My first match

On Friday the 15th March 1996, I was walking around in York, a small town in Yorkshire with its own viking museum. Just a couple of days before, I received a phone-call that indirectly has influenced the following nine years and will continue to do so in the future.

The phone-call was from none other than Brian Dixon, Europe's most successful wrestling promoter, who promotes shows almost every day of the week for periods of the year as the All-Star Promotions. He told me has was doing a show in York, just a 30 minute train ride from Leeds where I lived. I would get an opportunity to wrestle in the main event of the show, which honestly was an "appearance" in the royal rumble of the show.

I was going to an All-Star show somewhere else just a month before and was able to hand over my information to an All-Star employee there. So thankfully, Brian Dixon kept my information and called me. You can guess I was pretty nervous in the couple of days leading up to the show, almost unable to sleep at night.

I went to York early in the day to do some sightseeing with a few friends, and we also had a look at the poster that featured a large picture of UK wrestling legend Giant Haystacks who was also known as Lochness Monster in WCW. There were a number of top UK wrestlers listed on the poster. It didn't make me any less nervous in the hours leading up to the show.

I went backstage at the venue and also got to meet Brian Dixon at the sales desk. He is actually well-known for selling lots of merchandise, so looking back it is not so strange that it was at the sales desk I met him for the first time. I said hello to a number of wrestlers such as Danny 'Boy' Collins, Skull Murphy, Marty Jones, and others I had seen on TV when Super Channel broadcasted British wrestling several years earlier.

It was time for the royal rumble, I went in and started punching people here and there before being eliminated by Skull Murphy and Barry Douglas. That was the first time I ever stepped into a ring and I had never practiced being thrown out of a ring and crashed straight on my knee that was swollen for days or weeks.

Did I enjoy it? No, I was far too nervous and I was far too green. Was Brian Dixon happy? He must have been as I was paid even though he previously had told me that I would get no pay for this as it was a tryout. And best of all, I was asked to do another show the day after. After the next show, I was given four more dates.

I had got a foot inside the wrestling business, at a time when it was more difficult to get a foot inside the wrestling business than now. In retrospect, I must have had some luck and made a good impression, not just as a wrestler but also as a person.

Brian Dixon was the one who could make or break my chances. I will forever remember that he was the one giving me a chance and letting me work 40 matches in 1996. Since then, I have also wrestled for him in 1997, 2000 and 2002, so he is still the promoter I have wrestled the most for.

Link: All-Star Promotions