EXCLUSIVE :: Interview with Chris Blackwood

Chris Blackwood is an English wrestler currently working for Midlands based promotions Leicester Pro Wrestling and Alternative Wrestling World.

He has been part of the independent business for around two years after joining a training scheme at AWW in early 2007. At the moment he is performing as Lucian L. Jones who is a despicable street thug and he is loving it.

In this interview Blackwood reveals how he got into the business, why he likes it so much and why it's so good to play a heel character.

Why and at what age did you decide to get into wrestling?

Watching-wise, I’ve been into wrestling since I was about 4. My granddad used to sit me on his lap and we’d watch World of Sport together on a Saturday afternoon. I started watching WWF as soon as we got satellite TV, and it’s just spiraled out of control from there.

As far as actually wrestling, I did some backyard stuff when I was about 18, just doing stupidly dangerous stuff with no training for our own amusement.

I got into training and such by getting drunk at an AWW show in Birmingham about 2 years ago. They announced they had a training school, and in my lack of sobriety I decided that I was going to start wrestling again.

When did you do your first show?

I had my first “proper” match as part of a 20 man Royal Rumble style match on 30th November 2007. I sucked big time and got thrown out too early and messed up the order of the rumble. Thankfully I’ve got a lot better since then.

What is the best thing about the job?

Most definitely it is the rush from hearing people either boo or cheer you. Wrestling is all about getting a reaction from the crowd, and as soon as you hear those boos or cheers, you know you’ve done your job right. The worst thing for a wrestler is to have an audience that really couldn’t give a damn one way or the other about them. Well that, and being able to get away with being horribly slack to people because I’m “in character”. He he!

Are you making money out of it or is more a hobby?

I’m in it purely for fun at the moment. If I get travel expenses it’s a nice bonus, as I haven’t ended up out of pocket, but I don’t think there’s too much money to be made from the UK wrestling scene at the moment.

Have you had professional training? How often?

I’ve been in training on and off since late 2007. I used to go twice a week, but now money’s getting tight I’ve had to cut that down to maybe once or twice a month to keep the ring rust off. Luckily I’m still getting booked on shows, so that means I can use that to keep in some kind of decent wrestling condition.

How important is it to have a good body? Do you work out?

Some people would say having a good body is the most important thing, but I honestly don’t think it’s the case. Sure if you’re massive and muscular then you’re more likely to get noticed, but I’m a firm believer that there’s no substitute for talent. I do work out, but not religiously. I’m starting to think I’m just not built to be anything over 14 and a half stone!

What character do you play?

Basically my character thinks and acts like he’s a bad boy, but he’s not really. He’s all about being ghetto-fabulous, being “overtly urban” so-to-speak. It’s just a jumped up version of those kids who you usually see in gangs with their hoods up, hanging around outside shops, smoking fags, listening to the latest grime track on their new Sony Ericsson, and holding a Staffordshire Bull Terrier on a lead. Couple that with the catchphrase “Don’t you know who I am? I’m Lucian L. Jones, Bitch!”, and that’s my character!

Do you prefer being heel or face?

It’s difficult really as being a face is great as they’re the guys who always get cheered, and get to be everyone’s friend (and more importantly people actually want to buy your t-shirt at the end of the night!). Whereas when you’re a heel it’s like a kind of catharsis. If I’ve had a bad day then it’s a great way to vent by getting all up in the audiences faces and giving them grief. You get to lie, cheat, just pretty much do whatever you can to make the crowd hate you. It’s so much fun it’s untrue.

Did you find taking bumps hard to get used to? Do you ever think twice about a bump now?

The hardest part was not automatically putting my hands down to try and protect myself. It’s quite hard to try and overcome years of nature telling you not to let yourself fall over! After pretty much my first lesson I started to get the hang of it though. Now it’s second nature though. The only bumps I worry about are the ones that I’d be taking outside the ring, but truth be told 9 out of 10 of those don’t really “hurt” as such.

I interviewed another wrestler, Simon Platt of WAR Wrestling in Rugby and he said that the ability someone has to pull off a good match was more important than their image... do you agree/disagree?

I agree to a certain extent, same as I said earlier you can be the biggest most muscular guy in the world, but if you can’t carry a match then it doesn’t mean squat. Just look at someone like the Ultimate Warrior, he was bought in because he had “the look”, and then turned out to be one of the most appalling in-ring workers ever. Ideally though, if you can work a great match, AND have a good image then you should have it made.

He also said that the business is too easy to get into due to promotions needing people to fill their cards and therefore there are a lot of poor performers out there. Do you agree/disagree?

Again, I agree to a certain extent. Some promotions will just drop you straight into a match, no matter how wet behind the ears you are. But generally speaking, those are the kind of promotions that put on the worst shows. I think a lot of problems also stem from promotions saying they do training, but have a trainer that isn’t as experienced as they should be. Generally a student can only be as good as whoever teaches them, and if the trainer isn’t great how do you expect the trainees to get on?

Do you have another job?

Yep, not quite that famous yet! I work in forensics by day, but by night become Lucian “Legendary” Jones. Who knows, one day wrestling may be able to become a living for me, but I can’t see it happening anytime soon!