An early start to the day for the W3L and SSW live event at The Howden Park Centre in Livingston, as I travelled to Dunfermline with Destroyer #1 to pick up the new ring van, an interesting road trip and although I was impressed with his driving skills whilst wearing his mask, I do believe that if I was to have a shot of Cointreau (my alcoholic beverage of choice) for every time the bloke said “Destroyer” or “Destroyers”, the Livingston crowd would have been graced by the presence of a very, very, merry, Englishman. This day did involve my personal turning point of the series of shows though: the ring van change-over. This involved transferring our equipment from the broken down van to the working van and then heading to the show. The van hire company went out of their way trying to help us on a Saturday and once the change-over was done, we were on our way.
Once again, it was a rapid fire rush to get everything set up on time, but there was plenty of help and the show started on time. There was a battle royale to determine the Number One Contender for the W3L Championship, which was won by SSW mainstay Dave Jeremi. I was eliminated by Mike Musso and also fell victim to debutant “The Tormentor” Jamie Jones, a hard-working young man who is often an unsung hero at W3L and Showcase Wrestling shows, being there for every show and helping with the ring from start to finish. The W3L Action Academy prodigy hit me with an Airplane Spin and his trademark Fist Of Fury before I was eliminated by Musso. Bah.
I was also in one-on-one action against Brandon Adams, a good lad who has improved his craft and overall presentation since I last saw him and someone who has risen through the SSW ranks. I wore a t-shirt in support of Leigh-based band known as ‘The Lottery Winners’, a tremendous up and coming band that have supported bands such as Cast and The Wonder Stuff. I also happen to be a proud owner of a vinyl signed by them. During the match with Adams, the audience had the unique privilege of seeing a duel between myself and Adams, with the England and Scotland flags being our weapons of choice, but I was on the losing end of that and the contest itself.
Overall, the show was enjoyable, I received complimentary feedback in regards to the matches I was in and The Howden Park Centre is a tremendous venue, even if the backstage area is a bit of a maze. The day concluded with a seminar with Joe E Legend, which was my second time training with the Canadian veteran and it was very informative and beneficial. I also had the privilege of sharing another car journey (thankfully not in a recovery van this time) with the man himself on the way back from SSW’s training facility.
It was nice getting that feeling that after previous events, things were going to be fine moving forward. The stress that came with the issues faced and running about helped me up my game in the ring as well, which is always good and made me want to put on a good performance out there. I often consider wrestling to be a labour of love, but when bad things happen or things hit the fan, it is very easy to question your decision of venturing into the sport to begin with, but when good things happen you are reminded of why you decided to walk through those training building doors for your first wrestling session.
– Lucian Maynard-Smith
Facebook
SCOTTISH WRESTLING NETWORK | SWN 