Sunday - 13/10/2003
6:15?... Damn, that time alreaady? It felt like I'd been asleep for a week. A very short week. It was dark outside. I, truthfully, haven't woken up in the dark since Boston.
Yes, it's been a while, but I'm back by popular demaand. I've had so many e-mails asking me to step in the ring again, that I couldn't keep up with the replies. So I apologise to all of my fans who did not recieve a reply.
!*&%, sorry I was sleeping. It's lucky I put alarms on for 6:20, 6:25 and 6:30.
It was freezing. The heating hadn't kicked in yet and I had managed to kick the duvet off of the bed in the middle of the night. I was so cold, I swear I saw a penguin fly past the window. Don't be ridiculous, Ian. Penguins are out of season.
Luckily, I had a huge jumper, plus various other items of clothing, which kept me warm whilst making some toast and paté. It's more than I cook at uni! Only kidding, occasionally I have some cheese too.
I had returned to my house for the night, not under popular demand, but I needed to copy some files onto CD to put on my new laptop... I mean see my family ;oP I started off burning a new CD, but it didn't finish in time. 5 minutes later, with my hair styled, teeth cleaned, make-up... uh, a made-up bed and a packed bag, I left my house.
My mam gave me a lift to the station, because she's lovely, and I started on my long and wonderful train journey.
The lack of staff, no button for Purfleet (where the wrestling school is) on the ticket machine and the fact that the barriers were open, meant that it was impossible to pay for my travel.
DJ Marky accompanied me with a Brazilian Job. Yes, Brazilian, on MiniDisc, courtesy of James. Robin Hunter helped the time pass with "True Stories of the SBS" and the ticket inspector ruined my chances of a free journey.
The train stopped at Slough, where I stayed on and continued to read. Later on, Andy C xprsd himself with "XPRSYRSLF" on MD, again courtesy of James. Nice one mate.
We stopped off at West Drayton, wherever the hell that is. I guessed it was somewhere in between Reading and London Paddington, because I'm clever like that. Exciting as West Drayton was, I carried on reading. At least Hayes & Harlington sounded like a real station.
In fantastic British trains fashion, I arrived at Paddington 10 mminutes late. "Strange", I thought, "the train is surprisingly early".
I entertained myself whilst waiting for a tube, by watching a really fat pidgeon trying to walk.
But wait, what's that? Is Paul Heyman standing on the other side of the platform?
The man was fairly short and wore jeans and a black leather jacket. He had a long, dark ponytail and was wearing a pink cap with his hair flowing out through the gap in the cap. Plus, he was asking for directions, suggesting that he wasn't from around these parts. The guy he was with said nothing the whole time. I assume there's another new wrestler coming into the WWE who doesn't yet know how to use a Mic. I so wish I had a picture phone.
The Circle (Yellow) line was completely screwed up and I had to change at Edgware Road.
I was meeting a girl at Tower Hill tube station at 9 supposedly, but it was now 8:50. She is really into wrestling and has had a lifetime dream of becoming a wrestler. Unfortunately, she couldn't find anyone to go with. Her name is Hinnah and I have never met her before, but know her through my ex-girlfriend.
I eventually got on a tube and got off at Tower Hill 10 mins late. There was only one person waiting and she fitted the description.
"You must be Hinnah", I said.
We walked to Fenchurch station and got the train to Grays. We would have got it to Purfleet, but there were problems with the train line and we had to get on a "Rail Replacement" bus. The bus dropped us off at Purfleet train station and, with the aid of Hinnah's map, we found our way through an industrial estate to North Road. It looked just like a housing estate, but eventually we found a building resembling a sports hall. The only problem was, it looked completely shut and derelict. All of the windows had metal blinds pulled down over them and, apart from some little pikeys (charvas, brats... or various other words), there was no sign of life. We thought there may be an entrance around the back, but to no avail. I noticed that KANE had been scratched into one of the doors, which made it even worse. If this was the place and it's now closed, had the schoool shut down? We decided to walk on for a bit, just in case their was another sports hall thing, but all we could find were houses. Asking people if they knew where it was, was absolutely no help. They simply didn't want to know.
This was starting to get worrying. We decided to trek back to the road, as there was a path further ahead. We had to go around the building again and as we were passing it, the little kids asked us if we were wrestlers. Maybe they do have their uses after all.
"Yes", I replied.
Just as Hinnah was going to ask them where it was, one of the really shut looking doors opened and a guy in shorts and T-Shirt came out.
I asked him if this was Dropkixx Wrestling School. It turned out it was the right building, so we entered exactly on time. Although we had to wait a bit for the trainer.
English Wrestling is different to American.
e.g. Taking a bump.
In English wrestling you fall so that you land on your shoulders and arms without your lower back touching the floor. Personally, I prefer the American way, as it gives a much better sound, giving a better overall effect. But either way is good, because if you slap the mat as you fall it sounds nice anyway.
We paid and the class did stretches as a group. Hinnah is trained as a gym instructor which is good, because she can give me tips!
I worked with Hinnah for the day, as we were both new, although she had done no wrestling before. The trainer taught us some chain wrestling. I had already learnt some in Boston, but here we learnt set sequences.
Chain wrestling is basically using holds and reversing moves, not the BIG moves like suplexes and powerbombs, etc. Check out thee sequences we learnt on my moves page. We were going through Top Wrist Locks, Full Nelsons, Headlocks, etc.
I spoke to a guy who knew someone who had been to Kowalskis earlier this year. The man was Italian and worked for XIW (Xtreme Italian Wrestling). He had never met the student, but knew him because he was now competing in XIW. At first I couldn't remember his name, but knew who he was talking about.
"Francesco!" I said, just after we had finished practicing one of the sequences. Hinnah was bemused, but I explained that was the guy the man was talking about. Apparently he's doing really well and will be coming over to England soon, which is cool.
Later on, we did some Kowalski Rolls, although they didn't call them that. I helped Hinnah with her somersault into a bump. Obviously, I'm no expert, but I tried!
One of the best parts of the 6 hours (11 till 5), was when ... taught us some amateur wrestling (Olympic style). It was really interesting and we paired up to try and get each others shoulders to hit the mat. I had a slight height, weight and strength advantage over Hinnah, who, I hope doesn't mind me mentioning it, is quite short. However, I admit, I did get pinned once! It was great fun.
Phil "Flash" Barker, the British Heavyweight Champion, was there and he showed us some stuff in the ring. That guy is absolutely massive.
It was strange, because I was used to practicing in a ring, but at Dropkixx they do everything on Judo mats and crash mats.
Hinnah and I kept practicing. What I learnt at Kowalskis was you need to know the basics. You can do all the flash moves you like, but if you can't do the basics and make them look good, you won't get far. Therefore, practice, praactice, practice. I managed to try a few Moonsaults, but they didn't go to well. They need some more work done on them.
It was so good to go wrestling again, even though I didn't set foot in the ring.
The journey home went well, except for the 50 minute wait at Grays due to a train cancellation. I got the tube to Kings Cross, where I left Hinnah and then on to Hatfield. I had a 30 minute walk to look forward to, which made my journey so much better.
Thankyou for reading. This has been Ian's exhausting return to the world of professional wrestling.