Derry wrestler ‘Maddog’ Connor ready to RUMBLE after European title win

The fitness and nutrition expert’s incredible success comes less than two years after he took up the sport while teaching PE Baccalaureate in England. His dedication has ensured he has since gone on to become one of the rising stars of the ring in China after relocating to Guangzhou in the south of the country to teach English and coach football.

Speaking to the ‘Journal’ during a brief trip home to visit family and friends last week, Connor said he is over the moon to have secured the AIWF (Allied Independent Wrestling Federations European title), and is looking forward to getting back to China once travel restrictions in place due to the current global health alert are lifted.

Galliagh native Connor said he loves coming back to see his parents, siblings, nephews and nieces whenever he gets the chance.

“I never forget where I come from, and I have the same work ethic I saw when I was growing up, parents working hard, people grafting away,” explained ‘Mad Dog’, “You might forget sometimes why you are doing it, but you just have it in you, that hard work ethic.”

Speaking about his journey into wrestling, the 31-year-old Fergleen man said: “I went to Liverpool at the age of 19 and did a degree in Sport and Exercise Sciences at John Moores University and I wanted to stay in England so I did a Post-Grad in Education before a Masters in Clinical Exercise Physiology.

“My first professional sporting experience was as a shadowing nutritionist with Munster Rugby Union, teaching them what to eat and when to eat it - these were big 120 kilo fellows, but you’d say ‘jump’ and they’d say ‘how high’. They were such a pleasure to work with. Working with the likes of Paul O’Connell, Ronan O’Gara and current Ireland captain, Peter O’Mahoney.”

He also helped conduct monitoring tests on the players, and Connor has worked in several other professional sporting environments including stints as a health screening advisor for Everton F.C., with Team GB Boxers and Liverpool F.C. reserves and Under 19s, specifically looking at lung function in athletes to improve performance, with players including Ryan McLaughlin who played for Northern Ireland. He also helped current world heavyweight boxing champion, Anthony Joshua to gold and glory in the London Olympics in 2012 by teaching him about breathing techniques.

In the run up to the Olympics 2012, Connor also worked on BBC Blue Peter’s Big Olympic Face2Face with Sports Science Tour, and with a clinical trials company looking at lung capacity and doing phlebotomy, researching COPD, asthma etc. Learning about this, as it turns out, has actually helped massively in terms of wrestling, he revealed.

Like many fans in Derry, Connor’s interest in wrestling started young but it was in April 2018 that he took a step that has changed his life.

“Growing up, there was ‘The Rock’ obviously, ‘Triple H’, ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, John Cena - it was years ago now but because you were into it you always followed it. There was nowhere to train so it was just you and your mates messing around wrestling. BJJ was the closest thing to it because you were learning how to fall. That’s the basic art of wrestling: if you know how to fall you are not going to be concussed.

“I was in a relationship and we moved to Doncaster and my partner was always into drama and put on drama classes for adults. There was a fellow there who trained in wrestling and as soon as he said that, I was asking him where he did it. Throw me in the deep end and I’ll go for it. I did the drama classes as well where you were creating scenarios, using your imagination and creativity.

“Myself and this fellow went that week to the training at Elite British Wrestling in Sheffield Arena. I never missed a session - I was teaching PE at the time and most of the exams were out of the way and most course work too so I had evenings to myself.

“It was very different from being a fan. You had to take a step back and see who did what movement. My coach, Andy Hogg, was just amazing. I got a new appreciation of what went into it. You have to trust people with your body. I was always watching things, I travelled to other gyms, trained with two NXT superstars, James Drake and Zack Gibson. I walked in at Christmas time and they were like, ‘You’ve been here before’, and I was made up they remembered me.”

Connor credits his willingness to learn and apply what he has learned as having helped him secure his first matches.

“You start off with Battle Royales to get confidence, have a feel for what the crowd might like and get used to the ring. The first match was a six-way tag I was part of a ‘faction’, but the main one was ‘Tramlines’ which is a big event in Sheffield. It was just me partnered up with a few experienced fellows and that was the first springboard where they seen that I was doing alright.”

Connor’s acting experience also paid off.

“Being a ‘heel’ is being the bad guy and being a ‘babyface’ is being a good guy so if you have people there and they are cheering and you’re saying, ‘That’s enough! Be quiet!’, they know who the bad guy is. I prefer to be the crowd favourite because you buzz off them and you can get the crowd behind you against the bad guy and get them to shout for you, ‘Shut him up! Shut him up!’

“The next match was the one before I went to China and it was a heavyweight title shot. To even be considered for a chance at that is very prestigious because it shows the work you’ve done. Whether you win or lose doesn’t matter, people see you’ve got a title shot. The thing I learned was that if people struggled, you helped them out, and so from that you have a reputation for having a good aura. I lost and it was one of the first time I felt concussed getting an old ‘choke slam’.”

It was after this that Connor moved to China to teach English and coach football in Guangzhou. A real culture shock at first, Connor learnt some Mandarin to help him integrate.

“The food is amazing and the transport is so efficient. The children’s enthusiasm to learn is great and doing fun activities helps with that.”

Roll back a few months and after Connor informed his coach he was going to China, his response was, ‘That’s fine, there’s plenty of people training away out there and plenty of organisations’. The groundwork had been laid to help him continue his wrestling career.

“We sorted everything out. I got in contact with Hoho Lun who was part of the WBE at the time and is trying to grow wrestling in Hong Kong. He sorted me out, introduced me here and there and watched some of my shows. I even got to hit him with a chair! I got there in September 2018 and started training around December and then had a show in January. The style is so different, it’s very stiff as wrestlers say, they are hitting.”

The other wrestlers learned from Connor’s skills set too, particularly in terms of kicks.

“Especially for smaller fellows, if you are going against somebody who is bigger, then you chop him down in the legs. There was always a translator which was handy but sometimes you had to call it there and then. If you forget something, or I forget something, then you have to go along with something, that’s normally where things can get a bit messy.”

Wrestling is huge, not just in the west, but around the world, and Asia is no exception. And getting noticed in the ring also has had some amazing fringe benefits. “You live like a rockstar. I wrestled at a fake wedding, and the ‘groom’ invited 2-300 people in this big massive hall. He organised it all. He was a massive fan of wrestling, he loves all of us, he has got our faces on his car. The organisation out there is called KOPW (King of Professional Wrestling) and MKW (Middle Kingdom Wrestling). When they have an event we are always called up. We have an understanding and if ever there is an event we get paid and hotel and travel is covered. We are really looked after.

“Because you were a foreigner all eyes were on you. There aren’t many of us; me, Big Sam from Nottingham and Greg from Warrington. Big Sam, who is a former World Champion, has been such a big brother to me in China, always giving me advice. From years of watching it you have your own style. In the business it’s called ‘Sell’, I actually try to do ‘biting’ and that’s why I have the tongue out. One of the guys gave me the name ‘Mad Dog’ so it was ‘Mad Dog O’Docherty’ so people could pronounced it in England, and in China it’s ‘Mad Dog Connor’.”

And like all the best wrestlers, Connor now has his own merch.

“Because I was doing quite well out in China I thought I’d do new t-shirt designs, caps and a hoodie. I’d rather invest and get myself out there, I’m not in to make money from it because some wrestling fans might be struggling and people asking £15 for a piece of merchandise can be a bit much.”

And the feedback has been great, especially since lifting his first major title earlier this month.

“Last weekend I was in a training with ‘Rampage Brown’ in Bradford, who was the World of Sport champion when it came back to ITV. He said, ‘You have done everything I coached you to do, where do you want to end up?’ and I told him, ‘See that roof, I want to be leaving a big hole and going through it’, and he told me to do certain things and that’s what I’ve been doing.

“Because I won this title it has just blown up. I’ve got three title defences lined up. I’m doing this less than two years and to win the Allied Independent Wrestling Federations European title is just amazing. I never thought I would have a chance to do this. Only in my dreams did I think I would win a title.

“When I won in Sheffield I couldn’t believe it. It’s bonkers. My face lit up, all these people from America, Canada, Brazil, everywhere, I was just overwhelmed by it.”

Connor will hold the European Title for a year.

“I can take in bookings, and the plan for now is to go to Russia, Portugal, Austria was mentioned, and Italy later on this year. The main thing my coach wants me to do is tour round China with it because they are going to get an Asian champion.”

With another year’s experience under his mighty new belt, Connor may have the opportunity to consider trying out for professional wrestling in America, but for now he is delighted with his progress, and relishes the chance to get back home and see everyone.

In fact, he is hoping next time he is back in Derry to organise a training seminar for kids one and one for adults. Wrestling fans... watch this space.

To follow Connor’s progress, check out his Facebook page, Maddog O’Docherty.