Mr. Small Package

With the recent announcement of Daniel Bryan’s retirement, I would like to take some time writing about the man that came to inspire me for the last nine years or so. The man I know most fondly as “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson. The best in the world.

During my years of getting to know wrestling as what it is around 2006, I remember people online always saying how this Bryan Danielson was the greatest wrestler in the world. I didn’t understand this at all, because I couldn’t understand how someone from a company beneath WWE/TNA could be this great. So I started to watch Ring of Honor wrestling, to see greatness unfold. What I saw, was a relatively small guy who was not “chiseled out of stone”, a normal guy in every way. Then I watched his matches with Takeshi Morishima of Pro Wrestling NOAH. Intense, brutal, amazing. What was a normal guy in my eyes at first, quickly became one of the most amazing wrestlers I’d ever seen. His technical expertise combined with his intensity in the ring, along with a silent-but powerful charisma made me understand exactly why he was called the best in the world.

His matches against Nigel McGuinness, KENTA, Samoa Joe, Takeshi Morishima, Low Ki, Christopher Daniels, Austin Aries and so many more, made me fall in love with the actual art that is professional wrestling. I am not the biggest guy around myself, but watching a guy like Bryan Danielson climb the ladder and making it in this business, made me and still makes me confident that I am not that far out myself. What is even more important to me, is that he genuinely seems like a great person. From what I’ve read all over, he never acted like an asshole, he wasn’t selfish or trying to screw anyone over just to get a spot himself. His warm laughter, his silent-charisma and obvious kindness for other human beings makes me believe that pro wrestling does not have to be all about screwjobs and fucking around to achieve something. Hard work and kindness to others, that is what I believe is the key to making it.

I recommend everyone to watch the first Wrestling Road Diaries (buy it!), and see how much fun he, Colt Cabana and Sal Rinauro is having on the road. In this excellent documentary production, we get to see one of my favourite Danielson moments. He is wrestling Austin Aries on his ROH Final Countdown tour, and in the closing moments of the match, Aries goes for the 450 splash, only to land in a triangle choke from Danielson. However, Aries connects right on his nuts, and you can hear Danielson screaming in pain while maintaining the hold, going “Oh my god, this is the most painful thing I have ever experienced”. I almost peed myself laughing.

Another great great Danielson moment, in fact it is my absolute favourite. He and El Generico were just about to wrestle (ROH), and Generico hugs him. He doesn’t hug him back and the crowd makes him say he’s sorry, in spanish. It it amazing and a great example of how much fun wrestling can be sometimes. If you haven’t seen it, here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiNo-0sIGH0

I could have talked about his WWE run, his amazing matches against Cesaro, CM Punk, Randy Orton, Triple H an even John Cena. Cena is actually really great, as Danielson joked in his ROH farewell speech that he would go straight up to Cena (who everyone hated) and slap his head off. His match against John Cena at Summerslam in 2013 was, in my mind, a tremendous moment as no one expected him to reach that far. He did, and he conquered the heart of millions and millions of fans until he now decided to retire.

I find it incredibly sad that I will not be able to see him wrestle anymore, but I feel happy that he is walking out healthy (more or less), and not through a serious injury. As a hug fan of the man, the wrestler, the best in the world, I hope he finds happiness in whatever he chooses to do next.

NWF Ragnarok 2015, and going forwards..

On April 18th, I returned to the Norwegian wrestling scene and WOW did I have a great time!

The show was in Trikkehallen, which does not hold the biggest audience, but those who attended made sure to make themselves heard, a lively crowd with the intention of having fun! I was not sure how everyone would react to me coming back, but I was genuinely surprised over the warm reception I got from everyone. F’n awesome! AND, we even had a visitor from Australia, a young boy who came to watch us perform, his first show in Norway I believe. He met everyone, took pictures, and was just excited to be there. Really fun meeting him!

My match with Tommy P started out as a “who could top the other”, both getting takedowns and reversals, until he got cocky that is. I will admit that I underestimated Tommy P, as I didn’t expect him to be as intense as he was, but in the end I came out on top and hit the top rope double foot stomp for the 1-2-3! And as a bonus, I got the best seat in the house, watching his valet turning against him finally with a shove and a big slap!

I let everyone know straight away that I am aiming for the top, I wanted the chance to wrestle for the NWF title, even saying it to the face of our Chancellor. However, he shut me down and told me basically to get back in line, and earn it. I feel like I have earned it, but fine, I’ll go through anyone in the upcoming shows, sooner or later I will get my chance!

Funny little side story , on the plane back to the UK, I dozed off straight away pretty much, however I soon felt something weird on my right forearm. I sat right next to a mother with her baby, and the tiny lump of cuteness decided she wanted the cherry blossoms on my forearms, so with her sharp nails she started clawing on them. I didn’t want to upset the baby or make her cry (god forbid) so I let her continue, thankfully she grew tired when they didn’t come off…

So now I am back in England to finish my degree, I have one month left where I’m handing in my BA hand-ins to be evaluated, and after that we’ll see what happens, what I do know is that I am looking forward to coming back to Norway to see my friends and family again, to start a normal life (NO LONGER AS A STUDENT) and kickstart my career, hopefully..

Wrestling & life outside!

Well for those of you beautiful souls who visits this site, I haven’t been able to write much to due heavy amount of schoolwork, and the reason for me actually prioritizing school for once, is because this is my absolute last time as a student, thankfully.. So bear with me.

I did get to watch Wrestlemania ‘Play Button’, but not without a struggle.. Holy shit. Our local student pub advertised showing the event on the big screen, free for everyone to watch, live! And they did so a month in advance, so I decided not to renew my WWE Network subscription for the sole reason of watching WM31 with plenty of other wrestling fans. The day came, and so did a lot of people! Around 40 enthusiastic fans packed the pub, ready to watch the biggest Wrestling event of the year, and guess what, the fucking Sky connection dropped out.. I was mad as hell, and I couldn’t even complain because it was free.. I ended up watching the event through crappy streams, eating skittles and cursing the pub.. The WM event was great though!

So what is going on with me now? Three big projects to edit and hand in, and I have no fucking motivation anymore. What I wanna do, is wrestle, what I wanna do, is spend time with a beautiful madame and those I consider close, and what I wanna do, is start life as a “responsible adult”, establishing my own brand as an artist and performer.

Until then, I WILL get to wrestle again, on April 18th in Trikkehallen, Kjelsås, in Oslo Norway! I am ready, I am fucking ready to return to NWF to restart my quest to become the first ever Northern Norwegian to become NWF Champion! The guy standing in my way as I make my return next week, TOMMY P, is a guy with a big mouth, big temper, and a lust for partying 24/7 (hah). I am looking forward to finding out if his bark is worse than his bites. He’d better be ready, cause I fucking am!

18.04.2015 – I will return!

The silence before the Storm?
The date is set, the tickets are booked, I am coming back to the NWF!

For the first time since June 7th of last year, I will wrestle for my home promotion once again! And it was on that date that I wrestled the-then Norwegian Wrestling Federation champion Daniel Sebastian for the title, and lost, in controversial fashion. But that was then, and this is now, and I will get my chance to wrestle for the championship soon enough! Starting, on April 18th!

http://www.wrestling.no/2015/stormvarsel-han-er-tilbake/

Until then I will be busy doing schoolwork, and training as hard as I can to keep myself in shape for the show! But hasn’t been all about school and training.

I recently became a year older, a quarter of a century old in fact, and to celebrate that occation, I was given the opportunity to go see ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ in London on the weekend that was. I had the pleasure of accompanying a beautiful french lady coming over from Oslo to see her friends for the weekend, and for my first time going to a musical/opera, it was amazing. Merci beaucoup mademoiselle, Tu es magnifique!

NEW Lørenskog!

On the weekend of 27th February to March 1st, I had the pleasure of returning to the Norwegian wrestling scene,  and for the FIRST time in Lørenskog for NEW (Norwegian eliteWRESTLING)!

(Upper left, new look for me)

There I wrestled Daniel Sebastian in the opener and later that evening I wrestled in a four way elimination match for the opportunity to challenge the NEW Champion on a later occation. I came up short in both matches (with Daniel cheating to achieve the bloody victory, again). Both matches were surely memorable, as I cannot remember last since I was this beaten up from a show. A bloody match with Daniel, to a match where I was suplexed on my head from the top rope, got my throat brutally clotheslined followed by a gorilla press drop where I was folded like an accordion. All in all a fun night!

I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to come back again after losing the NEW Championship in Moss last May, and I am certainly aiming to come back sooner than later!  From friday to sunday, that weekend was incredible in so many ways, and it was a great time seeing both new and old faces again.

Here’s a top 3 video of my match with Daniel Sebastian!

Valentine’s day Massacre!

Well it was not quite as brutal as the title indicates, but it was intense!
For the weekend of 14-15th of February, I once again joined the WAW Academy in Norwich to improve my knowledge within the art of professional wrestling, and what a weekend it was!

On this occation in February, I was presented the WAW Academy ‘student of the weekend’ which is also known as the Joe Williams trophy (if I’m not mistaken). A HUGE privilege for me, training with Saraya Knight and her staff is really pushing me to become a better wrestler in all aspects, to get this aknowledgement is a step in the right direction for myself, and I am incredibly grateful to all of them.

With the Joe Williams trophy, and a lovely fluffy hairdo

Training with Saraya Knight and the staff of the academy was tremendous, heightened by the company of four other Norwegians who I had not seen since last May. In addition to be training with the crew of WAW, I was reminded of the physical nature of wrestling through a behemoth of a man, who I’m guessing is close to 2 m tall, weighing around 120 kg, all muscle.. I was thrown and beaten around like a rag doll, it was incredible.

Instead of the usual academy show, WAW presented a Drew McDonald fund raiser show. Myself and three of the Norwegians were allowed to perform on the card and all of us did quite good. I am very proud to have been a part of a good cause such as this, and I had so much fun wrestling in front of the Norwich crowd. Hopefully it won’t be too long until next time!

Wrestling injuries

I don’t really know if I should be writing about this, but I’m thinking way too much about this stuff so I need to get it off my mind. Consider this ‘loud thinking’.

I am well aware that I am a wrestler with three years of experience and I have not been wrestling steadily, people who have wrestled longer probably have more right to discuss the topic of ‘wrestling injuries’, but I’ve been a fan since I was 11 and I have been following the business closely since then, so at least I can give SOME of my opinions around it without it being considered like bullshit.

Our audience are not always aware of the physical sacrifice wrestlers put themselves through every time they get in the ring and wrestle. Yes it’s sports entertainment, but the physical effects are damn real. To put it in perspective, the three years I’ve wrestled and trained, I have broken my wrist, my lower-back is in constant pain and my knees and elbows are on the verge of breaking down. I’ve had close calls during training landing on my neck so many times I’ve lost count. I’ve probably had several concussions that I don’t even know about. Now try imagine how wrestlers with XX years of experience are doing.

Why the fuck do wrestlers bother do the things we do. We’re cutting years out of our lifespans for the entertainment of our fans, is it worth it in the end? I don’t think I can answer that yet, but to put it like this, I’ve not stopped wrestling yet.

The reason why we undergo professional wrestling training is to learn how to endure the years wrestling ahead of us, learn how to fall and protect ourselves in order to be as safe as we can be. Accidents happen however, because wrestling is not fucking natural. Recently there have been a lot of talk about one certain wrestling maneuver, the ‘Styles Clash’ performed by AJ Styles. The reason why this has been discussed is because two people have broken their necks this year by taking this maneuver the wrong way. This is NOT a shot towards those wrestlers, I am just using them to emphasize my point.

Adrian McCallum, a UK Indy wrestler who first broke his neck in two places after taking the ‘Styles Clash’ wrote on facebook in hopes that AJ Styles would read it, here’s an excerpt:
“What will it actually take for you to stop using this move? How honestly will you feel the day you receive the news that the man you just wrestled has a broken neck and will never walk again? Statistically, that day is coming… It is a mathematical certainty…”

The entire message can be read here:
http://shitloadsofwrestling.tumblr.com/tagged/adrian%20mccallum

The move itself is not a complicated and if applied to someone they would most likely know what to do. Adrian McCallum surely knew as well, but as I said, accidents happen. The ‘Styles Clash’ has existed for XX amount of years and have until this year not been a fatal maneuver, however I must agree with McCallum nonetheless in his statement. The safety of the professional wrestlers are top priority, one should not be afraid of stepping in the ring with someone, especially someone with the caliber of AJ Styles who in truth is one of the greatest pro wrestlers of this generation.

I would be devastated to learn the news of someone being fatally injured by doing any type of wrestling maneuver, the one thing all wrestlers have in common is the love for pro wrestling and entertaining the fans, no one wants to see anyone injured. If dropping the ‘Styles Clash’ would help prevent someone being injured, even though it’s being performed by someone as great as AJ Styles, then I am in favour of dropping it.

To close this entry. If you are a fan going to shows, ENJOY the wrestling, support whatever company who’s putting up the show, and try to appreciate that the wrestlers are actually sacrificing their life for your entertainment. It’s our choice yes, but in the end we endure it because of the tremendous support we do receive from the fans of pro wrestling. For that, I thank you. 

Danny Collins seminar

There were two reasons for me coming to England this year, to get my bachelor degree and to expand my wrestling experience. On November 8th and 9th I got to do just that when I attended a weekend seminar with UK wrestling legend, Danny Collins.

For those of you who may not know, Danny Collins is one of the most well-regarded wrestlers in UK history, having worked with some top names in the business and worked all around the world since the early 80’s. He’s known for his athletic physical British wrestling-style.

When I attended the WAW Epic Encounters 9 show in late September, I got to see Danny in a match against Martin Stone, and they had a great physical match. I was kind of suprised, because they didn’t do anything flashy, they just had a solid physical wrestling match, which the crowd seemed to love more than anything other on that card. That’s the kind of wrestler I want to be myself.

His seminar was in Sutterton, Lincolnshire. Three and a half hours away from Hatfield according to Google Maps. I think I got half an hour of sleep before I had to get up at 04:00 to catch my first train, I just couldn’t sleep because I was too excited. When the first day of was over, I had been awake for 30+ hours.

We were not that many for this seminar, but because of that we got more ring-time and time with Danny himself, and what an experience that was. The other attendants were tremendous UK talents, one of them out-wrestled me like I was nothing. I got a small taste of the many talented wrestlers UK has to offer. I stayed the night with two of the other attending wrestlers at a small local Hotel. Two really awesome guys I’m happy to call my friends now.

Getting to train and learn from Danny Collins was truly a privilege, I learned so much and feel like I added something important to my career. Maybe some of you are thinking I’m full of it and just being dramatical, but I really do feel those two days gave me something I really haven’t felt in this business. Confidence.

My days the upcoming year!

I’m more or less settled in Hatfield now, so I’m going to take a few minutes to explain just what my days consists of.

My main purpose of this year is to attain my bachelor degree in Illustration. Besides my passions in pro wrestling and martial arts, the only thing I really enjoy doing is drawing. I’ll be the first to admit I’m not the brightest individual around, I find my greatest success and happiness through physical work such as combat sports and artwork. And that’s why I’m here in Hatfield, England.

Here I can pursue my passion of drawing just about every day, I have easy access to the Campus gym, I will take every chance I have to train and wrestle with England’s finest, and now I have the option of training Aikido once again. For those of you not aware, four years ago I trained Aikido regulary as a one year study programme for nine months, five days a week. It was a fantastic experience which gave me the opportunity to also travel and train Aikido in Japan. Now I have the opportunity to brush the dust from my Aikido knowledge and practice once again.

As you can see, it’s an outdoor dojo, which allows us to interact with the elements of nature, big time. It’s an incredible feeling to be training in such an environment, and a real test of the mind.
You can read more about JadeForce Aikido here: https://www.facebook.com/JadeForce?fref=ts

So yeah that’s really how my year in England is shaping up to be, and I’m REALLY looking forward to it!

To finish this entry, I would like for all you metal fans to enjoy Slipknot’s latest single release: