Across the Pond Wrestling - I wanted to start about about talking about how your weekend went? You were at Riptide against Eddie Dennis and Battle Pro against TK Cooper...
Chuck Mambo - Yeah that was mad fun. Really nice. Riptide is super cool because the guys that run it are musicians so they really want to make sure that everyone's took care of backstage. So the first time round there was crates of beer and this time there was a keg backstage. We got there at 12 or something, so we went for a swim on the beach and to all the old arcades, so that was super fun. The match with TK was really cool, we've wrestled a few times, before he went back to New Zealand... so we've got a good thing going on in the ring there. Then Battle Pro, obviously that's super cool as well because our friends run it and it's a new place to work in London, which is really nice. I've been wanting to wrestle Eddie for like four years, so I was mad nervous about that one, but it was really really fun.
ATPW - Did you get up to anything else at the weekend?
CM - There's these summer camps in the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, called Phoenix Wrestling, but more properly known as MinelliMania. They have these traditional old school rounds matches and they were so much fun. I had a brawl around a fun fair.
ATPW - So let's go with the basic opener question, how did you get into wrestling? What made you become a fan of pro wrestling?
CM - Well the earliest thing I remember for wrestling was my friend Dan came across the road and he had an Owen Hart and The Rock action figure set. I was like "These action figures are cool" and he said "Yeah, they're wrestlers". Our brother were both five years older or something, so they were kind of keeping up to date with WrestleMania X-7 and talking about Rock/Austin all the time and I was like "No, The Rock's going to win because he's the best" even though I'd never seen him but I'd seen the action figure! Then I got a Kane/Mankind double set and we were playing with them all the time and then eventually at a car boot sale I bought a wrestling video, but then I realised that Hulk Hogan wasn't on it so I cried until they gave me on with Hulk Hogan on. Which was WrestleMania IX which apparently everyone says is a bad WrestleMania but I thought it was pretty good! From there, I just started watching WWF I suppose. My friend had Sky, so I'd go over on a Friday night and watch RAW and you know there was like SmackDown and Superstars and then another one, something like AfterFlame (Afterburn?), well we'd watch about six hours of wrestling. I guess, that's it really?
ATPW - What year was that? What was going on in WWF/E at the time?
CM - I guess, it would've been just after WrestleMania X-7, it was sometime around then that I started watching the programming. I can't really remember any of the storylines from early on, but then the first one I remember being really excited about was Rock and Hogan and being like "This is going to be the maddest!". But then when was the triangle ladder match, because I definitely watched that. That was like WrestleMania 2000. So somewhere between (WrestleMania) 16 and 18 I started watching it! You don't remember everything from when you're that young, I would've been like five, maybe. I can't really remember too much of the storylines, but I remember being mad for Matt Hardy!
ATPW - From watching WWF, how did you find out about there being a British wrestling scene?
CM - When I was 15, I just googled "wrestling schools" and luckily enough there was one opening up near me...near where my Dad lived, at least. It was called Pro Evolution Wrestling and they're stilling running, they're really cool. So if anyone's in the South West and gets a chance to see Pro Evolution Wrestling it's worth checking them out. I went to train there for a bit, but I don't think I had enough focus and I could only make it if I was at my Dad's, so rather than training a couple of times a week, it was one every two weeks. So it wasn't very much and with time I ran out of money and fell out of it the first time round. Then I came to London for Uni when I was 18/19, so I spent a year doing amateur wrestling, because I didn't realise there was much going on with wrestling in London, even though PROGRESS had been going like that whole year. But then I saw a DEFEND Indy Wrestling sticker in a toilet in Shoreditch and googled that and then somehow through the powers of Facebook found out about PROGRESS. I guess because DEFEND Indy were doing their thing against Screw Indy on PROGRESS. Then PROGRESS was like half an hour away from my Uni, so I ended up being able to train five times a week and then after about six months there was the first ENDVR and I ended up on that and I got rolling from there.
ATPW - What year did you begin training at the Projo?
CM - It would've been 2013 I think, it would've been around February, I think.
ATPW - What was your focus when you started training? Did you have a plan?
CM - I just wanted to be wrestling, really. Not too many years before, obviously the wrestling was still good, but the shows were all quite small and I was envisaging that PROGRESS would be like town hall and family wrestling. I really should've known the product better, I guess, but I hadn't seen any of their shows online, because I really suck at the internet. So I didn't really know what to expect, but I went to Chapter 9 and it was like holy fuck, it was so good. Everyone actually really cared about everything and it had high production values. So once I'd seen the Chapter I was like "Wow, yeah I want to be on this!". It was sick when I got to wrestle in the Garage, because that was where I saw Jimmy (Havoc) turn on Jim (Smallman) and that was a mad wrestling moment, so it was really cool to wrestle in the Garage. So then I really wanted to be on the PROGRESS shows and I guess everyone wants to wrestle for WWE one day. Then there was a Doug Williams seminar where he was like "Have a long term goal, like WrestleMania or whatever, but try and have goals along the way". So then I wrote down "After one year I want to be on the Chapters", after two years or three years I wanted to be regularly booked around the country and then after four and five I wanted to start getting around all of the top British promotions and then some of the European promotions and then after ten years I guess it'd be sick if I got to wrestle for WWE. Right now, I'm just having so much fun wrestling. I mean obviously, I want to wrestle for WWE, but if I never did I'd still be pretty happy.
ATPW - Back to the Projo, when did you start doing character work? Because when I watch Chuck Mambo, it's the character that draws me into the wrestling. So when did you start developing that or is it something that comes natural?
CM - It's such a lame thing to say "It's just me with the volume turned up". Jim Smallman was at the Projo one time and I was like "I don't really know what to do" and he said "Do you own a surfboard", so I said "Yeah" and he told me just to roll with that then. Then because I actually do like surfing, I felt like I didn't need to...I was watching some old WCW wrestler, not Raven when he was a surfer guy, he was called "Surfer Ray...something" and he'd come down in a wetsuit and be really loud about being like a surfer and I didn't want to be too hokey. Which I know is a little silly now, because I'm pretty hokey! I managed to just be me in the ring, which is nice.
Then I guess the big thing over the last year or so probably, has been trying to progress from just me, who's like happy-go-lucky, having fun being in a wrestling ring to actually being a credible threat to the person I'm in the ring with and trying to actually get the win and look competitive, which I guess doesn't come quite as naturally to me, but with time I'm feeling it more. More of...not...well yeah aggression, yeah I guess aggression.
I feel like because the character stands out in some ways on PROGRESS, it's cool to have this easy going guy, but you also need to hold your own and be competitive because why else would you be there, but you don't want to get lost in the mix being another super serious guy. So it can be a bit of a balancing act sometimes.
ATPW - So when you made your debut in September 2013 at the first ENDVR show was that your first proper full match in front of a crowd?
CM - I had done a few actually when I was a teenager, but real small stuff and I don't know if I'd want to watch any of them back! But that was the first time I wrestled as Chuck Mambo and I've got a match book with all my matches in and it start with that match against El Pantera Negra.
ATPW - At that time, did you feel ready for that match?
CM - Yeah, yeah I did. I think I'd actually messaged Jon Briley, I'd been on holiday and I messaged him, "Hey man, I feel like I'm super ready for this show. If there's a spot available" and he messaged back saying "Yeah man, we're already considering you" so that was cool. Actually, quite luckily, when I went out, the match was super simple so I could just be me and enjoy it and I guess that was the first time that the character started working. Just reacting how I would react in real life works, I didn't have to worry about "Would the dead zombie react like this?" because it was just me, so that was handy to know. Yeah, I did feel really ready for that match.
ATPW - Can you remember getting any feedback from anyone on the match afterwards?
CM - Yeah, like little bits and bobs. Mostly people said it was kind of cool, but like tricks and tweaks, like not being funny if you're in a move, because obviously you're in a move, so you should be trying to get out of the move. Stuff like that was quite helpful. Then the feedback from the second ENDVR that I did was that I needed to get some boots because I broke my heel, doing a double axe handle. The first ENDVR I was wearing just board shorts and flip flops! But I guess it's fine if you work like Matt Riddle, but it's not so fine if you're doing the dives and stuff.
ATPW - Moving onto Chapter show debut, which was in July 2014, so not too long after your PROGRESS debut, it was a triple threat with Ali Armstrong and William Eaver. I was there on that show, it was my first PROGRESS show and it had Samoa Joe, Will Ospreay, Marty Scurll, Noam Dar
CM - Dude, Samoa Joe vs. Rampage Brown!
ATPW - How did it feel to be so well received? Because the crowd were so into that match and gave all three guys a really good reception.
CM - I remember feeling like a total rockstar! I remember thinking that we smashed it, looking back now I'm sure we'd have a much better match with we did it now, but at time I remember thinking "Yeah...this is sick!". It was mega, mega exciting. That's the cool thing about PROGRESS, it's a really big platform to have, so if you do well, then it feels really good, because you know that people are watching. The crowd is also mega supportive, so if you're trying new things, like trying to be a time-travelling surfer or you're a bit nervous, they're really supportive, as well as really rowdy. Even though they have the funny chants for the bad guys, more often than not they cheer the good guys and are on side, which is really cool. It makes it a lot more fun and then because you're having fun, it becomes a lot more fun to watch.
ATPW - So when I was doing a little bit of research, I was looking at your cagematch profile, I noticed you worked in CZW in 2014, just after your chapter debut, so how did that come about?
CM - Well, at the time, I didn't know that the summer was the busy time for wrestling in Britain. I really should have done, but I didn't. I think I'd just turned 21 and then I had some friends in America, who I promised I'd go out there and meet when I was 21. The tickets to America were maybe five hundred quid, so I thought "If I go for five weeks, then that will justify the price of the ticket", but I totally didn't think about how expensive it is to live for five weeks. So I ended up just bumming around the country, so poor the whole time, but it was mega fun. Just before I went Drake Younger was doing some final seminars and shows in England before he went to NXT. He was super duper nice and they were some of the best seminars I've ever been to. So inspiring and he was talking about how the business is such a gift and he was just a great guy. Then he added me on Facebook, so I was like "Hey man, if I'm in America is there anywhere good to wrestle?" and he was saying about CZW and going down to see DJ Hyde. So I trained with those guys for like two weeks, maybe two out of the five weeks that I was there and they were all super nice. They run Dojo Wars on Wednesdays, so it's like a real small show just in the training school with friends or family, more or less, and some die hards, that come to watch the matches. That was fun and then from there they were like "We need someone on this iPPV" so I said "Yeah, sweet, I can do that!". It was fun, tough crowd though.
ATPW - Yeah, perhaps slightly different to what you were used to at PROGRESS?
CM - Yeah, I came out and some guy was like "Who the fuck is this guy? He doesn't deserve to be here!". You know, lessons learned about how to debut.
ATPW - Do you think it's almost as beneficial to wrestle in front of a hostile crowd as it is to wrestle in front of a supportive crowd like PROGRESS?
CM - Yeah totally. The PROGRESS fans can be pretty forgiving about silliness and stuff. It was really helpful to learn to maybe be a bit more serious in new places. I guess, to just to work to the right audience, because I came in thinking "This is my schtick and I've got it so down" but, of course, they didn't know that, they just wanted to see CZW style stuff. Definitely a good learning experience.
ATPW - In 2015, you began tagging up with Pastor William Eaver as Sweet Jesus. How did the tag team form and who's idea was it to put you together as a team?
CM - I don't know who's idea it was. I guess Jon, Jim or Glen's. But when the Sumerian Death Squad (Tommy End & Michael Dante) were coming in, they need opponents and I don't know why or how, but Jon was like "Yeah, you and Pastor against the SDS!" and I was like "Ahhh shit". And then I don't know, I thought because I was "sweet" a lot and he looks kinda like Jesus, it was a cool tag name and then I think if I'm honest the tag name has taken us a lot further than anything else has! Then, it was pretty well recieved and it's quite a fun tag team to watch, with a bit of an 80's type thing, so I guess it stood out a bit. So then other promoters wanted to use us. So they put us together, I think because SDS needed opponents and we needed experience, but because it was fun it worked out for both of us.
ATPW - Not a bad tag team to step in with to get some experience!
CM - I know right! Like one of the best tag teams in the world! I guess our second matches or second or third. It was so cool. I think my nose was bleeding within a minute or two of that fight! For all of the ouch, it was a super fun experience.
ATPW - Do you prefer tagging or multi-man matches to singles match or is it more like different shades of the same thing?
CM - Maybe I feel more comfortable doing singles matches and I really love doing singles matches, but then when tag matches come off well then I really, really enjoy that and when multi mans come off then I really, really enjoy that. But I suppose I'm better at singles matches, so I enjoy them, because they come off better more often. Basically, any match that I get a chance to do I like doing, so I guess it's more of different shades of the fine art that we call professional wrestling.
ATPW - So the Brixton show for PROGESS, Chapter 37, was that the biggest crowd you've performed in front of?
CM - Yeah man, at least I think it was. I think at one night we had like 3000 at Download, but they must not have all been wrestling. But to perform in front of two and a half thousand proper, proper wrestling fans was sick! It was so cool.
ATPW - How did you think that match went with Paul Robinson? Because that was almost a bonus match that hadn't been previously announced.
CM - It's not even announced on the on demand. Which is kind of sad, because I had this great match against this really respected wrestler and it's not publicised anywhere. Although that's not fair to say, because Jon Briley said it was his favourite match of the year or one of his favourite matches. I'm really grateful for that match.
ATPW - What was it liked to see all those beach balls?!
CM - It was a wicked cool thing to see, especially from the entrance. I was really cool with everything the whole day, I felt sweet and then just as Paul went out, I kind of couldn't feel my legs and I was like "Ah shit!". I'm not sure if it was because I warmed up too much or if it was just nerves. But then when the "Hey Ho Mambo" bit happened and I heard all the crowd be onside with it then I was like "This is just going to be fun" and then I think came out of the wrong part of the stage because I got confused. But then I came out and I saw all the beach balls and I thought "Ahhh, this is super fun, this is the funnest". Then the match was wicked! It was definitely one of my favourite matches I've ever had. It hurt like fuck, it hurt so bad, but it was really, really fun.
It was a real simple one, because the characters are so obvious and the stories are so easy that it didn't need any build up. I'm really flattered that they gave me that chance. It was sweet. The funnest.
ATPW - You've done some stuff with PROGRESS' Freedom's Road show, what's that like to take part in?
CM - Really fun, I think one of the coolest things about it, other than the fact that they seemed to have stopped saying "No" to ideas, is that the crowd know that don't know everything that they'll know by the time that it's on the on demand. So the first time that I was time travelling, I don't think that anyone knew that I had a time-travelling surfboard, so I had to try and let them know throughout the segment. But I feel that must be the same with lots of the other storylines, the fans get to enjoy wicked good wrestling and some of the fucking coolest matches have been on there like James Davis vs. Timothy Thatcher or Rob Lynch vs. Matt Riddle or TK Cooper vs. Riddle or Donavon Dijak vs. Kyle Ashmore, so the wrestling is definitely still sweet, but then the fans also have to be like "What's going on? I guess we'll have to wait and it will actually make sense the next time we watch it!", which is fun. Then from a wrestling perspective, it's just super duper fun. I get to do all these silly stories and funny promos. I really love it.
I'm slowly getting my head around working cameras, but I still get way too excitable about the audience and the fans. But yeah, it has been really good practice, learning to do that!
ATPW - To round up the PROGRESS chat, how do you feel about your position in PROGRESS at the moment? With that being still your main promotion or home base at the moment.
CM - Yeah man, I psyched with being involved in such a big company. I never really know what's going on with their expansion or whatever, but I'm psyched to be involved. I would like to be on more regularly than I am, but I guess everyone would like to be on more regularly than they are. I'm happy to be there. I'd like to work my way up into a cool storyline or a series of matches, because I've not actually had many singles matches on PROGRESS chapters. The ones I've had have been sweet, I've got to wrestle Damian Dunne, I've got to wrestle Paul Robinson, I got to wrestle Bubblegum and then on the Freedom's Road's I got to wrestle Ashmore and Roy Johnson and loads of great people. Obviously, you always want to work more and get better and sell more merch.
ATPW - If you had to choose one of your matches to show someone who had never seen you wrestle before, what would you choose to win them over?
CM - Usually, I would use either the Paul Robinson match or the Bubblegum match, because I feel they are two of the best matches that I've had and because those two are such classic bad guys it shows up my character really well and their character and they're still competitive, exciting wrestling matches. Also if you're showing someone who doesn't like wrestling and there's really big crowd, then they think it's a bit cooler than a show in leisure centre or something like that. Not knocking shows in leisure centre's though, because there's been some cracking show's in leisure centres!
ATPW - Outside of PROGRESS, where have you had the most fun wrestling?
CM - The most fun? Well, the Phoenix holiday camps that I talked about are really, really fun. On Sunday, it was me and Maverick Mayhew against Pastor and Steve Minelli and it was just so much fun, because it's really all about getting the kids on board. So that's really cool. At All Star, I was a baddie. I think I'd been wrestling for about a year when they took me on as a baddie and that's super duper fun, because I never get to shout at people and stuff. That was really fun. And not that I've done a lot actually wrestling for them, but I've been along on the Fight Club: Pro Dream Tag Team Invitational tour and I did a dark match there. I really really like the way that everyone on the team is super duper nice and everyone feels respected and they just want everyone to go out there and be the best that they can be. Which obviously...is the case in any wrestling company, but that was just a super nice environment. Then maybe the funnest place of all is definitely Attack!...maybe, definitely. Well, they are all super fun, but Attack! is mad fun.
ATPW - Yeah, definitely. I think at the Attack! show, and with FCP as well, you can tell that everyone in the building is having a really really good time!
CM - Yeah, I think more and more it seems to be the case at all of the wrestling shows because from what I can tell when I'm there, everyone is having a really good time at PROGRESS, everyone's having a really good time at Fight Club and Attack! Then even some of the smaller shows that you go to, where sometimes the crowd are quite hard to get involved, because sometimes if the lights are on and if you're in a Rugby club and there's like a 100 people, maybe it doesn't feel so much that you're watch a sweet wrestling show, but then once the shows have started, because so many British guys are becoming "names" ourselves, it's easy to get excited and to realise that you're watching a sweet wrestling show. Even if you're in a lights on venue with a really low ceiling!
ATPW - One of my favourite venues is actually the Frog & Fiddle in Cheltenham that Attack! run!
CM - Ahh man, it's the best, right?
ATPW - It's the perfect size for a small, intimate show. It's not a leisure centre with 100 people in, it's this tiny room with 100 people squeezed in!
CM - Yeah, that's super true. It's atmospheric and kind of quirky, I can't rememeber when it was, I guess it was the time it was CCK & Shay against Team Defend and someone was like "We've just watched the WWE UK Champion tear it up in front of 80 people in a barn". It's fucking mad, isn't it? It's so cool. That's such a great venue.
ATPW - What do you think goes into a good wrestling match?
CM - Ah, yeah, I guess you could call it a philosophy. My philosophy on this has kind of changed a lot lately and I guess for the better. I used to try to follow that traditional thing of "You've gotta have a goodie and you've gotta have a baddie" and "less is more", but now I try to think about how the fans are going to feel and react and making sure that the fans have a great time. I think sometimes it's like "Wrestling is this and this and this" but really if the fans are having a sweet time, then that's all that really matters, isn't it? I try to just think about what's going to give the fans the funnest time.
ATPW - Who's been your biggest influence in coming to that point of view?
CM - One time I was talking to Pete Dunne and Eddie Dennis as well, he was talking about not worrying about your moves or anything and thinking about how to take the audience through the right level of excitement...I'm trying not to say journey because it sounds so cheesy. I guess, Pete Dunne and Eddie, but obviously they've got a little more to it than that simplified version. And then like Jimmy (Havoc) has been really influential as well, on making everything mean stuff, rather than just running a spot because it's cool. Trying to get the maximum out of it for the fans as well as just because you think it's sweet.
ATPW - Is there anywhere in the UK or anywhere that you'd like to wrestle more? I'd love to see you in FCP and Attack! more often.
CM - I'd really like to get into ICW still and I'm doing some holiday camps with RevPro, but obviously RevPro are a wicked place to get to wrestle because they've got wicked show. So I suppose ICW and RevPro are two of the biggies. Pretty much anywhere that there's work I'd be happy to work, because I just want to be wrestling as much as I can really. It's getting quite busy now. I'd really like to get more involved with more summer camps, I'm doing a couple, but if anyone wants me on a summer camp that would be sweet. The main two I'd like to be super regular on, other than PROGRESS, are Attack! and Fight Club and then if I could get anything with ICW or RevPro I feel like I'd feel like I was properly on top of the British scene. The big five. Oh shit, OTT would be sweet as well. That would be awesome.
ATPW - You mentioned earlier that you'd been waiting four years to work with Eddie Dennis, is there anyone else on the scene that you'd like to work with more often?
CM - The two other big names on my "To wrestle list" at the moment are Zack Gibson and Rampage Brown. I think it'd be really funny with the size difference between me and Rampage. I'd love to wrestle Zack Gibson, we've had bits and bobs with a four way at Manchester, but to have a one on one with Zack Gibson would be awesome. I am actually a pretty good technical wrestler, I don't get to showcase that too often, but I am actually pretty alright at the old grappling. It would be an awesome opportunity, if that every came out I would grab it!
ATPW - Do you still watch wrestling as a fan?
CM - Yeah man, loads. For a little while early on while I was training, because lots of people will be like "You've gotta do this" or "You've gotta do this" and then you watch RAW and you're like "But they're not doing this, does that mean they're bad?". But then I realise that everything's different and there's not "got to" and "got to not". So I just try to watch things and to think about what I like and what I don't like and to think about why it works, but for the most part when I watch wrestling I'm just enjoying it.
ATPW - What have you been checking out of the last couple of months?
CM - I've been trying to get my head around Japanese wrestling a little bit more, because I've got to confess, I've not seen as much as I probably should have. So I've been really enjoying Zack Sabre Jr. stuff in Japan. Also just some more WWE, I do really like NXT, I went through a phase of watching that way more than SmackDown and stuff, but I do try to keep up with SmackDown and RAW. Then just live shows and old British stuff, like Billy Robinson, Fit Finlay, all the classic. Quite a lot of Tiger Mask and Dynamite Kid as well.
As well, I've been making more use of the PROGRESS on Demand thing, like rewatching Riddle vs. Jeff Cobb, which was fucking insane match. Then old stuff with Jimmy Havoc and then obviously the British Strong Style matches because they're so fun.
ATPW - Do you ever go back and watch your own stuff?
CM - You know what, sometimes I fairly hate watching my own matches. There's times where I'm quite happy to watch them, like the Paul Robinson match. If I'm sending it to someone and it starts playing, I can be like "I could watch this for a bit!", but for the most part I try to watch it with another wrestler or with a non-wrestler and see what their opinions of things are and to see what they react to. Quite often, wrestlers react quite differently to not wrestlers, so I find it's pretty helpful to watch things with people who are not wrestlers and see what they go for.
I was watching a match back with Jon Briley and JD from the London Riots and Darrell Allen. I had this spot and I still think it's pretty sick, where I catch a clothesline into a Gory special and the guy escapes and I switch another clothesline into a reverse gory special, which is my favourite submission of all time and JD gave me a little wink and a nod, Darrell gave me a wink and a nod and Jon just had a blank face. But obviously he's looking at it from the angle of what you can promote and stuff like that. Everyone's picking up on different things, which is handy.
ATPW - Do you have any short term or long term goals in wrestling at the moment?
CM - I guess my long term goal is to be able to make a good living out of professional wrestling. I never really want to be rich, but I'd really like to have enough money, to where that I could give a good amount away and still have a roof over my head. It would be sick to do that, ideally with the WWE, but however I do that. You look at the Young Bucks, I'm not saying I'm as good as the Young Bucks right now, but one day it would be sweet to be. My short term goals, going back to the Doug Williams timeline of goals, I want to get more regular on more of the big shows, like Fight Club and Attack! and PROGRESS around England, to debut in other places around Europe. So I had the show which was half PROGRESS and half wXw, so hopefully that goes in the right direction. Then me and Pastor and Jody Fliesch are going to Celtic Championship Wrestling sometime this month and later on in the year as well. Fingers crossed I can get something with OTT and there's this company Bull Fight Pro in Italy that I've been talking to. I just want to get around and wrestle as many places as possible at the moment.
ATPW - It's crazy to think how many places there are for guys to work in the UK and into Europe at the moment and learn different styles and work different crowds, compared to when I started getting into BritWres about five years ago.
CM - Yeah, you can still do traditional rounds matches at Premier or the Phoenix camps or you can do the holiday Butlins things and family shows. You can do the strong style, the super exciting athletic wrestling and you can go so many places.
ATPW - I think it's brilliant for the fans and the wrestlers, that there's a place for everyone to gravitate towards. Whether they like comedy wrestling, the modern indy style, lucha...
CM - Oh dude, I totally forgot to mention how much I'd like to work for Lucha Forever, which was dumb. Mega mega shows. Another thing that's been cool is that I've had a couple of chances to work for Fight! Nation on Fite TV, getting used to working a wrestling show on a TV show and I'm really grateful to Billy Wood for that. Hopefully I get the opportunity to do more of that and get more experience with that.
ATPW - Just to close things off, where can people catch you next and where can they find you online?
CM - I'm going to be at the UnProffesional Wrestling show in Hackney on the 20th August. If you want to follow me on the line you can go to Facebook.com/chuckmambo, twitter.com/chuckmambo or Instagram.com/chuck_mambo, that's the one with the most picture and you can get merch from mambomerch.bigcartel.com. All of the newest stuff is earth positive, so it's got ten percent of the normal carbon footprint and they regulate their own factories to make sure that no ones being exploited and there's free association of labour and working hours are kept to reasonable standards. Pretty good merch to buy! It's bright colours!
Also, another thing that if people would like to follow it it would be awesome, on Twitter there's an organisation called Help for Refugee Children and they always need donations. Because at the French border in Calais and Dunkirk, the camps have gone and some people did get re-homed, but some of the re-homing was so bad that some people decided to go back to the camps more or less. There's a lot of people living on the streets and the last time I went there was this big national park where people are living in makeshift tents in the park. It's a bad way. Help for Refugee Children run nice activities with the kids and stuff and they're friends with all the families so if the families do get over, they can put them in touch with the right legal support and make sure that their rights are respected and they get everything they're supposed to get and that they have friends. It's a really super cool charity to support, if has the money, which I know is hard to come by.
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A massive thanks to Chuck Mambo for taking the time to speak to us. It was a pleasure to spend an hour with Chuck and I hope that comes across in what you've just read.
All the best,
James xoxo
