In his first session, it was clear that Alex was far from a natural in the ring. As the weeks turned to months, Alex developed a friendship with coach Andre Baker.

As the years went on Alex learnt not only the in ring goings on of pro wrestling, but he also learnt about booking, promoting and the backstage politics. After a year of training, Alex wrestled his first match at the age of 15 at the Leas Cliff Hall in Folkestone where he teamed with Muscles Mansfield, Mr Vain, and VIP to face Tony McMillan and Mass Appeal. Although Alex and his team lost, he felt strangle comfortable in front of the crowd as he had always had elements of a showman within him since an early age.

Over the coming year Alex wrestled mainly in squash matches against undoubtedly his toughest and most dangerous opponent, the giant Titan. Standing 6'6" and weighting 23 stone, Titan outweighed Alex by an amazing 12 stone. In that year Alex would suffer various injuries which still hamper his performance to this day, including two broken ribs, a ruptured shoulder joint and a twisted pelvis.

It wasn't until 1996 that Alex began to shine. After being turned on in a handicap match by partner Justin Richards, Alex and Justin embarked on a feud that would last almost three years. Justin, Alex's most bitter enemy in wrestling, would ironically turn out to be his closest friend outside of it.

At the age of 16, Alex was main eventing shows under the Hammerlock banner, but he felt he lacked that one vital ingredient - size.Although legitimately standing a 6'5.5" he weighed only 11 stone.

Over the following two years he would wrestle the likes of Jackie Pallo Jnr, Jody Flash, Doug Williams, Guy Thunder, Jonny Storm, Phil Powers, Jorge Castano, Scottie Rock and Andre Baker himself. In this time Alex began to transform his physique and by the end of 1998 Alex was weighing 16.5 stone.

Unfortunately a combination of bullying, lack of payment, and overall bad atmosphere lead to Alex and several others on the Hammerlock roster, feeling not only used but also abused. Alex wanted to venture beyond the walls of the Hammerlock gym. Alex, Guy Thunder and Jonny Storm made their first non-Hammerlock appearance at the inaugural EWW show in December 1998 attacking former Hammerlock deserter Jody Fleisch (Jody Flash).

Although Alex did his best to stay on good terms with Hammerlock, offering to continue to wrestle for free whilst promoting their product on other company's shows, unfortunately when Alex accepted an offer to take part in the first ever UWA television tapings in April 1999, Alex was informed by close friend Justin Richards that he was no longer required by Hammerlock.

Although Alex's career has improved ten-fold since his departure from Hammerlock, he acknowledges that without this period in his career and training he would not have be in the position he is today. But this period was a good lesson in the backstage politics he would know he would encounter in pro wrestling in the future.

Alex was quickly developing a close friendship with former Hammerlock colleague Guy Thunder which would lead to the two deciding to team up and form the tag team known as Double Impact. Although appearing on several independent bookings as a team, their first major break came when they appeared at Crystal Palace against the Death Squad at the UWA's first television tapings.

Part 1 - Part 3