1/17/19 - It's Been A While!
Well, hello there!
It has been quite some time since my last blog post and update (about 9 months, in fact). It feels like both a lot and nothing has occurred at once.
Without further ado, let’s get into it!
Pro Wrestling
Last time I wrote, I was in the midst of a Best of 3 series against Nikos Rikos. This has concluded, with all 3 matches available in the following YouTube playlist.
In the past few months, I have competed against former WWE Superstar D’Lo Brown, had TPS debut at Battleclub Pro, and finished up a near year long feud with rival/partner Marcus Marquee.
You can actually view the highlights to our 3 Stages of Hell match, which I am super proud of, below:
Back in November, I released a short documentary entitled “Odyssey to ZMAK” which covers my journey to the triple threat main event of ZMAK 19 in Piraeus, Greece.
Speaking of which, I’m not sure if I ever shared the news that I had the opportunity to perform in Greece in front of friends and family! It was such an incredible experience and was fulfilling on both a personal and professional level. I had such an amazing time and a truly awesome experience. Andros is now officially an internationally traveled professional wrestler!
For both the documentary and build up to the match, watch the below videos:
There were definitely some highs in 2018 with regards to pro wrestling, but also some lows. In November, I felt stuck. Looking back at the year, despite some amazing moments, I didn’t accomplish everything I had wanted. Namely, to get Andros booked with more promotions. This feeling of a lack of momentum really made me question whether pro wrestling was a viable career path for me.
Fortunately, I decided to make some changes and try to create my own momentum. At the end of 2018 I signed up to be a member of Inner Squared Circle, a group based around setting a positive mind set in the world of professional wrestling. The courses I have been taking have really gone a long way in making me feel validated and motivated.
I also decided to make a change in my environment and left the Warriors of Wrestling training school for the Team Adams school. This came with the unfortunate consequence of no longer being booked with WOW, but it wasn’t totally unexpected. The Warriors training school was and is a great place to learn, but after over 4 years of being there, I just felt like I needed try someplace new.
Possibly the biggest change was making adjustments to the Andros character. I felt like “The Face of Pan Hellenism” was not resonating with any fans, or even with me! I was trying to portray the second coming of Alexander the Great while in a tag team or a stable at local independent promotions. It just didn’t make sense and felt like I was overreaching. I’ve transitioned the character to a portrayal that is much closer to reality. Andros (no longer “The Greek”) is now a man on an Odyssey to create a legacy in pro wrestling and Greek history. I feel like people can relate much easily to someone who is on a journey or mission than what I was doing before which, in retrospect, was a bit too lofty
To really bring this to life and kick off 2019, I also began 2 weekly series. The first, uploaded very Monday on Facebook and Tuesday on YouTube, is “My Odyssey”. In each episode I open up about a different topic that relates to Andros and the Odyssey. The second series involves uploads of match highlights, to be released Tuesdays on Facebook and Wednesdays on YouTube. The first episode of each can be seen below:
Writing
This is one of the areas in my life where not much has happened at all.
The exceptions include an article meant to serve as a basic guide to men’s fashion, another on cologne, and finally a weekly installment called “Newsworthy” which lists news stories that readers might have missed during the previous week. All of these can be found on The Motley Experience website.
I, unfortunately and through every fault of my own, have made no progress on any of my ideas for novels, including “My Uncle Nick”. I have committed myself to getting as much of the real life history of my actual Uncle Nick written down this year, however.
Film
I’ve accomplished more in this field than writing, but still am below my desired level of output.
I was able to release two episodes of my series “Origins”, covering the history of soccer (in time for the world cup) and pizza (never a bad time to talk about pizza).
A special episode of “Experience” was also released delving into the tragic history of a D-Day rehearsal gone horribly wrong.
The “Odyssey to ZMAK” documentary was another project I was proud to share, but I already mentioned that earlier.
On a more fun note, I did create some SnapChat sketches, having been inspired by the immensely talented Tom McGovern (definitely check out his work).
I’ve found being a one man team researching, filming, producing, editing, and sharing to be very draining and I know I’m not getting the level of quality I desire out of the finished products. I’m reassessing how much energy and focus should go into these series.
In Conclusion
While I haven’t been able to produce as much quality content as I would have liked, these past few months were certainly not all bad.
I was able to visit Greece for vacation AND to be a part of a triple threat main event match (my first of either on an actual show), released content, to some degree, across all major areas of interest, and most importantly, have continued to learn and grow as a content creator and human being.
Professional wrestling will continue to be my main focus as I devote more time to training, my physique, and Andros-related content. Video projects for The Motley Experience will be taking a backseat as I look into creating a podcast (working title, “Stuff Explained”) to dig into the various themes and topics I want to share with the world. Finally, I do want to spend some time focusing on building a foundation for the “My Uncle Nick” story.
2018 was great, but I’m really looking to build to an even better 2019!
As always, thanks for reading and catching up with me.
Follow me on Instagram & Twitter: @ATMarousas
Like me on Facebook: Aristidis Marousas, Andros, The Motley Experience, ME Productions.
Sincerely,
Aristidis Marousas
P.S.
I GOT A HAIRCUT!