Jimmy Havoc defends his IPW:UK World Championship in one of the biggest matches of his career on Sunday, but you wouldn’t think it.
“I’ll prepare for it the same way I do any other match,” he said. “A couple of beers, two squats and a press up and then I’m good to go.”
Havoc headlines IPW:UK Extreme Measures at the Clapham Grand where he will defend his championship for the ninth time, but he meets a new opponent.
He will step inside the ring to face veteran American wrestler Tommy Dreamer, someone he grew up watching in ECW and WWE.
Havoc said: “I’ve wrestled Sabu before and I’ve wrestled Rhyno, so he will be the third ECW guy I’ve got to wrestle, which is cool because that was always my favourite promotion when I was a teenager.
“So yes, I’m very much looking forward to it. The fan in me is excited about meeting him and planning stuff and part of me will be excited to have a beer with him afterwards.”
MY BELT: Jimmy Havoc with his IPW belt
While Havoc looks forward to the match in store, he is well aware he needs to put the excitement to one side to deliver the best match possible and retain his title.
Havoc said: “For the fan in me, it’s a pretty cool experience getting to wrestle a guy I grew up watching and enjoying his work, but at the same time we all do the same job.
“I’ve wrestled Zack Sabre Jr. and I’ve wrestled Sabu – it’s hard, it’s still the same thing, it’s professional wrestling.
“I wrestled Cody Rhodes last week which was awesome, but when you get in there you don’t think, ‘Oh my God, I watched this guy as a kid’, I’m there to do a job, albeit a job I’m going to enjoy very, very much.
“We’re all still training the same sort of way so it doesn’t really matter how big a name the guy on the other end of it is, we are there to work together – hopefully, unless he starts kicking the shit out of me, then it’ll be different.”
Having grown up watching ECW it comes as no surprise that Havoc is a big fan of hardcore-style wrestling, making him perfectly suited for a match against the ‘Innovator of Violence’, and he expects things to get messy on Sunday.
He said: “The match will go the same way as most of my matches go which is incredibly violent and it will leave you thinking, ‘Oh God, how the hell is he going to get up from that?’
“I don’t know what toys I’ve got to play with yet, I’ll find out when I get there on the day, but I’m sure it’ll be an interesting match. It’s going to be a spectacle.”
Whether you have experienced an independent wrestling show before or not, Havoc insists this isn’t a card you can afford to miss.
He said: “If you’re a professional wrestling fan and you live in London and you’re not coming to this then you’re going to miss out because IPW always put on awesome shows.
“This could be a once in a lifetime thing seeing me and Tommy Dreamer, plus on the undercard X-Pac is on there, we’ve got Joey Ryan versus Nixon Newell, Pete Dunne versus Matt Riddle which will probably steal the show as well, the whole card is fantastic.
“If you’re a wrestling fan and you’ve never been to an independent show before, you’ve just watched WWE, then give it a go, I guarantee you will not go home unhappy.”
Images courtesy of Sarah Barraclough-Hatch with thanks
