Scotland's Slam Scene

 

Scotland’s Slam Scene

The “underground” community working to present positivity to the youth through pro-wrestling.

 

You’ve been doing this for nearly six hours now, constant and repetitive. One bang after another. Up and down. Then up and down again. None of this ultimately matters though, at the end of the day you’re doing what you love. It’s your escape from the life you’ve lived. The mistakes you’ve made. The ones you’ve lost. Not one bit of it matters right now. It’s your best bet against the hand you’ve been dealt. However, sometimes even the best card players can’t beat the worst of hands.

You’re on a high, then it starts. You glance at your phone. “hunners” of missed calls. You know exactly what’s happening. Your Nana, she’s been suffering at the hands of Cancer for a while now, you know before answering any calls that the situation has worsened.

You recall “being sick to your stomach” and thinking “aww naw, I cannae dae this anymore”.  Ravie Davie recalls all this during my chat with him. It’s baffling to think that one of the most well-known and hard-working professional wrestlers in Scotland today almost never existed as such. Ravie Davie, his government name being David McCallum, might be someone you’ve recognised on various social media platforms. Davie said “During Lockdown I kind of blew up on TikTok” this success expanded his pre-existing audience from other socials and put him in the frame of others like me who hadn’t previously heard of Davie’s exploits. He is certainly a character.

Davies upbringing was less than ideal, unfortunately losing his single Mother at a young age. He would then fall into the care of his Gran. He was heading down a destructive path, joining a gang and being amongst those who shared a similar upbringing to his. Wrestling was the escape that helped Davie become the person we see today.

Obviously, contrary to the intro he didn’t stop chasing his dream, after the trauma of his Nana suffering cancer, he had a flashpoint which ignited his passion for the art even more. After Davie’s Nana being bedridden for a while he showed her a picture from one of his sessions, Davie recalls “I went a showed my Nana a picture of me in the training school, she’d been bedridden and hadn’t really seen anything in weeks. When she seen that photo, she smiled and was laughing. That showed me once my Nana does pass away this is something I should go for because it made her proud”.

Davie went on to form the Glasgow School of Wrestling in 2022, where he emphasises that “Before I build wrestlers, I build confidence. I realise not all these kids will go onto wrestle, but if they can gain some confidence and some social skills… that’s a win for me”. He believes that its vital kids have the role models he lacked during his formative years to stop them from straying down the wrong paths. “Through the wrestling school we’ve been able to change a lot of these kids’ lives and change my own life as well” Davie says.

Why am I bringing all this up I hear you say, well firstly I love Pro-wrestling and will take any chance presented to talk it up. Also, ever since I was a child, I can remember being infatuated with it. Recording all the shows from the evening prior and watching them before school in the morning, practicing moves on my brother (I wouldn’t dream of it now as he’s twice my height) and buying all the merch and toys. It was my drug; I couldn’t get enough of the stuff. Secondly, and probably most importantly, is the effect that Scottish Grassroots Wrestling is trying to make on the youth of the country.

At its heart Pro-Wrestling mixes sport and theatre, most would call it sports entertainment. And to this day remains as one of the most popular bastions of live theatre and should be respected as such. It combines pre-determined results with athletic marvel. Putting some of the most able (and crazy) athletes in the world on display. Most importantly, it showcases the ability of characters of every shape and size, male and female.

Pro-wrestling, strictly speaking in terms of the UK is almost seen as some sort of “underground” community unless you’re in it. This should be as far from the truth as possible. I implore you to google wrestling events near me, I guarantee that at least one major city near you has an event on this weekend. Albeit its not quite the glitz and glamour of the WWE and its flashy stadium shows, these shows in social clubs and leisure centres should not be scoffed at. This is where the true leg work is done, not only by characters like Davie. But also, by Non-profit foundations.

One such Non-profit foundation is the recently formed ‘Hot Tag Foundation’. The founder, Dan French and Dalton Gearing, the foundations youth ambassador, spared some time to chat with me about the foundation and all the work it does. Dan states “We decided to create a new and innovative non for profit dedicated towards promoting a community-oriented approach to kindness, generosity and wellbeing. Through Pro-wrestling, which is something that resonates with the whole team”.

Their mission is simple, trying to work with as many UK affiliates as possible to be able to give back and present the many positive role models wrestling has through gifting memorabilia, merchandise and clothes, predominantly with a wrestling theme to align with the foundations mission, to those who wouldn’t otherwise have access without their work.  Directly trying to target the most likely sources of youth disorder by instilling these positive role models early.

It’s a quid pro quo situation, “in our minds we want to do something positive to not only bring some donations but to also increase the amount of young people attending wrestling events. Bringing it to the next generation” Dan said.

They realise that having the youth on board is important. This is where Dalton comes in as the Youth Ambassador to the foundation. Dalton, who is no stranger to charity and the work involved, previously raised over a thousand pounds for his local hospital during lockdown by selling his toys in a pop-up driveway sale. He realises the importance that having positive role models in your life can have. It all came full circle when he met his idol, Edge (One of the most famous wrestlers possibly ever). Dalton lays it out simply, by telling me that “it’s a feeling of knowing its going to someone who has less than you and people who can’t have as much are finally getting a ‘reward’, it feels so good on you”.

Unfortunately wrestling does have its bad assets, like any industry or sport. But especially post 2020. This is due to the speaking out movement that arrived during lockdown, calling out some wrestlers for being involved in less than savoury activities. Dan acknowledged this challenge by saying “we need to understand what we can’t take; it includes a lot of people now and has changed post 2020. We need to really understand what we can and can’t give out. We want to make sure that if someone gets a ‘John Cena’ figure they can google it and know exactly who he is. But if you get somebody else and find all this incriminating information that’s a risk and we don’t want to do that”. Dalton has his finger on the pulse with this. Dan described him as the foundations “Guinea Pig” by seeing what donations can and cannot work. “Its great to have that perspective as well, we’re all mid 20’s to 30’s. We need to understand what kids want and what kids can reflect on and gain a connection with. We want to be sure people connect the right way”.

Wrestling has been re-gaining its popularity over recent years. It would take me another 2 features to explain the reasons for this and why it’s happening. But for the meantime just accept my word. Content has never been so widely available at any point in human history, this is something pro-wrestling uses to its strength. Dan acknowledges this “it’s a scary but beautiful thing, you can type in wrestling on your phone and boom it’s there, there’s a plethora of content available”.

Its hard work like this that ensures wrestling can be as squeaky clean as it must be for the younger generations who fall under its influence. From the role models like Ravie Davie, aiming to prevent future generations going down the slippery slopes he found himself on. To foundations like Hot Tag, trying to do something for others out of pure generosity, goodwill and kindness. Its work like this that will influence the youth and UK pro-wrestling should be better off for it. The bigger it gets the bigger the remit it will have for characters like Davie to be able to have that direct positive impact on younger people that are in similar situations to his and for foundations like Hot Tag to widen their message and help tap into the lives of as many people that need it. Although seemingly small these contributions will have a lasting effect on younger people, hopefully for generations to come and help them see that there are positive role models they can resonate and relate with. Helping them to avoid taking the wrong path in life.