Whenever there’s talk of which American indie star should be the next to grace an FWA ring, the name of Chris Hamrick always seems to be on the shortlist. It was a couple of years ago that Hamrick came over to the UK to take part in the FWA British Breakout Tour, surprisingly he hasn’t made that much call for a return as yet, but in the meantime we have this new DVD to keep us entertained.

Released by Red Church, this two-disc DVD release features on one disc, a shoot interview, back stage highlights and two of Chris’ matches from the FWA tour, namely against Raj Ghosh in Portsmouth and the first ever match between Chris and Juventud Guerrera in Newport. The other disc is a CD of the shoot interview which means you can listen to it anywhere you want, ideal for while you’re travelling to a wrestling show.

It’s surprising to learn that despite the great talent that Chris shows in the ring, he was self-taught. His father bought him a wrestling ring at the age of nine (all I got was a slide we kept in the front room!) and Chris used to practice some moves on his teddy bear! But despite this unorthodox way of learning how to wrestle, something Chris doesn’t recommend those who want to learn to wrestle and could be his future opponents, to do, Chris has had a successful career in the business.

We learn how his first ever match proved to be totally different from what he promised, he reveals which legendary superstar he couldn’t get enough of and the important part Ricky Morton played in his career.

For those fans who have been watching WWE for a number of years, you might just remember Chris as a jobber back in the days of Tatanka, 1-2-3 Kid and Razor Ramon. Chris tells us how he became popular for his through the ropes bump and how Owen Hart made sure he got a good view of the move during their match. He tells how us how he got heat from George ‘The Animal’ Steele but failed to wrestle the one match he still dreams of.

Once the company started using local guys as jobbers, Chris didn’t work for WWE anymore, his reaction to that is rather surprising. There’s memories of Smokey Mountain Wrestling and then it’s onto his time in ECW with stories of how he got into the company and his friendships with Kid Kash and New Jack. Interestingly Chris was back in the WWE this week appearing in a tag match on Smackdown.

It isn’t the most controversial of shoot interviews but that’s because Chris comes over as a really nice guy. He loves wrestling but admits that his future career might be behind a desk, but as long as he’s part of the business he’ll be happy.

The two matches on the DVD are both highly entertaining. Hamrick includes quite a bit of comedy in his matches which gets him the laughs he’s after but he’s also good at getting heat from the crowd as well.

The DVD costs £9.99, for more information go to www.redchurch.net

Stephen Ashfield