If OCW had a wrestler of the year award, it would most likely go to KrackerJak. The Mad Bastard’s trajectory over the course of the year has seen him go from comical villain to resident bully to a new side of KrackerJak we haven’t yet experienced in OCW. Dare I say he’s become the most likeable and entertaining OCW Original on the roster?
KrackerJak graced OCW with his presence throughout the end of 2013 and the beginning of 2014, but his impact was truly felt—so to speak—when we saw him catapulted through a questionable trestle table by international guest, Tommy Dreamer, whom he “loved fighting”.
“It's always fun to take something you’re known for nationally, and then compete at that same thing with someone who is known for it internationally,” he said. “You can be intimidated, you can back down, you can get your arse kicked or you can say: ‘I know what you can do, but you have no idea what I can do, and you're about to find out...’” And that’s the advantage our OCW Originals have over our former WWE and TNA wrestlers. We know who they are but unless they follow international wrestling scrupulously, they might be surprised by the talent we have to offer in Ashwood.
When Krackers isn’t proving he can tussle with the best of them, he’s making sure the rest of the OCW roster knows it. When I asked Krackers about his feud with fan favourite Alexi Papadopoulos, which took up much of the middle of this year, he had this to say:
“Everything about Alexi pissed me off. His stupid dance, his stupid face. But more than that, there was just something pathetic about him. He just seemed like such a victim. He thought he could hide it from me but I could smell it, like blood in the water... I couldn't help but bully him.”
Speaking of surprises, no one was more surprised than Alexi himself when his determination and courage got the better of KrackerJak in August. As the Mad Bastard explains it, “Alexi really showed me something, and I don't just mean the debris on the timekeeper's desk he almost blinded me with when he smashed my face into it.
“When he stood up to me,” he continues, “when he fought back, drew my blood, and pinned me, he showed me that even though I was trying to victimise him, he was refusing to be a victim.”
Respect for Alexi is one thing, but how does he justify the complete 180 that saw the two former nemeses dancing together in the ring?
“I clearly had some sort of spontaneous aneurysm,” Krackers explains, “and offered to do his stupid ethnic dance with him after our match… [But] I heard the crowd... I heard them cheer... And I liked it!”
So perhaps we can look forward to KrackerJak’s change of heart continuing into the New Year, but he wasn’t giving anything away when I asked him. “I have a lot of big plans for 2015,” he told me. “So big, Scarlett, that your head would explode if I so much as alluded to them. So for the sake of not making your head explode and forcing all those OCW Channel 31 fans having to see your headless body host our TV show every week, I'm going to keep it super, super vague.”
He did allow us a sneak peak, though: “I... am going to pin... everybody!”
One parting statement from “Australia’s most diabolical wrestler”, as he describes himself on Facebook, though: “I can get used to being a fan favourite. At the very least, I can get used to selling lots of merchandise to fans.”
Perhaps KrackerJak hasn’t changed that much then…