Paying Dues: Just take a moment and let it sink in

June 10th 2017

Queens Social Club Sheffield

Elite British Wrestling Presents – Apocalypse Now?

EBW Catch Championship Match – Paul Malen (C) vs Alan Kay

Walking up to the venue on the day of the show I was fine. I had arrived at around noon to help get the cameras set up and make sure that I had plenty of time to plan for anything. I would be in action twice on the day. First on the Matinee performance against Rhys WIlliams, one of the newest NCWAUK dojo graduates and then again in the evening against Paul Malen for the title.

I was the first match out in the afternoon. The mood setter. Both the easiest and the hardest match on the card. The first match is out there to set the pace. To get the crowd going to start off with a bang while at the same time you can go balls to the wall and kill off the rest of the matches later on.

I have never really wrestled Rhys, as he usually trains on Saturdays and I get there on Thursdays, so I sat down and asked him what he wanted to do, what type of stuff he does in the ring and all sort of stuff like that. We only had a small amount of time so that made things much easier.

Matinee crowds with us can be really up in the air sometimes. Some are mental and some are really quiet. This one was really quiet. Despite being at least 70/80 in the crowd they were silent at times. But, the match went down fine, the crowd were really behind Rhys when he was fighting back and they hated the fact that I won. Especially with the ending being Ivy getting involved by grabbing Rhys’ foot while pinning me, leading to him getting distracted giving me time to hit the AKDriver for the win.

Now, on to the stress.

All of the stress.

I had known what was happening in the evening show for quite a while. Meaning as I came in to the evening show I kind of knew what was going down and how I’d like it to happen. It all started with Ivy’s Lumberjack match vs Georgy Archer. This match had pressure within itself. This was a feud ender, it had built to this point and both wanted the match to go well. As did all of us on the outside. While, the entire ending has implications on the story later on. So this needed to go perfectly.

The match was good, made sense of the lumberjack gimmick, something that if you go back and watch a lumberjack match is rarely done properly, ended in a brawl between the lumberjacks on the outside. While the brawl was going down, I slipped away, climbed on to the apron, ducked a strike from Georgy and grabbed on to her arms, ready for Ivy to attack.

This is where the stress came in to it. This has to go well. This has to be noticed and be safe. Ivy, came up to Georgy with the intention of spraying a “Poison Mist” on to Georgy, Georgy moved. She got me, off I go selling the blindness, crawl back in the ring, not knowing where I am. Georgy comes running at us, ready to hit her signature spear, Ivy runs off pulling me in the way of the spear.

Down.

Go.

I roll out, while Ivy rolls up Georgy for the win.

Now for the story to begin.

I crawl round to the front, clearing my eyes of the concoction just sprayed in my face, and look up to see Jason Jacobs and Sam Kenny staring right at me. I push them away, “THIS IS YOUR FAULT! WHERE WERE YOU?!” The baseball bat goes flying.

Sam looks me square in the eyes “We are done” he loudly exclaims and they walk off. I’m starting to panic, I look in the ring to see Ivy celebrating and feel like I need to have a word with her.

I climb in, and this is the good bit, people instantly knew what was going on. I get in the ring and square up to her. “YOU DID THIS!” as she screams at me saying she’s sorry. She backs in to the corner as I continue to threaten her, within minutes Paul Malen gets in the ring and hits me harder than I have ever been hit in my life. It made an almighty thud and I roll out of the ring.

Paul makes sure that Ivy is okay and makes sure that I know I am in for a fight later on that evening. I throw my Monsters shirt in the ring and Ivy did a brilliant little thing. She just kicked it to one side, like kicking it to the kerb. Wonderful, absolutely wonderful.

Paul escorts Ivy to the back and I am stood on my own, in the crowd staring in to space. I’m alone. For the first time in over a year I am on my own at wrestling. This was such a weird feeling. But now it’s time to prepare for my own match.

I am stood behind the curtain. I feel sick, I am shaking. I am so, so nervous. Everything I had been training for was coming down to the next 20 minutes. I walked out, stood on the top of the entrance and just took a look around. I stood there and said to myself “At the end, just take a moment to take it in” I stood in the ring as Malens music hit.

Coming out in his own, doing what he does best in getting the crowd fired up. He pauses and walks back behind the curtain and out comes Ivy with him.

FUMING. I am going mental in the ring, taking inspiration from the time Triple H was told that Cactus Jack was returning to face him instead of Mankind. Kicking the turnbuckles, shouting at the ref, shouting at the fans. As Malen rolled in the ring I starting stomping from the go.

Then from there I don’t remember a lot of the match. I remember going to the outside, Paul following me out and making sure that every strike lit me up and could be heard every where. He turned me round and chopped me inches away from someone and I remember them saying “F*ck me, that sounded rough!”

It was.

I stumbled into the ring and then it’s a blur up until the end run. I picked up Malen for a T-bone suplex and lost my grip as I was throwing. I heard this big thud and a groan from the crowd. Crap. I’ve just dropped Paul Malen on his head.

Damn. Damn. Damn.

I walked round to pick up for the next move as I grab him and make sure he’s okay. He was. I hit my AKDriver and he kicked out. No one has kicked straight out of that. The crowd have jumped up. I run at Malen for a running senton and he moves, I sit up and stare at Ivy. This is my moment for redemption. As I realise she is within grabbing distance I pulled her in the ring.

Now,this is where our crowd differs from most. No matter what Ivy is doing, whether she is stood at the side of me as a baddie and stood at the side of Malen as a goodie, the moment a man looks like he’s about to be aggressive outside of a wrestling match they don’t like it. Not one bit. I grabbed her by the hair and dragged her in the ring, Referee Lee Thomas dragged me away as Malen stood in the way to protect her.

As he stood there, she crept to her knees and struck him with a low blow. “I KNEW IT!!” came a scream from the crowd. I throw the ref out-of-the-way and hit Malen with a Pedigree, my finish from here on in I know I’m a mark get over it, and then went for the cover. I hook the leg, look down and say thank you.

This is it.

It’s happening.

Mental.

Lee counted the three, and I sat up in the corner. Just waiting for the madness to ensue. Ivy has grabbed the title, gone running round the ring, the music has started playing and the crowd are angry. What an amazing feeling.

But out come Sam and Jacob, squaring up on either side of the ring. The crowd goes quiet, I am “protecting” Ivy. The get in the ring and start to make their move….. GROUP HUG! More groans of disappointment!

Banging!

After all the madness calmed down and we started to leave. I did what I told myself to do, I took a moment to just let it all sink in. Everything that I had worked for within EBW was starting to pay off. I started training in March 2015 as an 18 stone fool that NEVER did anything productive and never stuck to any goals and here I am 2 and a bit years later starting to achieve the goals I had set for myself.

I stood there and thought of everything I had been through over the last two years. The ups and the downs and how close I came to just giving up and this moment made it worth it. While at the same time I know I am not finished yet. This moment, no matter how brilliant it feels now, is just a stepping stone. There’s still the Heavyweight title to go for. More companies to dominate. Bigger stages to perform on. But I will never forget this moment and I thank every single person who got me here.