Phew. I seems like this summer has blown by. I’m ready for a vacation, but I don’t think it’s in the cards for me quite yet. I’m a little tired still after a weekend of BG East and custom video tapings. My normal relaxation routine after a shoot has been interrupted this week by some real life things that have requited a lot of attention and energy. So this post probably won’t be well written, or witty. Thankfully the weekend is shaping up to be very low key, so I’ll have a chance to recharge then.

Where to start? Let’s back track a bit. I blew out my knee one match into the 7 I had to do when I was in Detroit back in May. I’m finally just starting to feel close to 100%, or at least as close to 100% that I can be. At the time it was just a moral killer. I had been hitting the gym hard, was starting to notice some weight coming off and then boom. Getting through the rest of that trip was a challenge. On the plus side, it did force me to switch up a few things in matches that I’d perhaps become too reliant on.

A few of you know that a number of us had been dealing with this stalker situation, which had been ongoing for a bout a decade. It really intensified for a period of time, I was getting 300+ calls and texts per day, they were calling my mother & grandmothers houses at all hours of the night. Creating countless fake social media profiles to try to weasel their way into my social circle so they could message anybody that was even remotely associated with me or anybody I knew. Making threats to show up at my, and my family members residences, etc. Thankfully the FBI got involved, the person was arrested, and has been sentenced. I’m glad to finally be able to move on from all of that without questioning every interaction I have with somebody thinking it could be this person using an alias.

The Birthday Bundle sale was a lot of fun. Some of those matches I forgot I had. As I’m getting a little older, I’m appreciating that I can now sit down and watch myself grow up on camera through the years. I was 18 or 19 when Jonny Firestorm first speedo’ed up and stepped into the ring for BG East. I started doing my own custom videos not too long after that. Sometimes seeing certain matches can bring me back to that exact period of my life. It was a lot of fun combing through my collection to find some matches that hadn’t ever seen the light of day. Remembering how fun the old shoots were with certain groups of guys. I’d fly everybody in, most would stay at my house and we’d spend all weekend wrestling and going out at night to have fun. Not that shoots still aren’t fun now, we still socialize and all of that. It’s just not the same as being in your 20’s and making some of those bonds and friendships.

Speaking of bonds and friendships, it was so good to see Austin Cooper again. We’ve always kept in contact though the years, but I haven’t seen Coop in a long time. It sounds like this was him hanging up his hat, but you can never say never in wrestling. Look at how many times the late, great Terry Funk had a retirement match. I’m going to share some screen shots of a few of the custom matches we filmed. It was a pleasure stepping into the ring with him again, and like a fine wine, he’s only gotten better with age.

It’s been a busy summer with travel, private matches, and custom requests. But it hasn’t been all work. Cameron and I got to hang out a few weeks back. Nothing crazy, it was a low key night sitting by a fire, watching matches, and bouncing ideas off one another.

I could ramble on some more about stuff, but I think I’ll save that for an upcoming project I’m going to start working on. Next spring/summer is my 20th anniversary since my first BG East match. I’ve started reaching out to a few people to work on some sort of project, I’m not sure exactly what it’s going to be just yet. I think part of it will definitely be a sit down interview. I’d like for part of it to be a kinda mini documentary where I’m filming what it’s actually like being in my shoes during traveling and for shoots etc. Now that the knee isn’t an issue anymore, hopefully a weight loss journey. I know a lot of you support me, and like my work no matter what I look like. I’m just a little more beefy than I want to be now. I don’t have grand delusions I’m going to be 135 lbs with abs ever again, nor do I want to be. I think my sweet spot is a thick muscled 175 lbs. Any ideas on what else would be cool to see for part of this?

Lastly,

I’m going to be making a brief stop in Chicago next week! I have some availability to do some private matches, as well as some custom match filming. I’ve found a space with a ring I’m renting out to film out of, so hopefully everything goes smoothly. I’ll be with Nathan FX

Also, I’m throwing up the Bat-signal for anybody that has a ring, or knows of rings that rent out to people. Obviously don’t include the BG East locations. I’d bet there’s a few sneaky ones I don’t know about. Just email me at info@jonnyfirestorm.com and include the city/state, if it’s yours or just a place you know along with the contact info and rate.

That’s all for now!