Quote from Zeus on 22 January 2025, 09:34

Dean: Welcome to Real 2 Reel. Today I’m sat with none other than our former OSW World Heavyweight Champion and Ring King, Connor, aka Tombstone. We’re conducting this conversation over our very nifty new chat service. Con-man, how you doing fella?

Connor: I’m good man. I’m excited to do this. I don’t think I’ve done one before.

Dean: Well, let’s jump right in. Tell us a little bit about yourself. 

Connor: I’m quite a private person, but here goes. Remember when I had to post that picture? I didn’t like that ha ha. I’m a little over forty now, not married and no kids. My life isn’t excitement at all. I spend a lot of time looking after my mom who not too long ago went into a care home. She had to come out, so she’s back with me, but I have help now. I don’t work because I’m a carer for her, so that’s one less thing for me to juggle. That gives me time for OSW, though not as much as I’d like. 

Dean: Over the years, you’ve produced some truly iconic characters for OSW. Tommy Hawk, Nightstick, Darby Sorrow, Leif Helvig and Tombstone to name a few. Do you have a favourite? 

Connor: It’s hard to split them apart but Tombstone is my personal favorite. The ironic thing is that I had very little part in his creation. That was all you. How did that work out, again? 

Dean: Joe Haynes, formerly Wiz and SeeSaw in Volume 2 wanted a new character. He came up with the concept of a Mortician, Undertaker style. From there I created Tombstone for him, from concept art to the catchphrase and the rest is history. Why would you say he’s your favourite to date? 

Connor: He’s the most rounded of all my characters, I’d say. There’s something about him that clicks on every level. If I could ever imagine how Cal felt with Scarecrow, I’d imagine what I feel like with Tombstone is exactly that. He’s a lot of fun to write with and the storylines he’s had with Drewitt, Felix Foley and now with Gravedigger might just be some of the best stuff I’ve seen written for me. The Jon Davenport story arc with Tommy Hawk was special, as was The Nightstick story with Luther Creed and Redmond Quinn. That’s not to mention the Darby/Stephen time and love story, which was so deeply powerful. But so far my favorite stories have been Tombstone. 

Dean: You’ve achieved a lot over the years. Upon doing research for the interview, I found the following achievements:

• Rewind Champion (x2)
• Double Feature Champion (x2)
• Tag Team Champion (x1)
• World Champion (x4)
• Ring King Winner (x1)
• Invasion Winner (x1)
• Ending ‘The Streak’

That’s quite a list of achievements in ten years, given your breaks in between. What would you like to achieve before OSW eventually closes its doors? 

Connor: I haven’t ever won the VHS/NXT Level Championship, which I’m hoping gets renamed back to VHS by the time Volume 4 comes back around. That’s a goal of mine, I think. Then you have the usual wants and desires around winning Lambs to the Slaughter and a proper Tag Team Championship run. Those tag titles with Hayden/Banzan were cool but it didn’t go well, nor was it intentioned, I think. I’d like to create an intentioned Tag Team that has a move set and all that jazz. 

Dean: With anyone in particular? 

Connor: Wow, that’s a tough one. There’re some real Tag Team specialists on this roster. I think back to Knock Knock, Jet Set Radio, bMf, ect. Anyone from those teams with the same mind set as me would be good. 

Dean: Lots of good teams there, in my opinion. As Tombstone, you set the record for successful Championship defences and held the belt for the record period for this volume at 5 defences and 169 days. What was your mind set around that time, if you remember? 

Connor: It’s tough to say but I remember feeling that having won Ring King, I needed to capitalise on the situation. Dr. Death and Jackson Cade wouldn’t be easy people to beat but I felt like I had a good chance. The title had flip flopped about at the start of the volume, I thought. No offence to Hayden or the other guy, but I didn’t think Dr. Death and El Mariachi Muerte brought any stability to it. Don’t get me wrong, their story was an all-time epic and the title changing hands those three or four times made it better, but neither could seemingly hold it for an extended period. I come from an era of OSW whereby Mike Lane demands and commands your respect with a record reign, where he was unstoppable. I saw Edward Newton break all the records, including that and then people like Voynich, Pyre and Luke Storm brought their brand of hard fought defences to the table. The title flip flopping about made for a great story but not a great continuation of the legacy. I hope that doesn’t sound pretentious as hell and I’m sorry if it does. I wanted to bring some stability to the belt. I wanted people to remember the Tombstone reign like I remember the reigns of Mike Lane, Edward Newton, Voynich, Pyre and Luke Storm. 

Dean: That makes sense. I think you did that. I think the Tombstone reign will be remembered as a dominant consistent reign when all is said and done. When it came to your most recent storyline with Foley, you knew bits and pieces about what we were doing in terms of the underdog angle. Tombstone never losing a match, Foley losing matches and never beating you. You also knew that it didn’t matter what either of you wrote, Foley had to go over at Red Snow. How did all that make you feel? 

Connor: Honestly? Excited as hell. The classic monster build up for Tombstone was epic and the contrast of how Red Snow ended for him, somehow building sympathy? Chef’s kiss. Mel plays the underdog character so well and I thought that the storyline made both Tombstone and Felix Foley look like two of the hottest characters in the fed. I had no problem knowing I was going to lose to finish the story at Red Snow. I welcomed putting my best promo up in hopes that I could make other people think there’s a chance I’d win. That selling the story, selling the characters, selling the idea, is what makes OSW so special. You’re the master of that. 

Dean: You’ve credited OSW with being a rock in some of your harder times. How excited to be here does a good story like that make you in those moments? 

Connor: It’s truthfully a blessing. I’ve been at my lowest ebb at times, feeling penned in by my personal situation and being a carer for a sick elderly woman that I’ve not had time to make a personal life. I don’t have many friends. I don’t have kids. I don’t date. I’m an only child so I don’t have extended family. I can’t be around places like Discord, so I’m disconnected from everything in the way of making friends. But just the fact that when I load up my laptop, or check in on my phone, OSW is there, it makes all the difference. I read every single promo every single week. Nothing gets past me. I study what everyone does. I read the shows from start to finish and although I’m not always able to get in for the feedback, I love every bit of it. If it wasn’t for OSW, I’m not sure where I’d be mentally. My headspace would be a terrible place if I didn’t have some kind of outlet, and this is it. I’m just grateful to be here. 

Dean: We’re grateful to have you. There’s a lot of respect for you on the Discord as a fearsome and top tier writer in OSW. Everyone respects what you write, man. You may not know it, but you’ve garnered a whole lot of that over the years. 

Connor: I had no idea. That’s cool. I didn’t know that people read a lot of what I did. 

Dean: They do. There’s a lot of respect out there for you. Is there anyone you have a lot of respect for? 

Connor: Everyone who’s been here putting in dirt for the past ten years. The creative team, the match writers and you.. but also the handlers who’ve stuck with it and kept writing. We’ve had a lot of characters and handlers come and go over the years but the core usually remains and that’s something that has my respect. As for the writers I admire most, those would be Mike Lane, Mel, Dawson, Hayden, Brian, and Charlie. They’re consistently pretty fucking good and that’s hard to do. 

Dean: Well man, we’re coming to the end of this I think. Before we sign off, I’d like to give you the floor to say whatever you wanna say. 

Connor: Alright, here goes… I know that all good things come to an end. I know that one day OSW will also come to an end. But if you’re anything like me, you hope that it’s another ten years down the road. I don’t know that I want to wake up and not find OSW at the end of my browser. That wouldn’t feel right to me. I’m extremely grateful for every moment this place has given me and the outlet it continues to give me. I’m thankful to all of you who make it what it is. I know it can’t be easy at times, but the continued effort made by every single person in OSW to keep OSW at such a high elite level of production is unheard of in this hobby.

I want people to know that I know I’m someone who takes. I take everything you give to me and I greedily gobble it up without giving much back. I donate what I can when I can, which isn’t always a lot. I read everything, but I can’t always tell you that I do. I don’t write matches and I don’t write creative. I’m effectively a leech that you guys make extremely happy on a weekly basis. I’m aware of that, and I want you all to know just how grateful I am for it.

You help this man break free from the monotony of day to day life that can be a brutal struggle at times for me personally.

And Dean, your friendship, guidance and mentorship has always and will always mean the world to me. There’s no Tombstone without your guidance. 

Dean: Thanks for your time and thanks for your continued loyalty and dedication OSW. That’s all we’ve got time for this week folks. I hope you’ve enjoyed the first return edition of Real to Reel.