Tales of Masked men : A Recked Review

I been a wrestling fan a looooonnnggg time , 47 years this year actually, so you would imagine that I've become jaded or something hey?....nup, wrestling has always chucked some thing at me to re stoke my interest...

.and one of my favourite things are masked wrestlers , the first hood head that i can clearly remember that visited Australia was Don Jardine, or The Spoiler if you like, and he has remained a firm favourite, after that pretty much anyone who wore a hood peaked my interest, Mr Wrestling Two, Masked Superstar, and Mil Mascaras were next to freak me out and then came Tiger Mask who blew my mind completely...

BUT THEN...when I was in the States on a holiday in 1984, checking out bands I read about in Circus,, I met a nice guy of mexican origins who was working at a comic book store in Frisco who sold me a Box Y Lucha or two, after "reading" the mags, we got talking and he said I should go to Mexico City if I wanted to see the top shelf stuff, 

so off I went, his cousin got us a hotel and also tour guided us in Mexico city and just when we were set to get drenched in Lucha,  El Santo, Enmascarado del Plata passed away, I dont remember if i'd heard of Santo up til that point.

You would of thought the Pope or King had died, close enough I suppose, Mexico City shut down and was mourning en masse, all shows were cancelled,  the funeral cortege passed by my balcony, the footpaths were stacked 7-8 deep, when the pall was over, we went to a few shows, couple in Arena Mexico and a show run by El Canek that had Andre on the card,  my longtime passion for all things Lucha Libre was firmly underway,

 it was around this time I discovered a luchador called Fantasma , now this bloke quickly became my favourite due to the fact he was dressed like the Australian super hero THE PHANTOM (YEAH, I'M A NERD) although I think my first favourite luchador was a guy called Medico Loco, Ive never seen him work, just pictures, but what a great name.

 I have to say, keeping up with Lucha Libre was a hard job, most American mags didnt cover it and you cant get Box Y lucha in Australia ( which didnt matter cause my spanish is abominable) But then after Konnan cut a deal with Heyman, ECW got Rey, Psicosis and Juvey, then WCW went one better and got all of the previous mentioned plus La Parka, Lismark jnr, Super Calo and Ultimo Dragon (among others), plus in the late 90s getting mags and stuff was becoming slightly easier....

and of course I got a copy of "When Worlds Collide" which included the all time classic Hair v Mask match starring Eddie, Art Barr, the Son of the Saint and Octagon and the cage match between Konnan and Perro Agauyo Snr.....of course I got all the Rey Mysterio dvds and the Story of Eddie Guerrero... ...

.I also scored few AAA Triplemania's  along the way (pity the english language one this year didnt quite work) and a mate put me onto CMLL to check out Mistico v Averno and or Volador Jnr, so that got added to the collection, I even went to Super Astros restaurant once, but didnt try the Quadrilatiro sandwich( I may be mad, but i aint crazy)....and of course, recently,  the amazing Lucha Underground has grabbed hold of me, 

ANYWAY.....I always though that it would be good if someone did a history of Lucha that helped us gringos out, i have googled a bit and bought dvds, including a Santo movie and one his son did, but spotted no serious documentary about the art form ,

 but then came.....
Lucha Libre, Life Behind the Mask  The first proper Lucha doco I had seen,  which was  the stories of three luchadors working in Los Angeles. they were, Dinamic, who, other than being a barber,  

He didnt wear a mask, cause one night he forgot to put it on before hitting the ring, I believe WHOOPS, is the required response here, 

Dinamic had been wrestling for thirty years and he was getting ready to retire from the ring, then there was the rudo Kayam, the son of a famous luchador, who carries on the family tradition in a tag team called Los Chivos, who near as I can tell are doing a version of Los Gringos Locos< i surmised this because they were waving the american flag during their intro and everybody was booing their ass , 

and then there was Principe Unlimited, a first generation luchador, just starting out....all in all the film was damn good piece of business...

then I was you tubing one day and found a movie called "Loco Fighters" from 2006, which wasnt bad either , although once again my limited spanish don't help...

then came Tales of Masked Men

This DVD has all that a true Lucha nut could want. It gives you a detailed view of the history of the sport, from Ciclone Mckay in the 30's and the beginnings of the business life of Salvador Lutteroth, right through to modern day . 

It gives you a peek you into the lives of all levels of masked men and women that live their lives with a mask. 

The bit that I really liked the most, was the story of El Santo,  the greatest luchador in the history of the sport. I hadn't seen a  detailed story about the man on film, the film, talks of his life and career beginning ,

 the famous mascara y mascara with Black Shadow, it shows how Santo, through wrestling, movies and comics, became a multi media star  a long time before Dwayne Johnson did it and you even get to hear the great man speak, 

so, its fair to suggest that i thoroughly enjoyed that bit probably the most. The film touches on women luchas and then goes onto the Minis and their history thereof...

Mini legend "Gulliver" or as his mum calls him Angel Mondragon speaks about how the minis came about and this segueways into Mini Superstar Mascarita Sagrada, along with his sister, pops in and gives a detailed story of how he grew up and got into wrestling ,

 the bit finishes with Gulliver and Mascarita giving each a laugh about their careers together.

to finish the Luchador part of the doco, comes lucha maestro Solar, he speaks of how he got started and lived a dream working against all the greats and his wife speaks of his friendship with lucha legend El Solitario...

the doco follows Solar snr and Solar jnr ( or El Hijo del Solar, if you like)as they travel to a indie show , part of the doco has Solar snr in El Paso( the town run for years by Gory Guerrero, the father of Eddie and partner to El Santo in "The Atomic Pair) 

Solar is working with luchador Negro Navarro in this match, Negro speaks very highly of Solar during the doco....

Then we go into a gym were Solar snr is being Maestro and is running both his son and other trainees through the things that will set them up for a career in lucha...brilliant

And like all great documentaries ,

 the required presence of some highly intelligent talking heads is a must, and this doco is no different, Heather Levi, Lourdes Grobet, Dan Madigan, Christian Cymet, William Nericcio and Ulises Jiminez all expound prolifically about their thoughts on, about and experiences within the world of Lucha Libre...if your not careful, you may very well learn something here.

SO, finally,  if your a fan of Lucha, or just wrestling in general, then do yourself a huge favour and spend a few bucks on this brilliant piece of work, 

director Carlos Avila has well and truly submerged himself into lucha libre world , and gives us fans  a well constructed and beautifully thought out glimpse into the world of Lucha ....

well, go on give your visa card a workout.

Its ICW ...Do Yer Sel a Favour

As you may have guessed, I do enjoy discovering something that is so different it immediately grabs my wrestling heart and refuses to let go, this can be said of PROGRESS Wrestling and PCW in England, both are firm favourites....THEN I was frigging around on YouTube one day and saw a wrestling doco called The British Wrestler about the man called GRADO, it was while watching this that he (or someone) mentioned Glasgows own Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW), this resulted in further googling of said company and after seeing the action supplied in Santa's Gravy and Insane in the Membrane and also the Insane Fight Club doco, that was me hooked well and truly...

as a matter of fact Im saving pension money up to buy meself some proper dvds and merch from Mark Dallas and his cohorts on the banks of the Clyde......So allow me to avail yer sel (see what I did there) of the ICW story....enjoy.

A lifelong fan of pro wrestling, Mark Dallas put together a paln and a vision for what he would like to see in the industry , he wasn't fussed with kissing sponsors bums or having a promotion that insulted the intelligence of its fans / ticket buyers...

so after much thinking and scribbling, Insane Championship Wrestling was born, and since the first shows , ICW have bounded from strength-to-strength,  the promotion has the same never-say-die attitude of Dallas, and now sits  proudly as one of the most talked about promotions in the world.

it can be proudly stated that Mark Dallas is very much a man of the people, and certainly game for a laugh 

Mark created and founded the promotion while living in relative poverty with his girlfriend in Glasgow's Red Road Flats in 2006. After attending training himself, to learn the business from the inside, he ran his first shows at Maryhill Community Centre. Future WWE Superstar, Drew Galloway was crowned the companies inaugural Heavyweight Champion on 15 October 2006 after defeating Darkside and Allan Grogan in a 3-way match at ICW: Fear & Loathing.

Galloway held the title until 22 July 2007 when he was booked to defend his title against Sheamus O'Shaunessy ( yeah that Sheamus The Celtic Warrior) however both faced travel issues with the Irishman not making the event. Darkside eventually won the title in a 5-way match which included the late arriving Galloway. 

This event would mark an almost 2-year hiatus for the organisation. On 9 May 2009, ICW returned with ICW: Fear & Loathing 2 however after another brief hiatus, the company began running shows every other month beginning with ICW: Payback on 28 February 2010.

2012 saw the introduction of a new event on 22 January, ICW: 1st Annual Square Go! This event, a ICW created combination of Money in the Bank and The Royal Rumble, is your bog standard Battle Royal, well, sort of , their Battle Royals have a shitload of insanity, granting the winner a shot at the ICW Heavyweight Championship at a time of their choosing. The first Square Go was won by Red Lightning.

In February 2015, the ICW Heavyweight strap was renamed the ICW World Heavyweight Championship following title defenses in England, Denmark and the USA by Drew Galloway.

The promotion currently books most of its events in Glasgow with occasional events in Edinburgh. As the company grows it has expanded to the rest of the UK having held events in London and Newcastle with shows in Liverpool, Leeds and Birmingham, which was documented on the road trip documentary Insane Fight Club II. 

ICW have run shows in Glasgow's The Garage and Studio 24 in Edinburgh as well as ABC Glasgow. For larger events the promotion announced the Barrowland Ballroom 

NOW FOR SOME STUFF ON A FEW OF MY FAVOURITE ICW LUNATICS

GRADO
Graeme Stevely is better known by the ring name Grado ,  He is best known for his work with Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW).  Grado first got into wrestling in 2002. He trained briefly with Red Lightning, Kid Fite and Drew Galloway at British Championship Wrestling.

After years of wrestling sporadically and performing as lead singer of scottish metalcore band Prezident Prime,  During this time, Grado was the subject of a Vice documentary, The British Wrestler, which saw his popularity rise with American stars voicing their support.  As part of the Vice documentary, Grado appeared to defeat ICW Heavyweight Champion Red Lightning at Super Smokin' Thunderbowl to win the ICW Heavyweight Championship. The match was later restarted as Red Lightning had his leg under the bottom rope. Red Lightning would go on to retain the title....Its pretty much a consensus by the ICW faithful that Grado should hold everybelt in the world, it can be argued that he regularly gets the POP of the night with the crowd singing along to his Madonna song entrance...I know I sing along in my head and im a friggin metal head, curses Grado curses ...JUST JOKING ....ITS YER SEL

Andrew "Drew" Galloway 
is best known for his tenure with WWE under the ring name Drew McIntyre, I still cant figure out what went sideways with that gig, I mean he can work his arse off, he aint exactly ugly and me missus thinks his the grouse. Drew Galloway is currently a belt collector , Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW), and Evolve Wrestling. He is the current ICW World Heavyweight Champion, and Scottish Heavyweight Champion. He is also has held the WWE Intercontinental Champion, WWE Tag Team Champion, Evolve World Champion, DGUSA Open the Freedom Gate Champion as well, his gonna get a hernia carting that lot about...more power to him says I 

Jack Jester
Starring in the BBC documentary, 'Insane Fight Club, fans across the UK had the chance to see a different side to Jack Jester than the one usually seen battling in brutal wars at ICW events. One of the most passionate about his profession around, it would appear that Jesters moral compass is often mis aligned especially when he sticks that burning corkscrew in his opponents noggin....Jack has took part in some of the most chaotic matches in ICW history, this former Champion has had memorable matches against almost everybody he's faced, a true testament to how other wrestlers know they must bring their a-game when facing the maniacal Jester. ....my personal favourites have been when him and Mikey Whiplash beat the bejeezus out of each other although to be fair I havent seen many others....

Jack is  showing a decidely more dangerous, violent side recently after hooking up with Galloway , Jester is more of a threat than ever , Its gonna get bloody
Speaking of ....Mikey Whiplash

The ICW roster has some very unique individuals, but their aint too many as unique then this raving nutcase called Mikey Whiplash. With his war-paint smeared across his face, and sporting his leather S&M ring-gear, Whiplash is a different kind of cat, known for his unpredictability and wonton sadism....

Mikey is the only looney to have held the ICW Heavyweight and Zero-G Championships at the same time, regardless,  Whiplash is one of the most talented wrestlers that the U.K has ever produced, Mikey is quite capable of wrestling William Regal in a technical masterpeice, or chopping pieces out himself with Jester.....a truly unique individual..... 

I recently discovered that Mikey is a member of The Sumerian Death Squad alongside some bloke called Dante and one of my alltime favourites "The AntiHero" Tommy End ....see, very cool lad.

JOE COFFEY

The 'Iron Man' of ICW, after winning a Iron man match at the Square Go in January, 2014, Joe Coffey looks mighty impressive...He was in a tag team with his brother Mark but has since  broke out on his own (sort of) and has been discovering  what he can achieve  going solo .....Widely considered an absolute wrestling machine, there aren't many who can match the combination of sheer strength and raw power that Coffey possesses....

Coming out on top in a hard-fought 'Best Of 5' series opposite another of my favourites, Noam Dar, Joe Coffey has shown exactly what he's capable of. 

This face-painted warrior is seemingly a juggernaut and unstoppable once he gathers pace, and even though previously he was heeling it up and apparently against what ICW stands for, he appears to have turned that corner and is back on the blue eyed side of the  promotion and incredibly over with the throbbing hordes... the only way is up.

BILLY "FUCKING" KIRKWOOD

No ICW event would be complete without the comedic skills of  the Billy Connolly of ICW annouce team member , Billy 'Fucking' Kirkwood. He opens each show with some sizzling standup and is quite capable of shutting down hecklers with quite some aplomb
Billy Kirkwood is most at home behind the announce desk, where he calls the ICW action like no other. .....

It's fair to say there has never or will be ever a pro wrestling commentator quite like Billy Kirkwood, he truly exemplifies what Insane Championship Wrestling is, and resonates with the fans nicely, creating a rare bond between what's happening in the ring, and the people watching outside of it.....

Some of my favourite Kirkwood calls would be 
"His happier than a puppy with seven dicks " or "I would pump AJ lee so hard she would speak gaelic"or "ruining my flow like a bad tampon" and " that young man will be gizzing scrambled sperm for a week and a half"....see, very Connolly like....and nothing like Michael Cole (thank F**K)
Then there is the wrestler called

MACKENZIE
Without a doubt one of the toughest competitors that ICW, or professional wrestling in general,  has ever had the great fortune to discover, Mack is a superstar unlike any other. his Stomp to the Hand is feared ICW wide, just about every member of the ICW roster is  too afraid to face him......Strong, fearless, and possessing the heart of champion, Mackenzie is a true king of the ring ...HUZZAH!

It pays to be one of the biggest and baddest competitors in ICW, and Wolfgang is a man who fits that description perfectly. One of the most supremely talented competitors ICW has ever seen, Wolfgang is a monstrous heavyweight who possesses the frightening agility of cruiserweight, making him one extremely tough opponent to match.

WOLFGANG
At one time Wolfie, was considered the  standard bearer for  ICW , even if he did come out to a Duran Duran tune, Wolfgang has been part of the company since the earlist days , and has been seen to start a pillow fight flashbomb for the company, A former ICW Zero-G Champion, Wolfgang is, without a doubt, one of the most notable names in ICW . Recently joining the NAK (the New Age Kliq) , Wolfgang has turned his back on ICW, now preferring to walk alongside Chris Renfrew and BT Gunn. ....one can only hope he jumps back over the fence sooner rather that later

THE FIGHTING FEMALES OF ICW
With a sizeable amount  of the top female in the UK or even the, world currently competiting in ICW, the Women's Division has never been more over. The ICW Women's Championship will stand as a symbol of excellence in the company, and I couldnt even begin to tell you who will claim the belt

So  there you go , my ICW blogaroo....now do YER SEL a favour and go get some intae ya
Recky 
The Southern Hemisphere.