Latest / ABJ / ABJ Podcast Ep 78 Blaxstorm

Transcript

ABJ Podcast Ep 78 Blaxstorm · ABJ

0:34
What is going on everybody? We are back for another episode.
0:36
The ABJ Podcast is going to be episode 78 with my guest
0:40
Blackstrom. Give me a second here guys.
0:43
We'll get right into all the housekeeping and we'll bring
0:45
that my guests in right away. Have him introduce himself, give
0:48
you a brief little idea about him, and then we're off to the
0:50
races. Make sure you check the links
0:52
below to support the ABJ podcasts.
0:54
Follow me on social media, grab merchandise or hit up that
0:57
Patreon if you're watching this now it's pre recorded,
1:00
everything's there but if you remember my Discord I I do
1:04
stream the episodes as they're recorded the day they go live in
1:08
the Discord that people can still you'll hear me though
1:10
you'll hear some of their questions come in.
1:12
And I also do have a link in my Discord that you can go and
1:15
check all of my guests previous links and follow them on social
1:18
media as well as you'll see a link in there for any next
1:22
guests coming up. You can ask your questions so we
1:25
can get those in as well. So the Discord is a place to go.
1:27
Hang out, meet new people and and be up to date and have that
1:31
behind the scenes access with the content as well as Patreon.
1:35
If you join the Patreon and you don't not a Discord person, the
1:38
for a dollar or whatever price you want it's you pick your own
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1:42
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1:44
you want to donate. It's a monthly donation that
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general public on the Thursday. So if you're it want to support,
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there's some new ways that we were incorporating the Patreon.
1:59
So it's not just general support, there is merchandise
2:01
and a lot of few other things. And also huge thanks to my
2:05
guests Suplex Vintage Wrestling guys, it has finally happened.
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A whole store fully dedicated to vintage wrestling.
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They say it can never be done but I have seen it with my own
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Check them out at suplex dot SVW on Instagram.
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Are there websites suplex S, vw.com and let them satisfy your
3:00
pro wrestling needs. So make sure you go support
3:03
those guys. They are absolutely doing a
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great job. They're doing a lot of cool
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things. I believe they have a giveaway
3:07
going on right now. Actually I'm not going to get
3:11
into that cuz I don't know when this is in the air and the
3:12
giveaway might be over, but always follow on social media
3:15
for new things. Right now they're giving no belt
3:17
away but by the time you see this it probably won't be a
3:19
thing. But they have a bit a legit
3:21
replica big gold belt and it has a bunch of people who have held
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the big gold autographs on it. And if you can guess all of the
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autographs you win the belt because it just hit 10,000
3:31
followers. So that's the kind of the reason
3:32
why you follow them and give your shots to possibly win some
3:36
cool prizes. So without further ado, let me
3:38
bring in my guest. What's going on, bud?
3:40
What's up, dude? It's good to see you bro.
3:42
It's been a minute. It has been a minute.
3:44
I used to see you a ton at Camp Leapfrog and then there was a
3:48
few times we did some shows in Jersey and then we stopped in
3:51
the same Wawa and hung up. Yup.
3:55
Oh, I think I'm losing you for Did I lose you?
3:58
I think. I think I might have lost you.
4:06
Your screen is frozen. I don't know if you could hear
4:08
me. Oh no, my my browser just
4:12
crashed. No idea.
4:12
Oh, you're good. There we go.
4:14
I'm good. That's crazy.
4:15
That's never happened to me in the history of this podcast.
4:18
So yeah, we hung out the same Wawa and all that fun safe.
4:21
So give a brief introduction. Just let them know who you are,
4:24
your name, and what you do for a living.
4:26
Yeah, I'm the tattooed torture expert Blackstrom.
4:31
I'm located in New Jersey and I'm a pro wrestler.
4:37
On the side, I do art. I'm a tattooer.
4:40
So yeah, those are just some of the things I like to do.
4:44
I have cats. I like my cats.
4:46
I love that I I do you do digital art or just all, or just
4:49
print? I just print really like, OK,
4:52
I'll do, I'll do some like drawing on like my iPad and
4:54
stuff like that, but nothing like crazy.
4:57
I don't do one day I'll like maybe one day I'll Commission
5:00
you for a ABJ podcast. Blackstrom edition logo.
5:04
Something cool like that Yeah that'd be cool.
5:05
And then it's like a special edition for I like to support
5:08
artists and and and and give them an opportunity and like
5:11
work with them to get cool different logo designs So that
5:13
may be a Blackstrom version of a logo would be fun.
5:17
Yeah. The the tattoo that tattooed
5:18
torture experts so that we're going to get into something
5:20
because there's a match that I think 2 torture experts would be
5:24
really fun with each other. I don't know if you ever heard
5:26
of him or worked with him, but Prince on that would be
5:29
something I think could be a cool little match of used to the
5:32
Egyptian torture, the Egyptian torture expert.
5:35
He's been on the podcast. He's a great story and he's
5:37
very, very innovative. I think I was supposed to
5:42
wrestle him. Really.
5:44
And it it like, I think it was like it might have been like a
5:47
year ago maybe. And yeah, I think it fell
5:51
through, something fell through or like.
5:54
But I know that we were going to be on the same show together and
5:56
we were like probably going to be working.
6:00
And something came up. I can't really remember what it
6:02
was, but yeah, I think we were actually supposed to work each
6:06
other at one point. We gotta yeah, we gotta get that
6:10
back together and get that going again.
6:13
Yeah, that definitely has to happen.
6:16
He seems like a talented guy. He's the same one of my favorite
6:20
people to call matches for two cuz he'll do match moves that I
6:24
I don't. I didn't even think were
6:25
possible the last match he was in.
6:27
He was that I got to call. He was in a triple threat and
6:30
the one guy had the other guy like a German and he ran in and
6:34
leg scissored them like flying leg scissor on the waist and
6:37
then German them both with his legs.
6:40
Oh wow. Like he did like a back.
6:42
Like hooked them around his ways, backflipped And German,
6:45
both of them. So it was like a double German
6:46
suplex on his legs. I didn't even think it was
6:48
possible. It was crazy.
6:50
I gotta watch out for that. Yeah, he's he's super, super
6:53
talented. I know the Sanctuary is a far
6:55
drive if you're ever free on a Friday.
6:57
They first Fridays in the month they had, it's like it's like
7:00
open mic night for pro wrestling.
7:01
Everyone just comes and gets like matches in.
7:03
So maybe we can finally we can figure something out for you
7:05
guys to square up there. I I went there a couple times
7:09
actually. Like maybe, like it might have
7:11
been like five years ago and they, yeah, it was really cool.
7:14
Like it was, you know, you got those great photos inside that
7:18
awesome, like church type of building.
7:20
Like, yeah, it's a it's a church.
7:21
But that's that's essentially the only place I work right now.
7:24
So that's where I'm doing a lot of my commentary until this job
7:26
kicks in. But it's a beautiful place and I
7:28
recommend everyone going and just getting some good footage
7:30
and having some fun and and you leave something you leave there
7:33
learning some fun things. Yeah, it was always fun.
7:36
I think I went there three times and.
7:39
It was, it was a lot of fun, you know?
7:41
And everyone there was like, really cool too.
7:43
It's a good environment. I think it's John that John
7:47
Trotsky, yes. Yeah, Trotsky.
7:48
Yeah, he was. He was really cool, I remember.
7:51
Yeah. But yeah, it's been a while
7:53
since I've been over that way. Yeah.
7:54
So let's just dive into it here. So what?
7:57
When did you fall in love with this thing that we call
8:00
professional wrestling? So I as far back as I can
8:07
remember. In my life, liked pro wrestling.
8:11
Like when I was really, really little.
8:14
I remember, like my family moved into a apartment complex in
8:22
North Jersey and the little kid that lives downstairs from us on
8:27
the bottom floor, he had wrestling figures.
8:29
He had like, you know, a bunch of them, like the Hasbro guys.
8:33
Yeah, that's my bucket list collection.
8:35
I want to get the whole line. They're the best.
8:37
And he, he had some of them and because I saw the toys, it like,
8:42
got me interested. So immediately I was like, I was
8:45
hooked. And the first one I got was big
8:48
Boss man. It's a good one.
8:50
It's a good one, yo. We were so easily swayed in the
8:53
late, late 80s, early 90s. They're like, there's a new
8:56
cartoon out. I don't care.
8:58
It comes with toys. I'm in, yeah.
9:00
Exactly like. In Power Rangers, Ninja Turtles,
9:03
Pokémon we all got hooked because of figures 1st and then
9:06
the show that. You're so right.
9:09
Like it's e-mail, GI, Joe, all toy lines, yeah.
9:14
Yeah, and as soon as I saw that, like I started renting all like
9:19
the VHS tapes from the video store all the time.
9:22
And but there was a time where I there's actually two times where
9:26
I totally stopped watching wrestling altogether.
9:28
I had. I had one of those as well, high
9:31
school, right out of in the high school.
9:34
I went to my cousin's house one night and we're all there for a
9:37
party. And I had no idea what we were
9:38
there for. I was just told it was a
9:39
pay-per-view. It's like boxing.
9:41
And I was like I I always thought boxing was cool, but I
9:44
got bored with it. Like I just, I can't watch two
9:47
guys. I know it's a great art and it's
9:49
a great just two people hugging, hugging for 15 rounds.
9:54
It's yeah, I can't understand it.
9:57
But we went to this, we went to his house and we're watching and
10:00
these guys are in a cage. And I'm like, what is this?
10:03
And then the main event was the first ever fight between Tito
10:07
Ortiz and Ken Shamrock. And I go, I know him, he was in
10:11
WWE and they're like, who what? And I'm like, yeah.
10:15
And then here I found out he's this giant cage fighter.
10:18
And from that moment forward, I was like, I don't know what this
10:21
sport is, but I love it and I completely ditch pro wrestling
10:24
for a while, for a long time. Mmhmm.
10:27
It's it's crazy. I I think that MMA kind of took
10:32
me out of that, that time period too, like around like 2000, I
10:37
guess five or six. Yeah, like, that's what The
10:40
Ultimate Fighter first game on TV 2005.
10:43
Around that time, like a lot of people were like, oh, this is
10:46
really cool like and they started taking up MMA and
10:49
grappling and stuff like that because of it.
10:52
It was like total game changer. But yeah, it definitely impacted
10:56
pro wrestling in the worst way possible.
10:58
Probably, yeah. And then they somehow mix back
11:01
together at some point. And a lot of what we like down
11:04
professional wrestling. I feel if you were a pro
11:06
wrestling fan then left and then either found Japan or New, our
11:10
Ring of Honor and then you seen those shooter workers transition
11:14
MMA into pro wrestling. I think it was a nice medium for
11:17
people to come back and be like oh that's kind of cool, they can
11:20
use that into their. Wrestling performance.
11:23
Yeah, absolutely. And and when people do it good
11:25
too. Like you know you watch stuff
11:28
like you know the guys that they book for blood sport and stuff
11:31
like that. Like those are good matches,
11:33
man. Those are those are some good
11:35
matches that they put on. I I've watched a a few that they
11:38
threw up on YouTube. Like it's hard for me to like go
11:41
out of my way to like order pay per views and stuff sometimes.
11:44
But yeah, the best way you could do it go on fight TV.
11:48
It's 4 bucks a month or five bucks a month and you get all of
11:52
like a bunch of independent wrestling, all the GCW stuff,
11:56
and you can just go back and watch all that blood sport.
11:59
Oh wow, I really recommend it. Like, they're really, really
12:02
good shows. I'm always out of the loop on
12:04
stuff like that, like something always exists that can make my
12:07
life way easier and everyone else knows about it.
12:10
But yeah, now did you, did you ever train mixed martial arts?
12:14
A little bit, yeah, When I was right after I left wrestling
12:19
when I was younger. Um, around like 2007 or 8 um.
12:26
I started training like a little bit at like nothing crazy.
12:30
But I when I was a kid, I trained from when I was like 6
12:36
years old until like through like high school doing karate
12:41
basically. So I had a black belt in that
12:44
that makes sense with your strikes.
12:45
Yeah, like I I just. You know what?
12:48
And when I was younger, too. And I started doing wrestling
12:50
school when I was like 14. I asked my instructor, I was
12:54
like, is it OK if I, like, mix in some of my martial arts like
12:58
into my wrestling? He was like, yeah, sure, just,
13:01
you know, just make sure it looks good.
13:03
And I was like, OK, and then I started doing it.
13:06
But a lot of people got into MMA and started mixing it in with
13:09
their style. And I didn't do like, you know,
13:12
I'm not saying I did like competitive MMA or anything, but
13:16
grappled around a little bit after.
13:19
You know, I I stopped wrestling the first time and no, you said
13:23
wrestling. Was it was that like collegiate
13:24
wrestling, like Matt Wrestling? No pro wrestling.
13:27
So actually I started wrestling when I was 14.
13:31
Wow. And I wrestled all the way till
13:33
I was like, I think I was 20. When I stopped.
13:38
I got like real sick. I have Crohn's disease, so my
13:40
stomach would always get like insane and I would drop a lot of
13:44
weight and I was like constantly sick, so.
13:48
Around like 2006 or so, I just. I dropped out of wrestling
13:53
totally. And then I came back.
13:55
What school were you at? It was IWF in it was W
14:00
Patterson. Then they changed the name of W
14:03
Patterson into Woodland Park. So it's in Jersey.
14:08
And then down the line though, like I think when I came back it
14:11
was in 2016 or 17 and they moved the school to Nutley.
14:17
So they were. That was the original school I
14:21
started at before going to. I think it was 2003.
14:26
I went to the wrestle factory okay so I I work for.
14:30
I work for a promotion. I WA New Jersey in Nutley, NJ.
14:34
Okay. I think there That crowd is
14:38
crazy. Yeah, the most intense crowd
14:40
I've ever. One of the most intense crowds
14:42
I've ever done commentary for. So cool.
14:45
That area like they they like wrestling over in those towns.
14:48
It's wild. Big, big Hispanic community too.
14:51
Like they that most of the promotion is all Hispanic and
14:54
they are the most fun. Yeah, they like to have fun.
14:57
Like, it's awesome. And yeah, grow growing up too.
15:03
When you that's insane that you started so young and then that
15:06
your parents let you get into it so young.
15:08
Who are some like you said, you had the karate background and
15:10
all that. Who are some people that you
15:12
emulated or you grew up watching that you wanted to be like, or
15:15
you add it to your style of wrestling?
15:19
When I was younger, so when I I started out and everything, I
15:24
was huge on Jeff Hardy. He was like.
15:28
Him and like the Hardy Boys were the biggest thing in like the
15:30
early we're talking like 2001. Yeah, so, so, like you know the
15:35
Hardy, the whole attitude error is at its height.
15:38
So like I wanted to be like fucking Jeff.
15:42
Ohh, am I allowed to curse? You can curse, yes, I was like.
15:44
Yeah, yeah. I was like, I wanted to like be
15:48
Jeff Hardy. So I had like long hair.
15:50
It was bleached and I would do a bunch of stuff like the Swanton
15:56
and like. The whisper in the wind and then
16:00
everything else I did was like Taijiri cuz I loved Taijiri when
16:05
I before he was in W When he was in ECW I was a huge fan of the
16:12
Taijiri versus super crazy matches.
16:15
Yeah, to every wrestling video game I had, if I didn't have a
16:19
sweet chin music, if I didn't have the famous error, I went
16:21
poison mist or buzz saw kick. Back yeah, Tajiri.
16:25
Tajiri made me like everyone, says Muda.
16:27
I didn't know Muda. Tajiri got me into the poison
16:30
mist and to and the buzz saw kick where he would just snap
16:32
and I was like, that is the coolest minute.
16:34
Like that looks like it would legit kill somebody.
16:38
And and it's that time period, too.
16:40
Like, people don't even understand, like the thigh slap
16:44
thing. Yeah, like the early 2000s and
16:47
late 90s. No one knew what that was.
16:50
So, like, people when? To Jerry would throw these kicks
16:54
at dudes right in their face and you hear that crack of the sound
16:59
leather pants. The the crowd was cringing
17:03
because, like it was it was real.
17:05
Like it seems like unstock, like that this dude was a madman just
17:10
ripping people's heads off. That was like the the shock of
17:14
it all back then. He's still like doing stuff on
17:16
the indie scene too. If I ever sees him at a show,
17:19
like for a meet and greet, he'd be somebody that would seek out.
17:22
Him and Mick Foley are like probably my two bucket list
17:24
guys. Nice.
17:26
You never met. You never met Mick?
17:29
Never. And I live right by Knobl's, and
17:31
he's there all the time and I never bumped into him.
17:34
I met him when I was when I was younger.
17:37
Like a teenager, I went to his book signing for when he had I
17:41
have have a nice day book. I have it.
17:43
Nice. That was the only time I met
17:46
him, Him, him and Sean. Him, Sean.
17:50
And then then it just like kind of falls into a All these people
17:54
are my favorite, but him and Sean and probably Jericho are
17:57
like my top three of all time. Nice.
18:00
Yeah, that's that's. My guy, yeah, I have a style,
18:03
except Mick. Mick's completely different, but
18:05
Mick made me like, I was like he looks so different than
18:09
everybody else and that's why I liked him.
18:10
And then obviously the three characters and I just, I always
18:12
gravitated to a character. And Mick was the first person
18:15
like Mick, Gold, Dust, Kane, undertaker.
18:17
Like, larger than life. Weird people I just liked.
18:21
Yeah, I would say like my little like top four, that was like,
18:24
really? I was like, I couldn't stop
18:26
watching when I was a kid. Like that was like, you know,
18:29
like the Hardees, Austin Foley and then like probably I would
18:34
say like Rob Van Dam or Sabu because they were just.
18:39
But like, yeah, that time period was wild.
18:42
You know who else I used to like a lot.
18:43
And people were like, you like him.
18:45
I was like, he's so good talking to Chinoku.
18:48
Yeah, I love Taka. Yeah, no one ever.
18:51
I always picked him in the video games.
18:52
Like, what are you doing? I like the Vicinoku driver.
18:55
I thought it looked cool. He had some good matches with
19:00
Super crazy too. When he he did like a little.
19:02
I think it was when he left WB for like a little bit.
19:06
I don't know if they had like a contract thing, but he went down
19:09
to ECW for a little bit and then he went back up to WB and yeah,
19:14
he's just amazing. He's a psycho.
19:16
So I was gonna ask, how did you? We kind of talked a little bit
19:20
about it, but how did you transition then at such a young
19:22
age? Like, how did you convince your
19:24
mom? How did you find the school?
19:26
How did you go through that whole process?
19:28
So this was like a I so, so, like, I was watching rest.
19:34
I went on vacation. It was summer and I hadn't
19:38
watched wrestling since I was a kid.
19:41
Meanwhile, I'm still like 12 years old.
19:43
Yeah, yeah. And.
19:45
Where I'm flipping through the channels and I saw on Monday
19:48
Night Raw and like, my dad flipped through and I was like,
19:53
wait, wait, wait, go back and he's like, what?
19:55
You're going to watch wrestling? Like, how old are you?
19:57
And I was like, no, like, I want to see like because I saw kids
20:01
at school, like at the end of the school year rocking Austin
20:05
316 shirts. Immediately I was like, hooked
20:09
watching it. So a few weeks later, because
20:12
wrestling's huge, I saw on the news.
20:15
Kids, backyard wrestling. So I started backyard wrestling
20:19
like a dummy. And my mom was just like, you're
20:22
gonna hurt yourself. Like you have to like, learn
20:26
what you're doing cuz like they're trained professionals.
20:29
And so I started looking for schools to, like, teach me how
20:33
to do what I was doing. And I called Monster Factory,
20:40
and I talked to Larry Sharp and he was like, you're too young.
20:47
Call back in a few years. I called CZ.
20:50
I think I called CZW. And I was too young because I
20:55
was 12. Yeah.
20:56
And so I kind of just stopped looking for a little bit.
21:00
And then after a few years, when I was like 13, I found IWF.
21:04
But they said I had to be 14. So I was like, all right, I'm
21:08
14. Yeah, only 14.
21:11
But my mom had to sign all this stuff.
21:13
And yeah, it was, you know, from doing martial arts growing up
21:18
and just being, like getting into high school.
21:21
You're so like, young and athletic and growing.
21:24
Like it was a really easy transition when you're a kid.
21:27
Like doing it. Nothing hurts either, which is
21:30
like can't remember. If this question can't be
21:34
answered, like I completely understand, I don't want to give
21:36
too much away if it's something a lot of people still protect a
21:38
lot. But like at 14 and going to a
21:40
wrestling school, are they just like, hey, you're going to do
21:43
your own bumps? Like flip bumps, fall bumps,
21:45
running ropes, workout calisthenics, cardio?
21:49
Or like at what point do they start saying, OK, we're going
21:51
to, like, teach you how to put a match together?
21:53
Like, we're going to let you lock up and do stuff with
21:55
people. You know what?
21:56
This is actually this is actually a really funny question
22:00
because like it was I was asking him like non the Kevin Knight
22:06
was the trainer at the school. I was like messaging him on AOL
22:10
like hey like when can I learn how to bump.
22:12
When can I learn how to bump because I just wanted and he's
22:14
like, well eventually. Eventually when you're ready
22:17
eventually got to it and it was like the like the back bump
22:24
where you hold on to like the rope and it was like it was easy
22:28
whatever. And but after like a little bit
22:31
you are at least I was just treated like one of the one of
22:36
the grownups like no difference whatsoever.
22:39
I was like I was 14. I was like getting hit just like
22:43
everyone else in the room was getting hit.
22:45
I was getting I was so sore going to school it was pretty
22:50
wild. I yeah.
22:52
Were you, were you going to school and bragging like, I'm a
22:54
wrestler? Yeah, I was.
22:56
And then sometimes it was. It was weird though, sometimes
22:59
because like, I wasn't one of those kids that was like one of,
23:04
like the popular, popular kids or any.
23:06
Like I didn't have enemies really, but like, so people
23:10
would say what things or think things were stupid.
23:13
Of course, cuz like, yeah, kids in school, they say stupid
23:16
stuff, but you can't let it, you know, get you discouraged.
23:19
Have you, Did anyone ever test you like, oh, you think you're
23:21
tough cuz you're a wrestler type deal?
23:23
Yeah, like that was one of the things growing up.
23:27
I don't know if it's still like that now, but like when I was
23:30
growing up, like they would tell you like if you were a martial
23:33
artist, Like don't tell people you're a martial artist.
23:36
Like don't tell them you're a black belt.
23:38
And it kind of was like the same thing with wrestling, because
23:41
like, people used to want to like test you or whatever, and
23:46
it never works out for the other person.
23:48
Never. It's just stupid.
23:50
So it's it's so insane to think about like so.
23:53
I don't, I don't want to bash martial arts, but like, there's
23:56
people who do martial arts and there's people who break boards,
23:59
right? Yeah, yeah, you know what I
24:02
mean? And the people who break boards
24:04
think they do the other martial arts and they're tough guys.
24:06
It's like, well, boards don't hit back, you know what I mean?
24:09
It's a two different style of of martial arts, but if someone
24:14
trains at anything in life, you're going to be better at it
24:17
than the average Joe. Now there are some, there are
24:20
some weird parallels where somebody either they fight a lot
24:24
or they're just freak athletes and they can get by with their
24:27
athletic abilities. But for the most part, if
24:29
someone grapples, if someone is a shoot wrestler, if so, and
24:33
they do that for a period of time and you pick a fight with
24:36
them in a bar, you're not winning.
24:39
You're going to get embarrassed. But yeah, like people, people
24:45
would be like that like or say something or they would just
24:48
like make comments at school. But yeah, it it's that was how
24:53
it was, I guess growing up back then.
24:54
I think kids are like nicer to each other now, which is like.
24:57
I sure hope so. Yeah, me too.
24:59
Like it's it wasn't. It was rough.
25:01
It was rough for my era. I feel like we had like the last
25:04
of like, the assholes. Like we're maybe we're getting
25:07
out of the asshole era. Finally.
25:11
So because you were in professional wrestling at such a
25:14
young age, did that? Stop you from doing other sports
25:17
like did you? Soccer, basketball, football.
25:19
Like, was all that out the window because you already had
25:21
your extra extracurricular activity.
25:24
I am like, so I also, so I also grew up like really into punk
25:28
rock and stuff like that. So it was weird.
25:31
So growing up I was into like martial arts, like karate, but
25:35
also I played baseball and football growing up.
25:39
So I I was, I was doing sports and.
25:43
How did you find the time? Oh, it like, I don't know.
25:46
Like, where do you get it when you're a kid, like?
25:48
What was I doing? Your karate, basketball,
25:52
baseball, football, pro wrestling.
25:54
And then were you learning how to play his instrument at the
25:56
time, too? Yeah, like I was listening to
25:59
punk rock. So like I'm trying to like.
26:01
Were your grades good? Huh.
26:03
Were your grades good? No, they were.
26:06
There's the there's the balance. Yeah, I just didn't go to
26:08
school. The no.
26:11
But like, I I as soon as like, high school hit and I was like
26:16
obsessed with wrestling, I just dropped everything.
26:19
Like, I didn't care about anything anymore.
26:22
My coaches from baseball were like, promise me you're gonna
26:26
play. And I was like, yeah, I promise.
26:29
And I was just like, no. Like, I wanna be a wrestler.
26:32
I'm jumping off shit. But yeah, like, I'm like, I'm
26:36
gonna go home and like, jump off the balcony of my apartment and
26:40
like, through a bunch of cardboard boxes and be what I
26:43
wanted to from now on. So what bands got you into punk
26:46
music? First punk bands that I got into
26:51
was no FX. OK, kids don't.
26:54
What parents don't understand or what our kids it was I got yeah,
27:00
I was so young. When I got into punk, it was.
27:03
I can't remember what year I was in 4th grade.
27:06
It was because one of my friends that I met that year in school,
27:10
his, his older brother was in the punk rock and stuff.
27:13
So he was so you had like this little punk rock kid and we just
27:17
made friends and but yeah, the first band was no FX and then
27:21
Rancid, but it was back like probably like 9690.
27:26
Yeah, probably like around 9697. So punk was, like, really cool
27:31
back then? It was like, well, I I was first
27:34
introduced to the pop punk. Nice.
27:36
So pop punk was my introduction and then I went back and learned
27:39
older punk. But I remember like one of the
27:41
first the 1st 2 bands that I really found for myself.
27:44
And like because all growing up my both my parents were huge in
27:47
the music that my dad used. ADJ.
27:48
But music was always a thing, they didn't play any
27:50
instruments. I just enjoyed listening to it.
27:52
But so I listened to all my dad's class, like Van Halen, Led
27:56
Zeppelin, Mötley Crüe, Aerosmith, A/C, DC, all that
27:59
stuff. The Who, All that and then he's
28:02
like, well, you need to find your first band.
28:03
And my first band was like around the time where I actually
28:06
cared was Blink way into in Lincoln Park Nice.
28:10
I. Love my yeah I I I wanna Blink
28:13
tattoo so bad. I wanna get the I don't know if
28:15
I want the rabbit or if I want the the :) you know what it's
28:19
funny like the the :) one. I remember when that album came
28:23
out like years ago and I was like, ohh, it's like the new
28:25
thing like that they're using. It's like the Nirvana face.
28:28
So now it's it's been so long now that that's so iconic to
28:32
that band that it's like, it's awesome.
28:34
Like it's funny how like when something new comes out, you're
28:37
like, no, that's stupid. And then like years later you're
28:39
like, oh, I love it. It's just like I go through that
28:42
with certain albums too. I I have younger cousins and my
28:46
younger cousins now are obsessed with like My Chemical Romance
28:49
are not cousins but like. My friends, kids and shit are
28:52
obsessed with My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy and
28:54
Blink Cuz it blinks. I'm like they were.
28:57
That was my like teenage years. Bands like what I'm like.
29:00
They've been around that long. Like I don't want to Fall Out
29:03
Boy put their first album out. We, me and my wife will drive
29:08
around and like put on stuff from like you know, that era and
29:13
she loves like Fallout Boy and Yellow Yellow Card.
29:17
Yeah, I like, I like like a good, a good portion of it.
29:20
And then like I think the other portion I'm just not familiar
29:23
with because I was listening to other stuff, but.
29:27
Punk is like anti establishment and then emo is like sad boy
29:30
punk. Yeah, exactly.
29:32
Yeah, it's punk. Adjacent, You know, Yeah, So
29:38
yeah, so. We took a weird detour there.
29:41
I loved everything. So finally your your training.
29:46
I'm guessing you know you're doing everything, but you
29:48
weren't allowed to physically be a part of the match until you're
29:50
18. Unless Jersey's Wild West.
29:53
Who knows what the rules there. But when did you first have your
29:55
your first match? We're like, Oh my God, I'm going
29:57
to do this in front of a crowd. We did get detoured.
30:00
Now that I'm just realizing how far.
30:02
So I did. I took all the bumps and
30:04
everything myself, got treated the same as everyone, and then
30:08
we started doing matches. And I'm not gonna lie, like I
30:14
didn't really know the psychology.
30:17
I don't understand the psychology of the match for like
30:21
3 years. Like, I didn't know.
30:24
Like every. I think everyone else knew what
30:26
the deal was. And then but whenever I was
30:29
working with someone, they would come up to me and they'd be
30:31
like, what do you want this to be?
30:32
What do you want that to be? And I'd say I want to do sunset
30:35
flip and I wanted to in Zaghiri and they'd like, OK, cool.
30:41
And then we kind of just call it in the ring.
30:44
And yeah, my first match was, I think I just turned 15.
30:52
When I had my front of a crowd, Yeah.
30:54
Wow. 1st. One-on-one battle royal, six man
30:57
tag, one-on-one singles. Wow.
30:59
Look at you. Yeah, Blown up.
31:02
Like crawling around. Now were you just were you the
31:06
kid out there who just got the shit kicked out of him because
31:07
you were the small kid? Were you like Spike Dudley of
31:10
your wrestling school? Kind of, yeah, sort of.
31:15
And I think that they they kind of wanted me to be like that.
31:18
And I didn't want to be like that because when I was a kid,
31:22
like I was so skinny and little. Like, I hated it because the
31:26
kids in school, like all you're you're so skinny.
31:28
How could you be a pro wrestler? And like, so I just worked out
31:31
like nonstop. Yeah.
31:33
So like they wanted me to be like this Spike Dudley
31:35
character. Literally, like said that.
31:39
Like like like, so. And I wanted to be more like
31:43
Tajiri, Jeff Hardy high flyer type of guy.
31:46
Yeah. And so it was kind of like not
31:52
squash matches, but like, you know, a lot of like a lot of
31:55
heat on me. And then at the end of the match
31:58
I get a few things and maybe win.
32:01
But. I don't remember him winning.
32:03
Yeah, like that. I wasn't ever like put up on
32:06
like some big thing where it was like the 14 year old did it.
32:11
He he won the tournament. Nothing like that.
32:16
When did when did you find out, find out you were diagnosed with
32:18
Crohn's? Was that young or was that later
32:20
on in life? I was 19.
32:22
Wow. Was that now?
32:24
Was that a setback for you when it came to pro wrestling?
32:26
Or was it something you struggled with for a while but
32:28
wasn't diagnosed till 19? Yeah, like, I think so.
32:32
I think I started having problems when I was 17.
32:36
And just like most people, like when problems occur with your
32:40
health, like some people just ignore it and they're just like,
32:43
ohh, it'll fix itself, but like, it's the worst thing you could
32:46
do. Yeah, that's exactly what I did
32:48
with my joint disorder. Yeah.
32:51
So I just ignored it and like, it got worse and I didn't know
32:55
that what it if it was something.
32:56
And it turned out like, yeah, it was.
33:00
I think like, yeah, I went to the doctor because I think I was
33:05
just throwing up and I was like in pain and some other stuff was
33:09
going on, too that was like fucked up.
33:11
So like they did a scan and everything and they're like all
33:15
your Crohn's. And then it wasn't long after
33:18
the diagnosis where, like, I was in the hospital, like nonstop,
33:23
like in for a week, out for a week, in for three weeks, out
33:28
for a week, in for two weeks. It was like that summer when I
33:33
that was the summer I left wrestling.
33:35
It was, it was so crazy. And then it towards the end of
33:39
it all, like, they finally wound up doing surgery on me to, like,
33:42
take the diseased area out. But like, yeah, that it was
33:47
wild, like being in and out of the hospital so much.
33:49
They were pumping me full of all kinds of drugs.
33:51
And like, it was not. I got a glimpse of like what
33:56
people could potentially be going through in the world of
34:00
like when they get hooked on like drugs at the the doctor and
34:05
then they're like thrown out into the world.
34:08
Like with no drugs. Like, yeah, I remember like
34:11
coming out of the, I had never really done drugs before.
34:15
Like ever. I I was straight edged.
34:17
Like I was a straight edged kid listening to hardcore and
34:20
everything. And all of a sudden I'm in the
34:22
emergency room. They're like, here's some
34:24
morphine and like, I was like, what's going on?
34:27
This is insane. So, like, I was like, they gotta
34:31
not give this to people. That that's what I whatever time
34:35
I'd go, I was like, hey, my my joints hurt.
34:37
My body hurts like, well, here's more pain pills, more pain
34:39
pills. And then I hit a certain age or
34:41
I was just like when I found out pain pills and beer was a cool
34:44
combination. And I was just like, yeah, I got
34:45
to adjust here. And I, I, I I stopped.
34:49
I I dropped the pain pills and I switched over to, let's just
34:52
say, medical marijuana. And it changed everything for
34:55
me. Yeah, a lot of people are
34:58
bringing that into like like with the medical marijuana,
35:02
they're using it for like alcoholism and stuff like that
35:06
too. Like I saw some people are
35:08
putting that on like it's like Crohn's and cancer and stuff
35:11
like that, but they're adding like it does help with like
35:15
addiction and stuff. Like that or I see more
35:17
wrestlers after a match. Not trying to out anybody but go
35:20
in the back and take a couple hits of a pen or light something
35:24
up and like. The the the days of like the old
35:27
school guys are like there was a case, 3 cases of beer in the
35:29
back or there was pills being distributed or people doing
35:33
lines. And just like I personally have
35:35
never seen that. I just seen people smoke a weed,
35:37
join a joint after their match and they're just like and
35:39
they're like oh it makes my body feel better.
35:41
And it's just like what a difference in just this industry
35:45
that helps people so much. Yeah, it it's, it's, it's so
35:48
it's such like a good, excuse me, the that's a good, like view
35:53
of how, like wrestling is now. Like it's a lot more chill.
35:57
It's a lot more accepting. Like, you know, you're not going
36:01
to get, you know, beat up by your trainer because you went in
36:03
and smelled like weed. You know, Like, you know, it's
36:06
not like that anymore. And then, yeah, since I've been
36:10
back like back in the day like early 2000s, like I was like a
36:16
teenager and I was, I had seen cocaine mixed around in things
36:21
in in places and I was a kid. But now like I've been back for
36:26
like 6 years now and I haven't seen anything like that.
36:30
I haven't even seen. I mean I saw one person once
36:34
that was definitely on something.
36:36
But for the every other show, like I've never seen drugs.
36:41
I've never seen anybody getting wasted.
36:44
Like this generation of wrestlers is like topnotch.
36:48
They are respectful. They respect each other.
36:51
They respect the building like it's it's just a sign of like
36:56
we're in a good era of of wrestling.
36:58
Yes. There.
36:59
And then it's, you know, smoking weed outside like so much better
37:04
than all that shit. Like, yeah. 100%, So my next
37:09
line here, my next question for you would be, what are some of
37:11
your favorite matches you had? But I want to kind of backtrack
37:14
and make it about us real quick. But when we first met each
37:17
other, we talked about when people mixed mixed martial arts
37:21
into professional wrestling. And the first time I I ever
37:24
really had my first taste of independent pro wrestling or I
37:27
was part of a production team and I was anything was Camp
37:30
Leapfrog. And we did Frog Sport, which was
37:34
essentially the blood sport version but our wacky Mortal
37:37
Combat version. And it was a lot of fun.
37:41
And I just remember like, I was really intimidated.
37:43
But I was watching it and I watched the first couple of
37:45
matches and I just remember being like.
37:48
If we did a couple different things here, it would feel more
37:51
like Mitch martial arts and not what it was.
37:54
And I remember pitching the idea to the people running it at the
37:57
time. And then I pitched it to Matt
37:59
Makowski and I remember, I believe you were around it as
38:02
well. And I was like, if there's
38:03
anyone around ringside who knows mixed martial arts calls.
38:09
Like, I feel like if they almost like a corner man where they
38:11
yell like, watch the choke, watch the choke pull your guard,
38:14
even if the person in the ring has no idea what they're saying.
38:18
Yeah. Audio of people watching will
38:21
make it seem more legit, yeah. And then I, and then I remember
38:25
pitching into Darius. He's like, well, I need to do
38:27
something that's a heel thing. But in the context of this, what
38:32
can I do? When they were, like talking
38:34
about low blows or an illegal move and I was like, I know one
38:37
that'll be even worse. And they're like, what do you
38:39
mean? I said, when you finish them,
38:41
how are you going to win the match?
38:42
Like, oh, we're going submission.
38:44
I said don't let go. Force the ref to make you let go
38:47
because that's even worse than anything else in the mixed
38:50
martial arts world. Like if you have an arm bar and
38:53
you're not letting go, not letting go, not like that's
38:55
deemed like and and swinging after the fight, but I mean, but
38:58
in that context I felt instead of a low blower eye gouge or
39:02
something, I felt holding the submission on after the person
39:05
clearly taps and not letting go was more of a scumbag move.
39:09
And he's like and he ran with it and he did it the whole, the
39:12
whole time. And I was like, that's kind of
39:14
cool, like like it went through. But I remember you, you Matt and
39:18
a few other people, you can definitely tell you guys had
39:21
some sort of mixed martial arts knowledge background and stuff
39:24
like that and it showed in your matches.
39:27
Oh yeah, and thank you like that was that was like so much fun.
39:31
Couldn't you know wrestle Matt and?
39:34
I still have the kick pad. Mix it up.
39:36
Oh, nice. Yeah, that.
39:39
Yeah, that was a lot of fun. I hope that MENA gets a work
39:41
again someday. I think he's just he just
39:44
recovered or he's been recovering from his.
39:48
His knee, I think it was, yeah. Yeah.
39:50
Like, man, he he's he's good. Yeah, he he's gonna do stuff.
39:54
He's gonna do stuff for real. He'll fit in anywhere he goes,
39:59
especially with the the what we're just talking about like
40:01
mixing the two styles. He keeps it real.
40:04
So you know. And he's super athletic too.
40:07
Like, I mean, if you haven't, I go to High Tension wrestling on
40:12
YouTube and search the camp Leapfrog.
40:15
He finishes a match with a top rope superplex that turns into a
40:21
flipping armbar like. Yeah, Like what?
40:25
Like I. I think I was like, watching
40:29
that and I had no clue that was coming.
40:31
And I was, yeah, I lost it. Like it was like a Spanish fly
40:37
flipped into like an A flying arm bar in midair.
40:39
It was, it was crazy. But that's kind of his bit,
40:43
where he can pull an arm bar at anything, like like, it looks
40:46
like a back body drop into an arm bar.
40:48
Like, that's Makowski's bit. And it's, it's awesome.
40:50
It's so much fun. But what that's what Ronda
40:53
Rousey should have been doing because her whole career was
40:55
based off arm bars. But they like creative waves of
40:58
her getting into the arm bar, but her pace got so slow.
41:00
Her second year bumed me out. So yeah, So what are some
41:04
matches you personally have had that really stand out for you?
41:07
Or if people can seek them out online or go search for them,
41:10
what would they be there was? One I don't even know if it's
41:15
up, but it was A tag match with I was teaming with Hermit Crab
41:23
against Johnny Moran and Green Ant.
41:27
Who is Ultimo Ant? Yes, he changed that.
41:32
He's he's evolved. Yeah, all, all all those
41:35
characters from those have changed their name a little bit
41:38
or just changed their hair. So it's there.
41:40
He's evolved. He's evolved He he's like silver
41:43
now so he's he's cool. Yeah.
41:46
We had A tag match that was like no holds barred.
41:51
Like I don't know if it was false kind of anywhere, but it
41:53
was like anything goes street fight and it was just like.
41:59
Weapons. And it was a lot of fun.
42:02
Like, I know we were being like the hell out of each other with
42:04
some of this stuff. But at one point I actually
42:09
accident like totally. I took a chair shot and I didn't
42:15
put my hands up because I was just like, yeah, I'm a tough
42:17
guy, I'm not gonna put my hands up.
42:19
So I took chair shot and it just put like a hole in the top of my
42:23
head. That's like, it's still there.
42:26
And I just started like. Blood everywhere.
42:30
It really added to the match on the bright side of things.
42:35
But yeah, we I think we finished the match like that happened
42:40
when a few more minutes got everything going and I think I
42:45
got power bombed through like a door like a couple minutes after
42:49
that. And I think that was like the
42:50
finish but it was like it was a blow off match.
42:53
So there was a story to to why we were fighting.
42:58
What promotion was this? Excellence in Okay, Pennsylvania
43:03
the they haven't done anything in a while that's that was so
43:06
much fun. Rest that was always a good time
43:08
every month just like, you know in Sellersville.
43:11
Just always the one like you know guaranteed spot was really
43:15
cool. Always a good crowd too like
43:18
they just love pro wrestling. Weird town.
43:21
Just there's nothing out there. There's nothing most That's most
43:23
of Pennsylvania. Yeah, but that, yeah, we were
43:27
Woods and Cole Towns. Yeah, that's what it Yeah, it
43:31
seems like that, like a Cole Town type of thing.
43:33
But yeah, it was a lot of fun. And then I would say like I had
43:42
a match with Ray Jazz for wrestling open.
43:48
That was it was actually my Wrestling open debut.
43:50
Okay. That match was a lot of fun.
43:52
Do you ever, do you ever get to work?
43:54
Any names? Not really.
44:00
It's funny, like a lot of the times when I I'm on shows and
44:02
there's like names and stuff, they're always like announced
44:05
ahead of time with their matches.
44:07
And it's like, it's not that I'm getting on the show later, but I
44:10
feel like they had like, whoever it was in mind with them, but
44:14
nothing. I wouldn't want to work names.
44:16
Of course I would love to work some names, but yeah, no, no
44:20
one, no one really on the list. I mean like I've.
44:25
Tagged with Cheeseburger and Eli Isom a few years ago in like
44:31
Alabama. We were in like a six man.
44:35
But yeah, that's the names thing.
44:39
Like not too many really. Yeah, I think the names thing
44:42
happens one or two. So what you just said here is
44:44
you work Jersey, Pennsylvania said.
44:46
You're in Alabama, so you move around a lot, so that's is good
44:51
for you cuz you get out more. But I feel like a lot of guys
44:54
who get the names at a promotion are people who kind of stay
44:56
within their 2530 mile bubble. I they stick.
45:00
They stick only to that promotion.
45:01
And because they're there all the time and they've kind of
45:03
made that their home, then they get rewarded with the names when
45:07
they come in. Where if it's a guy like you who
45:09
like you, make your journey around because you make this
45:12
your industry, you might lose those opportunities because
45:15
you're not a regular at a promotion.
45:17
Yeah, no. Yeah.
45:18
I feel like that you're you're spot on with that like if I'm.
45:22
You know just coming in for like a one stop before you know I'm
45:26
going somewhere else or whatever.
45:28
Like, you know, chances are I'm gonna probably be with like
45:31
someone that wrestles like me or whatever, like or the same size
45:36
as me. And then, yeah, names.
45:39
Usually with the guys that are there for a while to be like the
45:43
champion or whatever, the established people that the
45:45
crowd knows. Yeah, yeah.
45:48
Who are some? What are some promotions that
45:50
you work at now that people can search and say and and find a
45:53
lot of your backlog or places that you, you, you attend more
45:56
than others? I was I've been kind of injured
46:00
late like recently. So like I've been healing up
46:04
like my back is like not man, it's upper back like lower neck
46:09
areas been a little wacky. So like I've been just taking
46:12
some time to heal it. So I've been taking a little
46:14
time off, but the How much is that from wrestling and how much
46:18
is that from tattooing? Yo, it's it's crazy like I'll
46:23
have a match and I'll be like, yeah, I feel like I'm gonna be
46:26
like totally dead tomorrow and I'll wake up the next day and
46:29
I'll be fine and it's weird. But then if I do like a four
46:33
hour, 5 hour tattoo, like the next day or something like that,
46:37
I'm like dead. It's because you're like hunched
46:40
over every tattoo hours. I know their backs are
46:42
destroyed, like they're worse than the wrestlers.
46:46
Yeah, so I knew both. So I'm like my back is just
46:49
murdered. So everyone that watches me
46:50
wrestle, just like, no, I'm. I'm always in pain.
46:53
It's like, yeah, it's it's that your hands too, that like, I
46:58
mean the newer guns, the ones that don't have a lot of the
47:00
vibration or the loud noise and stuff, like there's ones that
47:03
look like just a stylus pen that somehow like they're crazy,
47:05
that's like a popping battery. It's so much, but it's not even
47:08
like a recoil, a coil or anything on them.
47:10
I I actually just got tattooed by one.
47:11
It was actually very pleasant. Nice, nice.
47:14
Yeah. Yeah, that's that's actually
47:15
what I use like I I used to use like the coil machines and
47:20
everything and got used to the weight and you know, you had
47:23
friends or mentors or whatever that use those things for like
47:26
20 years. They get like arthritis, they
47:28
get carpal tunnel really bad and then you can only work for a
47:33
certain amount of years. So the evolution of like the
47:36
pens and stuff like that, it's huge.
47:39
Like I'll be all the tattoo like.
47:41
Forever. Yeah.
47:42
And and the girl who just recently, she, she actually did
47:46
the ABJ logo that's behind us. And then she's done a couple of
47:49
my tattoos. She's just like, I was like her
47:51
one of her first apprentice tattoos.
47:52
She did, I made her, I made her do color and everything.
47:55
She was terrified. I was like, what's the word to
47:57
have you fuck you fuck it up and then I don't care.
47:59
I'm happy to give you the the opportunity to try, but she was
48:03
someone who painted and did a lot of digital art and draw and
48:06
like I think her coming into the tattoo game and nodding, not
48:09
having to use the old school stuff and using the stylus pen
48:12
and she took to it better because it was more comfortable
48:15
her transition through. Yeah, those things like the old
48:19
coil machines, it's nothing like drawing.
48:23
It's like, yeah, it's trying to like draw the lawnmower.
48:27
It's ridiculous. It's I don't know how we did it
48:30
for so long, but. Here we are.
48:33
Yeah, well I'm going to come back to tattoo.
48:35
I promise. This is my ADHD taking us on
48:37
side quest. So other matches, if, if, if
48:41
can't think of anything, if not matches that you want that you
48:45
have never had that. Like, boy, if I can speak into
48:47
the universe and I want to work that guy, or work that guy
48:50
again, or be a part of a program with this person, who would
48:53
those people be? You know what, I had two.
48:58
This company had two shows and I had a pretty fun match on both
49:02
shows. It was Upper Limit Wrestling.
49:06
The first show I was in like a four way with Jay Bougie,
49:11
Brother Greatness and Gabriel Sky and that was so much fun.
49:19
Like the four of us in there, like we we mixed really well
49:22
together and I I really liked. I love Bungie, but he his yeah
49:26
at the Derval. He's so good.
49:28
There, all All three of those dudes were, like, awesome to
49:31
work with. They're so talented.
49:33
I'd go one-on-one with any any one of those dudes.
49:39
And then, like, there's dudes like Ichiban or Mach 10, yeah.
49:46
Those dudes real, real good. Have you heard?
49:50
Have you? Are you aware of Rocket on the
49:52
scene? Like Rocket's?
49:53
Another high flyer if you want to work someone who's.
49:55
You know what? I that I was, I was supposed to
49:58
actually a couple months. I think it was during the
50:01
winter. I was supposed to be in like a
50:02
scramble match and I think Rocket was supposed was in the
50:07
scramble match. But I got COVID and I couldn't
50:11
make it to the show like I was. He's unbelievable.
50:14
He's he's he's the guy on the scene right now that I keep
50:17
telling people that like he he's gonna be on TV soon.
50:20
I gotta check him out then. Yeah, yeah, his body, his body
50:24
control in the air is unbelievable.
50:26
And his, his, his mentality into it is really good.
50:29
He's a, he's an H2O kid. He's a Tremont kid.
50:33
Yeah. So his, his, his mind stays
50:35
there. He is one of the best frog
50:36
splashes. Like he rivals Montez Montez
50:39
Ford with his frog. He's so, so talented.
50:42
And his charismas to the roof. And he's not someone that looks
50:45
for every high spot, high spot, high spot.
50:47
He knows how to stop but work the crowd and get them involved
50:49
like he's got it all together and he's only been doing it a
50:52
short time. That's awesome.
50:54
Yeah, those those H2O kids, man. Like Marcus?
50:58
They're they're good. Man, I I I when I came back to
51:02
wrestling, like I didn't know what's like.
51:05
None of these, some of these schools didn't even exist.
51:07
When I left all that like 10 years before I came back, I was
51:10
gone for 10 years. So like.
51:13
Some of them didn't exist, so I didn't know what to think of any
51:15
of them. So like seeing how good some of
51:18
these kids are, it's it's really cool.
51:21
Like those? Yeah, each kids are are awesome.
51:24
Yeah. So any other matches out there
51:27
that you would love to square off with?
51:32
Anyone that's like, I like guys that are like, I don't do too
51:37
much like high flying type of stuff, but I like wrestling guys
51:41
who. Do a decent amount of it like,
51:46
you know, like I was saying like someone like Mach 10 or Ichi
51:49
Bond, you know, like a whole bit for you as a torture expert as
51:55
you're slowing down their momentum so that the ring
51:58
psychology is better for those type of people.
52:00
Yeah, I feel like it mixes well also too.
52:04
Like I I don't mind being like an underdog.
52:09
In the match, either like fighting big dudes, like if I
52:13
have to like Tyree Taylor, like Rex, he's a he's a monster.
52:25
Like I don't mind fighting big dudes.
52:29
So like, you know, I just like to go out there.
52:32
Have you ever told that story? Have you ever done Ender Gender?
52:36
Yeah, Well, you know what? Just like bits here and there,
52:41
but like I think that the funniest thing about that that I
52:44
don't really like work that many inter gender matches is that
52:48
when I was when I came back to wrestling, I was training with
52:50
Damien Adams and I trained with him for three years.
52:54
And so every Thursday night it was me and Tasha steels like we
52:59
were like OK. It like Thursdays was dead for
53:03
some reason. And it was always like one of
53:05
the beginners. And then me and Tasha steals
53:10
every Thursday. And then the former former
53:14
Impact Women's champion. Yeah, like we would train it
53:17
like and Diana Perazzo would come in because she other former
53:22
Impact Women's champion. Yeah, so he would be.
53:26
She was always at that time really busy with Ring of Honor
53:30
and stuff like that. And I think she was like in
53:32
talks of getting signed by WWE also, She wasn't she in the main
53:36
young classic and then she went back to ROH.
53:39
Yeah, I I forget. That's what happened.
53:41
Yeah, I forget how exactly it went.
53:43
But yeah, she was www.e gave her really harsh critiques like she
53:49
wasn't good enough or something like that.
53:51
And then the next year she was ROH Women's champion and then
53:54
became like Impact Women's champion.
53:56
That's been dominating ever since.
53:57
Yeah, that that just shows like they might be the biggest
54:02
company in the world or whatever, but like.
54:04
They still make mistakes. Like they will still make
54:08
mistakes. And to never.
54:09
Like their word isn't the final word.
54:12
Like people out there that used to work there, that they're on
54:18
the Indies, making more money than they were when they were
54:21
assigned to like an NXT deal. Sami Zayn recently just came out
54:26
and said I lost almost $100,000, close to 100,000 or $75,000 a
54:31
year. Leaving the Indies to get my NXC
54:34
contract right there. Yeah, yeah, That's.
54:37
Like crazy to think about. It.
54:40
I mean, now it's worth it. Like, but back then you know, if
54:44
if you're not sure what they're gonna do with you, like you
54:47
might be sitting and catering for three years and then
54:48
everyone on the Indies forgets about you, like, that's not
54:51
cool. So it's always, I always think
54:53
like when people are like, all right, that's your opinion, I'm
54:56
gonna go bet on myself. And you know, do what's right
55:00
for me. Well, let me, let me, let me pop
55:02
some Discord questions in here. So the first one by Hunter
55:05
Dillon says as a self-proclaimed torture expert, what is your
55:09
favorite submission to use on a wrestler?
55:13
I like to use as a like I usually finish people with this.
55:18
It's you like if I'm on IWTV I have like this habit of I use
55:23
it. It's called the double polanka.
55:27
It's a loot. I learned it in a Lucia seminar
55:29
actually years ago. And you kind of take the you lay
55:33
the person on their stomach if you can get them down there.
55:36
And then you take the other, their arm, sort of like a
55:39
crippler cross face, sort of like a rings of Saturn type of
55:43
deal where you hook the arm across you and you pull the
55:46
other one over top. So you're kind of torque in the
55:49
shoulder and the pack and then a little bit on like the wrist?
55:54
I like that one a lot. And of course I like stuff like
55:56
the Sharpshooter because of a big Bret Hart guy.
55:59
Fujiwar Armbar is also a classic anything.
56:03
And then when I was growing up my all time besides the
56:06
Sharpshooter all time favorite submission was the Taz Mission.
56:10
Very, very big Taz guy growing up.
56:12
Love that. Well, what's Steven's question?
56:17
What's with the tattoos? Especially the head.
56:20
Oh, yeah, bro. Yeah, I I.
56:25
When did you start getting them? I got my first tattoo when I was
56:31
15. As I say, you're already
56:33
wrestling, so. Your parents are cool.
56:34
Yeah, I was. It was like a few months after I
56:37
started wrestling, I was with my buddy Nick.
56:42
He was also a wrestler. He was also 15.
56:45
Where Where is your first tattoo?
56:47
It so it was here. You covered it.
56:51
So it friend from wrestling, we went in, he lived in Yonkers,
56:57
his wrestling name was Tommy Trouble back in the day.
56:59
And we went into Yonkers and like I went into the shop and
57:03
they were closing and I was like, yeah, I'm totally 18.
57:06
I did not look 18 and got a bad tattoo and I thought it was so
57:11
cool. Then years later, I got it
57:13
covered because I got a bad tattoo.
57:16
What was the tattoo of? It was like a dagger and it said
57:20
like, No Fear. Oh, the No Fear.
57:23
Yeah, the eye was it. Same like it was the same logo.
57:28
It was so ridiculous. I picked it off the wall.
57:31
It was so I want to get a dagger tattoo, but this is I'm a Sean
57:35
guy, so Sean's shitty dagger heart snake.
57:39
I want that, but I want it the same idea but I want an American
57:45
traditional artist to redo it in his style but still have the
57:48
same premise and layer of the tattoo about the dagger going
57:51
through the heart with the snake wrapped around.
57:53
So it's still the shame, Shawn art but it's someone else's art
57:56
doing it and put it right in the same spot.
57:59
Classic. Yeah, that's that's that's what
58:01
my dream tattoo since I'm a kid. But I always thought.
58:04
I think when I was a little kid, me and my sister played tattoo
58:08
outside like in my grandma's front yard once and.
58:12
I I drew that tattoo on her because it was the only tattoo.
58:19
Something's something's dinging. Ohh, that's stop.
58:21
No, you're good. You're good.
58:22
Yeah. That was the only tattoo that I
58:25
could, like, think of in my brain was the Shawn Michaels
58:28
tattoo. Yeah, totally.
58:31
One of the first to learn how to draw was the Brahma Bull skull,
58:34
because everyone was like that. The Brahma bull skull and the
58:37
the the Chicago Bulls. Nice.
58:41
There was like yeah, So what what What is your favorite
58:44
tattoo you have on you has the most meaning?
58:45
And what was the worst pain tattoo you've got?
58:50
Well, they all suck, but like a spot.
58:51
You're like it was the worst to sit through.
58:53
Yo, like, for real. So before I got my head done,
58:59
the worst spot on my whole body was like right below my chest.
59:05
Like where your rib? The front of your ribs like your
59:08
stomach area. Yeah, like up onto like your
59:10
stomach, up onto the ribs area. That was like just getting it
59:15
filled. Like if you see the pictures of
59:16
me and stuff like how it's just solid color, like it was like
59:21
like torture it, like it was really bad.
59:25
But then years later I get my head done and I got it done in
59:30
like sections. So the one side I got done, it
59:34
has like a yeah, it's like a. I don't know if you could see
59:38
it, but it's like a Japanese demon.
59:40
Yeah, it's like a Japanese Oni mask, similar to what I have on
59:44
on my front. And I was like, wow, this sucks.
59:49
And then I got the back done eventually and that also hurt.
59:53
But then when I got the top, it was like horrible like.
59:59
Horrible, like all this through, like the hairline area it was.
1:00:04
Bad. Like, really, really bad.
1:00:06
I watched a guy get implants put in his head.
1:00:10
The word the most blood I've ever seen in my life.
1:00:17
How is the oh how do you feel? Because listen, I know me.
1:00:21
My next tattoo. I'm doing it.
1:00:23
I don't give a shit anymore. I'm too old for this shit.
1:00:25
I hate getting tattooed. I like having them.
1:00:27
What do you feel about the numbing cream?
1:00:31
I don't care. I've used it before.
1:00:33
Yeah, I used, I used it on my nipples because like, they're
1:00:37
tattooed, they're, there's parts of them, they're blacked out.
1:00:40
And I was like, yo, I don't wanna feel this.
1:00:42
So I used it. But then I I reckon if you wanna
1:00:46
use it, I feel like use it for like something small.
1:00:49
And that's not gonna take too long because when I used it, it
1:00:52
wore off after like 25 minutes and it made it feel worse.
1:00:56
And you can't reapply it. You can but like they say on the
1:01:00
bottle, like you're supposed to like put like glob it on your
1:01:04
your arm or whatever and then wrap it with Saran wraps so that
1:01:08
like it insulates it. And you're supposed to leave it
1:01:12
for like a couple, at least a couple hours for it to really
1:01:15
start to work. Before the tattoo, Yeah.
1:01:18
So that's the way you're supposed to do.
1:01:19
I think the one that I had like years ago was like 3 hours and I
1:01:24
was like cool, let's do this. And it still wore off after like
1:01:28
1/2. Hour I was so I was dying.
1:01:30
I was in so much pain. I yeah, so maybe for something
1:01:34
small or like I tell people sometimes, like if you want to
1:01:37
get like a piercing, it's really cool.
1:01:39
But yeah, as far as an artist goes, like some, sometimes it
1:01:42
bothers the skin, but it's not too bad.
1:01:46
Yeah. So one of the questions to this
1:01:48
cord and that was one I was going to bring up here.
1:01:50
So we're on the same page, but I'll give Raz the credit for the
1:01:52
question. Raz in the chat.
1:01:54
He's in my UK buddy soon. How did you come up with the
1:01:57
name Blackstrom? Where does this character come
1:01:59
from and where do you how did you come up with the idea of
1:02:02
this this persona. So this this is actually a
1:02:05
really good question cuz no no one's actually asked me this
1:02:08
before. Blackstrom is I want my name.
1:02:13
Growing up in wrestling was Dylan Black and I came back and
1:02:19
I was still still in black. And then like a couple years
1:02:22
later a student goes on TV named Alistair Black and he also has
1:02:26
tattoos. And I'm like, well, this is
1:02:28
getting rough out here. So I might have to change the
1:02:32
name. And then like, I wrestled in a
1:02:33
match with a very good wrestler who he's a cool dude named Logan
1:02:38
Black from New York. You know who Logan is.
1:02:43
And I was like, you know what? Like, I feel like I could just
1:02:47
change my name. It's not a big deal.
1:02:49
Like I'm like for some reason it got in my head that I was like
1:02:52
tattooed guy, same last name as the guy on TV, so.
1:02:57
Also has giant skull on the front, but on the back like a
1:03:01
lot of strikes, lot of kicks. We got a red beard like yeah.
1:03:07
So I was like, I I'm not it's I'm always on the the thing of
1:03:11
like who made it famous. Not like, oh I had it for cuz
1:03:14
technically I did have it. I had it in 2001 was my name was
1:03:17
Dylan Black. But like, you know, he goes on
1:03:20
TV and that's his thing. Cool.
1:03:22
Was a guy named Tyler Black for a while too, right?
1:03:25
Oh yeah. You know what?
1:03:26
I didn't watch wrestling during that time period.
1:03:29
Yeah, so. But I I was like, I'm just gonna
1:03:32
change it. But I want it to be something
1:03:34
kind of similar. So I watch a lot of hockey and.
1:03:39
Yeah, one of one of the dudes from, like, the Capitals.
1:03:44
He Nicholas Nicholas Backstrom. He's got some of the best hands
1:03:50
in in hockey. The dude can.
1:03:52
His passing game is amazing. And I always I'm oh, you're
1:03:56
you're a devil's fan, Capitals. Oh, you're a Caps fan.
1:03:59
Yep. Nice.
1:04:01
I'm a Rangers fan. I remember watching these games
1:04:05
of these playoff games though, of Nicholas Backstrom, just like
1:04:10
ruining us with these pastes and these plays.
1:04:13
And I would just get so pissed. But like, I respected it.
1:04:16
So I was like, what about like Dylan Backstrom or Blackstrom?
1:04:21
And so I just kind of like put it together like that.
1:04:23
It's kind of like a mix of, like my liking for hockey and the
1:04:27
name I had already. Yeah, and then I put it put an X
1:04:31
in there, just because like might bring more attention in
1:04:33
there. And it's punk I like.
1:04:35
Yeah, it's punk. So like I and I sign it with an
1:04:37
X. Yeah, and I mean, you could do a
1:04:39
cool like logo with the big X and stuff like that, you know?
1:04:42
Yeah, it's a little easier to sign too.
1:04:44
It's cool, Yeah. But yeah, and then you know the
1:04:47
the torture expert thing had to like it come to me the the
1:04:52
phrase literally just like popped in my head one day, like
1:04:56
tattooed torture expert. Like it just popped in my head
1:04:59
and it I just kind of went with it and tried to like build it up
1:05:03
to to be something cool. I like that.
1:05:07
So Raz also asked. You know, you've been all over
1:05:10
the world. You said you've been to like,
1:05:11
multiple states. Where are some other states
1:05:13
you've been? And what are some states that
1:05:15
you want to, or anywhere in the world you'd want to wrestle if
1:05:17
you had to pick? So I've wrestled in places like
1:05:24
I I was up in like Vermont. I wrestled.
1:05:27
I've wrestled in Alabama, Georgia, PA, obviously Jersey.
1:05:36
I've wrestled in New York, but like not too often, which is
1:05:39
weird because it's like it's about an hour from me.
1:05:42
But it's. I understand it's hard running a
1:05:45
show in New York because of like the athletic Commission and
1:05:47
stuff. So like it's.
1:05:49
Hard Jersey just got hammered down too.
1:05:52
I saw that. It's it's insane, but it's hard
1:05:55
to bring guys into New York is like transit and stuff like
1:05:58
that. Like, but yeah, like I would
1:06:03
like to actually wrestle more in New York.
1:06:05
Like, I mean traveling and going over the bridge and stuff.
1:06:09
It's rough, but like, I don't mind, like crowds in New York
1:06:12
are always wild. I haven't wrestled in Delaware.
1:06:18
Actually, I wrestled in Maryland kind of on a regular basis now
1:06:22
with Flying V They always have really good shows.
1:06:28
That's where I was recently and had a great time.
1:06:30
They're down in like the Baltimore area, but I want to
1:06:34
get out to like everywhere, like Texas, Cali, anywhere on the
1:06:39
West Coast, really, like, just. Any internationals you'd like to
1:06:43
do everywhere, like I went to right when lockdown started, I
1:06:49
went to Germany to train at the WXW Academy that they had out
1:06:55
that. And it was like I was having so
1:06:59
much fun and I was supposed to stay for like a month And I was
1:07:04
staying with like the other wrestlers that were there on
1:07:08
their international tour to do like they're having.
1:07:10
They were having a tournament and it was huge.
1:07:13
Like wxw in Germany is like crazy.
1:07:18
Like it's like they don't have as much wrestling going on out
1:07:22
there as we do here. So it's like the shows are
1:07:26
really, really good and then like the crowd is like amazing
1:07:30
too. So if I think that they had some
1:07:32
stuff up on the WB Network at one point, I don't know if it's
1:07:35
still up. But yeah, I would.
1:07:37
I would check that stuff out. It's it's good wrestling.
1:07:39
But I trained out there and then lockdown happened.
1:07:42
I had to come home early. So yeah I was supposed to
1:07:45
wrestle on a show and I think it was in Belgium.
1:07:49
I was gonna wrestle and I was really excited.
1:07:51
And they got called off like the day before because they just
1:07:57
like in America. They were shutting everything
1:07:59
down. And there it wasn't yet.
1:08:02
And then right as I was leaving, it was like, the burger place is
1:08:06
closed. I was like, goddamn it.
1:08:08
Yeah. Well, here's our final question
1:08:11
of the podcast and it is sponsored.
1:08:14
And this is a sponsored question by Logos by Hunter.
1:08:16
So if you're looking for a logo for your merchandise or your
1:08:18
podcasts or any anything, hit him up.
1:08:20
He's on five YouTube and in Instagram Logos by Hunter.
1:08:24
He's done a lot of stuff for me, super, super talented.
1:08:26
But his question is, and we're going to always end with the
1:08:29
podcast with this is, if you could write us a letter to your
1:08:32
younger self, what would it say? Letter to my younger self.
1:08:39
Don't give up. John Yeah, Yeah.
1:09:03
Yeah, Trouble or whatever his name was.
1:08:44
I mean, like, yeah, I was like, yeah, just because, like, you
1:08:49
know, with wrestling I had to stop.
1:08:51
And I feel like there was a point where I could have come
1:08:53
back earlier, but I was, you know, caught up in life and you
1:08:59
know, maybe people I shouldn't have been hanging out with and.
1:09:05
Yeah, you know, but then, you know, I I came back so, you
1:09:12
know, not to give up on anything.
1:09:15
Absolutely. Well, where can people find you?
1:09:16
On social media or to follow you or follow along with you on your
1:09:21
journey. I'm on Instagram and threads
1:09:25
with under at Blackstrom One with #1 and I'm also on X or
1:09:32
Twitter, whatever you want to call it.
1:09:33
It's so stupid I gotta change. My little bird up there.
1:09:36
I just realized that ohh yeah. I added the thread and never got
1:09:40
rid of the bird. I have to put the X up there
1:09:42
now, bro. It's still playing now.
1:09:44
Like, yeah, it is. You should just make cars.
1:09:46
Don't. Don't make social.
1:09:47
Media, social media. Bring Myspace back.
1:09:49
Let's get We have Myspace back where you can put your songs and
1:09:52
your top eight. I need that.
1:09:54
Yeah, like it's just Twitter sucks now.
1:09:57
But yeah, I mean I'm on there too with the same same handle
1:10:02
Flaxtrom one and yeah that's that's where to find me really.
1:10:07
And I think yeah, match wise like I got some stuff on I W TV
1:10:12
on like wrestling open and stuff like that and yeah.
1:10:16
Check them out. Well, thank you so much man.
1:10:17
I really appreciate this. I had an absolute blast learning
1:10:21
about you. I hope the guests really enjoyed
1:10:22
this as well. Make sure if you listen to this
1:10:24
on the audio platform you leave a 5 star review.
1:10:26
In the Q&A section on Spotify. You could read a little review.
1:10:30
Tell me what you thought of the podcast Apple.
1:10:32
You can leave reviews and if you're watching this on YouTube,
1:10:35
leave a comment below. If you're watching this later
1:10:37
on, let us know what you thought of it.
1:10:39
Hit the thumbs up buttons and subscribe if it's your first
1:10:42
time here. We'll see you next Thursday with
1:10:44
our next guest. And that'll do it for the ABJ
1:10:47
podcast. There's some music by the
1:10:48
Converse Kid and we'll see you next time.