The Man In The Middle #1
Published Friday, 9th September 2011
On websites and in magazines throughout the world it’s possible to read the thoughts and insights from various personalities within the world of professional wrestling. From the fans to matchmakers to the wrestlers themselves, its easy to get the inside scoop on what everyone in professional wrestling is thinking. However, there is one group of people in wrestling that are rarely heard from, referees.
As a referee for the past 7 years, the last 3 of which with IPW:UK, I have had the unique opportunity to be up close and personal with some of the biggest names in professional wrestling from the UK, USA and Japan. From top British stars such as Zack Sabre Jr and Dave Mastiff to American stars Daniel Bryan and Al Snow and Japanese greats such as Go Shiozaki and Takeshi Morishima, I have had the pleasure of being the man in the middle for some huge contests. It is my unique perspective that prompted IPW: UK.com to ask me to write a monthly article giving you an up close and personal look at what I see from inside the ring.
In future articles I will be writing about the biggest matches, the hottest feuds and the personalities that I’ve dealt with in IPW: UK however in this article I want to talk about just one man. That man is the Undisputed British Heavyweight Champion, Sha Samuels.
I have known Sha Samuels for 7 years, first meeting him in my home area of South Wales. At the time, Sha was teaming with his best friend Terry Frazier as The Kartel and they were dominating the tag team scene in the UK. As a referee, its very rare that I get too close to a wrestler in order to stay impartial during matches however when you see the same wrestlers numerous times over a week or a month you cant help but bond over common interests and become friends with people you travel or socialise with.
In the beginning, Samuels and Frazier were not people whom I considered my friends. In the locker room they were boisterous and troublesome whilst in the ring they were incredibly difficult to deal with. The young Frazier and Samuels showed no respect to me as an official and regularly verbally and sometimes physically abused me during the course of their matches.
Over a period of time, I refereed the majority of Kartel matches in promotions in Wales,Swindon and London before I joined IPW:UK at the beginning of 2009.
Upon my arrival in IPW: UK, I was unfamiliar with many of the roster at that time and was surprised to find that the most welcoming wrestlers on the crew were none other than The Kartel with Samuels being particularly friendly and helpful.
The duo welcomed me into the promotion and over the next two years became two of my closest friends in the wrestling business although I must stress that even as friends, The Kartel were still sometimes tough to handle in the ring as they never let our friendship cross over into the ring.
I refereed all of The Kartel’s matches during this time and even from my vantage point I never could have seen coming what took place in mid 2010.
During a tag team match against the All Star duo of Mikey Whiplash and Robbie Dynamite, Sha attacked Terry and severed the friendship. Whilst I am always professional in the ring and keep my friendships in the locker room, I must admit that this shocked and upset me.
Witnessing a friend attack another friend was an awful experience. Behind the scenes I spoke to both men privately, hoping to try and smooth things over. Obviously my attempts were in vain as my two friends brutalized each other in a series of hard hitting wars as their feud spanned many months.
The saddest thing about the whole series is that not only did Sha Samuels turn his back on Terry Frazier but he turned his back on the majority of his friends including myself.
At various points during his matches with Frazier, Sha has verbally abused me and attacked me on more than one occasion.
IPW:UK management have fined and warned Samuels on more than one occasion but he has been unrelenting in his distain for me.
As everyone will know, Sha Samuels is now the Undisputed British Heavyweight Champion. I take nothing away from his in ring abilities, Samuels is without question one of the very best wrestlers in the UK today. What I do question however is the methods by which Sha became champion. It took interference from ‘Rockstar’ Spud and a belt shot to defeat Dave Mastiff and many including myself believe that Samuels is good enough to have done it on his own.
There is a small part of me that is happy that my old friend has been successful however that is completely overshadowed by my feelings over how Sha Samuels rose to become the number one man in European wrestling.
They say it’s lonely at the top. I just hope that one day; Samuels will look back and look at the mistakes he’s made and the friends he’s lost along the way.
Thanks for reading, I’ll see you from the ring.
