WWE SuperShow comes to the

Hampton Coliseum this Sunday May 21st, WWE Superstar

Drew Mclntyre opens up about wrestling

InterviewByYiorgo

This Sunday May 21st, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) returns to the Hampton Coliseum with their very popular WWE SuperShow, where talent from both RAW and SmackDown brands will be performing on the same wrestlingcard.Someoftheincredibleadvertisedcardasof thiswritingisasfollows:

For the RAW Women’s Championship, Champion Rhea Ripley puts up her title against Shotzi. It will be an all out war when Cody Rhodes battles Solo Sikoa in a street fight There will also be a RAW Women’s Championship Fatal Four-Way match with RAW’s Women’s Champion Bianca BelairvsBeckyLynchvsAsukavsPiperNiven.TheUnited States Champion Austin Theory defends his title vs Matt Riddle The Intercontinental Championship will be up for grabs when Champion Gunther with Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci goes against Santos Escobar with Cruz Del ToroandJoaquinWilde Therewillbemanymorematches aswellandasalwaysthecardissubjecttochange

Tickets are on sale now, starting as low as $20.00 as well asgroupsales,specialoffersincludingSuperstarExperience and Walk The Aisle Doors open at 5:30 PM and the show startsat7:00PM.Also,foralimitedtimeonly,getanexclusive buy one, get one offer, when you use the code MOM. To get your tickets now, go to https://www.ticketmaster com/wwe-sunday-stunner-hampton-virginia-05-21-2023/ event/01005E6246D6A84C

Yiorgo: With us is WWE Superstar and former World HeavyweightChampionDrewMcIntyre Drew whyshould peoplecometotheWWESuperShowSundaynight?What shouldtheyexpecttoseeanddothere?

DrewMcIntyre:WithaWWESuperShow,thefanswill see the best of the best talent from both RAW and SmackDown, put on an exciting show that the fans will have an eveningthattheywillneverforget.WithbothWWEbrands there,youarealsoboundtoseesometalentfromthecompeting brands facing each other Our shows are spectacles and wehavesomethingforeverybody,fromtheyoungestkidsto theoldestadults,maleandfemale Also,ourfemalewrestlers are the best in the world, so talented and well represented onourroster

Y:Whoaresomeofyourfavoriteopponentstoworkwith thatyouknowyouwilltearthehousedown?

DM:Ohh(exhaling),Igotafewthere.SethRollinsisone, Roman Reigns is one, but if I was going to pick somebody thatIknowIcantearthehousedownwith,takethematch andshowaneworlapsedfan,wouldbemyselfandSheamus becausewhenwegetintheretogether,wedonotholdback whatsoever.Whateveryouthinkyouknowaboutwrestling if you start to question it, we have known each other for 20 years, we are not afraid to lay it in. We have that chemistry becauseofthathistoryandourrelationship

Y:CanyoushareafunstoryaboutSheamus?

DM: Ha ha, there are so many of them. If you ask him this question, he would take this opportunity to say horrible things about me That’s the kind of friend he is. He has always been like a big brother to me through my entire life. Always looked outforme my entire life.I always like tosay thatwemetwhenIwas19andhewas43yearsold,butseriouslyheisalittlebitolderthanme Agoodmemoryforhim and I, without throwing him under the bus like he would do to me, is the night I won the Intercontinental title, he beat John Cena to become WWE champion and we both satinthehotelroomafterwards,takingitallin Afterdoing the Independents together, coming up together, in Florida Championship Wrestling developmental together, we are bothsittinginthehotelroomtogether lookingateachother withtheICtitleandtheWorldtitlesaying what’sgoingon we were just wrestling each other in Europe and suddenly we are Intercontinental Champion and World Champion Thisisabsolutelyinsane.That’sreallyagoodmemory

Y: Can you tell us about winning the World Title for the firsttimeatWrestleManiaaswellascompetinginyourfirst WrestleMania?

DM: Winning my first World Title at WrestleMania was obviouslyaveryuniquesituation.Itwasattheheightofthe pandemic, no fans were there, and beating Brock Lesner in fiveminutes CompetinginmyfirstWrestlemania,Iremember walking out in front of the fans, at 24 years old as the Intercontinental champion, the same title Bret Hart used tohavewhenIwasakid,lookingaroundandseeing80,000 people in the stadium I’m the Intercontinental Champion at24andabouttowrestlethere.Icanstillclosemyeyesand seethatmoment

Y: I thoroughly enjoyed reading your book “A Chosen Destiny: My story” and highly recommend it Why did you decide to write it and what are you hoping those who read itgetoutofit?

DM: It was not a case of me deciding to write a book. I am not so egotistical that I thought the world needs that 37 year old Scottish wrestler’s story A third party reached outtoWWEandaskedthemsinceDrewisveryopenwith his story with his ups and downs with not just his career but his life, we really think he could help people with his story Would he be willing for us to put a book together? WWE brought it to me my wife and I sat down and we talked about it and we said absolutely let’s do this. I’m not going to hold back, I’m going to be completely open with the object being: wrestling is what I do, that’s the foundationofthebook,butit’smoreaboutthelessonsi’velearned and showing everybody, hey you may have come through some difficult times, things are going to get dark but there is a light at the end of the tunnel I’m trying to tell everybody whateveryourdreams are,thecrazier they are,trust me you can truly achieve them.

Y: What is a story that is in the book that you are most proudof?

DM:AstoryIamproudofistellingmymother’sstory.My momAngelawasmyhero IstartedappreciatingherwhenI gotabitolder Shewasafflictedwithararegeneticdisorder thatkickedinherearly20’s Sheessentiallylostthebalance portionofherbrain Itceasedtoexist.It’scalledcerebellum metaxium and she was told basically, you will never have a normal life you will never have kids Your brain is going to deteriorate to the point that you will be non-functioning as a human being anymore. She saw the best doctors neurologists all across the UK and got it somewhat stabilized.Shewastoldshewouldnothaveanykids Shemetmy dad,gotpregnantwithme,wasadvisednottohaveme,she saidIdon’tcare,Iwouldratherdie.Shehadmethenhadmy brother Growingupshedideverythingeveryothermother woulddoeventhoughshecouldnotbalanceherselfandwas in a wheelchair a lot of the time She did absolutely everything: made our dinner cleaned the house,did the laundry nothing held her back, all the way to the point that she had cancer shenevercomplainedandshealwayssaidthatsomebody else had it worse off then she did. I truly had a superheroforamother Sototellherstoryinbookform,it’sgoing toimmortalizeherandthat’sthecoolestthing

Y:TellusthestorybehindtheClaymoresword,sinceit’s namedAngelaafteryourmom.

Y: It was not my idea to be honest. They wanted to name theswordandIassumedIwouldhavetonameitsomething stereotypicallikeBloodyBonnie ItwasMr McMahonthat said,“What’syourmother’sname?”Heknewherstory.Isaid Angela, and he said, “That’s exactly the sword’s name.” As soonashesaidit,Isaidthatisexactlythesword’sname It’s reallycoolbecauseeverytimeIhearDrewandAngelaheading to the ring or I hit a spot kick, Angela will start getting revengeoneverybodyandtohearmymom’snameonWWE programmingisreallycool.

Y: It’s also very obvious in all of your interviews that you love your wife Kaitlyn very much and you give her a lot of creditforsupportingyou.

DrewMcIntyre:ThesedaysIdon’treallyplayacharacter onTV,Iplayme,andwelinkittomyrealstory,realupsand downsthatthefanshavewatchedmyentirecareerincluding getting fired, hitting rock bottom. The reason I was able to comebackwasn’tjustmyknowledgeofwrestling,itwasalso the fact that Kaitlyn stood by my side. I achieved so much more as a person and together we got me back on track to reachmypotential

Y:WhatwasitlikegrowingupinAyrandPrestwick,who were the American wrestlers that you enjoyed watching and what made you decide at such a young age to become aprowrestler?

DM: I was a big fan of Bret “The Hit Man” Hart when I wasakidandmydadlikestotellthestorythatIwasabout6 yearsoldwhenIgotthefamilytogetherforafamilymeeting and I announced to my mom and dad and my brother who isoneyearyoungerthanme,thatoneday,Iamgoingtobea WWEwrestler.Theywerelikeoksure.Kidssaythedarndest things LikeonedayIamgoingtoplayprofessionalfootball (Europeansoccer)orbeanastronautorbeawrestler ObviouslyyougetolderandgetmoreseriousbutIneverdeviated from the plan I used to go over to my cousin’s house they were10yearsolderandmybrotherandIusedtohidebehind the sofa when they were watching wrestling It was almost forbiddenforustowatch Itwasalwayssocaptivating,these larger than life characters, I just knew from the moment I laideyesonit,somethingtoldme,that’swhatyougottodo Ispentmychildhoodtryingtofigureouthowtopossiblydo it. I sent away to America for all the inside secrets to wrestling books when I was 9-10 years old, I would read about the backstage workings Finally when I was 15 my mother let me go to the one wrestling school in the UK that was a 24 hour round trip I lived in Scotland and it was 12 hours theretodomytrainingthen12hoursback Ididitasoftenas IcouldaffordandIwascompletelyobsessedwithmakingit happen.At16yearsoldIstartedtheScottishwrestlingscene and we started putting on shows We had an adult help us out because there is only so much a 16 year old could do I would train the guys with what I was learning in England then put on shows Eventually, I am 21 years old I am very fortunatethatIgotmydegreefromtheuniversityincriminologyandwassignedbytheWWEthesameyear Iamthe firstScotchmansignedbyWWE.

Y:WhataresomefondmemoriesfromyourtimesatOhio Valley Wrestling (OVW) and Florida Championship Wrestling(FCW)?

DM: I was on board for about six months when WWE ended their working relationship with OVW so my OVW memories are brief I got there and it just so happened that theWWEwritersweretheremyfirstweek Theywerelooking at some of the talent that were on the WWE roster and they needed a body to get in the ring so they just said, “Hey kid,doyoumindjumpinginwiththisguytoshowwhathe’s got?” I was just a body and I got in there, rolled around, cut a little promo I guess the timing was right because Wade Berrett was getting in after me By the time he arrived, I was already competing on Smackdown at 22 years old, and I had just arrived in America so I didn’t spend too much timeinOVW.IwenttoFCWinFlorida.Icamebackoffthe roadbecausetherewassomuchIstillneededtolearnabout the American style, working the cameras, the WWE style etc WhenIwasinFCW,that’swhenItrulylearned.There was Steve Keirn, Dr Tom Prichard, Billy Kidman, Norman Smileyandtohelpwithmyspeakingabilitywhichwasnon existingatthetime,oneofthebestever DustyRhodes You can’t help but learn from those guys That was way much more fun than I was supposed to have That was truly my collegerightthere.

Y:Whydidyounevergiveupfollowingyourdream?

DM: I would be lying if I didn’t say I questioned myself, butthetruthiswhenIsatdownandlookedatmyselfinthe mirror all those times, there was still that voice in the back ofmyheadthatsaid,thisiswhatyouarealwaysgoingtodo Don’t know how yet, but you are going to show the world you can do this Thankfully, I had Kaitlyn, my girlfriend at thetime,nowmywife,bymysidesaying,“Ibelieveinyou. SobecauseofherliftingmeupandknowinginsideIhadso much more to give then the world had seen in my first run, I was able to get out there and as time went on, grow my confidence, be around everybody and they believed more inmethenIbelievedinmyselfatthebeginning.Asaleader back in the UK, they lifted me up, my wife lifted me up and everyoneelse’sbeliefinmeallowedmetobelieveinmyself.

Y:YouhaveworkedtheIndependentprowrestlingscene all over the world and have seen them first hand up close and personal. What advice can you give upcoming talent working for the Independents whose goal is to work for a majorpromotion?

DM: First of all I would say get your reps in and keep working shows and start thinking outside the box. Watch WWE and all other major promotions and see what they got and what makes you different then everybody that you seeonthescreenrightnow.HowcanIstandout?It’snotthe sameasitusedtobe I’m6’5 and370lbs Youdon’thavetobe that size anymore. As long as you are unique and stand out, are different and have the passion to give it everything, you will get your opportunity Keep doing those reps and keep your buzz going Social media is such a big tool these days and if you use it correctly you can really get some serious buzz going When I was released from WWE, I used social media to take the whole world with me, rebuild my name, re-educate the people to who I was. If you use it the right way,thinkoutsidethebox workyourbuttoff youtrulycan achieveyourdream.

Yiorgo is an arts, entertainment and sports writer A stage, TV and movie actor, heis also a sports entertainer, educator, motivational speaker, writer, storyteller and columnist

Tidewater Comicon returns this weekend May 20-21 at the Virginia Beach Convention Center, former WWE Superstar Ax tells wrestling stories

Interview By Yiorgo

The annual Tidewater Comicon makes its triumphant return this weekend May 20th-21st at the Virginia Beach Convention Center with Special Celebrity Guests, Comic Book Creators, Voice Actors, Cosplayers, Gaming, Panels, Contests, and so much more!

It all began when Tidewater Area native andfounderMikeFederaliwantedsomuch tohavealocalcomicbookconventioninthe area,thathedecidedtosellhisentirecomic bookcollectionatgaragesales,fleamarkets (and even on AMC’s Comic Book Men) to make his dream a reality

Mike’s first show, held at a hotel as a one day event, was a huge success with an over capacity crowd eager for more shows with biggerspaceandmoreguests Mikedecided to have even more yard sales and with a successful Kickstarter campaign, Tidewater Comicon moved to its home base at the Virginia Beach Convention Center Itnowcontinuestobringanamazing roster of celebrities and has become THE destination where fans now come fromfarawayaswell,tobeapartandexperience such a fan event that it easily draws 23,000-25,000 thousand fans

Some of this weekend’s special guests include: Tom Welling, Michael Rosenbaum, Adrianne Palicki, WWE Superstars Sgt Slaughter, Ax and Smash of Demolition, and so many more. Passes are on sale now and kids 10 and under get in free with payingadults Forticketsandalltheinfoon specialguestsandmore,gotohttps://www tidewatercomicon.com/

Yiorgo: With us is former WWF/WWE Superstar Ax (real name Bill Eadie) one half of the Demolition tag-team who along withhispartnerSmash,willbethereSaturday and Sunday to greet all the fans, take pictures, sign autographs and along with Smash will do a Q&A panel discussion Saturday hosted by Benjamin Banks, who isonehalfofVirginiaChampionshipWrestling’s tag team champions Bill, you have had quite an illustrious career Bill Eadie: I have been very blessed. I have traveled all over North America, CanadaandEurope Idid44differenttrips toJapanover13years.Ihadavery,verynice career working

Y: Today’s younger fans know you as Ax oftheDemolitiontagteam.HowdidDemolition come to be who put you together with Smash and later Crush?

BE:RandyColleycameupwiththebasic idea and we tweaked it; it was to protect his identity because he was already there a numberofyearsasMoondogRex.Hecame up with the idea of having some type of maskon,takeitoff,andthenbecausePlanet oftheApeswereverybigthen,tohavesome type of ape mask under that. I said I don’t feel comfortable with that, I don’t think that’sgoingtowork,sowecreatedthepaint and, of course, the Road Warriors were big back then, The Powers of Pain were big as well.Idon’tthinkanybodystealsanybody’s ideas and they are not going to borrow anything that isnot successful. Peoplesaid wetriedtocopythem.WhenBarryDarsow and I got together we never felt that. We felt we were doing our own thing and that we could work with all types of guys big or small.

ItwasfunnywhenRoadWarriorsfinally came into the New York area, everybody calledthemDemolitionclones Itellpeople that there are millions of Demolition fans, therearemillionsofRoadWarriorfansand therearemultiplemillionswhodon’tcare. At the end of the day we are all trying to make a living in the business.

Y: That of course was not your first time in the WWF/E. You actually also worked for Vince McMahon’s father, Vince Sr Can you tell us about it?

BE: In the early ‘80s, Vince Sr used to havetwotournamentsayearinJapan.They hadtheMadisonSquareGarden(MSG)tag team tournament and a MSG singles tournament and it was normally in the fall He would come over and make the presentation I actually went in as a favor to Andre because of our friendship and I started workingforSr IrespectedSr alot.Hetold you when you were coming in, how much you were going to make and when you would leave I knew of him of course and he knew me from working in the Mid-Atlanticarea,buttobehonestwithyou,Iwas never interested in going to New York at thattime Iwascontenttostayinthesouth I was doing very well in the Mid-Atlantic, inGeorgiaandinJapan.SoIhadnoqualms about proving myself in New York. And realistically at that time, most of the guys weretryingtogetintoGeorgiaandMid-Atlantic.

Y: You mentioned Andre the Giant. Can youshareastoryaboutAndreandJapan?Isit truethatyouwerethefirsttobodyslamhim?

BE: I was one of the first to body slam him. I know that there were a number of guyshewouldworkwithandhewouldnot allow you to slam him I remember when he told me to slam him I thought he was kidding, he was not light I’ll tell you that. As I said, I was there over 40 times, half as Andre’s partner One of the funny stories that happened there was that they have small taxi cabs all over the place All you have to do is wave a dollar and they will stop I had to have Andre hide in the doorwayoraroundthecornerandwhenthecab would stop, I would open the front door, get in and Andre would take up the entire back of the cab They would try to take off They did not want him in the cab because they thought it would break down. That happened on a nightly basis

Y:Let’sgobacktoyourbeginning Where wereyouborn,whydidyoudecidetoteach and how did you transition into professional wrestling?

BE: I was born outside of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. I got interested in teaching basicallybecauseofmyhighschoolfootball and track coach. I went to West Virginia University and played football and track there. After graduation I taught special educationinOhioandcoachedfootballand track for five years there.

I got into wrestling by mistake. We went tovisitmyparentsandmynext-doorneighbor used to be a professional boxer. He retired and was appointed one of the three athletic commissioners in Pennsylvania. His son and I had gone to college together, and he invited me to a match at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena. We got to go backstage because he was the commissioner We went into the dressing room and a couple of wrestlers asked me if I was interested in becoming a wrestler and six months later we were both in the ring

Y: Who trained you? BE: I was trained by Geto Mongol Newton Tattrie He was a good trainer and I eventually became his partner for a while because Nikolai Volkoff had gotten injured so I took over his place We traveled for about threeyears We ended up in the Jim Crockett Promotions Mid-Atlantic area. It’s there that I started as the Masked Superstar

Y:Ihaveveryvividmemorieshereinthe Mid-AtlanticofthebattlesyouandMongol had with Ole and Gene Anderson in your title versus title tag matches!

BE: We left the International Wrestling Association (IWA) with the World Tag belts as their Champions They went out of business but they still owed us money Ouragreementwaswewouldturnthebelts in when we got paid. We never got paid. George Scott had asked us to come into the Mid-Atlantic for a period of time We went and of course it was a natural for the IWA to go against the National Wrestling Alliance belts. During that particular time Mongolwantedtogobackhome,soGeorge ScottthebookerfortheMid-Atlanticterritory approached me about wearing a mask because the office had some kind of fallout with their masked wrestler Don Jardine the Spoiler who had left the territory abruptly Mongol was so gracious to say go ahead.Isaidyes,andtheMaskedSuperstar was born.

Y:Iseemtorememberyoudoinganhour and 1½ hour matches with Blackjack.

BE:Ohyes,wedidaseriesof12one-hour matches,thenwecamebackanddid121½ hourmatches,andthenwecamebackagain andwedid12notimelimitmatches,where we did anywhere from 80 minutes to 120 minutes depending on the venue That was a hot summer Mulligan lost about 50 pounds and I lost about 40 pounds

Y: How do you pace yourself for those kinds of matches?

BE:Wellit’sconditioning,likeeverybody else who wants to run a marathon. We did not want to run a marathon; you can’t start out running 15-20 miles. We had a series of 3-4 matches per city where we started with10to20-minutematches,30minutes 45 minutes to finally an hour and then the 90-minute matches You do pace yourself Yougetusedtoit.Theconditioningisabig part of it. Blackjack was a big guy We both pride ourselves with our conditioning In that stage of my career, I could blow up anybody; you know, forced to wrestle with their tongue hanging out.

Y: This weekend you will be in Virginia Beach, your old stomping grounds back in the Jim Crockett Promotions Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Can you share a memory or twoyouhavefromdoingtheNorfolk-Richmond loop?

BE: I’ll give a very, very true memory I have of Norfolk in particular For some reasonitwasdifficulttogetinandoutofthe Scope, it was easy to go the wrong way all the time you would go around and around thebuildingandfinallyyouwouldfindyour waytothehighway.InRichmond,I’llnever forget, I was working against Blackjack at the time and I ran in one of his matches against John Studd. John and I started working on Mulligan. A fan came to the ring thenanother thenanother Wehadto fight4-5differentfans Twoweekslater,I’m in a match with Mulligan, his face is down in a rear chin lock so he is facing down towards the mat, and this guy comes in the ring Now, you need to know that a couple ofweeksbefore,thereweresomeguysthat were stabbed in Richmond. I saw the fan come in and roll over, but he cut me at the knee I jumped out the ring and about five cops beat the living you-know-what out of him. He admitted later that it was an initiation into a fraternity He had to get in and out of the ring and touch a wrestler withoutgettinghit.Unfortunatelyforme,about a month later I got stabbed in Richmond. Richmond was a rough place to wrestle

Y: Wow, I’ve read before about Blackjack,OleAndersonandRoddyPipergetting stabbed,butIhadnotheardthataboutyou. Iamsorryithappenedtoyou,butthankyou for the exclusive Who were some of your favorite programs that you worked with in this area?

BE:PaulJones,Igorofcourse,Blackjack Mulligan, those are the ones that really stand out, I had a long standing feud with those guys Also, Paul Jones and I tagged and went against God rest their souls Jimmy Snuka and Ray Stevens Mid-Atlantic was my favorite territory to work in; andofcourseGeorgia.MontrealandJapan wereallnice,butMid-Atlanticismyfavorite because that is where I got my first big breakasasingle Youworkedhard,butyou made good money there.

Y:Asafan,Irememberwhatabigdealit was when you took off the mask for a few seconds in the ring Tell us about that.

BE: I had made a promise. I learned this from Wahoo McDaniel, and he was very excited about his heritage He told me that if you say something, then you’ve got to do it Soyou’vegottobecarefulwithwhatyou say.Ididthatmywholecareer SoIhadtold the people that if I won the single or the tag championship belt I would take off my mask, I did not say I was going to keep it off Itoldthem,youknowIamamanofmy word If I told you I’m going to do something I’m going to do it and so, in this case, whenwedidwinthechampionshipbeltsI tookitoff,itbuildscredibility.Butironically a lot of people did not look when I took it off,theyweresayingdon’tdoit,don’tdoit Soitwasallpartoftheangle.Protectingthe identitywaspartofthegimmick.Ilikedmy privacy and George Scott the booker was emphatic that I stayed in separate hotels I traveledwithmyselforwithBorisMalenko, ate at separate restaurants, and we never associated with the other wrestlers who went to the clubs Part of the aura of that characterwasthatnooneknewwhoitwas. I had people follow me for miles and miles but I would always have a towel over my head for hundreds of miles If you got the mask you’ve got to work the gimmick. You have to become the character.

Y: Tell us about your life now.

BE: I love doing these comicons and fanfests. Wrestling has given me so much and now it’s my turn to give back to the fans Ilovetalkingwiththemandknowing Iwasasmallpartinmakingtheirchildhood special Ialsoworkwithjuvenileoffenders I teach a special group called The Focus Group juvenileoffenderswhoweresexually abused kids and consequently started abusing other kids. I also work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. I got started with that in Japan and I still sell memorabilia with all of the proceeds donated to Make-A-Wish.

Y: God bless you Bill. Thank you for what you do for all kids and for the kids in us the fans thanksforthegreatwrestlingmemories Yiorgo is an arts, entertainment and sports writer A stage, TV and movie actor, he is also a sports entertainer, educator, motivational speaker, writer, storyteller and columnist.