Now lets get down business and here is our interview with "The Hipster Heartthrob" Casanova Valentine.
Question One: Before we get into wrestling please tell us more about your life has an artist and how that translated into your work as MC Death Bear?
I’ve been creating art under the Alias “MC Death Bear” since I was 19... originally the name was going to me my rap name lol, I wanted to make music with my friends but that never got off the ground... I ended up adopting it over for my street art/stencils/sticker tags. I just started using it for everything.
Question Two: Where did you train, who did it and where does the persona of Casanova Valentine come from?
I was trained at NYWC in Deer Park Long Island... my trainers were Alex Reynolds, Tony Nese, Francis Kip Stevens and Stockade. I live in Brooklyn, I thought a big scumbag hipster character would be perfect... no one was doing anything like that and it was easy for my to portray because Casanova is just a dialed up version of myself. My brother came up with the name Casanova Valentine... we were trying to think of a good 70’s wrestler kinda name. The kind of “Hipster” My character was based off of now doesn’t really exist in Brooklyn much longer lol... it used to be all blog haus music, 4lokos, plaid shirts/skinny jeans and fucking girls but that has transitioned into social justice warriors and advocates now lol... but I still carry on the 2011 hipster persona. More upside down crosses... less arguing about gender pronouns. It’s a nice time capsule character I suppose
Question Three: In past interviews you have stated that you promote your shows as Art Shows to avoid unwanted attention from authorities. Where did the idea for these Art/Wrestling show come from?
Well to be fair, these are in fact performance art shows... it happens to help me avoid being under the scrutiny of any athletic commission’s bullshit but I don’t just call them art shows to be a loop hole... I do in fact consider pro wrestling to be the oldest form of folk/America/story telling/performance art and will stand by that forever. Pro wrestling is not an athletic contest... that fact that it’s under commission Jurisdiction is complete and utter bullshit.... can they shut down plays that have a sword fight scene? It’s silly to me. Anyway the first no ring death match show was just apart of one of my art shows at Tender Trap... i was doing stencils of dead wrestlers, I had a visual piece playing of in ring injuries.. and was trying to show the darker side of pro wrestling. At this point I had already stopped wrestling on the indies for about over a year and a half and I decided to just do a quick wrestling match in the gallery space as apart of the show.... I’m not even sure when I came up with the idea it just happened and now we are here
Question Four: You have a love of Hardcore/Death Match Wrestling when did that start and who are some of people that you have looked up too?
I was trading FMW/ECW barbwire Match VHS tapes when I was 10 years old. ECW changed who I was and what I knew of pro wrestling. I look up to Bruiser Brody, Abdullah the Butcher, Black Jack Mulligan, The destroyer, Ox Baker.... and more modern workers like Sabu and Hayabusa
Question Five: Where did the idea of having these No Ring Death Matches come from? And are you surprised at how fast they have taken off?
Being a pro wrestler is exhausting... you always have heat, someone is always mad about something you did... it’s honesty draining. I just wanted to be creative and Indy wrestling was just really not the outlet I thought it would be to make interesting characters and storylines like I thought. After I was out of the indies for long enough I thought “fuck it, who cares who gets mad about these shows... I’m not even a pro wrestlers anymore I don’t care if I get black listed” so I just did the one show. It honest was suppose to be just a one off show... but everyone was so into it and people kept asking when I would do it again.... so i just kept booking them and they just kept growing. I knew it would took take off though.... because Indy wrestlers major flaw is they always run in the middle of nowhere, I run my shows in the middle of Brooklyn night life... where the people already are. Unless you’re really big into the subculture of pro wrestling you’ll never go out into the middle of nowhere just to see an Indy show... more people have access to my shows in Brooklyn.
Question Six: At Death Match 7 besides facing Death Match Legend Matt Tremont you had Zack Sabre Jr vs Chuck Taylor in a No Ring Match as well. How are you able to attract Non-Hardcore/Death Match wrestlers to be involved in these matches that are way out of their normal wrestling lives?
Pure luck... Zack lives 3 blocks away from the Tender Trap and we have mutual friends. He heard about the shows and just asked me to do one... so I said yes
Question Seven: Tender Trap is your home bar for your shows when you are in Brooklyn. Do you feel that at some point you might have to move to a different bar to handle the increase crowd?
I’ll always run at tender trap because I absolutely love everyone who works there and the owners... it’s a special place and I’m glad I can express myself through my art while making them money at the same time... support your friends. But what I am doing is adding more venues... March 29th I’ll be wrestling Shlak at Lucky 13 Saloon in Park Slope Bk and hopefully I have a major gallery in queens with lots of space to start doing future shows in
Question Eight: How do you feel about other people that are starting to promote No Ring Matches?
I hate it, but pro wrestling was founded by con artists, scumbags, and carnies... its kind of the nature of the beast. I had to bleed, take heat, take the risk, and prove by over a year of doing these that it could be big.... so now that I did all the ground work other people want to come cash in on my idea.... i get it, it was never going to be mine to keep.... i welcome the challenge
Question Nine: Do you feel that at some point you would like to promote a typical wrestling show or some other wild wrestling show
June 23rd, more into TBA
Question Ten: After your match with Matt Tremont he invited you to compete at Hardcore Kingdom II. How was it competing in your first Death Match Tournament?
It was fine, I felt like my performance could have been better though so getting back to training full time is a top priority to me... with so much attention I’m getting looks from bigger promotions and need to be the best me for them. Funny how I did these to do my own thing and get away from Indy wrestling but now it’s given my career new life
Question Eleven: Any chance of maybe you setting up a No Ring Death Match Tournament
Doubtful, i keep my shows down to 2 matches so there are less people to pay and we can actually make money... that’s a lot of workers to pay not counting the bands.... if only I could draw a large amount of people to make it make sense. I feel like a bar setting that a tournament might be too much...
Last Question: Where do you see Casanova Valentine a year from now?
Japan
Promote yourself: Where can people find you online and when can they see you next
March 29th Death Match 8.5 vs Shlak at Lucky 13 Saloon Park Slope BK
April 25th Death Match 9 Tender Trap Brooklyn
April 21st No Limits Wrestling Hamilton Ontario Canada
April 28th Brass Knuckle Wrestling Syracuse NY
Just for added bonus here is the most recent No Ring Death Match!
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