The Corino Chronicles XXVII: You Can Go Home

The Corino Chronicles XXVII: You Can Go Home

You can never predict anything when it comes to life and pro-wrestling. And its even worse when you are a wrestler and trying to live a life! Haha. Less then six months ago, I felt at my worst mentally and physically. I couldn’t kick out of the funk that I was in. I felt that my shoulder, my weight, my personal life, and my career were in a tail spin. Nothing seemed to go right until I figured out that the only person that could truly change my luck was me.

With the support of some great friends and family I started to climb out of the self-imposed cellar I was in and decided it was time to either change or go further down the crapper.

And that is when it hit me. Stop making excuse, get off your ass, and start from the bottom. That is what I did. I got as healthy as I can (shoulder still is a mess but I am down 30 pounds), and changed everything that was stale.

It wasn’t and isn’t an easy road.

I write this because I am happy to announce (well, the office did already) that I will return to Pro-Wrestling ZERO1 for my 73^rd tour from December 8-18 and take part in the ZERO1 Tag League with my partner Kintaro Kanemura!

Excitement would be an understatement because not only have I always been a fan of Kanemura but he has been a good friend over the last eight years. I always think back of the way he treated me, not just as a wrestler but as a guy he considered a friend, at the 2003 WEW event for Kudo Fuyuki.

We are in the A-Block which will give us a chance to wrestle four different teams including a few fighters I have never wrestled before.

It goes to show that just when you feel your lowest, you can change your destiny and recover. With returns to ZERO1, UK (for 101 and 1PW), and ROH I finally feel that even though I am a bit older and the bumps hurt a bit more, that I am ready for the next phase of my career.

Usually in my Chronicles I go in order from the last writing but this time I will go backwards. Just a change in pace (plus that is how my notes go! Haha).

As I am writing this it is 24 hours before the WORLD-1 events in Neptune, NJ. We have been slowly increasing our attendance month by month and tomorrow we will go with our first double header in a few years. It gives W-1 the chance to not only further our stories (which are good!!!) but it gives a chance for newer wrestlers to show their stuff in front of Mr. Asai from Pro-Wrestling ZERO1 in Japan. ZERO1 announced last month that WORLD-1 and Simon Inoki were the exclusive bookers of foreign talent for their company and I am very pleased. For seven years I was in charge of being the gaijin agent for the company and now with Z-1 and W-1 working together again it will get our wrestlers a chance for international work.

Tickets are only $5 for each event tomorrow. That is cheaper then a pizza! Come on out and have some fun. You can come right to the building for tickets or visit www.WORLD1Online.com for details.

Last weekend was my first return to the United Kingdom in a year wrestling for Steven Gauntley’s Pro Wrestling 101 and 1PW. The trip over was easy. Maybe 30 people on my flight so I got a good seven hours of rest. I had planned on a cramped trip so I bought Dan Brown’s new book The Lost Symbol to read but luckily I was off to nap time. When I arrived in the UK I sat and read waiting for a 1PW official to pick me up. Two hours later he got me. Not that he was late but I don’t think he recognized me since I was wearing my glasses and my hair was up in my hat!

The companies put us up at a real nice hotel near the Doncaster Airport and it was great to see Sterling James Keenan right off the bat. After some rest, I went to the Dome to host a seminar. Although 15-20 contacted Steven about coming, only five showed up and that was fine for me. I like teaching the young guys and sometimes a smaller class gets more. Of the 10-15 that didn’t show, only one emailed me which I thought was very professional of him. I would have never know that he was scheduled but he showed that he wanted to learn.

After the seminar, who do I see? My European PIC (Partner In Crime) Steve Lynskey! Lynskey is just one of those funny guys that I love hanging out with. We have been all over Europe together and its always story time when you get us together.

It was also a lot of fun to hang out with Keith Myatt. Keith, to me, is like King Kaluha. A guy that just is so nice and has so much knowledge of pro-wrestling that you learn new things everytime you are around them. Keith has such great stories of World Of Sport and is a guy that all young wrestlers should flock to so that they can learn.

The shows were a lot of fun. And it was nice to talk to the UK fans again. Thank you to everyone that came out. Even those who don’t like me! LOL.

I was supposed to go from UK to Finland for a few days of holiday but unfortunately it wasn’t going to happen thanks to EDreams.com. EDreams is a shitty internet travel agent that screwed me on my ticket. You ask how? Thank you for asking. I ordered my ticket for X amount of Euro’s and got emailed my confirmation number. Should be all good right? Well, just by chance I checked my email between the 101 and 1PW events and what do I see? An email from these dicks telling me that they “made an error on the fare” and that it would cost me another $200 for the ticket. How do you do that? How do you take the money, send a confirmation number, and then ask for more money? Assholes. They still haven’t returned my money. They told me it might take 7-10 days before I get it. So www.EDreams.com, welcome to The List.

Another person that made The List this week gets it for being a total douche and thinking he is smarter then wrestlers. In fact, he was proved to just be a stupid kid. His name is Fusent or something like that and he was the “owner” of Parliament Entertainment Promotions in Ontario. He contacts me on Facebook asking me about a show he was going to run on November 27. We agreed on price but right after it started to go downhill. I tell him how I need my flight and he asks me to come in a day earlier. That was strike number one. He had no idea how to book a flight. Then when it came to the deposit (I require a deposit with first time promoters and so does my agent Bill Behrens for EVERYONE) I told him he could send it via Western Union or PayPal. He tells me that he will send it via PayPal on Friday, October 30. The 30^th comes and goes so I figure that I am not on the show. No deposit, no show. Then I get emails from fans and wrestlers in Ontario warning me about this kid AND telling me that he is advertising me. Note to fans-if you DON’T see it on www.CorinoWrestling.com then I am not scheduled. I contact the guy and he lies (LIES) and says that he tried to call me twice and wanted a reassurance that I would be coming since The Honky Tonk Man wasn’t requiring a deposit. After telling this shithead that the reason for a deposit is a guarantee of appearance he still didn’t get it. I told him to take me off his advertising and he wrote back about me being unprofessional. HA! Guess what this kid did? Canceled his show. Next time try getting talent from Bill Behrens, since in this kids world no one requires a deposit. Luckily my buddy Gordo over at Ontario’s Indy Elite (http://ontariowrestlingsindyelite.com/) warned me about this kid. Hey kid, now who is stupid? LOLOL.

Back to fun stuff.

The weekend before was a stressful but fun weekend featuring my return to Ring Of Honor and winning the ACE heavyweight title from Danny Maff on November 7.

ACE, once again, was a lot of fun. During the match my injured right shoulder got crushed by Danny Maff on his dive (Trying to do the math of Danny’s weight plus his speed of him coming through the ropes makes me cringe!). By the time I tried to hit my finisher, now named the Sliding C Special (why Sliding C Special? Because it is more special then the Sliding D! Eat that Tanaka-san!!! LOL), three times I was about to cry. Maff has a barrel of a chest and one sliding lariat hurts me. Three was like having a baby, or really bad gas. Just killed me.

I wore all of my Phillies stuff, because I knew the pro-Yankees locker room would be ready to give it to me and I was right! But I took it like a man and it was great to talk baseball with EC Negro.

The two nights before marked my return to ROH for the first time in three years. Nervousness was the understated word for these shows. Over the last 15+ years I have wrestled about 2300 times. In those 2300 times, I have probably done three matches that lasted under three minutes in my favor. I have been on the receiving end a bunch of times but being on the offensive end is nerve racking for me.

Luckily I was against two really good kids that were amazing. Plus I had the help of Colby putting stuff together including a new move I debuted called “ColbyShock”. I hope the fans enjoy it. I saw that I am scheduled to debut on the HDNet TV show on Monday, December 7. It is great to be back and although I was totally intimidated by some of the styles of the ROH guys, I look forward to the challenge of keeping up with them! Plus I have a built in feud with Kenny Omega, since we are both from Winnipeg. Apparently Bobby Cruise only thinks that one wrestler can be from a certain city! God forbid that me and Omega both get announced from Winnipeg right Bobby, you hairy hairy man! Bobby Cruise is so hairy that bears are jealous of his coat. Bobby Cruise is so hairy that Big Foot thinks HE is Big Foot! Ohhh, Cruise I got a bunch of them for you!!! So from now on, in memory of Bobby Cruise, I will be introduced from my birthplace, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada! Think of Bobby when you hear it! LOL.

That is about it for this edition. Thanks for reading and supporting me!