So, I just want to write my thoughts about Meniac’s retirement.
First off, I am so proud to say that he is not just a tag team partner, he’s not just a friend, but he is a brother to me and for that, I can not thank him more. Whether it was the ribs we pulled on people, whether it was the moronic amount of beers we drank together or even the podcast that we had, the run within the world of pro wrestling, was in his words and now in mine but “the most fun I have ever had”.
Secondly, I want to tout how much of a loss this news is to the wrestling scene and I’ll gladly explain in detail why. Meniac, in my eyes, is one of if not the most entertaining asset in every company that he worked for and possesses in my eyes the most impressive quality anyone can have. That is, the ability to turn a bad idea into gold and me, where we worked we had our fair shares of bad ideas come our way. A lot good, but also a lot of bad. For this reason, it is absolutely no surprise to me that he is a 2-time MPW champion, a multiple-time tag team champion, and one of the talents that the fans talked about after a show. Now, he puts in the work that is needed because when he was a part of pro wrestling, he put everything into it.
I’m gonna share a story that I am damn proud of and a story that began what to be known as tagSTRUGGLE. MPW held a show at the Italian Festival that is done every year. Now, for personal reasons, this was to be Meniac’s last match with MPW and he was in a multiple man match. Now, whether it was the feeling that this was it or anything else, I, to this day, never saw him show that much passion in a ring, and the reason why that is important is simple. The first few years of being a pro wrestler is stressful and emotional. I still do not believe before that match, he had any more fun than that day. For me, I saw someone who truly showed “love” for the business and “passion” and what was breaking my heart is that he was giving it up, for which I won’t say why, but I can say is an honourable quality and one I do not and will ever use against him. But, this prompted me to text and see how he was doing and truly talk to him for the first time.
I believe to this day, that the text I sent him about meeting up to talk turned into one of the greatest bonds that I have ever had. We talked about life and we talked about wrestling and I am going to selfishly admit, I was trying to bring him back because that passion he showed fueled me to want to work harder in the ring myself because I knew that had he stayed my “spot” was there for him to take. Now yes, that was a joke, but I did truly believe he can be something, and dare I say, I was right. Now, this conversation we had was months after this match and the personal thing he had going on had cleared up. I’m happy to say, Meniac came back to wrestling, and shortly thereafter, we started bonding and eventually started a tag team. tagSTRUGGLE.
Well, tagSTRUGGLE was actually not the original name as we did throw out many suggestions and eventually circled to The Struggle and for our love of Seinfeld and our inside joke of making fun of people who used the phrase the struggle is real. So we became The Struggle and our catchphrase was going to be “We are the struggle and we are real and we are spectacular!” The reason why we became tagSTRUGGLE was simple: that was because we went to an Eskimos game and I was making the twitter account and couldn’t get “@thestruggle,” but I could get “@tagstruggle,” and since we were a tag team, tagSTRUGGLE just made sense. So, because I like to rant you guys got two stories.
This tag-team took on a life of its own and dare I say the main reason was him. I want to make it known that just because people viewed me as a good worker, this tag team worked because Meniac is an absolute genius with ideas in my eyes was overlooked, undervalued, and never appreciated enough for how good he is, and by no means should he have ever been looked at a 2nd to me and quite frankly it’s pissed me off every time I hear that. Meniac was the one who came up with the idea of stealing things for people and making it our own and that was in large part the reason why we took off. Outside of all the things we did in the ring, the man out of the ring and the locker room was even better. I dare anyone to say anything bad about this guy because I know they can’t because just like he was as a wrestler he was one of the best guys to lace your boots with. He is a true locker room leader because he is liked and loved by so many of “the boys” that he brought so many people together and for that, it doesn’t shock me at all that the people online reacted the way they did when they heard the news. For those who didn’t get to know him, you missed out, because he is one of the greatest guys I have ever shared a locker room with.
Lastly, this takes goes to the man. Out of respect, I will not share his name or the names of the people in his life or go into about the things in his life. But, as someone who had the honour to be his best man at his wedding, to be friends with his wife and be apart of his life, and the fact he is moving on to start a new chapter in his personal life is something I truly admire, respect and I can honestly say, is something I look up to. He is a devoted husband, the best brother I can have, but someone I know will be a great father when that time comes. He is truly someone I look up to and can honestly say, if I can be more like him, I will be a better man for it. I love this man, I will do anything for this man and my career inside of ropes, and my life outside of them has been forever changed for the better because he was a part of it. Thankfully, it will be forever struggalicious because he will always be a part of it.
Thank you brother, I am forever grateful for you and you made me better in every way and for that, I am forever grateful.
