Tony Baroni

Even though his wrestling background is fairly short and sweet, this rookie is becoming a household name!

Tony Baroni is a hot head and is as mouthy as the day is long, but he is really making a name for himself in ECCW. Wrestling with Hunger is another big opportunity for him to shine. “I am taking part in wrestling with hunger for two reasons. To help the food banks and I want to test my body and abilities. Wrestling for three days will do that, as well as improve my game.”

Since being trained by such ECCW superstars as Kenny lush, Nelson Creed and Artimus Spencer, Baroni has been looking forward shine in a big show.  “Everyone I have told about Wrestling with Hunger thinks it’s a pretty cool event. I am really looking forward to this.”

Baroni understands that giving back is really important in the grand scheme of things. “You never know whose help you might need in the future, so help people out when you can. It’s Karma, you know?” Baroni has roughly 20 matches under his belt, and looks to more than double that over the three day world record attempt!

Five Questions with Tony Baroni

Q: How are you preparing for this world record attempt?
A: I am preparing by training. Training some more and then more training! Its two to three days in the ring as well as four to six days lifting weights and doing cardio. I will be at my absolute best for this!

Q: What has been your favorite arena to wrestle in and why?
A: My favorite arena to wrestle as thus far is easily the new Penticton hockey arena. It was the biggest arena and largest crowd I have ever wrestled in front of  and it was truly amazing!

Q: What is your biggest rival and describe your history with him?
A: My biggest rivals thus far have to be those big goofs Bubba and Junior. I’ve squared of with these two in tag team contest on three separate occasions and each time I have come up short. Only if I ever get either one of them in a one-on-one contest the shoe will be on the other foot and Tony Baroni will be the victor. I also faced Kenny Lush in Abbotsford, and would love to get a rematch with him!

Q: Why did you get into wrestling?
A: Pro wrestling has been an obsession of mine ever since I watched Royal Rumble 1990 and decided that pro wrestling is most likely the coolest thing ever. Whether it is Macho Man Randy Savage, Razor Ramon, Ultimo Dragon, Jushin Liger or Great Muta; I just loved everything about wrestling.

Q: What do you wish to achieve in the next 12 months in your wrestling career?
A: In the next 12 months I’d like to get my hands on more top contenders in ECCW and leave ever one of them laying in the ring after being destroyed by the Baroni Sandwich or the Baroni Buster!

MR2

This seasoned veteran in the ECCW rings really understands the greater good with Wrestling with Hunger!

MR2 debuted in late 2001 and is a former two time ECCW Tag Team Champion and a former NWA Canadian Junior Heavyweight Champion. He has proven success in ECCW’s rings and is applying that work ethic and determination into Wrestling with Hunger.

“Right now I am getting as much rest as I can now and doing loads of extra cardio. About one week out I will start sleeping in cycles to prepare for the long nights and days. When I am not doing that I am bugging and harassing as many of my contacts/business associates as much as possible to pony up and donate some food or money for SHARE’s food banks.”

MR2 is very aware what Wrestling with Hunger can mean to someone. “In today’s tough economic times, I can’t think of a better way to help those in need. Most people forget that the food bank runs all year not just at Christmas. Hunger doesn’t end at the holidays, it never stops.”

Five Questions with MR2

Q: What do your friends and/or family think about your involvement in Wrestling with Hunger?
A: My family and friends think it is great and are behind me and the charity 100%. They also say that they will be thinking about me while they are sleeping in their warm comfy beds. These are my friends! They also think I am completely nuts for wrestling for 72 hours even if it is for charity but more so because it’s for a world record.

Q: What was your most memorable match?
A: I have two and I lost both of them! On Nov 25, 2006 in Nanaimo BC, I defended my NWA Canadian Jr. Title in a Triple threat Ladder match! The match featured myself, ICE, my brother Memphis. I also got a “great” pep talk from the Honky Tonk Man for the match! My second would be on Dec 6, 2008. I faced Scotty Mac at the Russian Community Centre in Vancouver for the NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship. This match was a good match but from a fans perspective I doubt it had anything that really stood out. However, I picked this match for very for personal reasons.

Q: Who is your biggest rival and describe your history with him?
A: My biggest rival is my brother Memphis. We are both extremely competitive and we both hate losing. So growing up together we were natural competitors and as all brothers do, we fought. Wrestling is no easy business and even though we are supportive of each others accomplishments, we both enjoy taking shots at the others successes and defeats.

Q: Who was your wrestling hero growing up?
A: Like all kids, I was a Hulkamanic!! However I was also a big fan of Ricky Steamboat, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and secretly the Ultimate Warrior.

Q: What has been your favorite arena to wrestle in and why?
A: The Russian Community Centre in Vancouver, hands down. The atmosphere at the RCC is unmatched by any other venue.

Callos

Professional Wrestling rookie Callos is looking forward to the biggest opportunity of his short career, Wrestling with Hunger!

Callos’s professional wrestling career is just getting started as he has been training for just over a year now.  This event is really something special and he knows it. “You can see people in need everyday and people can do all sorts of things for them. This is our way of giving something back by doing what we love and enjoy.”

Everyone around Callos is really supportive, and boy does he appreciate it. “My friends and family are behind me on this. I’ve even visited my old high school to talk to the Principal about advertising for this event. They all seem to enjoy the idea of it.”

Giving back to the community is something Callos is very grateful he has a chance to do. “Everyone should try to give back what they can to the community. Not everyone can be privileged enough to have basic necessities that most of us do and take for granted. Some days I find myself buying extra food for some people on the street cause that’s what they need the most.”

Five Questions with Callos

Q: Why they are taking part in Wrestling for Hunger?
A: Three days of wrestling, how could you turn that down? Plus a world record and the chance to help people out. You put those three things together and I don’t know any other way I would like to spend my time. I’m in the gym a couple hours in the morning, doing more cardio workouts as well. It’s not an easy task wrestling for this long and without upping the training sessions I wouldn’t see how it would be possible.

Q: What your best match? How about most memorable?
A: Best Match I would have to say is Nicole Matthews for the SuperGirls Title. We just clicked really well I thought and the crowd reaction was great. Most Memorable would have to be against Scotty Mac round two. To get the chance to stand across the ring with the NWA Canadian Heavyweight Champion and last over 5 minutes with him was something special. Plus I had a few 2 counts in there.

Q: What is your biggest rival and describe your history with him?
A: Azeem the Dream. It seems wherever I go this guy is running his mouth about me saying how great he is and he beat me before I knew it. Yet he continues to just stand outside the ring and watch me. Maybe one day he will find the guts to get in the ring and face me.

Q: Why did you get into wrestling?
A: I got into amateur wrestling in high school and ended up injuring myself for a couple months and during that time I was channel surfing and came across a John Cena vs. Eddie Guerrero on Smackdown! and since that one match I’ve been hooked ever since.

Q: What do you wish to achieve in the next 12 months in your wrestling career?
A: Well one is to get bigger. I’m slower getting there but there is still a long way to go and in 12 months hopefully I’ll be big enough that people will stop looking past me. Continue to be a small pain in the butts of Azeem and Scotty Mac. Hey maybe I’ll even wrestle the Prophet for that Slam Academy title of his. But anything can happen in a year so I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

Alex Plexis

Calgary’s own Alex Plexis is traveling from Province to Province, all just to be in Wrestling for Hunger!

Alex made his wrestling debut in October 2005 and moved up the ranks in Stampede Wrestling and all over Alberta.  He has had such memorable matches with now WWE Diva Natalya Neidhart before winning the Stampede Wrestling Young Lions Cup in November 2007.   Alex made his ECCW debut in January 2008, and continues to frequent the Western Canada’s premier wrestling promotion.

Alex realizes how much it matters that he is Wrestling for Hunger. “To me, Wrestling for Hunger is an opportunity to what I love and compete with some of the best wrestlers in Canada and the world while helping a great cause. Where’s the downside?”

Seventy two hours in a row is going to be tough, and Alex knows it. “My friends and family have been very supportive which I appreciate because my training must be driving them insane. They understand the importance of this cause and have been an incredible asset in my preparation for the record attempt.”

Five Questions with Alex Plexis

Q: How much does matter that your helping people in need for Wrestling With Hunger?
A: It’s very important to me to be able to help local food banks, they do very valuable work in their individual communities and need all the help they can get. There aren’t many thing I’m good at so I’m very thankful to be able to use wrestling to do my part.

Q: What your best match? How about most memorable?
A: My favorite and what I would consider my best match was my Young Lions Cup Triple Threat Match in which I beat Brandon Van Danielson and Carrot Adams to win the cup in November 2007. However, my most memorable match which is still (unfortunately) brought up to me by many fans would be another Triple Threat in which I wrestled Ravenous Randy and Dusty Adonis. The match ended while I was incapacitated having been hung on the ring post in an atomic wedgies by Randy so he could finish Adonis off.

Q: Why did you get into wrestling?
A: I’ve loved wrestling for as long as I can remember. The spectacle and athleticism has always drawn me to it. So when I moved to Calgary I immediately was drawn to the local wrestling scene where I met Chucky Blaze who told me about the local training. I saw the opportunity to take a shot at my dream and joined him training with Randy and Kidd and the rest is history.

Q: Who was your wrestling hero growing up?
A: My wrestling hero growing up was Shawn Michaels. He epitomized the athleticism and spectacle that drew me to the sport.

Q: What do you wish to achieve in the next 12 months in your wrestling career?
A: In the next 12 months my goal is to prove to everyone, not only in the crowds but in the locker rooms, that I am one of the top Junior Heavyweights in Canada!

Kyle O’Reilly

An accomplished Football and Rugby player, Kyle O’Reilly is an all around athlete and one of the most highly regarded wrestlers in Canada today.

As well as touring across the country, he has worked throughout the United States impressing crowds in companies like the National Wrestling Alliance and Pro Wrestling WAR. Kyle’s feuds with Sid Sylum, Billy Suede and El Phantasmo have been some of ECCW’s best and every night he continues to show why he is one of the most technically gifted athletes anyone has ever seen.

The two time NWA Canadian Junior Heavyweight Champion and 2007 Pacific Cup Champion has already racked up an impressive amount of volunteer hours on his own. “I have been very fortunate in my life which is why I feel compelled to take a stand against homelessness and hunger and do my best to make a difference”.

Kyle looks at wrestling as an art form and does his best to make the mainstream audience stand up and take notice of professional wrestling. “I take wrestling very seriously, which is why it is important to me for people to take it seriously as well. Events like Wrestling for Hunger can really help cast some light on a sport that has had a shadow cast over it by the mainstream in the last few years.”

Danni Deeds

Originally starting his training in 2002, “Dastardly” Danni Deeds finally graduated in 2007 from the Slam Academy and has never looked back.

This overly enthusiastic fan favourite has quickly developed a huge fan following all across B.C, and has recently traveled into Alberta to extend his wrestling prowess. An active member of the ECCW roster since late 2007, Deeds pulled out the biggest win of his short career when he pinned Chilltown member Sid Sylum in front of his hometown back in September of 2008.

The home grown Abbotsford local always knew he would step inside the squared circle; “I started wrestling because all my life it’s all I have really wanted to do with a full passion”. The same passion can be transcribed into helping others who are less fortunate than “the Dastardly one”. “I am involved with Wrestling with Hunger to do my part to address and help with hunger within communities in the Fraser Valley”.

Never one to stray away from a difficult situation Deeds is already mentally and physically preparing himself for the opportunity that Wrestling with Hunger has provided him with.

Ray Brooks

ECCW’s longest running wrestler is looking to show his stuff at Wrestling for Hunger!

“Southern Comfort” Ray Brooks debut in 1997, easily making him ECCW’s longest active wrestler. You would think that he has held many titles and is at the Main Event?  Nope, the only title he has held is the Extreme Jobber Title and he would not have it any other way!

Ray Brooks loves being the comedy relief on shows.  Now don’t get me wrong, Ray is not bad or anything.  Heck, he won ECCW most improved wrestler in 2008!  No, Ray just understands that every match needs a loser, and he just loves wrestling and has zero ego on him.  That and his personality make him on of ECCW nicest people in the locker room. Seriously, no one has a bad thing to say about him.  That makes Ray Brooks a complete success as a professional wrestler.

Ray is has two reasons to be excited about Wrestling for hunger. “I love that I have the opportunity to help others. Its really cool to think that I can make a difference. Plus, getting into the world record, how cool is that?!”

Five Questions with Ray Brooks

Q:  As one of ECCW’s longest active wrestlers, tell a really fun story that happened at a show back in the day?
A:  During a latter portion of a Northern Hell tour, one of the wrestlers pulled off his heavily-used kneepads, and tried to get everyone in the locker room to smell it.  One of the female wrestlers ended up dry-heaving over a garbage can.  Maybe I should YouTube that!

Q: People close to you know that one of your idols as a kid was Marty Jannety.  I am here to ask the follow up question that enters everyone’s head once they here that.  Why?
A:  Huh?  Look at his track record!  Tag team champ, Intercontinental champ, and the most devastating finisher in all of professional wrestling.  And you have to admit, his mullet back in the day was top-notch.  Really, is it any wonder why Vince always wants him back in the company?

Q: What is your greatest match in ECCW?
A: Probably against Dr. Luther in Mackenzie, for the ECCW Heavyweight Championship.  It was an honor to be in the ring with someone like that, though I ended up black, blue, and bloody.  It happens!

Q:  If you could team with one current ECCW wrestler, who would it be and why?
A:  Veronika.  She’s hot.  Or, I don’t know, who’s won the most matches in the past year or so?  Whoever that is, I’ll take him.

Q:.  How on earth did you get the nickname Southern Comfort?
A:  It came courtesy of Gorgeous Michelle Starr and Adam Firestorm.  I don’t know exactly how, but since Starr was involved, I’m not sure I want to know.

Sid Sylum

ECCW has a plethora of bright stars that are climbing the ranks of ECCW, and none are brighter than Sid Sylum!

Sid Sylum has been wrestling for three years now, and was trained by ECCW’s In Pain Asylum (now called the Slam Academy) by ECCW mainstays Scotty Mac, Aaron Idol and Michelle Starr.  In the past three years he captured the Vancouver Island Title and with his partner Dropkick Murphy, became ECCW Tag Team Champion.

The 21 year old stands 6’5 and weighs in at 215, and is one of ECCW most agile and quick big men it’s seen in years!  As a member of the top bad guy faction Chill Town, his stock is rising by the show and big things look ahead for Sid Sylum.

Sylum has been a wrestling fan for as long as he can remember.  “My hero? I’ll give the answer everyone gives, Hulk Hogan.”  He always knew he wanted to wrestle, and as soon as he could afford it, he trained to become what he always idolized.  Sid started training with his life long friend Kyle O’Reilly at the tender age of 17, and has never looked back!

Sylum also realizes the positive affect Wrestling for Hunger could have on someone. “Everyone understands economically what is going on in the world today. Anytime I can give back by doing what I love doing, I jump on it.” Sid realizes the impact Wrestling for Hunger should have on a family. “I wrestle for three days and hopefully help out a fair bit amount of families. Doesn’t get better than that.”

Five Questions with Sid Sylum

Q:  What has been your favorite arena to wrestle in and why?
A:  The Russian Community Centre is probably my most consistent favorite but the arena in Dawson’s Creek where I did the NWA 60th Anniversary shows was the best.

Q:  What your best match?  How about most memorable?
A:  My favorite and most memorable match has to be the European Rounds match with Kyle O’reilly.  It was the first time it was ever done in ECCW, and brought a whole new dynamic to ECCW.

Q:  What is your biggest rival and describe your history with him?
A:  Without a doubt it’s Kyle O’Reilly.  We grew up together, trained together, had our first match together and then went our separate ways.  We pretty much fought each other all over western Canada.  It all culminated in the main event in Surrey in an I Quit match.

Q:  Why did you get into wrestling?
A:  It’s all I ever wanted to do since the time I was 3.

Q:  What do you wish to achieve in the next 12 months in your wrestling career?
A:  To start shining as a singles wrestler and gain my first major singles title.

Cole Bishop

Cole Bishop is one of the biggest and baddest men in ECCW, and now he will show off his skills for 72 hours in Wrestling for Hunger!

Cole has been an active pro wrestler since May of 2002.  He has worked in many promotions throughout the Pacific Northwest and into the prairies, but has called ECCW home since day 1.  He is a Five Time Tag Team champion and is Former NWA Canadian Heavyweight Champion.  The man is measured at 6’4 and is 275 pounds, known for being one of ECCW’s most punishing wrestlers.  His current tag partner is Ice, and collectively they are known as Pop Culture.

Cole is very excited to be part of wrestling for Hunger. “Everyone in my life thinks it a pretty cool idea, and is very supportive.”

Cole understands that he is very influential in the fans eyes, as he was influenced to be a wrestler when he was young. “It’s just something I wanted to do ever since I was four and saw it on the television for the first time. I didn’t really have a hero or any real favorite; I enjoyed many and hated a few.”

He currently is on the hated side of the spectrum, but loves the role and plays it well.  Cole loves giving back to the community, as he has volunteered with the Special Adventures in Aldergrove multiple times and had a blast working a charity show for them.

Five Questions with Cole Bishop

Q:  Why are you taking part in Wrestling for Hunger?
Cole:  Two reasons. One, because I get to wrestle for three days straight, which to some may seem like a lot but to others like me there is no place I would rather be than inside the wrestling ring.  Second, why wouldn’t I want to be a part of a world record?  When it involves a good cause, its a win-win!

Q:  What has been your favorite arena to wrestle in and why?
Cole:  I wrestled a cage math in an arena in the middle of nowhere in Oregon.  That has to be my favorite arena.  The fans in there were incredible; it just felt like electricity flowing through me.

Q:  What is your best match?  How about most memorable?
Cole:  I don’t have one favorite but I have a top five.  Let’s just say that the majority of those have me wrestling Memphis Raines or Scotty Mac.  We just have good chemistry and can really generate a great emotion in the crowd.

Q:  What is your biggest rival and describe your history with him?
Cole:  I would have to say Memphis.  We have battled as tag team opponents, wrestled as friends, wrestled as enemies etc… Whether we work here in ECCW or somewhere else, its always a classic!

Q:  What do you wish to achieve in the next twelve months in your wrestling career?
A: The next twelve months will see me push towards getting myself out there a lot more.  I really would like to be doing this professionally as my career and I realize I have slacked off on trying to achieve that goal.  I really need to show the world what I can do.

Scotty Mac

For nearly 10 years Scotty Mac has been the franchise player of professional wrestling in the Pacific Northwest. The Kelowna B.C native trained under ECWA Super 8 standout and Hart Dungeon graduate Chance Beckett in 2000 and has been a staple of ECCW ever since.

The five time NWA/ECCW Champion has one of the most impressive track records in the history of wrestling in the Pacific Northwest and shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

As the second longest reigning NWA Canadian Heavyweight Champion in the last 20 years, he recognizes the importance of giving back to the community which has made him a star. ”It’s one thing to talk about making a difference but it’s a completely other thing to actually get up and address the problem, and that is exactly what Dave Republic and ECCW is doing”.

In his travels Scotty has had the opportunity to see the best as well as the worst of North America which is why he jumped at the chance to be a part of such a noble cause. Obviously in top physical condition Scotty is readying himself for the three days of wrestling by increasing his already difficult work out regime.

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