Monsta Macks Second Installment

Right before I started to write this, I was reading a few of the comments left on the DOI message board to see if what I was doing was worth doing another one. I have to thank the fans for reading and leaving great feedback about my column. A lot of guys in wrestling forget that the business that is wrestling would be nothing without the fans. The fans let us know they appreciate us when we do great and give us another chance when we do badly in the ring or out.

This time I am going to write about three individuals who I have happen to spend a bunch of time with at shows and on the road in the last year or more and who are three great guys all around.

Samoa Joe
One night I was at the Doghouse with Homicide, Boogalou and Laithon and we were just watching tapes of shows we had did that week. Out of nowhere Lou had jumped up and started going wild about the King of the Indies tape he had from California and how somebody had beat up Low Ki. We got excited because we are savages like that and so we popped in the tape. Samoa Joe looked like another big doofy wrestler coming out of the curtain. That was until the bell rang. Up until this point, the only other opponents Ki had that handled him were American Dragon and Homicide. He was on a tear on the Indy scene with his hard as a rock kicks and his raging bull intensity at the time. Then Joe stepped in to the ring and said Ha ha ha, silly fool, your kicks don’t phase me. I am a huge Samoan beast and I will hurt you bad bald black (Don’t ask, it’s a Cali thing) Brooklyn boy. He didn’t just beat up Ki, he KILLED HIM!!!! In all fairness though, it was a war in the ring that both men came out with scars for life. Joe just gave Ki more of them. But when you are six foot one, two hundred and eighty pounds, skilled in judo and amateur wrestling and can hit someone so hard all they can do is say Damn and then collapse right on the spot, what else do you expect? What’s really amazing about Samoa Joe despite being in his very early twenties, he is very wise. Listen to him talk and you know he knows what he is talking about. He is also a great person. Long before I met him, he was working for Zero One in Japan and I found out he was putting in a word for us to work for them. This was just off of what he had seen on tapes. I thought that was the coolest thing anyone I have met has done. Another great thing about him is that he has the same appetite as me. If you are a person who buys Best ofs, I recommend the RF Best of Samoa Joe tape. He is truly awesome over in Japan. Please watch how he drops the young boy on his head in the first match. He looks like a bully at first, but watching him you realize ROH has a great wrestler as their current champion. On a side note, the WWE recently released one of the 3 Minute Warning guys. They are both Samoan, Joe is Samoan. You thinking what I am thinking? Let’s see what happens.

Ref Hanson
Fans have this misconception about refs. A lot of them think that anyone can be a ref and that they get paid to watch a match and count to three. They couldn’t be more wrong. As strange as this may sound, you have to train hard to be a good ref. Great refs aren’t made, they are born that way. Sean Hanson was born to be a great ref. Now before I get heat from the other refs on the east coast, let me just get one thing clear. I have seen Hanson work almost every weekend for the last 3 years. The only other person who I have seen that much of is Paul Tuner, who is another great ref. and I have seen only him about half as many times as Sean. Sean has admitted that Paul brings out the best in him when they are at a show together and it definitely shows in the ring. Hanson is so good, he can ref and entire USA Pro wrestling 6 hour marathon and be as energetic in the last match as he was in the first match. Hell most wrestlers can’t even keep up their energy for 10 minutes in a match let alone an entire show. He is also great with his timing and his ring placement. You never have to worry about him being in the way and messing something up. Hanson loves old school wrestling and it shows in his work. He usually spends the night at Mafia’s house if we have back to back shows. When he is there he takes time to go through the giant collection of old school tapes Maf has in his living room and just watch as much as he can in one night. I will call Maf the next day, ask him what he is doing and he will respond with I am putting my tapes back in order after Sean rampaged them. He is dedicated to making himself better. I can’t even tell you how many times he has helped me out in a match. He is a smart person in the ring. Outside the ring, he is a very funny person. A lot of his humor is sports related somehow but that’s because is a giant sports nut. There are times that he might get you annoyed, but no matter how heated you get, he says something funny and you realize you can’t do him any harm. He is like a little brother n that sense. He has reffed my matches somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 times and each one was made that much more special because he was a big part of it. He is another one who I can see on TNA or Smackdown soon.

Striker
I have a picture in my collection from the very first ICW show of Mafia and I coming down to the ring for our infamous tables match with the Natural Born Sinners and the Boogie Knights. In this picture we are being escorted to the ring by security. Striker is protecting us from the hands of an ugly NYC sewer ring rat (had to throw in the Bad News Brown reference) and leading the ICW security crew. With the current flux of wrestlers who want to be the next strong style breakout star, Striker does the total opposite and succeeds at it. He is the epitome of a sports entertainer. He has the body of a Greek god, the looks of a super model and the brain of teacher; A high school teacher to be exact. He did try to go the strong style/lucha route at first, but the old school style is what suits him best. In less than three years, he has gone from security guard to a huge breakout star. With his partner Ace Darling, they are the ECWA tag team champions, one of the United States most prestigious and respected tag team titles with past champions including Steve Corino & Simon Diamond, The Haas Brothers and Low Ki & American Dragon. In PWF, he and Josh Daniels are the world tag team champions. Those are just the first of many belts for the Johnny Rodz pupil. What’s great about him though is his Christopher Walken impersonation. It is so dead on its almost scary. In all seriousness though he works very hard for what he gets. He listens when he is supposed to listen and always has fresh ideas when asked. He is one of the few throw back wrestlers in that aspect. If you want to see him truly entertain, go to 3PW in Philly and be amazed. On the June 21 show, he and Rob Eckos took on Joey Matthews and Christian York in what had to be one of Strikers best outings that I have ever seen. He was just on that nite. His gimmick, which is a 3pw exclusive, is something where he acts like old 80’s WWF wrestlers. On this night we were graced by George “The Animal” Steele, The Ultimate Warrior and Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake (He even went as far as to cut Referee Jim Molineuxs Hair after the match). He had the crowd in an uproar. I say all the time that guys like Striker and Mafia were born too late in life because if they were in the WWF during the 80’s or early 90s, we would see them in the same light as Shawn Michaels or Macho Man Randy Savage. A word to the wise though, should you be at a show we are at and it happens to be in Pennsylvania and it happens to be just me and him riding in a car together, stop us at all cost!!!! DO NOT LET US GO ALONE!!! The two times we rode alone in the Penn State, we were so lost that we saw Amish people riding alongside of us on the highway. As far as he is concerned, I am banned from riding with him alone in the state of Pennsylvania forever. Sucks to be Steve!!!

Well that’s this edition of my column which has no official name yet. As soon as I had the idea of doing this, all I have gotten was request to express my thoughts on 3 specific wrestlers. So due to popular demand, I will write about Josh Deeley, Kevin Matthews, and Danny Demanto as well as what I know and think of them. Should be interesting to say the least.

Thanks for reading my stupidness.

Monsta Mack aka
Brooklyn Bull aka
Steve Mack aka
Big Steve aka
Mafias old partner aka
Masturbating Bear Stunt Double

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