#5 Questions with Rags #90 - Eddie Osbourne or "Throw fo' fingers up, add a thumb, then make it a fist, Number one draft pick, lead the league in assists"

If you go to a 365 show now – here on the west coast or out in Ontario where the company also runs sold out shows – it is packed with people seemingly rabid for 365's brand of wrestling. But, of course, what happens currently is just the tip of iceberg, and doesn't happen without all the hard work underneath that no one really sees. “I went in with no knowledge. I had mentors that were wrestlers, but no promoter that took me under their wing to help me out. There was no one to really study and learn from. It was just a bunch of wrestlers trying to figure out how to make this thing work. It was hard to get people in seats. Learning how to get those posters out there, who to talk to about radio, etc. I didn’t know what to do. It was challenging to be the boss of something.” But in the challenges, there's always sprouts of something good to keep you going. “The surprising part was just how much people want to work to help you with getting bigger and better and GROW. I’ve never done PWA or 365 on my own. I’ve had such a community and people behind me. It wouldn’t be here without them. There’s so many of them. There’s phases – sometimes they come and go, sometimes they’re here forever. I’ve had some guys with me since the beginning.”

Osbourne officially had his first match on September 15, 2001. As he approaches a quarter century of wrestling, he's quick to answer when I ask him what keeps him going. “I love it. It’s fun. If it wasn’t fun, I’d quit. If I wasn’t having a good time, I’d leave. There things to learn all of the time, because it’s always changing” This is man who just really fucking loves wrestling, who has grown with wrestling and is always thinking about wrestling. “Wrestling, from when I started to now, is so different, but it’s also so much the same. The goal is the same now, to get the reaction, but the way we do it might be different now. I used to be in faces, trying to start fights, saying some stuff that makes me go 'Oi!' Now it’s maybe a little more tame but also all the fans are here, not as wrestling fans always, but people who want to come out and get away from the world.”

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5 Questions with Rags #82 - Krofton

I'm struggling to think of a single person who has entertained me more in the last 3.5 years than the man known as Krofton. A mainstay of the west coast indie wrestling scene for two decades, Krofton is one of the most beloved members of the incredibly loved 365 Pro Wrestling roster. Kids, moms and wrestling dorks (like me!) alike go wild when the first notes of The Real McKenzie's “Chip” hits and Krofton comes bounding out from behind the curtains. An adaptable in-ring performer, you know when Krofton is coming up, something fun is going to happen. Doesn't matter the style of wrestling, Krofton is going to make it work. The man was part of my favourite match of 2023 – which included a long man-on-another-mans-shoulders sequence and a man riding a scooter around a ring to inflict his wrestling violence. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU WATCH IT (It's the first match on this show). Also, no one in local wrestling has done more for me personally than Krofton, blessing the world with my favourite move time and time again, keeping it alive – the BIIIIIG BACK BODY DROP! 5 Questions with Rags is one of the things I like doing most in this world and there's honestly no wrestler I would rather have be the first answerer of the 5 Questions than the big homie, Krofton. He was more than game to get out of wrestling mode at the end of our chat to answer my silly questions – but shockingly wrestling still pops up! Wrestling is all things. Krofton is wrestling. Hence, Krofton is all things. Not really, but he's really fucking good at wrestling and a helluva guy to know and be able to talk with.

1. Do you remember the first album you bought with your own money?

It was Green Day Dookie. It wasn't a CD, it was a cassette.

When's the last time you listened to it?

Oh god, half the songs are on my work playlist I listen to every day. I hear “Longview” and “She” and “Basketcase” every day. Sometimes twice.

What's an underrated song on that record people should listen to?

The secret song, about 8 minutes after “F.O.D.” ends. It's stupid and it's corny but it's great.

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