Back in town, funeral speech, ewf, scorpio sky

I've been home now for little over a week. I can say that I am back on US time finally! It is very hard to adjust back to normal, once you've been living somewhere else for nearly a month. You know what? It feels good to be home! I missed friends, family and especially my wifey so badly that it hurt.

I didn't come home during the best of circumstances as I had a funeral to attend two days after I landed. I was asked to speak a day later at the actual ceremony in front of everyone to represent the grand kids. It was a huge honor to be asked to do this, however I was extremely nervous. I was never much of a public speaker. Soon after my mother in law asked me and I agreed, I had flash backs of myself standing in front of the class room back at Alta Loma High School in Ms. Mirra's class with sweaty hands and a shaky voice. Not only was I semi-terrified to speak in a normal setting, but this was a funeral. I really cared for and loved this person that I was going to be talking about. Would I choke up? Or better yet, would I cry? I decided that I wouldn't worry about it and would attempt to do my best. Now, I know a lot of you are thinking, "Matt, you do this for a living. You wrestle in front of hundreds, sometimes thousands and cut promos and interviews on a weekly basis." This is all true. My wife made the same plea. However, when I do such things, I am in full character. I described it to Dana best when I told her that when I am in character, it's like I have a mask on. I am someone else. Matt Jackson will not be speaking in front of almost 100 grieving friends, family and others who I'd never actually met. Matt Massie will be. So morning came, and as soon as I knew, it was time for me to go up. I was sweating bullets (as my wife described to my mom when she later re-told this story) as I walked up the two steps onto the stage. I looked into the crowd of loved ones, cleared my voice and then said, "The last time I was in front of a large group of people, I was wearing spandex and baby oil." Huge pop. I smiled and told everyone that I was referring to the last match I had in Japan. The same match that I had dedicated to Grandma Dana. Many people read the blog that I wrote about Grandma Dana and loved it. I felt it would be in good taste to share it with everyone, so I read it aloud. As I read, I was brought back to the very day I wrote the blog. I was so vulernable and alone. My wife and family were going through such a difficult time, but I was stuck somewhere else. I tried to speed through the blog because I can feel my self getting close to tears. I don't know if it was my nerves, or looking out at my beautiful wife who was sitting in front of me with wet eyes? Maybe it was a combination of both. I shared the same scripture that I wrote in a past blog and then thanked Grandman Dana on behalf of all of the grand kids. I sat back down and felt proud and relieved. After the ceremony, people came up to me chuckling. "Matt, you do realize that you were a little vague about the whole wrestling thing right?" I thought about it and realized that I never actually explained that I was a professional wrestler. I just mentioned that I wore spandex and baby oil and happened to be touring Japan, having matches. There were several people in the audience that were puzzled by what exactly I was talking about. Many of the people were elderly, so the information that I gave could of meant really anything to them. I found this quite funny. I was told by Dana and many others that I did a great job which meant more to me than any review online about one of my matches. So, all in all, it was an emotional day. But, a very good day as we all talked and shared memories of a lovely lady that will never be forgotten.

Last night in Covina at a long running little indy company called EWF, Nick and I wrestled in our first match back in the states. We had so much fun being in the ring with one of our best friends, Scorpio Sky who is even more talented than I knew. He REALLY impressed me last night. Sky can wrestle anywhere in the world and be successful. I truly believe this. His partner, Brandon Gatson also did a wonderful job in his role. The four of us tore the house down last night and had one of my favorite matches that has taken place in the states. It's weird that Sky was the one to teach me how to do a proper lock-up so many years ago at my first day of training, yet we wrestled in only our SECOND match last night. I really hope that we get to work with him more in the future. Speaking of Sky, he was one of the only nice guys that sort of took me under his wing when I began training in Revolution Pro (pre-PWG SoCal company). Everyone else stiffed me, trash talked me and didn't want anything to do with me (I probably deserved all of these things) because I was a cocky kid who did flips in his backyard. I'll never forget him for sitting with the new lonesome kid at the lunch table in the cafeteria.

Anyhow, next week is PWG DDT4 and a small trip to Las Vegas for a debuting company. I have to say that the only thing I miss about being in Japan, besides the nice people, is the hectic wrestling schedule. I love wrestling! However, nothing is better than laying out by the pool with the love of my life in beautiful, sunny California. Time to get my tan back!

Later days!

Matt