I often consider 2010 to be my rookie year and April 2010 to be my show debut. I had been on a few family and friends/trainee shows before this, but the tag team match I was in at a Final Fight videogame launch in April 2010 (which also included a battle royale featuring SWE wrestlers dressed as characters from the game) is what I classify as my official wrestling debut. It was yours truly and Mr News versus Kevin Williams and Jimmie Spitfire in a tag match that went well for my first official outing and saw me wearing tassled ring attire that I detested. I would have my own proper attire after this match though and have not looked back since. The event also took place at the Bonar Hall in Dundee and this would not be the last time I would wrestle there.
After that, I continued to wrestle at monthly trainee nights and made appearances at SWE live events, where I would get attacked by dastardly villains on the bill, either as I made my entrance or as the match I was in was about to start. I was also a somewhat jack of some trades at SWE live events, being a part of the ringside security at Hell For Lycra and being called up to referee a live event at the Ardler Complex at a moment’s notice.
2010 saw me attend a couple of classes at The All-Star Wrestling School during the summer, which is still running and is a great place in the North West of England to train. Dean Allmark is a great trainer and a lot of their graduates are now wrestling up and down the UK, with the school itself often having various guest trainers. One of the All-Star classes I went to also saw me meet John Kenny for the first time, a wrestler from the World Of Sport era who is also a tremendous teacher of wrestling and is able to point out the smallest of errors and how they can be improved.
After a holiday in Turkey, where I found myself subject to its sweltering July/August heat and with some sort of tan, I wrestled against Ian Ambrose at Braemar Day in Blairgowrie in his first defence of the SWE Future Division Championship. This was also the first instance of me working as a villain, something I would become accustomed to later on down the line. It was interesting getting stick from the audience and then giving them stick back, the fun of it all.
My wrestling year would conclude with a match against Claymore at the Brooksbank Centre in Dundee, a tiny venue they used to use but there was always a good atmosphere. I also attended my first of many seminars hosted by Doug Williams and it is always good to learn from wrestlers of that calibre, especially if you are relatively new to the sport like I was. It is crazy to think how long ago 2010 was and credit must go to the folk that were in the ring with yours truly that year, who carried a stick figure novice that was greener than The Grinch through various matches and put up with me as well. 2010 was my rookie year in wrestling and 2011 would give me the opportunity to build even more momentum.
– Lucian Maynard-Smith
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