Tha Weekend That Was

First thing I want to say, Summer Brockwell is fucking hot. Seriously!

Well!! Now that we got that out of the way, I want to thank Tha O Show, GCW and Emmanuel Melo for providing myself, and others a very memorable wrestling weekend. These last couple days are the type of situations where you re-fall in love with wrestling all over again.

Wrestling receives a lot of bad publicity. A lot of times the media's perception of our great business, along with other often depressing issues, such as low attendances, somebody getting injured, or even the dreaded "getting stiffed on pay" can often bring morale down easily.

Not often does wrestling get the attention on the positives of our business. The hard work we ALL put in (wrestlers, refs, announcers, ring crew, photographers, web designers, SOME promoters) often goes un-noticed and unappreciated.

I'm sure that if you weren't there, you've probably read the results and/or have heard about how the show went. I'm going to give you my personal run-down of my experiences this weekend.

First off it started on Thursday for GCW's event in Oshawa, Ontario called "Season's Beatings". I was scheduled to be there, but nobody knew why. (Insert "you suck" joke here.)

Anthony Darko, a talented wrestler starting to make a name for himself, was facing off against long time rival, Crazzy Steve. After deciding he didn't want to partake in his match, reason being, he was afraid Crazzy Steve would do something crazy, such as stab him. (His words, not mine). Darko sat in the audience and got himself counted out.

After Steve went Crazzy, Darko decided to come backstage and grab me to go lend him a hand in wiping the floor with Steve's make-up. However, Steve's old friend Kamala was there to shoo us evil doers away to set up a tag team match for later in the evening.

This was easily one of the most fun matches I've ever had in my life.

The match featured such legendary technical wrestling masterpieces, such as, a foot race.

Yes. A foot race.

It also included Darko chasing Steve around the ring with a pylon on his head, and ended up smashing me in the balls, enforcing and demanding Kamala read the official wrestling rulebook that CLEARLY states getting your balls smashed by pylons are illegal in a wrestling match, and I also helped protect Darko's poor head by throwing him a hard hat to protect his head. Too bad it didn't shield him from Crazzy Steve's dreaded eye poke.

After getting splashed by the big man, the match was over, and the crowd really seemed to enjoy themselves. I know I sure did.

There was also a surprise appearance by JQ Publiq! For those who don't know him, he and Reggie Marley were a popular tag team on the Ontario indies known as The Ebony Express.

Those two guys took me under their wing when I first started and I'll never forget that! I wouldn't be surprised if he got his ass back in the ring. The goddamn itch, I tell ya. It'll get you every time. (If your reading this, it was GREAT to see you brother.)

Already the weekend felt like a family re-union. Except one you WANT to be at.

OBLIVION! was next! The big show we have all been waiting for. Truth be told, in my head I was picturing the venue being a lot bigger then it was, but man, I really liked that venue! It was perfect size for that show, and fit everybody nicely and made for a packed house.

Getting there early myself, it was a very cool sight to see everybody show up all dressed up, treating the show with the respect it deserved. It was a big gathering of the Ontario Indy Wrestling community, and was a pleasure to see some old faces and meet some new ones.

I'd never met Big Daddy Butter-Eating Hammer before! I didn't get to talk to him much, but he was a very nice guy!

I had no role on the show, other then being nominated for Most Improved Wrestler of the Year. Congrats to RJ City who won by the way! Very deserving for a half-douche!! (He'll get that joke). He really has come a long way very quickly and made a good transition from tag team to singles matches. Good work bro!

That being said, having no role on the show and being a spectator, I was able to take in the whole experience of the show. Seriously, how fucking cool is it to have the people who wrote an original song about YOU, sing you out LIVE to the ring? It made me get to thinking...

What is the importance of music in pro wrestling?

After doing some thinking, I've realized how truly important music is to the overall image of a professional wrestler. It could in a sense, make or break you, Here's why...

What happens when you take a sold out area full of wrestling fans, gather them all together, start the show...and then...you hear the roaring smash of glass breaking, followed by a heavy guitar rift? The answer? Obviously...people are going to lose their fucking minds because they know that Stone Cold Steve Austin is on his way out to the ring!

Stone Cold's music DEFINES him. His music starts off with a HUGE bang, and sounds mean. It sounds angry as all hell, and also has a beat where you know that he's going to have a bit of a proud/pissed off walk, as opposed to strutting to the ring like Shawn Michaels would, or having a cold, menacing walk to the ring, such as The Undertaker.

Wrestlers, especially independent wrestlers without the gift of television exposure, often have a difficult time relaying who they are to an audience. Hell, half the time, the wrestlers themselves don't even know what they are, which makes it awfully difficult to have people get behind you.

This is where the music comes into play.

If I hear some wrestler who I've never heard of, come out to say, a heavy metal song, personally, I'd expect this person to be a dark (soul, not skin color), tough son of a bitch, who's going to be ready to fight you. Maybe it's just me, but that's what I picture. Now, 9 times out of 10, I'm usually wrong in assuming so.

I'm going to use Rip Impact as an example. I don't know what song he actually uses, but it's a heavy metal song, I know that. When I hear his song, I expect this monster to come out to the ring, like a Notorious TID type individual. Then you get Rip. A man not so large, or physically intimidating, although he can actually hold his own mind you, and the most POLITE person you've ever met.

Nothing fearful, nothing menacing, no tattoos. Just a tall, skinny man with a lot of heart, a lot of hair, and X-Pac style wrestling gear.

Not saying that's wrong. I'm just saying it's misleading to the audience, and will make the wrestlers job a bit more difficult to do the one thing that is every wrestler job, which is all too often forgot about. To draw an emotional attachment from the audience so they can relate to the person in the ring. Luckily Rip has that emotional attachment here in Ontario.

Everybody has their own theories as to what draws money. My theory personally, is there has to be an emotional attachment. It has nothing to do with the moves in the ring, or how many flips you can do, or how to make something look "cool".

People giving a shit about the person in the ring; sympathy; hope; that's the kind of stuff that sells tickets.

And having music to match your personality is more of a tool than anyone could possibly imagine! I'll use Tha O Show's original music written for others as examples.

Sebastian Suave - You know that he's going to be a pompous prick, who has a very high opinion of himself. When you hear his music, you get a modernized classical, royalty type feel from the song itself, right from the opening chord! It makes it hard to like the "character", but love the "gimmick", and that's the point. It makes you FEEL the character.

Because even if you HATE him, you'll be emotionally attached to him because his music is fitting, it explains who Sebastian Suave is, and quite frankly, its a fucking awesome track that you'll bob your head, and catch yourself singing the chorus too.

The Flatliners - First thing you hear is an actual flat line, followed by Dan-e-o barking out "We'll probably kill you!", and then goes into one of the most explosive, hard hitting tracks I've ever heard. And for good reason. The Flatliners are explosive, hard hitting, and will probably kill you! It's explains who they are without them having to themselves!

Dan-e-o also does one thing during his song to help relay the message of who The Flatliners really are. He doesn't just sing or rap the lyrics to the song. He FEELS them! Dan-e-o drops one of the most passionate sounding set of lyrics I've ever heard. That suits them! They are two VERY passionate dudes.

Music is a very large piece of the storytelling puzzle. The wrestling community is lucky that there is a place, such as Tha O Show, where they can go to get something like that done. Wrestlers, as well as Mask salesmen, have benefited greatly from this opportunity.

Dan-e-o, Secret Suburbia, Lyrical Chemist and the gorgeous Summer Brockwell (I have a crush, can you tell?) are some TALENTED mofo's to boot, so it might be something any of the boys reading this, from where ever you are, to look into getting a song made by these guys. It really has done wonders in putting the icing on the cake for quite a few wrestlers.

So to sum up my weekend, I had a amazing time. Thank you to GCW, Tha O Show, and Mr. Melo for putting on a fantastic weekend of wrestling, music, and most of all, respect for our business. Call me a sucker for a kick ass concert to highlight a kick ass wrestling show, but I can't wait for OBLIVION! 2!

Support your local Indy wrestling, buy some O Show music, and Summer Brockwell is hot!

Peace!

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