By Jake Clarke @JakeCCK
My story and connection with Professional wrestling
Wrestling is something that all fans look to to get away from their problems. To leave their busy family lives and whether it be on a screen or life in person in a tacky social club, watch 2-3 hours of entertainment, hard hitting action and intriguing stories in most cases. This week has been #mentalhealthawarenessweek. As wrestling is something that has helped me through this, I want to take you readers on a journey as I talk about everything in wrestling, how I got into it, how I fell out of it and so much more. Strap yourselves in.
Where do I begin? I guess the very start. November 2007 at the age of 6 years old. Sat in my aunty and uncles house, my uncle slaps on an episode of Raw. Jeff Hardy vs Carlito, ladder match for the Intercontinental championship, what a first match to watch. Ever since then Jeff Hardy has been a huge part of my wrestling fandom. After I watched this Raw episode, I didn’t really watch it much but I began to research all the time, my mum would buy me DVDS from the local HMV and I would get the sticker books. I remember watching a DVD on the best tag teams in WWE and I watched that a lot until I got my next wrestling fix. That would be at my uncles house once again, Backlash 2009. I watched it to see Jeff Hardy finally beat his brother Matt in an I quit match and get his revenge. I adored that feud because Jeff Hardy, he is the greatest. I was heartbroken when he left the WWE. Shortly after this PPV, my mum discovered TNA on Bravo. I then fell in love with TNA and watched that way more than WWE. Every Friday night I would watch my favourites in Abyss, AJ Styles, Beer Money and many others. Then a few months later, Jeff Hardy only goes and turns up in TNA. From 2010-2014 I would watch TNA every week until it became bad and then I just stopped, I guess. By this point though, I had discovered something that would change my wrestling perspective from this point onwards.
In 2013, I would officially fall in love with independent wrestling. In 2008, I actually had my first taste of Indy wrestling in a social club in Thurmaston, Leicester. The promotion was called BEW and I won’t lie, it was quite dreadful, however, Martin Kirby was actually in the main event of that show so that is pretty cool. For the next 5 years though, I wouldn’t see another Indy show. I owe this one to my mum again as she discovered LCW (Leicester Championship wrestling). My first LCW show was Mayhem 2013 and in the main event of that show was Marty bloody Scurll vs LJ Heron and Stixx in a 3 way main event for the LCW Championship. Marty Scurll hooked me. His “Party Marty” gimmick was so great and he was wicked in the ring. From this point onwards, I would attend LCW every show and get to see wrestlers like The Hunter Brothers, Kris Travis, Robbie X, Joseph Conners, Tyler Bate and many more. From that show to late-2015 LCW was my place to go but then the booking got repetitive and stale. I went to one LCW show after that and that was because Tyler Bate was on the card in June 2016. I am thankful for LCW though because it introduced to the Indies and I discovered ROH, New Japan, PWG and many more and I would buy ROH DVDs of off Ebay and I’d watch PWG on youtube. After my last LCW show though, I began to fall out of wrestling a little bit. I stopped keeping up with the indies and I rarely watched WWE and this would be the case for about a year and a half.
I’d say I got back into wrestling in November 2017 when I went to my first HOPE show which featured Kip Sabian, Cara Noir vs Chris Tyler which was mind blowing, Aussie Open and many more. This actually lead to me following BritWres a lot more so that I could keep up with the talents I was now discovering on a monthly basis at HOPE. I started watching New Japan a little bit as well and Will Ospreay sort of drew me into that as I watch New Japan for his matches really. This year I have done 16 live shows which is a lot considering this time last year I had done 5. I am currently the most into wrestling I have ever been and I think you could argue it is in the best era it has ever been in.
So at the start of the article I mentioned how this week is Mental Health Awareness week and I am now going to talk about the impact wrestling had on me through hard times. In November 2017, I began to feel sad quite often, for reasons unknown. When I started going to HOPE, it would take my mind of off things going on in my life. It is 3 hours away from the real world watching larger than life characters settle their differences in a ring. Relating to these characters to, being able to connect with these wrestlers is so great because you feel like you’re watching a mate and it can be so cool to see them reach the next step. Ultimately, what I am saying is that wrestling is an escape and it has helped me so much.
I would also like to thank PWJ right now because they have given me the platform to write for them and when I write, I feel like it is another escape and that wouldn’t be the case without this excellent talented team of writers.
Thank you for reading this.
@JakeCCK, what are your experiences with wrestling? Follow my twitter for discussions, show coverage and much more.
Check out the website and read my colleagues articles. They are all immensely talented writers and they all produce great content.
