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By Les Honig If respect,
positive attitude and a downright soul-deep love of pro wrestling
is any indicator of one’s future place in sports entertainment
stardom, then Mike “Kid Vicious” Balasis has already staked
out for himself an irreversible path to success. Born in
Bakersfield, Calfornia where he spent most of his childhood and
teen years, Mike remembers his young days as happy ones, but ones
full of sports and dreams of someday becoming a pro wrestler. In
fact, despite having succeeded in a variety of activities from
soccer to football to basketball, the young star admits he chose
to concentrate primarily on only baseball by the time he entered
high school, “because by then I knew I wanted to someday wrestle
and I didn’t want to play any sport that might injure my knees
or shoulder and prevent that chance.”
Still, to further his future plans he joined his high
school wrestling team as a junior and found considerable success
which was only limited by the fact that he had to compete for a
starting spot in his weight class with a guy who already had been
state champ. Along with this
love of athletic competition, Balasis early on started what was to
become a lifelong involvement in martial arts. Remembering how at
age four he saw Rocky 2 and was struck by the “heart that goes
into being a successful boxer”, he was further smitten when he
witnessed his first Bruce Lee movies and realized that the
fighting arts were something he wanted to pursue.
First studying judo as a youngster, he moved on to then
learn karate and by age 13 was beginning his education in kung fu
and kickboxing; a discipline he now teaches to others at a
hometown dojo. Yet becoming a
pro wrestler was a seed planted early and one that continued to
lay dormant in the background as the young Kid continued growing.
“I remember first becoming aware of WWE in the pre-Hogan days
when a friend in the neighborhood who wore a teeshirt saying
‘Backbreaker’ wanted us to wrestle on the lawn with him.
I kind of shied away from that but one day in 1984 when I
was about 9 I turned on MTV and saw King Kong Bundy, the Hulk and
other stars. Suddenly I was hooked.”
This obsession became even more of a passion as he
witnessed his first TV matches with a duo who were to become his
personal mat idols, Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith. “I just
was stuck by their hard-hitting aggressive style and their
physical conditioning and athleticism. It seemed to be something
completely apart from other wrestlers I had seen before.” Following high
school and some time in college, Mike moved rather naturally into
a position at the martial arts gym he had been studying at for
over seven years and as time progressed he has served in a variety
of leadership positions from manager to head instructor. (Today he has cut back a bit on his responsibilities there to
leave room for increased wrestling time). Yet, if there is
a to be a highlight life reel for this aspiring talent it surely
will contain a sensational but surreal experience which was to
occur when he was accepted into the ultra-prestigious Hart
training school in Calgary, Canada. Having written to them after
seeing an ad for Stampede Wrestling in a magazine, he had to wait
nearly half a year for a response, (as his inquiry coincided sadly
with the death of Owen), but when it came it was positive and he
was off to an uncertain but ultra-exciting three month stint as a
trainee in the legendary Dungeon Balasis has many
fond memories of the whole experience with one definitely
including his arrival at the airport, as a “naïve kid in a
strange country” and while waiting anxiously for his ride from
one of the family, running into Brett Hart who took time not only
to speak with assembling fans but to also reassure the novice that
a lift would probably be arriving soon and to give him some words
of encouragement for his upcoming new learning situation. He remembers too
the packed actual training sessions which he says were hard work
but extremely worthwhile, teaching him more than anything, “that
you must earn respect in this business; nothing is handed to
you.” Returning home
to take necessary tests to become a highway patrolman, (a back-up
job should his wrestling career falter), events conspired to
prevent him from traveling back North to live as he had planned,
so Balasis began seeking out local promotions to continue to
perfect his craft, and to that end he soon became familiar with
UPW through a lengthy feature in WOW Magazine. Before long he and
his training partner Thor, (who had wrestled successfully as a
jobber for WWE a decade before), were heading down to the Raw
Center for their first training sessions. “Most of all I really
love the family atmosphere here,” he explains, as well as the
outstanding talent and the awesome education he is receiving in
mat psychology and Japanese techniques from head instructor Tom
Howard. Two years have
now passed since his first El Segundo sessions and in the space
that has intervened, Kid Vicious, (dubbed so by Smith Hart), has
continued his Ultimate University education but even more so has
been featured in many outstanding mat encounters here at UPW’s
major venues. In that
elite group of serious World Wrestling Entertainment aspirants, he
has now gained the attention and admiration of many influential
SoCal, not to mention national, wrestling observers.
Most recently Balasis made his first mega-successful tour
of Japan as part of the Zero One promotion and his twenty
minute-long match with indy sensation Low Ki has already gained
near legendary status. So what lies
ahead for the charismatic, hard-hitting, ultra-devoted Kid? Well,
as is typical for this hot, yet humble, talent, he says that his
future goal is to “gain the respect of the the other workers I
encounter” as well, of course, future trips to Japan and a
hoped-for shot at WWE. And,
yes, there’s one more “dream” moment he would like to see
someday, “A three way ladder match with Frankie Kazarian and
Spanky at Wrestlemania.” Not
too big a dream, huh? But one that this overachiever may also
accomplish in time or maybe even in a shorter Hart-beat! |
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