, Kid Xtreme), and Scott Steel.
I was set to face Steel in my first Okanagan-Interior Title defense (and subsequently, my first bout) since October 31, and I was pleased with the match. Having been out of the ring for 12 weeks, my conditioning was off...which is frustrating, because I was working three 20-minute matches a day during a heatwave last August for Tim Flowers at the Abbotsford Agrifair, but we've already discussed how my post-appendectomy workout routine to end 2009 was basically non-existent. Steel targeted my left arm and really did a number on it; as did Laredo, who was seconding his "X-Treme Regime" tag partner and causing havoc at ringside. I fought back with every dirty trick in my arsenal: biting, hair-pulling, eye-gouging, more than a little faux urination...and the crowd was eating it up. I didn't have enough strength in my left arm to lock in The Muzzle, but I was was able to fight back from Steel's nasty armwork and hit the Okanagan Slam; the challenger rolled out of the ring, so I met him with a flying double-axehandle off the apron to the floor...and turned right into a wicked right-cross from Laredo. The referee called for the bell (victory was mine via disqualification), but I was getting stomped by both members of the Regime, until Steven Styles made the save. Words were exchanged and an impromptu tag match was agreed to: the "Ukrainian Bulldogs" (Styles and myself) were in the driver's seat when I went to grab my trusty bone and blast Laredo with it...only to have the Regime's guest manager, Jack Danielz, throw powder in my eyes! Blinded, I didn't see Laredo low-blow Styles, and was unable to fend off a vicious Codebreaker that left me ripe for a Laredo pinfall. Challenges were issued for a future Cage Match between the Ukrainian Bulldogs and the X-Treme Regime. Later that night, Styles and I would figure in the main event, as we saved a local fan from a vicious kendo stick assault at the hands of Iton and Jetson, who shockingly joined forces as Jeston turned his back on his hometown faithful.
After the show, I unwound at the hotel bar (until about 2am), then got less than five hours sleep as Tegan was up and ready to go. After an entertaining breakfast at a diner across the street (where Tegan decided that SHE wanted to entertain the masses), it was time to drive home and get ready to get back to reality: no more wrestling for the Mad Dog until March, as "real life" and the 2010 Winter Games wreak havoc on my wrestling schedule. But that doesn't mean there hasn't been wrestling-related drama during the past 2-3 weeks.
There was an issue on Facebook. I don't want to get into it and name names and copy-and-paste the madness, but suffice it to say that someone decided he would try and "put me in my place" via email, over an issue that was none of his business; an issue that he had no authority to even comment on in the first place. Comments were made that I perceived as insulting and threatening, so I responded with both guns blazing. It's not Grade Seven: I haven't tolerated bullies for nearly 15 years. I used to see a therapist who told me I had a Sherriff's Complex, in that I feel the need to wear the white hat and blah-blah-blah. But I digress: he responded by having his wife continue the argument (an argument laced with lies, threats, and utter insanity), while he made childish threats and libelous remarks online. My wife was even harrassed via email, which was the lowest: my wife's involvment in the business has always been "sit in the crowd and put up with hubby's stupid obsession," so the last thing she needs is some other person's wrestling bullshit thrown in her face. Then, as inexplicably as the whole mess started, it just as inexplicably ended with an "I'm sorry for everything, Marty."
What sucks is that the person in question is someone I honestly liked and respected. Someone who I didnt' have a problem wrestling with or hanging out with, even when others said he didn't deserve the time of day. But he never game me any grief and I looked at it as the right thing to do: if it wasn't for people like Shawn LaFleur, Vance Nevada and Cody Washington -- all three of whom stuck up for me when I was first starting out, when people wouldn't even give me a chance -- where would I be? So for this guy to turn around and slap me in the face and attempt to sabotage my wrestling career (which my big yap can do well enough on its own, thanks), was...well, quite frankly, it made me ill.
Meanwhile, there was an ongoing issue on Twitter. Do you remember, back in Junior High, how there would be a group of punks who would hang out in the back hallway? How they would lurk back there and try to bully and harrass anyone that dared tread in what they perceived as their little patch of turf? Well there is a whole sub-culture of this on Twitter. Punks that seem to forget their comments can be seen by ANYONE; punks that seem to think it's cool to debase a person when they receive recognition from their peers. These same tough guys immediately get defensive and start pissing and moaning, banding together like a pack of flea-bitten hyenas, when the person they are trying to debase turns their snarky little comments back on them. These same tough guys try to shake your hand and act like your buddy when you see them one-on-one outside of their little gang, too. It's no different than the guy who failed Grade Eight twice, calling you a "nerd" because, you know...you read a book. Or the little tag-along to the group of punks that finds himself without his cronies to back him up after shooting his mouth off. If you can't handle being insulted, don't walk around insulting people...or go back to using fake names on message boards so you can make the some comments in relative anonymity. And don't even get me started on message boards: "I swept the floor one time and I hang out at Boston Pizza, so I know what the wrestling business is all about." Yeesh. It's childish, it's ridiculous...but what is more ridiculous, is that I spent more than 10 seconds on it. So have your little back hallway, punks (both hallways, in fact): lurk back there with pride! Twitter and your stupid message board were just bogging down my BlackBerry, anyway.
Okay, now that all the crap has been flushed down the drain, let's look to the future! March is shaping up to be busy, with an All-Star Wrestling TV Taping in Abbotsford, ASW's return to Kelowna (where I finally get my rematch with "Gorgeous" Michelle Starr), and another ASW show in New Westminster. I haven't worked for ASW since October, and haven't wrestled on the Lower Mainland since August, so I am more than a little excited by both prospects. And it will be my first TV taping, which is going to be a real treat. Plus: Okanagan All Pro Wrestling makes its debut in April (Kamloops), wrestling is slated to return to Rutland Days in May (and I have been asked to be a Marshal in the Rutland Days Parade), and Thrash Wrestling is getting ready to start its 2010 season in the very near future. There's also pending trips to Alberta, Washington State, and possibly Manitoba...but not until late May at the earliest. And Collin Cutler has been hounding the Powers That Be to get a shot at me and the Okanagan-Interior Title: it's been so long since I smacked around a member of the Kelownafornians, I almost forgot how much fun it is!
Until next time, Sugar Addicts.
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