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Breaking the Streak: Interviewing Champion Martin MacAlistair!
118 Plays9 months ago
In this episode, newly crowned champion of the ring Martin MacAlistair joins Satsunami to discuss his latest victory at the Iron Girders Gym in Glasgow. From a surprise injury to his journey as a wrestler, find out the details behind his victory as well what he hopes to achieve in the future. We believe in MacAlistair, do you?
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Review it Yourself
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:00:05
Speaker
Welcome to Chatsunami.
00:00:17
Speaker
Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of Chatsunami. My name's Chatsunami and joining me today is none other than the one and only Champion himself. You might have heard him a month ago doing Pokemon Month with me but now coming back as the absolute Champion of Iron Girders, it is none other than the wrestler extraordinaire Martin the Callister. Martin, welcome
Championship Win and Motivation
00:00:41
Speaker
back.
00:00:41
Speaker
Thank you, I guess yeah last time I was here was the Pokemon month trivia episode which was a bit of a not a win but yeah as you mentioned I'm now the reading anger does pro wrestling champion as of two days ago it's a Monday afternoon. Sorry to date the episode but I think this is important. This is two days ago, this is hot news. So what you're saying is that trivia episode was the motivation you needed. Yeah pretty much.
00:01:07
Speaker
another loss and that just put me over the air to think yeah you thought no more drawn line here but yeah i mean i have to start off this episode and just ask you how does it feel to be a champion i mean you've always been a champion to everyone that chats on army but when i say everyone i mean me
00:01:25
Speaker
The one person who ended us up like, yep, me. But how does it feel to find that we'll be here? Yeah, it's been fantastic. It's been a wild couple of days. So I won the belt on Saturday night championship and I got to defend it on Sunday. Just, it's been overwhelming. It's been a lot of buzz. Lots of people reaching out to me, like yourself, obviously we chat a lot. I would say this, but you know, people reaching out to me all over the place congratulating me. It's a heavy, heavy weight to bear, but it's, I'm really proud of myself and I'm really looking forward to what happens next.
00:01:50
Speaker
Yeah, I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised when I was scrolling through Twitter and then I just saw you holding the belt and I... You're that way when you're scrolling but then you have to scroll back down again and you're like, is that a belt he's holding? Has he broke the streak? And I was like, oh my God, he...
00:02:07
Speaker
For people that didn't know, the streak is my famous 58 streak losing streak. So as a professional wrestler, it's not a particularly great record. 58 losses in a row. I think that's two and a half years it's been going. So I finally got to break the streak, finally won. And I finally managed to do that when it counted the most, which was when the belt was on the line. I was going to say, do you not get a free coffee at 60? Yeah, I'm going to miss the free coffee, which is a shame. But you know, Liz's club cashing out, unfortunately. I was going to say, there's still time to return the belt.
00:02:35
Speaker
Yeah no, honestly it must feel absolutely fantastic but I mean at the same time and obviously we have been talking way before you go into wrestling and things and I know throughout these last couple of years especially you have been putting so much effort into becoming the best wrestler you can be to culminate into becoming an absolute champion and taking the title so I've got to ask first of all talk me through
00:03:02
Speaker
how you felt during that match?
Pre-Match Feelings
00:03:04
Speaker
Were you quite apprehensive beforehand? Were you quite confident that this was going to be the one? Yeah it's a funny one because I watched a video a while back and it was to do with the difference between being nervous and being excited and basically the long story to show is there isn't any difference. It's all about your perception.
00:03:21
Speaker
in the space of how strong your will is I guess would be the what the deciding factor is so usually when I go towards the wrestling matches I tend not to get nervous now because I convince myself I'm excited and on Saturday there I was definitely nervous
00:03:34
Speaker
I definitely was, I definitely hit that threshold, definitely passed it by. It was the main event of the night as well. It was the Iron Girders second year anniversary, so it was maybe the biggest show I've ever had. I did a lot on the line and yeah, as you mentioned, it's been a very, very long time coming and as the first main event, there's a lot of pressure, but also it's the culmination of six years of my life, I guess.
00:03:54
Speaker
really leading towards this in terms of you know training and my fitness and everything else and it really all culminated Saturday night. So yeah I think I maybe put a bit extra pressure on myself by making that big connection and making it such a big deal but it was fantastic and once I was out in the ring the fans were incredible and really showed me a lot of love and I think that it helped a lot the nerves. Has it really been six years though? At least so. I thought I was kind of the weird point and I don't know I was like no.
00:04:18
Speaker
No, it couldn't have been. Five and a half, if you want to be technical, I believe it was July 2018 I first started wrestling. Oh my goodness, absolutely crazy. I mean, absolutely fantastic work, crushed the ball, but absolutely crazy. How did that feel though, going out to your fans and posting it on? Because as I said, I saw it and of course you told me as well. I wasn't just like, is that real? Was it photoshopped? No, no. What a strange Photoshop prank this is.
00:04:47
Speaker
It's just like John Cena's body, but just your head. But yeah, how did that feel to be able to just turn around to your fans, both in person, of course, because there must have been hundreds there supporting you that night, but how did it feel saying that to them that, oh, you've won this and then going on to social media and then saying the same thing? Yeah, it's really incredible. It's a
Celebrating the Victory
00:05:08
Speaker
really incredible moment.
00:05:08
Speaker
moment. Not just also the fans were there, but the wrestling skill at self-hanging, I didn't say we're a family, but you know, we're a close bunch and a lot of the people came out to the ring to celebrate with me and that was quite an emotional moment. You know, I've known these people for six years and they've seen everything I've gotten through and we've all been through a lot together and so to share that moment with them and all the fans that have watched me progress, a lot of them have seen me coming two and a half years ago. I've made my wrestling debut and
00:05:31
Speaker
They got to see me wrestle from then to see all the changes I've been through and trials and tribulations. So it was a really big moment in person. There were some people watching in America as well. Some of the coaches from the school got to watch from America. So that would be very emotional because I don't get to see them very often. And so to know that they were looking out for me was amazing.
00:05:49
Speaker
and then it was almost like a second celebration because by the time I made it, by the time I'd got out the ring and got all the photographs there and stuff, and by the time I'd got to my phone, my phone's blowing up with all these people saying how I was done. News travels so fast nowadays, so I hadn't even got a chance to say myself until people had found out. And it was really fantastic, and I've had a lot of good buzz on social media over it, and I was then able to accept the second morning, the second day of the anger as big weekend, I was able to defend the belt as well, so then there's a whole lot of buzz about
00:06:17
Speaker
was Saturday night just to fluke, could I be able to do it on Sunday as well and there's a lot of people reaching out there and it's really just been a fantastic, it's been a whirlwind couple of days, I wouldn't lie, it really has been, yeah I'm just very fortunate to share it with so many people. Oh no absolutely, because as someone obviously outside of the wrestling sphere, I have to say, it does seem as if you guys, and by you guys I mean, I am girders as a whole, as very supportive of one another, you know, you see it in social media, you see it, you all beg each other up, unless obviously you know you're in the actual
00:06:47
Speaker
ring wrestle in one another in which case it's a different
Wrestling Community Support
00:06:50
Speaker
story, you know. But on the most part I've seen the way that even when some of you aren't wrestling, especially when you and I did the interviews in at Macombicon last year, law school, and it was amazing to see the iron girders where they are, they were wrestling with
00:07:07
Speaker
a whole host of wrestlers, yourself included, but it was nice to see that even when there weren't wrestlers in the ring, they were still ringside, they were still cheering each other on and everything. It was just that it seems like such a tight-knit community. But on that note, something that you'd mentioned before we started recording, because I remember texting you and being like, oh congratulations and you were saying, oh thanks and everything, but you did seem unusually quiet and I could definitely
00:07:35
Speaker
like see why because it just it must have been such emotionally as well it must have been taxing but as well it must have been physically taxing as it were. Yeah it's a long weekend you know we set up on the Saturday. We've also been doing a bit of preparation in terms of a diet and stuff for the week so that takes a lot out of me. I was also very fortunate to get to film some stuff that's coming out hopefully soon. Maggie Mays the
00:07:59
Speaker
rodeo bar in Glasgow, so that was really fun other than on the Wednesdays. I've had a really busy week, but yeah, two days we've wrestled in Stevenson, which is on the west coast of Scotland. I'm forgetting my eastern west. West coast of Scotland, and that was, you know, a long day as well. But I also have been a bit sore, wrestling two matches back to back with the caliber opponents I had. It certainly takes it out of you, but unfortunately I've picked up a small injury. It's to the top of my right quad. It's a bit sore. It's a lot better today. I'm able to walk without a limp today, which is
00:08:29
Speaker
Would you like to hear the story of what happened?
Injury and Recovery
00:08:31
Speaker
Oh, you know I would. But otherwise it would be a very uninteresting episode. Yeah, what a fantastic bit of improv comedy, that would be just no. Thank you all for rustling Tish, that's enough now. No, go on, go on. So, as with most injuries when it comes to wrestlers, it wasn't in the ring and it wasn't in particularly exciting. Well, it was exciting, but it wasn't in particularly Daredevil or Extraordinary. I was so excited before the start of my match that I burst through the curtain and ran around the ring and high-fived all the
00:08:59
Speaker
And fortunately, I hadn't really warmed up. I hadn't warmed up particularly well, it turns out. And as I burst through the curtain, I felt a wee twinge in my muscles. The pounce through the curtain, my right quad just kind of flipped, ran round, did all the high fives, got up on the apron to do kind of my pose. And yeah, my quad was absolutely just throbbing in pain.
00:09:16
Speaker
was the bad time I got into the ring I'm having to like obviously I'm already anxious I'm pacing back and forth and I'm trying to like stretch out my quad very subtly hoping that nobody spots it you know because obviously I don't need that weak spot being pointed out all of a sudden you know I'm already at a disadvantage you know here I am with a one leg gone and I've wrestled two matches this weekend all because I was just a bit too hyper and forgot to warm up properly so do your stretches kids
00:09:42
Speaker
I was going to say, is that your words of wisdom? Yeah, do your stretches, kids. You know that way whenever a wrestler wins a championship belt or something, and then they have all the promotional material with a big speech bubble, like staying in school. Is that just your advice? Do your stretches? No, seriously.
00:10:00
Speaker
Yeah, it's just depicting me hobbling next to it. I'm very fortunate in that it's not actually a sustained injury. It's not a long-term injury. It's just a minor tear or something. So it's feeling a lot better today. So yeah, it feels a lot better today and I'm probably gonna go for like a bath soon just to try and get it all up. So that'll be nice. Some well-deserved relaxation. Oh no, absolutely. You deserve it after that.
00:10:25
Speaker
To be honest, it's not the worst way to injure yourself before getting out of the ring. You know, it could have been worse. You could have been like walking to the iron girders gym and then pulled out and been like, oh yeah, I was high-fiving the fans. Very quick say, the most famous one of that I can think of on top of my head is Randy Orton, the guy that does the archaeo. He's always had a bit of an issue with his shoulders and
00:10:45
Speaker
I think he got shoulder surgery. He was out for like six months and he was out two weeks before he came back and he took the bins out and the bin bag was a little heavier than he thought it was going to be and it popped his shoulder back out. Oh no. So yeah, it can happen anytime, anywhere, really with injuries. So we've been very lucky. But yeah, that was the worst one I've had so far. Some of them are very fortunate in that sense. I mean, to be fair, in that instance, they could have easily spun it there and said he was taken out of the trash.
00:11:23
Speaker
But no, it honestly must have been such an amazing feeling for you. Is he even during the match? Were you still quite hyped when you were wrestling against your opponent? Yes, I wrestled when the anger shows in the anger as Jim itself and that's always been a fantastic set of fans to me. They've always been very supportive of me. So that encouragement and that cheering and that just the adrenaline of that and hearing it. All that noise directed towards you as well. It's just so loud. It just gives you so much adrenaline. It's hard to explain. There's nothing else like it really.
00:11:36
Speaker
Yeah, people would be like, oh, so cool. Yeah. And just like, no, literally. No, I had to know it was. I was speaking out, I swear to God.
00:11:51
Speaker
I mean, I said this, but there's nothing else like it that I know of. That adrenaline, that love. And it does keep you hyped. And even when you can
Fan Support and Social Media Reaction
00:11:58
Speaker
feel your energy dipping in. You know, it was a long match. We fought for a long time, but it's hard to lose energy when the crowd's just cheering on you. You just keep getting back up because they're supporting you and keeping that adrenaline flowing. Yeah, because I remember the last match that I went to for you, and this was a good sly logo sometime last year. Of course, we did an interview after that as well.
00:12:16
Speaker
you're totally right because I have to say as someone who hasn't seen as many wrestling shows live, the only two I think I've really seen other than the bouts at Comic Con of course with yourself, the only ones I've seen is when you and I went to Sweden of course to see WWE and of course your match in the Iron Garden stream and I know exactly what you mean. Although it's a relatively, I wouldn't call it small but it is a bit enclosed that at the same time there is just so much
00:12:45
Speaker
energy there that people are as you said they're cheering you on and you know it's a great atmosphere you're completely right everybody there is just having such a great time yeah they're just absolutely over the moon to be there to watch you guys do what you do best and actually on that note i'm wondering how did the fan react
00:13:06
Speaker
once you broke the news because I know as you said that when you won the match everyone was cheering you and your fights must have been over the moon but how was they outpouring in social media was it about the same or yeah it was bonkers it was a lot of people where they couldn't make the show or whether they further away and support me from afar it was a lot of people just being like
00:13:26
Speaker
watch I was there I would have loved to have been that's incredible just a lot you were really excited for me which was really kind and a lot of people just really showing love and you know it's really amazing a lot of people were doing it publicly but a lot of people were like sending me DMs which was really really kind and I wasn't expecting a lot of what I got and even like a lot of fellow wrestlers from further afield reached out to me as well which meant a lot as well so it was really across all platforms across everything it was an incredible outpouring it was really amazing I can imagine so I have to
00:13:54
Speaker
in that it does seem to be a very supportive community. I mean, not just with Iron Gardeners, but in terms of, I suppose, the wider wrestling community. Yeah, just that it seems so supportive and very encouraging. I mean, as I said, even from like a social media standpoint, I'm always on the lookout whenever you pop up or someone else does. But sometimes when it's your posts, I do see other people sharing them or liking them and then I'm like,
00:14:22
Speaker
oh right, this is so and so supporting Martin McAllister and it is just so nice to see that sense of, as you said at the beginning, that sense of support, crimradery, that kind of thing. I unfortunately, in the age of the 21st century, even if you go home you're not going to be able to escape that on your phone. So I guess the next question really is, what is next for yourself other than what you were saying before?
00:14:48
Speaker
can rest, get in the bath. What is next?
Aspirations in Wrestling
00:14:51
Speaker
What are your goals going forward? Well I think next, so I've kind of put the losing streak behind me, that's two matches in a row of one. One's a fluke, two's a success but I want to just start racking up victories now. I really want to start to reach out more to new places as well when you come
00:15:06
Speaker
companies, hopefully new countries, just I want a Wrestle Ball, I want this to be my life basically without making it sound over the top but this is, it means so much to me wrestling and I would love it to be my full-time occupation. Very similar to I guess how you would feel about podcasting. It's like chasing that dream of being able to do it for a living and that's what I want now and I've had that little taste this weekend of what a full-time schedule would look like and I've had fantastic time. Yeah, I would just want more of it. I'm just going to double down. I've been working hard and I know this is proof
00:15:34
Speaker
without certain legal testicles is proof that what I've been doing is the right thing. It's paid off in a big way this weekend but I want it to pay off in a big way every weekend. So the next steps is just to get myself out there more, travel around more, get better on social media and get out there more and just yeah, hope things pay off for me. No, that's absolutely fantastic. Thinking back to what we're talking about, you see just at the beginning there when you were saying how it's been five and a half years and the other said six.
00:15:59
Speaker
The fact that it's been six years that you've been doing this and I know exactly what you mean because when you were saying about the podcasting thing, I was actually looking at a screenshot today about something that I had done in the past when I started out with streaming and you know that way when you start off, you don't really know if it's the right thing because you're not really making progress at the beginning and then you give it time and it will eventually flourish if you're passionate enough about it.
00:16:27
Speaker
and it is amazing how now we're sitting here of course talking about that because I have to say without yourself and I'm not just saying this because you're on and of course you've got a championship belt so I'm sucking up to you. Without you of course I mean I wouldn't be doing podcasting because it was you who suggested it to me to say oh I'm doing it why don't you give it a go if you're not into streaming let's
00:16:50
Speaker
As you know, that's what I did before podcasting. I thought, well, I'll give it a go. And, you know, obviously, without your encouragement in that regard, I wouldn't be here really talking to you. Well, I would be talking to you. It's funny. I was going to say what happened. I know, it's just like he went on to be a famous podcaster slash wrestler.
00:17:09
Speaker
But yeah, you know, I wouldn't be here interviewing you and sharing the fact that you've done absolutely fantastically. And I do think, you know, obviously we've been friends for way longer than you've been wrestling, but at the same time, I can only imagine what inspiration you are giving out to everyone there, whether that's fans, whether that's aspiring wrestlers, whether that's
00:17:33
Speaker
Even people passing by, you know, and then they might see a retweet that says, oh, this is Martin McAlliston, and they go, oh, who's Martin McAlliston? And they go on deeper, they might become a fan, or it might inspire them, because let's face it, I know obviously wrestling is the core thing here, but in a way, it is more than wrestling in terms of the inspiration behind this, because as you said, your thing for the longest time was the streak, and yeah, it's on your t-shirts, listen to it.
00:18:02
Speaker
Yes, I've got Martin Vicala's versus the Streak t-shirts. I guess I'm going to have to start putting the hood. I'm going to have to start getting rid of them pretty quick. They're not quite followed anymore. Well, I mean, you could write in a sharpie pen versus a previous Streak. I mean, that's the thing. It goes way beyond wrestling. It's like you don't have to be a wrestling fan to see your story of going from someone who liked watching wrestling
00:18:26
Speaker
then decided to take a couple of classes, then, as you said, built your fitness up and now you've become another champion. It's a very inspirational story without going too sentimental there. Well, you know, it just shows you that that hard work has paid off and it's not exactly the end for your career, is it? No, it's the first chapter. You know, there's so much, so much more to do. I was going to say you can start by writing on those t-shirts. More chapters to write and more t-shirts to see.
00:18:56
Speaker
to get rid of. I was going to say you could write a book, maybe to get rid of previous t-shirts. Every book comes with a free t-shirt. And a free sharpie pin. Thank you to anyone listening and everyone listening. Anyone that's supported me over the years, just thanks very much. It means the world to me. Thank you Mr. Satsanami as well for always supporting me and getting me on the show and bringing me on. Of all this weekend, of all weekends, it's been amazing. So it's been class to chat to you about it and I really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed my medicine so soon. It would be great to have this.
00:19:24
Speaker
in the archives and the memory to listen back to many times later but no thank you everyone that's supported me that it means everything and I hope that I can keep counting on your support and yeah I'm gonna keep doing what I'm doing and I hope you guys keep doing what you're doing as well because I've achieved a big chunk of my dream and I don't think that I'm particularly special in the way of in my guess my entire life so I think if I can do it I think anyone can as it is what I'm getting at so yeah keep chasing your dreams
00:19:48
Speaker
Yeah, could not agree with
Future Plans and Personal Goals
00:19:50
Speaker
that more. But yeah, Martin, as always, it is such a pleasure for you to come on the show and as always, talk about wrestling, talk about your own journey through wrestling and with Iron Girders. But yeah, before we wrap up, because I know this isn't the last time you'll be on Chances, I mean, that's for sure. But where can these absolutely fantastic listeners at home find your content? You can find me all over the socials, absolutely everywhere.
00:20:16
Speaker
except for probably Fred's. I think I have a Fred's account, but I think I've used it the way you can find me across Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, at Martin McAllister. Instagram's probably my main one if you want to see what I'm up to or Facebook. And sometimes I retweet John Cena on Twitter. But that's the main places to find what I'm up to. Yeah, give me a follow. I hope there's exciting things coming in the future. Yeah, I have to say I've never seen so much John Cena content in my life until I go into your page.
00:20:42
Speaker
I do love them. I mean they are inspirational to be fair and who knows maybe in five to ten years you'll be on one of these forums that I don't want to insult you and say it with rival suburban commando. If only. I mean that's maybe too far for the dream. Santa with muscles too. It could happen. Finally. Santa with two muscles. Two muscles, two Santa. Two Santa exactly.
00:21:06
Speaker
Anyway, I can't wait for that. I was going to say, if it does come out, we'll have to do another. Watch it in the cinema. Oh, a hundred percent. We're reviewing it in the cinema while watching it. You know this scene. That's not my real bicep.
00:21:22
Speaker
But, yeah, if you want to hear more content, of course, from the amazing Martin McAllister as well as ourselves, and if you want to hear how Martin McAllister did in his Pokémon trivia quiz, I know, I apologise.
Episode Recap and Thanks
00:21:36
Speaker
Ending on the low. I know.
00:21:38
Speaker
you can indeed catch us on the website, chattsunami.com. I also want to thank our amazing Pandora Impatrons, Robotic Battle Toaster and Sonya, thank you so so much once again for supporting the show, and if you want more exclusive content from ourselves such as behind the scenes, early access and bloopers, as well as commentary tracks that you and I have done of course,
00:21:58
Speaker
then you can check us out at our patreon page patreon.com forward slash Chad tsunami but until next time thank you all so so much for joining Martin do you want to lead this episode out yeah until next time stay safe stay hydrated and believe in Macalester
00:22:21
Speaker
Previously on Chatsunami, we've analysed what makes a good horror game, conducted a retrospective on Pierce Brosnan's runs James Bond, and listened to us take deep dives into both the Sonic and Halo franchises.
00:22:32
Speaker
Also, if you're an anime fan, then don't forget to check us out on our sub-series, Chatsunani, where we dive into the world of anime. So far, we've reviewed things like Death Note, Princess Mononoke, and the hit Beyblade series. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then you can check us out on Spotify, iTunes, and all big podcast apps. As always, stay safe, stay awesome, and most importantly, stay hydrated.