2021 Update: Alex is now my wife of 6 years and we also have Charlie, nearly 5. I’ve been to another Commonwealth Games (2014) and will probably go to Birmingham next year. My parents have since retired. I stopped wrestling in 2014 and did a one off in 2017. Other than that it’s still pretty accurate 🙂
1. My Dad is a Farmer. I was bought up on the family farms in Belper and Ashbourne. Although I always enjoyed working with my Dad, I never really saw farming as something I wanted to do with my life. To work that hard in often difficult conditions you must really love it. I was lucky enough to live, between the ages of 6 and 14, to live in a 360 acre private park. I had dens, treehouses, a go-kart, lake for canoeing in, camp site, saw mill and miles of fields and roads that only I (and my sister) has access to. It was an idyllic upbringing. Looking back now I realise how lucky I was.
2. I come from a long line of farmers. Both my parents’ parents were farmers / farmers wives and it goes back many years. Part of me feels a little bad that I have extinguished the ‘Hall line’ of farmers as the only male Hall of my generation.
3. My Mum is a school’s inspector and was a Infant teacher and Headmistress for many years. My sister is a secondary Drama teacher and Many of the women in my family are teachers.
4. My family has always been involved in the Young Farmers movement and my Dad, Sister and Brother in Law have all been county chairman and my Mum was the first English woman to be National Chairman.
5. I have two sons, Oli and Jamie. They are not named after Jamie Oliver. That was a coincidence we only realized afterwards. I separated from their mother a few years ago and see them about 3 or 4 days a week. On the days I don’t see them I miss them greatly and rarely go more then a few seconds without thinking about them and what they are doing. The fact that I will miss half of their lives causes me constant pain and is the worst thing that has ever happened to me. They are awesome boys though and I cherish the time we get to spend together. Oli is 4years old, at school now and is a sweet, caring and sensitive boy. Jamie is 2 and is an absolute powerhouse – he regularly tries to take me down and dives on me from the top of the sofa whilst laughing maniacally!
6. I have a girlfriend called Alex who lives in Manchester with her daughter, Isabel who is 2. When people see the five of us out they, of course, assume all three must be ours and that we must be mad to have 3 kids within 2 years. Alex is a Senior Manager in Corporate Tax for Deloitte. When asked what she does she often plays this down though, usually answering with “I work in an office in Manchester”. She is clearly very intelligent but often says silly things, such as forgetting who her brother is and asking me if unicorns and dragons are real. They are both very sweet and a lot of fun. I feel fortunate to have them in my life.
7. For nearly 10 years now I have also been a professional wrestler. In my mid 20s it was my main focus and I had up to 5 matches a week, but now, with all the other commitments in my life, I’m lucky to get one or two a month. I’ve had over 350 professional matches in pretty much every town and city in the country against many of the top names in British and International wrestling. You can watch me beating Sheamus (three time WWE World Heavyweight Champion) you YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja-RCkjuBVM.
8. I have a Bachelors degree in Manufacturing Engineering with Operations Management from the University of Nottingham. Like you do! Engineering and design is what I intended to get into when I was 17, before deciding that I should pursue my life long dream of becoming a professional wrestler. Like you do!
9. I was a fat child, a skinny teenager and then an even fatter student. At graduation I weighed 16st 10lbs. It was wrestling that gave me the focus that I needed to turn my life around. I often wonder what I would be doing know if I hadn’t decided to give wrestling a go. I imagine I would be a fat and unhappy engineering manager.
10. On my 21st Birthday I made myself a promise that I would give the wrestling a go. I didn’t want to get old and regret not at least trying it.
11. As I was so out of shape at this point I decided to enter the fitness industry to educate me on health and fitness and to, hopefully, support me while I gave it a go. I took my YMCA Level Fitness Instructor Qualification in Cambridge in February 2003.
12. Between Uni and the course I worked on my Dad’s farm and spent 5 months in Dublin. I worked at the Royal Dublin Hotel and lived in a hostel. During this time I started to get myself in shape training with a friend.
13. Having started out as a Fitness Instructor in Derby, I soon moved to Sheffield to start as a Personal Trainer and start my training to be a pro-wrestler.
14. I’ve tried out for WWE twice – in 2005 and 2008. The two guys I wrestled in both my try-outs went on to get signed, but it wasn’t to be for me.
15. In the fitness industry I have had several different roles as well as Personal Trainer, including Club Manager (Fitness First Sheffield) and North East Area Manager for Fitness Agents.
16. I am naturally very shy. I’ve spent so long covering it up that people don’t generally notice any more. Which is good, I suppose.
17. To help my confidence, my parents encouraged me to take part in Young Farmers competitions, such as Public Speaking, which I managed to come third at National in when I was 16.
18. I seem to have an problem with the right side of my body having broken my firth meta-tarsal (same one as Beckham), ankle, forearm, shoulder blade and three cracked ribs – all on my right side.
19. I’m a big believer in having a positive, can-do attitude and feel that drives everything else.
20. I am a reasonable cook but probably cook the same half a dozen healthy meals 98% of the time.
21. I am lucky enough to have been to 3 Olympics (92,04 and 12), a World Cup (02), a European Championship (96) and a Commonwealth Games (02).
22. The most painful thing I have ever done was leave my contact lenses in eye drops (rather then solution), they burned onto my eyes when I put them in and I couldn’t get them out for what seemed like an eternity.
23. My second most painful thing was hurting my back in the gym a few years ago. I was sure I must have slipped disc and was, in someways, slighty disappointed when the doctor told me it was only a strain.
24. My back and neck are in constant pain as a result of been dropped on my head and back 350 times.
25. I haven’t had a TV for nearly 18 months now and getting rid of it was one of the best decisions I ever made – it’s surprising how much time and mental space it frees up.
26. I payed rugby at school but was never really any good at sports. It was surprising to most of my friends then when I did quite well at the wrestling.
27. I quite enjoy a lot of ‘geeky’ activities – I learned website design and basic coding to create our various sites, enjoy a good puzzle and Alex and I often play board games together. Our favorite at the moment is ‘The Cube’.
28. A few years ago I submitted a world record attempt to the Guinness people for ‘Tornado press ups’ with an almighty 7 – www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGjrAClAfvw. As there was no official record, I hoped I might get it as the first person to submit it. I would lose it pretty quickly, but thought it would be cool to say I once held a world record. The Guiness people responded saying “your suggestion is of no interest to us”. Their loss.
