County Derry man is living his wrestling dream with Titanic

A retail supervisor ‘stuck in a storefront most days’ to living his dream in the ring at night, life has taken a very interesting turn for Limavady man Gareth Callaghan, or rather ‘Heavy Metal Gary Gibson’ in 2023.

Just 18 months ago, the life-long wrestling fan took the brave leap to follow his dream into the strange, wonderful and chaotic world of professional wrestling, and has not looked back since, making his in-ring debut this year and building his ‘Heavy Metal’ character whilst learning about an art that has captured the imagination of countless millions the world over.

Growing up watching Friday Night Smackdown and Monday Night Raw during WWE’s ‘Ruthless Aggression’ Era in the early 2000s, Gareth was completely hooked, watching his favourites Rob Van Dam and Jeff Hardy perform incredibly athletic manoeuvres, while The Undertaker and Triple H taught him the finer details of character work which he is drawing on today.

A ‘babyface’, by definition a good guy, Gareth’s performs with Titanic Wrestling, a relatively new company which is hosting shows right across the North, the most recent show at Eglinton Community Hall on Saturday past.

It is a road that very few people take, but for Gareth, it was a move which changed his life.

“I’ve grown up my wrestling my entire life, watching the old WWF and WWE,” he explained. “I got into the local scene when I just happened to come across Titanic Wrestling online and saw that they were doing a show in Derry a few years ago. I went and saw them and enjoyed that and thought it looked quite fun. Then they put up a post about a training school inviting people to come along and train as a wrestler. I thought that was something I always wanted to do so why not take the plunge?

“I have a martial arts background so the contact was something not unnatural to me so I went straight into it and started learning from there. That was a year and a half ago and I haven’t regretted it since.”

His family and friends were sceptical at first, but they were soon persuaded by Gareth’s clear passion and enthusiasm for his new direction. These days wrestling is defined as ‘sports entertainment’, and while that includes story-telling and predetermined results, it also involves hard work, patience and determination. The life of a wrestler is a difficult one, with so many different skills to master.

“It’s the acting side of it too that has really got me,” he laughed. “The selling, the pretending, the acting and reacting. Playing that character is where I’ve struggled the most. I’ve had to pick up from other wrestlers I train with how to be myself, but be a bigger and bolder version of myself. They say you have to turn it up to 11 and make that character larger than life. It’s what wrestling is really. It is fighting and entertaining the crowd with larger-than-life characters.”

The Titanic Wrestlers pictured before their show in Eglinton Community Centre.

The 29-year-old has certainly shown his determination to be successful already, travelling to Belfast as many as four times a week for training before featuring in shows at weekends. All that travelling is second nature to a man who loves the wrestling world and easier when he is surrounded by tremendous support amongst his Titanic colleagues, who he describes as ‘a big collective group and we all want to see each other do well’.

Wrestling’s relationship with its fans has undergone a massive transformation in the 21st century, with ‘Kayfabe’, the art of making a scripted performance look real, now widely known, meaning that the job of drawing those fans in to suspend their disbelief for the entirety of the chow can be more challenging than ever. It is all about entertainment.

“They would know that we’re not actually hitting each other, but whenever we’re putting on the shows that’s forgotten about and you’re focused on the story that’s being told in the ring, rather than the obvious lack of actual contact that we’re making,” Gareth said. “If you can tell that story well in the ring, it looks like you’re having a solid fight on the ring and that’s forgotten about. It’s giving that realistic edge to it and what we’re trying to focus on mostly.

“It's far from fake. Pre-determined is the word we use, but there are actual injuries, there is actual contact, there is punches in there that connect, there are black eyes left, right and centre, there are bruises you’re walking out with. Mistakes happen too; you’re always getting hit with something. There are chops, there are clubs to the back, you are always walking out of there in some form of pain.”

Explosion in Irish wrestling

Some Irish wrestlers have made it to the biggest stage already; the likes of Sheamus, Finn Balor and Beckly Lynch all winning world titles with the absolute pinnacle of the industry -World Wrestling Entertainment. That success has shown those taking their first steps into that world back in Ireland that dreams can come true.

“The Irish scene in wrestling at the minute has gone through the room,” Gareth acknowledged. “There is a company, Fight Factory in Dublin, and they have taken off. I know Finn Balor had his name around there back in the day. LJ Cleary, one of their big stars, is now over on Japan. His partner Lyra Valkyria, is now part of NXT with WWE and she comes from the Fight Factory dojos. People have been going all over the world and the Irish wrestling scene is definitely taking off at the minute.

Gary Gibson and the McNerlin family

“Even over in England there are hundreds of companies that are popping up all over the show. They are looking for people like me to come over and star on their shows, which is giving stars like me and my level upwards, an opportunity to show themselves off and for then, other bigger companies like Progress in England and ICW in Scotland, to then see and pick up from there so there is like a hierarchy system there if you want to grow that way.”

What started out as a hobby has grown into something more for Gareth, who is hoping to travel to England and America and even beyond to further evolve his new craft. From his very first day, he knew this was the right move for him.

“The first day of training was the strangest thing,” he recalled. “I think for the first day or even week was basic front rolls and taking training bumps and that alone just shocked the whole system, because you’re getting that feeling of rolling and flipping yourself over safely somehow too. Going from nothing to taking your first bump in wrestling is a terrifying experience.

“You’re just throwing yourself onto the mat and expected to be safe about it. But once you hit that mat the first few times, you can feel that shockwave going straight through you. It’s that moment where you know it’s for you or not for you. If you can’t take those bumps safely repeatedly, that fear and pain scale will be in your mind and take that away from you.”

Relationship with fans

Convincing wrestling fans, so used to watching their favourite superstars on TV on a weekly basis, to take in a local show with local talent, is the biggest challenge for Titanic Wrestling, who are building momentum heading into a brand-new year.

“That is the difficult part,” Gareth acknowledged. “Because we’re trying to bring in a local crowd, rather than what they’re seeing on TV, we have to promote ourselves, so the more advertising we can do to build that local brand, then hopefully from there, those local fans will tell their friends and family and the ripple effect from there on.

“With Titanic, you can expect lots of high-octane action, lots of story-telling, lots of individual characters, wrestlers that come from all different backgrounds, some that you love, some that you hate, and you will want to see them again and again and again. It’s a family friendly show fit for all audiences. You can sit down and watch it even without the kids, and still be entertained for two and a half or three hours of the show.”

With his debut year almost at an end, the future is exciting to say the least for Gareth, who is hoping to take his ‘Gary Gibson’ character to brand new heights. The only thing certain in the world of wrestling, is that nothing is certain.

“2023 was my debut year, so I have a few matches under my belt,” he concluded. “Come next year, I hope to start 2024 with a bang. I’ll have that experience under my belt and I know where I want to go and what I want to do with it. I know where I want Gary Gibson to be in 2024.”