I suppose that if I'm gonna write a blog with wrestling references I may as well start with the place I loved the most. CPW. There are many people who remember the venue, location, date and even time of there very first wrestling experience. Now I can tell you venues and locations but the dates are extremely fuzzy. Even the years are fuzzy to me. So you'll hear a lot about venues but probably no dates so I hope it doesn't get confusing.
The story of CPW for me begins many moons ago. I had been reffing for IWW for about a year and was very happy doing it. Then suddenly I was gone. The very first gym wars had been announced and as always I was excited. I called the IwW ring announcer Dave Walsh to see what time I was to be out at the show. He said very casually "oh your not reffing anymore". I was confused. To the best of my knowledge I was there only ref. Dave continued "there's another guy reffing". I asked what I was doing. I wasn't a wrestler I was a ref. He simply said there wasn't anything for me. Now as everyone in wrestling knows there's millions of things to be done the day of the show. So to say there was nothing for me to do was simply a lie. I didn't know what to do. I had been replaced and that was that.
A few days later I was contacted by 2 formers IwW guys Mark Burns and Cannibal. Cannibal had e mailed me and mark had visited me in my job. Both said the same thing. I should join the new promotion, Celtic pro wrestling. It was a miracle. My dream wasn't dead. I jumped at the chance. They told me to contact Blake Norton. Myself and Blake knew each other as he had been my first trainer and foot in the door into wrestling. I contacted Blake and without hesitation he welcomed me to CPW.
My road to CPW was, let's say, rocky. I had met with Blake, discussed coming in as a ref and would do the inaugural show. Two weeks before the show I went on holiday to Crete. I had met up with my girlfriend (now wife) and our friends and proceeded to enjoy my time away. But after 2 days there tragedy struck. One of the girls had been in a near fatal crash and was in serious condition in hospital. It shook us all up badly. I had gone the second week of what had already been a strange holiday for the others. Stories of girls in other hotels being rapped, the lads on holiday with us being arrested for nothing and now this. It was, to say the least, a disaster. I came home with a feeling of dread. I contacted Blake and said I couldn't do the show. He understood but I could sense that he wasn't too pleased. It took me a little while but I eventually pulled the proverbial finger out and contacted Blake again. This time though I'd changed my mind. I no longer wanted to ref. I wanted to manage. We discussed exactly how I'd come in and he'd asked me what my name was. To this day I'll never know where the name came from or how it just popped in my head. But from that moment Gerry Soul was born.
I have to credit Blake for 90% of my character. He came up with the catchphrase, "the man to know", and my whole persona. I was to be a rich, successful manager looking for the next big thing in Irish wrestling. I will never forget the first time I walked through the curtain as Gerry soul. It was terrifying. And to make matters worse when I got the mic it broke. So I had to improvise. I literally screamed my head off at the crowd. To this day I've no idea if they understood but It got the desired effect. They hated me. My very first appearance as Gerry soul had been a success. Blake decided that rather than me managing a single wrestler I'd have a stable. He introduced me to the 3 lads I'd be managing. Delicious Darren, Studley Steve and Awesome Andy. God knows why but we all actually got along. Blake informed us that we would be known as D4. Right from the get go I loved it. I was a heel manager with my own stable. I couldn't have asked for more.
A few months after my debut with D4 Blake informed everyone he was leaving and selling the ring and everything else to the then referee, Brian. It was, for me, a sad occasion. Blake had gotten me into wrestling in IWW a few years previous and left and now he was leaving again. He had been a mentor to me and it was sad to see him go. To be honest I was worried. I didn't know Brian very well and it worried me to think he might change everything. It really surprised me that at the show after Blake left Brian approached me and asked if I wanted to help book the shows. I was shocked. Here was a guy who barely knew me and wanted to trust little old me to book his shows. He didn't need to ask twice. When Blake was booking shows I would throw ideas I had his was. Some he'd use. Some he wouldn't. But he always listened. And now I was the one booking things. I loved it.
It was at this time that D4 had just finished a feud with the team of Danny Demento, Napalm Hamilton and there manager, Max Martello. Cosa Nostra, as they were known, had handed our asses to us so it was decided we needed some heavy back up. Enter Danny THE PAIN. Danny was an old friend who'd originally trained in the NWA gym in bray. Danny is a big man and was the perfect fit as enforcer for D4. At the time danny was very green in the ring. He'd not had a huge amount of matches but as he still is today was very eager to learn. I was the mouthpiece and he was the muscle. With Danny as back up we went on to win the CPW tag team titles. D4 was riding high and with some new up and coming talent we had an endless supply of feuds. This would eventually lead up to probably the best feud I ever participated in. The feud between my tag team champions and the young home town heroes, Thunder and Lightning
I had watched these 2 lads make there debuts and when they became a tag team the plan was always going to end up with a T and L -vs- D4 feud. It started with a series of single matches involving T and L and Steve and Andy, who were the champs. Each month both teams notched up wins and losses. Ultimately it all came down to one match. A match for the tag team championship. I will always remember that day for many reasons. We had probably our biggest crowd ever. Nearly 250. I could see everyone in the match was nervous. But I could see they were determined to get this right. I was nervous as hell. Anyone who knows me through wrestling knows my pre performance ritual. The 4 pisses. That day I'd say I needed 20. It was time. The crowd was red hot for the main event. It was T and L's home town. Everyone knew what they had to do. D4s music played. We walked out. And it simply went perfect. It was made even more perfect when I was to throw a chair in the ring only to have lightnings mother grab it off me. The finish came. The ref counted to 3 and the crowd went crazy. There were new tag team champions. It was without a doubt my happiest moment in wrestling. The 4 lads had done an amazing job. They'd just put on one hell of a main event without a single mistake or glitch. I've never told them this put I was very proud of them that day.
That of course is only some of my CPW experience. My next blog will cover the FALL of CPW. I hope you've enjoyed my first blog. Any and all feedback is very welcome.
TTFN
Gerry
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