Tatanka & Promoter Thomas Heri of WWPW at an exclusive restaurant in the valley of the Swiss Alps on October 25th, 2009.
"Hau Kola" Hello! I hope all is well with you personally as you read my new blog. As you all know I love keeping you up to date on my wrestling tours and personal business while at home and on the road as I travel world-wide. The last 5 weeks have been a very busy time for myself. I started at the beginning of October with a trip to the United Kingdom to wrestle for All Stars of Merseyside owned by Brian Dixon. If you are not familiar with his company many of the top British and foreign stars now in WWE worked for this company. This promotion runs year round with most months having weekly events of 5 or more wrestling events and on weekends there are even double-shots. While I was on tour in the United Kingdom during October most of our weeks were 5 to 6 events per week all throughout the entire country. All of the events turned out great crowds with many events being sold-out or close to sell-out. It's always a pleasure to work for All Stars of Merseyside because when you work for them you are on a real wrestling tour with some great talent and also filled arenas with great wrestling fans. One of the most popular names you would know who I worked on the tour against is "British Invasion" the Tag Team Champions from TNA. Also in this Tag Team match as my partner was a very well known last name and the son of a Hall of Fame Inductee of the WWE being Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat. His son, Ritchie was on tour in England also and we got to tag in the Main Event against British Invasion and of course Steamboat and The Native American defeated them 1, 2, 3 and received a great pop on the finish from the fans. British Invasion is a great Tag Team and it's always an honor to go into battle with those who can bring it in the squared circle. Most of my matches were single events but it was a pleasure to tag with Steamboat against British Invasion.
On October 23rd I traveled to Zurich, Switzerland to wrestle for WWPW in the Main Event Match against Raven. I had never worked against Raven during my whole career so this would be our first meeting in the squared circle for both of us. WWPW owned by Thomas Heri always puts on a very professional event and has drew the largest crowds in Switzerland other than the WWE. This event again was a big success for Zurich with a very excited and loud crowd. As expected our wrestling match started off with one of Raven's famous interviews and went from there with him taking my title belt away from a young boy by ringside who I gave to keep during the match but after I got it back from Raven and gave it to him again I stated to him "do not let Raven get this again" and boy did he take that to heart. Raven slid out of the ring again to take my title belt from the young fan again but when he got close the young fan started to run away from Raven, which provoked Raven to chase him over the barricade and into the crowd where the young boy ran to the top seats in the arena and finally Raven just gave up but what he did not expect was that the Native American was on his tracks and the match started from the floor and quickly went into a battle on the outside that involved the barricades, tables, and chairs and the fans started very quickly to chant ECW! By the time we got into the ring for the first time the crowd atmosphere was hot and electric all the way to the finish. Of course Raven loves those types of matches but in reality being a warrior myself the path of an ECW type of match was just fine with me also. It was a great Main Event Match that lasted approximately 25 minutes or more and ended with the Native American Tatanka firing up and hitting the war path with an "End of The Trail" finish on Raven for the 1, 2, 3. It was my first battle with Raven and one I enjoyed and would love to step into the squared circle for battle again with the Raven anytime.
I have been to Switzerland several times before but again this trip topped my last trips because of an awesome visit to the Swiss Alps where the film 007 was filmed. If you have not been to the Swiss Alps you must go! The mountains are majestic as they climb vertically up into the beautiful blue skies of Switzerland. After taking a trolley to the top of the mountains that climbs close to vertically up, then you take a train that winds along the cliffs of the Swiss Alps and ends up in a beautiful village in the top peaks of the Swiss Alps. A whole town hidden in the peaks of the Alps! What a beautiful and peaceful place to stay for a holiday! The food there is awesome with European Hotels and Cafes nested in the villages with breath taking views. To see photos of this trip Click Here.
After an awesome day in the Swiss Alps we returned to Zurich where we had arranged 2 days of training camp with the beginning and advanced level wrestlers from WWPW of Switzerland. These 2 days were a very big success! Of course coming from an era of wrestlers and veterans in the 90's that looked at this business in a different way than the new guys do today the students who signed up were in awe of the knowledge given to them over the 2 days of training camp. There is so much more than just moves in our business, this is why the top talent today in the WWE are the veterans that learned in the 80's and 90's and still leading the pack today along with a few newcomers who have really listened and learned the "old school values and style" of professional wrestling. It was such a pleasure for myself to give knowledge to the youth of today and actually show them what it takes to be successful in this business today. When it is in your power to give, give what you have, which may be knowledge, a caring word, a meal for the day, or just showing some one love who has never actually been shown love in their lives. It is very rewarding when you give of what you have and when you do what you have will increase even more!
Tatanka and Promoter Thomas Heri of WWPW in the village in the top peaks of the Swiss Alps.
After my tour and training was over in Switzerland I returned back to the United Kingdom for a final full week of wrestling. It was definitely a relief to finally arrive at the hotel in London the night before my return back home to the states from London Heathrow Airport. It was almost 1-month at this point on the road wrestling and I was looking forward to seeing my family and having a few days off prior to leaving to West Virginia for Covey Promotions.
On November 8th I was booked in West Virginia for Covey Promotions where I had wrestled many times throughout this previous year. It was a pleasure again to see Cody and his wife Penny along with his family, friends, and wrestlers who signed up for the training camp. I had already of course just come off a very successful camp in Switzerland for 2-days so I was primed to train the talent from Covey Pro and those who had dreams of becoming the next big thing or just simply learning the business from day one. We went for 5 hours straight in the ring and again when I was finished the guys had not only improved but had learned the valuable gold nuggets of our business. All who attended was very thankful and walked away with a different attitude about this business and had gained the right knowledge and wisdom about our business. This whole tour with Cody and his wife was a big success in so many different areas. We got to share our faith, pray with others as they accepted and began a relationship with their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who is the only one who will bring fullness and joy into your life! After a few days with Cody and his wife I returned home on Monday the 9th late and currently preparing to leave to Germany for DWA Harley Night where I defend the DWA Heavyweight Title in front of some of the greatest wrestling fans in the world in Germany. I will be in Germany for approximately 4-5 days and return home for events in the United States. Make sure to follow my site here to see where the Native American Tatanka will be over the next upcoming months and into 2010!
The Native American Tatanka
I want to personally thank Chris Pappan for the personalized art work to the left of me that has been portrayed in art museums throughout the United States. Chris decided just recently to donate his work to my family and myself and it is now proudly displayed in our home. Chris's work is absolutely awesome so if any of you desire to have a portrait done of yourself or desire any type of art work below is a short bio with contact information for Chris.
Chris Pappan (Kaw, Osage, Cheyenne River Sioux) is an award winning artist
working in Chicago IL. His work can be described as "Native American Lowbrow"
or "Native Pop Surrealism", and is collected internationally. He is a graduate
of the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe NM, and alumni of the
School of the Art Institute of Chicago. To see more of his work go to his MySpace Page by Clicking Here or his Facebook Page by Clicking Here.
"Pilamia Yelo" my blood brother! Thanks again Chris, Tatanka
As always, "Pilamia Yelo" Thanks and God Bless you!
The Native American Tatanka
All images and content on Native Tatanka.com are the sole property of Chris Chavis and Tatanka Enterprises
