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by
Les Honig
For Dmitry Masarsky, who fans know as Shawn Riddik, life could have evolved so much differently had not his parents, Russian citizens, landed in Southern California when they arrived here 17 years ago.
Sure, it took quite awhile for the then 5 year-old youngster to make it to our Pacific shore after his mom, a nurse and dad, a mechanic went through numerous obstacles to receive their U.S. visa; spending time in Italy, Austria and other parts of Europe till it finally arrived and they were able to join relatives in San Diego.
Still for Dmitry, his growth through his teen years and into an adult has been made up of so many unforeseen moments that it was never really a certainty that he would eventually land into the positive position he now finds himself at in our exciting business.
Always athletic and a self-described “good kid” Dmitry excelled in a number of youthful sports from Pop-Warner football to soccer and basketball, finding himself reaching his high school years competing in varsity sports but always not quite finding a niche because of his comparatively smaller size for the bruising teams he chose. After several years on the football squad, and as he began to bulk up with heavy weight training, the teenager turned to competitive boxing which took up most of his attention until he was to reach his real goal: the beginning of training for a pro wrestling career.
As with many passionate UPW matmen, Masarsky developed a intense love for sports entertainment almost as far back as his memory will allow, in this case, only one year after arriving in Southern California.
“I really got into it back around 1990. I caught it one day and was just hooked. I couldn’t believe how these humungous athletes could use their physicality to create such compelling action.”
Early on this youngster was drawn to some of the sport’s most charismatic and technical masters; people like Shawn Michaels and Brett Hart who he now says he still admires because of their ability to “totally take the audience and hold it in the palm of their hands.”
Yet, it wasn’t until after graduating high school when Masarsky decided that he was fated to do more than just watch these compelling ring scenarios from afar. As he pondered whether to continue with his education at that moment, he became more and more obsessed with striking out on a whole new path; a life as a pro wrestler.
“I realized that I definitely didn’t want to sit in a cubicle the rest of my life making business decisions. I longed to pursue what had always been a dream: to actually step right into the middle of the squared circle action.”
First investigating a number of local and out-of-area schools, Dmitry’s career fate was to forever be altered when he attended a 2001 pre-Wrestlemania fanfest at the Anaheim Pond and stopped by the UPW booth manned by promoter Rick Bassman and John Cena. They encouraged him to visit the training center and check out the action for himself and soon he was ringside at the Huntington Beach Gold’s Gym location with his dad and younger brother to watch an actual Ultimate U class.
At first intimidated by the huge behemoths who were training that day, he nonetheless was immediately smitten by the mat bug and soon returned to actually begin his pursuit of excellence. Coming into contact with fellow trainee, Sergio Rangel, the two became immediate friends and before long Rangel was asking Dmitry to team up and form a new tag tandem which they dubbed Off Da Hook.
“I was very flattered because Sergio, who had been there for a while already, had seen obvious potential in me.” With the powers-that-be approving of their matching due to similar physical look and obvious in-ring chemistry, it was only a short time before the pair began to appear in a host of hot matches both at the weekly light shows and at our major UPW venues. It seemed that the brightest of futures lay ahead until it became apparent that one of the team members was having second thoughts about his personal wrestling commitment.
“I could tell that Sergio was becoming less and less enthusiastic about continuing training and performing,” recalls Masarsky, and this cooling off led to a fairly quick decision on Rangel’s part to drop out of the UPW scene; a choice that left his partner confused and upset.
Continuing with his UPW training, nonetheless, as he still does today at our new San Clemente dojo, Dmitry was forced to turn solo and began appearing in a variety of shows by himself, but the fire had seemed to be slowly extinguishing as he sought to find a place for himself in a new performing world.
“I first got a bit depressed and wondered if I could make it on my own. I even thought about quitting because after working with someone as part of a unit for so long, you start thinking, ‘What do I do now?’”
Always a fighter, however, Masarsky continued to compete and slowly pulled himself up by his own bootstraps to continue on and establish himself as a more and more firmly situated fan favorite, both with various new tag partners and in his shifting role as a solo star.
During the past year the wrestler who calls himself Shawn Riddik, (“I just had to call myself Shawn after my lifetime wrestling idol, Shawn Michaels”), has had a number of exciting opportunities, including the chance to do several tours throughout Mexico as well as competing in Nashville in an actual TNA tryout and in a fascinating and thrilling San Diego match where he portrayed Doink the Clown going up against WWE alumni Billy Gunn. “My performance as Doink was so convincing that many people thought I was actually the original person who played him.”
For Dmitry, however, some of his most exhilarating moments came when he made several appearances before live World Wrestling Entertainment television audiences during the past year.
“First I was used along with some other UPW talents on Raw as one of the Hardys’ cousins and then a little bit afterwards they let me play one of the Druids accompanying the Undertaker to the ring.”
“That was during the last Wrestlemania and it was definitely a high point of my life. Walking through that curtain and seeing the thousands of WWE fans was something indescribably thrilling; certainly a first for me that I won’t forget as long as I live.”
With high marks for his recent Galaxy performance, where he and Tommy Wilson battled the Good Guys, Masarsky has no intention of stopping his move upward towards eventual stardom.
Working tirelessly in the gym each day now to hone his already impressive and ever more chiseled physique, the restless young lion feels his dream is now within grasp if he only continues to work harder and harder towards its fulfillment.
“I know the business now inside and out. I know the dirty parts of it as well as the good parts and I feel I have just the right mindset for it. I have the wrestling ability. I’d say the only thing holding me back is my body and I’m getting closer and closer each day to making that really marketable too.”
Believing in himself totally and being willing to make all the sacrifices that great talents before him have made to transform their own seemingly unreachable plans into reality, it seems that Dmitry Masarsky will also persist without one’s moment hesitation till final supremacy in the ring and in his own life are completely secured.
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