Wa-hey! Blog number ten! I’ll be honest with you, guys—I never imagined living long enough, or maintaining my sanity long enough, to write a tenth one of these, so this whole thing could be a bit touch and go. Let’s see how it goes, anyway…!
October, mercifully, was more of an active month than September was, and it started off with a trip to Bangor, in Northern Ireland. (Well, technically it started off with a trip to The O2 in Dublin to see Bill Bailey’s “Dandelion Mind” show—which was excellent, incidentally—but , wrestling wise, it started off with the Bangor trip, for the début show of MEGA- Modern Extreme Grappling Arts; splendid acronym!) I made the trip there with Joe Cabrey and Maxer and- aside from the pouring rain- the journey was fine. The MEGA show was being run by Bonesaw, using a lot of good talent from Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland (or Southern Ireland), and from Bonesaw’s own training school, so it was a nice mix. (It was at this show that I actually cottoned on to the fact that more people were reading these things than I imagined. I thought maybe five people were reading them, and I was mainly writing them for my own amusement! Heh heh. At any rate, it was an interesting turn up for the books, as it were.)
I opened the show in a tag match. Maxer and I joined forces to take on The Creed (Damien Corvin and Silas Black.) It was an enjoyable match, and the crowd were very hot, and into the action, which really helped. Sometimes, crowds take a while to get warmed up and, if it’s their first show, they’re not really sure how they’re supposed to react; not so with this audience- they got it from the word “go”, whatever that means. Maxer made a great partner; our styles complement each other well, and he’s a cool guy too, and very easy to get on with. I’d say we may end up teaming again down the line.
The atmosphere was excellent backstage, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. I certainly enjoyed myself, offloading the merch I’d brought along! (It’s all about the… hang on, I’ll get this: “dollar, dollar bill, y’all.” Well, the British dollar- or “pound”- bill in this case. Jeah!)
The trip back to Dublin was grand, afterward, and I picked up a delicious pizza pie from Apache after dropping off Joe and Maxer. (Ham, chicken and sweetcorn, if I’m not mistaken; if I am, in fact, “taken”! Heh heh.) It was a great end to the day, anyway, getting stuck into the old Italian-American sauced bread.
Weird little coincidences amuse me. In May, I worked for Pro Wrestling Ulster (PWU) for the first time, but a few days before, I’d had an astro-turf football blitz with some colleagues from work. If you recall, I wasn’t in an especially good way after it! During October, I worked for PWU for the second time, but a few days before, I had- you guessed it- an astro-turf football blitz with some colleagues from work! As I say, coincidences amuse me! Thankfully, I was mainly fine after it (despite a few grazes from the rough playing surface.) Since May, I’ve been playing indoor football once a week, and have built up my ‘football cardio’! As a result, it didn’t leave as bad an effect on me this time around.
The morning of the show, I finished off Season 6 of House on DVD, which was awesome, as it generally is. (Big House fan, I have to say!) The trip to Belfast, to PWU’s venue in the Balmoral Hotel, was fine, and I made it solo, listening to a bit of music, and some Alan Partridge on the way. (The “Duchess of Stranraer” interview put me in good spirits before the show.) The atmosphere, like last time, was great; the PWU lads are a nice bunch. I worked a singles match with Damien Corvin, which went well, I felt, and I enjoyed. The only awkward thing about it was the canvas was covered in glitter from a previous match. When you’re working a match with fast-paced spots in it, breathing in a fairly enclosed space is pretty hard as it is, but when you’re knocking glitter around and inhaling that, too, it becomes that little bit more difficult. (I worked a show earlier this year where there was sawdust from the ring boards in the air, and that was equally tough on the ol’ lungs!) Apart from the breathing difficulty, I liked the match, and the PWU experience again. Also on the card, Tron had his last match for PWU, and got a fitting, and touching, send-off. A very nice moment.
I made the trip back to Dublin with Kev Rocks, and enjoyed the chat with him. I also enjoyed bellowing “COME ON, FOR CHRIST’S SAKE!!” at a driver holding up proceedings in the Balmoral Hotel car park, which caused him to move out of the way, and allow traffic to pass him! Very proud of myself, so I was…! Another Apache pizza capped off the evening, once I’d dropped Kev off in Dublin’s city centre. Heh heh. I do like my pizza.
What put me in especially good humour for PWU, incidentally, was that although it was a Sunday, the following day, I’d be beginning a fortnight away from work, allowing me some much-needed ‘down time’. I believe I used the time valuably, and caught up with a number of films and DVD box sets I’d wanted to watch (along with getting a decent amount of sleep- for a change!- and getting back in touch with a few friends.) I finished Season 5 of Supernatural, and also began and finished Season 2 of Fringe, during that fortnight. Film-wise, I watched The Human Centipede (ok, bar some dodgy acting), Cemetery Junction (excellent), Buried (terrific, and inventive), Legendary (surprisingly good), Hatchet (fairly good), Paranormal Activity 2 (impressive sequel), and Frozen, which became an instant favourite of mine. I love to see good characterisation and realism in films, and this had it in spades, along with fantastic acting from the three leads. It’s a film about three people who get stuck up on a ski lift at a ski lodge that’s just closed for the weekend, and how they can survive the various dangers they face. That rather facile summary really doesn’t do the film justice, unfortunately, but it does come with the patented “Bingo Ballance Seal of Approval”, for what it’s worth, and joins the likes of Se7en, Silence of the Lambs, Donnie Darko, The Wicker Man, Batman Begins, and Inside (or A “l’intérieur”) as one of my favourite films (amongst others.)
Mid-October, and during my time off, I got another year older, turning 26. I had a really cool, low-key birthday, and plenty of really nice comments on my ‘Wall’, so thanks again to all you guys for those. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside…, though that could also be acid reflux… I should probably get that checked out…
I had one more show to finish off October, and that involved a trip back to DPW, in Yorkshire. Generally, I would’ve flown into Leeds anytime I’ve worked for them, but flights were a bit too high for my liking this time around; the costs, I should say, were too high. The cruising altitude was perfectly acceptable! A cheaper option, at any rate, involved a flight into Manchester, and a train journey from the Airport to Leeds, so that’s the option I went with. The whole process was very comfortable- particularly the train journey- and I had the ol’ portable DVD player with me, allowing me to watch a few episodes of One Foot in the Grave on the way. I was picked up from Leeds train station by the promoter’s sister Gemma, and her son and fiancé, and we headed along to Pontefract. Gemma had The Script’s album Science & Faith on the stereo on the way there- which I was hearing for the first time, if you’ll pardon the pun- and I liked it quite a bit; picked it up in the airport on the way home. Ireland’s been turning out some impressive music of late: The Script, Codes, The Shower Scene, and the other one—ripped up the Pope? Bald chap…
From 2pm until 5pm, I had another training session for the DPW Academy, and enjoyed it a lot, having had a bit more time to prepare for this session than the impromptu one I took in August. Some of the guys I’d trained with last time- Alex, Andy, Roger & Luke- were back, and there were two new trainees, as well. Though I did enjoy the session a good bit, and felt we got a nice amount covered, a few of the lads got a bit fucked-up, unfortunately, trying ‘shitcans.’ (A ‘shitcan’ is basically where you’re thrown out of the ring, either over the top rope, or through the middle. Practicing them, and how to control your exit and landing, is quite useful for battle royals and the like, especially since débuting wrestlers will often get chucked into a battle royal to begin with, in order to get them used to performing in front of a crowd.) Roger injured his shoulder, and Andy hurt his pelvis, but both gutted it out and soldiered on, to their credit. Injuries aside, it was a fun class, and all the lads worked hard. No moany emos this time around! Hope to do some more training with them again at some point in the future.
The show drew well, and I had a really fun match with Martin Kirby. Martin is regarded as one of the best wrestlers in the UK at the moment- justifiably so- and is a lovely guy into the bargain, and I thoroughly enjoyed working with him; our match came off very nicely, I felt. Martin also has a “crooked ref” involved in his matches, named Ricc, who unfortunately always seems to “buffoon” things up, and cost Martin the match! Ricc was involved in this one, and played his part to perfection, getting a nice amount of heat for him and Martin, and positioning himself exactly where he was needed. It added a very nice dimension to the story of the match, and I was pleased with it.
Gemma very kindly put me up for the evening, and we all had a nice Chinese together, post-show. The trip back to Dublin the following morning was the same in reverse; a train from Leeds to Manchester Airport, and then a flight home. Very comfortable, again, and no hassle at all. It was an enjoyable trip over, on the whole.
That was it for October. As for the remainder of 2010, I’ve two blogs left. In the next one, I’m gonna cover my final shows of the year, for SSW, DPW and PWU, from November and December, while the twelfth one will, I think, be more of a retrospective edition (for lack of a better term) on not only this year, but years gone by, as well. Ah, memories…! A reader of this yoke requested me to write about some of my old IWW stuff, recently, so I might as well chuck in a bit of that into number twelve. If any of ye are curious about anything, or want me to touch on something specific in a future one of these, just give me a shout. (This is within reason, by the way. I’m not a fan of publicly “burying” anyone in this thing, and won’t be doing so. Sorry! Diplomacy, and ‘not ruffling feathers’ has served me well over the past few years, and I shall be continuing with that. )
Until next time, folks, stay safe and be well.
Ballance
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