Tales from Ringside: A Lethal Dose of Poison

There are things in people’s lives that one doesn’t necessary want, but they are essential to being successful in some portion of your life.  The best example in today’s case is that bottle of cough medicine that tastes awful, but you need it to get over that killer cold. Most people remember the infamous promo Vince McMahon had in 2001 about “injecting the WWF with a lethal dose of poison”.  From there, the New World Order returned, and for a time, chaos ensued, but at Wrestlemania X8 a moment was created that fans will never forget.  For this week’s Tale, I am going to take you to Real Canadian Wrestling’s version of the “Lethal Dose of Poison”.  And the return of the Man known as Heavy Metal in February 2017.

Now to fully understand the effect this return had, I need to take you back to years earlier.  Heavy Metal and Big Jesse Youngblood had just won the RCW Tag Team Championships.  Following their victory, both members got on the mic, completely ripped apart the company that they worked for, Shane Douglas style, and walked out.  Metal proceeded to start his own promotion in Edmonton, to various results.  But all that time, there was a serious real-life feud between Heavy Metal and RCW Owner Steven Styles.

Fast forward to 2017… RCW is still around, but venues are small, crowds are just as small, and things needed a boost.  Something to shake things up.  Being the new General Manager of RCW, I was open to any and all ideas.  However, I never got the opportunity to see this coming.  The RCW Head Office had signed Heavy Metal to a deal to come back to the company.  Only three or four people knew about it, just the people necessary to make the debut memorable, and I was not one of them.

Heavy Metal arrived at the venue during the main event, a Heavyweight Title Match between champion Scott Justice and challenger Big Jesse Youngblood, Heavy Metal’s former tag partner.  Justice won the hard-fought contest, finishing off The Original Aboriginal with a One-Winged Angel.  Justice proceeded to celebrate the victory with his personal Angel in the ring, with streamers flowing everywhere.  Suddenly, the light’s go out, ECW-style, and when they come up, Metal is in the ring.  Metal proceeds to superkick the Angel as well as Scott Justice.  With both Scott Justice and the Angel down, and Big Jesse in shock, Metal grabbed the RCW Heavyweight Title and holds it high and claims it for his own.  Justice is shocked… Youngblood is shocked… the crowd is shocked… hell, I am shocked.

The following months had Heavy Metal and Scott Justice going through a series of wars that were more physical, violent, and bloody than anything the Champ had ever seen.  Eventually, Metal laid claim to the Heavyweight Title legally, and went on a lengthy title reign.

Now, not only did this drive up the intensity of the matches, but also the crowds.  Attendance slowly began to rise, the promotion had to move to a larger venue, and business was starting to pick up.  Unfortunately, things got a little out of control one night, another tale for another day, that forced me and many fans to leave again.  But despite the lack of attendance, the quality of matches continued to rise, and Metal continued to push the boundaries of the RCW Head Office and what they were going to do to improve the product.  Eventually, Metal, teaming up again with Big Jesse Youngblood, took control over the company, christening it “Top Talent Pro Wrestling”.  Eventually RCW management wrestled the company back from Top Talent, but it seemed that this created a positive effect on the product.  The matches and cards became more solid, and the fans started to come back.  And Metal was the Champion the whole time.  Leading up to one of the most memorable cards in the last year in Real Canadian Wrestling, when after an eight-month chase Christian Strife climbed the mountain and defeated Heavy Metal for the Heavyweight Championship.  The crowd lost their minds to see it happen, and a star was completely made that night.  But always remember, to have a great hero, you must always have a great villain to push them.

Now Heavy Metal and Big Jesse Youngblood are together as a tag team, and always near Championship gold.  Seeing those two work together is a work of art, from their actions in the ring, to the interactions with the crowd.  There are some dream matches that are lining up for Top Talent in RCW, and I hope I get a chance to see them.

Personally, when I met Heavy Metal for the first couple years, we did not get along at all, mostly due to his actions before or after the bell.  But looking at the current landscape of Real Canadian Wrestling, and Alberta Wrestling in General, I don’t think things could have nearly been as successful without his injection into the promotion.  The more I see him work day in and day out, the more respect I have for him. Little did I know two years ago that a lethal dose of poison would be just the thing Real Canadian Wrestling would need to achieve the success they have today.

You can see Heavy Metal, Top Talent, and the rest of the Real Canadian Wrestling Roster on Powerslam TV and Backbreaker Video on Demand.