Take THAT, writer's block! Jeah..
The rather illustrious seventeenth instalment of this self-serving rubbish! So, what did May have on tap, as it were? (Look at me trying to be hip! I’m not. Not even a little bit. Just to… just to get that clear.) Anyway…
Training continued during the month of May, as I took classes in DCW’s school, on the outskirts of Dublin city centre. Unfortunately, due to underwhelming attendance and interest, the plug had to be pulled, which is a shame. Right call, though. No point haemorrhaging money over time. The thing with this country is that there are a number of good facilities out there and, to be honest, not a great deal of demand right now for guys looking to start wrestling. Most memorable, I think, during the short time I was there was the progress made by a trainee called Nina, who was probably the most frequently-attending trainee in the place. It took a little while for her to get the hang of things, but her perseverance and determination to get better really stood to her and, by the time things wrapped up, she was making some nice progress. Just a shame the place closed when it did.
My first bit of in-ring action during the month took place in Artane, not far from where I live. I had helped book the venue a few months before, so was interested to see what sort of a crowd DCW had drawn for it. This would be my first appearance for them in two months, as I had missed their ‘Mania’ and ‘Aftermath’ shows, due to prior bookings I had in the UK.
As I’ve absolutely HAMMERED home repeatedly in previous blogs, I’d gotten used to not wrestling in Ireland, so ‘show days’ for me had become synonymous with heading off to the Airport, and going through the whole rigmarole of air travel. Wrestling with DCW, though, obviously comes with the benefit of not having to go far from home, so it was nice to have a show day, while still getting a much-needed lie-on in bed that morning! I actually spent the morning of the Artane show in bed, watching Family Guy! (The “..And Then There Were Fewer” murder-mystery episode; a darned good one! The Patrick Stewart talking cat, in particular, gave me a good chuckle!)
I spent a few hours before the show hanging with Bam Katraz, a guy who’s been a friend of mine for a good few years. As well as being a friend, I would definitely count Bam as one of my favourite ‘opponents’. We’ve had four singles matches together, and I genuinely feel that they’re all distinct, quality bouts, as it were. Bam, himself, has been working hard towards getting back into wrestling this year, and that’s been great to see. Rather than rushing back into things half-assed, he’s held off patiently until he could return, and put forward the best version of himself as possible; something I respect a great deal. (Bam and Seán South are the two guys I would regularly spar/train with and, though we’ve different styles, I think our approach to wrestling would be similar, as would be our attitudes towards training, and its importance in trying to stay as sharp as possible.) Anyway, long story short, Bam & I hung out for a while before heading to the show, shooting the proverbial shit, and so forth, and it was enjoyable and relaxing.
The show itself was grand, drew a decent crowd for the night that was in it, and generated a nice atmosphere. Only problem was it went a bit long, and by the time my match came around, the show had been running three hours, and it was 10:30. I worked Vic in the main event, and enjoyed it. I always like working with Vic.
I had imagined that my feud with his faction (The Family Against Sinners) would have continued over the next few shows, in light of the kidnapping angle that had been used to explain my absence for two months, but it was decided that the feud would be dropped, and I’d work with Andy Phoenix on the next show, on foot of him hitting me with a briefcase after the match. While I warmly welcome the opportunity to work with Andy- and anyone I haven’t worked before, in general- I will admit to being a little disappointed that the Family angle was dropped so quickly, as I truly felt it had a lot of mileage left in it.
I don’t know how best to describe my thought process behind it, but I cut a promo shortly after the Artane show, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz1nBdDge48 . Genuinely, I think it’s the best promo I’ve ever cut. Not that that’s saying much—I’ve no delusions that I’m a great promo guy. That said, it’s the most comfortable I’ve ever felt delivering one, and I think that comes across in it. (I imagine the acting classes I’ve taken over the last few years have helped contribute to that.)
Promos are an interesting animal—some people love ‘em, some hate ‘em. For the longest time, I would’ve been in the latter camp. I hated them passionately, and hated watching my promos. I wasn’t comfortable in my skin- as the expression goes- wasn’t sure who my character truly was, and they were just awkward, and clichéd. The promos I cut for Whiplash were godawful, and cringeworthy, and most of the ones I cut weren’t used. (Thankfully!) Worst of all, they SOUNDED like someone cutting a promo, if you get me…? As a trainer, I never taught promos or, at least, not regularly. I could watch guys cut them, and give feedback on body language, delivery, cadence, and so forth, but I didn’t feel that I could teach someone how to speak, or get their character across. That was something inherently personal to them, and it was up to them to try and let their character out. From my own standpoint, I favour promos that have a ‘natural’ feel to them; where you feel the speaker IS their character, as opposed to someone PLAYING a character. I know that’s a very, very fine line, but it’s a distinction that I feel often takes a promo to the next level. (Forgive the preachy tone—again, I have no claims to being any sort of promo wizard; I’m not. This is just my own preference regarding the types of promos that catch my attention, and leave an impression.)
For the promo above, as I say, I just felt it; felt comfortable enough to let my character, and my own personal traits and so forth, come out. I’ve felt it before during live, in-ring promos, as I have an audience to work off of, and I like to have a bit of fun with them. Regular ‘camera’ promos, though, were never my forte, particularly with people watching. I always found that it distracted me, and just took me out of the mindset and zone I needed to get into.
Outside wrestling, I’m fairly introverted. Unless I know people especially well, I keep to myself—this may be interpreted by people as me being standoffish or arrogant or a dickhead, but I’m just a quiet person, to be honest. As a result, stuff like promos- and even making a decent, attention-grabbing entrance- were foreign. They were unnatural to me. An expression I heard during my stint doing drama intrigued me: “If you can’t feel it, fake it.” For ages, I’d faked it. I’d sorta feel the excitement of going out there in front of a crowd, but it was just me PLAYING “Bingo Ballance.” This year, though, I’ve felt more like I AM “Bingo Ballance” when I go out there, and I actually AM “feeling it” now. It’s only taken about five and a half bloody years! What’s taken so long? Heh heh! I guess the point I’m trying to make- eventually- is that if you’re comfortable in yourself, that comes across, and I think my gradually arriving at a point of comfort in myself, and in my character, has taken me to the point of no longer hating promos, but actually welcoming the opportunity to allow my character to develop.
Wow. That was… incredibly long-winded! Anyway, let’s move on…
Less than a week after DCW in Artane, I had my second show of the month, over in the UK. I flew over to Newcastle on a Friday morning. This was my third time flying over to Newcastle (after two trips to IWF last year), and the third rowdy, and irritating flight! Every time—EVERY time—I’ve gone over to Newcastle, there’s been either a stag party or a hen party, or a group of rambunctious fellow passengers who feel the need to absolutely BELLOW across to each other through the entire flight. At that hour of the morning—as all the flights have been morning ones—that level of volume is really unwelcome, and downright inconsiderate. “Hell is other people” is the expression, I believe!
The trip over to Newcastle, itself, though, was a very enjoyable one, as I débuted for the North East Wrestling Society (or “NEWS.”) The NEWS setup is very impressive, and the promoter Paul really has his head screwed on, which is hugely refreshing. As well as being sensible, and smart with his resources, he’s a nice guy, and I enjoyed dealing with him. Definitely one of the better promoters I’ve encountered in quite a while.
I opened the show in a three-way with Pac, and Lowthian (the ‘Tyneside Titan’- a brilliant moniker.) I’ve worked with Pac a few times down through the years. Along with facing off with him in the finals of the Irish Whip Zero Gravity tournament in 2007, he was the first ‘outside talent’ I worked with early in my career, back in 2006. In fact, a TV match we had- which opened the second season of IWW’s Whiplash programme- helped launch my singles run, and I’d regard it as my first ‘breakout’ match. (At that point, plans had been in place for me to be a ‘jobber’ during the series, but the audience reaction that night, along with the quality of the match itself, changed the plans a little bit, and I was given more to do on the tapings, and more of a role in the Zero Gravity division, which I was delighted with.)
Pac, along with being an exceptionally nice, down-to-earth guy, is excellent to work with, and I’ve enjoyed the matches we’ve had over the years, and feel we’ve good chemistry together. I hadn’t worked with Lowthian before, but he was great to work with as well, and has a terrific look and presence, in addition to very solid and impressive ring work for the amazingly short amount of time he’s working. (Lowthian’s manager, Julian Werther-Chambers, was also a very sound guy, and I enjoyed chatting to him while I was over. He, in turn, enjoyed putting the boots to me, as I lay on the outside, during the match…!) The match itself was very enjoyable, and I think came off nicely. The crowd of (I think) close to 200 people seemed into it, too, which was cool.
I had an early flight back from Newcastle Airport the following morning, so had booked into a B&B near the Airport, in Ponteland. (“Pon-tee-land.”) The show was in Peterlee, in Durham, a good half-hour from the Airport, so Pac very kindly gave me a lift there once we’d finished our match. I hadn’t seen him in about four years, so it was good catching up with him, and chatting to him and his friend Natalie, who was also very nice.
I stayed in the Stonehaven Lodge, a ten minute walk from the Airport. A comfortable stay, definitely, though the proprietors were a little bit… I dunno. A tiny bit “off”, I guess. That said, it had little bearing on the rest of the evening. The earlier-than-usual departure from the show allowed for a nice few hours’ relaxation, stuffing my face with a pizza pie from Papa John’s, (that we’d gotten on the way), and watching episodes of Seinfeld on my portable DVD. Great stuff, and definitely needed after a long week of work thrown into the bargain.
Not so great was my night’s sleep, which was interrupted rudely by the people in the room next to me, who got in from a Take That pop concert after midnight, and were very loud. It didn’t help that the walls were paper thin, either—you could’ve talked them into coming down! My namesake Mr Barlow can advise one to “have a little patience”, but it’s quite difficult to, at that hour… At any rate, I drifted back off into a peaceful slumber after a little while, was up in good time for my flight the next morning, and got back home to Dublin with minimal hassle. (I would generally have one or two songs that I might play a few times on my iPod on certain trips. For some reason, I might just be in the humour to hear one particular track a few times. For this trip, anyway, Howie Day’s The Longest Night was that song, and had me suitably mellowed. Link for those interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiqUXVmKfrQ) All in all, a very enjoyable trip.
And now, we move onto the non-wrestling portion of things… Picked up Family Guy Season 10 during May, and enjoyed it a lot. Of particular note were episodes like “And Then There Were Fewer”, “Brian and Stewie” (which started on a rather revolting, gross-out note, but moved onto something surprisingly deep and poignant for FG), “Brian’s House of Payne”, and “Quagmire’s Dad” (including Brian’s hilarious reaction to hearing some unpleasant news)… Along with Family Guy, I re-watched the fantastic Seinfeld (as mentioned earlier), and finished off the second season of Lie to Me, which I enjoyed a lot… I saw Insidious during May, a film which has really divided audience opinions. Personally, I thought it was excellent, and legitimately one of the creepiest, most suspenseful horror films I’ve ever seen. The “explanation” halfway through the film is make-or-break; you either like it, buy into it, and continue on invested in it, or you think it’s bullshit. I liked it, personally, and thought it was an interesting direction to go in… The state visits of Queen Elizabeth II and Barack Obama to Ireland were very well-conducted, in my view, and I was pleased to see that both went off without a hitch, particularly the Queen’s visit, which had the potential of being a political powder keg, but turned out fine. Her speaking a little bit of an Irish was a very classy move, I felt. Though large sections of Dublin were closed to accommodate the visits, I was largely unaffected, luckily…
That’s it for May and, as always, thanks for reading, guys. ‘Til next time, take care.
- Ballance
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