Day 1

Jon Gresham lives in Atlanta, Georgia and I live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania so that's in the Eastern Standard time zone. Germany is 6 hours ahead of that. We arrived here after at 7:35 AM local time following an hour delay leaving the JFK Airport in NYC. Gresham can sleep anywhere he pleases, so the ride for him was nice, while my nose dried up and I slept minimally. I keep making the argument that I'm saving my rest for tonight (which, as I type this, should hopefully be shortly.)

Our travel into Dusseldorf, aside from the hour wait, was smooth. Even more convenient was that we were sent an ambassador of sort to greet us at the airport. Actually, wXw's ring announcer, Jakobi, had a day off and wanted to show us around the city. This worked out wonderfully because Gresham and I flew over a few days earlier than the rest of the foreigners wrestling this weekend. The flights were cheaper on Tuesdays. At least that's what my agent says.

We got to walk around Dusseldorf and ate lunch in the Japan sect of the town. The streets in the city were mostly wide with tall, intimidating architecture strewn everywhere you look. The weather was mild. Pastry shops and candy stores line several of the roads. And even though we were just hanging out, Jakobi makes for a hell of a tour guide!

As a matter of fact we have been very fortunate thus far. After we toured the city, we drove for about 45 minutes to wXw official Tas's home. He's putting us up for the night, making us dinner, and just bought a whole bunch of liquor to use for some reason. Talk about great hospitality!

These opportunities do not come often, so we will be making the most out of it. On Saturday, wXw presents the first ever Westside Rush Tournament. My opponent will be Jon Ryan. Luckily I've been able to see his work first hand and he is a VERY skilled technician. He trained Zack Sabre Jr. a competitor I bested at CZW's International Incident, and one of my personal favorite opponents to share a ring with. To say I'm looking forward to this one is an understatement. Like I said, opportunities like this one don't come often for me. If I'm to have more of these in the future I need to leave an impression.

Happy Birthday Johnny Saint!
- GULAK