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The UK Pitbulls Tour Diary - France - May 2006 |
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Wednesday, 24 May 2006 |
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Before I start this diary of the French trip - a bit of background. We started working for ICWA in France about 3 years ago and won their tag team titles about 2 years ago in match against Hollands Van Kunder brothers. We have defended the titles against numerous opponents in France - mainly "Booster Fontane and his partners (who have included Spud and Ian Rotten). This show is ICWA `s annual Revolution show - this being Revolution 3. This time our match is set to be against Booster and an unnamed opponent. He gained the title shot by beating us in a non-title match with his partner Phoenix (one of his French students) - the stipulations were if we won he would never have another title shot, if he won, he had a title shot with a partner of his choice. Now on to the road trip... Bulk is the drummer in a band called SPOT, they had a gig the night before in GT Yarmouth - he arrived home at about 4.30 am, so I had to look forward to dealing with a tired, irritable and hung-over 35 stones brother whilst we were away! We left home at 8 in the morning to travel to Ashford in Kent to catch the Eurostar train to Lille in France. On the way we made a meet to pick up Jonny Storm who was also on the show. Jonny has recently become a massive "Dirty Sanchez" fan - so as we filmed some skits with them in the past we passed the time recalling our favourite gross out moments. We arrived early at the station and after we checked in, we went to get some breakfast. We were soon joined by Majik and Jetta and Doug Williams, who brought the NOAH tag, champs with him. This was looking up to be a good day as we are friends with all of them and Joe Legend (one of our really good buddys in the business) would be meeting us in France. Got on the Eurostar at 1.30 pm , only to find people in our seats - not wanting to cause trouble we sat in the seats behind - both Bulk and myself taking up two seats for comfort ( we are pretty big guys). All was well until two elderly ladies arrived whose seats we were in - we tried explaining that our seats were taken too and there were numerous other single seats for them to sit in - they refused to compromise and we had to move and squeeze in next to each other - much to the amusement of the rest of our party. The train arrived in about an hour and we went to meet at the pickup point. We were picked up by the owner of ICWA Daniel and his wife Delphine. We all piled into 3 cars and left for the venue. We chatted to Joe (who had arrived with Daniel) about shows we had done but mainly about films and comedy shows - Joe is a massive fan of British comedy - a trait I much admire in a Canadian. We arrived at the venue in a sweat - not `cos it was hot but `cos the French way of driving is very different from ours! Bulk managed to upset a few people by general ribbing, playing pranks and various insults (like calling people fat and bald) - but it was all taken in good spirit and he was dutifully ribbed back. The French shows are always well prepared and there were tables for us to set up merchandise (much to Jonny Storms delight) and a buffet backstage for the wrestlers and staff. The doors opened about 6.45pm - we were all still enjoying the buffet, so we had to make our way down a fire escape and around the back of the hall to avoid going through the crowd. Trouble was there was no-one around to let us in to the rear entrance and one point it looked like the entire roster would miss the show as we were all stuck in the car park! We were eventually let in and went to the changing rooms to get ready. The hall had filled up nicely with around 550 fans in attendance - French crowds are usually super hot - probably because there arent many regular shows going on (UK fans - you really are spoilt for choice with loads of shows on throughout the year by different promotions) , with just 3 promotions in France that I know of . I didnt see much of the first half of the show but the crowd were really vocal and were mega up for anyone French - which bade well for us as we were on with the companys top baby face in Booster Fontaine. The match itself was a odd as Boosters partner was Majik - much hated in France, and whenever we were in ring with Booster we were booed and when Majik was in we were cheered - at one point Bulk was in the ring with Majik and got a "F**K him up Bulk - F**K him up!" Chant. The match was good with loads of heat - at one point Bulk was being jeered by a group of "smart marks " in the crowd - so he spat on them - I was worried about the reaction it might get later. The end result was Majik and Booster simultaneously pinning the Bulk after a botched corner squash left me outside the ring unable to assist - there were new ICWA tag champs and an argument between them ensued when both claimed the winning pin. We got changed and watched some of the main event - Joe Legend and Doug Williams vs. Yone and Murashima match - excellent match again. The whole show was great and soon Jonny Storm was rushing off to sell his merchandise. We joined him but the crowd were a bit tight with money and at Jonny's orders we had to keep moving the table to where to crowds were gathering in the hall for autographs.The French translator appeared and told us a group of fans wanted to see us regarding the earlier spitting incident - I feared the worst, but they all came up and shook our hands and said how honoured they were to be spat on and involved in part of the match heat! We signed their spat on shirts, had photos taken with them and they left very happy. After the fans had gone we left for the hotel and to get something to eat. We got there about 1.30 am and we were set to go to a bowling alley which closed about 5am and get some food , have a few beers and some fun - there was about 25 of us in the group so we would no doubt spend quite a bit in there - but we had not accounted for the French security - a bizarre in house rule stated no-one wearing jogging bottoms or short trousers could enter - as we had just come from the show 90% of us were wearing them! After much conversation it was still a no go - we were now all starving so we all walked a few hundred yards to a McDonalds only to find it shut and only the drive thru open - they wouldnt let us order because we werent in a car! The promoter offered to get his car and told them he would be 5mins - the response was "we shut in 3 mins"! So we had no choice but to go back to the hotel - the promoter was great and took our orders for food and went off to find a 24 hour fast food place while we waited at the hotel. He came back about 45 mines later with our food, so no-one starved that day. The rooms were basic but comfortable, but the showers were crap - with water spraying everywhere but down! Got to sleep about 3am after trying to watch some bad French TV. We were picked up at 9am and taken to the Lille train station to catch the Eurostar , we got some breakfast at the station and all had a laugh at the huge Murashima trying to drink the Worlds smallest cup of coffee! More problems on the train - a girl was asleep in our seats, so we let her be and sat elsewhere - half an hour into the journey 2 girls turned up demanding our seats - I was not happy! After rudely waking the girl we took our seats and the rest of the trip was uneventful. We disembarked and said our farewells to everyone - presenting Yon and Maritime with UKP t-shirts as gifts - one way or another the UK Pitbulls presence will get to Japan! In all a tiring but fun trip, great crowd, good reaction, as always we were treated exceptionally and thoroughly look forward to going back. Thanks to Daniel,Delphine,Christophe and Nathan for making the trip easier and enjoyable and to our travelling companions for being good friends and being able to take a rib and give one back in good humour. Big Dave UK Pitbulls www.ukpitbulls.co.uk
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