This past week I had the opportunity to interview “The Insane Hardcore Icon” Iceman. Iceman once wrestled with the GBH promotion in Stafford before politics got in the way, so he left and took a few months away from the mat game. No sooner had 2002 started Iceman had announced he had started his own wrestling promotion named BXW (Beyond Xtreme Wrestling). Iceman was a guest on this site last year when we conducted his first interview, what better timing than to do it all over again and get the low down about his future and the history of his past.
I now give you The Full Interview with Iceman 2nd February 2002.
I would like to welcome you back to TalkWrestlingOnline.com / Wrestling101.com, its been about a year since you were last on this site being interviewed, has there been any major changes in your career since your last interview?
Thanks its good to be back here, since I was last on alot has happened, its been a weird year.
Now in your last interview you were wrestling for GBH, why did you leave the promotion?
If I had a pound for every time I’ve been asked that…to understand why I left GBH you have to go back to April of last year. I was involved in a match with Juvenile so you know that it would be nasty, anyway it was a week after the big Zandig/Poison match and everyone was going Hardcore crazy so we felt that we had a lot to live up to, so we went into the match ready to go all at it.
Half way during the match I took a tenant saw and cut Juveniles head open (To be honest it wasn’t that bad). Anyway supposedly it caused people to walk out and the next shows hardly anyone turned up to watch so Chris gave me the blame, he said that I went too far and scared people off.
That was the last time Juvenile worked for GBH but I continued, but I wasn’t happy, the excitement had gone out of it, I used to look forward to every match but after that I couldn’t be bothered it got to the point where I was thinking about quitting wrestling, also a wrestler called Five Star Flash had jumped to GBH from K-STAR and he was upsetting everybody and I knew I just had to be out of there, so I left.
Do you ever see yourself going back to GBH?
You should never say never in this business so I don’t really know, I would like to think that if I ever wanted to go back that I would be welcome, but that’s not up to me.
Lets talk about BXW for a moment, what made you decide to open your own wrestling promotion?
I’ve wanted to start my own promotion for ages now, you see I have all these ideas in my head and I couldn’t get any promoter to do them so I knew that the only way I could do my ideas was if I had my own promotion, I got talking with Lee Butler and we both decided to start BXW.
BXW has been attacked by some as being a hardcore promotion, is it a hardcore promotion or simply a name?
We were sick of the old three initials WWF, WCW, world this world that so we knew that we had to come up with something different something catchy that’s when the idea Beyond Extreme Wrestling came up, now I know that people have labelled us a Hardcore promotion but they couldn’t be far from the truth, am not going to lie and say that BXW wont have Hardcore wrestling because it will but it will have more Technical/Lucha Libre than Hardcore when people read this they still wont believe me because they know the type matches I’ve been involved in but they are just going to have to turn up on the night and see.
What can we expect from BXW?
You can expect things that until now have never been done in the UK; we decided that wrestling isn’t just for kids so we aim to give the adults in the audience something that they can get into. I’m not saying that kids are not welcome at BXW shows because they are, BXW will be a family show but we plan to run angles and storylines that the adults can relate to angles that aren’t just for kids. I’ve been saying for ages that the UK needs a wrestling show for grown ups and I hope that BXW can be that show.
Now I’ve said that straight away peoples minds are thinking “We were right BXW will be a Hardcore fed” but again they are wrong, we plan to take alot out of ECWs books. They ran a show that caught peoples attention yes they had Hardcore but for every New Jack there was a Benoit for every Sandman there was a Memento that is how BXW will be run there will be something for all tastes. If you like Hardcore then there will be Hardcore, if you like Technical then there will be Technical, hell if someone likes two old ladies knocking shit out of each other with their handbags then BXW will have that also.
What I’ am trying to say is that we will cater for all tastes, storyline wise we have a storyline coming up in the summer that will blow peoples minds (That’s all I can say about that at the min). To all the critics I want to say Just be there on the 23rd of March and see for yourself what BXW is all about then you can make all the comments you want.
If we have a good show then great but if we sink faster than the Titanic then hey at least we tried.
Talking of BXW I’ve noticed that you have signed alot of wrestlers that recently left GBH, was it your plan all along for those guys to leave GBH and join BXW or was it just coincidence?
The former GBH lads were already booked for the show I didn’t even know that they were leaving, I knew that they were unhappy at GBH but that was about it.
All the GBH lads are tight so when I said that I was starting BXW they all said that they would be on the show you see we look out for each other. There is me Juvenile, Samson Horn, Mickey Whiplash, Arnold Strange, Andy Barden, Dean Allmark, Robbie Dynamite, Stevie Storm, Timm Whylie we were all close at the GBH training camp infact it was Dean and Robbie who trained me so you know that if I ever had a wrestling show then all the lads would be the first ones that I would call.
The way I see it is GBHs loss is BXWs gain as all the lads are great talents and even though they wont admit it they will be a big miss from GBH shows.
What do you say to all the doubters out there who criticise BXW?
Talk is cheap and mouths are made for talking, all they have to do is turn up on the show to get all their questions answered.
Just taking you off the subject of BXW see that you are booked to wrestle for Scottish Championship Wrestling in February, can you tell us what type of match you’ll be involved in and who will be your opponent?
Yeah I am booked to work for SCW on the 16th February at the Linwood leisure centre in Scotland, I know that I’m wrestling a guy called Justice but that’s about all I know there was some talk of a streetlight but I don’t know if that has been changed or not, we will just have to wait and see.
Do you expect SCW to be in the business for the long haul?
Yeah without a doubt, I see big things for SCW. You see Scotland is a waste land where wrestling is concerned, apart from the WWF tribute shows I don’t think that anyone ever goes up there, so if SCW can get the Scottish wrestling fans to their shows then they are onto something, also for their first card they have a great line up of UK talent the likes of Scott Parker, Alex Shane and of course the Insane Hardcore Icon Iceman (well maybe not the last one) Keep an eye on SCW they will be big.
Last time I saw you was on the EEW show and I was rather taken back in your match with Juvenile, in that match you used staple guns, thumbtacks, and barbed wire the match was bloody and violent, what possesses you to want to tear yourself from limb to limb in those type of matches?
Well somebody’s got to do it.
No really, hardcore wrestling is something that I am just into – I enjoy doing it. I enjoy shocking people with the things that I do, I remember that match we got up to some nasty things during it. I still haven’t seen the video of it yet but I am told that it was cool.
I am 22 stones could you in all truth see me doing back flips and shit like that? Also its an easy way of getting yourself over with the crowd, I know that not every one is into Hardcore wrestling but their are some people who like it so I give them it.
Do you ever see yourself coming away from the hardcore style in to the more technical approach?
Well over the last few months I’ve really toned down what I get up to in the ring. With all the shit that went on in GBH I was stopped from going too far so I have had to do other things. I know people see me as just as a hardcore wrestler and that’s it but again they are wrong, I’ve even been called a glorified backyard wrestler with no talent who needs the Hardcore to get over because I cant get over any other way THAT’S BULL SHIT……………
Get this I am 22 stone and can do an axe kick from the top rope do you call that talentless? I don’t, I have never bled on a GBH show since May 2001 come to think of it that was the last time I did anything Hardcore in GBH yet every time I was in the ring I had the most crowd heat (and that didn’t come from me somebody else said it). So would you say I needed Hardcore to get over? No neither would I.
Sorry about that I was just exorcising a few demons. To answer your question I think that my act will always have some sort of hardcore element involved whether it be taking a stiff chair shot or taking a nasty bump that’s just me and who I am. On the other hand believe it or not I would rather watch a sound Technical or High flying match than a Hardcore match any day.
Lets say some promoter wanted you to wrestle as a clown on his show and offered you £200 would you take him up on his offer and wrestle in disguise?
Can it be a hardcore clown?
On a more serious note, anyone who reads the forums on wrestlinginbritain.co.uk will have noticed that Matt V and a few others have really been giving you a hard time recently what’s caused all this turmoil for you?
Well it all started when Matt V left a post on the forum calling Juvenile hapless. As some of you may or may not know Juvenile is my brother, anyway Juvenile flipped because he said that Matt V had no right to even mention has name on a forum because he hadn’t even met Juvenile (and in all truth he didn’t have any right to call him that). To cut a long story short Myself and Juvenile went to a GBH show to see Matt V and ask him why he said what he did, Matt V wasn’t there due to some personal problems at home so we didn’t get the chance to talk, then some slimy sneak decided that they would stir some shit and tell Matt V the we were looking for him to attack him for what he said and it all started from there.
Its all been sorted out and both sides are fine now.
But what I didn’t like was then there was a post left on the same forum attacking my beliefs the funny thing is that this big shot didn’t have the balls to leave his name, well I know who it was who wrote it and lets just say I will get the chance to ask them why they did it.
What are your views on Matt V and your old coach/Promoter Chris Curtis?
Matt V is Matt V and that’s just the way I like it, I do regret that I never got the chance to wrestle Zandig on his show.
Now Chris Curtis I don’t agree with some of the things he does like calling me a Glorified Backyarder and the way he books his favourite wrestlers to go over all the time but besides that the way I look at it is if it wasn’t for Chris Curtis and GBH then their wouldn’t be Iceman so what can you do?
Are you and Chris still friends or is it just business that brings you both together?
When I went to the last GBH show we talked, it was a pleasant friendly chat so I would say yeah we are still friends well I would consider us to be, I don’t know how he looks at the situation.
Chris is more than welcome on the BXW shows if he wants to be on them as is any other GBH wrestler.
I have spoken to you in person and I have spoken to you on the phone in fact we spoke last Sunday on the phone and each time you have big ideas about your career and where BXW is going, so can you share with all the readers and fans what we can expect from you and BXW?
Something different, BXW will break all the old wrestling moulds like goodies and baddies stuff. For Instance our wrestlers will be real to life wrestlers that the fans can relate to. You are not going to see anyone rise from the dead on a BXW show or wrestlers that can make fire appear from out of the ring posts, BXW be real to life, now about Iceman lets just say that you have seen nothing yet.
Iceman it has been a great pleasure speaking to you as always and I will catch up with you at the BXW show but before you go, have you anything else that you would like to add to this interview?
Yes to some of the so called wrestling critics I would like to say don’t put me in a box, you don’t know what I am capable of in the ring and just because I own a wrestling promotion don’t jump to conclusions and think that its going to be a Garbage wrestling promotion. Also I would like to thank you for this chance to get a few things off my chest.
ITS BEEN EMOTIONAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click here to visit Icemans Official website
Aaron Spencer