It’s hard to believe, but March is my 20 year Firestormiversary! All matches released for the next year will have a little 20 year celebratory into. I have a few other things planned, but don’t want to over promise anything if they don’t come to fruition as they require a bit of cooperation from other people, BG East, etc. I’m obviously planning on reflecting on the past 20 years more than I a quick paragraph to open up a blog.

I finally made it out to a WrestleFest event. I don’t know what it is with this event, but something always seems to come up that derails my plans. This year wasn’t any different. My uncle passed away the week leading up to the event. So a lot of my time and energy was diverted into everything surrounding that, making sure cousins coming in from out of town were all set with travel plans, places to stay etc. I was on the fence about not going out to NYC at all, but then it worked out that I could get out there for Saturday and Sunday before coming home for the services on Monday night. We knew it was coming, this was much sooner than expected but it was still sad. He was the reason I started wrestling to begin with, and my first wrestling coach.

I took a late train out to NYC on Friday night. I figured it’s easier than driving since I could take a nap, and it’s pretty much just as quick. Boy was I wrong. I had to sit through 4.5 hours of delays. I was delayed longer than what the travel time was supposed to take. So instead of getting in just before midnight on Friday night and being able to go to the kickoff party, I got in at 4:30 am Saturday morning. Very tired and cranky. Thankfully JJ Hart let me crash in his room since I originally had other plans for the night that couldn’t happen at that point.

After waking up and having brunch, it was right to work assisting with some BG East matches.  Lips sealed on who was involved in them, but they were all good matches. These boys were all into each other, which always makes filming more enjoyable. Then it was time to get ready to head to the event I was looking forward to the most, the Live WrestleFest show.

I got to the venue a little early to schmooze with the boys before doors opened. It was my first time meeting many of them. I was bored before heading to the fest and made Jonny Firestorm WrestleFest trading cards to hand out to people as they entered the live event. For those of you who got a card and didn’t fully read the back, there is a special WrestleFest promo code at the bottom for a discounted Club Firestorm Membership! For those of you who were unable to attend, here’s what the card looks like, minus the promo code. I wonder how many NYC trash bins were littered with my face by the end of the night? Anyways…

Watching the first half of the show was a lot of fun. I enjoy live wrestling events, but it seemed like the audience was a little hesitant or unsure of how to react to things at first. So you’ll hear me loudly leading some cheers and chants if you watch the footage. After a little push, they were all hooting and hollering all on their own. Then right around intermission I disappeared, luckily nobody noticed and the few people who knew what was coming kept their mouths shut.

Gabe Steel got things going again against Drew Harper. After he tossed Drew out of the ring, he made an open challenge to anybody who thought they were man enough to take him on. Whatever poor wrestler answered the call was quickly dispatched of. He made the challenge again, this time Chase Adams answered. He had been on referee duty all night and eager to get in the ring. Chase burst through he door and was about half way though his “Charming as fuck” catch phrase when I had heard enough. Love me some Chase, but if anybody was going to knock an overconfident Gabe back down to size in front of a live audience there’s only one man for the job. The audience saw just an arm pop though the door, scruff Chase and yank him to the back. After a moment, I walked out and the collective “Ohhhhhhhhhhh!!!!” from the audience let Gabie Poo know that he was about to instantly regret this open challenge.

I didn’t realize it till I got into the ring, but Gabe was regretting a few things already. Live shows are challenging. Something always goes wrong, and that night was no different. When I got close enough to the ring to see his face, I noticed Gabe had a nice little lump on his eye that was starting to swell. I was assessing the situation during as I was entering the ring. I decided that kicking him in the nuts was the way to go. That way I’d have a chance to look at it closer and check in with him. I wanted to heel Gabe, but not put him in any real danger. After checking on him he said “I’m good, the show must go on, fuck that” (about stopping the match early). So I proceeded with his ass kicking. I was getting a little nervous looking at his eye swell up more and more as time went on, so I brought him to a corner to rub my crotch in his face. Not just because it’s fun, but so I could get a closer look at his eye without pausing the action. The swelling was much worse, he was still down to keep going, but it was obvious that I just needed to get through this as quickly and safely as possible. The crowd still seemed to be into the match, but it was hard not to be a little disappointed with how things went.

Gabe and I have a lot of fun wrestling usually. He’s very capable of putting on a great show, not just being a Jonny punching bag. I was hoping to have something more involved happen, a match to showcase his skill set better. But, with the situation being what it was, I think we made the best of what it. I haven’t seen the match yet, I hope it was entertaining for everybody. Despite the injury, Gabe was very happy with the crowd response and the match in general. I had fun being able to perform, and there’s always next year to put more of a show. I’m just glad we got though it, the crowd was responsive, and no further injury occurred. We’re actually texting right this second about it all. Footage from the show, and the match should be available soon.

After changing back into normal people clothes I was able to catch the last few matches on the show while hanging with some of the other guys. Kid Vicious was in the house, so it was fun to catch some ‘rasslin and compare notes with him.

After the show I had planned on attending the singlet party, but as soon as I got back to my room to shower and sat down on the bed I was out cold. Exhausted from the train fiasco and working all day. Oh well. I’m not drinking at the moment, so I’m not sure how fun all the nightlife stuff would’ve been anyways. Sunday was full of BG East tapings, so there wasn’t much free time to do anything, much less any of the scheduled WF events. I think next year I’d like to attend the fan panel/expo or whatever it was called, as well as some of the live wrestling sessions or classes. It was great meeting a lot of wrestlers and interacting with people attending the fest. Sunday night I met up with Kayden/Ash/Freddy. I know we’re all local to each other, but it’s tough to find free time to get together.

Monday was pretty low key, I filmed some matches for the website and for Club Firestorm. One of them will be dropping pretty soon. Maybe check back on the 1st 😉 I had dinner with some of the boys and then headed to the train station to get back home. No complications on the return trip thankfully.

I’m looking forward to next years event, until then I hear Toronto is a great place to visit. Maybe in July? What do you guys think?