Personal stuff below, feel free to skip it.
Sorry for not getting a column out last week. I’m not exactly handing in an extra-long column this week to make up for it, either.
I got hit with two separate crises last week, one personal and one professional. I am not going to bore you with them here, hopefully it will suffice to say that on Thursday I was in Vancouver, and I was seriously down.
What is the point of all this?
I’m not sure what you do when you’re seriously down. When I’m down, I ask myself questions. I am happy in my job and in my relationship, so there was little point in questioning those aspects of my life. Instead, I asked myself why I am still a wrestling fan.
In a lot of ways, it might have been better if I’d just stopped watching the current North American Corporate product after Backlash 2004. I could have gone out on a high note, and not missed much. Like far too many people, I’m becoming increasingly disenchanted with the current product. The stuff I love seems to be further de-emphasized with each passing month, as the shows seem to focus more and more on stuff that either bores or annoys me… but I keep watching.
I also asked myself why I bother putting so much effort into an internet column that I write for free. I gave up on the music column after just a couple of months of minimal response, but I’m pretty sure that last week was the first wrestling column I’ve missed since I got the gig.
Why?
I got a partial answer on Friday.
Friday was the first round of the Pacific Cup, the annual tournament that is arguably the biggest event on Vancouver’s local wrestling calendar. The mere fact that I got in without having to pay put a little smile on my face, but that was nothing compared to the feeling I got when I realised that a lot of the old faces in the crowd still remembered me from the old days. Not only that, but many of them were genuinely happy to see me again.
It was a terrific night of wrestling. You can check out the full results here
The card featured many special guest stars, including New Japan LA Dojo standout Puma, respected veteran “Maniac” Matt Bourne, APW’s JJ Perez, 2003 Super 8 finalist Chance Beckett, and arguably the best Indy wrestler in the world today in “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson. It will perhaps be surprising, then, to hear that my favourite match of the night was contested by two local boys, as Aaron Idol and Memphis Raines stiffed the living hell out of each other while telling a very entertaining story in the ring.
The main reason I was there was to finally see American Dragon wrestling in person. I’ve seen a ton of his matches on DVD and on video, and I’ve got a pretty decent number of them in my personal collection. I’ve never seen him wrestle a match that could reasonably be classified as less than very good, and more often than not I am amazed by the skill and creativity with which he has apparently always practiced his craft. Live and in person, he didn’t disappoint. He and Chance Beckett mixed comedy, action, cool reversals, big bumps, spectacular moves and story telling in equal measure.
Then, Matt “Yes, Doink” Bourne and the 400 Pound ECCW Champion Juggernaut took their brawl out into the streets, with the whole crowd following them. I even got some of their blood on me.
If the night had ended right then and there it would have been enough to restore my faith in Professional Wrestling, but the night didn’t end there. I got invited to the after party, where American Dragon sat at the table next to ours, and spent a chunk of the evening trading stories and jokes with everyone, myself included.
I’m not going to report much of what was said. I wasn’t there as a writer. Maybe the next time Danielson comes to Vancouver I’ll be able to set up an interview, but on Friday I was just there as one of the guys alongside my old friends Verne and Mike. Quite frankly, I loved it. Without putting too fine a point on it, it was an honour to sit there and be treated as a peer by people that I genuinely admire.
I would guess that I wasn’t the only one noticing American Dragon’s complete lack of big star attitude, because the conversation at my table eventually turned to a discussion of some of the genuinely great guys (and some of the serious assholes) in the business. I brought up a story that reader Dwight Thomas had passed on to me about how Terry Funk once went to a rodeo in Texas where he was immediately surrounded by autograph seekers, and how he proceeded to sign something for everyone who approached him, taking time to chat briefly with each one, and treating the last person in line just as well as he’d treated the first. Everyone agreed that Terry Funk is one of the true class acts in Pro Wrestling.
In the last year, I’ve had the opportunity to meet and chat with two more of wrestling’s class acts, Bad News Allen Coage and American Dragon Bryan Danielson. If I hadn’t been writing this column, that never might have happened. If not for this column, I probably never would have heard Dwight’s story about Terry Funk.
Here’s the kicker, and this is absolutely true: When I got home, there was a message from Dwight telling me that he’d told Terry Funk about my “Greatest Brawlers” series, and that he was going to send me a copy of Funk’s new book that Terry himself had signed for me.
In the space of a single day, I had found my answers: I am still a wrestling fan because there are still great wrestlers out there who love and respect the business and who give their best effort night in and night out… and some of them are genuinely good people, as well. I write this column because it connects me with other fans around the world who care as passionately about Pro Wrestling as I do.
Thank you, sincerely, for reading.
American Dragon vs. Liger
