Michael Majalahti Talks SLAM! Wrestling Finland
Michael Majalahti (aka Starbuck) is the promoter of SLAM! Wrestling Finland.
One of the great things The Wrestling Estate has allowed me to do is to connect with all sorts of wrestling industry professionals.
That is why on a sporadic basis throughout 2020, I will be bringing several exclusive interviews from industry insiders, helping fans learn more about their work and impact on the business.
My fifth interview is with one of the premier wrestlers and promoters in Scandinavia. Michael Majalahti (known to many as Starbuck) runs SLAM! Wrestling Finland, and it was an honor to find out more of his career history, his experiences in Finland, expanding out into Estonia and what the future holds for pro wrestling in Northern Europe!
How have you been coping during COVID-19?
Michael Majalahti: ”I have been healthy as a horse, as the old saying goes. I am sponsored by SKIP Nutrition, the oldest sports supplement brand in Europe, dating back to 1971. It’s pharmaceutical grade, which by EU law stipulates that its products must be at least 98% pure and true as to what the label claims. When I superdose on the Megaforce vitamin and mineral complex, my cells are full of nutrients, and science has shown that COVID-19 cannot enter a body that is strong and full of nutrients. Falling prey to COVID requires insulin resistance, as is the case with diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity. I have none of those issues.”
How did you become interested in professional wrestling?
Michael Majalahti: ”I was about 5 or 6 years old when I first saw pro wrestling on TV at a family friend’s home. All I recall was a muscular, blond, hulking man in tights that caught a young boy’s attention, as I was a big fan of comic book heroes. It might have been Superstar Billy Graham, as the year was about 1979. That was in my hometown of Timmins, Ontario, and the next time I saw wrestling was Saturday Night’s Main Event with Hulk Hogan vs. Nikolai Volkoff around 1985-86, and it hit me like a million volts of lightning. From there on out, I knew that pro wrestling was my chosen poison.”
After wrestling for over 20 years, you decided to start up SLAM! Wrestling Finland in 2018. What led to its creation?
Michael Majalahti: ”I looked at my age, the point that I was at in this trek of life, and my plausible future. I thought that either I had to get a new trade ticket and go back to school in middle age, as times are changing and times are tough, or then, I’d take what I’d been a part of for 25 years and turn it into money. I had run and been a booker for other non-profit types of clubs that were in Finland promoting wrestling, but I was never able to turn those into a business, since they were based on annual fees and club memberships, where the club is obligated to facilitate opportunities for members, regardless of their level of actual athletic competence. This, in part, is also because of the liberal slant in society nowadays, which aggressively pushes inclusivity, regardless of talent level.
Therefore, due to presenting a product with the non-profit clubs that has great internal disparity – part of the talent scale being strong and part being weak – there is no uniform, solid front-to-back product that advertisers or production companies, per se, can latch on to. Therefore, it’s damn near impossible to turn a profit and make such an enterprise into a profitable business. With SLAM! Wrestling Finland, what I’ve done is taken the business-minded approach. Every booking, every talent, is well thought out. What do they mean to my bottom line? Do they have sales arguments that will woo potential customers and co-ops to my product? If I put them in my advertising, will they draw and make back my ROI? This is what SLAM! is all about, making it much easier for other businesses to understand, as we have uniform quality and a level of professionalism that I will not compromise.”
Independent wrestling is really thriving in Scandinavia, and SLAM! Wrestling Finland has had a lot to do with that. How do you feel about your talents helping to grow the wrestling scene in Finland?
Michael Majalahti: ”The thing with Finland is that we have no longstanding pro wrestling tradition here. I was here for the outset in 2003, when domestic pro wrestling began to get promoted with Valhalla Pro Wrestling. I’ve trained loads of guys and girls since that time, and some of them, such as Heimo the Wildman and Stark Adder, have gone on to wrestle quite extensively abroad. Others, like Mikko Maestro, have moved abroad to the USA and continued their wrestling careers there. So I am happy that throughout the years I have been able to help many talents achieve bookings and levels that they would have probably never reached on their own. Some have shown gratitude for that, others have shown petty spite because they never reached their potential in the game and got poisoned by the snakes along the way.
Either way, I rest assured in the fact that I have been able to become the most accomplished pro wrestler in Northen European history, outside of George Hackenschmidt, perhaps. Some might argue Tony ”Ludvig Borga” Halme, but I digress, as Tony’s career was seven years long and he never trained up anyone, nor was he known as a great craftsman or draw in our game. It’s a different day and age now, of course, so that considered, some of the parameters for success have changed with the changing times. Nonetheless, I am very happy with my contributions to the game, be it in Finland or the six other countries where I have coached around the world.”
One of the factors that has led to SLAM! Wrestling Finland’s success is that you make a point of catering to all wrestling fans’ tastes, creating cards full of variety. Is that always the fun part of the job?
Michael Majalahti: ”What I believe in is offering a card that has diversity in terms of match types and the general look of the wrestlers involved. It’s very similar to what I hear Eddie Graham’s philosophy was back in the old Florida territory that Dusty Rhodes was spawned from. This means that we need different body types and looks that have market appeal. There are no throw-away matches on SLAM! Wrestling’s cards. Every match serves a purpose in the slot in which it is assigned on the card, to create the right dynamic for the roller coaster ride that a well-built wrestling event should offer a live crowd from start to finish. The middle of the card is just as important as the main event or the opener, although the middle of the card might not be where the drawing power is.
Yet, for an emotionally satisfying whole, every match on the card needs to serve a purpose and fit into the whole. We cater to the general public, to the average Joe out there who likes action, extreme sports, compelling visuals and appreciates aesthetics. We make it a point for our product to look good, period. Quality comes to quality. Most people truly like what we have to offer and the feedback has been positive. As booker and matchmaker, it’s a fun ride thinking up who is going to work best in each slot on the card. And since we utilize only professional talent, you know that our cards will offer you bang for your buck, as the saying goes.”
SLAM! Wrestling Finland has got a wide-array of great Scandinavian talents on its roster including Ken Malmsteen, Viktor Tykki, Jami Aalto and my favorite Polar Pekko. Has SLAM! Wrestling Finland helped open doors for these talents to be seen on a larger scale than what was available before?
Michael Majalahti: ”Of course. We have name recognition in the wrestling circles out there. A lot of that has to do with my background in the game, stemming back to the early ’90s, when I started out in Calgary. I made my name out in the world, creating a reputation, and now, as a businessman, I am able to fall back on that established good rep and have it rub off on the SLAM! product. In so saying, when I see young and hungry talents who have the right mindset and fit onto my team, I am more than happy to promote them in a way that gives them better sea legs out there in the world. I think that due to our good name and my established reputation in pro wrestling worldwide, our talents indeed have a more plausible chance of not only being noticed on a wider level, but also being featured in a way that expounds their talents individually and helps them to stand out.”
Speaking of talents, one thing I love about SLAM! Wrestling Finland is that you are truly an intercontinental promotion, having brought in wrestlers from the USA, Portugal and even Japan. Did you ever expect these talents to wrestle in the promotion when you began?
Michael Majalahti: ”Yes. I had a vision to go big and produce all-star events with top talents. I know this is the way to generate business and by doing so, I am able to speak volumes to potential co-ops and businesses that I would like to have involved with my enterprise. Having someone the caliber of Meiko Satomura (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su5yPWTTdgA) and Tajiri on our events is a badge of honor for us. It gives us immediate credibility out on the global map. The same applies to Ivelisse, Matt Cross (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQfZmtJQkzU), James Mason, Fabio Ferrari, Tom La Ruffa and others. These people are pure world-class quality in the ring, and it shows in the product to anyone, whether they are fans or not. The wheat is separated from the chaff in the selection process. This has been a very intentional direction since day one.”
In the main event of your first show “Maiden Voyage,” you faced off against British wrestling legend James Mason. What was it like wrestling James and have you got fond memories of this match?
Michael Majalahti: ”I have a lot of respect for James. I hold him to the the 007 of British wrestling. Some people just exude the label that reads on our genre, that being ’professional.’ James is so slick in the ring, he’s like flowing water. For an initial ”here we are” debut, I could not have chosen a better opponent than James Mason. Our styles clash somewhat due to the fact that the British style is more fluid and smooth, whereas I come from a background and belief that expounds grittiness and true fight feel. I don’t believe that a match should be like a dance. I believe in making it real for every person watching, so that even a child can look at the match and believe it, and that said, so can the grandparent watching next to them. This is where the magic lies, in the melding of clashing styles that come together to create a credible match where the viewer doesn’t know how one counterpart will fare against the other. I rate James as one of the top men in the game.”
The fourth show in the promotion’s history – “Slam in Tallinn” – saw you head into Estonia to produce your first show outside of Finland. Was it exciting branching out of Finland for the first time?
Michael Majalahti: ”Absolutely. I plan on expanding to the Baltic in general over the next couple of years, and the wheels are already in motion for that. George Hackenschmidt comes from Estonia. That’s all the reason on paper you need to find a way to speak to the peoples of that country and reintroduce the grappling game to them. We were just in Esku, Estonia one week ago, wrestling at a motorcycle event called Nahh Klaffen with SLAM! Wrestling. We are going back on October 31 with our next Estonian big event at Rock Cafe in Tallinn, with Estonia’s number one metal band Metsätöll performing that night, also. The event will be called RagnaRÖCK & Wrestling.”
Over the past month, you have been uploading onto your promotion’s YouTube “Quarantine Combat.” The presentation is a lot grittier and rawer than previous SLAM! Wrestling Finland outings, and the matches have been a ton of fun to watch. Are you pleased with how the concept has come out?
Michael Majalahti: ”I’m pretty happy with it, considering the circumstances and the COVID restrictions set forth at the time. It’s a very unique venue inside of an old oil silo. Lots of echo, so you can really hear the bumps. Every match had something unique. Four corners of the ring, four matches offering something all their own. If you haven’t seen it, I strongly recommend checking it out. After world-renowned wrestling coach Rip Rogers saw my match against Polar Pekko from that event, he praised it so highly that he thought I should be coaching for NXT. So yes, I am happy with how it turned out.”
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