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The Wrestler Kris Travis on Sheffield bill with Bret Hart - VIDEO
LIFE has its ups and downs for unemployed window cleaner Kris Travis - job hunter by day and wrestler by night! WATCH VIDEO
He spends his weekdays trying to get back up the ladder into full time work.
But at weekends you're more likely to see him crashing down off the top rung, in a ladder match - as a wrestler!
He is South Yorkshire's real life Randy "The Ram" Robinson, not unlike the Mickey Rourke character in Oscar winning movie The Wrestler.
Kris, aged 25, from Woodthorpe, Sheffield, grapples on the independent circuit, where brutal hardcore matches can see him attacked with thumbtacks, staple guns, barbed wire and fire.
Yet while The Ram was a fading star, past his prime, Kris is on the up.
He and pal Martin Kirby are the current Tag Team Champions of one of the UK's top wrestling organisations, called 1PW – which aims to become Britain's answer to WWE.
His latest win – at Doncaster Dome – was against ex World Wrestling Entertainment superstar the Blue Meanie, who appeared alongside Rourke in The Wrestler.
Kevin Thorn, another famed WWE star, whacked Kris with a steel staff, which shattered over his arm, leaving welt marks seen on the poster advertising their rematch at Steel City Ice Rage: Total Meltdown, at iceSheffield, on Saturday, July 11.
It mark's 1PW's city debut and for Kris it promises to be biggest night in his eight years as a wrestler.
Watching him will be his boyhood hero and WWE Hall of Fame legend, Bret "The Hitman" Hart – now retired, but flying in from Canada to meet and greet fans.
The main event is a boxer v wrestler grudge match, like something from a Rocky movie, between Sheffield's own Ryan Rhodes and wrestling champ Scott Gallagher.
Kris, who will have proud mum Julie, and brothers Joe, 17, and Sunny, six, at ringside, told The Star: "I've seen the Mickey Rourke movie a few times and The Wrestler is what wrestling is really like.
"At the minute, like The Ram, I'm down on my luck. I need a day job. Wrestling for now is just a labour of love, a hobby. Most weekends I travel up and down the country and I've started to get my own name out there, with 1PW. Their next show is the big one. It's amazing to be a part of it on the same bill as Bret Hart. I grew up watching him and the likes of Hulk Hogan on TV. Bret inspired me to become a wrestler."
Ask Kris whether wrestling is fake and he'll show you his scars.
He said: "There's no way this is fake. Look at my bruises on the poster. They're real. You can't fake being slammed or punched in the face. There's lots of action but it's also fun."
Tickets for Steel City Ice Rage are 15, 20 and 40, may be subject to a booking fee. Buy in person from iceSheffield, Coleridge Road, Attercliffe, call 0114 2789 789, 0114 256 5656, buy on line at www.iceSheffield.co.uk, www.sheffieldarena.co.uk or at www.sheffieldcityhall.co.uk
The Bret Hart Q&A, also at iceSheffield, Saturday, July 11, is 2pm to 4pm and costs 15, entry only. For those tickets call 01246 431079 or 01246 432189.
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