By The Masked Embroiderer

A work in progress can be a fascinating thing and flicking through my X timeline a piece of artwork, in progress, caught my eye. Its been made in tribute to the up and coming talented young Scottish Wrestler Rubi Roberts. I sent a message out to its creator, Nik Towers, and asked whether he’d like to chat about it and he was happy to tell his and its story.

Nik, thank you for getting back to me. You’ve recently completed a piece of artwork in tribute to Rubi Roberts how did it come about?

I saw her on Twitter, her name got my attention as I’m a massive Buffy fan so did some research. Watched a few vids of her matches and thought she was awesome so asked if she’d be interested in chatting on the show.

For those that don’t know. Nik also runs a wrestling podcast called Work the Left Side.

What did you like about the interview you did with Rubi that made you want to create a piece of art?

I liked everything about the interview, be it talking wrestling, Buffy or the View Askew universe. Was very easy and chilled. I liked hearing how she got into wrestling for health reasons as well. Why do the art. Why not. She’s definitely a character that pops and that always makes for good art.

Of course it does. And it’s an excellent piece. Am I right in thinking the design is inspired by Buffy too?

Dude, you are correct.

Just out of interest. Apart from the fantastic Rubi Roberts, what else do you know and like about Scottish Wrestling?

Known about Scottish wrestling for years now. I designed the KLR tee for Kay Lee Ray back in her ICW days. Done some NAK back in the day. You guys are crazy up there. In the best way. You love wrestling.

What was it like working with Kay Lee Ray on her t-shirt design?

Was cool. Not much back and forth as it was a simple design idea. KLR in the same design as the ICW logo. Hour later it was done. I’d interviewed her previously for another fanzine so we had a good rapport.

What’s your own personal story with pro wrestling?

Generic reply of started watching when I was a kid. Larger than life characters then I fell out of love for about 4-5 years. Then watched KOTR 98 HIAC match and I was back. More focussed on British Wrestling now though and try to get to as many local shows as possible.

When and why did you start your podcast?

About 3 years ago I commented on a FB post asking if anyone wanted to be on an episode to talk WWE. That show was hosted by Johners and I did a few more. Stopped. He messaged me asking if I’d ever thought of doing a show and it went from there. Work the left side was born. I was involved in a fanzine years prior with the same name so I thought I’d bring it back. 116 EPs later we’ve talked to alot of British talent.

If any of our readers would like to check out more of your work and of course listen to your podcast, where can they find you?

They can find us on YouTube, just search Work the Left Side. We’re on Insta at WTLS316 and X/Twitter WTLS420.

If you’re into British wrestling come say hi. Always happy to talk. We’ve also chatted with Molly Spartan and Big Strong Man so check those episodes out.

I’m sure they’ll do that very thing. Nik, thank you for your time.

And of course you can check out Rubi Roberts on her social media pages below also