It has been a curious career arc with the Russian wrestler starting her career in Japan prior to entrenching herself on the Canadian circuit.
“It is definitely a bit of an interesting path. So I ended up having my debut in pro wrestling in Japan, during my first tour here with Reina Pro Wrestling. Which is now defunct, to my knowledge. And I was here for a month and a half in the summer of 2016.”
“After that, I pretty much went back to the States. I was working primarily in Canada but I was also working in the States, more so during the second half of 2019.”
MASHA SLAMOVICH
November 22 is a date of importance for Slamovich. One that harkens back to grinding in the gym under the tutelage of Johnny Rodz to launch towards that first foray into the ring.
“Of course anybody’s, I would hope, debut date is an important date for them. I literally have the date tattooed on my arm. So it’s very important to me because that was the day that I first set foot into a pro wrestling ring.”
“Began my training. What else can I say about it? I guess it was, at that time, the greatest day of my life. Because I was finally beginning my journey doing the one thing that I’ve always wanted to do.”
Masha Slamovich also had an unofficial matchup when she was 17. One where she had to come up with a dubious backstory of being from Brazil to make the match happen.
“I did have to have that. I think it was a tag match. Because that was like the tryout match or the match that was going to be seen by Japanese scouts and promoters who were gonna end up taking me to Reina. I wasn’t yet 18, I was still 17. So I ended up having to get a fake ID to please the commission for that one night.”
“Until some asshat decided to run their mouth and expose the whole spiel. But I mean it didn’t really matter because I ended up turning 18 about a month or so later and leaving the country.”
LIFE IN JAPAN AS A GAIJIN WRESTLER
Masha Slamovich has had some cool moments while living in Japan, inside and outside the ring. She met Minoru Suzuki at the Piledriver store and got a photo op out of it.
This was compelling for Slamovich because she has quite the affinity for 90’s and early 2000’s heavyweight strong style.
“It was definitely a pretty cool moment. Especially considering most of my favorite wrestlers are either dead or retired. So I was like, ‘Hey, here’s one who isn’t either of those’. Definitely a huge fan of the 90s and early 2000s Japanese wrestling. I watch a bunch of AJPW, NJPW, NOAH.”
“The cool moments here, they just keep on rolling. You know, you always think you have one good one. You’re like ‘Oh, this is an awesome moment’ and then like the next one comes along and you’re like ‘man, being in Japan is a trip’. Aside from it also being physically a trip you know.”
Masha Slamovich continued, “I am a huge fan of physical wrestling. The technical part and the hard-hitting brawling part. So I try to follow that as much as I can in my wrestling. Meant to do it or not meant to do it. I try to emulate it without thinking or with thinking. That kind of style.”
RUSSIAN DYNAMITE
Slamovich is perpetually learning and has admiration for the many stylistic permutations within professional wrestling. She trained under Marty Jones as well and spent time learning that World of Sport style.
The lessons from her primary trainer Johnny Rodz left an indelible impression of constantly learning and always refining.
“Absolutely. You know, at Johnny’s, there was no such thing as getting it perfect. You’re never done training. You’re never done learning is something that I firmly believe. You can do something 1000 times then you’ll fuck it up 1000 times. So the repetition and practice there’s absolutely never enough and more will not kill you.”
“Same goes for you know, studying different styles. The more you know, the more versatile you’re able to be. You never know who you’re going to end up working with. And it’s good to be able to work different styles to work on the left side and on the right side. Because it’s better to be over-prepared than underprepared.”
Masha Slamovich has spent time cutting her teeth in Japan with the promotion Marvelous. From living within the day-to-day dojo grind to working the venerable venue Shin-kiba, Slamovich has gotten the full spectrum of being a gaijin wrestler.
“Absolutely, you know, working not only Shin-kiba but different places like Nagoya, Osaka, were some really cool moments that I hadn’t had on the previous tour because I had never worked outside of Tokyo on the last tour. So it was really cool to go around to different places in Japan this time around.”
“That comes from earning those kinds of things with your work and your work ethic in the dojo. Our Senpais always see me in the ring or lifting weights. I pretty much live in the dojo. So I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
THE CHIKARA YOUNG LIONS CUP
Beyond that reputation she is building in Japan, Masha Slamovich also showcased her skills during Chikara’s Young Lions Cup. This created a moment of introspection for Slamovich who was a fan of Chikara during her formative years as a wrestling fan.
“It was really cool because I had wanted to work Chikara for a long time. Especially since I used to watch stuff like CZW and Chikara when I was like a young teenager or whatever. So it was really cool. I was working out in the gym one day and Mike Quackenbush messaged me and was like ‘Hey, you want to be part of the Young Lions Cup?’ I’m like, ‘You actually I know who I am? That’s shocking’.”
“Of course, I accepted and it was really cool to go down there the day before. Kind of learn how they do things over there and then actually taking part in it was really cool. A really cool match on its own and it was just a really cool time to be there. It’s such a fun and different way to do wrestling.”
“For example, compared to like the way we do things here in Japan or the way we do things up in Canada. Very different, but it’s very, very entertaining. And just a great place to be at least it was for me. I hear people say otherwise but my personal experience was great. So we’ll leave it at that.”
THE LESS GLAMOROUS SIDE OF INDIE WRESTLING
There are some less than glamorous stories though too. There are still going to be the underground shows with a five-inch deep hole in the one corner with mites in the ring.
“Oh man, that was was like…I still to this day have no idea who the hell ran it or how the hell I got booked on it. But it was this show in Brooklyn in like some basement of some warehouse. I don’t even know. And like we came in and I saw people pulling a tarp over the already set up ring.”
A steel chair was used to bump pipes upward that encroached near the ring space. Two overturned couches with tarp and a lamp served as the locker room.
An ultimately fun story to reminisce on where she got paid and got some beer out of it. No complaints and no one got hurt.
CWF ICE ROAD TOURS
The experiences on the Canadian circuit abound for Masha Slmovich though. This includes a month and a half long tour with CWF on the sometimes hectic ice road tour.
“You know, the six weeks I spent on that particular tour with CWF among the several others tours I’ve done with them, it’s always the best time. Over the course of time passing by there’s a couple of people who are the key points to that tour. They’re always there.”
“Some people come and go, but there’s like the handful that always stay. Then eventually we all become pretty close throughout all the shenanigans. How many other people can say that they wrestled damn near in the Arctic Circle of Northern Ontario?”
“It was like negative forty degrees outside. And it’s like all these little places. People would never get to see that…. all the good times that we have partying in Winnipeg and all the somewhat shitty times that you think you might die. When we were stuck on that road, and we might have gotten eaten by wolves, there’s no one that can come rescue us.”
“It all makes for good stories and that’s what wrestling is. There’s the shitty shit, the good shit, and eventually, you’ll write a book about it. So just enjoy the road, enjoy the experience.”
WRESTLING IN HER RUSSIAN HOMETOWN
A huge highlight for Masha Slamovich was getting to wrestle in her hometown of Moscow, Russia.
Slamovich still deals with misconceptions about the legitimacy of her heritage. She is in fact a shoot Russian.
“I am actually Russian. It’s not a work. It was really such a great feeling. Because even when I was growing up until, like a few months before I went to Russia because I go every year at least or I go more. I didn’t even know that there was wrestling. I tried to look for it and I was unsuccessful up until that point. And then I found IWF Moscow. By accident, their email and it was really cool.”
“To know that there was wrestling in Russia. More so it be 40 minutes from my damn house. Just performing in my hometown was something that was kind of like on my bucket list. But I didn’t even think that it would happen.”
“Because WWE is gonna have to come there and I’m gonna have to be signed and like all these what ifs. And then actually getting to do it…It was a really awesome feeling. I really hope that when this pandemic is over, I get a chance to go back and wrestle there again.”
THE PAIR OF IMPACT WRESTLING MATCHES
Masha Slamovich’s in-ring exploits also extend to a couple of matches in Impact with both Jessicka Havok and Jordynne Grace.
The lattermatch coming to fruition in a fairly last minute kind of fashion.
“It was something that came unexpectedly. Something that I knew well enough From again from Johnny Rodz. To prepare for the off chance that it might happen and it was indeed one of those things that would end up happening. I had shown up in the morning to help set up the ring and the venue upon recommendation.”
“From one of the Impact wrestlers. But I had actually went to their seminar back when I worked in the Maritimes In April. So they remembered me and they said, ‘Hey, you live in New York’. Thinking that I was Canadian. I’m like ‘no I live in New York. I’m not Canadian’.”
“They told me to come down to the venue and I guess they just needed a small sized woman for Jessicka Havok to wrestle that night. They came up to me and they’re like ‘hey you have your gear bag? You want to wrestle?’ Obviously I said yes, somebody sent me on upstairs to get my hair and makeup done.”
“Get in gear and walk out of the curtain essentially. Because time was limited. But it was an absolutely great experience. Just being backstage and being there from the very beginning like helping to set it up and then taking part in the show. It was really awesome.”
MASHA SLAMOVICH VS JORDYNNE GRACE
“And the fact that they ended up calling me back the next day was even more unexpected. Because I had left with no impression that I should show up the next day because no one had said anything to me. So I was ready to go off to WSU, and then at like, 4:30 somebody calls me they’re like, ‘Hey, where are you? Your match is at 6:45’.”
“I’m like, ‘excuse me, what match?’ So I pretty much had to just jump in a car, drop everything I had, walk through the door, put my hair and makeup on, and walk out to the ring.”
“Because if the other day was pressed for time…The match with Jordynne Grace could have been very chaotic, but in my opinion, it went very well. And I’m very happy with it. And I feel very happy for the opportunity that I got those two days.”
The magnitude of effort Masha Slamovich puts into this coincides with the tattoo on the left ring finger, “wrestling over everything”. An indelible marking and a message that permeates through her unwavering pro wrestling pursuit.
“Absolutely. That’s a motto I live by. It’s tattooed on my left ring finger because it’s a ring and I’m married to the ring. So many jokes but it really is true. Because some people are married to their work. Be it like a lawyer or a doctor. And I am 100% married and committed to pro wrestling.”
Make sure you follow Masha Slamovich on all social media and show your support via her store at Pro Wrestling Tees.