I continued wrestling for SWE throughout 2011. The year started with me winning a rumble in Alyth, with one highlight of this rumble being Bravehart entering the fray and managing to bring the majority of the participants to the ground with gut punches. I survived however and got a SWE title shot against then champion Chaz Phoenix, but was on the losing end of that one. Gutted.

I wrestled in singles competition for the first quarter of the year before finding myself in a tag team with Kevin Williams. This tag team also ended up being called Project Revolution, which debuted at a SWE live event in Cupar and also ended up debuting for the Bathgate-based SSW. I often found myself travelling with Williams, Euan G Mackie and Johnny Lions to various shows and wrestling-related chicanery. Years on, we often find ourselves in the same vehicle en route to a wrestling show in some random part of the country.

The tag team antics of Williams and I saw us in action against the likes of The Mega Pals (Mr News and Randy Valentine), WMD (Nathan Black and John “The Bomb” Graham) and The Syndicate (Chaz Phoenix and Steven Magners). Events of interest included myself being on the end of a Spike Piledriver courtesy of The Syndicate that was of concern to fans and wrestlers alike, getting a certain suplex from John The Bomb which Euan G Mackie reminds me of to this day and winning the SWE Tag Team titles at Hell For Lycra from Johnny Lions and Damien.

I also learned that Ted DiBiase’s favourite film is Gladiator from the speeches he gave on his “Million Dollar Tour”, which involved visiting high schools around the central belt and hosting different wrestling matches, as well as a talk from the man himself. Thanks to SSW, https://youtu.be/08ajBxgR3Wo will take you to a video featuring a segment from this tour.

I can recall really enjoying a show in Carnoustie. The dressing room was very restrictive space-wise and akin to a sauna, but there were a lot of laughs and I could not help but feel sorry for Christopher Saynt getting head-butted by the world’s oldest wrestler in David Kidney, after trying to rake his eyes. I can recall that and Kidney, a man that, to me, resembles a retired ninja turtle winning with a Folding Press. The one and only, nobody he would rather be.

There is no doubt this was a busier year for me wrestling-wise than the last year as I looked to build more confidence and shed the trainee skin for wrestler skin. I also went on to meet different walks of wrestler outside of the SWE banner, who would go on to be influential towards my progress, with Euan G Mackie, Prince Ameen, Nathan Black and Sara being good examples. I was experiencing multiple aspects of wrestling and whilst I was still rather new to the sport, I was obtaining some experience.

– Lucian Maynard-Smith
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