An Interview with Anonymous Fan: Part 1

It is an honor and privilege to interview Anonymous Fan. Anon is the person behind the Clinches and Quandaries blog. Anon has a unique perspective and passion for underground wrestling.

Because this interview was conducted over instant messaging, the tone is more "off the cuff" than my previous interviews. I hope you'll enjoy it.

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Shane McCall is one of Anon's favorite wrestlers.

1. When did you realize you were turned on by wrestling?

I can't pinpoint a precise moment when I realized, but I recall being pretty young. I was looking through the Guinness Book of World Records 2005 (with the wild green holographic cover) and when I got to the sports chapter there was a section on combat sports. There was this picture of two muscular Turkish men oil wrestling in a field—the Kirkpinar oil wrestling tournament. Ever since then it became a case of the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, which is when you notice something for the first time and suddenly you start noticing it everywhere. In my case it was big muscles that I started seeing, and eventually it turned into an interest with wrestling.

2. How did you discover underground wrestling, and who were drawn to?

My interest in underground wrestling was a product of me trying to explore these new 'feelings' I suppose. After Googling a few things I came across the pre-purge Tumblr which led me to Naked Kombat and eventually BG East. I've been particularly drawn to Shane McCall's matches for BG East. Some of those have remained as some of my favorites to this day.

3. How did you get into pro wrestling, and who were you drawn to?

My interest in pro wrestling actually came after my discovery of underground wrestling, which feels like the reverse of how it's supposed to go given how accessible it's been. I think I was always aware of it but it lacked the intimacy that I didn't realized I was interested in at the time. As for who I was interested in—Cash Wheeler/Dash Wilder. Not sure what name be goes by at the moment. I remember seeing some GIFs on Tumblr of him and I just couldn't help but stare at my screen. I'm still not massively into pro wrestling but I do enjoy it.

4.You've mentioned Shane McCall is one of your favorites. Do you have a favorite match of his?

There are a lot of great Shane McCall matches to choose from! I'm not sure I can pick a number one, so I'll give you a top three instead. Shane McCall vs Chip Slater (Matmen 11), Doug Warren vs Shane McCall (Submissions 2), and Shane McCall vs Jeff Jordan (X-Fights 23) are all standouts for me. I genuinely don't think I could choose between them.

5. Can you name a few matches that are your all-time favorites and why?

Ooh, this is a great and difficult question. My all time favorite match is still Doom Maidens' Diablo vs Joe: Catball fight. There's this palpable animosity between them, so much sweat, and they're basically conjoined the entire time—it's fantastic. There's one from Bulldog wrestling back in the day that I came across somewhat recently—Iain Scott vs Hamed. It starts off fairly good-natured but it doesn't take long for them to piss each other off. They're well-matched, angry, and know what they're doing which is all I can ask for in a match. For the same reasons I really liked BG East's Jonny Firestorm vs Denny Cartier (Jonny Goes to Montreal). It genuinely seems like they hate each other as the match goes on but I love the animosity. I could go on with more matches but I'll limit myself to three.

Hamed armbars Iain Scott: Bulldog Wrestling - GIF from Ringside at Skull Island

6. You've mentioned that you've commissioned numerous custom matches. Is this because you aren't fulfilled by normal underground matches?

Great question! I have ordered several customs over the years, and I suppose it might be because I wasn't feeling fulfilled at the time, but I don't think that reflects negatively on the content that's out there. Sometimes I'm just in the mood to see something really specific, and if I can't find it (I will thoroughly trawl through catalogs) and feel like I can afford it, I'll put out a request somewhere. Sometimes it's just as simple as a specific matchup that hasn't been captured on camera, or an ending that I haven't seen anywhere but want to. Or maybe it'll play into a specific fantasy that I'll be unreasonably enthralled with at the time.

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This is the end of Part 1. In Part 2, we chat more about Anon's expereinces with custom videos and underground wrestling in general.