Latest / What Do You Call It? Podcast! / HARLEY DAVIS talks Rock n' Rolla Pro Wrestling, 80s, backyard, Opsreay, family, demons & more

Transcript

HARLEY DAVIS talks Rock n' Rolla Pro Wrestling, 80s, backyard, Opsreay, family, demons & more · What Do You Call It? Podcast!

• 0:06
  Hello and welcome to another episode of What do You Call it
• 0:11
  podcast. I'm your host GB, today's guest.
• 0:16
  Hold on. Before I do introduce today's
• 0:18
  guest, I actually want to say thank you for great 2025.
• 0:23
  I hope everyone had a great New Year's Christmas.
• 0:26
  What have you did during that time period?
• 0:28
  Even if it was just chilling fuck all.
• 0:31
  I hope you enjoyed doing fuck all because I did a lot of that
• 0:33
  as well during that time period. But let me go back to
• 0:36
  introducing today's guest. Today's guest is the true
• 0:39
  definition of an underdog. He's a family man.
• 0:43
  Please welcome Harley Davis. Harley, how you been mate?
• 0:48
  You all good? Yeah, I'm good for the second
• 0:50
  time now. Oh, brilliant.
• 0:53
  Yeah, definitely not re recording this intro did have
• 0:56
  some slight camera issues, but well, good.
• 0:58
  I think this laptop camera is actually better than the actual
• 1:01
  camera that I had attached to it.
• 1:03
  But anyways, before we discuss the upcoming debut show for
• 1:07
  Rock'n'roll the Pro Wrestling next month, that is officially
• 1:11
  sold out. That is legit sold out and
• 1:14
  there's actually a wait list for it.
• 1:15
  That's fucking awesome for a debut show as well in the UK.
• 1:19
  We're going to get to know its co-owner Harley and how he got
• 1:22
  interested, how he became a fan and talk about some of his
• 1:25
  career highlights. So Harley, before I do talk
• 1:27
  about Rock and Roller, tell me how you became a fan of
• 1:31
  professional wrestling. Well, Harold became a fan for
• 1:36
  professional wrestling was through my sister's boyfriend.
• 1:40
  Well, boyfriend at the time. I didn't actually personally
• 1:43
  watch it back in the day, but I was 14.
• 1:45
  I found out he does it. I was like, you know what,
• 1:47
  that's cool. I want to try it out as well.
• 1:49
  And after taking a few bumps at training for LDN, I was like,
• 1:54
  you know what, I want to keep this up.
• 1:56
  And then they split up. So I had to stop doing it
• 1:58
  entirely. But you know, yes, then I got
• 2:04
  into backyard wrestling, but they trained people at the same
• 2:08
  time with this place called RCWA Underground and it was
• 2:13
  phenomenal. Loved every second of it.
• 2:17
  Is that the Will Osprey one? Yes, it was run by Will Osprey.
• 2:22
  He he owned the whole thing, but it was a backyard wrestling
• 2:26
  promotion. But as I said, they would train
• 2:28
  people up and within the process of training people while putting
• 2:31
  on matches, he he would like try to guide people, try to make it
• 2:37
  look like a very professional backyard wrestling show.
• 2:41
  And it was, it was so fun back in the day.
• 2:44
  And I've got to be honest, I would happily go back there in a
• 2:47
  heartbeat. But you know, things move on,
• 2:50
  unfortunately. That's quite rare, mate, because
• 2:53
  in terms of backyard wrestling in this day and age, it's almost
• 2:56
  nonexistent really, because there's so many schools now.
• 3:01
  So people can just, OK, I want to train.
• 3:03
  They literally have so many opportunities to go to schools.
• 3:05
  Whereas you may have not had that luxury then, oh cool,
• 3:08
  wicked. But then you're also getting
• 3:10
  trained at the same time on a professional level, but you're
• 3:13
  having fun doing it on the backyard level.
• 3:16
  It, it was totally fun and it took me a long time to improve.
• 3:21
  I can throw my hats off to that. I don't know why I was like
• 3:24
  stuck in this bubble, but I enjoyed doing it and everything.
• 3:28
  If I bumped, I'd just like shell myself up and I'd no cell phones
• 3:32
  and it was terrible until suddenly everything kind of
• 3:35
  clicked in and it got even better from there.
• 3:39
  It got to the point where, like again, Will Osprey started
• 3:42
  praising my matches and he said like from how I was to what I
• 3:46
  developed into, he thought it was phenomenal.
• 3:49
  And yeah, would now would go back there in a heartbeat.
• 3:53
  Sorry I know I keep saying it but.
• 3:56
  It's the fact that you've only got, you know, say just Will
• 3:58
  Osprey, you know, compliment you and, you know, saying that
• 4:02
  you're improving, you know, I mean, he's a nobody, but I don't
• 4:08
  know if that's cool, man. Oh, trust me, man, there.
• 4:11
  There were so many wrestlers that used to go to it, but they
• 4:16
  didn't want to keep up with wrestling after the doors got
• 4:19
  closed or they didn't really want to put themselves out there
• 4:23
  in terms of becoming a professional wrestler.
• 4:25
  So they stopped. But it was kind of upsetting
• 4:27
  because they were so bloody talented to be straight up with
• 4:30
  you. Yeah man, trust me if if anyone
• 4:34
  ever gets a minute, go to vim vimo on Google and put an rcwa
• 4:39
  underground. I'm not sure if the videos are
• 4:41
  still up there. That's exactly.
• 4:43
  Right. Oh Vimo.
• 4:43
  My God, is that still? Is that still about?
• 4:45
  I used to use that in the university.
• 4:46
  A lot, trust me that that that was our go to thing when we
• 4:49
  posted everything online. It was yeah.
• 4:54
  And it was like proper proper run shows it, yeah.
• 4:58
  What kind of attendance did you have at these shows?
• 5:02
  Well, it was all just wrestling, like people that was training to
• 5:06
  wrestle. It's just that was the crowd.
• 5:08
  But when it got close to the line per view, it got up to 300.
• 5:12
  We was the most well known backyard wrestling federation in
• 5:15
  the UK. Yeah, yeah.
• 5:17
  That's cool, man. It was so cool, but we were all
• 5:22
  terrible. That's to say, in terms of when
• 5:25
  did you feel, OK, take away sort of the backyard aspects, the
• 5:28
  professional aspects, when did you find yourself getting more
• 5:32
  comfortable in that department and feel like, OK, I can
• 5:35
  actually have a professional match that isn't in the backyard
• 5:38
  environment? I never did, to be honest, I
• 5:43
  still feel uncomfortable wrestling to this day in front
• 5:45
  of like, no matter how many people there are.
• 5:47
  But you know, I kind of get on with it.
• 5:51
  I'm not even sure if you even see my matches.
• 5:53
  I like to tell this story, but you wouldn't believe it.
• 5:57
  I'm such a shy person when it comes to it and it will still
• 6:01
  frighten me. Even if there's only 30 to well
• 6:05
  over 100 people there, it still scares me to this day.
• 6:09
  Actually that's a good thing though, and I think it shows
• 6:11
  that you still have the nerves and that attachment to the shows
• 6:14
  that you care. Oh trust me, wrestling, like
• 6:18
  I've had a bit of a hit and miss relationship with it, but I've
• 6:21
  always loved it. But my go to type of wrestling
• 6:25
  that always draws me back in his 80s.
• 6:28
  Which is weird considering like I'm only 30 and 2025.
• 6:33
  A lot of people never look up to that, but I absolutely love it.
• 6:37
  What about the 80s wrestling dealer?
• 6:38
  Because there's actually an audience out there who they've
• 6:41
  probably seen a clip of like Hulk Hogan and Warrior, but
• 6:44
  never really watched any of the shows.
• 6:46
  Or, you know, they'd be like, what the fuck's this?
• 6:48
  Oh my God, these guys are really huge.
• 6:50
  That's on the RIP. We we saw them as large on life
• 6:51
  superstars, like these animated characters.
• 6:55
  Everyone had a gimmick. Jake the Snake, you know, Big
• 6:58
  Boss Man and Hakeem and it was a wonderful time.
• 7:02
  Funny enough, with one of my gimmicks, it was so 80s based,
• 7:07
  it was based on a face version of Mr. Perfect and this.
• 7:12
  This was a bit of a throwback character I used to do and every
• 7:15
  time I'd like do a big move I'd chat at wrestling or Charisma or
• 7:19
  something. I'm not going to stop with my
• 7:21
  lungs. It was so over and everyone
• 7:24
  loved it, but deep down I'm like what the hell am I doing half
• 7:27
  the time? What's the name then?
• 7:30
  So you was the babyface version of Mr. Perfect.
• 7:33
  Yeah, did. You ever get opposite?
• 7:36
  I was called the wrestling God Harley Davis.
• 7:40
  I like that name though, to be fair.
• 7:42
  Oh, trust me, the name Harley Davis, he just kind of I I, I
• 7:45
  literally said that just before having a match.
• 7:47
  Like, what do you want to be called as?
• 7:49
  And at the time I said Harley David and then the person
• 7:53
  announced Harley Davis. I was like, you know what, I'm
• 7:54
  rolling with this. And then the wrestling goal just
• 7:57
  kind of got thrown into it. Oh, fair place.
• 7:59
  So it's not because like you've got this, you know, massive
• 8:02
  interest in motorbikes and Harley-Davidson or anything like
• 8:04
  that. It's just last minute name like
• 8:07
  Harley David. Fuck it.
• 8:08
  Yeah, well, my first name is Harley.
• 8:11
  Well, outside of wrestling, yeah.
• 8:13
  Yeah, You know what? Funny enough, my name is
• 8:15
  actually meant to be called Keanu Ree.
• 8:18
  Well, Keanu Reece, that's my full name.
• 8:20
  And yeah, my mum loved Keanu Reeves and, and then I swiftly
• 8:28
  decided against that and called me Harley, so, you know, leaving
• 8:31
  it. I had a chance to be the one I.
• 8:34
  Did have a chance? You know what?
• 8:36
  I could grow my hair and change my name.
• 8:38
  I'll see how that goes for me. I can speak to John Mick right
• 8:42
  now. And she just stood by that, that
• 8:44
  name. Done.
• 8:47
  But you know, said she talking to Harley Davis.
• 8:52
  But then again, you are the 1st and the only Harley Davis though
• 8:56
  and that's what matters and that's what makes you unique
• 8:59
  mate. Ah, trust me saying that,
• 9:04
  though, with in terms of my gimmick, it's never it's it's
• 9:09
  never, it's never really been a gimmick.
• 9:10
  I've always wanted to do. When I first started wrestling,
• 9:13
  I always wanted to be because I I used to be a big guy.
• 9:16
  Actually, if you saw me last year, I, I was, oh, I was a big
• 9:19
  guy. I lost over £100 not too long
• 9:21
  ago. I always wanted to be this like
• 9:23
  I'm I'm sure, but I wanted to be this fat guy.
• 9:26
  Like just no soul, everything and body sound.
• 9:29
  Everyone left, right and centre. That, that, that.
• 9:31
  That that that that wasn't fat. I know before someone goes in
• 9:36
  the comments. Oh, trust me, I I did love a lot
• 9:41
  of his wrestling, but and then I got into Dustin Rhodes a little
• 9:44
  bit too much and I was like, you know what, I could, I could
• 9:48
  infuse something with my type of wrestling and then I'll start
• 9:52
  this whole underdog thing and it just stuck.
• 9:56
  What makes you an underdog then? But just elaborate more on this
• 10:04
  persona of being, you know, the definition, as we said in the
• 10:07
  intro, of the true definition of an underdog.
• 10:10
  With my wrestling style, I've always been the one to take a
• 10:15
  lot of heat. I love well, this sounds weird.
• 10:17
  I love taking heat in matches. It's always been my go to thing
• 10:21
  and I like to just do a handful of moves in, but it'll be just
• 10:25
  enough to get a big reaction. But I want them, the crowd to
• 10:29
  like feel almost sorry for me. And it works.
• 10:34
  And what does help as well, My wife always wears my Harley
• 10:37
  Davis T-shirt as long with all my family.
• 10:39
  And yeah. And when I come out to the ring,
• 10:43
  it's the baby that that's on on me every single time.
• 10:47
  It it all kind of clicks in place.
• 10:50
  And again, with the rest in itself.
• 10:53
  I I just, I like to tell a story rather than just trying to throw
• 10:56
  out as many moves as possible. And it's like even my moves move
• 11:04
  list as you called it, and I only mainly just do punching and
• 11:09
  kicks. I don't even suplex people in a
• 11:11
  match. I don't do any flippy stuff.
• 11:14
  I like to base it on pure like 80s showing off, but underdog.
• 11:19
  It's like the style like. You know who had a successful
• 11:21
  career of this student? Punching and kicks?
• 11:23
  Maybe a leg drop? Hulk Hogan.
• 11:27
  Funny enough, I didn't really like him back in the day.
• 11:32
  And you love the. 80s. Fair.
• 11:33
  Play. I love the. 80s but I the reason
• 11:36
  why I just I just couldn't connect with him yeah, but I was
• 11:41
  always looking up to more people like Dustin Rhodes, Mr. Perfect
• 11:46
  in terms of his selling. He was always my go to type the
• 11:49
  character when it came to like taking me.
• 11:51
  Oh, trust me, it was brilliant. And he.
• 11:54
  Was the same though, Mr. Perfect, you know, after the
• 11:57
  match of Bret Hart at some of that night 1 and his back was
• 12:00
  fucked and he took about a year out and he came back last minute
• 12:03
  because I was Warrior left. And I think when he came back
• 12:06
  and if he even watched like somebody stuck in WSW, he just
• 12:08
  isn't the same as he was Bobby Heenan and the Intercontinental
• 12:13
  Champion. And I mean that era.
• 12:15
  Just Perfect was probably like the best vessel in the world in
• 12:17
  my opinion. Maybe Brett?
• 12:20
  It does happen with wrestling over time, but it's when you
• 12:22
  kind of need to truly train and get back into it rather than
• 12:25
  just thrown yourself in a match because you're going to get ring
• 12:29
  rust added to you. And when that happens, it just
• 12:33
  sometimes it just don't really go the way you want it to.
• 12:36
  And again, you just kind of need to train yourself up and put
• 12:40
  yourself out at that aspect where it's going to be become so
• 12:43
  much worse for you long run. Yeah.
• 12:46
  Yeah. And so you were saying Shawn
• 12:48
  Michaels as well. So I'll cut you off a little bit
• 12:49
  because don't get to talk about Mr. Perfect a lot.
• 12:51
  So I'm going to chime in at any opportunity to get in with that
• 12:53
  one. Hardly talk about Mr. Perfect
• 12:56
  because honestly, I think in terms of his promos, it was one
• 13:01
  of the best you could ever see his selling when it came to and
• 13:07
  his moves as well. Again, that's a lot of what I
• 13:10
  base my wrestling into, but as well, I did kind of mix in a bit
• 13:14
  of Bret Hart and this, that and the other.
• 13:16
  But yeah, that they were, they were really my go to guys.
• 13:19
  And is it Jimmy Snickerfly? Snickerfly.
• 13:24
  Jimmy Snooker? Jimmy Superfly snooker, Yeah.
• 13:29
  Versus Macho Man Randy Savage. I think WrestleMania 13 was it.
• 13:33
  That was one of my go to things. If I need inspiration, I feel
• 13:39
  like that the perfect term of storytelling.
• 13:42
  And yeah. Oh, do you mean Ricky the
• 13:46
  Steamboat? Yes, Ricky the Steamboat.
• 13:49
  Ricky the dragon, Steamboat, Ricky the Steamboat.
• 13:52
  That's some of the comments right now.
• 13:53
  Oh my God, yes, at rest of a three, the unbelievable match.
• 13:57
  It holds up quite well, maybe less George animal still,
• 14:01
  because I've rewatched it. I've I've watched it in years
• 14:04
  and it was like the builders WrestleMania matches on YouTube
• 14:06
  and I watched it again. I was like, some of it's really
• 14:08
  fucking good still, but it's the George Animal still stuff.
• 14:10
  Not awful, but I know he was involved in stuff and the feud
• 14:13
  is on, but yeah. Oh, trust me man.
• 14:17
  But ultimately, even if I need to take inspiration, I look
• 14:20
  around then type of wrestling matches.
• 14:22
  That's again my go to. In fact, when you see when I
• 14:27
  face Bruce Bravo February 7th. By the way, we will we will plug
• 14:33
  that match and promote it. You can go in detail about not
• 14:36
  yet, maybe 5 more minutes, but I'm quite interested in talking
• 14:39
  about your western origins and, you know, the backyard and
• 14:42
  actually your career mate. But before we didn't touch on
• 14:45
  Rock'n'roll because it's a big subject for us.
• 14:48
  Harley, tell me about some of your personal career highlights.
• 14:51
  You even talked about your family's involvement.
• 14:53
  Now you know, with them wearing T-shirts and you're lovely.
• 14:57
  I wouldn't just clarify a bit more on your personal highlights
• 15:01
  mate. Well, if I was going to
• 15:04
  personal, not just wrestling as well before I met my wife, funny
• 15:09
  enough, well, one out wife, I was in such a really bad place
• 15:14
  and my wrestling, it took like it went spiralling down like
• 15:18
  after taking a break from it because drama, politics, this,
• 15:22
  that and the other got in there. And again, I didn't train, I
• 15:27
  just threw myself in. I'd had terrible matches while I
• 15:31
  was on so many. Well, I was on drugs in the
• 15:34
  front and centre. If I was to be straight up with
• 15:36
  ya, I have wrestled completely hammered to the point where I
• 15:41
  spewed up under a ring at one point.
• 15:45
  It was terrible and it LED into a point where I had a hardcore
• 15:50
  match, but I knocked myself out in 10 seconds and I still tried
• 15:54
  to carry on. How did you knock yourself out
• 16:00
  in this match? We have a spot where he threw me
• 16:04
  into a brick wall and I did not protect myself.
• 16:07
  I just went straight into it again.
• 16:09
  It was another case of, well, can I say what drug I was using?
• 16:12
  Arcana. You can give a hint.
• 16:15
  You can use a nickname, not the actual word.
• 16:18
  All right. I was on a lot of white stuff.
• 16:21
  I thought it was Christmas in September.
• 16:27
  And yeah, man, and I was so off my head on it.
• 16:34
  It. I even went out to the ring not
• 16:38
  really knowing what I was doing. I was acting so high and
• 16:42
  confident. You know that time where Jeff
• 16:45
  Hardy came out and faced Sting and it ended in like 10 seconds?
• 16:49
  Picture Rd. when he was just off his tits, yeah.
• 16:52
  I was not at that point, but I was on the brim and that after
• 17:01
  that happened and me knocking myself out, I I kinda I had a
• 17:08
  bit of a re evaluation. I can muddling up my words, but
• 17:12
  you know what I mean. I got completely off drugs and
• 17:16
  after that happened and I went back into wrestling.
• 17:19
  My now wife was one of the first people who came down to see my
• 17:24
  show with my family and it was tell you what, I faced champagne
• 17:29
  Charlie on my first show back. It was after COVID as well and
• 17:34
  me and champagne Charlie, we did kind of said a house and in
• 17:38
  terms of like it was a not as known brand, but we had enough
• 17:43
  followers there and people even said we got match night and it
• 17:48
  like reminded them of a ES back then.
• 17:50
  And but yeah, that was me completely clean.
• 17:55
  And I was improving as time was getting on well training.
• 18:01
  But it it was brilliant. And then my whole family was
• 18:06
  coming down to each one of my shows after that.
• 18:10
  And then it kind of made me feel like, well, the whole family's
• 18:14
  beside me. And then my wife had my
• 18:19
  daughter. And after we had the daughter, I
• 18:23
  thought, you know what, I'm going to go all out.
• 18:24
  I'm going to call myself the family man because if I didn't
• 18:28
  have them by my side, I probably wouldn't have known what I would
• 18:32
  have done to myself because of. Actually, we're talking about
• 18:34
  you in past tense, that's the thing, yeah.
• 18:37
  Oh, trust me, man. Like, yeah, that's that's why I
• 18:41
  call myself family, man, because it it kind of, it is true.
• 18:45
  That is exactly who I am. And without them, what I would
• 18:48
  say, I'll honestly be lost in some sense.
• 18:52
  I really respect you telling me that and open up, you know, to
• 18:56
  sort of pay them back a little bit.
• 18:58
  I always ask a guest before, like, is there anything you
• 19:01
  don't want to talk about or, you know, anything sort of just
• 19:05
  ignore and for you to be open about that.
• 19:07
  And, you know, I didn't really know sort of the extent of, you
• 19:12
  know, your issues and the fact that you have received your
• 19:16
  redemption and you've overcome it and acknowledge, you know,
• 19:20
  that was a bad time and it wasn't where you was in the best
• 19:23
  place. And yeah, pretty scary for you.
• 19:26
  Your friends. I was in a terrible place.
• 19:30
  I Because of that, because of what I've done to myself, I know
• 19:35
  I've ruined a lot of wrestling for myself.
• 19:37
  Yeah, sort of where a lot of promoters turned a bit of a
• 19:40
  blind eye to me, which I do totally understand.
• 19:45
  And like only thing I'm kind of focusing on now in terms of
• 19:51
  wrestling is kind of redeeming and proving I'm not, I'm not
• 19:54
  that type of person anymore. I've moved on.
• 19:57
  Like as I said earlier, I lost over £100 recently, which is one
• 20:03
  of the. It's phenomenal to do,
• 20:06
  especially in the time that I've done it, because I wanted to put
• 20:09
  myself in probably one of the best shapes possible for having
• 20:12
  a. Well, for wrestling and kind of
• 20:16
  putting myself out there and I want to put myself on the map,
• 20:19
  like that's just what I want to do.
• 20:23
  And before I take that, really, and you've got Rock'n'roll Pro
• 20:27
  Wrestling and this is a great example of there is a happy
• 20:32
  ending to your story. Honestly, Rock'n'roll are pro
• 20:39
  wrestling. I'm allowed to touch on that as
• 20:42
  well now. So essentially let's move on to
• 20:48
  Rock'n'roll Promeston. So slam out from live is sold
• 20:52
  out That says at the beginning of the show.
• 20:54
  The event takes place at YMCA Romford on the 7th February.
• 20:58
  Oh God, I've got to be lost then 7th February Saturday and you
• 21:03
  being the co-owner, I want to know how you and Co founder
• 21:07
  Shambe Charlie you've you've mentioned he's been on the show
• 21:09
  before and it's no secret he's a very very good friend of mine.
• 21:14
  How did you come up with Rock'n'roll of Primus and tell
• 21:17
  me the origins mate? Right.
• 21:22
  This is going to go into not beat, but after I've proved
• 21:26
  myself that I'm a lot better than I was back then.
• 21:30
  I was putting on some pretty, I'm not going to say best
• 21:32
  matches, but some pretty good matches.
• 21:34
  I was facing some pretty good people.
• 21:36
  Yet despite showing that I I was worth a lot more that that
• 21:42
  people tried booking me as a jobber as like I, I just was
• 21:48
  expected to lose every single match and family there with just
• 21:53
  about your friends there as well.
• 21:56
  It kind of demotivates you and not only did I not say that
• 22:00
  happens myself, it was happening to people that I wrestled with
• 22:04
  that were phenomenal. What they do and what kind of
• 22:09
  blew the gas, well, blew the casket in me or whatever it
• 22:13
  however you say, I can never tell my word straight.
• 22:17
  I wrestled a six man tag and because I've sold I think 12% of
• 22:23
  their tickets, I we came to an agreement that I was going to be
• 22:32
  the last man eliminated in a six man tag team match.
• 22:36
  It it was a weird match where like it was like 3 teams, 2 on
• 22:41
  each end. Yeah.
• 22:43
  And then I arrived there show day.
• 22:44
  Oh, and the promoter said to me, oh, you're being second one
• 22:47
  eliminated with my whole family there.
• 22:51
  You know what I need to make a home like for not just me, but
• 22:57
  for other wrestlers, people who I know are being let down this,
• 23:01
  that and the other. So I started that.
• 23:05
  I had the ideas in my head. We didn't know the name or
• 23:08
  anything. And then I said to Charlie,
• 23:10
  look, do you want to do this with me?
• 23:12
  Because I've got to be real. Like Charlie is one of my best
• 23:15
  friends as well. And in terms of wrestling, I
• 23:18
  think he's been one of the most realist ones you can get and
• 23:23
  says it how it is. So that's not the thing about we
• 23:28
  even use chat GB 2 to see if we can get a good logo going.
• 23:33
  But in the end, let's just say we had to get somebody to do it
• 23:38
  for us because. The logo's cool by the way.
• 23:41
  I do really like it. It's pretty sick.
• 23:43
  Very eye-catching straight away. Just boom.
• 23:45
  See the poster. Oh, mate, honestly, like, but in
• 23:50
  terms of when that was kicking off, we thought, yeah, we're
• 23:54
  probably just going to sell between 60 to 80 tickets, mainly
• 23:57
  relying on family and friends this and the other.
• 24:01
  And as soon as I'm going to say this, as soon as the poster was
• 24:06
  announced, we we were selling tickets straight away, which was
• 24:10
  getting a bit crazy. And as time was getting on like,
• 24:18
  well, yeah, it was getting a bit mad.
• 24:20
  Like VIP tickets, They went I think within two weeks.
• 24:25
  And then the card got. Barely had any matches, did you
• 24:27
  at at this time? I actually can't recall now
• 24:30
  because it's been a few weeks. Well, about 2-3 months ago
• 24:33
  wasn't it? Did you actually have any
• 24:34
  matches or any wrestlers officially announced?
• 24:39
  I had a few wrestlers on the roster for a roster, but in the
• 24:43
  end I could not use them. I'm not going to say why, but I
• 24:48
  couldn't use them in the end. But we did have a few matches in
• 24:51
  the plans and then it all went, yeah, but it is weird.
• 24:58
  Yeah. But I think we only announced
• 25:03
  like three matches at the time. And then like ticket start sales
• 25:06
  just went gradually started going up and up and up.
• 25:11
  I was getting like chuffed about this.
• 25:13
  Like I was getting so emotional because me personally, I would
• 25:18
  never see myself doing something like this and well to sell out
• 25:24
  something as much as it as well as it was going.
• 25:26
  And then the YMCA pretty much said like can you get some more
• 25:32
  seats in? After finding out I was like,
• 25:35
  I'll try my best. I have no expectations.
• 25:38
  And I'm not going to say the amount of tickets sold.
• 25:41
  I will be announced on the day, but we have I'm, I think I'm
• 25:47
  going to say this like when the third match got announced, I
• 25:52
  think that's when the ticket sales literally got to the point
• 25:55
  where there was only 20 remaining.
• 25:58
  And I think after there was, I think when, yeah, when we got to
• 26:07
  like the month and a half left was it?
• 26:10
  That's when we was at like 95% sold or something.
• 26:15
  Crazy, isn't it? I have a way I'm going to say
• 26:18
  this flat I rock'n'roll of pro wrestling.
• 26:22
  It has outsold a lot of wrestling promotions on their
• 26:25
  debut show. And I'll say this like I, I in
• 26:31
  terms of advertising, I just, I wanted to stick on it and keep
• 26:36
  it posted because a lot of wrestling promoters, they think,
• 26:40
  oh, if they, if they release a poster, it's going to sell
• 26:44
  tickets like that. Like it's full of dreams.
• 26:46
  If you build it, it will come. Like no, no, social media is
• 26:49
  your best friend. Oh trust me.
• 26:52
  So I just kept on like I I make posts every single day on the
• 26:57
  Rock'n'roll the page I announced the roster.
• 27:01
  Like as you can tell, I had a few match changes, like I've
• 27:04
  still got 1 to announce that I'm going to be doing today.
• 27:07
  Well, as the time of recording, and you know what, I think
• 27:11
  that's probably going to be one of the most exciting ones
• 27:13
  because I've got a former WWE star in in that said match.
• 27:17
  So happy days. Sweet, mate, Sweet.
• 27:22
  Yeah. No, no, I'll leave this mate.
• 27:24
  Honestly, I'm so chuffed about this because again, I never
• 27:29
  expected this. Well, Champagne Parley never
• 27:32
  expected this and as soon as we sold out I got very emotional to
• 27:36
  my wife, to be honest with you like.
• 27:38
  You should mate, you should mate.
• 27:40
  It's a you should have an achievement.
• 27:42
  Like I said in the in the group chat, like I said, I've seen
• 27:45
  companies savage ones and I actually remember the company's
• 27:48
  name now they're not around like the same name XWA and they they
• 27:52
  literally promoted the show and it had Chris hero in it.
• 27:55
  Just released WW like on there. See if you think, OK, it's going
• 27:58
  to attract some people to Chelmsford and I went because I
• 28:00
  was a big Chris her fan. Chelmsford and that far for me,
• 28:03
  send people there, if that. I mean, I still enjoy it.
• 28:06
  So I speak to him a little bit longer because there's no one
• 28:08
  around here. But it's just a prime example.
• 28:11
  It's it's it's mental like how you've marketed it.
• 28:14
  And I think you've got the right talent.
• 28:15
  You've got some good graphic works.
• 28:17
  Alan, he's doing some really good stuff.
• 28:20
  Trust me Alan, when he first sent me the images I was a bit
• 28:24
  hit and miss, but I think within such a short time of him doing
• 28:27
  it, he's improved so well. Yeah.
• 28:31
  He's he's been phenomenal to be honest with you and knowing that
• 28:35
  he has got some disabilities, well I've got some myself, but
• 28:39
  knowing he has what he's got wrong with him, yet he's
• 28:42
  achieved so much for us within a short time.
• 28:44
  My hat is off to him every day of the week and he is a
• 28:47
  fantastic person. That is blouse, doesn't he?
• 28:51
  I will always have a special place for him because again,
• 28:55
  he's he's a great guy, old and old.
• 28:59
  We're not going to go review the matches because I'm going to be
• 29:01
  doing a separate video for that. Also, in case you missed it, I'm
• 29:06
  going to be doing commentary as well.
• 29:07
  So I'm looking forward to it. So some people had me on DKW
• 29:11
  Academy shows before, so I will be doing play by play.
• 29:14
  So I'm looking quite forward to it.
• 29:15
  Should be good. Did it with Dan, Dan the man
• 29:18
  from HCW, so that'd be good. Here's first time doing it, so
• 29:21
  I'll do my best to guide him even if I've been in for short
• 29:24
  here myself. But you know, we talk a lot so
• 29:27
  he's a nice person so I'm sure we'll have fun.
• 29:30
  And good God man, a rock and roller.
• 29:33
  God gave go roll. Oh God you can tell by Jr. fan
• 29:37
  but mate so tell me. Yeah.
• 29:41
  About who's going to be there, What can fans expect at the YMCA
• 29:47
  in Rochford as we're going to wrap?
• 29:50
  This up. Rochford, My bad.
• 29:54
  Right. What are you going to expect?
• 29:56
  You're going to see some amazing wrestling.
• 29:58
  You're going to see me wrestle, which is probably the best thing
• 30:01
  you can do. No, I'm joking.
• 30:03
  I'm not saying I'm the best, but I'll I'll try my best to put on
• 30:06
  a show for everyone. You're you're going to see some
• 30:12
  really great matches. We've got some awesome things in
• 30:14
  stock once the triple threat gets announced, that's going to
• 30:17
  be exciting. The main event I'm going to talk
• 30:21
  about him for a second. Logan Bane.
• 30:22
  He's one of the most underrated wrestlers you could ever meet.
• 30:26
  He's always been such a great not just a ticket seller great
• 30:29
  athlete. He's he's such a great wrestler,
• 30:34
  but another case of being let down.
• 30:36
  So you know what I'll I'm going to put him in the main event and
• 30:39
  that's exactly what I've done. But we are going, it's going,
• 30:45
  it's going to be great. Like we got somebody performing
• 30:47
  at the show. It's.
• 30:48
  Going to say we've got like a live band.
• 30:50
  It's not just wrestling, which I mean, it's great, yeah, that
• 30:53
  shows one. But this is what's going to
• 30:55
  separate it from other companies, you know, and they're
• 30:57
  having. Yeah, we are planning for every
• 31:00
  show to have a band performing as well.
• 31:02
  The show afterwards, we're turning it into a music session
• 31:05
  after that. So, you know, have a few drinks
• 31:08
  in stand up stuff. Definitely will mate.
• 31:12
  We are going to stand out so much from most wrestling
• 31:16
  companies and that is the aim and I'm going to make sure 100%
• 31:20
  that happens but means necessary.
• 31:25
  Mate, I'm looking forward to it, it's going to be great.
• 31:27
  I'm honoured to be doing commentary for the debut show,
• 31:30
  so thank you for approving it. You know, Champagne Charlie,
• 31:33
  thank you. You've got my name out there.
• 31:34
  You know, he's always been great to me.
• 31:37
  The podcast and just anything rest related.
• 31:39
  So got a lot of time for him. I'm going to ask you one last
• 31:43
  question to wrap up this interview.
• 31:44
  It's actually to do with your match at Rock and Rolla.
• 31:48
  So please tell me about your heavyweight championship
• 31:52
  tournament showdown with Bruce Bravo next month.
• 31:55
  Not in. Watford, can I grab something
• 31:59
  just to put on the camera's display?
• 32:02
  One second, I think I know you're going to grab it.
• 32:06
  No way. It's a family show.
• 32:10
  I'm not going to end this bit up.
• 32:12
  Oh, my dog's in frame. Sorry boy.
• 32:18
  You know this bad boy. You done it.
• 32:25
  Oh. Like, so basically, I weren't
• 32:31
  even meant to be in that tournament, to be honest with
• 32:33
  you, but we're struggling to put the right people in there and
• 32:39
  build it up a little bit. So I thought, you know what, why
• 32:43
  don't I put myself in there? I've never been in a situation
• 32:46
  like that. Why don't I do it?
• 32:48
  So that's what happened. And you know, Bruce bravado,
• 32:52
  phenomenal wrestler. He is one of the best in the UK
• 32:57
  and despite he's not really been wrestling for too long, he's
• 33:01
  such a great wrestler. I I, I can't even deny it.
• 33:04
  So it's going to be a massive challenge for myself and I'm
• 33:09
  going to expect like some pure Class A fireworks out of that
• 33:13
  show. Well, that match.
• 33:16
  Looking forward to every match is something different.
• 33:19
  It's going to be a good card. There will be more detailed view
• 33:22
  of the card later this month, so if you do give me a follow on my
• 33:26
  social media handles, you'll be able to see what's lined up but
• 33:29
  also if you want to check out what's going to be there.
• 33:33
  If you have got a ticket ready, unfortunately you cannot get
• 33:36
  one. You can join the waiting list
• 33:38
  but there will be a possibility it might be uploaded separate
• 33:40
  matches and maybe the full show. But I'll let Harley sign off on
• 33:46
  this. So Harley, if the fans won't
• 33:48
  keep up to date with Rock'n'roll or pro wrestling, maybe like
• 33:50
  next shows, future shows. Fingers crossed.
• 33:53
  I'm pretty confident with what you've done with this debut show
• 33:57
  and it's not even happened yet. So plug away mate.
• 34:00
  Say what you're going to say, even about yourself, but the end
• 34:05
  Who's here? All right, let me tell you this
• 34:08
  straight up. Even if you could not attend
• 34:11
  that show two weeks before that show goes well before that
• 34:15
  show's happening, we are officially announcing the show
• 34:18
  after it will be a three month 3 1/2 wait.
• 34:23
  But the fact is, like, you need to do then type of things to get
• 34:26
  some great names in, work around people's calendars and All in
• 34:31
  all, it an absolute great show for everyone involved.
• 34:34
  But we'll be announcing it again two weeks beforehand.
• 34:37
  And if you cannot attend the upcoming show, which fair play.
• 34:42
  And there is a long waiting list.
• 34:44
  Like when I saw today, there was 30 people on a waiting list,
• 34:48
  which, Yeah. That's madness, man, It's
• 34:51
  madness. Debut show no happened yet.
• 34:53
  That's crazy. I know.
• 34:55
  So there will be a perfect opportunity to grab the tickets
• 35:00
  for the show after in just a few weeks actually.
• 35:08
  Where can they find you on social media?
• 35:10
  Rock and roller well. If they want to find rock and
• 35:13
  roller, you can find me on TikTok.
• 35:16
  Well, find the brand on TikTok, find it on Instagram, find it on
• 35:21
  Facebook. We haven't even done our YouTube
• 35:23
  page yet, to be honest with you. We've got to do that soon
• 35:25
  because, you know, we've got a lot of.
• 35:27
  You know what you've got to do now, mate?
• 35:29
  Oh trust me. Like I'm not even a social media
• 35:32
  person. I don't even have faith.
• 35:36
  The promotion's been brilliant for that mate.
• 35:37
  It's it's been brilliant welcome on the pro W then I think it's
• 35:41
  one of the I think it is actually the first thing that
• 35:42
  that does come up when you search for it on Google
• 35:44
  Instagram, not YouTube yet, but TikTok.
• 35:48
  It doesn't even have a TikTok account.
• 35:49
  So then there's a belt as well. If you want to see me win this
• 35:54
  belt, I advise you come down on February 7th or watch it online
• 36:00
  when it gets posted because that is the plan.
• 36:04
  Oh, let's go, mate. Heavily.
• 36:06
  I see. It's inspired by the smoker
• 36:07
  skull belt Austin had in 99. It looks awesome.
• 36:12
  I'm looking forward to the show, the love, the logo, the
• 36:14
  presentation. Yeah, there's a lot of hype
• 36:16
  going into this, you know, the people involved in it, you know,
• 36:20
  applaud everyone that's doing their thing in their part to
• 36:23
  contributing to hopefully. I say hopefully, but I'm pretty
• 36:27
  confident that it's going to be a successful show.
• 36:29
  So Harley, it's first time speaking to you.
• 36:32
  Well, we've spoken WhatsApp for a bit, but I've spoken to you on
• 36:35
  camera. But I look forward to meeting
• 36:36
  you in February 7th YMCA. Not Rochford because I was
• 36:42
  probably what Rock'n'roll mate. It's going to be awesome and
• 36:46
  we'll have a beer after the show mate, so that'll be good.
• 36:49
  You all might have an AU mock up, but hopefully not.
• 36:53
  No, I mean I hate to advertise for AU but I do have a fair
• 36:57
  amount of bottles get my sponsorship.
• 37:02
  In no not big fan of it mate, but I'll wrap up a show mate.
• 37:05
  Harley, where can the fans find you as a wrestling talent on
• 37:09
  social media? TikTok and Instagram.
• 37:14
  Funny enough I don't even have Facebook.
• 37:15
  I'm not a social media guy, but my wife will set it up for me
• 37:18
  because my wife runs all my stuff.
• 37:22
  That's fair. Give Harley a follow on TikTok
• 37:25
  and it's OK. I would highly recommend it.
• 37:28
  See what's got lined up as well. It isn't just rock and roller
• 37:31
  but him being a family man as well.
• 37:33
  It's worth a shout. Like this video?
• 37:36
  Subscribe to the channel, give me a follow my social media
• 37:38
  handles. They'll be in description below.
• 37:40
  Welcome to 2026 and we're back with a Bang Rock and Roller Pro
• 37:45
  Wrestling. Looking forward to it.
• 37:48
  See you soon. Take care.