Last week, I mentioned that there would be no blog but promised a ‘belter’ of a blog this week. Whether I live up to that promise with this one is up to you readers, but last Saturday’s W3L live event saw me wrestle what could potentially be my final match as Lucian Maynard Smith.

The match will likely air on a future episode of W3L Wrestling Showdown, but without going into too much detail, I felt it was a fitting final match for Lucian Maynard Smith before I retire the name and it gets put in my gimmick back pocket. I also debuted a Wyatt Family/Mick Foley inspired look I REALLY want to keep and joked to W3L peers that I could call myself ‘Cactus Smith’ or if I fancy going in another direction, ‘Dude Smith.’

Before Lucian Maynard Smith, I was the epitome of a ‘white meat babyface.’ I was a skinny kid (which would become a skinny fat kid) out of SWE’s wrestling school with not much of a personality or thing to make me stand out. Lucian Maynard Smith was born to change that and since 2012, I have gone from a spoilt rich kid to an English Nobleman to ‘The Guru of THE Life of Smith’ to a #PaulTraceyGuy. It has been an eventful five years and 2017 has arguably been my best year so far, but I believe that it is now time to move even further forward than before.

Fans and followers of United Pro Wrestling and Source Wrestling’s Showcase shows will be aware that I have been competing under the alias of ‘Luke Aldridge.’ The name change is not necessarily a gimmick change, but the final pieces of a jigsaw puzzle I have been working on for over a year, which has seen me gradually change my look, style and approach towards wrestling. A lot of people will be asking what the differences are between Lucian Maynard Smith and Luke Aldridge. Well, one of them is that Lucian Maynard Smith drinks wine by the glass, Luke Aldridge drinks wine by the bottle.

I recently got some photos done with the great Edinburgh-based photographer Darren Wyllie. These photos will be an indication as to the direction I am going down character-wise, which is from a pretentious country boy to a more sinister and abrasive country boy. I have also been working on a custom entrance theme with South Wales Kings, who have done custom music for the likes of Eddie Dennis, David Graves and Wild Boar. I am looking forward to fully commencing the Aldridge Oddysee and expect it to take place at the next set of shows I am a part of.

photo credit Emma Dockrell

I will still be writing for OSWtv, but the blog will be under a different name and launched the week after the Reckless Intent show in Livingston (which takes place on 7 October at the Murieston Scout Hall, tickets still available at www.reckless-intent.com). You can find Luke Aldridge on Instagram under @allaboutaldridge and on Twitter under @AboutAldridge. For any promoters/bookers that might be interested in using yours truly, I still have the following dates available: 15, 22 October. 5, 12, 19 November. 9, 10 December. Outside of these dates, I am open for negotiation. Until then though, this is, for the last time, THE Life of Smith. Good day.