January
Wrestler
of the Month...

Televise
“Skulu”
Masolosalo

WRESTLER OF THE MONTH:  SKULU THE SAVAGE

by Les Honig 

It is not often that a new ring personality immediately catches the fancy of his fans but in the case of Televise “Skulu” Masolosalo; known to his buddies as Ben, the successful mat introduction of a new UPW superstar-in-the-making has been that and gratifyingly more.

Perhaps it was the all too natural Islander gimmick which arises from his heritage dating back to a dad who trained with High Chief Peter Maivia and an uncle who starred in Lea Maivia’s Hawaiian promotion, or his early love of wrestlers like the Wild Samoans, or his downright incredible flair for performing, but this guy who once seemed racing one-way down a dead-end street has turned it around convincingly and now is rapidly soaring to sure success.

Indeed the sometimes fierce, usually friendly competitor looks back at a childhood and adolescence full of uncertainty and conflict; early years that saw the little kid shuttled back and forth from one city to another as his parents would separate; then patch things up, then fall into conflict again. By the seventh grade when they had settled in Compton, young Ben would seek out his family bond instead in the comfort of a local Samoan gang, The Park Village Crypts, which also led him into considerable trouble.

“When things weren’t going right at home, I’d seek out my friends and we’d drink, smoke weed and do a lot of stupid stuff. We’d get into a lot of scuffles; fights and rumbles.” After unintentionally breaking his friend’s leg while wrestling around on the floor at school, many of those who knew him would avoid tussling with the overly large preteen saying, “Man, you play too rough! 

Thrown out of many of the schools in Compton and forced to attend class in Harbor City, Skulu was sent instead back to Hawaii after he once again got into trouble for severely hurting another kid in a fight and fleeing the scene, as he came to the defense of a friend. Now living with his uncle on Oahu, the outlook for his future seemed a bit brighter, when he joined the football team, but sadly things fell apart rapidly again as his association with another gang caused him to once again get heavily into drugs and petty crime. “We’d be robbing people and hijacking cars a lot and I was always high.” Attributing his present toughness to the many fistfights he had to endure while there, things really hit bottom for the teenager when he held up a bar possessing only a screwdriver and was arrested by a group of plain-clothes cops who he had confronted at a table and demanded cash from.

Now having ballooned to nearly 400 pounds, Skulu spent much of his hard time confronting himself and getting into better physical shape as he continued the heavy weight training he had begun in high school, doing 1000 pushups at a time and also doing a lot of soul searching. Still when he was released after a year, his substance abuse problems continued, and it was really the help of his then girlfriend, now wife, Lisi, that eventually prevented him from spiraling completely downhill again towards certain destruction.

“She had stood through it all with me and if it wasn’t for her I’d probably be dead.  But after a while she just got fed up with my lack of motivation to really change, so she decided she had to move away.”  As she prepared to relocate to Alaska, Ben realized the moment for true change was the only way to save the relationship so he followed her there, finally finding productive work at a Sam’s Club till the pair eventually married and resettled back in L.A.

Now having discarded many of the demons that prevented him from finding fulfillment, the moments were considerably happier as the Samoan rekindled a long dormant faith, coming into contact with an individual who has literally changed his life from the day they first met.  “His name is Henry Yandell and he’s the pastor of the Church we now attend,” Ben explains. “He really acts more like a father than a minister. He says things to me that a dad is supposed to tell his son.”

One such piece of advice that was to soon bear fruit in a big, big way came after Skulu was approached by a wrestling promoter while working his job as a bouncer at a leading Hollywood night club.  “The guy said his brother was working for a new federation called Urban Wrestling and suggested I go down there and try out.”

Smitten in a major way when he was allowed to tape a promo during his audition, his spirits instead abruptly hit rock bottom when he was told that he needed to be attending a wrestling school to really have a shot at making it there.

“I went home all dejected but Henry was there and when I explained why I was bummed out, he told me to immediately get out of my doldrums, marshall all my positive energy and just go for it.  He stirred up something in me with his words that I knew had been lying dormant for years.”  Having seen UPN news clips about Ultimate University featuring then students Nathan Jones, Jon Heydenreich and John Cena he knew he had found the ideal place to develop his new craft and ever since that happy day in spring 2001 when he entered the LA Boxing Club to enroll, he has never turned a moment to look back.

Now having caught the eyes of not only those running our own fed, but those of Japanese promoters and fans as well, with three super hot Zero One tours under his belt, Skulu has already set uncountable prominent  tongues wagging because of  his incredible natural talent and gift for winning over and gaining the affections of a crowd.

Still his greatest motivation, aside from the pure fun of performing in front of multitudes of American and Japanese followers, seems to be from the good that his work is likely to do to inspire others.

“I really hope more than anything that my success helps other young people to reach their own goals,” he explains passionately. “I want them to see that a guy who dropped out of school and had nothing going for him in his life could have a chance to become part of some of the best pro wrestling action around anywhere.  A lot of them feel now that the most they can expect to do is to graduate school and if they’re lucky get a regular 9 to 5 job. But deep inside they too have dreams and natural gifts and I want to really help them to pull out and develop those dreams and gifts as much they possibly can.”

Great words from a great guy…certainly on the verge of doing really great things. 

Al Katrazz

Predator