Fork River's Michael Allen Richard Clark's goal is to make it to the WWE. First, he has to grind his way through the so called "Minor Leagues".
And, that includes getting the chance to fight in his home region as he'll fight tomorrow night as Canadian Wrestling Elite rolls through Dauphin.
Clark currently resides in Regina, but he knows his roots and always loves coming back home, especially to do the thing he loves to do.
"It's always fun to come back here and wrestle," said Clark. "It's always fun to wrestle in front of my friends that I grew up with. My parents come to see me in Regina, but my friends don't get the chance often. It's always a treat to fight in front of them."
Tomorrow's match for the Fork River native won't be an easy one. He'll challenge Japenese star, Naomi Yoshimura. Yoshimura fights in the DDT back in Japan.
"I've never wrestled anyone from Japan, so it should be interesting, to say the least," added Clark.
"I've been watching a lot of tape on him to see what he does, and how I can counteract that and have success," said Clark. "It's all about staying prepared and going to the gym, and that sort of thing. It should be a really fun match."
This won't be Clark's first time wrestling in the Parkland. But, with all his family and friends in attendance, he knows it'll be a little extra special.
"There will definitely be some butterflies when I come out of the dressing room for sure," said Clark. "But, when that bell rings, it's down to business and I'm not really worried about what's going on around me other than the fight."
Michael is very confident he'll be winning tomorrow's fight, and he hopes to one day win fights at the WWE level.
"I mean every wrestler would like to feel that they're close to making the next step," said Clark. "It's been a pretty good little spell in the last year here. I recently wrestled Cody Rhodes who's a former WWE guy and he had good things to say about me."
"I also got the chance to wrestle WWE Legend Mick Foley, and he had some good things to say about me as well," he added. "I'm just enjoying the ride I'm on right now, and I don't really think about that stuff much yet."
Tomorrow's event at the Watson Art Centre named the Struttin' & Cuttin' Tour will feature WWE Legend Brutus "The Barber Beefcake", and of course all of Canadian Wrestling Elite's finest.
"CWE is full of some of the hardest working guys I've ever seen in wrestling," said Clark. "They're going on a 32-day tour across five provinces. These guys bust their butts to make it in this business. It's honestly always delightful to get asked if I want to wrestle here. It's a really high level of wrestling, and everyone should come to check it out."
The VIP Meet & Greet goes down tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. The doors for the General Public open up at 6:30 p.m. and bell time is set for 7:00 p.m.
You can purchase your tickets in advance for $18 from Parkland Title Loans or the WAC. At the door, the tickets will be $20.
You can also buy them at Canadian Wrestling Elite Tickets.
