Five Questions With...Wiggy

After last week's interview with Hashtag Wrestling Promoter Christopher Pugh, it's time to head back to our Canadian cousins and speak CHIKARA as we speak to Wiggy.

Name: Wiggy
Hometown: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Known For: Hosting The CHIKARAtorium, Pantsless Radio and The View From Filsinger Headquarters. Media Co-ordinator for Smash Wrestling in Toronto.

1. When did you first get into wrestling and what was the drew you to the sport?

I started watching/following WWF when I was about 7. I was in love with Bret Hart. I watched here and there when I was a teenager but mostly fell out of it until 2004 when I discovered indy wrestling. I was a big ROH fan and then in 2006, I discovered my one true wrestling love: CHIKARA. As the years went by and my interest (and free time) decreased, CHIKARA became the only promotion that ALWAYS held my attention. It's the one thing wrestling should always be to me: Fun.

2. Tell us a little about CHIKARAtorium and that came about?

As I said, I was already a huge CHIKARA fan and I was approached by someone at the network Pantsless was on about doing a strictly CHIKARA show. My co-host on Pantsless is Sugar Dunkerton who wrestled in CHIKARA for years and I had interviewed and gotten to know several wrestlers there. I contacted some people and the powers that be liked the idea and gave me their blessing to do the show under the CHIKARA banner. Things didn't work out with that original person and I was pointed in the direction of the newest referee, Daniel Yost. We emailed a bit, he agreed to do the show and we recorded our first episode literally the first time we ever spoke. You can definitely tell too haha.

3. For those who aren't familiar with Chikara, could you explain a little about the promotion and what's been going on as of late? 

Chaos mostly. Chikara is a very lucha libre influenced, family friendly promotion full of amazing characters and the most fun you'll find anywhere in wrestling. Except lately, it hasn't been very fun. For the last year, the Director of Fun Wink Vavasseur has been making some very questionable decisions. Splitting up long standing trios, adding people to other ones and generally making a lot of people miserable. It got so bad this spring that several longstanding wrestlers actually got so fed up they quit the company. Things came to a head at the last show, Anniversario: Never Compromise which was shown live in IPPV. Just after intermission, former Chikara ref Derek Sabato got into the ring and announced he had a file he was about to tweet that had something to do with WMD, the company that owns Chikara and would somehow expose Wink. He managed to tweet it but was immediately escorted out by Condor Security. then during the main event, Wink and security came out and stopped the show. The Grand Champion Eddie Kingston and his opponent Icarus were both dragged from the ring. Condor guys were yelling at everyone to get out and the entire stage and set was torn down. I was there and it was absolute chaos. A riot nearly broke out. There were fights and someone broke one of the doors to the venue. Since then, all the scheduled shows for the rest of the year have been cancelled but beyond that there's been no word from the company. It kills me to say it but it looks like Chikara is done.

4. What are your Top Three matches of all time and why?

I think my answers are probably going to be very different from anyone else's. I've seen a lot of matches that many people would put on their list but my criteria is different than most I think. I like matches that make me feel something, that I'll rewatch (a rarity for me) and that I have fun watching. Chikara gives me all of that more than any other promotion ever has and my top 3 come from their universe.

3. Dragon Dragon vs Kobald Wrestling is Fun!

Ok, this match is less than a month old and I've watched it dozens of times already, laughing my ass off every single time. Dragon Dragon was one of the first characters to get me into Chikara and has been the furry love of my life for about 6 years. An all time favourite. Kobald is someone I've worked with quite a bit on my shows and while he revels in making my life miserable, I absolutely love the character and he's my current favourite. The WiF! show it was on was being live tweeted and the match had been unannounced. When it began, I immediately got NINE messages telling me my dream match was happening!

2. The Spectral Envoy (Ultramantis Black, Hallowicked & Frightmare) vs Team ROH (Mike Bennett & The Young Bucks) King of Trios 2012

This was the finals of last year's KoT tournament and I was lucky enough to be there live for it. The Envoy were the heroes led by Ultramantis Black, a man(tis) who's been a part of Chikara from the very first show who, despite countless factions and diabolical plans, has never held any sort of title in his 11 year tenure. Team ROH were the invading baddies. There'd been a running Chikara vs ROH feud all season so the Envoy weren't just fighting for themselves, they were fighting for all of Chikara. In the second round, they faced long time hated rivals, The Batiri. The Batiri didn't take their loss well and after the match brutally attacked the Envoy, specifically Frightmare, injuring his surgically repaired knee. They again made their evil presence felt coming out during this match hoping to ruin the Envoy's chances. This led to the return of Crossbones who came out to even the score and an incredible superplex the outside on to the sea of humanity. When Hallowicked made Bennett tap out, the place exploded. Everyone was screaming and cheering and a ton were crying, myself included. I've never been a part of such an emotional scene at a show before. I still get goosebumps thinking about it.

1. Vin Gerard vs Fire Ant YLC 2008

This is another one I was live at. As much as I love the KoT finals, this match takes top spot simply because I wasn't an especially huge fan of either guy at the time. I liked them well enough and enjoyed their matches but neither were anything close to a favourite and honestly, I was a bit underwhelmed going in. That did not last long. This match was amazing and it didn't take long before they had me caring about everything. Chikara has a 20 count on the floor and at one point, Vin took the badly beaten up Fire Ant out of the ring, across the floor before beating on him more and dumping him at the front door. The place was going insane screaming for Fire Ant to make it back as he desperately inched his way back. When he finally got to the ring at 19, I had no voice left and when he finally pinned Vin, I was jumping up and down and generally losing my mind with everyone else. Such an emotional match that I remember like it was yesterday 5 years later.

5. Where can our readers find your work and what have you got coming up?

You can find every episode of The CHIKARAtorium and our bonus interviews at www.chikaratorium.com, on twitter @Chikaratorium and we have an awesome fan made/run tumblr at www.chikaratorium.tumblr.com.

Every episode and interview from Pantsless Radio is at www.pantslessradio.com. On twitter @PantslessRadio and on tumblr at www.pantslessradio.tumblr.com.

The View From Filsinger Headquarters is available at www.filsingergames.com. There's also facebook pages for all 3 shows and the shows can be streamed or downloaded through our amazing network at www.kopixproductions.com and on iTunes under Kopix Productions.

Personally, I'm going to be at Smash Wrestling events in Toronto all through the summer (details at www.smash-wrestling.com) and I'll be a guest at Galacticon in Jamestown, NY July 13-14. You can follow me and everything I do on twitter @Wiggygator. Thanks!    

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We'd like to thank Wiggy for this great interview, go check out The CHIKARAtorium, Pantsless Radio, The View from Filsinger Headquarters and Smash Wrestling NOW!

Next time:    

Five Questions With... Ryan from Discover Wrestling

After last weeks interview with Alex and Rob from Scottish Wrestling Ring, it's now time to speak to Ryan from Discover Wrestling.

Name: Ryan
Age: 26
Hometown: Leeds, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom.
Known For:  www.discoverwrestling.com

1.    When did you first get into wrestling and what was it that drew you to the sport?

I got into wrestling as a little kid, but only really watched it when I got chance at a relative or a friend’s house. I really got hooked when Channel 4 started showing WWF Heat and Channel 5 starting showing WCW Worldwide. After those finished showing, I drifted through fallow years of the occasional DVD and book, before the Internet and full time employment allowed me much easier access to wrestling content. I think what drew me to it was the athleticism and theatrics, I’m a big comics fan and grew up really attached to the classic Batman TV Series, and there is really a lot of similarity between the two of them. So, when I saw the likes of Rey Mysterio and Psychosis going mental on Worldwide, it was like the next best thing! I was always drawn to the highflying guys and they are still the type of wrestling I tend to prefer!

2. Tell us a little about Discover Wrestling and how that came about?

Discover Wrestling was born out of the drive home from the PCW Supershow of December last year, springing out of an idea for a way for us to share videos/matches we liked. CJ and myself were chatting about it whilst belting across the M62 and the wheels were set in motion from that point. I studied writing at university and wanted an outlet for it and what better way than to start a blog! The name stemmed from the desire to share what we liked about wrestling and talk positively about one of our favourite things. After we came up with the idea to start up, we invited our good friend Olli to contribute, and later on our mate Mark was the last addition to the team. We like to blog with a real personal feel and want others to enjoy wrestling as much as we do!

3. If you could book a pro wrestling dream card at the moment who would it feature and why? 

Ah! This is a question and a half, I’ll keep it to just six matches or I’ll be here all year.

First off, I’d start with a red hot opener to get the crowd going and I’d have a big tag team turmoil (first pin to win!) match featuring Project Ego, The Models, Frightmare and Hallowicked (Of The Spectral Envoy) and Bad Influence. With Ego, The Models and Bad Influence there would be some hi-jinks going on, but The Envoy would be the glue that would hold it together. It’d really get the crowd excited and probably have them in stitches too.

Next up, I’d have a hard-hitting collision between T-Bone and Akira Tozawa. Bone is just a brilliant heavyweight wrestler and Tozawa just has the IT factor.

To go into the interval, I’d have a first half main event between April Davids and Daniel Bryan, it’d be a technical showcase and if I had the booking pencil, I’d end it as a time-limit- tie and have the crowd desperate for a rematch!

To start the second half, I’d get the crowd in the mood with a battle of the comedic geniuses between Archibald Peck and Mad Man Manson. The two of them are probably my favourite comedic style wrestlers and I wouldn’t be able to leave them off the show.

Penultimately, I’d have a big four way match between a real mixed bag, first up I’d have ‘The Man Gravity Forgot’ PAC (now Adrian Neville in NXT), he’s just an awesome talent and pretty much the guy to watch at the moment. Secondly, I’d jump in a time machine and grab 1997 Rey Mysterio Jr, because those two alone would just be awesome. However for some extra layers of brilliance (like a wrestling lasagne) I’d put in Bubblegum, he can really go and would add a mischievous dynamic to the match. Finally, I’d chuck in Sami Zayn, also of NXT Fame. That would pretty much be a dream match and the thought of it, is pretty much mind-blowing.

Last, but by no means least I’d have THE main event. After all that wrestling action, what better way to top it off with the ultimate match? I’d finish the show with a sixty-minute Iron Man match between Antonio Cesaro and El Ligero. Those two are pretty much at the top of their game right now and it would be a big thick slice of pure goodness to watch those two step up to such an epic match.

Admittedly, this supercard would probably last about five hours, but I’d just love it. It’s a pretty good mix of UK and international talent and I think that says a lot about our site, we try to mix it up as much as possible!

4. What are your Top Three matches of all time and why?

My favourite match of all time is Mick Foley vs. Edge at WM22. It’s just the ultimate in wrestling theatre, a real blockbuster of a match. I can sit and watch it repeatedly, its thrilling viewing and one, which for all the gore and violence, still has a strong story and a really crisp narrative. I wrote an in-depth ‘Match Of The Week’ about it a while ago, you can find it here: http://discoverwrestling.com/2013/02/20/match-of-the-week-mick-foley-vs-edge-wwe-ryan/

Next up, I’d have to go with Eddie vs. Rey at Halloween Havoc in 1997. Its one of the best matches of its type and showcases both guys equally. It’s just a jaw-dropping match. Again, this is just one you can watch on loop and you’ll still notice little nuances that you missed the last time around. It’s just brilliant.

Third place is really difficult as those two are my definite faves, but I’ll go for PAC vs El Generico from PWG All Star Weekend 4 - Night . PAC is awesome. El Generico is awesome. What more do you need to say? A modern classic!

5. Where can our readers find your work and what have you got coming up?

If people want to check us out, they can click on over to www.discoverwrestling.com for all our opinions on wrestling from around the world. Whether you want to find a match recommendation, a review of a UK show or just our thoughts on wrestling in general, it’ll be there! The next shows we are at are the NGW 5th Anniversary Show and the debut show from House Of Pain: Evolution, so you can expect to see reviews of those up in the near future! Also, check back for our regular ‘Match Of The Week’ feature and any other random goodies that crop up.

We are also on Facebook and Youtube at /discoverwrestling and you can follow us on Twitter @discoverwres.

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We'd like to thank Ryan for the fantastic interview!