So, after being fascinated with the roads of Russia and it’s over abundance of dash-cams, I did some research.  It turns out that it’s somewhat necessary for a Russian to have a dash-cam installed.  In a country with dangerous driving conditions, corrupt police and a high probability that a small fender bender will turn into a boxing match rather than exchanging insurance information, the dash-cam is there for the truth.  Driving has turned into not just something you do to get you from point A to point B, but Russians are now claiming it as a brand new contact sport.  Hit and run accidents are common and let’s not forget that road rage is out of control in the country.  Roads are primitive in many areas making for very dangerous driving conditions.  Fraud and scammers are everywhere trapping drivers into staged accidents.  With all that taken into account, a dash-cam is your only friend for many Russian drivers.  Hell after re-reading that paragraph, sounds like I’m talking about India, but that’s another blog.

Some quick facts: Last year in Russia, 200,000 traffic accidents killed 28,000 people. (More than 32,000 died in car accidents in the United States in 2011, a much lower figure per capita.)  Former President Dmitry Medvedev blamed the  “undisciplined, criminally careless behavior of our drivers” for the insanity we see on YouTube.  Medvedev also partly blamed the traffic police.  One journalist said that the police system “is known throughout their land for brutality, corruption, extortion and making an income on bribes,” ranking 133rd among the world’s nations in corruption (where number one is the least corrupt).  Wow, again, are we talking about India?!

My all time favorite Russian dash-cam video.  I truly hope no cows were hurt in the making of this dash-cam video.

So, in conclusion, Russian drivers are certifiable lunatics (if you haven’t seen these videos on YouTube, I urge you to go check them out.  Warning, you might get a bit addicted).  So in dealing with these lunatics, video evidence of your innocence may be the only thing you have.  Thank God that I will never have to travel on Russian roads in my life!!

Wait, ummm, oh yea, there was that one time I went to Moscow!  Ah, yes, my adventures in Moscow.  Monday morning, September 17th 2012, my short trip to Russia was coming to an end and I had one thing left to do, get to the airport in Moscow to finally fly home after a week of being away.  Sounds easy enough, eh?  Well, it turned out to be the most difficult thing I’d ever have to do.  Couple days prior to my departure, I had landed in Moscow and it seemed like every crash dash-cam YouTube video was playing in my head as we hit the road.  I had a one mile walk before I even got in the car, not a good start.  Let me explain.  As we exited the airport (myself and two local wrestlers with the promotion who came to pick me up), I expected a car awaiting my arrival.  Usually that’s how it goes when you get picked up.  Well, not in Russia apparently.  My new found friends and I proceeded to walk and walk and walk.  We literally exited the entire airport and finally saw another young comrade awaiting our arrival.  I was informed on our trek that the car was going to meet up with us as we walked.  I guess something got lost in translation because what they meant to say was that “We were too cheap to pay the parking fee to get into the airport, so we had our friend wait in his car outside the airport”.  Off to a great start!

Cathedral of Christ The Savior.

At least I didn’t see a dash-cam in the car as we headed to my hotel.  Before I get to the disaster of Monday morning, let me clarify that prior to that my trip was excellent.  Here are the details.  As I arrived in my hotel in Moscow Saturday morning, I was thrilled to see how nice it was and most importantly, free wifi.  After I took a bit of a nap, I was picked up by my Russian comrades and whisked away to see the sights of Moscow.  The lead comrade was Kostya.  He was a young man in his early twenties who was also a wrestler for the local IWF (the promotion who had brought me to Russia) and who’s job was to take care of me or in other words, just make sure my needs were met and I felt comfortable in a foreign land.  Kostya was very kind and an all around great guy who really went out of his way to show me all the sights of Moscow.  I saw, amongst many other famous sights, Red Square, the Kremlin, Alexander Garden, Vladimir Lenin’s tomb, a kick ass art gallery with tons of famously historic pieces and that building that looks like it is made of colorful balloons.  You know, the building you see in every picture of Russia.  Well, the place is called Saint Basil Cathedral and aside from being one of the worlds most historic and recognizable sights, it was downright gorgeous in person.  I also got to see the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.  I was fortunate enough to go inside during service and words will never do it justice.  It was the most beautiful sights I had ever seen.  Just immaculate and not one inch of wall was uncovered.  Paintings and stain glass windows coated the entire building.  The architecture was breath taking and it was hard to believe that this was the sight that the Pussy Riot (a punk rock band whose protest created worldwide headlines in April of 2012) decided to hold a political protest in.

In front of Saint Basil Cathedral. Amazing sight.

Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on November 16th, 1581

Kostya and his friends took me to a great dinner that night.  Now the only thing left to tackle was the show the next night.  Sunday evening usually doesn’t make for a great night of live entertainment in the States, but Moscow was a bit different.  The place was packed and we had a hell of a show.  I got to tag with M-Dogg 20 (see Cage of Death 6 blog) and I even got to wrestle my new friend Kostya in a tag match.  We had a great match and were the main event of the night.  I was on a high after seeing one of the most historic cities in the world AND having a kick ass wrestling match in that same city.  Pro wrestling had afforded me such an amazing opportunity, to see Russia!  But, as Monday morning was coming to an end, it seemed like I would be stuck in Russia forever.

My main man Kostya, myself and Chris.

Ian Rotten (IWA) v Zandig (CZW)

Their blood and guts style matches were their calling card and it helped them sell thousands and thousands of tapes.  Yes, that’s right, tapes.  This was still the age of VHS.  IWA tapes were being sold globally and that feat is quite impressive to think about.  A small time independent pro wrestling company based in Indiana, holding shows in front of 100 fans was being viewed by people across the world.  This was all thanks to a small video production company out of Allentown, PA called Smart Mark Video.  SMV was well, a group of smart marks that parlayed their love for pro wrestling into a very successful small business.  Through their distribution and production, IWA tapes were the hottest commodity for many hardcore independent wrestling fans.  So, what better way to get noticed by an even broader audience than to wrestle on an IWA card.  That was all I was thinking when I accepted the booking.  Not even blinking an eye to the grueling travel that laid ahead.  The early part of 2003 had already provided me with many breakout moments and I had hoped that this exposure through IWA was going to continue the momentum I was gaining as a performer.  This particular show that I would be heading to was to be the first in a series of talent exchanges between IWA and CZW.  CZW was a promotion that I was heavily featured at and I was to represent the black and yellow alongside my compadre Ruckus on this trip.

We were one week removed from IWA invading CZW in one of the hottest, most intense segments in independent wrestling.  Ian Rotten and company had hijacked the end of a CZW event on June 14th, causing a near riot and leaving CZW’s boss and top star, Zandig in a bloody mess.  Zandig’s then wife was even involved, someone notorious for never being in front of the camera.  Now, Ruckus and I were to headed to IWA country to kick off the CZW v IWA program.  Now, we just had to get to Indiana.  That was a bit tricky as Ruckus lives in Baltimore and I live in Virginia.  Now, sure Ruckus could get in a car and drive from his house and I could do the same and we could convene in Indiana, but if you know Ruckus, you know that ain’t happening.  So, by default, I was left to steer the ship, but Ruckus needed to get to my house so we could hit the road from there.  His cousin Anton would always travel with him back then and they had a fellow named Blood drive them to my house the night before we were set off on our voyage.  At this point, we are already three deep, adding in myself and my girlfriend, who would be my only link to normalcy, we had a full car load.  Any woman willing to ride in a car with myself and those three for almost 24 hours was the perfect woman for me.  At the time, I drove a, I believe, 1999 Mazda Protege (my very first car).  I may be off on the year.  Either way, it wasn’t the most luxurious vehicle, nor the most spacious.  But at that point in my life, it did the trick and it was our only option to get us to Indiana.

About to take on JC Bailey at the height of the CZW v IWA feud.

The festivities kicked off Friday night, the night before we were to set off on our journey.  Ruckus and his entourage arrived at my humble abode, which happened to by my parents basement.  Once we awoke in the morning, it was wheels up as we would meet up with the SMV crew in MD and follow them the rest of the way.  They would be doing their normal trip to IWA to videotape and produce the shows, so we decided it would be easy to just follow them.  SMV would also be making the trek to Delaware for the CZW show we had the next day.  They would do the trip to Indiana twice, maybe three times a month every month.  Lunatics.  Now please picture the backseat of my Mazda Protege as it held Ruckus, Anton and Blood.  Please keep in mind this was pre-weight loss Ruckus and Anton was the same size as Ruckus, as was Blood, except Blood was white and kinda weird.  Side note on Blood.  Some of you die-hard independent wrestling fans reading may be familiar with Blood and his near death experience at CZW circa mid 2000s.  Blood entered a death match battle royal and left with half of his left leg missing.  A rather violent encounter with a shopping cart full of light tubes left a huge chunk of Blood’s leg missing.  A rather scary incident that really should have been the end of, or at least the catalyst of the toning down of the death matches in CZW.  That’s another blog in itself, as not only did CZW NOT tone things down after Blood’s near death experience, but rather raised the bar in coming years.  Well, back to Blood.  Poor Blood not only lost a chunk of his leg, but his financial freedom, although I’m not sure if he had any prior.  He had no health insurance and had a very, rough road ahead of him.  Blood is a very nice, kind hearted dude that didn’t deserve what happened to him.  The bright side is that in the end, he did regain the strength and ability to walk and recently I saw him slicing himself up at a rec center in West Virginia.  So, back to my Protege, the car was so weighed down, it took me 10 minutes to get from 0 to 60.  Well, not that long, but the car sure was crammed.  I was thankful that my girlfriend was there to share the driving duties.

Yea, that’s ah, Blood.

As soon as we got on the road, my girlfriend began her normal complaining of something minuscule.  This time it was “something is crawling on me”.  I treated it the same way I usually treat her grumblings, by ignoring it.  She kept on with this and I wondered if I could drop her off at a rest stop and pick her up on the way back, but I needed her to split the driving duties.  At one point she even said that she felt a bite.  Yea, suuuuuuuuure.  I continued to ignore her by telling her she was crazy, while at the same time trying to subside her suggestions that there was some sort of creature crawling all over her.  Well, as soon as she had calmed down, we stopped for some gas.  As I got in the car to continue our journey, I felt something on my penis.  Whoa, something on my penis!??!  I jumped up, yanked my pants down and noticed an ant crawling on my little man.  I freaked out as any man would when finding out that my penis was becoming well acclimated to an ant.  I quickly swatted it away and thought, could it have been a fire ant?  Did I feel a bite?  Oh no, my girlfriend was right the whole time, there WAS a creepy crawler hitching a ride to Indiana with us.  I had no clue if it was the only ant or not, but I was afraid it had bit my penis.  So, I did what any logical human would do, I told my girlfriend to urinate on my penis.  Urine would kill any signs of infection had I been bit.  Ok, so, that didn’t happen.  And luckily, no side effects were felt from the close encounter.  Other than a nagging series of “I told you so’s” from my girlfriend.

Words can’t express how skeeved out we all were from this point forward.  Try riding in a car for that long fearing there is something crawling on you.  Every itch was a scary moment.  Was it an itch or an ant?!  Worst.  Car ride.  Ever.  We safely arrived in Indiana, ant free, but still wondering how it had infiltrated my Protege.  Thinking back on it, I am gonna stick with with the story that Ruckus brought it with him from Hamsterdam.  After a fun match with JC Bailey (RIP) and Simon Sezz, we all headed to Delaware.  My girlfriend and I were exhausted and passed over the reigns to the only other driver in the vehicle, Blood.  Ut oh.  Well, I’ll never do that again.  I think he had hit 100mph quite a few times, but I was so tired and sleepy, I just passed out after every time I was startled  awake from his dangerous street handling.  I should also mention a lot of the drive was rainy, foggy and in the mountains.  Let me stress the foggy part.  Like so foggy you can’t see a thing and turning your high beams on just makes it ten times worse.  Awful.  Arriving in Delaware with mere minutes till showtime, Ruckus and I teamed once again to face the Backseat Boyz (RIP Trent Acid).

JC Bailey (RIP).

After finally getting home, I sat back and reflected on the weekend.  It was another fun weekend in a long series of fun weekends over the last 12 years.  But, what was the goal here?  Did I gain further recognition with this trip in an already jam packed year of 2003?  I don’t know if I can pinpoint anything directly correlating to this trip other than the fact that promoter Ian Rotten thoroughly enjoyed my work and I became a sort of regular at IWA Mid South, even after the end of the CZW v IWA feud.  The rest of the summer of 2003 brought many more ups and ultimately my first contract to a major pro wrestling company, snowballing into the career I have today.  Would any of that have happened if I didn’t live life as a nomad during my young adult years, traveling from show to show?  Probably not.  And anyway, how could my name ring out in the streets if no one knew it?

http://www.smartmarkvideo.com

Personally, that’s just what I did.  I started wrestling professionally in 2001 and I wouldn’t even consider myself a “pro” back then.  I was just some skinny kid who was copying what he saw on TV.  At the time, I had little to no knowledge of the business that would soon provide me a life that I never expected it would.  Part of that was due to where I started.  The school I trained at had no real trainers and no real credentials.  Virginia was never a hotbed for talent or a bustling independent scene, such as New York or New Jersey.  But, try telling an 18 year old pro wrestling fanatic that.  All I knew was that these guys at the wrestling school I went to were real life wrestlers!  They wrestled in a real life ring and I sure as hell didn’t.  I soon realized that no one there really had much knowledge when students would be teaching the classes.  But, thankfully, I learned quick and was a natural at getting the movements and motions down.  Part of that was due to the fact that ever since I was a young child, all I did was watch and study pro wrestling.  So, when I would learn a move in class, I had a mental image of how it looked on TV and I did all I could to emulate that.

Virginia is where I lived and in turn, that’s where I broke in to wrestling.  Sure, I could have packed up and moved to elsewhere in the country to get the best training possible, but at 18, that never crossed my mind.  As far as I was concerned, life didn’t exist outside of my hometown.  Plus, I had just graduated high school and was expected to go to college soon after.  I started my freshman year of college in the fall of 2000 at George Mason University and had my first match in September of that year.  At 18 , freshly out of high school, life was really going to start now.  And boy did it ever a couple of years later as I started to really travel and make a name for myself in pro wrestling.  I had a slow first year in wrestling.  2001 provided me maybe 20 matches, which may be a little above average for most in their first year of wrestling.  I predominately stuck to shows in my home state of Virginia and at times ventured out to the North Carolina independent scene.  Suffice to say, this wasn’t enough for me.  I wanted more.  As 2002 and my second year of wrestling approached, I hit the road and started doing shows all over the Northeast and soon enough, I was so busy with shows in the Northeast, that I rarely ever wrestled in my home state of Virginia or the North Carolina scene I was a part of when I first started wrestling.

Anton, Myself and Ruckus. Early 2003.

Things were going great and I really carried on the momentum into 2003.  I had two solid years of networking in pro wrestling under my belt and had made a few solid relationships.  Plus, the Internet always helps.  I wanted to venture out to bigger and better things.  I bought a bunch of blank VHS tapes, copied over some highlights and my best match and sent them out to every promotion on the Eastern seaboard.  Few bit, most didn’t.  But, I took advantage of every opportunity that came my way.  At that point in time, long road trips were just another part of the strange double life I was leading.  Going to class and being a quiet, mild mannered college student during the day and on the weekends, becoming Sonjay Dutt, an up and coming pro wrestler.  Long road trips can either be extremely fun or unbearable.  It all has to do with the company.  I made a lot of long road trips by myself as well and as much as many hate them, I didn’t mind them.  Being alone was never a problem to me and at times, there’s nothing better than you and your music, cruising down the highway.  Then, there’s some road trips that you never forget.  Road trips that provide you with stories you will repeat for years.  And don’t think road trips end when you sign that big contract and are on TV.  They never end as long as you are a pro wrestler.  There was one particular road trip in June of 2003 that I will never forget.  The cast of characters included, myself, my then girlfriend (now wife), Ruckus, Ruckus’ cousin Anton, and a fellow by the name of Blood (yes, you read that right, Blood).  The destination: Clarksville, Indiana.  Time to destination: 11 hours.  Let the games begin…

Well, what is my answer?  It takes a lot of searching within to come up with the appropriate answer.  And for some of us, the answer isn’t the right one, but it is the one we would prefer to answer it with.  It’s hard to consciously make the decision to leave something we all have worked our entire lives to attain.  Each story is different.  Each situation is different.

I can only assume that Chris Sabin as asked himself the above question many times over the past two years.  Chris has faced incredible adversity and if there wasn’t for bad luck, he’d have none at all.  As cliché as it is to say, a man is really defined by how he answers to adversity.  We’ll get into Chris’s specifics a bit later.

Chris and I go back to 2003 when I first met him upstairs in the Nashville Fairgrounds.  Nashville, Tennessee was as about as opposite of a place as you could get when compared to where I came from and my personality.  Hell, the same could be said for Chris.  Growing up in Detroit, Michigan, Chris knew little of the southern way of life that Nashville was known for.  But we would quickly have to adjust, as it became our second home.  The Nashville Fairgrounds was probably as close to Detroit as Chris would get.  It was grimy, dingy and built by strong, working class Americans.  The Fairgrounds had quickly become the home of TNA Wrestling during this time.  Our “locker room” was upstairs where a dimly lit strip of bleacher sat.  We would be there every Wednesday as we taped a live PPV telecast that barely anyone watched.  But, to us, it was the most important thing we had going on.  Well, professionally.  Personally, the most important thing to me at the time was graduating from college.

A very young Chris Sabin.

But for two 21 year olds such as myself and Chris, being on PPV every week and being contracted to the second largest pro wrestling company was the dream we both had since we were young.  We were literally living out our dreams and the question then never was, should I continue wrestling?  Rather it was, when will I wrestle next??  I recall gravitating to Chris quickly during the fall of 2003, soon after I debuted for TNA.  He had already been with the company for some months by that time and was familiar with the landscape while I was the new guy.  I really didn’t know many people there, as this was very early in my career and to be honest, I always felt out of place during the first year or so with TNA.  Being new and still being a full-time student in college, my mind was always other places.  I have never been a “going out” kinda guy, so I was different from the jump.  But, being around Chris I felt comfortable and we soon had hit it off.  Our similarities were endless.  We both were the same age and relatively new to pro wrestling.  We both loved wrestling and video games.  Plus as Chris would always say, we were part of the drug free class of 2000.  At the time, we were the youngest guys in the company so it was natural that we could understand each other better than the slew of veterans that had crowded the small Fairground’s “downstairs locker room”.  Being so young, we both quite literally matured together through our time on the road.  As we matured, as did our interests and we steadily stayed parallel.  Who would have thought that years later we would be discussing our current favorite book?  Through the early years of our time in TNA, other guys with our same interests and age group started with the company.  So once, Alex Shelley, Petey Williams, Jay Lethal and Jimmy Rave came, we were instantly a crew.

Chris and I would see each other literally every week from 2003 to 2009 and quickly became very good friends.  I still consider Chris one of my best friends in and out of wrestling.  As many wrestling fans reading this will know, Chris is tremendously talented.  I always thought that Chris was extremely underrated.  His accolades speak for themselves and if you steadily watch his body of work, you could say he’s destined to always have a full time job in pro wrestling.  Not only was his in ring work superb and at times the best in the company, his attitude and demeanor outside of the ring was and still is top notch.  He is what some would call the model employee.  Chris is the type of person who rarely ever gets upset.  I can’t even count on one hand the number of times I’ve ever seen Chris lose his cool.  And if you ask him how many times he’s seen me lose my cool, that’s a different story.  It just isn’t in his nature.  He’s the perfect kind of personality that you need by your side when traveling on the road for weeks at a time.  He was always that glue that kept our crew together.  And who knows, maybe this attitude was because he hadn’t yet faced his life’s two biggest curve balls.

Placing bets in Vegas.

And, even though he had multiple runs with the X-Division title and continually had great matches with a variety of opponents, I don’t feel that Chris was truly given the ball to run to the end zone with.  Sure he was given the ball many times, but it would soon be taken away from him by no fault of his own.  Later on, Chris and Alex Shelley formed a very successful tag team.  I always said that their tag team was easily the best tag team in the world.  They both had created an entirely new style of tag team wrestling.  In a business where everything has been done and no idea is original, these two were copyrighting a brand new style.  As much success as Chris had attained as a singles wrestler, his success as a tag team wrestler was tenfold.  His influence on young aspiring wrestlers is undeniable as you can still see young wrestlers emulating the style that Alex and Chris popularized during their time as a team.

Motor City Machine Guns.

As much success as that team brought Chris, on April 20th 2011, it brought Chris the complete opposite.  In a tag team match against Team Mexico, he suffered a torn ACL.  To be exact, he needed a complete ACL replacement with a cadaver graft and lateral meniscus repair in his right knee.  After 11 years in wrestling, this was as serious as an injury as one could sustain.  Chris had been virtually injury free during his career.  While I had my share of tears and missing teeth, Chris had made it up that point in his career unscathed.  I can recall Chris rolling his ankle and spraining his knee during the years we wrestled in TNA together.  Coincidentally, he and I were tag teaming in both matches.  Those were tough injuries, but nothing compared to tearing his ACL.  Chris would be out for a total of 11 months.  I can’t stress how mentally draining suffering such a serious injury can be.  When making a living in pro wrestling, your body is everything, I mean EVERYTHING.   And to put it in simple terms, Chris was out of a job for 11 months.  As soon as I heard of the news, it tore me up inside as I knew how serious of an injury it was and how tough the road ahead was going to be.  I was not with TNA when this happened, so I kept in contact with Chris through phone calls and texts and guess what?  His happy, upbeat personality was still in tact.  I was shocked, but at the same time I wasn’t.  I know Chris was anxious to get back in the ring and return to the only life he had known during his adult years.

At that point in time, I don’t think Chris ever asked himself, should I continue wrestling.  He took it in stride and made the best of the situation.  There’s two ways one can react to such a predicament and Chris did his best to take it down the right path.  After 11 grueling months of rehab, pain and surgery, Chris returned to TNA.  And after eight matches back…it happened again.  He tore his ACL.  This time in his left knee.

Was this really happening?  Was this real life?  It was June 14th 2012 and as I watched TNA Impact on TV at home, I saw Chris take a nasty spill to the outside and immediately grab his knee.  Right away, it appeared that something was seriously wrong.  Chris had grabbed his left knee, which was his good knee.  And soon after, it was clear that the match was beginning to fall apart.  I still held hope that it wasn’t that serious and he would be ok.  I texted him and soon after got a reply that said that the TNA doctor’s opinion was that it was a torn ACL.  After Chris obtained his MRI, it was official.  Chris needed a second surgery in the span of a little over a year.  This time he had an ACL replacement with hamstring graft and lateral and medial meniscus repair in the left knee.

Prior to knee surgery #2.

I was baffled.  I couldn’t understand why this was happening to Chris.  There are so many whys to this situation and I can only imagine Chris going through all of them in his head.  As strong of a human being as Chris is, was this something that would finally break him?  Would this be the catalyst for a life altering change in a man that had been absolutely drained.  I can’t imagine how hard those 11 months were for Chris.  After going through one year of hell, he had another year of hell to look forward to.  Chris is the only person that can truly know what one goes through in a situation like this.  Back to back ACL tears, back to back years of rehab and physical therapy, back to back years of uncertainty.  So, a man is defined by how he handles adversity?  Then Chris has proved to be the definition of perseverance, determination, integrity, and tenacity.

I went to visit Chris the day after his latest surgery in July of this year and as he lay in a hotel bed with an enormous cast with a contraption attached to it, I couldn’t help but notice that he was the same Chris.  Nothing in his demeanor had changed.  I’m sure internally, Chris has asked all the whys and questioned things and thought of what could have been done different, but externally he has proved that he is not a quitter.  Currently, Chris is still going H.A.M at rehab and determined to resume his life as he once knew it.  Now, does that count wrestling?  I can only assume that internally, he has posed to himself the question, should I continue wrestling?  Is it possible to return and return to the level that Chris was at before he was forced out due to injury?  Of course, the human body can achieve anything, but does Chris have it together mentally to get himself back to that physical condition?  I know him as well as anyone and I say yes.  But, hell, maybe Chris doesn’t want to continue wrestling.  Maybe this is too much, I know it would be for me.  Maybe he IS determined to return to wrestling.  These internal struggles face every wrestler, it’s just the situation that is different.  I don’t want to take any guesses on if Chris will continue his career as a wrestler, but I know that the industry as a whole and TNA specifically, needs Chris to return.  But only Chris knows if that is what is really best for Chris.  Chris is one of those good guys you always hear about and selfishly I wrote this so that everyone reading still remembers Chris and all the great moments he has given the fans of pro wrestling.  Out of sight, out of mind is never more true than when it comes to pro wrestling, so as Chris works hard to fix his body, hopefully this blog will remind you all of how great of a wrestler he is, because at the end of the day, my story aint the only one I’m tryna to tell.

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But, before being a pro wrestler and before being an adult, I had to deal with being a young kid with glasses.  Can you imagine how traumatic it was for me in 5th grade to come to school Monday morning with glasses the size of a coaster on my face?  Ugh.  I’m sure a lot of you can relate to this, but I tell ya, it was brutal.  Actually, it wasn’t as bad then, but it sure got worse as the years went by.  Specifically when high school hit.  I’m not sure if contacts were even an option at 5th grade, but I remember in high school, I made the switch to contacts right away.  This was an all new challenge and struggle, as now I had to stick my finger in my eye.  Now, I’m an expert at it, but I remember the first few months were very tough and I had a lot of  accidents.  I absolutely hated to see myself in glasses and still do to this day.  I feel very self conscious and quite frankly, ugly.  My confidence is usually at an all time low when I wear my glasses, so as the years went on in adulthood, I mainly stuck to contacts.  Although, I do hate to wear them when I’m traveling and I never wear them sleeping.  I remember my buddy in college not taking his contacts out for close to a month.  I can’t imagine the damage that will do to your eyes.

Now, I do get this question a lot, do you wear your contacts when you wrestle?  Absolutely!  I’ve had the misfortune of doing this once in the past, as I did not have a spare pair, and it was one of the hardest things to do.  I saw four top ropes, five bottom ropes, and a big blur of people in the crowd.  Wrestling in contacts has led me to lose a pair or two.  Most notably, the time I had to take the stinkface from Rikishi.  Yes, my contact was lost in his ass.  As big as it is, my contact may still be lodged in his ass dimples to this day.  There have been a few other times where I’ve caught an errant finger or such and lost a contact.  But, it doesn’t happen frequently.  Glasses got fashionable as the years went on and I surely did as well.  My latest glasses were a sleek, sexy, Dolce and Gabana pair.  They were so swagged out that I actually felt good about myself wearing them and wore them with confidence.  All that came to an end last week as I stepped on them to the point of no return.  One end is kinda just hanging there and this has forced me to wear my contacts ALL day.  Now, I’m sure a lot of people do that, and I’m sure those people also will complain of them getting dried up.  This is what I have to deal with until I get a new pair made.  So, why not just get lasik?  Great question, I’ve dabbled with the idea for a few years now and just can’t get myself to commit to such a permanent process.  Even if the permanent part is the best part.  I don’t know if it’s the fear of the surgery, the fear of the unknown or that I don’t want to spend a few thousand dollars.  Maybe a bit of all those.  I know many that have gotten lasik with nothing but tremendous results about the outcome and the whole surgical experience.  In the long run it’s maybe the best thing for me to do, so, anyone of you readers care to share your lasik experiences?  Please leave a comment and share your story.  Thanks for reading!

2003 was an amazing year for me.  Things just seemed to be happening nonstop professionally and by years end, I was under contract to a major pro wrestling company, TNA.  Barely being 21, this was quite a life change for me.  I was juggling being a full-time pro wrestler and full-time college student.  Thankfully, at the time, TNA didn’t have the busiest schedule, but working anywhere from 3-4 times every weekend on the independent scene, I was swamped.  But, I never saw it as a negative.  Matter of fact, I loved every second of it.  As 2004 slowly crept up, things were still going great and I could see an end to my college career, as I was set to graduate.  That would mean, I could truly focus all my time and efforts on my career as a pro wrestler.  So, as school ended and I was officially a college educated man, wrestling took front and center in my life.  TNA was even getting bigger, as we signed a contract with FOX Sports Net for a weekly TV show.  Now, the independents were busy and TNA had added another two days to my weekly grind as we now had to tape weekly episodes for FOX.

After winning Best of the Best 4.

THIEF!!

During this time period, CZW held their fourth annual Best of the Best tournament.  This was a very prestigious tournament at the time that featured some of the countries best junior heavyweights.  It was a one night tournament that I had lost in the finals of in 2003.  Fast forward a year, July 10 2004, and Zandig saw it best fit for me, his Jr. Heavyweight champion to win the whole shebang.  At the end of the night, I had won three grueling matches and had my victory speech cut short by a surprise guest.  M-Dogg 20.  The decision was made to bring Matt in through the front door with the Jr. belt in hand, revealing himself as the thief, and attack me following my win in the finals against Roderick Strong.  It was a shocking turn of events and the seed that we planted in January of a supposed thief, had blossomed into a punk rock kid from Cleveland named M-Dogg 20.  The fans reacted just as we thought, shocked.  Hell, so did some of the wrestlers, as Matt was hidden the entire night in his hotel room.  When the time was right, he was brought to the arena to do his part and he quickly escaped again.  That afternoon, Zandig and I went and picked up Matt in Zandig’s monster truck.  It was a bit awkward as Zandig and Matt met for the first time in two plus years.  But, we all knew that we could do some great business with this story and Matt would be the ultimate enemy, finally crossing into CZW turf.  You see, the CZW crowd was unendingly loyal to their beloved CZW.  They genuinely loved the wrestlers and connected with not only the individuals, but the group as a whole.  These fans saw us every month doing insane stunts and putting on classic wrestling matches and they felt every bit a part of the show as we were.  It was that specialness that added to the emotion of Matt and I’s Cage of Death match that I’ll get into later.  But, I think it’s important to tell that small side of the fans story, so that you can really connect and understand the emotion and drama that our match provided.  With that being said, if you did the CZW fans wrong, you were an enemy till death do us part.  Matt was just that enemy.  The fans didn’t care about his side of the story when he left.  They just knew that he abandoned them and left for what he saw as greener pastures.  Now that he was back, they’d want his head on a platter and they’d want me to serve it to them.

Ummmm….Matt’s alter ego.

Fans could quickly see where this feud was going.  It was obviously going to culminate at Cage of Death.  Every storyline culminated on that one night in December every year.  COD was CZW’s biggest event of the year.  It was the culmination for everything that built for the prior eleven months.  We were one of those main stories and we did a great job of building up the interest on our monthly shows in South Philly.  Matt and I never had any singles matches prior and only fought each other in tag matches, and even then, we barely got our hands on each other.  We really wanted to build up the first time we got to lock horns one and one and I think it really did work.  Matt would wrestle every month at CZW building up to COD.  He claimed to be the real Jr. Heavyweight champion and even mockingly defended “his” belt.  But, as much as we did to build interest and drama to our match at COD, the fans and the Internet did way more.

CZW had announced that this match would be a falls count anywhere, loser leaves CZW match.  The stakes were high.  We had some interesting stipulations and of course, if I won, I would finally get my Jr. Heavyweight belt back.  The seeds were all flourishing quite nicely.  As I noted earlier, TNA was on a huge upswing and really growing as a company.  There were many exciting things going on, such as the new TV show on FOX Sports, and monthly PPVs, among other things.  Every thing fell into play for a rumor that said that TNA was issuing a new policy.  This policy would not allow it’s contracted talent to appear on independent shows.  This rumor was started by CZW fans and apparently taken as truth.  As we grew closer to COD, this rumor that really started from nothing had blossomed into fact amongst the die hard CZW fans.  It all developed a life of it’s own, but we weren’t complaining, because interest had really grown to see Sonjay’s “last match in CZW”.  The truth is, there was no truth to this rumor that I was leaving CZW or that TNA had instituted a new policy banning it’s contracted talents from appearing on independent shows.  The truth is, from day one, the idea was that I would finally get my belt back from Matt and that was to be his last match in CZW.  Of course, we had thrown out ideas for his return sometime down the line as well.

Matt and Josh, just playing with, errr, I mean, AS themselves on Backyard Wrestling, the video game.

The day of the event, we got there early and started to throw out some ideas for our match.  We knew we had no confines to what we could do.  The stipulations were set, the feud was there, the story told it’s self and the fans believed this was my last night in the company.  We took all that into account when laying out ideas for the match.  I recall sitting down with Eric Garguilio, our play-by-play commentator to discuss things.  Eric had worked in ECW for many years and really had a brain for the wrestling business.  He gave me the idea that it would possibly work if we layered the match with some run-ins ala the Raven versus Tommy Dreamer matches from ECW.  I loved the idea and that’s all I needed to get the wheels in motion in my little brain.  From some reason, Ref Hanson (ref for rival promotion ROH) was at the show.  He may have just been visiting some friends, but once I saw him, I thought of the perfect idea to get him involved into the match as well.  The pieces were falling right into place.  From there, it was just easy.  I sat with Matt and we both were on the same page.   I know we both had the concern that this could either work or fall flat.  Once we saw close to 1200 fans pack the Arena, we thought to ourselves, this is our moment, what we do with it, is up to us.

Here, let Matt tell you his perspective of that night:

Sometimes things just come together, the right time, and the right place. December 14th, 2004 was just such a night. As touched on in part one, I’m asked almost weekly what my favorite match is, and though I hesitate to pick just one (there are so many, for so many different reasons), the one that always jumps out to me is my match against Sonjay Dutt at CZW’s Cage of Death 6.

It was CZW’s biggest show of the year and well over a thousand people had rushed into the historic former ECW arena to catch the action. From what I remember there were many marquee match-ups and a ton of hype had gone into the show. For the first time in CZW history, two side by side rings had been crammed in the arena opening up a whole new avenue for our creative freedom. The pressure was on and I simply hoped to do my best amongst so many other matches. As Sonjay alluded to, I was in ‘enemy territory’ so to speak, and felt like I needed to be on my toes. As I stood behind the curtain waiting to make my entrance, there’s no way I could have foreseen what was about to happen.

As I made my way to the ring, and then watched as Sonjay followed soon after, there was a certain intangible, undeniable, vibe in the building. An energy, an anticipation, a feeling that permeated the room. Sonjay had recently signed with TNA Wrestling and with the advent of the internet, the diehard fans weren’t sure what this meant for his future in CZW. When our match was announced as a ‘loser leaves’ the month prior, everyone was certain they were now witnessing Sonjay’s curtain call with the company.

It was around this small fact we were able to paint our picture. A picture that now, 8 years removed, with only a slight sense of hyperbole, feels like a masterpiece. Sonjay and I really gave it our all that night. I powerbombed him through 2 chairs out on the cement floor that to this day makes me cringe. On the flipside, I was on the unfortunate receiving end of a moonsault doublestomp that landed squarely on my neck and may have been not only one of the most painful moment’s in the career, but the scariest.

We put it all on the line that evening but without question couldn’t, and didn’t, do it by ourselves. It was the people that crammed into an old (albeit historic) bingo hall on a cold December night that made that moment. Over a thousand strong, rallied together, lost themselves in the moment, and at the risk of sounding corny, truly made magic. It is these rare moments that the medium of professional wrestling shows its true power and purpose. The rabid fans didn’t react like the typical, classically conditioned crowd, these were genuine feelings expressed without fear, shame, or thought……pure emotion. What Sonjay and I gave in the ring, we were given back in spades. It was one of the few times I’ve felt a crowd truly understood, and wholly appreciated, the genuine pain of our struggle….of our craft. If there’s anything to take away from this experience, it’s don’t be afraid to lose yourself in a moment, to appreciate something for what it is. Don’t lose sight of that childlike wonder, that awe that inspires us, the magic that drew us all to professional wrestling in the first place.

Writing about the moment, a moment I’ll never forget, and a moment that sticks out so clearly amongst an 11 year career that has spanned 17 different countries on 6 different continents, I want to thank each and every person who helped create that environment some 8 years ago in South Philly. As the mastermind behind it, the one who put himself out there to make it happen, and the man I starred down in a highly emotional, memorable contest, I want to thank Sonjay as well…….though my neck is telling me not to

I’d be here all day if I were to describe all the crazy stuff we did in the match (this was the night I debuted the moonsault footstomp).  But, the emotion in that building was electric.  From the moment I stepped out, to hugging some of the die hard regulars in the front row, signifying that this might be the last time I would see these people, to announcer Dennis Shock somberly announcing that M-Dogg had “won” the match to finally giving our boss Zandig a hug in the middle of the ring, I probably had goosebumps that entire night.  But it was truly the fans that made that night and those moments some of the most special, long last memories I’ll ever have in pro wrestling.  And the fact that I got to spend it with one of my best friends in Matt, made it all the more special.

Face to face at Cage of Death 6.

Finally got my belt back!

So, after all these years, I want to say thank you to Zandig for believing in my idea.  I want to thank the fans that night.  And of course, I want to thank Matt for believing in this idea from the day I presented it to him, and for giving it his all when we stepped into the ring that cold day in December.

All of our cast of characters are still in wrestling.  Josh Prohibition took some time off from wrestling, but recently returned.  You can still catch him on the Cleveland independent scene.  He has a new addition to his beautiful family, that in the form of a gorgeous daughter named Sophia.  Matt is still a star on the independent scene and recently appeared on WWE’s Tough Enough reality show on the USA network.   Oh, and maybe the first time in wrestling that a stipulation has been adhered to, as Matt never returned to CZW.  How about that!?  Matt’s desire and work ethic is at an all time high in trying to obtain a full-time contract in pro wrestling.  He continues to be quite the world traveler, as he just competed in Russia.  I’ve believed in Matt since before I ever met him and there are very few people in wrestling as deserving as he is to finally get that elusive contract.

I really, really enjoyed writing this piece and well, after all these years, maybe I finally do have a definitive answer to, “what was your favorite match that you’ve been involved in?”

For more on Matt Cross aka M-Dogg 20, please check out:

www.twitter.com/mdoggmattcross
www.mdoggmattcross.com

And if you would like to watch our match from Cage of Death 6, please check out:

www.smartmarkvideo.com

For me, that’s kinda easy, but kinda hard to answer.  I don’t have a favorite match, let alone favorite anything.  I like what I like and know why I like what I like.  I may have favorites, plural, but I can’t really say that one is the best or better than the rest.  So, when it comes to my favorite match that I’ve been involved in, one match ranks very high on that list and it always comes to mind.  Sonjay Dutt v M-Dogg 20 from Cage of Death 6 for a promotion called CZW.  This was a very special match with a strong build up and story that went on for almost a year, culminating on December 14th 2004 in South Philadelphia.

There’s quite a story behind this match and feud, not just storyline wise, but behind the scenes.  M-Dogg 20, or Matt Cross as he is also known, was one of the hottest independent wrestlers during the early 2000s and carved quite a niche for himself as the years went by.  Without any TV time or major promotion backing him, he is still one of the top independent wrestlers.  Some say he is the most well traveled independent wrestler ever.  So it’s not far off to say that he has done and been to places many top contracted wrestlers could only dream of.  How did he accomplish all this?  Well, talent first and foremost.

Matt and I are very good friends and I consider him to be one of my closest friends in and outside of wrestling.   There was a few year span where we would see each other multiple times a month, every month for various promotions across the US and Canada.  Nowadays, we only really get to hang out in places like Egypt, Germany and Russia (true story).  Well, our friendship really helped make our year long feud in 2004 special and really aided us in making our match at COD6 something even better than special.  So special that fans still talk about it to this day.

I can’t exactly recall the first time I met Matt, but it was sometime in late 2002 when I first joined CZW.  Even though this was the first time I had met him, I knew him very well.  Matt was a “star” in backyard wrestling, something I was very deep in during my teenage years.  Much like many teenagers in the late 90s, I was obsessed with wrestling and obsessed with emulating what I saw on TV with my friends after school.  My friends and I had created our own backyard wrestling group and every weekend, we’d all gather together, jump on each other and tape it on our camcorder.  To put it simply, it was fun.  Looking back at my youth, it was some of the most fun I had.  It wasn’t just about play fighting, but it was the camaraderie we all had.  It was about the creativity we all expressed and most of all, it was about spending quality time with friends who all shared a common interest.  Hell, we had a website and everything.  And as I mentioned, many other teenagers around the country were doing the same thing.  One of those teenagers was Matt.

Old school M-Dogg 20.

Josh Prohibition and M-Dogg 20.

He had a very cool group over in Ohio where he grew up.  They were called the BWF.  They stood out above all the other backyard groups that were out there at the time.  A lot of that came from Matt and his crazy, acrobatic, and what sometimes seemed like spontaneous stunts.  When it comes to wrestling and even backyard wrestling, let’s not forget, it takes two to tango and his best friend, Josh Prohibition was the perfect base for the high flying Matt.  Whenever you saw one, there was the other.  These two were doing amazing stuff in their backyard and soon, both were doing it in pro rings all over the world.  They were such “stars” in the backyard wrestling world that they were even featured on Oprah Winfrey.  At the time, the media was having a field day with backyard wrestling.  It seemed every local and national news outlet had a story on how dangerous backyard wrestling was (my friends and I were even featured on local FOX and CBS affiliates).  Making it on Oprah wasn’t too shabby for some crazy kids from Cleveland.  Oh, did I mention they also had a ring?  A real wrestling ring!  Yes, these backyard wrestlers had a real ring.  Can you imagine how my friends and I felt seeing these kids in Ohio in a real wrestling ring??  That was something we could only dream of.  We were very envious of how “big” Matt and Josh had become in the world of backyard wrestling.  Wow, how crazy does that sentence read.  Well, back to Matt and his crazy stunts.  Matt was jumping off roofs of houses, off basketball nets, off ladders, just about anything that was really insanely high.  On top of that, he was doing stuff wrestlers on TV just didn’t do.  This crazy white boy dressed like an OG was flying around Cleveland, complete with red Adidas track pants, sneakers and a bad-ass bandanna, worn Tupac style.  I couldn’t help but chuckle when I learned that Matt loved punk rock music.  Well, love may be an understatement.  The complete opposite of the image his character was portraying.  His athleticism as a teenager was leaps and bounds above what all the other backyard wrestlers were doing and it all made sense when I learned that Matt was a gymnast and even competed in the Jr Olympics at a young age.  He was an athlete right out of the womb and years later, it was obvious, he was made to be a pro wrestler.

Well, it didn’t end there for my connection to Matt before we were to ever meet in person.  In 1999, the Best of Backyard Wrestling vol. 1 and 2 were released in major retail stores and over their 900 line/Internet.  This VHS went on to sell, literally, millions.  I’m not joking.  For weeks and weeks, it was listed #1 under the top sales for the Sports and Recreation genre.  And who were the stars of these two VHS tapes?  Yours truly, Sonjay Dutt, Matt M-Dogg 20 and Josh.  The same company that was behind the “Too Shocking for TV” VHS tapes and DVDs in the late 90s and early 2000s was responsible for the Backyard tapes.  Wrestling was at an all time popularity high during this time period.  It was the middle of the biggest boom period for pro wrestling.  Wrestling was literally everywhere you looked.  Everyone wanted a piece of the pie, so, why not collect a bunch of footage of kids doing crazy wrestling matches and stunts in their backyard and sell it to the masses?  This simple formula made the company that released the tapes very rich and made Matt, Josh and I, the stars of the tapes, nothing.  We were minors and I guess we signed over the rights to them, as I recall getting some paperwork in the mail to sign and send back after they decided that my footage was going to make the cut.  The amount of excitement was immeasurable for me at the time.  I would have signed anything they asked me to.  I WAS GOING TO BE A STAR!!!!!!

Best of Backyard Wrestling vol.1. Yes, that’s me getting piledriven on the hood of the car.

Best of Backyard Wrestling vol. 2. See if you can find M-Dogg/Josh and myself on the cover. Oh and can you find a random Tylene Buck shot?? #majorguns

I was maybe 17 and excited as all hell that I was going to be a star through backyard wrestling.  I guess no one tried to talk sense into me.  My fame included being all over the television commercials for the tapes.  They aired nonstop on basic cable late-night, and the first time I saw it, I just about hit the roof with excitement.  I recall my blank tape wasn’t ready in the VCR, so I had to wait till it aired again for me to record it.  A little digging around and I’m sure I can find it, if it isn’t on youtube.  HA, wait till the kids at school see this!  Matt and I’s “fame” didn’t end just there, as a video game company out of North California named Eidos decided to make a backyard wrestling video game.  Not just one, but two.  I was a featured character in vol. 2 and Matt appeared in vol. 1.  When vol. 2 was released, I was a few years into my pro career and they used my pro name and character as the basis for my video game character, while never mentioning I was a former backyarder.  Actually no “backyarders” were featured in the game and the title “Backyard Wrestling” was only linked to the environment of the game.  All the matches were in various outdoor locations, some included a real backyard.  The company had no pros in vol. 1 and decided to add some pros (and quasi celebrities/rappers/rock-stars) for vol. 2 to increase sales.  I was one of a handful of independent wrestlers that were featured in vol. 2.  Fulfilling my dream and becoming a pro wrestler was awesome, but being a video game character was icing on the cake.  And to think, little did I know at the time that it wasn’t going to be the only video game that I would be featured in.

Backyard Wrestling 2. Interesting cast of characters donning the cover.

Backyard Wrestling: The Video Game. M-Dogg and Josh featured on the cover.

Matt and I had many parallels.  We both loved pro wrestling and were backyard wrestlers.  We both went the proper route and got trained.  We both are college educated individuals who still choose to chase a dream rather than succumb to the regular grind of life.  We both had and still have an immense desire to make it to the top in pro wrestling. On top of that, being so close in age, maybe we were meant to finally cross paths in life.  It was inevitable.  Eventually we did cross paths and it all led us to our, what some say, epic match at COD6.  When I had joined CZW in 2002, Matt had just joined a few months prior.  He had already made a name for himself on the independent scene while I was going to use CZW as my catapult to bigger things.  Matt (with Josh) left CZW in late 2002 and his departure would take an entire blog to explain, but let’s just say the bridge was burnt.  That’s not to say that Matt and Josh were wrong in their actions, it’s just how the Northeast independent scene was at the time.  It was a highly competitive and, looking back at it, over-saturated market.  Promotions and wrestlers, as the saying goes, had to do what they had to do.

So, as the bridge was burnt, everyone, and I mean everyone had written Matt’s days in CZW off.  There was no way, nor any conceivable circumstance that would lead to his return.  Well, until July 10th 2004.

How cool, me as a video game character in Backyard Wrestling 2. Not my last appearance in a video game.

As I had climbed the ranks of CZW during Matt’s absence, I had a storyline idea that someone had stolen my CZW Jr. Heavyweight title.   And the only reason that I had this idea was that I forgot to bring the physical belt to the January show of that year.  This was the first show after I had won the belt and I wasn’t use to remembering to pack a silly belt in my bag on the way to a silly independent wrestling show.  The usual was, grab a pair of gear, clean shirt and underwear, boots and hit the road.  So, now all of a sudden, I had the responsibility to remember to bring the belt to every show.  Of course, I failed at my first chance.  Yay for me.  So, when I got to the show and realized that I had forgotten it at home, I had to scramble to think of a way out of it.  This is after everyone laughed at me or just shook their heads in disgust.  Boo for me.  Then, all of a sudden, I came up with the easiest plan.  What better way to cover up the fact that I had no belt than create a storyline that someone had stolen it.  Our boss Zandig went with the idea, even though I had no conclusion to this story in mind.  Or in other words, I had no idea on who this mystery thief would end up being.  I knew I had at least a month to come up with parts B and C to follow A in this story.  And as the months progressed, my mind started to race and then it hit me.  Who better to play the role of the thief, than M-Dogg 20.  He left CZW on bad terms, no one would guess it to be him.  Matt was also a top Jr. Heavyweight that was vying for the title before he left.  Of course, in storyline he would do something so dastardly to claim the top prize in a company that he was once a major star in.  Now, my only hurdle was to pitch this to Zandig.  The boss kiiiiiinda hated Matt for the way he left and when his departure went down in late 2002, he even said that he would never return.  Well, as they say in wrestling, never say never.

I was slowly getting  adjusted to being in Germany.  All the obvious differences were glaring me right in the face.  The food was first and foremost.  I’m not a big fan of the schnitzels and sausages and anything of the sort and salmon for breakfast?  No thanks.  But, one thing I quickly grew fond of was this chocolate looking peanut butter imitation.  Being hesitant at first, I figured, what the hell, let’s give it a shot.  I immediately fell in love with Nutella.  That sweet hazelnut spread became a mainstay in my home from that time out, although peanut butter still holds the throne.  I don’t eat beef and most everything that was being offered at the building and in Germany all together was beef based.  Good thing I had my trusty tuna packets in tow.  There was a period of time where I ate 2-3 cans of tuna everyday for lunch.  This is before the companies made packets or pouches.  Packets were a real life saver for me.  I hated packing those cans on the road and that in turn meant you need a can opener and draining tuna water is the yuckiest thing ever.  Thank goodness for whoever invented the tuna packet.  And now they even have different flavors.  I also did my ritual of going to McDonalds in another country while in Germany.  Everywhere I go, my goal is to go to the McDonalds and see all the different menu items they have.  It’s a fun little ritual I have, which doesn’t necessarily mean I am trying these crazy items, but I do remember Alex Shelley falling in love with some shrimp hamburger that Mickey D’s (or Mackers for my Aussie friends) offered in Japan.  Ummm, no thanks.

Monty Brown signing autographs!

So, we arrived to the building early as we had a big meet and greet during the day, so all the German fans had an opportunity to meet all the great talent that was on board for the show.  I had a blast meeting so many of my fans in Germany for the first time.  TNA was hitting popularity highs in Europe and this was a great opportunity for the fans to interact with us.  I always, always, always have my 8x10s at these functions so fans can obtain an autograph if they so choose.  Hell, all the wrestlers had em and we were all lined up.  Monty was smart and even brought a box full of his action figures.  But, Teddy Hart forgot his 8x10s.  Not only were his fans going to not have an opportunity to get a signed picture, but he would lose out on a lot of potential Euros in his pocket.  But as crafty as he is, he had the promoter send a runner to a nearby Kinkos to makes copies of a printed picture the promoter had and a mere hour later, viola!  Teddy was in business and we now were all set for the meet and greet.  Teddy is a site to see with the fans.  He is genuinely interested and will sometimes talk their ears off.  Usually, it’s the other way around. This was the first show for Andre Hain and his GWP promotion and it was rocking.  It looked incredible, with a great ring and lighting rig, not to mention a packed house of crazy, fun German wrestling fans.  There’s really nothing better than European wrestling fans.  Their enthusiasm and interest is barn none.  I had a great match with Jody Fleish and Teddy was in a very memorable match.  In mid match, he decided to climb up the lighting rig.  He was a good 12feet up and did a gorgeous moonsault off of it onto his unknowing opponents.  I guess his opponents figured he was doing something nutty when they saw those bright ass silk pants moving towards the ceiling.  They did their best to catch Teddy to prevent any injury to him, but sometimes, things just happen.  As Teddy was on his way down, his extended arm scrapped against a chair in the crowd and sliced a sizable gash down the front of his armpit up into his bicep.  I had no clue any of this had happened as I was in the showers cleaning up, but soon enough, I heard a wild Canadian voice yelling “SOMEONE GET SONJAY RIGHT NOW!  I ONLY TRUST SONJAY, SOMEONE GET ME SONJAY RIGHT NOW!!!” I just thought, “huh, what’s Teddy need with me???”  It turned out that as good as the action was in the ring, the more entertaining stuff would be in the back on this warm German night.

Seconds before Teddy would land on a chair and slice open his armpit.

Someone ran up to me saying “Teddy is calling for you, he needs you now”.  At this point I still have no idea what is going on.  What could Teddy want from me that was so important?  With Teddy, it could be anything.  I mosey on over to the room where Teddy is and I see him slowly blowing a gasket.  He’s laid out on a stretcher with his arm fully extended well above his head and there’s blood everywhere and a decent sized cut, albeit it big, it doesn’t appear all that deep.  There’s a nice German nurse who is trying her hardest to calm Teddy down and tell him that he needs stitches.  Stitches you say?!  He’s having none of it.   “I DON’T TRUST YOU, I ONLY TRUST SONJAY!  SONJAY, YOU TOLD ME HOW YOU USED SUPERGLUE BEFORE ON YOUR BODY, YOU HAVE TO SUPERGLUE ME!”    I slowly remember that earlier on our trip I did tell him the stories I covered in part 1 of this blog about how I had previously used super-glue to close up some big wounds.  So, Teddy went on yelling forever.  Well, not forever, but it sure felt like it.  I mean I heard “SOMEONE GET SONJAY DAMNIT!” for about five minutes before I was even at the scene.  So, at this point, I’ve put it all together, but I’m still digesting the fact that Teddy is yelling that he trusts ME more than a medical professional and that he wants ME to SUPERGLUE HIM.  I never thought that I would be more trusted than a medical professional when it came to ailing a hurt individual.  OK, this was beginning to escalate, so I figured I could be the voice of reason.  I tried to calmly state to Teddy that he should really let the nurse stitch him up and that would be it.  I’m not sure if he had a fear of needles or what it was, but it was apparent: stitches, NO; super-glue, YES.  Here we go again.  ”NO SONJAY, I NEED YOU TO SUPERGLUE ME!  YOU DID IT BEFORE TO YOURSELF, PLEASE HELP ME SONJAY, I ONLY TRUST YOU!”  If you have ever met Teddy, please re-read that last sentence, matter of fact, read all of Teddy’s quotes out-loud in your best Canadian/Teddy accent.  You know, just to add some authentication to the story.

BFFs. I guess I hadn’t performed surgery yet.

Teddy is a strong personality and I figured it would be best to comply with his request.  I told him I’d do it as long as I could get a pair of sanitary gloves from the nurse.  Not that big of a concession.  The nurse handed me a pair and by this time we had already sent someone out for super-glue.  Once it arrived, Dr. Dutt was in motion and I super-glued Teddy back together again.  It took a while as the cut was long, but slowly I had it all super-glued and attached.  This story doesn’t do the scene justice.  It was chaos, but Dr. Dutt was on site to calm things down.  This is my best friend Jay Lethal’s favorite story.  He’s heard it about a hundred times, but still always dies laughing every time I tell it.  I know he’ll appreciate some of the visuals I’ve added here for everyone. As you can see, Teddy and I have had our ups and downs, but at the end of the day, he’s one of the most talented guys that I’ve ever met.  He’s an eccentric personality and maybe he himself was responsible for losing his WWE contract, but that’s another debate for another time.  I loved spending time with Teddy during the mid 2000s.  He was the hottest thing on the independent scene and I felt like I was seeing him every week.  Maybe that’s because I was, except for the shows he no-showed, but everyone was booking Teddy.   He was a real attraction.  Teddy was different, he was innovative and he was captivating in everything he did and said.  So, what happened to this insanely talented Hart family member?  Teddy moved to Mexico and worked full-time for AAA from 2007/08 until recently. Teddy loves pro wrestling, it’s in his blood.  He perseveres and I know that we will all see more of Teddy in the States very soon.

Myself, a German fan and Teddy. (trusty tuna packet to the left)

The match ended and I went to the back to access the damage and sure enough, it was pretty bad and judging by it’s look, I’d have probably needed four to five stitches.  Now, my options were, a) try to find the closest hospital and that would probably be a pretty tough task seeing as we were in the middle of fuckin nowhere or b) try my hand at the ol super-glue trick.  I chose super-glue.  It was cheaper, it was faster and by gosh, it was manlier.  And hell, if it was good enough for my idol, then it was good enough for me.

It’s actually very effective and easy.   After finally obtaining some super-glue, I pushed my gash together, laid a strip of super-glue and held it together.  Viola!  This was the first time I had used super-glue to heal a cut on myself.  But definitely not my last.  Since then, I had the pleasure of super-gluing my lip and the area under my lip together.  Once, I did it in some tiny town in Indiana after a ladder match with JC Bailey (RIP and hell, he always did say “STITCHES ARE FOR BITCHES, WEAR THE SCARS!) and once in Philadelphia after Jimmy Rave knocked out my front tooth (well, he didn’t, the guardrail did, but he was an accessory).  Never once did I ever imagine that I would be doing the same to Teddy Hart many years later.  Yes, I super-glued Teddy Hart’s armpit together.  Let me start at the beginning of my very first trip to Germany back in 2006.

Seconds before the end of the table snapped back and busted me open right under my bottom lip. Hello super-glue. RIP JC Bailey. 10/2/03.

I had never been to Germany and was excited to add another country to the list of my world travels.  This would be a short trip that only included one show in a small town called Rough.  I would literally be in and out of Germany in a mere few days.  Rough was famous for it’s asparagus.  I’d say it’s only been maybe five years since I realized asparagus makes your pee smell.  Pee-U.  Promoter Andre Hain was behind a very expensive and elaborate show that included a big arena with large lights rigs.  It included a huge roster of talent that included some of the best talent in Europe and some excellent international talent.  The list Included myself, Monty Brown, Ruckus, Robbie Mireno, and Teddy Hart.

Fine Indian silk shorts.

Teddy Hart is one of the most eccentric, interesting, entertaining, and creative people you will ever meet.  I could add maybe a hundred other adjectives to describe Teddy, but to really understand him is to meet him.  One meeting and you will understand what kind of personality he is.  I always enjoyed Teddy from the first day I met him in 2003.  We hit it off that night in Florida.  Maybe it was flattery as he told me he loved my sideburns and abs.  Well, nice to meet you too.  And I will give credit where credit is due.  He had some bitchin sideburns and his abs were also very crisp.  We worked together a handful of times, but never as the Doctor/Patient relationship that we would have on that fateful night in Germany.  I recall Teddy asking to specifically room with Monty this trip.  Huh?  Teddy and Monty knew each other, but were far from BFFs, so why he requested to room with Monty was beyond me, but I guess you can chalk it up to another one of those things that Teddy does.  Monty and Teddy couldn’t be more opposites, so this roomie situation would be interesting to say the least.  What makes them so different?

“Hello ma’am, may I please have a number 5 with a diet coke? You look lovely today.”

First of all, I want to say that Monty is one of the most down to earth, nicest human beings I have ever met in this wacky world of pro wrestling.  He wasn’t like most wrestlers, he was normal.  He was well educated, a successful business owner, and as he become more and more popular and a bigger name in wrestling, he most importantly, could differentiate the two worlds.  Wrestling and real life.  Monty Brown the wrestler and Monty Brown the person.  It’s a very difficult thing to be able to differentiate the two worlds and for many in wrestling, the fantasy bleeds into reality which in turn blurs their reality and who they really are as a person.  This can wreck havoc on a person’s real life.  Monty never let the two transcend and I think that is what made us so close.  Oh, and did I mention Monty was also a star in the NFL?  He even competed in Superbowl XXVIII playing for the Buffalo Bills.  Monty was a huge wrestling fan and as soon as his football career ended due to an ankle injury, he sought out training to become a pro wrestler.  After making a few appearances for TNA in 2002, he sort of vanished, perfecting his craft on the independent scene.  When he returned in 2004, I was well into my first year with the company.  That was when we first met and really hit it off.  We even roomed together many Wednesday nights after our weekly PPV events.  I got to know the real Monty, who was soft spoken, funny, extremely charming and personable.  And to top it off, he was always dressed to impress.  I guess his TV persona was much like that, just turned up 1000 notches.

A funny story I always remember about Monty is when we would head to Wendy’s for food late after the show when the doors were locked and only the drive-through was open.  Monty is a huge man, I mean, he was an ex-NFL star, so can you imagine this man walking up to the drive-through at Wendys?  Well, that was our weekly Wednesday night dinner after the show.  The Wendy’s was pretty much connected to the Super 8 motel we stayed at, so based on convenience and the fact it was the only thing open, we would walk on over and order at the drive-through.  Now, I’m not sure if the employees were scared of this massive human being or because he was so damn smooth and charming, but we were never refused service.  Usually you need a car to order at the drive-through, right??  So, on the flip side, there was a week that Monty was not in town, so I decided to walk through the drive-through myself.  And guess what?  They refused me service, I guess I needed a car to order… or Monty Brown.  I even pleaded my case saying “But, I’m with Monty every week!  Please help!”  It fell on deaf ears.

Monty really excelled at pro wrestling and skyrocketed to the top of TNA and eventually signed a contract with the WWE.  Some family issue derailed Monty’s time in WWE, so sadly he left after a short run.  He never reached the heights that he was well on his way to reach.  I was fortunate enough to run into Monty a couple years back at a convention and we gave each other a big hug and exchanged numbers.  It had been years since I had seen him.  I’ll never forget Monty.  He was an incredible person who left pro wrestling the same way he entered it, with class.

So, Teddy Hart?  As I said, there’s hundreds of adjective that are synonyms to crazy and interesting that can describe Teddy.  But, most recently, one of the best Teddy Hart stories has surfaced.  He is training his cat to do moonsaults and become a pro wrestler.  And for that reason alone, I still love Teddy Hart!  Although to be fair, we had one very tumultuous night that almost ended in fisticuffs.  And that’s not the night I had to super-glue his armpit shut.

Well, maybe not exactly, but I sure felt like I was gonna die.  I blame my wife.  But, maybe part of the blame lies with me?

Growing up, I loved sports and I loved anything athletic.  Except one thing, swimming.  Here’s a confession.  As a 30 year old man, I do not know how to swim.  People will ask me why?  Am I scared?  Did I never learn?  Or the best is when they tell me, “It’s so easy!”  Well, of course it’s easy to you.  You know how to swim.  Doing a backflip is easy to me, but maybe not to you.  To answer the questions.  Well, why do I not know how to swim?  That’s kinda a long answer and a little hard to answer.  So, I’m kinda scared of water and I did take lessens as a youth.

I loved sports growing up.  Our neighborhood had lots of boys my age and we all loved the same thing.  Grabbing a bat and ball or a football and just playing our hearts out.  I played little league baseball for a number of years and had ambitions to pursue it in high school and beyond, but pro wrestling completely consumed my life and everything fell to the wayside.  My parents supported my love for baseball and encouraged me to pursue other sports.  One of those was swimming.  Well, I don’t think they wanted me to actually become a swimmer, they just wanted me to learn.  Neither of my parents knew how to swim, so they enrolled me in classes at the local pool, which was less than a mile walk from our home in Burke, VA.

I guess my parents never needed to swim growing up?  My father was too busy going from one country to another.  His father, my grandfather was a diplomat in the Indian government and frequently was stationed in various different countries.  He even spent three months at sea.  As for my mother, I can only assume, growing up in New Delhi, India, swimming was never a big thing to do.  Although, you’d think it’d be the number one thing to do, seeing as how it’s hot, really hot, all the time.  Anyhow, I was enrolled in classes and I can vividly remember the first time I stepped into the pool.  Of course it was in shallow waters, but immediately I thought that this was it and my life was going to end.  I was use to walking on the ground and having complete power over myself and my movements.  Now, all of a sudden, I was in water with no control  and feeling that I was sinking.  Quickly, I gasped for air and something to hold on to.  From day one, the water and I didn’t get along.  The instructors quickly noticed my despair and put me in the very beginners class.  So, I was in swimming classes with little kids and all of my friends had ammunition to ridicule me when summer was over and we returned to school.

After my few week course, I was by no means a swimmer.  I could do a little something  and had I returned to the pool and practiced, maybe I’d know how to swim by now.  But, the fact is after the lessons ended, I never went back to the pool or in any water.  My friends and I were more intent on playing baseball or tackle football in our free time and rarely wanted to go to the pool.  I remember a few times I would go and just sit around or that one time where all my friends threw me in.  Well, that wasn’t the coolest thing to do to someone who has a slight fear of water.  Alex Shelley once convinced me to get in the hotel pool on one of our road-trips to a TNA show.  I stayed in the safety of shallow waters, except when, I think it was Shelley who dunked my head underwater.  Not cool!

Oh, my second instructor was my seven year old niece.  She was insistent that “I can teach you to swim, it’s easy!!”  So, as a 20 something year old grown ass man, I let this seven year old little girl teach me how to swim…at a public pool…so, the whole neighborhood could see.

My wife tried many times to teach me to swim, as she was a great swimmer growing up and even competed.  I start off great, and eventually, I feel my knees scrapping against concrete and I realize I’ve sunk to the bottom.  By now, I’ve given up on swimming.  But, what if I had a life-jacket on?   Could I swim then?  Well, my wife convinced me that I could.  We were on our honeymoon in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on a snorkeling excursion and I told her that she could by all means go in the water.  But, I would sit it out.  After badgering and convincing me that the life-jacket would be all I needed to enjoy my time deep in one of the largest bodies of water in the world, I gave in.

Gorgeous Atlantic Ocean water.

Ready to snorkel!

We took a boat ride into the perfect area with classic Reggae music blasting as we were on a cruise in the Bahamas.  I was feeling positive and tried not to let the negative thoughts override what could be a gorgeous moment for a newly married couple.  I mean, hey, I can’t swim in a pool, but the Atlantic Ocean?  According to my wife, that’ll be cake!  I got my trusty life-jacket on.  My worries and fears will disappear, I will head to the bottom of the ocean, check out whatever is down there and come away with a cool conch shell as a souvenir.  Sadly, none of that happened.  What did happen?  I felt like I was going to die while the Jamaican hustlers running this racket laughed at me from the safety of their boat.  As soon as I entered the water, I was done.  I started sinking and gasped for air and grabbed my wife’s arm as hard as possible.  This was my only link to safety.  I grabbed on for dear life as she yanked me back to the boat.  She loves to tell the story according to her version, which includes her fearing for her life.  As she says I was going to pull her down with me.  Well, in any case, if I go down, we are going down together!  It may have only been 10 seconds, but it felt like 10 minutes.  Failure.  Complete and utter failure.  After many “I told you so’s” to my wife, I calmed down and encouraged her to dive in while I watched.  It was what I wanted to do from the get go!

Alls well, that ends well.  I made it out safe and vowed that the water and I were just not meant to be.  Well, maybe it is?  My mother started taking lessons and can swim great now and my daughter is almost two now and she’s pretty much a little fish in the water.  Am I the next in the family to, GULP, swim???