WITH Liverpool becoming the European City of Culture in 2008, it is vitally important the city's reputation and image is spread around the world. One man who has been doing that for the past 20 years is Robbie Brookside, Merseyside's lord of the ring. Robbie, 38, from Kirkdale, has been a professional wrestler for the past two decades, competing around the globe in America, Japan, Germany, Dubai, Mexico, Nigeria, Scandinavia and Thailand, with a trip to China planned for later this year. On all of his travels, Robbie insists he has never forgotten his roots. He said: "People usually think I am from South Africa or Australia, but I always put them right and tell them I am from Liverpool, which they know about when I say it is where the Beatles came from, and Kirkdale, which they've never heard of. "I have always been very proud of my roots and stand up for the city. Kirkdale has a bad reputation with people who aren't from there, but there is so much energy and I get back whenever I can. "In the Kendal pub I'm just Robbie and it brings me right down to earth, but when I am in the ring I am representing the city every time I have a bout. "Whether I am in Plymouth or Tokyo, I am always from Liverpool 4. They even played You'll Never Walk Alone as my anthem once, but I'm an Evertonian so that didn't last long!" Robbie, nicknamed the Wildcat, got into wrestling as a teenager when he used to watch bouts on the television and at Liverpool Stadium, until one of his friends told a wrestler he thought it was fake. The following afternoon, Robbie was invited to get his first taste of the sport. "I was tied into a knot for three minutes, but it felt like hours," he remembered. "After they had finished I was spitting blood, but I kept going back so they started teaching me. Ihad no intention of becoming a wrestler, it just happened and 20 years later, I'm still doing it." In that time Robbie has fought thousands of matches to earn the total respect of his peers, through the golden age of the sport in the 1980s to the present day. Along the way he has faced some of the legends of the sport, including Kendo Nagasaki, Mark Rollerball Rocco, Jonny Saint and WWE superstar Chris Jericho, who he defeated in the 1997 Super J Tournament. Throughout his career he has stayed true to the style of fighting he was taught years ago - traditional English wrestling. He explained: "There are not many people who wrestle like I do nowadays, so it is like thatching in a way - a dying art and I take pride in that. There is a lot of demand for it though because it is so technical. I'll leave the flying through the air to the kids." The high demand for Robbie's experience and style means he is almost constantly on the road from his home in Leicester. "I just got back from Dubai and there the arena was 10 minutes' walk from where we were staying, which was great, but that is not the norm," he said. "I am in Plymouth tonight, while I may be in Bognor Regis tomorrow and somewhere else the night after that, so the travelling side is hard and something people don't consider." "One day I watched Everton play, got to Chester for 8pm, did a show and was back in the pub for 10.30pm - that's show business." He has also developed a fighting persona which he can now switch on and off as he needs it - a trick he learned not from any fellow grappler, but fictional scarecrow Worzel Gummidge. "I've never told anyone this, but I am a big fan of Worzel Gummidge, who can switch heads to have a different personality. "I do that too and when I get to the venue, I start to change and go into the Wildcat mindset, where I am not afraid of anything. In Germany I am a bad guy and slag them off, so some people have tried to get me on my way to the ring, but I don't notice it because I want to put on a good show." Obviously the constant demands of that punishing schedule take a toll on Robbie, as even with 20 years of experience to help cushion the blows he has three physiotherapists around the country to help keep him in one piece. "I suppose my physios would be able to tell you about all the injuries I have had, like my knee popping out every now and again. When that happens or I get a knock, I just have to get on with it because if I don't wrestle, I don't earn any money - it is as simple as that. "Some weeks I will have five matches and it can catch up with you, although the emotion and buzz of wrestling is a huge adrenalin shot. I realise that when I am older there will be consequences, but I can't deal with that now. I just live my life in the present." For Robbie that means another seven years in the ring before going into the promotion side of the business and using his hardearned experience in a different way. "I still feel good and don't look my age, but when I do call it quits I want to run shows in my own way," he said. For now though the open road and departure lounge still beckons for Robbie Brookside, Liverpool's wrestling ambassador. | 
