Insomnia

Personal/Career Shite: -

Hailing from Bournemouth, England (Along with childhood friend David Cyclone); Insomnia was one of NWW’s biggest success stories.

Known for his tremendous kicking power, chilling promos and jaw dropping agility, Insomnia (Also known as ‘Harpsichord’) was one of independent wrestling’s hottest properties. A counter-wrestler who was known to rely on his remarkably high pain thresholds to lull opponents into a false sense of security, before snatching convincing victories from what appeared to be the jaws of defeat – Insomnia was always a favourite amongst the crowd whether they loved or hated him.

Throughout his career he was hailed for putting on some of the greatest matches ever witnessed on the independent circuit.

Of the many compliments he received over his career, none could be higher of those offered by his employers at another of his former promotions ‘R.A.G.E’ (Riot All Gathering Entertainment) who once joked about how easy releasing a ‘best of’ DVD would be, as they’d have to only include his matches with the likes of Dragon and Electrik. Indeed, Insomnia and great matches seemingly went hand in hand, whether Insomnia was facing Danny Richard’s in a street fight or the BeeK in a shoot fight, Insomnia would always give the fans something to remember.

A master at getting into his opponents psyche with a mix apocalyptically emotive promos and other mind games; Insomnia would often have opponents defeated before the match in question had even commenced.

His promos against the likes of The Dragon, Rage, Scotty Mac and other ‘big guns’ would seal his status as legendary, and nothing less in fans of his minds; wherever he competed, the fans simply couldn’t get enough of his venomous, gun-ho all out verbal onslaughts against opponents, It was a rare trait at that time heard only from the likes of Rage, and a small cluster of others including the likes of MDK that would follow later. This ability to get into his opponents heads before matches would help him live up to his claim, that he haunted his opponents’ thoughts even in their sleep.

However rational, or level headed his opponents had seemed prior to matches, Insomnia would almost always find a way of touching a nerve, and drawing a reaction; leaving the perfect opportunity for him to respond with yet more ferocity, and vehemence. This quality alone would make him a formidable opponent for anyone, but coupled with his creativity, his ability to improvise and use his heart-stopping agility to pull off unbelievable, never before seen manoeuvres out of nothing… Would ultimately be a deciding factor in helping Insomnia to become neigh on ‘Unstoppable’ as of one of his most bitter rivals ‘Kram’ liked to put it when describing the mysterious aura that seemed to surround Insomnia.

Fighting Style: -

Insomnia was a shining example of brains over brawn, his classic stand off with Apocalypse during the BDW Triangle Tag Team one fall to a finish title match is still revered highly for the moment when Insomnia countered a Pestilence attempt from Apocalypse into a twisting/mid-air flip-over pile driver. - all after taking a brutal beating from Apocalypse for the majority of the match. It was a staple of his defiance, his reluctance to succumb to a supposedly ‘superior’ force than his own. Insomnia may have been considered ‘wirey’ in terms of his frame when stood next to the likes of MDK and Rage, but with his mental strength and pain thresholds, he was robust enough to slug it out with the best of them, and his stint in R.A.G.E was but further proof that the more he got hurt the more damage he’d inflict.

At first, fans were so taken aback by his (what appeared to be) blatant disregard for his own body, that they almost immediately wrote him off, simply as a mad man. A ‘risk taker’, and thus expectation levels weren’t as high as they might have been in the early days when he was breaking through with the likes of Danny Richard’s, David Cyclone, MDK and Deadfolx. Never the less, it became apparent swiftly that Insomnia was clearly on a different wave length than the average spectator was, and following his war with the Dragon, Rage’s worst fears were all but confirmed.

Insomnia wasn’t a risk taker at all; he knew exactly what he was doing.

With every 30 foot leap, successful or not; Insomnia was thinking at 200 miles-per-hour as to what the best course of action would be for his next move, whatever the situation. Logic would be his instinct, an ability to stay calm, composed; to pick his moment, and then go for the throat; ‘the kill’.

Insomnia was almost like a rattlesnake, given even a mere 2 feet, Insomnia was lethal enough to end a match in the blink of an eye. The Yakuza kick is feared to this day, and along with his other array of powerful kicks, flips, submissions holds and one-off counter moves opponents were always living on the knowledge that even one slip could cost them the match, and possibly their careers as the likes of SWIFT, Shawn Armstrong and even his former mentor Lone Wolf found out.

‘Cold, calculating, cerebral and down right nasty’ as commentators often put it, was right. Victory was all that mattered, be it to him or his fans. Defeat was simply not an option; the substance of the word didn’t even exist in his psyche. This again lead to the ‘unstoppable aura’ Kram would often highlight, in his attempts to find an elixir, and a long over due victory over Insomnia. (Kram never achieved this. :D)

This aura would ultimately act like the 12th man would do in a football match, it allowed Insomnia to reach a higher gear and thus open up on his opponents with his frightening speed and creativity. Insomnia could go from looking down and out of it, to a flurry of forearms and a Yakuza Kick within seconds, and that’d be that.

Other moves such as his favoured Scorpion Death Lock, the Static Lullaby (Jump/flat-spinning heel-kick) and the Shooting Star Leg Drop (‘Raining Murder’) were also particularly devastating, Insomnia liked to save moves such as these so he could hit them when they’d be most effective. If he connected with one of those, he’d usually go on to win the match, as even had the opponent survived that wave of offence, the after effects would often prove decisive, especially in the case of the Yakuza Kick.

Insomnia was also known for performing Top Rope Superplex’s to the outside of the ring. This manoeuvre, known as the “‘Somnipotent” or “‘Somnipotence” was arguably his most powerful move, causing colossal and often decisive damage to his opponents. The flip side of this manoeuvre was Insomnia would often take almost, and depending on landing; as much damage as his opponents. Because of this, Insomnia would often use this move sparingly, using it only when he really had to.

Booking and Tag Team Career Notes: -

In his lifetime, Insomnia achieved colossal success both as a wrestler, trainer and even a promoter; he is often credited with being an important part of his good friend Danny Tenegra (M.D.K)’s equally colossal rise to success. Following the removal of Luke Marr, GM of the failing Aftershock brand, Insomnia was on the look out for a locker room leader after taking temporary control of the brand, and in M.D.K he saw just that. Tommy Stone had been raking in the plaudits, but M.D.K had a special aura about him. ‘You could just hand him the mic.’ Insomnia once quipped.

Having been given his own chance to shine, M.D.K would go on to firmly establish himself as the face of Aftershock, before going on to GM it himself and thus help bring the careers of many young stars who’d found themselves in a similar situation to what he had found himself in up a notch, it was (In comparison to the former) a golden age for Aftershock.

Asides from singles competition, (the area where Insomnia is most fondly remembered for) Insomnia was also vastly successful in tag team competition. His partnerships with the likes of John Krenzel and David Cyclone were feared across the tag team circuit, thanks to his ability to play off his partners greatest strengths to batter opponents into submission. Insomnia was highly capable of co-existing in a team environment, and took the utmost pleasure in developing devastatingly newer, more innovative double-team manoeuvres. ‘To hit as one.’

The Sackuza was arguably the most potent of these, born from Insomnia’s and John Krenzel’s twisted love for decapitation; Insomnia would charge at his opponent and land a Yakuza Kick as Krenzel would crash into the same ‘unfortunate’ opponent low from behind with his equally devastating ‘Sack’, opponents would be left twisted wrecks, and often find themselves spinning all the way over the ropes and to the floor. Insomnia and John Krenzel were finally stripped of the tag team titles in r.a.g.e after beating off Scotty Mac and The One. The Outlaws attacked from behind, throwing Insomnia out of the ring before snatching a quick ‘win’ over John Krenzel in a what (till after) wasn’t even an official match.

Paired with Cyclone, Insomnia produced some of his greatest tag team displays to date. Their understanding was near telepathic, and in full flow they were unstoppable. They held the BDW Tag Team Titles from the early days of the company, till it shut its doors. Unsurprisingly, David Cyclone still brags about his and Insomnia’s famous tag team title run to this day. :D (As would Insomnia)

Title History: -

Never one to really give a flying fuck about titles, Insomnia never really pursued titles as doggedly as maybe he ought to have. Insomnia considered himself more of a ‘pride’ fighter than a ‘prize’ fighter, instead opting to go after what he considered to be the best wrestlers, as opposed to the glitziest title belts or ‘coasters’ as he liked to call them. Nevertheless, he did manage to achieve enviable success holding titles in every company he fought in.

R.A.G.E was arguably his most successful era; he held the World Heavyweight Championship, the World Tag Team Championship and the Mayhem Championship all at the same time. Such was his dominance, Damien Slaughter (Then GM) forced him to not only vacate his Mayhem Championship (To which he threw it in the trash, only for a young and upcoming Cadillac/Spicy Mike to get his mitts on) but also screw him and John Krenzel out of their Tag Team Championship titles as well. Though World Championships in NWW and BDW managed to allude to him (To the bafflement of friends and rivals to this day) he still managed to rack up Tag Team titles in BDW and Hardcore and Xtreme Titles in NWW.

Insomnia tended to only really give a hoot about titles that meant something to the fighter he was focusing on at the time. Putting on a great match was more of his concern than winning a belt. For this he was awarded places in both the NWW and R.A.G.E respective Halls of Fame.

Post Gaza: -

Up until his disappearance in 2006, Insomnia had been tearing through the competition in NWW during a fresh stint following the second Tenegra revolution of that summer. Insomnia was set to face the veteran ‘Nemesis’ in what was billed as the ultimate battle of the wits; arguably two of the greatest counter wrestlers going; the grand final of the NWW World Championship Tournament, a title Insomnia had previously and to this day has still never won.

He was thought to be dead following a car bomb explosion in the Gaza strip whilst out on PR duty greeting some of NWW’s far eastern European fans as part of NWW’s global expansion. His body however, along with close personal friend and colleague Gayle Dicker was never located. A funeral was held in his home town and following failed attempts at locating him, and he along with Gayle were pronounced dead.

Early in 2007, there were rumours of an Insomnia sighting somewhere in Qostanay, Kazakhstan. This was laughed off however, by those closely associated with Insomnia as nothing more than ‘wishful thinking.’

Though the search still goes on as to his whereabouts, be him living or dead, it is thought Insomnia was probably lost in the sea of dead and severely injured bodies that medics and aid workers had simply been overwhelmed with at the time.

Insomnia was/is better than Lokie Fido.