Aiming for that next level.

I had the utmost pleasure in wrestling a former WWE and NXT superstar Kazma Sakamoto this past Saturday in Helsinki, Finland. Me being a Finnish wrestler, there’s not a lot of chances to square up against this kind of talent. Even rarer, to do so on your home turf, which is exactly the kind of privilege I was afforded on September 3rd.

Before the match I could feel the usual jitters, excitement and nervousness swirling around. You know, the usual stuff? Of course I felt like this was going to be something special. Not only was I fortunate enough to face a world-class wrestler in Sakamoto, but I could also see if I could hang with the best of them. For almost two years now I’ve been setting my goals in this wrestling game higher and higher, with an ultimate dream of someday getting a contract from the big leagues in WWE. I understand that that dream is a big one, and the probabilities of it are astronomically small. Even for a ”normal” wrestler from Europe, but even more so for a talent coming from the geographically isolated Finland, which is definitely not a wrestling market. But in the end, what can we do but dream? If so, then dare to dream big, it just might pay off.

The match was looming ahead and I was trying to get my cardio up there. I knew that there was a distinct possibility that I could gas on what could be described as the biggest match of my 11 year career so far. A day before the show we were training in FCF Wrestling’s training center, a place I feel has become a second home for me. I was a little bit worried, for my left shoulder had been acting up for about two weeks now. I had not done any weight training that week in fear of injuring it more, I could not for the life of me do any pressing movements without a sharp pain shooting through the shoulder. In the training session the shoulder was acting up again, and my worries started to pile up. After getting home and packing my gear for the big match next day, I started to feel an unease in my jawline…

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